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.

00:13 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody. Welcome to the Jewish Inspiration Podcast. We are live at the TORCH Center. Torch Center, we're going to talk a little bit and update everyone about what's going on in the last 12 to 16 hours. What's been going on with our homeland, with the land of Israel? So Israel announced that they have launched a preemptive attack on Iran and they named this mission Am Kelavi, the Rising Lion. And where does that come from? So it's actually a verse. In a couple of weeks, torah portions right In one, two, three, four, four portions. From now, we're going to be reading this in our weekly Torah reading. So what is the verse states as follows in chapter 23, verse number 24, in the book of Numbers this is when Bilaam was hired by King Balak.

01:29
King Balak had his eyes on the Jewish people. I want to curse the Jewish people. I don't like them, I don't want them, I want them out. What does he do? He calls the most powerful. Our sages tell us the most powerful, the most powerful prophet, and he says I want you to curse the Jewish people. He says I can't do that. He says, because I'm a prophet, I can't, I can't, just curse the Jewish people. I need God's blessing if God, whatever God puts in my mouth is what will be. He says please, with a lot of money, can you do it? You know it's like can we, can we pay you off? And then you curse the Jewish people, says you still can't do that. And this keeps on going. This keeps on going. He keeps on upping the incentive and still nothing changes. Until finally he says okay, let me try, let me see if I'm able to curse the Jewish people. It turns out that the only things that came out of his mouth were blessings of the Jewish people. It was blessings of the Jewish people. And he says how great are your tents, jacob? He saw that the Jewish people. Now they were overlooking. You have to see that they were looking from the top of a mountain. They're looking down at the Jewish people who are in the desert traveling from of a mountain. They're looking down at the Jewish people who are in the desert traveling from place to place. They're looking, they're overlooking the Jewish people. The Jewish people didn't even know. And this is something we mentioned is like.

02:54
One of the ways you know the Torah is a God-given document is because there are things that are written in the Torah that cannot be written by Moses Like meaning, by Moses' knowledge. Of course, it was written by Moses, the actual hand of Moses, but it was the word of God and Moses is sitting there, god is dictating, moshe is writing every word and God says oh, oh, there's another story I got to tell you. There was a king Balak and he hires this prophet Bilam to curse the Jewish people. And Moses is like well, when did that happen? Well, I was taking care of, while you guys were sleeping, I was watching over you, which is God does not rest, god doesn't slumber, god is always there, protecting us when we know it and when we don't, when we realize it and when we don't.

03:45
And we're going to talk a lot about this now because we're able to see open miracles in a way that is not common. We're able to see open miracles today. Today, I'm talking about today, june 13th 2025. We're able to see miracles in front of our eyes. That is very, very rare in our lifetime. Very rare, by the way. It was only 15 months ago. If you remember, it was 14 months ago that they shot their first ballistic missiles at Israel. It was April 14th 2024, where Iran shot their first set of ballistic missiles. I don't think they realized what a gift they were doing for Israel. Well, first is so that we can see that open miracle, but second, because Israel was able to perfect their air defense and they were able to learn how to detect all of those drones and all of those ballistic missiles and to really get everything in order so that when and if it happens again which it's expected that it's going to happen again now that Israel could be more prepared and ready in case of such an incident.

05:06
So let's go back to Bilaam and to Balak. So they're overlooking the mountain and Moshe's writing this down. He's like what? This happened? While we were sleeping, this happened. What did they see?

05:15
So, something very interesting the Jewish people's homes were never one opposite the other. They were staggered. They were staggered why? So that every home had their own privacy. You didn't look into your neighbor's house. When you walked out of your house, you didn't see your neighbor's house Right and they were staggered. A beautiful thing. And that's what he says Ma tovu, alecha Yaakov. How beautiful are your tents, jacob? And they didn't have homes like we have today. They had tents right. So imagine the tent is open. You look right into your neighbor's tent. No, there was privacy. They were staggered. It was showing a sensitivity.

05:54
But what does he say here in his statement about a prophecy about the Jewish people that God put into his mouth Again? Prophets don't have the right and the ability to use their God-given visions for their own purpose. They can't just say you know what I don't like that guy, I'm going to curse them, use my prophecy, boom. That doesn't work. Only if God allows it. So here the verse again Hen Am Kalavi.

06:22
Indeed, the Torah says, and these are the words from Bilaam the people, like a lion cub, will get up and, like a lion, raise itself. It will not lie down until it consumes prey and the blood of the slain it drinks. Okay, this is the verse. They're like a lion. Now, this is the verse, am kelevi, they're like a lion. Now, what's the nature of a lion? Nature of a lion is really incredible.

06:53
I don't know if you've ever watched like National Geographic, and they watch these at this Discovery Channel and they have about the lion somewhere out in Africa or wherever. It's an amazing tendency that a lion has. It lies down quietly, quiet, quiet, quiet. Meanwhile, you know, you can throw your garbage at the lion, you can try to. You know, from your little van in your safari you can try to do whatever. Don't mess with the lion, right, but when it decides that it's going to attack, it's ferocious, it is without mercy, it comes its entire. I mean even they say be careful with owning lions. There are people in Saudi Arabia and in the UAE that enjoy having exotic animals as their pets. Many have lions and tigers and things. So just be careful, because if their tendencies come out and they do at times you're done. There's nothing that can protect you. It doesn't make a difference if they're tamed. It doesn't make a difference if they're controlled by whatever training you gave them. When that instinct kicks in, you're done.

