Parsha Review Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:01 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
You are listening to Rabbe Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, texas. This is the Parsha Review Podcast.

00:01 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody to the weekly Parsha review. This week's Parsha is Parshas Ki Savo, or Ki Tavo. It is the seventh portion in the book of Deuteronomy, in the book of Devarim, and the fiftieth portion since the beginning of the Torah. There are 122 verses in this week's Parsha 1,747 words and 6,811 letters. As we say every week, there isn't an extra letter, word or verse in the Torah. If it's there, it's there for a reason. Pick a word, pick a letter, pick a verse in the Torah and look into it. You will see the most incredible depths of wisdom, of clarity, of direction from our Creator. All right, in the past two Torah portions, we focused on justice. We said remember Shovtim vishotrim, you should have a set of laws, you should have a way to implement those laws, a police system and individual rights we discussed last week.

01:12
Now Moshe focuses the nation's attention on the realities of life in Eritz, israel. You're going to arrive in the land of Israel. You're going to pass through the Jordan and guess what? It's time to buckle down and settle in and go in the ways of Hashem properly. And Moshe puts forward what is going to be required of the Jewish people. So it starts. The parshah begins by the bi-kurim. When you enter the land that Hashem gives you as an inheritance and you possess it and dwell in it take the first produce of your fields and orchards in a basket to the temple and give it to the Khoen. The Khoen will take the basket from you and place it before the altar. There you shall declare your recognition of Hashem's outstretched hand that took us out of Egypt, our miraculous exodus and the journey through the forty years in the desert, and that Hashem gave us our promised land Going with milk and honey.

02:10
And much of these verses appear in our Pesach, seder Haggadah, where we say Arami Ovedavi and we recall all of the incredible miracles. This needs to be declared with our lips. We need to say it. You shall rejoice with all the goodness that Hashem, your God, has given you and your household, you and the Levites and the converts who are in your midst and this is a verse in the Torah to be happy and rejoice in the observance of the Torah. It's not about ay, ay, ay, ay quetching. That's not what it's about. It's about being happy and rejoicing. If you don't have joy in your Judaism, you're not doing it right. It's all about having a relationship with God, and it's impossible to have a relationship with God without joy.

02:58
Then the Torah teaches us in this week's Power Show about the tithes that must be taken from all crops in a three-year cycle. Year one, you tithe to the Levite. Year two and three, the second tithe, ma'asar Sheini, must be brought to Jerusalem. And year three, the tithe for the poor, ma'asar Ani, to the widow, the orphan, the convert. When giving the tithe, one must declare the commitment to Hashem and his commandments. On the last day of Pesach, of the fourth and seventh years of the seven-year Shemitah cycle, a person must declare that he has indeed distributed the tithes appropriately, in the prescribed manner.

03:37
The chosen nation, moshe, reminds Mene, yisrael, the Jewish people, that we are Hashem's chosen people and that we chose Hashem, as the verse states and Hashem has distinguished you today to be for him a treasured people, as he spoke to you, and to observe all his commandments and to make you supreme over all the nations that he made for praise, for renown and for splendor, and so that you will be a holy people to Hashem, your God, as he spoke. This is an important responsibility of the Jewish people. The Torah very clearly states we are meant to be a light unto the nations. We are meant to be held to accountability and to a higher standard. We say, oh, look at them, look at them, they hate us. There's so much antisemitism in the world. No, no, no, no. We chose this life. We chose to be held accountable and to live to a higher standard and to show the nations of the world what it means to be God's people. When we don't live up to that standard, that's when there's problems.

04:46
Moshe and the elders command the people to renew their commitment to the Torah. When you arrive in the land of Israel, erect 12 huge stones and write the Torah on them. Lay out the laws clearly. It's very important. The mission tells us that if a rabbi teaches laws without clarity, it can cause death, because people are going to learn the laws in an incorrect fashion and then start arguing with each other no, you're doing it wrong, and etc. It can lead to the terrible things. You must have clarity and do it in all seven languages and seal it with a thin layer of plaster, meaning it should be preserved.

