Benjamin Franklin Sparks a Global Jewish Spiritual Movement

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My name is Geoffrey Stern, and at Madlik, we light a spark or shed some light on a Jewish
text or tradition.

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Along with Rabbi Adam Mintz, we host Madlik Disruptive Torah on your favorite podcast
platform and now on YouTube and Substack.

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We also publish a source sheet on Sefaria, and a link is included in the show notes.

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This week’s parsha is Vayera.

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We’ll begin with Abraham and Sarah running and rushing to welcome their guests.

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And follow that urgency through the Mussar tradition and into Franklin’s art of
self-improvement.

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So join us: Abraham, Master of Mussar and Industry.

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Well, Rabbi, another week brings another surprise.

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I had never known that Franklin was involved with the Mussar movement, and we are going to
find that trail, and it’s pretty, pretty, pretty strong.

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But anyway, let’s go to the parsha.

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We are in Vayera. We’re in Genesis 18:1, and it says, “And God appeared,” Vayera, which is
why the parsha is named Vayera.

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It comes from the word to see.

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Vayera: “He appeared to him in the terebinths of Mamre.”

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He, meaning Abraham, was sitting at the entrance of the tent as the day grew hot.

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Looking up, he saw three figures standing near him.

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As soon as he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them, and bowing to
the ground, he said, “My lords, if it please you, do not go on past your servant.”

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Let a little water be brought, bathe your feet, and recline under the tree.

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“Let me fetch a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves.”

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Then go on, seeing that you have come your servant’s way.

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They replied, “Do as you have said.”

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Verse six.

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Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick, three seahs of choice flour! Knead
and make cakes.”

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So we’re going to focus on—there’s a lot of activity here.

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He’s sitting, it’s calm, it’s quiet, he’s observing, he’s looking.

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All of a sudden he stands up like a new customer is coming into his booth.

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And he runs out, he bows down, he greets them, but then the real word is “Vayemaher
Avraham.”

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He hastened to the tent and he says to Sarah, “Vayemaher, vayomer mahari.” He says, “Quick,
bring these cakes.”

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So instead of going through all the classical commentaries, we are going to start at the end
first.

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So the second I read this, I said, somewhere in my mind, there’s

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gotta be some Mussar scholar who looks at this and says, “The lesson here is about zerizut,
zerizim makdimim.”

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Get up early in the morning and go get them.

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Because I knew that that was the kind of thing, as I said in the intro, that we would spend
a month on in the yeshiva.

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We used to have va’adim. They were at midnight with Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, and we would work on
one simple thing, and it could be

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just a concept as simple as zerizut, as zealousness.

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It had to be at midnight!

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So because you need focus and quiet outside.

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So the first scholar that we’re going to read is Rav Yerucham Halevi.

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This actually, if you go to Wikipedia, it has a nice list of students.

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One of the students is Shlomo Wolbe.

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So I might have actually heard this through the mouth

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of Rav Yerucham’s student himself, Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, but he looks at these verses the way
a mussarnik would look.

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And he says, quoting the verse, “He lifted his eyes and saw, and he ran.”

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Says Rav Yerucham, “Abraham hurried to the tent of Sarah and said, ‘Quick, three measures of
fine flour.'”

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Then Abraham ran to the cattle and so on.

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He gave the food to the servant who hurried to prepare it.

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This is the real point, says Rav Yerucham.

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“He hurried” is the most important part.

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“Quick, three measures of fine flour.”

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The “quick” matters more than the three measures of flour, says Rav Yerucham.

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Now, quoting another great mussarnik, the Saba of Kelm, of blessed memory, used to make a
point about the blessing to engage in words of Torah.

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La’asok bedivrei Torah.

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Torah should become

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for a person, an esek, a business, a serious occupation like a business.

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In business, says Yerucham, when a customer comes into a shop, especially a valued customer
who brings in a lot of profit, everybody gets to their feet to welcome him, serves

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him, and do what he wants.

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In Abraham’s house, whenever a guest came in, everyone in the household got to their feet.

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They all ran around with him because they understood the great opportunity

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the guest brought with him.

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This is the secret of running and returning, running toward God.

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He goes on.

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Rabbi Eliezer said, and this is a quote from the Talmud, “In all my days no one ever arrived
at the study hall before me.”

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Yet once I got up early and found the dung carriers and straw gatherers already there.

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I said, “If you seek her like silver and search for her like hidden treasures, then you will
understand the fear of the Lord.”

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We are not even dung carriers or straw gatherers.

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He’s looking at the lowest of the low menial laborers, and he’s saying they have more
gumption, they have more zeal than me.

