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Automatic transcript; may contain mistakes, especially in Hebrew.
This week's question comes from a girl who was on the Nitzotzo Shabbaton. I know you said on the Shabbaton that our hashgafa should be relevant in every decision of our lives, but I feel like I often get excited by things that I know don't matter, like shoes, shopping, etc. How can I make my hashgafa translate into my ma'isim more? Of course, the way we see the world has to impact the decisions that we make, because if we're just being haphazard in our lives, then what's the point? We don't get into a car and randomly drive nowhere. We have a destination, and the same thing is true in our Judaism. We're here on a mission. We're here to build this world into a godly place. And so the way we see the world should inform our actions. However, the game of life involves defense. What makes life amazing is the fact that it's not simple, that it's not an easy thing. If it was easy, anybody could do it. So a game is only great because there's opposition.
And the same thing is true in our lives. We have a nefesh ha-bahamis and we have a nefesh ha-lokis. Each soul has a particular inclination. The inclination of the nefesh ha-lokis is to build this world into a godly place. But the inclination of the nefesh ha-bahamis is self-preservation. And self-preservation means that it wants to feel alive. You see, the nefesh ha-bahamis knows that it's going to die. And since it knows that it's going to die, it does anything it can to feel alive. And so all of our negative pleasures, taivas in our life, they come from the nefesh ha-bahamis. Arrogance, laziness, depression, scoffing, all of these things come from the nefesh ha-bahamis. It feels good to go shopping and to purchase something for ourselves. Now, that could be a godly activity, or it could just be a human activity. The godly soul says, if we're buying shoes, let's buy shoes that enhance the dignity of our person.
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Buy shoes for Shabbos, for example. And that could be a very holy activity. But when we get involved in pleasure for the sake of pleasure, that's the nefesh abahamas. Nefesh abahamas, consciousness and mindfulness, is the only way to live a purposeful life. We're going to be alive every day, God willing. But we're going to live a particular type of life, depending on how focused we are. So, of course, most of us are going through life, and we're doing our best. The reality is that the nefesh abahamas is oppositional to the nefesh alukis. And the nefesh abahamas is very, very important. Because without a physical animal soul, how could we survive? How could we serve God in this world? And yet we have to make sure that the Nefesh HaBahamas doesn't dominate our life. Because what happens is we'll get stuck in everyday mundane life and we'll lose focus. So the only way to retain focus is to remain mindful. And in my opinion, the only way to remain mindful is by learning and davening. At the end of the day, a person who davens is doing so because they're trying to create a particular consciousness for the day.
We start off our day with Shachris. We see the world through the lens of godliness. We remind ourselves of that by Mincha. And we finish off our day with Ma'ariv. That creates consciousness. And secondly, learning Torah imbues a person with a godly way of seeing the world. A person has to make sure to go to Shiurim. A person has to make sure to learn Sfarim. Again, as we get older and life becomes more busy, it's difficult to do these things. But we have to make the time. it's like stephen covey says in seven habits if you're chopping down a tree you have to make. sure your axe is sharp because if your axe is not sharp you're working twice as hard as you need to be and it's the same thing when it comes to judaism as we get older in life the learning becomes more important yes we have less time but we need to stay focused today thank god we have so many programs for women that are offering opportunities for continued learning, Shabbos shiurim and the like are a really amazing way of using your Shabbos afternoon. And your husbands can give you a break.
I know that today that's maybe not the most popular thing to say, but the truth of the matter is, the husbands have a tremendous amount of time, dafyomis during the week, they're constantly running to minyanim, there's nothing wrong with a husband giving his wife time on Shabbos to go hear shiurim. Yes, the Torah of a husband is definitely a schus for the woman, and there's no question that by enabling her husband to go learn, she partakes in that schus, and that should create also an avirah of mindfulness, but it's important for women to learn as well. And if that means that the husband has to learn in the house on Shabbos afternoon, or take care of the kids, it's not the worst thing in the world. So to summarize, the nefesh abrahamis is our opposition. It's part of the game. Don't get frustrated with the nefesh abrahamis. That's what it's there to do, it's there to create the opposition. By being the opposition, it creates the challenge that we can... then overcome and transcend and bring godliness into the world. But we get lost because the nafsha bahamas is so prevalent because the physical surrounds us everywhere we go. And so the only. response to that is mindfulness and consciousness. We do that by davening and learning and making sure that we see the world through the prism of godliness.
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