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Rabbi Moshe Haber Iggeret Ramban: Cultivating Character Through Divine Presence and Torah Study 12.21.25 · Rabbi Moshe Haber - Daily Mussar/Weekly Perasha

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President Ban is talking to his son in this letter and he's
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developing a person's character. He continues with, you know,
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each line, each week. It feels like the most
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fundamental point. This is what is the powerful and
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this is where you open up with. These are his words in all your
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words and your actions. Words, actions, and thoughts.
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To see 3 makeups of a man. Those three, his words, actions,
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and what he's thinking at all times.
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You think in your mind as if you're standing directly in
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front of God, he says as if. Because although we really are,
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we don't see a sham right in front of our eyes.
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And not only he's standing in front of him, he's resting his
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shahina, his presence directly on top of me.
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Why should I imagine this Kiki Bodo Malayalam?
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Because Hashem's cowboy does fill the whole world.
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So Shakina is everywhere and then he's right in front of me
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and is on top of me. You and therefore your words
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will be the Emma Obia Kevin la Ferrabo.
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Your words told other people will be with levels of fear and
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awe, talking to another random person as if you're a servant in
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front of your master because of the fact that God is right
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there. So the Ramban is saying, I gave
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you all the steps of how a person develops good character.
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I explained to you the need for humility, explaining to you you
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need to talk softly. They need to keep your head bent
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down. Don't look in people's eyes,
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which means don't have levels of arrogance and don't be a person
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that has a sort of intimidating factor.
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Certain people, arrogant people, you walk into the room, they're
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intimidating. He talked down to you.
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Don't be any of that, because that develops a bit, makes you
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into a bad person. All those steps he gave us to
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lead us into becoming a fine person because then he comes now
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from left field in a sense and gives us an immediate something
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that makes us humble an immediate character change
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without all those steps without developing yourself in a regular
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way. Simply if you put our sham in
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front of you at all times. And if you're really aware that
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God is in the room and I'm Bond says that'll soften you down,
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making it a better person. As we said, you open up with
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these words, right? I place Hashem in front of me
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opposite me always. Now, why is this considered in
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his eyes such a significant and I said, I think you're about
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humbly. I think you're right.
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That's right. And that is, you don't even need
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all the steps if you use this concept wisely right there, if
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you have a shine in front of your eyes, it softens you and
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makes into a better person. Why?
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Very clearly imagine the feeling of God is right here and I say,
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I say something that's not smart, Hashem is right here.
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And I say something that doesn't make sense.
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Or I say something that just not so nice, or something that's
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strong, arrogant, insulting, right in the presence of Hashem.
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Imagine how embarrassed I would be.
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Imagine the shame I would have imagine the I would have to
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apologize as I say I'm sorry, Nikhila Hattati.
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I'm talking in front of God. I'm talking strong to another
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person. If I show much right here, I
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know that I'd be on my best behavior.
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You all know it is when little kids are getting to fight and
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the pair and walks into the room and all of a sudden the fight
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stops. All right, teacher catches on
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what's going on in the quest and the whole thing quiets down.
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Imagine even a rabbi is giving me a speech and if he looks and
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he sees who's the person who's talking?
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If people stop talking, right? So if God is in the room and
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he's seeing us doing something wrong, especially when it comes
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to one person shooting another person, we'd be very embarrassed
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to do it in front of Hashem. So if a person gets used to this
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idea and Hashem is in front of them at all times, it'll
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literally curb our behavior and make into a better behavior.
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The question is, this topic is actually very simple once apply
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the issue is getting used to this idea.
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How doable is it for an individual to really believe and
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to live with the mindset that Shimmer is right in front of
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him? How doable?
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It's not so easy. It's not so easy to just you're
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having I'm having a conversation with you and I think to myself,
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I have to watch what I say because Shimmer's right here.
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It's not that simple. This is something that takes
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practice. That means getting used to the
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idea that I have this shahina near me, getting used to it.
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Same way cavort of a shoe is something that takes practice.
