The Month of Shvat and Elevating out Eating (Tu B'Shvat)

In this episode we are going to dive into the month of Shvat and the holiday of Tu B'Shvat! What is the month of Shvat all about? Why is the month and its holiday so focused in on food? What does it mean to eat in an elevated and holy way? We'll get into all that and more today!

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Transcript

Rabbi Charnoff: 0:00

Hello everyone. This is Rabbi Robbie Charnoff and you are listening to the Hasidus for Life podcast. The podcast where we learn a deep Hasidic insight every single week and explore how it can lead us to a more meaningful, vibrant, and spiritually uplifted life. In this episode, we're going to dive into the month of Shavuot. What is the month of Shavuot all about? Why is Tu B'Shavuot the holiday of Shavuot? Why does it seem to be focused on food we'll get into all of that and more today. I would like to thank this week's anonymous sponsor, Thank you so much for sponsoring this week's episode. Your sponsorships are what make this podcast happen. If you would like to sponsor an episode of the podcast, please email rabbicharnoff at gmail. com or see the show notes for more details. All right, with that, let's jump into the Org of Dalyahu and the Month of Shvat. All right, we are in the Org Yidol Yahu on Chodesh Shvat. This is Hasidus for Life, and one of the reasons why I called it that and not a Nesib O'Shallom podcast was actually to give myself the freedom to learn from other Sfarim when the opportunity presented itself. I didn't think it would present itself so early, but I feel very connected to Shvat and Tubi Shvat. To my knowledge, certainly not in this form that I have accessible, there isn't a piece from the Decibel Shalom that I have on Tubi Shvat. So I wanted to take a look at a different Sefer. This one's the Orgedal Yahu, a fantastic, beautiful Sefer. and he has a piece in the volume on Bereshit and Shmot on Chodesh Shvat. Now this is on Chodesh Shvat as a whole, the month of Shvat. Learning about the month of Shavuot alone is very powerful and meaningful and will enhance our Tubi Shavuot and we'll try to actively relate it to Tubi Shavuot as well. With that in mind, we're actually going to be starting on the second piece on Tubi Shavuot on page Chaf, or 38, which is in the Shemot section of the Sefer. Otbet, Shavuot, Himlich, Otzadi, B'le'ita. We're going to start with the second paragraph. Yadua sheh akarish baruch hu bara et ha'olam be'otiot ha'torah. So, it's known that Akarish Baruch Hu created the world using the letters of the Torah. Hiztakel There's many sources that emphasize that HaKadosh Baruch Hu uses the Torah to create the world, whether it's the first Medrash in Medrash Rabbah, HaKadosh Baruch Hu mabit baTorah HaKadosh Baruch Hu gazes into the Torah and creates the world, whether it's the ha'alma, everybody agrees that HaKadosh Baruch Hu gazed into the Torah and created the world, and the Torah itself is comprised of words. Those words are comprised of letters, and so those letters are creating the world. Another example of this, Kedi'ita, he brings down from the Gemara in Brachos, Yode'ah ya b'tzalel l'tzareif otiot shebahen never'u shamayim be'aret. That when B'tzalel created the Mishkan, without getting into it, I'm sure we'll get into it in the coming weeks, which we'll get into the Mishkan Parshiot, but B'tzalel knew how to unify the letters in the same way that HaKadosh Baruch Hu used the letters to create the heavens and the earth. That since the Mishkan was a microcosm, a mini universe, So, B'tzalel, in creating that mini universe called the Mishkan, he needed the same wisdom that a Kadesh Baruch Hu used to unify the letters, to create the heavens and the earth, to create the Mishkan. V'chol chodesh v'chodesh sheyesh lo sha'ar miyuchad, nivra b'tzerufei otiot acheret. And every single month is coming from a different unification of letters. From a different letter, each one according to Sefer Yetzira, we'll talk about in a second. He's quoting here from the Sefer Yitzirah. He's quoting here from the Sefer Yitzirah. Anyone who's really dealing with the depth of what's going on with the months is going to quote from Sefer Yetzirah. Sefer Yetzirah is the oldest Kabbalistic work that we have. As he writes here, it's attributed all the way back to Avram Avinu. That's how far back some attribute it to. It's written basically entirely in code, and it associates all kinds of things with the different months. There's a certain letter that's associated with each month, a certain organization of Kei that's associated with each month, a certain part of the body that's associated with each month, a certain astrological sign, a certain Shevet, a certain Chilak in Eretz Yisrael. All of these different aspects that are associated with the month that help bring out the unique identity and flavor that is that month. And why it's important to learn about the month in general, we think, okay, what's the Chag about? What is the Chag? The Chag usually, falls out on the 15th. What's unique about the 15th day of the month? It's when the moon is at its fullest. It's the fullest expression of the light of that month. So that day jumps out and gives it that full expression in a Chag. But that Chag is reflective of the entire month. Tu B'Shvat is reflective of what Shvat is. Purim is reflective of what Adar is. It's bringing out the essence of the month at the height of that month. So in any discussion of a month that's going to get into its depth, it's usually gonna quote from s and that's exactly what he's gonna do here. So he says, so when, which is attributed to avnu. It says about each kh, which letter is connected to each month. Amru himlich ot tzadi b'le'ita. So the Sefi Yetzirah says that when it comes to Shabbat, HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave kingship to the letter tzadi through le'ita. What's le'ita? That's going to be very key. He's going to jump right into it in a minute. So the Sefer Yetzirah says that he gave kingship to the letter Tzadi in the context of Le'ita, whatever Le'ita is. Uk'deila v'n'divre'hem. And to understand these words of the Sefer Yetzirah, Shim'od amukim, which are very deep, B'men Shei Noguei Alanu B'avodat Hashem Yiprach, as it relates to us in terms of our Avodah Sashem. Top of the next column. Nachutz La'agid Masha Katuv B'inyan Zeh B'Sefer Shei Mishmuel B'Tosafot Be'or. So he's saying I'm going to draw from the Sefer Shei Mishmuel and explain it in order to try to understand