האם אלוקים והגוף ילכו יחדיו? | הרב מישאל רובין | שמונה פרקים לרמב''ם | תשפ''ו [15]

Kind: captions Language: en Well, we're in eight episodes, we're in episode four. What have we learned in chapter four? We said that there are no bad things, no bad habits. Why are there no bad habits? Because the whole problem with proportions is a problem of exaggeration, excess or deficiency. right? This is how he explained it. It depends on whether you exaggerate something, exaggerate your powers and use them in this world or not. And the Rambam says how can one change nature? That's the first point. The second point, the Rambam said that changing human nature in the soul and personality is through repetition and habits, which is really a very, very important element that if you manage to take into your life, it can really help you repeat certain things. And in the end, man becomes a practitioner. So far this is the second point. Third point, Maimonides said that if a person wants to change, it is not enough for him to be a little old, but he has to go to another extreme. Remember that? This means that if a person is stingy, Maimonides gives such an example. So let's give this example. If a person is stingy then what should he do? He should be extravagant, not generous, not manage as if everything is fine, but not be extravagant. A person should be extravagant. We asked about the Rambam, how can it be? After all, man is not capable of giving a shekel for charity. So now what do you tell him? No, give him 1000 shekels now. A man commits suicide, he fainted like in the stories of the righteous, right? This man fainted, fainted again. So the same thing. So what will he do? The answer we gave is that one must remember what the Rambam is talking about. The Rambam speaks of the human soul being one soul. We explained this at length in the first chapter. And that if you want to get out of your moral problems, then you must fight. Fight very, very seriously. And if you say it's not hard for me, it's hard for me, then if it's hard for you, I'm not able, I don't have the strength. The Rambam doesn't buy it. He says someone who is unable to get up in the morning, there's no such thing as being unable. Every repetition of the Torah's commandments belongs to the entire Jewish people, even if it's hard, and that's why it's written and said, "All righteous people are capable of fulfilling the repetition of the mitzvot. And on a trip, you get up beautifully. You get up correctly, and even in the army, with God's help, you'll get up beautifully. So what's the matter now? The Rambam doesn't believe that people are unable to fulfill Torah and commandments, to change their morals. It's hard. It's not that it's not hard, but if you don't work hard, really hard, then remember that what will happen to you is that you will have to work hard your whole life. That's why sometimes we have to push ourselves very, very hard. I want to explain one more point about this, which is an important point, thank you, which is a very fundamental point. Look, we, we maybe, maybe, we talked about it. In the world, there is the law of gravity. We talked about it. The law of gravity is that everything, if I put my glasses here, they will fall. These things are well-known, it's not that new, but what does it mean? This means that in the physicality of the ground, the material pulls you downward. It's always, always like this. And so when I go down the stairs here while sitting, I don't pant, but when I go up the stairs here, I start to pant. Why is that? Because you're walking against the direction of gravity. Right. Gravity pulls me down. Human power, but it can rise. It can climb stairs. Okay. So it's hard. It requires a lot of effort from the person. So it's not hard for a person who walks. It's harder for a person who runs. Why is that the difference between a person who walks and a person who runs? A person who walks always has one foot on the floor. One foot on the floor. It is still connected to the ground. A person crawling, two feet above the ground. More difficult. It's always hard to be disconnected, of course you'll fall later. What will fall? You will land, yes? Because it 's the law of gravity. But anyway, that's how it is in materialism, that's how it is in spirituality. It's the same thing. A sleeping person has a very hard time getting up because a sleeping person means a sleeping person is connected to the ground. It doesn't matter if you sleep on a bunk bed and a half off the ground. It doesn't matter. You are connected to the ground. You are the law of gravity. The spiritual force of attraction. A person is heavy. There is a heaviness. There is a very great heaviness to a person. A person is heavy and it is very difficult to make efforts. It is very difficult to get up in the morning. It is very difficult to do. To go against nature. Nature wants a lot. Nature wants to sleep and rest and be in a circle. And suddenly they tell you not to get up. Suddenly they tell you to use your mind to become wise. This is against the law of attraction. Not exactly there. There is no law of attraction in the brain. But this is to make an effort to do something positive. It requires. The Rambam says, you can. A person has this. He has free choice and he can make an effort. He can break this vicious circle of attraction. How can he break it? He