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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're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, director of TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.
00:12 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Good evening everybody. Good evening and welcome back to the final installment of the Complete Bible Crash Course, the Book of Deuteronomy. Let's just do a quick review of what we talked about in the first few classes Number one, beraeus, genesis, we talked about the family of Israel, the fundamentals of Judaism. In the second book, the Exodus Shamos, we talked about the nation of Israel, the revelation at Mount Sinai. In the book of Vayikra, in Leviticus, we talked about the spirituality of Israel, the relationship with God, keeping God in our midst, living as holy people. And then we have the book of Numbers, which we did last week, which is Aba Midbar, the challenges of Israel, divine providence, the Jews' travel. They need to now live as Jews. It's not enough for us to be Jews. How do we live as Jews? And take it to the next level Now, if you remember what we said last week, we mentioned that the book of Deuteronomy is called Mishnah Torah, which is the review of the Torah.
01:33
It's the review of everything that's written in the Torah. We have some new commandments as well, plenty of new commandments, but the idea behind it is that there is so much we need to reinstill within our consciousness every day. Keep on reviewing it again and again, and again, because, as human beings, we're like gravity. If you let go of those keys, what happens? It falls every day of the week. It's always going to fall. The human being is also heavy by nature. What happens when you're heavy by nature? You get lazy and you start thinking you know what Prayer? Who do I need to thank? Thank God, it's not going to be a break. I'm the one who brings about my own health. I'm the one who brings about my own success. I'm the one we get arrogant. Every day, we need to remind ourselves to be humble again and again, and again, which is what our prayers are every single day, our prayer when we stand and we recite a prayer in front of the Almighty. What we're saying? In other words, hashem, we're not in control. You are in control, don't we study Hashem's Torah? What we're demonstrating is Hashem. We don't understand the language of this world. You are the language of this world and we're learning your words. Hashem's Torah is Hashem's communication with us. So that's something which is worthwhile for us to repeat every single day. Now you know.
03:08
What's also interesting about this Is that we have the Shema that we recite as our mission statement, as our main focus in life. The Shema is in the Book of Deuteronomy. All of the essential prayers is from the Book of Deuteronomy. It's in this book and it's such a powerful, powerful part of our lives every single day that twice a day, morning and evening, and at bedtime, we say the Shema, because it's not just words. We're declaring our mission, we're declaring our purpose and our cause, and we've done a series on the Shema. Hopefully we'll do it again sometime soon, and that is the obligation for us.
04:01
Number one Shema. What does Shema mean? So I just saw seven different explanations to that one word. Now we know most words means something, whatever Webster decides or whatever Urban Dictionary decides, guess what? Shema has seven different translations and that's probably not even enough. We probably can go on and on and on.
04:25
But the idea is, you know, if I just I don't like the translation of here oh, israel, I like, listen up, israel, that's what I like. I'll tell you why. Because if there was a fireworks going out and you hear the boom, boom, boom, right, so I hear it, because I have no choice. There's a loud noise, I hear it, but am I listening? No, listen, you have to listen with intent. That's why it's different.
04:54
When we say hero Israel, it's like, okay, well, what now? I hear God. No, you have to listen for God. You have to listen for God every minute of the day. We need to look into our day to day lives and see God operating every single day. Yeah, you missed that ride. You know why you missed that ride. It's a lesson from Hashem. Hashem is talking to you. You know why that deal didn't close? Because it's a message that God is telling you we need to listen. The first, most valuable thing that we declare every single day is that we need to become listeners.
05:30
The second exact word is the beginning of the portion of Yisro where the Torah was given in that week's Torah portion Vayishma Yisro. You listened, listened very carefully. You heard the message. He got it, and we're trying to borrow that same ear, the same ear that heard at Mount Sinai and made Yisro come and say I want to join these people. We need to say that every single day and that's in this book that we're going to discuss tonight, the final book of the Torah. Now, if you remember the first two portions of the book, the first two portions of the first book of the Torah, of Genesis was 2,023 years. Just two portions 2,023 years. The remaining 10 portions of the book of Genesis is 286 years, and then from there till the end of the book of the entire Torah is not more than 120 years, because from the beginning of Moshe's life, moshe lived 120 years. As we'll see at the end of the book, moshe dies.
06:52
This book of the Torah is all of 36 days and Moshe accomplishes a lot in these 36 days. Imagine if you knew, and Moshe knew, that you're about to die in 36 days. What would you do? Travel the world, smoke some cigarettes, cigars, other stuff. You're from California, right? So there's a lot to do. All the family we want to say goodbye to, and all the friends, the places, the things we want to see, things we were hoping to see, the places we were hoping to go. It's time to get him in. That's not what Moshe does. Moshe focuses the last 36 days of his life guiding the Jewish people, building his legacy. Further 119 years wasn't enough. Now he wants to take every single moment, and we'll see soon.
07:56
At the end of the final portion of this book of Deuteronomy, we have the eulogy for Moshe Boy. What a eulogy, the most insane eulogy you've ever heard about any human being ever. Only two words, two words. You couldn't be a little bit more gracious with your words. You couldn't say anything more about Moshe. Only two words. Why? Because that encapsulates everything, and we'll see it shortly.
08:34
Okay, so we're about to begin the book of Deuteronomy, the book of Deuteronomy. You have the handouts for those of you who are listening to this podcast or those of you who are online. You can go into our podcast description and you can find the link for the folder and you'll see all of these summaries for each of the portions, for each of the books of the Torah, and join along with us. So we're talking about the mission of Israel. We're going to be talking about the review of the Torah, the final speech of Moshe to the nation and all of the reminders and warnings that Moshe gives to the Jewish people. Again, it's only 36 days, the last 36 days of Moshe's life.
09:22
There are 11 portions in this book of the Torah. There are 34 chapters and 955 verses. The first portion talks about Moshe and the nation. Moshe gives strong rebuke to the nation. Judaism is not a hobby. Judaism is not a seasonal event. Judaism is a way of life. Here and there, I'll pop in my Judaism. Hey, what's going on? Just reminding you. You're Jewish. Right and move on.
