Transcript
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[laughter]
>> You would not believe what I learned
about parshas kisavo. The possuk says
tachas asher lo avadeta Hashem Elokecha
besimcha.
Because you did not serve Hashem your
God with joy.
Rav Yosef Chaim
Chief Rabbi of Baghdad, otherwise known
as the Ben Ish Chai says
You should know my friend, da yedidi,
that the quality of sadness does not
just affect your mental state, but it
also harms your body very much.
And many sicknesses, bad sicknesses,
come from sadness.
And he continues to say, "The truth is,
it's manufactured by people."
Meaning, a person can get an illness.
God forbid somebody gets cancer.
That's decreed by God.
But if somebody becomes sad,
that is something that he triggers
himself.
Obviously, I'm adding, we are not
talking about clinical depression where
people really need professional help.
But the Ben Ish Chai is referring
to the idea that our thoughts are really
critical, and we can be the source of
some bad thoughts and bad outcomes.
Listen to what he says about this possuk
in Hallel. Atzabeihem kesef vezahav
maaseh yedei adam.
Normally that means that the idols of
idolaters are made of silver and gold,
the product of human hands.
And he's criticizing them. How could you
worship something that you made
yourself?
The Ben Ish Chai has a beautiful
homiletical interpretation. He says it's
also telling us what is wrong with
sadness.
Atzabeihem is spelled with the same
letters
as sadness, itzavon.
Etza.
And he's saying, "Their sadness comes
from kesef v'zahav. People are obsessed
with money and they become very sad and
depressed when they think about all the
money that they don't have."
You know what? It's maseh yedei Adam.
You are causing your own stress. That's
not part of God's plan
that you should be stressed. God can
plan to challenge somebody and he always
does.
But don't think that the sadness over
your situation is part of the challenge.
That is up to you to overcome and avert
the sadness, whether through prayer,
increased faith in God, discussing with
other people. Again, I'm not talking
about clinical depression here. The Ben
Ish Hai continues to say that we should
be inspired by stories of people who
have been through other challenges and
have overcome them to know that it is in
God's power to reverse anything.
But I really thought it was fascinating
to learn that not every form of
suffering is caused by God. Some of it
we bring on ourselves.
I was once heading to learn with my Rosh
Yeshiva, my Rebbi, Rabbi Yaakov
Weinberg, zt"l.
And I was late, so I ran to the car, I
banged my head
when I was going there, and when I got
there, I had a big welt on my head, and
I said, "Rebbi, here's what happened. I
was running late, I banged my head. Was
that ordained by Hashem?" And he said,
"No, it was not. You did it to
yourself."
That's a pshia.
You ran into the car like a madman, you
banged your head. Hashem did not say
"Shlomo has to bang his head that day."
So certain things we bring on ourselves,
whether it's foolishness like me running
into the car like a madman,
or
obsessing about things
in an unhealthy [clears throat] way that
causes us more stress. That is not
decreed
by Hashem. That is something in our
power to change, and that is something
hinted to in this parsha
about serving God with simcha. The Ben
Ish Hai encourages us to take a look at
our attitudes and try to break some of
those deeply held attitudes that get us
all stressed out and achieve a sense of
calm because that is really what Hashem
wants.
Have a wonderful Shabbos.
