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)
Alright, welcome back, my dear friends, to the Jewish Inspiration Podcast. I wanted to share with you a quick thought. As we are in the 10 days of repentance, the 10 days of awe between the beginning of Rosh Hashanah and the end of Yom Kippur, I want to share with you an amazing story. We know that the great King, alexander Alexander the Great, was once. He would go frequently to the forest and he would dress up like a simpleton and he would go hunting. Go hunting, it's a nice little sport. And he would go hunting, go hunting, it's a nice little sport. See, he's in the forest and he sees this little hut in the forest, looks at the hut. What's going on? It's a little old Jew living in the hut, little old Jew. Right next to it was a little fountain of water, a natural spring, and then he had a tree, an apple tree, and he had a great way to live. He had fruits, he had his water and that's it. He was there.

01:14
So the king, again disguised as a simpleton, goes into the little hut with this elderly Jew and he says to him so tell me, you left your family, you left your life and you came out here into the forest. Are you afraid of wild animals? Aren't you afraid of the wild beasts that are hungry and are going to eat you and are going to attack you? This elderly Jew did not invite this guest and ignored him, so not knowing that it was the king. So the king pulls out his sword. He says to him you know that I'm actually the king Alexander the Great, and if you don't answer me, I will kill you. He says look, let me explain something to you.

02:06
As Jews, we understand that life is very, very precious, because we only have a little bit of time to prepare ourselves for the eternal world to come. And in this lifetime we don't have time to waste. And when I'm with my family I get carried away, I get distracted. I have all of these distractions of life that don't allow me to prepare for my ultimate test, for my ultimate, final showdown in the world to come. So I left for a little while so that I can prepare myself.

02:51
The king was absolutely amazed. He's like wow. He says this is so special. He says you know, I want to invite you to my palace. I'll give you any gift you'd like. He was so moved. He said anything you want, we're friends. Now Just come to my palace, I'll give you any gift you'd like. He was so moved he said anything you want, we're friends. Now Just come to my palace, I'll give you anything you want. To which the man says the greatest gift you can possibly give me is leave and stop wasting my time, because life is that precious.

03:25
Life is so precious. Life is so precious we cannot afford to waste our time. You know, the Mishnah tells us in Ethics of Our Fathers, who Hayah Omer, he would say Yofa sha'achas be'tshuva ma'asem tovim ba'olam ezem mikol chayolam abo, that one moment of tshuva and good deeds in this world is more valuable than all of the world to come. And one moment of focus, undistracted, of cognizance, recognition of our frailty, of our mortality, is more valuable than all of the world to come. Meaning this world is the only place we will ever be able to do good deeds. This world is the only world we will be able to give charity. This world is the only world we will be able to do acts of loving, kindness. This is the only world that we will be able to overcome anger. This is the challenges that we have here in this world. This is the only place we can do it. There's no place else. So every single opportunity, every single moment that we have in this world is precious, and when we are now in these 10 days of awe 10 days it's called Aser Esimei Teshuvah. These 10 days of awe 10 days it's called Aser HaSimei Teshuvah the 10 days of repentance. I know people call it the days of awe, but the truth is that takes away a little bit of the element of repentance. That is required for us to prepare ourselves and we talked about this last week Preparing ourselves for our judgment in front of the king, the king of all kings, creator of heaven and earth. That will be this Friday night and Shabbos, yom Kippur, where we are judged by the Almighty for everything that was, every single action or inaction that we've had since last Rosh.

05:56
Hashanah comes under the microscope and Hashem says I want to judge you favorably. What's your argument? Just give me your case. And we're like, uh, didn't think about this Kind of didn't have a chance to prepare. That would be a terrible thing. We should take time to prepare ourselves. Before going to synagogue on Friday night on Yom Kippur, we should sit down and make an evaluation. Is there anything that I've done wrong? Perhaps Is there anything that I've done. Perhaps Is there anything that I've done. I've fallen short of the expectations. I want to share with you a beautiful idea that the person sitting next to me in shul on Rosh Hashanah gives me a little tap. He says here I want you to read something really special.

