Thinking Talmudist Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Thinking Talmudist podcast.

Good morning, everybody. It is so wonderful to be here in our Thinking Talmudist series. We are going to continue the Talmud in Ta'anit, where the Talmud is going to talk a little bit more about the Rainmaker and the prayers and people who were poor and really incredible stories that are shared here in the Talmud. So we're in 25a in Tractate Ta'anit, and here we go.
Stygmora now tells about the poverty of the Amor Rebbe Lazar ben Padas. Rebbe Lazar ben Padas dechik oleh milsa tuva. He was exceedingly poor. Of ad milsa he once had to bloodlet. Now, people would do that for a number of reasons. People would do that for health reasons. It's healthy for their body to recycle blood, meaning to create new blood. It's a good thing. So to volunteer, to donate blood is a good thing. Do it every once in a while whenever you can. If your doctor says
it's okay, then do it. Follow your doctor's directions. Another thing is that after you do so, you need to wash your hands, right? The Torah tells us, the Halacha tells us, that bloodletting is one of the reasons that a person needs to wash their hands and just like cutting nails is one of the things that require washing of the hands. So if a person were to do that, they used to do it for health reasons.
They used to do it that when someone was sick, their body generating new blood would get rid of all of their ailments. It would get rid of the old blood. So the Talmud now says that after letting blood, he had nothing to eat. So he took a clove of garlic and he put it into his mouth. He became faint and he fell asleep. He probably collapsed. The rabbis came to inquire about him, what's going on. They saw that while he was sleeping, he was crying and
laughing together. Crying and laughing in his sleep. And that a ray of light emanated from his forehead. When he awoke, the rabbi said to him, my time why did you smile and cry while you were sleeping? He said to them, I had a dream in which the Holy One, Hashem, blessed is He, was sitting with me and he said to me, how long will I continue to suffer in this world? And he said to me,
would you like me to turn the world back to the beginning and create it anew? Start all over again. Perhaps you will then be born at a time of abundant food and you won't be poor because Hashem is, what is Hashem saying here? I'm in pain with you. You have to know this, that when we're in pain, Hashem is in pain with us. We're not alone, never. Hashem is in pain with us. Here, our sage, Rabbi Lazar, was in a challenging situation.
Hashem says, I'm there with you and maybe if I recreated the world, you'd be born in a time and a place where you would have abundance and you wouldn't be impoverished like you are. I said before Hashem, you would do all this and still only perhaps maybe my situation would improve. I then said to him, Is what I have lived so far the greater part of my life? Or what I am still destined to live, is that going to be the greater part of my life?
He said to me, what you have already lived is more than what you are still destined to live. If so, I don't want you to turn the world back because I already experienced the worst, now it's only going to be better. I already had my experience. Hashem said back to him, As a reward for you saying, I do not desire to turn back the world, I will give you in the world to come. I'll give you 13 rivers of balsam oil,
as clear as the Euphrates and the Tigris. And you will enjoy them. It's for you to enjoy. I said before Hashem, Rabbi Lazar saying back to Hashem, Will I only get this and nothing else? That's it? That's my reward? Hashem said back to him, Well then, will I give your fellow? Meaning, I can't just take away from somebody else and give it to you. What am I going to give them? Amarali, I said to Hashem, he says, I said back to G-d,
But I ask only the portion that has not been designated to anybody else in the world to come. Hashem flicked me with his finger on my forehead. And he said to me, My son, my arrows have struck you, my arrows, this concludes this account. What does it mean? My arrows have struck you? This was said merely to show the delight that G-d took in Eliezer ben Padas. Hashem was very happy in how he was, number one, accepting his fate,
accepting his judgment. He says, if the worst is already past me, then don't take me. Leave it as is. Leave it as is. Don't start the world over again. But there's something else here going on. He doesn't want to take anybody else's portion. He doesn't want to take anybody else's portion. Maybe somebody else's portion. Maybe, maybe, you know, they have these games where they offer someone a reward, but there's a few other people that are also potentially going to receive that reward if you leave something for them.
I'll give you a million dollars, but there's four other people here. Do you want to take it all or do you want to leave something for them? It's like this game that they make. Well, the truth is, a person has to be sure that they take what is their share. What's their share? A person has to know. Taking what someone else's? Taking someone else's? There's an amazing story that was revealed a few years ago. You know, there's this Craigslist, and you can buy things on Craigslist.
