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 everybody. Welcome to the Parsha Review Podcast. This week's Parsha is Parsha's Ki Tisa, or Ki Tisa, and this is the very, very infamous portion where the Jewish people fall to the sin of the golden calf. Two weeks in a row, we talked about the design of the tabernacle of the temple and then the design of the garments of the high priest. Now we take a break and we talk about the sin of the golden calf. The next week we talk about the actual construction of the tabernacle, putting it together, not only the design, but now the actual construction. And then the next portion, which is the last one in Exodus, is going to be about the putting together of the garments of the high priest. Now there's a lot to talk about, there's a lot to unpack, but I want to focus on one specific part of this week's Parsha and we see this a lot in the Torah that there is juxtapositions, and the juxtapositions are not random, they're on purpose, they're by design. As we know, there's nothing that just happens by coincidence, and particularly when we talk about they're by design. As we know, there's nothing that just happens by coincidence, and particularly when we talk about the Jewish people and our Torah, we learn very, very carefully from these juxtapositions. One of the most famous of these juxtapositions comes about 20 times in the Torah, and that is when we talk about the tabernacle. We talk about Shabbos.

01:50
Please pass me that blue book, the big, tall one right there. No, no, no, over, over, over over. Or the light blue, light, blue, light blue. You're right next to it, left, left, left, left, left, right there, perfect. So the tabernacle, shabbos, tabernacle, shabbos, tabernacle, shabbos, Right, build the beautiful tabernacle and then keep my Shabbos. So I'm just going to share with you one of my favorite books about Shabbos is this book. It's an amazing book. It looks to you like a children's book. It's not. It's written for people like me who love pictures, right. But it is very, very informative and I want to show you why.

02:28
We know Hashem created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. And then Hashem, what was on the seventh day? The Shabbos, right. So it goes from light and dark. You see the light and dark. You see the waters, the splitting of the waters, and then you see the day number three, the earth, see all the galaxies. Day number four all of the animals, all of the birds and the fish. And then, on day number six, is humanity, all the animals and humanity, adam, and then the last creation, the last creation Hashem created was women. Women, right. That's why a woman blesses every morning.

03:16
You've created me in the perfect form. Why, you know? You think about it. What's the last thing? You plan to have a dinner, right? You plan to have a dinner.

03:27
Do you call the guests first and then cook the food and then set the table? No, it goes the opposite. You first have a plan. What do I want to do here? What do I want to do? I want to have a beautiful dinner with all my friends. What do I need to do? I need to invite my friends. I do need to invite them, but I need to set the table. I need to do the shopping, I need to do the cooking and the baking and everything, and then have it all ready.

03:50
And then the guests come, and then the final guest of honor, whoever that guest of honor is, the birthday boy, right, right, whoever it is. And then they come in, because it was all created for whoever comes in last. Our creation was created. We have all of the process of creation. Then we have the last creation was Eve, and then is Shabbos, because all of it is just for Shabbos. All of creation was just for Shabbos. And then we talk about the tabernacle. We talk about the tabernacle so many times in these five portions and every time there's a mention, almost every single time there's a mention of the tabernacle, there's a mention of shabbos and our sages. If you look at the tabernacle here, the beautiful imagery here, the tabernacle had many different parts and all of the laws of Shabbos are derived from these. Laws that were prohibited in the tabernacle on Shabbos. For example, assembling was prohibited. Construction is prohibited on Shabbos. Anything that was prohibited in the tabernacle is also prohibited on Shabbos. 39 different labors were.

05:08
The Torah says build a tabernacle, but don't do it on Shabbos. I'll give you an example. You see there are many of these in the Holy of Holies. There were beams, one next to the other. There were these pillars, one next to the other, all lined up. So what did you need to do to know exactly which pillar was next to the other pillar? It had to be the same one, set up all around. So what you do is you would write two numbers. You'd write one, one and you'd make sure that they're always next to each other 2, 2, and they would be next to each other 3, 3, right on the other edge of each one of those beams and that way you knew exactly that 1 was always the same one that was next to 1, 2, and 2 was next to 2, 3, and 3 was next to 3, 4, etc. Etc. They were always lined up.

06:03
There's a biblical prohibition that we learned from that, that you're not allowed to write two letters. On Shabbos. Specifically, the prohibition, the biblical prohibition, is not to write one letter, it's two letters, because what was needed in the tabernacle? Writing two letters, that's one of the prohibitions, one of the 39 prohibitions on Shabbat is writing two letters. That's one of the prohibitions. One of the 39 prohibitions on Shabbat is writing two letters and rabbinically it's prohibited even one letter. But biblically, if a person writes one letter, it's not a biblical prohibition, Because we learned it from the tabernacle.

06:41
I would recommend my dear friends, if you can afford this book, buy this book. I'm telling you you will not regret it. It goes through here. So this is a classic page which all four corners deal with one of the different labors. So you see, this has a fence here that blocks off this one and this one. It's beautiful imagery. It describes what the biblical prohibition is and how it's in practicality, how it applies to our Shabbos observance. Okay, so every year you want to see the whole thing? Pass it around. Pass it around. We'll do it right after class so that everyone is able to understand the next thing that we're going to talk about.

07:25
Hashem says to us in the Ten Commandments to watch the Shabbos and to protect the Shabbos, and to remember the Shabbos. Remember and watch it, protect it. What does it mean to remember that we do every day, every day that we're in synagogue, every morning, this morning in synagogue, you know what we said Today's the third day of the week. Today's the third day to Shabbos. You know, in Judaism we don't have Sunday serving the sun, monday serving the moon. We don't have that. All of the days in English are named after different idols, after different gods.

