Sha’ar 2:9: Matching What We Undertake to Our Abilities and Life Circumstances

Good morning, I hope everyone's well. Continuing here in os tet.

ומה שאמרו בן תשעים לשוח הוא מלשון ישפוך שיחו לשוח בשדה כמו שפירשו רבותינו ז"ל יצחק תיקן תפילת המנחה שנאמר ויצא יצחק לשוח בשדה.

Rabbeinu Yonah again sees it as a shin smolis, as a sin, lashon sicho rather than a shin yamanis, a shin, milashon to be bent over. That it's not commenting on at least not directly on a person's physical state in this stage, but it's rather takeh talking upon what what his avoda is. And that is according to Rabbeinu Yonah to be engaged in davening, giving praise to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The pashtus is that that the what underlies this in Rabbeinu Yonah is that generally, not always, and if a person is zoche to reach that age he obviously has to try to assess himself as an individual, but generally by the time a person reaches that age there's been an intellectual decline and al ken that that he doesn't have the kochos to be able to to be Talmud Torah centric at that point in his life. But he does retain the the ability and the capacity for lasuach, for tefillah, for giving praise to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Again, this isn't what Rabbeinu Yonah is referring to directly. He's saying tehila, but it it would also mean for us saying Tehillim, losiach biniflaosav. A challenge at at every stage and every turn of life is for a person to try to match up the abilities and opportunities he has at that point at that stage in life with avodas Hashem. And a six year old and and try to teach him a Ktzos and Reb Akiva Eiger, it's not the right match. It's not correlating the stage of life with the with the appropriate tochen, with the appropriate subject matter. And to take advantage, to take full advantage of the opportunity which life is, a person always has to try to see what am I positioned to do. Sometimes it's just a function, let's say as it is in the context of this Rabbeinu Yonah in the Mishnah of Avos, it's a context of a person's own age and and state of being. But sometimes it's what drives it are circumstances. For instance, let's say when a person is at a stage of life where he's learning, but he has the opportunity to during his lunch break to learn for half hour or something. So to make the most of that half hour, a person wouldn't and and shouldn't necessarily undertake the same Seder Halimud as if he had three or four hour block of time available. To take advantage of that half hour, so a person has to tailor what he's doing to the opportunity. And it's a very, very big yesod in in making the most of our opportunities, making the most of our time, is to always try to match what we undertake to do with again, be it the circumstances or be it the stage of life. You know the phenomenon which apparently Rabbeinu Yonah sees reflected here in this Mishnah in Avos of decline, which again doesn't always happen, but often does, whether it's physical decline or whether it's a degree of mental decline, Rachmana Litzlan. The again it can be explained, not explained in a in the sense of a why, it can be described. Explained is not the right word, but a doctor, a biologist can can explain what's happening to the body and what's happening to the cells, that that there is decline, be it physical, be it intellectual. So that's you can have a physiological description of what's happening. Sort of the religious or metaphysical perspective is that again, although teshuvah is supposed to be something which is a perennial part of our lives, it's supposed to be even more prominent as a person gets older. The weakness and vulnerability that a person feels and experiences as a result of decline, the very decline itself is very humbling. There's nothing more humbling than not being able to do something. So some things well we never imagined that we could do, so it's not so humbling. I never imagined that I could lift a thousand pounds. So if I try to lift a thousand pounds and I'm unsuccessful, it's not going to be an especially humbling experience. But if once upon a time I could lift, I don't know, a hundred pounds, I could lift fifty pounds, and then a person reaches a point where he can't do that anymore, there's something very humbling about that experience. And and that humility is conducive for a person being chozer beteshuvah. That shiflus that the person experiences is very, very conducive for his being chozer beteshuvah. And and that's sort of the metaphysical perspective on the physiological phenomenon of decline.

ודיבר שלמה עליו השלום בעניין ימי הזקנה שלא יתעצל האדם בהם מעבודת השם יתברך.

Right when a person retires, right retirement age, a person retires perhaps from from his professional responsibilities, from from his from his secular career, but a person doesn't retire from avodas Hashem. There's no there's no retirement age in terms of avodas Hashem.

ודיבר שלמה עליו השלום בעניין ימי הזקנה שלא יתעצל האדם בהם מעבודת השם יתברך.

