Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.

00:12 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody to the Jewish Inspiration Podcast. One of the important messages, one of the most important messages that Rav Nachman of Breslov would teach to his students, is this little point of encouragement that everybody has a spark within them that is so bright, no matter what darkness a person is experiencing, we have to hold on to that light, and that light should be a source of encouragement, of inspiration. It should be a source of strength to bring us out of our mind, convincing ourselves, that we cannot accomplish and this is the theme, by the way, that Rabbi Nachman, in many, many, many of his teachings, goes through just giving the world encouragement Don't worry, don't knock yourself down. There's many, many songs that you may have heard over the years of Rab Nachman teaching about the words from Rab Nachman that have been made into songs of encouragement. The whole world is a very narrow bridge. Right, have no fear at all. All of the you know there's unbelievable teachings. All of the you know there's unbelievable teachings.

01:48
Now, in the month of Adar, we celebrate four separate parsios. We talked about this in our Everyday Judaism podcast. We talked about how these four portions, what they represent. We talked about this as well in other episodes. We talked about each one of these partios and what it is basically the Shabbos that precedes the month of Adar, the Adar that is right before Nisan, because if there's two Adars you don't do it before the first one, you do it before the second Adar, on a leap year. So that portion you read. You read an extra portion about the shekel, the machts of the shekel. It's called parashat shkolim. You add, instead of the last aliyah being the aliyah of that week's Torah portion, you bring out a second Torah and you read the portion of shkolim. Why? Because the Jewish people needed to be reminded that before the month of Nisan, before the month that we're about to begin, next week, that they're going to have to give a half shekel and that was to bring for all the offerings and that was sort of like the tax, let's call it. So it would already start a month earlier. People would hear it oh, I got to give my half shekel.

03:01
Okay, there's another extra parasha, which is parasha zohar, which is the Shabbos right before Purim. We read about how Amalek attacked the Jewish people and and never forget this evilness of Amalek Zohar, remember. And it's called Parshas Zohar. Then there's another Parsha, there's four. The third one is Parshas Porah, which we just read last week, which is we talk about the red heifer, talk about the red heifer, talk about the red heifer. What's the idea of the red heifer?

03:52
Purity Time to get pure before we go to the temple for the holiday of Passover. People would come from far and near. People would come to Jerusalem, one of the three festivals. So it's time to get purified, time to get holy, time to take an accounting of our action. And then, finally, so we read the portion of the Red Heifer and then, finally, we talk which is going to be this coming week, karshas HaChodesh, where we're going to read from a second Torah scroll about the declaration of the new month, the month of Nisan, and there's a commandment that Nisan is the first of all months.

04:38
We count our months from Nisan. Okay, so we have a basic picture of what is going on here and, by the way, that's the first mitzvah the Jewish people were commanded. The first mitzvahs they were commanded as a nation was HaChodesh, hazel Ochem, rosh Chodeshim. This month is, to you, the beginning of all the months. You start counting your months by Rosh Chodesh, nisan. Nisan is the beginning. We also know, by the way, that Nisan is a special month, not only because it has the festival of Passover, but also because it was the first day of the month of Nisan was the establishment of the tabernacle.

05:24
The service in the temple began on the first day of the month of the tabernacle. The service in the temple began on the first day of the month of Nisan. In the first 12 days they brought the offerings, one for each of the tribes, as an inauguration. Each tribe brought their offering and there are many congregations that take out the Sefer Torah every day after the davening, each one of those 12 days, and they'll read of the 12 Nesim, the 12 leaders of the tribes that brought their offerings. So in Likute, halachos we see talks right in the morning, blessings. In Halacha, aleph Os, yudbeis. He talks about these four portions and gives us a little bit of an insight into the deeper meaning behind it. So let's begin First. We begin with the first of the four portions, which is Shkollim. So what is Shkollim? And all of this in a frame of mind that hopefully we'll understand a total sign of encouragement, a total sign of encouragement.

06:37
Excuse me, what's going on over here? What is the Shekel? You're giving the Shekel. You're giving your donation to the temple. Do you know what the mitzvah of charity is? Do you know what the act of kindness is? Our sages tell us. The act of kindness gives us an opportunity to be God-like. You have the opportunity to be godlike, you by giving. You suddenly realize wait, by the way, what was the trait of Abraham? How did Abraham identify God in this world? It was a world of idolatry. It was a world where pagan beliefs were rampant everywhere.

