#47 - Perek Gimel E - Mesilas Yesharim Explained

In two short sessions a week Rabbi Dovid Schoonmaker will elucidate and bring to life the eternal words of the Mesilas Yesharim. Rabbi Dovid Schoonmaker is the Rosh Yeshivah of Shapell's / Yeshivas Darche Noam in Yerushalaim.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

So we're deep in Peric Gimel. Urbanu has shown us the necessity of Nefish and showed us a lot about what it contains, how to do it, two ashkabbas we need, what is the good, and how do my actions stand up to that yardstick, create the yardstick for yourself, and then check yourself against that yardstick. Pishpush, Mishmush. And then Urbain had said, I see a personal thing, a person should engage in this daily. We said, okay, monthly, etc., but a lot. And now we continue with some some real kiddushim. Let's see. Our rabbis have guided us, shown us, taught us, like Torah's Horah taught us clearly the necessity of this chashman. Now, Al Kane, therefore, Yomru Hamoshlim, Bo Cheshman. These are quite difficult, psukim, lefibshutam in the simple shot in the Torah. But the words here aren't that difficult. There was a happening that happened at Clayisrul. And it talks about Moshlem, which means controllers, like Memshelah, Hila Shem Hamelucha o Moshel, by Gaiim. In Hebrew, we call a governor moshel. Like if you talk about the modern Hebrew, if you talk about the governor of New York, you'd say Hamoshel New York. Not the mayor, the governor. That's how we use it. But I don't think the word uh biblically means governor per se, but it means something like Memshala, or Memshallah, the Memshallah, Memchelis, uh, Memshalet uh Memshalah. So the this is something the Moshlem said, Bo Cheshbon. They said, let's do Bo Cheshbun, let us go to Cheshbon. I mean, let's go to the place. There's a there's a place called Cheshbon, and the rulers, governors, etc., said, let's go to that place. But Khazal take the posak in a whole different way and show a whole different message. And then now we're not talking about non-Jewish or just governmental ministers going to a place called Cheshbun, but it's the Moshlim, certain type of moshel, the real Moshlim, that told us do a cheshbun, not the place of cheshman, but do a cheshman. Do an evaluation, do a calculation of your life. A cane, we continue. This is the Gemara Bhavasar. Yomu Hamashlem Bitzim. Oh, those are moshal in the Yetzarhara. The Yatzahara that we spoke about so much in the last parak in our addendums. There are those that are Moshal in that Yet Zahara. We're going to explain this, Basar Tashem. Bon Hashev Khashbonushalolam. Come and let's consider the calculation of the world. What calculations does that person have to make? Now, the Gemaris is a pretty specific calculation. Mesil Sharam seems to be taking it as a general idea more than just the specific one. The specific qeshman, I mean it's quite a wide specific kashman, you'll see what I mean. Hefsid mitzvah kanegitzkhara. Consider the loss of a mitzvah against its tchar. And tchar a veira kinegath seida, and the reward of the sin against its hefzid. Hmm. There could be a certain hefzid in a mitzvah. Person thinks to himself, I have to do a mitzvah. I'm out with my family, and they might not be sophrim, maybe they're on the bench all the time, maybe they don't even know about benching, and maybe they want to leave. But you know, I know I'm chai of the raisa. I had a good meal. I want the family. At svia chaltavatoveracht, I'm chai right now. Right now at a bench, right? And people wait for each other sometimes. And I wait for my brothers and sisters and cousins all the time. They're finishing up a game or finishing up a text or finishing up this one. I want a bench for two minutes. Totally fine. But you don't feel right. So there's a certain hefid. People are waiting for you. You feel a little uncomfortable, hot on the column, you don't appreciate it. Like, wait, you made a blessing before, right? And before it went out, you prayed. So how much do you have to do? I mean, you prayed already, I remember, right? You went, which was that was cool by me, but you like prayed, and we waited. And okay, and now beforehand you like washed your hands, and then you made the blessing then. I remember the blessing of the bread. You told us that okay. And then now you're making another blessing. Okay, so you're feeling uncomfortable. That's a hefsa to you. That's a lack. But can I get skar? Think about the difficulty, but consider against the skar, the reward. I live with meaning. I live with purpose. I live with ironish. I'm doing what he wants. I'm getting skarnitzhi, no pain, no gain. Echabitsar shavalameh shalobitzar. One mitzvah done with difficulty is worth a hundred done without difficulty. This is somewhere much more meaningful because I feel hot under the collar. Everybody's engaged in a little Lash and Hara. And if I add and I'm a sharp person, I can make the joke. And it'll be funny. And people would laugh. And their opinion of me would go up in a certain way. And I'm losing that. That's a hepsid. But canegitzhara. What are you gaining by not saying lash and hara? What are you gaining by being someone that people know doesn't say lash and hara? How much more faith do they have in you ultimately because they know you won't say lash and har about them? Hepsid mitzvah kanegitzhara. Consider it. That's Moshlim. Who told us