Emunah Is My Life - Rabbi David Ashear

I'd like to welcome everyone to tonight's show from Torah I've got speaker series leader author of daily amuna series. I've got a great sponsor in the show called Torah at 718-851-8651 or email [email protected]. Tonight's show is sponsored by Mr. Michael Exter in the name of us. Um praying for I'm sure for the year side also for for Rifka for Miriam for Rachel for Sarah for Miriam for Miriam for Sarah for Shaindel for Shaindel for Miriam Spritzer for Sarah for Miriam for Sarah for Arnold for Yael Barrel for Chaim for for Yisrael. I'm covered to call the show for tonight's show on Amuna is my life. >> Okay, thank you. It's a great good for me to be here tonight. As I could have to the show Torah spreading Torah to thousands especially in the summer we need it more than ever. I shall give them the call out to continue their about that the call that I shall So as we know the purpose of our lives is to grow to become the of the that we meant to become and a great part of this experience we have in this world is nisionot, is tests. We're tested in life. The Ramban says that Avraham Avinu's greatness was because he overcame the tests that Hashem gave him. And that determines the greatness of every one of us. Every single individual is going to be tested many times in their lives. And your greatness is going to be determined by how you deal with the nisionot that Hashem gives you. Some types of nisionot are determining possibly your whole life's mission. We find in the Torah tremendous nisionot that really defined people in their lives. We find that Korach was tested when Hashem didn't give him the job that he was craving. When his cousin got the job. This test was in the creation before the world was even created. It says on the sixth day of creation during Ben Hashem Bashot, Hashem already created the mouth of the earth that was ready and available to swallow Korach if he failed his test. You see Hashem plans out nisionot from from thousands of years in advance. It says that the G'ra writes Bil'am Harasha was tested. The asked for a prophet like we had Moshe Rabbenu. And Bil'am when he was rebuked by that donkey, the Chazal tell us the donkey's mouth was created Ben Hashem Bashot on the sixth day of creation. That means Hashem was planning this in this I own since the beginning of time. And similarly with Abraham Avinu, the 10th test the test that made Abraham that test of Akedah already from Ben Hashem I showed the ram that Abraham used in the Akedah was created during Ben Hashem I showed. So many of the tests that people are given major tests are already in play from years before they're even born. And then we have the daily tests of life, the simple tests the tests that make the person who they are. Am I going to look at that? Shouldn't look at it? Should I look at it? Am I going to say that lashon hara? Am I going to cheat? Am I going to steal? All these nisyonaot are being placed in front of a person on a daily on an hourly basis. And again, every one of them is planted by Hashem to make us who we need to become. I once asked a question to myself. I said you know, if the purpose of life is to overcome the challenges, the tests, to do the mitzvot in the circumstances Hashem puts you in, what about those people who are unaffiliated? What about those people who grew up grow up in Kansas? They don't even know anything about their Judaism. What's their purpose? And I thought and I said, you know, it's impossible. Every Jew, wherever they are on this planet, Hashem gives them the information they need in order to be able to overcome the test they're going to get. Everyone on their level. And this past week, exactly a week ago, I verified that answer that I gave, I was uh last Monday night, I was on the way back from a wedding, and I was the host of the wedding sent for me a Uber, and I'm in the car, and I had a have a Gemara shiur that I teach nightly, and I said, "I'm going to teach in the car." In the back seat, I have my flashlight, and I'm learning Gemara in the back seat. After the shiur is over, the Uber driver asked me a question. It was a funny question. He says, "Uh could I ask you a question?" I said, "Sure." He said, "We never gave our daughter a bas mitzvah. Is that going to affect her when she gets married?" I said, "No, no, I don't think so. It's okay. It's okay." I said, "You're Jewish?" He said, "Yeah." I said, "Are you Orthodox?" He said, "No. My grandfather was Orthodox, but us, no, we're Reform." I said, "Oh." I said, "But you know, you could come back." I started trying to give him chizuk. You can And he says, "Yeah, I'm trying to get better. You know, I lost it all." And I'm telling him about tests and life and this And he says, "Oh, you reminded me. I once had a very big test in life." I said, "Really? What was your test?" He said, "I'll