Were We Asked To Be Created?

1:13I wouldn't have to do all this. First of all, you should know the goyim are also obligated to keep mitzvot. Not as many as the Jews, but they are obligated to keep mitzvot. They have the seven Noahide laws and all of the laws that have to do with common sense. Meaning, even though the seven laws of Noah do not have "honor your father and your mother," the goyim also have to do it because it's common sense. You don't need the Torah to tell you that you have to honor your father and your mother. But a Jew might say, wait a minute, okay, so why can't I just be a goy? Why can't I just put my Judaism aside and be a goy? No. Because HaKadosh Baruch Hu, out of the 8 billion people that exist in the world today, decided that you're going to be a Jew. Why? Because you made a deal with Him 3,300 years ago at Har Sinai. The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat says that HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave Am Yisrael the Torah and said, if you accept it, good, this is our wedding day. If you don't, this will be your burial ground. Now the bishop says, "Wait a minute, but I didn't ask to be created." Even the original neshama says, "Yes, you didn't ask to be created, but you benefited from being here." Meaning once you were created, every normal human being wants to stay here. Yes, you didn't ask to be created in the beginning. You didn't ask, but once you are here, if Hashem told you, "Do you mind if I kill you?" and...

2:40No normal human being would say, "No, hey, hey, hey, don't touch. Don't kill me. I don't want to. I want to live." I want to live. Ah, now you want to live? There are conditions for living. There are conditions for living. So now, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai presents an analogy. He says, wait a minute, hold on a second. What if, let's say, a person dies? The neshama goes up to the Shamayim. I'm elaborating on your question. The neshama goes up to the Shamayim and says, hold on a second. Hashem, I didn't sin. It was the body that sinned. The body sinned; the body died. Look, as soon as I left the body, the body is like a schnitzel. The worms are eating. There's nothing there. I didn't sin. I was perfectly clean. The body says, hey, Hashem, Hashem, it's not true. The soul is the one that sinned. Why? Look, as soon as it left, I stopped sinning. I stopped sinning. I stopped sinning. I didn't sin. Well, have you ever seen a dead person sin? Have you ever seen a dead person waste seed? Have you ever seen a dead person be Mechalel Shabbat? Have you ever seen a dead person kill somebody? No. So, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says this. He says, what is this like?

3:42Once there was a king, and the king had a very, very expensive field full of the best fruits, trees, and all types of wonderful things. He was always scared to put normal people to guard it. Why? Because it was very precious. "I don't want to lose it," he thought. So what did he do? He put one guy who was blind and another guy who was paraplegic. Why? He reasoned that the blind man couldn't see what was there, so he wouldn't steal. And the paraplegic, even though he could see all the wonderful things, he couldn't run anywhere. so you two be my guards. So the king left him in charge and then he left. A few months later, he comes back; he sees the whole field is done, and the two people are just there. "What happened to my field?" "What happened to your field? How would we know? How would we know what happened to your field? He's blind, and he's a paraplegic; he can't walk." The king says, "No, no, no, no. It's not normal for such a thing to happen." What ended up happening was that the king was smart. He says, "You guys... Guys teamed up. You guys teamed up. The blind one couldn't see, but he could walk. The paraplegic couldn't walk, but he could see. So, what did he do? The paraplegic went on top of the blind guy and told him where to go. He told the blind guy where to walk, and they took all the fruits and both benefited from it.

5:02So the king says, "Now I'm going to punish you. I'll put one on top of the other. I'll punish you together." And that's what Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says. He says, when a person sins, the soul says, "No, I didn't do it," and the body says, "No, I didn't do it." Hashem says, "No." The first thing that happens in the grave is that Hashem takes the neshama, puts it into the body, and judges them together. Together, when you are alive, you wanted to live, you wanted to live, you benefited from this world, you enjoyed this world, and you also had the understanding that nothing comes for free in life. You heard that there is Shabbat? You heard you are a Jew obligated to keep Shabbat? You decided not to? Meaning you decided to benefit from the world without paying the bill? Okay, you didn't pay over there. Now you pay over here. Simple. But it's like you're giving someone a drug, and then he's addicted to it, and he wants it. You can tell him, if you didn't give it to him in the first place, he would not have been addicted to it.

6:12No one told you to take it, as far as the drug. No, Hashem put you in this world as a baby. You don't know what you're doing. No, you asked to be here. You don't remember it. But, you see, before HaKadosh Baruch Hu created the world, He created neshamot. The neshamot were in heaven, and they were just getting the beauty and the glory of Hashem and benefiting from everything. But... Good, the definition of good is something that wants to create good. You cannot say "I'm a good person" if you're bad to everybody else. You can't say "I'm a good person" if you're mean to your parents. You can't say "I'm a good person" if you steal from people. You can't say "I'm a good person" if all you do is take from people. You can't say it. In order to be good, you have to provide good. You have to create good. So HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the ultimate good. He wanted to create good. He created good neshamot. But those neshamot started suffering. Why? They said, listen, you are good. We are good, but we can't be good. Why? Because all we're doing is receiving. We want to create good. We want to deserve this good.

7:12Hashem said, "Okay, you want to deserve this good? I'm going to put some pressure on you. I'm going to put you in a world where you're going to have to overcome major obstacles by fulfilling My Torah. Once you fulfill the Torah and overcome these obstacles, then you can come back to Heaven, and you can feel righteous and well-deserving of the good that you're going to get for eternity." Why? Because then you deserve it. So technically, all of us, our neshamot, ask to be created. The fact that you don't remember it is a mercy from Hashem. Why is it a mercy from Hashem? Because if you would have remembered everything that happened to you in heaven, you wouldn't have free choice. Which means, as soon as you sin, Hashem would have to punish you immediately. And that means you wouldn't be able to survive one day. Because there's no such thing as a righteous person who doesn't sin. Everybody sins to some extent, some big, some small. The point is that a person needs to at least know that when a kadosh, who gives you good, you have to at least say thank you. How do you say thank you? By listening to Him, yes. The point is that a person needs to at least know that when HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives you good, you have to at least say thank you. How do you say thank you? By listening to Him, yes.