Parsha Review Podcast · 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.

00:18 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Good morning everybody. Welcome back to the Parsha Review Podcast. This week's Parsha is Yisro. Yisro is such an important Parsha because the Ten Commandments, the Revelation and Mount Sinai was given in this week's Parsha. So let's jump right in. It is the fifth portion in the Book of Exodus and the seventeenth portion since the beginning of the Torah. There are seventy-five verses in this week's Parsha one thousand one hundred and four words, four thousand and twenty-two letters. There are seventeen commandments in this week's Parsha, three performative and fourteen prohibitions.

00:49
Hearing about the miracles Hashem performed for the Jews, moshe's father-in-law, yisro, comes to join the Jews. While reuniting Moshe with his wife Tsipora and his sons Gershom and Eliezer in the wilderness, moshe goes out to greet them and details the miracles the Ten Plagues, the Exodus, the splitting of the sea that Hashem performed for the Jewish people in their Exodus. Yisro converts to Judaism and upon seeing how the judicial system works, you know the Jews wanted to learn how to perform the mitzvahs properly, but it was led by Moshe alone. Yisro suggests the appointment of more judges to adjudicate smaller matters, availing Moshe to adjudicate the larger cases. Then Yisro leaves to return to Midyan and Moshe sees him off. Moshe accepts his advice and appoints the judges.

01:43
Over the tens, the fifties, hundreds and thousands, the Jewish people travel to and camped at Mount Sinai where Hashem offers them the Torah. When Hashem offers the Torah, it is to all the nations, but only Kale Yisro, only the Jewish people accept it by saying everything that Hashem has said, we will do. Kola Shehdibe Hashem Naaseh. Hashem tells them that if they accept the Torah, they will be a chosen and special nation. Hashem tells Moshe that, because the mountain is so holy, no one should get close to it and that they should prepare themselves for three days as something incredibly awesome will happen On the third day. The entire people saw the thunder and the flames, the sound of the shofar and the smoking mountain. The people saw and trembled and stood from afar.

02:40
Hashem's presence descends on the mountain and a clear revelation, directly to the masses, of his godly voice emanates, declaring the Ten Commandments, which is the standard for goodness in the world. The first commandment is I am Hashem, your God. The second do not worship idols or other gods. The third do not swear falsely in Hashem's name. The fourth keep and observe the Shabbos. The fifth, honor your parents. The sixth, do not murder. The seventh, do not commit adultery. The eighth, do not steal. The ninth, do not testify falsely. And the tenth, do not be jealous or covet. After receiving the first two commandments, the Jewish people, overwhelmed by this experience of the divine, request that Moshe relay Hashem's word to them and not receive it directly from Hashem. We'll see more about this in a few minutes. Hashem instructs Moshe to caution the Jewish people not to draw close to the mountain or touch any part of it, and Moshe himself ascends the mountain to accept the tablets. Hashem commands them to build an altar with no metal and no steers.

03:59
So that is the summary of the parasha, but now let's dig a little deeper into some of the lessons, the important lessons that we can learn from this week's parasha. Firstly, if you had to sell the Torah, if you had to sell Judaism, what would be your sales pitch? Well, listen to Hashem's sales pitch. It is Mamleches, kohanim Vigoy Kadosch. If you be my people, you will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. That's what it is. You will be wealthy. It doesn't say you'll be smart. It doesn't say all the proofs of creation and heaven and hell and reward and punishment none of that. The Jew always desires to be great, to be big. That is our draw, that is our gift. Forever as a people is to be great. That is what we inherited as part of this package that we get in being the chosen people. Now, why are we called the chosen people? Because we chose God.

05:19
Very interestingly, the Midrash tells us that every nation was offered. Every nation had a prophet, just like Moses, and we even see that Bil'am was a more powerful prophet than Moshe was. He had greater capabilities in his prophecy than Moshe had. But every nation had a prophet. Everyone got that same email, offer pending, and it said I'm looking to choose a nation. Whoever wants it, just say I. Many nations asked what's in that Torah? Thou shall not steal oh, not for me. Thou shall not covet no, not for me. Thou shall not perform adultery no, not for me. And each nation heard what was in the Torah and said, nah, I'm not really interested. The Jewish people didn't even ask. They said nah, seven Ishma, as we'll see next week's Torah portion, the Jewish people accepted the Torah because they wanted more than just the laws.

