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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.
00:09 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back everybody. We have some catch-up to do in the Parsha Review Podcast, parsha's Balak. Parsha's Balak was a few portions ago and we didn't have a chance to record, so it's not fair for our podcast listeners and our in-house audience to not have the special inspiration from the portion of Balak. Balak, as we know, was a king and he employed a very, very powerful prophet to curse the Jewish people. He didn't like the Jewish people and he says I want you to curse the Jewish people. And what happens? He tries one time, he tries another time and he's offering him by the way, the king is offering him an enormous sum of money. And what does this prophet say? Correctly, he says you know, as a prophet, I'm limited by the rules of the game, and the rules of the game is that I can only do what God allows me to do. I can only say what God allows me to say, and if God does not allow me to do what you want me to do, I won't be able to. Oh, you know, we can give you a lot of money and with that money you can have unbelievable fortunes. And he's trying to entice him to just break the rules and just say what you want to say and just do it, but Balaam can't, and we know.
01:40
If you read the portion of Balak, it's so fascinating the interactions that go on. In fact, the most incredible interaction in almost the entire Torah is the interaction that he has with his donkey, where the donkey starts talking and the donkey starts communicating with this evil, wicked prophet who wants to go curse the Jewish people and he says don't you see there's an angel here? Meaning, are you so weak that you can't see beyond the physical? You're all caught up with the money. You're all caught up with the desire to curse the Jewish people. You're not seeing that there's an angel stopping in front of me. I can't walk and therefore I crushed your leg. And if you read through, it's just absolutely fascinating.
02:36
But there's one verse that I want to read in chapter 23, verse number 10. Who has counted the dust of Jacob or numbered a quarter of the camp of Israel? May I die, may my soul die the death of the upright, of the righteous, and may it be my end like his end. Our sages tell us what was he saying here when he realized I have no more. I can't go against God. I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying. It's not working. You know only one thing I want I want to die like Abraham Isaac and Jacob, most Yisharim. In fact, the book of Genesis which talks about Abraham Isaac and Jacob is called Sefer HaYisharim, the book of the upright, the book of the straight, the book of the righteous, referring to Abraham Isaac and Jacob. And here the wicked balak is saying I want to die like them, I want to die like them. So let's think for a second what does it mean to die like them? What that means is you want to be a cop-out, because what is the challenge of dying like them? Because what is the challenge of dying like them that you didn't live like them. You see, it's much greater to live like a Jew than to die like a Jew. You see, it's very easy.
04:19
Our sages tell us for one to say, when they're 95 years old oh, I have terrible regret. I want to do teshuva on all the sins that I've done Before I die. I want to do teshuva, I want to have repentance. God, please forgive me for my sins. I went astray, I made mistakes, yeah, but do you have the same challenges, the same temptations? It's like you know. After the fact I regret not being so honest After the fact I have regret. Regret isn't as powerful as when you're faced with a challenge right in front of you and you overcome it. You're tempted to look at something that the Torah says don't look at. I'll regret it later. It's fine, I'll just. Later on I'll be able to say Hashem, please forgive me, I looked at things I shouldn't have looked at. I went to places I shouldn't have gone to. I did business transactions in an inappropriate way. Please forgive me, hashem, don't live in retrospect, live now. And that was the mistake of Bilaam.
05:25
Our sages tell us Bilaam made a fatal error in focusing on his death to be the right thing, but not his life to be the right thing. He was worried about the obligations, the restrictions, so to speak, of living like a Jew. But the truth is we can look at the 613 commandments of the Torah as one big problem. Or 613 problems, problems, oh, what am I going to do? Shabbos? Oh, I can't do it. It's Shabbos. So limiting Such a problem? That's a rotten perspective.
06:09
The way we need to look at every single mitzvah in the Torah is it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity for us to connect with the Almighty. We have the opportunity to connect with the Creator of heaven and earth. You see, the nations of the world have only seven tools to connect the seven Noahide laws. We have 613 tools to connect with the Almighty. Each one is a channel. When we pray, we're opening up those channels. When we learn, we're opening up those channels. When we observe, we're fulfilling those channels. It's an amazing thing.
