<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;">Good evening and welcome to The Real World.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;">אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ- <em>go to the land which I will show you. </em>Rashi comments that initially, Hashem didn’t reveal to Avraham Avinu where he was going כְּדֵּי לְחַבְּבָהּ בְּעֵינָיו, <em>so that he should hold it in high esteem</em>. Hashem hid the destination so that it would be more endearing and exciting to him. What does this mean?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;"><iframe title="vimeo-player" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/767136440?h=50cc88babd" _mce_src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/767136440?h=50cc88babd" allowfullscreen="" width="640" height="1130" frameborder="0"></iframe><br></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;"><em>Imagine that you are going on a vacation. You go to the travel agent and tell him that you want to go somewhere spectacular. The travel agent says that he has a great vacation spot, but he won’t tell you where it is. He says, “Go and I will tell you when you get there.” Go on a plane. Start traveling and I will tell you when to stop. </em></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;">That is not what happens! A travel agent purposely takes out brochures, shows the client websites, finds stunning pictures, and reads reviews to get them excited about where they are going and what they will eat, see, and do! They try to make a person excited! How will Hashem’s hiding of the destination cause Avraham Avinu to love it so much?</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;">By way of introduction, my Rebbe used to explain that it is not that a mother loves her children so much that she gets up for them during the night when they are crying, even though she rather sleep. Rather, it is that a mother loves her children so much <strong><em>because</em></strong><em> </em>she gets up in the middle of the night when they are crying.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;">The Steipler Gaon explains that the more a person works on something, the more connection they have with it. Oftentimes at the beginning of the zman, yeshiva bochurim will look at their Gemaras from the previous zman and feel a connection to it. They love it because they see that it is a little faded and the tape is worn out; they see that it is a part of their toil! There are people who build a <em>sukkah</em> as opposed to buying it. (For someone who is not very handy, I understand why they would want to go buy their sukkah.) But there is a certain joy, a geshmak, that a person has from something that they built with their own hands. When a person works on something, they feel love for it. According to the amount of work that they invest is the amount of <em>chein</em> they will have.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;">The Ribbono Shel Olam didn’t tell Avraham Avinu where he was going in order to make it harder for him! And that was going to make him love it. It was not going to be any easy trip- Avraham Avinu was old and his wife was old- it was a nisayon for him to go! But when Hashem would tell him that he was at the right place, he was going to feel such a love for that place, specifically because of the toil. It is like that with everything.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;" _mce_style="font-size: large; font-family: times new roman, times;">Good Shabbos.</span></p><div style="position: static !important;"></div>