08:13
We as a nation, we're like that lion. We can take abuse. We can be harassed at our universities, we can be harassed in the media, we can be bothered by nations, we can be looked down upon by presidents and by kings and by emperors and by nations and by other religions, and we can be slaughtered like we have been. We can have expulsions and we can have pogroms, and we can have all of these things and we sit quiet and we sit quiet and we sit quiet. I can't even think back to the first time I heard the Prime Minister of Israel, bibi Netanyahu. Every time he speaks he talks about the Iranian threat, the Iranian threat, the Iranian threat, the Iranian threat, always talking about it. We have to do something about it, we have to prepare for it. And he said today in his press conference he said for 40 years I've been talking about this. 40 years he's been talking about the Iranian threat. In his first book he says in 1982, he already wrote about the Iranian threat.

09:34
So you think this is an unbelievable mission by the Israeli military, by the Mossad intelligence. So there's no question that it's incredible, incredible success. But there's something behind it. We know so many agencies, intelligence agencies that try just as hard as the Mossad, but they're not as successful. We know armies that try just as hard as the IDF and are not as successful. What is the secret weapon of the Jewish Army? What is the secret weapon of Israel? It's our relationship with Hashem, where the Torah warns us be very, very careful before saying be very, very careful before you fall into the trap of like my strength, it's my abilities that brought me this victory. You have to always remember that it's the hand of Hashem. And it's an interesting thing. It's a very interesting thing because I was talking to my children.

10:58
I talk to them every Friday before Shabbos. They're in Israel. I have three children in Israel and two couples and and my son, who's in yeshiva there, and so technically five children. So I I I said you know the the Israeli rabbinate, the chief rabbi of Israel, said that because of the dangers of potential incoming from Iran, people should not congregate in synagogues and people should stay in their safe rooms over Shabbos. So I said, boy, if there was ever a way to get everybody to show up at synagogue was tell them you can't go right. Tell a Jew you can't go right. Tell a Jew you can't go to synagogue. Everyone will be there. That's a way to get a lot of prayers.

11:51
But the truth is like this what is our power? What is our strength? Our strength is our relationship with God. Our strength is our prayers. Our strength is our closeness to God, closeness to God and we have the opportunity to either be completely reliant on Hashem and we say Hashem, we know you got this. Yes, we're going to put forward our efforts. It's the same thing, by the way, with livelihood. People say I'm going to go and earn a living. You're going to go and earn a living. Really, what can you produce? What can you do?

12:24
We remind ourselves, by the way, about this every time we wash our hands. We wash our hands for bread and we say the blessing of Al-Nitilat Yadayim. We've mentioned this before. You're supposed to hold up your hands after you wash them, before you dry them, when you recite the blessing why? And you're supposed to keep your fingers open like this, to show that they're porous, to show that really, we don't have the ability to attain anything. We don't have the ability to create anything. Everything we do have is a blessing from God. And we recognize that by putting up our hands, saying like we're a hostage or we're a prisoner. We hold up our hands. We don't have the ability. Everything we do have is a gift from Hashem. It's recognizing that Every time we eat bread, we can fall into that trap of like look, I deserve a good meal, Look at me, look what I earned, I paid my taxes, I took care of my family. I deserve to have a good meal. We hold up our hands and say don't get into that train of thought where you start thinking, giving yourself a pat on the back it's all me, it's not all you, it's all the hand of Hashem. It's a gift from God and we have to remember that.

13:38
And I do want to give credit to the prime minister. In every one of his speeches he always says Be'ezrat Hashem, with the help of Hashem, not just as a phrase to remember that we cannot accomplish anything. Without the Almighty's help. We cannot. Look, the Iranians are much. It's twice the size of Texas. Israel. You can fit, like 90 Israels in the state of Texas. It's considerably smaller than Iran. Okay, you can probably fit 180 Israels in Iran and yet smaller army, less people. Yet smaller army, less people, but is able to hopefully tame the enemy and remove the threat. How do we do that? We have to have the gift from Hashem. There are many, many people who try to make inventions and people who try to create the light bulb. There was one person who was able to succeed how he had the hand of Hashem that assisted. Just the mere fact that a person tries to accomplish something doesn't mean they're going to succeed. We need the hand of Hashem for it to work.

15:03
We saw yesterday a tragic story coming out of India where a jetliner just dropped out of the sky. You saw everyone saw the videos. It literally dropped out of the sky. Isn't that telling? It's not a given that we just get on a plane and it's a miracle how it works the aerodynamics. It's a miracle how it works the aerodynamics it's incredible. We have to recognize that what we're dealing with is a miracle every single day, and hashem is giving us this incredible gift for us to realize and to awaken ourselves one second. What in the world is going on here? Is this this for real? Is this really happening in front of our eyes? I mean, what an incredible time to be alive to witness such incredible miracles. This is such a gift.

15:56
Our secret weapon is not the Mossad. Our secret weapon is not the IDF. Our secret weapon is not our allies. Our secret weapon is not the IDF. Our secret weapon is not our allies. Our secret weapon is not a weak Iran. Our secret weapon is our Father in Heaven.

16:14
I want to share with you an amazing story. I think I said this story About the crumbs and the cake. Did I mention the crumbs and the cake? Say the story. Say the story again.

16:29
This boy, this boy is an orphan. His mother is a widow. They lost their father. It's a true story and the mother is doing her best to raise her kids in the best possible way. This boy goes to yeshiva and they had a surprise from their rabbi in class. A surprise. What's the surprise? The surprise is a big, beautiful cake, because they finished something that they were learning. They finished like a tractate or something. The rabbi surprised them and brought a big cake to celebrate the conclusion of their studies. This boy is very, very excited, like all the boys in the class.