can do things that are opposite to human nature. So at first it is very difficult. It is like being stingy. Being stingy is being very, very attached to matter. This is my money. I earned it. Honestly. I don't give it to anyone, I don't invite people, I don't give them from my sin, from my evil, from my money, I don't give charity to anyone, everyone does what they want, they go to work. The Torah says, no, you have to give to others. Giving to others is against nature to a certain extent. Maimonides says, listen, if you say it's hard, it's hard and you keep whining, then it really is hard. It's not that it's not difficult, it is difficult, but it won't help. If you want to get out of this vicious circle of bad habits, of the attraction of this world, then how did we explain? We said that exaggerating life forces means you are too connected to this world, right? You are too connected to this world. If you want to get out of this world a little, you have to work hard. But if you work hard for a short time, you may be changing the internal balance you have inside. Okay, so this is a very fundamental point in the Rambam. I do n't know exactly if it can be applied precisely, because the Rambam says, "You are here, let yourself go to the other extreme and then slowly you will return to balance." So I don't know exactly when it will be balanced and so on. But in the idea, in the idea that if a person feels that he is exaggerating something and is unbalanced in his measurements, first of all, learn about measurements, learn about things, know what this measurement is, know what balance is. As the Rambam brings here, let's read it inside, let's read it inside, in any case, we need to read the Rambam inside, so here he says here for example, and know that these virtues and moral stimuli are not bought, they are strengthened in the soul by what a person repeats the same actions that come from the same quality many times over a long period of time. So we have already explained this at length that when a person is small, he is born without the things that force him, and there are those mediocre actions, and there are at the first and last extremes, and you decide with free choice. This is what the Rambam says. A parable about this. If we see a person who has already acquired the qualities of the soul in his soul, who is very restrictive about himself, he is a miser, which is an itch that irritates the soul. This act that he does is one of the bad deeds, if we wanted to heal the sick person, then you cannot tell him to be generous. Since it is like healing someone who has become overheated and is a matter of balance. So what should you do? That this is not a daily indulgence, but it is appropriate to command the one who will behave extravagantly. This is what I have said time and time again. And he will repeat the act of extravagance several times until the trait that expressed his stinginess departs from his soul, until the trait of extravagance is almost attached to him or he is close to it. Then we will remove ourselves from the acts of extravagance and command him to persevere in the act of generosity and he will always behave in this way so that he will not go overboard and will not lack. And if we saw him being extravagant, for example, then what should we say to him, "Give you the other end, now be stingy a few times," but we will not command him to repeat the act of extravagance as many times as we commanded in the act of extravagance. Why? Because a person who is too connected to this world to change it is more difficult. A person who is already withdrawn from this world, meaning he gives from charity, he gives his money, he gives generously, is less difficult to organize him in life and balance him. So far. Okay, so that's what we've talked about so far . Now I'm here, but what some people from the Hasidim and some of the times did. Now listen carefully. There's an interesting point here in the Rambam. The Rambam is going to say wait a minute but there are people who practice celibacy now what did you say celibacy is not a right thing so then how do they practice celibacy here then you will see the nature of fasting wandering sleeping at night abandoning eating meat drinking wine shaving women wearing wool and silk living in cities seclusion in the deserts did none of this this is what the Rambam says all these righteous people did not do it except on the path of healing what is on the path of healing i.e. in order to truly relax the Rambam says there is no interest in asceticism there is no interest in fasting there is no interest in restricting life life is good you have to live life properly but if a person feels that he belongs too much to this world oh in such a way that you want to change the internal balance, you want to change your internal tendency, then you have to go to the mountains. You need to isolate yourself, you need to. You can't continue the same thing. If a person always eats the same thing and tells him I have to abstain from it if a person does boom right in diets there are such things right that they say now eat plums every week and plaster a week from a phone a week from a hotel I don't know all kinds of extreme things like that because when you start you say no it's not bad you can eat but only a cake and a half of 124 comma 3 grams a person eats the 123 comma 4 