You can buy someone's used elliptical trainer. You can buy someone's desk. You can buy someone's, you can sell cars there. Just be careful for fraud. Right? So either way, this guy, this rabbi in Connecticut buys a desk. He needed a desk for his office. He buys a desk. Lady's selling a desk. Okay. He rents a truck, goes to the lady, pays whatever the price for the desk is, and puts it on the truck. As he brings the desk into his house with turning it over, moving it,
putting it on the door, he hears there's some noise inside the desk. So he pulls out the drawers, puts his hands in, and what comes out shocks him. It's a bundle, a wad of cash. A wad of cash. And what's this wad of cash? $90,000. What do you do? He calls up the person he bought the desk from, this woman, and the rabbi says to this woman, thank you very much for the desk. I love the desk, but is it possible that you left something in that desk?
Because there's something in there that I think you might want. It might be yours. And she said, I can't, I don't remember. I don't remember anything. Turns out that years earlier, she got this money, I guess in his inheritance or some sort, and she hid it behind the drawer so that nobody can find it. And this guy went moving the drawer, moving the thing, and he went and returned it to her. Now everyone made this guy into a hero. So beautiful.
And it is, it's unbelievable. It's incredible. We're very proud as Jewish people that this is the way we act. Not like the people we were mentioning before. We're not proud of that. But the truth is, is that it makes sense that you should return it. But this is what the Torah tells us. The Torah tells us if someone loses an object, you have to go out and find them to return it. Someone drops a pen. It's just a pen. No, it's a big deal.
It's not yours. It belongs to them. You have an obligation to find them, seek them out and return it to them. And this is regarding everything. The things that you may not want, like a pen. I don't need the pen. It's like, and the things you may want. You find that that watch. It's like I've been looking for this watch. It's Hashem sent it to me. You have all the reasons. No, Torah says you have to return it.
You find something, you have to find the owner and return it. So they did a biblical command. Now, is that mitzvah just as a random, as a random question? Did they do a mitzvah that's greater than any other mitzvah? Putting on tzitzit, wearing tefillin is also a mitzvah. And that we do every single day. We don't find objects every day. So we don't know the value of mitzvahs, which is why we have to make every single one precious.
We have to treat each one like it's the most precious mitzvah. Not only the one. Here's the thing. If we found out that putting on a pair of tefillin in the morning, every day, putting it on one time is a greater mitzvah than returning $900,000, not $90,000. Imagine that the putting on tefillin was a greater mitzvah. Would we do it? Oh, everyone wants to be the hero to return the $90,000. That I'm ready to do. But maybe the putting on tefillin is greater.
Maybe keeping one minute of Shabbos, not using our phone, not turning on electricity for the 25 hours of Shabbos. Maybe that's more powerful and more desired by God than returning that $90,000. Right, is there anybody here who wouldn't return it? Of course we'd return it. Of course we'd return it, right? We all would volunteer to be the one to return it. Of course, it's the right thing to do. Why is it the right thing? Because Hashem commands it in the Torah.
Hashem gives us, Hashem tells us what's moral, what's ethical, what's the right thing to do, what's the wrong thing to do. We know it because this is what Hashem puts in the Torah. Even if it's something which is uncomfortable. Even if it's something I really, really wanted. And now I have the opportunity to keep it. But doing an ordinary mitzvah, keeping kosher, I have a desire when I drive by that Burger King, oh, okay, I'm not going to buy the cheeseburger.
Instead, I'm going to go to the kosher restaurant and buy something kosher. Maybe that mitzvah is greater in the eyes of Hashem than $9 million that we return. I will tell you like this, I'll tell you an interesting story. Imagine, and I know many stories like this, where someone made an error in their business deal. And it wasn't their error, it was the other guy's error. They have their lawyer draft up the document, the agreement,
and they left out a lot of money from the deal. And the person realized he's getting a discount, he's getting a bargain, because they forgot to add it in their contract. This is what was agreed on. The right thing to do is to say to them, I looked at the contract, I think you are missing out on some of your funds that you're supposed to get. It's not included here, you should add it. Why would you tell me, and I've had people say,
why would you tell me? I had a story recently. I went to one of these stores, the big box stores, you can do a self-checkout on your phone. It's called Scan and Go, it's a great, great thing. So you scan your items, and you go, you check out, they scan the barcode, and they'll scan a few items, make sure that they were included, random items, and then you go out. So I always double check it, I get to my car,
and I checked out with 11 items, I put the stuff in my car, I count them as I put them in the car, and I see I have 12 items, not 11. So I look, I identify which item it is, and I take the item, go back inside, I scan it again, pay for that item, and then I show the lady the barcode. So the lady looks at me, why are you coming in through the exit, and showing me the barcode?