a little bit of this line. Next paragraph. Halashon le'ita. What does this word le'ita mean? What is le'ita about? Matsinu eitzel eisav harasha. The key time that we find the word le'ita, the only time that I'm aware of, that it even says the word le'ita at all in Tanakh, Is in the context of Ace of Horussia. Sha'amar liyakov avinu, he says to Yakov, you know, ha'aliteni na'amin ha'adom ha'adom hazeh. Give me from this really red thing that you have, when he asked for the lentil soup. But he doesn't say, give it to me. He doesn't say, feed it to me. He says, ha'aliteni. This word for eating. That's a different type of word than we ever see before that specifically relates to Esav's connection to food. His connection to eating. Haliteinina min ha'adom ha'adom hazeh. V'chei nevi chazal, and chazal do also use the word. Haliteyu le'rash avayamot. Give it to the Rosh and he'll die. Let him, Just Swallow it down, wolf it down.'cause in truth, the word means it means to eat. But the difference between the language of versus that of a, which just means to eat. It depends on the nature of the eating that's taking place, the intent that's infused into the eating. For what purpose is he eating? What's the intent in the eating and what's happening in the action, in the eating, designed the world in such a way where we have to eat in order to live. There's no way to live without eating this. A person would die, but in addition to the food itself, there's the sweetness of the food, the taste of the food, the enjoyment of the food, and the reason why infused food with sweetness, with taste. It's for the ability for the entire world to be able to continue. Ki mi b'ladei ha'arivut she'ish v'ma'akhar. Because without the sweetness in the food, lo hayah ha'adam mit'aveh klah leh ha'ma'akhar, then a person would never want to eat. A person would never desire to eat. The desire for eating comes along with the sweetness, with the taste of the food itself. Explains if a person didn't have a tiva, a desire for the food, a person would never eat. Would never want to eat because there would be no reason to get involved in eating. It's, it's a big burden. Food costs a tremendous amount. Grocery bills are only going up. It costs a lot of time. If you're somebody who wants to make your own food, it costs a lot of time. It costs money, it costs time. I was talking about this with somebody today. He was like, really? We wouldn't eat if there was no taiva for food? And I said, you know, anybody who has Kids, or anybody who has, nephews or cousins or whatever it is, if you've ever seen a little kid who sits down in front of delicious food, and they say, no, none of it tastes good, I don't want any of it, they will die of starvation rather than touch the food. I see one person here with kids who's agreeing with me. you know that feeling, when you're sitting there and there's tons of food on the table. And a kid will look at you and be, No, I will not eat. I don't care. I'm so hungry that I'm crying, but I won't eat. I think that's an extreme, But the explanation here is, is that if we didn't have a taiva for the food, it would be crazy for us to eat. but the TVA for the food itself allows it to seem, pun intended, palatable to us. It makes sense to us. It allows us to do such a thing. That's what he's claiming here. VA and the person also, even if a loftier person would see the idea of food. The concept of food. It's mice, Bahama. Animals go and eat animals, go and graze animals go and put their heads in the trough. There are three ways where a person seems like an animal is comparable to an animal. One of the ways is that we eat and drink and eating and drinking is like an animal. Therefore, the explains. It's for the good of humanity that a Keresh Baruch Hu put into a person the desire to eat. We need that. It's necessary for us to continue to exist. Top of the next page, page 40. A person needs to recognize the tremendous tov, the goodness that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is doing for us and giving the food such beautiful, wonderful taste. And a taiva for it. inyan arevut ha V'zeh inyan arevut ha ma'akhar. This is why there's a sweetness, there's taste to food. Ligrom u'le'orer koach ha ta'avah be ha'adam shee tasik be inyanei olam hazeh. To bring about, to bring out a desire. within a person to engage in Olam HaZeh, to engage in physical acts. And he says here, one step further, V'chol inyanei Olam HaZeh, sheim tzarchei haguf, anything in Olam HaZeh that's a necessity of the body, nikreit b'sheim achila. The Chazal will use the term achila as a way of describing any desire for something in the physical world That we need to survive, and in all of them gave us a tva, gave us a physical desire in order to be involved in these things and allow the world to continue. if not for this, then a person would never eat and V'zewa p'irush b'divrei ha'gamara, that's what the Gemara means when it says, ki hu amar vayehi, zo isha, hu tzivav ya'amod eilu banim. The Possick says, HaKadosh Baruch Hu said, and it was, and the Gemara explains that this is a reference to creating woman. And he commanded, that is about having kids. Pirush, what does that mean? Ki kach siva ha'shem yiparach shee tasok adam be'eilu hadvarim. Ki bil'adah lo haya ha'adam notel alav ha'achrayut shel isha uvanim. If not for the fact that HaKadosh Baruch Hu would have commanded, get involved in interpersonal relationships, find a wife, get married, simply the creation of man and woman alone would not have led to marriage. If not for the command for them to get married and the taiva that's put in the world, the desire that's put in the world for a connection between man and woman, it wouldn't happen. The Gemara in a different place talks about how HaKadosh Baruch Hu was asked to get rid of the Yitzhahara for Avodah Zarah. And Qal Yisrael was successful at getting rid of the Zarah. And they were like, great, as long as we're getting rid of Yitzhaharas that are causing us problems, let's also get rid of the Yitzhahara for Arayos. Let's get rid of the Yitzhahara for the desire for between men and women in a negative way. What happened? So the Gebara, in a very pithy way, says they successfully got rid of the Atsahara for Araios, and, after that, no chickens laid any eggs. That's the way that it frames it. Meaning, without the desire, even a positive relationship is not going to exist. Even a necessary relationship is not going to exist. And so they davened, and they actually brought back the Itzharah for Arayos. So