tell you." He said it was in 2002. I had just bought tickets to the US Open finals. That's a tennis uh tennis finals. He says it was Pete Sampras against Andre Agassi. I couldn't wait for that match-up. And then my wife tells me, "You bought the tickets?" I said, "Yeah, I can't wait." She says, "It's on the holiday. You can't go on the holiday." He tells me, I think it was Passover. I said, "No, no, it wasn't Passover. I think it was Rosh Hashanah." He says, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, Rosh Hashanah." And he said, "My wife said, 'How could you go to a game on the holiday?'" Now, this guy drives on Shabbat. He keeps nothing. But to them, go to a game on the holiday? And I was back and forth. I said, "How could I not go? I can't. I need the game. Uh." And right before the holiday, I sold the tickets. And I passed the test. I said, "Wow. Unbelievable. Look what you have inside of you." I tried to give him a little hizuk. But what I see from here is everybody on their level is tested in one way or another. Hashem knows exactly what he's doing, obviously. And nobody's created for nothing. Very often, people tell me, "You know, I'm praying so hard for something, and I don't see does Hashem he's not helping me. He's not He's not He's not giving me what I'm asking for. Does he not value my tefillot?" I want to share with you a very important Orach Chaim. The Orach Chaim Hakadosh writes, he says the way that Hashem deals with us many times is when he wants to give someone a blessing a better heart the way he does it is he puts in front of the person a mitzvah opportunity a heroic deed opportunity whose segulah is the very gift that they are seeking. Every mitzvah has in it besides for its eternal rewards the side benefits of the mitzvot and Hashem will place in front of a person a challenge a mitzvah and we may be saying Hashem how come you're not helping me? He's I'm helping you. I gave you the chance you're not taking it. The Orach Chaim says this by Abraham Avinu. Abraham Avinu it says in the Gemara Bava Kamma that anyone who prays for his friend for something that he needs he's going to be answered first. Famous Gemara. What's the source? Cuz Abraham prayed for Avimelech and his family ki atzar atzar Hashem Hashem plugged them up. And then Hashem told Avimelech give this to Abraham and he's going to pray for you. And Abraham prayed for them to have children and Abraham was answered first. So the Orach Chaim asks didn't the angels come to Abraham 6 months before that and tell Abraham ka'et chaya u'Sarah ben at this time next year you're going to have a child? What do you mean Abraham got it because he prayed for Avimelech? Says the Orach Chaim that was the way that Hashem was going to fulfill his promise. He put in front of Abraham an opportunity to do something whose segulah is the very gift that he wants. And this is a rule in life. The nisayon that you're being given right now, the nisayon that you may be saying, "Why are you doing this to me, Hashem? It's so hard." That may be the ticket to what you've been asking him for for all these years. It's right there. A woman told me, she said she was having a very hard time with her son in shidduchim. And at that time, she was She had a very big nisayon. She said, "I overcame the nisayon, and the next day a shadchan called and suggested the girl that my son married." And then, about four or five years later, when her daughter was struggling in shidduchim, she said, "We had an issue with other people. It was a very big dispute, and I went out with my husband one night for a walk to talk about it. What are we going to do with this dispute? And while we were walking and talking, I said, 'You know what? Let's be mevater. Let's just give in.' And my husband said, 'It's so hard.' Okay, let's do it. And we decided to give in. She said, 'Less than a minute later, a rabbi walks right by us and says, "Hi, how are you? Oh, I think I have a good guy for your daughter." And that was the guy who married our daughter. You see, we need a lot of things. How does Hashem bless us? He gives it right in front of you. You got to overcome the test. You got to overcome the challenge. Sarah Imeinu the Kli Yakar says, what was her zechut? Sarah went for decades without a child. The pasuk says when Sarah gave Hagar to Avraham, she said, "Ulay ibaneh mimena." Maybe in the zechut of me giving my maidservant to Avraham maybe through her I will be built up. What does that mean? Says the Kli Yakar. Sarah Imeinu saw Avraham, he kept the Torah before it was given. He has a mitzvah to have children, but I'm the one who's blocking him. I don't have a womb. How could I hold my husband back from this precious mitzvah? She said, "Maybe in the zechut if I give him another woman to have a child with maybe that zechut I'll be answered." She could have given