17:14
Everyone gets a piece of cake and this boy thinks for a second and says my mother works so hard, maybe I should save this cake for her". All the kids recite their blessings and eat their cake. This boy says I'm going to save this for my mom, I'm going to bring it home for her. So he takes a napkin, wraps up the cake, puts it in his pocket and tries to forget about it. He tries not to focus on it. And when they have recess and the kids are playing in the playground, he starts thinking about the cake in his pocket. He's like he puts his hand in the pocket, recites a blessing, takes a piece of the cake. He says okay, I have the rest of the cake for my mom.

17:56
Sure enough, a little bit later in the day he has another little temptation that he can't overcome, puts his hand in his pocket, takes another piece of the cake of course with the blessing and then, a little bit later in the day, takes another little piece from the cake. He still has something for his mom. And then he realizes one second there are only crumbs left. He ended up eating most of the cake like all that's left is crumbs. He ended up eating most of the cake Like all that's left is crumbs. He's so devastated.

18:26
He comes home. His mother greets him hey, how are you? How was your day? And he starts crying. She says what are you crying? What's going on? He says you know, my Rebbe brought us a special cake today to celebrate and I decided that I wasn't going to eat the cake. I was going to bring it home for you. Because you work so hard, you take such good care of us, you deserve a cake too. But throughout the day I just couldn't resist and I took a little bit of the cake and a little bit of the cake and a little bit of the cake, and I don't really have anything left. She says show me what you have. He opens up the napkin and I don't really have anything left. She says show me what you have. He opens up the napkin and there are just a few little crumbs and she smiles and says that's the most beautiful cake in the world. It's the most beautiful gift in the world, thank you, it means so much to me.

19:24
You know, we sometimes set out on a goal. I want to accomplish something really great. I want to be the best possible Jew I can be. I want to grow in this area, I want to learn, I want to daven, I want to this, I want to that. We have all of these plans, all of these ideas, and sometimes the Yetzirah bites out of that cake. A little bit here, a little bit there, and what are we left with Just a few little crumbs. And we come to the Almighty and we say, listen, I really wanted to fulfill this mitzvah, but look what I have left. I just have a few crumbs. I'm so sorry, I'm so embarrassed.

20:01
Hashem says it's the most beautiful crumbs in the world because it comes from all the heart. All the heart if we're able to even take one mitzvah. One mitzvah if it's to put on tefillin one time, if it's to light Shabbos candles tonight. If it's to do one thing special, and even if it's imperfect, those beautiful crumbs, hashem cherishes them and that's the most incredible merit we can do for our people, for our nation, for our homeland. If we're able to do something special, to pray a little bit the power of prayer is unbelievable To do a mitzvah, an act of loving kindness, to do a mitzvah, a performative mitzvah, in the Torah. You know what? Today I'm going to recite a blessing before I eat it Something.

21:02
If a person is able to do something small, that is our greatest power. We say Hashem, look, you've inspired us. We see these miracles. We're not going to just pat ourselves on the back and say, hey, we won. We say Hashem. I know we need more merits, we need more protection. I'm going to use this as an opportunity to get closer to you. I'm going to use this as an opportunity to get closer to you. I'm going to use this as a wake-up call to get closer, to invest in my relationship with the Almighty, to read a book that'll inspire, to come to another class, to share it with a friend, to do something to change.

21:44
We all have a callousness that can develop because we get comfortable in life, we get comfortable and we have to break away that stiff-necked nation that we are. We have to break away from it and find whatever opportunity we can. If we were around in the generation of the splitting of the sea, we would be like, wow, that's really great. Now let's get on with life. And we wonder how is it possible that that 90 days 90 days, not even 90 days, maybe it's 80 days after the Jewish people have the splitting of the sea, they have the miracles going on in the desert, they have the revelation at Mount Sinai and then they serve the golden calf. I mean, what is wrong with these people? What is wrong? How can you do that? Didn't you just see the miracles? That's each and every one of us. We see miracles, but we don't want to be like those who serve the golden calf. We don't want to be like those who just said we have life to continue. We have no, we have to transform ourselves.

23:09
You know who did that? The best, the best example of that? We learned it from a non-Jew, yisro, the father-in-law of Moshe, father-in-law of Moshe. We in fact receive the Torah in the portion named for Yisro. Why? Because the portion begins Vayishma. He listened, he got the message. He was the leader of Midian Powerful nation.

23:47
He's reading the paper and he's like what happened to the Jews? What happened? Happened? The sea split for them? That's insane. Well, what? These weak people that were slaves for 210 years in egypt? They won the strong amalekite army. That's insane, unheard. They have what falling from the heaven? The manna. Where are they eating? They got this. He said so.

24:14
Most people continue to reading their New York Times or the Egypt Times and it's like, oh, that's interesting, let's see what the newspaper has tomorrow. And what does Yisro do? He says, ah, this is a special people, this is a people I want to join. Packs his bags and goes to meet the Jewish people in the desert, knocks on the door and says, hey, where's Moses, my son-in-law, convert me. I want to join this people. Why it's not necessary? He says no, no, no, no. The miracles that you guys are experiencing. This is why it's not necessary. He says no, no, no, no. The miracles that you guys are experiencing this is something unique, it's something special.

24:55
I want to be part of this and this is our task to say we want to be part of this. We don't want to be outsiders looking in. We want to be insiders looking in, and that's our way is to do something special to, to help us feel like we are part of the nation. We're part of this incredible people. We're experiencing open miracles. This is our chance. This is our opportunity to say you know what? I'm going to stand up, I'm going to do something special.

