Parsha Review Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:03 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Parsha Review Podcast.

00:12 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Good afternoon everybody. It's wonderful to be here this week's Torah portion, parsha's Korach. We see that there's a big argument, a big dispute that goes on between Korach, his gang and Moshe, and the verse states chapter 16, verse 12, moshe sent to call Dasan and Aviram, the sons of Eliyav, come, let's talk, let's negotiate. But they said we're not going up, we're not coming to meet. Very interesting how this behavior was taken care of. Obviously, we know that the Almighty killed Korach and his gang of 250 followers and the ground opened up beneath them and swallowed them up. Okay, that's the way. The Torah tells us exactly what happened. But Rashi says something very interesting. Rashi, over here, says Mikan. From here we learn is that one should not maintain an argument, a fight, because Moshe was going after them to try to seek a peace accord. We see that Moshe was going after them to try to seek a peace accord. We see that Moshe sent for them in order to make peace, in order to make peace. What is going on here? That Moshe is going after them and pursuing peace in every way that he can. So we see here from Rashi. Rashi brings this to teach us something very, very important, and that is there is a virtue about not maintaining argument. Not maintaining an argument it does not mean that one shouldn't fight. It doesn't mean that one shouldn't have an opinion. It doesn't mean that someone should say no problem, people can just trample on me. It means that you're able to have an argument and not make it personal. And not make it personal. We can have disagreements. We can have a completely different perspective of how we should run our company and we can have difference of opinion in how we should raise our children, and we have differences of opinion of how the economy. Look at all the different countries. You ever imagine why doesn't the whole world just be one big country and everyone just get along? No, because everyone has a different opinion of how things should operate. Some people love socialism, some people love authoritarianism and some people love liberalism and some people love capitalism and some people love. Everyone has a different idea of how the world should operate, but that does not mean that when someone has an argument that it should become personal. You could disagree, vehemently disagree. It's fine. And notwithstanding that vehement disagreement, you could be best friends. You could be best friends. See the world of politics that we live in today. It's the I'm right, you're wrong attitude about everything. I'm right because this is me and this is my opinion, and you're wrong. I'm not even going to listen.

03:52
I remember I've shared this story many times. Boy, this is quite a review, but the 60 Minutes interview of the former Mossad leader, it was really an amazing interview. I remember watching the interview where Leslie Stahl asks him the former head of Mossad, are the Iranians? Are they rational? He says, of course. And she's like what he's like yeah, of course they're rational. He says, because if you go with the attitude that they're not rational, you'll never be able to win them. You'll never be able to win them. You have to understand their rationale. It's not rational to me, but it's rational to them. So if I don't understand how it's rational to them, I'll never be able to work on anything with them. I'll never be able to beat them. I'll never be able to defeat them. I'll never be able to overcome them.

04:58
Now I'm not here on this microphone trying to talk about war. I'm definitely not trying to talk about our current conflict, but we see something very, very interesting where you have the president of the United States saying well, we're going to have negotiations. I need two weeks to make a decision whether to get involved. And some many people I've been listening to are irate about this. What is he thinking about? What's the negotiation? And if you saw the video footage this morning of the foreign minister of Iran meeting in Europe with a few of the European leaders trying to negotiate something, now there's many people who say it's just a delay tactic, it's a this tactic, it's a that tactic, it's irrelevant. But why would someone say let's negotiate, just knock them out and finish it up, finish, finish the job. There is a tremendous virtue to having peace. There is a tremendous virtue to having peace and what we, you know there were over the.

06:09
I remember, I remember when I was in yeshiva there were two rabbis in the yeshiva the same yeshiva who were yelling and screaming at each other. Now it happened to have been in the study hall and the way you learn Torah is with fervor and energy and excitement and passion, and they both had a different understanding of this line of Talmud, whatever line of Talmud they were learning, and one was saying, no, this is the logic, and the other one was saying no, this is the logic. And they're going back and forth, like almost to the point. If you would have seen these people on a reel on one of those social media websites, you'd think that they're about to pull out their fists and punch each other. But with all the love in the world, they're arguing reason, they're arguing opinion, they're arguing perspective understanding and then they love each other just like they did before. It's fine, you can. I remember all of the students we got around because it was just so.