I scanned the barcode already. I said, no, we forgot one item. Forgot one item, so I'm coming back, I re-scanned it, and here it is, here's the receipt. So she stops the line, and she's looking at me like, are you crazy, you could've just walked out on this, like you're just, nobody knows, nobody would ever know, except who would know? Who would know? Carlos. Hashem would know, right? It's not that I'm trying to be honest with them,
I'm trying to be honest in the eyes of Hashem. And she said to me, thank you for being so honest. Thank you. Okay, the Gemara now returns to the subject of prayers for rain discussed earlier in this Talmud, and relates another story about prayer for rain that was not readily answered. Reb Chama Barchanino gozer ta'aniso. Once Reb Chama Barchanino proclaimed a fast, v'lo asa mitra, and it did not rain from that fast. They tried, they tried to shake up the heavens, didn't work.
Amru le, the people said to him, v'ho Reb Yeshua ben Levi gozer ta'aniso v'asim mitra. They said to Reb Chama Barchanino, you know, Reb Yeshua ben Levi once declared a fast, and it did work. And they accepted, Hashem accepted his prayers, his fast. Amar lehu, so he replied to them, ho ano ho bar leivai. He says, what's the comparison? Here it is I who prays, it's the son of Levi who prays. And he's much greater than me.
And since he's much greater than me, his prayers were heard, mine aren't. Amru le, dinay say, say to him, Reb Yeshua ben Levi, that he should come here. Tell Reb Yeshua ben Levi he should come here. v'nicha v'ndayti, and we will concentrate our minds on prayer. Ef sha de tov rey tzibur leibaihu. Perhaps thereby the people will break the stubbornness of their hearts and repent. v'da'asi le mitre, so that the rain will come. Bon rahmeh v'la'asi mitre, they prayed for mercy,
but rain still did not come. Amar lehu, he said to them, nicha l'chu sheyava imata beshvelenu. Is it agreeable to you that the rain should come in our merits? Amar lehen, they said, yes. We're okay with that. Amar rekiya rekiya kasi ponayich, he said, turns to the heavens, and he says, sky, sky, heavens, heavens, cover your face with clouds. lo ikhsi, and the sky did not become overcast. Amar kamo az in pnei rekiya,
he then declared how brazen is the face of the sky. Ikasi v'asemitra, the sky then became overcast and it began to rain. Okay, so they needed his special powers, his special merits. Now, we have to understand something else, is that the connection between the sages and the generation, the people of the generation, are very real. That means, I'll give you an example. It says that when the righteous die, it's an atonement for the entire generation. Why?
Because they're the holy representatives of the people. If now the people lost their representative, it's an atonement for them. It says the same about children. When children pass away at an unfortunately young age, it's an atonement for the generation because it causes everyone pain. That pain is an atonement. There's a connection there between those who are righteous and the general populace, particularly with our sages. When our sages prayed, if the generation wasn't worthy, it wouldn't help.
So what did he do? He said, would you be okay if it only came on my merits, not on your merits? They said, fine. So then it started raining because perhaps the people were not worthy. For the people, it wasn't going to happen. But in honor of the sage, it was going to happen. But because they're attached, he needed to create a little bit of separation there with their approval so that now his prayers can be accepted.
The Gemara now relates another story about prayer and rain. Levi Gozar Tannis, so we see that Reb Yishua ben Levi once proclaimed the fast and it did not rain. Omar Lefonov, he said before, Hashem, the master of the universe. You went up and sat on high. You are not having mercy on your children. Hashem Yishua. God answered Levi's prayer and it began to rain. But Levi also became lame because he spoke disrespectfully of God. Omar Reb Yishua said,
A person should never cast words of complaint upon the heavens. A person should never cast words of complaint against the heavens. For we see that someone great cast words of complaint against the heavens and he became lame because of it. And who was this? Levi. So the Gemara asks, Was it this act of disrespect that caused him to become lame? And Levi, the Gemara, said, And Levi, the Gemara, said, And Levi, the Gemara, said,
And Levi, the Gemara, said, And Levi, the Gemara, said, But elsewhere we learned that Levi demonstrated bowing in front of Rebbi and he became lame for it. So it was the bowing, not the disrespect for Hashem. Right, this is a clear contradiction. Previously in a different Talmud, it says that he became lame not because he spoke, but because he was bowing in front of Rebbi. So, which one is it? The Talmud over there says
because he bowed in front of Rebbi and over here it says because he spoke words of complaint in front of Hashem. The Gemara answers, said both of these things together caused him to become lame. Now I want to share with you something about this. I want to tell you a story first. I was once, when I was in Israel as a young yeshiva student, I was once introduced to an institution, a yeshiva, that had boys that came from various backgrounds.
