Parshas Behar: Retire Early and Take a Break

Transcript

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When you launch your podcast, be sure to not make this horrible mistake.

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Never categorize your podcast as a self-help, self-improvement podcast, because they'll give you an option when you launch your podcast about what category is your podcast?

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And well, even if it's johnny and tim on sports and you technically could select sports, you could select politics, you could select judaism really, it's up to you, would just pick anyone.

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Because ultimately, if it's good content, people, people will find it.

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Cream always rises to the top.

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But if you want your podcast to be a bottom-feeding podcast, stuck at the very depths of Spotify, apple Podcasts and 24-6, never to be discovered by anybody looking for your content, well then commit this egregious mistake of labeling and categorizing your podcast as a self-help, self-development podcast.

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That mistake, there's no coming back from that, because you'll never get discovered.

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Because there's just, frankly, such an abundance of those podcasts, because of the free entry into the podcast world and self-help world where you just hit record on your phone and boom, you have yourself a podcast studio.

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Because of the increasing pizor hanefesh, the increasing anxiety in the world that people are looking for more and more help and, hey, everyone loves free help too.

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So why not turn on a self-help podcast?

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Free help too.

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So why not turn on a self-help podcast?

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One plus one equals two.

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Therefore, we have tens of thousands of self-help, self-development, alternative health and just the secret sauce you're looking for type of podcasts.

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I'm even guilty of it.

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I launched a podcast and, hey, let's just talk.

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It doesn't cost anything and hopefully the content on this podcast isn't just like some podcasts where you'll find people are snake oil salesmen giving over their own ideas that they have no idea if they even work or not.

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I'm trying this podcast to give over that which the great medieval commentators and those closer to Harsinai have said once before.

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So therefore they are validated and the proof is in the pudding.

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And even more so, if you go down the list of self-help podcasts, you'll find people that are just in it for the money, so it's hard to get any good advice from them.

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They don't even know if they're vitamins that they're selling work.

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Some people maybe do give good advice but don't understand the current or exact situations.

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What I'm getting at is that it's hard to get any good self-help advice in the world of podcast.

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So where should you look?

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Everyone's got something that they want to learn.

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Which podcast should you choose?

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Or maybe it isn't even a podcast.

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Well, to begin the talk, I have the answer.

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And it's not any of the podcasts underneath the Motivation Congregation Podcast Network, like subscribe, donate, rate, review, all that good jazz.

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But the place to find the Eita that you're looking for is the Holy Torah.

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And yeah, you probably saw that comment and you guessed it, but there's a big chedesh here, something really new to keep in mind.

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Just listen here to the words of Shlomo HaMelech.

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Proverbs, chapter 1.

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Shlomo HaMelech says this is in verse 21, at the head of the busy streets, she calls out seems to be referring to Torah Chachma and at the entrance of the gates in the city, she speaks out.

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I'm going to do the English for it, it's a little easier and more fun.

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Moving on to verse 22, and we're going to make it all the way until verse 25, until we have that kicker.

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How long will you simply love the life of simplicity?

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You scoffers?

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You're so eager to scoff, you dullards, doulards.

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Why do you hate knowledge?

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You are indifferent to my rebuke.

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I will now speak my mind to you and will let you know my thoughts, since you refused me when I called and paid no heed when I extended my hand.

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Harsh words from Shlomo HaMelech.

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And here's Pazik Chaf.

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Hey, here's what we're looking for.

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Ba'tifru kol la'atzosi v'toychachti lo'yavisem, you spurned all my advice and would not hear my rebuke.

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You spurned my advice.

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The Torah, the Chachmas Hashem, is described by the greatest scholar to have ever graced Hashem's beautiful planet, shlomo HaMelech.

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Torah is described by him as advice.

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Torah is Eitza.

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Torah is the book of wise counsel, the Sefer HaEitza.

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It's jam-packed with 613 highly effective habits, pieces of wisdom that help a person to clarify his obligation, remind himself and impress upon his mind, over and over again, the obligations that he has.