Avraham Hagar as a pilegesh. But she said "My husband is a prince. It's not befitting for him to have a pilegesh." So, she gave her husband a rival wife. You know what that means to a woman? She longs for the attention of her husband. And she said, "Maybe this is the mesirut nefesh that I need in order that my husband in order that I should merit to have a child." And heroically she gave Hagar to Avraham. And that's when her name was changed from Sarai to Sarah. He says the yud is masculine, the heh is feminine. That was her nisayon. Everybody has nisyonos. Everyone has challenges, sometimes very big. And when we're crying, "Why are you doing this to me, Hashem? Why do you make it so hard?" Hashem said, "If you only knew. You're asking me so long for that. Here it is. I'm giving it to you. Don't blow it. Don't cry and say, "Why are you doing this to me?" You have to embrace the nisayon and know what a zechut you have. >> [snorts] >> Because it's a zechut to have a nisayon. I saw a phenomenal idea this past week Parashat Pinchas. Amazing. As we know, because of the heroic act of Pinchas, the act of zealotry, Hashem gave him brit shalom. He was given the eternal kehuna, undisputable. You're a kohen. And as we know from Chazal, Pinchas was the only one in his family who wasn't a kohen. He watched all his relatives get terumah and do the avodah. He's the only one. Because when Aharon was inaugurated, it was only him and his sons. And Pinchas was already born. So, he was out of the loop. And he's longing, "When am I going to become a kohen?" Came along this opportunity where he sees a chillul Hashem when Zimri ben Salu takes Cozbi into the tent and they're committing aveira. Pinchas had at that moment a tremendous nisayon. He would have had to risk his life to do that act of kana'im pog'im bo. He had to be purely l'shem shamayim. He had to kill a man who is considered one of the gedolei hador. He was 250 years old. And Pinchas got up. If he's not leshem shamayim, it's an act of murder. And he overcame that nisayon, and he got brit shalom. He got the brit kehuna. The rabbis point out there was somebody else in the world at that time who was yearning for kehuna. Who was that? Moshe Rabbenu. Moshe Rabbenu was a kohen initially. But because he kept denying Hashem when Hashem told him to be the leader by the snake, go and take the Jews out of Eretz Yisrael, he kept saying, "No, it's not for me. I'm a nobody." He went a little too far. And Hashem said, "That's too much. I'm taking the kehuna away from you." And ever since then, Moshe felt so bad. He's lacking in a way of serving Hashem. Why did he yearn to go into Eretz Yisrael so much? Cuz he wanted to serve Hashem every way possible. And now, he's missing out on serving Hashem from the from the kehuna standpoint. And now, that day, in front of everybody, there was a mitzvah opportunity. Whose segula was kohen, as we see from the reward. Kana'im pog'im bo, at that time, was going to give a kohen. And it was available to anyone. And Moshe Rabbenu, that av ban shall kol Yisrael, who taught them everything they knew, Rashi tells us he forgot the halacha. He forgot the law of kana'im pog'im bo. And because he forgot and Pinchas remembered, Moshe said, "It's yours. You get to go do it." How could it be Moshe forgets a halacha? Because Moshe "What you did, it says asar Hashem, it made an imprint. You argued with Hashem too much. You're not going to get this opportunity to become a kohen." You need to have a merit to be zocheh to have a test to overcome. So, when we are tested in life, and we say, "Why, Hashem? Why are you doing this to me?" Hashem, you know what kind of gift I'm giving you? You know what kind of merits you need for this? The last thing we should be doing is crying and asking Hashem, "Why?" You should say to Hashem, "Thank you. Thank you for giving me this very hard nisayon. I know underneath this is a wonderful gift and an elevation that's going to help me in this world and the next." The greatest gift you can get in this world is when Hashem helps you become greater in Torah and mitzvot. If you have a nisayon that you overcome, that catapults you into the next level, enables you to grow higher and higher in Torah, that's the best gift you can get. Hashem gives everyone opportunities. About a month ago, I was in another city for a shabbaton, and I was eating lunch with a certain family, and they had guests over. And one of the guests tells me the following story. He said, "I believed my whole life that there was nothing more important in this world than money. It's all about money. And I studied very hard and I became a lawyer. And I worked six and a half days a week. Six days I was non-stop night morning and on Shabbat I was thinking about it the whole day and right when Shabbat finished I was right back at it. And when anyone would tell me