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.

00:10 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back everybody to the Parsha Review Podcast. I apologize, we're coming to you a little bit late on the Parsha of Chukas. The Parsha of Chukas starts with the details of the Para Aduma. The Paraduma is the red heifer and, as we know, the red heifer was a red cow that did not have any blemish, did not have any black hair, that never carried a burden on its shoulders. And this special cow would be slaughtered. It'd be burnt in the ashes together, mixed with water a whole different, you know a whole combination of things and it would sprinkle. It'd be sprinkled on someone who was impure. The person who gets sprinkled becomes pure and the person who sprinkles becomes impure. And this is like a whole interesting, you know story of how this happens, why this happens. The metahir becomes tame and the one who's tame becomes tahir. The person who is doing this whole procedure and helping the person who was impure becomes the person who's impure becomes pure, and the person who makes the impure pure becomes impure. So what's really going on here and how does this really relate to us?

01:27
We know there's a principle that we know in the Torah and in the Talmud, and in the Mishnah and in the Midrash and in Kabbalah, that everything that's written in the Torah is practical and relevant today, as it was the day it was given to us at Mount Sinai. Now, today, we don't have a red heifer. We also know that King Solomon told us that he wanted to understand the wisdom of the red heifer and didn't know what it meant. He didn't know the secrets behind it and he said it's as if I don't have any wisdom whatsoever. Why? Because if someone's missing an area of Torah, then they're missing an entire. It's like having a big, beautiful puzzle but you're missing one piece. The puzzle's not complete and King Solomon felt that by not completely understanding, we're not having any idea.

02:17
As the Torah tells us, it's zos chukas ha-Torah. It's an ordinance, it's a rule or a law that's given by God without giving a reason for it. Some reasons are logical, some mitzvahs are logical. Some mitzvahs are not logical and we don't know the reasons behind it. God hides that reasoning from us. King Solomon wanted to know it and didn't have the privilege to have it revealed to him. Nobody knows the reason for this mitzvah, but what can we learn from it? It wouldn't be in the Torah for us to not learn anything from it.

02:57
Our sages tell us a very, very important fundamental principle is that what happens when someone is impure? They're lacking something. So what are they lacking? They're lacking taking the next step. Taking the next step is when they become pure. They were impure, they were lacking the purity. Now they take the next step. They become impure. But why does the person who was pure become impure? Because sometimes people fall to the casualty of feeling like everything is fine, I'm complacent, everything is good, I'm pure, I'm good, I'm doing the right thing, I'm following the will of Hashem. But that is also a terrible tragedy. When someone feels stagnant, when someone feels that I'm good, I'm good, I'm content with my place.

03:52
The most important, most fundamental teaching of the Torah is that we can never stagnate. We can't be the same old, the way it was. You know, it's like I've said this many times in our classes at the Torch Center that the way in which we have our Pesach Seders shouldn't be a copy of what we did when we were six years old. Now we're 10 years old, or 20 years old, or 30 years old or 80 years old. It should be new, it should be different. We should learn more, we should engage more, we should do more research, we should have a broader understanding. We shouldn't just rely on what we it was always good, it's fine. We shouldn't stagnate. You know, when you wouldn't stagnate In your business, in someone's business, they wouldn't say well, it's okay, I make enough money. No, no, no, no. Everyone wants to make more money. They want to do another deal, they want to do another transaction. People are always driving for more, but when it comes to spirituality, sometimes we're okay just being the way we are.

04:57
There was a story told about a student. What used to happen back in Europe? People would live in these little villages and once in a while they would have an opportunity to go for a few months to be with their rabbi. And once in a while I mean every two years, four years, five years whenever they had the ability to run away for a little bit to spend some time with their rabbi, with their teacher, they would go and be in their presence for a while. So one God-fearing Jew did good things, prayed three times a day, learned Torah, followed the mitzvahs of the Torah, the commandments of the Torah. He went to his rabbi.

05:36
When he came back after several months, the people in the synagogue, the people in his community, they said what's changed. You were a God-fearing Jew when you left. You're a God-fearing Jew when you came back. You're doing the same things. You've always done. What changed he said? Let me tell you what changed. He says true, I'd pray three times a day back then, and I pray three times a day now. I would go sit and learn Torah as much as I can then, and now as well, I sit and learn Torah as much as I can, but there's something that changed in the process. You see, back then I felt that everything I was doing was perfect and that I was just living the dream.

06:16
I was perfect, but then, when I went to my rabbi, I learned how much I need to improve, how much I'm imperfect. And now, although I'm doing the rabbi, I learned how much I need to improve, how much I'm imperfect. And now, although I'm doing the same acts, I'm doing it with a completely different intention. We need to learn to take a step further. We need to realize our flaws. Now. That does not mean that we should be down. That does not mean that we should be depressed. That does not mean that we're like oh, look at me, I'm so far. God doesn't want to hear my prayers. God doesn't want to know about me. Right, my me, little low life. God doesn't want to hear from me. No, no, that's not true. God loves each and every one of us. God desires a closeness to each and every one of us and God appreciates each step that we take every single day. We have to appreciate our level, but always strive to do more. I always say this. It's not a joke. I mean this when I say this there is no such thing as an Orthodox Jew. There's no such thing as a Reform Jew or a Conservative Jew or a Reconstructionist Jew. There's no such thing as a reformed Jew or a conservative Jew or a reconstructionist Jew? There's no such thing. Those are just comfort labels that people like to put on things. That's why I pay my membership dues. No, that's nonsense. There are two types of Jews. There are stagnant Jews and there are growing Jews.

07:36
And what this portion is teaching us from the Red Heifer is that we always need to be investing in our growth, never suffice with the same good old me. It's just me. I'm steady yeti, this is me. No, we have to change. We have to grow and take another step and take another step, and take another step, one little step.

08:00
My grandfather would always say that in the Mir Yeshiva they used to have a slogan that they would say you didn't come here to be better, you came here to change. That's what we need to do is make a change in our life. Don't think like oh, I'm going to be so much better. Change something in your life. Nisht andesh varen be so much better. Change something in your life. Nicht anders werden, besser werden, right. Nicht besser werden, anders werden. Don't be better, change, change. That's what we learn from the red heifer.

08:35
My dear friends, hashem should bless us all that we should all merit to be in the camp of people who are not stagnant, but rather the people who are growing. And in every one of those categories that we mentioned previously, there are people who are growing and people who are aspiring every day to change their lives, and, unfortunately, there are people in every one of those categories who are stagnant. It's just the same old. I vote one way because my parents did and my grandparents did. I do this because my parents did and my grandparents did, but why? Let's ask those questions, let's make those changes, let's transform who we are and make the changes necessary to take our growth one more step. My dear friends, have an amazing week. Have an amazing Shabbos.

09:20 - Intro (Announcement)
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