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. It's so wonderful to be here, but in this week's Parsha I'm going to read a little verse here in our Parsha, chapter 5, verse 10, says the following V'ish es kidoshav lo yihyeh, ish ashyiten lakoyin lo yihyeh. Each man, his holy things to him they shall be. Each man, what he gives to the Kohen, to him it shall be. Our sages tell us Rashi says over here that if you give the appropriate gifts to the Kohen that were necessary, that were due, that the Torah requires us, which is the tithe, every person from their field, then lo yihyeh, you will have a tremendous amount of blessing.

01:03
Most of us think that when we give away money, the other person has it and we don't. Our sages tell us that there is a promise that when you give money to charity, particularly, the Torah says, regarding the tithe that one gives, the Torah says, regarding the tithe that one gives, you get it back. But more than just that, there's a promise Aser, ta'aser. It says tithe you shall tithe. Now we know that the Torah doesn't have an extra word, that the Torah doesn't have an extra letter. So just tell me tithe. Why are you telling me tithe, you shall tithe? Why do we need that redundancy? Talmud tells us tractate Shabbat 119b. Talmud says Aser b'shvil, shetit, asher, give a tithe so that you shall become wealthy Promise. It's a promise that one who gives a tithe, they will become wealthy, and it is a guarantee. And in my Haftorah, in my Haftorah from my Bar Mitzvah portion in Malachi, what does it say? It says you should bring your Maaser to the storage house and you can test me on this. You see, typically, the rules of engagement with the Almighty is that you cannot test Hashem Hash. See, typically, the rules of engagement with the Almighty is that you cannot test Hashem Hashem. I'm testing you, hashem. You're on trial. Hashem, I want to see if you'll keep your word. There's an exception to that and that is when it comes to charity. When a person is cautious to give a tithe, there is a 100% guarantee that you will see it back, 100% guarantee. So what's the limitation? What's the limitation? Why won't people just give, freely, give their charity, no problem, I'll give, I'll give, I'll give because I'm going to get it back, because we're worried In the back of our mind well, what's going to be? How am I going to make ends meet if I give that money? I can't you know. It's like yeah, it's true, we have to be responsible, we have to pay our bills, we have to pay our mortgage and we allowed to test Hashem.

03:47
B'chavetz Chaim brings in his book Avas Chesed, part two, section 18. He says not only on what you give above charity, above the tithe, meaning charity, charity is what you give above. It's very interesting. Let's stop back. A second rewind.

04:07
What is the difference between ma'aser, which is the tithe, and charity? Two separate things. Ma'aser, our sages tell us, doesn't belong to you. Ma'aser does not belong to you. The 10% you make $1,000, $100 of it doesn't belong to you. God would have given you only $900. He gave you $1,000. He gave you an extra $100 so that you distribute it for him. You distribute it for Hashem. What you give above that 10% is what you're giving charity. People call oh tzedakah, I'm going to give tzedakah, I'm giving my 10%. No, no, no, the 10% is not yours. You know what you give up beyond that is charity.

04:51
Okay, so now the Chavetz Chaim says You're allowed to test Hashem, also on the 10%, and not only, by the way, what was the original commandment of the Maaser of the tithe was on your fields. But today. Do you have a field? Do you have a field? Who has fields? Who's giving 10% of their crops? We don't give 10% of our crops Today. We don't have fields. It's not our economy. So, on money too, the Chavetz Chaim says not only the crops that's promised in the Torah but also the money. Chavetz Chaim says you can test God that when you give 10%, it's guaranteed, the return Guaranteed. It's a promise that the Almighty gives us. We're allowed to test Him. So I want to share with you.

05:42
A very, very dear friend of mine called me up a few weeks ago and he says Rabbi, I started doing the 10% very, very diligently. I'm very, very cautious. Not only I give 10%, there's a promise that if you give 20%, you'll have enormous wealth. Not only you get the money back, but you'll have enormous blessing, enormous wealth. He says I've been giving diligently 20% and I've been losing money. Since I started doing that. Annually, I've been losing money on a steady basis and at a rapid pace. Every year. I've been giving 20% and I lose money. 20% and I lose money giving 20% and I lose money. 20% and I lose money. 20% and I lose money.

06:30
He says what's going on with this promise? I thought there's a promise. I think you may have misguided me. So what do the words of our sages tell us? You can test Hashem, but he's conflicted. What do I do? How is it possible that I keep giving 20% and I keep making less money, not more? I said it's a great question. I'm going to call my rabbi and ask him.

06:59
So my rabbi said the following. He says it's a promise given in the Torah. It's a guarantee that he will get it, but it's not a guarantee that he will get it. But it's not a guarantee that it'll be instant. It's not a guarantee that it'll be instant. What many people think is like oh, I'm going to give my hundred dollars here and I'll get it right back here. No, no, no, no, no. You'll get it back, every penny of it. Not only that, you'll get that blessing of unbelievable, incredible wealth, but the timing is not on your schedule. It's on Hashem's schedule. It will be in your lifetime. You have nothing to fear, nothing to worry. It will be, it's guaranteed. It's guaranteed.

07:43
And I've had. I can show you letters that I've received from people. A guy wrote me a letter once and he said he sent us a nice check and he said I know you won't believe this, but I wrote the check knowing this is what I need to do. He says, the same day as he wrote the check, his boss calls him into the office and he thought, uh-oh, I'm getting fired. The boss says I'm very sorry, but we just realized that last year, on your bonus, we shorted you this and this amount of money, which was the exact amount that he had donated the exact amount.

08:33
Sometimes Hashem gives it to us instantly and sometimes it's on Hashem's schedule, but the promise is a promise. What is the agenda here? What is the objective? What is the agenda here? What is the objective? What is the objective of the Almighty in this promise? And why does Hashem allow us to test Him in such a way? It's very simple.