05:23
Moshe commands the tribes to split onto the two mountains for the declaration of the blessings and the curses. This was mentioned previously that when they arrive in Israel, they will divide up onto two mountains. So now this is the details of that Shimon, the tribe of Shimon, levi, yehudi, sakha, yosef and Benjamin on Mount Grisim, on behalf of the blessings, and the tribes of Reuven, god, asher, zivulun, dan and Aftali on Mount Eval, on behalf of the curses, and the Kohanim and the Lvivium and the Holy Ark are in the valley between the two mountains. And then, when the Levites declare the blessings, both sides respond Amen. What does Amen mean? Yes, indeed, we believe and we know the veracity, the truth of these blessings, the authenticity of these blessings, and the same with the curses. They respond Amen after they recited by the Levites from the valley the blessings promise limitless rewards, physically and spiritually, to those who follow the Torah. The chilling curses promise unimaginable punishment to those who abandon and disobey the Torah.

06:36
The parasha concludes with Moshe's final charge. As we'll see, next week is the last day of Moshe's life. The parasha concludes with Moshe's final charge to the people, recounting the miraculous nature of the past 40 years, where your garments and shoes did not wither, did not wear, and you didn't eat bread or drink wine because you had the mana and Hashem, won your battles with the mighty Sichon and Og and gave you their lands. All miracles we lived in unbelievable miracles, a clear indication of Hashem's ever-present protection, past and future. Observe the words of this covenant and you shall perform them so that you will succeed in all that you do. My friends, this concludes the parasha review summary.

07:24
But I want you to know that it is important we mention this every week. It is important for us to take a time, take a moment to look through the portion ourselves. Read the words. It is unbelievable. The wisdom I guarantee you. There will be things that come up while you're reading it. You can be like one second. This doesn't make sense. Let me look in the commentary, let me understand more. Let me look into this more. And, by the way, if you have questions, there are thousands and thousands of commentaries who agree with you, who have the same exact questions. You know that they have the same exact questions. So don't think for a second that there's something wrong with you if you have questions. That's why we have thousands and thousands and thousands of commentaries on the Torah, explaining every single letter, every single word, every single verse of the Torah. So this is our Torah. Let's take it and look into it in its fullest capacity.

08:25
Okay, I want to begin with discussing Rebbeinu Bachya's introduction to this week's parshah, because the parshah begins with Bikurim, the gifts that were given to the Levites, the gifts that were brought to the temple, the tithes. So it's important for us to talk a little bit about how to give charity. What's the proper way to give charity? We've quoted this in the past, but I think, because it's in this week's parshah introduction, it's important for us to actually read it inside, he says that we have to understand King Salman tells us, he warns us, what it means to have trust in Hashem. And he reminds us Sheykhabed ha'odam me honolakotishporchu, that a person should honor God with his possessions, that a person shouldn't say, oh my goodness, look at my wealth, it's my money and I'm giving it away to the poor people. Av'el yiftach pashem izbarchh. But you should rather, you should have trust in Hashem. Because of your actions of giving to the poor and giving charity, hashem will bless you even more. The ayin lo lachov shebesibas ha'pizur hazeh yechser me honol. And don't think for a second that you're going to lack anything, because King Salman already taught us in Proverbs no saint lo rush ayin makhsir, those who give to the poor, those who give to charity, will have no lackings whatsoever.

09:57
You want to know how to never have financial difficulties? Give charity. The more you give charity, the more Hashem gives you to give. He gives you even more and he throws a greater abundance upon you. Ach yeh shlo lahamin be'em es kihashem yis'al yosif alav. You have to know and believe that Hashem will give you more and more and more on what you're giving. K'ikhayn umar yeh shmifaz evan osif'od, as it says further in Proverbs you give and Hashem gives you more, ve'od umar and more. It says in Proverbs lo yuh ilu otsurush resha vitzdak at tatsim limavis.

10:34
All of the treasures of the evil aren't going to help them, but you know what charity does? It protects you from death. Our sages tell us that there is a Satan, a evil power, evil force that, whenever we come to pray in front of God, stands in our way and doesn't allow our prayers to be brought forward in front of the Almighty. But you know what the power over that evil force is. You know what overcomes them, siddhaka, which is why you'll notice that in many synagogues, when people start their prayer, they put even a coin, a penny, a nickel, a dime, a quarter, a dollar, $20, $100, they make a difference.