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If you give a shoe cavort and you're the type person, when you
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walk into the shoe, you act with a certain love of respect.
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You have to build that type of respect.
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It's not something that comes natural.
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You have to build it. You have to perceive it that way
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and look at that way, and then you get used to it and then it's
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there. The same thing is true when it
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comes to recognizing that Hashem is right here.
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It's not so simple. It's something that takes repeat
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and repeat and practice and believing and imagining and
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saying to yourself, Shaheena is here.
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I have to watch what I say. Hashem is right in front of me.
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I wouldn't want to say something dumb in front of Hashem.
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I have to be careful. So it has to be something that
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takes practice. So it's really this trick I want
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to call a trick and then Aban is telling us is not does not take
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as much work as all the other examples that he gave us, being
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humble, talking softly, being nice to another person, giving
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respect to anybody. All those steps that he gave us
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those take work. This one is very simple, I
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think, however, it takes the initial step, which is the
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belief have to believe Hashem is right in front of I'm talking to
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you, car is right here talking to this room, Hashem is right
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here. If you get used to that mindset,
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I'm talking about not only in a shoe, not even only in your
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house, it could be you could be in the street.
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Hashem is right there. It could be in the store, Hashem
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is right there with you. It could be in the office.
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Carter's right there. You're talking about business
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and going back and forth. You're talking about sports.
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Does not matter. Hashem is right there at all
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times. If you absorb that concept, we
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would be careful and be careful to watch what we say.
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That's Part 1. The second part is the heavens
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are here, he says. Another element, the klot Batura
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Tamit. I said to call the Kaima another
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way to develop character again. These are for today 2 tricks.
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The first trick is Shibuya Shamim and Nikita meet.
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Put it in front of my eyes at all times.
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The other trick and I'm calling a trick because it's a race to
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the finish line. It doesn't take as many steps as
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all these other weeks took. What's the second trick?
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Like a developed character, he says.
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I guess learn, learn. If you sit and you read Torah
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here and there, you have a daily schedule of learning.
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You will get and develop character.
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I have noticed something over time that cannot be explained
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besides for experience, and that is this, people who sit and
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learn. I'm not even talking about
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learning Messiah Shaheen, which we do every day, which is very
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important. I'm not thinking about learning
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Havot de la Vot, learning Moussa, learning from this
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rabbi, that rabbi going to a class, someone who sits and has
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a daily learning schedule. If you compare them talking
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about real people, don't don't give me the example of the guy
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you saw on TV, someone who sits and learns.
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Actresses learn all day or we go no, a little bit every day.
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His character becomes that much more developed.
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And the other person who doesn't have that daily schedule, why
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first he said let me read you his words before I tell you my
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point there is I hear you should make sure to read to it and read
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it in the way they able to fulfill it.
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They can Sheta cool when I suffered when you get up from
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the book to capes by Shayla Malta, analyze what you learned
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and try to find something you can keep from what you learn.
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That means we're learning about damaging every morning.
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It's hard to find something you're going to keep from that,
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but still trying to find something that applies Imyesh
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Bodavaja to Halakai more of you have something there that you're
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able to fulfill. Try to analyze and say, I want
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to take a take away, but here's my point.
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My point is is that when you sit and you have a daily schedule,
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I've seen this and I'm very confident about this point.
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Not every point that you say are we confident about.
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This is something I'm extremely confident about.
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I've seen that people who have a daily learning schedule develop
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more fine characters. So now you say, and I say I know
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why? Because he learned about life
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and he knows about life and he applies it.
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That's true, absolutely true. But that's not the only shot.
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The better shot is much deeper than that.
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When a person sits and learns something every single day,
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listens to a class, whatever may be, what happens is you move
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into a different zone. Couple elements.
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Part number one is you become a thinker.
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Half the things that we do wrong in life is we do them because
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they're not thinking properly. We're just reactionary.
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We're just fighting. We're just talking.
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We're just saying things. If you were a thinker, I had a
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conversation with someone last night about something political.
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He told me and he's such a great line.
