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.

00:08 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
I'm sorry everybody, let's start all over again. Welcome back to the parsha review podcast. My dear friends, this week's parsha is parsha's balak. What is balak? Balak was a king, king of Moab, and he did not like the Jewish people, he did not want the Jewish people to be around. And he hires a prophet, a very, very powerful prophet, to curse the Jewish people. And the prophet comes, and he comes on his donkey.

00:46
It's a riveting story in the beginning of our Torah portion, chapter 22 in the book of Numbers. I implore upon you to take out a chumash and read the story yourself. It is fascinating. And then, as we know, the donkey pushes against Bilaam's leg, against the wall, and Bilaam starts hitting the donkey and the donkey starts talking Vayivtah Hashem in chapter 22, verse 28,. Vayivtah Hashem is pi ha'ason and Hashem opened the mouth of the she-donkey, v'atomer li'B, the she donkey, and it said to Bilaam what have I done to you that you struck me these three times? And this is quite a statement from the donkey.

01:45
What does Rashi, the great commentator Rashi, what does he say right here? He says, because the verse uses here the term, which means the three times, but it also means means the three times. But it also means regal, means the festivals. You're trying to uproot the nation that observes the three festivals and it's not going to work for you. And this is what the donkey is sort of pushing back against Bilaam, this prophet who's trying to curse the Jewish people. It's not going to work. You're trying to do something which is not possible.

02:35
So our sages ask a very important question what is the deal with this being the identifier of the Jewish people, the people that observe the three festivals? If I look at the Jewish people, there are many other identifiers that we can talk about. For example, we can talk about Tefillin. Why are you trying to uproot the nation that puts on tefillin? Or why are you trying to uproot the nation that keeps shabbos? I mean, there are many other identifiers other than the three festivals of pesach, shavuot and sukkot, passover, shavuot and sukkot. So our great sages tell us an amazing thing. It's not random and we know we see this so many times. We see this theme of how God works, measure for measure. There is a measure for measure act, and let's connect a little bit to this. It's really fascinating.

03:40
You know that the Jewish people would go to Jerusalem in each one of those three festivals. What was the miracle of Jerusalem? The miracle of Jerusalem was that everybody imagine millions of Jews would leave their homes, wherever they were, and come up to Jerusalem. Now, anybody who's been to the Temple Mount or been to the area of the Western Wall, you know that there's a finite amount of space for people. You go to the Western Wall when they have the blessing of the Kohanim. You can have 100, 200,000 people, but you can't have 5 million people there. That's a lot of people, but there was a special miracle that happened. It says that 600,000 men between the age of 20 and 60, which means that if you include the adults over the age of 60, and you include the children under the age of 20, and you include the women you're talking about, millions of people would come in to the courtyard of the temple and everyone would stand side by side next to one another. And, notwithstanding that, no one ever said it's too cramped. No one ever said, oh, there's not enough room for everybody ever said, oh, there's not enough room for everybody. No one ever said about oh, the laws of nature are just not going to allow us all to be in this space. Everyone just fit.

05:17
In fact, talmud says that it's the land of Israel, particularly the Temple Mount is like the hide of a deer, which keeps on stretching from within the more people were in. Not only that, is that the miracle. Our sages teach us in the Talmud that people would stand one next to the other, one next to the other, front, front back. Everyone was like really, really tight, but yet. Yet when they bowed down towards the temple, bowed down to the almighty, there was enough room for everybody. You know, when you lay down and you prostrate on the ground, it is you take up more space than when you're just standing upright, and yet there was enough room for everybody Because it kept on expanding from within. That means there's a supernatural existence within which the Jewish people live in. We live in a supernatural world. When a person lives with the Almighty, you're living with a heart that's open and that's wide and that keeps expanding. It doesn't have to make sense.

06:33
But now let's talk about Balaam. Balaam is this wicked prophet, very powerful prophet, and he's on his way now to curse the Jewish people. Prophet, and he's on his way now to curse the Jewish people. He's going first class, he's riding on that donkey, he has all of the luxury of being right up there in the cockpit of the donkey, riding his donkey, going to overlook the Jewish people and curse them, and he gets a little bit of a crammed leg against the wall and he goes crazy. He goes completely crazy. The Jewish people are in the temple, crammed together. Nobody complains. Here you have Balaam. Has his foot be a little bit crammed and he goes completely crazy. Has his foot be a little bit cramped and he goes completely crazy.

07:28
This is the way someone lives when they don't live with Hashem. When a person doesn't live with Hashem, everything needs to fit by the laws of nature and when it doesn't, they go crazy. If someone is stuck in a traffic jam, what happens? You're stuck, there's nothing you can do. What do people do? They go crazy. That's a Balaam-like attitude, but I need to be at my meeting. It's a Balaam-like attitude. There's a way to live life, there's a way to act that does not involve us going completely crazy, and that is when we recognize that Hashem has everything taken care of for us and when Hashem has everything taken care of for us, we don't have to worry because he's going to handle it.