07:01
You know, in our liturgy, in our prayers on Rosh Hashanah, yom Kippur, we say something which is really seemingly terrifying Bochein levavos. We talk about Hashem being the one who deciphers what's in our hearts. It's terrifying. Hashem knows what's in our hearts. It's terrifying. Hashem knows what's really happening Me. On the outside, the whole world can think that, oh, they're being so generous, but Hashem knows what's going on inside. They just want their name on the wall. They want their name on the building. It's not really. Everyone sees the external acts but not the internal thoughts. Hashem is bochin levavas. Hashem knows what's going on inside, Terrifying. And that's how Hashem determines how to give us judgment. Uh-oh, uh-oh. Hashem knows what's going on inside. This is what our sages tell us. Totally different, bokhen levavos. Hashem sees what's inside. Hashem knows our true potential.

08:16
Hashem says I created you. I know that you're capable of so much more here. I'm going to give you another year so that you can bring of so much more here. I'm gonna give you another year so you can bring it out to fruition. I'm gonna give you another year so you can sparkle and shine the way. I know that you can, because you've fallen short a little bit of your expectations. You could do so much more. I I know you can because I'm the one who. It's like someone who manufactures a car. They know how much horsepower, they know how much torque, they know every detail of the car. They're the manufacturer. They've created it. So when it isn't driving to its maximum capacity, so when it isn't driving to its maximum capacity, to its maximum, the manufacturer knows you can do more. I know what I put into this. It can do better. Hashem is our manufacturer.

09:19
Each one of us has a unique neshama, a unique soul, which has its own virtues and its own flaws, built in. Hashem doesn't. By the way, when Hashem gives us challenges, hashem never, ever gives us a challenge that we cannot handle. Hashem gives every single person a challenge that they, as an individual, have the tools to cope with, have the tools to overcome, to become strong, to elevate. From that experience, each and every one of us has the ability to shine. Hashem is Boch lovavos. Hashem knows what's in our heart. Hashem says you can do so much more. This is our opportunity.

10:15
It's only a few short days before Yom Kippur. It's the 10 days of repentance. It's time to reflect. In synagogue, we have special prayers. We say Avinu Malkenu every day. You know what we say in Avino Malkenu Hagzireinu b'teshuvah shalem lefaneh.

10:31
Hashem, bring us back to you in a complete repentance, one second. We're asking God to do our homework. It's our job, not God's job. We're asking Hashem do our homework. It's our job, not God's job. We're asking Hashem, our Father in heaven, bring us back to you. Whose job is it? What are we asking Hashem to do the work for us?

11:01
Sages explain Hashem doesn't expect us To do everything. Hashem just Expects us To raise up our hand and say Hashem, I made a mistake. I need your help To help figure this out, to help resolve my mistakes, my shortcomings. I fell short. I know I fell short. I know I fell short. I have no idea how I can rectify this. You know I'm admitting my guilt. How do I fix this that? I'm asking you for your help.

11:39
And our sages say that someone who repents their sins become a mitzvah. How's that? A person does a sin and now they repent, their sin became a mitzvah. Why? So we know something so incredibly important in Judaism. Incredibly important in Judaism the vehicle that helps bring about a certain action becomes sanctified by the action. Let me give you an example. If you encourage someone to do a mitzvah any mitzvah you encourage someone to do an act of kindness, to volunteer. Every second of their volunteering is your credit. It says kiner mitzvah.

12:39
A mitzvah is like a candle. What happens if you're holding a candle and I'm holding a candle? Mine is lit and yours is not. I go over to your candle and I light your candle. Did it take anything away from my candle? No, nothing, but I lit your candle. So now, who has right? So now you have two out of one and you go on and continue to pass that light. A mitzvah is you igniting another light. It takes nothing away from you. It only increases.

13:12
When you are able to inspire someone else to do an action that is good, you get that reward for it. You see, the pyramid schemes is like there's $100, and now that $100 is going to get chopped up, depending on what part of the tier you're on. Judaism is not a Ponzi scheme. It's not a. You know that's not the way we operate. The way it works is like this you see, if I give you a dollar, then you have. The way we operate. The way it works is like this. You see, if I give you a dollar, then you have the dollar and I don't Right Because it's finite. It's either you have it or I do. But you know what happens when you do a mitzvah, it's like the candle. Imagine if I gave you a dollar and now we both had one. Imagine if I gave you a mitzvah. Now we both fulfilled that mitzvah. God isn't cheap on his credit. When you inspire someone to do something, you both get reward for the mitzvah. There's no finite reward that Hashem can give for a good deed. So we can become spiritual billionaires by inspiring others to do good deeds.

