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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 (Announcement)
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. Good morning. It is so nice to be here with all y'all here at the brand new Torch Center. It is so incredible to see everyone. This week's Parsha, parsha Svayishlach, parsha Svayishlach, yaakov sends angels to greet his brother. Remember where they left off? They left off that Yaakov got the blessing rightfully. He purchased the blessing from his brother. He needed to use some trickery to get it, but it was rightfully his. He purchased the firstborn right. And now he's about to meet up with his brother. The firstborn right. And now he's about to meet up with his brother. And they come back and they tell him that his brother is coming towards him with 400 men.
00:52
We know that Asa was a warrior and therefore Yaakov was very concerned. And the Pesach says as follows chapter 32, verse 8. And Yaakov was very concerned. He was very frightened, exceedingly frightened. He was distressed and he divided the people, those who were with him and the flock and the cattle and the camels, and he put them into two separate camps. He divided the. So if one is attacked, at least the other will survive. If the other is attacked, at least the other one will survive. And like this, this was part of his strategy and we know he had a strategy of three different things. Number one is preparing for war. Number two was gifts preparing gifts. And then, obviously the most important is prayer.
01:47
But there's a little problem our sages have with this. Our sages have a problem with this. The problem they have with it is that if you look in last week's Torah portion, what do we see in last week's Torah portion? It says that Hashem, in chapter 28, verse number 15, it says here behold, I am with you and I will watch over you wherever you go. So what is wrong with Yaakov? We're talking about Yaakov, the father of the Jewish people, who's called Yisrael Israel. The Jewish people are named after Jacob. He's the father of the tribes and he's doubting God. Is he doubting God? Just told him in the last Torah portion I will watch over you wherever you go. Whatever the situation is, I will take care of you. I will always protect you. Today we see this in front of our eyes On world stage the Jewish people. Wherever we go, wherever we have been, hashem has always watched over us and always kept that promise that I will protect you. So how is it that Yaakov is now frightened exceedingly and distressed? What are you afraid of, by the way. Do you know who else had such a scenario? Abraham, abraham. And this is the answer. Abraham was promised. Abraham was promised what Yitzchak? Yitzchak will be your offspring. And then God the next day tells him by the way, take your son Isaac and slaughter him, bring him as an offering one second. And then God the next day tells him by the way, take your son Isaac and slaughter him, bring him as an offering One second.
03:48
There's a little confusion here, the same confusion that Yaakov has. What is going on over here? How do we understand this? How do we understand that? Hashem tells us I got you covered. And then we're worried. And let's put this into practical terms in our own lives. Hashem takes care of us.
04:11
You know, we mentioned yesterday, we talked about, the trait of worry. I apologize to those online who were not able to hear the audio. There was a problem with the audio. I apologize. Hopefully now everything is okay. Everyone on YouTube. Just give me a thumbs up if you hear it. Okay, I think the sound is fixed. But worry we talked about worry. Does a cat worry how it's going to eat? Does a dog have back pain from stress and anxiety? I don't think so. So why do we have that stress? Hashem says I'm going to take care of you, I'm going to feed your family, I'm going to give you everything you need, and yet we worry. Why do we worry? Hashem says I'm going to take care of you, just like I take care of every one of my creations. So what is going on over here? Sages tell us something very, very important. Listen, listen carefully to the words of our sages.
05:10
Yaakov was afraid. What was he afraid of? He was afraid that he was afraid that perhaps I sinned, since God made that promise. Maybe I sinned and I'm not worthy anymore of your protection. Maybe I did something to push away God, maybe, oh maybe. Perhaps I don't deserve God's protection anymore. That's why he was worried. He wasn't worried that God wasn't going to keep his word, and he definitely was not worried about Esau, his brother, or his 400 warriors who were heading towards him. What he was really worried about is perhaps I, inside, have let you down, almighty God. Maybe I haven't done my job properly inside, have let you down, almighty God. Maybe I haven't done my job properly and I don't deserve to be protected. You, I know you're going to keep your word. I'm not worried about you, hashem, I'm worried about me. I'm worried that I have fallen short of my responsibilities.