06:20
We have to understand that the Torah is not about the rules. It's about the relationship with the Almighty. If someone observes every rule by the letter of the law but fails to feel a connection to God, the entire act is flawed. They have to feel the connection with the Almighty. What's the greatest way to do that? Follow the laws. The laws are the tools so that we can connect to it, so we can connect to the Almighty. The Torah that was given to us is the manual for living. You want to know how to maximize life.

07:06
Look at his Torah, look at the Torah that Hashem gave us. It has every detail in there. Now it's very interesting that Yisro is the name of this week's partial, but Yisro, at this time, was not a Jew. Yet the Torah is given in a portion named for Yisro, which is, by the way, interesting. There's no portion named for Moses or Aaron or Abraham Isaac or Jacob or Joseph. There's a portion named for Anandju. And not only that the most important part of the entire Torah the Ten Commandments, the Revelation at Mount Sinai is specifically in the portion named for Yisro. And the obvious question is why would that be the case? Why would Hashem choose, specifically in this portion named for Anandju, to be the portion where the Torah is given.

08:05
Our sages tell us that if you look at the first word in this week's partial, you will hear the answer, and that is Vayishma Yisro. And Yisro heard, he got the message. My grandfather would explain. He says you know, people would read their local paper. New York Times isn't an invention of the United States. There's always been news. There's always been a form of media. People would read the Cairo Times and people would read the newspaper of Jordan and all of the surrounding nations Breaking news. God, as Moses predicted, inflicts the Egyptians with the plague of blood and the plague of frogs and each, every day, they're reading the news and it's incredible. But people are like oh, that's interesting. Let me turn to the sports page now. But there's one individual who says wow, this is not the ordinary, this is something unique and special, this is something I want to get part of, this is something I want to connect with. And Yisro packs his bags, gets up and says I want to join the people. He heard the message.

09:25
Our sages tell us there is no virtue that is more important to acquiring Torah than listening to your messages. Take note of it. You want to grow in Torah. Listen to your message and we learn this from none other than Yisro. Yisro teaches us the importance of taking, heeding the message. He got the message and he sprung into action. That's what we need to be as servants of the Almighty. Get the message. Hashem is constantly communicating with us.

10:08
Now it's clear from the Ramban that, although chronologically Yisro received his conversion, he advises Moshe and leaves back to Minyan after the Jews already received the Torah, but it's written in the Torah earlier. So you have to understand. There's a very important principle in the Torah. Our sages all comment about this there is no chronology in the Torah. The Torah is not written in order. There are things that happen prior to when it's written. There are things that happen after, when it's written. When we talk about Yisro, we say the whole story of Yisro and then we continue what happened? But really part of that story of Yisro happened after the Jews received the revelation of Mount Sinai. So Yisro, although the Torah says that he joined the Jewish people and that he gave advice to Moshe because what was the advice that he gave to Moshe? The Jewish people are inquiring about those mitzvahs, how to perform them. Well, if they weren't commanded yet, then what are they asking about? So therefore, it's clear from the Ramban that indeed it was all after the commandments were given. The Ten Commandments were given.

11:32
That's when Yisro left and went back to Midian. What did he do in Midian? He went to do outreach. He opened up the first torch center in Midian. He says guys, we need to connect with the Almighty, we need to convert everyone. And at that point everyone was a convert. We have to realize that there was no Jewish people prior to the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Prior to the revelation, there was no Jewish people. They were called Hebrews. As soon as there was a revelation at Mount Sinai, that's when we were commanded the laws of the Torah, and at that point there was the Jewish people. So everybody, essentially, was a convert.

