Thinking Talmudist Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:03 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Thinking Talmudist Podcast.

00:13 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody. Welcome back to the thinking talmudist podcast. I apologize to our listeners online. Our previous uh uh broadcast, uh, the the microphone plug was disconnected, so when it's not connected it doesn't work. But we are very grateful that it works right now and that we are live and able to share Torah with our dear friends on the interwebs. Okay, now we are going to continue.

00:38
The Talmud of Bab Mitzia, that was talking about the beauty of Rabi Yochanan. So the Gemara says as follows this is 84a in Tractate Baba Metziah. The Gemara turns to the discussion of beauty. Rabbi Yochanan said I alone remain from the beautiful people of Jerusalem. What does this mean? The Gemara discusses Rabbi Yochanan's beauty. Haiman, the boy of Mechazeh, he who wishes to witness Shufra to Rabbi Yochanan, the radiance of Rabbi Yochanan, should do the following Naysi kosa de kaspa mi be silki. He should bring a silver goblet fresh from the silversmith. So he would go to this brand new goblet it was sparkling, glowing, vibrant silver and fill it with the seed of red pomegranates and frame its rim with a crown of red roses and place it between the sun and the shade. That luster that reflects on the surrounding ground was a little semblance of Rabbi Yochanan's radiance. Okay, so if you take that silver goblet, which is brand new, was a little semblance of Rebbe Yochanan's radiance. Okay, so if you take that silver goblet, which is brand new, you filled it up with the little seeds of the pomegranate and then cap it with roses and then you placed it between the sun and the shade, that beauty that would glow from it is a little semblance of the beauty of Rabbi Yochanan. Okay, just a little bit of an idea of how beautiful Rabbi Yochanan was.

03:02
The Gemara questions this. Eini. Is this indeed so, v'amar Amar? Didn't the Master say Shufa de Rav Kahana, that the radiance of Rav Kahana, me'en? Shufa de Rav Avoh was a semblance of the radiance of Rav Avoh? Shufa de Rav Avoh, that the radiance of Rav Avoh was a semblance of the radiance of our forefather Jacob and the radiance of Yaakov, our forefather, was a semblance of the radiance of Adam, the first man. And we don't see any mention of Rabbi Yochanan. So what are you telling me? That Rabbi Yochanan was such a radiant, gorgeous individual? The Gemara answers Rabbi Yochanan was different than all of these individuals that you mentioned. He lacked the distinction of the countenance, meaning he didn't have a beard. He didn't have a beard? He didn't have a beard, his face was glowing and he was beardless. So what does this mean?

04:13
The Gemara explains a little bit more about Rebbe Yochanan. Rebbe Yochanan was accustomed to sit next to the entrance of the women's mikvah, was accustomed to sit next to the entrance of the women's mikvah. And the Talmud explains a very, very important thing that the thoughts of the parents at the time that they unite is a determining factor in the nature of the child that is conceived. When would a husband and wife get together After the mikvah, like we mentioned previously, those stories of the mik that is conceived? When would a husband and wife get together After the mikvah, like we mentioned previously, those stories of the mikvah After the wife goes to the mikvah, the husband and wife would be together and potentially conceive. The thoughts that the parents have at the time of conception are a determining factor into the nature of the child. Much as Jacob influenced the traits of the sheep to be born by placing streaked rods before the parent sheep, so he put the streaked rods. And then what happened to the children? They were streaked because of the thoughts of what was going on in their minds, so to speak, at the time, of what was going on in their minds, so to speak, at the time of conception. So Rebbe Yochanan would sit at the doorway of, at the entrance of the women's mikvah, and he explained Ki solkan b'nai sisrol mitfilas mitzvah.

