Rabbi Mordechai Kraft - Greatness is Possible

hey welcome everybody to our Tuesday Lunch and Learn and we hope everybody has a good week and thank you again for joining us and once again we hope that this time is working Tuesday is working for everyone to be designated for special learning limited Torah thinks they'll inspire a trophy so I've discussed I'd like to discuss today a interesting topic a topic that intrigues me very much and just before I do I just want to say that the words today that are gonna be in the the merit of a yellow hayabasa Rosa and the merit that she should have a complete recovery of for Schlemmer and the merit of the inspiration the words that are spoken today they should allow her to have such a area for such area for Schlemmer so what I'd like to do is just share with everybody today a concept which I found very meaningful and the big picture where I'd like to go with this is that this idea that we know the purpose in life is to change the purpose in life is to is to create ourselves to be greater human beings which is really what we're trying to achieve and sometimes we ask ourselves a question that that maybe it's just too difficult maybe it's just too hard or how long does it take to happen can can I really so transform myself in a way that that that's meaningful so the turret gives us a very distinct partial and we found the two weeks ago in the in purchase now so which describes for us something which i think is somewhat remarkable and it's remarkable in the sense that we see to what to what extent a person can transform and be different in almost almost overnight now it's not to say that that growth is an easy thing you know to sustain growth it mean it were it takes work it takes practice there's flexing and muscles takes a building of muscles but we also have to understand that we too can transform ourselves and so in a in a very short period of time if we do if if if we make correct decisions enough that's what I wanted to get into today so I'm speaking about specifically is I'm speaking about the parsha that deals with something called the nausea the nausea was a regular Jewish man who makes decision and decision is that he wants to remove himself from the physical world to some extent and thereby for the next 30 days he's going to refrain from wine or anything made with with with grapes let's conclude obviously grape juice is gonna food vinegars isn't it than anything we're just absorb the the flavor of the grape it's not as easy or not just simple as it sounds but primarily it's really same for next 30 days it's a limited time period it's 30 days he says I want to remove myself from from wine now accompanying with this is he down enters into a state called being a nosy ER will define what that means in a moment what is in those ear and part of the processes for the next 30 days he's not allowed to come in contact with the dead similar laws that the Kohanim have to follow he can't go to funerals heard the call him you know talk about that in a moment another law that he has to have is he has to let his hair grow he can't cut his hair for the next for the next 30 days but he's called this process which we saw in parshas now so it's called taking on himself the vow of being a nazir and what I want to get to into today is really what does a nose ear mean what's it all about why does a Shem give such a law what's what are we trying to achieve through it so let's just just begin and and take it from here it says that the Torah says that if a person makes this decision and he says that he wants to refrain from wine and take upon himself the laws of a noisier so just to read what the M&S wrote one of the great commentators says about what happens what does this process look like what's the transformation so he says as follows he says duh you should know Kiko Bennett Adam I'm dataverse all of them so the nature of the human being is to go after the desires of this world that God created a world of pleasure a world and it's a good world as Jews we don't reject pleasure we understand that God created there to enhance our lives he says the world is a world of enjoyment the world is a world of tava it's a world where there are pleasures but as we know in this world pleasures are neutral desires are neutral when used correctly they can build some beautiful form to enhance and the connection to God however when used incorrectly we could take us away from from our purpose so the question really is in this world what are we going to be slaves to are we going to be slaves to our pleasures and desires and that's what we're gonna go after or are we gonna say that I'm willing to rise above my desires so the in benezia teaches us he says it follows since died you should know that every human being are they type us all along every human being and some that was a slave to the desires of this world the America a meaty what's a true king what someone who has really achieved kingship in this world what's the definition of a king so he defines and he says America meaty she a tional neza teres malkos parotia it's someone who has a nazar a terrace he wears a crown of kingship on his