Rabbi Yuhanan Mesilat Yesharim 1.28-1.29

welcome to another lecture on miss lady sharim we just finished chapter 127 of Republic The Miller's commentary and we're on page 119 and there is one note that we have to read we finished reading um that says that if you study every situation a person is put in the middle of a strong battle and we said that every situation the person can use either to raise his level and to serve Hashem or to lower his level and to bring himself down so what is this strong battle we are on page 179 this is a note that refers to page 119. it comes out that if you study the situation he's actually put in the middle of a battle from one of his lectures um we quote we learn from Mr lady that we are now right now and every moment of our life in the middle of a battlefield and we have on on all sides of us in front and in back enemies who are fighting against us now that may seem a poetic statement and perhaps it might be considered overstated but since we find exactly the same statement in the world then we have to think about it in more serious terms level hotels of soldiers who were returning from a campaign from a battle on the way back they were greeted by a person who said welcome you have just returned from a small battle and now you're going to face a more serious War the soul just said what more serious war is that we just came from Bloodshed life and death what are you saying and he said the more serious war is not the war against the enemies that you think you see there are great apparels than fighting a battle with weapons now so what what the story is saying that the the battle with physical enemies is just the battle for physical survival and uh just like in a in a video game you die you have another chance the game is not over you're given three five you have many lives and so fine you fight the physical battle and you lose your nishama goes out and it comes back in a different body it's not a loss not a big loss however to fight a spiritual battle a moral battle a battle where you have to make choices that affect your eternity your spirituality that is a more serious battle and that's the battle he was preparing them for because if you lose that battle you the game is over you might lose the entire Olam now he continues if you have two witnesses you can believe them here we have two great ethical works of the Jewish people and they're both saying that the world is a Battlefield are authorities they are not people who are careless with their words which means that life is a constant campaign not only for your self-preservation but the campaign in order to go ahead and carry out your purposes and you're going to find opponents that are going to put up a position that sometimes imperils you shallow and these are things that you don't see and you may never be aware of all your life as uh the the talmud says that if somebody knows that there are two paths to his destination and one of them leads next to a improperly dressed women and one is clean and he says which path should I choose and he says I'm going to go on the path that has improperly dressed women and I'm gonna force myself not to look which means he's choosing to be tested and he passes the test he goes and he doesn't look and the talmud says that he is a sinner because he treated opportunity to fall and sin lightly she took a chance he knew there is a possibility that he will fail and he said I will take that path and even though there is a chance that I will full it's okay it's just a small test if I fail it's not a big deal so he actually failed a much greater test will he be careful to protect his soul and therefore choose a clean path without any tests or will he put himself in danger and he actually misidentified the test he thought that the test is to go and not look and the test was don't go at all when we have a choice to stay away from danger or to go through dangerous situation and be careful the smarter thing would be to avoid danger entirely for example if you are an electric and you're working with live wires and you have a choice you can either go to the basement and shut off the electricity on the electric panel and know for sure there is no electricity and work safely or you say you know I know what I'm doing I'm gonna be careful I know there are two wires and if I touch both at the same time I'm gonna get shocked but I'm gonna be careful I'm smart I'm gonna avoid and I'm gonna work carefully here and I'm gonna work carefully and I'm not gonna touch them at the same time so we'll say he is foolish We're Not Gonna hire him he is unsafe and he's gonna fail the inspection if somebody sees they're gonna take away his license you are a fool what are you doing don't play around with dangerous things so the same thing is life if you know that a certain situation is dangerous avoid it entirely don't say I'm gonna go and survive don't go so we have to know that we're in the middle of a strong battle and now number one we have to identify the enemy like he said we might live our whole life and not even know that enemies are all around us now we go to chapter 1.28 the battle this world is not play a place where we sit quietly with nothing disturbing around us we don't live in a monastery we don't live in uh somewhere on a mountain where we don't interact with people life is not easy and if we look at our sages our leaders we think from a side that their life is a piece of cake we see them dressed honorably surrounded by their students and they're given honor and we say such a good life such an easy life they just do the right thing and they just teach and they pray but if we learn the biography we will see that no one became a godol no but no one became a great man in an easy way you cannot become a great man easily you have to fight you have to struggle the world is not a place where we sit quietly with nothing disturbing us the whole world is always in tumult around us we're constantly surrounded by War on all sides internal war and external War all the Affairs of this world are tests for men that is an important fundamental key to the world it's a key to understand what transpires in our lives and it unlocks the mysteries of History of why things happened the way they did sometimes we look at political events and we think oh he said that this Minister said it this president said it and it just happened like this but in fact each one of them was put in a test and often they failed the test and often Hashem leads the history on a path to create more tests for people the Russian Revolution happened