25:29
Each one of us here in this room. We are the secret weapon of Israel. Our inspiration is the secret weapon of Israel. A mitzvah, one mitzvah. That is the secret weapon. We don't have to say, oh, it's all or nothing. No, no, no. Oh, I'm a hypocrite. No, no, you're not a hypocrite. Do one mitzvah, any mitzvah. That's our secret power.

26:01
My blessing is that it should be peaceful for the Jewish people all around the world and in Israel, and that we should have no more enemies. We should have no more enemies and the prophecy of that. In that day, god's name will be won. He'll be known to the world. It'll be revealed that it's Hashem's hand that makes things happen. We hope that that is coming speedily. In our day, that's going to be the times of Messiah, which we are living in. That time, it's undisputed. We're living in this miraculous time of Messiah's here. He's a step away. We just need a few more merits. We need a few more things to bring him over the finish line. We've earned it. As a people, we suffered too much. Hashem should bless our nation, our people and each and every one of us with protection and with guidance to be closer to Hashem every single minute of our lives. My dear friends, have a great Shabbos, all right, any questions 40 is always a powerful number, 40 in Judaism.

27:25
Every time we see the number 40, we see that the Jewish people were in the desert for 40 years. We see that the flood of in Noah and his ark, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. We see that there is. We have the. Moshe goes up the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights and receives the Torah. The Jewish people receive atonement after 40 days and 40 nights and receives the Torah. The Jewish people receive atonement after 40 days and 40 nights. Moshe begs the Almighty for forgiveness after the sin of the golden calf. We have 40 days from the beginning of the month of Elul till Yom Kippur. We have 40 se'ah, which is a quantity, imagine, like a gallon. In order for a mikvah, a ritual bath, to be a kosher mikvah, it needs to have a quantity of 40 se'ah. That's the quantity, the volume of water that it needs to have for it to be kosher. Our sages tell us and, by the way, just a very interesting additional thing when someone does a specific sin, they get 40 lashes. They would get 40 lashes. Why 40?, by the way, it's not 40. It's 39. It's 39 lashes, but we say 40 minus 1. We know math. Why don't we say 30 plus 9? No, 40 minus 1. Specifically the number 40. You look in the Mishnah, it says 40 minus 1, specifically the number 40. It's cool. You look in the Mishnah, it says 40 minus 1. That's odd. How many laws are there with regard to Shabbos? 39 laws of Shabbos, right? Or say just say 40 minus 1. What is going on here? What is going on here? Say, just tell us the number 40. Oh, gestation is 40 weeks. You know that Pregnancy, 40 weeks, after 40 days from conception, the baby is considered to be living. And look at science, medicine, they say that the baby gets its first brain signals after 40 days. The fetus, 40 days, the first brain waves start to operate. What's with this number 40? I say just tell us. 40 is the number of transformation. 40 is the number of a new creation. 40 days after conception, baby is considered living. 40 weeks of gestation, baby comes out to this world. It becomes a new creation. With Noah and the flood, god says I have to start this world over again. So it rains 40 days and 40 nights. Now it's a new world, it's a new existence.

30:20
A mikvah has 40 sah. What is a mikvah? What is the purpose of a mikvah. What does it do? The ritual bath Someone goes in impure, comes out pure. Or if someone is converting to Judaism, they go in non-Jew, they come out Jew. It's 40 Sa'a. It's an amazing thing. So let's answer the other ones.

30:47
The Jewish people are in the desert for 40 years. Why in the desert for 40 years? Because the Jewish people were slaves for 210 years. So their slave mentality, doctor, slave mentality is deep. You're going to have to re-become a new people. You're going to need 40 years in the desert that's going to be the rebirth of the Jewish people to become a new people. Now you're not slave mentality anymore.

31:14
It's already the next generation, except for Joshua. Except for Joshua, nobody from Egypt made it to the land of Israel. They all died in the desert. It was the next generation that made it in. They're already a different mindset. It was the next generation that made it in. They're already a different mindset. It's like second generation immigrants. First generation still speak from their homeland. You know they have that accent. You know they have the mentality that the next generation, the children, are saying come on, you're not living in India, come on, get with the program right, you're not still living in Germany. You're not still living in India. Come on, get with the program Right. You're not still living in Germany. You're not still living in Russia. Like the children already adapt into the new culture. It's the second generation.

32:06
Second generation was able to go into the land of Israel without having slave mentality. Now they needed to learn things, which is why they had the experience in Egypt. They needed to learn what it meant to be at the bottom of the barrel, so that we can have mercy on the nations of the world when they're at the bottom of the barrel. That's why the Jews are always the first to offer help. The Jews are always the first to assist in times of tragedy, even when it's an earthquake in Iran, our sworn enemy they have. Israel will say we're offering our assistance. What do you mean? They're your enemy. When they're at the bottom of the barrel, we're there to help. We know what it's like. Or Turkey, correct? Or Haiti, or whoever. It was right. Turkey is an enemy. That's correct. It's an unbelievable thing.

32:58
Now, what's Shabbos? 40 laws the lashes we understand, because someone who was sinned needs to be refreshed. Laws of Shabbos what is Shabbos? Shabbos, we become a new person. On Shabbos, we get a neshama yitera. We get an elevated soul status with the onset of Shabbos, which departs at the end of Shabbos.