07:12
It was so entertaining to watch two Torah scholars argue like their life was on the line, and Not personal insults, not calling each other names, just arguing their case. That's the way the Torah is. And then you continue on with life, with the greatest love and friendship. It means there's nothing wrong. See the world we're living in today. It's like everything needs to be black and white. It's my way, is the only way. My way is the right way. Everybody else is wrong, right.

07:44
Is there anybody here who's not in the middle? And now I can guarantee you in this room you have people who voted for one candidate. You have people who voted for the other candidate. There are people who even probably voted for the other other candidate right, or people who didn't vote right. You have many different people, many. You have many different people, many different perspectives, many different values. Many and everybody here in the room says I am in the middle. Anybody who thinks like that is extremist right and anybody who thinks like that is extremist left. Anybody who doesn't think that they're in the middle. I'm in the middle. I'm always in the middle. Everybody to the right is extreme and everybody to the left is extreme, but I'm in the middle. That's the way we think. But the truth is we can all be in that middle and see that there are different parts, different perspectives.

08:32
You know one of the things we talked about when we talked about the trait of patience if you want to acquire the trait of patience, find someone who you disagree with politically and treat them for dinner or for coffee and spend the entire time prepare yourself. You're going to have to prepare yourself, spend the entire time talking politics, but going in with the perspective that I know I don't have the same opinion as them and all I want to do is understand their side. They don't need to agree with me. I'm perfectly fine the way I am and they're perfectly fine the way they are and I'm happy with them being the way they are and hopefully they'll be happy with me being the way I am and we don't have to agree to be best friends. It's fine.

09:24
You know, in the yeshiva system back in the early 1900s there was a very big dispute between let's call it yeshiva number one and yeshiva number two, or the way of thinking, and it wasn't actually, they were all in the same yeshiva. There was very strong differences of opinion and one of the rabbis said you know what I'm opposed. I'm going to start my own yeshiva with my way of Torah study. They were again vehemently opposed to one the way they. They both agreed on all the precepts of Torah. Of course they all both agreed with all the details of the Torah, all the precepts, everything was. It was just the way in which you approach. It was a little different the way One said this is a prerequisite to learning Torah. One said, eh, just learn Torah, it's fine. Okay, now they're both valuable, but they're very different. So one started a separate yeshiva.

10:35
The head of yeshiva number one picked the best students from yeshiva number two to be his son-in-law. Oh, I thought he's so against it. I disagree with that way of thinking. It doesn't mean that I hate the person. I love the person. In fact I want his son for my son-in-law. You understand it doesn't mean you know.

10:57
There's a famous, famous story about Rav Shlomo Zalman Arbach. Rav Shlomo Zalman Arbach, his wife passed away before he did and at his funeral. There's a custom at a funeral for the spouse and the children of someone who passes away, to ask forgiveness If I hurt you, if I offended you, if I insulted you, if I didn't respect you, if I did something against you. Whatever it is to ask forgiveness, rabbi Shlomo Zalman Orbach at his wife's funeral said my wife and I never fought and therefore I don't need to ask for forgiveness. That's a bold statement, wow, and it sent shockwaves through the Torah observant community. This is, it's, unheard of who has a marriage and doesn't have a fight.

11:55
So a few years later, absalom Azam and Orbach was. He met one of his young students who had just gotten married. He says to him so how are things in your new marriage? He says amazing. He says we don't fight. So Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Orbach says is your wife healthy? So he says why? He says you don't fight. He says what are you talking about? He says at your wife's funeral, you said that you never fought. He says you don't fight. He says what are you talking about? He says at your wife's funeral, you said that you never fought. He says no, no, no, we fought a lot, but it was never personal. He says if you don't fight, you're not in a relationship. Of course you should have a fight, but it shouldn't be personal. That means there's any two human beings.

12:46
You put them together, they're going to see things differently because this person sees it from one perspective, this person sees it from another perspective and even if they're looking the same direction, they still see different things. How many times were you with someone and they say, oh, did you see that? They're like what? What did I miss? I was right here, I didn't see it. They saw it, you didn't see. You're standing right next to each other.

13:09
Everyone has a different perspective and that's healthy and normal. It's fine. You don't need to agree. You don't need to see things from the same perspective, but you do need to have respect. You do need to value that they have another perspective. That's equally as important to them and it doesn't have to be I'm right, you're wrong attitude about everything. It's fine, we can get along and be Iran, and be Israel, and be Israel, and you don't need to fight, no need to threaten Death to Israel every day. We don't need to fight. Let's figure out. It means.

