Rabbi Yuhanan Mesilat Yesharim 1.35-1.36

and we're on page 130 chapter 1.35 the top of the letter the missile sharim has introduced a topic here that seems out of place this subject of kidusha of Holiness is found at the end of the suffer because it is the top of the ladder it goes in progression from being careful with your Behavior being um enthusiastic about your behavior about your actions and so on and so forth until we reach Holiness and here already at the beginning he's speaking about Holiness why so early so he continues there is a ladder that our father yaakov saw in a vision a letter standing on the Earth and the top went all the way to the sky so what does that ladder that yaakov saw in a dream represent from that dream we see that man's career in life is compared to a ladder as yaakov was leaving his father's house and going into the world to face the world and uh to succeed in the world so Hashem showed him a vision of what life is all about and the vision was a ladder your mission in life is to climb on the ladder with its bottom being on Earth and it stopped being in heaven a leather has wrongs which signify that you cannot put one foot on the earth and your other foot reaching to the top you can't in one step reach the top and at the same time you cannot be in this in Two Worlds at the same time cannot be on Heaven and Earth if you want to be on top you have to abandon the Earth you have to gradually remove yourself from physicality and slowly slowly strive towards spirituality you must Ascend by gradual steps so two lessons we learn from a letter number one it has to be slow movement gradual one step at a time and number two in order to go to one and you have to leave the other end so he continues first you must conquer the next step and the one after that and so on therefore you should never aim to the highest degree of perfection immediately because you're going to be disappointed and give up attempting attempting to grow further be ambitious but only for the next step for example if we have a contentious person a person who likes to fight a complainer the first step is to stop complaining to stop accusing to stop finding fault that's not a very big achievement in Life or what's your achievement that I didn't blame people but it's the first step making trouble for other people and just keep your mouth closed The Next Step once that has been achieved is to take positive steps what good did you bring into the world like saying encouraging things to people the purpose of life is to climb the ladder what you were last year is not enough for this year however don't be discouraged if you cannot reach the top immediately the next step is a victory every step is a victory and be happy if you can achieve that so the the saying lower your standards and then you will not be disappointed applies here as well if you keep your standards very high for your next step then you'll never get to the next step if the wrongs of the ladder are very far between each other then you're not going to be able to climb so lower your standards for the next step make small steps and then you can make many steps one after another and eventually climb very high the purpose of life is to climb the ladder and as long as you're climbing that is an achievement the the ultimate purpose is to reach the top but that's the long-term goal when we learned the last chapter of sharim the chapter of kedushao Holiness we understand that it's an ideal the ideal is to reach holiness we should know the concept exists but we are aiming only for the next step that is close to us which is very far away from kedusha so it's a remarkable thing that we see in the very first chapter that he starts speaking about the necessity of Holiness of okidusha he says one of the purposes of making ourselves better is in order to make the world better and when a man is Holy then everything in the world that is of service to him becomes holy too If You Are Holy then anything that serves you is also holy has a holy purpose and by the way people who say that um animals have rights and that we cannot use animals for our needs they are only saying it because they don't see value in a human being not because they see value in animals because a human being is at least as valuable as a as an animal but we don't see them caring so much about humans and the answer is because they lowered the value of the human being and they don't think that if an animal serves the human it's a benefit for the animal because who is human that some some things should serve it or him and therefore they find it very hard to understand why would one creature be killed for the sake of the other but if you understand that there is a great difference between them and the purpose of an animal is meaningless if the animal does not serve some other greater uh ideal and the best that an animal can do with its life and for itself is to serve a human being if it can serve the human being through its life by carrying burdens by carrying the person by providing milk and wool for the person protecting the person that's wonderful and if it needs to serve the person the human being through its death by giving the person its meat or organs for transplant that's also a great um achievement for an animal and the animal rises in its function and the animal soul grows to connect to the human soul so if you are connected to Holiness then you yourself become holy if you serve someone who is Holy you yourself become holy and that is why by making ourselves holy we uplift the world because now the entire world by serving us becomes holy as well becomes kadosh now we're in page 131 why is the highest achievement included at the beginning why are we speaking of describing the highest level now maybe he should have waited until we have gone through being careful and the result being enthusiastic about mitzvot and all the other qualities in the very first chapter it's out of place to talk about kudusha so it seems now go to chapter 1.36 we cannot postpone the climb now we come to a tourism that applies to many such things in the Torah the rambam states that love of Hashem is only for the greatest people it's an achievement of profits if so what is the use of telling us about it why do we have a commandment to love Hashem if rambam says that it's impossible for us to achieve that only if you are a prophet you can truly love God we're not prophets it seems like a waste of time for us but there are rambam describes what love of Hashem is in detail so it seems like he does consider it applicable to us the rambam was not teaching prophets what