07:26
Someone to come and say there's a God, a creator of heaven and earth, a monotheistic God, it was unheard of. How did he get to this? He got to this through his kindness, through his chesed. His kindness through his chesed, because he was exercising the act of giving. And in giving he became godlike. Because someone who's a giver understands what it means to be godlike and they're able to connect. One second, look at this. The entire world is giving. The Almighty is a giver is giving, the Almighty is a giver. So in their giving they are bonding, so to speak, in their understanding of godliness.

08:15
This, says Rav Nachman, is a little piece of encouragement that begins the engine for a person to realize that he can attain greatness. You can be something spectacular because, look, you can be just like God. By the way, we mentioned this a hundred times. Maybe that why is man called Adam? Torah says because he's taken from the Adama, he's taken from the earthah, he's taken from the earth. Oh, that's so cute, adamah, adam, and that's a perfect name for him. Really say, just tell us. Adam is also to teach you something else, adame, which is to emulate. Our job as a human being is to emulate God in every way possible. If we can find a way to emulate the Almighty, copy God. God is kind, he's benevolent, he's giving, he's forgiving, he's loving. Do the same.

09:24
Hashem is slow to anger. Maybe I should learn that. Be godlike. Hashem is giving. By the way, let me ask you a question. Let's say someone hurts your feelings, really, embarrasses you in public, does terrible things to you, whatever it may be, cheats you in public, does terrible things to you, whatever it may be, cheats you in business. You had an agreement, violated the agreement. You trusted them. They violated your trust. How easy is it for you to continue to give goodness to that person? Very difficult for most of us Human beings, we hold a little grudge. What do you mean? We had a deal, didn't we have a deal? Shouldn't you have been nicer to me? Shouldn't you have done this? Shouldn't you have done that? You look at what I did for you.

10:18
Yet Hashem gives us life. He gives us incredible bounty. He gives us a Torah that commands us of what we should do. And then what happens? We violate it, god forbid. We violate it. We don't fulfill it to its perfection.

10:43
Does Hashem turn off the faucet and say that's it. You went against me, now you're going to taste it. There's no lunch for you, there's no dinner for you. I'm not going to give you, I'm going to turn off the oxygen. No, hashem continues to give, give, give, give. Why? Because Hashem believes in us. And Hashem says one day they'll come back to me Waiting for that one day and Hashem is patient, patient, patient. 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 50 years, 80 years. One day they'll come back to me.

11:22
We have to learn what it means to be God-like. What Parsha Shkolam teaches us is that the first step in being God-like is learn to give. It's the easiest because it also makes you feel good. It makes you feel good. Ah, I was able to help them, I was able to give them. Oh, you're learning what it means to be God-like. You can be so great. The first sign of encouragement, the first sign of encouragement Arsh Hashkol. Look how great you can be. But what's going to happen? You're going to have the people who are like really great, they really are great.

12:07
What's about me? I'm the little guy in the back over there. I'm the guy who's struggling. I'm the guy who's like yeah, maybe God forgot about me, maybe you know.

12:21
Guess what happened to Amalek? What did Amalek do? Who did they attack? They attacked the people in the back, the people who were the stragglers, the people who were downtrodden, the people who were I'm not worthy, I'm not so great. Look at me, look at all the sins I've done. I can't stand there with Moses in the middle of the whole crowd. They're the stragglers, they're the ones behind. Amalek is attacking them. Why is he attacking them? Because you don't believe in yourself. He says. I'm going to take the guys out who don't believe in themselves, get a few good wins and then I can take over the big guys.

13:01
What's the command of this mitzvah? Remember Amalek. Remember he was going after the guys in the back, the low lives, let's call them. They weren't. They were great.

13:13
The ones who left Egypt. They're the ones who witnessed the splitting of the sea, the incredible miracles. It says that even the smallest of them were greater than the greatest prophets. What they saw, the revelation that they saw, but yet they considered themselves like. You know, we're tired, we're worn out. There's no hope. They're giving up. Those are the ones that Amalek was going after.

