THE GREAT MAN IS BORNIn this week’sparshawe are introduced for the first time to one of the greatest men in our history: ותהר האשה ותלד בן – And Yocheved gave birth to a son (Shemos 2:1). Moshe ben Amram is born into the Jewish nation, a handsome baby boy. ותרא אותו כי טוב הוא – His mother saw thatki tov hu, that he was good looking (Shemos 2:2). She didn’t see that he was good natured, or that he was smart. You can’t see that in a baby! She saw that he was handsome; a beautiful child.And that’s almost all that we know about this little boy.And yet only a fewpesukimlater Moshe, already an elderly sage of eighty years, is being granted a vision of the glory of Hashem at the burning bush: וירא מלאך השם אליו בלבת אש – And a messenger of Hashem appeared to him in a flame of fire (Shemos 3:2). And suddenly this adorable little boy, now a man of eighty, is chosen to be the redeemer of the Am Yisroel.THE MYSTERY OF MOSHENow it would be proper for us to consider the story of Moshe’s life, and to study how Moshe ben Amram became Moshe Rabeinu; what was his path to success? After all, he was the man who took us out ofMitzrayimand led us for forty years in themidbar. He spent forty days and forty nights with Hakodosh Boruch Hu; he spoke to Hashempeh el peh,and brought down the Torah to the Am Yisroel. There was no man greater than he.And not only was he one of the most remarkable men in the history of our nation, but more importantly, he is one the great models that we aspire to emulate. The Rambam (Hilchos Teshuva 5:2) says that! He says that we should all aspire to be like Moshe Rabeinu: כל אדם ראוי להיות צדיק כמשה רבינו– “Every person is fit to be righteous like Moshe Rabeinu.” Now, you’ll never become anavilike Moshe was, but everyone of us was born with the talents needed to become atzadiklike Moshe, and therefore it is incumbent upon us to probe the life of this great man to find the seeds of his greatness.And yet when we begin to investigate his life we are stymied by a most peculiar fact. Moshe Rabeinu, an eighty year old man, seemingly appears out of thin air; the redeemer of the Am Yisroel appears on the scene and we know almost nothing about him: We’re not told what made him great and why he was chosen or what paths ofavodas Hashemdid he walk on for eighty years that made him the one chosen to redeem the Am Yisroel. How did theish Mitzribecome theish ha’Elokim, the only man who would ever to speak to Hashempeh el peh, mouth to mouth?HE ESCAPES AND TURNS EIGHTYOf course, we are all familiar with a few shortpesukimabout his early days; he was brought up in the palace of Pharaoh and then was forced to flee for his life when he defended a fellow Jew by killed aMitzri. But besides for that we know almost nothing. Moshe Rabeinu turns up many decades later at the burning bush in the mountains of Midian, having been chosen by Hashem to redeem His people.And I’ll tell you achidddushnow – even the one incident we know of this great man, how he went out from the palace to save his fellow Jew, is told to primarily us to let us know that we know very very little about Moshe. Of course, there are other important things we learn about Moshe from there as well – and we’ll talk about that one day. But the primary purpose of thosepesukimis to introduce the story ofhis having to flee.The little we know of him, only comes to tell us that we actually know very little about this great man.ISOLATION AND SOLITUDEHe was forced to flee for his life into the lonely wilderness, and he became a wanderer in exile. Don’t think it was easy for him – it was a lonely life, no contact with his people, no family and no friends. And after many years, his wandering led him to Midian. And even there how did he spend his days? As a shepherd, alone in the mountains of Midian, grazing the sheep of Yisro. That’s what the Torah tells us about his years in Midian. He spent his days alone in themidbaras a shepherd pasturing the flocks. ומשה היה רעה את צאן יתרו חתנו כהן מדין וינהג את הצאן אחר המדבר – “And Moshe was pasturing the sheep of Yisro his father-in-law and he led his flock toward the wilderness” (Shemos 3:1). Moshe spent his days – it was months andyears– in solitude in the remote pastures of loneliness.So what we’re seeing here now is a picture of a nomad, a lonely wanderer forforty years. Forty years is a long time to be alone! And besides for a few small incidents, that’s all we are told about how Moshe became Moshe Rabeinu. That’s all we know about him, that he wandered through the wilderness alone.And so we’ll have to say that it was there,shepherding sheep in the isolation of the wilderness, that Moshe achieved the greatness that earned for him his place in history. It is evident that this had been the plan of Hashem – to separate this promising and gifted man from his family and send him into the wilderness and lonely wasteland of Midian and Sinai. And this was all tokeep him in solitude.Solitude wasn’t merely an episode in his career; it was the cause of his careerand it readied him to become the greatest man in history. By separating him from his family and bykeeping him in solitude,HakodoshBoruchHuwas creating the future leader of the Am Yisroel.And so that is what we will attempt to study now; the strange fact that Moshe Rabeinu spent most of his formative years – years that we would have imagined would be spent under the tutelage oftzadikimandovdei Hashem– and instead they were years spent alone, separate from his fellow Jews, and often isolated from Mankind all together. So what was the plan of Hashem over here? What kind of environment was this for Moshe Rabeinu? Now, I’m too small to be able to answer these questions – but I have the right to try to guess.CONSIDER THE ADVANTAGES OF LONELINESSAnd so in order to appreciate more fully this plan of Hashem, we should endeavor to study this step by step; what is it about solitude that can make a person so great. We’ll begin by reading a selection from theChovos Halevavos.TheChovos Halevavoshas asha’arcalledCheshbon Hanefesh,which means “thinking” and he suggests certain duties that we’re expected to think about, thirty different ideas. He says there are many more but he suggests thirty of them. It’skidaito study them all, but tonight we’ll study some ofcheshbonnumber seventeen.He says as follows: What should a man think about when he has an urge to seek the company of people? It means when he feels lonesome; let’s say it’smotza’ei Shabbos,the family went out to visit the relatives in Boro Park and he’s left all alone in the house. He looks through the window and he sees cars crowded with people speeding to some destination. And he imagines their fun times ahead. Or let’s say he’s stuck in the yeshiva onmotza’ei Shabbos– he’s an out of town boy and everybody else is at home with their families and he’s left alone in his dormitory room. Or he’s just an unfortunate fellow who didn’t marry and he’s all by himself wherever he is. And he yearns for the company of people.And so this man is thinking about how much fun it would be to be together with people. So what does the Chovos Halevavos tell him: “At that time let him consider the advantages of solitude and how good it is to be separate from peoplebecause of the harm that comes from their company.” The Chovos Halevavos is telling us here the most basic benefit of solitude – if you associate with people who have littleyiras Hashem, or maybe they have wrong ideas, so they poison your mind. There’s no question that you’re going to cause certain defects in your mind and in your character.FOOLS ARE MORE COMMON THAN WISE MENOf course, he doesn’t mean the company oftalmideichachomim; he means ordinary people, thechevrashakesilim, the company of fools. But the truth is that wise men are often hard to find. Most often it is among the fools that you find yourself. And so he tells us, the first thing to consider is the harm that comes from the fools and the great benefit that you can accrue therefore by merely avoiding their company.Now, sometimes you can’t help yourself; you have to visit your in-laws sometimes, so you have to sit and listen to their chatter. And so you’ll have to act like you enjoy it. Or maybe for business, you’re in an office or a store, and you have customers and coworkers who like to chew the rag, so you have to act like they’re saying something very wise, as if you’re interested in their idle chatter. But outside of that, a person should always think about the dangers of thechevrah ra’ah,of bad company.WOULD YOU CHOOSE UNCLE HARRY TO BE YOUR REBBE?For instance much harm is accrued to a man from merely superfluous talk, from shooting the breeze. So you’ll tell me, “What’s so bad about talking about the news, about sports and about the neighborhood? I know it won’t make me atzadik, but harmful?!” Yes, superfluous talk isin itselfan injury to a man: TheChovos Halevavossays that you should avoid the yakking of other, למען אשר לא יביאום הבלי חביריהם לההביל גם הם כמותם, in order that the superficiality, the emptiness of your associates should not bring you to become empty too.When you’re together with ordinary, empty people, you become ordinary too. He’s talking here aboutfrumpeople.Theirtzitzisare out and they haveblack hats.There are manyfrumpeople who areempty,and therefore if you’ll associate with people, you’ll come down to their level and you’ll become empty too.“I’ll become empty too?” you’ll ask me. How’s that?” So pay good attention because I’m telling you now one of the unrecognized dangers that comes from listening to superfluous talk – it causes the listener to think along with the talker, or rather tounthinkalong with the talker. And so, as the “words of wisdom” come gushing forth from Uncle Harry’s mouth – he’s talking without any planning after all – so your mind is following what he is saying. You’re a respectful person after all, so you’re listening, you’re concentrating. And all the inanities, all the thoughtlessness of his conversation, is being repeated by you in your mind. That’s what happens when you listen to anyone – the words are being replayed in your own head. So Uncle Harry just became your “rebbi.” And he just filled your mind with “He said,” and “She said,” “We said,” “I said,” and “They said.” And it’s a long confusion that merely fills up your head with nothing at all – something for which there is no need. And that’s one way easy of ruining your mind.And even with good people, decent people, but if they’re people who live more or less with materialism – and it’s something you find a lot of today –they hardly ever think about Hakodosh Boruch Hu – so you should know that they’re going to drag you down to their level.It’s contagious.Wrong attitudes and wicked ideas are contagious.Now, you wouldn’t sit together with people who have pneumonia or the flu and they’re coughing and sneezing in your face, that you understand. You get upset if someone is “so kind” as to share his germs with you. That kind of sharing you have no interest in. You’ll keep away from him or at least you’ll tell him to cover his mouth. And you have to know that often, the words coming from a person’s mouth can be much worse than pneumonia.THE SINS OF CONVERSATIONAnd as if that wasn’t enough trouble, the Chovos Halevavos quotes thechochominMishleiand says even more: ברוב דברים לא יחדל פשע – “In a multitude of words there cannot be absent any iniquity” (10:19) There’s no question,Mishleitells us, that when people talk voluminous they are going to commit sins. It’s not even a question!Lo yechdal peshah,it’s impossible to avoid it. It’s not even easy to avoid sins when you choose your words, but when you open your mouth and turn on the faucet, then there’s no question thatloyechdal peshah.That’s thepossukinMishlei. I’ll just add now my own observation: You can imagine when you sit down on a bench in the courtyard of your apartment house with a neighbor or a friend, and four hours elapse in conversation. And you’re not silent during that time. It’s lively, it’s gushing, pouring forth. In those four hours you can imagine how many timespeshahwas committed. But of course if you don’t think about that; so you blindly and “innocently” continue to producepesha’im. It’s like the man who blindly and “innocently” drives his automobile off a cliff. It’s a disaster.Now we go back to the Chovos Halevavos: “And by avoiding such company you’ll avoid speaking against people and mentioning faults of people and ridiculing people.” Because that’s what people do when they sit and have nothing else to do. They talk about other people. And finally when the whole conversation is used up, and he already spoke about everybody that he could, so he begins picking his relatives apart. It’s apossukin Tehillim, תשב באחיך תדבר – “You sit and you talk against your brother, ובבן אמך תתן דופי, and against the son of your own mother you impute foolishness” (50:20) And when somebody will say, “What are you saying against your own brother?” you say, “It’s my own brother! I don’t mean any harm.” No harm?! You just blackened your brother and made him look as silly as possible.YOU’LL SIN MORE AND MOREAnd also lies. Talking brings to sheker; big lies, little lies,lo yimaleit.The more you speak,the more you’ll benichshalin the opposite ofemes. Because in order to make your stories interesting, you have to embellish them at least a little bit with stories, with details that never took place. You don’t intend to lie, but still you want your listener to be interested, he shouldn’t be bored by you. And so, you utilize stories and facts that never took place.And so that’s how it is when you’re around people. When you’re with people so you don’t control yourself.Your tongue wags and wags.You say whatever comes into your mind.You’re “forced” to do itbecause youhaveto saysomethingwhen people are around. So you say all kinds of things, and all kinds of trouble happen. You’ll sin and sin some more, and your mind will be dragged down to the lowest common denominator of your conversations. It’s a fact that’s proven all the time, every day, in everyone’s life – and therefore the more you avoidchevra ra’ah, wrong company, the better off you are.SOLITUDE: THE MOST PRECIOUS OF ALL THINGSHowever, important as that is, we’re not going to say that Hakodosh Boruch Hu sent Moshe Rabeinu out into the solitude of the Midian wilderness just for that. Avoidingaveirosand superfluous talk, that’s very important – it’s a diamond on its own –but Hakodosh Boruch Hu had much more in mind for Moshe Rabeinu.Because actually there is a much more profound benefit of solitude, something much more than merely avoidingcheit; and it isthatbenefit that made Moshe Rabeinu the great man that he became. And that’s what we’ll study now.Now, in order to better understand thema’alas hahisbodedus,the great benefit of solitude, we will study a piece from theMesillas Yesharim(Chapter 15). You should pay close attention to the following because this statement we’re going to read now is a diamond; only that you have to be amaiven, a connoisseur, in order to appreciate such a gem. He says like this:ויקר מן הכל, the most precious of all things, הוא ההתבודדות, is solitude, to spend time by yourself.Now, it doesn’t have to be all day long butsometime a person must make for himself. And he says that doing so is יקר מן הכל, it’s more precious than anything else! You’re hearing something now! He doesn’t say that it’s also a good thing, and not even that it’s precious – but it’s “more precious than anything else!” Solitude!THE KING WISHES TO ESCAPEAnd theMesillas Yesharimcontinues: וכבר הזכיר דוד המלך בשבח ההתבודדות, Dovid Hamelech spoke words of high praise when speaking of this quality of solitude.He said: מי יתן לי אבר כיונה – “If only I had wings like a dove, אעופה ואשכונה, I would fly far away and reside somewhere in a lonesome place.