messages.role: user
messages.content: You are a yeshivish rabbi and scholar. Please edit the following text for a yeshivish book in a natural tone while maintaining the original author’s voice:
  
  Bad middos, or negies, make you believe that your involvement in the world, your involvement with other people, is a thing which happens just in your backyard. It’s all a question of your own hanoeh, it’s a question of your own toeles, it’s a question of you figuratively reaching a higher level in the company ladder. It’s all your own backyard. Your involvement in the world is your own business. This is the illusion you believe when under the spell of the Middos Ro’es.
  
  The basic mokum of Yiras Shomayim, the way we spoke last time, means that something else, something higher, something above, has to reveal itself. And now, in the realm of you being involved in the world, that’s a very basic thing. You have to understand that your involvement in the world, to your amazement, is not your backyard. It’s not. It’s not your own business. No, it’s not.
  
  This is a deep thing. The reason why it’s not your own business when there is a mitzvah is because it’s very clear that it’s not my own business. I can’t suddenly decide to put the t’fillin shel yad on my head, even if I think it would be better, for whatever reason, to do that - because the halocheh says you can’t do that. So it’s very clear that mitzvos are not my own business. Therefore your negius don’t affect you so much.
  
  But in your involvement in the world, why shouldn’t you do it the way it comes? Because that’s the approach of Yiras Shomayim. Yiras Shomayim has this basic ingredient, that it’s not my backyard. And that’s what Anshei Avimelech did to Avrohom Avinu. They said that Soroh Imeinu is their backyard; she is for our melech. It is a thing which is for us. By Paroh it was the same thing. It is for the melech. It is for us. Because it is my backyard. Everything is for my own benefit.
  
  The world is not your backyard. That is the basis of Yiras Shomayim. Your life has to reveal that. This is the deep thing you can work out in bein hazmanim. That your life is not your own business. That is an avoideh which is bene’imim. I don’t tell you you have to take weird actions. But in the trips and things you already do, you need to find some connection, some new insight in torah.
  
  The Mashgiach told me when he goes for a trip in bein hazmanim, when there is not some novel insight in torah connected to his trip, whether to a tree, to a mountain, to nature, or to involvement with other people, when there is no new insight coming up from the bein hazmanim, the bein hazmanim is worthless. It’s gurnisht. It’s a bitul torah. According to what I tell you, it’s not only worthless, it will destroy you. Because you will be strengthening the hargosheh that the world is my backyard.
  
  When you think about what’s happening in the bein hazmanim here in Israel, there’s always these terrible things happening. They say it’s a zman puranus, because we are not learning in Yeshiva. There are bad things happening and you shouldn’t make a tiyul. It’s a dangerous time because the zchus ha’toreh is not magein on us, you read that in the newspapers once in a while.
  
  I have another take on that. It’s because… רק אין לו יראת אלוקים על כן יהרגו אותו. These bochurim think the world is their backyard. It’s my own mokom of pleasure and it’s much more exciting to go to the desert with shabbos shoes and without water. It’s easier, you know? It’s much more exciting. It’s your backyard. No, it’s not your backyard.
  
  That’s a very harsh illustration. You think it’s your backyard and that’s why you go and do all these crazy, exciting things. You go offroad in a quad bike and then to your amazement you fall off the cliff. Of course you will fall off the cliff. It’s not your backyard. The world is not your backyard to have hanoeh. No, it’s not.
  
  When you do think that the world is there In order to chill out, or it could be to להוציא את המרץ, perhaps that’s the difference between Americans and Israelis. Americans want to sit back and relax. The Israelis really want to have some action going on. Whichever one it is, if you think that’s what bein hazmanim is for, you make a big mistake. You destroy yourself. You are poshut mechazek Ein Yiras Eloikim BaMakom Hazeh. You are the mechazek these koyches which tell you it’s your backyard. The world is my own business.
  
  The world is not your own business. When you’re able to see that the world is not your own business, then, believe me, then good middos will surface. Then you open the door that the good middos are also able to surface. It’s an actual thing too. It’s an actual enjoyment to do chesed. It’s enjoyable to be responsible or whatever it is. That’s an enjoyable thing.
  
  But when you think it’s your backyard, why should I be responsible? It’s my backyard, don’t tell me what to do. Why should I do chesed with you? It’s an effort. I want to have my own little backyard and no chesed involved there. But when you understand it’s not like this, then you open up the possibility that good middos and positive qualities are able to surface. And then bein hazmanim makes sense.
  
  But that’s what you have to have. You have to have Yiras Shomayim. And this Yiras Shomayim, that is a very basic thing. I would say the approach of a Jew to the world is an approach of awe. When you go for a trip, you are mispoel. It’s not a question of your own hanoeh only.
messages.role: assistant
messages.content: Bad middos or negios can lead one to believe that one's involvement in the world and with others is a purely personal matter, confined to one's own "backyard," so to speak. It becomes all about one's own hanoeh (understanding) and toeles (purpose), as if one is climbing a ladder of self-advancement.
  
  However, the fundamental mokom of Yiras Shomayim (fear of Heaven) teaches us that there is something higher, something beyond ourselves, that must reveal itself. When it comes to our involvement in the world, this is a basic principle. We must recognize that our actions and interactions are not confined to our own "backyard" or personal concerns.
  