13:46
So why do we have a whole Parsha to read about this? Why do we have this whole Shabbos? Shabbos, zohar. Remember, remember, remember, and we have to hear every word clearly Zecher, zecher. We have to make sure that we say it in the proper way, because don't forget how valuable, how precious you are, even if you're one of the stragglers in the back, even if you're one of the guys who you consider yourself not a second class, you consider yourself I'm in the back, I'm in the economy class. I'm not the first class, I'm not the upper class, I'm not the business class, I'm not the what do they call that? The economy plus class. I'm behind the economy class, I'm the lowest class. That's me. Guess what? That's what Amalek wanted to get. He wanted to attack you. He protected you. You know why? Because you're so precious. I believe in you. Hashem believes in you. He saved you, he protected you. You were down on yourself, hashem wasn't. So if you're discouraged and you say I can't do the Shkollim, don't Zachar. Remember, remember that you are great, remember that you. Hashem believes in you.

15:18
And now it makes sense the third portion that we read Parshas Parah. What is Parshas Parah? We're bringing a red heifer. What is this red heifer? It's a perfect animal, with no blemish. It never carried a burden. It's pristine, pristine, not a single blemish. What do they do? They burn it, they bring it as an offering, right, they they take its ashes. There's a whole process of what they do. And then they sprinkle it on someone who was impure.

15:54
And here's an irony, an incredible ironic situation here the person who's impure becomes pure and the person who sprinkled it, who was pure, becomes impure. What is going on over here? It's the exact like if it makes you pure, it should keep the person who's pure pure. Instead, they reverse roles the person who's pure becomes impure. The person who's sprinkling and the person who's pure becomes impure. The person who's sprinkling and the person who's sprinkled by these ashes, who is impure becomes pure.

16:33
There are a couple of things here. First is that you see that with something so simple, such a small step, just a little sprinkle, there's a complete transformation. A complete transformation. One small, little speck of ash changes everything. You went from impure just like that. What an amazing thing Just by coming forward and saying I want to make a change.

17:12
My impurity is making me uncomfortable because it's a barrier between me and the Almighty. Something so small transforms you. But why does it make the person who's pure impure? Because maybe, maybe there's a little tinge, a little tinge of like I'm the pure one, I'm the one who's clean, I'm the one who's holy. There might be a little tinge, a little slight speck of feeling I'm the perfect one here. That's impure, that's impure. We need to come with a focus and an intention of humility. I want to get closer to the Almighty. I want this to be a step in me becoming closer.

18:03
And this is not a derogatory statement towards the one who sprinkled it. It's not that they were doing something wrong, but it could be perceived as such. It could be perceived that the person who sprinkled and was pure is better than the person who's impure. No, you're not better than anyone. Everyone's on their own journey and every person needs to take their own beautiful journey and maximize it, and not compare. You're not holier than anyone. You're not more saintly than anyone. You're not better in any which way. I have my challenges. They have their challenges. If I was in their shoes, I don't know that I would be much better If I grew up with their background. I don't know that I would be much better If I had their challenges. If I didn't have the skills that I have, that were a gift from the Almighty, perhaps I wouldn't either be all that great. A warning You're the pure one, you're the holy one. Use caution, use extreme caution.

19:20
And then, finally, what happens? We go to the Chodesh Tarshash, chodesh, tarshash, chodesh. What is it? We're declaring a new moon. New moon, a new month, a new beginning. It all starts over again. But what happens? What transpires?

19:41
Two people come to the Bezden. They come to the Jewish court and they say we saw the new moon. And they start asking them, interrogating them. What did you see Exactly? Where did you see? Where did you see it? How did you see? You guys were together. You were able to right yeah, we saw, there was a little sliver of the moon. A little sliver of the moon, we were able to see it. Sliver of the moon, a little sliver of the moon, we're able to see it. And what do they say?

20:08
What does the Bezdin, once they conclude that this testimony was indeed authentic and they did see a sliver of the moon, they would say Mikudash, mikudash, mikudash, holy, holy, holy. What happened here? They saw a sliver of goodness, just one little sliver of goodness. You're able to see that goodness. Ah, it's shining through. You know what that is? That's the holiest when someone starts being able to see. Yeah, you know what. There is a little goodness there in me. Yeah, there is something, you know I'm not going to get all high on myself that I'm so great there is a little sliver. I believe in that little sliver that I saw. You know what that is? Mikudash, mikudash, mikudash. Ah, what joy you found a little sliver of goodness. These four portions are one big encouragement. Yes, you can be godlike. Don't worry if you're one of the stragglers in the back. Seek purity, take a step, because with one little speck, the impure becomes pure, and then you'll see that sliver of goodness, and that leads a person to holiness.