head the word for crown is an acer the noisier who has said I want to separate myself from wine wine is one of the greatest pleasures of this world it's it's probably one of the most difficult things to create in this world one needs to take the grape and one needs to crush it and break it down and and allow it to ferment in a certain specific way and could produce the most enormous ly fragrant and beautiful tastes to such an extent where we know grape seed one can buy for just a few dollars but the wine that comes forth moment from the grape could cost up to $100 or perhaps even more wine is seen as always one of the most extraordinary and an elaborate and maybe expansive tastes of this world so when the nuts are says I want to separate them from my desires I love wine who doesn't love wine it doesn't have that fragrance we will it's some of the human the human being craves Lisa I want to separate from that so the way the Ezra explains such a person yesh lach nazar op terrace maltose parotia he gets a crown of Nazir's on his head other words he becomes a king nazar means a crown on Nazir is a king yesterday he was a common person but because of that choice that he wants to make and the choice that says I want to control myself I don't want to be ruled by my desires I want to rule over my desires he gets the crown of a nazar he becomes a king real kingship is to be in control of ourselves not to let the desires the hearts control us but to control our desires to rule over it that's why in fact the word for king in Hebrew is the word Mela so Mela is three letters it's a mem a lammott and a cuff the men stands for the more the brain Lovett stands for the lathe the heart and cuff stands for the clay which mean kidneys so the way it's explained the way our deep resources the so I'm explain it is that what's a true Mela a true Mela is someone who's more his brain rules over his lave his heart which is an emotion and brain and a heart will over chlorine kidneys kidneys always have to do with the source of physical passion kidneys are the place where where liquid is expelled from the body so to speak source of passion so Melek a king is men Mahmoud Huff the mind rules emotion motion doesn't grow the mind mind rules an ocean and mind and emotion both rule passion in fact that's why it's brought down that the the human being is the only animal in creation that in fact walk standing up and one of the purposes of that posture is that we should understand the head has to be above the head has to rule the mind has to rule the heart and mind and heart after rule passion we think about every other animal in creation so they walk on four legs there's a direct line between head heart passion there's no need to rule over there's no need to control it's purely instinct it's just whatever the body dictates that's what it does there isn't a need for self-control or restraint or to rule over but the human being is different the essence of what it means to be fully human which means to allow ourselves to have malkos kingship means that the head has to be above had us the view of the heart and both of course are above the lower part of who we are which is the source of passion the command Nita expresses this idea so I feel very beautifully where it describes what a baby looks like in the in the womb of the mother so it says a baby is in the mother's womb in the fetal position and we know now from sonogram exactly what it looks like sonograms exactly what it looks like and the baby is there holding its head and the Gemara and neither teaches us that the reason the baby's holding its head because intuitively the baby knows waltz in the mother's womb as it's still connected to heaven the shaman is still connected upward that the source of really what has to rule the body what has to rule life are the ideas that come into the brain who I really am is where I am in my mind my mind and the ideas that fill my mind I really would have to be what guy guide me in governing so the in desert teaches us and says that the reality of life is that everybody has passions everyone has desires question is what are we gonna choose to be a slave to korban in autumn I've dated us all along however vermelha car meeting what's a true king a true king is 1jh loan nazar fair Terrace malkos borough show he wears the crown of a Nezzer he wears a crown called Misha who hosts she minute Evo's anyone who frees himself from the desires of his heart he frees himself from his passions he says I'm gonna live by a higher standard that's kingship and that's what the Nazir is choosing to do the Nasser is choosing to say I want to control my desires I'm not going to allow my taste bud or my eyes or my heart to rule me I'm gonna rule over it and he expresses that by saying I'm gonna refrain from that most delicious food that God has given us called wine and I guess we don't think about that so much but wine is a fixed ordinarily fragrant and delicious creation that God has given us and when he says it's gonna refrain from that he has actually granted himself the crown called the zeros so who is it knows here he is a king the day before he was just a regular