ארחיק נדד, I would wander off and be alone, אלין במדבר סלה, I would remain in the wilderness; I would make that my place forever.”So here is Dovid Hamelech sitting in his palace surrounded by people, surrounded by his advisors and friends, he had a lot of admirers as well, all good things – he’s living the good life – and yet what do we find? That he’s yearning to be in the wilderness! Now that’s a big question because what was Dovid doing up there in the wilderness anyhow? What did he yearn to go back for already? He had everything he wanted!MOSHE RABEINU DOESN’T NEED THE MOVIESAnd of course, for us it’s a good question because when we think about being alone in the wilderness it doesn’t seem so enjoyable. If we would go hide away in the mountains, with nobody else, with nothing to do, we wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves.Many people are not capable of enjoying their own company and therefore it’s impossible for them to be happy unless something comes in to cause them to remove their mind from the present. If you would bring a good novel with you into the wilderness, or maybe a portable television, OK, then we’re talking. But that’s not solitude – that just means they have nothing in their heads and so they’re always trying to fill that vacuum with something. Those are the type of people who line up in front of the movies waiting to be admitted. These are people who can’t live with themselves! They always have to go someplace where something is “happening.” Their lives are so empty of happiness that they’ll stand in line and pay admission for something that is a substitute for happiness. And what type of happiness is it? When they leave the movies the money remains behind, they take along nothing with them except for a mixed up head, silly unrealistic pictures that never happened and never will happen. But at least for the moment their minds were off themselves. There are a lot of people not capable of solitude.But people who want to succeed in life will train themselves to enjoy their own company. That’s what Moshe Rabeinu did for so many years. It’s what Dovid Hamelech did after him – because Dovid wanted to be great and so he studied the life of Moshe Rabeinu and chose to walk in his footsteps. And those are the people who are able to live happy and successful lives even without frequent contact with others. You know that the Gra kept his shutters closed by day. His windows were shuttered up by day so that he shouldn’t be able to look into the street and remove his mind from the business of serving Hashem.SOLITUDE FOR USBut I remember my rebbe,zichronoli’vracha, telling us that we shouldn’t do it. Because if we close the windows and shutter them, we’ll just fall asleep. We’ll take a long nap. So it depends what you’ll do in the wilderness, what are you doing when you close the shutters. If you go into solitude carrying a pillow, or a newspaper or radio under your arm; if take with you a telephone, or a little black and white television, then that’s not solitude. You’re listening to the man on the other side of the radio or the man on the television screen who’s pouring ideas into your head. You’re far from being alone if you’re reading a newspaper – you’re sitting together with the nincompoops who write for the New York Times! And so, you have to know what to do when you’re alone.And so we’ll explain as follows: Solitude doesn’t merely mean that you should be alone; it means thatyou should be alone for a purpose,for thepurpose of perfection.Solitude means being alone and being capable of using that opportunity to produce perfection of character. And the secret to this success is the realization that actuallyyou’re not alone–you’re alone with Hashem! Now that’s something to think about! When you find that time without all of the distractions of life, and now you’re finally alone, that’s when you’re finally alone with your best friend, Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Now don’t tell this to your wife – she should always think thatshe’syour best friend. But the truth is that your greatest success and happiness in this world will come from the time you spend alone and build a relationship with your true best friend, Hakodosh Boruch Hu.IT’S GOOD TO BE A BEIS YAAKOV GIRLNow I know that many people when they hear these words, it sounds extreme to them. They think I’m exaggerating. A man here said to me once, “Relationship with Hashem?! What am I – a Beis Yaakov girl?” But that’s because people don’t realize their purpose in this world. They don’t know that they’re hereonly for that – to gain a relationship with Hashem, that is tangible; an actual kirvas Hashem.It is the most noble way of perfecting oneself, of attainingshleimusand making the most out of life.And so now we can come back to the question we asked earlier: Why did Dovid yearn so much to אלין במדבר סלה, to remain alone in the wilderness forever? And the answer is because for Dovid, what was the good in life? Dovid said, קרבת אלוקים לי טוב – “Being close to Hashem, that’s what I say is good.”THE ANCIENT SHEPHERD AND HIS GOOD FRIENDDovid grew up as a shepherd and he spent his entire youth in the wilderness.And it was there, far away from the distractions and encumbrances of life, that he found it most conducive to being alone with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. There was no company around to spoil his mind, and to distract his thoughts. He was still a boy, unencumbered with a family; he had no enemies, nobody was jealous of him yet, and he had nothing to worry about. And his true greatness came there, בנאות דשה ירביציני על מי מנוחות ינהליני – when he was lying down with his sheep in the green meadows, by the still waters of the creeks.And he would take out his harp to play sweet songs in order to inspire himself to think about hisyedid nefesh,his “best friend in the world.”And it was there that he sang to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, and his soul ascended on the notes of his harp to heaven. And he became great there, behind the sheep, singing his songs to Hashem.THE COCKTAIL KEEPS THE KING UP AT NIGHTAnd it was all of those songs of love and gratitude that Dovid sang all of his life. It says it openly in Tehillim! Dovid Hamelech was up a big part of the night, every night, talking to Hashem – this we know from his own words. He said “Tov– do you know what is good in this world?L’hodosLaHashem– to give thanks to Hashem.” And he did what he said, he practiced what he sang. “U’lizamer lishimcha elyon– the only good in the world is to sing to Your name, O, Most High,” And when did he do it?All day long! “L’hagidbabokerchasdecha.” He related Hashem’s kindness in the morning when he got up and “V’emunaschaba’leilos –“And Your steadfastness to help me in the nighttime.” This means that by day and by night, that’s what Dovid was doing; he was thanking Hashem. It wasn’t for a few minutes in the morning, and another few minutes at night. That’s just what we do, as a faint echo of what Dovid did. He spent his life in solitude with Hashem, talking and thanking, thanking and talking without end.Kol zman shehaneshama b’kirbi,as long as I’m alive,Modeh ani l’fanecha, I give my thanks to You.David was busy thanking Hashem all the time. When he breathed the air, he thanked Hashem for air. Ahh, air! The very best cocktail in the world, oxygen, mixed with a little nitrogen. Dovid would breath it in deeply and then he would thank Hashem for another breath. Of course, Dovid did other things as well. He was a king, and atalmid chochomtoo. He had a lot of work on his hands. But he always found time to be alone with Hashem.THE PROPHETS AVOID PEOPLEAnd that’s why even when he sat in the palace among hischaveirim, Dovid Hamelech said: הבט ימין וראה ואין לי מכיר – “I look on my right and I see that there is nobody who knows me.” Nobody knows me! Youthinkthey know you, but no it’s only a dream. מי לי בשמים – “Whom do I have in heaven?” You, Hashem and that’s all I need.” ועמך לא חפצתי בארץ – “And together with You I don’t want anyone else in this world.” Dovid meant these words – it wasn’t just poetry – and he meant it because his time he spent alone with Hashem had brought him close to Hashem.These were the thoughts of Dovid Hamelech, his songs that he composed and sang during his years of solitude, and so later when Dovid became amelechhe yearned for those days ofkirvas Hashem.“Ah!If only I could have wings and fly back to the wilderness where I once was as a youth! And I would be alone, alone by myself, alone with Hakodosh Boruch Hu.”And that’s what the great men of our past always did – that’showthey became great. The Chovos Halevavos tells us that: והנביאים אליהו ואלישע מצאנו היות מיחדים מקומם אל ההרים, we find that thenevi’im, Eliyahu and also Elisha, they preferred to be alone on the mountains.You know, people like to mingle with others, with company, and or spend time with friends. But thenevi’imhad theoppositeattitude. It’s a remarkable thing.They avoided the company of people as much as possible.מפני התבודדותם, because of the benefit of solitude.Of course, when it was necessary they came and they preached the message of Hashem to the public.They spoke with people when it was important, but they didn’tseekthe company of people; they preferred to be in solitude – to be alone with Hashem.GREAT MEN SKIP SHULAnd the Chovos Halevavos continues: והחכמים החסידים הראשונים זכרונם לברכה, the sages, the oldchassidimof old, הלכו בעקבותיהם, they walked in the their footsteps. They followed the example of thenevi’imand they sought solitude.כי מצאו להם זה האמצעי היותר מוכן לקנות השלימות , because they found it to be the most useful means of acquiringperfection; the most useful way to acquire Awareness of Hashem, good character and self-control.That’s why there were great men in our history who went out into the wilderness, into the forests to be alone, sometimes for days. It was a sacrifice – they gave uptefillahb’tziburand other mitzvos! Everybody knows the story.TheBaal Shem Tovwent into the forest for days.Now being days in the forest means that he misseddavenenwith aminyan.So it seems; unless maybe he slipped out once in a while into thebeis knesses, but it doesn’t say that in the story. It seems like he stayed in the forest for days.And he wasn’t taking a nap on a bed of moss.He was making use of his time and he was talking; but he wasn’t talking to himself.He was talking to Somebody with a capital S.HE CLOSED HIS GEMARA WHEN NO ONE WAS LOOKINGRav Simcha Zissel,zichrono levrachah, spent every night standing on his feet – all night long on his feet studyinggemara. That’s what he told the people he did, but you can suspect him of taking a little time out and talking to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.In the wee small hours when nobody was listening you can be certain that he was speaking to Hashem. You can take my word for it, he was spending time alone with Hashem, talking to him, the same way Dovid did.That’s what all of the greattzaddikimdid; it’s what we callhisbodedus.Rav Simcha Zissel and the Ba’al Shem Tov were doing what Moshe Rabeinu and Dovid Hamelech did for years and years in the wilderness. And thesetzadikimutilized solitude in order to gain the awareness that they are alone with Hashem; to gain a palpable feeling of standing in the presence of Hashem. And so even when they returned to theirtalmidim, to their communities, they were not deceived, they always retained the Awareness of Hashem that they had achieved in their solitude.GRAB THE OPPORTUNITIES OF LONELINESSAnd therefore the man who aspires to be better, the one who wants to make progress in this world, he tries to find opportunities to be alone. To spend your life, as much as possible, alone in your thoughts with Hakodosh Boruch Hu, that is the great career open to all of us; a noble way of perfecting oneself, of attainingshleimusand making the most out of life. Because there’s nothing in life as conducive to perfection, as the condition of being alone with HashemNow, what to do when you’re alone – that’s something that takes a lot of explaining,but the first step is to decide thatyou’re going to be a person who utilizes solitude properly.Let’s say you’re all alone in your room.There’s nobody there right now.Your wife is out shopping.It’s Saturday night and she’s out with her friends.They’re going to the stores, shopping.So you happen to be home by yourself.Ah!You can take this as a glorious opportunity.I’m alone for a little while.I’m alone with Hakadosh Baruch Hu.If you wish, you can talk to Hashem.It’s the best company.If you have nothing to say, open aTehillimand talk to Him in the words ofTehillim, the words of praise.Now that’s not achiyuv.If you wish you can go along with your wife on the shopping spree. There’s no sin if you don’t want to remain home.But if you are a person who seeks greatness of character, you seize the opportunity to be alone and you understand that it’s a gift fromshamayim. Of course you have to learn how to spend your time alone but when you learn it, you’ll appreciate that great gift.AN EXCELLENT WAY OF SPENDING YOUR TIMENow one of the first things, the most basic thing you’ll have to do when you’re alone with Hashem is to think about thechasodimhe bestows upon you all the time, and to thank Him for them. You can start by thinking about the food you ate today.Thank Hashem for your food. So you say, “I wasyotzehalready once.I thanked.”No, that’s not enough.You have to thank Him always, in addition to yourbrachos,in addition tobirkas hamazon.There’s no end to what you have to be thankful for. Walk out in the cold weather and you have a nice warm garment made of wool.You have to think about these things and tell Hashem how grateful you are to Him. ‘Thank You Hashem for giving me warm clothing!” And say, “Hashem,Baruch Atahfor a beautiful day!” It takes a long time before the day is finished; thank Him a number of times each day for a beautiful day. “It’s a beautiful day, Hashem, a beautiful day!” Now, when it’s raining – it’s also a beautiful day. “Oh,” Hashem,” it’s beautiful day when “diamonds”fall from the sky!” You say, “I thank You Hashem, I thank You Hashem, I thank You Hashem.”That’s an excellent way of spending your spare time.LEARN TO BE HAPPY!I know that most of what you’re hearing now seems a very artificial and remote to your minds; it’s so remote that we’re not even interested in hearing about it. You’re waiting for me to move on, to say something else. But I want to tell you that those people who train themselves to be alone with Hashem are the happiest creatures on earth.There is nothing more pleasurable than the opportunity to talk directly to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.That’s thesimchahofahavas Hashem; a man that is praising Hashem always is a really happy man.Now thanking Hashem is only the beginning. Once you make time to be alone with Hashem, there’s so much to do; so many good things to do to perfect your character.You can think about yourself, think about your life.Because a man has to think about himself – is he walking in the ways ofyosheror not? He has to examine his lifestyle in general and he has to examine his individual deeds, are they in accordance with what he would like them to be, or better yet, in accordance with what theTorahwould like them to be? So you need time for that! Otherwise your life goes by and you continue to repeat the same errors and not to make progress. It’s important to have time alone.THE LAMPPOST & LUNGS PROJECTAnd therefore it’s the people who live withseichel, who are cognizant of the fact that they can have a real relationship with Hashem, there’s no question they’ll be better off. Only that you can’t start all at once.You do it gradually.היום יקנה קצת ממנו, today you acquire a little bit, ומחר יוסיף עליו מעט יותר and tomorrow you add a little more, עד שיתרגל בו לגמרי until you’ll become entirely accustomed to it.So let’s say you’re walking in the street with a friend and you say “Let’s make a project that from this lamppost to the next lamppost we’ll think only of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.” Try that; it’s not as easy as it sounds. If you’re not with a friend, do it yourself; even better, you’re walking down Kings Highway all alone with “your best friend.” Challenge yourself: “If I can think about Hakadosh Baruch Hu from this street to the next street –it’s only twenty paces in between – so that means I was alone with Hashem for a little bit.” And at the end you relax.“Ah, I did it.I made it.For twenty paces I thought about Hakadosh Baruch Hu.”A man once said to me “Twenty paces is nothing.I think about Him always.”Ahnechtigehtug! It means heneverthinks about Him.You can’t do it unless you practice up and it’s not easy.It’s like breathing.You know, it’s a good idea to practice breathing.You breathe in deeply and you hold your breath and walk five paces.Then you exhale. Now you take a deep breath again and walk six paces while holding your breath, and then exhale.After a while you’ll be walking fifty paces.That’s a record for you. If you can walk fifty paces holding your breath then you have big lungs, big windbags.You can be a good runner too, an athlete.That’s the way to exercise your lungs. But here’s a way of exercising yourneshamahand your mind.IT’S A MITZVAH TO THINK ABOUT HASHEMAnd it’s not just a good piece of advice that I came up with. It’s a command of the Torah: השמר לך פן תשכח את השם אלקיך, be aware, beware not to forget Hashem.What does it mean not to forget Hashem?It doesn’t mean merely to keep themitzvos.It doesn’t say beware not to forget themitzvos.You should bewarenot to forget Hashem! That means you should be thinking about Him!Try thinking about Hakadosh Boruch Hu for one minute straight.There’s so much to think about. Think that Hashem is looking at you.Think Hashem loves you.אהבתי אתכם נאום השם – “I love you,” says Hashem. Do you think about that ever?Do you ever stop to think that Hashem loves you?He loves you a thousand more times than your mother loves you and you never thought about it?! You never once thought that Hashem loves you immensely, infinitely?!YOU’LL BECOME A HEAD TALLERThat’s a wonderful thing to think about for your one minute excursion into solitude, your minute of being alone with Hashem in your thoughts. So you’re thinking – and if there’s no one listening then you can say it too: “Hashem , I know You’re right here with me and that You’re listening to me. You love me more than I can imagine. You love me more than my mother loves me, more than my father, more than my friends love me. You’re taking care of me, everything You do to me is for the best and I love you too!And then you relax. You made it! You were together with Hakodosh Boruch Hu for a minute straight. And after a while try for two minutes.And when you get used to that, you can try a little longer. Now that’s a man who’s a head taller than the rest of the world!A DAILY OPPORTUNITYAnother remarkable opportunity for being alone with Hashem is yourdressing in the morning or undressing at night.TheTursays (Orach Chaim 2:2) that one has to be careful not to expose his body unnecessarily when he’s dressing or undressing alone in his room. So you might say well it’s dark in this room; who sees me?Don’t say, “Who sees me?”השם מלא כל הארץ כבודו.He sees you!And therefore every morning and every night when you dress and undress, it’s your opportunity to have some solitude with Hashem. You’re thinking these thoughts. Hashem is here with me and He’s looking and that’s why I’m careful how I undress. Of course Hashem has x-ray vision too.Nevertheless, the fact that He is looking should be enough to make you cover yourself.It’s a practice; it’s atargil.You do it always and little by little you gain an awareness of this great truth that Hashem is looking.It’s very important to work on that.Sometimes you take a walk and that’s a great opportunity. For all of us here walking could also be a form of solitude; solitude doesn’t mean you have to be in a cave or on a desert island. When you walk down the street, you’re all alone; no one is talking to you, and it’s a glorious opportunity to talk to Hashem.YOU NEED HASHEM CONSTANTLYAsk Hashem that He should help you with everything. “I am going for a walk Hashem. Please help me I should succeed in gaining good health, and that I shouldn’t have any difficulties with rude people that bump into me. And while they are “bumping into me” they put their hand in my back pocket and taking out my wallet. This happens every day on Kings Highway! Somebody is shouting, “I just lost my wallet; it had a hundred dollars in it!”“Please Hashem, I shouldn’t have any difficulties crossing streets.” When you want to cross the street, absolutely, you should ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu for help. Ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu to protect you from accidents. Accidents are happening all the time. You think you are a wise man, that you look both ways when you start walking and that’s enough. There is a fellow ahead of you, he is turning the corner on two wheels, and he’s not asking you for permission.Every day, therenisimhappen! He just missed you by half an inch.Here is a man walking on the sidewalk, all of a sudden, a truck zooms by – a drunken man driving a truck runs up in the sidewalk and hits him and he’s finished. He wasn’t even thinking of buying a burial plot.A young man and all of a sudden he is dead laying on the sidewalk. Ah yah yay, a tragedy! It happens again and again, drunken drivers run up on the sidewalk. You have to cross the street, surely, but before you cross, you think it’s a foolish thing to say atefillayou should cross successfully? And so, always ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And when you get to the other side, say “Thank You, Hashem that I made it across successfully.” And when you come homeb’shalom, “Baruch Hashem, I made it. I came home and everything is in order. Thank You Hakadosh Baruch Hu.” That’s solitude with Hashem, and it’s available to you all the time.Now sometimes, how to get solitude is a problem.Let’s say you’re in ayeshivahand you’re busy all day learning in theyeshiva.If you’re in a busybeis medrashwhere is your solitude? So atzaddikonce said, let’s say you’re in theyeshivahand you have agemarain front of you, so you put thegemarain front of your face and you’re transported to some far off isolated place and you’re speaking to Hakadosh Baruch Hub’hisbodedus!“Hashem, please, Hashem, see that I don’t waste my years, that I accomplish something in my young days, and help that I should be able to do something later in life for You and for Your people.”THE WRONGBASHERTIf you’re not yet married,Al zos yispallel kol chosid eilechah le’eis mitzo– every chossid has to pray when the time comes to find a wife.Matzah zuishah. You have to pray and pray, but not just one time, you have to pray and pray and pray that Hashem should send you the right one. Don’t say, “It’sbashert,” and forget about it. It could bebasherttzarosfor you,chas v’shalom. That could bebashert, too. Thegemarasays Delilah wasbashertfor Shimshon; a “bighatzlacha”he had from Delilah.So, you have to pray to Hashem, “Give me a goodbashert.” You have to pray; oh yes, you must pray. And start praying, not onerevthechasunah; pray a long time before. It is very important. You have to pray for children. For healthy children. And that your children should give younachas. How manytalmidei chachomimdon’t have anynachasfrom their children! So you’re talking to Hashem non-stop. You’re alone with Hashem in thebeis medrashand that’s what theChovos Halevavoscalls התבודדות בתוך ההמון; it’s possible to be “in solitude in the midst of a multitude.”Of course you can’t be alone all the time. You have to be a father or a mother as well. You have to be a son or a daughter, a neighbor, and employee, whatever it is. But as much as possible, if you can spend time in solitude, a little bit, more or less, and think about Hashem and talk to Him, it’s amazing what can be achieved.Then you feelyou’re alone with Hakadosh Baruch Hu.And that’s the truth.Because even when you’re dwelling among your brothers, you’re in a crowd, you’re hanging on a strap in the subway, you’re really all alone.So now you’ll think about that when you’re on the subway.You’re caught in the subway in rush hour and you’re hanging on the strap, close your eyes and feelthe place is empty.Of course you should watch your pockets anyhow.Keep your hand on your wallet and forget about the crowd around you. All around you is a storm of humanity with all their little interests, their little worries, their conversations, their little minds. You’re holding onto the strap but you are now in the wilderness of Midian all alone; you’remisbodedwith Hashem and you’re coming closer to Him.GETTING YOUR MIND CLEANED AT THE DENTISTLet’s say you’re sitting in a waiting room by a dentist and you have to wait a half hour. If you have asefer, look in thesefer.You don’t have asefer? Here’s your chance.Or you wake up in the middle of the night.Sometimes for a few minutes you can’t sleep.So until you fall asleep again let’s say you’ll be thinking:כי הוא אמר ויהי, Hashem spoke.That’s all He did, He spoke and the world came into existence.הוא ציוה, He commandedויעמוד and there arose a world.בדבר השם שמים נעשו, the heavens were made only by the word of Hashem.That’s why it says לעולם השם דברך ניצב בשמים.Your word is standing in theshamayim, Your word! You saidyehiand it’s standing in theshamayim.You take away the wordyehiand the wholeshamayimwould collapse into nothing. Everything around you is all just Hashem’s imagination. You ever think about that? He spoke כי הוא אמר ויהי.He was the One who wasmehavehthe wholebriah.A greatnes.It never happened againyesh mei’ayin! That’s a thought that can make you great while you’re sitting alone in the dentist office or hanging onto the subway strap.Let’s say you’re sitting at abar mitzvahparty and all around you all the tongues are clacking. What do you need it for? Is all that chatter going to do you good in the Next World?! So you’re a smart fellow, so you act like you’re listening but your mind is someplace else.You’re “in the forest” now, like the Baal Shem Tov went in the forest.You’re in the forest with Hashem.ויתבודד עם בוראו – You’re find solitude with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And when somebody asks you something, so you come out of the forest to answer. They’ll say, “He’s absent minded,” so you say “I’m sorry, I was thinking about something.”They’ll think you were thinking about your business or something.Let them think so.What we’re seeing now is that It’s possiblel’hisboded b’soch ha’hamon,to find solitude with Hashem even as you’re in the midst of people.LOUD CHASUNA MUSIC IS AYESHUAHLet’s sayyou’re attending a wedding.At the wedding as you sit around, it’s not polite to take out agemara; so you’re sitting at the table or you’re dancing, clapping, whatever you’re doing, you’re participating. But your mind is with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. First of all, you can say to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, “Ribono Shel Olam bless thechossonand bless thekallahthey should all have good health all their lives.They should haveparnasahberevach.”You could say it with your mind and nobody’s listening. But even better, you can say it with your mouth – the music is so loud, nobody will hear you. They think you’re singing along. Bless them that they should have the most beautiful and smartest children.Bless them they should always get alongb’simchahwith each other. Bless them they should live long and dance at the weddings of all their grandchild and great-grandchildren. Do you think that at all?Why shouldn’t you?They need yourtefilos.Everybody getting married, you should know, needs as manytefilosas possible.And אתה שומע, Hashem is listening to yourtefilos. And when you do this, you should know you are exceptional. Because you’re in a big wedding hall full of people, hundreds of people. But as far as you’re concerned, it’s just you and Hashem.GREATNESS AT COUSIN CHAIM’S HOUSEOr let’s say you were forced to go somewhere; after all you must go to visit Cousin Chaim in Boro Park. It’s your wife’s cousin, and you can’t say no this time. So they’re eatingmelave malkahand everybody is chatting and you’re like a fish on dry land. Their minds are being ground to pieces by the idle chatter. So you’re sitting among them and you close your eyes for a moment.They’ll think you’re dozing off but actually you have retired into your cave and you’re talking to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.You’re thinking your thoughts. Everybody is talking, you’re thinking! Ahh! That’s solitude. Just for a moment.One moment is also a very big achievement.Solitude doesn’t mean a lifetime of being isolated from humanity.Every minute is an achievement in itself. Of coursetzaddikimare able to havedeveikus,clinging to Hashem,always.But we’re not that big.But if you havedeveikusfor one minute then you’ve already accomplished something great with your life.Now I know people will listen to me and they will just dismiss these ideas. They think that it’s amidas chassidus,it’s something that only very great people should do.But that’s wrong. Don’t think that what we’re saying here is going overboard. Just because ordinary people will often live like they do withhesech hada’as; theydavenas ordinary peopledavenand mostly their minds are occupied with ordinary things, doesn’t means that you have to do the same. Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants more than ordinariness. He wants you to be close to Him because those who are far away from Him will eventually go lost.And even though you seem to be ashomermitzvos,but actually you’re far away from Him if your mind doesn’t concentrate on Him, if you’re not living with Him in your mind. And therefore, as much as possible you spend time talking to Hashem. You don’t have to have asiddur, you don’t need aTehillim. Use your own mind. In your own thoughts, in your own words, you’re alone with Hashem.SOLITUDE THREE TIMES A DAYNow, while we’re on the topic, I’ll mention one more opportunity that we have every day and that’sshemonah esrei.Theamidahyou know, is said almost silently, and it’s supposed to be as if you’re standing in thekodesh hakodoshimand you’re talking to theshechinah.That’s how a person should imagine himself.There’s nobody around and you’re talking directly to Hashem. It’s a glorious opportunity.Nobody can hear what you’re saying except yourself perhaps, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu is listening.Now that’s real solitude.Only that when a person doesn’t have the attitude of talking to Hakadosh Baruch Hu so hisshemonah esreiis just to him something he has to rattle off by rote, something he has to do, and he’ll never experience the ecstasy of speaking to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And that’s the great tragedy of what we do when we daven; we’re talking to Hashem but actually קרוב אתה בפיהם ורחוק מכליותיהם – “You are close in their mouths but You are far away from their kidneys.” It means that You, Hashem are far away from their insides, their minds. That’s what thenavisaid. And that’s the truth – that’s whatdavenenis.And so it’s very important for us to think Hashem is listening to us. That’s step number one:כי אתה שומע, You are listening. If He’s listening to you, it’s impossible to remove your mind from thinking what you are saying.When you’re just saying something to the wall or to thesiddurit’s possible to forget thekavanah, the intention, of what you’re saying.But when you’re talking to someone, you never talkshelo bekavanahunless you’remeshuga.IT’S GOOD TO BE A HYPOCRITEAnd it’s only if a man sincerely embarks on a career of learning to constantly speak to Hashem, that hisdavenenfinally becomes meaningful. Now at first it’s superficial; you’re a hypocrite. Of course it’s a good hypocrisy – you’re doing it to train yourself. You talk to Hashem and you say, “I thank You Hashem that You have made me healthy.” When you see a man hopping in the street with one empty trousers leg; he has crutches and you have two good legs, you have to stop and think “Boruch Atah Hashem,that I have two legs.” You see a man walking in the street and one empty sleeve pinned to his pocket, you have to thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu that you have two arms.The gemara says, לעולם יבקש אדם שלא יחלה – A person should always ask forrachamimnot to become sick. When should he do it?L’olam! Always! Sickness is always lurking in every nook and cranny of the body.All around us germs are floating around in the air. If you walk in the street, and somebody coughs into your face, a whole mouthful of germs sticks to your face from his saliva. It is a very fine form of disgrace!LEARNING TO SAY “YOU”We are in the midst of a cauldron of peril, and illness is one of the most frequent things that happen,chas v’shalom,to a person. And so thechachomimare giving us a piece of very sound advice – ask Hashem not to become ill. You can ask in general, which is also good, but when you hear what happened to a certain man, that he had a tumor in his brain, then you should ask Hashem specifically, “Ribono Shel Olam, heal that man; send him arefuah sheleima besoch sh’ar cholei Yisroel.And please Hashem protect me, protect me! Hashem, I don’t want a brain tumor! Please protect me!” And no matter how many times you say it will not be enough. Inshemone esreiwe say it three times a day but actually all day long you have to thank Hashem that you are well and ask Him to keep you well. Always pray that you should be well, your wife should be well, your children should be well, pray for them all the time.And little by little you will get accustomed to saying the words. And after a while you’re going to feel that there is Somebody actually listening. After a while, when you say אתה, “You” you feel like you’re talking to Somebody. And when that great day comes, then you know you have arrived! That’s what the Mesillas Yesharim says, that at first you say it, and say it, and after a while the realization enters your mind that you’re actually talking to Someone. You’re talking to Hashem and you’ve begun to taste the sweetness of being alone with Him.THE GREAT CAREER OF MOSHE RABEINUNow, we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the great opportunity of being alone with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. It’s a great career that is open to everyone, men and women, boys and girls. And it’s the career that made Moshe ben Amram into Moshe Rabeinu. And so we come back to the question that we asked in the beginning of our talk. What was the secret to Moshe Rabeinu’s success? What did he do for more than forty years wandering alone in the wilderness of Sinai, and shepherding in the mountains of Midian? And the answer is that those were the years that made him great because those were the years that he spent alone with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. It was days, and months, and years of thinking about Hashem, taking to Hashem, becoming more and more aware of Hashem. All the things we spoke about tonight – and much much more – were accomplished by Moshe during those years.One of the prime requisites for the development of greatness is solitude. And having to go lost for forty lonely years was the great opportunity for greatness that Hashem presented to Moshe Rabeinu. Moshe Rabeinu led Yisro’s flocks into the wilderness alone, like Yaakov had done many years earlier in the house of Lavan, and like Dovid did many years later. And it was there, in solitude with Hashem that his character and grew apace and ripened until the day when Hashem deemed him ready for his destiny.And that’s who we aspire to emulate – like we said before: כל אדם ראוי להיות צדיק כמשה רבינו– “Every person is fit to be righteous like Moshe Rabeinu.” Only that you have to start somewhere! We’re all capable of using the great opportunity of solitude from time to time; of using these exercises we spoke about tonight to train ourselves into a life of solitude with Hakodosh Boruch Huthe same way that Moshe Rabeinu did.And once you start on that career, even if it’s only one minute at a time, then you’re already living successfully. You’re utilizing the great opportunity of being alone with Hashem in this world in order to prepare for that great career in the Afterlife of being alone with Hashem forever and ever. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. 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Hashem’s Bitter MedicineIT’S TIME TO GO HOME!InParshas Va’eirathe seeds of our redemption fromMitzrayimfinally begin to take root and sprout. The time has come for the tenmakkos, the great retribution upon Pharaoh and his slavemaster people, and for theAm Yisroelto finally make their exit from the long and arduous servitude in the ארץ לא להם, the land not their own. Thegeulahof theAm Yisroel,the fulfillment of ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול, had finally arrived.And on what basis was theAm Yisroelgoing to be taken out ofMitzrayimnow? That we all know; it was thebris bein hab’sarim,the famous covenant that Hashem had made with Avraham centuries earlier. You remember when Avraham asked Hakodosh Boruch Hu: במה אדע כי אירשנה – “How do I know that the land will be mine”? (Bereishis 15:8). “Give me some guarantee,” begged Avraham, “a guarantee that I’m going to receive the land; that my progeny will one day inherit this land.” Avraham was worried; “Who knows? Maybe our merit won’t be sufficient. Maybe someday You’ll be unpleased with us. I want an unbreakable covenant with You!” So Hakadosh Baruch Hu told him then, “Take three calves, three goats and three rams, so that you and I can enter into a covenant.” And what did Avraham do? He took these animals and cut them in half and set the parts opposite each other.That was the practice in those days. It says that in Yirmiyahu (34:19). When you wanted to enter a covenant, when you wanted to commit yourself to a course of action with an unbreakable promise, you would divide an animal and pass between its pieces as a sign of your commitment to uphold the deal.HAKODOSH BORUCH HU SEALS THE DEALSo what happened? Hakadosh Baruch Hu sent down His Presence, His glory, in the form of a fiery furnace to “seal the deal.” Suddenly a greatdread and a darkness fell upon the scene. And Avraham witnessed how this fiery furnace – it was the Presence of Hashem – marched between the offerings. והנה תנור עשן ולפיד אש אשר עבר בין הגזרים האלה – “And behold, a smoking furnace and a torch of fire passed through the pieces” (ibid. 15:17).That was thebris bein hab’sarim, when Hakodosh Boruch Hu came down and entered into a covenant with Avraham. ביום ההוא כרת השם את אברהם ברית – “On that day Hashem made a covenant with Avraham” (ibid. 15:18). It’s something unequaled in the history of our people, even among the greatest prophets, that such a covenant was made. That Hakodosh Boruch Hu should come down and “shake hands” to close the deal?! It’s unheard of in all of history.And what did Hakodosh Boruch Hu tell Avraham at that moment? ידע תדע כי גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם – “Know with certainty that your offspring will be sojourners in a land not their own, ועבדום וענו אותם… ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול- “And they will enslave them, and oppress them… and afterwards they shall leave with great possessions… to your descendants I have given this land” (ibid. 15:13-18). So it was an imperishable promise that Hakadosh Baruch Hu had made, that He would stand by His people and that He would eventually take them out ofMitzrayimand bring them to the land that He had promised to them.THE TIME FINALLY COMESAnd now, in the beginning of ourparsha, Hakodosh Boruch Hu is telling Moshe to let His people know that the time has come. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is invoking that great promise He had made centuries before. וגם הקימותי את בריתי איתם לתת להם את ארץ כנען – “I am upholding My covenant that I made for them to give them Eretz Canaan” (Va’eira 6:4). “The time has come for Me to fulfill My promise to the Bnei Yisroel,” says Hashem, והבאתי אתכם אל הארץ אשר נשאתי את ידי לתת אותה – “And I will bring you to the land which I raised up My hand to give it to you” (ibid. 6:8).But it’s very important that we should listen to the next verse, thepossukafter Hashem invokes the great promise:וגם הקימותי את בריתי – “And not only am I upholding the covenant I made with Avraham,” but also – now listen to these words: וגם אני שמעתי את נאקת בני ישראל אשר מצרים מעבידים אותם – and I also heard the outcry of the Bnei Yisroel, ואזכור את בריתי – “And therefore, I am now reminded of My promise to them” (ibid. 6:5). What do we see here? That despite the covenant, despite the oath that had to be fulfilled – it’s the word of Hashem after all so there’s no way that He would fail to fulfill it –despite all that, Hakodosh Boruch Huwaiteduntil he heard their outcry.THE GREAT OUTCRYAnd not just one outcry; they cried out for a long time. It’s repeated again and again: “I have heard their crying out” (ibid. 3:7), “Their crying out has come before Me” (ibid. 3:9), “I have heard the groaning outcry ofBnei Yisroel.” And it was only when He heard enough outcries from them, וגם שמעתי את נאקת בני ישראל, it was only then that finally Hakodosh Boruch Hu decided to fulfill His covenant with them.And that’s something we say every day in thesiddurועונה לעמו ישראל בעת שועםאליו – “Hashemanswers His people Yisroel, at the time that they cry out to Him.” It doesn’t say merely that He hastens to their succor; thatHe is at hand to help them. It doesn’t say that. It saysv’oneh, “He is ready to answer them.” When?B’eis shav’ameilav, at the time that they cry out.Shav’ammeans “a great outcry.” ואת שועתם ישמע – “He hears their outcries,” ויושיעם – “AndthenHe rescues them” (Tehillim 145:19). So we see that it’s not sufficient merely to mumble a little prayer. And even to cry out once or twice is not enough. It’s important to make a big outcry to Hashem, and to do it again and again.DID WE MISS THE FINE PRINT?And actually that’s a very big question. Because whydidHashem need our outcry? He had already raised His hand and swore that He would take us out fromMitzrayim! So why is the crying out to Him for help under the heavy weight of oppression so important? And even more remarkable, the words of thepossukimply that our redemption wasdependenton our crying out: ועתה הנה צעקת בני ישראל באה אלי…ועתה לכה ואשלחך אל פרעה והוצא את עמי בני ישראל ממצרים – “The outcry ofBneiYisroelhas come to Me…AndnowI will send you to Pharaoh and take out My nation fromMitzrayim” (ibid. 3:9-10). Even the great covenant of thebris bein hab’sarim,the inviolate word of Hashem wasdependenton theAm Yisroel’sentreaties, on their crying out to Hashem. And that’s very strange because that wasn’t part of thebris bein hab’sarim;“crying out” wasn’t part of the deal that we “signed!”But first, there’s a fundamental question we have to ask about the entire subject oftefillah, of praying for something. We introduce many of our prayers with the wordsyehi ratzon– “May it be Your will, Hashem…” For instance, suppose somebody is in the midst ofshemonah esreiand he remembers there’s somebody ill,chalilah, in the family. Or it’s a person he knows and he wants to pray for him. So he adds these words:יהי רצון מלפניךהשם אלוקינו ואלוקי אבותינו שתשלח מהרה רפואה שלימה מן השמים רפואת הנפש ורפואת הגוף – “It should be Your will Hashem, our G-d and the G-d of our fathers, that You should send speedily a complete recovery from heaven, a recovery of the soul and recovery of the body,” that means mentally and physically. And we mention the person, his name, so that he should be healed among all the othercholeiYisroel. Now, we are sayingyehi ratzon, it should be Your will. That’s how we introduce thetefillah.ILLNESS IS ALSO CHESSED HASHEMNow we have to know that whatever “happens” to a person is Hashem’s will. Nobody is sick because of accident. It’s always Hashem’s will. Of course, sometimes a man can induce the illness by his own carelessness, but nevertheless it’s Hashem’s will. That’s his punishment for being negligent with his care, with his health, or his safety. If a man is careless, he’s being punishedby Hashem. No matter what, it’s Hashem’s will that decreed that this man should be ill.And when Hakadosh Baruch Hu makes a decree like that, we have a principle, a fundamental principle calledkol orchos Hashem chesed v’emes –all the ways of Hashem are kindliness and truth (Tehillim 25:10).צדיק השם בכל דרכיו – “Hashem is righteous in all His ways,” וחסיד בכל מעשיו –”And He is kindly in all His acts.” (Ibid. 145:17) Now, when you come in here you have to divest yourself of outside attitudes. Because here we want to studyTorah attitudes; and the truth of the matter is thatHakadosh Baruch Hu does everything for kindly purposes. Everything! And if it was His will that this man should be ill, then it must be for this man’s benefit. What the most important benefit is, we’ll study soon, but it’s out of the question that it shouldn’t be a kindliness. Itcertainlyis for the person’s benefit.“HASHEM, CAN I GET A SECOND OPINION?”So here it was Hakadosh Baruch Hu’sratzonto give this man the benefit of becoming sick. So the question arises, where do we get the audacity to ask Hashem to change His will? Suppose a man goes to a physician and the physician writes a prescription for some medication, let’s say it’s a foul tasting medication. Would the man say to the physician, יהי רצון מלפניך – “It should be your willnotto give me this prescription. I want to get along without the prescription.”? Only ameshugenehwould say such a thing! The doctor studied for years and years, his profession is medicine, his knowledge and experience is medicine. He’s the expert here. And you’re just an obstinate fellow, maybe ignorant too. Either the expense is too much for you, or maybe you don’t like the taste of the medicine. So you don’t want to bother with it. It’s ameshugasto even ask such a thing!And here is Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the great Healer, and He’s prescribing for a man certain pills – whether the pills are troubles, or headaches, or pains, or illness – big and small. Whatever it is, it’s certainlypills. There’s no question that Hashem is benefitting the man by giving him these troubles, these misfortunes, pains or illnesses. So how can a man say to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, “I beg of you,yehi ratzon, that You should change the prescription, or not give me the prescription at all?” That’s a big question that needs to be answered. And actually that’s what all ourbakashosseem to be – an attempt to change the will of Hashem.WHY ALL THE TURBULENCE?And another question – just as important and maybe even more perplexing: What’s Hashem’s purpose in causing any disturbance, either in a man’s health or in his family life or in his business? It’s a question we want to ask of Him: “Why do You send anything to ruffle the tranquility of our lives?” After all, like we just said, Hashem’s ways are perfect, and He is kindly in all of His deeds. That’s a truism. So why is it that we see sometimes that Hashem does things that seem to be contradictory to these principles of kindliness?Actually it’s a question that all thinking men ask one time or another. Because chalilahsomething happens; sometimes it happens. Here’s a man who’s successful, and all of a sudden a freak misfortune happens to him and unfortunately he’s in the hospital. It’s not an accident, it’s Hashem! So he’s thinking, “Why did this happen to me? Before everything was going smoothly with me;boruch HashemI was a good frum Jew more or less. Why did Hashem do this?”THE GREATEST CHESED!And the answer is as follows: There is a great kindliness that’s most paramount, more important than all thechassodimin the world – more important thanparnasah, more important thanshalom bayis, and good health. And that’s the kindliness calledyiras Hashem.Yiras Hashem– which means to be Aware of Hashem, that’s the most important thing in your life. Now, this might sound queer to the ears of those who live with materialism, but it’s a fundamental principle that we must get into our heads.We are here to gain Awareness of Hashem.Now, if that’s the purpose, then what a tragedy it is when people let their lives go by and fail to utilize the opportunities to recognize Hashem. You forgot about Him?! To forget Hashem is the worst ruinationin life! To live without awareness is not a life worth living!So Hashem sees that you’re wasting your life – of course you’re afrumperson – you’re doingmitzvos,you’re ultra-ultra Orthodox.But that’s not enough for Hashem. He doesn’t want “Orthodox;” He wants to squeezegreatnessout of you! He wants to save you so that your life shouldn’t be wasted. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to give you the gift of being Aware of Him.HASHEM: A ONE DAY HEADACHE FOR CHAIMSo what does Hashem do? He orders a prescription; one headache. Prescribed: Chaim ben Dovid,one headache, for one day. It’s a pill. And so one morningyou wake up with a headache. And what’s the purpose of that prescription?The purpose of the headache is so that you should call out to Him and achieve the perfection of even a little more awareness of Hashem.And when you do that, you’re turning your migraine into diamonds!All the events in a man’s life are being manipulated by Hakadosh Boruch Hu; He puts disturbances in your life so you’ll call out to Him. And that is the chief purpose of every mishap in your life; to cause you to cry out for aid from Hashem and to thereby become more aware of Him. The outcry that comes from desperation, from unrequited needs and from anguished hopes for the future, causes Awareness of Hashem’s Presence, and it is that Awareness that is the true achievement, the chief purpose of Man’s existence in this life.“BETTER ANGER THAN LAUGHTER”And now we have an answer to the age old question of why “bad” things happen to good people: Because Awareness of Hashem is the greatestchesedthat Hashem can give man, and most often it is thetzaros,and the crying out to Hashem it encourages, that brings this Awareness. When you’re subject to adversity, that’s the great opportunity to bemakirHakodosh Boruch Hu, to recognize Hashem. When a man finds himself subject to mishaps and misfortunes – he needs things, so it’s much easier for him to raise his eyes to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and ask for it; and that is the great gift of Awareness of Hashem.And therefore, טוב כעס משחוק – Better anger than laughter” (Koheles 7:3). Now we know that’s not true. Anger is no good; it’s a very big mistake to get angry. But there isoneanger that is good – and that’s Hashem’s anger. טוב כעס שכועס הקדוש ברוך הוא על הצדיקים – That’s good. When Hashem gets angry at you, that’stov, that’s good for you. Don’t ask for it though. You ask for good times. הרחב פיך ואמלאהו, ask Him for good times and appreciate what He’s giving you. But still, “when Hashem shows his anger to thetzadikim, that’s better than the smiling Hashem does on thereshaim.” (Shabbos 30b) If there ever happened that atzadik,chalilahhad a setback, a misfortune, so you must know, and he must know, that it’s a stroke of good fortune. Now I know that it’s very hard to accept, but we have to learn that and understand that it’s achesed gadolwhen that happens to him.Tov, it’s better, it’s a greaterhatzlachathan had Hashem smiled.ברוע פנים ייטב לב, When the face is sad then the heart becomes better (ibid.). Now it doesn’t mean you should be sad and sour faced. On the contrary – if you’re sad faced it shows that you don’t appreciate what Hashem is doing for you. You don’t appreciate that things aretov. But sometimes a man against his will is sad because some misfortune has happened to him, so he should know however that ייטב לב, hisneshamais improving.DON’T TAKE THE WRONG MEDICINESo when Hashem sends you a headache, you have to know that it was for a great purpose. And if you take an aspirin, and after one day the headache goes away,and you never cried out to Hashem, so you wasted the prescription. You’ve wasted an opportunity! The purpose was for you to become Aware of Hashem, and you wasted the glorious opportunity.And so when we ask Hashem “Yehiratzon, let it be Your will that I be healed,” we are not telling Hakadosh Baruch Hu tochange His will.Yehi ratzonmeans this: “Hashem, I know that what You want from me is that I should become more Aware of You. And that’s what I’m doing now; I’m calling out to you. Let it be Your will that I can get better now – or mytzaarshould be removed, whatever it is you’re asking for –becauseI’m calling out to You. I’m becoming more aware of You. Whatever trouble You gave me, can go away now because I’ve achieved the purpose.”WHEN HASHEM DOESN’T ANSWERNow the truth is that sometimes you cry out to Hashem and He doesn’t answer. A man called me on the telephone and he tells me: He’s crying out and crying out, and there’s no answer. He wants to know what he’s supposed to think.He’s supposed to think thatHakadosh Boruch Huwants him to cry out even more. And suppose he cries out even more – let’s say a man is on his deathbed, he’s an old man, 119 years old, he can’t expect to live much more. But still he cries out on his deathbed. Did he waste his time? No! He achieved maybe in his last minutes more than he did in his whole life.119 YEARS IS NOT ENOUGH?!An old man is crying out on his deathbed, he says “Oh, Hashem, heal me!” “Oh it’s silly,” you’ll say. The bystanders think it’s ridiculous. “You want to be healed?! How long do you want to hang around here?! The children want to take over the business already, they want the “old man” out of the way already. 119 years is not enough?! No, for him it’s not enough. When you’re on your deathbed it’s never enough. He wants to live a thousand years. Why shouldn’t he? He has a great grandfather who lived almost a thousand years. Mesushelach lived almost a thousand years so why can’t he?So he’s crying out to Hashem. Why not? He has the right to cry out. And when he finally takes his last breath don’t think he didn’t accomplish with the crying out. He accomplished plenty.The crying out is the purpose.That’s the biggest achievement there is. So nobody is ever frustrated in hisdavenenwhen he’s not answered – because he has gained the most important thing, more Awareness of Hashem.DISCOVERING WINEMAKINGIt’s like a man who has a very good vineyard. He has blue-blooded grapes, good quality grapes “with ayichus, with a pedigree.” So when he takes his grapes to the wine press and he presses out the wine, it’s a pity to take that mash, the residue, and throw it away.So he decides to press it a little more; he takes that mash and presses it some more. He puts them on the wine press and gives akvetch. And a little more good wine squirts out. But it’s not enough for him. He says, “I can’t leaveanywine inside the peel. Maybe there’s some more good wine in there. So he puts it under the press again and puts some more pressure to get out the last drop.Now you have to know thatweare the good grapes and Hashem wants to press from usall the yiras Hashemthat He could get– for our own benefit. He wants to squeeze out some more “good wine of Awareness” from us because from good grapes you try to squeeze out all that you can.THE SOUL OF GOOD GRAPESAnd so Hakodosh Boruch Hu is pressing us with all kinds of pressure. One pressure might be trouble withparnasa, another might be trouble with your children, or trouble having children,chas v’shalom. And when you cry out to Hashem, that’s the good wine, the good wine of Awareness of Hashem dripping from the good grapes of yourneshamah. When your heart is torn with anguish, and you turn to Hashem for His help; you weep and you pour out your heart intefillah,that’sthe good wine that Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants from you. And sometimes He might press you again and again, and the good grapes will keep on giving good wine.Until finally Hashem will say, “Enough! You achieved exactly what I wanted from you.” And now רצון יראיו יעשה ואת שועתם ישמע ויושיעם – it means that Hakodosh Boruch Hu does the will of those who continue to grow in Awareness of Him, but first they have to cry out to Him.Shavasammeans that they cry out. They cry out! “Oh,” says Hashem, “If that’s the case, if you’re crying out to Me, so you’re becoming Aware of Me. So now, ויושיעם- “Now I’ll help you. Once you cried out, once you perfected yourself in Awareness of Hashem, so now I’ll answer you.”SO IT WASN’T FINE PRINT AFTER ALL!And that leads us to the answer that we were searching for in the beginning of our talk. Hakodosh Boruch Hu had given us His word at thebris bein hab’sarim; He caused Hisshechinato pass through thebesarim, the halves of the animals, and swore to Avraham that He would take us out of Mitzrayim. So how is it that now He could he make our geulahdependenton our crying out to Him? Is not the word of Hashem imperishable?!