06:23
We see a very important fundamental principle from this. I'm going to read it to you in Hebrew and I'll translate. We see a very important fundamental principle that is relevant to each and every one of us that we know that whenever we pray, we pour our hearts out, whether it be for success, to find a mate, to have children, to have good health, to have healing, to have redemption, to have salvation, any prayer that we pray and we shed our tears in front of our Father in Heaven. We know. We know that Hashem hears our prayers and Hashem is going to assist us. We feel that closeness Hashem has our prayers and Hashem is going to assist us. We feel that closeness, hashem has got our back. But what's if I don't see the results? What's if I don't see the results? I prayed? Maybe Hashem is not listening, maybe he's not answering me. And this is where it is very, very important.
07:51
Our relationship with God needs to go beyond basic intellect. You see, we're living in a world of one plus one equals two, and everything needs to be immediate and everything needs to be on my timeline and we're very accustomed, particularly in our generation. But always it's been like this that things go my way, I'm in control always, and suddenly we're introduced to the concept of God where it goes on God's timeline. It doesn't necessarily go on our timeline, and this is where we need to allow ourselves to go beyond our intellect. We need to be able to let go of our one plus one equals two and go into God's. One plus one equals whatever Hashem wants it to be. I'll give you an example, Something I think most of us can relate with.
08:58
You know, anybody ever done a business deal? Very simple business deal. You buy an Apple for a dollar. You sell it for two, simple right. How many times do people go into business and they dot every I cross every T. This is a moneymaker and they lose all their money? How many times do people go in with every single detail checked out? They had the experts, they had all of the special people, the companies, the advisors. They're looking at it from all sides. See what the risk is. This is a done deal, it's a slam dunk. And then you have something that is not foreseen COVID-19.
09:57
Suddenly, everyone leaves the office buildings. All the office buildings are empty. What was a perfect deal suddenly poof gone. But we use our intellect and suddenly it defies us. Suddenly our intellect seems very fragile.
10:21
And how many times do we do a deal and we say, listen, I don't know that it's going to work out, I'm going to try my best, put my efforts forward and it's a slam dunk. It's a grand slam. How many? You think? Every person who does a business deal that goes awry planned for it to go awry. No, they wanted it to succeed and they did everything they could for it to succeed. And vice versa. There are people who try I'm doing my best, we'll see what happens. I don't know.
10:54
It'll be a small investment, a small something, and they hit the jackpot. How does that work? How does that work? Suddenly, the stock that you invested. It splits you double your money you're making. Suddenly it's a.
11:09
You know you invested in Bitcoin. You put in. You know if you put in 10 years ago, you put in $5,. It's worth today $50,000. It's unbelievable. It's an incredible life to live with a closeness with Hashem. It's an incredible life to live with a guarantee that you know that Hashem will always's. An incredible life to live with a guarantee that you know that Hashem will always take care of you and you have no doubts and you have no worries whatsoever because you know that Hashem is always there. But it doesn't make sense. It doesn't need to make sense. It doesn't need to make sense.
11:49
What Yaakov was worried about was not Hashem's promise, but rather at himself. Perhaps I don't deserve that blessing, and this is the beauty of how our Torah shows us. Not only you deserve it. You're so special. We're all Hashem's children. Hashem wants to bestow the goodness upon us. Hashem wants us to succeed. Hashem wants us to be close to Him and, yes, we're always guaranteed to have success.
12:26
Sometimes it's not in the way we expect it, Sometimes that's not how I envisioned the deal to close, but Hashem has a big picture. I can't even begin to tell you how many people reached out to me recently, since the election, november 5th, and told me you know something? I was very upset that my candidate lost last time and he won this time, and I see now that it's so much better. Nobody said that three months ago, nobody said that four years ago, because we live in a very limited perspective, in a very limited vision, very finite. I know me and I know now, but we need to look at a big picture. We're limited in how big of that picture we can see, but the Almighty loves us and has promised to preserve the Jewish people and protect the Jewish people is a guarantee. We have to make sure that we're willing to live up to it, that we deserve that protection, that we deserve that salvation.
13:49
That's our worry, our worry that we not let go, and this connects so beautifully to what we discussed last night. Worry is not a good thing. Worry means I don't rely on Hashem. Anxiety is not a good thing. Anxiety means I don't trust Hashem. It's all me. That's a problem. We have to be willing to let go and to be in an incredible existence that is beyond our intellect. And when we're ready to do that, there's just only blessing, only blessing that comes our way. And we see this.