08:28
You know, you think of it like this. You know. Imagine you have the signs on top of the overpasses. It says 16.1 feet height. You know those signs. It says how high? Imagine you have this tractor trailer and it's 16.5. So you say, you know what. They probably added a few inches, I'll be able to get through the overpass. What's going to happen? You're going to go in with your truck, with your tractor trailer, right, mark and boom, it's going to hit the overpass and now you can't move forward, you can't move back, you can't turn right, you can't turn left. You're stuck and you're trying back and forth. Trying, trying to go doesn't go. So what do you do? Someone comes to you and says you know something, maybe let some air out of your tires. That'll lower the height of the tractor trailer and you'll be able to get it out.

09:31
Sometimes we need to let the air out of our arrogance and then things work out. Sometimes you let that air just humble yourself a little bit. Realize that there's a big God who's involved with every single aspect of your life. He's involved with every single detail. We feel like we're so powerful. We feel like we're so powerful, we feel like we're so capable. We've got this all figured out. We know how we're going to pay for our retirement. We have it all worked out that even God can't sink this ship and we take God out of the picture because we don't want God in the picture, because we want to live on our own doing, and that's an arrogance that's very, very dangerous. That's a Balaam-like arrogance.

10:27
You know who lives in a world, in a life that doesn't make any sense? The Jewish people. Look at the land of Israel. It's the most miraculous land. You have the Six Day War, where you had 12 nations attack Israel. Then you have the 12 Day War with Iran, where they're shooting these enormous ballistic missiles at Israel which also is crazy and such an incredible miracle that not all of them hit, because if all of them would have hit, the entire country would be in a total disarray.

11:14
We live by miracles. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense that such a small nation that on any map can't even fit the name of Israel on the print because it's so narrow. You know there was some comedian who said from the river to the sea. He says that's israel. If you take the I falls out onto the sea, the l falls into the river because just to write the name israel doesn't even fit. You have to zoom in so many times to see israel on a map. Iran, an enormous country, three times the size of texas, enormous, an enormous country, three times the size of Texas, enormous. And this little tiny Israel, so tiny, is so capable. Why is it capable? Not because it's nature, because there's a God that's protecting the Jewish people.

12:15
This is written in the Torah. It's written in the Torah, where the Torah prescribes exactly what will happen. The Torah says this this is not the Jewish people being. You know, we're taking other people's lands. We are. This is nonsense. Go look in the Torah, get a little educated, right, and the people who are standing out there that the Jewish people are colonizers and the Jewish people are, you know, taking stolen land. They've stolen the land from the Palestinian people. Just a little bit of education, and those people won't be picketing people. Just a little bit of education and those people won't be picketing. But this is the. What we need to understand is that, in order to differentiate ourselves and distance ourselves from the world of Bilaam, we need to let out the air.

13:14
A rabbi once told me says the worst word, and we're educated in in american culture. We're educated to something called financial security. Financial security what does financial security mean? Financial security means that I am God-proof that if something were to happen when I retire, I should have financial security, that if something were to happen, I have insurance on insurance, on insurance that if God were to do something, I'll be covered.

13:48
Now we're not saying not to be responsible. The Torah doesn't say that. The Torah says be responsible, but remember that Hashem is in charge of the world. It's not your bank account, not your savings account, not your 401k, not your investments. That's not your protector. If we put our trust in that, then we're like Balaam Making the mistake, realizing Thinking that it's all us. Like Bila making the mistake, realizing thinking that it's all us. But if we do your investments, do your things, but don't put your faith in it, don't put your trust in it. Put your trust in the Almighty. The Almighty will take care of you. Yes, hashem also takes care of people who are old. Hashem also takes care of people who are old. Hashem also takes people, takes care of people who are infirm. Hashem also takes care of people who are senior citizens. Hashem also takes care of little children.

14:50
I have a dear friend who thought it would be a very good idea to wait before he has children until he has their 529 college fund all paid out, all funded, until he owned a house, until all of the ducks were in a row, so that then he could bring children into this world. And by the time that happened it was too late. He had all the ducks in a row His way. I can't even tell you how many people have told me why do you have eight children? How are you going to support them? You see, here's the problem. They're not my children, they're Hashem's children. They're not my children.

15:44
The children that we bring to this world are a it's called a picadon. God gives it to us as a lease. We're here to curate, we're here to lease. We're here to curate, we're here to educate, we're here to embrace. We're here to raise these children to be the greatest they can be. But they're not ours, they're Hashem's, and Hashem takes care of His children, every single one of them, every single creature on earth.