that the Moshlim, the Moshlim, the Yitzhram? We'll talk about that idea in a second, the Moshlim. But the Moshlim, the one who controlled the Yitzhara, they told us to get it engage in this tactic. Yes. And also the Sharaveri Knegev Seida. The Skarnaver. Feels Kashmah. Can you say Lashnahara? Delicious. Ah, a good line. Right? The food with the questionable Hakshar. It felt good. But what's the Hafsid? You're not living with your values. You feel like you're a fake. Afterwards, you're gonna wake up. You're gonna be upset about the fact you put on all those calories. Even that, right? That's what we see. That's a great example of a simple one. Overeating. That's a big of error like Allah Khazan. But Lamaisa, right? A second on your lips, forever on your hips. Skar, can I get a hefid? You have to consider that. That's the cheshman. Al Kain, Yomur Moshlim, Bo Keshman. What's their Aza tas? What did the Moshlam Bidzram tell us? Make a cheshman. Consider, right? Now again, here the cheshman that the Khazal makes is specific, which the Mr. Sharam doesn't really go into. So I think he's understanding that's like an example, or maybe the prime example, the best example, something like that. But the idea is generally a person has to live with kheshman. And who told us that? The Moshlim told us, live with keshman, man. This is what's going to get you to the next level. This is what's going to get you there. Live with the cheshman. Now watch what he does here. This is just incredible when you think about it. This true Aitza, this true council, lo yuklu lath, lola re lolarot amitasa. Not every person could say it. And we discussed earlier in our discussions on Torah. What's the difference between secular literature, secular Aitzas, and uh and Torah Aitza, and why we have to be engaged, like Swarm like the Masila Sharm, and not just, certainly not just, or not at all, but certainly not just. Uh Hell Self-Help Hooks, let them, etc. Uh seven habits, because they had a perspective, another angle. They had a perspective which no one working without Torah would have. And they can't, you can't, the lesson of seven habits is not going to be a lesson of the Mzilasharm because he wasn't working with what they were working with. It could be said nice things, it could be said good things, it could be things that gained you, but it's a different perspective. It's a whole different level, like we say. They could not give it. Uh-uh. Below the road of they wouldn't even see the truth of it. But only those who have left the Ait Zahara and are moshal now. Someone who's a dye is still contained. Likbosh means like uh like a band is takhbosh, it's something that's tied around. Someone who's tied around, but Maser Yitzhir on the shackles of his Yetzer. Ainon Vros Amisazos. He doesn't see. He won't perceive it. The Yetzer covers his eyes. So this is an incredible idea. We have to focus on this for a second and take this in. There are things that when you're in the battle, certainly when you're losing the battle, you can't see and you won't perceive and you won't understand. A great example of this, just as an example, is everybody knows, you know, one of the tactics you use with an alcoholic is he has to hit drop, he has to hit um um bottom, ground zero. Right, right? The flawless floor has to fall. I don't have an alcohol problem. I I just don't. It's not, it's okay. I've probably given this mushroom before. But then when his wife's not there the next day, finally he wakes up, right? What changed? He can't see it. He does not see the problem. To us, it's so obvious. See, that's a problem. When we perceive someone else's problem, so look, you don't see that you're socially inept, you don't see that you have guy, you don't see that people turned off from you, you don't see that you're angry, you don't know. I don't see it. We we we all don't see it. I'm just doing my thing, right? So we don't see the issues. So the moshlim, and now here's the point, but it he's talking about two ums, right? But we're most people, most of us are in the middle, right? We're like more like a bainity, Zebizeshovtam. Right? The one was Moshe Bitzar, Davina Mela, Shia, Chaskel, Chazal, they're Moshal Bitzar, that they, Bar Hashem, they they they rose above the fray of this world, and they look down afterwards and perceived things, and they can see things that we can't see, and it's important to understand that there are there are topics which I feel more confident speaking about, and topics I feel less confident speaking about because I know certain topics are difficult for me. So I speak about them with less a lot less hesitation, a lot less uh surety, because I'm also stuck. And we can still it doesn't mean you can't talk about it, but the way you're gonna speak about such a thing in a different way than something you have more of a sense about. I think it's important for all of us to recognize that that that that there are limitations. You know, that it's it's fine to have a limitation. I mean, if you have it, you have it. And you have to be cognizant of that and not ignore it and not speak on every topic like you're the like you really know what you're talking about. If you don't, this is very, very powerful. Bonacheshwam. I mean, what do you say? You make a calculation. No, no, no, Kazala could see this. Akinyomara moshlim, that moshlim beyitsram are the ones who could see and