טיפע רעיונות פון הגאון רבי אביגדור מיללער זצ"ל

[הענדימען]

What can be done about emotional instability?

There are two kinds of emotional instability. If a person is pashut meshuga, if he's crazy, then he needs special treatment. I can't tell you right now what to do about that. But if a person is still sane but is unstable emotionally, he must practice - he must take himself in hand and practice happiness. The antidote for every kind of emotional disturbance is happiness. You must learn how to be happy in life! It’s so important!

And how do you do that? The first thing, the emergency fix, is to start singing. Sing; not in your heart, sing aloud. If necessary, put a bottle of something on the table. And then take a sip from the bottle and sing. Sing a little more and then another sip. If you can do it without alcohol, good. If not, let it be alcohol. But sip and drink, sip and sing. Once you start singing, then things will start responding within you. You'll be singing inside of you. Ha’chitzoniyos m’oreres es ha’penimiyus, your outward actions awakens your inside. Of course, there are better ways than that, but this is an emergency. Learn how to sing in this world. Learn how to sing about the thousands of things that you really are enjoying. And once a person gets the attitude of being happy, then all emotional instability will disappear. Emotional instability is nothing but a sign of unhappiness in one form or another. Happiness is the antidote (remedy) for emotional instability! Unless somebody has gone insane. That's a different story.

-- TAPE # 490 (January 1984))

Credit: Toras Avigdor

איך האלט נישט אז ס׳איז כדאי צו פובליצירן די דרשה, אז מ׳זאל טרינקען אלקאהאלישע משקאות כדי צו זיין בשמחה. ס׳איז אפרא הלכה ואין מורין כן.

איך בין א געוואלדיגער חסיד פון דעם קדוש עליון, אבער די עצה פון טרינקען משקה המשכר איז א גרויסע סכנה בגשמיות ורוחניות. כלענ״ד - וידוע דברי הרה״ק הנועם אלימלך זי״ע בענין זה.

ווען איינער איז נעבעך אזוי צובראכן אז נאר דאס העלפט אים, דארף ער דאס טוהן. און אויף דעם זאגט די פסוק ישרים דרכי השם צדיקים ילכו בם

און וועם די דרשה מיינט נישט און נוצט עס עניוועי זאגט די פסוק ופושעים יכשלו בם

דערמאנט מיך פון ר' נחמן'ס מילתא דשטות

[מונאוויטש]

How important is physical exercise, and how should one go about doing it?

The Rambam says physical exercise is important. How to go about doing it? There are various ways. If you have time, I would suggest you should walk every day – fast! – at least a half hour. Not at nighttime in lonesome streets. If you're able to walk a half hour fast, maybe more, and think some of these ideas that we are talking about today, so you won't be wasting time, you'll be thinking in avodas Hashem at the same time.

Walking gives the whole body a certain amount of exertion, and it gives you more muscular power, it helps your digestion, elimination; fresh air is very good for you. So I propose walking, however there may be other ways too, but exercise is important, no question about it.

Adam l'amal youlod, Man was created to work, not to sit, sitting is not healthy. The Gemara says even when you're learning all day long, shlish b'yeshiva, a third siting, shlish b'amida, a third standing, and shlish b'halicha, a third walking.


A Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zt"l #381
To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210

Walking.gif (18.24 KiB) געזען 1797 מאל

[גלייכגילטיג]

What can be done about emotional instability?

There are two kinds of emotional instability. If a person is pashut meshuga, if he's crazy, then he needs special treatment. I can't tell you right now what to do about that. But if a person is still sane but is unstable emotionally, he must practice - he must take himself in hand and practice happiness. The antidote for every kind of emotional disturbance is happiness. You must learn how to be happy in life! It’s so important!