to do they didn't need the rambam they knew more than the rambam so we understand that the rambam is describing the top of the ladder the true culmination of a man's efforts where the prophets are standing that for that form of love of Hashem is not actually for us but there is a form of love of Hashem that not only is for us but we are obligated in it the highest level of love we cannot achieve in this current world without prophecy but some level of love is for everybody and that's Our obligation no less than we are obligated to eat kosher to put on tefilling and to keep Shabbat we are obligated to love God we say every day in the morning and in the evening you should love God with all your heart all your soul and all your ability but we can't we have too many distractions we don't have Clarity so the Torah is asking us for something impossible but all your ability means whatever you're capable of yes you're not able to unlock your heart completely to clear your mind completely but according to your ability you can and you have to certainly you have to love Hashem and there are multiple levels of Hashem and we should start out now we cannot postpone until we reach the top of the ladder if we postpone then we will certainly never reach it if we start immediately then in the course of our travels higher and higher it will develop and grow into what the rambam calls true and that is why Hashem in his wisdom gave us a 13-year period for boys and 12-year period for girls for training so that we practice the mitzvot we practice learning the Torah we practice how to be good and how to benefit others so that when a boy turns 13 and the girl turns 12 they can actually start serving Hashem and helping others on a high level they're not expected to to be uh good people from birth but by the age of 12 and 13 they have enough time to prepare themselves and that's the job of parents to train them slowly step by step guiding them gently prodding them pushing them up that they should go higher and higher and then by the time they are bar mitzvah or bad Mitzvah they can be independently good and serve Hashem properly so you cannot say oh he's too young let me wait until he becomes 12 or 13 then I'll tell him what to do no you have to start young and slowly gently step by step encourage them to go higher and higher now how do you start now here's one little tip do you like watermelon as you sink your teeth into a piece of cold red sweet juicy watermelon Think I Love You Hashem for that develop Your Love Hashem at the time when it's easy to love Hashem when you are receiving pleasure any kind of pleasure whether you are eating delicious food say Hashem thank you I love you whether you are looking at beautiful nature say thank you Hashem I love you it's so beautiful whether husband and wife are involved in marital relations at that time it's also a good idea to think about Hashem and express your love to Hashem at the beginning it may be insincere because in reality most people don't think about Hashem when they're making a bracha they just say the words but say that you love Hashem anyhow that's how you start out once you say it you will start thinking about it but if you don't say I love Hashem you will never get there but if you say it and you start on your path there is a good chance of eventually arriving so when you make a blessing before eating the watermelon think about thanking Hashem for making the fruit of the earth and then when you sink your teeth into it try a little bit to love Hashem for the watermelon in fact that's what the watermelon is there for its purpose is to make you love Hashem have you ever thought of that that is the purpose of all the good things in this world Hashem gives us food so that we should thank him for it and come to love him for it that is the purpose and that is the beginning of the travel toward kedusha in the 26th chapter of mislative he begin it begins by explaining that kidusha is a gift given to us by Hashem as a result of our attempt to gain kidusha Hashem gives it to us as a gift then he says what man can do in kidusha is the exertion to pursue the true knowledge and to constantly keep your mind in the Holiness of the ACT the true knowledge is to be aware at all times that Hashem is the one who is Giving You Everything that must be maintained constantly thinking about Hashem and realizing that all your interactions with the world are really your interactions with Hashem when you see a piece of bread on your table you should actually learn to feel that it has been delivered by the hand of Hashem as in the verse you open up your hand and you satisfy the will of every living thing you should know it's not easy but that's what we have to work on to acquire the true knowledge of Hashem and that is that Hashem is giving the food to us furthermore we can understand the benefit of the food that the food contains nourishing proteins and life-giving vitamins we have to study all of that and know how valuable hashem's gifts are they're delicious and nutritious that is also part of true knowledge then to constantly keep your mind in the Holiness of the ACT means while we are eating we are aware that we are eating for that purpose of attaining the true knowledge every time we eat we have opportunity to get pleasure from Hashem to appreciate the greatness of Hashem and we will have nutrition to stay healthy to live a long life and energy to continue learning more about Hashem and serving Hashem this is climbing the ladder toward Perfection by utilizing the happiness of this world not only through eating if you utilize the happiness of breathing air or of looking at the Blue Sky then little by little you learn the true knowledge that these are gifts that are being bestowed on you by the hand of Hashem he is intentionally giving you this enjoyment if you spent time gaining this attitude thinking more and more about it your mind is constantly on it while breathing drinking or eating you're utilizing all the good things in life that you're enjoying in order to gain this kedusha Holiness that is the beginning of the career toward the great goal of kedusha ramcha the author of mislati sharim was one of the Great kabbalists but in general he tried to keep that quiet this idea that the world is improved through a righteous person sometimes called tikkun Olam is quite kabbalistic however the author will provide evidence for this concept from the revealed Torah and from the gamara not from Kabbalah but it is a concept from Kabbalah with this we complete this chapter we're on page 133 thank you for joining us see you tomorrow