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)
All right, welcome back. Welcome back, my dear friends. Again we have catch-up to do. We're in Parsha's Pinchas now. Pinchas is such a beautiful Torah portion and I want to just talk about the first two verses in the Parsha. Now, before we talk about Parshas Pinchas, we have to go to the end of Parshas Balak. The end of Parshas Balak tells us Vayar Pinchas, ben Elazer, ben Aaron ha-Kohen and Pinchas, the son of Elazer, the son of Aaron the Kohen saw Vayar komitacha Kohen saw, and he stood up amidst the assembly and he took a spear in his hand. He came after the Jewish man, the Israelite man, into the tent and impaled them both, the man, the Jewish man, and the Midianite woman, and this halted the plague from upon the children of Israel and this halted the plague from upon the children of Israel by Yiyu HaMasim. How many people died in this terrible disaster? Arboim, ve'esrim, olef. 24,000 people died in this terrible plague. Plague of what Rebellion? You see what happened.

01:44
If you remember last week's Torah portion, parshas Balak, he tried to curse the Jewish people. Didn't work. Tried this way, that way, no, no, no. He couldn't get it. A word in edgewise, couldn't get his curse in. Every time he tried, a blessing came out, but he had a different idea. He says you know what? It's not going to work through the spiritual, maybe it'll work through the physical. You know, maybe we send the midgenite women, the young girls, to flirt with the jewish boys and then, god forbid, the jewish boys will fall to temptation with the non-jewish girls. And then, voila, we got the Jewish people, without even cursing them. They do it to themselves and indeed the Jewish people fell in this plague of assimilation with the Midianite girls and 24,000 people died in the process. Really terrible. Now, how did this end? How did this whole calamity, this whole catastrophe, how did it end when Pinchas picked up a spear? How did it end when Pinchas picked up a spear? There were two people who were doing an inappropriate act in public, in front of Moses, in front of Aaron, in front of everyone, and Pinchas stands up, takes a spear, puts it through. Both of them. They die and people see this is not a joke, this is not a game, and the plague ends. Those two died, 24,000 others died, and that was it. That was the end of the plague.

03:44
Then begins the portion of Pinchas Vayidaber, hashem el Mosheleman. Hashem says to Moshe saying listen to these words Pinchas, ben Elazer, the son of Elazer, ben Aaron, the son of Aaron Hakohen. That was his grandfather, heishiv eschamosi mi'al b'nei Yisrael. He turned back my. It was his grandfather. He turned back my anger from upon the children of Israel For being zealously avenging my vengeance Among them. And I did not have to destroy the children of Israel with my vengeance, among them, b'socham v'lo chelisias, b'nei Yisrael b'kinasi. And I did not have to destroy the children of Israel with my vengeance. He did it for me.

04:34
So the couple questions First is, if I told you that someone did such an act, they took a spear, put it through two people who are doing an immoral act in public, held them up to show everybody what's going on. You'd say this guy's a lunatic. And then what does he get? He gets a reward in the next verse. Therefore, this is God speaking to Moshe. Therefore. Therefore, this is God speaking to Moshe. L'chen emor. Therefore, say hiddini no sein lo esbrisi shalom. I'm going to give him my covenant of peace. He gets the medal of peace, the presidential medal of peace. What? The congressional honor. But this is the honor from God. I mean, what in the world is going on here? Why would you give someone such a gift of peace. Again, what did he do here? We think this is no way to make peace. Okay, we don't make peace by killing people. But we see that God says, yes, we do make peace like that. But not only that, he's going to get the reward of peace, but I'm also going to link it to somebody. I'm going to link him, pinchas, to his grandfather, aaron HaKohen.

06:10
Now, it's not random that we're saying this today Rosh Chodesh Av. Today's Rosh Chodesh, and today is the day that Aaron passed away. Today, today is August 5th on our calendar, but it's also the day Rosh Chodesh Av is the day that Aaron died. We know that the entire month of Av, the Halacha says that in Adar, the month of Adar, mar Ben B'Simcha, we expand our happiness, our joy, and our sages tell us, by the way, it doesn't stop at the end of the month. So we had this year a double Adar. We had two Adars because it was a leap year. So we had Adar 1, adar 2, nisan.