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I thought I was getting up early, I was the first clocking in to work.

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But here we have these menial laborers are there already.

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He says no one knows how to measure the importance of getting an early start on a mitzvah.

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Getting up a little earlier to go into the synagogue for prayer, or arriving a few minutes
before the study session begins.

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Perhaps all a person’s happiness and success come more from getting there early than from
the act itself.

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A person may perform many very great deeds yet lose the whole dynamic of r”unning and
returning”, he says in quotations, which is the condition and the purpose of all divine

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service.

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So I was struck by, first of all, the two business associations.

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When he talks about the Saba of Kelm, he talks about a businessman in his shop.

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When he brings from Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Eliezer is looking at these menial laborers.

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And then when he says at the end, perhaps all a person’s happiness and success, Rabbi, this
sounds more like self-help.

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This sounds more like a business

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journal, like, you know, influence people and make friends, and Fast and Slow.

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These are advices from being observant, from looking around, and yes, bringing them into how
we study Torah.

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But from the second I read it, I felt a taste of the Mussar movement.

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And we’re going to explore these analogies that seem to crop up all the time to business, to
esek.

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We’re also going to focus a little bit on—it’s bigger than just Torah.

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It’s happiness and success comes more.

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What is your experience with Mussar?

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Have you had this type of experience studying Mussar in this way before?

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So, first of all,

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there was a huge debate whether Mussar should be incorporated into the regular study.

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So you went to a yeshiva where really the main rabbinic character in the yeshiva was a
mussarnik.

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So Mussar played a very important role.

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The other tradition, the kind of more Lithuanian tradition, they always said that Mussar was
like medicine.

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If you’re sick.

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It makes you better.

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But if you’re better, it makes you sick!

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So, first of all, that’s interesting about Mussar.

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But there’s no question that for those who embraced, like Rabbi Wolbe, who embraced Mussar,
Mussar became really the foundation stone upon which everything else was based.

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And what they always wanted to do is go back to the stories in the Torah and see if you
could

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find a basis for these Mussar traditions.

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So what you’ve chosen is very traditional in the Mussar world, which makes it fantastic.

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Great.

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So what we’re gonna do, we started with a very late mussarnik, and now we’re gonna go back
because it’s kind of like BC and AC.

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There’s before Rabbi Israel Salanter.

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And after, because he did not invent these texts.

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In fact, everybody who studies Mussar is studying older texts, Mesilat Yesharim and others
that Rabbi Israel recommended, but they came way before.

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So we’re going to take this trip that I promised.

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We’re going to start in Middle Age Germany, a book called Orchot Tzadikim.

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and in that it says as follows.

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And again, we’re diving deep into this concept of zeal.

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So, Sha’ar ha-Chamishah Asar, Sha’ar ha-Zerizut.

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We are looking in the 15th chapter on zeal.

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And this is the type of things that a Mussar book would do.

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Zeal for the Torah and the commandments is a great quality.

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And so is zeal that aims to make a better world.

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I love that.

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It’s both Torah and a better world.

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And it is a quality of the righteous in the service of the Creator, may He be blessed.

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Our sages of blessed memory said, the zealous are early to perform their religious duties.

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That comes from the Talmud: “Zerizim makdimim lemitzvot.”

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That is a key operating phrase here.

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Concerning Abraham, our father, in the account of the sacrifice of Isaac—so they don’t
use—the first proof text does not come from our parsha.

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It comes from the famous parsha of the sacrifice of Isaac.

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And Abraham rose in the morning.

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Even though it was difficult for him to offer up his only son, he nevertheless did the will
of the Creator with zeal, with zerizut, arising early in the morning.

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He who performs his deeds with zeal demonstrates convincingly that he loves his Creator as a
servant who loves his master and hastens to do his will.

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Now we’re gonna dive just a little bit deeper.

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For zeal depends upon the heart of a man as when a man cleanses his heart of all other
thoughts.

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So when you get zealous about something, when you jump to action, you automatically cleanse
your heart of other intentionality.

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The adrenaline begins.

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And clings to one thought only, then he makes himself alert and will no doubt succeed.

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Now he’s even gonna make the argument that it was zerizut that helped Abraham get through
this test,

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because it made him focus on the challenge at hand and not think about his relationship with
his son, his family, and all that.

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But I want to stop here because again, it’s typical of the mussarniks that they will now
spend a day on thinking about how zealousness clarifies one’s thoughts, how zealousness

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focuses one’s attention.

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He goes on.

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Now you ought to remember the things that men tend to be lazy about.

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So the opposite thing of zealousness is laziness.