grams eats another two kilos of wet rag right so it doesn't work so how do you want to get out of it is get out of it sometimes a person has to do extreme things how a person does extreme things huge for sleep deprivation did you ever do a give speech once you did a fast speech fasting speech it's really like that fasting speech it's a person he feels that he really corrects the speech you did once a fast speech really interesting it's because we are always talking all the time we are talking dad all the time we are talking suddenly you don't talk no prayer and study and so on yes but other than that nothing at first it's really hard because it's very extreme we are people talking and it's really hard but when you do the speech at the end You feel a sense of cleansing and some kind of inner cleansing because not only did you not say slander, gossip, and everything that the Chafetz Chaim says is forbidden, and he is right of course, but you also don't say nonsense. Yesterday I was here, yesterday I was there, I drove to this, I drove there, I bought this, I went to that, I saw that. A person has a piece of paper there. You have n't done a speaking fast, do it, do it, some people do a speaking fast on Yom Kippur, but this isn't Yom Kippur, it's especially easy in a sitting. You have a 10-minute break . For those 101 minutes, you are silent. That's okay. yes. Rabbi Disagreement I do n't know We don't deal with Ramchal that much now What about Ramchal's abstinence I do n't want to deal with others now The Rambam is against asceticism in a sweeping way The Rambam says it's not the right way But there is such a thing as asceticism There is such a thing as distancing yourself from this world When on the path of healing It's not a goal in itself This is the Rambam Not a goal in itself Look Look what he writes Very clearly They did n't do any of this except on the path of healing. And a second reason is because of the corruption of the people of Iram. What does this mean? When they saw that they too would be corrupted by their association with them, their actions would be corrupted, and there was a fear that their company would cause them to corrupt their morals. Girl, what did they do? Their sons went out into the wilderness, a place where there was no evil person. As the prophet said, "Who will give me in the wilderness?" When the wise saw these followers, what is it that the minds wither? So what did they say? I am talking? What fun! What things? Fasting, sleeping on the floor, austerities, reincarnation, cold sores? Today, it is consciously happening. Now it is trendy. What seems a little strange, but it doesn't matter. And when the wise saw these followers who did these actions and didn't know their intention? So what did they say? They thought they were good. You see, you see what the Rambam says? They thought it was okay, it was good, and they treated them with the thought that they would be like them. They tortured their bodies with all kinds of tortures and thought that they had already achieved ascendancy. What are we? We don't eat meat. We are not like that. We are like that. And what does he say? They approached the Lord as if the Lord were the enemy of the body. Look at what a strong sentence. What does the Rambam say? As if the Lord were the enemy of the body. What did you think that the Lord was the enemy of the body in any way and wanted to lose it and destroy it? And they don't know that those actions are bad. What actions did the bodies do? It is bad. What but I thought it was good? I have seen righteous people who behave this way. You don't understand. They did it because of one and two reasons. One reason is what we said. Healing. The second reason is to stay away from bad company. Right here, thank God, in the yeshiva, everyone is good. Everyone is a grandchild. Everyone is righteous. You don't have to stay away from bad company. But it's possible that one day you will be with people who don't take you to less good places. Right then, what do you do? You have to stay away. How do you stay away? How do you stay away? You don't always have to be involved in everything. Sometimes you have to be a little on the side. It's difficult socially. Right. It's difficult because it's your company. You'll go to the army, in some team, and you tell them, "Good friends, I'm here ." It's difficult, but you have to be heroes about it because sometimes this company brings you down. They talk about things that have no place to appreciate here and they say things that have no place to appreciate here. And so with all your good intentions, remaining innocent, pure, and holy is very difficult. That's why Maimonides says that there is legitimacy in leaving bad company. Remember that. Do I need to enlist in the army? not. yes. recorded. Is it impossible ? Could be. Well, I don't know. I don't know much about Kabbalah. I don't know about Kabbalah, but I do n't know if they distance themselves from reality. Here's Baba Selly. Now, his madness. His yurt was always with people. He was full of people. He was always with people. He wasn't a sycophant. Maybe he was a sycophant in the sense that he did n't enjoy the world. He was that, but he didn't distance himself from society. He would receive a million people. They would tell him their troubles. His things. So he heard from people. It's true that he, Rabbi