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A refreshing and clear review of each Parsha in the Torah presented by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe
0:03 Speaker 1: You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Parsha Review Podcast.
0:11 Speaker 2: Good morning, everybody. It is so wonderful to be back here in the magnificent Torch Center for us to resume our weekly portion review, our Parsha review. Parshas Vayera. We talk about the story of Sodom.
0:30 Speaker 2: Sodom and Gomorrah, we know they were doing terrible sins. They were very wicked people. And God says, listen, you're very dear, you're very close to me, as God is to each and every one of us. and connected with Hashem in a very, very significant way, Hashem says to him, I'm not going to hide this from you.
0:50 Speaker 2: I'm just going to tell you as follows. I am going to destroy the city of Sodom. And Abraham says, well, Hashem, maybe don't destroy them. Maybe they have 50 righteous people.
1:03 Speaker 2: Maybe they have 45. They're 40, 30. He keeps on negotiating with God, which is another thing for us to learn as a side note that, yeah, you can negotiate with God. You should negotiate with God.
1:14 Speaker 2: Talk to Hashem. Have a conversation with Hashem. That's what our prayer is. Our prayer every single day that we pray three times a day is us having a conversation with Hashem.
1:24 Speaker 2: That's our job. Okay. So now, Abraham lost that negotiation. He says, okay, let's at least save Lot, my nephew, because he's a decent guy. Let's save him.
1:36 Speaker 2: So the two angels continue on to Sodom, and they say, Lot, it's time for you to pack your bags. You have to go take your wife, take your two daughters, and let's get out. Now, there's a very specific instruction that the angels give to Lot when they depart from the city of Sodom, and that is,
1:57 Speaker 2: Don't look backwards. Don't look back. Why? Because Hashem is going to be destroying these.
2:04 Speaker 2: This is in chapter 19, verse number 17. Don't look back. Don't see the demise, the destruction of what is going to be happening to Sodom, to the whole city, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And don't look at, don't see their demise.
2:24 Speaker 2: it's a very interesting thing that hashem is is asking through the angels to lot don't look back what does it mean don't look back there's a lot to look back there's a lot to reflect there's a lot to see so i want to share with you an idea from her bianca galinsky he says something so beautiful on this week's parasha And that is as follows. He brings a story. There was a story with Rabbi Gil Michael Feinstein.
2:51 Speaker 2: I believe he was the nephew of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, that his daughter was very, she was, she had a disease, but she had asthma. And, you know, anybody with asthma, you need to have a proper nebulizer nearby for whenever you have an attack so you can get the medication in to the lungs in an appropriate manner. had these nebulizers all over the house so that it would be, you know, if she had a asthma attack, she can recuperate with that.
3:29 Speaker 2: So wherever they were, wherever they had the machine next to her bed, you had a machine, the living room and the dining room, wherever it was, they had all over the house they had. One time she had an attack and they couldn't find the machines and she died. And the family is sitting Shiva and the entire Shiva they're going over the seven days of mourning. They're going over like what would have happened.
3:56 Speaker 2: They found right next to her bed. They found three machines right next to her bed. And they couldn't find it at that moment of need. They just couldn't find it.
4:03 Speaker 2: And they were going through reviewing what would have happened if we would have found it. She wouldn't have died. And they're going through and really agonizing over this.
4:15 Speaker 2: One of the great sages, Rav Yonko Ligalinski, went to pay a shivakol, and he says to them, you know, there's a, in our prayer, we say, I believe with a complete faith, that the creator of heaven and earth, he does everything. In a past tense. He does in a present tense. And he will do in the future.
4:49 Speaker 2: For everything. Everything that transpires in our world. Was, is, and will be in the hand of Hashem. Hashem is the one who decides everything that transpires in our world.
5:03 Speaker 2: And only to Hashem do we give thanks. For everything. But there's an obvious question. What's the question?