in order to give many Jews in Russia and around the world a choice to stay with Judaism or not Communists came to give further tests to people now socialists are coming and everything that is happening everything on the political scene is a test for Every Jew to decide I'm going to stand on a side of good Shalom I'm going to join the evil side everything that happens in the world not only tells us the purpose of life but also how to react to all the phenomena of life how to react to people objects and nature everything in life is given to us for the purpose that we should be tested thereby and the fact and the way we Act is the success of our test or otherwise the battle is in front and in back on all sides were being attacked that deserves our attention for a moment there is no such thing as security or Tranquility in any circumstance even if you had a big Challenge and you strengthened yourself in emuna and you relied on Hashem and you prayed and you saw God's salvation you saw that Hashem LED you through difficulty and he helped you and now you breathe relief and so now I can live peacefully no such thing just because you passed one test it's a sign be ready for a bigger test more challenge more tumult in life if one passes from a state of Happiness into a state of trouble God forbid he should know that really everything is the same life continues exactly precisely with the same purpose which is responding to tests until now your test was how will you act in times of Happiness now your test is how will you act in times of trouble then how will you act in different time times of wealth times of poverty has a Shalom times of Health times of sickness every moment is a test where the friend comes to visit you or an enemy comes to attack it's a test don't think just because it's a friend there is no test the purpose that he had when he was well and successful is the same purpose that he has to understand and face in illness or unhappiness it makes no difference someone once asked Ravi Israel salante when he was old and ailing how does he feel he said a little bit worse yes it's true a little bit worse but still Baruch Hashem whatever one's state of health or success is in this world business goes on as usual he is being tested this is an amazing statement I can't get over it someone once asked Israel salanter when he was sick and old how are you feeling rebi and he said I feel a little bit worse amazing if someone moves from a state of unhappiness and enters a period of well-being a period of enjoyment success and fame it makes no difference he is still being tested no less than before don't think that now Paul Hashem I passed the hard times in my life now it's easier can only get harder he is still being tested no less than before and his responsibilities continue how are you going to react to what is taking place now if a soldier finds himself in the middle of a battle and he is able to overcome his enemy the soldier cannot sit down and take a rest he must consider what else is happening in back of him immediately has to turn it out and confront a different enemy that is what war is it's on all sides in life there is no such thing as a vacuum vacuum means absence of everything so in life you cannot have absence of tests then it's not life the as it says don't believe in yourself until the day you die uh which means don't think that okay I'm fine now it's going to be good now it's going to be safe I'm not gonna sin anymore even if you're not young anymore and your hormones are not uh spilling over don't relax you can still be tempted and tested in all areas of life as long as you are still breathing there's no such thing as vacuum there is no such thing as a person living in Tranquility in a situation in which no test is taking place whether one goes from poverty to wealth or from illness to health he should not think that because those particular tests that he had until now stopped therefore he is no longer being tested he has to know that on every side new tests are crowding in upon him constantly this is comparable to uh the germs just because you're healthy doesn't mean that the virus is not around you it says in talmud uh that if we would see how many thousands of living beings are around us we wouldn't be able to survive from Fear the talmud says so clearly if Hashem would allow human beings to see how many thousands and tens of thousands of living beings are around every human being every moment we would not be able to survive from Fear and the talmud was relating referring to Spiritual Beings we can say these are tests that are crowding around us and replay one is replacing the other constantly and uh it's referring also to the Spiritual Beings like the the the demons but on a physical level we know that every person around him has millions and billions and trillions of living organisms that are trying to invade our body yes and our body is constantly fighting the Invaders both on our skin and in our mouth and in our nostrils and in our eyes and in our ears every cavity has to fight the Invaders and if the bodies immune system would stop for a moment the battle it would succumb to bacteria and to viruses and would get sick and die so the same way spiritually we have to be constantly on guard be very careful and guard yourself physically and spiritually because we are in a constant War you win and a stronger enemy comes against you you win and another stronger enemy comes against you it says that very often the greatest fall comes right after the greatest win as soon as a person passes a an important test you can expect that the next moment he's gonna fail why because often people uh pass a test successfully and then they relax then they say oh Hashem now I can relax until tomorrow or in a few days no Hashem says you have to be ready for the next test immediately not only for the same test but a harder test and they're not not only they are not ready for the same test they're going down and they're saying I can relax and the harder tests hit them and for sure they fail now this is why the miss lady tells us that we are in the midst of milk a very strong battle the imagery of a battle alone is already a strong description for life and he says that it's not only a battle but a very strong battle imagine you have a day off and you're sitting home resting and everything is quiet the children have gone out to visit the neighbors and there is nothing but Tranquility you must know that you are in the midst of a battle not just a battle but a strong battle where's the battle there's no such thing