14:41
You share a good inspirational quote. You share a Torah class. You share a good inspirational quote. You share a Torah class. You share a thought. You share a word of inspiration with others and someone gets inspired by it. You only need one person.

14:58
Imagine you know the story is told. Someone once came up to heaven. An old Yerushalmi Jew, an old Jerusalemite Jew, long side curls, never heard. A fly comes up to heaven and they open up the red carpet and they have all of these trumpets and have all of the, everything that unbelievable, he says me. I didn't do anything special. I was a decent Jew. I went to pray three times a day, but I didn't. I don't deserve this. Like no, no, no, you don't understand.

15:38
When you were once at the Western Wall praying at the Kotel and you were crying, there was a Jew standing next to you who was so moved by your sincerity, who was so moved that he decided to change his whole life and he decided to get more involved in his Judaism. He decided to become a member in a synagogue, he decided to learn a little Torah, he decided to change the trajectory of his life and decided to marry someone Jewish and decided to have Jewish children and send them to Jewish day school. What From what? From being inspired from you at the Western Wall, he says me. But I didn't even do it intentionally Doesn't make a difference. You were a vehicle through which someone else was inspired, but I never even met the person. Doesn't make a difference, but I never even met the person Doesn't make a difference.

16:44
If we have the ability and today we all have a lot of ability because of social media. We can share things. Take this Torah class, but there are many better Torah classes than this to share out there and you can go and share that and one person gets inspired. Do you know who gets the reward for that? You do because you shared it. That's how you become a spiritual hoarder of mitzvahs. You share the opportunity for people to learn, to grow, to be involved, to become, hopefully, more connected with the Almighty, more godly. You get free. It's like it's an ongoing return on your investment.

17:36
We know that when someone has a celebration, any type of celebration we serve food. I was at a bris this morning Regards from Elijah the prophet, by the way. He was there but we know that when there is a celebration of any sort in Judaism, there's always food. Why is there food? Because every person who eats the food and recites a blessing, that blessing brings Hashem's presence into their consciousness and that mitzvah that they just did by reciting that blessing goes to the baby that was born. That baby gets a merit. What did the baby do? He just had a bris, yeah, but everyone got together and now people ate and people recited a blessing, all because of that baby. That baby gets that merit. Same thing with the bride and groom. We have seven days of celebration, seven days of blessings, every single person who recites a blessing. Why did they come here and recite that blessing? Because of the bride and groom. The bride and groom get those blessings.

18:47
And I'll tell you an amazing story. There was a young woman in Bnei Brak who was getting older and older and older and couldn't find her soulmate. And they went to the rabbi, reb Chaim Knievsky, and they asked for a blessing. What are we going to do with our daughter? She can't find her mate. What's going on? What can we do? She's a pretty girl, she's a fine girl, good character traits. She'll be an amazing wife, an amazing mother. Why hasn't she found her mate?

19:28
So the rabbi asked them when she was born, did you make a kiddush? And the parents are thinking and thinking and they're like we forgot to make a kiddush for her. So they made a kiddush for her. And people came and what did they do? They ate. And what did they do before they ate? They recited blessings and they wished them mazal tov and they gave them a blessing for their daughter. Shortly thereafter she got engaged and married.

20:01
What does the kiddush have to do with it? Kiddush has a lot to do with it. A lot to do with it Because they bring blessing into this world. That's what it does. It brings blessing into this world. You bring Hashem's presence into people's lives. Anything that we can do to bring the consciousness of Hashem into this world is a merit. And you know what you'll get lifelong payback. You get return on your investment every month, cha-ching mitzvah, mitzvah. Every time they put on tefillin because of you, you get that reward. And every time they put on tefillin because of you, you get that reward. And every time they give charity, because of you, you get the reward. I didn't give the charity, they gave it Right, but you inspire them to give. And every time they study Torah, you get that reward. We have the opportunity in these 10 days of preparation to really earn for a lifetime. But it doesn't have to be only these 10 days. It could be for the next year and for the next two years and the next three years.