21:42
What better way to introduce the month of Nisan. Nisan is the month where the Jewish people were purified from the lowest level of impurity that they experienced in Egypt. They were at the 49th level of impurity that they experienced in Egypt. They were at the 49th level of impurity. They were giving up. They were done All the way to the 49th level of holiness. How did they get out of there? One little sliver of hope. It's the first commandment Hashem gives the Jewish people One little sliver of hope. It's the first commandment Hashem gives the Jewish people One little sliver. Don't be discouraged.

22:25
You know, there's an amazing tale that we see in the Torah that while the Jewish people were collecting all of the goods from the Egyptians, moshe was doing something else. What was Moshe doing? Moshe was collecting the bones from Joseph. It was promised to Joseph your bone, you're going to be buried in the Holy Land of Israel. He's buried in Shechem, in Nablus. His bones were taken along the whole journey, all the 42 stops that the Jewish people camped and traveled and camped and traveled all the way until they went into the land of Israel. His bones were buried then in Shechem.

23:17
Moshe did something else also he took the cedar wood that was going to be needed to build the tabernacle. What are you talking about, cedar? Yeah, what happened when Jacob came down to Egypt with his 70 descendants? He brought with him cedar wood, cedar tree that it can be planted, so that when the Jewish people are going to leave Egypt and they're going to be in the desert and they're going to build the tabernacle, they'll be able to have the wood they need to build the tabernacle.

24:00
Big question our sages ask what in the world are you talking about? You know they needed stones for the breastplate of the Kohen Gadol. We talk about it in this week's Torah portion, last week's Torah portion. They needed the stone, the gemstones, they needed the Avnei Shoah. They needed all of the things that they needed.

24:24
How did they get it? They're in the desert. Where did they get it? Where are they getting stones from? It says that the stones rained down from heaven. They got the stones Even though they're in the desert. There's no marketplace for them to go and purchase. There's no 47th Street. You know diamond industry in Manhattan. They didn't have that. Where are they going to get these gems from? It was rain down from heaven, so why not also have the cedar wood that they're going to need for the tabernacle also come down from heaven. What's the big deal? If the other stuff are falling from heaven? God is giving it to them. Let them also get that. Sages tell us.

25:10
The most magnificent thing is that Yaakov knew that the Jewish people are going to be in Egypt and they're going to be serving as slaves and they're going to be downtrodden and they're going to be in despair and they're going to be discouraged and they're going to be like all hope is over. Let's just give in. Let's just be Egyptians. Let's convert and we're done, we'll give up on this. But then they'd look outside the window and they would see the cedar trees. And that was a promise that was told by Jacob to his children, to their children, to their children. People like those trees are a promise from Jacob that he was promised by God that we're going to leave. So don't give up. Don't give up. And everyone would say to themselves every day look, you remember the tree. The tree is still there. That means we're going to get out one day. Jacob planted the cedar tree intentionally so that they always have encouragement. The day is going to come. God is going to take us out of Egypt. You're going to get out. Every time you look out, you see that cedar tree. You remember? Hashem has not forsaken you. Hashem is going to take you out. There's encouragement.

26:36
We're about to enter into the month of Nisan. The Nisan is the month of redemption, where the Jewish people were taken out of bondage. They were taken out of their exile and brought to freedom, brought to the ability for them to experience a closeness with Hashem, with no barriers. That same power that experienced 3,300 years ago when the Jewish people left Egypt, is exactly the same power that comes around this year and gives us the ability to leave our bondage, to leave our exiles, to leave our limitations and to become free people. And that's why, every year, we have this reminder you can do it, you've got it. There's that little sliver of goodness. If you don't believe in yourself enough, and if you believe in yourself enough, and if you believe in yourself too much, be careful, because those who were pure became impure. So be careful, but you can do this, you've got this. You can make a transformation.