as a battle that is not strong no such thing as a comfortable battle any Soldier will tell you that any time bullets are whistling it is very uncomfortable but a strong battle implies not only that bullets are whistling they are coming like hail and it's very difficult to dodge between the hail the tests are constant unending even in a situation that seems like absolute tranquility every moment we're being tested whether we will be drawn after materialism and fall asleep if we will run away from the truth or if we will battle against what materialism appears to tell us if we and see the truth that the physicality of this world is really a testimony of Hashem like it says everything in the world speaks of the glory of Hashem if a person will use his mind the way Hashem intended he will see that everything in the world in the world speaks of the glory of Hashem now in addition to all the tests that he mentioned so far we have to mention that every interaction is a test you're just sitting people are passing by and it's a constant test someone will look at you how will you react someone will say something I will react someone will come searching for compassion will you give it to him every person is a test and that is why we say you have to live in a society don't separate yourself from Community because living in a monastery being alone in a closed room uh limits your tests and you didn't come to this world to relax you came to be tested and to grow and Yoni shama appreciates the opportunities for growth however we have to be aware of it and when people do look at us when people do speak with us we are being tested how will we react will we be pleasant will we be patient will we be compassionate Now we move to page 121 chapter 1.29 tests the following is a fundamental statement of sharim for everything in the world whether things that are happy or the opposite they are all for the purpose of testing men the midrash when explaining the verse Hashem tested avraham quotes the verse into hilim you gave those who fear you a banner to raise themselves for truths sake cell which means the word Nissan which means test is of the same root as the word Ness to raise up to acquire Perfection the word Ness is also a miracle because a miracle is something that reveals God's glory so to any sayon a test when we passed it successfully reveals our greatness raises us to a higher level in our own eyes [Music] now there is a there is a note at the end of chapter on page one 80. [Music] from one of Rabbi Miller's lectures we quote we begin with the fundamental teaching everything in the world was made for the purpose of testing a man that's a statement at the beginning of mislative as and is intended to explain all the phenomena of this world that everything in this world is a test now the world test however has a broader meaning than what most people think because nisayon comes from the word Ness which means a banner which you put on a tall Pole to show to everyone what it represents so when you pass a test everyone sees what you stand for and it is also related to the word to lift up to raise up because a banner is lifted up so the purpose of everything in the world is to test us and through that to elevate us to lift us up so the purpose of everything in the world is to make us better on a higher level because everybody is born with aneshama that Hashem breathed into him and if Hashem breathed in the shama into man it means he has within him every form of wisdom and Perfection he has great potential potentially a man possesses all forms of greatness but that greatness can also only be actualized can only be brought into view through a test but its potential and his job in this world is to bring forth his potential greatness and create from it actual greatness to bring forth the qualities that Hashem breathed into him by thinking we have to think by speaking and by action by doing so we have three ways of interaction with this world we have three ways of passing the test what we think about everything what we say about everything and to everything and what we do so by means of the phenomena in this world which afford US opportunity to speak and to think and to do we can become partly what we really are potentially and throughout the life we hope to rise constantly to a higher level how by passing tests after test after test after test and we have to continue climbing until the last breath now we go back to page 121 tests exist to elevate man to enable him to achieve his Perfection the intention of everything that exists in the World objects and events is only for this purpose everything is placed before a person at the right time and in the right place in order for him to utilize them toward his perfection it's as if it's all a theater Hashem puts players in their places and they have to act in front of us and we have to react it's not them they are just puppets Hashem is arranging everything he is the composer of the play nobody can hurt us everything is designed by Hashem and we as an observer sitting in the audience we have to react it's not dangerous no situation in life is dangerous it only requires our proper reaction whatever happens is a test if he's successful it is a test if God forbid he's a failure it's still a test health is a test illness is a test whatever happens in the world every little incident for him and every little object in the world even the chair he's sitting on is a test how will you sit on this chair will you sit on this chair to use it to listen to words of Torah or sit on this chair to use it to fall asleep during important lecture everything in the world is made for that purpose and if a person utilizes the opportunity then he will be a success according to this a man's wife is a test a husband is a test that's why it says someone who passes the test of a difficult wife he goes straight to ganetta because anything difficult shows that that is the reason you were brought into this world and if you pass the test the most difficult test and usually it is the spouse that's your most difficult test you go straight to ganetta he can fail or he can succeed a man's children are a test his neighbors are a test his father and mother are tests his rabi is a test his customers are a test his employer or employees are a test everyone he meets on the street is a test summer is a test winter is a test every person in the world is a test for us whatever happens is a test the seduction we should pass all our tests that recognize them and Rise higher and higher thank you for listening have a great day