#57 - Perek Daled D - 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

Vihinei. We continue with our understanding. We're in the Schlameyada still. Sov Zosa Madrega. Ashra the Mefa Tamid. Upeshra Bosinu Obedivre Torixiv. Vinei. Sovzosa madrega. The end of this madrega. Important. We'll go back to those words. Sov Zosa Madrega. Huanikra Yerishai. It's called the fear of sin. Shumanim Shubachus. Shem Madregos. That's from the greatest and most beautiful of levels. Person will always be fearful, Vadoic and concerned. Penimatzibiyado, perhaps it will be in his hand. A little bit of a sin. Shakveom in a shlamas a shiruchai lishda baburo. This uh maybe maybe that was Lash and Hara. Maybe that was God for Motsishemra. Godfirm Motsy Shamra. Maybe I didn't, maybe I'm not making a Brahona, maybe I didn't make an Ashayotzir, uh, Shaqel, uh Barina Fashos. Maybe I shouldn't have taken that phone call during Seder. Maybe I should have been a little more friendly. Maybe I should have given that person a little bit more time. Shakvim and Ishlimashaiv Lishtav Bavuro. Wow. We speak about a lot of Uras. Usually. Uh Yeris Hashem, Yerushemaim, uh Yuras Onish, Yeras Romus. I think the one we speak about least in our uh Jewish world today is Yeruschate. It's interesting, right? That's if you think about the terms, Yeroshimaim, you hear a lot, Shabizakhda Ola, Batara, Virah, right to the Bar Mitzuboy, Yeroshemaim, Yeris Hashem, all good. Uh Yerasonish, sure we talk about it a little bit. But here, Rabbeino tells us that the real Madrega is called Yerischate, and that's this point. That's the Shlemiadas who have their minds on, and the Yare, that they're going to be away from the Shlamis, which they so much desire. I know what it's about is to get the Shlamis, and I don't want to miss that. That's what it's about. Um, and they're concerned about. I just want to stick in a little mice because I always try to show that sometimes our natural uh what Revolva calls like Frumkite Ayn Sham in Khalib Bez of Alishur, which has a positive thing to us and a negative side to it. He talks about the negative side, but sometimes our Frumkite leads us to think like Yeroshima means uh Brachos, Davening, Bdl Torah, etc., but we forget that it's Ben Amla Khaber also. So I want Sher Maisa about um, I heard from one of his close talk made him, Doug Morgenstern, about the great Rival Yashiv, one of the Dole Adorg, Doloposkum and last generations, leader of uh Yeshiva Jewry and Ertisroll and around the world really in his later years. The great Rival Yashiv was somebody absolutely incredible. So Rival Yashiv used to have Purim at his house and close to uh the Breslov Shul. If anybody ever goes into Mayesharm, it was very close. There, as thousands and thousands of others were. But um used to you could go and ask him a question, go through the line, you know, it was moving, but you couldn't speak to him. And it was very close to where the Breslessul is, Mayasharm, which is a big uh and close to Breslav and was close to Sloan, I remember. Anyway, so Rub Morganstern, who was one of his closest Helmidim, says that um that I heard say this that Ruville Yashev would be home on Purim for years. At a certain point, he switched, and I think he went to his son-in-law Rubazril Orbach, who Shliti Baldobin Chaim Lichhaim is still alive and well in um Bai Bagan. Okay, so that's where he did Purim. And it was asked to Ruval Yashiv, like, why did the Rev switch from here to there? And he said, This is absolutely incredible, he said that people come to me on Purim, uh, let's say, I don't remember the exact wording, of course, but Barak, you know, Roshishivas come, Admorim, uh, Dayanim, regular people, Rabbanim, Rabanier, and all the whole world would come. And I would have to like make uh such a measured calculation of each one, how much covet, how much time to greet each person with. Every person deserves his portion, but you know, there's there's tens and tens, if not hundreds, of people. And I had to make those calculations to be careful about each one. There, what they was was was fit for them and fair to them. And I'm I've gotten older, I don't have cough to do that anymore. So so taxing for him and he and his age years, but that's a person who lives with Euroschate. That's a Yuriskheid in bin Am Lachaveru to be concerned. And and by the way, I'll point out that Ruby Yashu wasn't on the exterior, wasn't a friendly person. You wouldn't call him like friendly. That's not he was, but you see here, I always love this story because very often, you know, it it's often said like that. The people, some some people are perceived as like very friendly and not friendly, and friendly is good. You know, I hope I try to be friendly, but it doesn't friendliness is like uh me then it's part of the whole picture of bin al-Khadir. It's not the be all and end all, and a friendly person can be very lacking, and and a less friendly person can be very, very shulling. It's uh it's a different it's different parts of the picture. Um you know, I always like to compare of for for now, I'm not gonna say the other Rub's name, but um, but I always like to compare of Shach with another you know well-known uh Guttle. And uh and the public persona was that this person was like the well-known guttural. I'm