Eliyahu, always said that he was a sycophant. A sycophant. Risha Kadisha. It's probably Baba Selly. He was. But that's it. You can't give examples of people like that because they are people who took on many of the difficulties of the generation. Many of the problems of the generation. Many of the atonement of the generation. We can't learn from people like that. We are simple people who learn from great, famous people like that. And after all, they are similar to someone who has no knowledge of the kingdom of medicine. He saw that the beaten doctors wanted the sick to drink water for dangerous patients. He doesn't know all kinds of medicines. So what does he do? You understand what happens when a person enters a hospital. Suddenly he sees a great doctor, a department manager, taking some medicine, giving it to someone, saying, "Well, if the great doctor is giving it, then it must be good." So he took all the medicine, gave it to people, people got sick. You don't understand anything, but the great doctor did it. He's the expert, he's a department manager. He knows. You don't understand anything. He knows. For this person, no, it's penance. It's not a goal. It's not a goal. This is an interesting example of what he is saying. yes. And here are doctors who say don't eat, avoid foods. why? Because now you have such an illness that you can't eat. By doing so, they recovered from their illness and escaped danger. A big rescue. The mind said the same thing. If these things could cure the sick, how much more would they restore the healthy to health. Then what do you turn it into? Makes him poor, you killed him, so that he could be given health, and he began to use them always and behave in the manner of the sick, for he could, without a doubt, these are the mentally ill, without a doubt, by using medicines in their healthy lives, but I continue. Listen carefully now, because this is a continuation of the previous thing, and this is the complete Torah that pays, it pays us, as the hand on it knows, it knows, this is the Lord. Yes, the Torah of the Lord is innocent, returning the souls of the Lord, faithful, like a Patty's grave, it did not commit any such thing. You hear torture, penance, there is no such thing, but it wanted him to be a natural man, walking on an average path, eating what he is allowed to eat, you do not have to abstain from food, it is permissible to eat, you can eat in moderation. What is this in the middle? When we were in the army, there was a place in Jerusalem on the beach, King George Beach. There was a place called Zalla in the city. Now it has changed. It seems to me that it no longer exists . There's a diner in town. Eat as much as you can. They would bring you a I remember that they would bring you some pita two pitas and then a a chicken breast like this it was if there was a million salads there you eat as much as you can it is not according to the mitzvah it is like people who go to hotels people go to a hotel so they paid for a hotel so what do they take on a plate they say in the study says people take in hotels what they eat you will not slaughter it it is not a boycott how much you eat another plate and another plate and another plate he has full plates satisfied how much you can eat how much you can eat you can not leave everything we are limited so why do you do it why do you do it a built-in bug a person thinks he is so it is not not the mitzvah but what does the Rambam say the Rambam says eat you can eat it is permissible to eat but with wisdom in a good law, there are days when it is forbidden to eat. Yes, there are fasts during which eating is forbidden. Okay, but on a normal day, today it's allowed to eat, but in moderation. What is this in the middle? Not in excessive amounts, not in a bad or beautiful way. why? Because a person should act according to reason. Therefore, he says, "And he will drink what he is permitted to drink according to the mitzvah." Even here, he brings about a married life and harvests what he is permitted to harvest in the mitzvah. There are laws about this even in the Shulchan Aruch. Why is it like this? Because there are things that are allowed to be done. So it's allowed. not. A man wants to abstain from women. This is forbidden. Why is it forbidden? What does it mean, forbidden? sense. We are talking here about a woman who has been sanctified in holiness and sanctification. yes. Not lawlessness. Except for one man, Moses our Lord. But Moses is something special. What is our Lord Moses? Where are we and where is our Master Moses? Moses separated from his wife. How many people were like that ? one. And this is only because our Master Moses was always able to speak with G-d. Do you understand? Moses always had some question, he would say, " What happens with a sharp knife?" I don't know what they do right or wrong. In the Holy Place, blessed be He, he would come and say to him, listen, this is like this, this is like this, yes, daughters of storms, bears, listen, this is the fear of God, this is thinking. Isaiah, who is Isaiah? Isaiah was a prophet. Right? Did you hear Isaiah? Jeremiah? Did you hear Jeremiah? These are not ordinary people like us? Right? What is written is that when they talk to God, all their organs would feel that all their organs were falling apart. They would fall into some kind of coma, they would fall in