11:20
How much Put charity? Because the charity neutralizes the evil force that blocks our prayers. So there are people I was actually visiting someone recently who was injured they broke their foot and they weren't able to walk. So I came to their house and I helped them with their tfilin, putting on their tfilin, and they said oh, in my tfilin bag you'll notice that there's money there. Can you take a dollar and put it into the pushka, into the tskakobaks, into the charity box? It's the proper way to do things that before you pray you put money into the charity box. So what is it?

11:58
Yomar ki Yisron hahon hamakubots binagezel machomas loyoyil. Just know that any money that you attain dishonestly or through theft, or through cheating, or through skimming off the top, will not benefit you. One ayodah Ve ha'akhezron shiachsel et stakko yo'olo. But the money that you give away to charity, that will help you, that will benefit you. Ki tatsilenu mimavis number one, it'll save you from death, it'll literally save you from death.

12:30
Ve ze sh'amruzal melach mamon chaser ve amrilo chesed that the salt of money, so to speak, is lacking. No, it's not lacking. It's chesed, it's kindness. It's going to only bring about kindness to you. Ve kivon shakayn. And because it is so ro'uilo ila adam shiachsel remon.

12:53
Ila chol dvar mitzvah ve kinyonay hamalos. It is worthy for a person, it is a proper cause for a person to expend money on mitzvahs. You're buying a mizuzah. Don't just buy the cheapest mizuzah. What's the cheapest? Give me the cheapest. No, no, no, no. I'm doing a mitzvah. I'm going to do the finest. I'm not going to buy the cheapest pierced fillin. I'm not going to buy.

13:14
The way you buy food for Shabbos, don't buy the cheapest slice of kosher meat. Get the finest slice of kosher meat. You're doing a mitzvah. Hashem repays you for the mitzvahs. You observe Not only that.

13:27
The prophets tell us that you can borrow against God for Shabbos. Borrow against God. Who's going to pay it back? Hashem will pay it back and you can test Hashem for it. Try it. You don't have money. You're like I can't buy this food for Shabbos. If you buy it in the honor of Shabbos, he's Hashem. I don't know. I'm going to repay this money. It's on you Now.

13:52
Listen to this U'bifrat be mitzvahsat stakoh, and certainly to expend money on charity. Kihanosan stakoh lani. Listen to these words the one who gives money to the poor? Laakadoshbaruchunosna. You know who you're actually giving it to. You're giving it to the Almighty.

14:13
Do you know who that person standing at your door asking for charity is? You think it's some poor person. Nah, it's not a poor person. It's God masquerading as a poor person. God says show me how you give, show me how you're generous, show me how you are caring for another person. It's not that person you think it's a person. It looks like a person. It feels like a person. It sounds like a person. It talks like a person. It's really Akadoshbaruchunosna. It's really the Almighty who's there to see how you treat this poor person.

14:53
Hashem wants to see in what way. How do you give it? Do you give it with a smile? Do you give it begrudgingly? Do you give it with like, oh, okay, fine, okay, I'm going to give the smallest amount. Just get out of my way, stop bothering me. What's the minimum I need to get? I'll tell you a story.

15:12
Last week we had someone who was here who was collecting for the Satmabikah Holam, something which is very dear to me and very meaningful, because I personally benefited multiple times visiting people in a hospital, whether it be over Shabbos or whether it be at other inconvenient time. And you're wondering how am I going to eat lunch, where am I going to eat breakfast? Where am I going to get a snack? Where am I going to sit? You're waiting for someone who's in the emergency room, someone who's in a surgery and you go to the Beaker Holam room and these righteous women 10,000 meals a day that they fresh home cook and deliver to 30 hospitals, 20 hospitals around New York, new York, new Jersey area. And he was right here in the room last week and we gave everyone the opportunity and the privilege to give charity to this individual, and it's not to him. He's raising it for all of the expenses that they have. It's massive, it's over the $3 million budget.

