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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, Director of TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.
Beautiful Rosh Chodesh to everyone. Today's the first day of the month of Elul. The first day of the month of Elul is so special. It is so special because this is the day that Moshe ascended the mountain again for the second time, a new beginning, a new opportunity, a new time to start fresh. Now we don't have that yet, but this is the beginning of that.
What do I mean that we don't have that yet? We're going to have that hopefully on Rosh Hashanah. It says, Zeh Hayom T'chilat Maasecha. This is the beginning of God's creation. Each one of us become a new creation on Rosh Hashanah. But we know that things don't just get created. You don't just drive out into the fields and see a beautiful, beautiful, a beautiful table inside a gazebo with all the lights hanging, with the dishes all set on the table, with
all the finery, everything is there, the cheers, the wine, the food, and just say it just randomly happened. It doesn't just happen. Someone needed to think of it. Someone needed to prepare for it. Someone needed to set it up. Someone needed to decorate it and design it. Someone needed to purchase all the ingredients. Someone needed to cook the food. And then you come and you're able to enjoy your meal. Rosh Hashanah, we don't just show up. You don't just show up on Rosh Hashanah.
You need to prepare. You need to get ready. You need to strategize. You need to think, put together that list. What do I need to come and ask my case, plea my case? What do I need to do to plea my case in front of the Almighty? What am I going to be asking him for? What do I want to accomplish in my life? What do I want to accomplish next year? Utilizing the days of Elul means that we're utilizing it to prepare, to strategize, and
put together a plan of how we are going to attack when we are standing in front of the Almighty on Rosh Hashanah. We're going to be standing in front of God. And by the way, we're going to talk about this more throughout the month of Elul. It says, Kivnei marom, that we over in lefanecha kivnei marom, we pass before the Almighty as individuals one at a time, just like a shepherd counts his sheep one at a time. They're all in this big pen.
They all pass through this little walkway, and he's able to count one at a time. So to the Almighty, although there are many, many creations in this planet Earth, Hashem passes through one at a time. Each and every one of us have our own judgment. We don't have our friends there standing by and saying, oh, we're all in this together. We don't have anyone saying, well, it's okay. We're all the same. It's fine. No, no, no.
Hashem, who's your creator, who's your manufacturer saying, is it a worthwhile investment? Imagine your child comes to you and says, dad, mom, I want you to invest in my new business. All right. Sure, son. What do you need? Well, I have this idea to open up a new bakery. Okay. You open up this new bakery. How much do you need? I need $100,000. Okay. It's a lot of money. I don't know if I can afford it, but I'll put it together.
I'll figure it out, whatever. So you give them $100,000. It's your loving son. They're opening up new opportunities. Okay. When are you going to report back to me? Dad, mom, every single month you'll have a report. Comes the first month and he purchased a new car for himself. He got himself a new wardrobe. And you ask him, you're looking at the expenses. You're like, what's going on here? You're like, I have to set up things so that I can have my bakery.
But if you give me another $100,000, then I'll be able to buy my bakery equipment. So I should call you for financing. I know. So what happens? You're like, you know, this is really crazy. You know, I gave you a hundred thousand. But dad, you know, it's just so that I can, you know, I can't do this without having a car. I can't do without, you know, having clothes. I can't be a non, I can't be, I have to be presentable. All right.
I'll give you another investment. So you give him the next hundred thousand and now he goes and he, you know, is buying the most expensive tiles and he's buying the most expensive glass for the display. He's buying all the, but he doesn't buy the machinery. He doesn't buy the flower. He doesn't buy any of the cookies. Any of that comes after that month. And he's like, look, dad, look, look, we're, we're almost there. If you give me one more investment, that's it. We're there.
Now, how many times would we as loving parents, we love our child more than anything on planet earth. How many times would we get drawn into this fake investment where every time it's another promise, every time they say, next time, the next investment is going to be the real investment. That's when I'm going to start bringing back a return. That's when we're going to start bringing a profit and then I'm going to pay you back then mom. How many times would it be till we say enough?
Enough is enough. He's taking me for a ride. I'm done with this. You know what the answer should be? Hopefully never, because what do we do every year on Rosh Hashanah? Every year Rosh Hashanah, we stand in front of our investor, the almighty God, creator of heaven and earth, who gives us an extraordinary abundance of blessing every single day. He gives us air to breathe oxygen. We have a, a system here that trillions and trillions of dollars cannot produce.
I'm talking about from every atom, from every cell, every, every, every fiber of our being. You're talking about the lungs, the heart, the liver, the pancreas. I mean, everything, anything you touch, the bones, the skin, the brilliance that Hashem has embedded into each and every one of us. Hashem is giving us an investment. Hashem says, I'm giving you that hundred thousand dollars. Now go do something. Go do something good. We come back at the end of the year. I'm like, let me explain.
You know, if you invest in me another year, you'll see next year, it's going to be great. So what does Hashem do? It's like that, the infatuation of a young couple, they look into each other's eyes and they're like, oh, we're going to, we're going to make such a beautiful life together. And it's going to be so fantastic. And they're like romanticizing this incredible life they're going to live. Hashem looks at us with those same eyes, with an obsession that Hashem has with us,
the love and even infatuation, but it's not infatuation because it's real love. And Hashem says, you know what? I'll give you another year. You got it. And he gives us that investment. And we come back the next year and we're like, well, let me explain. The reasons I didn't produce what you wanted me to produce is because you realize I have to earn a living and you realize I need a vacation too. And you realize that we give all of the excuses.
Don't we think that at some point Hashem says enough is enough. Enough is enough. How many times are you going to take me for a ride? The answer is Hashem loves us so much. Hashem wants to give us more. We just have to be willing recipients of Hashem's kindness. Hashem is our investor. We're going to be standing at the, sitting at the boardroom table opposite the Almighty in 30 days from today. Today's Rosh Chodesh in 30 days is Rosh Hashanah.
In 40 days from today's Yom Kippur, we're going to be standing at that boardroom table in front of the Almighty and saying, what? What are we going to say? Hashem, give us another investment. Give us another year for what? Because I'm going to produce what? Let's prepare today. Today is that day that we are going to declare, sit down, get a piece of paper, and jot down what am I producing next year and start already today.
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