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A refreshing and clear review of each Parsha in the Torah presented by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe
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)
Welcome back everybody to the Parsha Review Podcast we are powering through. The third Parsha of the Torah is Parsha S Lech Lecha, where God gives a command to Abraham just leave, without any reason, without any rhyme, without any explanation, just go. And we know our say. Just tell us, lech Lecha, it's for you. Sometimes God does things for us, to us, that we're questioning, like what's the reason for this? Why is god doing this to me? It's for you.
00:49
But further in the parasha, chapter 13, verse number five, we know that he had a nephew. His nephew's name was lot and abraham took lot as a, an apprentice to guide him, to teach him, and eventually they parted ways. But at this point of what the Torah tells us, it says something very, very interesting. Verse number five V'gam l'lot ha'holeches, avram ha'yetzon, uvokar ve'oholim. And also to Lot, who went with Abraham there were sheep, cattle and tents Says Rashi Rashi. We have to understand what Rashi Rashi is giving us the insight. What's going on behind the scene. Rashi says something like this amazing, who brought him this success? Abraham was very, very wealthy. Who brought this success? To Lot? To his nephew, he says Abraham did Im Avraham right. He went with Abraham and that brought him success. He went with Abraham and that brought him success. So there are two points I want to bring out from this. Number one is that when we surround ourselves with people who are lofty, who are holy, we don't only grow spiritually.
02:22
There's a story that's told of a Holocaust survivor who lost everything in Europe Everything. He was a very successful businessman in Europe, had a big family and he left. He came to the United States and had nothing. And you know, there are many, many people that when they came to the United States in the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, had a very, very difficult time having a job because they were called 52 jobs a year people Jews 52 jobs a year Jews. Why? Because every week they wouldn't show up on Shabbos, they'd get fired. They'd come Sunday morning like where were you yesterday Shabbos I'm religious, I'm observant Shot out pink slip. In fact, someone told me that his grandfather would hang all of his pink slips in his sukkah as decorations for his children and grandchildren to understand the joy and the pride that he's not willing to give up on his Shabbos for his livelihood.
03:36
So this specific individual comes to America and he starts asking, starting to rebuild his life from nothing. So he asks where is there a righteous scholar? Where is there a sage? He says what do you need a sage for? You need a job. He says no, I need a sage.
03:54
First he found, a few blocks away from him, who was a very, very big, righteous, pious Jew, and he got very close to him and then he got a job, then he got other things and he ended up growing a beautiful family, raising a beautiful family and also did very well for himself financially. He always explained you need to anchor yourself and be close with someone who is righteous, someone who is atzaddik. Lot did this. Lot was not exactly the most righteous person, but he anchored himself with Abraham and that brought about all of the success. So that's point. Number one is that we need to realize the importance of getting close to someone who's righteous, and we're living in houston, texas it's not like we have a plethora of righteous, holy, pious jews, but we need to seek them out, find and be close to them and seek their guidance and ask them advice. By the way, you should just know that there are many people in New York. You have many Hasidic masters, leaders of Hasidic movements, like you have the Satmar Rebbe and you have the Babava Rebbe, and you have the Skver Rebbe and you have all these different Hasidic dynasties and people come into them and ask them what should I do? What should I do my business? Should I buy this business? Should I do that? Should I make this partnership?
05:38
There's a story there was a man who was involved in real estate, in real estate in nursing homes, and they were about to make a whole refinancing of all of these nursing homes that they had and the banks were not working with them. It was very difficult. They went to a rabbi in Israel and the rabbi in Israel tells them forget about this, don't do it. What are we going to do? He said take whatever money you have and buy El Al Israel Airlines. It's for sale. He said El Al, it's going bankrupt. He says exactly Buy it. What does the rabbi know? Is the rabbi an investment banker? He can tell you future stocks. What does he know? Anchor yourself with the righteous Came October 7th and El Al's value jumped over 200%, 300%, 400%, because all the airlines canceled their flights to Israel and El Al's the only airline that's flying into Israel and what used to be a $700 ticket is a $5,000 ticket.
06:58
They say that their value has gone from like $50 million, $100 million to the billions and billions. This person wasn't even thinking in that direction. He does real estate, he does nursing homes and suddenly he's the owner of an airline on the advice of a rabbi. I'm not going to, I don't give advice, I don't know anything about this and I'm not going to. I don't give advice. I don't know anything about this and I'm not so righteous. But find someone that we can anchor ourselves with.
07:33
There's something else. You know, the Reb Nachman of Breslau would say that when you go to a wealthy person and you start doing business with them, he says the oil on your chariot gets oiled as well. It means they take care of everything, meaning hang around the right people, right Good people, and it helps, it brings blessing to many other areas of life. But there's something else I want to point out I think is very important. The positivity needs to be a very important focus in our lives, in parenting.
08:13
I think one of the most fundamental principles is don't focus on the bad. You'll have children that will do something that you don't like, that you don't approve of, that you don't appreciate, okay, so so. So you don't appreciate, so you don't approve. So what? Focus on the positive, because what you focus on is what expands. When you focus on the negative, the negative expands. When you focus on the positive, the positive expands.
08:54
I'm going to tell you, I've been blessed with eight magnificent children, and they don't always do the things that I like, but I do everything I humanly can to only dwell on their positives. You know, even if they come home with a report card that isn't up to their abilities, to the best of their abilities, I want to point out what was spectacular about that report card, and that's what I'm going to focus on. You're not going to say anything about the failing mark. I don't see the failing mark. I don't see it. I see the A's that you got, I see the 90s and the 100s that you got, and I'm so proud of you for that. Because what you focus on is what will expand. It's what they will take.
09:56
And if we focus on beating our children with negative and negative and negative, they become that. But alternatively, if we focus on the positive, positive, positive they become that. But alternatively, if we focus on the positive, positive, positive they become that the more we talk. And that's why I think it's important for us to attach this here, because the righteous are able to do that. They're able to bring out the beauty in every person. They're able to bring out the greatness in every person. They're able to bring out the greatness in every person.
10:29
You give the flower its proper sunlight, you give it its proper water, what happens? It shines, it's beautiful, it blossoms. But if there's darkness and, by the way, the entire world reacts to our voice there's a lot of psychology on this, talking about the positivity builds positivity. The negativity builds or destroys with more negativity. So you know what? We can have a rotten day, but If you're upbeat, even though it hurts, even though it's not necessarily the way you feel, but that positivity will bring about more positivity. And I've seen this time and daily. How come you're always upbeat, how come you're always upbeat, how come you're always upbeat? Because you know what the alternative is. I don't want the alternative, I want the positivity. So that's what I'm going to invest in and I think this is what Lot learned from Abraham.
11:49
He learned from Abraham hang around the good people, you'll be influenced by good. Hang around positive people, you'll be influenced by positivity. Hang around bad people it could be a disaster. The influence is because we are all influenced by our environment 100% of the time, and if we have a good environment, we'll be inspired by the goodness. Hashem should bless us all that we should learn from Abraham and be close to people who are like Abraham, but also learn a little bit from Lot, who had enough intelligence to know. Stick around Abraham, Because Abraham is a really good. If you find someone who's good, yeah, what's the benefit to me? Just hang around them. The osmosis will influence you to goodness Shemshud bless us all To be inspired by the good people around us and to take it all in as much as we can every single day.
13:06 - Intro (Announcement)
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