person but the Torah says the decision to rule oneself the decision to rule over one son the decision to say I'm not going to be subjected to passion to desire to what my eye sees in my heart is chroming what my heart wants that decision elevates and relegates that person now to a place of kingship you know I remember one time reading a story about the great magician in Jerusalem the slum of Alba and a Volvo during the war so he was in Sweden he was actually originally from Germany and he was learning at the mirror which is in Poland but when the war broke out he couldn't go back to Germany but he was able to leave Poland because he had a he wasn't a poet a Polish citizen so he was able to find refuge in Sweden during the war and that's where he survived the war and ultimately built a a girl's yeshiva there he came to Eretz Israel where he became an well-known mushke after so he describes that while he was in Sweden it was going to happen that the king of Sweden was going to meet the King of Denmark apparently the King Denmark was arriving by train and there was going to be a meeting at the train station between the king of Sweden and the King of Denmark and he said that he went to the train station because he wanted to see kingship he wanted to see people who are given this this majesty and this will in fact we know we have a blessing that could be supposed to make when we see King and the blessing has to do with that a Shem has given some Dominion to Buster of a dumb is given to turn degree of power and royalty and sovereignty to people and there's something special about that elevated about that and so they went to the train station and he says that it was one of the greatest disappointments of his life he saw the King of Denmark get off the train he saw the king of Sweden go up to him shake hands he said all he saw was two old men two old men greeting each other there was nothing that indicated kingship in contrast the gomera tells us it says who are true Kings so I'm gonna buy you the more in Chaves tells us I'm rabbi a remand Shin Megami lay over rabbi Shimon the Rebbe schmoeville rebbi akiva coolest Louisville first of all they say koi is Albany Malacca name entire Jewish nation are the children of Kings the come on kitten says I'm la da da doo Robotnik uber Lakhan where do you know that the rabbi's are called King I motherhood the curse if they were locking am Luo Jewish nation are kings the rabbi's are kings you know if one has ever been in the presence of some of the great GU Dolan rather it be rough Alyosha or vaji Joseph's itself is their college the brothel you you feel you're in the presence of kingship because kingship is a function of ruling oneself living by a value a system that's higher than what we see that's really what a king is a king isn't only zone was born into a royal family real kingship spiritual kingship the kingship of another the kingship of the Jewish nation the kingship of atomic Holcomb of a Torah scholar that kingship is the kingship of a person reaching a high for vision in life and saying that that vision is what's going direct me that vision of what is good is what's going to rule me that vision is what it is going to to dominate and govern my life I'm not going to be ruled by my passion by the lower part of who I am I'm not going to be ruled by emotion I'm not gonna be ruled by false incorrect ideas I'm gonna reach higher and be ruled by God's Word that person now becomes a king Nestor kingship that's what the that's what the nausea is shooting for so let's just think about this for a moment the day before he was an ordinary person he was a regular Jewish man the decision to say I want to achieve a higher form of living I don't want to be ruled by my heart and my desire I'm gonna refrain from wine that one decision overnight the Torah says you've transformed yourself into a king to the extent whereby what you wear a crown you are now in the world of kingship you are a Melek Ameche the administra tells us a true king she is known a surah Terris mejor SI brochure you have it you have the crown of the kingship on your head clay we should host immunity vows why because you said I want to free myself from the control of physical desire I am going to rule myself I'm a king that's one that's royalty less Malthus and that's extraordinaire the unique Jewish vision where we all have this inside of ourselves to be Kings and the kingship can come overnight and the kingship can come through one decision decision to say I want to be in control of me now let's just take this thought just a little bit deeper for for a moment and you see how far it goes in the ability that we have to transform ourselves with one decision so we know that one of the one of the restrictions that a nasser has is he can't come in contact with the debt so we think about it what does this sound like well it sounds like a Cohen we know that the Kohanim the priestly class those whose job it is to dedicate their lives to the service of the rich either Michigan and then of course the debates and Mick - of the temple the Kohanim because of their purpose their their their function the Jewish nation