33:23
Anyone familiar with the Havdalah ritual that we do every single Saturday night? What do we do? It's very interesting. We have a goblet filled with wine, we have something that we smell, we have fire, and that's our ceremony. That's what we do. What is this? It's the weirdest thing in the world. What are you doing? What are you smelling things?

33:53
Our sages tell us that v'yipach be'apav nishmas chayim. How did God infuse Adam with his soul Through his nostrils? Our soul comes and departs our body through the nostrils. When we have an elevated soul on Shabbos, it comes through our nostrils. When it leaves, how does it leave? Through our nostrils? So now there's an empty space there. What do we do? We take these scents, we take these b'samim and we smell to sort of comfort, that emptiness that's within us Now the extra soul, the elevated soul, has departed, so we comfort ourselves, so to speak, with that scent.

34:47
Very interesting thing why we have the candle? Just because once we bring it up I'll already mention it Friday night at the creation, back in the six days of creation. So God created. What was the last thing. God created Adam and Eve, the final product. Day. One day two, day three, last day. Last thing Adam, adam and Eve.

35:12
Then comes Shabbos. Then comes Shabbos. What happens to Shabbos? Nothing, nothing. God doesn't create. God just is. That's what Shabbos is Shabbos. We don't create, we don't do any creative labor. What do we do? We are, we exist. What does that mean? I don't have to run anywhere, I don't have to do anything. I'm just here, present, with my wife, with my children, with my community, with my almighty, with my creator. I'm present, which is what the whole world needs. You just asked our in-house doctor here. Right, doctor, what does a relationship need? Just be present. Just be present To be there, not to be on our phone, not to be here running out. This is a time everything stops, the world stops. I'm present. Our sages tell us.

36:13
The first Friday night of creation, there was no sunset. There was no sunset. It was a long day. It's called Yom Ha'arikhta. It was a long day which went from Friday morning all the way till Saturday night, an extended day. There was no sunset. Friday night. The first time Adam experienced darkness was Saturday night. God showed Adam fire for the first time on Saturday night. Not only that is that, till that time as well, adam, we can get into this a different time.

36:58
The Midrash tells us Adam and Eve didn't have skin like we do. They were covered in nails. They had nails and till Saturday night, where God took away all of the nails and put them only at the edges of our fingers Now you know why you look at the nails in the fire. We're recognizing this miracle that the Almighty only limited our nails to the edges of our extremities. Isn't that great? That's the fire. That's what we do. So to your question, the number 40.

37:33
Shabbos is becoming a new person.

37:38
Shabbos is becoming a new person. What we're doing is we're becoming a new creation. On Shabbos, we're not the same person we were during the week. We're a new person now, evidenced by the fact that we say we talk about me'en olam haba. What is Shabbos? Me'en olam haba? It's a glimpse of the world to come. It's a 60th. Our sages tell us Shabbos is a 60th of the world to come. It's such a pleasantness, it's such a serenity of Shabbos, it's a peace of the world to come that we're able to experience, just like sleep, it says, is a 60th of death. It shouldn't be a desire for us to die right, because we love sleeping. No, it's just an idea. An understanding of what says a dream is a 60th of prophecy.

38:35
So there's something in dreams. By the way, someone has a dream. That's a scary dream or a worrisome dream. There's a way to remove the dream from its prophecy, so to speak. There's a process of doing that. There's either a special prayer that you recite in front of three people, in front of a betin, and they release the bind of that prayer, of that dream. I did that once. Or you can tell the dream to someone and they reveal the dream in a positive way, or they interpret the dream in a positive way. So someone says, oh, I had a dream that so-and-so was going to die, right. So the person who interprets the dream says, yeah, that so-and-so was the etzahara, that was the evil inclination, and the evil inclination is going to die. Okay, the evil inclination will be removed. That way, it takes that prophecy, so to speak, and channels it in a different way and that becomes its interpretation, becomes its new life.

39:56
So 40, the power of the number 40 is the power of transformation, which is why when do we begin preparing for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the beginning of the month of Elul, which is exactly 40 days before Yom Kippur. Because if we want to change, we want to transform our being, we want to become a better person, what do we need? We need 40 days to prepare. 40 days is very, very powerful. My grandfather would start his preparation for Yom Kippur 40 days before Elul. Why? Because yeshiva doors would open, the beginning of the semester would be the beginning of the month of Elul and his students were coming in. So now he's going to invest the next 40 days preparing them for Yom Kippur. You can't take somebody to a place you've never gone to. A Torah guide has to have once been there to know what to tell his people. My grandfather felt that it was his responsibility to be ready for Yom Kippur before his students showed up at yeshiva. So my grandfather already would get into Yom Kippur mode on the 17th of Tammuz, which is 40 days before Elul, so that when Elul showed up the beginning of the month of Elul, 40 days before Yom Kippur all the students come to yeshiva. He has all the tools ready to go to take his students to the place where he went to To that level of growth.

41:23
Alright. So, my dear friends, any other questions? One second, one second, yes, gary, mitzvahs. A mitzvah is a commandment. Mitzvah is Hebrew for commandment. I want to show you something really incredible. We have over here the book of the mitzvahs, the chinuch, the author, took all of the mitzvahs of the Torah and explains each and every one. This is an amazing set because it goes by Torah portion. So, for example, in this week's Torah portion, which is Beha'aloscha, in this week's Torah portion, here he'll bring every mitzvah that's in this week's Torah portion and we have one, two, three, four, five mitzvahs in this week's parasha, right.

