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The Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection is the one-stop shop for the Torah inspiration shared by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe in one simple feed. The Jewish Inspiration Podcast, Parsha Review Podcast, Thinking Talmudist Podcast, Living Jewishly Podcast and Unboxing Judaism Podcast all in one convenient place. Enjoy!
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.
And now my dear friends, we continue on day 188 on page 978. Kah chin yinan ha-shama, this is the soul. Hi bas melech, so lofty. It's like the daughter of a king. She's the princess, the soul of a person. We have to realize the soul is very, very, very, very precious. We ask, that soul that you placed within me. It's pure. You created it.
You made it come to being. You instilled it within me. And you're the one who keeps it within me. And we ask for Hashem to purify it. So what is this lofty soul? Hasher chishko rav me'od le'olam hazeh. What does that body want? That filthy body. What does the body want? The body wants me. The body wants now. The body wants food. Feed me. I want materialism. I want the things that make me feel good. That's what I want.
That's the that's the body. But what does the soul want? The soul is godly, heavenly. And we have this constant conflict between our soul, our lofty soul, and our lowly bodies. This is the challenge, my dear friends. This is the challenge. The challenge that we all face, every single human being. This body has so many desires and urges to the point where it almost forgets that it's such a lofty soul that's within us.
You know, I consider that when a baby is born, it cries. Why does it cry? You're starting life. What's the big deal? So great. Your mommy's going to hold you. Your daddy's going to hold you. They're going to take care of you. You know why? Because it's in prison. Till now, he was in a world without any distraction. Closeness with God. A world you can see from one side of the world to the other in the womb because he was living in a spiritual realm.
Comes into this world, locked into the rib cages or like a prison cell for the soul. It's looking out saying, get me out of here. I'm limited. I'm limited. I don't want to be here. I could be great, but now I'm limited. But that's the point. Why does God put a lofty soul in such a lowly body? A body that desires, ah, give me a good drink. Ah, give me food. I want physical pleasures. I want things to just please my body,
to please my eyes, to please my ears. Scents, aromas for my nose. All of our senses that we keep on desiring to fulfill their desires and temptations. Why do we need this? Why did God do this? Because our job as servants of Hashem is to take what God gives us and to elevate it. Sexuality could be something which is very lowly. Go look in the world. It's not a concept of something clean or holy or dignified. Oh, take it in Judaism.
Properly between a husband and wife, it's the holiest of holy. My grandfather, I heard my grandfather say this myself when he got married right after one of his Sheva Brachot, the seven days in which you after you celebrate after the wedding. So great, great rabbi came to one of them and he said to him, so you're in your new apartment? He says, yes. Says, tell me, what's the holiest room in your apartment? He says, my grandfather answered him and he said,
where all my books are, where I study Torah. That's the holiest room. He said, no, that's not your holiest room. The holiest room is your bedroom. We have to understand that the physical that the world looks at as just being ordinary physical pleasures, done right, is the loftiest, most spiritual experience where you don't just be physical, but you're taking and elevating the physical to something which is way beyond just physical. The more we get indulged in the physicalities of this world,
the more we forget how lofty and dignified that soul is. HaMelech ha'el yoynu b'ez shem lam din, osa Torah. And when we learn Torah, oz himis oreris lach shov l'malo. Then it awakens. The Torah awakens that soul and says, you know what? You're really holy. You're really special. That jiggle that you have after class, Mark, that excitement, that energy, that's your soul saying it's so much more than physical. It's not my body that enjoys a class. It's my neshama that enjoys a class.
When we learn Torah, hu b'ez shem marim lo shemayim v'oritz v'kochavim v'cham olovano, heich misnagim heim b'minukshaveh. When we look at the heavens and the earth and the stars and the moon and the sun and we see how they operate so perfectly in harmony. Ve'omrim lo shehi nivreis mimish bara osam. That they were created by God. The same God who created us. Oz himis ali yosi yoser. So what happens now?
The neshama, which was also created by God, just like the sun and the moon and the heaven and the earth and everything that's in it, also created by God. Hu b'ez shem elam din ozer sod yichud ha'kodesh boruchu v'sod chochmas ha'neshama. Oz hi loveshes bigdei malchus v'nechneses b'sod ayira. Then the more it learns, the more it's inspired, the more it becomes connected with the clothes of royalty. It realizes I can't sell myself cheap. I can't be vain. I can't be crass. I'm a holy neshama.