09:01
What does Hashem want from us? Hashem just wants a relationship with us. Hashem wants us to be close to Him. And if your way of getting close to Hashem want from us, hashem just wants a relationship with us. Hashem wants us to be close to Him. And if your way of getting close to Hashem is feeling that closeness through testing Hashem and seeing His hand and how he returns that money to you first, is you better be open and willing to see the hand of Hashem, because many people will be like oh, that wasn't Hashem, that was someone who owed me money, it was the IRS, it was some insurance policy that paid out. Now it was like we like to tie things to the nature of the world and not realize no, no, no, no, no, that wasn't coming to you. That was Hashem sending it to you through all of these agents, sending it to you through all of these agents, through these messengers, and we like to like no, it wasn't a miracle. You call that a miracle. That was just it. It happened to me. It was a rounding error.

09:56
People love to keep things in their own hands and not live in a world of miracles. But living close to Hashem means we live in a world and an existence of miracles, and when we do things that are against our nature, we think I have money and that's my security. When I have the money, when I'm actually holding it, that's my security. When you give it, that's my security. When I have the money, when I'm actually holding it, that's my security. When you give it, that's your security. Hashem says let go and let God let go. And that's when Hashem says here, I'm carrying you, I'm holding you, I've got you and I'm holding you, I've got you and I'll give you more blessing and more blessing and more blessing the more we reside in Hashem's hands.

10:49
If we're trying to run on our own, hashem says okay, try on your own, see how that works for you. We run towards Hashem and we say Hashem, I know that you're in charge. I know that everything that I have is from you anyway, so what does it hurt for me to give it? I'm your messenger. On the contrary, when Hashem sees that we are loyal and we're trustworthy, that Hashem says okay, I gave you the extra 10%. You distributed it so beautifully. You ensured that it went to the sick, or that it went to the righteous, or that it went to this or went to that, and you made sure you were scrupulous, you were careful on every penny to ensure that it went to the right place. God says here I'm going to give you more. Who would you trust to be your manager for your trust, your executor for your foundation? Someone who's careful? And you tell them, give them instructions and they follow the instructions.

11:56
Hashem gives us the instructions. He tells us, he tells us exactly the ingredients. Let go. You think it's yours. It's not your money. How many times did we senselessly have to pay an extra $600 for a medical thing, for a medication, for a plumbing repair, for what Hashem says listen, you have money that I need to take away from you. And then, how many times do we have, randomly, something just comes in the mail with a check, Like, where did that come from? Oh, it was you overpaid on your escrow for right. And they send you these are gifts.

12:41
Hashem is communicating with us. Hashem is communicating with us and it's a very, very money has a very weird power over people. People think, oh, they have money. People like to flatter those who have. People like to curry favor. Money does very weird things to people. The weirdest thing that money does is it makes us feel like we own it and we don't.

13:14
And Hashem is reminding us here in this week's parasha. You want to know how you'll have tremendous success, asher yitim l'koin. You're going to give it to the koin. Lo yihyeh, it's going to be for you. It's going to be for you. You think you're giving it. Now they have it and you don't have it. I just gave you the $100. Now you have it and I don't. No, lo y Lo, yeh, it's coming right back to you. It's coming right back to you. That's what the verse is telling us. The verse is telling us don't feel like you gave up something. You invested and that return is coming. It's an unbelievable challenge for each and every one of us, but I urge you, test Hashem. Hashem says please test me. I want you to see why. Because Hashem cherishes our relationship with Him, hashem wants that relationship. And when we're able to test Hashem, when we're able to be in that relationship with Hashem, hashem loves it and we will love it too. My dear friends have an amazing Shabbos.

14:27
The Talmud actually says a very interesting thing Odom roitze be kav shaloi miti shakabin shal chavere. A person wants their own portion of even, let's say, one little quart of my own than nine quarts from someone else. I want my own, I don't want someone else's. We love our money so much we want our money more than nine that someone else is going to give us it's mine, it's my hard-earned money. I think like this. I think perhaps we can say Adam Red's a person who loves their money so much they want to keep it theirs. It's my hard-earned money. I think like this. I think perhaps we can say Adam Red Ziv and Kav Shalei. A person loves their money so much they want to keep it theirs, not realizing that there's nine more that Hashem can give us. But we're so stubborn. We're so stubborn.

15:14
Let me just ask Of the thousand dollars that we made, how much is ours? None of it is ours. None of it is ours. Hashem has all the money in the world. It's all His. Hashem decides here. You'll be a custodian for it now and we pass it around. We put it here, put it there, but we're just a custodian for Hashem's money. It's all His. It's Tisha Kabin Shechavar. It's His. We have the privilege to distribute it for Hashem. Show Him that we're trustworthy. I think it's an unbelievable power. It's an unbelievable gift that we have. We need to utilize that gift. Make the most out of it.

16:00
We spoke recently about the idea of financial security and the fallacies of that whole concept of financial security and that really it's godly security. Now, it doesn't mean that it's a sin for someone to have insurance not medical insurance and not life insurance. These are things that are important for someone. It's available. Go get them. Medical insurance and not life insurance. These are things that are important for someone. It's available. Go get them, absolutely. But to put our reliance on it is a very, very big challenge. We cannot put our reliance on our financial security. It's okay, I have enough to retire. What? So? Someone who's in their 80s? Hashem doesn't take care of them, only those who are in their 20s, or little babies. No, hashem takes care of all of His creations, and a person needs to let go and say Hashem, I'm in your hands, I'm in your hands, you'll take care of me. Think about the world's population. Hashem takes care of even those who don't have retirement funds and who don't have trusts and don't have. Shem takes care of all of them.

17:04 - Intro (Announcement)
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