16:19
Never let an opportunity pass you by. If you have the opportunity to give charity now, don't wait until tomorrow to give it, because tomorrow may not come. My dear friends, when an opportunity comes, don't say I'll do it another day. We may not have another day. Don't say when I have money I'll give it, because that's not true. Giving is a muscle and if you work that muscle it'll be strong and if you don't, it'll wither. We have to practice being givers. The Almighty looks at how we give, not only what we give. How we give is the most important. Okay, so that's the introduction.

16:54
The first produce of our trees, of our orchards, of our land, of our fields. Do you know how precious that first crop is? Ah, it's finally coming. Look at those grapes, look at the vines. Look at the peppers. Look at the fruits, the oranges. No, no, no, no, no.

17:15
The first crops you don't take for yourself, the first crops you remember? Who gives you everything? Who gave you everything? What do you mean? It's me. I have my workers and I have my special seeds I bring in from Germany and I have these special mixtures of grapes that I bring from France. It's me, it's my intelligence. No, you're missing the boat. Remember, from your first crop, everything is from Hashem. It's so that we never get to a point where we're arrogant and think God forbid that. It's from us. Right away, you got your first crop, right away. And what do you do when you bring that gift, you declare Hashem. I recognize that everything is from you.

18:01
The miracles that happen in Egypt and in our Exodus, and in our sustaining lives of 40 years in the desert, all of that happened as a miracle. Growing this crop is also a miracle. Don't ever take it for granted and think this is just normal. It's not normal that you put a seed in the ground and a tree grows. It's not normal and it should never become normal. For us, it's an important thing. We do this also with our children. We have a first born son. Bring him as a gift to the, to the Cohen, and then you redeem that child with the five shekels, with the five silver coins.

18:41
This is a mitzvah in the Torah. It's my son. I waited many years to have a son. I'll just tell you that when my wife and I found out that we were pregnant with our first child, we were living in Jerusalem at the time and we got into a cab and we went straight to the western wall to pray, to pray for a healthy child, to pray for a healthy pregnancy, to pray for a righteous child. And I had my own personal prayer where I said to Hashem, hashem, please give me the privilege of doing the mitzvah of Pidyeon. Aben Pijunah, ben is emits with you. You can only do once it's your first, the opening of the womb is a boy, and when the opening of the womb is a boy, then you can redeem your firstborn son.

19:29
Hashem, I don't know what your plans are, but the Talmud tells us that till 40 days, the gender is not decided. It's confirmed, it's locked in. After 40 days, you pray for a different gen. It's, it's, it's. The Talmud says it's a wasted prayer, it's a prayer in vain. Before 40 days, you can still change the gender of the child.

19:52
I said Hashem, please give me a boy so that I can fulfill that mitzvah. And indeed, with great thanks to Hashem, he gave me my firstborn son. And when we found out that my wife was pregnant with our second child, I went back to the Western world with my wife and I said Hashem, thank you for the mitzvah of redeeming the firstborn. Now you can give me whatever you want. You can give me that girl you wanted to give me. Give me, as long as it's a healthy baby. And, thank God, we had a beautiful baby girl I was confident, by the way was a girl. I was confident as a girl. I was like Hashem gave me the first one as a boy. Maybe he was planning for it to be a girl, and now he gave me the girl right.

20:31
So it's important for us to talk to Hashem and ask Hashem for the things that we want, and to recognize that the first of your crops. By the way, you get a paycheck. You know what you do, the first thing you should do. From that paycheck you get $1,000 or $100. You immediately put aside to give it to God's account, into your charity account. This is not mine, hashem. This is yours From the beginning, from the get-go. Now the tidings are accompanied with special declarations. Hashem, you are the master of the universe and we are obligated this is what we say. We are obligated to your Torah, hashem.

21:11
It's very easy, when people are successful, to rebel against God. We see throughout our history that we had times of prosperity and we rebelled against God. Times of poverty. Hashem punishes us and we come back and say, oh yeah, hashem, we made so many mistakes. When you have your first crop right, then make that declaration. Don't wait, don't say, oh me, I'm a fat, rich boy, look at me, I have all the money in the world. Nobody can stop me, nobody can. Many generations fell because of that arrogance, many generations of Jews, by Yishman, yishur and Vayivat. The Jewish people became haughty, they became arrogant because they became fat. They became successful materialistically and then they rebelled spiritually. We have to be very cautious.