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He's I can guarantee you all those politics would go away if
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those people would just sit and break a book, just open up a
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Gemara. I believe all those politics
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would go away. He said, and he said in a strong
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way, but he's absolutely right. Why?
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Because they get so off track. People get so off track in their
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ways of thinking. Partially it's reactionary posse
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is the race of the cupboard. All those other issues that come
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up, all the emotions and the weak thoughts and the weak words
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that come out of us all because we're not thinking.
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When a person becomes a thinker, they become a much finer person.
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And I've seen this and it's one of my most confident opinions
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that I have. And that is when someone learns
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even a little bit, the more they do, the better, but even a
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little bit every day, they become a thinker.
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When you're a thinker, everything you do is more fine.
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Because at our core wall good people, at our core wall fine
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people. The issue is when we do things
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surface, when we do things reactionary, our finest doesn't
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have a chance to show. But if we learn we become
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thinkers or we become thinkers, then everything we do is with
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that thought. And when you do things with the
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right thought, you're going to be a good person.
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You're going to display the better version of yourself.
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So you have a chance. Either I display the reaction, I
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part of myself, not thinking, emotion, race with cavort,
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temptation, all the regular stuff, and I say funny things
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and I do funny things, or I use the inner part of myself to the
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core part. How do I bring out the core
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part? If I learned every day I become
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a thinker. When I become a thinker, then
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everything that comes out of me comes from thought and that
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becomes a better version of myself.
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That's a deep point, but I hope you understand it, Charles.
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The point makes sense and I think you've seen it.
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If someone has learning, they have the ability to become a
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thinker and they analyze everything differently and
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analyze their words differently. That's Part 1, Part 2, when this
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will close, and this is much more powerful.
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The reason learning and having a schedule makes into a more fine
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person. And I'm going to tell you what I
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mean. 100 years ago or so, there was a big dispute in the yeshiva
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world. Do they need to learn Musar,
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Messiah, Shaheen Hovote Levote? Do they need to learn Musar?
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Some yeshiva said no. They said any Musa that you
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learned to be to Torah. Other yeshiva said absolutely,
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yes, I go to yeshiva today that they write on the on the
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headline, they write the words that yeshiva built on Torah
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Vida, which means they believed like, you know, there's yeshiva
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called Torah Vadas in Brooklyn. Torah of Adas is called that
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because they held they have to have learned Gemara Torah.
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And that means Musar, that means thinking.
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So there was a big dispute, but part of the dispute was some
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rabbi said just sitting and learning every day without even
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trying to learn about life, just learning.
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It'll make you a fine person. You don't need to throw in the
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moussard. Others disagree.
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It was a back and forth. Today, the yeshiva world has
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settled on a balance. The balance is 90% camera, 10%
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moussard, even less moussard. That's the balance.
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OK, I'm fine, but I'm telling you even just learning something
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not life related, just learning anything, it makes into a finer
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person for two reasons. A because it makes into a
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thinker and B because, and this is real, when a person learns
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anything they bring in Hashem's way of thinking into their mind.
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Part of the reason we discuss everything every morning, we
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learn about damaging and we always open up with the Gemara
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and usually we fight about it because an American law laws was
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to go one way and then the Gemara, it's usually the
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opposite. What are you doing when you're
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learning Kamara? You're you're basically tying
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your brain down a little bit and you're opening up to Hashem's
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brain. The goal is that they fuse
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together eventually and you and Hashem become one and your way
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of thinking and God's way of thinking becomes one.
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But when you sit and learn every single day, you start to think
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and everything you say comes from thinking and you start to
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think like God and that is the level you want to have.
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You start to think like Hashem. I'll give you an example.
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When the Galana Villano was asked any question, he just sit
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down and say, let me learn a couple hours and then I can
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answer your question. All the great rabbis, the reason
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to have the right answers does not come because they studied
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the math book. It doesn't come because they
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studied medicine. A lot of them know that stuff
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too. But the reason they have the
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right answers is because they try to think like Hashem.
