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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!
00:01 - Intro (Host)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Parsha Review Podcast.
00:10 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody, welcome back to Torchwood. It is great to be back here in person, in the flesh, after a long summer, a long break, and we have a couple of Parshas to catch up on. Parshas Ekev is really amazing because you see, kiha Oretz, this is chapter 11, verse 10. Kiha Oretz, asher, atah, ba'shamu l'reshtah, this is Moshe talking to the Jewish people, and Moshe is saying when you come to the land that you will inherit and you possess it, which is the land that Hashem promised us. It's not like the land of Egypt that you left, where you were able to plant whatever you wanted and everything grew perfectly, because you had the overflow of the Nile, which came twice a year, and everything got. Because you had the overflow of the Nile, which came twice a year, and everything got. It was clockwork. You planted something, it grew. And the land that you're going to inherit and you're going to take is a very different kind of land. It's a land of mountains and valleys. It's a land of mountains, of coasts and valleys. Limtar, ha-shamayim, tishtamayim. Only from the rain of heaven will it drink water. So the question is what is the difference between the land of Egypt and the land of Israel?
01:41
The land of Egypt our sages tell us was a land of guarantee. I had guaranteed income. I had a clear path of how I'm going to sustain myself. I was going to sustain myself by planting and the water comes and it grows and it's a guaranteed income. And people like guaranteed income Because guaranteed income means I have security. You know, one of my pet peeves is financial security. You know, people talk about financial security. Financial security means I want to live in my guarantee, not in Hashem's guarantee. That's what it really means. But that's not the way the Jewish people live. I would say the Jewish people are startup nation. We're the entrepreneurs of the world. What does that mean? That we're going to take risks. We're going to have harimugvos. We're going to have mountains and valleys where there's no guarantee of water coming, where we're only dependent on the rain from heaven. So we have a different kind of relationship in our lives. We don't live on any guarantee.
02:57
If you look at the land of Israel today, I'm talking about September 2024. You look at the land of Israel today and I ask you does the land of Israel function by the normal laws of nature? The answer is no. Everybody knows you. You're there for five minutes. You see that my son just landed there a few hours ago. He just landed. He's going to learn yeshiva for several years. He just landed there and you know what's going on in Israel right now. There's a strike, yeshiva for several years. He just landed there and you know what's going on in Israel right now. There's a strike Because they're demonstrating against what the government is doing in the war with Gaza which I think I happen to agree with the government, but that we'll have a different conversation and they're demonstrating.
03:41
So my son said that the passport control was no lines because there's no one there to take your passport. So everything is with the machines. So you put the passport on the machine, it takes a picture of you and you just walk right out, which is what it usually is, but sometimes they're overlooking it, making sure that everybody's indeed doing what they should be doing. Either way, you have an entire country that's operating without anybody working. It's an amazing reality.
04:13
If we want to live close to Hashem, we have to let go. There's no guarantee, no guaranteed income. It's guaranteed relationship with Hashem and that is what the Jewish people left when we left Egypt. The Egyptians were committed and they can only live in a way of we have a guarantee. The Jewish people live in a different way. We live not with a guarantee that we know what's coming, but we know, with a different guarantee, that we're in the hands of Hashem and this level of security is the highest level. You know, when you start a new business, you don't know if it's going to work. You're taking a risk. Now the rewards could be great, the challenge could be great, but you're in the hands of Hashem. It's very different. The nations of the world, if you look at the Torah, you look at our prayers, we are constantly giving thanks to Hashem, acknowledging that God took us out of Egypt. Why did he take us out of Egypt? Why did the Jewish people in fact, we can understand this, even on a higher level why did the Jewish people complain when they were in the land of Egypt? They're like oh, why are we here? We should just go back to Egypt, because in Egypt there was a guarantee. They knew they had their income. When they're in the desert, they're like how are we going to live? Well, you have the manna. Well, we're accountable. God is going to. It's a different level of relationship. That different level of relationship takes someone to stand up higher in order to be able to live on that level appropriately.
