A Sobered Nation After all, what is it all about? Why are we in this world? We're here just to live? And even to do mitzvos! Everybody who learns knows that world this in mitzvah a for payment no s'there - (Kiddushin 39b). You're not working for anything in this world — it's Olam Haba, that’s the great joy we're all aiming for. Only that nobody thinks about it! It’s not even mentioned; days and days pass by as if it doesn't exist.
The Chovos Halevavos says, – alas for this intoxication. Alas for this confusion that people lose sight of that great fact that this world is only a preparation for the World to Come. And it’s so important that we have to understand it as one of the number one requirements for being a Jew. And don't say you knew it already when you were a little boy. You never knew it. Even now you don't know it. The intoxicated nation must sober up!
Living in Eternity And so starting today, we’re going to spend thirty seconds every day reminding ourselves that we're in this world only as a preparation a just is world This — ָCome to the World for …… therefore and , Come to World the before – vestibule ָ – prepare yourself in the vestibule, in the lobby, – in order that you should enter the banquet hall (Avos 4:16).
Ooh, that’s a big statement: This entire world that we’re living in — your home, your street, your family, your work, your shul — it’s only a hallway that you’re passing through! And you have to continue to remind yourself of that as you walk in Olam Hazeh. It’s only a little lobby, a prozdor before the traklin.
We have to get the idea in our heads. When somebody passes away and the relatives are all broken, his friends are all sad, but they should know that now he is in the world for which he was created. Up until now he was just preparing. Whatever happens here is only a preface to the great career that follows. Because there's a huge banquet hall that everyone enters from this lobby. Unless he's stopped at the door. That could happen; some are stopped at the door for a while until they can enter
And so immediately, the first thing in our program, we’re going to think about the World to Come — what it’s like there, how we get there. That's where Avraham Avinu is. That's where all the tzaddikim are. Adam Harishon is there, too, and Chava. Moshe Rabbeinu is there. It’s the place of greatest happiness. Wouldn’t we want to be there? And so, starting today, every day for thirty seconds — on the clock — we're going to think about Olam Haba. We’ll spend a half minute thinking about the World to Come — about its importance in our lives. One time every day. So as you're hanging on a strap in the subway, you’ll remind yourself, “Oh, I still have to fulfill my step to greatness.” You look at your watch and start thinking about Olam Haba until thirty seconds pass. Keep your hand on your wallet meanwhile because the one standing next to you, he’s not thinking about Olam Haba.
https://torasavigdor.org/parshah/
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