07:05 - Intro (Announcement)
Iyar.

07:05 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Sivan, six months, six months of happiness and joy. And now, today, we already start to decline a little bit in that area of happiness and joy. And now, today, we already start to decline a little bit in that area of happiness. It doesn't say to eliminate happiness, just a little bit, pull back a little bit on your happiness, on your joy. Which is why we don't drink wine unless it's shabbos. We don't eat meat unless it's a festival. If there's a reason to, for example if someone concludes a tractate of Talmud, it's a great celebration. For that you're allowed to drink wine and eat meat, but otherwise, only on Shabbos.

07:45
Between now and the 9th of Av, but also this entire month. The Torah tells us when Aaron passed away, the Jewish people mourned for Aaron for 30 days. That's the month of Av. It's also, the 9th of Av is the day when the Jewish people cried in vain for the false testimony of the spies, the false testimony of the spies. When they came back from the land of Israel, they said oh, it's not all what it's hyped up to be, and what happened? And what happened? They cried. God says you cried. Nothing's in vain. You're going to have a good reason to cry, and that's both temples were destroyed on that day and many other terrible tragedies, and you can see it in the ear, you can feel it in the ear. The terrible tragedies that are imminent hopefully will never happen, but there's this tension in the air. People in Israel, all flights by the way to Israel, all non-Israeli airliners have canceled their flights to and from Israel. There's a lot of tension. It's this time of year, these nine days of tragedy.

09:14
Let's go back to Pinchas for a minute. Why does Pinchas get celebrated for doing something which is really crazy? He just killed two people in front of everyone, and God says whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Give him a medal, a gold medal, the medal of peace. What type of thing is this? And what's the link to Aaron, aaron's, his grandfather? So we're going to say Pinchas Ben-Elozer, ben-aaron HaKoen. Pinchas, the son of Elozer, the son of Aaron, the high priest. So our sages tell us something very, very important that we learn from Pinchas, and that is Pinchas.

10:00
You see, many times we can do the right thing, but for the wrong reason. We have the wrong intention, even if it's the right thing. But you know, it's like I was telling, for example I'll give you a perfect example, I think, telling someone to be quiet in shul, in synagogue. Someone's talking. In synagogues.

10:18
You have this guy who's already angry. He's already angry. He had a rough day at work. His wife yelled at him at home and he comes into the synagogue. He sees someone talking. He's like shh, shh, can you stop talking?

10:29
Already it's like you're saying the right thing, but maybe not for the right reason. You just happen to be mad. Okay, you just happen to be mad and you're now letting it out on them, trying to be all holier than thou, telling them you should be quiet and shul. Right thing, wrong intention perhaps, wrong intention perhaps, but when someone does the right thing with the absolute purity of heart, with the right intention, not for himself, I'm doing this for God, which means I don't have one iota of my own personal will in this. It's not me, I'm a representative of the Almighty. Oh, suddenly you're so holy, you think you're going to represent the Almighty.

11:26
Therefore, god himself says you know what a great act he did? He did it completely selfless. It wasn't because he was mad, because he was angry. He had some energy to let out. He had some frustration built up. No, he did it all for me. He did it for me. God says and you know what I'm going to show you that he did it only for me. I'm going to link it to his grandfather. What was his grandfather? The high priest. Do you know what the high priest did? Aaron, particularly he was. He loved peace and he pursued peace. He was.

12:19
Peace runs in that family. They were peace negotiators. They did you know today there's, you know, sometimes they do these when there's a lawsuit. So the judge will say go to a mediator and they say it on the radio like they settled out of court. They go to a mediator and the medi say it on the radio like they settled out of court. They go to a mediator and the mediator puts together a deal. That was Aaron's life.

