If You're Already Serving, Serve Like Avraham

0:59You should really, ideally, serve Hashem like Avraham Avinu, like Yitzchak Avinu, like Yaakov Avinu, like Moshe Rabbeinu, like Aharon HaKohen, like David HaMelech, like these great, extraordinary forefathers that we have, these perfect human beings who wanted nothing other than to connect to Hashem. He says, serve Him like that. Iyov, the prophet Iyov says, even if I knew that Hashem was going to kill me and destroy me, I'd still serve Him. I'd still serve Him. The Gemara, I believe is in Masechet Sotah, or I may be mistaken, but in the Gemara it says, there is a machloket. Did Iyov (Job) serve Hashem purely out of fear or purely out of love? If it was fear, it was the highest level of fear. If it was love, it was also a high level of love. Why the highest level of fear? Because the highest level of fear of Hashem is fear of a disconnect, not fear of punishment.

2:22Fear of punishment is the lowest level of serving Hashem. You do the mitzvot; you fulfill the commandments. Why? Because you don't want to get punished. You don't want to lose money, get divorced, lose any children, or go to Gehinnom. You want to avoid all these bad things that we talk about from time to time. You don't want all those bad things to happen to you, so that's why you do it. That's the lowest level of serving Hashem. It's still good, it's respectable, especially for this generation, but nonetheless, it's the lowest level. The highest level of yirat Hashem is fear of Hashem in the context of a good relationship. Meaning, if a husband and a wife have a healthy relationship, then the husband and the wife are not going to yell at each other and hate each other and do things like that. They're going to communicate. Now, the reason why, even if the wife makes the husband upset or vice versa, They're not going to act in a way where, for example, the wife is not going to speak to the husband in a certain manner, or the husband is not going to speak to the wife in a certain manner, not because they fear the other will harm them physically. If there's a fear of physical harm, then it's not a healthy relationship. We're discussing a healthy relationship, where the reason they're not going to insult the other person is due to fear that this insult...

3:43is going to lead to a disconnect. Where if I insult my wife, then she's not going to talk to me. And her not talking to me is unbearable to me. I can't deal with it. My whole day goes to nothing. So I can't do it, so then I'm not going to insult her. The husband is not going to insult the wife because of that. The wife is not going to insult the husband because of that. So that's not a fear of punishment per se that's physical. Like the lowest level of serving Hashem, but rather a fear of a disconnect, of hurting the relationship. So that's the highest level of fear of Hashem as well, where Avraham Avinu was willing to sacrifice his son, not because he was expecting some reward from Hashem, hey listen, you're a tzaddik. You are Avraham Avinu. Your descendants are going to be like the stars of the heaven and numerous like the sand, and so on and so forth. He didn't expect any of that. He was willing to sacrifice his son because that was what Hashem requested, or what he understood that Hashem requested, and he wanted to do everything he possibly could to be connected to Hashem.

5:03It didn't matter what it was. It didn't matter if there was a sacrifice. It didn't matter if it was hard. It didn't matter if it made sense. It didn't matter if it didn't make sense. Nothing mattered. He loved Hashem to such an extent that he wanted to make sure that he would do everything to not hurt that relationship, not hurt that connection. But the point here is that he's telling you if you're serving Hashem, Serve him like Avraham Avinu, where you're not just serving Him for a reward of some kind. You're serving Him without any reward. That's the highest level. As Iyov (Job) said, even if He were to kill you, you'd still serve Him. Why? Because that's the highest level. That's the ideal level. What is this like? If a father has two sons, again... And one of them really, really loves the father. Every time the father even hints that he wants something, the child immediately goes and gets it. The father wants a coffee, he runs and gets him a coffee. The father wants someone to go get milk; he runs and gets milk. The father wants a book or paper or this or that; he runs and does everything right away. The other son doesn't really like his father that much, so he doesn't run anywhere. So the father says, "Listen, it's upsetting that I don't see him. I ask him for coffee. He doesn't do it." He says, "Okay, you know what? Okay." Takes out his wallet, "Okay, if you go get me coffee, I'll pay you five bucks." "Oh, for five bucks? Sure." He runs to the place, gets him coffee. "Thank you. I love you, Abba." He doesn't really love Abba; he loves the five dollars.

6:32Doesn't really like his father that much. So he doesn't run anywhere. So the father says, "Listen, it's upsetting that I don't see him. I ask him for coffee; he doesn't do it." He says, "Okay, you know what? Okay." Takes out his wallet and goes, "Okay, if you go get me coffee, I'll pay you five bucks." "Oh, for five bucks? Sure." He runs to the place, gets him coffee, "Thank you, I love you, Abba." He doesn't really love Abba. He loves the five dollars. Abba wants paper, Abba wants this, Abba wants that, every time it's for a payment. So now when the father is going to do his review one day, he's going to think about, you know, who do I really want to give my inheritance to? The one that milked me for money every single time I asked him for something. Every coffee cost me five bucks. Every ride cost me 20. Everything had a payment. Or the one who did it just because I asked him to. Just because he loved me. Who am I going to give my inheritance to? Well, the one I paid, he received all this reward. Okay, I love him. He's great. He's fine. He's my son. At least he did it; he's not a terrible son who didn't do it even after I paid him. But the one who did it just because? Obviously, I want to give him more.

8:01So, Antigonus is telling you, if you're already going to do it, do it at the highest possible level. Shoot to be like Avraham Avinu. Shoot to be like Moshe Rabbeinu. Shoot to be like Noach. Noach ish tzadik v'tamim, complete with Hashem. The greatest of his generation. Go for the best. "Just like you go to work, you don't go to work because, oh, I want to make a basic living and be half-homeless my whole life. No. You go to work to be a multi-millionaire. The next idea is going to be Microsoft. The next idea is going to be Google. That's what you think. Everybody thinks that. Everybody thinks their next idea is the greatest thing since sliced bread. That's why they go to work. Napoleon used to say, 'I want all my soldiers to want to be commanders. Any soldier who doesn't want to be a commander, I don't want him to be my soldier. Because if he doesn't want to be a commander, then he's definitely not going to be a good soldier either.' You have an opportunity to be the greatest of great soldiers." I want all my soldiers to want to be commanders. Any soldier who doesn't want to be a commander, I don't want him to be my soldier. Because if he doesn't want to be a commander, then he's definitely not going to be a good soldier either. You have an opportunity to be the greatest of the great soldiers.

9:12So Antigonus is telling you, "I learned from my Rav, Shimon HaTzadik, the greatest of his generation, the one that was around prophets at all times, the one that made Alexander the Great bow to him. Alexander the Great, the guy that conquered the whole world, bowed to him on all fours. I learned from him something amazing. He's telling you, if you're going to serve Hashem, go for the whole pie." And serve Him out of complete love, not just because you're going to get a reward. Do it simply because it's the right thing to do. It's the right thing to work on your middot (character traits). It's the right thing to not be angry. Work on yourself to realize that there's really never a reason to be angry. Ever. The only reason you're angry is because you have ga'avah, you have pride. You think that the world needs to run according to your tune. And if it doesn't run according to your tune, you're angry. That's why the Gemara calls that avodah zarah. You've made yourself avodah zarah. You think that the world should run according to your tune. And if you think the world needs to run according to your tune, you're a mini-God. You have a problem.

10:32There's no share in Olam HaBa for someone who acts as a mini-god. So, someone who understands this recognizes the danger of anger and realizes the need to work on oneself to avoid it. They think to themselves, why am I upset? Why do I allow anger to take hold? Why do I get upset every time the baby cries? Why do I get upset every time my wife wakes me up in the middle of the night with a question? Why do I get upset because this and that happened? All these different things that happen in your life. Everybody has their little things, pet peeves that annoy them. Why does it annoy you? Why does it make you so angry? I mean, it's mind-boggling sometimes how big things don't matter, but small things make you want to destroy the world like Hashem did in the time of Noach. I tell you personally, before I learned Torah, if I were Hashem, I would destroy the world every day. Every day, I would get upset about these small things, and I would literally want to just destroy the world.

11:38This guy came late. "Sir, you just made a million dollars today." "I don't care, one of my employees came in six minutes late." "What difference does it make that he came in six minutes late?" "My whole world changed because the guy came in six minutes late. You made money, you achieved success. It doesn't matter. But that's the thing—when you have no real purpose in life, you make small, insignificant things your purpose." So, someone that wants to serve Hashem and reach the highest level must understand that there is a path to get there. You have to work on your middot. You have to work on your character traits, which is the reason why we're doing this whole series to begin with. But it's important to know from the start that the Torah does not hold the view that you are incapable of achieving something. The Torah will never tell you that you cannot be the most righteous person of your generation. The Torah will never tell you that you're not able to be a Talmid Chacham. The Torah will never tell you that you cannot do anything that will get you the greatest Olam HaBa ever.

12:49Torah is the opposite. He's starting the Mishnah, the first three Mishnayot. It's not like somewhere in the middle; maybe it's less important, chas v'shalom, but you get my point here. Opening the Mishnah with this lesson, they're telling you, listen, if you're going to already serve G-d, be like Avraham Avinu already. Be like Noach. Be like Moshe. Go for everything. Why are you settling for just one little jewel? Okay, so you do tefillin really well. Chazak u'baruch. Do the prayer too, not just the Tefillin. Why just the prayer? Act accordingly. Be a walking Sefer Torah. Learn some Torah also. Why just learn Torah? Fulfill it too. Do what it says in the Torah. Why just fulfill the Torah when you're in private? Do it in public. Show people why. It's a great thing to be a Jew. Why are you proud to be a Jew? Why would you even want to give up everything to remain a Jew? Embrace your whole heritage and identity.