and thereby the focus that they need have certain things that they're not able to do what is that they can't come in contact with with the debt and perhaps the reason for that of course there are many reasons but if just to explore one one idea it's because of something about coming in contact with the dead which has a feeling of limitation one looks and sees while life has accrual life has to end against a little bit shocking sometimes to see you know that that sense of why I can achieve so much in this world but that comes to an end there's something which which causes a little bit of a fear and a a maybe a little bit of moment of hesitation want us to serve we gripped and nonetheless life is meaningful and purposeful the coin whose job it is to constantly focused to elevate the Jewish nation to such a high place spiritually can't have that distraction therefore the coin cannot is not allowed to come in contact with with the deceased has restrictions about even being in the presence of of where someone is buried going into a cemetery things like this corner men have many limitations in that but its restriction because of their position the position that demands from that may a focused approach to this world however a regular coin is allowed to come in contact with the deceased if it's a very close relative for example if it's a spouse it's a wife it's a mother a father if it's a god forbid a child the coin is allowed to attend those those funerals however there's one coin who is not even allowed to come into contact what we call the close relatives wife mother father brother sister children one coin has to refrain even from being in the presence of those very very intimate close relatives who is that particular coin that's the coin goddess the coin girdle has restrictions above and beyond the restrictions of the regular coin now the nausea when he makes his decision to say I'm choosing kingship I'm choosing elevation I'm choosing a life where my body doesn't control me but I control it he can no longer come in contact with the dead like a coin but not just like a coin what type of coin the coin gödel he becomes on the level of the high priest the Kohen Gadol why ^ one decision he's elevated to a coin but not any coin the coin gödel because he's saying I'm choosing kingship I'm choosing to be in control of who I am and how deep does it go how far does this go even so I'd like just to quote to you from the schlocko dish and I'd like to thank my friend rabbi Gladstein for pointing these modern mekomo out to me the schlocko dish David Horowitz was one of the rabbi's one the chief rabbis of a Prague in the in the 17th century first by the seventeen hundreds 18th century and known as the Shalako dish because of his work this day of the course of this name was David Horowitz and he writes something very fascinating he says what's going on over here he quotes the Zohar and I'd like to say this so our to you just to understand how deep it goes when a person makes a decision to say I wanted to control myself so he says this decision is extraordinarily transformative he's choosing to refrain from wine or white wine what we mentioned earlier that wine is of course a delicious taste it's something which is is the body as a natural desire for UNS maybe it's it's this maybe the most symbolic idea of refraining from from physicality we said it's deeper than that this is to understand wine we have to go back to the Garden of Eden in the Garden of Eden we know there was a tree tree the eighth's Dossett oberon question is what was that tree so there's a debate amongst the rabbis what that tree was what's the fig tree was it a wheat tree what's a net rope or was it grapes it's a four-way debate as to what it is it's not an apple anything but an apple that's some Renaissance painters depiction of the word what he thought the word eighths means which means fruit but our sages do debate and discuss it the Czar seems to in the schlock quotes it seems to take the position that it was grapes and the word capital what did he do Eve took those grapes and she squeezed the grapes and she created wine and when she presented other with the fruit what she was presenting other with was actually a cup of wine and of course when he drank that wine he had violated the prohibition of eating from the tree so corners are really what the fruit was was the squeeze grip the wine now interesting it is what's the nuts here saying the doves are saying I want to refrain from wine I want kingship I don't want to be ruled by my my designers so the ZOA says when he's doing that what's he doing he's really bringing himself back to the world what world the world of the Garden of Eden and what part of the world of the Garden of Eden the world the Garden of Eden where other was in control of his desires before eating of the tree we know that the answer Hara wasn't inside of ourselves it's all over that externally autumn and intellectual tests but didn't have the test of desire that was a function of the same the function of ingesting that fruit so when the Nutter says I want to control my physicality he's bringing himself back to where he's bringing