12:12
Now just a very interesting side point. We've mentioned this many times in the past, but because we're talking about conversion, it's important for us to know something. What happened to all of those French who, when their prophet says, oh, thou shall not perform adultery, they're like oh, I'm out? What happened to those who said no, no, no, we would like to join and become the chosen people? So it wasn't, it was a majority vote. So what happened to that 5% who said no, we want to join and become the chosen people. They were outvoted. What's about the Muslims who were offered the Torah and said thou shall not steal? They're like, forget it, I'm not in. But what's about the minority who said no, no, no, we want to be the chosen people? The Midrash says that those are the future converts to the Jewish people. Because why should they be penalized? Because they were in the minority. God says you know what? Because they desire to be of the chosen people. They will be of the chosen people. At a future time they will convert as well. So when someone converts to Judaism, you have to know that soul originally said I do to the Almighty's proposal, I would like to, yes, I want to join and be of the chosen people.

13:33
When discussing the miracles that Hashem performs for us, don't leave out a single detail. You see that Yisro learns about every single detail of what happened to the Jewish people, as Moshe explains it. Moshe doesn't mince words. Moshe goes into every single little detail and informs Yisro exactly what happened, the miracles that Hashem performed. Each one of us experiences miracles every single day. Don't leave out a detail. Recognize that Hashem loves you. Recognize that those miracles are performed as an expression of love and therefore don't leave out a single detail, because the more you talk about it, the more love you'll feel towards the Almighty. And this is what it says in the Haggadah. The more a person details the Exodus from Egypt, all of the miracles, everything that happened. Imagine you yourself are walking through, like, put yourself in the shoes of those who left Egypt and walk through the sea on dry land and you see behind you the Egyptians are trying to attack you and their horses and their chariots get stuck in what for you is dry land, but for them becomes moist land on the seabed, and then they're all stuck and then the waters come in and they all perish. Imagine the miracles, feel it, connect to it, speak out the details, because the more you talk about it, the more enriched you will feel, the more enriched you will become and the more love of the Almighty you'll experience.

15:32
Now, very interestingly, moshe. Who is Moshe? Moshe is the leader of the Jewish people. He's the greatest prophet to ever live, the father of all prophets. And here's some guy walks over to him, happens to be his father-in-law. Okay, he tells him in front of everybody. He says you know something, a little piece of advice. You know, those people come into your office and they start telling you how to run your business, you know. So here Yisro comes in and tells Moshe you know, I was an advisor to Pharaoh. I'm just going to give you a little piece of advice here. You know, you shouldn't be the only judge for the Jewish people. You shouldn't be the only decider.

16:14
Now, what was the real problem here? The real problem was like this Everybody wants a relationship with the head honcho. Every, you know the big cheese. Everybody wants to connect with the leader. So people would come up with little quarrels. You know, he took his wheelbarrel and he went over my grass. I want him to replace it. And they'd go and they'd sit and wait online and it was just like so that they can have some time with Moshe, with Moses, so that Moshe can preside over their case and build a personal relationship with Moshe. But you can't do that with 3.2 million people. Delegation is what Yisro invented. He was the first executive advisor, the executive coach. You know that's where the coaching business began. You should call it Yisro and company. So what happens? Moshe accepts.

17:13
Now, as we learned in the Mishnah, a wise person accepts criticism from everyone. Listen to the message, not the messenger. Many times we're like well, that's a kid, a little punk, he's going to tell me what. Well, guess what? He might have a piece of very great wisdom for you. Don't underestimate the value of the message. Just regard the messenger for a second. Take the message on its virtues. Is there value here? It's an important lesson for all of us. Don't take note of the messenger, take note of the message. It's a nice thing to also value the messenger and appreciate them, because King Salman tells us some proverbs Criticize a wise person and they will love you for it. So it's not only the message, it's the messenger.

18:18
Now the Jewish people arrive at Mount Sinai on the first day of the month of Sivan, which is the third month of the Jewish year. Nisan, which is Pesach time, eir and Sivan, the third month. What happens? On day one, they rest up from their journey. Day two, bnei Yisrael decide if they want the Torah and demand to hear Hashem's voice. So we have to understand that. The Jewish people are like okay, we know that there's a God, but we need more than just a messenger through Moshe. We need direct contact with that God. We want to hear his voice. Now, they didn't know what they were asking for. They got more than they bargained for, as we'll see in a minute. On day three, moshe makes a border around Harsinai, around Mount Sinai.