And how do you do that? The first thing, the emergency fix, is to start singing. Sing; not in your heart, sing aloud. If necessary, put a bottle of something on the table. And then take a sip from the bottle and sing. Sing a little more and then another sip. If you can do it without alcohol, good. If not, let it be alcohol. But sip and drink, sip and sing. Once you start singing, then things will start responding within you. You'll be singing inside of you. Ha’chitzoniyos m’oreres es ha’penimiyus, your outward actions awakens your inside. Of course, there are better ways than that, but this is an emergency. Learn how to sing in this world. Learn how to sing about the thousands of things that you really are enjoying. And once a person gets the attitude of being happy, then all emotional instability will disappear. Emotional instability is nothing but a sign of unhappiness in one form or another. Happiness is the antidote (remedy) for emotional instability! Unless somebody has gone insane. That's a different story.

-- TAPE # 490 (January 1984))

Credit: Toras Avigdor

איך האלט נישט אז ס׳איז כדאי צו פובליצירן די דרשה, אז מ׳זאל טרינקען אלקאהאלישע משקאות כדי צו זיין בשמחה. ס׳איז אפרא הלכה ואין מורין כן.

איך בין א געוואלדיגער חסיד פון דעם קדוש עליון, אבער די עצה פון טרינקען משקה המשכר איז א גרויסע סכנה בגשמיות ורוחניות. כלענ״ד - וידוע דברי הרה״ק הנועם אלימלך זי״ע בענין זה.

ווען איינער איז נעבעך אזוי צובראכן אז נאר דאס העלפט אים, דארף ער דאס טוהן. און אויף דעם זאגט די פסוק ישרים דרכי השם צדיקים ילכו בם

און וועם די דרשה מיינט נישט און נוצט עס עניוועי זאגט די פסוק ופושעים יכשלו בם

דערמאנט מיך פון ר' נחמן'ס מילתא דשטות

א בפירוש'ע פסוק אין משלי "תְּנוּ שֵׁכָר לְאוֹבֵד וְיַיִן לְמָרֵי נָפֶשׁ."

עס מיינט ווארשיינליך נישט צו ווערן א שיכור, נאר טרונקען אביסל זיך אויפצולעבן.

[מונאוויטש]

How can a person prevent himself from suffering depression when old age suddenly appears?

Sh'sulim b'veis Hashem[/i], if when you're young you are planted in the bais Hashem - you went to the right places to learn; b'chatzros Elokeinu yafrichu, and you blossomed forth b'chatzros Elokeinu, you were in places where they spoke about the purpose of life, and you learned how to think about the chasdei Hashem, you learned how to appreciate everything - then when you'll get old it's a habit that won't be broken, you'll continue. Od y'nuvun b'seiva, even in old age you'll still produce fruit, d'sheinim v'rananim y'hiyu, it'll be fat and juicy in your old age too.

So the old man now, hobbling with a cane, he's so happy he has a cane, he's happy to hobble. He sees the light, like the Rabbeinu Yonah says, what's the happiness of an old man? He sees the light of the sun. I enjoy the light of the sun! Umosok haor, how sweet is the light of the sun; even that's a happiness! Vtov l'einayim liros es Hashem, it's good to see the sun, so you have to practice up when you're young. If you're sh'sulim b'veis Hashem, then od y'nuvun b'seiva.

If you wait till you're old and you have aches and pains, and then you start thinking, 'how can I learn the happiness of life?' It's a little late. You can still try, but the best thing is to start when you are young.

So practice while you're young and you have everything. That's why it says, l'hagid baboker chasdecho, in the morning, morning means when you're young, v'emunascha baleilos, then when you're old in the nighttime, it still continues. You have to start in the morning, however; in the morning of life you have to start.

So when you're young it's time to practice up; b'yom tov hoyo tov (Koheles 7:14), when it's a good day, practice up being happy on the good days, and b'yom ru'uh, r'ei, and on another day when it's not so good, you'll continue to see the good.


A Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zt"l #380
To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210

זקני תורה.jpg (11.65 KiB) געזען 1788 מאל

[מונאוויטש]

When I tell my little child to thank Hashem for being healthy and having two feet, he looks at me like I just fell off the moon and he laughs. How should I deal with that?

It’s not only your child. When you tell it to your sixty-year-old brother, he’ll also laugh. I’m afraid to say that even some people with long coats and long beards will laugh as well. He might be polite enough not to laugh, but in his heart he’s laughing. In his heart, he’s not thinking about thanking Hashem. Nobody thinks about thanking Hashem! Do you know why? I’ll tell you a secret. They don’t believe in Hashem. Even for the frum Jew, it’s only a word in the siddur. It’s not a reality. If he would have as much emunah in Hashem as he has in his brother in Queens or in Boro Park, believe me, he would be the biggest tzadik in the world.

Our first job – and it’s a big job – is to actually believe in Hashem, to gain an awareness that He’s right here. And then we can think about thanking Him for our health.

So don’t be surprised at your little child. However, don’t give up hope. You keep on talking to your little child and don’t think that he’s not listening. The child might laugh at you, but the words go into his heart. And those seeds of emunah are going to remain there. And someday they might bear beautiful fruit.

-- TAPE # 623

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

The Rav said that we have to be more involved with spiritual matters and try to avoid luxuries. But what are we supposed to do when we go to tzedaka auctions and things like that, where they’re giving away these types of luxurious items?

If you want to be an Olam Haba person and you don’t want to live a luxurious life, then take the item that you win and give it back to the Yeshiva. There’s no rule that you have to accept all the luxuries and use them. You paid for it, you won, and now you can donate it back again. The tzedaka organization can use it to make more money. Give it back – I don’t see the problem.

-- TAPE # 815

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

Someone told me that if I was saved from a perilous situation, my merits are used up. Is that true?

Now, if a man puts himself in danger, if he risks his life, and he happens to be saved, he should know that the Gemara says that he has used up many of his mitzvos. It doesn’t pay. It’s a lot of tefillin. A lot of shemiras Shabbos. It definitely doesn’t pay to put yourself in dangerous situations. If you are a smoker and your lungs are healthy, you should know that it’s costing you a lot [zechusim] of tefillin.

But, if somebody was in danger not because of his own fault, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu rescued him from that danger, then he’s not using up any of his merits – unless he fails to appreciate it. When Hashem does something for us – not only saving us from danger – when He gives you health, He gives you the ability to use your eyes, the ability to walk, to function, and you don’t thank Him for each one of these gifts, then you’re using up all your mitzvos. You have to do something in return. So Hashem says, “Either you thank Me for your eyes, or I’ll take something from you in return.” One of your merits is subtracted from you.

You have to thank Hashem for the fact that you can walk. Boruch Atoh Hashem Hameichin Mitzadei Gaver. He establishes a man’s footsteps. You have to make that blessing every day, but that’s not enough. You have to think about what you’re saying. And you have to think about it all day long. When a man walks in the street and he sees people sitting in wheelchairs who cannot walk, and he doesn’t appreciate the great benefit of walking, the great happiness of locomotion, then Hashem says, “You’re not paying me; I’ll collect from you.” Therefore, if a person thanks Hashem for what he’s getting, then he’s not going to be forced to pay in other ways. And that’s the very great importance of thanking – otherwise, we’re in debt. Very deep debt.

-- TAPE # 776

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

When the rasha is suffering and dying of A I D S, is that a kaparah, an atonement, for him so that he should suffer less in the next world?

It could be. If he would utilize the opportunity to do some teshuva, then of course it would be a kaparah for him. But if he remains an atheist, then nothing will help. He could be suffering the worst forms of torture, but if he has no G-d, then there is no atonement for him at all. There's no such thing as kaparah for a person who doesn't believe in Hashem.