06:01
Now, very interestingly, we're now at the beginning of El. Today is Rosh Chodesh El. Tomorrow is going to be the first day of El. We're going to start blowing shofar every day in synagogue all the way till Rosh Hashanah, and I think it's important, when we talk about this, to take a verse from the beginning of Parshas Ekev, chapter 7, verse 21, which says the following Do not have fear from them, do not be worried from them, do not let your spirit be broken before them.
06:41
You see, what's going on here Is that our relationship with God is a relationship where we know that God is within us at every moment. God is with us everywhere we go. You know, god doesn't disappear when you go traveling to Cancun. God doesn't disappear when you're in Gaza. God doesn't disappear when you're struggling to close a business deal in downtown New York City. God is everywhere and nothing changes just because your circumstances. I'm with different people, I'm in different.
07:37
El gadol v'nora, do not let your spirit be broken, because God is within you, he's in your midst. God is with us at all times. El Gadol V'Norah, a fear, a great fear of God is what we are looking to attain, what we're looking to connect to Our sages. Tell us an amazing thing. Do not let your spirit be broken, don't be worried, don't be afraid, because God is within you. You know, we talk on Rosh Hashanah about bringing God into our lives, bringing his presence in, taking it all, in Want to know something amazing. When you have a big fear, you don't have little fears. When you're worried about whether or not you're going to live or die, you're not worried about your insurance payments. When you're worried about an illness, you're not worried about your pinky toe. You have bigger things to worry about. When we have the proper fear of Hashem, we have no other fears in the world.
09:01
There's a story that's told about a young man who had an irrational fear of bees. He was afraid of bees and everybody knew when he saw a bee He'd run and hide. He'd be terrified of bees. I don't know why, probably some childhood fear. So what happened?
09:20
One day his friend said to him we're going on a hike, we're going into the mountains. Do you want to join us? He said, listen, I'm ready to go, but I want you to know I have this crazy fear of bees. So as long as there's no bees I'm ready to go. But I want you to know I have this crazy fear of bees. So as long as there's no bees, I'm good to go. So they go on this hike and in the middle of the hike they get attacked by a mountain lion.
09:43
Mountain lions are very dangerous. They run away and they're running and running and running and they hide in this little. They find this little place where they can, a cove, where they can hide. And as they're hiding from this mountain lion, they look up and they see that there's a beehive, a massive beehive. So you tell this guy, you know, we told you that we're going to be conscious of your fear. But there's a beehive right here. He says beehive, shmeehive, who cares about a beehive? When we have a mountain lion, it's about to kill us.
10:23
You know we have many fears and worries what's going to be with the election and what's going to be with the economy and what's going to be with inflation. And what's going to be with Gaza, with Hamas. What's going to go on with Lebanon and what's going to be with Gaza with Hamas. What's going to go on with Lebanon and what's going to be with Iran and what's going to be with ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons and what's going to be. You can go crazy Only if you don't have a bigger fear of Hashem. And this goes back to what we mentioned in the beginning.
10:50
The land of Egypt is a very wealthy land. They have it all taken care of. They've got the water, they've got the produce, they've got the greatest Pima cotton comes from Egypt. They've got it taken care of. You want to live with no fear at all. It's living with the hand of Hashem, knowing that Hashem will take care of you. You know where your rain is going to come for your crops. You're going to look up at the heavens and you're going to say Hashem, please feed us, hashem, please take care of us.
11:29
Hashem, it only comes from you. It doesn't come from any guarantee of the overflowing Nile. It doesn't come from anything else. I live in the hand of Hashem. I have no other fears. Hashem li lo ira. We say in Adon Olam. When I know that Hashem is with me, I have no fear at all. I have no fear. I have nothing to worry about.
11:55
This is the level we're trying to attain. We're trying to attain a level where we have no other fears. We're fearless. Why? Because we have one fear, and one fear alone. It's the fear of Hashem.
