But oftentimes elusive yesodos in avodas Hashem and to do so just initially and primarily by reading, rereading a few representative mareh mekomos. Begin with a passage from the Medrash Rabbah in Parshas Nitzavim. Medrash quotes a pasuk in Mishlei: רמות לאויל חכמות בשער לא יפתח פיהו. That the chochmah for evilim is either something which is very high and they conceive of it as being unreachable or something which is comparable to a very valuable jewel which is also inaccessible to them. Rabbanan amrei. Chazal illustrate what this pasuk is referring to, the mentality, the mindset, as follows: Rabbanan amrei, הטפש הזה נכנס לבית הכנסת ורואה אותן עוסקים בתורה והוא אומר להם היכן אדם לומד תורה תחילה. אומרים לו תחילה קורא במגילה.
At first they don't even give you a Chumash, at first you get a little Parsha booklet. That's how one begins. Techilah korei b’megillah, acharkach b’sefer, then you get a Chumash, אחר כך בנביאים ואחר כך בכתובים. משהוא גומר את המקרא,
when a person finishes Tanach, shoneh es hatalmud, ואחר כך בהלכות ואחר כך באגדות. כיון ששומע כך אומר בלבו אימתי אני לומד כל זאת?
V’chozer min hashaar. So he retreats from the shaar, I guess meaning the shaar of the batei midrashos. And that's what the pasuk means: בשער לא יפתח פיהו. ומי שהוא פיקח מהו עושה? A person who's a pikeiach, so what's his reaction to this same in this same scene, in this same setting? שונה פרק אחד בכל יום ויום עד שמשלים כל התורה כולה. אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא נפלאת היא ואם נפלאת היא ממך שאין אתה עוסק בה.
That's one mareh makom. On the same topic of talmud torah, the Rambam at the end of perek gimmel: אף על פי שמצוה ללמוד ביום ובלילה אין אדם לומד רוב חכמתו אלא בלילה. לפיכך מי שרצה לזכות בכתר התורה יזהר בכל לילותיו ולא יאבד אפילו אחת מהן בשינה ואכילה ושתייה ושיחה וכיוצא בהן אלא בתלמוד תורה ובדברי חכמה.
Another passage in the Rambam, different topic, different context, talking about the mitzvah of v'halachta bidrachav, just to provide the context: כך למדו בפירוש מצוה זו מה הוא נקרא חנון אף אתה היה חנון מה הוא נקרא רחום אף אתה היה רחום מה הוא נקרא קדוש אף אתה היה קדוש.
Halacha zayin: ובכיצד ירגיל אדם עצמו בדעות אלו עד שיקבעו בו? יעשה וישנה וישלש במעשים שעושה על פי הדעות האמצעיות ויחזור בהן תמיד עד שיהיו מעשיהם קלים עליו.
Another again another just representative mareh makom, all of which known to you rabosai. The Gemara in the beginning of Brachos: אמר רבין בר רב אדא אמר רבי יצחק כל הרגיל לבוא לבית הכנסת ולא בא יום אחד הקדוש ברוך הוא משאיל בו.
A person who comes regularly to shul to daven be’tzibbur and misses as... as much as one day, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu kavyachol inquires after him, shenemar מי בכם ירא ה' שומע בקול עבדו אשר הלך חשכים ואין נוגה לו. אם לדבר מצוה הלך נוגה לו.
If the reason he's absent from shul, from the minyan, is because of a dvar mitzvah, it's going to be it's going to be light for him, it's going to be good. ואם לדבר רשות הלך אין נוגה לו. But if he missed so much as the one day of his his kvius in shul, not for a dvar mitzvah, so then rachmana litzlan is ein noga lo. And just two more again representative famous sources. הנה ראוי לכל אדם says the Ramchal שיהיה מדקדק ושוקל דרכיו דבר יום ביומו כסוחרים הגדולים אשר יפלסו תמיד כל עסקיהם למען לא יתקלקלו.
A person should scrutinize and weigh his his actions, his his habits, patterns of behavior daily like the big merchants who are constantly, again, weighing their businesses. ויקבע עתים ושעות לזה, a person should have fixed times set aside for this, שלא יהיה משקלו עראי, so that it it isn't something which he'll just do in passing, אלא בקביעות גדול כי רב התולדה הוא, because there's much much to be accomplished in so doing. And finally, the Mishnah Berurah in the very beginning in Siman Aleph: צריך האדם לקבוע לו עת ללמוד ספרי מוסר בכל יום ויום אם מעט ואם הרבה כי כל הגדול מחברו יצרו גדול ממנו.
