Sha’ar 2:25-26: Investing the Time and Effort to Change

Hi good morning Rabosai, I hope everyone is well. We left off here towards the end of Ois Kaf He. ויש אנשים שאינם נותנים פנאי לנפשם בעתים להבין להשכיל. Rabbeinu Yonah says that there's no such thing as objectively not having the time. It's a question of whether or not we allow ourselves the time. ויש אנשים שאינם נותנים פנאי לנפשם. That no matter how objectively a person has the opportunity to be koveia itim, and it's a question of how he decides to prioritize and allocate his time. Secondly, second point here in this sentence: likvoia itim. You know, in acquiring knowledge, so it's enough to tackle a sugya, a question, once and thoroughly, and work it through. Then, with whatever mnemonics or whatever it takes, so that a person is able to successfully store it away in his memory bank. But clearly all that doesn't add up to what Rabbeinu Yonah is recommending of likvoia itim. And the reason is because there's one goal of acquiring knowledge; there's another goal of internalizing knowledge. That what I know becomes a part of my awareness, and therefore shapes and molds how I live. And that requires constant reinforcement. Because it's not the intellectual breakthrough. No, intellectual breakthrough has been made; the idea has been recognized and grasped. The challenge is to instill, embed it within one's awareness, and then to retain that, and then to sustain that, that, that state. And that's why Rabbeinu Yonah says a person shouldn't be lulled into a false sense of security, "I already know this, let's move on to the next, the next frontier of knowledge." No, a person should move on to the next frontier of knowledge, but at the same time should realize that when he wants something not only to be part of his memory bank, but part of his awareness, it requires a kviyas itim. The most common competition in terms of our time, in terms of not allocating and devoting our time the way it should be, is the tardas b'kinyanai ha'olam, is the temptation to amass wealth, to amass belongings, and the claims and demands that makes on our time.

כי ענין שכתוב הלא נסע יתרם בם ימותו ולא בחכמה.

Rabbeinu Yonah. When we go on our voyage, meaning our voyage taking leave of Olam Hazeh, so then our yeser, our surplus, which Rabbeinu Yonah says refers to money, refers to physical belongings, properties, that departs from us. הנה כי אין להם תועלת, and not only is it that there's no enduring value to the to the surplus, the money, but worse than that, אבל אבד מהם טובה הרבה, but there was a there was a tremendous cost that was incurred, ki garam lahem, because it caused us אשר ימותו ולא בחכמה. It caused us to die without hachmah, lehavin leacharisam, to contemplate every person's ultimate destiny ולזכות נפשם להכין צדה לדרכם. So then we would have prioritized and we would have lived differently.

כי ענין שכתב הלא נסע יתרם בם ימותו ולא בחכמה.

The principle Rabbeinu Yonah is is putting forth is is very intuitive. Let's say the question is when a student is in college and the question is what should his major be? What classes should he be taking? So how do you answer that question? How do you answer that question? The way to answer that question is that the student has to ask himself, well, where do I want to be when I graduate college? What do I want to be positioned for when I graduate college? If I want to be positioned to go to medical school, so then that will tell me to a large extent and to a large degree what courses I should be taking and how my energies and where my energies should be channeled. If I have a different goal in mind for college, a different professional goal or whatever the goal may be, so then that will provide different direction and different guidance. So a person can only know what to do now when a person looks ahead to see, well, where am I going to end up or where do I want to end up? And once a person identifies where he's going to end up, where he wants to end up, so then he can work backwards and figure out what he should be doing now. And that's simple common sense, right? It's something which is very intuitive. If a person goes through college without asking himself what he wants to be positioned for upon graduation, so then he may find himself graduating and not be in the position that he wants to be. He may not have the professional options or the graduate school options that he would like to have. The only way for those options to be there, the only way for a person to be positioned at the end of this stage for the next stage is to be thinking about the next stage now. That's right, simple common sense. Simple not in a chas veshalom in a demeaning or disparaging sense, rather in in the sense of just how compelling and how intuitive it is. And that's what Rabbeinu Yonah is saying that to to know how to live. What to stress, what to prioritize, how to develop and apply one's kochos, so a person has to think ahead to where he wants to be positioned at the end of this stage, i.e. Olam Hazeh for for the next stage. והנה נחתום העניין הזה. Let's conclude this topic says Rabbeinu Yonah

במאמר נכבד אשר לחכמי ישראל זכרונם לברכה. היה הלל עליו השלום אומר: אם אין אני לי מי לי וכשאני לעצמי מה אני ואם לא עכשיו אימתי?

Be'ur hadavar. What what did Hillel mean?

אם האדם לא יעורר נפשו מה יועילוהו המוסרים? כי אף על פי שנכנסים בלבו ביום שמעו ישכחם היצר ויעבירם מלבבו.