דבר אלוקינו יקום לעולם – “The word of Hashem stands forever” (Yeshayah 40:8).And so we’ll study again the words of Hashem to Avraham Avinu. ועבדום וענו אותם – “And they will enslave them, and oppress them” (Bereishis 15:13) The word וענו, “and they will oppress,” you must know actually means “and they will cause you to cry out.” The wordani, a poor or afflicted man, actually means “the man that cries out,” from the rootanah, “to speak up.” Thegemara(Bava Basra 10a) tells us that “the poor man is beloved by Hashem,” becausehe cries outto Hashem in his affliction, and he therefore becomes more Aware of Him.And so we have to say that the וענו אותם that Hashem promised us, thetzarosthat Hashem foretold would come upon us in Mitzrayim,were intended specifically for the Bnei Yisroel to reach greater and greater heights of Awareness of Hashem. That was its purpose. And how? By means of the עינוי, by means of them calling out to Him and thereby becoming more Aware of Him and of their dependence on Him.PREPARING US TO BECOME HASHEM’S PEOPLEHashem had brought the afflictions on the Am Yisroelfor the purposeof causing them to cry out to Him. He was preparing us inMitzrayimto become “My people,” and the oppression was His plan of conferring upon us the perfection of crying out to Him. The heavy affliction caused a great and unceasing outcry, which resulted in a heightened Awareness of Hashem. It was this keen Awareness which made them My people,and now the covenant with the Avos could be triggered, and become effective, in causing their deliverance from Mitzrayim.And until they would reach those heights, that achievement of Awareness, then the ועבדום might have been fulfilled, but the וענו אותם – “And I will cause them to oppress you until you cry out to Me,” would still be missing.In reality the entire bondage and affliction were intended to be stimulation towards the outcry to Hashem, and toward the achievement of a greater Awareness of Hashem, which would be demonstrated by their outcry to Him.PHARAOH, HASHEM’S WINEMAKERAnd if we wouldn’t have cried out to Hashem we would have remained there forever. Absolutely we wouldn’t have come out ofMitzrayim.Hashem said, “You have to cry out to Me if you want to get the salvation.” And that’s why Hashem applied pressure. When He saw that they were not crying enough so He told Pharaoh, “Get busy and apply a little more pressure to the wine press.” So all of a sudden Pharaoh comes out with a new decree: “Up till now you were making bricks and I supplied the hay, the straw. Now you go look for the straw by yourself.” That’s a double job. In addition to making bricks all day long, in your lunch hour, in your three minute lunch hour, go and look for straw too. Because את מתכונת הלבנים, the same amount of bricks has to be supplied, the same count of bricks you must continue to give.Now that’s putting pressure on the wine press with a vengeance!Even when they cried out, Hashem pressed more on the good grapes. So the Bnei Yisroel cried out more. And that’s what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted. “Ahh, my children. You remember Me now. You’re aware that I’m in existence – you know about Me now.” It’s like a man who is carrying his child on his shoulders – and this child was so happy riding on high; he thoughthewas the tall one. So he started kicking with his feet, kicking his father in the chest with his feet, he was so happy.So the father saw now that his son was not aware of him anymore, his child was riding on high. So when the father saw a dog coming, he put the child down near the dog, “Oh, Poppy, Poppy, save me.” “Oh,” the father said, “So I’m a Poppy now.”And so even after Hakodosh Boruch Hu took the Bnei Yisroel out from Mitzrayim, He was afraid –afraidfor them-that they might forget about Him. He took them out of Egypt, so it’s all over now. Now they can stop crying. So ויבוא עמלק – And Amalek came (Shemos 17:8). So they cried out to Hashem. “Oh,” Hashem said, “I’m still around, huh?!” Because that’s the arrangement of Hakodosh Boruch Hu in this world. It wasn’t a one-time event, in Mitzrayim. Forever and ever the plan of Hashem is to press the good grapes of the Am Yisroel a little bit more. And our job is to always utilize the opportunities and not make it necessary for the wine press to be pressed even harder.BE SMART AND DON’T WAITLet’s remember always that there aremadreigosandmadreigosin persecution – and wise is the man who will use all of them, even the smallest misfortune, to improve, by calling out to Hashem and becoming more Aware of Him.So you’re standing in your store and no customers are coming in. Why are you wasting the great opportunity?! You have to cry out to Hashem, “Ribono Shel Olam!Please give me some customers!” And those opportunities are endless, because all day long there are bumps in the road. Just because there’s no taskmaster standing over you with a whip, doesn’t mean you can’t use the opportunities oftza’arin your life – the smallest things and the biggest things – to call out to Hashem.YOU ARE STANDING IN A GOLD MINE!I’ll tell you something else. Don’t let yourshemonah esreigo to waste! You mean to say you’re going to spend your years just mumbling yourtefillosevery day by rote and not thinking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu?!?Shemonah esreiis a gold mine. And when you’re standing in a gold mine, even if you grab only one handful you’re already a wealthy man. But you have to know how to grab! כל שאינו אומרה בלשון תחנונים – “If you’re not begging Hashem for mercy, if you’re not crying out and begging, so your tefillah is not a tefillah” (Brachos 29b). When you daven, you have to daven כרש המבקש בפתח, like a poor man begging at the door of a rich man (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 89:3). He’s talking here about a man without shoes, he’s hungry and cold, and he’s begging for something to eat. That’s a man who knows how to cry out! And that’s howwe’resupposed to daven.Now we can’t ask too much of you, but when you standshemonah esreiat least onebrachahfrom the gold mine you can choose to sayb’tachanunim. For one thing at least you can cry out to Hashem instead of running through the words. You have a cold? “R’faeinu Hashem, v’neirafei!”Cry out! Trouble withparnasah? Cry out, “Bareich aleinu!” There’s fighting in the house, machlokes with the neighbor?Sim shalom! Don’t just mumble the words to yourself; cry out to Hashem! At least in your mind you should be crying out; it should be a cry of the mind up to Hashem.And sometimes things get even more difficult. And what that means is that Hashem wants even more Awareness from you. When things are going hard withparnasah, so you get desperate – you were hoping this job would work out, or maybe this deal would go through – but nothing is going, you’re at your wit’s end! So what happens? בלית ברירה, you have no choice – your rich uncle won’t take your phone calls, the bank won’t lend you any more money, and welfare won’t pay the bills. So you have to cry out to Hashem. Ohh, that’s ahatzlacha– that’s more important than yourparnasah!LET’S LEARN FROM IYOV’S MISTAKENow, I want to expand this subject a little more. Because once we understand that the purpose of tefillah is Awareness of Hashem, so you’ll see that we’re not talking only abouttefillahwhen somethingalreadyhappened; I’m also talking abouttefillahthat itshouldn’thappen.Tefillah koidem l’tzarah, how important that is! When you falltachanun, you fall on your arm aftershemonahesrei, so it’stachanunim, you’re entreating Hashem for mercy.Rachum v’Chanun– “Hashem, You’re the Merciful One.”השם אל באפך תוכיחני – “Please Hashem, don’t rebuke me in Your anger,” ואל בחמתך תיסרני – Please don’t chastise me in Your wrath.” So you might think that thiskepitelis for Dovid maybe; he was in trouble so he was calling out, that’s why he said those words. No, don’t make that mistake; it’s for us! And we’re saying itso there shouldn’t come trouble. We want to be wise enough to call out to Hashem before thetzaraheven comes.Why waitchalilah? Maybe it’ll be too late then. You remember howIyovwas in trouble,gehokte tzaros. He lost his sons; he lost his daughters. He lost everything; he even lost his health. And he was sitting on a garbage pile; this wealthy man now didn’t have a home at all – he was sitting on the dunghill of the city and he was scratching his wounds. The puss was dripping from his wounds and he was scratching the itching wounds with a piece of broken pottery. Imagine the scene. It’sIyov, the “great richIyov,” sitting on a dunghill, with a piece of a broken pot scratching his itching wounds. He couldn’t even afford a salve to heal himself!So his friends came to visit him, hischaveirimwho knew him in his good days. And one of them said to him as follows: היערוך שועך ולא בצר – Did you set forth your outcrybeforeyou were in distress?” You hear that?! היערוך, “Did you set forth your outcry to Hashem, did you arrange yourtefillos, לא בצר,beforethe trouble came upon you?” (Iyov 36:19).That’s what he said toIyov: “Did you cry out to Hashembeforeyou were in trouble?” It was the good old days, when you could criticize a man who was suffering and he’d listen.THINK AHEADNow, I don’t know what the answer is; we don’t know whatIyovanswered his friends. Maybe he did. But we see what thegemarasays about that:לעולם יקדים אדם תפילה לצרה – “A man should always say his prayersbeforehe needs something, before the troubles set in” (Sanhedrin 44b). That’s a real sign ofyiras Hashem. The real sign of Awareness of Hashem is when you are always aware ofwhat could be– so many things could go wrong in a man’s life – and you cry out to Hashem so that He should save you from them all. Because that’s the system that Hakadosh Baruch Hu set up for mankind. That’s His prescription for the world. So if a man says to Hashem “Hakadosh Baruch Hu, I’m going to cry out to You even when there’s no trouble,” so that man is filling his prescription ofyiras Hashemin the best way possible.And Hashem says, “I’m satisfied – as long as you cry out. But to not cry out at all? I might have to give you a reason to cry out.The last year of his life, tragedy struck. His beloved grandson, Reb Yisroel Miller, was killed when his car collided with a bus while on the way to the Kosel with his bar mitzvah son. The news hit Rav Miller like a hammer blow. Living as he did in close proximity to his grandfather, Sruly had the opportunity to serve hiszeidein various ways and became close to him. From his youngest years, Sruly had learned privately with him. At theshivah, Rav Miller expressed his pain, telling the family, “I feel I should be sittingshivahhere along with you.” When his daughter asked him for a practical lesson the family could derive from the tragedy, Rav Miller responded that he felt that his dailytefillosfor his children and grandchildren were becoming habitual, so he needed to add more fervor when he beseeched Hashem to protect them. He suggested to his children to add morekavanahwhen they recited theberachahofHashkiveinu. (Rav Avigdor Miller – His Life and His Revolution p. 253)And so we say to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, “Hashem, please don’t give me any headaches. And from now on I’m going to ask You as much as I can to save me from headaches.” “Oh,” Hashem says. “That’s a deal that I like. As long as you’re aware of Me; as long as you ask Me every day to protect you from illness, then I don’t have to give you any illness. Of course if you’ll let down your side of the bargain, if you start saying the words only out of habit, so sometimes I’ll have to remind you. Sometimes a little headache I’ll send again so that you should call out to Me with more sincerity.”THE BEST TIME FOR PRAYERAnd so we are never telling Hakadosh Baruch Hu to change His will. Who are we to tell Hashem what’s good for us?! Let’s say, He prescribed a person should have to be in a hospital. Maybe He prescribed a person should have to lose his jobchalilahor have trouble with one of his childrenchasv’shalom. So we say to Hakadosh Baruch Hu beforehand, before he fills the prescription, “May it be Your will that I shouldn’t have to ever go into a hospital – except to visit my wife when she has a baby.”“Yehi ratzon m’lifanechahthat I shouldn’t have any problems with my boss, and that I should have my job for as long as I want it.” “Ribono Shel Olam, please keep my children on thederech hayashar, thederech hatorah.”The best time to cry out to be saved is when everything is well! It’s important for you young people to think about that. You’re healthy?! Cry out to Hakodosh Boruch Hu that you should stay well! Your children are well?! Cry out to Hashem, “Ribono Shel Olam, please! It shouldn’t come upon me or anyone in my family what happened to that man in shul!”Parnasahis good? Cry out to Hakodosh Boruch Hu! Suddenly things couldchas v’shalomhappen. Out of nowhere things happen!When you say ושמור צאתינו ובואינו לחיים טובים ולשלום – “Hashem, guard our going out and our coming back, for good life and peace” (Birkas Kriyas Shema – Maariv) you should be saying it with an outcry. At least in your mind it should be ותעל שועתם אל האלוקים. Who knows what could happen on the road once you walk outside?! On the streets, people are speeding in cars through the streets. And sometimes the car jumps the curb onto the sidewalk where people walk. Who knows what could happen?! You cross by a building and suddenly a facade of the building, it’s been hanging on for twenty-five, thirty years, a big chunk of cement falls loose and starts coming down. It’s very important that you should be a few inches out of the way. And that’s what yourtefillahcan accomplish.I DON’T WANT ANY SPECIALISTSWhen you walk down Ocean Avenue so you see signs. A doctor specializing in this, a different doctor specializing in this, a doctor specializing in something else. It’s no accident that you saw those signs today. Look how many things they specialize in! It’s a reminder to cry out! Look how many problemscould happen. Even one thing wrong and you have to go to a big specialistchas v’shalom.Sometimes you have to go to Manhattan and it costs a load of money. And then some people get a diagnosis, the dreaded diagnosis.Ay yah yay, the terrible news. And now thetzarosbegin. And there are so many things that could go wrong, it’s endless. So cry out nowkoideml’tzarah: “Ribono Shel Olam, please save me from that dreaded disease” – I don’t want to say it, it starts with a C.And when you pass by the shingle hanging on the next building, let it be a reminder of anothertzarahthat you don’t want to come upon you. I recommend that – walk by one of these fancy streets where there are a lot of doctor signs and practice up on crying out to Hashembefore the troubles come!You pass by a big drug store – all kinds of medicines, creams, drops, with long names for different problems. Bargain prices! So cry out, “Hashem, please I should never need this type of medicine for kidney failure.” You know what it means tonothave a working kidney? It’sgehenim! Cry out to Hashem, “Ribono Shel Olam, please keep my kidneys working. I don’t want to be hooked up to a kidney machine; I want to be able to empty my bladder on my own, in my own bathroom, not in a hospital room.”THERE’S NO CHESS IN THIS HOMEEven when you pass a funeral parlor, you should cry out. You know, if you’ll take a walk with me down Ocean Avenue, we’ll pass three separate funeral parlors. Funeral “homes” they call it. They want you to think maybe that they’re inside there playing chess, or reading the newspapers!No, he’s laying in a plain wooden box, that’s all. So every time you pass by the funeral parlor, you can cry out to Hashem, “Please keep me alive. Please give me good health andarichas yomim; I want to stay for a long time outside of this home.” You have to cry out to Hashem with intensity!You know what a tragedy it is when people have to beg Hakodosh Boruch Hu for peaceafterthe war has already begun? I’m talking about domestic peace, peace in the home. You should be crying out to Hashem all the time, during the times of peace – especially when there’s peace. There shouldn’t be any “war” in your household. And that there should be peace in the households of your sons and daughters. You ask Hashem, “Please don’t let my telephone ring with bad news.”Sometimes a daughter calls up,chalilah, she’s having a fight with her husband. She wants to leave him.Ay yah yay,the tragedy of a broken home. Don’t wait! When it’s quiet on all fronts, your daughters are quiet with their husbands. Nobody’s complaining – maybe they are, but not to you. You hear nothing from your children. That’s wonderful, thegreat peace ofshalombayis. And that’s when you should cry out to Hashem, that He should continue to keep peace in your home and the homes of your children.HASHEM, SAVE ME FROM BLINKING TOO MUCHAnd if you don’t have any litigation with your neighbors, that’s the best time todaven. If you never went through that, you’re a lucky man, and you want to keep it that way. Troublewith neighbors, fighting and recriminations, going to court; it’s alltzaros. A man used to come in here. He used to come here and he was blinking all the time. I saw that the man was very nervous. And so I spoke to him and he told me he has constant legal trouble with neighbors. Jewish neighbors. About the driveway, about this and about that,and it got so acute that he was dragged into the court again and again. That’stzaros.And so we ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu,שלום רב על ישראלעמך תשים – “Great peace in every area of our lives you should put upon us.”“Please Hashem. There should be peace inside of our stomachs. Our stomach shouldn’t complain, shouldn’t growl, shouldn’t groan. Our nerves shouldn’t complain, our head shouldn’t complain.” The body has a lot to say, and when the body is quiet and it’s peace all throughout the body, people aren’t grateful. You don’t realize how lucky you are. Your brain is getting good messages from all parts of the body. Constantly. You’re not aware of the messages. When do you become aware? When even once the messages are not good. Even if one pinprick somewhere on your skin is taking place, it’s relayed to your brain and you’re acutely aware of it. And so, when nothing is happening, it’sshalom. It’s complete tranquility on all fronts. From your toes to the scalp of your head, it’s quiet on all fronts.And when all is quiet, that’s the best opportunity to cry out to Hashem that it should remain quiet.THINK ABOUT WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO YOUOnly that when you call out to Hashem before thetzarah,it has to be with the same intensity as during atzarah. The same Awareness of Hashem you have to accomplish in the good times! If you would think even a little bit about whattzarosdoes to a person, hospitals, and bills, and litigation, and so much pain and anguish! Cry out to Hakodosh Boruch Hu that it shouldn’t happen! At all times you should be crying out.And don’t think it’s excessive what I’m telling you now. You can never ask enough for Hashem to help you, becauseyou can never be too Aware of Hashem! Because what we’ve learned from ourparshais thatwe’re in this world primarily to become Aware of Hashem.That’s our perfection! The more we call out to Him the more ourneshamosare being purified.And therefore, usually we have two choices: You can become Aware of Him while He’s still giving you good things – while you’re healthy, while your wife and children are healthy, while you still haveparnasah, and so on and so forth – by crying out to Him and entreating Him that everything should remain as is; that’s the best way to squeeze out from the good grapes the wine of Awareness of Hashem.THANK YOU FOR ALL THE TROUBLES!However, in this world, Hakodosh Boruch Hu will always press the good grapes of theAm Yisroellike He did inMitzrayim; there’s always some more wine of Awareness to squeeze from you that you haven’tkvetchedout on your own. And so Hashem says, “It pays to give you trouble because the gain, the benefit for you when you’re thinking about Me, is the greatest of benefits. And when you come to the Next World, you’ll say, אודך השם כי אנפת בי – “I thank You Hashem for causing me that pain, for giving me thistza’aror thattza’ar, because it made me call out to You. And it was the crying out in that world that gave me the greatest success, Awareness of You, Hashem, so that I can bask forever in the Presence of Yourshechinah.” HAVE A WONDERFUL SHABBOS See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate

The Guide to True HappinessMOSHE RABEINU REPORTING THE WEATHER?!When we read thepesukimthat describe the departure of theAm YisroelfromMitzrayimwe note the interesting fact that the time of the year, the spring-like weather, plays a quite significant role in the story. As they gathered to leaveMitzrayim, Moshe Rabeinu spoke to the people זכור את היום הזה אשר יצאתם ממצרים… היום אתם יוצאים בחודש האביב – “Remember always this day that you came out of Egypt…Today you are leavingin the month of spring” (Bo 13:4). Now, you know that in the Torah weather is a subject that is not discussed. This subject that becomes so important when you’re standing on the street talking to someone – when you meet the elevator man or the grocery man, that’s the first subject in America – but in the Torah it’s not discussed. And yet, all of a sudden, Moshe Rabeinu comes along and points out to us that it was a spring day.Now it’s quite strange that Moshe Rabeinu should make a big deal about it. There were many things he could have told theAm Yisroelas they gathered together to begin their journey towards freedom. I myself could think of some very importantyesodosthat Moshe Rabeinu could have given over at this most opportune time. But to point out the weather conditions?! He wasn’t a meteorologist. And if it was cold and rainy, would it have made a difference?! They were going out to freedom! Ask the man who is released from prison after fifty years if he cares about the temperature on the day he left; he doesn’t remember and he doesn’t even care to remember! He’s free at last!PERFECT WEATHER FOR FREEDOMAnd yet Moshe Rabeinudidsay היום אתם יוצאים בחודש האביב – You’re leaving today, and look outside; it’s a beautiful spring day. And Rashi asks: “Didn’t they know it was spring? אלא כך אמר להם, ראו חסד שגמלכם – So what was Moshe Rabeinu telling them? “Pay attention to the kindness that Hashem is bestowing upon you, שהוציא אתכם בחודש שהוא כשר לצאת – That He took you out in a month that is fitting for departure, לא חמה ולא צנה ולא גשמים – It’s not too hot, not too cold, and not raining” (Rashi 13:4). וכןהוא אומר מוציא אסירים בכושרות – Hashem took out His prisoners when it was fitting, חודש שהוא כשר לצאת – during the month in which it is most fitting to depart” (Mechilta).Now we should also take a peek intoShir Hashirim, at Shlomo Hamelech’s description of Hashem speaking to His people on that great day ofYetzias Mitzrayim. קומי לך רעיתי יפתי ולכי לך – “Arise, My love, My beautiful one, and go forth from Mitzrayim, כי הנה הסתיו עבר הגשם חלף הלך לו – Because now the winter has passed, and the rains are gone, and the traveling through the wilderness will be much more pleasant, הנצנים נראו בארץ – The days of spring are here when the trees begin to produce their flowers and those who travel, delight in their colors and fragrances, עת הזמיר הגיע וקול התור נשמע בארצנו – The time of birds singing and chirping has arrived, which adds the additional joy of sweet sounds for those who travel in the spring, קומי לך רעיתי יפתי ולכי לך – And so My beautiful beloved,” says Hashem to the Am Yisroel, “now is the timeto arise and leave Mitzrayim” (Shir Hashirim 2:11-13al pi Rashi).SCHEDULING FOR THE CHIRPING BIRDSSo we see that Hashem made a point of bringing out theAm YisroelfromMitzrayimdavkathen, during the days of spring. And even more so, the Torah tells us that the entire scheduling of the year is dependent on the Yom Tov of Pesach falling out during the spring to commemorate this event: שמור את חודש האביב…כי בחודש האביב הוציאך השם אלוקיך ממצרים – “You must guard the month of spring…for it was in the month of springtime that Hashem your G-d took you out of Egypt” (Devarim 16:1). And what does “Guard the month of spring” mean? Chazal tell us (Rosh Hashanah 21a) that the month ofNissanmust always fall out in the spring, and that sometimes theSanhedrinmust even add a month to the calendar just to ensure thatNissanshould not fall out when it’s still winter. And all this, so that theYom TovofPesachshould fall out in the beautiful days of spring, because היום אתם יוצאים בחודש האביב, and we want to remember and to commemorate that we leftMitzrayimin the spring.And that’s a very big question. Because what difference does the spring make for a nation that is escaping two hundred and ten years of bondage? The month ofchodeshha’aviv, the ripening of the grain would certainly be a joyous time once they would enter Eretz Yisroel, but here, as they were departing fromRameses, they were far from the promised land and had no benefit at all from the ripening of the grain.What difference is it to such a people, escaping slavery, loaded down with riches, that birds are chirping in the branches? So what that the flowers are blooming on a beautiful spring day? We’re talking here about real happiness – the excitement of escaping to freedom and great wealth, and you’re talking about chirping birds?!This isn’tmyquestion by the way. I heard this said over in the name of theAlter of Skabodkawhen I was in Europe. And because theAlter’sanswer is a foundation for how we are supposed to live successfully in this world, so we’ll spend some time understanding his words.THE ALTER’S CHIDDUSHTheAltersaid that the spring weather, with all of its varied pleasures was chosen purposefully by Hashem to enhance the occasion ofYetzias Mitzrayim. Even in the mountain-heap joy of liberation, and even though they were loaded down with the wealth of Mitzrayim, they were expected tonot overlookthe weather, and not to overlook the budding trees and the chirping birds.And why not? Because it was so important for theAm Yisroelto learn – right now, when they were leaving the bondage ofMitzrayimto becomeavdei Hashem– that the happiness of a true servant of Hashem won’t come from the great events of life. The great jolts of good fortune, the ecstatic moments of great happiness – a new car, a new baby, even if it’sYetzias Mitzrayim– that won’t make a person truly happy. It’s only the small gifts of life like a balmy spring day and a bird chirping in the trees that are the true happiness of life.What we’re learning from the words, “Today you are going out, in the month ofspring,” is that the joy of life isnotthe big things in life. Of course there is time for that too. It’s a bigsimchawhen you have a child. And it’s even a biggersimchawhen you marry that child off. You won the lottery? It’s asimcha! You got the job you wanted? You finished amesichta? These are all bigsimchosthat are a good reason to rejoice.But those aren’t the things that will make you a happy person!The happiness of transient events – evenYetzias Mitzrayimonly happened once – always slip out of your hands sooner or later, and you’re left with the day to day simple pleasures of life, like a spring day, that Hashem isalwaysbestowing on you. And it’s all of those small things that are supposed to make you a happy person.ROSY GLASSES ARE NOTHINGNow you can’t just tell a man, “Be happy; Learn to see the the good things in life.” It’s like saying nothing at all to him. This subject of happiness is a science, and like any important subject, its study takes effort on your part. If you’ll say to someone, “Just put on optimistic spectacles, and look at the world through rosy eyeglasses,” you’re not helping him a bit.There’s work to be done besides for putting on the rosy colored spectacles. What work is that? Every form of happiness is an obligation upon you to appreciate and become even more of a happy person. A person becomes a happy person because of the small things in life. Now don’t say that your experience contradicts this – because it’s not true, youdon’thave the experience. You never tried it! It’s necessary to dedicate your lives to the study of all the details of happinesses that you have in your life, in order to become the happy servant of Hashem that He expects.HOW TO GET RICHAnd so we’ll begin our career of happiness by reading together the words of amishnah; it’s amishnahthat most of us say, but none of us fulfill.איזהו עשיר- Who is a wealthy man? השמח בחלקו – Someone who is happy with what he has. Now, everybodyknowsthat, everybody says it; but nobodypracticesit.Themishnahis telling us here what Hakodosh Boruch Hu expects from us; that weshouldpractice it and that we should fulfill it. Hashem wants thatwe should become wealthy. Otherwise why did He tell us that. Why did He say איזהו עשיר? If it’s not important, why tell us? Just as a fact, some more information to know? No; it’s because that’s what you’re expected to become. Hashem wants thatyoushould become thatashirwho issameach b’chelko!BEING SATISFIED IS NOT ENOUGHNow, it’s important to point out thatsamei’achdoesn’t mean that you’resatisfiedwith what you have; it means thatyou’re happy, that you’refull of joy.Hashem wants you toenjoyOlam Hazeh, to be a person overflowing with happiness, and it’s an art that you have to get busy learning. Before we begin, the first thing is that you must get out of your head any thoughts thatprishusmeans to be unhappy. No;prishusmeans to be happywithout luxuries, to behappywith all the multitude of pleasures of living life itself. And that’s who Hashem says is the wealthy man.So איזהו עשיר – Who is the rich man? השמח בחלקו – the one who trains himself little by little to behappywith all of the things that he already has, the things that are available to him all the time. And who is the poor person, the perpetually sad man? The man who is empty; he never learned anything about the happiness of life. All he learned was to want more and more; “gimmee” and “gimmee” and “gimmee” – he wants more and more. And therefore his whole life is nothing but a pursuit after what he doesn’t have. And because of that, he fails to enjoychelko, what his portion is right now.All through life you’re missing the fun of life. Because wherever you turn in life, wherever you look, you’re going to encounter with your eyes on all sides, reasons to sing and dance with joy – if you know how to usethe details of lifeto become happy. We just have to open our eyes and apply our minds, and be willing to put effort into finding the real happiness of life. If we do that, the happiness within us would well forth and life would become full of fun. It would be endless fun and happiness without the new car, and without the trip to the zoo or the amusement park. It would be all the details of life itself that make you a happy person.STUDY A VARIETY OF SUBJECTSBecause the joy of life is not the big things; and it’s not one small thing either. Because what doeschelkomean?Chelkomeans your portion in life. And life is not one thing – life is a combination, a sum total of tens of thousands of phenomena – and it’s necessary to makeeachphenomenon a separate study so that whenever you encounter that phenomenon it will cause you happiness. If you study how two things make you happy, so now you’ll have two things that cause you happiness. If you’ve studied fifty things, so fifty things will cause you happiness. The more subjects you study, the more phenomena you appreciate, the more happiness you will get out of life. Like Dovid Hamelech said: כי שמחתני השם בפעליך במעשה ידיך ארנן – “I sing at the deeds of Your hand” (Tehillim 92:5) And the only way to do that is to put your mind to what you have, and all these things add up to being a wealthy man. Hashem wants you to be wealthy; if you don’t learn this, Hashem is disappointed in you.I’ll give you an example. If you study, let’s say, the wind. Let’s say a man would learn to enjoy the wind. Now, it may seem silly to you, but that’s because you’ve never studied the subject of happiness correctly. Because really, wind is a subject that can make you endlessly grateful and happy. There’s a lot of fun in a wind. But you have to study it.LET’S STUDY WINDStudy the winds?! Now, go tell that to people outside, they’ll laugh at you. But it’s agemara. Thegemaratells inMesichtaGittin(31b) that achochomwas once walking and he saw two sages who were sitting engaged in study. So he said to them, במאי עסקיתו – “What sugya are you learning now?” So they said, ברוחות – “We’re talking about winds.” Two sages of theTalmudare sitting talking about winds! That’s whatweshould do too. Maybe we should sit down sometime and talk about winds.Now, some people, eventalmideichachomim, didn’t learn the correctpshatin thisgemara. “Why would they talk about winds,” somemefarshimthought. So they developed other interpretations of this gemara, whatruchosmeans. But that’s not thepshat. Thegemarais telling us that they sat down to discuss wind! Because the study of the wind is a study of איזהו עשיר השמח בחלקו.If the wind didn’t blow we couldn’t live. אי אפשר לעולם בלא רוחות – “The world could not exist without winds” (Taanis 3b). Nothing would grow without the wind; you wouldn’t have a piece of bread if not for wind. You didn’t know that? Well, you should start knowing it right now.If not for the wind there would be no food, because the winds keep the air moving so that the minute proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, three parts in ten thousand, is made available to plants. Otherwise the plant would use up all the surrounding carbon dioxide and would die. So when it’s windy, and you have to hold on to your hat, that should be a cause for happiness. That’s your “watermelon” blowing by; your “bread” and your “meat”. It’s refreshing, invigorating and it’s also the key to life itself.A CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR CAREERIf the winds would be discussed and studied properly, so the next time there would be a zephyr, or a blow, or a hurricane, a breeze – whatever form it would come in – it’s going to cause us happiness. Now I’m not saying that we’ll go wild with happiness – it’s only one phenomenon, one detail; but it will make you happy, no question about it. And winds are blowing all the time, and they don’t cost much money either. So learn to enjoy it! It might take some time; it takes work. But after a while, after you begin studying the phenomena of wind, and appreciating it, so wind becomes a stimulus for happiness. So a person is walking in the street, and a slight breeze is tickling him – it’s refreshing and it also arouses in his mind all those pleasurable thoughts; so that’s one contribution to a career of happiness.Now, a breeze is only one thing. But this world is a gift of many happinesses for us. The trees and the flowers, the clouds and the rain. The blue sky, the sun and the moon, the soil and the leaves. Our hands and our eyes, our feet and our shoes. And you have thousands and thousands of other things. Hashem is giving you plenty of air and plenty of water. You have clothing and food. You have garments. You have a roof over your head, a place to sleep. You have a home. A home?! You can lock the door and sleep at night. Not like the homeless people who have to sleep near the railroad tracks and other dangerous places.Life is a veritable wellspring of happiness.But all this is justdevarim b’almah, it’s just words. You can’t just be a happy person because of “everything.” Everything is nothing. The path to true happiness is in the details. People have to teach themselves one thing at a time. Now wind is only one example of the happiness of this world. To learn the happiness of life you have to study all the details, moving from one subject to the other. One after the other, after another. And when you add together the sum total of many small phenomena, then they add up to a true happiness in life.BECOMING WEALTHIER AND WEALTHIERIf we would do this, we would actually learn together how to enjoy the phenomena of the world and become happy people all the time. And as life progresses we’d be adding new ideas into the treasure chest of our minds that cause us happiness. We’re adding riches into our mind and at the same time we’d review the old ones more deeply. Every day you can become happier and happier with the simple details of life, and slowly, little by little, you add one more thing and one more thing, and you become anashir, you become wealthy. And we’d find that from all sides we’re bursting out with song. You’d walk down the Brooklyn streetmeshugahwith happiness.And once you achieve this wealth, so you’ll never be unhappy again. You can’t be unhappy if your life is filled with thousands of small happinesses all day long. Because no matter what happens you feel you still have air to breathe. Air all you want. And water to drink, all you want. You still have a roof over your head. You still have shoes to wear. You have sunshine and teeth. And that’s only the beginning of the list.And once you become a happy person you’ll be able to withstand all thenisyonos, the trials of life. Life is not easy; there are always ups and downs. And if you don’t