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Who is in control of the world?

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613 habits that get you to the promised land, to elevate yourself, to cleanse yourself and to be miyashir, to straighten yourself to the derach hanachon, the right way to live.

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It points up the podcast of Toir Es Hashem T'mimah is the only self-improvement, self-help podcast.

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You need To take it a step further at a wrinkle here to understand just how much Torah really is a therapist to any one of its congregants that comes to the therapy session one-on-one with the Torah.

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Listen to the words of the Evan Ezra in Parashah Shlach.

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He's describing how, in the mitzvah of Tzitzis, it's given to us in order.

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The Eitza is to remind us, to remind us to be holy, to remind ourselves of our mitzvos.

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That's why we only wear it by daytime, that's when we're obligated in our mitzvos, most of them.

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And the Evangelist then says if I'm stuck at a crossroad and I can only wear tzitzit for one hour a day, that's it.

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Should I wear it when I'm saying my kriyashima, so I will ultimately testify to God's omnipotence with the tzitzit on my body, to do it in its full grandeur?

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Or should I wear my tzitzit when I'm at work or commuting?

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Not at the time of kriyashema, it says the Evan Ezra, not at the time of creation, it says the Evan Ezra, since the whole point of tzitzit is so that l'man tizkeru, so you should recall Hashem and have it as that protective reminder constantly to look down and see the chut and to see the strings and to see the nas and to remind yourself that Hashem is the one that I serve and therefore I will not engage in certain practices.

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L'man tizkeru to remember the mitzvos.

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It seems proper.

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And if I can only wear tzitzit for an hour, then wear it when you're at work, because that's when there's actually distractions and one needs to be reminded about the truth, because Torah is one big book of how to be miyashar v'letaher es atzmo, how to clarify your job and then elevate yourself and purify yourself.

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Eladerecha, nachon, chazal, anchekedesis, hagedoylo, the sages.

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They have organized for us how it is that we can best engage in these highly effective 613 habits to best rectify ourselves.

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It's the mitzvos we follow, like they say, the fifth commandment honoring your parents, one of the most brilliant, basic and necessary mitzvos.

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That's an etzah for how to build a healthy society that younger respects the elder and not vice versa.

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And this week we get one of the lessons, one of the most important therapy sessions with the Almighty, one of the highly effective 613 habits.

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This week it's called the mitzvah of Shemitah.

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For the mitzvah is that six years shall you work your field, if you own land in Eretz, yisrael, but on the seventh year let thy land lay fallow.

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Six years thou shalt sow thy field and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard and gather in its produce, but in the seventh there should be a Sabbath to be celebrated by the cessation of work for the land, a Sabbath unto God.

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Thy field shall that not sow and thy vineyard shall thy not prune.

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Shabbos, hashem, shemitah, incredible mitzvah.

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All land owners in Eretz Yisrael are to proclaim their freedom to let their land lay untouched and to remind themselves and the rest of their neighbors that Hashem is the one true Lord and the true owner of all the real estate.

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A Shemitah is a Shabbos, it's described.

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It's kind of the same exact din that Jewish people are to take a day off to remind themselves that all work is forbidden, that while I can constantly create, but on the seventh day I stop to remind myself that while I do have a dominating force upon creation and I do sometimes feel like I am in control of my affairs, but one day that you cannot even cut something in a certain way, you can't prepare your salad in a certain way, organize your silverware in a certain way, because that's productive work, and you're supposed to remove yourself from all malacha to remind yourself that, no, that God is the one who creates, who gives and who's in control, not me and Shemitah.

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It parallels this law in one's real estate and one's agricultural holdings Seven years, seven cycles counting to an ultimate jubilee year which even further restarts the whole process.

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It's interesting to note that the first Shemitah year actually didn't happen until our 21st year in Eretz Yisrael, even though the Pusik says when you come in to the land you should do Shemitah.

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But really it took seven years to actually conquer the land, another seven years to allot, allocate and apportion all the land to all the respective tribes.

