What if you want to watch the Super Bowl but you don’t want to watch the Halftime show? Chazaq with TorahAnytime provided the answer with Halftime for Torah, an inspiring, uplifting program. The first speaker, Charlie Harary, shared that the goal in watching sports is not the Super Bowl but it’s watching professionals compete at a high level to learn lessons we can glean.
You will see incredible lessons that you can incorporate into your life. He noted how you see a huge amount of encouragement. Every time a player messes up, the camera will show someone on the sidelines encouraging that person. During the pre-game, everywhere you look, you see players and coaches pumping each other up. Why is there so much need for encouragement? After all, these are top professional players.
Harary quoted from a teaching of Rav Chaim Vital that sadness leads to holding back from doing mitzvos and serving Hashem. It blocks avodas Hashem – from good thoughts to serve Hashem. Sadness lets in your yeitzer ha’ra. If you serve Hashem with simchah, this leads to desire and love to connect to Hashem. What is so powerful about happiness? “When playing at the highest level, happiness causes the play. It’s the catalyst of success. It isn’t a manifestation of success.” You can’t play well if you are worried and not excited. You have to possess excitement and encouragement to play at that level.
For many of us, we are waiting for avodas Hashem to bring us happiness. The opposite is true. You need to approach avodas Hashem with joy and depth and purpose. “Get excited, encourage each other before doing mitzvos. We are fighting for eternity!” He challenged everyone to try it for one week. Pump yourself up to get excited for doing mitzvos and see how it feels. It can bring you real success in the real game!
Next, Rabbi Paysach Krohn, well-known mohel, author, and speaker, shared a story about Rav Sholom Schwadron. When Israel became a state, he saw children playing soccer outside and they were so happy doing this, so he decided to make Torah classes at night.
Once, when a student missed classes to watch a soccer tournament, Rav Schwadron asked him what the main idea of soccer was, and the boy explained that it’s to kick the ball into the goal. Rav Schwadron said: I can kick 20 goals into the net, but if there’s no goalie to stop it, then there is no game. Why? The student responded that if there is no challenge, there’s no game.
Rav Schwadron said, “You said if there is no challenge there is no game. There is no accomplishment. You come this week and then you will be overcoming a challenge.” The boy came and went on to become a talmid chacham.
Rabbi Krohn taught that overcoming challenges in life is very important. We can overcome them by learning from others, having a plan, and knowing that challenges are a part of life. When you watch the Super Bowl, you see a formation. Everyone has to be in a special place. In the same way, when you daven, there is a formation. You need to stand with your feet together for Sh’moneh Esrei. Rav Moshe Feinstein teaches that your feet should be together like the mal’achim. This is so that you are totally focused on Hashem.
Hashem should answer our t’filos.
Next, Rabbi Joey Haber, well-known speaker, shared four questions. First, why did Hashem create the world? Rabbi Haber answered: in order to do good for humans. Second, where is that good? We see so much struggle and so much pain. Rabbi Haber answered that the good is in the Next World. Third, why did Hashem put us in this world? He answered that almost the whole country was focused on the Super Bowl. The goal was to win the trophy. So why not just give every team a trophy when they show up for the training camp? There would be no injuries and no coaches getting fired. The point of the trophy is not the trophy itself but rather the point is that it is earned. Each week of training before the Super Bowl is intense. The value of the trophy is all the intense pain and difficulty involved in achieving it. Hashem says the same thing. There would be no joy in the Next World if being there wasn’t earned in this world. It would be like receiving the Lombardi Trophy in August.
The reward in the World to Come is incredible. His final question was: Why can’t we just see Olam HaBa? Then, it would be so much easier to focus on doing good. He answered that then there would be no test. If the reward was so clear, there would be no test in trying to achieve it. Rabbi Haber taught that if there are difficulties in your life, then you are earning your “trophy.” He added that he has yet to meet a person with an easy life. Life is sometimes tough and difficult so that your trophy in Olam HaBa will be meaningful.
Following this, Rabbi Yoel Gold shared the story of a beautiful song sung by Shlomie Gertner. He shared how the melody for the song grew from the challenge he faced when his wife gave birth to their daughter Malka (Malky), who is disabled. Yossi Green wrote the song with him, and it is about the Shabbos HaMalkah connected to his daughter Malky. This song has inspired so many people around the world. Rabbi Gold taught that with the challenge, Hashem sends tools to deal with it. “Everybody should find in his challenge the Malky song and sing about it.”
These shiurim can be viewed on TorahAnytime.com.
By Susie Garber