42:03
So we commonly use the word as a mitzvah as a good deed, but the good deed is that we're following the command of Hashem. That means the translation of the word. Mitzvah means mitzuvah means commanded, ani mitzavah, I command. Mitzvah means a commandment, a commandment from the Almighty. The Almighty gives us some performative commandments and some prohibitions. And in this week's parasha, for example, what do we have? Mitzvah number one in this week's Torah portion, the obligation to bring the Pesach Sheni offering on the 14th of Iyar. That's the mitzvah in this week's parasha. Next, the obligation that Pesach Sheni offering on the 14th of Iyar. That's the mitzvah in this week's parashah. Next, the obligation that Pesach Sheni, which is on the 14th of Iyar offering, be eaten along with matzah and mar, the prohibition to leave over any meat of the Pesach Sheni offering, the prohibition to break a bone of the Pesach Sheni offering and the obligation to blow trumpets in the Beis Hamikdash and when going to war. Those are the five commandments in this exposition. Well, there actually is a commandment to do that.

43:09
There's a commandment to be, I'm just doing it as a good deed, I know, but that's also a commandment. The Almighty gives us that incredible gift for that to be. Now I'll tell you. There's one more thing here that I want to share.

43:22
The Chavetz Chaim wrote anybody know how many books. He wrote 24 books. The Chavetz Chaim lived 94 years and in his amazing 94 years he wrote 24 books, of which one of those books is the Mishnah Beruah, which is six volumes, which goes through the Shulchan Aruch, which is the code of Jewish law, and brings it down to practical level. Understanding and every single situation that the Chavetz Chaim felt in his generation was needed to be addressed. He addressed it with the book. So I'll give you an example. There was a challenge that women had finding a mikvah and many women were not going to the mikvah when they were supposed to go to the mikvah. He wrote a book for it to inspire people to go to the mikvah. There was a big challenge with Jewish teenagers who were being drafted to the Russian army, to the Russian military. So they reached out to the Chavetz Chaim. Everybody knew the Chavetz Chaim was the superstar sage of the Jewish people. Everybody knew that.

44:33
I'll tell you an amazing story about the Chavetz Chaim. This is about 40, 50 years ago. 40, 50 years ago, people started moving the bodies of great sages from outside of Israel, bringing them to Israel for burial in Israel. So they would go and they would dig up the graves and, of course, get all the approvals and whatever was necessary and then fly them to Israel and then rebury them in Israel. There are many, many, many, many such sages that have had that privilege of being buried in Israel. They came to dig up the Chafetz Chaim's remains and they start digging and suddenly they see around the entire cemetery, the entire. There's no Jews living in Raden. I was in Raden. I saw the place. It's a little village in Raden. I was in Raden. I saw the place. It's a little village in the middle of no place. Right now, okay, there's nothing there. The entire village locked in arms around the entire cemetery. They said they stopped what they're doing. They put down their shovels and they walk over and they're like what are you guys doing? They said you're not taking the Chavetz Chaim. We want to bring him to burial in Israel. They said no, since the Chavetz Chaim was in this city, he lived in Raden. He was buried in Raden, which is in Belarus today was Poland. Since he was buried, not a single woman had a miscarriage. You're not taking the Chavetz Chaim. These are non-Jews. They understood the power of what this great sage was.

46:10
The Chavetz Chaim heard that these soldiers were being drafted into the Russian army. He wrote a book to guide them in how to live as Jews in the army. Every situation that the Chavetz Chaim felt needed to be addressed, he wrote a book. One of the things that the Chavetz Chaim realized was that in his generation people didn't know the actual mitzvahs of the Torah that were applicable today. They thought, well, it's nice ideas, I'm sure, but is that a mitzvah? So he wrote a book called the Concise Book of Mitzvahs, which is all of the mitzvahs that are relevant today. Why are there some that are not relevant? Because we don't have a temple, because we don't bring offerings right, so those mitzvahs are not relevant today. They're going to be, hopefully, when we have a third temple, which we pray for. We pray every day that our third temple be rebuilt. The concise book of mitzvahs is really incredible. You see every mitzvah and I had the great privilege for my bar mitzvah.

47:13
It's customary that for bar mitzvah, boys say what's known as a pshetl. A pshetl is a Yiddish word for like, you say a drash, you say an idea on the parasha, you have a speech. Right Today, the bar mitzvah kids give a speech. I don't know what they call it. Right, a bar mitzvah speech? Right, that's called in Yiddish a pshetl. Okay, a little pshetl, and what was going to be my pshetl?

47:40
My father called my grandfather, his father, and he said what should he do? Something special to say at his bar mitzvah? Like my older brothers did, like my younger brothers did, my grandfather said you know my godfather, my sandek, the person who held me by my bris, was my grandmother's brother. His name was Reb Yitzchak Grudzinski. Reb Yitzchak Grudzinski was the son of the Torah Savram that we mentioned many times in our class, the great leader of the Slobotka community, the rabbi of the Slobotka community. His son was my sandek. His daughter was my grandmother. What did he say at his bar mitzvah? He said all of the mitzvahs by heart. He said all of the mitzvahs that are relevant today by heart. So my father said you think you can do that. I said I can try.

48:34
My bar mitzvah was on a Wednesday and came Shabbos before the bar mitzvah, and I didn't know a one. I didn't know none of them. And my sister came over to me my sister's four years younger, so she was about nine years old and she says to me so what's with your bar mitzvah next week? I said, well, we'll see what happens. She says give me the papers. So I give her the papers, which has it all printed out, and she says let's go, let's do this together. And we did it. We learned it there Shabbos afternoon. We had those papers already pre-printed before Shabbos and we sat and focused and we did it.

