KLM: Cleaning With Meaning Through Kavanah L'Mitzvos with Rabbi Asher Baruch Wegbreit

[Music] Le seder is so spiritual but before we get there we have to clean our homes for PES now that doesn't sound too spiritual does it everybody I've discussed this with agrees not so spiritual is there a way to take the cleaning on pesak and turn it into a spiritual journey that's what we're going to try to do T today and at this point I want to welcome back the listeners from Torah any time and also the listeners from yiet and anyone else who hears about this I if you want to do your friends a favor you will definitely want to help them understand how can we make uh PESA cleaning more spiritual okay so let's get started this is the cavana mitsos foundation and as I discussed in the opening Shear um cavana L mitzvos is the less known the the younger sister of cavana the usual cavana people think about is called cavana salave has to do with prayer and focusing in prayer cavana L Mitzvah though was something that changed my spiritual life and thank God many many others I think uh this I can tell you many stories and eventually I will so we called last time we said cavan mitus is so powerful because it's a key Stone habit and uh for those of you just joining I have a background psychology and I I'm trying to use some tools of the latest tools of psychology to help us succeed in making this connection that comes about so the um a keystone habit is when you work on one thing that impacts several other things the the the example but easiest example is exercise if you exercise and make it into a habit that if you do that your sleep gets better your food digestion your focus everything goes up that's called a keystone habit you do one thing uh put a lot into that it helps everything kavan Mitzvah laal in terms of spirituality is the same thing in other words by accepting that mitzah require cavana what happens is it causes you to stop and think about what am I doing and in in particular what Mitzvah am am I doing now before we apply this to PESA cleaning and turn it that please got into a journey I wanted to I I want to tell you that part of the what works about focusing on kaval Mitzvah is is relating to Mitzvah differently okay in words if you reframe reframe what is a mitzvah so here's the definition I recommend it's one of many and this is key to staying connected is to keep reframing a Mitzvah so I like to call Mitzvah an opportunity for fulfillment it's totally true it's not just a catchy phrase Mitzvah are opportunity for fulfillment I'll tell you and I mentioned before uh like everybody when you first encounter Miss if if if you grew up with them that that's a big challenge but if not when you first ENC car it has quite an effect on you so one of the the way I would describe it because I started engaging in mitzah when I was 31 bit older right I said you know what I feel like now now I know what I'm supposed to be doing and I'm doing it that is a great feeling right you know the I remember years ago uh I again in my psychology thing I I looked a little bit about guilt the concept of guilt and conscience you so believe it or not at one time the the in the dictionary under guilt it said Jewish guilt Jews are known for guilt and we're known for Psychiatry and all those things right may I humbly suggest and I've got to it's because a lot of people don't know what they're supposed to be doing and therefore they're not doing it so it's so fulfilling uh you know being in the old city um my rebi Rabbi green he would uh have a lot of people come for shabas who weren't religious and he wanted to describe he could sort of sense what's going on these people have never been in contact so they walk in and he he says like the is like whoa this is amazing get me out of here you know there was their n was like on fire and they were so excited so we don't always realize how much our nshama is excited by Mitzvah but it's taking place there's a midis in coelis Raba that says that it makes it you I imagine you've heard this there's a villager so he locked out and he married the queen or a no princess married a princess obviously a queen and what happens he takes the princess into his little Hut or Village and not so happy who's the princess do you know this metaphor it's your soul right our body is kind of like a villager but our our our Nish is like a lofty princess okay so when you when the inner princess comes into contact with the mitzah it's amazing so what I just wanted to stress before we get into the cavana just remember Mitzvah are amazing they opportunity ities for fulfillment and inside for sure something amazing is taking place okay good what's the first step to Turning peso cleaning into a spiritual experience as I mentioned to you when you ask when you say uh I should have intention for what I'm doing you have to stop and say what am I doing so when you pull out the uh mops in the broom and the you know sponga we say sponga here okay what Mitzvah is that so you ask yourself what Mitzvah and and usually there's a main Mitzvah in any experience I'll give you example right now we'll do it what's the main Mitzvah the listeners in this uh here in the SCH and also the people are listening what what's the main mitvah you're doing right now learning Torah excellent that's the main Mitzvah but there's another Mitzvah there's a Mitzvah to learn about PES before it occurs you learn about PES so that's an other Mitzvah and this is the secret of how we turn this thing into a spiritual journey is we discover how much is going on in the experience okay excellent so now I ask you what's the main Mitzvah of cleaning for PES for a little more you're right making sure there's no making sure there's no humates correct that's that that's the preparation