about Torah what's what I said, I don't have time. I have to make more money. And he said one day someone came over to him and said, you know, we have a new a new class. We're just starting now. Maybe you want to join. No, I don't have time. Just listen. They told him it's called Kinyan Masechet. It's only 20 minutes a day. What do you mean? The rav he gives a shiur for 15 minutes on whatever he could cover in the Gemara for 15 minutes. Three lines, four lines, that's it. He does it slow. And then you review with a study partner for 5 minutes and it's over. Then you go back to work. And then that night at some point on your own time you have to go over it in your mind two times. And you tell everybody, I did it. He thought about it. He said, okay, maybe I'll try. He said, this time baruch Hashem I accepted. And he started learning. For the first time he said in 15 years he opened the Gemara since high school. And he said they were learning the second perek. They started with the second perek of Sukkah. And they're doing the five lines and this and he he sees that some kind of WhatsApp chat you have to type in that you did the review. So everybody types in, did it, did it, did it, did it." He he "I have to do it." He Okay, "Did it." And he's learning every day a little every day every day. And he sees he's grasping it, he's understanding it, he's remembering it. He said it was about 3 months into it, 4 months maybe. And they were having a big gathering in the city. It was a parlor meeting and there were great Russia a great Russia Shiva was there and all the rabbis and they invited the layman to come. And I came, I was sitting in the back with my hood on. I'm a nobody in the Torah world. He said and the Russia Shiva gets up to speak and he's talking about the Yeshiva and he says, "We're learning Masachet Sukkah." And they're learning the second pedic. And he says, "By the way, we had a big kasha. Maybe someone here knows the answer." And he asked the kasha that he had. And everyone in the room is silent, all the rabbis. And this guy in the back of the room who did that piece 100 times, he says, "I think I know the answer." He's talking. How come no one's raising their hand? The Russia Shiva said it, "Anyone have a teretz?" Nobody's talking. He says, "Uh He raises it. Yes?" Everybody turns around. Him? He says, "Uh well, according to the second Iggeres Ha'Amri, the Russia Shiva doesn't have a kasha because this this this this And he said, "He's right." Everybody couldn't believe it. This guy knows the second Iggeres Ha'Amri and blah blah. He said, "I never had a feeling like that in my life. No dollar value could be put on that." He said, "I got so much hisuk. And I came back and I learned stronger and stronger and stronger. He said about a year into it the rav who was giving the shiur had to leave and it was down to about four or five people and he asked me to take over the shiur. I said me, who am I? But I accepted and I started giving the shiur. He said today we have 18 people in the shiur and I'm so excited about it. I prepare and I prac- and I donate mu- many a lot of my money towards prizes for the review. Whoever reviews tonight, we have a raffle for a bottle of wine. Whoever reviews and everybody's typing in did it, did it, did it, did it. And he said the Torah became my life. The money is nonsense. Hashem gave him an opportunity. You want here. 20 minutes. Oh, I don't have time. I don't have You never know what you could become if you take, if you grab the opportunities that Hashem gives you. Let us be honest with ourselves. Many times we get jealous of other people's materialistic possessions, their homes, what they have. I I'm stuck here. Everybody's having fun. Why don't I have money? Where's my money? And everybody on money. When it all comes down to it, when a person knows his time is limited in this world, money is worthless. There's nothing he would give anything for another chance to have one more one more trade it all in. My brother-in-law is a doctor. He said he had a patient last year. The patient he said was worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars. But he had the worst life. He was totally off the and he married a Gentile and he said his wife was so hard and so bad to him. He had two daughters even worse. But he refused to divorce cuz he didn't want to give up all his money to them. He had a hard life. He said he wanted to just take some time away, go out into the ocean and just relax. And he had someone building a yacht for him for 90 million dollars. A yacht for 90 million dollars. And it took this person 5 years to build the yacht. And when it was almost done the man got sick. And he's in a hospital bed. And my brother-in-law is his doctor. And he had months to live. When he passed away he never stepped foot on that yacht. But he told my brother-in-law "I was so bad in life. I need merits now. I'm leaving the world." He understood. He said, "I want to give all my money to charity." He wrote every last dollar to charity. But after he passed away unfortunately his wife and daughters contested saying he was not sane when he said that. And they won the case. And none of his money went to charity. What a person would give. All the money is worthless. When we know what's real in this world. I once saw a clip. There was a righteous gentile. Who saved 1,100 Jews in the Holocaust. His name was Schindler. I'm sure you all heard of him. And someone once showed me a clip. They made a movie of him. And what it looked like when the war was over. And they brought the 1,100 Jews that he saved to surround them and say thank you. And a representative from the Jews went over to him. And gave him a ring. And they said, this is a small token of our appreciation. And he says, it says on this ring an inscription from our Talmud. He who saves one life. Is as if he saved an entire world. Look at what you did. And they give him the ring. He looks around at all the lives that he saved. And he starts crying. And he says. I could have done more. I could have done more. They said, no, no, look what you did. He said, I wasted so much money. I could have bought more lives. What am I doing? I wasted my money on nonsense. Then he goes over to his limousine. And he said, why did I keep this car? I could have got 10 more Jews for this car. What's a car worth? And then he takes off a pin from his lapel. He said, "You see this pin? It's gold. I could have got two more lives." What is this gold worth? It's garbage. It's worthless. The only thing that matters is our deeds. What did you accomplish? No one's going to care about your gold when you left this world. Sometimes we get into machlokes. We're fighting with each other over the money. How many people have had disputes? They don't talk to each other. Families don't sit with each other over money. You know what it's going to be like in the next world? I once saw a mashal used for something else, but I'll apply it to this. Imagine you have two little children arguing with each other. One is a prince. The other's a commoner. And the commoner, he takes the prince's toy and he throws it on the floor. Five-year-olds. And he said, "See? I broke your toy." And the prince says, "One day I'm going to become the king. And when I become the king, I'm going to get you for that." 40 years later, he becomes the king. The other guy, the day he becomes he runs to him, "Your majesty, please forgive me. Please forgive me." "What are you talking about?" "Well, remember when we were five, I broke your toy? You said you're going to hurt me." "Are you crazy? You think I care about a toy car? I'm the king now." You think anyone's going to care about a dollar bill when you're up there, it's garbage. Oh, but you could have said sorry. You could have given in. That's worth something. Don't blow your opportunities here. We may look at people who don't have so much money and we say, "Ah, what are they worth? They don't have any money." From the greatest people who ever lived, it says about the Kitzur Shulchan The Kitzur Shulchan was so poor, he couldn't even afford a table to write his sefer on. He was standing up writing on something else. He didn't have a table and chair. Is there anyone wealthier than the Kitzur Shulchan? Whose sefarim are learned in every yeshiva, if you zocheh to understand what he's saying? What has real value in this world? Don't let the street tell you what's valuable. Don't listen to what people say, "Oh, this guy, let's listen to him. He's got all the money." You see, people put importance on money. That must be it. Don't be fooled by the guy who doesn't know anything. I saw once a maaseh in the midrash, very interesting midrash. It speaks about a Rav Kahana, it's not the regular Rav Kahana from the Gemara. Rav Kahana had a son. His name was Salik. And when Salik turned 5 years old, Rav Kahana said to his Rebbetzin, "It's time to send him out for Talmud Torah." And the Rebbetzin said, "He's our only son. I don't want him to leave." He said, "There's no choice. We have to send him." And she said, "Anything else we could do?" When they they hired a Melamed to come to the house. And he they taught this Salek every single day for maybe 20 years. And he was a super genius in Torah. He knew everything. And when he was 25 for the first time in his life, he was going to go out into the world. And he went out one day. And it was a very hot day. And he needed he wanted water. So, he goes to the water salesman. Says, "Could I have a bottle of water?" He said, "Sure. That'll be 100 ruble." He said, "100 ruble? I don't have any money." "Sorry, no water." He said, "But I'll tell you P'shat and Tosafot. I'll tell you I'll tell you that