19:05
On day four, bnei Yisrael go to the mikvah. They begin preparing themselves. The Torah tells us that husband and wife needed to separate themselves from each other for three days. So it was day four, five and six that they were separated from one another and they washed their clothes. On day five, the preparations continue and on day six, they receive the revelation Torah and mitzvot are the souvenir of Mount Sinai.

19:34
You know, we've discussed this multiple times. We say this in the Haggadah. When we sing the beautiful song of Dian, we say God, it only brought us to Mount Sinai, but didn't give us to Torah Dian, that would be enough. What do you mean? That would be enough? It wouldn't be enough. Isn't everything about the Torah? Isn't everything about the commandments, the mitzvot? How do we perform the mitzvot, like we mentioned previously? No, it's about the relationship. It's all about the relationship.

20:03
If you go on vacation, you go to Alaska, you go to Florida, you go to Mexico, you go to London, wherever you go around the world, you come back with a little souvenir. Why? Because everyone wants to take a little piece of China back home with. I mean this, not China. Everyone wants to take a little gift back from where they were, because every time I'll look at that magnet that says Jerusalem ah, it'll bring me back to that memory of where we were. We went to the Western Wall and you remember when we did this and we went there and we went there and we saw this and we met that person. It brings back the whole experience.

20:48
The Jewish people had the greatest revelation in the history of the world, where God directly speaks to the people. They're like whoa, what are we gonna do in 3,300 years? When we're sitting in Houston, texas, and we're gonna be trying to recall that revelation in Mount Sinai, god says to us don't worry, I'm giving you a Torah. In that Torah there are going to be 613 souvenirs that you will be able to bring back and recall each and every one of those experiences, each one of the mitzvahs. Some people can look at it and say, oh, 613 problems. Well, you can look at it like that, but you know how else you can look at it. It's 613 opportunities to bring back that clarity, that focus, that revelation, that relationship with the Almighty.

21:49
Every mitzvah has the power to do that. A mitzvah is not to keep us busy. Oh, the rabbis made up all these laws. That is false. The rabbis didn't make up any laws. The rabbis, beginning with Moshe, taught us how to observe, how to perform those mitzvahs, because the Torah only tells us what to do, not how to do. Remember that the Torah tells us what to do, not how to do. Like we're going to see in the next segment of Living Jewishly.

22:24
We're gonna talk about Tefillin phylacteries we put on our arm, opposite our heart, on our head, between our eyes, opposite our brain, for what the Torah tells us. But the Torah doesn't tell us exactly what they are. It doesn't tell us what they comprise of. We don't have all those details in the Torah. It doesn't tell us how to that.

22:47
We needed Moshe, who went up for those 40 days to learn everything from the Almighty Himself. Just as an example, does anybody know what color Tefillin are? Unanimous, everybody says black. How do we know that? The Torah doesn't tell us that? If I came to shul with pink Tefillin, what would everyone say? I'm sorry we got a little problem here because everybody knows that Tefillin shouldn't be pink I'm like, but I like the color pink. Real men wear pink. No, everybody knows Tefillin need to be black.

23:21
You know where we learned that from From Moshe at Mount Sinai. And since the giving of the Torah, all of the commandments, all 613 commandments, were taught from the Almighty to Moses and Moses to Aaron, etc. Going all the way down till us 130 generations of rabbi to student, all the way to us learning here at the Torch Center, from God giving Moses the Torah at Mount Sinai, all the way to the Torch rabbis and rabbitans and each and every one of us sitting here, 130 generations of rabbi to student, rabbi to student. No break in that link. It's the direct when we are learning together. It's Moses and the people of Israel learning the Torah at Mount Sinai.