Some were extremely secular. Some grew up in semi-religious homes, very, very loosely religious. And the yeshiva would really help them get out of their challenges of life and put them on their feet as good, God-fearing Jews. So I would go there to go teach in that yeshiva. As a yeshiva student myself, I wasn't married yet. I wasn't a rabbi yet. I would go teach there every Thursday night. Now from where my yeshiva was to where this yeshiva was,
was about a 25 minute cab ride in Jerusalem. And the program started at 12 o'clock midnight on Thursday night. A special thing to learn at late at night, Torah. From Thursday night to learn late at night. The Ben Ishchai says that the power of study of on Shabbos is 400 times greater than learning Torah during the week. And our sages add that learning already from Thursday night is already included as part of the Shabbos.
There are many people who stay up all Thursday night to learn Torah. Okay, so I would go there 12 o'clock at night. Now there's no buses at 12 o'clock at night. So the rabbi from the yeshiva told me, I'll pay for your cabs. Take a cab, I'll pay going, I'll pay returning. Okay, now I had a way to go back and forth. So I get to the yeshiva and every week I would need to get a cab back.
Now at night, you can't just call a cab. You have to hail one down. Hail down a cab. This is in some very residential area. It's not like Manhattan where you have cabs going up and down the roads. So by a stroke of luck, not luck, it's the hand of Hashem, a cab stops. And this is a beautiful neshama, a beautiful soul. This cab driver is all excited and he says to me, where are you coming from?
So I said, I'm coming from this yeshiva. He said, what are you doing in this yeshiva? I said, I come here every Thursday night to teach, you know, for an hour, sometimes two or three or four, sometimes at four o'clock in the morning. He says to me, listen to me. I'm a cab driver all day, all night. I would love nothing more than to take you every single week from your yeshiva here and back free on me.
Anytime you need, call me directly. Here's my number. Call me and I will take you to the yeshiva. Well, it's a pretty generous, pretty generous offer. So every once in a while, I would do it if I was really stuck and I couldn't find one. I feel bad. This guy's, this is his livelihood. You know, so one time I was in this cab with him and he says, so how are things going? I said, you know, yeah.
You do the Jewish thing. Well, you know, could be better. Not so great. So the cab driver pulls shortstop onto the side of the road, puts the car in park, turns around to me and he says to me, listen here. If you say that it's not going well, you know what God says? I'll show you what not well is. If you say it's great, you know what God's going to say? You think this is great?
I'll show you what great is. Puts the car in, driving, continues to drive. It was a very powerful lesson. And this is what the Talmud here says. You complain? I'll give you what to complain about. You say that Hashem is doing great things. You think this is great? I'll make it even greater. We have the power to transform the reality around us with our positivity. When you wake up in the morning, we're going to have the doctor,
we'll give a segment about this in a minute. I'm sure. I'm sure he has great things to say about this. When we say that things are great, it becomes great. When we say that things are negative, that things are bad, they become bad. Because we reinforce, we create a reality within ourselves that brings about those powers. The power of good versus the power of not so good. We have the ability to change this. Right, doctor? Positive expectation of outcome.
How does that work, doctor? Oh, oh. So this is what the Mishnah says, mitzvah goreres mitzvah, avere goreres avere. A mitzvah leads to another mitzvah and a sin leads to another sin. Meaning, the positivity breeds more positivity. The negativity breeds more negativity. And this is the reality. This is what we can learn here from this Talmud. Don't complain because complaining is going to lead to more complaining. It's going to lead to more negativity,
more things that are going to be a negative outcome. The positivity, on the other hand, will bring about more positivity because it'll bring you to make better decisions based on that positivity. You know what they say? They say that people who believe that they can accomplish certain things will accomplish it because of their belief. Right, I really can do this now. A person has to be realistic. I'm not going to be swimming and beating Michael Phelps' record
with 25 gold medals in the Olympics, right? I've passed that point in life where I can do that. That doesn't mean that I can't become a great swimmer. That doesn't mean that I can't be competitive. But to expect to be a healthy 23-year-old well-trained Olympic athlete is not realistic at my ripe old age. Yes. So we're going to stop here, my dear friends.

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