5:13 Speaker 2: We know we're obligated to we're obligated to do, we're obligated to strive for things. If Hashem does everything, so what's our role in this? So the answer obviously is that yes,
5:29 Speaker 2: we have to do everything we can. put our efforts forward to accomplish. But the results, the results are always the hand of Hashem. The bottom line is that you can try to get a job there.
5:44 Speaker 2: You can try to marry that person. You can try to do this. If Hashem decides that it's not a good thing for you, it's not a good thing for you. And it's never going to happen.
5:52 Speaker 2: So a person has to put an effort forward, but you can never look back at the results and say, why did that happen? If I would have done this, if I would have done that, blaming other people, that's never going to work. In retrospect, that's not the way. So yes, we have to understand that God did, God does, and God will do everything.
6:15 Speaker 2: But we have to do everything we can to try to do what's best. You know, there's an interesting thing. We say, A person prepares what he's going to say to what he's going to do. But at the end of the day, at the end of the day, God puts the words in your mouth.
6:36 Speaker 2: I can't even tell you how many hundreds of times I came to class prepared with, I'm going to say this. And I said something totally different. And I'm like, oh, what happened? I prepared my notes.
6:46 Speaker 2: I have my notes for every class. And it's like something totally different came up. and i got so because hashem puts words in your mouth hashem puts the actions you come into to a you know into the negotiating room and you're like this is my argument this is i'm going to coming to the into the courtroom and this is going to be my argument and what happens suddenly something totally different and
7:10 Speaker 1: like now we lost the case or
7:12 Speaker 2: we won the case like it wasn't what what we planned guess what hashem is the one who at the end of the day the results are from hashem The results are from Hashem. Yeah, the effort is from us. We plan. The joke goes that man plans and God laughs, right?
7:30 Speaker 2: But we plan to say or to do and Hashem does whatever he wants to happen, right? So we, you know, there's a story about Rabbi Yochanan Mitzakai. He went to speak to the emperor to save the people of Jerusalem. What happened?
7:48 Speaker 2: Instead, he went and asked for the people of Yavna. What happened? Well, Hashem put different words in his mouth. You know, there's many stories that came to, in front of many sages, but specifically about the stipler.
8:04 Speaker 2: Someone once came to the stipler and it was a widow and she came with a very strong complaint against Hashem. And he said, just give me one second. He walks out of the room and he starts praying. He says, Hashem, I don't know what to tell her.
8:18 Speaker 2: I don't know what to tell her. Hashem, I'm going out there. I'm opening my mouth. You're going to put the words in my mouth.
8:23 Speaker 2: I don't know what I'm going to say.
8:30 Speaker 2: What God is teaching us through Lot, through this story, don't look back. You know, they call it the Monday morning quarterback. They call it the Wednesday morning election review. Everybody's got the things of like, you know, last week was elections in Israel.
8:51 Speaker 2: This week is elections here in the United States. And everyone's looking back. What could we have done better? Whose fault is this and whose fault is that?
8:57 Speaker 2: My dear friends, Hashem runs this world. Hashem runs this world. If you think for a second that you could have done something and that would have changed the results, you're wrong. That is heresy.
9:11 Speaker 2: Hashem is the one who decides how things operate. Hashem is the one who decides exactly where we're going to succeed and where we're going to fail. Hashem decides where we're going to, you know, have results like this and where we're going to have results like that. He was forbidden from looking back.
9:28 Speaker 2: Now, what do we see from this? That doesn't mean that you don't look back and have regret. It's part of our truva process. But you don't live in the rear view mirror.
9:39 Speaker 2: You know, it's amazing.
9:43 Speaker 2: I don't remember who said this, but he said, if you look at your car, you have a big windshield in front of you. You have a small mirror looking back. You have to be looking forward. You have to be looking forward.
9:59 Speaker 2: Look back just a little bit through that little mirror. Yeah, you know what? I made a mistake. Let me fix that mistake.
10:05 Speaker 2: But don't live in the past. A person who lives with constant regret, a person who lives with constant looking back, will never succeed in life. Will never be happy in life. Always doubting.
