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Thanks gaon. That was well presented.
“i give you both A++++ on your examples but don’t fool yourselves. ask yourself are you looking forward to the weekly family restaurant date & each week count the days down towards it or is it a pleasure & mitzva to make your family happy?”
You remind me of an important concept I have learned and the path I have taken to apply it.
Basically there are two levels in Avodas Hashem :
1)kol maasecha yiyu lshem shomayim
2) bchol derachecha doeihuWhat’s the difference? By the former, you do everything with Hahem as your final intent. With the latter, everything you do is itself serving Hashem.
Practically, take food as an example.
The first step “lshem shomayim” is that every time you really want to eat yummy food, you make sure that is enjoyment will end up lshem shomayim.
For example, when I used to want to eat Ice cream or anything else I enjoyed, I would use it as a reward for doing something good – usually learning something extra. Good food I would remind myself that I need the energy to serve Hashem. I can’t help enjoying it for itself, but I can channel that enjoyment to be lshem shomayim.
That’s why it’s a mitzva to make delicious food for Shabbos, so that the body too will associate shabbos with pleasure and look forward to it, not only the neshama.
The higher step is bchol derachecha doeihu. That everything Gashmius we do is itself to serve Hashem, just like shabbos food is itself a mitzvah.
So after enough of the former, one can reach the level where the body is used to associating every Gashmius pleasure with Avodas Hashem, and therefore only wants it in that framework – like only wanting to have cake together with the people you’re hosting – to make them comfortable. Only wanting to go to a restaurant to enhance sholom bayis etc.
And if the purpose isn’t there, the food itself isn’t pleasurable anymore.
The body is an amazing tool. We need to work with it to refine it but it’s capable of amazing things and can even elevate our neshama to new heights once we’ve trained it in.
Joseph, children become adults when they are given and expected to take responsibility. Many lubavitcher Rebbeim married at 14 and their wives were probably about that age as well. A 5 year old who knows shell marry about 12 is alot more mature than the five year old of today.
Even in today’s world, our young adults who marry in their early 20s are much more adult than their non Jewish counterparts who live off their parents through their 30s…
BTW Joseph, I believe you asked on a thread that’s been closed why shluchos took this name for themselves – I just saw a sicha where the Rebbe calls the shluchos, shluchos. So it’s not something that originated after gimmel tammuz as you had thought.you’re welcome to see for yourself – Sefer hasichos 5752, chof beis shvat, ois 17.
Non political gave excellent example and it’s not a contradiction. Here’s another two : eating delicious food as part of oneg shabbos.
Rava drinking good wine and meat… To concentrate better on his learning. The key is the intent. Everything in this world is meant to be used for Hashem and thereby elevated which is why the nazir is not the ideal, and neither is living a celibate life for that matter.
No one said we can’t enjoy good food. If I go to a restaurant with my husband to enjoy a night out together and enhance our sholom bayis, there’s nothing wrong with that. Again the key here is intent.
Most self described foodies are not foodies by definition. Most are doing it for parnassa, teaching others how to prepare good food (it’s a talent) etc
I thought of a great theme for your next video as you have a talent for mocking things. How bout making a video mocking the things the yetzer hara tries to get us to do? Like following popular culture, koching in food sports and other Gashmius stuff instead of Avodas Hashem, or any other seemingly innocuous things that lead to worse… How’s that for an idea? Id love to see such a video 😀
By force you mean?
True. I guess I should modify as I just learned about criticising myself and not others. Can a foodie be ehrlich? Guess so if in other areas he behaves as an ehrliche yid. It’s not an aveira.
However I wouldn’t call eating food just for the taste of it ehrliche behaviour. Can we agree on that?
No. If ehrlich means the same to all. If anyone disagrees, please define ehrlich.
The main issue with such a person is not that he enjoys food.the problem is that he doesn’t enjoy Hashem and Yiddishkeit enough….
@gaon interesting.
@wtp if you notice the wording I used is ideals to be admired. Cruelty exists but it isn’t looked up to a an ideal anymore. (Besides in the Muslim world and they would also be ready for moshiach because in their world irs all about serving G-d even if He asks your to do the weirdest Cruel things. They just need to be corrected on what HE wants.)