It's not I worked hard when I was in my thirties and forties and fifties, now it's time to relax. Avodas Hashem, there's no such notion. There legitimately is such a notion in terms of you know one's vocation, depending upon what one's vocation is, but not when it comes to avodas Hashem.

ואמר בבוקר זרע זרעך ולערב אל תנח ידך כי אינך יודע איזה יכשר הזה או זה ואם שניהם כאחד טובים. ימי הילדות ושחרות לבוקר.

Right shachar means morning, tefillas shachris. Shachor means black. Why when a person's young, so then his hair is again assuming that a person's natural hair color is is brown or black. So when a person is young in his youth, in the shachar, in the morning of a person's life, so then things are black, things are shachor. Hence the the same shoresh denotes both morning as well as as as black as as dark color. ימי הילדות ושחרות לבוקר וימי הזקנה לערב. So Shlomo Hamelech is using the metaphor of a day as as a metaphor for a person's life. Life is youth is is being compared to to the morning, is being depicted as morning, and and the person's old age is evening, and hazera, and the planting, again Shlomo Hamelech speaks about planting in the field, derech mashal, is is a metaphor labanim uletamidim, for for having children and for for ma'amid talmidim. What what that metaphor reflects is what happens when when when a farmer plants? What happens? So the farmer takes the takes the seed, puts it in the ground, and then he he needs to he needs to to to water it. He needs as much as possible to make sure that that it has the proper conditions for growth. He should plant things in the right climate. If something grows in a cold cold climate, he should plant there, vechulu. But ultimately, all the efforts of the planter is that the plant should take on a life of its own. Right? So he's he's putting the seed in the ground and and he's nurturing and he's watering and and he's looking to provide the optimal conditions. But ultimately, it's not he's not looking to clone a plant which will then, because of his efforts and his nurture, which will then grow and develop as it should in in accordance with its its, in the case of a plant, its its genetic code or or whatever the the the right the right phrase is. So the same thing is true in in terms of raising children, in terms of being ma'amid talmidim. The role of the parents, the the role of the Rebbi is is to nurture. The role of the Rebbi is is to provide, to water, to give sustenance, to provide the optimal setting, environment, habitat for the for the child, for the talmid to grow, but for the talmid to grow into himself, according to his abilities, according to his unique, his unique neshama. The Rebbi, the parents, the parents are not looking to clone themselves, they're looking to nurture growth. But then the growth is of the shetulim beis Hashem, is of the is in accordance with who the individual in his uniqueness is. It's a big yesod in in terms of parenting and in terms of of teaching. But it's also a big but it's also a yesod which is very important to understand from the vantage point of the talmid as well. When we look, as we should, at our parents, to our rabbeim as role models, and and when we look, as we should, in many ways to to learn from them and even to emulate them, but the goal is never to become a carbon copy. The goal is never to become a clone. A person can be zoiche to the the best parents in the world. A person can be zoiche to the best rabbeim in in in the world, but אף על פי כן that doesn't translate into, oh, so then my avodah is to be just like my father. My avodah is to be just like my Rebbi. No, because a person doesn't have the same everyone's shoresh haneshama, there's something different, there's something unique. There are certain certainly affinities and commonalities, but but everyone is unique. So because of that, the same way the rabbeim's and the parents' job is not to try to produce a clone, it's the talmid's and the child's job not to try to become and grow into a clone either, but to take everything, everything. He learns from the parents, from the Rebbeim, all the substance, all the hadracha, all the hashkafa, all the halacha, and then allow that to to let him grow into the unique Oveid Hashem and Ben Torah that that he is and and that he's capable of being. Okay, so maybe we'll we'll stop here for for the Rabbeinu Yonah. So בלי נדר אם ירצה השם we'll we'll resume at 11:40. I think what we're going to do for the next tekufa, we're sort of a little bit out of sync with the minhag Yisrael in terms of this, but is we're going to learn a little we'll learn a little bit Pirkei Avos, primarily with with the Rambam on Pirkei Avos, although the yesod Rabbeinu Yonah is is very much a part of our our morning Seder, he'll certainly be invited he'll certainly be invited to the Pirkei Avos limmud as well, bimseiv berosh as well. Okay, so בלי נדר אם ירצה השם we'll resume around 11:40. In the interim, have a good productive morning rabbosai, be well, be safe.