Now, if somebody would come to the hospital and teach him emunah, teach him about Hakodosh Boruch Hu, then he can utilize his last moments. But without that ingredient, without Hashem, there's no such thing as teshuva. Teshuva means to come back to Hashem, not to come back to morality. You have to come back, not to decency, you have to come back to Hashem. Otherwise, it's worthless. And don't let anybody tell you anything different because it's sheker v'chazav, it's totally false.

That's why the greatest of all errors is to forget about Hakodosh Boruch Hu. That's the sin of all sins. The biggest benefit you can give people is to teach them emunah. Emunah is the ingredient that makes a man's life worth living; and it even makes his suffering worth enduring, because he can utilize his suffering, and accomplish coming back to Hashem. And that's the success of yissurim, of suffering. But just to suffer and remain an atheist, that's nothing at all! It's just the beginning of the real suffering that's waiting for him in Gehenim.

-- TAPE # 606 (August 1986)

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

The Torah states, "Before a blind man you should not put a stumbling block", so why does Hashem Himself do it by allowing so many false ideologies to flourish?

Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not obligated to keep the Torah. And His business is to put us to tests. Our business is not to test anybody including ourselves. We ask, al t'vieinu lo lidei nisayon, don't bring us to tests. We run away from tests, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu puts us to tests, and that's our success in this world. If not for the false religions, it wouldn't pay to be a Jew, because everybody would recognize the truth of Judaism, so where do you come in?

Today you are an aristocrat. As you walk through the street, here is a gentile, here is a Mohammedan, here is a Witness, here is an evolutionist; you're an aristocrat. You believe in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, you believe in matan Torah, in brias haolam yesh m'ayin – you'll get reward for that.

What reward would you get if you'll walk let's say through Brownsville or the wilds of Bensonhurst, and everybody around you believes the same thing as you do, so you're nobody.

So it pays for us – it's the best business for us – to have so many different ideologies, and despite them, we are able to withstand all the tests; so that's our success.

A Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zt"l #376
To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210

[מונאוויטש]

Who is a greater sinner, the sinner who learned Torah or the sinner who didn't?

There's no question that the man who learned Torah and disobeys is the greater sinner; no question at all about it. However, I'm going to repeat to you a conversation between a man who today is the mashgiach of Slabodka Yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel and his Rebbe, Rav Avrohom Grodzenski, Zichrono livrocho.

He once asked his Rebbe: "The responsibility of studying Torah is so great, it's fearful for a person if he knows how much will be expected of him the more he learns. It's a very big responsibility if you're a ben Torah."

So his Rebbe said: "A cow has no responsibility; would you choose to be a cow instead of a man?"

Therefore we gladly take the risk; we choose to be men and not cattle. Cattle, if it did wrong things, once it's slaughtered it's finished, it has no responsibility, a man goes into the next world and it's fearful.


A Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zt"l #344
To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210

[מונאוויטש]

Why does the Torah find it important to tell us the story about Avrohom who purchased the property from Efron, where he buried Sarah?

There are a number of lessons we learn there. One lesson is that the cave of Machpelah is a monument, it's a historical testimony to the truthfulness of the Torah. When you are in Chevron and you visit that place, now you know it's venerated by the Arabs as well as by the Jews le'havdil, and always has been. The Jewish nation always knew that place, and it's a monument. Because if Sarah and Avrohom are buried in that kever, if Avrohom buried Sarah in that kever, it means there was an Avrohom and there was a Sarah. It means Avrohom came when he was a stranger to the land, and he bought this, and that's where they were buried, and therefore it's a testimonial to the Torah.

The same is with the grave of Rochel, it's very important for us. The grave of Rochel was mentioned in Bereishis, where Yaakov Avinu erected a monument on Rochel's grave, and in Sefer Shmuel it relates how Shmuel told Shaul Hamelech he's going to meet two men by the grave of Rochel. The grave of Rochel was known to Yirmiyahu Ha'navi, he says Rochel mevakeh al boneha-Rochel is weeping for her children as they were going into exile, and they pass her monument. The grave of Rochel was known to the sages in the Talmud, the grave of Rochel was known in the middle ages, the Ramban visited the grave. Binyomin of Tudila, a traveler from Spain visited the grave. Therefore when Sir Moshe Montefiore came there, he built a beautiful mausoleum over the grave, and that's evidence of our history. If there is a grave of Rochel, then there was a Yaakov Avinu too, and that means our history is corroborated, it's very important for us.

