Part II. The Modern Day Mabul
A Very Busy World
Now, the Mabul didn’t come for that generation alone; it’s written in the Torah for us to learn how to live. And it’s a tremendous lesson because we’re learning that if we want to avoid a Mabul in our lives, if we don’t want to waste our lives the way the Dor Hamabul did, we have to avoid the preoccupation with this world that keeps our minds busy with everything except what’s important in life.
That’s why when the Mesillas Yesharim wants to teach us about those things that prevent a person from achieving his purpose in this world, he tells us (Chapter 5) that one of the worst obstacles, actually the worst obstacle for a man's progress in this world is hatipul v’hatirdah olamis, when people are busy with everything in this world. “When a person is preoccupied with the affairs of this world, his thoughts are bound by the chains of burden and it becomes impossible for him to focus on the service of Hashem”.
So Much To Do
We are all so occupied with life, so busy living, that we forget about why we’re here. What are the important matters of life? When you learn the Chovos Halevavos, other seforim too—Mesillas Yesharim, Shaarei Teshuva, we begin to see that there’s a whole world of thinking that’s required of us. We’re expected to be aware of Hashem always, to recognize His hand in history and in our private lives.
We have to constantly be making cheshbon hanefesh, thinking over our lives. Am I going in the right direction? Am I behaving properly with my wife? How could I improve in this detail or that detail? Is my davening getting better every day? Or am I wasting my davening by just shaking and saying words? You need a mind that’s not busy if you’re going to daven properly. You need time to study the siddur.
There is so much to do with our minds, only that the constant obstacle of tipul v’tirdah, of busyness with this world, makes it difficult. There are so many things to do in this world, so many happy things, so many other things, that we are just too busy to think. And that, says the Mesillas Yesharim, is our greatest problem in life. We have no time and no mind to put sufficient attention on what is really important. Our minds are cluttered with so many things that the ikar ha’ikarim, all the facets of avodas Hashem, are almost never considered.
The Best Conversation Piece
Test it. Imagine you’re sitting with a nice family of frum Jews; let’s say it’s your family at the Shabbos table. How frequently is Hakadosh Baruch Hu mentioned? I’m not talking brachos or davening—that’s a formality; you can’t help yourselves. But in the regular conversation, the conversation that reveals what’s really important to a person, how often is avodas Hashem the focus?
Let’s say a father and his children, a grandfather and his grandchildren, a husband and wife, when they talk, how frequently does Hakadosh Baruch Hu come into the conversation? I think you’d wait a long time before you hear it. Everything else you’ll talk about because that’s the world that is living in your mind—and meanwhile the important issues of life are always pushed to the side.
And we’re learning now that Hashem is behind it all. ןַ ָ̇נ םָלֹעָה ̇∆‡ םַ םָ ‚ םָ בƒל¿ ב – Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the One Who put the world into the minds of man. And He did it primarily to test us if we’ll remember Him despite all the things that are going on. He did it “in order that man shouldn’t discover the plan of Creation that Elokim made from the beginning to the end.”
Parnasah, Politics and Protests
Now we know why so many things happen in this world, and why they’re happening with such diversity. As soon as you come into this world, you are hit over the head by the sights and sounds of Olam Hazeh and from then on, you’re stuck—you’re busy with the variety of life, with what you see and hear.
All the experiences of this world fill your mind constantly. The pleasant days, the cold and heat, summer, winter and fall. Various kinds of simchos, marriage and children and brissim and bar mitzvahs; all kinds of occasions in history, some good, some not so good. The world is constantly mishaneh itim u’machalif es hazmanim; it’s always turning, changing—something is always doing.
Nobody will claim that it’s not a busy world. Your parnassah, your family, your neighbors, your meals; breakfast and supper. News happening in our private lives; what’s taking place outside on the street right now—this protest and that protest—even what we see of the events in far-off countries. Things are taking place all the time that distract us.
Many times, people are busy thinking about their enemies. That’s also part of the world that Hashem put into your mind. People are jealous of others and a great deal of time is taken up with that. You’d be surprised how much interest is expended on hostility to fellowmen. Women are sitting and talking on the telephone about their daughters-in-law, about their mothers-in-law, about their sisters-in-law. Oooh-ah, is there busy traffic on the telephones! Everybody is busy with life.
Home Sweet Home
Even the most basic things overwhelm us. It says in the Gemara (Sotah 47a) that יוָב¿ׁ ֹ̆יו לַﬠ םֹו ָ̃מ ן≈ח – Hakadosh Baruch Hu causes people to love their home place. That’s how it is—your neighborhood finds favor in your eyes.
Of course, one reason for that is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is a chofetz chesed; He wants to make people happy, so He makes it so that no matter what street you live on, it finds some sort of favor in your eyes.
Let’s say for some reason you have to be in a certain place and you see a big home on a beautiful tree-lined street. It’s so magnificent and you’d like to live in such a home. But then in the evening you come back to your own poor home on your poor little street, and you feel that there’s nothing like home. Home sweet home! Chein makom al yoshvav – Your own home, your own street, finds a special favor in your eyes because Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to make you happy.
But there’s another reason—to my little mind, I think it’s true. And that is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to involve your mind with your home. םָ בƒל¿ ב ןַ ָ̇נ םָלֹעָה ̇∆‡ םַ םָ ‚ – He wants to put this world into your mind so that you’ll be tested. You become occupied, confused, distracted. There’s always something. Maybe the bookcase would look better over here. Maybe we should paint the house or make a bigger porch. We could plant roses in the front garden and make a place for the children to play in the back. Paying the rent or the mortgage is also on your mind. Whatever it is, you’re occupied with your environment.
Professional Busyness
Not only your home; your profession too. ̇∆‡ ב״ה ̃ה ֹלו הָּפƒי „ָח∆‡¿ו „ָח∆‡ לָ כ יוָנָפ¿ ב ֹו ָ̇נ¿מֹ‡ – Hakadosh Baruch Hu makes it so each person like his business, his trade (Brachos 43b). The shoemaker is immersed in the business of repairing shoes; that’s his world, and that drives out of his mind all thoughts of anything else. The businessman’s head is full of business. The plumber is thinking about piping and the accountant is a numbers man. He’s always thinking about how to find legal ways, loopholes, to not pay money to the IRS. That’s the business of an accountant; he wants to keep his clients’ money out of the hands of the government. And so he becomes very busy with that.
Marriage is a distraction too. When a chosson and a kallah get married, in the excitement of their preparations and then the wedding itself, they lose sight of the purpose. As soon as they get married, it’s as if someone hit them over the head with a club, and now they are entirely unconscious. It takes weeks, even months for them to regain their composure and to realize that now that they are married they have to settle down to the real business of life; having a family and living successfully together in the service of Hashem.
The Family Club
But then a child comes and they are hit over the head again; now there’s even more of this world in their minds. Mazel tovs and baby food and baby diapers and more expenses. Later, another child, another club; every child is a club over the head.
All kinds of problems of making a living, paying schar limud, other bills. And then the children grow up and you have to marry them off and that means more world and more world. Now there’s daughters-in-law and sons-in-law and mechutanim and grandchildren. Maybe you have to make visits to Monsey now or to Lakewood; it’s never ending busyness. You’ll always find something to occupy your mind with—everything except what's most important.
And many people never come out of this confusion; they never break free from living lives of distraction in this world until they’re very old and they’re close to death. Only when he’s on the brink of leaving this world, he looks back and says, “Why was I such a fool? Why did I live my whole life distracted by the world that Hashem put into my heart? Why didn’t I break free from the shackles of tipul v’tirdah and do something with my life?”