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And if you must look up something in a book and you do not know where to find it, you must
be quick to go and to ask someone who is familiar with the subject.

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If a poor man comes to your house to ask for bread, do not say I cannot go and get the
bread, but go quickly and bring it.

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So here now it’s seizing the opportunity.

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If I’m reading a book and I have a question, I’ll say, you know what, I’m gonna see Adam
tomorrow, I’ll ask him then.

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That doesn’t cut it.

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The idea of being zealous is to grab it when it is fresh and go for it.

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Again, another aspect of what zerizut can mean.

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So the next chapter, he goes, “The general rule in this matter is that a man should examine
himself and ask himself which sin he does customarily.”

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Again, he’s starting to focus the difference between zerizut and atzlut, which is laziness,
but also custom, because when you do something with zeal, you’re outside of your custom

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zone.

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and he should hasten to set up fences in order to take care to cease committing that
particular transgression.

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He should also examine himself as to which commandment of God he is lax in.

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For example, an idler, adam batlan.

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So we always think of bittul Torah as not studying Torah.

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Here we’re looking at the Batlan from a different perspective.

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Someone who’s not doing anything.

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He’s not moving in any direction.

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He should understand right off that his idleness is a result of his being concerned with
idle things.

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He who attaches himself to idle things will obviously reject Torah and prayer and all that
is good.

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Again, Mussar doesn’t focus directly on Torah and prayer.

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It’s focusing on the human being who is expected to read, study Torah and do prayer.

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It’s trying to change the essence of our behavior.

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Such a man should depart from people who waste time in idle talk, and he should not be their
companion.

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This will be a cure for his illness.

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And he says, and for all these zeal is required.

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For if he is too lazy to root out these evil qualities, then they will become fixed in his
heart so firmly that he will be unable to uproot them.

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He should be alert to seek peace and to pursue it.

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Rodef shalom.

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Again, it’s this running, it’s running after.

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So again, this idea of zeal is not always just to do something.

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It’s, as we saw with the Akedah, to cleanse one’s thought, to focus.

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It’s as we see here, not to be idle, to be moving, to be energized, to be constantly
reacting.

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Your thoughts till now, Rabbi?

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So I’m most interested in the idea of being an adam batlan.

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Because you talked about bittul Torah.

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Bittul Torah is in the moment.

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You don’t study Torah.

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Adam batlan—batlan is a description of the person.

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He’s an idler.

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He’s batel all the time.

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He doesn’t do anything.

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In the eyes of Jewish tradition, of the mussarniks, but of Jewish tradition, there’s nothing
worse than being idle.

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In a weird way, Geoffrey, it’s better to do bad things than it is to do nothing.

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Interesting.

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Interesting.

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And we’re gonna touch upon that too.

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And now a word from our sponsor.

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And now back to our podcast.

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00:17:53,292 –> 00:17:57,024
So let’s continue with this older text, Orchot Tzadikim.

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He says, Rabbi Yehuda, the son of Tema, said, Be bold as a lion, light as an eagle, fast as
a deer, mighty as a lion, to do the will of your father in heaven.

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That comes from Pirkei Avot.

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See how they warn, meaning the rabbis, that one make himself light and strong in order to
fulfill the commandments.

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So this is not only act, but building up the muscle memory

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to act.

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00:18:21,343 –> 00:18:26,105
Thus did David say, I made haste and delayed not to observe thy commandments.

213
00:18:26,105 –> 00:18:30,768
Thus did our rabbis expound, and ye shall observe the matzot.

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00:18:30,768 –> 00:18:32,529
That’s what it says in Exodus.

215
00:18:32,529 –> 00:18:39,592
The rabbis said, “Do not read it as matzot, unleavened bread, but read it as mitzvot.”

216
00:18:39,592 –> 00:18:43,106
So it says, you shall observe the mitzvot.

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00:18:43,106 –> 00:18:47,309
That they shouldn’t become chametz, that they shouldn’t sour.

218
00:18:47,309 –> 00:18:49,971
That gets back to what we were saying before.

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00:18:49,971 –> 00:18:55,335
You’ve got to have the clock running and ticking, as when we make matzot.

220
00:18:55,335 –> 00:19:02,219
Meaning, if an opportunity comes to you to do a good deed, do not let it grow stale, but do
it at once.

221
00:19:02,219 –> 00:19:06,682
And this comes from the Rabbi Ishmael.

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00:19:06,682 –> 00:19:12,232
So he goes on and he says as follows, in twelve:

223
00:19:12,232 –> 00:19:18,926
Even though zeal is a very good quality, one must be careful not to work too quickly.