05:38
When the women would emerge, when the Jewish women would emerge from their required immersion, from what the Torah commands is a woman's obligation, they would encounter me on their way out and they would retain the image of me in their mind so that they would have beautiful children like me and as learned and as learned of the Torah as I am so, just as I am so beautiful and just as I am so learned. Like this, they're children that will be conceived tonight from these women who would come home to their husbands and now, being fresh out of the mikvah, would cohabitate with their husbands. This image of Rabbi Yochanan would be sort of on their mind and therefore they would have beautiful children and it would also influence that these children be righteous, learned torah scholars, like rabbi. So the what's that? No, it's not haughty, it's, it's, it's a sense of responsibility, of understanding that this is the thing is that he wasn't saying hey, look at me, he was taking a responsibility. He says look, hashem gave me a gift. I have to utilize that gift. I have to maximize it. He wasn't doing it to. I guarantee you that Rabbi Yochanan had better things to do than to sit by the mikvah Right, but he felt that it was his responsibility to.

07:17
For a person to know, my grandfather would always say for a person to know their virtues is not arrogance, it's an obligation. It's an obligation. It's an obligation. Hashem gives us a gift. You have to know what your gift is, not to say well, I don't want to be old hardy. What do you mean? You have an obligation. Hashem gave you a gift. You have to maximize it. Obligation Hashem gave you a gift. You have to maximize it. It's like imagine someone who doesn't know that they have wealth, right. So if someone doesn't know they have wealth, they don't know that they have charity they can give. Is it arrogant for me to know what's in my bank account? No, it's an obligation. Our lockbox is our character traits. You have to know what's in that lockbox so that you can do something with it. Here he knew what was in his lockbox. He says I have an obligation, an obligation to infuse inspiration to other people.

08:21
Now there's a whole other discussion, which we can do offline, about whether or not it's appropriate for a couple who's together to have thoughts elsewhere. The thoughts should be in that union, not to be thinking of other thoughts. But still we see that there is an influence, that's a very positive influence, that Rabbi Yochanan was trying to infuse Amar Lir Abon and the the rabbi said to him Lo mistefei, mar me'eina, bisha is the master, not fearful of the evil eye. Because we know that a public exhibition of anything, of beauty, of riches, you flaunt, your jewelry, it's putting an evil eye. You don't want that evil eye to be affected by someone coveting what you have. It attracts the evil eye. Evil eye is a real thing. We don't want it, which is why you see people come back from Israel and they have the red string around their hand.

09:21
Or in Israel, by the way, there used to be an old Jerusalem custom is that when a baby was beautiful, nobody would say that the baby was beautiful. They would say phew, what an ugly baby. Right? Why would they say that? So that the evil eye doesn't come upon the child. And that was the compliment. The compliment that they would give is they would say poo, poo, poo. You ever hear that right, what's that? It they would give is? They would say poo, poo, poo. You ever hear that right, what's that? It's like ugh, disgusting. Disgusting meaning beautiful. But they didn't want to say beautiful. They didn't want to say beautiful to bring upon an evil eye on the child. So they said to Rabbi Yochanan aren't you concerned of an evil eye? Amaluhu? Rabbi Yochanan replied to them Onamizar de Y, I am from the seed of Joseph, I'm from the tribe of Joseph.

10:14
A charming son. Is Joseph A charming son to the eye? Upon the eye, the Amir Rabbov would say Do not pronounce it, alei ayin. Upon the eye, amr Rabavot. And Rabavot would say al tikri, alei ayin, ela, olei ayin. Do not pronounce it alei ayin, but rather olei ayin.

10:31
Rising over the eye, meaning above the evil eye of the onlookers, of people who might covet or be jealous. That was, yosef had a tremendous power and Yosef was, by the way, considered extremely handsome, he was extremely good looking. But Yosef was above that. He had a. There's a certain power that was given to Yosef, as proclaimed by Jacob in the Torah. It is blessing to Yosef Alei ein, olei ein. He is elevated above the evil eye.

11:07
Rabbi Yosef Barchanina. Amar H eye. Rabbi Yosef Barchanina says he brings a different scripture. And may they, the children of Joseph, proliferate abundantly like fish within the land, just as the fish in the sea that the water covers them within the land, ma'adagim sheba yam, just as the fish in the sea that mayim achasim osam, that the water covers them. Ve'ein ha'ayin sheletes bohem. And the eye has no power over them because they're underwater. You don't see the fish. So too, av zarosh al yosef. So too, it is true regarding the progeny of Joseph ein ha'ayin sheletes bo. It is true regarding the progeny of Joseph, that the evil eye has no power over them. So here is the Talmud. Here concludes teaching us that number one.