12:10
That's an amazing guarantee that the Torah promises us. The Torah promises us, do not worry, you're going to go into the land of Israel. You're going to have big enemies. They're much stronger than you. They're much bigger than you. They're more numerous than you. Your spirit shouldn't be broken before them, because God is within you. El Gadu V'Nor. God is stronger, god is greater, god is more powerful than any enemy. You have nothing to worry about. But then there's even a greater promise. If you look right in the beginning of the portion we see such an incredible. In verse number 15, chapter 7, it says and God will remove from you every illness and all the afflictions of Egypt that they afflicted upon us that were terrible, that you experienced. That you experienced that you knew I'm not going to put them on you ever again, but instead I'm going to place them in your enemies.
13:26
So the sages ask what's going on here? What do you mean? If you don't put the punishment on me, are you going to put it on my enemy? What do you mean? If you don't put the punishment on me, then you're going to put it on my enemy. What did my enemy do wrong? Why do they have to get my punishment?
13:38
Our sages, the Zohar, says something so incredible. He says if a Jew does a sin and this is why it's so relevant to Rosh Hashanah, the month of Elul preceding Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur my Kipper, my dear friends, open your hearts. When someone does a sin, what happens is that a negative force is created. There is a decree from heaven to punish this person. It's a decree from heaven. A punishment is created. But then what happens? A person does teshuvah, a person repents and he says Hashem, I'm sorry, and we all know what happens when someone repents they become a new person. So now it's imagine when you ship something, you ship it to an address, but then they change the address, they change the numbers. Where do I send it to? There's no longer 123 Main Street, now it's 456 Main Street. It's a new identity. New identity. Where do I send it to? I have no idea.
14:48
Sages tell us, when someone does teshuva, that decree of punishment cannot be erased. So what happens? Hashem has to put it someplace. It's like that energy needs to go someplace, like you take an arrow and you shoot the arrow. The arrow has to go someplace. Hashem can redirect it. So who is Hashem going to redirect it to your enemy? My dear friends, I want you to know something Hashem can redirect it. So who's Hashem going to redirect it to your enemy? My dear friends, I want you to know something we, we, each and every one of us, we have the power to overcome Hamas. Each and every one of us has the power to overcome our enemies. We can cause that. Every single terrorist out there will die. We have that power. You know why.
15:42
When we do Teshuvah, when we do Teshuvah, our sages tell us we're taking a punishment that was destined for us and Hashem reroutes it to our enemies. People ask me why I wear this yellow pin. Wear this yellow pin for our hostages To never forget. I want people to ask me why are you wearing the pin? So it comes to their attention that we still have 101 of our brothers and sisters in captivity and we shouldn't be able to sleep at night and we shouldn't be able to eat a normal meal or drink or bathe without thinking that our brothers and sisters are suffering. And when we repent and we do something to change who we are, you know what we're doing. We're sending the punishment that was destined for us for our sins that we may have done to our enemies, and another member of Hamas is getting shot from that, and another member of Hamas and Hezbollah is getting killed by that.
16:50
We have the ability to take up arms. Even though we're 8,000 miles away in Houston, texas, in beautiful Torchwood, we have the ability to fight our enemies with doing Teshuvah. That is a guarantee, says the Zohar. It's a guarantee that we're taking away all punishment potentially from coming to us to go to our enemies. So no longer do we need to live in a life of uncertainty, no longer do we need to live in a life of anxiety, of stress, of tension. All we need to do is put our trust and our faith in Hashem, and when we do that, hashem will give us the rain, he'll give us exactly what we need for our produce, he'll give us our livelihood, he'll give us our security that we need. All we need to do is have the big fear, the fear of Hashem.
17:56
Fear doesn't mean terrified. Fear doesn't mean, you know, biting our nails under the table. That's not what it means. Fear means having a clarity of our relationship with God. That's what fear means. My dear friends, hashem should bless us with an amazing Shabbos, a Shabbos that brings us calmness, because we know what happens on Shabbos Shabbos we don't work, so where's my livelihood going to come from? That's exactly it, hashem. This is a day where we just give up everything. I don't need to work, I don't need to run, I don't need to. It's a day to just bask in my relationship with God, where we let go of everything. Hashem should bless us all that we should merit to live with such a closeness to Hashem every single day of our lives. Amen.
18:50 - Intro (Host)
You've been listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe on a podcast produced by TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. We need you, we need partners. 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.