right so Mitzvah number one is Humes removal okay that's the first one now I want I want to we're going to do for for people here and the people listening I want to really help make sure that I used to make a joke I don't like I I'm not trying to give a lecture I'm trying to help you have a different experience and the thing is you may hear this oh that's exciting and forget so we're going to I'm going to give everybody once a certain tool we made a an acren so you won't forget this but I also want you to practice right now what uh how to do this how to apply the first Mitzvah to your cleaning okay so we're going to do a little visual iation we'll call it a cavitation okay I want you to picture right now uh wherever you're cleaning just picture where you're likely to clean okay and picture before you start cleaning all right and this is what you need to do okay just just think to yourselves I'm I'm doing this cleaning to fulfill the Mitzvah of removing humet from our homes want to add a nice taste to fulfill your will AEM that's even better okay so you did you picture yourself okay and that's what you say if you do that do you realize there's a millions of Jews that are going to be doing this except the ones going to the hotels they're missing out on the spiritual journey the ones who are not going to hotels or may they have to clean up their tell but the ones are not going to there's millions and if you just stop if you just remember one time hey I'm doing the what K mitas require conscious intention beforehand if you do that then you've just added a dimension of connection to Hashem and and spiritual reward that is unimaginable I'm by the way way that's not me it says in drus Iran thean was a famous famous Reon commentator on the gamar etc etc but he also wrote a safer called drus ran he says if you compare two people one of them before they picked up the mop had in mind that he didn't say this exact example but one of them had in mind to fulfill like to have proper cavana intention and focus on what he was doing the other didn't so what's the difference in reward between the one who did that and not so I I be honest I'm not good at math okay but even if I was or if you take the best AI out there does AI do math equations okay the best one out there you know what the Ron will say says you can't it can't be measured the difference is so profound it's uninvestigated you hear that and isn't that amazing just from that little thought okay so that's that's the first step right the first step is to make this a spiritual journey is to catch yourself ideally before you start cleaning but if not during and anytime you can and just put that little intention I'm doing this for you AEM CU you want me to remove hums from the house okay next point and this is how we make it get more of a a journey is there's much more going on in every situation than we we could have possibly think that the example I gave last time is some some RV gave me this example when you eat food you chew and then you're done right you swallow you chew for I don't know how long if anyone knows please tell me for there are thousands of operations going on and anyone who knows biochemistry or physiology will tell you there's so much taking place so every situation we find ourselves in Hashem has so many opportunities for fulfillment okay that that's part of it so we have the first one humet okay let's go on now the to get the second one you ask yourself by the way I'm trying to give you a scheme of how to discover the Mitzvah in your given situations this is a scheme you can use in other uh situations so the first we came up with is you ask yourself what's the main Mitzvah the main Mitzvah removing humates now to get the next Mitzvah you ask yourself well what why you know like the little kid why why do why does Hashem want us to remove humates what is that all about and I I'd like uh we're privileged to have some s students uh that are here so I'm going to put ask them why why are we removing humet what what what's the purpose by the way you could definitely tell me because Hashem said so and you'll be right but just think what is this connected to very good wow very good excellent I say she she said to remember that you hear you cuz humet becomes its own little entity and I go cleaning right cleaning becomes its own mundane thing but if you think of it this is oh do you realize that that is a huge Mitzvah and it's in truth whenever you think about you if I say right now okay everybody have this in mind when hasem turned the uh the Nile into blood it wasn't red water water composition converted into thick blood that was of mitah it's right so you hear so whenever you think so but especially when you're doing the cleaning okay two we have two down and three to go we're we're it's going to be not so long but this gives you so it makes the experience so much richer okay good so we have what do we have we have humet removal and leaving Egypt that I have an acronym so you'll remember all this but B A Time okay H lead leaving here's the next way and in general figure out let me ask you something these two Mitzvah humm removal and Ze are they part of there's two major categories of Mitzvah B Ando right between man and God between man and his friend humet removal and Zar what category B very good B the these are Mitzvah that draw you close to AEM and something else for the newcomers you should know Mitzvah aren't only an end in themselves oh I clean for pce I Mo they also lead you to something deeper and more beautiful it's called a treasure so ban Mak mitzvos between man and God lead to Deus to to not be close to God to be for your soul and your mind and your heart to be attached if you will okay isn't that incredible so the truth matters like right now