perceive. Now, another thing that comes out from this revos, that's why we have to grab onto these farm. You see, the sharm is not a safer, it's life, it's a connection. Because he saw, we know who he was, we know how he lived. And Kol Kha Kameh, the Baal Shem, the Bali Chasidis, the Bali Musser, such great men that we had that led the way for us. I was just recently engaged in the sort of dome of, let's say, last generation, Ryan Kamanetsky, and Rav Hutner and Riv Moshe Feinstein, just through those the three that I was dealing with. And I was thinking how lucky the door was that we had such lights, such such lights. You know, there's a book about Ravhutner called The Inner Life of Kobe I mentioned before. You see how he lived, you see how he thought. It's it's mind-boggling. It is mind-boggling that someone was perceiving life with such omic, with such depth. R. T. Sroll told me the Torah of the Marel. Man touched the Marel's cover and he burst into tears for hours and hours and hours. Our last generation, Moshapiro. My son told me so recently a picture of Moshapiro, the Marel's cover, or maybe I'm not quite forgot, but like red with tears, people would cry. I remember seeing my own Rosh Shiva or Psikosh crying like a baby, you know, such a gall and such a sickly dik of person. Mashkehdi Shiva, Moshima Wine Trap lost his daughter, balling. I mean, that's I'm not saying that balling is where it's out of all that. That's a sign of greatness, but but but you know, we have to grab into our grab our Khachaman. We have to realize Ashrainu Mato Khalkenu, that we have lights like that to lead us, and that we're all the Masuyitzreinu, on one level or the other. I'm speaking, you know, so all of us. And that the but Bar Hashem, there were people who were above it. No, doesn't mean that they had no Paswak. That's that's a different question, but they were above it, they're above it. You know, my Rabbi Rablach used to say that Halavai, my mitzvah would be like Ramosha Finds Averis. We know, read the read the Gruh, the Sifra Sanusa, the Dhamma, how the Rub Khan Velajna writes about him. Three days Rabbainu couldn't eat if he had something that was difficult to him. When the gruh finished his pay rush on Shirashiram, he called this Talmudiman. He lit like a hundred candles. This is a basically a basic aidus. I forgot which Talmud said this, wrote this, but it's basically quoting something that was actually written from someone who was there, firsthand information. And he said, the gruh said, I finished Khalatar Kula. He didn't mean he read it, friends. He means he finished it. I understand it deeply. I know all the words, I understand the whole thing, besides two places in Zar, which I don't get. I think this is what he said. And I would go to the ends of the earth if someone could tell me the pshad in these things. It's mind-boggling. The grow wrote about himself, about there's a Gemara, a very confusing Gemara in a very interesting Gemaran sukha about Sasan Basimchha, two apikors, and one called Simcha, one called Sasan. And they're making fun of each other. And the gross said that the Rishon didn't understand this. Vanimi Vinuto, I understand it. I sure I got it. I understand what it's saying. Alphi Kabal, and I don't even know if Alpikabal is the right way to say it. He doesn't mean he just had like a nice voort to say about it. But that was a person who lived only 200 years ago, 250 years ago. They're Ali Gabal Shem, look what he did, look what he founded. And they live for us, and we're there. But we have to connect our words. We have to connect to the Tsadium's bottle to them. Understand that through their light, we can see light. We can connect to them and get to things. But we have to take the swarm the right way. It's not just, you know, read the Khabbas. Nice ideas. Adopt a few, not adopt a few. Very nice, very interesting. It was an interesting book. It was a good read. We said it was a good read. Ah, good read. Because they were Moshe Byitzram. Right? We still have great Rabbanum. That fi madraga say no, the doors go down, but there's still Moshe B Yitzram in a whole different place. They're uh we have we have we have people that are on a whole different level, they're living life in a different way, they perceive things differently. Yep. Okay, let's go on a little bit. Okay, Yates and Mesama Saint Immish. But the aidzer hides covers our eyes. And it's like he's someone who's going in the darkness. She is one of my sholos, and he has uh stomach blocks. If Ainna Bo Ainna Rose or something, and you just can't see them, he doesn't see it. You're walking, you don't see it. I mean, what's wrong? She's such a nice girl, wealthy, uh beautiful, good meetows, nice family, good values. There's one problem. Her name is Christine McCarthy, and her mother's not Jewish either. That's the problem. I don't see it. She'll convert. We'll get over it. Ain't neurologism. The eyes don't see the problem because the itzahara covers that it's important. Another point I just want to uh reflect on that Urbain was telling us that it's not just the itzahara makes us do things we don't want to do, it ruins our perception, our eyes, our perceiving. Not just that my body takes me where I don't want to go, my perception is thrown off. I don't see things right. This is this world, this world is like the night. And we'll continue with that in the next session.