Prepare For Life

When I was a kid I LOVED watching [and playing. There was just one thing stopping me from going professional - I wasn't nearly good enough...] sports. An ideal day for me was one where I had the TV all to myself and could watch sports all day uninterrupted [except for mincha and breaks to get more pretzels and potato chips].

I have lost all interest in sports. I find it boring and repetitive. If I would be put into a Chinese torture chamber and were forced to watch sports all day it would truly be torturous [especially if the sport was Chinese ping pong - which incidentally sounds more like the name of a Chinese guy than it sounds like the name of a sport].

People live in this world and are addicted to "this-worldly" things. Their food and toys [cars, phones, gadgets etc.] and houses and physical appearance etc. etc.

The day comes [nobody has an exemption] where he loses EVERYTHING. He goes to a different world and reality where none of this worldly stuff exists. What is he going to do then? Go bored out of his brains. He can't connect to anything that has value over there. Indescribable torture - especially knowing that he COULD have been experiencing bliss had he made better decisions here.

That - in a very crude way - is a description of gehenom according to the Maharal.

PLEASE sweet friends - rededicate yourselves to spiritual values and content if only [ideally of course for altruistic motives, namely in order to fulfill the will of Hashem out of love] so that you aren't bored forever. If you can appreciate the ruchniyus of Shabbos - you will be able to appreciate what that world has to offer. If you develop a taste for Torah - your soul will experience tremendous bliss when you appreciate the depth of Torah in ways you never before did. People DON'T realize that when they are "too busy" to learn [a very large percentage of people I know...], they are just shooting themselves in the foot. When the time comes they will regret it - so why not take advantage of the opportunity while we have it? Life is soooo short and quick and the earthly pleasures are so deficient when compared to the real thing.

Not only will it make the next world better but it will also transform your life in this world. I PROMISE.

The greatest experience is just to be good and Godly. Try it. Let go of your addictions. Turn off your phone and gadgets for a few hours on a Sunday and immerse yourself in dvar Hashem. Cut yourself off from all of the tumah that pervades society [as much as possible]. Redefine yourself as a SPIRITUAL BEING.

Time is running out. We are all the CLOSEST WE HAVE EVER BEEN to the day when our contract runs out and we return "home" and TRUE LIFE begins.

חיי הנשמות!