22:09
The Ramchal in the path of the just, or the way of the upright in Messiah Yasharim says a very, very important principle. He says that the level with which you elevate spiritually, you lower materialistically. The level with which you elevate materialistically, you lower spiritually. You can't be full on both tanks. One comes at the expense of the other.

22:38
You want to buy a new Bentley? No problem, buy a new Bentley, but just know it's going to cost you and your spirituality. You want to invest in Torah study? You can't wine and dine in the finest restaurants. There's a contradiction here. You can't live. It's an American invention that you can be poor and drive a Bentley. It's an American invention. You can't afford it, but you'll live that life anyway. That's not realistic and it's not true. If you're going to live a God-fearing life, it's going to come at the expense of materialism, of physicality. You're going to live a physically immersed life, filled with materialism. It's going to cost you spirituality. There's a direct contradiction.

23:17
So what do we say? I want to be 50% of each. I want to be just right in the middle, the sweet spot. I have some spirituality and I have some money and everything is good Very dangerous place to be, because you tip that scale very easily. This is the danger that we see, why we have to, specifically when we bring that gift to the temple, we redecler Hashem, we're committed to your Torah. I know I have now a lot of money, I have a lot of grapes and I have a lot of produce. I'm not going to get carried away. We declare Hashem, I'm committed to your Torah. That's my priority, and we have to do it with a physical action Hashem, I'm giving away my first crops, I'm giving away my gifts. That's for you. It's to show that even the materialism I have is dedicated to my spiritual connection with you.

24:10
The next thing we see is that there's no games in the land of Israel. We see Moshe is preparing the Jewish people. You're entering into the land of Israel. You remember what the verse said a few weeks ago in the parasha? It is therefore a land constantly under Hashem's scrutiny. It's not like living in Scotland, it's not like living in India.

24:32
Living in the holy land of Israel is a very big challenge because Hashem scrutinizes the land. Hashem scrutinizes and if you look at our history, it's the majority of the Jewish history. We were out of the land of Israel, we were in exile, why we weren't deserving of it. Hashem has blessed us. Hashem has blessed us that we are able to occupy the land of Israel today. It's still not a rebuilt Jerusalem. It's still not a rebuilt temple in the Temple Mount, and that's what we pray for and hope for every single day and ask for Hashem rebuild our temple. Uvnei ur Shalayim, rebuild Jerusalem. Eszemach, david, sprout forth our redemption every day, three times a day. Hashem, rebuild our temple. But we do have the gift and we see the blessing of the land of Israel. It's amazing.

25:33
The revolution whether it be science and medicine, technology that comes from Israel is just unfathomable. It's possible that there wouldn't be a single computer in this world working properly without Israel's technology, without the chip and our text. Messaging is all Israeli technology, israeli discoveries, israeli, meaning the Jewish people in the land of Israel. There's a special blessing which doesn't make sense. Bibi Netanyahu wrote a book. It's called startup nation, giving a lot of pride and a lot of you know, teaching the world what it's about to be the greatest developing country in the world. But it's a little bit dishonest, the book, because the Torah says that what happens in the land of Israel doesn't make sense. It's not natural. It's super natural.

26:36
What goes on in the land of Israel and we have to understand it's both ways. The blessing of the land of Israel is supernatural and God forbid, the tragedies are supernatural, and that is. That's that what we mentioned previously. The more we're involved spiritually, the more we're involved with our holiness, the greater the ability for our success. Hashem gives success and this is how the portion ends observe the words of this covenant and you shall perform them so that you will succeed in all that you do. That's the final word of this week's partial. There's a promise, there's a blessing that when we follow the word of Hashem, hashem says I'm going to give you unbelievable success.