10:16 Speaker 2: Oh, I could have done this. I should have done that. I should have asked this. I should have done...
10:20 Speaker 2: Nothing. Could have, should have, would have. Our job is to look forward and to realize that God did, God does, and God will do everything. I believe this with a full and complete faith.
10:37 Speaker 2: Everything is the hand of Hashem.
10:41 Speaker 2: The Medrash says in Koheles, Koheles Rabbah, 520. Chapter 520.
10:52 Speaker 2: It says that when a baby is born, it's born with its hands closed, with its fists closed tight. And when a person passes on from this world, they die with their hands open.
11:06 Speaker 2: Our sages explain in the Midrash, it says, because when a person comes into this world, they say, you know what I'm going to do in this world? I'm going to conquer everything. I'm going to attain everything. I'm going to get everything.
11:17 Speaker 2: And when we leave, we leave with our hands open. What did we actually attain? What did we actually acquire? What did we actually accomplish?
11:27 Speaker 2: Of all the things we said out in the beginning, I'm going to get it. I'm going to get it all. And what do we get at the end? We have to be focused on accomplishing, on real focus, on real accomplishments, and putting forward our efforts and trying to do everything we possibly can to do the things that we are set out on a mission for our lives to accomplish.
11:54 Speaker 2: Because God put us here as yachid ba'olamo. Every person is one individual in the world. There never was and
12:03 Speaker 1: there never will be another person like you.
12:07 Speaker 2: Sorry I'm going off of screen here. I apologize. It's not appropriate. I'm on all of these broadcasts.
12:12 Speaker 2: But I need to bring to you a piece of my grandfather's teachings here. Page 71 in the second book of my grandfather's Al-Eshur. book he says as follows therefore what does it say about adam why was there only one adam created there's only one adam one eve Right? And there's only one of each and every one of us.
12:44 Speaker 2: He says, That we
12:51 Speaker 1: know that if someone saves a life,
12:53 Speaker 2: it's as if they saved the whole world. If you lose one life, it's as if you lost the whole world. The whole world. Why?
13:01 Speaker 2: What's going on? You know why?
13:06 Speaker 2: It's the Talmud in Sanhedrin. He says, Just because Adam had more descendants, every one of us, every single person in the history of mankind, every one is an individual. He's the only one.
13:26 Speaker 2: Right?
13:29 Speaker 2: Just like Adam was singular, he was one. Each and every one of us are one.
13:41 Speaker 2: And just like he was the only one in the world, so too you are the only one in the world. You're the only one that ever existed. You're the only you that will ever be.
13:55 Speaker 2: So imagine this. We have how many billions of people in the world? Does that take away from your uniqueness one iota? Nothing.
14:05 Speaker 2: Not one drop.
14:18 Speaker 2: You know, if you look at a coin, look at a quarter, a nickel, a dime, each one is exactly the same. Exactly the same. Right? They stamp him, stamp him, stamp him, stamp him. They're all the same.
14:39 Speaker 2: But God created billions of creations and not a one is identical to the other. Not one.
14:52 Speaker 2: You're a one time. Imagine that. Feel proud. Do you realize you're one of a kind?
14:59 Speaker 2: There's only one Bruce. And there will ever be only one Bruce like you. That's it. There'll be people who will be called Bruce.
15:06 Speaker 2: They may even have your same last name. But how many are you? None. There's none in the world.
15:13 Speaker 2: Do you understand what that means?
15:17 Speaker 2: Every person needs to know this. Me. With my traits. With my abilities. With my talents.
15:27 Speaker 2: With my skills. My face. And the gifts of our soul. Is one in the world.
15:37 Speaker 2: In the history. From the creation of Adam. Till the end of the world. There will never be anyone like me.
15:46 Speaker 2: Between those who are living already in this world, who are here.
15:53 Speaker 2: From the beginning of all creation till the end of all creation, there will never ever be one like me.
16:07 Speaker 2: Therefore, what do we know? We know that God created me for a purpose. He put me here on a mission that nobody else on planet Earth can fulfill.
