Woman's World - 007 Hearing The Voice Of Hashem

Knowing What Hashem wants from us

When Hashem gave us the Torah at Har Sinai, we all heard Hashem talking to us. Is it possible to hear the voice of Hashem, in this current day? Can we hear Hashem talking to us on a personal level? All our souls were there at Har Sinai; we all heard Hashem talking to us. Many years have passed since then, but is there any way we can connect to that time when Hashem spoke to us?

There are two ways how a person can know what Hashem wants from us. One way is by learning Torah, or to ask a Rov and find out what the Halacha is when one is in doubt about what to do. Another way is to discern with your heart what is true and what isn’t; these are the gray areas in life that aren’t clear-cut, and a person is able to use his heart to know what the right thing is.

Every person has the ability to know in his heart that “this is just not the right thing.”

Rav Yoel Kluft, a Rov in Eretz Yisrael for many years, said that even if all the Rabbis in the world would tell you that something is permissible according to the Halacha, if you feel in your heart that it’s just not the right thing to do, don’t do it.

We cannot hear Hashem’s actual voice that we heard at Har Sinai. But today it is possible to hear Hashem talking to us – when we feel that something isn’t the right thing to do. We can hear Hashem talking to us that this is wrong.

How We Can Know What’s Right

There are things we do which take away our peace of mind. This is something which isn’t the right thing to do. If we do something and it doesn’t disturb our peace of mind, it is a sign that we have done the right thing.

Every time we do something, we must ask ourselves: Did our Avos and Imahos do this? Would the Avos and Imahos live in the lifestyle we live in? Imagine if the Avos and Imahos lived in our community. How would they feel about everything we do? If we feel that something in our life is something that our Avos and Imahos wouldn’t do, then it can’t be the right thing.

Most people do not have peace of mind and aren’t calm. This is because people are doing things that they know are really not the right thing.

A person only has menuchas hanefesh (peace of mind) when his heart is in line with the things he does. Anyone who does things which he knows in his heart aren’t right cannot have Menuchas hanefesh.

Nobody is perfect, but if a person lives his life according to what he feels is true, he will be calm and live a true kind of life. When a person’s actions match what is on his heart, he is a truly happy person.

Ask yourself if the way you are living is right or not, if there are any parts of your life that you know is not the right way.

Listen To What Your Heart Is Saying

We all want to be happy and calm. If we want to be truly happen, we can listen to Hashem – what He wants from us – from within our own hearts. The truth speaks to everyone from within each person’s heart.

We must aside time every day to listen to Hashem’s voice, who speaks to us from within our own heart. We have to set aside time for this; if we don’t, it’s like a beautiful disc which we never get around to listening to because we don’t have the time. Every day the voice of Hashem is playing in our heart, and it tells us what is right, but we don’t set aside time every day to listen to our heart.

If we listen to our heart every day and what it is telling us, we will find true happiness.

The Rambam says that all happiness does not come from anything outside of a person, but from the person himself. All happiness is contained in our selves, in our heart.

Analyzing The American Lifestyle We Are Living

We must choose the correct path in our life, the truth which our heart is telling us. The lifestyle in America is very materialistic. A Jew is able to feel his heart telling him that the American lifestyle is not a true kind of life. We know that there are many things that are inappropriate.

Is there anyone who believes that the way a Jew lives in America is the true way to live? Did previous generations live their live like this?

What, indeed, is the true kind of life? It is to live constantly with the truth. Of course, people always had to make a living, even in the olden days. But they lived with the knowledge that they are a neshamah inside a body, and they knew that there is a clear difference between a Jew and a non-Jew. But today, a Jew’s lifestyle is very similar to a non-Jewish lifestyle, except for the fact that Jews have Shabbos off (and non-Jews have Sundays off), and that Jews only eat kosher….

A Jew’s Neshamah doesn’t want any of the non-Jewish lifestyles. We know we all have a Neshamah; have we given it up because we are saying, “We don’t have a choice – We live in America, and there’s nothing we can do about it”?

We must believe that we can live a life of a Neshamah, even in America. We all have the choice to decide if we will live a life of just a body -- or a soul. Even though we are not in Gan Eden, we can still live on this physical world a life of a Neshamah.

Chazal say, “Every person must say, “When will I reach the actions of my forefathers?” Picture in your mind how Sarah Imeinu would speak and act if she would live in our community, and connect to that and emulate that.

We are not speaking of something that is out of our reach; anyone can do this. May we all be zoche to live a life of our neshamah, and if we live such a life, we will have a life of calmness and happiness.