09:54
No, judaism is a way of life and we're going to be distinguished from the nations of the world by our observance of our Judaism. And the nations of the world are going to hold us accountable for our doings or misdoings. In our Judaism, god uses the nations of the world. If I may, don't stone me and don't shoot rockets at me. Hamas is just a vehicle of the Almighty.
10:27
When we eradicate Hamas, what we need to do is eradicate the negativity within ourselves as Jewish people. Yes, it needs to be a physical war. Someone comes to kill you. You kill them. That's what the Torah commands us. But the Torah also says don't forget that they're only my messengers. God sends the nations of the world as a messenger to wake us up, and we need to figure out a way to inspire ourselves to make change. If not for ourselves, do it for the soldiers, do it for the people of Israel, do a mitzvah, do something, but it's not a hobby, and that every time we try to forget it and we try to assimilate and we try to just push our Judaism aside. The nations of the world reminded us you're not like us. Go back and get involved in your own Judaism. It's not going to help you. Try to become German.
11:33
German Jews were not so religious. They were very high up in the government. They were involved with all of the politicians. They knew all the upper echelon of government. It didn't help them anything. You're still Jewish.
11:50
In fact, 10 years prior to the beginning of the Holocaust, they had a school project throughout the entire Germany. All the schools were involved in the same project where people did a project of their lineage. Innocently, people did it. There was big prizes and awards, but the children did a history of their parents, their grandparents, their great-grandparents. If someone's great-great-grandparent was Jewish, they were Jewish. They didn't say, oh well, you assimilated. Now it's already matrilineal descent, it doesn't make a difference anymore because he married a non-Jewish woman, it's fine. No, no, no, no, no. They did not let us forget that we were Jewish and, sadly, tragically, millions of our brothers and sisters perished. They were brutally murdered because they were equally Jewish. It didn't make a difference If they wore a kippah or they didn't wear a kippah. It didn't make a difference If they kept kosher, it didn't keep kosher. It didn't make a difference if they went to synagogue or didn't go to synagogue. A Jew is a Jew is a Jew and it doesn't make a difference. You cannot hide. So let's take our Judaism and embrace it.
13:21
Now Moshe appoints judges Again. This is all a recap. He's recalling the story of the spies. He gives the commandment to march into the land of Israel and he reviews the inheritance of the land. If you remember the end of the last book that we studied, the end of the book of Numbers, we talked about the inheritance that was given to each of the tribes. Now Moshe is reviewing that and, as you recall, and Moshe gives the full review of everything In the portion of Vaischan.
13:54
On the second portion, it's about God, the Torah and the commandments. Moshe prays again to see the land and Hashem tells him enough Enough, stop praying, enough, enough. Now what's really happening here? Moshe prays, he wants to go and see the land. Let me just see the land. Hashem lets him see the land. He can see the land, but he can't go into it. He's yearning, he's desirous forever. He wants to see, he wants to go into the land, he wants to the promised land and he's not allowed to own a share with you. Something very special.
14:44
Moshe knew that by hitting the stone and not talking to it, that he was going to be punished with not being allowed to enter into the land of Israel. He knew it in advance. So why did he do it? Why did Moshe do it? Because Moshe was a true leader and Moshe wasn't selfish. Yeah, if he only cared about himself, he would have talked to the rock, but he knew that if he didn't talk to the rock, the inheritance that he will give to his children will be far greater. Which is what?
15:23
If I let me ask you around the room here, is there anybody who has any interest in traveling to Australia right now? Okay, how about? Yeah, yeah, we want to see some kangaroos. I can show you some kangaroos. Anybody here want to go to Israel? To Jerusalem, anybody? Western Wall, rachel's tomb all hands are up, gary, let's go pick it up. There you go, okay, except for Gary. Everybody wants to go to Israel. Why, why? Why do you want to go to Jerusalem? Everybody wants to go to Israel, why, why does everyone want to go to Jerusalem? And, by the way, if anybody's been to Jerusalem and been to the Western Wall and hasn't cried, let me see your razor vans. Nobody, everyone cried. Why Did you go to the Wall of China? Did you cry? No, nobody did ever. Why do we cry when we go to Jerusalem and we see the Western Wall? I say just tell us something very, very special.
16:20
Moshe gave us in our DNA, in our inheritance from Moshe, the yearning and the desire to be in the land of Israel. That's what he gave us. Yes, he sinned, he got punished, but we got rewarded. We got rewarded that forever. Our inheritance from Moshe is the yearning and the desire to be in Israel. So it doesn't make a difference where a Jew is in the world. Everybody wants to be in Israel, everybody. And that's the gift for Moshe. Yeah, if he was a selfish person, he would have followed the rules, not gotten punished, and left in inheritance for the Jewish people that they have the land of Israel. They're in the land of Israel, they're established in the land of Israel. But he knew by prophecy that the Jewish people are going to be dispersed around the globe. He knew that they're going to be Jews in Russia and they're going to be Jews in Singapore and Jews in all over Europe and all over the United States, north America, south America Everywhere you go you find Jews. And they have one common thing they all have a desire to be in Israel, to be in our homeland. So Moshe, by making those prayers I want to go, I want to go, I want to go was instilling that desire for each and every one of us that we want to go. That's what he was doing. He was laying down those foundations.
18:01
We need to never forget what we've seen as a people. We were in Egypt. We saw slavery. Don't forget, there are going to be other nations. They're going to be in exile. You have to care for them.
18:17
You know there are many, many Jews that were very concerned for the people of Darfur and still are people who are without food, without basic necessities. For some reason, the only people I hear being vocal about it are Jews. Why? Because we know what it means to be downtrodden. We know what it means to be abused, violated, taken advantage of, hungry. And that's part of the prerequisite of being a leader in the world is you have to be able to experience the lowest lows so that you can now have proper sympathy for those who are challenged by their circumstances. Exiles, exiles are enumerated, the exiles that the Jewish people experienced.