07:04
I learned something yesterday I never knew before. It's from the Zohar. This is a man who gets up in our synagogue every Sunday morning and he shares a little piece of Zohar, a little piece of Kabbalah. As you know, I'm not a Kabbalist, but this was absolutely fascinating. He said why is it important for one to recite the Shema in the morning? So we know that there are 248 words in the Shema representing the 248 limbs of the human body. It's called Ramach Reish Mem Ches 248. One of the very powerful, impure angels is called Hamar, which is Ches Memresh, which is those same letters reorganized. And when we sleep, that negative angel descends upon us. Do you know what blows him away? Do you know what blows him away? You know what makes him disappear when we recite the Shema and we recite the 248 words? The Ramach removes the evil spirit, which is also why we wash our hands.
08:37
We put on our tzitzit in the morning. That is representative of all the mitzvahs in the Torah, but particularly the Shema. Just put on our tzitzit in the morning, that is representative of all the mitzvahs in the Torah, but particularly the Shema just pushes away the evil force. What a powerful thought. I never knew that. But you imagine like, ah, I got to get up before a certain time of the day and recite the Shema. By the way, if anyone doesn't have time to be in a synagogue and to pray with a of the day and recite the Shema, by the way, if anyone doesn't have time to be in a synagogue and to pray with a minion every day, all you have to do is put on your tefillin, say the Shema, recite the Shema and that's it. That's it.
09:15
I once had a guy tell me he says, rabbi, I can't do the tefillin thing. I can't do that. I don't do the tefillin thing, I can't do that. I don't have time. I said what do you mean? How much time does it take? He says yeah, at least an hour. I got to do the whole davening. I'm like no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Put on tefillin and recite the Shema. It takes about five minutes With intent. If you're in a rush it'll take three minutes.
09:49
I once heard a rabbi say an amazing thing. He says imagine. He says you know how many pieces of chocolate there are in a chocolate bar? 24 pieces is eight lines and three, three times eight, 24. 24 pieces in a chocolate bar. He says, imagine I give you a chocolate bar You're like, and it's your favorite chocolate bar. Like how did you know? I like with the hazelnut chips. That's delicious. My wife likes white chocolate.
10:16
Okay, you make sure it has the kosher symbol. You give it as a gift. Beautiful, beautiful box of chocolates. I see you open up the bar of chocolate and with tremendous delight you recite the blessing and you eat the chocolate Like oh, so delicious. And I start getting an appetite.
10:35
So, gary, let me ask you a question. I give you this delicious chocolate and now you're starting to eat one piece, another piece, another piece. I say, gary, do you mind, can I have a piece You're like? Of course you just gave me a piece. Of course I gave you. Would you give me a piece? Yes, oh. So you're saying right away you're offering me a piece. Okay, what's if I taste it and it's delicious. I say you know what? One more piece? Would you give me another piece? Okay, so now we have two pieces. I got back. Be careful, be careful how much you give me. I might take the whole thing back, right. So I ask after the second piece. I'm like this is addictive. Would you give me another piece of chocolate? Okay, so I have three. Now At what point would you say you know, it's like enough, like you gave me a gift. Don't be an Indian giver. Right, at some point I'll know, I'll know. Okay, says the rabbi.
11:33
Such an amazing idea, said God gives us 24 hours a day. What does he ask back from us? One hour, you said, for sure, no problem. Here's your piece of chocolate back. Two hours, three hours, we're ready to give back, no problem. Hashem gives it to us for free. Life is a lot more precious than chocolate. God is not asking for an hour or two or three or four or half. God is asking for five minutes just to put the tefillin on, recite the Shema and take it off. That's it. We could do that. He's giving us 24 pieces of chocolate, right, 24 hours a day. What's the least we can do to give back to the Almighty. And the Almighty is not sulking sitting there. He's like I can't believe it. I gave him 24 pieces of chocolate. He doesn't give me back one.
12:35
But it's our privilege to utilize the life we have to serve the Almighty to live like a Jew, not to die like a Jew. When we live like a Jew, not to die like a Jew. When we live like a Jew, then every moment of life is maximized, not just the moment of death. Every moment we're alive on this earth becomes a great experience because it's one that's linked with the Almighty. There's no greatness in dying like a Jew. It's greatness living like a Jew.
13:11
Let's take these opportunities that we have every single day to fulfill the will of Hashem, to fulfill His commandments in His Torah, to connect in every way, like we are doing right here in studying Torah. It's Hashem. To fulfill His commandments in His Torah. To connect in every way, like we are doing right here in studying Torah. It's Hashem's language. We're playing with Hashem's toys, so to speak. We're talking Hashem's words. That elevates us, that uplifts us, that connects us. Hashem should bless us all that we should learn the lesson from the portion of Balak and not want to just die like a Jew, but live like a Jew. May Hashem bless us Amen.
13:54 - Intro (Announcement)
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.