  Indeed, the halachic framework of mitzvos already demonstrates this truth. I cannot arbitrarily decide to put on tefillin shel yad on my head, for example, even if I think it might be beneficial. The halacha dictates that such an action is not permissible. This illustrates that mitzvos are not a matter of personal prerogative; they transcend our individual desires and inclinations.
  
  Anshei Avimelech and Paroh both erred in thinking that Sarah Imeinu and the Jewish people, respectively, were their "backyard," subject to their whims and desires. They failed to recognize the divine hand guiding and shaping historical events.
  
  The same mistake can be made during bein hazmanim, the breaks between learning sessions in yeshiva. It is a time for relaxation and rejuvenation, but it can also be a time for spiritual growth and introspection. If we simply treat bein hazmanim as an opportunity for personal enjoyment, we risk reinforcing the erroneous belief that the world is our "backyard," subject to our whims and desires.
  
  The Mashgiach once told me that a bein hazmanim without some novel torah insight is worthless, a bitul torah. It is not only a missed opportunity for growth, but it can also reinforce harmful attitudes and beliefs.
  
  When we fail to recognize the divine hand guiding our lives, we may be tempted to engage in dangerous or harmful behaviors. We may think that the world is our "backyard," to be used for our own pleasure and enjoyment. But this is a dangerous illusion.
  
  On the contrary, when we recognize that the world is not our "backyard," but rather a sacred trust from Hashem, we open ourselves up to the possibility of good middos and positive qualities surfacing. We become more responsible, more caring, and more attuned to the needs of others.
  
  In conclusion, the key to developing good middos and avoiding the dangers of thinking that the world is our "backyard" is to cultivate a deep sense of Yiras Shomayim. When we approach the world with a sense of awe and reverence, we are more likely to act in ways that are consistent with torah values and teachings. May we all merit to cultivate this precious middah during bein hazmanim and beyond.
messages.role: user
messages.content: continue in the same fashion with the following text:
  
  When you are able to do that, it means you made a big step forward in a general Yiras Shomayim, which will help you later on in life, much more than everything else. Because life means being involved with the world; what shall I do? That's a good part of life. It is also by those people who are working in a torah’dig position. They are involved with the world. And you have to understand that being involved with the world is always a question of something that is above you. 
  
  It will be a tremendous benefit for working with other people. Marriage, for example, is about working with someone else, to your surprise. Or if you go into  business or something in the Yeshivah, where there are other people there, or you go into some other thing where you have to deal with other people, this will help you tremendously. One of the biggest problems of a person who gets married, for example, or who goes into any worldly thing, is that he thinks it has to be my way. It's my own business. 
  
  This approach will open you up to being much bigger than you are. Because you approach it so that it doesn’t have to be my way. It's not my thing. My world is not my thing. That's the approach of Yiras Shomayim. That's the approach that there's something bigger going on than my own business, my own emphasis. You know? It's something bigger, something loftier.  
  
  Someone asked me. He came to me, and I only show you how far that goes that you need Yiras Shomayim in that way. That it's not your backyard. He told me, I have a difficulty with Emunas Chachomim. 
  
  So I first wanted to tell him you have the wrong address. Go ask in Bnei Brak, quite certainly you have the wrong address. Even so, he decided to come to me. He said I was in a certain place, and there were a few Rabbonim there, never mind where that was, and I asked them a question. Together with a group of people, We put a question in front of these Rabbonim. 
  
  But the way they answered, it was not only very obvious - It screamed out that they really were not interested in the topic altogether. They didn't really go into any details. They didn't listen. They didn't want to know. They didn't go when they were not concerned about anything. They had like an answer which was like halfway pref-fabricated, and you tell the guy, you know, that's what you have to do. That's the answer. And the answer was a disaster. He described the disaster, it was an absolute disaster. 
  
  But he had the Daas Torah. So what shall I do now? So he was really by the wrong address, you know? Because I am upset about that. That's one thing which I was not educated like this. By the Mashgiach it wasn't. That was a part of Yiras Shomayim. A part of Yiras Shomayim that you know, that when someone comes to you, the biggest idiot or whatever, however you want to call that, but he comes to you, it's above you. It's not your backyard. It's no prefabricated answers. It's really a question of individual thing. Excuse me. 
  
  That's what I was educated. Always you say, you have to look, צאי נא בעקבי הצאן, how it was in former generation. Of course, that’s what I do, I am not mechadesh anything. I know what I do is the way it was when I was young. We ask people, that took time, that took an enormous amount of time. That took an enormous amount of time and they went in that and asked this and then asked that and then asked this and then asked that. And then in the end they came out in some answer or eitza. 
  
  Because it's not your backyard. It's not. No. This other person is not in your backyard. Also when he asks you a question, it's not in your backyard. It's another person. It's another world. It's just an Oilam Acher which I have to stand in front of everyone with awe. That's my involvement in the world. The basic point of involvement with the world is that there is something bigger going on. 
  
  And the bad middos or this hechletiut, that what makes you believe there is nothing big going on. Everything is yadua. Everything is only what I know already or what I want or what I can have a hanoeh out of it. It's a lack in that sense of Yiras Shomayim. 
  