there could be positive relationships between a husband and a wife. So he's saying here that that comes from a place of taiva, that taiva needs to exist. Or again, nobody would engage in the action. If the taiva for eating didn't exist, we wouldn't engage in the action. If the taiva for Arayos didn't exist, there would be no reason to engage in the action. Even in a positive way, only in a way where there's a desire for such a thing in order to engage in the physical world and to establish the world and keep it going. V'chin amru chazal, and chazal say, al ma she katuv, gam et ha'olam natan bilibam, pirush la'asok binanei ha'olam, she'ilu lo yitsahara, lo bana adam ba'id, v'lo nasa ishta. Similar to what we said before, another source proving this point, that if not for the yitsahara, then a person wouldn't get married and start a house. What he's saying here is, is that When a Karasparukhu created these things that we need to do in order to survive, for us to continue, whether we're talking about food which keeps us alive every day, whether we're talking about having children which allows us to have continuity in the world. These are physical things that are challenging, that are time consuming, that are expensive, that take a lot of mental and emotional energy. They take a lot out of us. They take a lot of focus from us. We wouldn't engage in these things. So what a Kharash Baruch Hu does is, he gives us a gift. And that gift is taiva. And it's a gift! The taiva for these things, the desire for these physical things Even though they're animalistic, and even though I wouldn't want to have to do with them. So he gives us a desire for them. And by having that desire, that causes me to want to engage in them. But obviously that's not going to be the end of the story. How do I then raise it up? How do I elevate it? So that's what he's going to say next. We're in the middle of the first paragraph of page 40. But what's the voda of a person? Even though a person needs to eat in order to continue the world, in order to stay alive, his eating should be in a certain way. Only to eat because a person has to eat. Only to eat for the purpose of living. V'lo yifne libo el arevut ha'ma achar. And don't turn or relate to the sweetness and the taste of the food. Le'chol machamat koach ha'mitaveh sheyesh bo. Not to eat because of the taiva. We'll explain in a moment. U'kemo shekatuv. Tzadik ocher. As the Pusik says so deep, the Pusik says in Mishle, Why does a tzaddik eat? Tzadik ocher l'sov ha nafsho. He eats in order to satiate his soul. achilata tzadik, that the main eating of the tzadik. Hu'avor kiyum ha nefesh shalom. It's to keep his soul going, to keep his soul alive. ta'avatam. But those who eat because of their taiva? Nikreit achilatam b'sheim? Those who eat in order to satisfy their desire, that he defines as le'ita. She'ochlim machamat arivu tamacha. When they're eating because of the sweetness and the taste of the food, and not for the life that's in the food. Okilshona targum al haliteni na. Like the targum says on the words haliteni na, when Esav says, give me from that food. What is haliteni? Give me the ta s as I don't care about the thing. Gimme the taste of it. That's, that's eating it for the food itself, for the taste of the food, for the T of the food. It's a stronger language than just, that's when a person eats in a physical way. Top of the next column. Ki v'tafel. In every eating, there's the main thing and there's a secondary thing. Ki ha'ta'ava hi rak t'sfila. The desire is only secondary. Ki ha'ta'ava nitna rak k'dei she'adam ye'achel. The ta'iva's only there so that we can eat. And a person needs to clinging to the main thing and not to the secondary thing. And if a person only attaches himself to the secondary thing, ni, that's called secondary deep thing here, that when it comes to eating, there's two aspects to the food. There's the fact that HaKadosh Baruch Hu, because we need it, for us. He put in the taste of the food. He put in the taiva for the food. He put in the desire for the food. That's there so that we, we eat. If not, we wouldn't eat and we would die. But that was a means to an end. That was a means to get us to be able to eat bechlal. When a person then wants to elevate their eating, wants to elevate their relationship to food, then they need to go and think about the pasuk. Tzadik ochel? That the tzaddik is coming to eat, to satiate his soul. to start thinking about why am I eating, to start there, why am I eating the food? The desire, the ta'iva got me to the food. But now I need to be an adam. Now I want to be a person. And I want to be a person of lofty stature. I want to be a tzaddik. I'm trying to be a tzaddik. I'm trying to be a tzaddikus. What happens now that I've approached the food? Am I going to follow that base physical desire and engage the food and eat the food only from that place of base desire? Am I going to be an Aesop? Haliteini I just want to taste the food? All I care about is the taste? Or do I ask myself, Why am I eating? What's the purpose of my eating? HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave me the taiva, but He gave me the desire, so that I would eat, because I need to eat in order to live. So really, all of this was just that HaKadosh Baruch Hu wanted to make sure. That I would live. So I'm eating in order to live. Right? The famous saying, Don't live to eat, eat to live. I'm eating in order to live. And that transforms my experience and my relationship to food. Food no longer becomes simply a self indulgent desire. A fulfillment of instant gratification. This looks delicious and therefore I'm going to throw it in my mouth. I'm going to shove it down. I'm going to go to an all you can eat restaurant. Which is like It's Achilles Gaza. it's intentional Achilles Gaza. It's a wild concept Because you've already paid the money, you're like, Well, I already spent the money, now I just gotta eat as much as humanly possible. Let's find all the things that taste good and shove as much in my mouth as possible. It's a crazy concept. he's saying here that all eating for physical pleasure is bad. We're only partway into the piece, and we're in one piece, and I think that what he would say is more nuanced than that, I don't think it's saying that one should reject taste entirely. HaKadosh Baruch Hu did create us with its desire, and on the flip side, he created tremendously delicious foods. He could have just created one type of fruit, he could have created one type of vegetable, he could have created