24:16
That's one of the reasons it's very important for every person to have a rabbi, to have someone they learn from. Yeah, I can read it in the book myself, but there's a lot missing when you don't learn it from a rabbi, who learned it from his rabbi, who learned it from his rabbi, etc. Etc. So why is it so important and why is there so many details about the Revelation at Mount Sinai? Why is it so important. It's one of the most fundamental principles in Jewish faith. Do you believe in Torah from Sinai? Do you believe in that? Why is it so important? Let's say I don't. So here's something very, very important for us to understand.

24:56
Judaism is the only again the only religion that is based on a public Revelation. Muhammad had a dream. He was alone. Jesus had a dream, he was alone. Judaism didn't have any of that. We don't believe in Moses, our God. We believe in Hashem, creator of Heaven and Earth, our God, because he himself spoke, not to Moshe alone, to the entire Jewish people.

25:32
Every single Jew standing at Mount Sinai heard, saw, experienced the Revelation at Mount Sinai. It was a public Revelation. You know why? You ever realized that Judaism is the only religion that doesn't threaten. People Believe in Judaism, or else Every other religion, in order to exist, needs to have the threat factor. In Christianity, you have eternal damnation. Either believe in our Lord and Savior or eternal damnation. In Islam you have the same thing. If you don't believe in Muhammad, the prophet, then you're an infidel and we're gonna wage a jihad against you. It's threatened. Or else you better submit to our individual's revelation or else and Judaism is no such thing.

26:34
Now, why is there no such thing? Because here's the thing If we all experience something together and I go out there and I write a book about that experience that we all had, how many editors do I have to that book? All of us, because we all experienced it and if I write something that's inaccurate, what's going to happen? You're going to say, excuse me, I'm going to write a book against it and I'm going to say no, no, no, no. Everyone's going to say that this is not true, this is not what happened. Walby never split the Houston Lake for us and he never brought us to Galveston through the clouds. And that never happened. He writes it in the book, but it never happened. And you have 3.2 million people experiencing the same exact thing and exactly the details that are written in our Torah Chapter 20, is exactly what happens. And in the history of the world, there's never been anyone who says no, no, no, that's not accurate, unless they're an arrogant philosopher of the 1900s, but someone who was there. Not a single one. That's why you need a public revelation. There's no dispute.

27:50
So what happens when the Jewish people experience the revelation at Mount Sinai and God delivers the Ten Commandments? Hashem's voice is heard, or say, just tell us that they heard the Ten Commandments all at once. It was like just a sudden infusion. Now, don't forget, the Jewish people were at the 49th level of impurity in Egypt. They were ready to give up. If they had gotten to the 50th level, they would never be able to be pulled out of it. There's no level lower than that. But they weren't at the bottom, bottom, bottom. They were one step above the bottom and they had to get all the way up to the highest level of holiness. That was an extreme infusion of holiness. Suddenly, to have that revelation, they just tell us that the Jewish people not only they flew back miles and miles away. It says Ve'yam du Merahok. Suddenly, it says and they stood from afar. They were standing by Mount Sinai. Well, it was like an explosion. What happens by an explosion? You just fly back by the force.

29:02
The Jewish people couldn't handle this powerful expression from the Almighty that encompassed the entire Ten Commandments boom, a zap of spirituality. Their souls departed and they needed to be resuscitated. That was the first of the Ten Commandments. Then came the Second Commandment. Then the same thing happened again, to which point the Jewish people said to Moshe we can't one more time and we're done so.

29:31
If you notice the way the First Commandment is written and the Second Commandment is written, it is Anochii Hashem alakhecha. I am Hashem, your God. Hashem self is talking to us. The Second Commandment lo ye lechai, lo kimachim al panai, you should not have another God before me. Hashem is talking to us directly From the Third One Lotis Hashem, hashem alakhecha la shav, the name of your God, which is Moshe talking already. The Third Commandment, all the way through the 10th, was already via Moshe, because the Jewish people couldn't handle such a revelation, such a powerful force of infusion of inspiration, of spirituality. Their souls couldn't handle it anymore. So Moshe did the rest of the job.

