Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: So in Talmud we have these hair splitting arguments that seem to be really purely scholastic and really you'll go through them for hours and hours and you.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: Will be wondering, okay, but why do we need to know this?
And when you get to know the.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Spiritual side of it, it opens up.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: A whole new level of understanding.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: So here's an example.
In the Torah portion of BAAL Otra.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: It says that when you light the menorah in the temple, the wicks of.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: The menorah have to be facing.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: In other words, there is a stem.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: And then there are three branches on each side.
That makes seven candles altogether.
So the three branches on the right are supposed to have their wicks pointing towards the left, and three branches on the left are supposed to have the wicks pointing to the right.
So the wicks are pointing towards the inside of the menorah, towards the central stem.
And it is clear that the reason.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Why it's supposed to be done, it.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: Is connected to the idea that menorah, as we know from before already was supposed to be poured from one solid piece of gold.
It would possibly makes sense to manufacture each branch separately and then somehow connect them together.
But the Torah says it's supposed to be from one solid piece of gold. The entire menorah and the wicks which are pointing towards the middle are doing that because it is allude to the fact that it's one piece or because.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: Of the fact that it's one piece.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: So believe it or not, there is an argument about exactly that point. Rashi and Ramban, two commentators, they both.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: Obviously lived already way past al mudic.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: Times, a few centuries after, they both say that the fact that wicks are supposed to be facing inwards is connected with the idea that menorah is made.
[00:02:04] Speaker B: From one solid piece.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: But what is this connection?
Rashi says that the wicks are pointing towards the middle because they need to show, because we want to stress the fact that it's one solid piece.
Ramban, the two ideas are connected.
The idea of menorah being made from.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: One piece and wicks pointing towards the middle.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: But this connection is not in order to show anything. It's just a natural outcome of the.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: Fact that it's from one piece.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: In other words, he says that because menorah is made out of one piece, it only makes sense that the wicks would be pointing towards the inside. But there's no real need to show.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: Anything or express anything or point to anything.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: So you would ask me, what is the difference?
[00:02:58] Speaker B: And who cares? What is it the Answer is that menorah and the lights of the menorah are compared to our soul. We know that Jewish souls are always metaphorically compared to a candle, and the.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Lights of menorah are alluding to our souls now.
And lighting of menorah is like lighting of our soul. So here is the do we live.
[00:03:28] Speaker B: In this world in order to express our souls, or we live in this world just because we have our souls?
[00:03:36] Speaker A: Is the goal of our life to express our soul or we live because.
[00:03:43] Speaker B: We have our soul?
[00:03:45] Speaker A: So there's a difference between Russia and Ramban.
So now there are real practical differences in our behavior when we look at very mundane aspects of our lives.
For example, if somebody gives you a present, you have to say thank you.
Do you say thank you because you feel gratitude or you say thank you in order the person should feel appreciated? Which one is it? Sometimes somebody gives you a present and you feel so thankful you say thank you. You are saying thank you because you feel something. What if you don't feel anything?
Since you're a little child, your parents taught you that you need to say thank you even if you don't like the present because you want the person to feel appreciated. It's not to express your feelings.
So you sometimes do things because of Sometimes you do things in order to Sometimes things are a natural outcome of your inner feelings, sometimes they're not natural.
[00:04:46] Speaker B: Outcome of your inner feelings. You're doing it.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: You're forcing yourself to do it externally.
So it also the same difference can.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: Be seen in our relation to our soul.
[00:04:57] Speaker A: Here's the question. In our lives, do we live here in order to express our souls? In other words, my purpose in my life is to find more ways how my soul can be expressed.
That's why I live in this world. Or my purpose to live in this.
[00:05:17] Speaker B: World is to help the world, to.
[00:05:19] Speaker A: Help others, to make this world a better place. But the only way to do it happens to be by expressing my soul.
Every mitzvah I do expresses my soul. Whenever I say a thank you, is it because I feel gratitude or it's in order for a person to be appreciated? Whenever I do a mitzvah, is it because I want to express my soul, I'm just expressing what's inside, or because I want this world to become better, and the only way to do it is by doing a mitzvah. And what do mitras do? Mitzvahs express my soul. I might not want to do them either way, but I know I wake up in the morning and I Might not want to do anything. Let's forget about what I want.
I wake up in the morning and I know I need to put on filler.
Do I do it because I know my soul wants me to put on film and it's going to help my soul to express itself? I'm doing it for my soul, for myself, essentially.
Or am I saying that you know what this world needs a lot of mitzvahs, you need to help the world. And that's why I'm putting on film.
In other words, this is the question, what is the primary goal as far as story is concerned? What is the primary goal of my life?
To improve myself, to make sure that my soul is fully expressed in my body.
The goal of my life is my spiritual self improvement or is the goal of my life improving this world, making this world better through doing mitzvahs? The actions are the same. I'm doing mitzvahs just like the action is the same. I'm saying thank you when somebody gives me a presentation. My soul is perfect. My body is not. My body is not always expressing my soul. My soul is always perfect, but my mind is not always thinking what my soul wants it to think. My emotions don't always feel what my soul wants it to feel. My hands don't always do things with my soul. So I need to work on myself to make sure that my body will be more in line with my soul. That's called spiritual self improvement.
The Torah tells us definitely you could find multiple sources in the Torah. The Torah says that the purpose of my life is to work on myself.
And the Torah is going to tell.
[00:07:36] Speaker B: Me that the purpose of my life.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Is to make the world around me better, brighter place. And I do both by doing mitzvahs. But the question is, out of these two goals, which one should be primary.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: Which one should be secondary?
[00:07:49] Speaker A: This is the argument between Russia and Ramban with a menorah.
Sometimes it's very simple.
So I have now one hour of time. Should I spend this one hour on my spiritual self improvement? Should I go learn Torah myself or should I go help someone else put on fillin? Help someone else put a mezuz on their door or teach somebody else Torah?
[00:08:11] Speaker B: Maharam of Rothenburg, probably mayor of Rothenburg, who lived In Germany in 14th century, I believe, was kidnapped for ransom.
The King Rudolf announced all the Jews would be his serfs. They essentially become his property.
And we are not sure either Ma' Haram found out that they are about to kidnap him for ransom. And that's why he was fleeing. Or maybe he was fleeing and he was caught because he was fleeing.
We are not sure exactly what happened, but he was arrested. And once they found out that he's arrested, King Rudolf wanted some exuberant amount of money for the Jewish community to come up with in order to free him. And he, being the spiritual leader of the community, ruled from the jail that they are not allowed to pay this money.
Why?
[00:09:05] Speaker A: Because Talmud specifically says that Jews should be ransomed.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Jews should be bought from their kidnapping.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: Only for the price, which is similar.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: To what other people pay for buying other people out.
[00:09:21] Speaker A: Because if non Jews will know that Jews pay more for their hostages, it puts a target on every single Jew. That's what Talmud says.
So that's why Maharam ruled that they're.
[00:09:32] Speaker B: Not allowed to pay the money. And people were stuck. They had to listen to their own rabbi. Guess what? He died in jail. He spent another, I believe, 13 years in jail.
And most of the books of him that we have, he wrote there in jail.
And towards the end of his life, even the conditions were a little softened.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: His students were allowed to go visit.
[00:09:53] Speaker B: Him in jail and learn with him.
And after he passed away for another, I believe, 14 years, the king would not let Jews bury his body. They his body was there and king wanted the money in order to let Jews bury it.
Fourteen years later came a wealthy Jew from Italy. His name was Alexander Vincent.
And he negotiated with the king. He paid him some amount of money, not as much as he initially wanted. He wanted some amount of money and he was able to get the body. And the maid arranged the proper Jewish burial for Maharam.
Day after the funeral, this Italian, Juris Annuinson, came to everybody and he said that in his dream he saw Maharam. Maharam came to him and thanked him for what he did.
And he told him that now he has a choice. Either he could have a long, healthy and wealthy life, or he could share Maharam's portion in the world to come.
That's the choice he has as a.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: Reward for what he did.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: And as you said that I'm telling the story to everybody, so you should know. I'm confirming what I said to him in my dream. I want it to be clear. I choose the latter. I want to share his portion in world to come.
Guess what? A few weeks later, he became sick and he passed away.
But a couple months later, he. He passed away. And he's buried next to Maharam.
A famous Hasidic personality, Hillel Parachar, told this story and concluded that the reason why he chose Maharam's portion in the world to come and not the first option, not long, prosperous and healthy life? Because he did not know Hasidut. He did not know the Hasidic teachings.
[00:11:46] Speaker A: Had he known what Jewish mysticism and.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: Hasidut teaches, he would have known that the better choice is the second one.
[00:11:55] Speaker A: Your soul will for sure benefit from sharing portion in the world to come. But this is a element of spiritual egotism.
The world needs your mitzvahs. You would be able to live here for a long time in this world and do a lot of mitzvahs and help a lot of people. And if you're wealthy, you'll be able to help even more people.
And that what the purpose of the world according to Hasiduses.