19:16
The Ten Commandments is reviewed and then we have the first part of the Shema, and then there's a review of the entire story of Exodus, chapters five and six, and a reminder not to be too comfortable. You see, the challenge that we always have as a people is that we're successful. Now, the success is not a problem. The problem is that we get very comfortable, way too quickly. When we get comfortable, we start realizing you know what? I have all the money in the world, I can buy anything, I can do anything. Nothing really means anything to me anyway anymore. So it doesn't make a difference. As long as my children don't fight with other people, I'm fine. So what happens? The values get thrown out the window.
20:08
You think about Silicon Valley. How many Jews are in Google? Founders of Google, facebook, all of these big companies all started by Jews. How many of them had the privilege of marrying Jews? Very few. You know why? Because love is love. Just do what you want, and that's one of the tragedies of being too comfortable. You see, you know what their grandparents did. Their grandparents died to preserve their Judaism and they're ready to sell it out in a second because they have so much. It doesn't mean anything. Nothing has value except for money, and that is a tragedy.
21:00
That's what the Torah warns us about in this portion of Eshanan. Hashem reminds us, moshe reminds us don't get too comfortable. You're temporarily on this earth. We come and we go. Don't think that you're here forever. We're here to invest in our future. Our future not in this world, our future in the world to come. We are implored by Moshe to put our trust only in Hashem. In God we trust is a very powerful statement. Don't trust the dollar On the dollar, it says in God we trust, not in the money we trust. But the Torah commands us to trust in Hashem.
21:51
Teach your children, which is an important mitzvah, if you realize, in the Shema we have that commandment twice, in the first portion of the Shema and in the second portion of Shema. But I want to point out to you the difference between the two. The first time it says you shall teach it to your children, you should speak of them. Speaking of what? Of the Torah, where you shiv toch bevei secho. When you're sitting in your home, you're driving your car, you're listening to a podcast, a torch podcast. Guess what? You're fulfilling a mitzvah of the Torah, not only of the study of Torah, but of learning Torah on your way we shach bechav kumecha. When you lay down and when you arise. These are the four obligations In your home, on your way, when you go to sleep and when you arise. Let's see what the verse says.
22:48
The same teaching says in the second portion of the Shema, says it very differently. It says veleimad etemo som esbenechem lidaber bom. And teach your children to speak of them. The first time it says learn it with your children. The second time it says it differently Don't only learn it with them, that they be dependent on you to be able to learn it. Give them the tools so that they can learn it on their own. Veleimad etemo som esbenechem lidaber bom, teach them excellence in Torah study so that they can learn it on their own and they can teach it further. And then it says pashivtachah beveisachah.
23:39
When you're in your home and when you travel, and when you rest and when you arise, it's a very different type of teaching your child. One is, yeah, we have to teach them the alifes. The next is we have to teach them how to learn on their own, which is such a valuable skill that if you can teach your child how to think, your child should not vote a specific candidate or party, because you said so. We have to teach them how to think, how to have values, not to allow professors in university to teach them those values. We as parents that's our obligation and that's in our shema Teach your children.
24:28
And then there's a reminder which is a repeat of the entire book of Leviticus You're a holy nation. And we see this almost every single portion in the book of Deuteronomy A repeat again and again and again You're a holy nation, you're a holy people. So what does holiness mean? Holiness means that you need to preserve your holiness. Holiness means you're dignified, you're distinguished, you're capable, you're privileged and therefore we need. Privilege is a triggering word today, I know, but privileged with a responsibility.
25:18
We don't see Jews walking around arrogant, hopefully not saying oh, I'm a Jew and therefore, as a Jew, I dominate this world. No, when people talk about their Judaism, they talk about it with humility, or at least they should. Why? Because being the chosen nation means we are responsible. That means we're going to be held accountable to a higher level of scrutiny that God will say oh, you're a chosen nation, you're very proud about it. Well, do your actions match up to that? Were you an example when people looked at you in the marketplace? Did they say, oh, this is the way a Jew behaves. Or did they say, oh, filthy Jew, look at him cutting the line, look how a Jew drives, look how a Jew cheats in business? Heaven forbid. We have to be an example where people leave an experience with us and they say, wow, this is God's people, this is a holy nation, that's our job and this is what Moshe is imploring the Jewish people. Remember you're a holy nation. Don't get carried away with the politics, don't get carried away with all the nonsense. Don't get carried away with your distinguished role as a Jewish professor. And now you're going to talk with no. No, god isn't a seven-syllable word. God, very simple, very accessible, very attainable by every single person. You're a holy nation.
27:02
Now for the next four portions Ekev, re'eh, shovtim and Kitaytseh. We're talking about preparation for the land of Israel, the concepts, the influences, the administration, the social code. This is all going to be delineated in these four portions In the book, in the parshah of Ekev. In the portion of Ekev, we talk about the reward for good deeds, the reassurance and security. Hashem will always be there with you, he will protect you, he will defend you, he will take care of you. We remember the lessons of food, mana, the miracles in the desert. Food doesn't sustain you. Kiim, I'll read you the verse. You won't believe me, right? Okay, I'm going to show you the verse In parches Akev. What a beautiful portion. You know what? It's not fair to even say that, because every portion is so beautiful that if you just take a book of the Torah, any translation you find, but find a good one, don't go cheap on it. Find a really good translation, like a stone edition translation Shatynstein. You have several other really fabulous translations. Listen, listen to what he says. Here we go.