16:24 Speaker 2: Only me with my singular You think of like God crafts us, creates us in the image of God. You're unique. You're not like just like a coin, that every coin is coming out of that machine exactly the same, exactly the same. You have that 1949 penny and they all look exactly the same.
16:46 Speaker 2: No, you're different. You're not the same. And therefore you're on a specific mission that nobody else has that same mission as you. This is sometimes lost.
16:59 Speaker 2: Because we look out in the world and we're like, everybody's just like, it's just everybody's just everybody the same. We're all the same. Just go along to get along and everything will be fine. No, you're here on a mission.
17:13 Speaker 2: God put you here to accomplish special things, to do remarkable things in this world. That's our purpose. He says, we need to know.
17:32 Speaker 2: Just like Adam Rishon, Adam, the first creation, first human creation, had a mission, a specific mission, we too have a mission. And we don't start, we don't start investigating all of the dimensions of, you know, you just, I came here, God put me here on a mission, he gave me these skills, he gave me these abilities, now go get him. Go do them. you start asking too many questions, you start looking back or living in the history, you're not going to accomplish your goal.
18:13 Speaker 2: God created us for a very personal, specific mission. We're all here on a mission of life to accomplish something that nobody, Bobby, you hear this? Nobody else on planet Earth, is on that same mission. They're in a unique mission.
18:36 Speaker 2: Each person onto their own.
18:42 Speaker 2: My dear friends, understand, understand. Open your hearts. This is the most incredible thing. Thank you to my grandfather for this.
18:49 Speaker 2: We have to put forward our efforts. We have to always look forward. Take a little look back through that little mirror. Maybe I offended somebody.
19:00 Speaker 2: Maybe I review my day. Maybe I should have done something with a little bit more, with a little bit less callous. I should have been a little kinder. I should have been a little friendlier.
19:10 Speaker 2: I should have, maybe, look back a little bit. I say, just tell us, before you go to sleep at night, you should introspect. Think about your day. Maybe I could have done something better.
19:22 Speaker 2: Maybe, okay, but that's not the whole day. Don't live in your past. You live in the future. Think forward.
19:29 Speaker 2: How am I going to make change in the future? Not thinking always in the past. Now, you may ask, well, this is a contradiction to something we've said in the past. We said that Moshe said, God, I want to see the future.
19:40 Speaker 2: And God says, no, no, no, you're going to have to look back. That's regarding something else. That's regarding seeing and understanding the ways of Hashem, which Hashem says, you'll never understand the future. But if you want to see my hand, look backwards.
19:53 Speaker 2: But we don't live in the back. We don't live looking backwards. We look back. We see Hashem always took care of everything.
20:02 Speaker 2: Hashem always took care of everything. And if your party lost in the election, it's not the first time. God created the world circular. Everything is round.
20:17 Speaker 2: You know why? Because when you're round, sometimes you're on top, sometimes you're on bottom. You know what happens after that? You come back on top.
20:25 Speaker 2: Nobody stays on bottom. The ball is always turning. The world is always turning. Sometimes we're on top, sometimes we're on bottom.
20:32 Speaker 2: Every single person you've ever met in... Your entire lifetime. One time was on top of the world and one time was on bottom of the world. They had all the money in the world and they lost all the money in the world.
20:44 Speaker 2: They had a great job and they had no job. I can tell you a million stories. You all can share stories of instances where this was the case. That is the reality of life.
20:58 Speaker 2: My dear friends, don't look back. Look forward. Take the example, take the corrections of the back. to guide you to the future.
21:11 Speaker 2: But also, God does everything in the back, in the history, everything that happened until now. God does everything that's going on right now in the present and everything in the future. I believe with a complete faith that these are the ways of Hashem. My dear friends, have a magnificent Shabbos.
21:40 Speaker 1: You've been listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe on a podcast produced by TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. Please help sponsor an episode so we can continue to produce more quality Jewish content for our listeners around the globe. Please visit torchweb.org to donate and partner with us on this incredible endeavor.