one type of anything, but he created all of these different types of all these delicious tastes. And the, I mean, the amazing sensation of biting into a ripe orange versus biting into a delicious apple is a totally different sensation and taste. And those are both healthy foods, and those are both good foods, and those are both foods that are going to give you energy and give you life. The way that I would frame it, still within the context of what the Org of Aliyahu is saying, but he's not saying this explicitly, so I'm not going to attribute it to him. I'm not going to say that he's saying this. Is, my goal is to eat, not to indulge in my desires, but to elevate my eating. How do I elevate that? That I want all of these different tastes. to utilize them to thank a kodesh boruchu for creating these tremendous tastes. And if I'm coming into it from the perspective of, I'm making a healthier choice, because I don't want to eat just for my taste buds, I want to eat to give me life. Food choice here is obviously going to play a role as well. When a person is put in front of a plethora of foods, it should impact us practically to ask the question when I'm going for the food and my hand reaches for the food when I have a bunch of options in front of me, am I reaching for a food that is singularly based on my taste buds? My stomach? That which I want to satisfy my physical desire? Is that the only calculation that's going on in my brain? If yes, that is physical and self indulgent, and especially in the world that we live in of there's abundant access to tremendous amounts of highly processed, highly palatable foods. Those foods, according to anybody who really knows what they're talking about, but you could do your own research, those foods are very bad for you. Those foods are very damaging for a person's body. So the things that are literally designed in a factory, with our taste buds in mind, Are the things that are the most damaging to us physically. Highly processed, highly palatable, very sugary foods, these types of things. are very, very damaging. And if you follow only the base desire, because these companies don't care about your real news, these companies want to sell you more product. They want you to become addicted. They want you to eat more and more and more. They want to create foods that you're going to just, no matter how much you eat, your body's not going to tell you to stop. And that tastes amazing along the way. So there needs to be a recognition that we live in a world of ASAP, which is beautifully connected in a bigger sense. Which is true, because the fourth Golos that we're currently in is that of Edom. Edom comes from Esav, and Esav is hazeh. We live in a world that never before in history has seen an abundance of incredibly tasty, nutrient deficient foods. Foods that taste incredible. Haliteinina! But at the same time, completely lack any nutritional value, and can even harm a person. It's the world of Edom, it's the philosophy of Edom, it's the gullis of Edom, as it expresses itself also in food, yes. Haliteni na. And then to ask myself, okay, so then why am I eating? So, I can move away from those foods and then move into, hopefully, healthier foods. And how one defines health itself is a long discussion. but to start picking healthier foods. So then I pick healthier foods. But, okay, well let's say I have two healthy foods in front of me. Again, that apple and that orange. I think that there is a maila in picking the, if you're picking the healthy food and you're picking it to give yourself life. You're not eating for taste. You're eating for life. But Baruch Hashem, in the opportunities to eat for life, I have the orange in front of me, I have the apple in front of me, and I prefer the orange. Should I dafka take the apple? I would say no. Take the orange. And say, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, thank you for giving me these incredible choices in these foods that give me life. And as I feel the explosion of each one of the bursts of citrus that comes into my mouth when I bite into that orange, Hodul HaShem Kitov Ki Ulam Chastoh. Thank you for making this so delicious. Thank you for making this so amazing. In which case, I'm utilizing my eating, and I'm utilizing the ta'iva, and I'm utilizing the taste itself as a medium to give thanks to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. There's many, many levels when it comes to eating, and many, many levels when it comes to food. And I would say, for somebody, because there's many of us out there, all different challenges, all different ways in which we're trying to work on ourselves. Let's say you're somebody who's like, great, Rabbi Charnoff, you're talking about the importance of eating healthy, I don't like to eat healthy. I want to eat my doggies, and I want to eat my ice cream, and I want to eat my cookies, and I want to I enjoy these things, and I'm not changing. What I would say is, okay, great, so you're not up to that level yet in terms of how you want to augment your Vodashem in that way. But when you're looking at those things, then yes, there's still this level to it. Think about when you're picking it, why you're picking it, when you're picking it. You see an expensive box of cookies that's the type of cookies that you love. So make L'Kavod Shabbos Kodesh, and put it aside for Shabbos. And when you take a bite, say, I'm eating it L'Kavod Shabbos Kodesh, so I can feel greater Oneg Shabbos. Would my Rebbe agree that such a thing is called Onek Shabbos? I don't know. Would I agree that such a thing is called Onek Shabbos? I might disagree with you. But do I respect you that you're working to elevate your eating one way, one step at a time, where you're at 100%? Each one of us in our own way. All of us have a complicated relationship to food because there's so much taiva bound up in it. There's so much desire bound up in it. And because we live in a world where food is complicated. My quote unquote Rebbe in understanding food is Michael Pollan. If you haven't read the Omnivore's Dilemma, required reading to live in this world. Omnivore's Dilemma is fantastic. But in his introduction to the book, he writes that he's a food journalist and he mocks himself. He says it's insane that we live in a world where you need a food journalist to help you understand what it is that you're eating when you buy a box of food because you can't figure it out when you're walking to the supermarket. We live in an insane world when it comes to food. So I'm not telling