21:21
Wherever we go, carry around a little quote, a little something that you're inspired by, inspire others, by the way, just to bring this idea a little bit more to our. We know that, after someone passes away, we recite Kaddish. Why do we recite Kaddish? Because what does Kaddish do? Yiskadel v'yiskadei, shmei rabah, that the name of the Almighty should become great. It should be pronounced in the world that people should have consciousness of Hashem. So why do we need to say this? Because the deceased can't. So what we do is we say if we're able to bring God into the consciousness, into the presence of others in this world, in the merit of someone who passed away, it'll be a righteous elevation for them, even though they passed away. But we're doing something for them and in doing so, what we're in essence, and in doing so what we're in essence, we're doing a merit for the deceased. Obviously, it helps us as well.

22:44
But again, hashem doesn't have a finite reward. There's no. Oh well, it's their merit. This is not one of those pyramid schemes. There's only a finite amount of money and it's going to get chopped up based on your ranking. If you inspire someone, and they inspire someone and they inspire everyone, will get a full 100% reward. It's an amazing thing, 100% reward. So that deceased in heaven, they're bothering them, they're like uh-uh, sorry, you're in the wrong room, you got an upgrade, and they get settled in the room like, uh-uh, you got another upgrade. Like it's unbelievable. They keep on getting an upgrade every time. Kaddish is recited in their merit. Isn't that amazing? We can do something for someone even when they're passed on from this world. But what greater way to do these things than when we are alive?

23:49
Now Our sages tell us, ha-melech ba'sod, that God is in the fields. He's ready to broker a deal. No problem, just like any deal goes, he's among us. Now Hashem is always among us, but sometimes it's more recognizable. Hashem says any deal goes. Just give me any offer. You willing to change a bad habit? No problem, I'll take the offer, you'll get the reward. This is important To make use of every single moment of the 10 days of repentance.

24:26
That's why it's called the 10 days of repentance, because Hashem loves our repentance. Hashem loves because what is repentance? Repentance means I'm coming closer to Hashem. That's what it is. I'm coming closer, I'm removing the barriers. All we do with a mitzvah is bring Hashem closer. What we do with a sin is we distance Hashem. We put barriers between us and Hashem. What is repentance? Removing those barriers. Repentance itself, by the way, is a mitzvah. But you know.

25:05
Now let's go back to what we said earlier. If someone does a sin and then repents, the sin becomes a mitzvah. Why? Because that sin was the vehicle through which a person became closer to God, so the sin itself became a mitzvah. Now, so if a person says, well, I've heard many people say this, god doesn't want me. I've heard so many people, okay, rabbi, you can do your repentance. If you knew what I did, god doesn't want to talk to me. That's not true, patently false. Hashem wants each and every one of us. We're all his children, and if someone who did wrong changes, that has regret for that, accepts upon themselves to change for the future, even if they fall once or twice, they still have their old habits. They still have their old habits.

26:08
When someone has a full, wholehearted repentance, even if they fall back into it, it's erased, it's eliminated. I always say I said this last year we are a pen. God is a pencil. You see a pen, even the erasable paper, mate. Remember those pens that had erasers. It didn't really erase, it was like a gimmick. It never really got it all off, it was still there. But the pencils it's gone, unless it's like etched into the paper. It's gone. You turn it over, have your pink eraser and it's gone.

26:53
You see, if we do something wrong to our fellow man, if I park in Bruce's parking spot, I park my car in Bruce's parking spot. So he comes over to me the first time and he's a little frustrated. He says you know, see that sign right there. It says reserved for me. I pay for that spot, please don't park there again. It's okay, I'm not angry. Patient, right, patient guy. The next day I'm parking in a spot again. The next day again.

