A lecturer was preaching to his audience about avoiding anger at all times. He hollered, "Even if you have good reason to be angry, it isn't worthwhile. You will only lose. You must always control your anger! Never lose your temper..."
Just then, someone came up to the podium to serve him a hot tea. The problem was that he carelessly placed the tea on the slanted lectern. The hot tea spilled on the speaker, scalding him and messing up his new suit. The speaker was annoyed and said, "Why can't you be careful? This isn’t the first time. You always do things like this." The speaker carried on and on. He couldn’t control his anger.
How did this happen? Didn’t he just say that one must always control his anger? The answer is that he knew these ideas in his mind, but that wasn't enough to influence the heart. You have to bring the ideas in the mind to the heart, or your actions won't change and improve.
The Tzaddikim of Slonim zt'l say, "The distance between the mind and the heart is greater than the distance between heaven and earth."
A doctor once asked the Divrei Chaim of Sanz zt'l what he does for a living. The Divrei Chaim replied that he is a bridge builder. The doctor's eyes opened wide in disbelief. The Sanzer Rav explained, "I am working to bridge the gap between the mind and the heart, that the ideas in my mind should reach the heart."
The Sanzer Rav’s gabbai (in Darkei Chaim) relates that each morning, upon awakening, the Sanzer Rav would review concepts of emunah. He worked on bringing the ideas of emunah that are in the brain to penetrate and reach his heart.
The Dubno Magid zt’l told the following mashal:
A teacher walked with his students through a thick forest and told his students, "If you see dogs, don’t be afraid. Just say, לשונו כלב יחרץ לא ישראל בני ולכל, and the dogs will scatter.”
A pack of large dogs approached them. The teacher was the first to run. When things calmed down, the students asked their teacher, "Why were you so afraid? All you needed to do was say the pasuk, and the dogs wouldn’t harm us."
The teacher replied, "When I heard the dogs barking, I became so afraid, I forgot the pasuk."
The explanation is that the idea was in his mind, not his heart. Therefore, he was afraid of the dogs.
Someone was once experiencing nightmares that someone was speaking lashon hara on him. He remembered the dreams by daytime, and they robbed his peace of mind.
"It's just a dream," his wife would tell him. "Don’t worry about it."
But the nightmares kept coming back. Once, he told his wife, "It's terrible! This person said the worst things about me in front of many people..."
His wife reminded him that it was just a dream. "ידברו שוא החלומות Dreams tell nonsense," she said.
"I know it's just a dream," he replied, "but how does that help me? I still have a great problem because he’s talking about me!" Intellectually, he knew that it was just a dream and not real, but his heart didn’t know that.
A Story
A story is told of a young man who was confined in a mental asylum because he thought he was a mouse. His wealthy parents hired a psychologist to speak with the boy every day. The psychologist had the young man repeat, “I’m not a mouse,” many times until he was cured, and his parents were notified that they could take him home.
The joyous parents picked up their son and were happy that everything was well with him. They came to the driving lot, where the parents’ car was parked, and suddenly, the boy ran away and crawled under one of the cars. The exasperated parents asked him, “What are you doing under the car?”
He replied, “I saw a cat in the parking lot.”
“So what? You’ve been cured. You aren’t afraid of cats anymore. You know that you aren’t a mouse.”
The boy replied, “Yes, I know I am not a mouse, but how does the cat know?”
Internalizing Emunah
At the end of the Seder, we sing יודע מי אחד... The song is written in question-and-answer form: "Who knows one? I know one. One is Hashem in the heaven and the earth. Who knows two? Two are the luchos..." and so on. The Shem MiShmuel zt'l questions why it needs to be with questions and answers? It could have simply stated, "One is Hashem, two are the luchos, three are the avos," and so on.
The Shem MiShmuel explains that this song is a test. At the end of the Seder, we want to see whether we've internalized the lessons that the Seder teaches us. We ask, "When I say one, what’s the first thought that comes to your mind? Is it 'one hundred dollars'? Is it some other worldly object, or is your first thought that Hashem is one?"
We go through the numbers from one to thirteen and ask the family, what’s your first association when you hear these numbers? If we acquired the lessons of the Seder correctly, we will say: One is Hashem. Two are the luchos. Three are the avos...
The Gemara (Menachos 43:) says, "The color of techeles (of tzitzis) resembles the ocean. The color of the ocean is similar to that of heaven. When one thinks about heaven, he thinks about the Kisei HaKavod (Hashem's throne)." Thus, by wearing techeles, one remembers the Kisei HaKavod and Hashem.
It’s quite a distance between techeles and the Kisei HaKavod. Quite a few steps are required to get from techeles to Hashem's throne.
Some people look at the sea and even at the sky and still forget the Kisei HaKavod. So how does wearing techeles help?
The answer is that if someone desires emunah, even the vaguest hint will remind him of his emunah. The Gemara says "It is forbidden to look at women's colorful clothing, even when they are hanging on a wall, if he knows who the clothes belong to" (Avodah Zarah 20:). The Gemara explains this may cause him to have improper thoughts. So everything depends on where one's mind and desire are. His mind will bring him to what he wants to think about. We should develop an affinity for emunah, so that the slightest reminder of emunah should inspire us to remember Hashem.
The lesson is that one must often review concepts of emunah and mussar that he wants to acquire. Although you know these concepts already, don't think that it is superfluous to discuss them again. Talk about emunah and mussar with your students, your children, and your fellow man. The ideas are well known, but you need the reviews so the ideas of emunah and mussar will penetrate and reach the heart.
The Baal HaTanya zt'l explained that the 'ד of אחד looks like a large hammer because one has to hammer into his head the emunah that אחד 'ה. One accomplishes this by constantly reviewing emunah until it becomes his reality. Yes, you know the emunah already, but say it every morning and evening, and repeat it by kriyas Shemah al Hamittah, and before the korbanos. Each time you say it, put all your heart and soul into the words. You know it already, but we also need your heart to know.