224
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For one who rides quickly is liable to stumble, and one who runs quickly may fall.

225
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It is not wise to attempt to repair anything in haste, but rather with deliberation.

226
00:19:29,652 –> 00:19:32,193
So now he’s turning it and turning it.

227
00:19:32,193 –> 00:19:36,476
He’s looking at zeal can be good, but it can also be bad.

228
00:19:36,476 –> 00:19:40,608
And thus said our teachers: be deliberate in judgment.

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00:19:40,608 –> 00:19:42,679
So it’s nuanced.

230
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And zeal means that one’s heart must be stirred and one’s thoughts aroused and one’s limbs
must be light for one’s work, but one ought not to be hasty in any manner.

231
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All of these matters require great wisdom as to when to hurry and when to tarry.

232
00:20:01,030 –> 00:20:08,810
So again, he’s nuancing zeal. The way I look at it is a runner

233
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who’s focused.

234
00:20:09,731 –> 00:20:11,042
The adrenaline is going.

235
00:20:11,042 –> 00:20:12,333
He’s in the starting block.

236
00:20:12,333 –> 00:20:15,395
He’s not doing anything without thought.

237
00:20:15,395 –> 00:20:17,417
All of his activities are thoughtful.

238
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Do not confuse zeal with being not deliberate, without being focused and conscious.

239
00:20:25,883 –> 00:20:28,044
You can see it’s growing.

240
00:20:28,044 –> 00:20:32,848
We’re getting deeper and deeper into it. Well, that’s the way they always do it, right?

241
00:20:32,848 –> 00:20:35,129
It gets, in a sense, more complex.

242
00:20:35,129 –> 00:20:36,530
Okay, this is great.

243
00:20:36,736 –> 00:20:48,137
And finally he ends up, because I am gonna go and make a big deal, starting with Yerucham,
they all seem to bring this into our everyday life, not just Torah and prayer.

244
00:20:48,137 –> 00:20:57,804
And it says in 13, just as a man must be quick in the matter of the Torah, so should he be
quick in the matters of this world and be alert in his work.

245
00:20:57,804 –> 00:21:02,217
Great success is in store for him who does his work with alertness.

246
00:21:02,217 –> 00:21:12,134
Therefore, son of man, be alert in what concerns both worlds, and be quick in your work
which is needed for this world, in order that you will soon be free to do the work of

247
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heaven.

248
00:21:12,745 –> 00:21:14,636
So again, it’s important.

249
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That this affects every aspect of your life.

250
00:21:17,827 –> 00:21:26,970
And Rabbi, one of the things that I thought to myself is, what does an unemployed yeshiva
student who knows nothing about business, how does he read all these texts?

251
00:21:26,970 –> 00:21:37,580
Because at the end of the day, all of their nimshal, all of their analogues are in the
business world of commerce, of building things, of makers.

252
00:21:37,580 –> 00:21:44,037
You should be involved in the elections in Israel, because this is what they’re arguing
about, whether the yeshiva boy should go to work or not.

253
00:21:44,037 –> 00:21:44,727
So here you go.

254
00:21:44,727 –> 00:21:45,418
Okay.

255
00:21:45,418 –> 00:21:50,964
So now we’re moving from the 1400s to the 1700s, the 18th century.

256
00:21:50,964 –> 00:21:58,692
And this is a very famous tract that is recommended by Rabbi Israel Salanter.

257
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It’s called Mesilat Yesharim,

258
00:22:00,806 –> 00:22:16,834
The Path of the Just, and it was written by Moshe Chaim Luzzatto. And we are going to read a
little bit of it, and it starts as follows. It’s in chapter seven:

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00:22:16,834 –> 00:22:25,100
There are two divisions of zeal. One applies before beginning a deed, and the other one
after beginning a deed.

260
00:22:25,100 –> 00:22:32,176
Before beginning a deed: that one not allow a mitzvah to become delayed, like chametz. He
uses the same proof text.

261
00:22:32,497 –> 00:22:42,305
Rather, when the time of its performance comes, or when it happens to present itself to him,
or when the thought of performing it enters his mind, he should hurry and hasten to

262
00:22:42,305 –> 00:22:52,436
seize hold of it and to perform it, and not allow time to go by in between, for there is no
danger like its danger.

263
00:22:52,436 –> 00:22:57,169
Okay, it’s the chapter on zerizut, we get it, but I think he means it.

264
00:22:57,169 –> 00:23:04,773
Since behold, each new second that arises can bring with it a new impediment to the good
deed.