Science isn’t the absolute god replacing religion as it used to be regarded.
Even immorality – is seen in a confused way – they don’t see objectification of women or assault against them as a good thing (think priestesses of idol worship temples in the past) they just don’t mind if people do what they want as long as they don’t hurt anyone.
But many many of the youth are hurt from this hedonistic lifestyle as if it’s against Torah, it goes against the fabric of the world, so it’s impossible for it to work well.
And there are many voices speaking up against it. Modesty is more in fashion now. So I would say they’re confused but don’t hold immorality as an ideal.
The only places you will probably find that is Hollywood and california, not mainstream goyim, and with the recent scandal even they are rethinking their ideals…
edited
Anyhow this is off topic to put in short –
Yes we are nothing compared to our ancestors (although the world has become a more refined place and is ready for moshiach.)
Avraham frieds song “On giants shoulders” expresses this theme quite well :
“Holy and pure
Our fathers were
Giants, righteous men
We are strong compared to themBut our deeds
Upon their deeds
Together we will bring
Moshiach our kingAnd we will do it brothers
After us there will be no others
You and I will do
What giants wanted toSo stand and take the credit
Golus! Well be the ones to end it
Though were small were standing tall like soldiersRiding high because we’re on our father’s shoulders….
Its up to us
Our fathers started long ago
….
Waiting for us to follow…Great song!
*according to the source I gave you
So I guess we can agree that a non sensical question is not a question but also that Hashem is not bound by any logic abs can do the greatest paradox such as making darkness shine which to us would be nonsense as it’s impossible…
*true and false – sorry for all the auto corrects
@ubiquitin no I get it. What I’m saying is that Hashem isn’t limited to any sort of sense in any paradigm whether the paradigm is working within nature or being above / breaking narrow. Both of those have a certain logic they need to abide by and Hashem isn’t limited by that.
The example of the Aron:
The statement “The Aron takes up space,” is both true abs false at the same time.
Or by Chanukah (according to the source isn’t you.)
The statement “the oil burned” is both true and game at the same time.
Hashem can do the impossible nimna hanimnaos is called.
He can break any logic and be within that logic at the same time.
Of course the biggest paradox is yet to come with the Geula – when our materialistic, physical bodies will see Hashem with no filters, whereas now either we live here and don’t see Him, or Above even the avos etc get to see a limited manifestation of Him or they’d be blown out of existence…
And when moshiach comes, WE as we are physically, will see HASHEM with no filters, not even the filter of being above nature, and yet well just be normal…
!I learned something interesting that applies here: one of the reasons why Hashem spread us through all the countries is so we can take the customs / culture / mannerisms is the country and elevate them by using them in a holy connect (obviously only in a way that is fine halachically.)
That would definitely apply to the attire of the chosson mentioned above, or the way the tables are set, and could apply to the way they come in as well – unless it’s not very Aidel…
A friend of my husband told him not to come in with me to the woman’s section because it’s not a Jewish thing and not Aidel, and so we posed together just outside the door, unfortunately the photographer missed it, and just got me standing there myself
@gaon +1
@oyoyoy if you want me to bring a source for anything I said just ask me and I’ll look out for it next time it comes up
First you said matan Torah and bayis sheini. I was addressing that.
As far as anti semetism yes it is always brewing and an outburst could happen today in America cvs if Hashem didn’t protect us…
Esav sonei lyaakov and the won’t be a complete end to anti semetism until moshiach comes.
That being said there are more Chassidei umos haolam today – there are whole movements of christians United with usual and Jews against anti semetism than ever before – there are also even bnei noach today.
Kindness is valued in the world today whereas it wasn’t in past times. As far as the cossaks etc – yes our Avodas Hashem, Torah and mitzvos has continued to refine the world since then, and bh it is much better.
As for Nazi Germany – the nazis yemach shmom also prided themselves on kindness, education etc on being civilised, but when it came to the Jews, all of a sudden none of those values applied.
But even then the world valued civilised behaviour even as it allowed incredible anti semetism to happen, as it would today if it was allowed.
Moshiach will fix this of course, but today the difference between the world now and eras past is that the world today world be happy to serve Hashem with moshiach as the ultimate civilised, G-dly leader, leading the way.
The days where cruelty, paganism, and even immorality were ideals to uphold are far gone.
So for the matan Torah one just consider our bodies weren’t able to handle the revelation (that’s why our neshamos flew out) and when moshiach comes we will have the greatest revelations from Hashem in our bodies, no problem.
And that will be because we have refined our physicality all these years.
I’m leaving out an important point because it’s not pc but I hope this helps somewhat.
@joseph does it have to be perfect or barbarian to you? It’s a process and yes nothing will be perfect till moshiach comes and Hashem “removes all impurity from the land” but I for one can appreciate the difference between living under the barbaric Roman rule and western democracy today…
And just wanted to clarify, this is NOT an attack on the mods at all – every site has the right to post what they want – just with col for example, I will not post more than happy comments on happy news because I know anything not to their liking is unlikely to go through. Just trying to figure out what’s acceptable so I don’t waste anyone’s time 🙂
Sorry I had another post explaining the matan Torah one but I guess it’s wasn’t politically correct even if there is not one sentence that is incorrect/not true, so the whole thing just wasn’t allowed through (am I getting how the moderating works?) so I’ll try again in a more acceptable post and if it isn’t allowed through, what can I say, it’s hard to answer questions in half statements
I would choose to have the ability to see into the future and know the exact way moshiach and Geula will unfold…
Unless that’ll take the excitement out of it… So maybe also the ability to experience the jewish life and atmosphere from past eras…
Yes I found the hat lining part and the blowing on cold hands to be in good humour 🙂
The world as a whole – definitely. Our personal spiritual heights, no that’s what this thread is about…
But yes the physicality of this world is much more refined.
Like in your examples:
The time of Shlomo hamelech is compared to the time of moshiach,as all the nations were at peace with us, but the fiend is that then the nations were temporarily overwhelmed by the kedusha emanating from eretz Yisrael, but still remained the same evil nations, and so it didn’t last.Now however, the nations themselves are allot more refined, they admire chessed more than brute strength etc, and some are already serving Hashem.
When moshiach comes he will finish it off with “Az ehpoch el hoamim safa brura likro *kulam* bshem Hashem.” Bimheira vyameinu amen!
@yichusdik the way I always learned it was in a positive way. Im harishonim kmalachim anu kbnei adam… Yes previous generations were on a much higher level than us because they were tasked with greater things. Our work is building on theirs, as you said.
Therefore the world is a much better place than our used to be because the Torah and mitzvos of previous generations has brought it to this much more elevated, refined state (think emperor is the murderer of the previous emperor vs today’s politicians trying to impress the public with their good deeds)
Yes we aren’t as capable and our mission is lower, we just need to add the final touch, and that’s why we are called ikvasa dmishicha, the heels of moshiach because we’re are much lower, yet at the same time – we the lowest ones are gonna be the ones to bring moshiach and finish off all the work for everyone else. Vain hamlocha nikra ela al Shem gomra – we will be the ones to get the credit for that, abs everyone is applauding us, although our work is miniscule compared to previous generations…
Yes I think the rich man was too kind. If it were me I would have explained that I will not give to a moised which does not espouse Torah values :
– being overly impressed and excited with Gashmius not lshem shomayim– lack of basic Derech eretz and Hakaras hatov every frum Jew should have, kal vchomer a ben Torah
– stealing?!
And I am proud to support mosdos who produce and are represented by true ehrliche bnei Torah, who see Torah as the ikkar and are not impressed by Gashmius (separated from its role), who show how Torah makes a person better than the average Jew and for sure non Jew.
In this video I would’ve quicker supported the gvir who was much more am example of a Torah yid.
I was disturbed by the content but found the acting superb! Would love to see more funny videos with great tochen – no need for the two to be mutually exclusive.
@daasyochid true but how is that relevant here?
@midwesterner
Not sure I understand your question. But yes today our avoda is just to do the right thing! (And in the world people just do what they want, even if they know it isn’t good for them)Moshiach is about to come so the world is refined (can always get better) We’re at the lowest level of refinement – just do what’s right without being a great chochom.