with the Gemara means of He says, "I don't care what P'shat and Tosafot get. You got to pay." He says, "My father said that my Torah's worth more than all the money in the world. I'll give you something much more valuable." He says, "Listen, sunny boy. No money, no water. I don't care what your father said." He goes back home. He says to his father, "You told me Torah's more valuable than anything. I can't even get a bottle of water with it. It seems to me that in the world, money is what has value. I want to make money." He said, "You want to make money? Okay. I'll make you a deal. I have a diamond upstairs. I was saving it. I'll let you go out and sell this diamond. I'll get half and you'll get half. And with the half that you get, you can go into business. But on one condition, you have to sell it the way I tell you to sell it. Okay, what should I do? He says, "First, you go to the costume jewelry area and see how much they'll give you for it. Tell them no. Then I want you to go to the diamond district. See how much they'll give you for it. And then tell them no. And then I want you to go to the wealthy neighborhood over there and only give it to the highest bidder." He said, "Okay." He takes the diamond, magnificent diamond. He brings it to the first place. The costume jewelry. He says, "How much you going to give me for this?" Look at it. Wow, very nice. Uh, we'll give you $40 for it. Uh, sorry, I can't. He goes to the diamond district. They look at the How much you going to give me for this? They look at it. They say, "Wow. Never saw a diamond. We'll give you $40,000 for this." $40,000. Wow. I can't do it. I'm sorry. Then he goes to the wealthy neighborhood. They're They're looking at it, taking off their glasses, putting on their glasses. I'll give you 200,000. I'll give you 300 I'll give you 400,000. And he sells it for 400,000. He needed a wagon to carry back the money. He brings it back to his father. He says, "We're rich." His father said, "Tell me about your experience." He says, "Well, I went here. They gave me 40. I went here. He says, "Let me tell you something, son. This was a learning experience for you." The first people you brought it to the costume jewelry, they offered you only $40 for something worth $400,000. How could they do that? You know why? Cuz they don't know value in this world. They don't even know what value means. You're going to trust the water salesman on what Torah's worth? The guy on the street corner selling water. You care what he says? I'm telling you, ask the ones who know. Torah is the most precious commodity in this world. There's nothing greater. And he got the lesson from his father, and he went back to learning. Don't let the people on the street teach you on what's important in this world. We know what's important. No money in this There's no dollar value to even a second of Torah and mitzvot. If somebody has blessed with wealth, with physical wealth, what makes them great? What they do with that wealth. Ashrei Yisrael, what people do with their physical possessions, they help Klal Yisrael, they give their resources. That's value. Somebody told me a story happened this past Friday. Rabbi David Sutton, he said that in Lakewood this past Friday, as we know, across the tri-state area, there were power outages. And he said, "5:30 Friday afternoon, a woman from Lakewood says her power goes out, and she was making a Sheva Brachot and having 45 people for the meals in her house. She was putting up many of them to sleep, all from out of town, and now they have no power." She says, "Well, Hashem was some way because that morning a neighbor across the street told her, 'By the way, we have a lot of we have a few ovens and a big fridge. If you ever need an extra oven or fridge space, I have.'" She says, "Wow, I need." And then at 6:00, they're saying, "Is the power going to go back on? What are we going to do?" She tells her husband, "Call this neighbor. We'll call them the Rabinowitzes. Call the Rabinowitzes and see if they have access to the internet. We don't have internet access in our house. See if they could find out when the power's supposed to go back on." They call up the Rabinowitzes, and Mr. Rabinowitz says to them, Rabbi Rabinowitz, he says, "You're making your simcha in this in that hall tonight, right?" They said, "No, we're making it in our house." "You're making it in your house and you have no power?" Listen to what happened after that. At that moment, Rabbi and Mrs. Rabinowitz instantly mobilized. They were going away for Shabbos and insisted that we take over their home. "We're opening our doors," please they urged, "come to us." At first, we hesitated, hoping the power would come back on. But once we found out there was no update on the outage, I walked over to the Rabinowitz's home. They were already opening their dining room table