all of us listeners people here everybody is achieving the vacas and Devas is a Mitzvah so right let's do that too aades we're learn learning and preparing for PES we're learning Torah to um to to cling to you as much as we can so our thoughts and our feelings our Ras connects to you okay good so um you're right so here's what you do you ask yourself I'm cleaning for p is there anything on the other side calledo right when you go in a situation there will usually be it's mainly b or it's mainly B but maybe there's another so I ask you cleaning for PES is there any B yeah in what way in the spiritual sense also it's like you're cleaning within yourself oh then we're going to get that's another one that's another we'll see that's another Discovery no yes keep yes honoring your parents and just if you're if you're contributing see you by the way it's not like uh this or that if you're cleaning and I was going to mention that some students they have the mitzah of K aim and but that's also hessed it's just like you would like uh people to help you uh clean so you don't have to clean all by yourself so to do that for others right that that's what you would like for yourself do it for others so there you go and is cloud GLE now you're going to be doing it you're helping your parents you're doing kindness but the question is are you cognizant are you conscious right so let's just practice this too oh wait before that I told you so cleaning is K and also kindness after what's the treasure every time you do one of those the treasure is you become like AEM which is another mitah it's called to walk in his ways just like Hashem does kindness you two do kindness okay so you hear you're evolving when you do your Nish your mind your thoughts cleave to hasem when you help people out when you're thoughtful Etc you're becoming more and more Hashem like if you will but it's really true Okay so we've now the excellent excellent but by the way this we're talking about people have Keo off of aim but the truth is also um you know uh the wife think of uh the mother or the wife if you're a wife so you're kind of let's say the in charge of the mission usually so you are making your home beautiful for your family and guests that's you hear it so that's the wife's one and sometimes the husband even helps out you know there's one I saw this the the husband says Dear can I help you um can I help out for PESA and and she says yeah take down the Suka he buty you hear everybody everybody even if you're even if you're living alone okay what are you doing you're removing humet from the domain of clausel you're making a humfree environment for people visit there's kindness there's okay we just have two more okay I I think that'll be plenty so the next I'm going to so I'm going to just review for everybody the more this is in your mind the more it'll pop up in your consciousness when you get there okay so we have hummus removal we have leaving Egypt we have by doing kindness so there's an other category that when you're searching how can I turn whatever experience into a uh uh into a Jour a spiritual journey so we said main Mitzvah why you doing the main Mitzvah um is it or Beno and and is there the other one as well okay the next one is this you mentioned that we are um uh purifying ourselves right there's a there's a Spiritual Development get the vill go and says there's another category it's not just between man and God and man and his friend between man and himself woman in herself bammo that's another category of Mitzvah another opportunity for fulfillment okay so let's now what is in this category is this Hashem wants you we all have it Salim credit where credits do I saw uh Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld I saw one of his uh I read his book called body and soul I was reart everybody has a Salam moim a Divine image correct non-jews Jews but it's a potential okay it's a we have a potential that we can access but you have to develop yourself to bring out your telim perfect yourself refined what is the word refine involved with how do what is it literally not not how we usually mean it flower flour okay refined flour so how do they how do they refine flour they take out the bath you take out the bad you take out the impurities that's us when we remove our character deficiencies we perfect ourselves we purify ourselves and we again become more Shem likee the Mitzvah of is two aspects to emulate AEM just like he's kind just like he's patient I'll just tell you the there was a cab That was supposed to come pick me up and I was uh and I have this class and it's running late and then I remembered oh right just like he's patient I should be patient so I had conscious intention and by the way it really chills you out and relaxes you makes you feel better when you do that but not only that so so we have that you have emula but then you have when you perfect Yourself by removing your character deficiencies that's also called Hashem is perfect and and every instance of a removal of a defici deficiency achieves more Perfection you know in the in the outside world perfectionism gets a very bad uh name it's a psychological condition and the there is a very unhealthy way to approach perfecting oneself and that's what they're talking about it's real okay but the this is the opposite that we we're getting excited that I have an opportunity to become a little more perfect okay so now let me ask you the question by PES what defici by cleaning the house what deficiency or what character thing are you removing what negative you remove by cleaning and helping out and getting on your uh knees and scrubbing the um that's the spiritual one they said she said GAA okay that's a famous spiritual I'm talking about like a a basic character trait