Thinking: The Key to a Meaningful Life

So in the very beginning of the parsha, Hakadosh Baruch Hu responds to Moshe Rabbeinu's ta'anah of "Lamma harei'osa la'am hazeh? Lamma zeh sh'lachtani? Umei'az bo'i el Par'oh l'dabber b'Shimcha, heira'a la'am hazeh v'hatzalta lo hatzalta et ammecha." So Moshe Rabbeinu was sent to Par'oh and Moshe Rabbeinu's mind, as soon as he goes to Par'oh, the geulah was going to start, but it didn't work out exactly the way he had thought it was going to. In fact, things didn't get better, they got worse. And Moshe Rabbeinu turns to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and he questions Hakadosh Baruch Hu. In the beginning of Parshas Va'eira, Hakadosh Baruch Hu responds to Moshe, "Vayedaber Elokim el Moshe." He spoke to him, "Kashos." "Vayomer eilav ani." He told him, "Ani Hashem." And he says that even though you don't understand exactly what my ways are, but at the same time, "Amnem ani hepara nisim geluyim, nisim nistarim." The theme that we spoke about in the beginning of the parsha. But I want you to go and I want you to deliver this message to the Yidden. I want you to be mechazeik them. I know they're in a rough place right now, but I want them to get the chizuk to know "Ani Hashem." To know that I promised to the others. To know I'm paying attention to them. To know "V'hotzeisi, v'hitzalti, v'ga'alti, v'lakachti, v'heveisi." And everything is going to work out. So Moshe goes and Moshe delivers the message, but the pasuk says "V'lo sham'u el Moshe." The Bnei Yisrael didn't listen to Moshe. Why not? "Mikoitzer ruach umei'avodah kashah." Rashi says because they were literally short of breath. "Koitzer ruach." "Umei'avodah kashah." They were working so hard. And as a result, they they didn't pay attention to Moshe. Then Hashem tells Moshe, "When you go to Par'oh." And what does Moshe tell Hashem? That "Hein Bnei Yisrael lo sham'u eilay, va'eich yishma eini Par'oh? Va'ani aral fasayim." Again, everything we went through in the beginning of the parsha. The Ramban asks the obvious question. That the first time Moshe Rabbeinu came to the Bnei Yisrael the possuk says vayaminu am the Bnei Yisrael believed Moshe. Vayishmu, they listened and they accepted ki pakad Hashem es Bnei Yisrael that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has remembered them. Vayichir es onyam that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has seen their pain. Vayikdu vayishtachu and they were so ecstatic that they actually bowed down and they gave todah Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Frightened of that if that's the case why here does the possuk say filoi sham'u al Moshe mikotzer ruach ume'avodah kashah. Moshe Rabbeinu, the way we have it in the psukim, presented a message to the Bnei Yisrael twice. The first time vayaminu am vayishmu and the second time it says filoi sham'u. Why is it the first time vayishmu they accepted what Moshe said and the second time it was filoi sham'u al Moshe mikotzer ruach ume'avodah kashah. Zog der Ramban you have to say that the reason that the Bnei Yisrael were willing to accept what Moshe Rabbeinu said the first time he delivered a message but not the second time is because things got worse from the first time Moshe Rabbeinu had went to Bnei Yisrael to the second time he had gone to the Bnei Yisrael. What happened when Moshe Rabbeinu went to Paroh the first time? Right? He goes to Bnei Yisrael first, we're all in. Then he goes to Paroh and Paroh says what's going on over here? I don't know who I am, why should I listen to him? Tichbad ha'avodah al ha'anashim and things takka got worse. They got so much worse that the noiksim started getting beaten up, right? The shotrei Yisrael, these good guys and all of a sudden things completely deteriorated to the point that they were complaining to Moshe Rabbeinu and that was what triggered Moshe Rabbeinu's teinas Hashem lamah haroisa lamah zeh lamah zeh shlachtani but the point is things got worse and because things got worse it's for that reason filoi sham'u al Moshe. But the Rambam goes out of his way to say that don't think the was a result of that THEY DIDN'T TRUST. NO, THE possuk said already that they believed. That's what means. They always believed. They believed, even now they believed. BUT THINGS GOT SO BAD THAT THEY COULDN'T listen anymore. Just to read the words of the Rambam. What does it mean? Because specifically who had it's the forcing. It's the hard work. They were working so hard that it was just impossible for them to hear. The first time came they were able to hear because they weren't working that hard. But the second time they were working harder. And because they were working harder they weren't in a position where they would be able to listen anymore. So what happened between the first time delivered a message to the second time it was and because the matters got worse so it's for that reason it's for that reason that now all of a sudden they weren't able to listen. The first time but now already it was I saw in the flaw in the safer so the safer was written by a who lived in Flatbush. He was the in his name was Greeness. He wrote a safer on the it's a very important work. If you learn and on this he says a he says it's your duty that the in he talks about what he believes is the main reason that people don't do the main reason that people in life don't get their act together. See you have people they can go through an entire life and you know they know the truth but they never actually act upon it. They never do something about it. And the Mesillas Yesharim says this perek beis, literally, right in the beginning. It's chapter 1, verse 2. It's mamash anfang from the Mesillas Yesharim. He says that the primary reason is because people don't think. And because people don't think, mamila, they don't make wise choices. If you think things through and you are seichel the risk-reward of actions that you take, ultimately you're going to make better decisions. But the reason people don't make such good decisions is because they don't think things through properly. I want to now read one paragraph from Mesillas Yesharim. This is one of the tricks that the yetzer hara has. It's to try to make a person always busy, always running, always coming, always going, always having something on their mind. Because if a person always has something on his mind, you know what's going