49:16
And by bar mitzvah, I just stood over there and I said you know, in lieu of a regular, ordinary bar mitzvah, pshetl or speech, I'm going to read, I'm going to say to you all of the mitzvahs that are applicable today. And people were sitting there and I'm saying and there's a mitzvah, da-da-da, there's a mitzvah to do this. And there's a mitzvah, and each one of them I cannot remember today. So I'm sorry, I would love to perform for you here and show you my brilliance, but clearly I'm not. So, yeah, that's right, I've been forgetting my name. I don't know what day of the week it is, but either way, people came over after and they're like I never knew that that was a mitzvah. I never knew that that was a mitzvah. I never knew that that was a mitzvah and I never knew that, you know. I'll give you an example If you find something, you need to return it. You find something, you need to return it. That is a mitzvah in the Torah. So if you walk and you see, oh, a watch, did anybody lose a watch? And someone's like oh, I didn't even realize my watch, I took it off before and I just dropped on the floor. You just fulfilled the biblical commandment. That's a mitzvah. Well, rabbi, it's just a good deed. No, it's a mitzvah. That's why it's a good deed. The Torah tells us there are more things that are in the Torah than we can imagine. Are those incredible good deeds? How do we know what is good and what isn't good? Torah tells us In the Torah. You'll be blown away by seeing all of the incredible things that the Torah gifts us with to understand and to know what is good and what isn't. It really is an amazing thing. So there are 91 performative mitzvahs of the 248. 91 are applicable today of the performative. Sorry, is that? No, it's not even so. It actually says here 77, and then it says, oh, so it's more, it's more. I'll tell you why it's more Because over here they divide it up also to the mitzvahs that are applicable in the land of Israel, which is also not all of them are applicable in the land of Israel and then 194 mitzvahs that are prohibitions. So every time you don't eat a but you know I'm a billionaire, trillionaire, quadrillionaire okay, you know why I never ate McDonald's. The Torah says not to eat it. Every time I don't eat it, I get a mitzvah. Is that true or false? False, false. Why is that false? Because it was never a challenge for me. So the mitzvah doesn't really. Yes, it's a mitzvah, but it's not like I was sitting there like I want to eat that, that king burger, king, right, I want to eat that cheeseburger. I want to it. Never, it, never. But someone who does have an urge and a desire, because they grew up like that. And I have a friend who's today about 73 or 74 years old and he told me that this is many years ago. He told me that he grew up his mother, when he was three years old, she fed him shellfish, which is a biblical prohibition. He grew up in Virginia and he told me that one day he'd go with his wife every Saturday night. They would go to the finest shellfish restaurant here in Houston and they would go. That was their weekly date. He said one day he walked in they were waiting to be served and he says to his wife I don't know, this doesn't feel right, I'm never going to eat again shellfish, ever again. And he said this exact phrase to me. I told my wife that shellfish will never cross these lips. Now, every single time that he passes by a shellfish restaurant, he gets a mitzvah. You know how many mitzvahs I get for that? Zero, because it was never a challenge for me. Now it is a mitzvah not to eat that. But again, it's not a mitzvah, that's a challenge for me because I never had that desire. I never ate a cheeseburger. I don't know. Look, I do see the advertisements. I will tell you that. I see that you know Applebee's and they have this beautiful patty getting dropped with a beautiful cheese on top and it's melting and dripping down and you're like, wow, that looks great. But you know what? It's still not. It's still not a real mitzvah for me, because it's not one of my challenges. Rashi says, by the way, in the book of Leviticus, on his commentary on the Torah, he says when you see something that's not kosher, or you hear about it or you talk about it, don't say, oh, it's disgusting, eat pork for a pig. It's sitting in the mud, oh, disgusting. He says, no, don't say that. So you know something. I'm sure it's the most delicious thing in the world, but you know why? I'm not going to eat it? Because God told me to. God told me not to, and that's why I'm not going to eat it. He says don't push it away because you know that it's forbidden. So like, oh, it's disgusting. No, I see that advertisement. I'm like, wow, that looks amazing. But I'm not going to eat it because God told me not to. That's why you understand. So there's many, many mitzvahs that we have that are really exceptional gifts. Some of them we don't even know. I didn't know. We were learning here in our Orchah Siddiquim class on Monday nights, musa Masterclass, and he brings a mitzvah. He brings it from the Torah Lo sonu ish esamisecha, you shall not cause pain to another Jew. Do you know what that means? Let me tell you, ron. If I tell you, ron, that shirt is an ugly shirt. Okay, now it happens to be a nice shirt, so that would be a different prohibition, which is not to say a falsehood, right? But if I say that I'll make you feel bad, that was a biblical prohibition, that I'll make you feel bad. That was a biblical prohibition. You're not allowed to make another Jew feel bad. That changes the game, right there. Right, that means I can't throw an insult, I can't hurt their feelings. I can't insult their children, I can't be nasty to them, I can't park in their parking spot because that's going to cause them pain. They're going to get angry, they're going to get upset. That's going to cause them pain. They're going to get angry, they're going to get upset. That's all from a commandment that says Lo sonu ishes ha-misecha. You shall not cause pain to your fellow. You should not cause pain to your fellow. That's a game changer. That's an unbelievable commandment. That's one of the 613 commandments. It says Amitecha. Amitecha means to your fellow man, which can be translated in the Talmud. The Talmud goes into talking about this. It can be your fellow Jew, because that's your fellow, someone you're close with, or the people who you live around, the people who it's also referring to other people as well, by the way, you should make sure that you don't insult the people in your workplace. You should make sure that you don't insult the people at the. You know you go to a whatever it is a facility and people are waiting. There's people, and then the guy comes in and is like is there a waiting line? No, no, no, excuse me, ma'am, can I be seen right now? That's not nice, right? That could be hurtful to the other people, right? Also, by the way, it's an interesting thing when sometimes people like to be righteous on the account of others. So you ever see that Like you're waiting. It doesn't happen as much now because most of us don't go to the supermarket anymore and those of us who do go to the quick checkout line, we don't like to just sit there to wait and wait and wait and wait. You know for everyone to just get their purchases checked out by the cashier. But, very interestingly, what happens? Someone just has one item. So you're like you're the next online. You're like it's okay, go in front of me. That's good, that's a nice deed to do if you're the only one online, if you have this big basket filled with stuff and you'll tell the guy you have one thing, just go ahead. But if you have 10 people behind you, you're doing that on the account of others. So don't be righteous on the account of others. Don't be so kind. Oh, you can go ahead of me, but you got to ask them. That's what you got to do. You have to ask them because they're the ones who are going to be affected by your kindness. All right, any other questions? You had a question coming from here. I saw what did we say Trust, but verify, right, you know you have to build trust with people. You can't. There's a lot of rules about this. By the way, the halacha talks about this, our sages, in their commentary Chavetz Chaim, for example. He says if you want to destroy your business, have other people run it for you and don't show up. Guaranteed your business will go into the ground. Guaranteed It'll nosedive. Well, it's a great business, it's. You know? It's very simple. No, if you don't have a manager, if you don't, if you're not there present to oversee it, it's going to be gone right. But I trust them. Yeah, they're not going to steal, but they just don't know how to run it like you do. They don't understand the way things work, the way you do. So, yes, there's a lot of things that the halacha teaches us, torah teaches us in all of these amazing books that teach us practical advice and how to deal with people. Trust is a very important thing. It's probably the most important thing for a child Growing up in a home. A child needs to be able to trust their parents. If they don't trust their parents, they're not going to be trusting of other people. Most likely Doctor share some insight about this. Oh, so that's different. Put it on your bill is different. Yeah, so that's fine, check it out and go. You just go, I'll pay, right? No, that's different and I agree with that. That's fine, and I do that. Whenever I see public servants, I see police officers, I see soldiers, I always say just leave it. I got your bill, you go. That I agree with. But that's not means if he's going to have to now come and then I'll tell you what happens. They're like do you accept check? And then they pull out the checkbook and then they have to see and they lose their pen and they say and that's. And then exactly.