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And then we only began to count the seven years in the 15th year of us being in Eretz, yisrael.

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So it wasn't until actually the 21st year of our Kisavot U'el Ha'aretz until we actually kept our first year of Shemitah.

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But just listen to this therapy session of Shemitah.

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That, for the sake of Hashem, you are to open up your business, give away your passwords, let your land lay fallow, remove the locks, your billion dollar investments, your endless cotton crop, corn crop, real estate holdings to just let it all lay fallow.

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You are not to take any more from the field than what you need for your basic necessities.

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You are not to do any business with it.

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You are to remove any locks.

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You are to open up all the fenced off areas, all of it, all of your parinassa, it all grows for the common use, free entry, no hindrances for anyone.

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You can take what you immediately require, but not much more than that.

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Shemitah.

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Let it have a Shabbos.

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You can't even pick the pauper, the type of person that could need some extra help.

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You can't even choose which Ani you would like to support.

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It is totally ownerless by you.

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It's totally hefker.

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It is owned by Hashem.

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All fields, all orchards, all gardens, all meadows, every blade of grass, a therapy session that reminds the Jew.

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You may call the shots from time to time, but God is the owner of the real estate.

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You have to lay your feet, lay your field down by the feet of Hashem and say it's all yours.

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And I'm reminding myself that my haughtiness and my sense of I'm in control of my life is misplaced.

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You are to retire For a year.

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You are to have no more of a right to your field than any wild animal that could snoop right into your field and take what it wants.

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You're also people don't know supposed to pay taxes on your field.

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Take care of it so that people can have, because it's impressing upon ourselves, over and over the guidance, that you are not the Lord, you are not the owner on your life and on your business, on your agricultural means.

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It's Shemitah, lashem.

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Rely on Lashem and watch how things work out.

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Rely on Hashem and watch how things work out.

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Consider yourself, as the Torah tells us the ultimate lesson of Shemitah and Yovel Teach yourself that you are effectively Passing through that.

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All of your money, all of your wealth, all of your possessions, all of your money, all of your wealth, all of your possessions, all of your entities, they're all there for you to divvy up and give out, but you're not the actual owner of it.

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You're, after all, just passing through this world.

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So let's take a year to remind ourselves that it is actually Hashem's and he's just letting us borrow it for a year to give the money out to whoever needs it.

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The lesson of Shemitah is that we are tourists down here, we are temporary.

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We are at a hotel.

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Ger v'teshavim atem this isn't your final dwelling spot.

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Shemitah shows us that we're not in charge.

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Hands off and remind yourself that you are just passing through.

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Yovel does the same.

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Everything reboots at the jubilee year.

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Things go back.

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They restart trust in God.

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Understand your goal.

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Everything reboots at the jubilee year.

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Things go back.

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They restart Trust in God.

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Understand your goal and remind yourself of your obligations and remind yourself who is really in charge the etzah that we are taught by Shemitah.

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What the therapist has told us is that once you impress upon your mind that life down here is temporary, then you have nothing to worry about.

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When you remind yourself that Shemitah the letting of the land lay fallow and the showing of that Hashem is the ultimate landowner, and you don't have to stress out about how you're going to pay your bills Because an entire year you are taking off of work, retiring in your mid-30s.

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When you understand the lesson of Shemitah, you understand what it means to give tzedakah and it's much easier for you to allot your real estate investment gains to the prospective and rightful ani pauper that should need the help, because you realize that I'm not in control.

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I am temporary.

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I even pay taxes on this money just so that I can distribute it the way that God wants me to.

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When you focus on the temporary kite, on the really short-lived life down here, after all, the transmigration of the soul that lived eternally up underneath the throne of Hashem and will live eternally in Olam Abba, and the short stint of time down here, you understand the history and the future of the soul, the lesson of Shemitah, that temporary mindset, that Eitzah from the therapist.

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It enables all the other mitzvot, losach mode, don't charge ribbous, don't hurt someone, keep Shabbos.