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And how do you think like Hashem when you sit and learn his
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thought? So if you take God's thought
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into your mind, your mind and his mind becomes one.
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And he started to think like God.
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The idea of asking a rabbi a random question.
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Now my humble opinion is when he asks rabbis these questions, you
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don't guide the rabbi. So many people out there give me
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a sidebar. So many people out there ask
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rabbis, and I'm talking about even respectable people ask
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rabbis. It's all sketch.
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They ask a rabbi and they guide their question.
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You have to be very real when you talk to rabbi.
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You have to be leaving the question up to him and saying
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let me see what he has to say. You don't have to go with it all
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the time. I'm telling you to go with.
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You have to have your own way of thinking, but you have to ask
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him and trust him. Don't guide him.
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I've seen it so many times, guarded.
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That means they ask you out by a question and they lead him on a
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certain way, the back end, or they ask a certain way, lead him
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on a certain way. They show him some of the
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details. There's only half the cards and
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they lead him a certain way. That's a sketch.
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Or they ask the rabbi who they know is pro a certain angle and
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they ask him that question. That's also such when you're
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asking the rabbi, you looking to ask Hashem, you're trying to ask
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your modern day version of talking to Hashem.
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So that means let me get Hashem's way of thinking to come
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out. And if you do it properly and
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it's the right Rabbi and the right way of asking, you will
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get sehel and you will get the right mindset.
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And when they used to say ruach ha kodesh, what they meant was
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really this a fuse of God in that rabbi's mind.
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Why? Because he sat and learned all
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day, not because he learned that answer.
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He don't look up the answer, he'll look up the shot.
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And how we used to do in the office when you have this
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situation going on. He learned Kamara and somehow he
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came up with the answer. So the Ambati is telling us,
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telling his son, if you want to become a fine person, first of
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all, put a share in front of you at all times.
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But second of all, sit down and learn something, anything that's
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holy and let it go into your mind.
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See you when you're done the learning.
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If you can take away something, if you kind of great.
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And even if you cannot take anything practical from what you
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learned that day, recognize the fact that you are making
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yourself into a thinker, which is a very powerful existence.
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Being a thinker will allow you to look at so many situations
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and say, I'm not going to do that.
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I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to get involved in
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that. That looks ridiculous because
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you're a thinker and you also have the beauty of Hashem in
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your mind. When you have Hashem in your
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mind, you're not just a thinker. You're someone who thinks
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correctly and you're actually going to say things that make
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sense and say things that are productive and do things that
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have value because you're thinking like God.
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And I'm telling you, I don't know if this point is
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articulated fully clearly, but I believe this in my heart of
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hearts. You look around people who sit
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and learn. I'm talking about good people
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who say and learn and they let it come in properly.
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They do so much more development in their mind than people who
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are not willing to learn. Why?
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Because they're allowing Hashem to come in.
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They said, I'll give you an example, close this, I'll give
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you an example when I see you certain learning people get
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involved in this, right? They can get involved in giving
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away 10s, even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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I've seen it all the time. I've seen a lot now and they
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gave away so much money. There's no coverwood involved.
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There's no organization involved.
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There's no publicity involved. There's no regular things you
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have to hoops you have to run through involved.
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They find a needy person, they get them the money and that's it
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and they do it right. And I've seen the difference
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between has it from those who know Twitter and has it from
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those who have no knowledge of today is a different has it now,
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you would say? What do you mean?
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Charity is charity. Kindness is kindness.
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It's all the same kindness. No, when the guy has the right,
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the right type of secha, he does charity and he hits the spot.
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When the guy doesn't have the right secha, he might be a
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generous man, but he'll waste his money on the wrong
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organization or do it in a way that makes the Arnie embarrassed
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or do it away. That's off.
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Why 'cause he doesn't have that secha.
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And it's an unbelievable difference when you develop that
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secha, which we all are working on, when you develop that secha,
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it becomes a complete and perfect person and everything
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you do is in the track of correct.
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I'll stop by this. Go ahead.
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Look about this. That's how come we don't know.