you, chas v'shalom, I'm not one to tell you what to do. Do your own research, and also do your own internal research as to who you are and where you want your Vodashem to go. But, this time of year, as we'll see, we're going to keep going forward in a second, Himlichot tzadi b'le'ita. Shvat, which is the month of elevating our eating. Elevating from le'ita to achiva. Yes, we all have a hiuv to elevate our eating. Each one of us in a way that is Meaningful and connected to Akadosh Baruch Hu and moving us forward at least one step at a time in the right direction and based on our own Physical needs and psychological needs and our own challenging relationship to food everyone where they're at Each one of us should be taking steps forward. This is a big part of what Shavuot is about. Not to go in a way that's obsessive, or unhealthy, or psychologically unhealthy, but to find a way that works for me to say, I want to upgrade myself and my Achilla a little bit. Move a little bit away from Haliteinina, move a little bit away from Esav and his world and his mentality. To get a little bit closer to Yako Vino to get a little bit closer to KAA that yes, we can all do each one in our own way. Let's take it forward. so let's get back to the words of the safer y in the next paragraph. The, the Safer Y has said that. This month is making a king of the letter Tzadi through Le'itza. Pirush, what does that mean? K'ivan she'ishi nyan kazeh shel Le'itza ba'olam. Since there's this concept of Le'itza in the world, of just focusing on the taste. And everything has this TVA in it, this desire in it. A person can say, how am I supposed to overcome this? I was built with TVA for food. I was built with a desire for the taste of food. God, you made me this way. What do you want me to do? Hareh kodesh baruch hu barat haolam. Ima ta'ava kodesh baruch hu, you created the world with ta'iva. Ima la'ita, with this concept of la'ita, this desire for taste, V'eich shayach she'id bak et atzmo rak beha'ikar? How am I supposed to just cling to the main thing? How do I cling to food in a way where I'm eating it only for the sake of life? Im ha tafel sha ya ha tavah me'orir le'asok be'inanei ha olam. The tafel is to get involved in this worldly things, but that's how you made me. V'letein naf'sho el harivut ha ma'achal, and to turn towards and to want the sweetness and the taste of the food. Al zeh natan ha karesh baruch hu ba'olam ha koach li hamlich ot tzadi b'le'ita. Because of this, ha karesh baruch hu put in the world. to give kingship to the letter saddi over the lta. What does that mean? Is the one who can overcome the LTA and SAD being related to each other, sad being letter before that's coming out. Is somebody who restricts their actions to make sure that they're only through strict calculation, strict thought. That's what means. When a person engages in their eating and has intent kavana in their eating for the ultimate goal, why am I doing this? Why did I come to sit down for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner, for this snack? Why am I here? What's the. What's the intent? U'ke ma'amar ha katuv, as the pasuk says, back to the pasuk we quoted before, tzadik tzadik eats for his nefesh, a tzadik eats to keep his soul alive. ma'asav, sheya achilatoh nafsho, that a tzadik restricts himself in his actions, that all of his eating is only for his nefesh. Again, that's a lofty level. I hope all of us here strive to be tzaddikim, strive to be tzadkaniyot, but that's a high level to achieve. The goal is not to become one tomorrow, but how can I slowly but surely take one step at a time, to become more of a tzaddik, to become more of a tzaddikas, to have more kavana in my eating, to have more kavana in how I approach food. The foods that I choose, regardless of the foods that I choose, the kavanah that I have when I'm eating the food, what I'm thinking about, how I'm relating to the taste, how I'm relating to my taste buds, how I'm relating to my stomach. What am I focusing on? What's the ultimate goal? What's the goal of the eating? In what way am I elevating it that it's for life? That it's for HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that it's for my Avodah Hashem. That it's to give me koach, that it's to give me strength to serve HaKadosh Baruch Hu more deeply. To have extra energy, to daven with greater kavana, to learn with greater depth, to do chesed with more excitement. And a person can challenge me and I accept the challenge. No, I'm gonna drink a sugary energy drink because I'm about to go and do this HASS thing for the next three hours. Then great! If you know why you're doing it, we can argue about the details. We can argue about the nuances. We can argue about the nutrition and the health. We can do that for day and night. Trust me, we can and you're welcome to feel free to WhatsApp me. We can talk about it day and night. But are you answering the question for yourself? Why am I doing this? In what way am I elevating it? How is this turning into achilla and chas v'shalom not falling into le'ita? How is this elevated eating and not simply following my taivas? That's the question to ask however you choose to apply it. Food is complicated. However you choose to apply it in your life. And that's moving toward being a tzaddik. because I'm restricting and limiting my eating in a way that's not, doesn't have to be to restrict which foods, doesn't have to be to restrict how much, everybody in their own way at their own time. But how am I restricting my act of eating in a way that it's focused That's the deep question, that's the ultimate question. And on the flip side, the 8 cell Rishayim K'tiv, by Rishayim it says, the end of the Pasuk, Tzaddik ochel l'sov anasho, uveten Rishayim techsar. the stomach, of Rishayim will always be empty. Umefareesh. Hagra, sha'rishayim she kol achilatam hi'ach ve'rak bishvir ta'avatam, chaser lehem od betem, ki rotsim le'malot od ve'od. That, what does it mean? It means that a rasha doesn't have a stomach. What do you mean he doesn't have a stomach? It means he always feels like he's lacking another stomach because he always wants more. You can eat until you're stuffed and blue in the face. But if you're only eating to fulfill your desires, the desire will never be fulfilled. You're just gonna get full, and your stomach's gonna be full, and you're gonna look and say, I wish I had more room in my stomach for that. You can't fulfill the desire. If you're only eating for the desire, you can never fulfill the desire. Sorry to get explicit, but