16:14
And when we feel like I need to make sure that I take care of my children, so I'm getting into the world of arrogance where it's all me. It's not my children, it's Hashem's children. Hashem, you know why I am praying for success in my livelihood, so that I can feed your children I'm also your child and to not get caught up in this world of thinking that we are in control of everything. Take the ear out of the tire You're stuck. Take the ear out, remove the arrogance so that then what can we do? We can serve Hashem in the greatest way possible. We can live with the most confidence possible Because we know we're in Hashem's hands and when we're in Hashem's hands, he's taking care of everything. Again, please don't think that this means that we can be irresponsible and neglectful of our duties. Yes, you have to go and seek a job and send out your resume and get that job and try to save money and try to do whatever investments you can Great, do that, but don't put your trust and your faith in that Hashem. I'm doing the best I can do, but I know that this is what you. You're taking care of everything.

17:47
How many people made investments that failed? Anybody who has ever invested Does every person. Oh, this guy knows his business. This guy knows what he's doing. When he deals with real estate, it always works out. Really, I can tell you many, many people that crossed every T and dotted every I and it didn't work out. And people who, just on a whim, every T and dotted every I and it didn't work out. And people who, just on a whim, went for some investment that didn't make any sense and everybody said it wasn't going to work, and it was incredibly successful.

18:29
We can't put too much faith in our own knowledge, in our own abilities, and try to remove God. That never works. It never, ever works. We have to bring God into our lives. We have to be the opposite of Balaam. Our sages tell us, be the opposite of Balaam.

18:54
When we live with God and we bring Him into our lives, we will understand that everything that happens in our lives is never random. We will see every day. We'll see oh, that's Hashem smiling at me right there. That's Hashem giving me a hug. We'll suddenly see we'll be living in a world when we let go and let God, the three-legged nation, the Jewish people.

19:29
They would leave their homes. You know what else happened when they left their homes for the holidays? Nobody's homes got stolen, got robbed, got robbed, nobody, no break-ins. What do you mean? Didn't the nations of the world know? The jewish people have this. Everyone is going up. They have this, um, this convoys of people traveling to israel, traveling to jerusalem, a whole pilgrimage, and what? Their homes are empty. We can rob all the jewish people from all the jewelry, all their money, check under their mattresses. This is a no-brainer. I mean, we're writing in the Torah that the Jewish people should come to Jerusalem. Don't you think that's a recipe for disaster? It's a recipe for disaster.

20:30
What does Hashem say? This is one of the proofs that the Torah is a God-given document. God says and don't worry, I will protect your homes. A human being cannot write that. A bunch of rabbis sitting around a table cannot write that, cannot make that promise. Only God, creator of heaven and earth, can make such a promise. They're protected. Makes it a promise. They're protected Because if you're ready to let go and be in a world where God is in control, hashem says come, I'm going to show you, I'm going to show you how I'm in control.

21:06
You can leave your home and nothing to worry about, because I got you covered. This is the essence of what Bilaam was trying to break away the Jewish people from their relationship with God. Aside for Balaam wanting to make a whole load of money from Balak, to him the most valuable, most precious thing in the world was money, and he was trying to figure out any way to twist what God was telling him. Where God says, okay, you can go, go with them. Meaning, if you're ready to let go of your values, you're ready to let go and just follow what the crowd does. Do what everybody else does, I'm just going to be like everybody else. The whole world lives on their own with their what we called financial security. Billum, you want to do that, go. It was try me. It wasn't giving an approval.

22:15
And this is the danger the danger that we get into our own heads, that we get into our consciousness of thinking that we can control the outcome and we cannot. Only Hashem controls the outcome. We put forward our efforts with the remembrance that Hashem controls the outcome. We put forward our efforts with the remembrance that Hashem is in control 24-7, 365, 120. For all 120 years that we live on this earth, hashem has got everything in control in His control, and the more we're able to let go, the more we'll feel that closeness to Hashem. So Hashem should bless us all. Hashem should bless us all to have an amazing Shabbos, but to also feel the closeness, try letting go. Letting go.

23:11
I don't know what the results are going to be. I don't know what the outcome is going to be. Relax, hashem is in control. How many people are worried? They take letting go. I don't know what the results are going to be. I don't know what the outcome is going to be. Relax, hashem is in control. How many people are worried? They take a blood test. The doctor says I see something, let's check this out. You know what you have to do. Say, hashem, I'm living in your world. If you want me, I'm here. I'm going to serve you. I'm going to do everything I can to promote your name in this world. I know you want me to live another day. I know you want me to succeed. I know you want me to be healthy so that I can continue serving you. I'm not worried, whatever the results are. The results are. It's irrelevant. I'm living in God's world. Again, don't be confused with the idea that we need to be responsible for our own health. Eating bad food, food that's bad for you, food that's unhealthy, is not going to do you good. But we can't think that, oh, I eat only organic and I'm so healthy and therefore nothing can happen to me. Hashem is in control of the world. We do our best and Hashem does the rest. My dear friends, have an amazing Shabbos.

24:25 - Intro (Announcement)
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