11:56
A couple of things. You know, the whole idea of the evil eye is something that we need to take serious consideration of. We need to understand that it's not a good thing for us to flaunt our riches. It's not a good thing for us to, you know, even to share about. You went on, you had a good vacation. You don't need to tell everybody. Not everyone is able to afford it, not everyone is going to be so happy for you. They may say oh, wow, you went to Disneyland with your children. Great, that's great. They turn around they're like, oh, I wish I could afford that. It's so terrible and it's important for us to be cognizant of the impact of the things that we share with others that it'll have on them. It could put stress in their lives. It could put stress on their relationships both with their children, with their spouse. Look, look at them, look at the car they drive. Why do I drive such an old car? These are real things, by the way, in our generation, and people think many times well, I can finance it, so it's fine. And really they can't afford it and it causes tremendous, tremendous stress on other people. That's a responsibility that we should all have to think about the impact it's going to have on others.

13:04
I remember my father many, many years ago. He always dreamt of buying the Lincoln Town car. Remember that long Lincoln Town car? He loved it. It was like royalty. It was like that was the car that the rich man had. My father never bought it. He bought instead a Toyota Camry. I don't like. I remember asking my father like to go to Camry and you can afford the Lincoln Town Car. He said the Lincoln Town Car will make when the neighbors jealous nobody's looking at the Toyota Camry saying, oh, I have to get that right, the Lincoln Town Car. The neighbors gonna go say, oh, maybe I should get the Lincoln Town Car and maybe they can't afford it. He says I don't want that responsibility that someone else will do something or cause a bad eye. I'll share with you another thing about that.

13:54
On said Toyota Camry, remember, it was brand spanking new. I remember it. This is 1987. 1987, my father got this. Oh, no, 89. I apologize, 1989.

14:09
And my father got this brand new Toyota Camry. We were so excited, his children, a brand new car. It was like wow. And my uncle came to visit and he asked he just wanted to run us a quick errand. And he came back and the corner light, the blinker light, the glass was broken and my father, till the day he sold that car, never fixed that glass. Why not? It's a brand new car.

14:37
It's like a sore eye. It's like you're looking at this beautiful new car and it has a broken glass. You know the light worked, the blinker worked, but it had the broken glass, so why did you fix it? Ein hara, the evil eye, takes away the evil eye, right? Nobody's going to look at this car now and say like, ooh, and that's like. It's like like it hurts a little to see it. Like you know, just just fix the light. No, no, no one's going to be jealous of it. Now, right, and to remember that, to remember that responsibility also for others you make an over-the-top wedding. How many people are going to leave that wedding being jealous, saying, oh you know, that's the way we need to make weddings for our children, or a bar mitzvah, or a kiddush and shul or whatever it is you have? The person has to consider what's the impact going to be for others, and I know many people who could afford to buy the airline that they're flying with and they sit and coach, they sit and coach. They can literally buy the airline, sat and coach.

15:46
I heard this from a friend of mine of blessed memory, marvy Finger, and he told me that one of his mentors one of his mentors when he said when he was young, he was like in his 20s, he was flying from and he said that he saw coming walking down the aisle was his mentor in coach. He said what are you doing here? You should be in first class. You can afford it. You own half the city of Houston. You know what he said I don't need to. Why should I waste money? We both end up getting to the same place, careful about everything. It's an important perspective and he told me, marvi told me. He said I still fly, coach, because of that he could afford it. May his memory be blessed. My dear friends have an amazing Shabbos. Thank you so much.

16:38 - Intro (Announcement)
You've been listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe on a podcast produced by TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. Please help sponsor an episode so we can continue to produce more quality Jewish content for our listeners around the globe. Please visit torchweb.org to donate and partner with us on this incredible endeavor.