The names of the cities where these things are mentioned, Chevron is right there on the map, that's the Chevron. It's remarkable when people come to Chevron, they say, this is the Chevron where Avrohom Avinu was? Absolutely, it's the same Chevron! You mean to say this city was standing for all those centuries? All those millennia? Absolutely, nobody doubts that. Not only Chevron, there is a town called Nachor in Syria, there's a town called Tiraku, Terach, a town called Pilagu, after Peleg.

The archaeologists have discovered these old names, and these names corroborate our history.


A Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zt"l #344
To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210

[מונאוויטש]

The Rav spoke tonight about learning to love all Jews. What about a tinok shnishba?

Now I have to explain something to you. The question is what about the Jews who are not observant but they are ignorant, they don’t know anything.

Let me explain something to you now. We are not unlimited in our energies. We don’t have an unlimited supply of koiach to expend love on everybody. So let’s first concentrate on our own. Now if you’re a very great man and you already succeeded in loving all the frum Jews; you love all the Satmerer, and all the Lakewooder, all the Bobover, and finally you love everybody; and now you have a little bit left over, so if you want to worry about the tinok sh’nishba, so you’ll worry about it then. But it’ll be a long time before you accomplish that, a very long time till you get there.

And therefore, I say that if you have gasoline in your car, use the gasoline to go to the beis haknesses, to go to the beis medrash to learn, to do your business. But to use that gasoline to go out and do other things that you don’t need, to go to Niagara Falls, that’s the last thing to worry about. First thing is to take care of what’s most necessary.

I know that the liberals love everybody. They say love everybody. Love, love, love! They put on the new U.S. stamps the word "love." What does love mean? I don’t want to say what the word love means according to them. I don’t want to say the teitch of the word love according to them. They love nobody at all except themselves. The liberals don’t love anybody - it’s sheker v’chazav!

But we mean business when we say love. And we know that it’s not true; we don’t love anybody. But we try at least a little bit to love. And that little bit is genuine. And when we achieve a little bit, then it’s worth more than all the fakerei, all the fake love that the gentiles and the liberals speak about all the time.

-- TAPE # 870

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

What advice could I give to a friend of mine who is considering sending his daughter to a co-ed (mixed) yeshiva?

Tell him that he should be like an Irishman or an Italian of forty years ago. Forty years ago there wasn't an Irishman or an Italian who would send his daughter to a co-ed public school. Beyond elementary school, all schools were segregated. If you can still find an old-time public school building, you'll see as follows: Over one entrance, built into the brick, is a sign that says "BOYS." And over the other entrance, built into the brick, is a sign that says "GIRLS." The boys went into the boys' playground for recess time, and the girls went to the girl's playground. That's how it was up to thirteen years old. For high school, there were separate buildings entirely, in different parts of the city.

So we tell him, "Be like that gentile of forty, fifty years ago. That's not too much to expect of you. Or be like a Persian, like Vashti Hamalka, who had a separate party for women. Be like a good decent goy. At least that, we could ask of you." The truth is, the liberal Jews of today, the Modern Orthodox, are far beneath the old-time goyim in very many ways.

-- TAPE # 496 (March 1984)

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

If revenge is such a bad character trait why is it that the Rav speaks so much about punishing criminals and wicked people?

There’s a tape called Kosher Revenge; if you’ll listen to it you’ll find the subject explained at length. But briefly now, I’ll tell you that every instinct in mankind is implanted for a purpose. There is no instinct that is intrinsically wrong. And the instinct for revenge is for the purpose of executing justice. We have to be angry at wrongdoers - not like the liberals who ridicule the idea of the death penalty. They say it’s only relieving our feelings. We must relieve those feelings on the criminals because that’s why Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave us those feelings.