28:37
Chapter 8, verse number 3. Ki lo alalechem levado yechie ha'odom. Ki al kol motz api ha'sem yechie ha'odom. No, that not on the bread alone. Does he live? Men referring to us, we don't live just by the bread that we eat. How many times have you eaten and you're still hungry? And you're still hungry. I ate so much I'm still not full, I'm not satiated. At times you just take two bites and you can't eat anymore. You're stuffed. You know, because you know what fills you up. Ki al kol motz api ha'sem yechie ha'odom, rather on the everything that comes out of the mouth of ha'sem does man live. Ha'sem says you'll be satiated by a little drop of food. Well, guess what A little drop of food will fill you.
29:34
There's something that we mentioned previously back in Leviticus that I need to repeat here we look at food as being something physical. Go to a nice restaurant, of course of course a kosher restaurant and we order a nice steak and so, wow, it's delicious. We order some other salad, so we're healthy and we're like, ah, delicious. But the truth is food is not physical, food is spiritual, which is why kosher food is so critical. Kosher food is so critical for our spiritual growth. If you remember, we mentioned that kosher food opens the spiritual channels of connection with the Almighty.
30:33
The Talmud says that non-kosher food clogs those channels. Food is a vehicle through which we connect to God. We think of food as like I'm hungry, I want to eat the proper way to eat, I need to make another blessing, I need to connect to ha'sem. Okay, food is a way in which I connect with that Creator. So we are warned against the lure of prosperity. Again, you'll see, this is a theme that you see throughout the book of Deuteronomy Prosperity brings with it rebellion brings with it.
31:16
Arrogance brings a lot of not good things. One of the Talmudic sages said that more than I pray for success, financial success, I pray that God not succeed my way. I don't want to have any success in this world financially, because success only breeds a rebellion. I'm successful and then I want to rebel. Rebel against the Almighty, vayishman yusharun vayivat. The Jewish people became wealthy. They became fat. The prophet says they were fat, they were healthy. And what did they do? They rebelled. They kicked against God, vayishman yusharun vayivat. It's dangerous.
32:22
Through Egypt, we had a temporary Ark. The second set of tablets were brought to us and these were the physical tablets that Moshe crafted. Aaron's death is reviewed again. The greatness and the promotion of the Levites. All God wants from us. What does God want from us? Chapter 10, verse 12. Anybody know what is God want from us? Beautiful, oh wow. We have a scholar in our midst, folks, the Ati. Israel, now listen, israel.
33:00
Moh Hashem ol'kech, hashol miimach. What does Hashem God ask from you? What does he want from you? Kiim li'yira Hashem, fear of Hashem. L'olech, hes pi'chol drachov, to go in all his ways and to serve Hashem with all of your heart and with all of your soul. That's it. How much is that? Well, it's really everything. But okay. So number one fear Hashem. What does it mean to fear Hashem? Not to be terrified, but to have a clear understanding who is against who over here. Hashem is the master of the universe, creator of heaven and earth. Hashem is all being. Hashem is all knowing. Hashem is all feeling. Hashem is all caring. L'olech hes pi'chol drachov, go in his ways.
34:03
V'la avosom, love God. How can you command an emotion? The first commandment, the first paragraph in the Shema is v'a havtas Hashem l'lach huy shud, love Hashem, your God. You're commanding me to love Hashem. Imagine you go to a woman. You say love me, or else Right, really, that's not the way love works. Love comes from the heart. Love is one of the deepest emotions. God's commanding us to love Him where God is insecure. So what's going on over here? Well, god is a continuation of what it says previously.
34:46
To fear Hashem means to have the proper perspective. You know what God does for you Everything. When someone gives and gives and gives, all you have to do is open your eyes and see how much they give you and you'll love them. If you have the proper perspective, it's inevitable that you will love them as well, and that's the commandment. Open your eyes and look at what Hashem does for you every single day. How can you not love Him? V'la ava usso. So you're going to love Hashem.
35:22
V'la avod es Hashem l'lachcha, and serve Hashem, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul. There's a lot to talk about that All your heart and all of your soul. Well, my dear friends, it means taking some time, dedicating ourselves. Our heart has many different desires and temptations. You ever want to say you know what? I have $50,. I can either give it to charity or I can buy myself a toy. I'm just going to buy myself a toy. That's the two hearts that we have. Is it going to be me or is it going to be Hashem? Is it going to be my selfishness or my selflessness? So you know what? Let's say you went after your own heart and you did what you wanted for yourself. You can turn it around and make it for God. You bought it for yourself. Now you can donate it. You think your idea is, even though you took a step in the wrong direction, you can turn it around. We can always do that, and that's why it says Bechol levavachah Doesn't say li'pchah your heart, your hearts, because we have desires that are pulling us in different directions.
36:43
Then we have the first-hand witness of the miracles. All of the miracles that the Jewish people experienced weren't secondhand. It wasn't like in other religions, where we're following someone's tale of a revelation that they had or a miracle that they saw, and if you don't believe me, they'll tell you we'll kill you. This is the difference between Judaism and other religions. By us, it is a first-hand revelation of each miracle that we all experienced, not only at Mount Sinai but throughout the desert, throughout the generations. We all experienced those miracles. It was first-hand.
37:30
And then the greatness of the land is reviewed again. The greatness of the land. It's not like any other land. You know what? The land? Texas is great. I love Texas, but Texas doesn't spit out the sinners. The land of Israel does. It spits them out. I remember during one of the wars in Israel that many of the American population that lived in Israel decided to get on planes and leave. My grandfather got very upset about that. He said, because this is the fulfillment of the verse that says that the land will spit them out. If you don't have faith, the land spits you out. There's a lot of few rockets coming in. Oh, we're running away, we're going to go back to New York. The land spits you out.
38:23
Don't think that it's anything less than a lack of faith in Hashem If a person lacks, in the land of Israel, the proper connection, the land spits them out. And then we have the second part of the Shema, the second paragraph of the Shema, the fourth portion is part of the Shema, and this is talking about the influences Choice of blessing or curse. We choose. I'm giving you the choice. God says it's your free will. You can choose. Choose blessing, choose curse. It's in your hands.