speaking of exiles, famously in Greece, they had, I'm sorry for saying it, they had the vomitoriums. Because they would only eat for their desire, and so they would go and they would stuff themselves until they couldn't eat anymore. They would have Bathrooms that weren't for bathrooms, They would vomit out all the food to go and eat another round of food. And they still would never feel fulfilled. Why? Because you can never fill the taiva for the food. Oh, it still looks delicious. It still looks tasty. I still want more. I still want more. I still want more. Well, why do I want more? Because my whole goal in eating was for my taiva. But if my goal is to serve a Kadesh Baruch Hu, it's a whole different thing. You know, you look at a person. We talked about these all you can eat meals. You look at a person after an all you can eat meal. You ever seen a person after that? Oh, man, I need a few hours. I gotta lay down. I don't know. I'm like barely, barely conscious. I'm comatose. give me three to six hours to sleep it off. And then I'll, it's a crazy concept. When a person eats only for their taiva and they fill themselves to such a state, what happens? All of the energy in their body is used in a desperate attempt to try and digest the food. It literally does the opposite of the goal of food. Food is meant to give you life and energy and excitement to Zervah Kodesh Boruchu. And when you eat for taiva, you're lit you're dead. You go to you have to fall asleep for hours. One sixtieth of death. You have to die a little bit, just to get back on your feet from all the food you ate. I've never in my life seen a person look at me and go, Oh my god, in like three, six hours I got I had so many apples, I can't even tell you, I can't breathe. It's no such thing. First of all, there's mechanisms in your body that would keep that from happening. But besides for that, there's no such thing. You go and you eat for life, then you have life. But a person who's eating for their taivas will never succeed. They will never, ever succeed. And it brings out a state of death. Masha'in kei not tzadik is opposed to the tzadik. That his whole eating is to sustain his life. That he should have the, the strength to serve with greater excitement as the ram says the next page, that if a person eats with the kavana, I'm doing this for a k. I'm making this healthier choice for HaKadosh Baruch Hu. I'm choosing to put this delicious snack aside, L'chovot Shabbos Kodesh, whatever the case may be. Again, wherever you're at, that's fine. If they do it to serve HaKadosh Baruch Hu, Az Gam Achilato Avodas Hashem, then not just making sure that it's kosher, not just the bracha, the act of eating the food becomes Avodas Hashem. It becomes an act of Avodas Hashem, every bite that the person takes. This is what it means to be that the person engages with everything in the world in a way of clarity, judgment, intentionality, for the goal of what it's about. Because the Kodesh Baruch Hu created L'ita so we could survive. He also created the O Tzadi. He also created the letter Tzadi. that gives us the ability, to rule over our desires. In the month of Shavuot, he gives kingship to the letter tzadi over le'ita. V'tzarfan zeh b'zeh, and he connects them to each other. Shetzireif betocha le'ita o tzadi, that he puts the tzadi into le'ita, he draws the tzadi and the le'ita together. Why? Sh'yuchal tzedek, so that you can engage food in a way of being a tzadik, in a way of tzedek, in a way of deed, in a way of intentionality. V'alashon himlich. And this language of, he gives kingship to the Otzadi. Shushiye Moshel al Hala'ita, what does a king do? A king rules over things. SAD is able that Sodic is able, a person is able to rule over their eating and change it from Lita to in a way where the eating isn't ruling over him to kte and he attaches a crown to it. That's more words from the safer yra. He attaches a crown to it, the. Not only that, but a person can take this eating and transform it into a crown for HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Sh'im avoratoh. That if a person only engages in eating for their Avodas HaShem, HaRei gam ha'akhila hi mitzvah. Then the eating itself becomes a mitzvah, like the Rambam said. V'lachin meyvi besfas emes. And so the sfas emes says, Ki chodesh v'ach? who k'neged Yosef HaTzadik, that the month of Shvat is k'neged Yosef HaTzadik. Ki zeh haya midat Yosef, this is the mida of Yosef, midat tzadik, the mida of a tzadik. V'chodesh zeh mesugal lehamlich ot tzadi b'inanei a'olam hazeh. Yosef is known as Yosef HaTzadik. We just said that the tzadik is the one, the tzadi is the one that can overcome the food, that can raise up the food from le'ita to achilla. It's a fascinating thing that we're talking about Yosef and Yosef HaTzadik and the concept of being a tzadik. Something which a person needs to think about, if we're already talking about these ideas, is that Tu B'Shvat every year, Shvat every year, falls out during Shavavim. And Shavavim is fixing our issues of Arayos. And he who is the one who is known to overcome all issues of Arayos, the, the core of it, is Yosef. Yosef because he's Olam. We've spoken about this in the past. Tzaddik Yisor Olam. And isn't it amazing when you start to see all the pieces come together? That Yosef Hatzadik is the one who brings out the ability to overcome Mitzrayim and to succeed in these issues of Shavavim, in overcoming physical desire in the realm of Araios. And now he's saying you're black on white that the way to overcome issues of Akhilah is through being a tzaddik and which tzaddik are we drawing from? Also Yosef a tzaddik and also the Midah of Yesod. I saw in a different Sefer, Sefer Biyam Haderach, my brother gave it to me as a gift, Biyam Haderach. He says that Tu B'Shvat is the holiday of the Midah of Yesod. This entire time of the year, it's a, such a powerful time of the year, is about thinking about all levels and all layers of our physical desire and how we can, in a greater way, purify ourselves in the areas of our lives where a Kadesh Baruch Hu gave us physical desire in order, exists, in order to continue our existence, and how do we elevate that? In order to live from today to tomorrow, I need to eat. Okay, but how do I elevate that? In order to exist after I die, I have to have kids that continue on after me, that keep the Jewish people going. How do I elevate that action of connectivity between husband and wife, between man and woman? How do I elevate these things? It's all coming through Yosef at Tzaddik. All