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All of it becomes simple.

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And now that we don't have the mitzvah of Shemitah, we are left to think, ponder why, what, how?

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What are we supposed to do to impart the lesson to ourselves of the temporariness?

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We don't have that lesson of Shemitah.

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We have to work that much harder to learn and impress upon our minds the laws and lesson of Shemitah.

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You know, it makes one really remind himself that he loves his maybe small or beat-up car, small or beat-up home.

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It may cause one to look in a weird way at somebody who has really planted himself in this world and really makes it a main point of his life to indulge and connect himself to this world.

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For it is only temporary.

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It's our job to cultivate the temporary mindset.

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Of course you know the famous story of the man who came to visit the Chafetz Chaim and saw how few pieces of furniture the Chafetz Chaim had in his small and humble home.

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The Chavetz Chaim had in his small and humble home and he asked the Chavetz Chaim.

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He said where's all your furniture, where's all your items?

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And the Chavetz Chaim turned the question right around to the fellow who was visiting to the town of Radin to come see the Chavetz Chaim.

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He asked this guy.

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He said well, how come you don't have very many possessions, you just have one suitcase you're traveling with?

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And the gentleman said that's exactly it, because I'm just passing through, radin, this isn't my home.

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And the Chavetz, chaim, said exactly that I'm just passing through, I'm a tourist, this isn't my home.

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For us, every time that we have a chance to be Shomer Shabbos, which is kind of one of the areas that we have left to be able to learn the lesson of Shemitah, it's important that we open up to it, To remind ourselves that Hashem is in control, that this world is not our doing and it is not our place of eternal resting.

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Geir mit toyshav, imatem Matnas Chalko, in one of the epic pieces from Ramatasyo Solomon in his Haggadah.

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He does give away a secret about how we can learn a lesson of Shemitah even without Shemitah still being extant.

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And Matashio tells us he for the sake of the idea.

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It doesn't matter as much about the back and forth of the sources, but the idea comes out that the Medrash wants to know why it is that people are created, that they must relieve themselves to use the bathroom so frequently.

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If Hashem made a perfect world and we all have exactly what we need.

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So how come the waste must be removed so frequently?

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Why does it even need to happen at all?

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Why can't food be fully digested and Hashem can make it that the absorbing of the nutrients that aren't needed could be just absorbed, removed some other way?

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Why, in such a debasing, disgracing form of a human being, needed to use the bathroom and Rev Mataseo brings over there?

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Because a human being is created in a way that he is supposed to come to the recognition that Hashem is in control.

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But after much creative abilities, after much accomplishments, it can be confusing and a man can be led to believe that when he presses a button or when he makes a good deal, it really was he himself and it was not Hashem.

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So the bathroom habit believe that when he presses a button or when he makes a good deal, it really was he himself and it was not Hashem.

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So the bathroom habit is there to teach Look, you aren't exactly godlike.

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There are some shortcomings and there is somebody who is in charge.

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You are not the balabos.

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Rev Matisio points out how frequently it is that the human being needs this reminder.

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Once an hour, every couple hours?

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How many times a day does a mensch use the bathroom to remind himself the lesson of Shemitah that, just like our lives, thank God, are in Hashem's hands, not in our hands, our agriculture in the real real estate owner, in the real Lord's hands, so too our lives, our bodies, all of it.

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There's a Shemitah Hashem.

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Hashem's the Bala Bals.

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Remember that, ger V'toshavim Atem, try to impress it upon your mind over and over, because this lesson, this Eitza from the book of guidance, of wisdom.

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If we can remember it, it makes our lives so much easier.

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Shemitah, the ultimate highly effective habit, the ultimate reminder of the transmigration of the soul, the ultimate therapy session that God is the ultimate Lord real estate owner.

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And life down here is temporary, and thank God that it is, and thank God that Hashem is in control and that we are not.

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It should be a Shemitah Hashem.

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We're all just living life down here like tourists, we're just passing through.

Parshas Behar: Retire Early and Take a Break

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