14:38
We say our sages tell us what happened to our ancestors is a sign for us. The struggle that Abraham had, the struggle that Isaac had, the struggle that Jacob and Joseph and all of our ancestors had. Guess what? Those struggles are coming to us as well, in a totally different way. It can come from Syria, and it can come from Lebanon, hezbollah, from Iran and the Houthis and from Hamas, and it can come from Lebanon, hezbollah, from Iran and the Houthis, and from Hamas. And it can come from within, from the left, from the right. Don't forget Moshe had a Korach. He had a rebellion From within. It's a sign that we're going to have struggles as well, but do you know the benefit of struggles? It's a sign that we're going to have struggles as well, but do you know the benefit of struggles?
15:36
Dead people don't have struggles. Living people do, and that's the beauty of it. We're living, we're alive in Hashem's world. Hashem promises us I got you covered, don't worry about it. What's going to happen to us is predestined. How we react is up to us. Hands up, stress out what's going to be.
16:08
I don't know Hashem. I know taking care of the world with Adam and Eve, and with Cain and Abel, and with Noah and his generation, and with Abraham, and so on and so forth. You think of Samson and the lion that was attacking him. I mean, you think of all of the incredible stories throughout our rich history. We're all facing those same challenges, but there's a way to live life that is beyond the ordinary, and that is when I have a closeness with Hashem, when I'm able to cling to Hashem and know Hashem is there with me and he's going to protect me, and he's going to be there through and through, every single day. This is the promise. In any place that you go, Hashem promises I will be there to protect you and to watch over you. Yes, even in Amsterdam, ki lo a'azveko ad asheri mosisi, es asher dibartiloch, I will do exactly as I promised.
17:22
Yaakov knew this. Yaakov was only worried. Perhaps he wasn't worthy, perhaps I sinned. We're talking about Jacob, the father of the Jewish people. What was he worried about? Perhaps I slightly dented my closeness with Hashem, maybe I'm not worthy. And this is what we are asking for in our prayers. We're asking that we have a closeness with Hashem, and this is what we're going to talk about today in our prayer podcast.
18:07
Shortly, we're going to talk exactly about this point. This is our emunah. When we talk about emunah, we're talking about having what the world calls faith. We don't call it faith. There's no mitzvah to have faith. There's a mitzvah to have knowledge. What's the difference between faith and knowledge? Faith is out there. I'll put it out there. Hopefully. Hopefully I'm not wrong, hopefully I won't be let down. That's not the way the Jewish people live.
18:39
V'yadah tahayom. You have to have knowledge of Hashem and bring that into your heart. V'yadah tahayom. Knowledge. I know, for example, if you know somebody very, very, very well and you know that you can trust them. So when there's something that comes up that maybe you know puts doubt into people's mind, you know, listen, I know my son. He says he's going to take care of it. He's going to take care of it. Why I have knowledge. I don't have faith. I believe, believe in him. No, no, no, that's weak. I have knowledge. Knowledge is much stronger. The relationship we are meant to have with the Almighty is a relationship of knowledge. I know Hashem.
19:24
How do we know Hashem? How do we know Hashem Moshe? We've said this numerous times, one of my favorite ideas. Moshe asks Hashem, hashem, I want to see your glory, I want to see your face. What does Hashem say? You can't see my face. You can only see the back. You can see the back of my head. Come on, give me a break. Hashem doesn't have a face. Hashem doesn't have a back of his face. So what is he talking about? Our sages, tell us what Moshe is saying. I want to understand the future. The face is the future.
20:00
God says the future you'll never be able to understand, you'll never be able to envision how it's going to work out. But if you want to see me, look back, look at your history, look at your life and you'll see that I was always there. I always took care of it. You can see me if you look back, look through your lifetime. Remember that time that didn't work out. Remember that time that didn't work out and it all worked out for the best. It was always better than you could have imagined. Oh, my whole world is falling apart. Turns out it was so much better, got a better job. It only improved your relationship, whatever it was.
20:47
Sometimes people get nervous. Oh, my friendship with this person went awry. I don't know why they're so angry at me. I don't know why they're Only to make that relationship so much better. You go out for coffee and you talk it through Builds the love even greater.
