Where am I Headed? Should I Change Course? How?

Rabbosai, Rabbosai. First of all, Rabbosai, I consider it a zchus to come and and be able to reflect together with you in this community, and a zchus which is magnified many times over to come speak in the shul of your Mara D'Asra. Rabbi Fine mentioned that many years ago we spent a year learning together. And since then, from afar, I have joined the ever-increasing ranks of of his admirers and his chasidim and ashreicham to have such a Mara D'Asra. The Rambam writes in the very first Hilchos Teshuva that Yom HaKippurim is זמן תשובה ליחיד ולרבים. The time of teshuva not only for each of us individually, but also a time of teshuva for us collectively. Clearly, what the Rambam is conveying is that as yechidim, as individuals, each one of us have our work to do, have our work cut out for us. But then there also needs to be a collective cheshbon hanefesh, a collective cooperative effort. Such gatherings as we have tonight provide a forum for us to perhaps reflect together on some of what we can do as a rabim collectively in terms of doing teshuva. In two of the most basic and classic Sifrei Mussar certainly are שערי תשובה רבינו יונה and Mesilas Yesharim. It's interesting amongst the various points of similarity and convergence between the two. If you look in Mesilas Yesharim and you look to see, just look in the table of contents, which which perek is the longest perek? Which perek that I, in case you haven't noticed yet from my accent, I I come from Boston. So Boston, on before New York, on the Boston Marathon. The original marathon was really in in Boston. New York is more of a copycat. So part of the marathon course was Heartbreak Hill. And the runners, if you made it through Heartbreak Hill, so then that meant that you were going to make it all the way. That's where that's where the men were separated from the boys at that point in in the course of the marathon. So how do you know whether you're going to make your way through Mesilas Yesharim, whether you're really going to make your way to the end of the sefer? If you get through the perek of pirtei middas hanekius which is so long and so much detail, so then that's Heartbreak Hill. You made it through that perek, so then the momentum will carry on to the end of the sefer be'ezras Hashem of Mesilas Yesharim. What's pirtei middas hanekius? Seems to be not really mussar content. It doesn't have the type of of inspiration, exhortation, sobering perspective and basis points that we collectively associate with Mesilas Yesharim with Ramchal. It's more of a Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. It's a mini Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. And it's interesting to find the same thing in שערי תשובה רבינו יונה. Again, if you just, just by by looking at the table of contents, the שערי תשובה רבינו יונה is divided into four shearim as you know. The biggest of the of the four, as a matter of fact, not just plurality, but which comprises the majority of the sefer, shaar hashlishi. And here too the shaar hashlishi is not those piercing penetrating insights into teshuva, not those sobering words of exhortation and instruction. Again, it's a Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch of mitzvos asei, of of lavin and lav hanitak laasei, lavin hamuhrim for which is sh'chayvei krisos, for which is שחייבי מיתות בית דין. Apparently, both Ramchal and before him Rabbeinu Yonah. were concerned that all the words of exhortation may evoke vows, good intentions, but as well intentioned as we may be in the season of teshuvah and as sincere as we may be in our efforts to do teshuvah, to improve, we have to know how to channel it. We have to know what it's supposed to translate into. And if there are certain areas in terms of mitzvos, areas of halacha of which we're ignorant, so then as well intentioned as we are, as sincere as we are, so then we're going to Rachmana litzlan remain deficient. It was something that the Chofetz Chaim in his day decried with regards to the issur lashon hara, that it was something simply that people were not conscious of, that the prohibition against speaking lashon hara, at least in its correct form, in its genuine form, that even if the content of the lashon hara is true, the Chofetz Chaim just decried that people, whether it's due to widespread neglect or ignorance or a combination thereof, but simply wasn't on the horizon. Rabbeinu Yonah in Sha'arei Teshuvah in his day talks about how the widespread neglect Rachmana litzlan of the issur of saying shem shamayim lavatalah and taking Hakadosh Baruch Hu's name in vain. Ramchal in the catalog in his mini Kitzur Shulchan Aruch talks about certain aspects of mitzvos that in his generation he said people had lost sight of. He says people know that there's an issur gezeilah, people know that you can't go steal, you can't go pickpocket, he says, but they don't realize all of its applications, all of its implications, that if the employee doesn't give an honest day's work, if he wastes time on the employer's account, he says that's gezeilah, that's gezeilah. He talks about the issur of arayos, he says people are certainly aware of the primary issur of arayos, but people are unaware of certain secondary but d'oraisa aspects of the issur, such as histaklus ba'arayos, such as looking and enjoying the viewing of arayos. So they were looking again to that account for the cataloging for the mini Kitzur Shulchan Aruch in the context of the sefer mussar, because all the mussar, all the hisorerus, as well intentioned as we are, עם ישראל קדושים הם Baruch Hashem. Baruch Hashem, Jews are well intentioned. As well intentioned as we are, as sincere as we are, we need to know where to channel it, we need to know what areas have to be addressed. I think one of the Ba'alei HaTosafos in his day who authored the Sefer Mitzvos Gadol because he was an itinerant preacher and he writes how in his day the mitzvas tefillin needed a lot of chizuk and how he would go from community to community darshaning about the mitzvas tefillin. So certainly one part of our again it can be done though privately individually as well as publicly collectively, so one part of our cheshbon hanefesh needs to be to try to identify in our day, in our generation, our community, what are the equivalents of issur lashon hara in the day of the Chofetz Chaim, of the issur of shem shamayim lavatalah in the day of the Rabbeinu Yonah. But perhaps there's something even more basic that we can and I'd like to just spend with your permission a few minutes reflecting aloud together with you that there's something perhaps even more basic. The very famous Gemara at the end of Maseches Makkos with which you're undoubtedly familiar. The Gemara talks about how even though we have taryag mitzvos, so nevertheless the Nevi'im in Kisvei HaKodesh beginning with Dovid HaMelech ba'u vehe'emidun. That sounds like they were literally sounds like they were reducing the 613, so first I think the Gemara says that Dovid HaMelech reduces it to eleven and then the Gemara continues progressively all the way until Chavakuk reduces it to one. So all the Rishonim grapple with the same question, so there's no such thing as You can read an abridged version of the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, but there's no such thing as an abridged version of a book of Chumash or Matan Torah, so what does it mean that