the middle of this. The Holy One, blessed be He, came and said to me, Jeremiah, I want to tell you a prophecy. He would fall to the floor, unable to move, all his organs would fall apart, and he would receive a prophecy. Jeremiah, I'm not talking to you as a rabbi of the 3rd grade, which I don't disrespect, but do you understand what we're talking about? Jeremiah, people who almost lost their bodies, they all flourished. So think about Moses, Moses, not only did he not fall, not only did his limbs not fall apart, but he was a true initiator. There is a frightening verse in the Torah. It is written, "And Moses said to the Lord, have you heard such a verse? There is one that we know. And the Lord said to Moses, saying, 'What the Holy One, blessed be He, says, do this, do this, it is necessary, it is necessary, I understand. But how can it be that suddenly he came and it is written in the Torah, and Moses said to the Lord, saying, 'Well, now listen, God forbid, I am not this.' But that was the level of Moses, so what proof do you bring of Moses, Moses? It is impossible to talk about him at all, so we don't talk about him. But other people, Miriam and Aaron, even about that, it was slanderous language. It was a criticism that they said about Moses, what they said to him, what they said, they said, why did the woman's story, this is an example that may not be good, and their daughter, there is a lot to discuss on this point. So what do we see from here? It is not a goal to abstain. The Holy One, blessed be He, is not an enemy of the body. We have a body that needs to be taken care of. Oh, he needs to be taken care of. So now I eat it in moderation. In moderation, that means with reason and logic. sense? This sentence is very important. What did you want? Not hardware. I hear what you're saying. Humon is a little more. That's a little more. The Holy One, blessed be He, said it's allowed, it's allowed, it's allowed, but I want to flatter a little more. It is then something that a person feels he wants to do because it brings him closer to God and he does it with joy. If a person grumbles about it and whines about it all the time, then it's not, it doesn't fall within the scope of correct severity. The severity is that a person understands that if he wants to get closer to God, then he can go a little further than the law of the law. But there is another thing. Sometimes severity is exactly what the Rambam says here on the path of healing. Sometimes a person says, "Every time I come to Shabbat with my tongue out, I always don't steal another two or three minutes of time." It's written on this tablet. It says, "510 enters Shabbat. I am in B.H. 13:14." You know that. So a person comes and says, " I now receive Shabbat 40 minutes before what is it? Why is it forbidden? Why is it forbidden? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, said, "You can enjoy it until this point." Yes, but I can't do it for me. So a person makes a decision for himself. You understand that's really on the path of healing. Or a person has such minyanim. You know these minyanim. You know the You understand, I'm not talking about walls now that the sages told us to be strict. The Ashkenazim said not to eat legumes on Passover. What to do? It's sad, but that's what it is. It's impossible. It's impossible to change it. It's not a wall that you put in yourself. And you ask nicely about the walls. They're always brown. I say it in two conditions. Brown. It starts with sin. So it's a smile. You have to do it with a smile. If a person is embarrassed, it's not brown. Second, don't write it on a bulletin board. Because I'm like when I do something, I do something harsh. So first of all, I write in letters. Kiddush Levena. I'm righteous. I'm strict about it. I'm strict about it. If you do it for that, it's better not to do it. So what's the point? It's not worth it. It's not worth anything. You're strict on Shabbat. And you're strict with extreme humility. So it's not worth it. That's why a person needs to really, really examine himself. Really examine himself. If he's strict, to spur himself on. There are things like that. A person sometimes feels that if certain people find it easier for him to say things that are not polite, so he repeats himself, saying, "I'll be strict, I'm not. I'll speak briefly. I'm not." On the one hand, harshness has a taste. There's blood on it. The healing process is important, but it is important if you accept them with a calm heart and a happy heart in the service of your name, and of course not to pose about it in a tea room. Okay, that's very well understood. So that's what he says here. Then he says, "He shall not hide in caves and mountains, nor shall he wear sackcloth and wool, nor shall he touch his body and make atonement or atonement." And warn us about this in whatever way we can in Kabbalah. Said the son of a Nazirite and dug into him, confirming a sin against the soul. What does that mean? What sin? He is a monk. And they said, "What did they say?" This is a Gemara on fasting. And against what soul did he sin? What did he sin against? On the oil itself from the wine and all sorts of things and substances arose. If one who has withdrawn himself from wine needs atonement, he withdraws himself from all things moist, all the more so. Look at how Maimonides criticizes this so much in an