Influencing from the Heart | Rabbi Mordechai Alster

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Vayimaen’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

Although the Torah calls Noach a ish tzaddik, [music] Rashi points out the areas where Avraham Avinu was much greater than Noach. We find [music] two major differences in the lives of Avraham and Noach. One of them is in the area of influence. Noach built the teivah for 120 years, and Rashi says the reason for that was that Noach should be able to tell everybody that passes by [music] that Hashem is bringing a mabul, and he would encourage them to do teshuvah. But Noach was unsuccessful. On the other hand, Avraham unsuccessful. On the other hand, Avraham Avinu was very successful at influencing others. The Rambam in Hilchos Avodah Zarah perek aleph halacha gimmel says, "Avraham was mekarev all of the world and brought them to serve Hashem." Avraham Avinu was very successful at being mekarev people and changing people, influencing people, and turning them around. Another difference between Avraham Avinu and Noach the Zohar points out and is even critical of Noach that Noach was not a spell for his generation, and [music] he wasn't a spell for the dor who was not to destroy the world, but to bring the mabul. On the other hand, when Hashem told Avraham Avinu that he's going to destroy Sedom, Avraham Avinu

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1. 0:05Although the Torah calls Noach a ish tzaddik, [music] Rashi points out the areas where Avraham…
2. 0:35unsuccessful. On the other hand, Avraham Avinu was very successful at influencing others. The Rambam in…
3. 1:06going to destroy Sedom, Avraham Avinu davened, [music] "Ulay yesh chamishim tzaddikim." He davened and davened…
4. 1:36to show warmth. Another rebbe said he has to have clarity. And my father said, "All…
5. 2:06tefillos. They feel it. They see the caring. They hear the concern. They recognize that the…
6. 2:36willing to grow from him. And they were willing to be influenced [music] by him. Whereas…
7. 3:07to teach, to guide and direct. It's important to include their struggles in our tefillos. >>…

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