דוד המלך העמידן על אחת עשרה בא חבקוק והעמידן על אחת?

So there were different answers to the question. One of the answers is suggested by the Sefer HaIkkarim, in the Hakdamah, I've got the Sefer HaIkkarim and says that to simplify and to help facilitate the observance of all six hundred and thirteen mitzvos, so then the Nevi'im were looking to give klalim, were looking to give broad categories which would encompass, under which could be subsumed many mitzvos. For instance, everyone's memory works differently. Some people's memory works that it doesn't necessarily, it's not so good at grasping details, but if there's one large conceptual framework into which you can fit those details, so then instead of having just ten seemingly unconnected, disconnected details, but if they're arranged into a conceptual framework, so then it's easier to retain them, easier to be mindful of them. And that's what the Sefer HaIkkarim says, and I've got some of the lashon here that the Nevi'im were looking to give us כללים כוללים מצוות רבות מן התורה. So the ten ultimate systematization or classification, actually the not the second to last, but the third to last is בא מיכה והעמידן על שלש. The Navi Micha said that there are sort of three super categories under which one can subsume all mitzvos, and be mindful of those categories will then help us observe and comply scrupulously with all the mitzvos is

בא מיכה והעמידן על שלש הגיד לך אדם מה טוב ומה השם דורש ממך כי אם עשות משפט ואהבת חסד והצנע לכת עם השם אלוקיך.