27:54
Pesach is that time. Pesach is the time to say I'm starting anew, I'm going to invest in my relationship with God. I can be God-like. I can be God-like and I need to strive that in every action of my life I'm putting my foot forward to emulate Hashem this I hope I'm understanding this correctly of what Rabbi Nachman teaches us here in Likud HaLochos Such an important lesson of how we take what's just an ordinary. Now are there other reasons? I bet you there are, but it's something for us, something tangible for us, that we can take into our month ahead the beginning of a new cycle of the year, the beginning of all the months we can begin anew. We start anew. We have that every Rosh Hashanah. We say you know what Hashem? It's a new page. We have another new page the beginning of the month of Nisan, where we can go.

29:10
We're slaves to our materialism, we're slaves to our food. We're slaves to all of the different things. We're slaves to our food. We're slaves to all of the different things. We're slaves to our politics and we're slaves to our fashion and we're slaves to our culture. Time to break free. God should bless us all. That we should merit. We should merit to have the clarity to be able to see that sliver of holiness within, be able to see that sliver of holiness within ourselves, to see that Nekudah Tovah, to see that point of awesomeness, of godliness that we have within us that will hopefully lead us to a life filled with only blessings, only closeness with Hashem, amen.

29:57
Great question Jacob knew that they were going to be slaves, so why didn't he take them out already then? Because that was the prophecy. Hashem says I can tell you things, but you don't have the power to change it. Abraham knew that his children were going to be slaves, his grandchildren, isaac. This is part.

30:14
Our sages tell us that our entire process of going to Egypt wasn't only for us to experience slavery, but because we're going to be the leaders of the world, we have to know what it means to be downtrodden. We have to know this is an important lesson, you know, if you look at all of the great leaders of the Jewish people, they were all shepherds. Abraham was a shepherd, joseph was a shepherd, jacob was a shepherd, isaac was a shepherd, moses was a shepherd, king David was a shepherd. You think, what do they all have in common? They all learned what it means to be sensitive to their flock. And if you gain that sensitivity for your animals, you'll have that sensitivity for your constituents, and that is the gift that we learn from all of this the goal of our entire life. Yeah, we're going to strive and we're going to do mitzvahs and we're going to learn and we're going to pray.

31:25
The ultimate goal is closeness with Hashem. L'hidabek bebori. Okay, what is King David? Says Kirvas elo kim Litov, you know what absolute goodness is? Closeness with Hashem. That's what we strive for. It's not a stupid question, it's a great question. Yes, that needs to be our goal, to always. Hopefully, every person reaches that goal. There's again oh no, I have a lifetime to go.

31:57
I'm trying every day. If you think I'm teaching this class for you, you're wrong. I'm sorry to hurt your feelings. I'm teaching this class for me. Okay, I want to get closer to Hashem. So I learn and teach things that help me become closer to Hashem. That's the goal. I do that. By the way, if you realize, I used to only teach Mussar classes. Then we started teaching halacha, because to me, it's not enough that in my own traits, I try to be godlike In the way I perform mitzvahs. I want to be godlike. You know what I'm saying. So I'm trying to spread that to other areas of my Judaism so that I have that godliness in every area of my life.

32:33
Let me just give you a quick example how people can lose focus. You know there's a special mitzvah for a child after a parent passes away, for them to recite Kaddish and to lead the services. Some people do that for an entire year, some people do it for 11 months, but you're supposed to do it and then every year on the yard site. Okay, great. I had an experience once where there were two people who had a yard site the year. The day of their parents passing was the same day. Two individuals and they both run into the synagogue. They both get to the.

33:16
Each one wants to be the chazen because each one wants right. So the each one wants to be the chazen because each one wants right. So one person says you can be the chazen. Why? It's because my father would be very happy that I give in for you. That would be the joy for him in heaven that I gave this up for you. You see, and I believe that they did the right thing. Why? Because everybody wants to fulfill the mitzvah. But if you really think, what does God really want? He wants me to fight for it. He wants me to deck the other guy so that I can do the prayer. That's not what God wants. He wants you to give in. Understand, do it. If you do it for the right reason, it's very different. It's a very different experience. Okay, we sometimes get locked, we get totally consumed by our intentions and we don't do it for the right reason. I want to do it because this is what I have to do. My dear friends have a magnificent day.

34:25 - Intro (Announcement)
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