21:07
I'll just say this in the memory of my grandmother. My grandmother, my wife and I were married maybe three days and we were at a cousin's wedding and my grandmother was dancing. She was a very spunky lady. She was dancing with my wife in a circle and she says to my wife she says Nu, did you and aria have a fight? Yet some wife's like terrified this new bride. She's like, no, she says why it makes life so much interesting, so much more interesting, right, like she was a, an old hungarian woman. She's like why not me and zaidi always fight? It makes life so much more interesting. And anyone who knew her, she knew she wasn't lying right. It made life much more interesting. And anyone who knew her, she knew she wasn't lying right, it made life much more interesting.
21:54
But you know what, sometimes we like to see the results in advance and the world we live in we don't see the full picture. We have a very, very limited view. But we have to be willing to go beyond our intellect, beyond our limitations, and when we're willing to put ourselves in the hands of Hashem, we're limitless. Hashem should grant us always to feel that closeness and that connection with Him. Amen, have a beautiful Shabbos. So it's an excellent question. I'm not turning off the recording. It's an excellent question. How can not turning off the recording? It's an excellent question. How can we, if God is always there, how can there be 6 million that were murdered in the Holocaust? And it's such an amazing question and it's a good question. So let's look at what happened since the Holocaust. What happened since the Holocaust? We got a land of Israel. We have the greatest expansion of Torah study ever, ever in the history of the world. There's never been so much Torah study ever in the history of the world as there is today, post-holocaust.
23:10
Let me tell you why, if you want to even understand why there's this whole argument now of should the religious serve in the army? Should they not serve in the army? And everyone is entitled to have their opinion about it. But what are the rabbis thinking? Everyone they're like. Why do the rabbis say that the guys who are studying in yeshiva shouldn't go serve in the army? Equal burden of the needs of the Jewish people. Why should my son be in the military, not your son? Your son is sitting and studying Torah in a safe yeshiva building. What is wrong with him? You think the rabbis are crazy. What is wrong with the rabbis? Why do they say this? So let me share with you something very, very important.
23:57
The rabbis after the Holocaust said you know what we need to do. We need to rebuild the Torah that was destroyed in the Holocaust. You know how many righteous scholars Do? You know how many yeshivas were burned to the ground? Do you know how many Torah scholars were murdered? How many yeshiva students were murdered? The rabbi said you know, our number one responsibility now is to restore the crown of Torah that has been destroyed, and that's why there is a singular focus that yeshivas need to be the place of uninterrupted restoration of our Torah. Those who are not studying Torah must go to the army, but those who are studying Torah, this is the call of our generation and our generation meaning since the Holocaust, this is the call. And look what's going on. You have the greatest explosion of Torah study and the expansion of the Torah community. It really is phenomenal. It's always about our people. It's always about our people. Look who was murdered in the Holocaust. It wasn't just the people who were intermarried, it wasn't just the people, it was everyone. You know why? Because they don't ask you.
25:35
Were you a member of a reformed temple, a conservative temple? An orthodox temple? Were you observant, non-observant? We're all brothers and sisters.
25:46
I recommend to all of our friends listen to the podcast that I released this week. I was interviewing on a Sunday special on the Jewish Inspiration Podcast. I interviewed Rabbi Stephen Gross from Houston Congregation for Reformed Judaism, and his daughter, who's becoming a conservative rabbi, and his son, who's an Orthodox yeshiva boy, and I interviewed them all. You heard it. What did you think? Amazing, there we go, baruch Hashem. You know why? Because we're not reformed, conservative and Orthodox. There are two types of Jews, only two types of Jews. There's growing Jews and stagnant Jews, and that's our goal. The mission of the rabbis post-Holocaust is for every Jew to be a growing Jew. That needs to be our singular focus. Yaakov in our parasha what weaponry did he have? Did he have David's sling? You know what? David's sling is? The one that takes down the ballistic missiles from Iran. Does he have the Iron Dome? He doesn't have any of those. What does he have? His commitment and connection to Hashem. That's our arms Again, living beyond, living beyond our intellect, putting everything in the hands of Hashem. Thank you.
27:14 - Intro (Announcement)
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.