12:51
Sages. Don't say, by the way, about Moses that the people mourn 30 days. Doesn't say that. But for Aaron they did. You know why? Because Aaron got into each family. When a husband and wife were fighting, they came to Aaron. He made peace between them. When the parents had issues with their children in education their adolescent kids how do we deal with them Fighting with their children? Power struggles they came to Aaron and Aaron solved the issues. When people had business disputes, they came to Aaron and Aaron solved their issues. The entire people benefited from Aaron. They all missed the man of peace.

13:37
Do you know who inherited that trait? Pinchas, pinchas? Pinchas did it for the sake of Hashem. He didn't do it because he had his own skin in the game, completely.

13:54
And who knows whether or not someone does something for the sake of heaven? Only the Almighty. That's why, hashem, if you read the words again, let's read these words again. He turned back my anger, god says, when he zealously avenged my vengeance. God says he did it 100% for me, 100% for me. God says that deserves a reward. What reward? The perfect reward, the reward of peace. Of peace, specifically, because when we do things, what is Hashem's name? By the way, it's very interesting. Side note, side note. What's God's name? By the way? It's very interesting, side note, side note. What's God's name? One of God's name is Shalom. That's why, by the way, you're not allowed to say Shalom in the bathroom.

14:55
When you greet someone. You're in Israel, you go to a public bathroom. Someone walks in like oh Shalom, no, oh, oh, shalom, no. You can't say that it's God's name, but why do we greet someone with God's name? That's weird.

15:10
When you say hello. In Hebrew you say shalom. When you say goodbye, you say shalom. What's this? Using God's name to say hello and goodbye. Using God's name to say hello and goodbye, but what else is the word shalom?

15:29
Shalom means peace. Shalom also means perfection, which is all one thing God, whose perfection is peace. And every time we meet someone, we say goodbye to someone, what we're doing essentially is giving them a blessing. Jewish people, when we meet one another, we give each other a blessing and we say shalom. Not only peace be upon you, not only the name of Hashem be upon you, but also perfection be upon you. Not only the name of Hashem be upon you, but also perfection be upon you. May you attain your perfection. How do we do that in our closeness with Hashem?

16:14
Pinchas teaches us a lesson that's very unique for our generation what it means to be selflessly dedicated to the word of Hashem. That is true peace. Hashem should bless us all, that we should all merit to have that peace, to do things for the sake of heaven, not because of my own personal interest. You know what? If my own personal interest aligns with the will of Hashem, that's great. But what are you doing it for? What's, if your own personal interest aligns with the will of Hashem, that's great. But what are you doing it for? What's if your own personal interest is not there? You know, I'll give you an example.

16:50
Our sages tell us that you have to study Torah. But what's if I just enjoy studying Torah? I want to study Torah because I enjoy it. No wrong reason. Study Torah because God commanded you to do it. Now, if you happen to enjoy it, great, great. You get an extra bonus. You also enjoy it. What's the difference? What's the difference if I learn because I enjoy it or learn because it's a commandment to learn, you're going to come here to the class anyway. Right, might as well do it for the right reason. He said listen, listen carefully.

17:32
Sages tell us that when you do something out of obligation, then even when it's not so fun, I'm not in the mood, I'll do it anyway because I have to. But what happens if I only do things that I enjoy doing? When I don't enjoy it, I don't do it. So to lock yourself in? We don't do things because we enjoy it. We do things because this is what God wants me to do. If I happen to enjoy it, it's an extra credit, and there's no greater pleasure than studying Hashem's word.

18:12
But it's not always going to be easy. It's not always going to be easy to learn Torah. It's not always going to be fun to learn Torah. Sometimes we'll have hurricanes, sometimes we'll have rain, sometimes we'll have extreme heat, sometimes we'll have many different things that go on in the world that make it there. Oh, I have an obligation to learn Torah. It's even when it's not convenient, even when it's not fun. Shem should bless us all that we should always be able to align our will with the will of Hashem. We should always have a path of peace, a path of connection with the Almighty. Hashem should bless us with an amazing week to learn all of the lessons from Pinchas. Amen.

18:55 - Intro (Announcement)
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