Asos mishpat, doing justice, ahavas chesed, love of kindness, והצנע לכת עם השם אלוקיך, and the living in with tzniyus in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence. What this Gemara highlights, and there are many, many sources that we could look at to try to drive home this point, is that some of the most basic overarching encompassing goals and aims of Torah and mitzvos are not necessarily to be found or located as specific mitzvos in the minyan hamitzvos. Most monei hamitzvos don't have a mitzva of tzniyus. If you go through most of the listings of taryag mitzvos, you won't find a mitzva of והצנע לכת עם השם אלוקיך. And yet comes the Navi Micha and tells us that this is so basic and this is so fundamental, this is again one of the most basic goals and aims and orienting principles of kol hatorah kulah that if you want to classify kol hatorah kulah in terms of three such orienting principles, overarching goals and aims, והצנע לכת עם השם אלוקיך is one of those three. So perhaps an even more fundamental part of the collective reflection and the collective teshuvah is not only to identify whether or not there are individual mitzvos or aspects of individual mitzvos that are flying beneath our radar screen, but are there any of these overarching goals and aims and orienting principles of Torah that perhaps we don't have in sufficiently sharp focus. When one begins study of Mesillas Yesharim, there's seemingly a little bit of a tension at the outset in Ramchal's words. הנה שמו הקדוש ברוך הוא לאדם, Hakadosh Baruch Hu placed man bemakom she'rachok. distance us from him rachmana litzlan. והן הן התאוות החומריות. And these things which potentially, if we allow them to, can rachmana litzlan distance us from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, are the physical, material, materialistic desires that all of us or most of us have. Asher nimshach achareihen, if a person is drawn after them, הנה הוא מתרחק והולך, he goes further and further away from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, min hatova ha'amitis. ונמצא שהוא מושם באמת בתוך המלחמה החזקה. And basically Ramchal, as you know, depicts life as a war he says, as a struggle to keep those physical, material, materialistic inclinations in check, that we should respond to them, we should accommodate them only to the degree that they're legitimate, only to the degree that they're consistent with a life of avodas Hashem. So the challenge of life is again, to overcome, to discipline the physical material desires. Right before that, Ramchal, literally in the lines right before that, Ramchal says: כי השלמות האמיתי הוא הדבקות בו יתברך, that true genuine perfection is clinging to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. והוא מה שהיה דוד המלך אומר, that's what Dovid Hamelach would constantly say: ואני קרבת אלהים לי טוב. Ve'omeir, the kapitel that we say morning and night:

אחת שאלתי מאת ה׳ אותה אבקש שבתי בבית ה׳ כל ימי חיי. כי רק זה הוא הטוב,

because this is the only real, genuine, and enduring good,

וכל זולת זה שיחשבו בני האדם לטוב אינו אלא הבל ושוא נתעה,

it's a delusion, says Ramchal. אמנם לשיזכה אדם לטובה הזאת, in order for a person to merit this ultimate good of clinging to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so it's only appropriate, ראוי שיעמול וישתדל ביגיעה לקנותה, so he has to exert himself, he has to put in effort. A person, anything, right? We feel that intuitively. Anything that a person wants to accomplish in this world takes hard work. A person wants to become a medical doctor, so he works for years and years in order to accomplish that goal. Vehaynu, so how should a person be mishtadeil? So now again Ramchal is addressing the question, what's life about? Again, a minute ago Ramchal told us that life is again the battle against the taivos hachomriyos, is to hold in check, to discipline, to moderate, to appropriately channel again those physical, material, materialistic inclinations and desires that we have. Now he's addressing the same question, says: So what's life about? What are the measures that a person should take lidvok bo yisbarach? He should

ישתדל לדבוק בו יתברך בכוח מעשים שתולדתם זה העניין והם הם המצוות.

He says a person should dedicate his life, should devote his life to those actions which will yield the result of dveikus, and what are those actions? Shmiras hamitzvos. So it's clear that according to Ramchal, one cannot draw a line between the again, the need to discipline, to moderate, to hold in check our physical materialistic inclinations and shmiras hamitzvos. That's what shmiras hamitzvos is about. That is one of the, if we want to talk about one of the כללים הכוללים של המצוות, so that's what Ramchal says, that is certainly one of those supercategories, one of those overarching encompassing goals and aims of torah u'mitvzos. He doesn't quote it, but presumably Ramchal would endorse the following sentence that the Rambam writes in the Moreh. Sorry, just one moment. My my accent isn't very up-to-date, so I'll I'll read the English. The Rambam writes: "Also the commandments and prohibitions of the Torah are all are only intended—this is a one could and should spend a whole shiur trying to fully understand this line, but even without doing that, but but that's just here these words: 'The commandments and prohibitions of the Torah are only intended to quell,' right? to again, to discipline, to hold in check all the impulses of matter." That with the Rambam with that sweeping statement characterizes all of all of mitzvos. Ramchal reinforces it at the end of Perek Aleph:

עיקר מציאות האדם בעולם הזה הוא רק לקיים המצוות ולעבוד ולעמוד בניסיון.