27:27
Now, in this week's partial, we have an unbelievable, unbelievable set of blessings and then an Unbelievable set of curses, and if you read it it's a little bit chilling. You know what one of the curses, one of the reasons, will be cursed and will have unbelievable tragedies. Ta'a chasah shaloo avad atah Hashem alokah abisimchah b'tuf le'evav, because you didn't serve Hashem with joy. The Talmud tells us that ain shchina shorah elah b'mokom shal simchah, the presence of Hashem, the holy Presence of Hashem, cannot reside in a place that doesn't have joy. No joy, no God you do a mitzvah without joy. Hashem doesn't want to have any, any part of it.

28:16
So what is joy? What is happiness? The world is looking for happiness. Go to the Galleria Mall and you'll see people looking for happiness. They're going from one store to another store searching for happiness. Oh, oh, I found the dress. Now I'm gonna be happy. I found the pair of shoes now I'm gonna be happy. I found another gadget. I found another toy now I'm gonna be happy. The whole world is searching for joy.

28:40
Joy doesn't come from objects. Joy comes from a closeness with Hashem. The more we are connected with the Almighty, the more we have a shem in our lives, the more happiness we have. The problem is is that if a mitzvah becomes just an act and there's no connection with Hashem, then what happens? We take the joy out of the mitzvah.

29:08
If we don't realize that lighting the menorah, having our Pesach Seder, observing the Shabbos, putting on Sittas and Tfilin every day, lighting the Shabbos candles and doing every mitzvah, eating in the Sukkah, sleeping in the Sukkah, fasting on Yom Kippur, if we don't realize that these are tools for our connection with Hashem, then how can we be joyous? But when we realize that these are channels of connection with the Almighty, ah, now that's a whole different ballgame. Ah, I'm connecting with Hashem, hashem. Hashem gave me Shabbos to enjoy. Hashem gave me Shabbos to spend time with my family. Hashem gave me all of these mitzvahs so that I can use it as a vehicle of connection.

29:56
How can I not be happy when we're not happy? You know what it's saying, that we're just doing it out of rote, that we're not feeling connected to things. That's a problem. Joy is essential. It's an essential ingredient In our observance of Torah and mitzvahs. You're miserable, you're depressed, you can't, you can't smile. Something's wrong with your service of Hashem. Rabbi laser Brody was here and he says if you don't smile, it means you haven't talked to Hashem yet today, because when you talk to Hashem you have to smile. You can't do anything other than smile. It's impossible.

30:42
All right, we all believe in gravity, we all believes and believe in cause and effect, and this week's partial, we see the blessings and the curses. The reward and punishment is a reality. It is dollar for dollar. Exactly the way in which we act will be rewarded positively or, god forbid, negatively. It's cause and effect. We're like oh, maybe Hashem didn't realize.

31:10
You know, there's a is a funny story that's told. This man says you know what? I can continue sinning, I can continue rebelling against God because I have a great excuse. When I come up to the heavenly courts, I have a great answer. I'm gonna say Sorry, I don't know how to read. Nobody ever taught me how to read, so I didn't know the Torah. I didn't know anything. I don't know how to read. I don't know how to read. Okay, all of his friends say you know, you're a little crazy, because if you don't observe the Torah, we know the Torah says that you'll be punished. You can be better, be careful. We're all changing our ways and we're going back To a Torah lifestyle. We're going, we're changing our ways. He says guys, I got the excuse, trust me, I've got this. Okay.

31:53
Finally, the day comes. He stands in front of the heavenly courts and they say new, what did you do with your life? He says you know, I Don't know how to read. Oh, my goodness, we've never had such a case before in our heavenly courts that someone says he doesn't know how to read. Ah, I go out. We have to convene a special jury and we're gonna see what to do. Do we get put you in heaven? Do we put you in hell? Okay? So they convene, they come back and they say listen, this is a very odd case, we've never had anything like this. But we're gonna give you a visa. You can go into anyone you want, but you have to hold on to this document Because this document is your entrance and exit to either one. You can go wherever you want.

32:39
Says okay, knocks on the gates of heaven, and they open up the door and they're like can we help you? He says opens up, they look at it. They're like wow, we've never seen this before. Signed God. Pretty incredible. You want to come in, come in please. He says show me where the righteous people, show me all of the torch students. Show me where they. They're sitting over there and they're all learning, they're all studying. Wow, it's great. And you see the the the righteous are sitting with crowns on their head and the birds are chirping and it's just incredible. If you see the description of how it is in heaven, it's, it's like it's the Garden of Eden.