39:06
Now, who's going to choose a curse? Well, what's if that curse is wrapped in a candy? So we're like I don't know what your problem is. This is delicious, only to realize that it's poison and it's too late. And that's the challenge If someone doesn't listen to what Hashem says. Hashem says I created everything. I'm telling you what's a blessing or what's a curse. If you decide to choose the curse, you might think that it's so enjoyable right now, but in the long term you'll come and you'll regret so many devastating results.
39:44
The sanctity of the land again, the holiness of the land, offering only on God's chosen altar. If you decide to make an altar here in Houston, texas, and you decide to serve Hashem offerings, that is a foreign altar and there's a prohibition in the Torah. There's a proper way in which we serve Hashem and if you try an unwholesome way to serve Hashem, that's inappropriate and Hashem does not appreciate that. Holiness of the offerings, the laws of eating, principles of observance don't copy the Gentiles. It's an important thing. Today, people are ready to pay hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to have those special Eir Jordan sneakers or the Lebron James this and the Kobe O'Brien this, and that it's like people are ready to pay any money in the world. But do you know that the halacha says that if the nations of the world wear black shoelaces, we need to wear white shoelaces. If they wear white shoelaces, we need to wear black shoelaces? We're not allowed to be like the nations of the world. We can't ever think like why can't kumbaya, let's just get along, everything is fine. No, no, never forget that you're different.
41:15
Then we talk about missionaries, enticers, false prophets, idolatry. All of this is prohibited. We don't missionize anyone. We don't tell, by the way, someone. One of the worst sins in the Torah is someone who entices somebody to leave Judaism. All right, these are the Christian missionaries that have been dedicated for generations and generations to try to get Jews to convert. It's tragic that so many Jews have taken the bait to go for the sun instead of going for the boss. You know what I mean. Why would you go for the branch manager instead of going to the CEO? I mean, come on, all right, jews, remember you're a treasured people.
42:07
Then we have the review of the laws of the Torah, of laws of kosher, the tithes, loans, kindness. Then we talk about the pilgrimages, which is three times a year. The Jewish people would come up to Jerusalem from wherever they were. It was Pesach, shavuot and Sukkot. Then we go into the fifth portion of the Torah, the portion of Shovtim. This talks about the administration of the Jewish people and how they operate in the land of Israel. Justice systems, courts, police are established. Shovtim v'shrochim t'asachah b'chosh au recheh.
42:46
We talk about the blemished sacrifices that are forbidden, death penalty for idolatry, warnings to listen to the judgment of the sages and the courts. If you deny, if you don't listen to the court, court gives a ruling and you don't listen, what are you called? What are you called Contempt of court? There's contempt of court in the Torah as well. I mean, that's where they get it from. They get it from the Torah. They opened up the Deuteronomy. They're like oh, that's a good law, we should put it on the books. If Walby gets a ticket driving too fast, speeding above the speed limit never happened, by the way, never happened Then what happens? You got to pay the ticket. But if you don't pay that ticket, it's contempt of court. We obligated you to follow the law and you didn't. You didn't show up to the court case. Contempt of court. This is all in Torah.
43:52
We learned the laws of kings, the priestly gifts, prophecy, prophets, cities of refuge, antitrust laws, boundaries, conspiring witnesses, war, the laws of war, the Kohanim leadership, fighters, qualifications, by the way, what did it take to be a fighter in the Jewish law, in the Jewish people, in the Jewish army, be it to be between 20 and 60, you cannot have just built a home. You cannot. I want to tell you when you get to that part. You cannot be newlywed. You cannot have just planted a vineyard. There's a bunch of qualifications and you can't be afraid. You have to know that a Shem is fighting the war for you. So if you have any doubts in your emunah out. We don't need you in the army, we only need believers in this army. So I can imagine most of them were coming with really long white beards. They were here for service, right, basic training, right. I mean you imagine what that army looked like? A bunch of King David's right, but look, king David was a pretty solid warrior.
45:06
We have to remember Hashem, yelachem, lachem, vatem Tahrishon. Hashem says I fight your battles. Didn't we just say that we are a different type of people? We're distinguished from the nations of the world. That means the way we fight wars is very different as well. Do you know that there's never been a military ever in the history of the world that has done what Israel just did in Gaza? It's the most remarkable thing. You know why? It's not because we're all Jewish people, we're just smart. No, hashem is fighting this battle for us.
45:51
We have less than 250 soldiers that were killed in a war. That is just like you're talking about house-to-house combat, close quarters. You have snipers everywhere. You have people walking around in kafias not kafias in these burkas with RPGs under them. It's just… and they're still winning. This is crazy. You know why? Because Hashem protects us. Every single one of the soldiers, god forbid. I don't want it to sound like it's not tragic. Every single one is tragic, but we can't ever feel ah, idf, that's right, that's right. Us, the power of Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces, it's us. No, it's the power of Hashem. Hashem provides our success and the Torah promises that Hashem will. But we need to never forget that.
47:05
And then we talk about peace, fruit trees we're not allowed to cut down fruit trees unsolved murders. And then axed heifers. We talk about the axed heifer. We talk about the um, the, the sa'ir lazazel that we have on Yom Kippur, part of the Yom Kippur service. Okay, then we go to the portion of Qitaytze, which is the social code for the Jewish people, the woman of beautiful form. So now you went out to war and you see this beautiful woman and you want to marry her. You're out in Iraq and you're fighting the Gulf War and you see this beautiful Iraqi woman, you want to marry her. So the Torah tells you what you need to do as a Jewish boy. What do you do? Take her off, you cut her here. What's the idea of all this?
48:04
Some people say, oh, that's so chauvinist, it's sexist, it's inappropriate. On the contrary, we see how women are put on a pedestal. You think, you Jewish soldier, because you're in a moment of temptation, that you can just take this woman and do what you want? No, no, no, no, no. You can't take her and you can't do anything with her. You're going to take off her here and she's going to sob and cry and if you still love her after 30 days, then you can marry her, because love is not about your temptation or desires. You have to really care for her value, who she is, not that you, oh, you're facing a challenge to. Oh, no problem, just do what you want.