for us. Mrs. Rabinowitz greeted me warmly, showing me where we could put the children to sleep, pointing out the cribs and pack and plays. She gave me a tour of the kitchen, explaining the the meat and the dairy and the parve setups. She told me, "The house is yours. Feel free to take anything you want from the refrigerator, the freezer, or the pantry." And we really did. With 45 people, we ended up needing everything from their seltzer maker to extra plastic wear for the waiters. The logistics were wild, but the teamwork and achdut were incredible. We were moving massive hot pots of chicken soup across the street under serious pressure, along with high chairs, paper goods, tablecloths, and silk flowers. The boys hold over everything, and my daughters led the charge on cleaning up afterward with a lot of help from another great neighbor, the Stern family. All of the guests who were staying nearby had no electricity where they were sleeping, and the heat was unbearable. So, 45 people crowded into the Rabinowitz's home. The entire Shabbat afternoon sitting on couches, eating around the dinette, and reading books together. After Shabbat, we went to the other side of town to thank the Rabinowitz's for letting an army of people take over their home. But they refused to take any credit. Instead, they told us that we brought so much simcha and bracha into their home. They were so excited about it. Mrs. Rabinowitz then shared the beautiful, emotional reason why. She said, "That Shabbos was her father's shloshim. She had really wanted to host her extended family in her in her home to honor his memory. But because another sister had a better setup, the family decided to go there instead. She was so disappointed. When our power went out and the opportunity to host our simcha arose, she felt it was a gift from Hashem. She told us, when she walked into her sister's house and saw a picture of her father, she looked at it and said, "Thank you, Tati. This is going to be for your ilui nishama." She felt so grateful that we were using her home. What started out as a stressful blackout became a beautiful tribute to her father. Imagine people willing to open their home with a minute's notice and let 45 people come take over. Well, that has value. That's what's really valuable in this world. You're using your home for chesed to help others. >> [clears throat] >> I once heard a beautiful story. There was once two sisters and they were both religious, of course. One married a kollel yungerman and the other married a wealthy businessman. And they lived different lives. One was willing to be mosed nefesh for Torah and the other had the good life, quote-unquote. She said, "But what was so hard is when we would meet up together at our parents' house for Shabbats and my sister would come over flaunting her new earrings and her new bangles and talking about the expensive vacations they were going on and here we couldn't even afford to go to a pizza store. And it took a toll on me. I'm willing to be more said nefesh, but it's just so hard. And she's talking about this and that. And it happened very often we met together there. She said one year my husband comes over to me and he said, "My dear wife, I have a difficult request from you. You're such an eshet chayil. You let me learn. But I learned how great it is to be able to learn going into Shabbat. I'm requesting of you can I have two hours before Mincha on Friday afternoon to go to shul early and learn. I know what a hard time that is. I know to bathe the children is hard. I know to get the food I know it's hard. I understand if you say no, but it would be so precious to have those hours." And she said, "My husband there's nothing I wouldn't do for Torah. Yes, I'll give it to you." And from that day on every Friday he would go two hours before Mincha and it was so hard for her. And she was really more said nefesh to bathe all the children herself and get the house clean and do everything. And she said, "Then came that day really broke the straw that broke the camel's back. I It was so hard. It was Friday afternoon. She barely made it to her parents' house by candle lighting. And her sister strolls in talking about how all the maids bathe her children. And she said, "Look, my husband got me a new diamond ring." I said, "It's just too much. It's just too much." The following Friday, I went to light the candles and I saw my husband left me a letter. I opened the letter. Says, "To my dear wife, I want to thank you for all the mesirus nefesh that you have given me. I have very good news to share with you. Today, I am making a siyum on Maseches Pesachim just from the 2 hours that you have given me every Friday. And I learned it very well, very strong. And it's all to your credit. And as a thank you, as a hakaras hatov, I want to give you a gift." And he tells her as a gift, "I