extreme place. Maimonides says, we learn this from a monk. What did the monk do? A monk warned himself against wine. Okay, bring atonement. But he had a reason to be a monk. Why did he do that? He needs atonement anyway. There is then a bottom line: the Rambam's austerities are not true. If you think that Hashem is an enemy of the body, it is not true. Hashem wants you to treat the body properly. Of course, there are limits to this in the mitzvah. If a person says, "No, the Holy One, blessed be He, is not an enemy of the body, then now I need all the pampering and all the pampering and all that. That's not what this is about. And always remember that we are against the force of gravity, both material and spiritual." There is a spiritual downward pull. There is a physical force of gravity downward. Towards the ground. Rav Chaim Vital writes in the introduction to The Tree of Life, quoting the then he says that it is the element of earth. Man has an earthy element . What is dirt? It's such a ground, it knocks you down, it keeps you very, very close to the ground and that's what we have to fight. What is fighting? It's hard. The Rambam says here, it will be difficult for you at first, but if you repeat it and be purposeful, you can get out of a lot of things that are not good for you, from a lot of qualities that are not good. This is a very interesting solution in the Rambam that the Rambam goes astray. Okay? There is, oh, there is, oh, such a method, good, another, another, another, point, and also in the words of our prophet and the sages of our Torah, you will see how much he values ​​the Rambam to tell you, do not abstain from speaking, do not be a person of asceticism. Also in the words of our prophet and the sages of our Torah, we found that they always behave in a mitzvah and guard their souls and bodies as the Torah commanded them. And the Lord answered, "Let the one who asked about fasting one day a year, whether he will persist in it or not, said to the sacristan, "The fifth month is a fast, as I have done for several years, and he answered them, because you have fasted and someone praised you on the seventh, and this is 70 years, you have fasted for me, because you will eat and drink to live, are you not the ones who eat and you the ones who drink?" And he commanded them only in mitzvah and virtues, not in fasting, and he says, Thus said the Lord, a color to say, "A true sentence that has been judged, judged, and kindness and mercy, a man has made his brother bitter." Then thus said the Lord and the famous verse, "The fourth fast, the fifth fast, the seventh fast, the tenth fast, to the house of the Lord, a disaster for joy and for the feasts of the good, good feasts, and truth and peace in love." He knew that truth is the logical virtues as they are true, we have not changed, and peace is the virtues of the virtues in which peace will be in the world. So what does the Rambam say? The Rambam says, "We only follow the path of the law, but under no circumstances are we willing, under no circumstances are we willing to be ascetics." Ascetics is not the path of the Torah. Although I think today in our generations, in generations when there is so much abundance, people do not seem to me to be close to ascetics. You know things like that, people who sleep on the floor, people who do not eat meat, people who fast, do you know? No. Right. In our yeshiva, it is not true or I do not know. It is forbidden to say on the bulletin board, " Oh, no, there was no guy here a few years ago. I see him every day again. He is not going to eat lunch. I told him, "Why are you not going to eat lunch? " I told him, either you go eat lunch or you leave the yeshiva. No, it doesn't belong now. What does the Rambam say about it? But in our generations, it's actually the other way around. We have to do the opposite. We are so indulged in all day long. Treats, treats, treats, treats. Too much. We are on that side of the coin. We are such a generation of abundance. We really need to be careful of this. A generation of abundance. One side is a blessing. Remember my grandfather told me when I was little? My grandfather. It's not 2,000 years. It's 100 years. A little over a year. When he was a child, all week long, they would eat bread with garlic or garlic and onions. Whatever they had to eat on Shabbat, they would sew. They had a little bit. Oh, today, it's you. You don't have a portion of this. And a portion of this. And a portion of that. And this is it. So we lost it on the one hand. On the other hand, it could be that a way of healing. A person who feels that he is taking too many treats and treats needs a way of healing. He needs to do other things. So, eat sand. In the yeshiva that I studied in the yeshiva, there were Guys, I told you this, guys, they used to put all the food in soup to break the urge to eat. Salads, this, this, the last dish, they put it in soup. Well, I do n't know if it's tasty. The soup wasn't that salty either, but it doesn't matter, but they used to put everything in soup, eat quickly, go, it's to break the urge to eat, there's something to it, but it's the way to heal. If you've been doing this for years, it's not relevant, it's understandable, guys. Okay, we'll stop here because now it's a different topic, so with the help of God, may his name be blessed and his salvation be with God.