59:12
Hour and a half later, hour and a half later, they're still looking inside their bag, right? Yes, sir, oh, wow, you get the mitzvah as well. Yes, 100%, something we discussed. Very good story. So you walked, three officers walked into a store that you were eating at and you told the cashier I'll get their bill. And then they turn to you and they say but we give them for free anyway.

59:40
The Torah teaches us an amazing thing, jimmy, an amazing thing, and that is that a person's desire to do good is rewarded as if they did it, even though they didn't. They wanted to. That in itself is going to be rewarded. So imagine if you wanted to. It was a big cause and you wanted to donate to that cause. There was a need that was needed in the community and you got. Someone asks you for a ride. I had the story. I shared the story before over here.

01:00:12
Someone called me up from St Louis and he says to me I'm about to board my plane. This is like a 10 o'clock at night. I'm about to board my plane. It was delayed and delayed and delayed. I was supposed to land already in Houston. He says but my plane is just taking off. I'm going to land at 12, 1 o'clock in the morning. Would you mind coming to pick me up in the airport? And of course it's always IAH. I said for sure, no problem, I'll be there. He calls me back. A few minutes later he calls me back and he says it's okay, you don't need to pick me up, because I just met somebody at the gate that has a car at the airport from the community, from the neighborhood, and he's going to give me a ride. So now do I get the reward? I didn't schlep out there at one o'clock in the morning to pick him up.

01:01:01
Do I get the reward for it? The answer is yes, because Hashem wants our willingness. Hashem wants our desire as the action itself. Exactly, exactly. So, just as important as the action, even more important is the desire, because if you do the action without the desire, you'll get the reward. But it's like, eh, it's iffy kind of you know. It's like, eh, you know you did it begrudgingly. But if you do it, you have the desire to do it. Even if you don't fulfill it, you actually get the full reward for it.

01:01:33
So in such a let me ask you a question. Let's put it in God's eye view, not bird's eye view. God's eye view. Did God not know that that person was going to be at the gate? God knew, so why did God send this person to call me? There you go To test the desire.

01:01:50
Do you really want to? Oh, you really want to. You don't need to get out of bed and go pick them up at one o'clock. I don't get out of bed at one o'clock, trust me, I don't go to sleep yet then. So it's fine.

01:02:02
Do you have the desire? I have this all the time. You know, I carry a radio. This is if I'm a first responder, right. Sometimes it could be three o'clock in the morning and a tone will go out for an emergency call. I jump out of bed, I'm ready to go, but other guys beat me to it. Do I get the mitzvah? As if I did it, as if I went and helped that person. Absolutely, you had a desire to do it. They beat you to it. You still had a desire to do it. You jumped out of bed, you got out of your comfort, you got out of your sleep to go help someone else, even though you didn't actually help them. You just wanted to. You already get the reward. See how kind and benevolent God is. It's pretty incredible. Yes, very good. Even though he has a desire and he can't, he gets the reward as if he did it. That's how we begin the class and end the class with the same exact question. My dear friends, have a great Shabbos!

01:02:56 - Intro (Announcement)
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