48:47
Nobody knows what happens there anyway. No, she's a human being, she's not an object, and that's how Judaism values women. Women are a tool, a vehicle through which they bring perfection to this world, and that's the way they need to be valued. They are on a pedestal. It's like my friend says. He gives an example. He says women. It's like life is a ladder. Women are at the top of the ladder and they need to put out their arm to help their husband get up that ladder and hopefully not fall down. And he has many proofs to this way of thinking. I think it's very beautiful, but the idea behind it is that we need to recognize a woman is not obligated to the commandments of the Torah like a man is, because she doesn't need it. She's already more pre-installed connection with God. She has the routers, she has the Wi-Fi. She doesn't need all the plugins, she doesn't need all the it's built in.
50:04
We talked then about the firstborn rights, the wayward son, the laws of one who is put to death by hanging and the process of burial, the concern for others' property, aveda, which means the lost object. If someone loses an object, you walk down the street. You find a glove, not a baseball glove. Over here it's Houston, so forget it. That never happens. But nobody has gloves.
50:38
Here you see a baby blanket. That's something which is common in my neighborhood. You can find some baby blanket just on the sidewalk. Someone was walking, didn't realize the blanket fell off the stroller. The mother or the sibling that was walking, the baby continues to. They don't realize they dropped it.
51:00
Now you have this little baby blanket. What are you going to do with it? So you know what many people want to do. They see it. Sorry, didn't see it. I don't want to be stuck with that problem Now, if they can return it. No, the Torah says you shall not turn the blind eye to someone else's objects. Therefore, pick it up and you go on all those community chats with a picture and you say that anybody lose this, that anybody. Because I can guarantee you that mother is desperate to find her child's blanket. That baby probably can't fall asleep at night because they don't know where that blanket is. So the Torah commands us to return lost objects and there's a system in how this works. There's an entire tractate of Talmud dedicated to lost objects. Babem et sia Dealing with this specific matter.
52:00
Male and female garb. You mentioned this in the beginning of Genesis, that God created two genders and two genders only. This isn't a shock to you guys, right? Male and female, male garments and female garments are different and man should not be wearing female garments and females should not be wearing male garments Period. That's a verse in the Torah. Now let's continue. The laws of Shiloha ken, which is, if you find a bird's nest and the mother is sitting over its children, the proper way to conduct yourself with that. With that find the fence that is obligated to be placed around the roof.
52:48
The laws of tzitzit, the laws of Mozishemra, not to say something which is false about your fellow man. If it's true, it's la shonara. If it's false, it's Mozishemra. It's called straight out slander, adultery, the laws of adultery and the forbidden marriages forbidden to marry a non-Jew, forbidden for a Moevit or a Moenite male to marry into the Jewish people forever.
53:15
The sanctity of the people, sanctity of slaves and the sanctity of sexuality these are things which are holy. These are things that a slave should never be taken advantage of. The Torah commands us that if you have one pillow in your household, it goes to the slave. You make dinner and you only have one big steak for the master of the home, it goes to the slave. You have one of something, it goes to the slave. You have to treat them. They're humiliated enough that they have to serve you. We try to remove some of that humility, the humiliation, by giving them of what we have. The laws of interest if you loan someone money, there's a mitzvah in the Torah to loan someone money and a Jew is prohibited from charging interest.
54:12
The laws of vows, workers' rights, divorce, remarriage, kidnapping, torah leprosy, slander, debts, how to collect debts all of that is in the Torah in the portion of Kitei Tse. Timely payment to workers you have employees, you've got to pay them on time. Orphans and widows, the proper treatment of them and, of course, converts gifts to the poor, lashes yibum, the levered marriage, halitza, which is that's the. If someone doesn't want to marry his sister-in-law after his brother died without children, if he decides he does not want to live with that woman, then there's a whole process of halitza halitza still done today. And then there's a commandment in the Torah not to embarrass others. Not to embarrass others because it's like spilling their blood. And then honest weights and measures. These are solid laws. You can write books and books about each of these laws and remember Amalek. Amalek was a nation that came to push the Jewish people away from God by bringing doubts into their mind. Doubts, doubts. That's Amalek. We all have doubts. That's our Amalek and that's something that we need to eradicate every single day of our lives.
55:42
The next four portions Kisavo, nitzavim, vayilich and Ha'azinu are talking about the covenant of the Jewish people with God. We have a bond with the Almighty. The first is the blessing in the curses. The first fruit blessed give it a Hashem. The tithes give it a Hashem. The inseparable relationship of God and Israel. We have a new commitment to Torah, a renewed commitment, and then the blessings and curses for observance of the mitzvoth, where the Jewish people were divided up into two mountains, onto two mountains, har-gerizim and Har-Evo, where God says the blessings and the other mountain says Amayn. The people on the other mountain say Amayn and the other God says the consequences of neglecting God's Torah, and the other Jews and the other mountains say Amayn. Meaning it's very clear, it's made very, very clear. Everybody knows.
56:44
And Moshe's final charge and this is the last day of his life is the final four portions of the Torah, the last day of his life. Moshe had a very busy last day of his life. He wrote 13 books of the Torah, one to be placed in the ark and 12 remaining, one for each tribe. And we'll see in a minute that there's a discussion whether or not Moshe wrote the last three verses of the Torah which, after he dies, is written three more portions, three more, sorry, three more verses, or if it was written, if it was written by prophecy by Moshe or if it was written by Joshua. Regardless, we'll see that in a minute.
57:38
The parashah of Nitzavim talks about freedom of choice. You have the right to choose. It is a renewal of the covenant between God and the Jewish people. There's a warning against idolatry, the eventual redemption that we will have, just so that we know.