The purpose of revenge is in order that wrongdoers should be punished. We must be angry at wrongdoers! And that’s why it was a very great crime that a certain Orthodox Jewish organization worked hard to get Governor Hugh Carey elected. That Orthodox organization committed a great crime against the Jewish people because the restoration of capital punishment is of the utmost necessity for checking crime. And you should keep in mind that these people, the Orthodox group who fought to have Governor Carey elected, have done a very big disservice to the Jewish people. Because revenge is important and it functions so that we should be angry at criminals and wrongdoers. And when people have atrophied their natural instincts, when they lose that feeling of revenge, that’s when crime flourishes and justice is no longer practiced.

-- TAPE # 256 (November 1978)

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

What about this subject that’s brought up of mixing religion and politics? It’s an accusation lately brought up against Reagan that he’s mixing religion and politics.

And our answer is, we want mixing of religion and politics, because everybody is doing it. If Governor Cuomo went and attended a to'eva banquet to raise money for the to'eva for Political Action, isn't that mixing religion and politics?! Of course it is. That’s his religion. What else is it? Is it public welfare? Is it a benefit for the youth? Is it to make more money for the government? No, it’s religion.

So just as the liberals have their religion of atheism, a religion of hedonism, a religion of corruption, and pornography and breaking down all the values of civilization, so why shouldn’t the President also have religion?

On the contrary, if we see the President speaking about religion, so we might suspect him that he’s trying to get the votes of religious people. And if that’s the case, then he’s getting our votes. Everybody should vote for President Reagan, there’s no question about it. If you didn’t register yet, then this coming Tuesday, the ninth of October is registration day. So go and register, from nine in the morning to nine at night. Find out where in your neighborhood. In this neighborhood it’s on East 8th Street, the public school. Go register and make it your business to vote.

We need your vote; it’s a mitzvah rabba to vote. That’s also one of the things I say that will rise up against a man on the day of judgment. You mean to say you’re going to be lax in this great battle against the forces of evil that are trying to overthrow our civilization? Everybody should vote. I registered already. Everybody should register. It’s your business to register.

We want religion in politics. We want Presidents who believe in a Creator. We want Presidents who believe in values of morality and decency. That’s the only foundation of our society. And therefore, our answer is, if a President speaks religion and makes public pronouncements about it, then he is the man that we’re going to vote for.

-- TAPE # 524 (October 1984)

Credit: Toras Avigdor

[מונאוויטש]

What is something that we can learn from the character of Rav Isaac Sher, zichrono l’vracha, the Rav’s rebbi?

Well, you have to really know a person to judge his character. Rav Isaac Sher was the Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva, the last Rosh Yeshiva of Slabodka before they moved to Eretz Yisroel. He was a man of very great intelligence. Everything he said was logical. And therefore I admire him no end, and I have very many things to say about him. But right now I’ll say this: We can learn from Rav Isaac Sher the importance of learning and understanding the Torah and the Gemara al pi seichel hayashar, in ways that are founded on logic. Seichel hayashar is very important. That was his derech.

It’s called learning through dvarim hamiskablim al haleiv, with ideas that people can grasp and understand. In order to convince people, to teach people, you should talk about dvarim hamiskablim al haleiv, things that are more convincing. Some people like to say sisrei Torah, things that are mysterious, things that we don’t understand. Nothing wrong with that; there are a lot of mysteries in Torah too. But if you want to be effective, you should follow the system of saying dvarim hamiskablim al haleiv.

-- TAPE # 978

Credit: Toras Avigdor

רבי אייזיק שער זצל.jpg (14.42 KiB) געזען 1624 מאל

[מונאוויטש]

Why did Yaakov Avinu merely take the bechora away from Eisav, why didn't he guide him in the right direction, didn't he have opportunities to teach him the truth?