Again, that coupling of shemiras hamitzvos with la'amod benisayon. To a degree it's possible to comply with the mitzvos hatorah and yet not sufficiently adopt the value which according to the Rambam, according to Ramchal, animates and and underlies so many of the mitzvos hatorah. We can scrupulously observe all the relevant formal halachos and still we have to ask ourselves whether or not at times there's too much do we place too much of a primacy on physical comfort, on luxuries, on on indulgence. Now, this overarching goal and and aim of Torah umitzvos, again, to quell the impulses of matter, in the words of the Rambam, is closely related and perhaps indistinguishable from another overarching goal and aim of Torah umitzvos. And that is that Olam Hazeh, for all of its beauty and fascination, for all of its allure and attraction, is supposed to serve as a bridge for us. Nothing Olam Hazeh-dik is an end unto itself. It's a forum, it's a venue to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu and it's an antechamber to Olam Haba. Hakadosh Baruch Hu created such a beautiful world, one can easily easily be distracted from the fact of what the world for us is is here for. And again, we can formally to a degree comply and comply to a degree by being medakdek to a degree and still the question is what our overall orientation is. It's a little bit deceptive because sometimes maybe it's the yetzer hara which whispers the question but lav davka. I think the question can be asked without the intrusion of the yetzer hara. It's a fair and legitimate question. Such a beautiful, fascinating world, so aren't we supposed to be devoting time to enjoying it? What's it here for otherwise? So there are two answers, shtei teshuvos badavar. Again, the first answer is to a degree, yes, to the degree that it's consistent, that it contributes to avodas Hashem, so then the answer is yes. The answer is yes. But there's also a second answer. It's also there because Ramchal explains elsewhere a little bit more elaborately than he hints at in Mesillas Yesharim. And the yodei de'as who are beki'im in toras Ramchal say that the Mesillas Yesharim is sort of a very esoteric distillation of what Ramchal writes in his other sefarim, which at times are a little bit more esoteric and a little bit more complex in terms of all of the cabbalistic sources and then in Mesillas Yesharim he exotericized that and distilled it into the sefer that we have. So for instance, in Derech Hashem, basically Ramchal elaborates the idea that you find somewhat more compactly in the beginning of Mesillas Yesharim and he said that Hakadosh Baruch Hu's purpose within the beriah—we don't know why Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world. Whatever understanding we have of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is only within the world. So we can't reflect upon why the world. When we talk about the purpose of the beriah, we're talking about the purpose that we perceive within the world. We're not speculating as to why Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world. Hakadosh Baruch Hu willed that there should be a world. But what do we within the world? So what's the purpose of the beriah? So within the world, the purpose of the beriah is Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to bestow good upon us. What's the ultimate good? Hakadosh Baruch Hu's the ultimate good, so it means that the more we resemble him and the closer we can come to him and the more we can be davik bo, so then that way he's bestowing good upon us. Says Ramchal, but to really resemble Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Hakadosh Baruch Hu's good is his own. Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't receive his good, his perfection, his goodness doesn't come from any external source. Hakadosh Baruch Hu's goodness, Hakadosh Baruch Hu's perfection is his own. So as to resemble Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so as to earn and to a degree earn, to a degree deserve that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should bestow goodness upon us, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world that there should be nisyonos, that there should be struggles. And the fact that what we're talking about is not easy and the fact that what we're talking about means that we have to walk away from things which do attract us, which do have a powerful at times magnetic pull, that's not an indication necessarily that we're always supposed to respond. It's just that how Hakadosh Baruch Hu bechochmaso, that's how Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the beriah, that the ultimate good he can give us is to allow us to resemble him. The closest we can come to resembling him is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu shouldn't just from above impose perfection on us, he shouldn't just impose goodness on us, but it should be something that we earn through our struggles. If we have to struggle, so then it's our own goodness, it's our own, as it were, it's our own measure of perfection. In that sense, we resemble him, again, in some infinitesimal way which wouldn't be the case if it was just something that were imposed from above. So it's true that what the Rambam, what Ramchal are talking about involves sacrifice, it involves withdrawal, it involves giving up, but that's endemic to the challenge of avodas Hashem, that's endemic to our life. Perhaps just in the last few minutes to mention one other overarching goal and aim of Torah and mitzvos that perhaps we can reflect if we haven't sufficiently sharp focus. There is a fascinating teshuva... which the Rambam penned, he was asked about listening to in his day contemporary Arabic music, about listening to Zemer Yishmaelim. Rambam writes that it's assur on many accounts and he rattles off all the prohibitions which he thinks are involved in listening to that contemporary Arabic music. And then he concludes, well I should not say the conclusion, but then he has here a fascinating, fascinating paragraph, again obviously we're reading it in translation, the teshuva again was written in Judeo-Arabic. הנה התבאר האמת במופת. The truth has been explained compellingly. V'hi, and what is this truth? Shehamichuvan banu, what's intended for us, our destiny, a Jew's destiny, shenihye goy kadosh, that we should be a holy nation. And here just maybe to inject one word by way of introduction to what follows in this sentence from the Rambam, that the word kadosh again we generally translate it as holy or sacred and obviously that is a correct translation. Etymologically though, kadosh doesn't necessarily have, really has more of a neutral connotation. It just means something which is set aside. Something which is set aside, which is devoted, which is designated for a specific purpose. You find in Chazal the phrase hekdesh l'avoda zara, that something which has been set aside for avoda zara can be referred to as hekdesh l'avoda zara. But the term itself just connotes that something has been set aside, that something has been consecrated for a certain purpose. Most commonly we use it that it's been consecrated for, again, what we call devarim shebikdusha, hence the translation of holy or sacred. So shenihye goy kadosh, so with that etymological understanding, so shenihye goy kadosh again means to be a consecrated people, means a people who are consecrated to a single-minded purpose and single-minded devotion. Now let's hear how the Rambam finishes the sentence. שהמכוון בנו שנהיה גוי קדוש ולא יהיה לנו, this is the ideal to which we aspire. This is the ideal, it's a lifetime's work, but if we're not aware of what the ideal is, if we're not aware to what we're supposed to be striving, then we won't even get close.