57:55
We're living in a world of total confusion. We don't know who to listen to. You turn on NBC, you turn on Fox News, you turn on ABC, you turn on CNN. It's like CNN stands for constant negative news. It's all about negativity and putting doubts in us and we don't know what to do. And wherever you go, it's just a total confusion. It's because we're right now in an exile and we don't have clarity. There is fogginess everywhere. We don't know, we don't see clear. Should I go for this candidate of Shanafah? They're going to be good for us. They're going to be bad for us, for our country, for Israel, for this, for that, so many Calcuttians we don't know what to do. There's a reason that's the case because we are not free people right now and we pray for this every day. Hashem, please send us our Redeemer, please send us our Messiah. Take us out of this exile and the repentance that will come upon the Jewish people at the end of times.
59:06
You can access the Torah. Everyone says well, I'm not a scholar, I can't, I can't learn Torah, I can't teach Torah. I definitely can't Me. Who am I?
59:19
The truth is, the Torah says you can access it. It's yours. It doesn't belong to the rabbis, and this is actually one of my favorite verses in the Torah. It says Torah Ziva l'onumosh the Torah was commanded to us by Moshe Morosh Shachihilas Yaakov, an inheritance to the congregation of Israel. It's an inheritance that each and every one of us received. It doesn't belong to the scholars, it doesn't belong to the rabbis, it doesn't belong to the religious. It belongs to you, to each and every one of us, to you right out there watching this video. It belongs to you listening to this podcast. It belongs to each and every one of you. It's yours.
01:00:14
Take it, own it, connect to it, ask questions on it. That's what the Talmud is filled with questions. A billion, trillion questions, always asking, always verifying. No, no, no. Give me a source. I don't like that answer. Give me a better answer. One after another, every single line of Talmud is another question, because we want to have clarity, we want to understand it. Give me more, give me more, give me more. Never ending desire to know more.
01:00:46
Torah Hashem gives a editor's advice. We know that. Manufacturers what do you call it. They give their own. What is it? The chef's special. They give a chef's special. Okay, you want to know how Hashem's special, that he has Special Hashem says. Hashem says I give you a choice Good, bad, good, evil, life or death. You know what God says. My recommendation Choose life, it's good for you, choose life. That's Hashem's recommendation. It's your choice. Good or bad, life or death. This is a decision that we make every single day Life or death. If we realize, just by the way, it's a little extreme, take it easy, but think of it like this A guy goes to the doctor and the doctor says you know I'm not liking these numbers.
01:02:00
We ran your blood work and you know you're an inch away from a heart attack. This is really bad and you're going to have to start watching what you eat. You can't eat anymore meat. You got to stay off the fatty foods, okay. So what's going to happen that night? You get home and you're like in shock. You're like, oh my goodness, salads for the rest of my life, okay, what happens Always?
01:02:25
That night you get a phone call from your best friend. Okay, what's going on? All the guys, they're all getting together. We're doing a barbecue tonight. Yetsarara right away, kicks in the evil inclination immediately. So what am I supposed to do? I'm supposed to be suddenly not live because the doctor said something. Nothing's going to happen, right? So you go there and you see this delicious burger and you're like oh steak. And you're like French fries, they're like all the things that are terrible for you. How did the doctor just told you not to eat.
01:02:58
Should I do it, should I not do it? Well, if you realize that your life is on the line, you might make a different decision. The choices good and bad are the choice of life and death. That's the way we need to see it. If I don't do that exercise, it's death because I need it for my health. If we make the decision, a drastic decision, of life or death, you'll make the right decision every time, every day of the week. You'll make the right decision if you put it as a life and death question. But if it's just like it's a preference, I should eat a little bit better. Nothing's going to happen. If I don't, then the diets will never succeed and the resolutions will never succeed and the gym memberships are going to be in vain. I'm still paying that membership so that I don't forget what I'm really committed to. How many times I've heard people say that January, new Year's resolution I'm going to get my gym membership. It's only $10 a month, but I'm not going to stop that subscription. We have so much ability. If we phrase things properly and the Torah tells us, you will choose life.
01:04:24
Part 6, the ninth portion, is the leadership transfer. Where Moshe leaves, there's a new leader, joshua selected, then there's the Hakel gathering and the Torah itself is its testimony. This is something which is so powerful. Let me ask you a question. You guys just wrote a book, right? Let me ask you a question what if you go out and you say to all of us here you say guys, just a little something.
01:04:55
I wrote a prophecy here in this book and it says what's going to happen on March 5th 2024. Therefore, because of this prophecy and that you saw that I was able to predict it in advance, all of you sitting here at the Torah Center, therefore, you have to follow the laws of this book. That's what the Torah is, right? No, it's not what the Torah is, because you know what I would say. What did you write in that prophecy for March 5th? You wrote that some jet was going to fly over and drop a bouquet of roses right by the torch center. It was going to land right by the front and that never happened. So therefore your whole book is out the window because the prophecy wasn't right, all the facts in it weren't right and therefore I don't have to keep anything but what's written to us in the Torah.
01:05:50
Every single thing that's written in the Torah was given to the people who witnessed it. It was given to those very people. They themselves experienced it and therefore the Torah was never refuted. The Torah was never thrown out, the Torah. There isn't a single book that refutes the facts of the Torah. The Christians believe it, the Muslims believe it, everyone accepts it completely, and the Jewish people did, because it itself writes about our experience. And we open up the book and we're like, yep, that's exactly how it happened and, yeah, that fact and that detail, that happened too, everything. So when you have a book that writes out and details the experiences that the people themselves in that generation had, it means, if you gave it 10 generations later and say, well, I guess that's what happened to my grandparents. I don't know, I heard a different story, but maybe I don't know.
01:06:58
Different versions, different things. The Koran had 400 different versions by the time not virgins virgins. By the time Muhammad died, 400, how many versions of the Torah do we have? One One. It's abnormal that 3300 years, we still have one Torah and that same Torah that you'll find here in Houston, texas, you'll find in Mexico, and you'll find in Uganda, and you'll find in any Jewish community around the world the same exact Torah.