265
00:23:04,773 –> 00:23:09,356
You know, there’s a great saying in the Talmud for someone who stops learning.

266
00:23:09,356 –> 00:23:12,558
And it says, “Yom, yomayim e’ezveka.”

267
00:23:12,558 –> 00:23:16,851
Every day I stop learning, it’s the opportunity cost of not learning.

268
00:23:16,851 –> 00:23:19,296
It’s like instead of I stop for one day.

269
00:23:19,296 –> 00:23:24,729
Now I’m back two days because I missed the day I would have learned, and I missed the Torah
that I could have learnt.

270
00:23:24,729 –> 00:23:26,690
This is similar.

271
00:23:26,690 –> 00:23:31,953
He really sees that every second lost is almost doubled.

272
00:23:31,953 –> 00:23:37,256
Therefore, the sages of blessed memory exhorted us, and you shall watch over the matzot.

273
00:23:37,256 –> 00:23:42,900
If a mitzvah comes to your hand, do not delay its performance, allow it to get chametz.

274
00:23:42,900 –> 00:23:45,221
and he uses the same proof text.

275
00:23:45,221 –> 00:23:47,550
And then he goes, and they said,

276
00:23:47,550 –> 00:23:50,852
Zealous people do mitzvot as early as possible.

277
00:23:50,852 –> 00:23:59,318
Likewise they said, and that’s where we have this zerizim makdimim, kedem, in the morning,
do it the first thing.

278
00:23:59,318 –> 00:24:05,423
Likewise, they said, a person should always run to perform a mitzvah, even on the Sabbath.

279
00:24:05,423 –> 00:24:11,767
So on the Sabbath, you’re not allowed to take a pesiah gasah, you’re not allowed to jog or
run.

280
00:24:11,767 –> 00:24:16,098
When it comes to a mitzvah, it’s docheh Shabbat, if you will.

281
00:24:16,098 –> 00:24:19,160
That’s how important zerizut is.

282
00:24:19,280 –> 00:24:30,168
For the trait of zeal is a very high spiritual level of shleimut, of perfection, which a
person’s nature impedes him from attaining at the current time.

283
00:24:30,168 –> 00:24:38,634
But he who strengthens himself and takes hold of it as much as he can will in the future
world merit to truly attain it.

284
00:24:38,634 –> 00:24:43,960
The creator, may his name be blessed, will bestow it to him as a reward for his striving.

285
00:24:43,960 –> 00:24:46,112
For it during the time of his service.

286
00:24:46,112 –> 00:24:51,476
Rabbi, you can imagine during this one-month period that we’re working on zerizut.

287
00:24:51,476 –> 00:24:55,360
The person who is working on zerizut is trying to train himself.

288
00:24:55,360 –> 00:25:00,624
If someone calls his name, instead of waiting for a second, he turns immediately.

289
00:25:00,624 –> 00:25:01,965
He runs to the bus.

290
00:25:01,965 –> 00:25:05,168
It changes the way you think for that period.

291
00:25:05,168 –> 00:25:09,892
You’re focused on this one trait.

292
00:25:09,892 –> 00:25:13,068
And then he goes on to talking about after the deed.

293
00:25:13,068 –> 00:25:16,239
The division of zeal after the deed is as follows.

294
00:25:16,239 –> 00:25:20,620
Since one took hold of a mitzvah, he should hasten to complete it.

295
00:25:20,620 –> 00:25:29,803
This is not in order to lighten on himself like one who desires to cast a burden off, but
rather out of the fear lest he not merit to complete it.

296
00:25:29,803 –> 00:25:32,764
So there’s something in finishing the act.

297
00:25:32,764 –> 00:25:37,765
Again, very interesting, but you can see we’re going down in levels.

298
00:25:37,765 –> 00:25:42,006
He quotes Bereshit Rabbah that says,

299
00:25:42,294 –> 00:25:47,016
“One who begins a mitzvah but does not complete it buries his wife and sons.”

300
00:25:47,016 –> 00:25:53,809
So they’re using proof texts, but they’re clearly going to places that—this was—they were
breaking ground.

301
00:25:53,809 –> 00:25:57,781
They were really going into physical traits.

302
00:25:57,781 –> 00:26:07,085
And in 16, he says, Likewise you will observe that all the deeds of the tzadikim of the
righteous are always performed with haste.

303
00:26:07,085 –> 00:26:09,356
He quotes our parsha.

304
00:26:09,356 –> 00:26:18,493
By Abraham it is written, and Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah and said, Make ready
quickly three measures of fine meal.

305
00:26:18,493 –> 00:26:22,216
And he gave it to the lad, and he hastened to prepare it.