achieve this wealth ofsamei’ach b’chelko,so no matter what you can purchase and no matter how many cars you have, you will be a fundamentally unhappy person, because you never learned what real happiness is. But once you achieve the wealth ofsamei’achb’chelko, then no matter what, you’re a happy person for the rest of your life.THE MAIN PORTION IS … LIFE!And therefore, the first thing we must do is to clarify what it is that we’re supposed to be happy about; what doeschelkomean? Now, what is the first aspect ofchelkothat all of us sitting here now have? “Your portion,” means first of all thatyou’re alive!You never thought about thatpshat, did you? You were thinking that it means that when you finally make five hundred thousand dollars, so then you’ll be happy, you’ll besamei’achb’chelko, even though you don’t have two million dollars yet. No, that’s not whatchelkomeans. If you’re still alive that’s already your portion that you’re expected to be full of joy about.Because there is no happiness like being alive!The happiness of being alive is an intense experience, only that we’re so accustomed to it that we ignore it. Let’s say a person would enjoy the fact that he is alive. Oh yes! How lucky you are that you’re alive. Don’t say it’s nothing. It’s everything! A millionaire would give up all of his property to stay alive. You’re alive!And there are plenty of people you know, some of them even your age, who are not alive anymore. I myself look back, when I was a boy. Some of mychaveirimpassed away early. There was a fourteen year old friend of mine – he passed away. A twenty year old friend of mine passed away when I was in the yeshiva.WALKING ON CLOUDS!You know what fun it is to be alive! And there’s a simple way to discover it. Here’s a man who’s going to a specialist because his physician found something. And he’s afraid he has something terrible. So the specialist gives him a complete series of tests; blood tests and scans and everything else, and then he has to go home for a few days and wait for an answer. For those few days the man can think of nothing else except for the phone call he’s expecting from the doctor. What is anything worth if he won’t be able to live?! And finally the doctor calls him into his office and sits him down and tells him, “I’m sorry to tell you there’snothingwrong with you!”Now, when this man walks out of the doctor’s office he’s stepping on clouds. He’s walking through Brooklyn and he’s the happiest man in the whole city. Because now he’s enjoying the sweetness of life. How sweet it is to be alive! The happiness of walking a Brooklyn street knowing that you’re alive is unequaled in all the pleasures of the wealthy.THE QUICK LANDINGOnly that what happens? He walks on clouds from here to Avenue P(two blocks away from the shul)and then he’s back on the ground again. He’s walking on the sidewalk again because he forgets. And that’s a tragedy because the happiness merely of being alive is a tremendous happiness that can keep you walking on clouds all day long.If only people would bestir themselves and say, “Why should I let this treasure go lost?! Why should I wait until the day comes when I’m a hundred and nineteen years old, and I’m laying in a home for the aged, and I’m looking through the window at the people walking the streets outside. I see how beautiful life is, and I’m thinking, ‘That was once me. I never realized how much fun being alive and walking the streets could be. And now I only have one or two days left.’” You know that when a man is lying in the hospital and he knows that his days are numbered, he says “If I could get on the street again. I could once more walk around, once more. What a happiness it would be!” He’s jealous when he looks down from the hospital window and sees people walking in the streetand living, and for him, soon it will be all over.Of course if you have it every day after a while your mind becomes stultified. If you haven’t studied it then you don’t even appreciate it anymore. Like I told you earlier, it’s a science; you need to create a program for happiness. It won’t come merely because you came here to the lecture and listened to me. Because if you don’t get busy making yourself happy, all this talk here is a waste.YOU’RE AN OUTSIDER!You have to learn how to besamei’achin yourcheilekof being alive. And so when you pass a funeral parlor – on Coney Island Avenue there are a number of funeral parlors – as you pass by one you say, “Boruch Hashem I’m on the outside!” I’m not joking; I’m very serious now. And when you pass the next one, “Boruch Hashem, I’m on the outside.” There are three of them there. So by the third one also, “Boruch Hashem, I’m on the outside.” Say it with your mouth again, and again and again. To be outside of the funeral parlor is asimcha. Inside it’s a funeral home. A “home,” you might think that it’s comfortable, and there’s music for themeisim, and they serve lunch for themeisim. He’s in a box and that’s all. And you’re outside! “Boruch Hashem, I’m on the outside!”Now, being alive is a happinessad ein sof, no question about it. But you have to expand on that happiness, because there is much more than life itself. Because not only are you alive but you have functioning kidneys. I know a man who has no kidneys – it’s already years and years that he’s on the waiting list to get a kidney. Three times a week he has to go to the clinic for special treatments instead of a kidney. It takes hours and hours each time, and it’s expensive. But he’s happy to be alive; he’s happy to have a machine that keeps him alive. Because he knows that it’s ata’anugto be alive. And if he could just get one kidney, how happy he’d be.He wishes he could be you! He’d be delirious with joy!THE TRANSPLANT MANAnd here’s a man who finally was able to get a new kidney. He has one that he “borrowed” from his sister who was kind enough to give him one of her kidneys. So now he’s a “transplant man.” You think it’s so simple? This man cannot take certain medicines because they might upset his anti-rejection system. He takes a regimen of medicines to suppress the immunosuppressive reaction in him that would reject the new kidney. After all, the kidney is not his – it’s foreign matter inside his body. So the tendency of the body is to reject it. And so he’s always taking medicines to suppress the rejection apparatus.And there are some medicines that are sometimes vital to a person – maybe he gets an infection and he needs antibiotics – but now this man cannot take them because they would interfere with his anti-rejection medications. So this person may become subject to infections that he cannot combat because he can’t take medicines. And so all his life he is living precariously with his one kidney.THE CRAZY KIDNEY MANNow, how does this man look at the same world that you look at? If he sees somebody who is glum and downcast, you know what he thinks? He’s thinking, “That man is crazy! He has something to be sad about?! He has hisownkidney!” A kidney is a great happiness! A natural one that fits in exactly where it’s supposed to be! It’s suited to everything in his body. All the cells in his body have an especial peculiar individual makeup, and they accept his kidney. While the kidney that this poor fellow has, is being rejected by all the cells in his body. And he is constantly in fear that maybe somedaychas v’shalomthe cells in his body will win the fight – it’s a tug of war after all. And when this man sees you on the street he doesn’t understand how you cannot be ecstatic – not only do you have your own kidney, but you have two of them. You’re not only a millionaire, you’re a multi-millionaire!Now I’ll say it again because you have to get it into your heads. Hearing this is not going to make you happy – you have to get to work. So when you go to the bathroom and your kidneys are working perfectly, your bladder is functioning to perfection, you were successful in your “mission.” Are you thinking about it and becoming a happy person? You make anasher yatzar, but while you’re making thebrachahyou’re making motions to somebody in the house, “Wait, wait; I’ll be done in a second.” That’s the way to makeasher yatzar?! A man without kidneys; if he could makeasheryatzar, what a happiness it would be!HEALTHY BEGGAR OR SICK RICH MAN?You have to bestir the happiness in your mind – at least when you’re making thebrachah. And actually, even that is not enough. All day long you should be thinking about your kidneys. Of course, all day long you can’t do, but during the day when you’re walking the street, take a minute to feel like your walking on clouds because you have functioning kidneys. And don’t say it’s impossible to live that way. It’s possible. You have to just get busy doing it. It’s hard work. You do it one day and then the next day you have to do it even more. You pass by a dialysis clinic, stop for a half minute – a half minute on the clock – and thank Hashem for the joy of having a kidney. And if you do it, if you become happy with your kidney, so now you’re a millionaire. And if you’re ecstatic because you have two kidneys, so you’re a multi-millionaire.So now you’re a multi-millionaire. But that’s only the beginning. I know a man who had to have an operation and he can no longer eliminate by means of his anus. He now has a bag attached to his side. You have to realize that this man walks the streets envying everyone who has a rectum in the right place. If he could restore that natural function, that his orifice should be where it’s supposed to be, that man would give away all his earthly possessions. There’s no question that he would prefer being a beggar with a rectum to be being a millionaire with a bag on his side.THE SILLINESS OF MANKINDAnd now we see how silly all of mankind is if they don’t sing because of what they possess. And not only when you use that orifice, when you move your bowels, but all day. Frequently, as you walk down the street, you should bestir this happiness in your mind – how lucky you are; how convenient it is; how comfortable it is; how wealthy you are. It’s a joy to have the function of natural elimination and it’s a cause for actual tangible pleasure and for singing. A man who has sense, Torah sense, actuallyrejoicesin his ability to eliminate.Now the more you learn how to be happy from all these things, so it grows on you, it becomes part of your personality. Little by little it grows upon your mind an attitude of optimism, and you become a happy personality. “I’m so happy to be alive, to be on this side of the cemetery gate.” That’s what you should think about when you walk for the street. “And not only am I alive, but I have kidneys!” Now, that’s a wealth! “And not only kidneys, but I don’t need a bag on my side! I’m normal!” It’s a great happiness to be normal!THE DELICIOUS COCKTAILSo now we begin to see that it’s important for us to dwell on details. You have to take one thing at a time; maybe one week you’ll work let’s say on enjoying air. Getting the pleasure of breathing. The truth is that when you walk outside tonight, you should take a deep breath. “Ahhh!” you should say.” It’s really ata’anug.”No cocktail that you could buy in the store compares to the cocktail of fresh air. People walk in the street today and they drink in the street to show off they’re drinking. That’smeshugas.What do you need it for?! Drink in the fresh air. It’s free of charge and it’s much healthier. Fill your lungs. It makes your blood become red immediately, the fresh air.Get into the habit – one week learn to praise Hashem for air. This week whenever you can, think about the happiness of being able to breathe fresh air. After a while you’re happy when you think about the air. Breathing is fun! I once told you about a simple experiment, didn’t I? Dip your head in a bucket of waterthreetimes and take it outtwice! Anyhow, then wait till you can’t anymore, and finally you’ll take it out this time and you’ll take one deep breath – “Ahh, is that delicious!” The truth is that it’s always delicious. Breathing is delicious!So let’s say you’re walking to thebeis haknessesand you tell yourself, “Isn’t it a wonderful thing that there is air to breathe?!” Now at first it’s achiddush gadol. Air?! I’m afraid that even if you tell it totalmidei chachomimit’s a big chiddush. You tell him, “Yes, air is vital. I’ll prove to you that it’s what you need more than anything else. You can get along without food for days and days. Without water, for a shorter time, but you can get along without water too – for a few days maybe. But without air you can’t get along.”“HALF HALLEL” IS NOT ENOUGHIt says in the Medrash on the possuk כל הנשמה תהלל י-ה, that על כל נשימה ונשימה תהלל י-ה, for every breath you have to say Hallel. And myrebbisaid it meansgantzHallel. For every breath you owe Hashema full hallel. Now, you don’t have time for that – you’re too busy breathing – but at least you have to know thatthat’s how delicious it is!When a person is a little bit dejected, discouraged, what a good idea it is to go to the window and breathe deeply. We don’t realize. It’s like a drink of very strong medicine. Air comes into your lungs and the oxygen unites with your blood and makes your blood more red. It’s a fact. As you breathe, your blood becomes more invigorated with oxygen. The iron in your blood that makes it red, the hemoglobin, unites with the oxygen, and it carries the oxygen on its path through all the blood vessels everywhere in the body to invigorate all the cells. The whole body is different because you breathe. And therefore it’s a good idea to practice breathing just for the feel of it, just to appreciate that great gift of air.200 MILES OF CHESSEDThe world is full of air. That’s what it means מלוא כל הארץ כבודו. So a man will tell you, “K’vodo? That means the “glory of Hashem.’ Where does air come into it?” What do you think is “the glory of Hashem”? The glory of Hashem is Hischessed. Thechessedof Hashem fills the world. And what is one of the most prevalent kindnesses of Hashem? Air! Hakodosh Boruch Hu made two hundred miles of it. Two hundred miles up of air! Now the air is not one thing. It’s a cocktail mixed exactly with the right ingredients to make it not only beneficial to us but it tastes good too. It’s mixed with oxygen, about twenty percent. All the rest is mostly nitrogen and inert gas because you need something with which to carry the oxygen. If the air was all oxygen, you’d become drunk. If you would breathe oxygen alone, you would get dizzy, you’d become intoxicated. So you have to have the nitrogen to dilute the oxygen; and a little bit of carbon dioxide is essential because it’s an incentive to your lungs to breathe more deeply. And then traces of a few other gases together and it makes together a combination of the perfect material that’s suited for human beings.You know what we are? We’re like fish in the bottom of an ocean. Fish in the ocean. Fish don’t like air. They want water. We’re in an ocean, an ocean of air. The ocean is two hundred miles high. We’re like fish living in this ocean of air, and we love it. That’s our element. If we were to change places with a fish, we wouldn’t be happy, just like a fish wouldn’t be happy if he took our place. And therefore let’s enjoy this ocean while we have it.STRANGLED IN HIS SUMMER HOMESo practice up on this. On the way home, When you walk out of here onto Ocean Parkway – it’s a beautiful street, a parkway with trees and bushes. Now after the rain they’re exuding a fragrance, and the combined fragrance of different kinds of shrubs and trees, combined with the city odors – it’s a pleasure those city odors – and they combine to give a certain cocktail that you don’t drink; you draw it deep into your lungs and you can learn to enjoy it.You think a summer home in Maine and a winter home in Florida is going to make you happy? No, that’s nothing. What good would the home be if you were strangled without air, if you were suffocating for air. Breathing is a big simcha! Some people have difficulty breathing. You know that some people have difficulty breathing?