Let me explain something to you: Eisav was the older brother, he was born a minute before Yaakov Avinu, and Yaakov called him adoni, my master, Esav. In those days they respected their older brother; the Gemora says you have to respect your older brother. Eisav wouldn't take any instruction from Yaakov Avinu "my little brother". I know more than he does, I know how to shoot arrows, I know how to catch deer; he's a batlan, he sits all day long in the house and listens to the father's torah, the mother’s torah, shema bni mussar avicha v'al titosh toras imecha. What does he know? Does he know how to climb trees, does he know how to shoot deer? I'm a capable person, and therefore he looked down on Yaakov Avinu, he wouldn't listen to him.

Lo yohav letz hocheiach lo (Mishlei 15:12) the letz doesn't want anybody to criticize him. El chachomim lo yeilech; certainly if Esav would have listened Yaakov surely would have saved his life, saved his neshoma. But Eisav was far away from listening to anybody, he didn't even listen to his parents. Yaakov, at least listened to his parents. Therefore, the man that doesn't want to listen, he thinks he's a chochom, he thinks he's an arum; he's the fool whose life is wasted. It says (Mishlei 17:16) loma zeh mechir byad kesil, why is the price in the hand of a fool, liknos chochma, to buy chochma, vlev ayin, he had no heart, he doesn't understand. Again, loma zeh mechir, why is money in the hands of a fool to buy chochma, vlev ayin, he has no sechel to buy chochma.

It means this, Hashem gives us money, money means He gives us life. He gives us days, and weeks, and months, and years, that's money, that's precious money. The purpose of the money is to acquire chochma. What kind of chochma? All kinds of chochma: chochmas hatorah, chochmas hayirah, chochmas ha'emunah, certainly He wants us to acquire chochmao. If a man, however, is wasting his days and doesn't gain any chochma, so Hashem says loma zeh mechir, why does he need the price, why does he need the money. He doesn't need life, it's a wasted life to let him live longer. But when a man utilizes his life, he utilizes his years, and his months, and his days, and the hours, constantly he's thinking what Hakadosh Baruch Hu is doing for him, constantly he's thinking how he can repay Hashem and serve Him, constantly he's thinking how he can become better and closer to Hashem...

Oh Hashem says, you're busy utilizing this money of life to buy chochma, I'm going to give you more life, and he'll live longer and longer as a result, because he knows how to utilize his life.


A Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zt"l #355
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[מונאוויטש]

The Philistines that robbed the wells, what does that story tell us?

It's a prophecy; our forefathers lived prophecy. They didn't speak prophecy, but they lived the prophecy.

The prophecy was that we would come to countries, and we would invest our efforts to build up those countries, to build up their commerce, industry, and even sciences, but we should know that eventually, it's not for us. The goyim will come and seize it from us. As we did in Germany, in France, and in Spain, and other countries; and finally they expel the Jews, and all their efforts that they expended for their country were lost to them.

And so the Philistines seized the wells that were dug by the Avos, to show us that portent (sign, warning).


A Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zt"l #400
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[מונאוויטש]

Why did the Almighty create a man that he should be eternally dissatisfied?

For a very big purpose. The purpose is that his life shouldn't be wasted. Every creature in this world has been given instincts to carry out its purpose. You put a cow in the field of grass, the cow is not interested in delivering butter and cheese on your table, but it gets busy chewing that grass, producing milk – that's its job. The bee is not interested in supplying you with honey, or in pollinating fruits and flowers for you to enjoy; a bee has an instinct that it has to do this thing. Therefore its purpose in life is to cause the fruits to germinate and to create honey.

Every creature in this world is busy doing what it's supposed to do, and that's why the Almighty did not make them unhappy, because they are carrying out their functions.