stuff back to the Garden of Eden but not just back to the Garden of Eden he's bring himself back to the Garden of Eden to a place where autumn was in control of himself before he drank of the wine so therefore the others say I'm not gonna drink the wine I want to be like Arden before the sin and it follows so beautifully that's why this law tells us he to come in contact with the dead why because one definite to the world death enter the world as a consequence of having eaten from the fruit we know that once order made from the fruit and the AIDS of heart was internalized and now there's a fight of passion inside of himself so God Institute's certain consequences which aren't as much punishments as much as their correctives Corrections he needs to correct himself yes understand we're now God's Word is and where is his desire and passion ruling and that's a fighting the challenge we all face but death ultimately really is one not just punishment but it's a corrective because we think about it perhaps the most important moment of life is the moment just before death because at that point where a person has to say Hashem it's all you any false idea that I had any false idea of that was based on my desires and passions and lusts and wants isn't true it's all you it's only you death is an important corrective to the sinner not just a punishment for the city but before eating of the fruit there was no death so when this man says I am choosing control I'm choosing elevation I'm choosing to rule over my desires he becomes a king but not just any king he becomes a coin not just any coin he becomes the coin gödel but not only does it become like the coin goggle he transports himself back to the Garden of Eden but not just to any point in the Garden of Eden he transports himself back to the Garden of Eden before autumn ate from the tree before there was death in the world he does that all through the power of one decision a decision that says I want to be in control of myself he achieves that level that's the capacity that God has allowed us to transform ourselves so quickly and so easily now I say this not because transformation is easy and I think if we're honest with ourselves we have to be real and say change isn't so easy but at the same time we have to understand the vision that God is putting forth and saying the choices that we make are so meaningful and to never underestimate the power of those choices the choice here is simply the choice to say I'm gonna refrain from physicality I'm not gonna be a slave to my desire God says you've achieved at that point kingship you've achieved a level of the coin girdle not only that you are now temporarily in the position where you have the holiness of the first man other Monisha in the Garden of Eden before there was the sin before he ate before there was even death that's where you transported yourself - that's the power of a decision that's the power of transformation that can happen when a person says I want to control myself I think the lesson that we need to to derive from this is that we have to be able to understand number one our decisions are so meaningful and to understand that whenever we make those choices to say I'm gonna control myself I'm gonna rule myself that in God's eyes we have done something enormous ly large and we have to understand that in terms of our own perfection inwardly then enormous transformation has just occurred and there's so many ways in which we can choose this it doesn't have to be just by separating from wine we sit down to eat and before we are our eyes and our taste buds and a Salvatori glands start kicking in we say God I want to express gratitude to you that's self-control before we leave the table now we're satiated and no longer sort of need to ask God for anything because we feel contempt we stop and say wait a minute God I owe you something right now and we sit down and we carefully thank God for the food the Land of Israel for the Torah for all the good he gives us on course He loves us the four parts of Bill Hutton Muslim whenever someone says something to us could be lush in Haris something we shouldn't hear and we turn away and say I'm choosing self-control I'm not going to listen or perhaps is something and there's our field of vision something we shouldn't see and we say we're gonna choose self-control we should understand in these little choices that we make they're not little at all these choices are massive they're huge they're spiritual explosions in which like the nausea we transport ourselves we're to the Garden of Eden before there was in the world we transport ourselves transform ourselves becoming like a coin but not any coin the coin God and we achieve that beautiful quality of kingship we become a no suit in some level we get a atarid erosion or a crown on our head and we become really what the Jewish nation is all about to be reluctant been a Murloc to be Kings to be Queens to be Princeton princesses the sons of kings and queens I thank you so much for listening everybody look forward to fill it to go to news discussion in a different way but in a similar vein when we meet again next Thursday