Ve'gam afilu adam she'inu yodea kol zeh. And even a person who doesn't know all of this. Rak kishe choshev le'mala me'omek ha'lev. When a person just thinks a little bit higher than his physical human heart. U'mavchin gevuros ha'el boruchu. And he's able to discern the greatness of God's deeds. Oz yilbash mo ro'o b'libo. Then the fear of heaven is overcoming a person. Dechsev su'u moru menechem. As the verse states, lift up your eyes on high. And see who re'u mi'bor e'ele.
And see who created these. Ha'mautzi b'misbar tseva'am le'chulam b'shem yikra me'rov onim ve'am yitzkoach ish lo ne'adar. He who brings out their host by number, calling all of them by name in abundance of power and greatness of strength. None is missing. You understand the great power? We're able to connect on the highest level imaginable. Ve'gam lo'nos an ha'kodesh boruchu. Rishus le'shum u'ma ba'olam le'sabra tehi lo'so she'eli Yisroel. Hashem did not authorize any nation in the world but Israel to declare His praise.
As is written, Shinema, Am zu yotzarti li, I created this nation, it states in Isaiah, tehi lo'si yisaperu, my praise they will tell. Ruksev in the verse further says, ki'am kodesh atah la'ashem elokecho, you're a holy nation to Hashem, your God. Becho bocha Hashem elokecho li'os lo'am segulo. Hashem chose you, the Jewish people, to be a chosen people for Him. Mi kol lo'amim, from all the nations that are on the earth. Ruksev ha'ashem he'emircho ha'yom li'os lo'am segulo
ve'ksev ve'le'sitcha el yon al kol ha'goyim. Digam lo'anos ha'na kodesh boruchu das, le'shum u'ma ba'olam lo'das o'so elo Yisroel. No nation has been given permission to know Hashem like we do. Ruksev atah ho'ireyso lo'das ki'ashem elokeim ene'od mo'vadoi. And who is the great nation that has righteous statutes and judgments like all of this Torah? Ruksev es Hashem elokecho ti'ra o'so to'vod u'bo s'idbak. U'me'le hapsuk ha'manom le'enim. What do we learn from all of these verses that were mentioned now?
That our job is to fear God and to be immersed and involved in Torah study and observance of mitzvahs shemitok yiras Hashem because from fear of Hashem goes yis'ali yasge u'ba torah. Because after you fear Hashem, you will learn Torah and that will lead you to observe the mitzvahs. And after your study of Torah, you'll understand the reasons behind. You'll have a broader understanding to the meaning behind each mitzvah. And from that, you'll see all of the unbelievable greatness of Hashem. His wonderful deeds.
And as the Torah tells us, King David tells us, say to God how awesome is your work. All of these verses teaching us our personal responsibility as the nation of God to draw closer to Hashem. There's nothing more powerful in the world than fear of heaven. Not jewels and not possessions. And not gold and not silver and not all of the precious stones. Nothing is equal, no treasure. They are nothing compared to the fear of Hashem. For fear of Hashem is Hashem's treasure.
Therefore, a person should open up his heart to that which is the treasure of Hashem's treasure. Hashem is our creator. Every person should try to get connected with the good as much as he can. And someone who can be like the kings, like we mentioned previously, to feel like a king should do so. Who then will not store up the treasure of the king of kings, Hashem Himself, who enthrones kings. What we see here is that when we realize that the greatest thing
that we're all searching for ultimately is the closeness of Hashem, that's what we need to invest in. We need to invest in Hashem's Torah that brings us closer to Him. We need to invest in Hashem's wisdom, which brings us closer to Him. We need to invest in the commandments that Hashem commands us with, because it brings us closer to Him. All so that we can have the proper understanding and perspective of our relationship with Hashem. We see that Moshe wanted to see Hashem's greatness.
Hashem says to a point, to a degree, you can see my back, you can't see my front. You can't understand everything. We're never going to be God, but we can be very, very close to God. And we can demand and we can ask for that closeness. The more we invest in our Torah learning, the more we invest in our study, in our performance of mitzvahs, the more we will have that clarity and that ultimate fear, which means an awakening, an understanding of our relationship with Hashem
and how blessed we are to be in that relationship. My dear friends, this concludes tonight's program. Thank you so much and have a magnificent week.
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