from levels of what it means to be at Tzaddik. That's what this whole time of year is about, and that's this whole overlap between Shvat and to be Shvat. Elevating ALA and ch and elevating RAOs, how am I elevating all of my desires to ak All of the things where I have to do them in order to sustain and remain in this world, and I have an excuse to be involved in them. If I don't eat, I'll die. If I don't have children, there's gonna be no continuation. I have a every reason to be. Ana Kbo gave us tremendous time from both of those things. How do I elevate that, that I make it for HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that I dedicate those areas of my life in every aspect, in whatever stage of life I'm at? How do I elevate more and more and more aspects and elements of that to HaKadosh Baruch Hu and bring out the tzaddik, inside of me? For the sake of time, we're going to jump over to the next paragraph and we're going to continue on with the last paragraph on the page, U Mamshich Sham. b'sefer Yetzirah, and he goes on in Sefer Yetzirah and says, V'tzar ba'hem d'li ba'olam, that the astrological son of the bucket Is that which is attached to the month of Shavuot. Chodesh Shavuot mazalo d'li. That for the month of Shavuot, its sign is that of a bucket. D'li hukli shemach nisim be'omek ha'be'er. It's something which you put in to the depths of the well. L'ha'alot bo hamayim, to raise up the water. V'shorshohu milashon hagba'ah. A d'li means a bucket, but it means to raise up something from deep, deep within. U'chir'shora katuv, like it says, Arumimcha HaShem ki dilitani, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, You raised me up from being low. You raised me up, though. Shepiru'shohu ki rumamtani vihigbatani, You raised me up. You gave me great heights. There's in the world a concept of raising up, of lifting something up. One can use this in one of two ways. l'tov, or le'hefech, you can use it for a good thing, or for the opposite. Yish'ofen shel v'yig'ba li'bo b'drachei Hashem, where a person raises up their heart in the ways of Hashem. V'u'inyan shel azut t'kedusha, where a person fortifies themselves and has the confidence in themselves, in a way of kedusha, that's a positive raising up of themselves. Sha'av she yodea, mi'ut tarko, even though I know I'm really nothing. Notel al'atzmo betkifut la'asot, ratzon avi shmayim, I steal myself up. I know I'm a nothing, but I have to daven shpon esri. I know I'm a nothing, but somebody has to lead this chesed project. I know I'm a nothing, but somebody has to be shaliach tzibor. Uh, fine. Okay. I'm a nothing but I have to raise myself up. I have to have the courage to do that. Says to have s to have like a, like a leopard to have. There are certain times where a person needs to have brazenness that even though a person knows that they don't really have the strength to do it. That yes, they give themselves the brazenness to say, I'm gonna be the one to do it because somebody's gotta do it and I'm gonna do it for a cottage. Bur. And it's through that brazenness that we can believe in ourselves that we can serve Hashem properly. These are not easy things that we've been talking about today. Re thinking about our relationship to food. Maintaining that mindset in the multiple times a day that we eat. Trying to figure out how to deal with food in a very complicated modern world of food. All of these things are incredibly tough and they were always were tough and they remain tough. But how can I have the confidence in myself that I can overcome these things? That I can grow, slowly but surely, step by step in these areas? Because Yudali, I'm able to be pulled up. I believe that I can pull myself up if it's for Avot HaShem. U'lagi'aleh kibor ka'arim That I can be as strong as a lion. V'zeh yinyan shaldli This is what the bucket is all about. Sheyesh be'habri'ah yinyan shaldli Shehuit rumemut v'agba'ah talayv There's an aspect in the world of this bucket, this raising up of oneself. Of drawing deep down into the wells of myself and drawing up my Avodas HaShem and my commitment to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that brazenness for Him. Va'af she'ish po'inyan shel ge'ut shehu ma'os Even though there's a level of gaiva in that, which is an awful trait. aval nidra she'ha adam yishtamesh ba'mida le'tov We're required to use that mida in a good way. v'she'yinatsel et ha'hitoramut le'tzorech Avodat HaShem And to utilize that. For our Avodah Sashem. Liyot b'hit Romimut. To be in this place of being lofty, of raising ourselves up. alav. K'ti'ita b'reish orachayim. Not to let the people who are going to mock us, drag us down. come on, are you being serious, you're going to get crazy about food, you really care, does it matter, but it's tasty, it's good, people are going to make fun of you, people are going to think that you're crazy. I've been going through two decades of people looking at the way that I eat and telling me that I'm crazy. You know what? I feel great, I live great, and ultimately, I feel that I'm eating for a Kadesh Baruch Hu as best I can. So, you can say what you want to say about me, say whatever you want. And it makes my life a little bit more challenging, and it makes my life a little bit more difficult, but it also gives me a little bit more life in my life, and that's worth it for every second. And it certainly is worth it to give more to my Avodah Sashem, to enhance my Avodah Sashem, to try to purify myself in these issues of shvat, and li'ita, and achila, and kedusha. It's worth it. To me, it's worth it. That's where my values are. Where do I have the chutzpah to say that I can do that, because we have to have that brazenness, a little bit of, to feel that, to lead, to raise ourselves up, to know that we're low, and to lift ourselves up for HaKadosh Baruch Hu. V'koach zeh, top of the last column. Yesh bechodesh shvat, this koach is in the chodesh of shvat. She kol elu hamidot she tav'an HaKadosh Baruch Hu b'nefesh ha'adam, that all of these midos that HaKadosh Baruch Hu put inside of us. Anywhere where we have a taiva. And again, it's what we talked about before. any other taiva, it doesn't matter. If a Kadesh Baruch who gave us the taiva this month tells us, That we can raise up the tzaddik or the tzaddikas inside of ourselves to allow it to rule over that taiva. Both are true. Yes, we all have the taiva, but we also all have within us the tzadi that can rule over that taiva. L'shtamesh be'eilu hamidot rach l'tzorei chaborei. To use these attributes only to