Listening to Life's messages - part 6

00:00 Behemshech in continuation to the earlier installments where we discussed that one can and needs to derive lessons in life by listening to life's messages and incorporating or internalizing them in one's personal service to the Creator. We now continue with installment number six, elaborating on various messages in life as they were articulated in the previous Rebbes and primarily in the Rebbes' talks and writings. The first professional title which we will discuss this evening is an entrepreneur. The primary goal in any business transaction is the profit that the entrepreneur will derive from it. Nevertheless, there are differences in the nature of people involved in commerce. For some, profit is the only reason for running a business, and the work that it entails is seen as a burden. By contrast, another businessman may find the enterprise itself intrinsically rewarding. Though he also anticipates profits, he enjoys the work for its own sake, even when he must expend considerable time and effort. For this person, the monetary rewards in no way compare to the enjoyment of the labor itself. On a spiritual level, the Torah is the life's work of our soul. A Yid may have several reasons for studying Torah. Besides gaining knowledge on how to lead his life in a Jewish way, he will wrap on an additional reward because Torah study itself is a mitzvah. However, nothing can compare to the deep joy and pleasure to be derived from the very involvement in the study of Torah if one is submerged in it body and soul.

02:19 Going on to the professional title, a life insurance salesman. The Talmud relates that a great teacher once called out, "Who is the man who desires life?" When a crowd was drawn to him, he added the next verse in Tehillim from which he had been quoting, "Guard your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from speaking falsehood." There is one profession which takes the opposite approach, focusing on what will happen if a person does not live long. This is the life insurance salesman. It is a difficult profession which involves the unpleasant task of reminding people that they are not likely to live forever. Most people would rather plan for life than the opposite. A story is told of a man who wanted to write a will living an extremely, leaving, leaving an extremely large sum of money to an institution after his lifetime. He asked the Rebbe Rashab how he should proceed, and the Rebbe answered that he would do better to plan on living a long life and derive pleasure from seeing the charity have the benefit of his gift immediately. What motivates a person to become an insurance agent? The need to make a living, of course. Otherwise, the agent would not disturb the other person by reminding him of unpleasant eventualities. However, the agent believes that he has powers of persuasion which can be used to generate sales. Of course, it is in the best interest of the life insurance company that the buyer of the policy lives for a very long time,

04:24 since the company is only obliged to begin payment after the customer's pay, passing. If the customer is blessed with longevity, both the company and the purchaser of the policy will be happy. The focus on an opposite outcome is all talk, but hopefully will not actually come about. The salesman discusses it only as much as necessary to convince the purchaser to agree to the monthly payments. These same principles apply in the relationship between body and soul. There are two approaches. The Mussar approach is to engage in fasting to kill the animal soul of man with physical self-deprivation, fasting and focusing on his mortality. The second, more preferable approach is similar to the life insurance salesman. His recollection that he will not live forever is only momentary and remains just in speech. It only serves the purpose of extracting the payments, the cooperation of the body in the performance of the commandments. This second approach recognizes the preciousness of the body of a Yid and the importance of maintaining its health for long and good years just As the insurance company wants to see its client's long life. And now, the third professional title, printer. In the early years of printing, until relatively recently, this is a sifre from the Rebbe in 1953, groupings of letters were accumulated on plates, and if the groupings were incorrect, the only solution was to destroy the plates. Later, with the invention of linotype, technical innovation enabled a printer to take sequence of letters and transpose them into new combinations without

06:49 destroying the previous work. According to the writings of the Kabbalah, everything that exists draws its life from the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. From the various combinations of these letters in the 10 sayings by which the world was created, recorded in Breshes, we can find the source of every aspect of creation, both positive and the negative. In previous generations, often the only answer to negativity was to destroy the plates, quote-unquote. However, in recent times, since the revelation of the Baal Shem Tov, the innovations of Hasidism have given us a way to rearrange the letters, converting evil into good. Since the true essence of everything is holiness, in our service to Hashem, we can also reveal the good which exists within the negative and transform it to holiness as well, this being its ultimate purpose. We will, im yirtzeh Hashem, continue in the next installment.