13:58
The virtue of giving an opportunity for there to be peace is an amazing thing. You see, at the end of prayer, the end of the Amidah, what's the final blessing? Sim Shalom, put peace upon us, give us the opportunity for peace, because what comes as a result of it? Tova uvracha v'rachamim v'chayim, all of these blessings that come as a result of peace, so many Goodness blessing, mercy, life. When someone's bitterly fighting, there's no life, there's no joy, because then they're angry. Can't take it personal. You can disagree, but not make it personal, and I think this is a beautiful, beautiful lesson for us to learn from Korach.

14:54
The reason they were punished is not because they didn't see things the way Moshe saw it. Moshe had no problem. If you look at all of the different challenges that Moshe faced, moshe prayed for every single one of them. Moshe prayed the sin of the golden calf. He says Hashem, please forgive them. Hashem, those who were complaining. Hashem, please forgive them, those who did wrong things, even the spies in this week's Torah portion. Moshe prays Hashem, please forgive them. They have a different perspective, but at least we're willing to apologize when we make mistakes here. They weren't even willing to negotiate. No, no, no, I'm right, you're wrong attitude that there's no coming back from.

15:41
And I think in our world today it's not a coincidence. The Torah teaches us, our sages tell us that the Torah portion always relates to current events, and we see the dispute of Korach now. With everything that's going on in the world, our prayer is that there should be peace in the world. We also see, sometimes, when your enemy comes to kill you, you have to kill them first. So sometimes we have to do that as well. But there's a tremendous virtue to trying to pursue peace, because the world stands on peace.

16:35
There's reports that there was actual factual intelligence that's not been publicized enough, that Iran was scheduling to attack Israel within the next 48 hours. Before Israel did With a barrage of a thousand ballistic missiles A thousand, you know what that means. You know what one ballistic missile did. One ballistic missile that hit Ramadgan displaced a thousand families. A thousand families lost their homes, four full buildings and then nine blocks distance, broken windows, shattered. This that it's unbelievable. I will tell you something beautiful, though. One guy showed a video of his house and he said look, this is the back door of my house and he shows everything shattered, all the glass shattered, everything. Things fell off. The ceilings goes to the front, all of the windows out, all of the doors blown off, the books for his, the doors, the glass for his, torah books, unscathed, unbelievable, unbelievable. The Torah books unscathed it, the Torah books, unscathed. It is the most remarkable video, untouched. Right, it's important to have Torah books in our home. They protect us.

18:02
Alright, my dear friends, hashem should bless us all with peace. Hashem should bless us all with all of the good things that come along with peace, because peace brings about all of the blessings in the world. The Talmud concludes Ein la'a Kodesh Bocha Kli Machzik Barocha El HaShalom, the Almighty doesn't have a vessel of goodness other than peace. You want to bring goodness into your home. It's peace. So, my dear friends, let's hope, let's pray that there be peace in the world and let's hope and pray that the Jewish people, wherever they are, are always safe and protected. Amen. Have a great Shabbos.

18:48
Yes, sir, of course it's easier said than done. Nobody ever said that making peace was going to be easy. No one ever said that Peace is a very difficult thing. Peace means here's the thing To make peace, what do you really need to do? You need to let go of ego. Do you know the number one most difficult thing for Israelis? Letting go of ego. Do you know the most difficult thing for Iranians? Letting go of ego, right, the biggest challenge. This is, I think, a very good strategy that Trump is employing here.

19:27
The Iranians have, it's known. The Iranians have an enormous, an enormous pride, an enormous pride among the Iranians. You speak to Iranians, you speak to Persian people. They're proud of their homeland, they're proud of you, name it. They're like I'm from Iran. Right, they give you the whole spiel. Yeah, he has to give them a gentle off-ramp before he clobbers them. Give them an opportunity to save face, to have dignity, to go off that ramp looking like a man. If they still don't after that, then we can't help them. But that's what he's trying to do here is trying to give them an off-ramp. Hopefully they take it, but if they don't, there's going to be consequences to pay, probably Either way. That is our conversation on politics and world affairs. Now we're going to start some Talmud.

20:25 - Intro (Announcement)
You've been listening to Rabbi Aria Wolbe on a podcast produced by TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. Please help sponsor an episode so we can continue to produce more quality Jewish content for our listeners around the globe. Please visit torchweb.org to donate and partner with us on this incredible endeavor.