306
00:26:22,216 –> 00:26:25,359
So it uses our parsha as proof text.

307
00:26:25,359 –> 00:26:29,602
So no big surprise that Rav Yerucham brought that in

308
00:26:29,602 –> 00:26:31,983
to his commentary.

309
00:26:31,983 –> 00:26:40,805
He goes, “You can see that a man whose soul is afire in the service of his Creator certainly
will not become lazy in doing the mitzvot.”

310
00:26:40,805 –> 00:26:50,828
Rather, his movements will be like the quick movements of fire, for he will not rest nor be
still until he has finished completing the deed.

311
00:26:50,828 –> 00:26:58,402
Now, I am sure that there are other character traits that will create this “bren”, this fire
within you.

312
00:26:58,402 –> 00:27:04,287
But we’re focused on zerizut and how you would polish that muscle, so to speak.

313
00:27:04,287 –> 00:27:08,850
It’s kind of just fascinating, this focusing on one trait, is it not?

314
00:27:08,850 –> 00:27:10,111
Yeah, that’s fantastic.

315
00:27:10,111 –> 00:27:11,132
I agree with you.

316
00:27:11,132 –> 00:27:17,577
I mean, and that’s what the mussarniks did. They believe that people kind of—they lose
focus.

317
00:27:17,577 –> 00:27:20,659
And then you become a batlan if you lose focus.

318
00:27:20,659 –> 00:27:25,352
So therefore focus on this and make sure that you get this right.

319
00:27:25,696 –> 00:27:28,948
And so now he’s going even further, he’s getting practical.

320
00:27:28,948 –> 00:27:32,270
And he’s saying, How do you build this feeling within you?

321
00:27:32,270 –> 00:27:40,634
So he says, “Reflect further that just like an inner fieriness of soul leads one to act with
zeal, so too the opposite.”

322
00:27:40,634 –> 00:27:44,756
Outwardly acting with zeal leads to an inner fieriness of the soul.

323
00:27:44,756 –> 00:27:48,204
Outward actions affect inner being, namely:

324
00:27:48,204 –> 00:27:59,990
When one feels himself performing a mitzvah with great swiftness, this will move his inner
being to kindle a flame also, and the desire and want will increasingly intensify within

325
00:27:59,990 –> 00:28:00,501
him.

326
00:28:00,501 –> 00:28:08,205
If he acts in a sluggish manner in the movement of his limbs, so too the movement of his
spirit will die down and extinguish.

327
00:28:08,205 –> 00:28:11,607
This is something experience can testify to.

328
00:28:11,607 –> 00:28:17,822
It’s kind of like, Rabbi, when we tell our son who’s going on an interview, ‘Sit up, look
alert.’

329
00:28:17,822 –> 00:28:19,763
Look at them in the eyes.

330
00:28:19,763 –> 00:28:22,624
And ultimately, I know I do this all the time.

331
00:28:22,624 –> 00:28:25,845
You only have to be coached once in sales.

332
00:28:25,845 –> 00:28:28,305
If you’re on the phone with somebody, smile.

333
00:28:28,305 –> 00:28:28,715
Why?

334
00:28:28,715 –> 00:28:29,886
They can’t see me.

335
00:28:29,886 –> 00:28:30,746
Smile.

336
00:28:30,746 –> 00:28:32,727
They can talk differently, right?

337
00:28:32,727 –> 00:28:33,467
Yes.

338
00:28:33,467 –> 00:28:37,168
So this is what the Mesilat Yesharim is doing.

339
00:28:37,168 –> 00:28:43,050
So we did two texts that were pre-Rabbi Israel Salanter,

340
00:28:43,080 –> 00:28:47,073
and now I want to go a little bit into Rabbi Israel Salanter.

341
00:28:47,073 –> 00:28:51,296
And the next quotes are basically from an iconic book.

342
00:28:51,296 –> 00:28:57,921
It’s by Immanuel Etkes, and it’s called Rabbi Israel Salanter and the Mussar Movement.

343
00:28:57,921 –> 00:29:10,690
And he says as follows: “The message implicit in the ideas that Salanter began to
disseminate among the Jews of Vilna in the mid-1840s contains several components.”

344
00:29:10,690 –> 00:29:19,793
The first of these was that the religio-ethical improvement of the Jew demanded an
investment of time, attention, and spiritual energy.

345
00:29:19,793 –> 00:29:27,555
In order to exemplify the impossibility of this widespread attitude towards yir’ah and
Mussar—people didn’t focus on it.