30:28
You need to know that. Anyone who's ever gone to a class knows that you can take as many notes as you want, but what we do is what's most effective is that you write the headlines and you come home and you talk to your spouse and you say you know great class today. Rabbi said what was that? Oh yeah, he said the story, right, and you talk about the whole story and you go into all the details of the story, but you're not going to write out every detail of the story.

30:59
The Torah is written in the same way. It's written sort of as headlines, and then you need the oral explanation, oral Torah to get through and expound on all of the details. The Torah is just the headlines. We have millions of laws, details of laws. There are so many laws that need to be explained. What art of film, what is a Moshe? It doesn't say. It says what to do, not how to do All of those oral explanations. They don't expire. You need to have a teacher. You need to have someone that you learn from, that can explain the laws.

31:46
The oral Torah is just as important as the written Torah because it explains the details of the written Torah. Without it, the Torah doesn't have any value. It's missing the essence. So for those who might say, oh, I believe in the written Torah, but not the one, the Rabbi is made up the oral Torah, that's patently false and it's ignorance. You cannot understand the words of the Torah without the oral explanations that were given and written through the hand of Moshe and Joshua. If you look at the Ramam, ramam says they all had notebooks. All of those notebooks were assembled into what became the Mishnah and later the Talmud, and it's organized so beautifully and so methodically. The rabbis didn't make up anything.

32:41
And the last point on this week's parashah is that immediately after the revelation, god says make an altar. You're going to need to have a way to express this relationship. But there are two exceptions to this. You're going to build an altar, don't use any metal. Why? Because metals are used for weapons, are used to murder, to kill. I don't want that in my temple. Why? Because the temple is a place of peace. In fact, the temple is built in the portion of Binyamin. Binyamin was the peaceful brother. He was the only one who didn't sell Yosef. He wasn't involved in the conflict. God says my temple needs to be in his portion because everything about God and his relationship with us is about peace and therefore no weapons. We're going to come back to this point of peace in one second.

33:46
But there's another thing that's written in the Torah Do not put steps on the altar. Why? Because when one would lift their steps up, when the Kohane would lift his steps, his feet, up from step to step, it would be revealing to the floor of the temple and it would be immodest, it would be insensitive. We learn something which is so important in Judaism. We all are familiar with the custom that we cover the khala when we recite the kiddish on Friday night and Shabbos morning. Why? So that we don't shame, we don't embarrass the khala, because usually we start a meal with bread, we break bread and now we're starting the meal with kiddish, with wine. So it's not to shame, not to embarrass the khala, we cover it. Give me a break. Really, the khala is embarrassed. The floor of the altar is going to be embarrassed. It's going to be ashamed.

34:46
The answer is that if we're careful for inanimate objects and their feelings, hopefully we'll learn to be careful and sensitive to humans. You can't only expect to be sensitive to humans when you're not sensitive to your surroundings. You can't trash the world and not trash human beings. When you're careful for the things around you, when you're sensitive to the things around you, you'll hopefully learn, as the Torah teaches us, to be sensitive to the people around us. There's a story that's told about the Chavitzchayim. He was once a guest because he would travel a lot to sell his books and to inspire people. Chavitzchayim was once eating in someone's house Friday night and the host yells to the wife in the kitchen where's the cover for the khala? Right before they were about to get the meal started, chavitzchayim pulls them aside and asks them why do we cover the khala? He says, oh, so we don't embarrass the khala. He says, oh, but your wife you can embarrass.

35:53
Let's put it to practical application. It's important for us to realize the sensitivity we need to have for another human being. Now we mentioned peace. Hashem wants peace. The Torah says such a beautiful terminology of the Jewish people standing around Mount Sinai to receive the Torah. It says Vayichan Sham Yisrael Neged Hahar. They camped around the mountain, the Jewish people camped around the mountain. Rashi says ke'i shechad belevechad. One man, one heart. The unity was unshakable. The unity was perfect In order to connect with the Almighty. We need unity. We need the Jewish people to be one. We need there to be love. We need to get over the little quarrels. We need to get over the little insults and offenses. We've got to move past it. That is the key to success in Torah. My dear friends, have an amazing Shabbos and thank you so much for listening to the Partia Review Podcast.