01:07:32
So, my dear friends, the Torah itself is a testimony. The perfection of the Torah itself that gives the testimony of what we experienced as a people is a testimony. The second to last portion is one big song, the song of Moses God's kindness to Israel. The prosperity brings about this illusion. This again something that we saw as a theme throughout the book of Deuteronomy God's wrath and his anger to when we rebel against him. The source of Israel's suffering is when we kick against Hashem, when we rebel. Israel is comforted that God is going to never forget us. God is never going to sell us out. It's always going to be good for you. Don't worry. Hashem has our best interest in mind always. And then we have the last commandment to Moses and finally, the final portion of the Torah Moses, the man of God blesses each tribe. He gives each a copy of the Torah. Moshe sees the land, and then is the death of Moshe, and then that eulogy that we talked about earlier. Two words A godly servant, or Eved Hashem, the servant of Hashem. That's it. Two words, eved Hashem, that's his whole eulogy.
01:09:13
The Talmud tells us something so important which helps us understand this. You know, if you own a slave, whatever that slave acquires is yours Because you own them. So everything they have is yours. They're an extension of you. So if they walk down the street and they find a beautiful Rolex, you just got a Rolex. And if they go out into the street and they find something else, it's yours. It's yours because you own them. Everything they get is yours. That's the way it works.
01:09:51
The Talmud tells us Moshe was a servant to Hashem. Everything that he did was for Hashem. Every single action that Moshe did was as a servant to his master. Where he has no opinion of his own, he does what's best for his master, and that is the blessing for every one of us that we be servants of Hashem. But the parasha is not over yet. Moses' greatness, and that there will never be a prophet like Moses. There never was and there never will be. And the Jewish people mourned for Moses for 30 days. The last three verses again, there is a discussion whether or not it was Moshe who wrote it ahead of his death or Joshua finished it off. Regardless, the Torah is sealed and the five books of the Torah are concluded.
01:10:54
Now I want to ask a question before we end this magnificent crash course to the Bible, and that is what did we talk about all the way back in the beginning of the Torah? We talked about the Jewish people are going to get the land of Israel. Why does the Torah begin from Berajus, from creation, to tell us that God created the world and he decides who gets what land and it's his decision and that the nations of the world should never dispute the land of Israel, because God gave it to us and God promises it to Abraham, and God promises it to Isaac and to Jacob and further, to Moses and to the people leaving Egypt. I'm going to take you to the promised land and to Joshua. You see time and again and again and again, and here we see in this book of Dvaram, the book of Deuteronomy, moshe is preparing them. You're going to enter the Jewish land. This is the division of the inheritance. This is where each tribe gets their portion. This is how everything is going to be divided up the laws of the land, the tithes from the land, from all of your produce.
01:12:06
But the Jewish people never get to enjoy the land of Israel. In the Torah, later on in the prophets, they do Joshua we'll see. In the book of Joshua, you hear about the battles, you learn about all of the struggles the Jewish people had in conquering the land and eventually they conquer the land and it becomes the Jewish people's homeland. But I don't understand If the purpose of everything is to tell us about how the Jewish people get the land of Israel. We still don't see it. We're done with the end of the Torah here and the Jewish people still do not attain the land.
01:12:43
We don't even have one verse in the Torah. And they were sitting at the beach in Tel Aviv and they were sipping a pina colada and they were just enjoying their relationship with God, studying in the Yeshivas, learning Torah, doing acts of kindness, giving charity. Not a verse of that in the Torah. It's all about what's going to be. It's going to be, it's going to be, but not actually. And they were there and they've accomplished it.
01:13:15
So why not? Because when we get to experience the day of the promise coming to fruition in the Torah, the answer is that this is the story of our life. This is the story of our life. Life is not about sipping a pina colada at the beachfront. Life is about never stopping the toil and the pursuit to accomplish. We never stop fighting for success. We never just sit back and relax. We have to always be pushing forward, accomplishing more, doing more, pushing ourselves beyond our limits and saying I want to be closer to God and you know what I'm going to be in that land of Israel, and it's not going to be enough. I want to connect even more and even more and even more, and that's what the Torah is demonstrating to us. Don't get comfortable. There doesn't need to be a verse in the Torah that tells us how Israel enjoyed the land of Israel, how the Jewish people enjoyed the land of Israel. No need for that verse.
01:14:36
It's about the struggle there's a mishnah in ethics of our fathers, one of my favorite mishnahs. It says Lo alecha hamalachaligmo, your job is not to attain perfection Veluatah benchorin, lihi, botel me menah. But you're not either a free man to stop pursuing perfection. You don't need to be perfect, but you need to never stop pursuing it. Who's perfect in their service of Hashem? Nobody, but we can never stop pursuing it. You know what? Today wasn't a great day. Tomorrow will. Tomorrow's going to be that perfect day. You know what? Tomorrow might not, either, be a perfect day, but I'm going to keep on trying. The next day, get up again and we're going to go after it again.
01:15:32
None of our great leaders woke up on morning, rubbed their eyes and said, oh, I'm a Moses. Nobody. It took day after day after day after day of hard work, and even Moses, about which the Talmud says the verses in the Torah, says that there's nobody who lived this life and didn't sin. Nobody, even Moses. Get up again the next morning and you start all over again, and that's what the Torah is about.
01:16:07
The Torah is not a book that just says, oh, and everything's going to be so peaceful and it's going to be so great, and the bliss and the land you know, no one's going to fight against you. You're going to be in the beautiful land of Israel, where the fruits and vegetables are so perfect and where the terrain is magnificent, where you have everything is just beautiful. You have everything in the land of Israel. No, torah doesn't talk about that, not one verse. You know what the Torah talks about the struggle, because that's what life is about. Life is about the struggle. My dear friends, let's take this Torah and conquer, overcome and succeed in all of our struggles. God Bless.