346
00:29:27,555 –> 00:29:28,896
They go, Am I saying my prayers?

347
00:29:28,896 –> 00:29:29,936
Am I reading the Torah?

348
00:29:29,936 –> 00:29:30,896
That’s all.

349
00:29:30,896 –> 00:29:35,357
Salanter used a parable closest to his audience’s experience:

350
00:29:35,598 –> 00:29:36,962
How much thought

351
00:29:36,962 –> 00:29:45,713
does the merchant with wares engage in before concluding a given business deal, to decide
whether to carry it out or to refrain from it?

352
00:29:45,713 –> 00:29:49,237
He will think it over within himself and consult with his friends.

353
00:29:49,237 –> 00:29:53,824
He will examine the details, seek out possible errors until the matter is clear.

354
00:29:53,824 –> 00:30:02,162
So, in the study of our holy Torah, each one on his own level will study and examine it to
uncover its hidden treasures.

355
00:30:02,162 –> 00:30:09,749
He’s saying, just like a businessman evaluates a deal, asks for consultations, thinks about
it, the same thing.

356
00:30:09,749 –> 00:30:15,774
I just love the fact that he’s bringing an example from a business.

357
00:30:16,335 –> 00:30:19,456
and the trivial mentality of business.

358
00:30:19,456 –> 00:30:29,984
The second major component of his message is implicit in the very system of ethical
education expressed in another homily, once again taken from the realm of commercial life.

359
00:30:29,984 –> 00:30:33,686
A person who is troubled will do badly wherever he turns.

360
00:30:33,686 –> 00:30:39,938
His business will do poorly, his power and his intellect will be confused, held back by his
worries and confusion.

361
00:30:39,938 –> 00:30:49,404
And if a person comes and says to him, I see a light for you, if you do such and such a
thing according to the proper estimate, you will be able to profit a thousand, thousand

362
00:30:49,404 –> 00:30:55,828
gold dinars, he will summon all his powers of concentration until that matter becomes
enrooted in his heart.

363
00:30:55,828 –> 00:30:58,150
So he’s really saying, you need self-help.

364
00:30:58,150 –> 00:31:05,484
You need, we need, just as in business, we would reach out if somebody said, I can be your
guide, I can give you guidance.

365
00:31:05,484 –> 00:31:13,298
The same with regard to living a Jewish life, an ethical life, a life of good.

366
00:31:13,298 –> 00:31:17,581
And there were many times that Israel Salanter seemed like he was depressed.

367
00:31:17,581 –> 00:31:21,442
But here he has an optimistic tone.

368
00:31:21,442 –> 00:31:28,967
So what happened is one of the books that Israel Salanter recommended was called Cheshbon
HaNefesh.

369
00:31:28,967 –> 00:31:32,909
And it was written by a rabbi, Menachem Mendel Lefin.

370
00:31:33,389 –> 00:31:34,670
And in it,

371
00:31:34,760 –> 00:31:37,611
it gets into great detail.

372
00:31:37,611 –> 00:31:45,665
It was written in about 1808 in Vilna, and this Lefin was actually quite a maskil.

373
00:31:45,665 –> 00:31:49,937
He had met Mendelssohn, he had written books on medicine.

374
00:31:49,937 –> 00:31:54,519
The heart of the book is the following device, referred to in the title page.

375
00:31:54,519 –> 00:32:01,766
The one engaged in training himself is to prepare a list of 13 attributes, midot, that he
wishes to improve.

376
00:32:01,766 –> 00:32:05,748
He then prepares a brief maxim for each of these 13 traits.

377
00:32:05,748 –> 00:32:09,510
Each one is directed toward one of the traits requiring improvement.

378
00:32:09,510 –> 00:32:15,993
The student is then to divide the year into seasons, devoting a week to the improvement of
each attribute.

379
00:32:15,993 –> 00:32:26,016
During that week, he is to use the appropriate Mussar maxim in order to focus his attention
upon the attribute requiring improvement.

380
00:32:26,016 –> 00:32:32,049
At the end of the first 13 weeks, the student returns to the beginning of the process,
rinse, and repeat.

381
00:32:32,049 –> 00:32:37,351
Thus, over the course of a year, each attribute receives four weeks of attention.

382
00:32:37,351 –> 00:32:48,096
Now, as Etkes says, there are many people who found this same theory published 10 years
earlier in the writings of Benjamin Franklin.

383
00:32:48,096 –> 00:32:53,750
And I share for you, those of you who are looking at this on video,

384
00:32:53,750 –> 00:33:00,555
This is the chart that Benjamin Franklin has in his book.