So we saw based on the Maharal the other day again that leyasser means to just like similar to le'esor in a physical sense, leyasser in a spiritual sense is to restrain and to keep the nefesh on its on the straight and narrow and that that can be accomplished either through the suffering or it can be accomplished through what we call a mussar shmuess. Earlier Rabbeinu Yonah used mussar in the first sense, here he's clearly using it in the second sense, in the sense of hearing a mussar shmuess, hearing divrei hisorerus, right? He refers to yom shom'o. And Rabbeinu Yonah says that basically a person can't be passive and expect to develop or improve spiritually. It's not enough that I go and that I allow myself to be on the receiving end of divrei mussar, of divrei chizuk, of divrei hisorerus. Take responsibility to give himself the mussar. Mah yo'iluhu hamusarim? If if the extent of my effort is that I go hear someone else's mussar shmuess but I don't take ownership to give myself the mussar, so mah yo'iluhu hamusarim? Why? כי אף על פי שנכנסים בלבו ביום שמעו, but inevitably, as is everyone's personal experience, inevitably if that's all the person does, ישכחם היצר ויעבירם מלבבו. So as strong as the initial impression is, it fades and it gets forgotten. כענין שנאמר וחסדכם כענן בוקר. Your your your kindness, your devotion is like the morning dew when when the sun when the sun comes up.

ונאמר כסף נבחר לשון צדיק אבל על פי כן לב רשעים כמעט.

Peirush. What what does it mean that that the language, the words of a tzaddik are like choice silver? What does that mean? Peirush mussar hatzaddik, right, that's what the lashon hatzaddik means in in this pasuk. The the words, the divrei mussar that the tzaddik speaks, it's true they're zach belo sig. They have a purity to them. Uleshono nivchar and they're expressed so beautifully, so eloquently. אף על פי כן that cannot and never will keshele'atzmo yield results because אבל לב רשעים השומעים מוסרו רגע אחד הוא. To change it takes more than than one second, more than one minute. And if one just listens to the mussar for the amount of time that one is hearing it, then it can't have any effect. אבל לב רשעים השומעים מוסרו רגע אחד הוא milashon... Kimat oyveihem achnia and Hakadosh Baruch Hu says I will subdue their enemies instantaneously in a moment.

כרגע עניינו כרגע אויביהם אכניע. ויקרא לזה הלב הנבון והמזוכך.

What does lev, heart or mind, mean here? One which is discerning and and one which is which has been rectified. כמו שנאמר ושומע תוכחת קונה לב. Liknos chochmah, a person is looking to liknos chochmah, but it's futile, it's futile as long as lev ayin, as long as he lacks the discernment. ולכן צריך אדם בשמעו המוסר. When a person hears, so what does that mean that there's no? ולכן צריך אדם בשמעו המוסר, a person should go and and we should seek out the appropriate divrei mussar, divrei chizuk, divrei hadracha.

אבל צריך האדם בשמעו המוסר לעורר נפשו ולשים הדברים על לבו.

But the person should realize that hearing the divrei mussar is only the first step, is only the first part of what needs to be done. A person then has to again לשים הדברים על לבו. We spoke about this phrase. A person has to constantly reinforce in an attempt to internalize. Velachshov bahem tamid and the constant review, not looking to yield more intellectual insight, it's velachshov bahem tamid again just to to move the impression from knowledge to internalization. It's accomplished through velachshov bahem tamid. Again, this idea we associate it more commonly, more popularly with Ramchal's introduction to Mesillas Yesharim, but it's clearly here in Rabbeinu Yonah already. Ve'aleihem yosef lekach and then a person will add to what he heard, the divrei mussar and divrei hadracha that he heard. ומלבו יוציא מלין ויתבודד בחדרי לבו. A person can be misboded physically, a person can sort of go into a room and close the door, but it can remain very superficial. Hisbodedus has to be that the person then enters the inner chambers of his spirit. וישוב ויהפוך יד תוכחתו על נפשו. And he now again takes the responsibility to not just be passive, a passive audience, but to actively be giving the tochacha to himself.

ולא יסמוך על תוכחת המוכיח לבדו. ותוכחתו לבקרים ולרגעים תהיה.

There should be this constant reinforcement. עד שתקבל נפשו המוסר ועד שתטה. It takes time, usually. It takes time to change. Change is usually a slow process and we need to stay the course. עד שתקבל נפשו המוסר ועד שתטה. Okay, so we'll stop here for now, בלי נדר אם ירצה השם we'll resume with Psachim around 12:45. Okay, rabosai, everyone should have a good productive morning, be well, be safe, and good shabbos.