33:18
She says okay, but I want to see. I want to see where my friends are. Well, I want to see where some of those you know, my, the boys, the gang I want to see where they are, where they were they at. They look up on the database. They're like oh, they're in the other room in the Purgatory. So he goes to the other room, he knocks on the door and they open up his black doors, disgusting these angels that have filled with eyes. They open up the gates of hell and they say what are you doing here? He says, opens up the Document. He says look, I have a visa. I can go in and out wherever I want. They can go to heaven, I can go to hell or wherever I want to go. I so it just came. I wanted to visit my friends.

33:56
Looks around, this doesn't smell good and it doesn't look good and it's just like ovens everywhere. So he says you know, I'm looking for my friend, joe Schmo, from here and there. Do you know where he is? I'm gonna look it up. They look it up in the database. He's sees his row 47. You know the eighth, eighth level.

34:14
He climbs up there to the eighth level and he gets. He gets his friend. He's like Joe Schmo, what's going on? So what are you doing here? He says what do you mean? You remember I told you that I'm gonna, I'm gonna play that stick and I'm gonna tell him I don't know how to says it worked. He says guess what it worked. This is when I came here. They asked me what I want. I said I said I want to just check out, like hell, and see what's going on. They said usually people come, they're thrown in here kicking and screaming. We have to lock them, put them into their cell. You know, here you're walking in like a free man, you're walking it out. It's just unbelievably.

34:46
Says I recommend the break is almost over. The turn the ovens back on, get out, go out quickly. He says okay, I just want to. You know, just say hello to the other friend, you know. He says it's not worth it, don't stick around. Go, go, go.

34:59
He goes back to the gate to leave and there's a new guard.

35:04
He says excuse me, what are you doing here? He says what do you mean? Opens up his paper. He says I've got a visa. He says I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know how to read, so you can only play that game. That much. So it's not funny, it's real. My dear friends, we can't trick heaven, we can't trick the Almighty. We can play games on our neighbors, we can play games on our friends, but we can trick them, but we can't trick the Almighty.

35:32
Okay, my dear friends, let's finish off with one very, very chilling verse from this week's parasha, and that is is it possible that the Holocaust was forewarned in the Torah? So if you look at the verses in this week's parasha, in the curses in this week's parasha chapter 28, verse 32 to verse 37 and then verse 65 to 67 your sons and daughters will be given to a foreign nation. You will see it happening with your own eyes and will long for them all day long, but you will be powerless. A strange nation will consume you. A strange nation will consume the fruits of your land and all of your toil. You will be constantly cheated and crushed. You will become an object of horror, an Example and an abject lesson among all the nations to which God will lead you. If you think about it for a second, this is what people describe of what happened during the Holocaust is something more chilling than this. Among those nations, you shall find no respite, no rest for your feet there. God will make you cowardly, destroying your outlook and making life hopeless. This is all in this week's Torah portion. You will live in constant suspense, day and night. You will be terrified, never sure of your existence. In the morning you will say if only it were night, and in the evening you will say if only it were morning. Such will be the dread that your heart will feel and the sights that your eyes will see.

37:11
There's something else which is a little bit controversial but is Hinted in the words of our sages, and that is that every one of the verses of our Torah reflects another one of the years of this world. And If you take all of the verses of this Torah, each verse reflects a year. And if you count the year of the Holocaust and that same number from the Jewish calendar and that same number of verses, you will fall exactly on these Verses Describing the Holocaust. Meaning, if you count right now, we're a year, 5,780. We're starting 84 this coming year. If you look at the 5,784 the verse, you will see what's going to happen this year.

38:12
It's controversial. Some say it's not, some say it is. It's very deep Kabbalistic thought. It's not a coincidence. We have to understand that there is accountability for everything that goes on in our world. Hashem loves us and Hashem wants us close. Hashem does not want to punish us. Hashem does not want to harm us. It hurts him, like it hurts a parent to see their child in pain. Hashem doesn't want us in pain. Hashem wants us close. Let's make it good for us and good for Hashem. Have an amazing Shabbos you.