So what what's the common denominator of of these few representative sources? So the common denominator, beginning with the Midrash, is that a person's attainment and accomplishment in avodas Hashem isn't just a function of time and hard work; right, it goes without saying that those are vital and indispensable ingredients, but the Midrash says that מי שהוא פיקח מה הוא עושה, it's not just that he invests time, it's not just that he works hard, but it's שונה פרק אחד בכל יום ויום. More important than anything else, the Midrash underscores the bechol yom vayom. Perek echad is not so it's not so impressive; perek echad? I would have thought no, five perakim, eight perakim. More more important, more basic, more fundamental than anything else is the bechol yom vayom. The same thing in in the Rambam that we read in Perek Gimmel of Hilchos Talmud Torah; there too the emphasis was the same: מי שרצה לזכות בכתר התורה יזהר בכל לילותיו ולא יאבד אפילו אחת מהן בשינה ואכילה ושתייה ושיחה וכיוצא בהן.
The Rambam in Hilchos Deos that we read: yachzor bahen tamid. If a person's trying to work on tikkun hamiddos to fulfill the mitzvah of vehalachta bidrachav is yachzor bahen tamid, incessantly; there's a there's a temidius. מי שרגיל לבוא לבית הכנסת ולא בא יום אחד, one day, one day he sleeps in, לא בא יום אחד Hakadosh Baruch Hu is mishoel bishlomo. Ramchal, bechol yom vayom, dvar yom beyomo, that that we should make a cheshbon hanefesh; Chofetz Chaim, bechol yom vayom. שילמד אדם מוסר בכל יום ויום. And again there too interestingly echoing the same point that we saw in in the Midrash Rabbah, more important than the kamus, Mishnah Berurah says explicitly, whether it's me'at or harbei, more important than the kamus is the bechol yom vayom. Now to a degree the fundamental importance and again it's not just importance, it's indispensability for certain accomplishments, for certain attainments of this consistency of this bechol yom vayom to a degree it can be understood psychologically and to a degree it's true on a psychological level in terms of momentum but obviously it it runs much deeper than that obviously the ultimate meaning is be'ofen shel segulah that's how Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world. The Rambam's exhortation that to be zocheh be'keser torah לא יאבד אפילו אחת מהן so those five hours let's say in in the summertime how long is the night anyway? So those five hours three hours how many how many hours are we talking about that a person squanders so they really make the difference in terms of as a quantitative unit it makes such a big difference in his effort to be zocheh be'keser torah so clearly we're talking be'ofen shel segulah Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world that attainment accomplishment aliyah ruchanis is is linked to to consistency as in many many areas just the very understanding and the correct perspective is already half the battle. Chazal say that that the yetzer hara for resha'im seems to be something very small and for tzaddikim it's something which looms tremendously large. Everyone grapples with the gemara aderaba tzaddikim are able to misgaber on the yetzer hara it's not such a big force to contend with and resha'im who clearly don't succeed in dealing with the yetzer hara so for them it's it should be described as this monumental force. So what does it mean that that for tzaddikim it's it's something big and for resha'im it's something small? So one of the peshatim suggested is that when the rasha has a yetzer hara so a yetzer hara to sleep in one more morning and shelo lidevar mitzvah not not not to go to shul shelo lidevar mitzvah. Again a yetzer hara not to keep a seder. Again. So for the rasha it's not a big deal because it's only one day. The point of contention between him and the yetzer hara what it means that he sees the yetzer hara something small is that he buys into the notion that so one day I sleep in one one seder I skip how much is it? The three hours is going to be so crucial is going to make such a such a big difference over the course of over a lifetime? And Tzadikim aderaba their success in in combating the Yetzer Hora not succumbing to the Yetzer Hora is recognizing, no, what the Yetzer Hora is suggesting, what it's trying to to lure me into doing, into not doing, is something very major. And and what we're talking about is really a wonderful example of it. It's very easy but very, very wrong for us to think, again, to to miss without proper justification, to miss, to not be, to not uphold the standard of Midos that I know I should be upholding. Oh, but just this once. Just this once. A person can can tell a an off color joke. A person can, but just once. A person can can have a witticism that's going to be a little bit biting for someone, a witty repartee, but but it's it's a little bit biting for someone, but just this once. So I'll learn double tomorrow, whatever whatever I skipped today. And that's what the the combined cumulative effect of these Mareh Mekomos and so many more is that the key to whether it's Kishrona shel Torah, whether it's Tikkun HaMidos, whether it's Tefillah to Avodas Hashem in general is the Dvar Yom B'Yomo, is the Bechol Yom VaYom. There is a passage in the Zohar HaKadosh. I used to hear it growing up from my father Zichrono Livracha on the Posuk in in this week's Krias HaTorah אברהם זקן בא בימים. So the Pshuto Shel Mikra would seem to be that he was getting along in days, like we have a similar English idiom. And the Beis would be translated as a as a preposition meaning in, in getting along in days. And the Zohar HaKadosh says no, means with. Avraham Avinu was Zaken. Avraham Avinu was getting old, but Ba, he was coming Ba Bayamim. He was coming with his days, that every day Avraham Avinu had used, every day he had what to show for. And again, what that means for Avraham Avinu, I don't know. What that means for us, again, Yitachen that it means Perek Echad. Yitachen that it means, like the Mishnah Berurah says about Mussar, אם מעט מעט אם הרבה הרבה, but the key, the key in Avodas Hashem is the Bechol Yom VaYom.