שהמכוון בנו שנהיה גוי קדוש ולא יהיה לנו לא פועל ולא דיבור אלא בשלמות או במה שיביא לשלמות.

Life is, means it's a consecrated mission. That we live for a purpose and by shenihye goy kadosh, it means that our entire existence, what we're supposed to strive for is that our entire existence is consecrated. And when Hakadosh Baruch Hu invited us, when Hakadosh Baruch Hu made the bris with us, ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש, goy kadosh again it means more than just פרושים תהיו מן העריות or perushim tihyu, Rambam said more than just arayos, all forms of excess. But ultimately goy kadosh means you should be a consecrated people. A people not only who recognize Hakadosh Baruch Hu, not only who feel an obligation to comply with Hakadosh Baruch Hu's will, but on a mission, consecrated, consecrated. Ideally, optimally, what does that translate into? Again this is a lifetime's work to approach. But we need to know even if it seems very distant, even if it seems very lofty, but we need to identify the goal, ולא יהיה לנו לא פועל ולא דיבור. Rambam wasn't writing only to the Vilna Gaon, to the Chasam Sofer, to the Baal Shem Tov, he was writing for all of us, that all of us should be aware. Again, it's very lofty, it's a very distant goal, but the goal is

ולא יהיה לנו לא פועל ולא דיבור אלא בשלמות או במה שיביא לשלמות.

Whatever we do, whatever we say, everything should be oriented towards, everything should be geared towards, again, achieving perfection or it should be something instrumental to that goal. And he says ולא בהסתפקות לשעשוע ולצחוק. It's not just to have a good time. That's not what, that's not what we're here for. Again, the all the beauty and fascination of the world notwithstanding, that a life is consecrated. That's the, again, that's the privilege, that's the zechus that we have of goy kadosh. Sometimes we fall into a into a mindset where and chas veshalom lo basy lekanteir. Sometimes we fall into a mindset, if I if I went to my regular shiur, okay, I learned today. Whatever my regular shiur is, whatever my regular shiur is. That I go to a regular shiur is a wonderful thing, it's a wonderful thing. תבוא על כולנו ברכה whoever does it. But just because I went to the regular shiur, maybe there's another five minutes today when I can be learning also. Maybe, maybe even after the rav, after the maggid shiur finished saying the blatt, maybe, maybe, okay, and it could be right now I have to go to work, but maybe during lunch time, maybe I can, I was going to say steal, but after the Ramchal said not steal, but on lunch time, on my own time, steal from my lunch hour, maybe I can steal some time in to to try to review the the blatt that the rav said, that that he presented. Sometimes we have an a not sufficiently maximalist mindset. Sometimes we're not ambitious enough in terms of what we can do and how we can use our time and how we can maximize our time. Okay, I went to shul and I learned a little bit and now, okay, so my day was punctuated with avodas hakodesh. No, we should try to fill the day with avodas hakodesh. What the mix is is going to what the mix will be between Torah and tefillah and chasadim and tzorchei tzibur, so everyone has to figure out what the what the right blend, what the right mix is. Everyone has their own kochos hanefesh. But the idea is not just that our day and that our lives should be punctuated with Torah and mitzvos, not just that a day shouldn't go by without Torah, tefillah, chasadim, but the day should be full and brimming and and replete with all these things. Hopefully, hopefully I can hear some of these things. If any of them are relevant to to anyone else, hopefully we can reflect and and we should all be zocheh teshuvah sheleimah.