that we can enhance by cleaning with diligence laziness right we are lazy by the Hashem made us as the ram says in M with an earthy character that pulls us down and makes us feel sluggish and as they say here my my son once said I said go to sleep he goes he didn't even have time energy to go to sleep but the thing is uh so guess what uh when you get off the couch right that's a a removal of a level of laziness when you really do a good job instead of a superficial job so that's there you go that's emulating hashem's Perfection you're perfecting yourself one more and then I want to uh present to you um I made we made an acronym for this called clean okay and and we'll we'll just quickly see it all in the acronym and uh for the people here we have magnets clean magnets and for anybody listening you know reach out uh to kavan mitzo Foundation either the um website or email Rabbi we gmail.com and it's you'll see It'll speak for itself my daughter brashem is a graphic artist and she did a beautiful job you'll see well so we're going to uh capture this in an acronym but before we do we have one more to go okay what it how does the process of cleaning your home for H humates culminate what's the what's the conclusion of this process and when is it that might be a hint uh bedikas and be or humit in the next morning in other words nullifying that's for the acronym nullifying humates that's the other Mitzvah that's here so what that means is as we know we do an inspection on the night of the 14th and in the morning we burn it and this is where we can put in what you both referring to to that what is hes hites is everybody connects it to this and the the the Mitzvah is very Central you know it says in in the in the Mitzvah to remember the day we left listen to what it says I think I have it right here let me just oh no it's not in this one remember this day you left Egypt and you know what says next Lo don't eat hums why does it say eat matah right you hear this remember the day you left don't and don't eat humates so the EM explains that what is humates humates is where we get involved in the process we add leavening etc etc and we when we get more involved in something we end up thinking we're doing it but really I am everything that takes place in the world is really an act of Hashem except choosing to have kavana for mitzah to having your doing mitzah right so the truth of the matter is the me one of the fundamental messages of and P is it was AEM and the emad brings up it's so relevant right now he says this is um Hashem made it clear we were rushed out we had no time for the do to rise right we had nothing to do we have to remember we had nothing to do with the Exodus because uh later on people will think oh it was a slave rebellion Moser reeno he was great you know it's this you're doing something that's not a ritual claw when you really be conscious that hey I have to remind myself ultimately hashem's always doing it okay so that's the Nullification you can think that but all week you should think that okay having said that we're now going to take a look at the acronym and then we'll wrap up um how to turn P cleaning into a spiritual journey yeah okay if we want to turn even PES cleaning into a spiritual journey uh we now know there's a world of opportunities for fulfillment and we really covered five and to make it easier for you to remember we have an acronym clean Okay C is removal as we discussed that's one Mitzvah then we have leaving mitz to remember that which is uh the Mitzvah remembering uh The Exodus then we have emulating AEM which means we perfect ourselves while we clean because we become less lazy we remove character deficiencies then we have by helping out everybody's helping out so when you're conscious of that and you uh you direct your intention to hasem I'm doing this cuz you want me to love my uh like myself or to honor my parents right and then finally we have nullifying PESA for clean that's the culmination that's where we drive home the message of Pak so I just want to uh this was model of how you can take something that seems very non-spiritual very dry and just open up a world of opportunities the I just want to tell you that this is just really important period in life I just want to finish with a quick uh story in in our Yeshiva my my Rabbi rabi shim green so he um was in the prime Yeshiva experience in the 60s now the 60 have a name right those were really exciting times interesting times and they were in Israel after The Six Day War people were coming 60s early 70s so he would share with us all the time he tells stories about uh uh 3 in the morning uh going to a kabut and playing music for them and and uh going into a non-religious high school and um trying to make the kids feel excited but it was really such an adventure so one of my friends just got fed up he goes Rabbi when are we going to have these Adventures so he looked us and he said are you kidding it was about 6 seven years he goes you don't think we've been on an adventure and in one minute it turned my entire several years around cuz oh you know we always the Y makes us think oh they had it good that was exciting Hashem is always creating an adventure you just have to look at it that way right so this is how we have to look at there's no mundane is a dirty word at km there's no such thing as something mundane and dry you just have to put a yes say what am I doing and where is the Mitzvah where is the connection to Hashem and then everything can be an adventure all right thank you very much I encourage anybody new to please pass this around I I mentioned the previous people it's a Mitzvah to tell people about kav Mitzvah and I appreciate if you'll follow us on T time and all right thank you [Music] okay to my there some here