not gonna refer to my name right now, was was you know more accepting, etc. But as a person, he was a pretty, from what was what I've heard from Talmudim, he was a pretty tough, he wasn't a very friendly person, you know, wasn't a very warm person. And Rofshach is famous, maybe less than the world today, but he was famous in my time as someone who was always, you know, it was uh we call a Lochem al-Hem Sashem. He was a battler on many, many fields and many things, and that's the way he perceived. But Rafshach as a person was a teddy bear. I mean, Mamasha teddy bear, you know, he was one of the most loving Ikhbati people. Many people tell you he was the most Ikhpati, those who know the wonderful world, not just friendly, but the most Ikbati, most caring person in the world. Uh arguably, Ravshach was the most caring person in the world. Someone would go to him who didn't know him and would ask him a question about uh about whether he should take a job or something. Ravshach would get on the phone and call people for him. He didn't, not his Talmud, not someone Leonard Panovich, not someone he had any responsibility for, not someone you don't necessarily ever see again. That's what Ravshach was. And I've said the story, said one more story about him. Just it, just it said it's so beautiful. Get back to the Rabiyash story. We'll get to back to Massil Sharm. It's good to hear these stories that I heard from Mickey Suretskin and Rob. Mickey Suretskin and Rov in Telstone, who knew the story, that there was a young woman in Telstone who didn't want to get married, and the family was at it was the day of their wedding, the family's at their wits' end, they didn't know what to do. They called Roshach. I don't know what connection they had, and Roshach got in his car from Benabrak to Telstone and went into her bedroom, and he spoke to her for 45 minutes. She went dancing to her wedding. So that's uh, you know, but not every goddamn is like that. So anyway, so Ravyash, just back to Rival Yashav, so you always have to know, go deeper. It's not about Kidoli's thrill, and there's no critique, Kulum Kadosh, Kulumbrurum, but everyone had emphasized different things and brought out different things, and sometimes it's it's superficial, right? Superficially, Rival Yasha was was uh and it's true, he wasn't Mr. Friendly. You wouldn't go to Rival Yasha for a hug. It wasn't definitely wasn't Mr. Friendly, it was definitely not Mr. Small Talk, definitely in the later years. But his concern and his his Yurus Kid and his his his Benumakhaver was was astounding. I would say about Ravyasha one more thing, you know, that the half hour that he would give to answer Shylas for where we where he was was so incredible. I mean, and later years he got a lot more, but it used to, I think it was once at a certain point it was like half an hour a day. Then he became like the monik of the generation, then it became much more of an old on him. But but we realized like for me to give half an hour, okay, you know what I do with my time, half hour, take it. For really actually the half hour, you know, how much you know, how much I could learn how many sugas I can learn in half an hour. The the the Messius Nefish for him of giving that was so enormous. We have to blow that. Anyway, so that friends is just a little bit of the picture of Yuraschit. Yeruschit is that that's it, Shakvail. Maybe I'm not, maybe I can't, you know, here I am, my Purim Sutta, it's Purim, tens of people are gonna come, and I'm not gonna be able to each give each person what he wants in the same way. I'd rather, I'd rather go somewhere else. That that's Yuras Khait. And Asheru Chaiev Lishadubavur. Muhammad, this is incredible. Each person is burned from the khapshokero. Wow. It sounds like that means in the next world. Wow. Each person is burned from the khob chaveru. Now we're gonna get into something, and I'm letting everybody know right now, this compared to the next section when we get to the phusim. Right? Now we're in this partial of the Schleimi Hadas. So keep this in mind the way we're looking at things now, and we're gonna contrast that eventually with the Pchusim, and we'll see the difference between the perception. So the Shlame Hadas will get to Ola Mahems and they will be nichba, they'll be burned Mikhupasa Shakaveru. What? Why will I be burned? Khap, by the way, doesn't mean because uh the other guy got about a shachan, you mean the khapa is like his area. Khup is, you know, some briskers are kona their chupa, right? Khba is a person's area. They they make a kinya, they make sure they own the area. So khapa represents like a reshus of a person and an area, domain, right? So that's it. So each one is going to be, um, one is gonna be burned from the domain of his friend. What's that? Oh, that sounds like kinna, right? The jealousy, the passion of jealousy. How come he got, how come she got, how come that, how come they got the raise, how come they got the thing? No, no, no, no, no. Ainsamitama Kinnah, nothing to do with jealousy. I share Tibo rakba chasre das. That's Chasredas. Kinna, right? Jealousy's stupid. That's the stupidest thing, right? He's you, she's you, and uh, what are you doing? That's that's chasre das. Only that's that's not for shlame das. Tipo brachbachasra