385
00:33:00,555 –> 00:33:05,658
And if you can see the one that’s about the fifth one down is industry.

386
00:33:05,658 –> 00:33:12,223
First of all, he says, “Lose no time, be always employed in something useful, cut off all
unnecessary actions.”

387
00:33:12,223 –> 00:33:13,864
That’s what Franklin says.

388
00:33:13,864 –> 00:33:20,109
Now let’s look at the Jewish version of this published in Cheshbon HaNefesh.

389
00:33:20,109 –> 00:33:22,710
So now we look at zerizut.

390
00:33:22,864 –> 00:33:24,235
What is zerizut?

391
00:33:24,235 –> 00:33:31,170
Always find something to do for yourself or for a friend, and don’t allow a moment of your
life to be wasted.

392
00:33:31,170 –> 00:33:36,283
It is clear that Lefin also says, “I read this somewhere.”

393
00:33:36,283 –> 00:33:37,915
He doesn’t say the name Franklin.

394
00:33:37,915 –> 00:33:40,607
Probably if he did, no one would have read the book.

395
00:33:40,607 –> 00:33:41,457
Absolutely.

396
00:33:41,457 –> 00:33:51,574
But here he has a man who, clearly, we all know: “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man
wealthy, healthy, and wise.”

397
00:33:51,574 –> 00:34:01,761
This was a man who not only was an inventor, but was someone who tried to figure out maxims
and ways that could make people better.

398
00:34:01,761 –> 00:34:03,843
Clearly, he was frugal.

399
00:34:03,843 –> 00:34:13,770
Clearly, he believed in focusing one’s attention on living an industrious life of creating
things, of building things.

400
00:34:13,770 –> 00:34:20,236
But it is just amazing that the Mussar movement was able to take

401
00:34:20,236 –> 00:34:25,849
this thought process and this program and use it in the way they did.

402
00:34:25,849 –> 00:34:34,033
And I will just finish up by leaving us with the thought that I think it goes both ways.

403
00:34:34,033 –> 00:34:43,317
That truly the mussarniks understood they were doing more than just Torah and tefillah. They
were changing how you comport yourself

404
00:34:43,317 –> 00:34:45,298
and how you have to stay active.

405
00:34:45,298 –> 00:34:53,420
And it truly was a book about getting fulfillment, getting happiness, and being a successful
human being.

406
00:34:53,420 –> 00:35:05,417
And I think from that perspective, it is just amazing how these two traditions kind of
focused and folded over each other, and the Mussar movement still lives on to today.

407
00:35:05,417 –> 00:35:12,286
I would be surprised if many of them knew that in fact they were carrying out Ben Franklin’s
regimen.

408
00:35:12,286 –> 00:35:12,962
Love it.

409
00:35:12,962 –> 00:35:14,342
This is fantastic.

410
00:35:14,342 –> 00:35:19,494
Everybody, this is Vayera, one of the most famous parshiot, the parsha of Akedat Yitzchak.

411
00:35:19,494 –> 00:35:22,625
You talk about zerizut and you talk about focus.

412
00:35:22,625 –> 00:35:25,186
So we should all take these lessons to heart.

413
00:35:25,186 –> 00:35:29,707
And maybe this should be the beginning of our 30 days to focus on the way we should act.

414
00:35:29,707 –> 00:35:31,888
Have a great trip to Israel.

415
00:35:31,888 –> 00:35:33,598
Look forward to continuing next week.

416
00:35:33,598 –> 00:35:38,410
I guess transatlantic parsha next week for Chayei Sarah.

417
00:35:38,410 –> 00:35:39,590
Looking forward to everybody.

418
00:35:39,590 –> 00:35:40,700
Shabbat Shalom.

419
00:35:40,770 –> 00:35:41,813
Shabbat shalom.

420
00:35:41,813 –> 00:35:43,948
Let’s all get up and do something now.

421
00:35:43,948 –> 00:35:44,760
zerizut.

422
00:35:44,760 –> 00:35:46,325
Shabbat Shalom.

423
00:35:46,325 –> 00:35:48,150
See you all next week.

424
00:35:48,150 –> 00:35:50,164
Rabbi Wolbe would be very proud.

425
00:35:52,756 –> 00:36:00,272
Zeal, zerizut, can serve holiness or enterprise. It can affect attitude and condition our
responses.

426
00:36:00,272 –> 00:36:03,194
By itself, it’s morally neutral.

427
00:36:03,294 –> 00:36:08,598
What other basic dispositions in your life might you focus on for 30 days?

428
00:36:08,779 –> 00:36:11,420
Ben Franklin and I want to know.