serve HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And without the, we wouldn't be able to rechannel these TQ, but because they gave us, we can rule over it. Slim. We built Aek in order to raise up these attributes in a way of sek. Shava is an incredibly powerful month. That allows us the capacity to reach deep inside the wellsprings, the wells inside of us and to bring out a level of focus and control over our desires in a way that no other month can. It's so easy to let our desires run away from us. It's so easy to feel like we live in a world where there's no way to overcome them. We live in a world that's so committed to, Arios, how can I possibly succeed? The phone calls I get, Rabbi, it's been a few years, I'm not married, all my friends aren't Shomer Negi anymore. Um, I'm a joke, and it's impossible, and they're still from, so why can't I be from? Why not just give it up? We live in a world that wants us to give in to our desires. We live in a world where there's food at every Jewish affair and every Jewish function. And it's like, pick your poison. Either you go to an extravagant wedding where there's endless amounts of food to stuff your face with, with no limitations, that all look delicious, and you better grab it before the schmore goes away because they're gonna clear it away in who knows how much time, or you go to, like, a nice kumzuz or whatever it is and like, all there is is junk food out. It's very hard, one can easily say to themselves. In the world that I live in, how can I possibly overcome physical desire? God created me with those desires, He built me with those desires, ultimately, that's how I'm going to survive? How can I fight back against that? Himlich Otzadi. There's a tzadi, there's a tzadik inside of all of us that can rule over all of those things. The last thing I'll say is we are coming up to Tu B'Shvat. It's this week, B'ezrat Hashem, Haba Aleinu LeTovah. Tu B'Shvat is the holiday to specifically rethink our relationship to food. To rethink our relationship to how we engage fruit and food in general. How do I eat? What does it mean to eat? What's the kavan on what I eat? What do I choose to eat? How do I choose to eat? When do I choose to eat? Even on a small level, Tu Bishvat is now, which makes no sense. We're celebrating the fruit trees. Why now? The fruit trees are dead. There's no leaves. There's no fruit. It's the middle of the winter. There's nothing. very briefly, the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah tells us that it's now because this is the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah along with Rashi who explains it. That now is the budding of the trees, not even the flowering, just the beginning of the budding of the trees. What does the budding of the trees signify? It signifies that now is the time of year where most of the rains in Eretz Yisrael, most of the rains of the rainy season have fallen, and a tree soaks in all of that rain and transforms it into sap, and that sap becomes And eventually flowers and eventually fruit. We're not celebrating fruit, we're celebrating fruit trees. Why fruit trees? There's no fruit on them. Why are we celebrating the trees? Because a fruit tree is something which draws in all of that water, just like the bucket, the dhli, draws in all of that water and transforms every last drop of it into sap, into potential, and takes that potential and focuses it on bearing fruit. In every area of my life, how am I taking all of my desires, am I taking in everything that I am, am I focusing all of it on creating new life, bringing forth new fruit, am I allowing myself to get distracted by meaningless desires which are going to come and go, it's, it's again, it's an aspect of death, I have this spark of physicality and then it ends. And how much am I utilizing my entire life, my entire being to soak in everything that's around me to utilize all of the resources around me, to utilize all of my relationships in a positive way, to turn into sweet sap and bear fruit, to utilize all of the food and all of the drinks and all of the water that's around me and soak it in in a way, not where it's going to drag me down, but it's going to rise up inside of me, turn into the sweet sap of Avodah Hashem and allow me to serve God in a way that I never could before. Amen. How am I utilizing all of my potential energy, all of my creative energy, all of the energy that's inside of me? How am I using that to serve Akadosh Baruch Hu? And a big part of that is how we eat. It's a big part of who we are. It's a big part of how we live, but it's also a big part of how we give ourselves life. And it's a big part of how we fix the world, going all the way back to Adam HaRishon, who ate from the fruit, and that was the beginning, that was the first sin. It's a time to be thinking about, how do I fix things, going all the way back to the damaged eating of Adam and Chava, and eat in a fixed way? Eat in a way that's completely, totally, ferakadash barachot. Is it going to happen in a day? No. Is it going to happen overnight? No. But in this month, and on this special day, on Tu B'Shvat, how can I commit myself to take one step forward? To take these complicated aspects of life, And completely dedicate them, dedicate a little bit more of them, to HaKadosh way. And through that, B'ezrat Hashem, through that be able to fix a little bit of what was broken all the way back in Gan Eden. And through that be able to bring about the Geula, the redemption, which will bring us back to the Beis Hamikdash. The third Beis Hamikdash from here will be Amenu. But there's another step past that, bring us back to Gan Eden, to go back to the source, Gan Eden Mikedim, to be able to eat properly in Gan Eden like we were always meant to all the way back at the beginning of history, and through that to see the real Geula Shleiman return to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, to enjoy being in HaKadosh Baruch Hu's presence and the true joy and delight, that's the only joy and delight that there really is, L'nei Tzatz'nachim forever and ever, B'ezrat Hashem. Shukrach, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode. If you enjoyed the episode, please rate the podcast, and hit the follow button and join us every Wednesday Once again, thank you so much to this week's sponsor. And a reminder that you too can sponsor an episode of the podcast. Email rabbicharnoff at gmail. com for more info or to share any thoughts, comments, or feedback on this week's episode. See you in the next one.