das. I'll write about, we'll see. Elum nehrooso atsub chasum and a shlamis. You know what it is? Because I see myself as lacking shlamis. Madrega shachala siku kamoshavero. I see if my friend got to this level, I could have done it also. So, so listen carefully. So there's a darga here, and I have a great uh new uh way this expresses, which I want to share in a second, is that I one will in the old next world see where his friend is sitting, and that's going to make him uh realize. I I thought I couldn't learn Ushami. If you ask me right now, right, will I make a CM in U Shalami? I don't know. I hope so, but I don't know. I really don't know. I mean, I if I was a betting man, I wouldn't essay bet on it. You know, unless I start just doing Dafyomi that I could do. But you know, the way I learn now and I like to learn now, and I perceive that I should learn now, I don't know if in my derich I'm gonna get to the CM U Xiaomi. Okay? Now, but what could happen? You know, you could get there and then you say, Wow, you know, your friend, uh ex-friend who's similar to you, he learned new Xiaomi. But what do you mean? He was as busy as I was, and he had as much uh brain power as I had and this, and he learned U Xiaomi, and I didn't like whoa, that's gonna, that's that's gonna cause like an existential problem. That's a that's a burning, right? Because that's the perception. I I the I I'll use a term that I saw in uh in a book called the Let them Theory, which is popular today, but I could be I shared this already, but it's a tremendous idea. It said that looking at other people, we should be a torture teacher. Teacher. See, here it's really it's a teacher. Now it's a teacher that's too late. This is the deacon, right? The torture is, oh, you know, she's better looking than me, he's better looking than me, he's he he's naturally brighter than me, he's stronger than me, he's taller than me. That's just torture because there's nothing you can do about that. And if you're just torture yourself by looking at others, the way to look at others is those that you can learn from is to let them be a teacher to you. Oh, what do they do to be successful? What do they do? So it's so looking at others, uh, she phrases intelligently as torture teacher. So that's not this is more, this is something else because it's lost a level. But the the answer for us today would be to let people be a teacher to you, right? Look at those. Now I've learned a while ago, it took me a while. I wrote this in my safe ready satura that sometimes I know when I looked at my Rebeyum and realized that they get got more than me, and for sure it's because they're much more uh all good things than me, but some of them were smarter than me. You know, ex-Rebimine has better memory. There's no question if Psykoslevsky has a better memory than me, and Mendel Blochman has a better memory than me. And really like that. So I can't, that's not a fair, you know, if they work harder than me, oh, that's something I should be beating myself or teaching myself for. But like, why am I not as brilliant as Rublochman? That's just that was the way it was dealt out. You know, that was the way, that was the way Khadishporku uh made me, right? I'm definitely not as smart as Rubsi Kushlevsky. So that's that's that's torture for me to say that. The teacher is, but look how hard Rubsi worked, look how harder Blochman worked, that's the teacher. But anyway, so here the that's the point. Kola Khan Yekba Khopasakh Shakavir. Amazing insight of the of the of the um Rabbachal here, because when you see the Gemara, that's the Gemara Bhavabasra, you say, Oh, it's because there's kinnah there, right? These people go, no, Silash, it's not kinnah, it's not jealousy. These people don't feel jealousy. It's not jealousy. So what is it? It's perception, it's existential perception, it's the understanding that I look to my right or left and I say, hey, if you got to that level, that's the that's the shlamas, that's the Daiga, that's the Ashadama Fakatomi. This is like the you'd say the sum of all their fears. Oh my gosh, my whole life I've been concerned, and I thought the reason I wasn't learning Yurushami is because it's just it's too out of my range, right? I can't learn Kabbalah, I can't do more than Dafyomi, I couldn't, I couldn't learn more than Amin Yomi, I couldn't, it was too much stress for me to put in that 15-minute learning Seder or to do this extra khasa to take on this communal responsibility or to stretch myself in this way, get more tstuka, uh, etc. And then I see that my friend did it in the next world, and he's and his khopa, his domain is more light than me, and he has a certain level of shlamas they don't have. So obviously, together with all the joy and feeling almost, so we'll figure that out, but there's gonna be a certain burning feel, which is not Geschmack, right? For sure. So, so so what's a lesson for us today? I want to share two things. It means that we have to look and the way to do that now, this is just off the page a little bit, is to use other people as as as as teachers. And you have to be you have to be intelligent about it. You have to be intelligent about it, like I said, because often we're just torturing ourselves, or often we're teaching ourselves lessons we can't