to happen? He's not going to be able to think. Because the yetzer hara knows that if a person would make a cheshbon hanefesh, if a person would think for 1 minute about his life, he would think about a bad habit that he has, that he engages in every single day, that he knows is destructive to his life. Vadai, I'm certain, said that at the very least the person would start regretting this bad thing that he's doing. And if he would continue thinking about it, eventually the charatah would grow on him. It would get stronger. Until he would finally get rid of the chet. So says the Mesillas Yesharim, one of the oldest tricks in the book that the yetzer hara has is he makes people be busy. They're always busy. They're always thinking that always coming. They're always ADDing. And because of that, they never think for a second, where am I going? Where am I coming from? Why am I here? Is this way of life the right way of life? Maybe I could sit down and tweak my life a little bit. And who knows how much better it's going to be the eight Sahara knows that if a person would make that when he's dead. So what's his trick? His trick is make you busy like this you're not going to be able to think. Because really if a person's able to think, that is the kryptonite of the eight Sahara. That's the way you take him down. And as a result, he has to undermine it. And the way he undermines it is by not allowing you to think. Says the by reason not that really this that I just described, that's one of the most important tricks the eight Sahara has. This is the eight Sahara that had. So what did say when came the first time and says oh I'm a messenger from God. That was I'm sending the out. He said he said make them work hard. Work harder. Why work harder? So you miss having. His intention was shall I have cloud ability to live or you see more than a day. Because he realized you know what the problem is the Jews have too much time on their hand. They obviously HAVE TIME TO THINK AND THAT'S WHY THEY'RE COMING UP WITH THIS which actually makes a lot of sense for them. But you know what we need to do is we have to make them work harder. Because if they're going to work harder, they're not going to be able to think. And if they won't be able to think, then we're good. He was trying to get them not to think but built him up and this is exactly what the eight Sahara does. He's a man of war. He's a man of war. He's very very clever. He spends a lot of time in the war room planning out his move. The absolutely me menu of a couple of good dollars. Such a beautiful line from the Mesillas Yesharim. Imagine you're going up against an enemy who's an Ish Milchamah. He's by Remus. Right? He's someone that's trained in Kriegshaft. He strategizes excellently knows. And how do we go about our lives? We try to wing it. YEAH, WE'LL WING IT. WE SORT OF KNOW WHAT WE'RE SUPPOSED TO do and what we're not allowed to do. But that's fine, you know, I'll get the eight Sahara today. Seriously, he's been planning for this. He hasn't SLEPT IN A BED IN A WEEK CUZ HE'S TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO TAKE you down AND YOU'RE GOING TO WING IT. THIS MISHIGAS, YOU DON'T STAND A CHANCE. That's exactly what Mesillas Yesharim is saying here in perek beis. He said this is the reason people fail. They fail because they don't put together a plan. They don't strategize. They don't ask themselves, "How am I going to go about this? How am I going to make this happen?" And the reason they don't is because most can't talk. Too busy. Can't make guide. You're running. You're all over the place. And you want to know about this can't talk is because when the eight Sahara is in the war room and he's planning to take you down, he hops that his move is to make sure as the can't talk. That's exactly what the eight Sahara is doing. He's the reason you think you don't have time. He's not letting you. And says the Mesillas Yesharim the reason may not be this was literally the eight Sahara so much as we said the way that Mesillas Yesharim see this idea that the eight Sahara of was to not allow the Yidden to be He said he took it out of these words of the Ramban because the first time that Moshe Rabbeinu came to Yisrael and it says by Ushmo, and they were listening. What did Paro do? HE TOOK THE SECOND TIME MOSHE RABBEINU GOES, ALL OF A SUDDEN, Velo sham'u el Moshe mikotzer ruach u'mei'avodah kashah. What changed? Says the Ramban, it was the avodah kashah who ad doichek shoyei u'noikem otzam bahem velo yitnom lishmo'a davar o lachshov. He was making them work so hard that they couldn't think anymore. And because they couldn't think, now all of a sudden Moshe Rabbeinu was delivering such a beautiful message. He's telling them "Ani Hashem." And despite the fact that he's delivering this message, and he's telling them "Ani Hashem," lema'aseh, they were in a position where this wasn't something that they were even able to hear. This idea of tichbad ha'avodah al ha'anashim, says the Mesillas Yesharim, that that is the eitzah. That's the eitzah of the yetzer hara. That's the way the yetzer hara takes us down. You want to know how he takes us down? He takes us down by making us work harder. Not slave labor, that's not the point. But tichbad ha'avodah, the avodah of life, all the shittasim, all all the things that distract us, all the comings and the goings, some of which we could probably live without. And the bottom line is he takes us down by making us work hard. Because we work so hard, we're in a matzav where we are velo sham'u el Moshe. Velo sham'u el Toras Moshe mikotzer ruach u'mei'avodah kashah. One of the lessons that we take from Parshas Va'eira, one of the lessons that we take from the story of Paro, from the tichbad ha'avodah al ha'anashim, is not to fall into that trap of the atzas Paro, which is that satza yetzer. We have to find some time, clear up a little bit of time. Otherwise, we're just victims of one of the oldest tricks in the book. We're victims of the atzas Paro. We're living in a world of tichbad ha'avodah al ha'anashim. And if you live in a world of tichbad ha'avodah al ha'anashim, is it a chiddush velo sham'u el Moshe mikotzer ruach u'mei'avodah kashah? But if we're able to think, and just free ourselves a little bit from the bondage of not having time for anything important in life, then we're going to be that's the key to our which in our session.