Man's function is to produce something else. In order that he should carry out his function, he is given an instinct not to be satisfied; the instinct is to yearn for the Afterlife. Therefore he could never settle down, something will always push him to keep on trying to be better.

Now if he knows how to direct his efforts, he is fortunate. He is going to succeed, and to a very big extent he's going to gain happiness and achievement in this world. If a man will stop wandering around, he'll discover what he's for in this world, to a very big extent he is going to accomplish happiness. But this feeling will never let him rest on his achievements, he'll always strive for more and more, because he has the knowledge in him without him being taught, that this is not his end.

Now, since everything in this world is purposeful, there isn't an instinct in an animal which is useless. Every fly, every bird, has an instinct that's for its benefit, or for carrying out some purpose. And this is the only instinct that we see in all of creation, in the whole universe, that has no other purpose. Except it points to a purpose that man is created not for this life. Because after a man has achieved everything, he has lived a life of accomplishment, then he has to surrender his life. So we ask where was the kindliness here? Could we have been created in a cycle like a horse, a horse doesn't think about anything and it's satisfied with his oats? He's satisfied with a stable where he can sleep, and he's happy. The goat is happy, the homeless alley cat is happy. The cat doesn't have any psychic (mental) problems, a cat does not have any psychosis; it's happy. Dogs are happy. They may be hungry, but they are happy.

Mankind can be stuffed with food and stuffed with money and all luxuries, but he's not happy, and that causes insanity. Insanity in human beings is the result of this drive. I don't say always -- but to a big extent it's a result of unhappiness caused by misdirected drives.

They don't know what they're looking for, and therefore they run in all directions.


A Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zt"l #448
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[מונאוויטש]

What blessing should I bless my daughters on Friday night?

You bless them that they should be like our mothers; like Sara, Rivka, Rochel, v'Leah, you can't find any better blessing than that. If you want to add, nobody is limited, you can add whatever you want. Don't be ashamed to add words when you give blessings. If they are unmarried, bless them that they should get good husbands talmidei chachomim, and you can bless them that they should have many children, and you can bless them also that they should be rich! No harm.

I remember my father-in-law zichrono livrocho, used to add to all the blessings, "and you should be rich too!" He said, "why not?"

A Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zt"l #361
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[SPUSMN]

Is Your Conscience Clear?

Many people never learned halachah properly. When they look back on their lives, their consciences are clear, even though they did many wrong things, because they never learned what to be aware of. One cannot claim to be a servant of Hashem while doing all sorts of wrong things just because he is not aware that they are wrong. He must study and learn the details of what Hashem expects of us.

— Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1

[SPUSMN]

Were You Born Perfect?

You are not pious by nature. It doesn’t say you are not good, but you’re not perfect. Any perfection you acquired is the result of hard work. Most human beings think that they are lucky to have been born with good character. Although they know they didn’t work on their character, they didn’t labor to train themselves, but they’re convinced that they’re good anyhow.

— Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1

[SPUSMN]

How Do You Live Like Hashem’s Servant?

In order to live like a servant of Hashem, you must study how to do it. In order to live decently, you must learn and train yourself. You need a great deal of planning and advice. The Mesillas Yesharim is telling us here that you shouldn’t expect to have any success unless you train yourself.

— Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1

[SPUSMN]

Thinking About Your Tefilos

After Shemoneh Esrei we say, "May it be Your will that the Beis Hamikdash be built speedily in our days.”
What if it doesn’t bother you that there is no Beis Hamikdash? Then you are just saying words. You must think about the Beis Hamikdash when you say these words and long for it. After a period of trying, you will begin to actually feel it.

— Ohr Avigdor Mesillas Yesharim vol. 1

[SPUSMN]

Is the Knowledge of Right and Wrong Intrinsic in You?

Hashem imprinted on human nature a complicated set of instructions about right and wrong, truth and falsehood. And a man's character cannot be happy unless it is in accordance with the instructions that are programmed in his soul.

— The Happiness Within (#E-40)