handle. Because again, for me to see the person who's just has a much better memory than me, and and see him as the example, like why are you not like him? Because it really and and the true answer in my head is gonna be because of his memory, if that's what it is. So that's not really gonna be a teacher for me. That's not that's not Nikhumikupasa Shakavero. That's the Bosham gave him a better memory than he gave me, or whatever else, right? So the so but it's but the but the but but yes, look at our friends who are who are similar to us that are accomplishing more, so that creates a tension. My reverie likely would say that creates a good tension for us. The Khazanish doesn't create tension for you, your friends create tension for you, a good tension which pulls us in the right direction, and we don't want to be there. Okay, so it's not at all kinnah, that's what it is. Vinay, uh Pia Bisbonat Hazev, Vade Shalimna Hasholim Bedaitul Zar Masav. So the end result of all this, friends, is that the when a person is midbone on this, so then a shalim uh right, all that he's discussed in this amazing that we've done with these amazing two, three last sessions. So then a person will be, oh now I'm gonna be Zaire. This is the way to get to Zahiris. The way to get to Zahiris is it's not a shortcut. The way to get to Zaheris for the Shlemedas is by living and appreciating. I don't have to think about punishment. It's not punishment. We'll see, it's not covet, it's it's the true perception of what's really worthwhile in life. Now, we're gonna about to get to in the next section, we're gonna deal with akhlapchusim. So this is all the Schleimedas. Now we're gonna deal with Phusim, Arba Bonim. But what's important is that I imagine many feel like me, they're not there. So we're probably phusim. I think a lot of us, this is just my uh trying to bring the Ms. practical, as I said many times to try to make it practical, is that we can have we can have uh moments of this and perception of this, and we shouldn't beat ourselves up and say, well, if I'm not fully a Shlemiyadas, I must be Phusim, because we'll see we got the Phusim, it's not necessarily going to speak to uh, I think this Shlemiadas speaks to more of us more than the Phusim Svaro. You'll see when we get there. So, so we have to use this. You can use this, and maybe it's in one thing. Maybe I want my Ashur Yatzer to be like a Shlemiya Das. Don't don't be all or nothing. And that's why he said, remember, he said, meaning sopa madrig, the end of this madrig is Yiraskate. That means there are a lot of levels to this, right? So I believe for us a level of this, this is very, very important. I believe for us a level of this is to understand that I'm not a shlemeyadas. But I can have a shlamis about something. My Asha Yatzer, my birkas is shakar, maybe my shahakl, maybe my first shahakal a day can be the way a shlamey das would make it. I want this thing to be perfect. I'm concerned that the the 45 minutes a day, the first 15 minutes of my Seder, I'm going to be shlamis think about it. That's an incredible way to bridge the gap and take the again. No doubt, the Masil Sharm's world, the Schlemia Das are 24-7 Olympic athletes. Let's let's speak it out. You know what they are? They're 24-7 times 4 times 12 times 90. They're 24-7 the whole week. Every week times 4, times 12 every month, times 90 for 90 years. That's what they are. They're Shlemiadas. That was Ulyashav, that was Utzimaier, that was Hayuan Hashim. Okay. They're Shlemiadas. So we're not there. We're not 24-7. Maybe we're not 24-6. Maybe we're not 24-2. But we can have moments of Schleimi'das when a person will sit down and think, how hush of his What is Shram? Abhiat Tzahara. I I waste time. I do other things sometimes, God forbid, I speak less than Lush and Hara, hear this, this. Okay, but I can cop the point of being a shalimbadas for a moment and for some small aspect, even for a moment, if you even even a moment is worthwhile, even if it's inconsistent. Closh can if it's inconsistent. One or two things a week I want to do like a shlami das. I want to get to dabling like a shalombadas. I'm not gonna hold with it a whole hour. I'm not gonna be concerned about every capital and tailim and this, that, but I can be a shalom. Maybe I'll answer you hey Shme Rabbah like a shalomadas. How did how does Shlami Hadas say Hey Shme Rabbah? And I I can live with that, not just that, I'm not just imitating, not a cheap imitation. No, I know, let's go through the process. I know there's nothing we're really worth in the world besides mitzvist. And Halavai could do it for 24, 7, 4, 12, 90. But I'm not there right now. But I can I can take that Shlema Sadas, which is the small level of Shlamasa Das which I've reached, and put my Yetzahar aside and say Yah Shmeh Rabba. This Yeshme Rabba is everything. Because he said a person that should come from for live 70 years and come from the Nishama Yonah from down here to say one Yeh Shme Rabbah, how much worth it is? How much is this Yahishme Rabbah gonna light me up and light up the whole world and create my khapa in the next world? This is my that's my shlame sadas. I think it's a very, very important idea to connect to this idea in a way to which we can uh work with and we shall have Hatzlacha.