(The Rav took a deep breath). Ahh! It’s a pleasure to fill your lungs.Mamishataanug! Don’t laugh at breathing – it’s a great happiness to breathe.WEEK #2: WALKING IS A HAPPINESSSo you’ve begun to scratch the surface of the happiness of breathing. It was only a week of thinking after all, but you’re a wealthy man already. Now suppose you would spend a week becoming happy that you can walk. So the next week change and start appreciating the fact that you can walk. Walking is asimchah. המכין מצעדי גבר, “How happy I am that I can walk.” Look how many people sit in wheelchairs. Walking is fun. Your thigh swings forward in effortless motion and all of your joints are functioning to perfection. You don’t hear any scraping as you bend your knee, do you? That’s asimcha! You don’t feel any chaffing? Ah, it’s a pleasure to walk. And it’s good exercise too. The entire body is moving. It’s good for your heart. It’s good for everything if you walk. And besides for that, walking shows you’re in control of yourself. All your muscles cooperate to walk and you learn what it means המכין מצעדי גבר.If you walk in the street and you see – like I saw yesterday – a girl who was hopping around on crutches. But the stump of her other leg didn’t stick out. That’s how much was cut off. Now that was an apparition, sent to memin hashamayim. Because how much would this girl give to regain her leg? No money in the world would be too much! And therefore, as you walk in the street you have to think about thatbrachahyou mumbled in the morning, ברוך אתה השם אלוקינו מלך העולם המכין מצעדי גבר – I thank You Hashem for establishing the footsteps of a man. “I’m able to take footsteps on my own feet!” It’s a happiness to be able to walk on your own two feet. You know how ecstatic a man is who has been confined to a wheelchair for a long time – he wasn’t able to walk – and finally he regained that ability! He’s overjoyed! So the second week, you’ll work on the happiness of walking.Now you’re an even wealthier man. You own a few apartment houses already. You have your lungs that are breathing in the great elixir of life we call air, that’s one apartment building that’s yours. Another apartment building is the happiness of being able to walk. That’s a very valuable piece of property! So you’re already a pretty wealthy fellow. You can walk in the street now and your pockets are full of cash. If your pockets would be full of hundred dollar bills bulging on both sides, it’s nothing compared to the person who spent two weeks working on the happiness of fresh air and on the ecstasy of walking. As I walk in the street balancing myself on two legs, and I’m breathing the air of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, I’m enjoying life!BE QUEER AND BE HAPPYSo we’re beginning to see now that in order to be asamei’ach b’chelkoyou have to be a queer kind of a fellow. You can’t always share your feelings with other people; they’ll laugh at you. באזני כסיל אל תדבר – “Don’t speak into the ears of a fool.” He’ll make light of these ideas and cool you off (Mishlei 23:9). “There’s a fellow over there, down Ocean Parkway, who’s happy that he has two kidneys! Ha!” Try to tell people that you’re filled with joy, you’remamish b’simchabecause breathing is fun, so they’ll think you’re wacky. Butthey’re the wacky onesbecause they’re missing all the happiness of this world.I know what the people will say when you go out of here. You’ll talk to people and they’ll tell you other things. Don’t be misled! Here comes along afrumtzaddikand says to me, “You’re teaching people to enjoy life?! The purpose of life ista’anugim?! To berodef ta’anugim,run after pleasures?!” He was upset at me. I looked at him and said, “Look, you have a wristwatch. I don’t have a wristwatch. Youdrive a carwhen you come to theyeshivah. Iwalkto theyeshivah. Who is running after pleasure, you or I? You’re running after it but you don’t have it. I’m not looking for pleasures. They’re coming to me. As I walk in the street with my “Rolls Royce” – my two shoes, that’s my Rolls Royce – and I’m breathing the air of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, I’m enjoying life. I walk past the cemetery on Ocean Parkway, and I’m filled with happiness that I’m on this side of the gate.” That kind ofkosherta’anugimis achiyuv,it’s amitzvahgedolahto enjoy life that way.ICE CREAM IN THE SUNAll this is serious talk. I know that if you go to akolleland you’ll tell them these things, they’ll laugh at you. That’s because they’re silly – they don’t begin knowing Torah. And don’t tell me that enjoyment and happiness is not fortzadikim. Oh no, you bigtzadik, you don’t want to enjoy the sun and the wind. He’s eating his chocolate cakes and ice cream, but to be happy with the sun, that’s too much.Happiness is not running after good times, not goingchalilahto entertainment, and fun places. No;chas v’shalom, chas v’shalom, that’smeshugas. People who are running after good times are never enjoying life – they’re always running after good times and fun, but they never find it. Never. They’re always busy running, pursuing, but they’ll never find it – because they’re looking in all the wrong places.“G-D MADE” EARPHONES, SPEAKERS, AND CAMERASWho needs places of entertainment to be happy when you have all the happiness right here! Look at yourself, “I’m alive,boruchHashem.” Look at your feet; “Boruch Hashem,two of them! And they’re both the same size!” Look at your ears; “Boruch Hashem!” They’re “earphones” hanging on the side of your head – and you don’t have to buy them in the store. You have teeth; slicing teeth in the front and the grinders in the back. Boruch Hashem! You have a functioning tongue that’s busy all day long in your mouth. You have a “speaker” in your mouth, vocal chords. Boruch Hashem. And eyes! “Cameras” in your head. Boruch Hashem! You can walk, Boruch Hashem! המכין מצעדי גבר. That’s some trick you have there being able to balance yourself as you walk. Boruch Hashem! And that’s only the beginning.You have to learn how to be happy with your clothing. It’s not enough to say thebrachahofmalbish arumimin general andpaturyourself. You have to study the details of your clothing in order to become a happy person. The pockets and the buttons, everything. Study it.THE SHOES IN THE TREASURE CHESTStudy your shoes. Shoes are a happiness. Did you ever think about that? You know that in some countries people don’t have shoes. Only one man wears shoes, that’s the king of the tribe. And not every day. Once in a while he puts on shoes, when a visitor comes from outside, a tourist, so he wants to show he’s a sport so he puts on shoes. Otherwise he doesn’t put on shoes. Shoes are a big luxury. It’s a very complicated achievement, a shoe. Look at the different kinds of leather. And rubber heels. And you need shoestrings. A shoe is a treasure.So let’s say a colonel from the American Air Force lands on that island, so the king takes his shoes out from his treasure chest, and he puts them on, and he marches with his short pants covering his naked body, with some feathers in his head to greet the colonel. And he shows him his shoes. He’s so happy; he’s “an aristocrat.”THE GREAT BLESSING OF SHOELACE TIPSWe should know that shoes are a happiness. It’s not an exaggeration at all. It’s no exaggeration; shoes are a happiness for us. Just because you live in a country where everyone can afford shoes, should that decrease the happiness in any way?!That’s why we’re expected to say every day, שעשה לי כל צרכי. But we’re lazy, we don’t think. Often we’re not even thinking about thepeirush hamilos.I’m not talking now about the “formality” of making thebrachahin shul. When you’re walking down the street, take a minute every day to be happy with your shoes. Think about the details. “How lucky I am to have shoelaces that have plastic tips. If there wasn’t a plastic tip, then I’d have a hard job fitting it into the hole. I’d have to spit on it, and twist it and try to push it through the hole. Boruch Hashem I have plastic on the tips of the laces.”THE DOCTORS ARE OVERCOME WITH EMOTIONOnce you begin thinking this way, you can begin to be happy with all the functions of life. I mentioned the sense of sight before. I can’t just gloss over it quickly. You’re able to see! If you don’t appreciate that, then take a look at the person walking in the street with a white cane tapping his way. What would he do if he could get eyes like you have today?! Even one eye!It was recently reported in the papers that a woman who had a cataract for many years and her situation was considered hopeless. She was a married woman, with children, but she had no sight. And then it was decided to attempt an experimental operation on her. For a long time the bandages remained on her eyes. And finally the doctor came in and he took off the bandages – just for a moment they were taken off so as not to strain her eyes – but in that one moment she screamed in delirium. She could see! And the doctors were weeping. They were overcome with emotion.Now isn’t it a tragedy that we don’t weep in happiness at this great gift of sight!Boruch atah Hashem pokei’ach ivrim, Who opens up the eyes of the blind every morning. Finally this lady saw her husband for the first time; she finally saw her children. And she said that she didn’t want anything more out of lifeexcept to be able to look!FREE LENS CLEANSING GERMICIDESThe happiness of sight, the happiness of seeing color! Seeing is life itself. Thegemarasays that סומא חשוב כמת – in one sense a blind man is like a dead man. He’snotdead – there are a lot of compensations in life – but in a certain way he’s dead. Because the great happiness of having two “cameras” is a joy that a living person shouldn’t be without. Even one camera! How lucky we are! And it’s a color camera that focuses by itself; all day long it’s working perfectly, focusing in, focusing out. Every time you blink you’re washing off the lens with a film of germicide that cleanses. It’s a perfectly functioning camera that has no equal among the best fabrications of Mankind.That’s how you’re expected to think – that’ssameach b’chelko. Not that you’re satisfied with “merely” five hundred thousand dollars. When a man learns to enjoy the fact that he has two good eyes, he is more wealthy than the man who has two million dollars. So how can we be satisfied in the morning with a dry as dust declaration, “pokei’ach ivrim”, which most times we don’t even think about what we’re saying? Isn’t that a tragedy?“I HAVE TWO ARMS!”Now we have to keep on going. Look all around you; did you ever see a man with only one arm? Two weeks ago I saw a man without any arms.Both arms were missing! And I said to myself, “Look, you learnChovos Halevavos, don’t you? How can you pass him by?” So I took another look. I waited till he passed by – I didn’t want to embarrass him – and I took another look to remind myself. And for at least a half a block I was walking on air, thinking how lucky I am to have two arms. Thinkchas v’shalomwhat it would be like if you didn’t have two arms. What would you do? For a half a block I was ecstatic. But a half a block is not enough – it has to be all the time!Not only do you have arms and legs, but your mind is normal. Oooh, what achessedthat is! So many people are very confused; mental illnesses, imbeciles, and depression. Depression is also a sickness, it’s also like being an imbecile. And therefore, ברוך אתה השם חונן הדעת! How can you sayshemonah esreievery day, and ignore thatbracha. It’s the first of the weekdaybrachos, and you’re thanking Hashem thatyou’re sane! Three times a day you say it; shouldn’t you appreciate that great gift?Chonein hadaas –You bestowed sanity upon me.THEY FROZE IN SLABODKAAppreciate the roof over your head. Did you ever stop to appreciate the happiness of a warm house? Once upon a time when a Jew came into his house, “Ah, avarme shtub,” he said. “Ah varme shtub!” In thebeis hamedrashhe was freezing. I sat in Slabodka and we were freezing in theyeshiva! We were freezing! It was hard to heat theyeshiva. The stove was over there at the end, behind the wall, and you put in some wood there till it burned out. It was barely enough to heat that little room. If you would stand next to the stove you would feel some heat – otherwise it was cold. And so you would come home and it was a great happiness to be in avarme shtub. You should be filled with joy when you come into a warm house. And today you can enjoy that happiness in thebeis medrashas well.Warmth is a great happiness. You can ask that poor woman sitting outside on the bench on Ocean Parkway. She has no home. I see her pushing a shopping wagon with all her belongings in that little wagon. She has no warm place to sleep. If somebody would let her rest in the vestibule of their home, it would be the greatest happiness for her. She’d bemeshugehwith joy.LYING ON THE KITCHEN FLOORNow that’s achiddushto most people. A warm house? Yes, a warm house is a happiness. It’s not easy to have a house that’s warm. When I was a boy we didn’t have warm houses. It was only warm in the kitchen where the coal stove was.You had to put coal in the stove. When the coal burned out you had to take the ashes out of the stove. That was the only room where there was warmth. If I wanted to read, I laid down on the floor in the kitchen. I laid on the floor all day, all night, in the kitchen by the stove. All the rest of the house didn’t have any warmth. We didn’t have any radiators. No such thing. The house was cold. If you wanted to warm a house, you put a kerosene stove in the rooms. The kerosene stove had to have oil there and sometimes it didn’t work. When you got up in the morning, the whole room was black, including your face too, it made everything black, the soot from the kerosene stove. This luxury of having a warm house is something the modern people have to realize.Ahhh! What a pleasure it is to have a warm house. So when you walk in with your children in the wintertime from thebeis haknesses, say “Chaim’ll, isn’t it good to have a warm house?” Rub your hands together. He looks at you like you fell off the moon. He doesn’t understand you. “How silly adults are,” he thinks. Never mind.That’s the way to bring up children and eventually he’ll thank you for that.THENEISOF THE FAUCETWhen I was in Slabodka nobody had running water in the house. You had to go a half block away to get water. And you couldn’t drink it; it was dangerous to drink well water. You had to boil it up first. And here in your house you turn the faucet and water comes out, pure water fit to drink! What a wealth, what a happiness that is! And even hot water! Hot water coming out of a faucet! It’s a luxury upon luxuries. Once upon a time hot water came only from springs, hot springs. If you didn’t have hot springs you couldn’t get any hot water unless you boiled it. Think about that every time you turn on the faucet, and you’ll start becoming asamei’achb’chelko.You have to talk to yourself about your home. As you walk on the steps, you should whisper to yourself, “Isn’t it good we have steps?” You know, I have steps upstairs, and many times I think about how in the olden days in thegemarathey didn’t have steps. They had a ladder, adargah. Try climbing a ladder to go upstairs; it’s not so simple. Now even a ladder is also a very good invention. Otherwise you would have to go with a rope, you’d have to lift yourself up. But even a ladder is not so safe. Steps are a luxury.A HANDRAIL ISPIKUACH NEFESHSo here you have a man walking up steps and he’s thanking Hashem for this luxury of steps, for the happiness of a staircase. But not only the steps, there’s a railing too! You know the building code requires you to make a railing, so somechachamim be’eineihemtry to avoid the building code and leave out the rail. They deceive the inspector. So what happens? Sometimes they’re walking up the steps and they’re a little busy and they fall down. You can break your neckchalilah.The railing is there; it’s a happiness,mamishpikuachnefesh. What a blessing a handrail is! You ever stopped to think about that? Never even once did the handrail make you happy?!“All this is silly,” you’ll say. Formeshuga’imeverything is silly. So let them bemeshugeh, and you be happy! You walk up the steps and you’re happy because of the handrail. And the older you get, the more you’ll enjoy it. Imagine a man enjoying the handrail. His life is full of fun, full of happiness.BECOMING A MILLIONAIRE TAKES WORKYou learn little by little. Of course it’s a career. You have to put in work. You could put in five minutes a day practicing enjoying air, five minutes a day practicing enjoying your eyes. Five minutes a day next week practicing enjoying walking. Five minute a day practice enjoying clothing. Little by little you’re gathering up in your bank account wealth and little by little you’re becoming a happy man of many riches, many treasures.But you have to do it, though. Just hearing me say it, is not enough. It takes work to be a fake millionaire, so to be the true millionaire of “hasamei’achbi’chelko”surely takes time and hard work. Like I said before, it doesn’t come by itself. You have to make up your mind that you’re going to pursue this career of happiness and that you’ll always be saying, “I thank You Hashem.” Always, “I thank You Hashem for giving me this breakfast. I thank you Hashem for being able to go to the bathroom.” And don’t rely on thebrachosyou make. You must say it with your mouth in your own language. Always. And then, המחשבה נמשכת אחר הדיבור – your mind will be transformed because of your speech and you will become a happy man. At first it won’t work. You won’t feel so happy. But you keep thinking and talking and these ideas will settle into your mind.RAV MILLER’S GUARANTEE FOR HAPPINESSThat’s what theMesillas Yesharimsays: החיצוניות מעוררת את הפנימיות – The outwardliness bestirs the inwardliness. It’s not sincere – you’re not so happy about breathing. But keep it up, and little by little you’re priming your well, and from the depths of yourneshamareal happiness will come out. Little by little, you’ll add more things. And all the things after a while start adding up you become the real millionaire. And after a while you’ll have forty, fifty things. And that’s nothing yet because there’s so much more than that. But you’ll be happy with forty things and you’ll be a rich man. You’ll be a rich man already. And if you’re a young man yet – even a young man of sixty – you’ll keep on this path, on this career, until you’re in your nineties and you’ll be a very wealthy person.I guarantee you that if you do it, you will become happy with the so many wonderful things that you have always taken for granted. And you will become a servant of Hashem and a great man. Not only will you become a happy person but you will become a great person.HASHEM TAUGHT US THE PATH TO HAPPINESSSo make sure to rejoice in all these things and life becomes so delicious. Life is so full of fun thatyou’re always at a party. People at a party are really morose! Let’s saychalilahyou were at a New Year’s party and you saw people reveling – singing and dancing and blowing whistles, jumping up and down. It’s nothing; it’s an empty happiness. They don’t haveanythingon the man who is really enjoying life. They don’t even begin to understand what you, the happy man or woman is all about. You’realwaysrejoicing!Now, there is a lot more to be studied on this subject – I have many more things listed here that I wanted to talk to you about, but I’m already way past time. But at least we began studying the subject. It’s a science that must be studied and practiced, but at least we know that there is such a thing as happiness the way Hakodosh Boruch Hu expects it, and it’s available to all of us.And don’t ask me questions: “Why don’t I see this from myrebbe, from this person or thattzadik?” Don’t believe it; therealtzadikimknow thatthis is the pathto true happiness in life. Because it’s the path – the way of happiness – that Hashem set down for us on the day we leftMitzrayim. And people who don’t walk this path set down by Hakodosh Boruch Hu are falling short not of greatmadreigos– don’t think they’re falling short of high levels of virtue and perfection. No, they’re falling short of the elementary requirements that Hashem taught us on that great day ofYetzias Mitzrayim:היום אתם יוצאים בחודש האביב – that it is the beauty of a spring day and the thousands of other ordinary details of our lives that are supposed to be the real source of our happiness. And therefore, they’re falling short of living happy lives infused with the endless joy of all the simple pleasures of life symbolized by the lesson of חודש האביב.HAVE A WONDERFUL SHABBOS See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate