Torah Basics Explained: Why Righteous Have a Difficult Life (11 Minutes)

0:10Each person needs to know that the stories that we have in the Torah are not just stories for the sake of storytelling. They're stories that teach us a few important lessons. Number one, everyone who is righteous has a difficult life. To show us that we cannot use it as an excuse for not reaching our full potential, we can say, "Listen, I was born in a secular family. That's why I'm not like Avraham Avinu." Well, Avraham Avinu was not only born in a secular family, his father was like the Walmart of idolatry. To show us that we cannot use it as an excuse for not reaching our full potential, we can say, "Listen, I was born in a secular family. That's why I'm not like Avraham Avinu." Well, Avraham Avinu was not only born in a secular family, his father was the "Walmart" of idolatry.

1:20His father sold all the idols like a Walmart over there. His father, Terach, sold the idols. He had a whole Walmart of idols. So what? Our brother was Laban. Is it worse than Laban? Is it worse? It's the grandfather of Balaam. Laban, the worst person on earth, is our brother. A shidduch comes. He tries to kill him. A shidduch comes. No, I want to, you are my boss. He's rich. He wants to marry your sister. Okay, come, come, meet us. He tries to kill him. She tries to kill Eliezer. So what are you gonna say? You got a worse brother than him? So that's the thing. A person needs to know it doesn't matter what everybody else does. Why? Because Rivka still found a way to be Rivka, Kodesh. She still was modest. She still was Kodesh Kodashim. Avraham still found a way to be Kodesh Kodashim inside the fire that Nimrod sent them to. Inside the fire, he was saying Shema Yisrael. Inside the fire. Inside the fire, but it hurts. No, it doesn't hurt. Wait, it's my slave. I have a shem. So a person cannot say, "Oh, the generation of Esav." Of course, it's the first, and every shem, everybody has a shem. But on the same token, even if your father was a tzaddik...

2:36Does that mean you're going to be a tzaddik by default? Like a lot of people say, "Oh, you know my father, what a rabbi he was." Yeah, you know what? There was also someone whose father was the biggest rabbi in the world. His brother was the next biggest rabbi in the world. And his grandfather was greater than both of them. But his name was Esav. Esav. His brother was Yaakov. His father was Yitzchak. His grandfather was Avraham, but he's still Esav. And the pasuk says about Esav, Hashem says, "Et Esav saneti." This illustrates that righteousness isn't inherited. Despite having giants like Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov in his lineage, Esav chose a different path. It teaches us that one's merit is based on their own actions, not their genealogical legacy. Esav, I hate him. Why? His father is a Tzadik. Oh, his father is in Gan Eden. Esav has no share of the world to come. So that's the problem with time. Hashem gave us such a beautiful Torah, and all the answers are in it. To answer all of our excuses of why we can't be like Yaakov or why we can't be like Sarah Imeinu. We can. We can be. We just have to fight the Yetzer Hara. We have to fight it. We have to fight it. We have to fight it. And even if everyone around us is not good, we have to stay strong. Give us a justification. So what we have to do first and foremost is we have to realize that we have to disassociate. We have to remove ourselves from danger. Spiritual danger is more dangerous than physical danger. If there was a fire, chas v'shalom, a person knows by default to run away. Even a dog knows to run away from a fire; the dog knows it, it's an instinct. A person sees a fire and runs away.

4:00if it's a spiritual fire, if he has a friend, a colleague, a roommate that's a kofer, that's an atheist, that's a missionary, he has to run away from this person. Run away, that's spiritual fire. You're not allowed to put your life at risk. None of this "I'm trying to help him." No, you're not allowed to help everybody. There are certain people you're not allowed to help, certain people you can't help if they're mamash kofrim. They're just non-believers. They're just clueless. They're ignorant. They don't know anything, like I didn't know for most of my life. It's a different story; try to help them, try to save them. But if they're aggressive and they're mamash kofrim, you're not allowed to help them. Even Rabbi Nachman of Breslov said it. It's not like it's Yaron Reuven, Rambam, Rabbi Nachman, or Gemara. It's Torah. You're not allowed to help everybody. Why? Because even Rabbi Nachman of Breslov says in Likutey Moharan, the tzaddik is not allowed to put his neshama at risk to help the rasha.

5:03He's going to help with the kiruv only if he knows he's at a level where he's not going to sacrifice himself. You're not allowed to sacrifice yourself. You have no right to sacrifice yourself, not even for your kids. Not even for your kids. So, of course, you help them, give them a CD, bring them to a shiur, you do whatever you can to help people. You know not to sacrifice yourself. Bring them closer. You don't go to them; you don't go to the clubs to start doing kiruv. There's only one rabbi in our generation that could do it, and it's like Avraham Avinu of Klal Yisrael. Of course, Rav Gossman, he did it for many years. I'm not sure if he still does it now, but for many years, he did it. He went to clubs in Eretz Yisrael, doing kiruv. It's a famous story, a famous story of success. But it's a very, very rare individual. It's almost as if he was Avraham Avinu. No other person should allow themselves to even take the test to even think about a club. But he actually went. He went to certain cafes, bars, whatever it was. And he actually goes to all the avaryanim, all of the criminals, and comes next to them. And they all look at him like, Rabbi, what are you doing here? I'm here for you. Come. So, learning, he takes them, one after another, out of the club. One after another, he takes them out of the club. Each one of them does teshuva. Rabbi, you're going to get whacked. It's unbelievable. Really. Unbelievable. Really. Really.

6:29But this is rare. It's like saying, "Oh yeah, Moshe Rabbeinu came to my shul today." It's rare. It's stuff that doesn't exist really. In general, most people don't care enough about Am Yisrael to go to the Gehinnom to take them out without becoming burnt also. You know, because they go into the club and then they end up dancing with a couple of girls and then maybe they'll have to drink too. You understand? So don't try it at home. Don't try it at home. As far as difficulty around us, difficulty is the job in life. Difficulty is part of it. It's difficult to make money, but we still try hard. It's difficult to raise kids, but we still try. It's difficult to be a wife or to be a husband, but we still try. The same thing with being a Jew. It's difficult, but we still have to try our best. Why? Because that's the point. That's why you came to this world, to do this. This is what you came to the world for. This is game time. There's theoretical Torah. We learn from the books, and then there's putting the Torah actually into play, into practice.

7:37And that's the difficulties in your life. Hashem says, okay, it's good you're learning from the books. Good, good. You learned from the books. Good for you. Great. You learned five years straight. You didn't even close your eyes. You're like a mini Yaakov Avinu. Good. Okay, now I'm going to give you a bunch of problems. Why? Shouldn't I get like Gan Eden? Yeah, Gan Eden is a different world. So why am I getting problems? Oh, you're getting problems because now we're going to put all that stuff you got from the books to the test. You're going to see if you can actually apply what you've learned into your life. From the lectures and from all this stuff, we'll put that into practice. Let's see you use it. Let's see you utilize all those stories you learn. Let's apply it in real life. Stories are nice, but let's see you apply them. Learning from a book is valuable, but let's put it into action. If you had a life-threatening surgery, which doctor do you want? Do you want the doctor that's been reading books for 20 years, but never touched the body? The doctor that's been reading books for five years, but has been, you know, practicing on people for the last 15. He doesn't have as much book knowledge, but everyone will pick the second guy. Why? I need knowledge in the field. I need knowledge in the field, not just from a book. A book is nice. Hashem says I need knowledge in the field. How do you get knowledge in the field? Problems. Hashem gives you problems.

9:00Hashem gives you difficulties - money, children, whatever it may be. I could list so many problems that the world would end, and we still wouldn't finish listing them. But that's about integrating the Torah into life, making it our entire life. So it's important to know that when Hashem is talking to you the most, is when you're facing the greatest difficulties. When you have a lot of real difficulty and... David says, "You stick in your staff. Those are the ones that give me comfort. Why does the staff give us comfort? The stick is for the sheep; you hit them with it. The staff is to direct them with it. David says, 'The stick, when you hit me with the stick, I know it's to guide me.'" I know it's the staff. It gives me comfort. Why? Because I know you have to hit me. Sometimes you have to direct me with the staff. Go right, go left, go right, go left. That's when I'm reading the books. It's easy. It's easy to go from page one. Okay, page one, page two, page three. It's easy. The book is easy. The book is easy to read. It's easy to come to the shiur and listen to the shiur. It's easy.

10:13Even though I'm not that interesting, it's easy to listen. Now, that's the easy part. But the stick is hard. Why? The stick hurts. Why? A flat tire, money issues, the wife yells at you, the kid doesn't want to go to school, the husband doesn't want to go to work, the teacher doesn't want to teach—no one wants to go to school. David HaMelech says, "The stick and the staff, they comfort me." Why? Because I know when you hit me with the stick, it's necessary; it's a replacement for the staff. Sometimes, Hashem's ways are difficult to comprehend, but they are always for our ultimate growth and development. Because the staff in that condition doesn't work. The nice way doesn't work. The nice way doesn't work. It's not going to make me David HaMelech. It's not going to make me Sarah Imeinu. So sometimes we need a stick. Sometimes we need a smack in the face. Why? Hashem is trying to build us. Hashem is trying to build us.