Parashat Re'eh - The Battle for the Mind and the Secret of Blessing in Parnassah (Livelihood)

The Constant Battle for the Mind

"Bad thoughts are the disaster of all creation. Even Adam HaRishon (the First Man) blemished through a bad thought when he became jealous of the angels. The entire spiritual work of a person, a person's entire teshuvah (repentance) in this world, is to flee from a bad thought to a good thought. A good thought means thinking: How can I serve Hashem! How can I do Hashem's will! How can I sanctify the Name of Heaven! How can I do good!

Bad thoughts come all the time: thoughts of anger, strictness, feeling deprived, inferiority, jealousy, how to get honor, how to get attention, how to get money. A bad thought is the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination) itself! It is Amalek! And one must flee from bad thoughts even if they fall! One must start again! This is the true test.

"You test him every moment" (Job 7:18).

Every time we transform a bad thought into a good thought, every time we succeed in disconnecting ourselves from a bad thought, we receive a reward! When a person is immersed in the physicality of things, that is a bad thought. When a person is immersed in the spirituality of things, that is a good thought. This is a continuous, unceasing work in this world.

Between Light and Darkness: Bringing Godliness into the Mind

The entirety of teshuvah (repentance) is to think good thoughts. To think about Hashem, about one's spouse, about the children, about the parents, about the neighbors, to think: How can I bring joy to everyone? How can I bring nachas (pleasure) to Hashem? A person is constantly thinking! Therefore, one must make an effort to think good! And if, Heaven forbid, there is a bad thought, stop. Start a good thought. Do not give up!

A good thought is: How can I serve You, how can I open my heart to You, Hashem I want You! How can I stop thinking about myself, and how I look in the eyes of others. A person is constantly tossed between good and bad thoughts. Between light and darkness. It is as if a person spends their entire life in the twilight zone, at dusk. One moment like this, and one moment like that. A moment of day and a moment of night. A moment of Minchah (afternoon prayer) and a moment of Maariv (evening prayer). A moment of light and a moment of darkness. A moment of the mundane and suddenly it is Shabbos. A moment of a good thought and a moment of a bad thought.

"The voice of my Beloved knocks" (Song of Songs 5:2) - this is the light.

"My Beloved had slipped away and left" (Song of Songs 5:6) - this is the darkness.

Every day both illuminates and grows dark. Hashem loves us all the time. And when it gets dark for us, He loves us even more! Because we are making an effort, because we are fighting. Because a person is constantly shifting themselves from bad to good.

When there are bad thoughts and we want to fight them, when we want to transform them into good thoughts, we transition to speech. We speak good. We say a good word to a friend, we pray, we bless one another, we speak with Hashem. And more than anything else - Torah study! This is the only thing that brings Godliness into our minds, and transforms the bad thoughts into good thoughts. It transforms the evil eyes, which are death and sadness, into good eyes, which are life and inner joy.

Having Mercy on the Earth or on the Creations?

"You shall surely give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him..." (Deuteronomy 15:10).

There is a story of a poor man who would go door to door to receive charity, in order to bring food to his home. One time, this poor man was walking in the street, and his shoes became dirty with mud due to the heavy rains that had fallen there. He arrived at the home of a certain wealthy man, where the floor was paved with very expensive white marble stones.

When the poor man entered and stepped on the marble floor, the wealthy man was filled with rage and began shouting at him with a loud voice: "Get out of my house immediately, for you are dirtying the marble floor with mud and clay!" The wealthy man immediately ordered his servants to beat the poor man and chase him outside. However, the poor man refused to leave, and said to the wealthy man: "I wish to say a few words to you." To his surprise, the wealthy man agreed to listen to him.

The poor man said to him: "Behold, it is known that every day we say the 'Baruch She'amar' prayer in Shacharis (the morning prayer), and as is known, it is written there: 'Blessed is He Who has mercy on the earth, Blessed is He Who has mercy on the creations.' We find from this that we praise Hashem, may He be blessed, for having mercy on both the earth and the creations. And our Sages of blessed memory taught us that a person must learn from the traits of the Holy One, blessed be He.

"Yet you - I see that you have only learned from the Holy One, blessed be He, to have mercy on the earth, since you are very distressed over your expensive floor that got dirty. But," the poor man added, "it is also written 'Blessed is He Who has mercy on the creations,' and therefore you must also have mercy on the creations, and have mercy on me." When the wealthy man heard the poor man's words, he was deeply ashamed and gave that sharp-witted poor man a respectable donation of charity...

The Secret to Success and Blessing in Business

"And Hashem your God will bless you in all that you do" (Deuteronomy 15:18).

A certain chassid arrived early at the door of the tzaddik, Rabbi Yechiel of Ostrovtza, and complained before him that his parnassah (livelihood) was tight, and he did not have the means to properly support his household. The tzaddik said to him: "It is stated in the Torah portion of 'Re'eh': 'And Hashem your God will bless you in all that you do.' Therefore, open some kind of business for yourself, and with Hashem's help, the blessing will rest upon the work of your hands!"

"But Rebbe!" the chassid cried out emotionally, "My father, peace be upon him, bequeathed me a clothing store that supported him with dignity and abundance. However, since the store passed into my possession, the revenue has dropped drastically, and now it does not even provide enough to barely support my family. Often, I stand in my store for an entire day without seeing a single customer."

"And what do you do on such days, when no customers visit your store?" asked the tzaddik. "I will admit and not be ashamed," the chassid muttered weakly, "that I just idle away the time or browse through some newspaper." "If that is the case," called out Rabbi Meir Yechiel with a tone of displeasure, "it is abundantly clear to me why success does not rest in your home."

"Your father, peace be upon him, would utilize every free moment – between one customer and the next – to learn a page of Gemara or Chumash with Rashi, and the Book of Tehillim (Psalms) never left his table from morning until evening. Because of this, the Satan would constantly send him customers without pause, in order to distract him and cause him to neglect his Torah study. But as for you, who spends your time all day in vanity and chasing the wind, the Satan has no interest whatsoever in bothering you with customers..."