27:23
Eventually he's going to lose it. He's going to be like listen, I'm going to pop your tires. No, maybe not, but he'll do something. He's going to be like can you stop parking in my parking spot? I say you know what, bruce, I'm sorry, please forgive me, I won't do it again. Okay, what did Bruce say? You know what you came over like. I meant you apologized, forgiven, forgotten. The next day I park in a. He's not going to say you know, this is your first time parking in my parking spot, please don't do it again. He's not going to say that. He's going to say like this is your 50th time doing this. But what happened? I thought I apologized and you said forgiven, forgotten.

28:07
So it's not forgotten, you see, by us. It's like a pen that it erased, like it's still there. There's some memory there. It's still there, there's some memory there. You see, when we sin against Hashem and we repent, it is gone. So when we sin another time, it's like the first time it's ever happened. The first time, because it's not like Hashem is an idiot God forbid right, hashem doesn't. But Hashem's forgiveness is total and complete. It's complete.

28:42
And if someone seriously takes the few minutes before Hashashana, before Yom Kippur, in these 10 days of repentance, and says Hashem, I know you're doing, buy one, get one free. I'm going to list off my mistakes. I'm going to chart a new path for myself. I'm going to change my old habits. I'm going to try to do things differently this coming year. I regret that I created these barriers between me and you. I regret that I've made these mistakes. You know what happens. It's a whole new world.

29:26
Dear friends, let's make this Yom Kippur the greatest Yom Kippur ever. Yom Kippur is the greatest day in our year. I know we don't eat, but we're not so simple. We can do a day without eating. That's the smallest of Yom Kippur. It's a day for us to just focus on our relationship with Hashem.

29:50
Remove the barriers. That's what Yom Kippur is about Removing the barriers that if we find a sin, hashem, how can I have done that? I've created a barrier between us. Let me remove that barrier. Another barrier, another barrier, breaking through all of those barriers and we can do that in one fell swoop on Yom Kippur. But we have to come prepared. We can't show up in Yom Kippur and say, oh, I didn't realize there's going to be so much praying. I didn't realize. This is like there's a lot of words here. That's not what Yom Kippur is about. All of the prayers is just to inspire us to make that change.

30:40
They say that the Baal, shem Tov, was praying in a synagogue and some peasant came in. He saw everyone singing, he saw everyone praying. He doesn't know how to pray. He's a simple guy. Simple guy. He had no idea how to pray. So he pulls out his little flute and he starts playing His flute and people are like Don't you know? That's prohibited. They didn't say anything to him, but they looked at the. What do we do? He says this is his prayer. This is his prayer, this is his calling out to Hashem. This is his clos out to Hashem. This is his closeness to Hashem. Every one of us need to find our flute Call out on Yom Kippur.

31:29
It's the day to break the barriers, to remove everything that stands in our way from our closeness with Hashem, everything that stands in our way from our closeness with Hashem. Hashem should lovingly accept all of our prayers, all of our repentance and, god willing, it should be an amazing new year. We're now in a new year, 5-7-8-5, that's it. It's a new year. You know what happened 5-7-8-4? Let bygones be bygones, but we have to ask for it. Let's take the time before Yom Kippur Rosh Hashanah, we project for a new year forward. Yom Kippur, we look back. Yom Kippur, we say Hashem. I see I asked for a great year ahead. I don't really deserve it, maybe, but I'm going to make some changes here. I'm going to start new good habits. I'm going to try to make change moving forward.

32:30
My dear friends, it should be a very, very, very meaningful Yom Kippur. Don't worry about the fasting. You'll survive. We eat enough in our generation. We can live two weeks without eating. Don't worry, you're not going to die by fasting on Yom Kippur. It'll be good for you, unless God forbid if a doctor says that it's dangerous. People who have certain medical conditions need to eat. Speak to your local bona fide rabbi to understand how to do that properly. On Yom Kippur, it's okay, it's 25 hours of not eating. It's good for you. It gives you time to just focus on your relationship with Hashem, not the relationship with our body, not the relationship with our, you know, with our feasting and eating and eating more and eating more. It's a time for us to just focus on our relationship, our spiritual relationship, with Hashem. My dear friends, it should be the most magnificent Yom Kippur ever, the most meaningful Yom Kippur ever Amen.

33:37 - Intro (Announcement)
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