am going to give you Maseches Pesachim. It's yours. This Maseches, all of my toil and all of my hard I'm giving it to you because of your mesirus nefesh." She puts down the letter with a tear in her eye and she says, "Diamond ring and housekeepers or Maseches Pesachim? I'll take Maseches Pesachim any day. No question." And she got chizuk. We constantly need chizuk. We need to re-energize ourselves all the time because the yetzer hara works overtime. He makes us forget. He makes us forget what we're doing in this world. He gets us so wrapped up in this world. And we see pictures now today. Oh, look at them having such a good time. What? I'm stuck over here and I You're sitting in the Beis Midrash. You're zocheh to learn a word of Torah. You're zocheh to do another mitzvah, to do another chesed. How fortunate you are. People are wasting their lives. Lo aleinu, we pray for them. But don't ever be jealous of nonsense. Don't ever be jealous of things that have no value. Because when it all comes down to it, this is the only thing that matters, Torah and mitzvot. Hashem's going to send nisyonos. Yes. There's going to be difficult nisyonos. People They They They ask questions all the time. Why? Why can I have more parnassah? Why can I have this? Why can I have that? Very good questions. But instead of asking why, you should be asking Hashem, what I do to deserve this gift that you're giving me? I don't understand what I'm accomplishing right now. The Chazon Ish once said about a person, he said, "Nobody knows the world is Half the world is resting on his shoulders." He looked like a regular baal habayis. Nobody knows the nisyonos that people go through. Nobody knows the struggles. Only Hashem does. But every one of them has a hidden gem, a hidden jewel inside, both in this world and the next. And this is our job. Our job is to be happy with it. We don't go, "Okay, Hashem. Okay, you know, if Hashem wants me to do this, I'll do it. That's not the attitude. If Hashem wants me to do it, I go, "Okay, I guess. If Hashem wants, I'll do it." If Hashem wants, I'll do it. So, what else would I want to do? I want to do what Hashem wants. Of course, I want it. For the littlest change of attitude, if we would know the value of a little attitude change, of being a little more simcha, about being a happier with our mission in this world, cuz only Hashem knows what everyone's mission is. Nobody else knows. If you would have his life right now, you'd be wasting your time. Your life would be pointless. You have the exact life, the exact circumstance, the exact wife, the exact children you need. Why can't my children be like them? Why mine are so disrespectful? Theirs You don't know what your job is. Perhaps one moment of your patience with your children is worth more than years of this guy with his angel children. Nobody knows, but Hashem knows. And he wants us to embrace the lives that he gives us. He wants us to be happy, to wake up in the morning happy to serve him, because after all is said and done, if you do your job the way you're meant to do it, you're going to be the same as the HaDor in the next world. He did his job, you did your job. You're not expected to do anyone else's job other than yours. But if you look around all day and say, "It's not fair. What about him? What about that? What about that?" You're going to miss out. You're going to miss out on the greatness you could have had if you only did your own job in Simcha. So, as Hashem we will all rise to every Hashem sends. Yes, we say Hashem on. But, if the comes, perhaps this is the area that's defining us. This is the area that's going to make you great. This is the area that's going to give you the blessing you've been yearning for for all these years. Give in. Make shalom. Whatever it is. It'll make you great. And we will see when Hashem comes and reveals himself, we're going to say, "Wow, I can't believe it. I was crying. That was what I I can't believe it." Let's not wait for that moment. Let's show our now and embrace the lives that Hashem gave us. As Hashem, if we do that, we'll be to the wonderful great day of Hashem and I mean I mean. Same here again sure blessing will be correct from an inspiring Russia. I would be correct to Michael for sponsoring tonight's share. We will miss us. Franklin Shawl of a shalom out of the yard site. I just want to wish Layla for Ruben and his Miriam and Rachel and sorry and Rachel and sorry. Ruben and Spencer and Sarah and Sarah and Ruben and Sarah and Ruben and Sarah have a good sponsoring a share. Call 718-851-8651 or email [email protected]. Sponsor a shiur or make a donation to support the shiur and have a good Shabbos Toiv. For all the work that Igud HaRabbonim does to bring the shiur to the community. Thank you all for coming. Maariv at 10:00. Yisgadal v'yiskadash shmei rabba. Olam d'voreh chirusei.