08:08
In Hebrew you have a very different way of Sunday, monday, tuesday, day one, day two, day three. That's how it goes Yom Rishon, yom Sheni, yom Shlichi. Right, why? Because everything in Judaism is around Shabbos. Shabbos is the center of the week. There are different opinions, by the way, how you count the days of the week. You count that Sunday is day one to Shabbos or Shabbos is day one, and then you go away from Shabbos and come to the next Shabbos, which is again day one, or Wednesday is day one, or Wednesday is day one and Thursday is day two, and Friday is day three and Shabbos is the center of your week, and then Sunday, monday, tuesday is the end of the week. Either way we count it, sunday to Friday is day one to day six and Shabbos is Shabbos.

09:05
Interesting, but let's look at the verse in this week's parasha that talks about this, chapter 31, verse 12, ha'idabar Hashem al-Moshe. Le'imah Hashem spoke to Moshe saying as follows Ve'ato dabar al-b'nei Yisrael, please speak to the Jewish people. Le'imor as follows Ach es shabso se tishmorum my Shabbos, they shall observe. Ki os hi beini uveineichem. It is a sign. It is a sign. It is a sign. What is a sign? A treaty.

09:41
You know, right now our Secretary of State is in Saudi Arabia meeting with the Ukrainian delegation to talk about a treaty, a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine. What's going to happen? When they've come up with the final plan? They're going to sign an agreement. They're going to sign a treaty. We have such a treaty with God. We have three mitzvahs that are called a signature of our treaty with Hashem. Where Hashem says says your observance is your part of the deal, my part of the deal. I'm never going to let go of you. I'm going to always watch over you. You want to know how the Jewish people have prevailed the last 3,300 years of ups and downs and ups and downs since we became a nation at Mount Sinai. It's because we had a treaty. What are those three mitzvahs?

10:40
Shabbos, anybody know what else? Bris, circumcision and tefillin. Tefillin is considered an os, is considered a sign. When we tie that sign on our arms every morning Maybe still see my tefillin marks no, they're been a while ago this morning, but every day. To put on tefillin and, by the way, tefillin for those of you who are intimidated by tefillin too long it literally takes three minutes. Three minutes, not more. You put the tefillin on, you recite the blessing, you say Shema and you're done, finished. You've signed your treaty with the Almighty Shabbos is an os, it's a sign. It's a sign Beini uveinichem. God says this is a sign between me and you L'dor oseichem for all the generations, l'adas ki'ani, hashem e kadashchem. And that way you will know, not believe, not have faith. You will know that I am Hashem who makes you holy. You'll feel close.

11:46
I remember just this week my wife said she says I had such a an amazingly challenging week. She said as soon as I lit the Shabbos candles I felt like I was on vacation. All of the worries, all of the stress, all of the everything gone. He wants to petition God to do a Shabbos for more than 24 hours. Maybe we can do it for 48 hours. It's the serenity that comes with Shabbos. Everything's off, no phones.

12:21
I was just reading from someone's post. She's a convert to Judaism and she's writing about her experience. Now, after more than a year of being a convert and her experience, she says I always knew I needed a break from my phone, from my technology, but Shabbos is so perfect. One day a week I'm off the grid. The greatest investment in a relationship. It's the greatest investment in our children. It's the greatest investment in our community, in our friends. It's one day that we're all in, I'm all focused, no distractions.

13:02
Os hi beiniu beineichem. Hashem says Shabbos is a sign, a treaty between us and the Almighty. So now the verse continues, verse 14. Ushmartim es haShabbos and you will observe the Shabbos, Hi, kodesh hi. It is holy To you, and its desecrators shall certainly be put to death, because anybody who does creative labor Will cut off their own self from the midst of their people. Verse number 15.

13:43
For six days, do all your work. Work. By the way, there's no five-day week in the Torah, it's a six-day work week. It's a six-day work week. Work. Sunday is a day of work. Work the garden. Work your shed, do your project Work. It's work. Sunday is a day of work. Work the garden, work your shed, do your project work. It's work. Sunday is a day of work. Do all your labor.

14:07
On the seventh day, it's a day of complete rest. It's reserved, it's holy, reserved to Hashem sacred. Anyone who does work on reserved to Hashem Sacred, kol ha'osim malocha, b'yom ha'Shabbos mos yumos, anyone who does work on the day of Shabbos shall certainly be put to death. What does that mean? That means death spiritually. We're killing ourselves spiritually when we're not observing the Shabbos. We're not allowing our soul to flourish.

14:40
Two more verses V'shamru b'nei Yisrael es haShabbos and observe and watch and protect b'nei Yisrael es haShabbos, the Jewish people, the Shabbos, la'asos es haShabbos. L'dorosam to make the Shabbos throughout their generations, bris olam, a covenant that is eternal. Now, listen to this word, listen to this verse Beini uvein, b'nei Yisrael, between me and the Jewish people. Who's this covenant? It's not some like somewhere out there. I think it's a good thing.

15:15
No, no, no. God says this is me and you. There's no intermediary, there's no one in between us here. This is me and you. Hashem says I am making this treaty directly with you, between me and the Jewish people. This is forever and ever and ever a signed treaty, because God created the world in six days, the heaven and the earth, all of creation. On the seventh day, hashem rested and he refreshed, he got all renewed. An amazing. This is, by the the way. This is Bible.

15:58
This is not like some rabbis wrote this. This is Hashem in his Torah one, two, three, four, five, six verses, six beautiful verses. What's this? Between me and between my children, my children of Israel, between me and between my children, my children of Israel, between me and my children of Israel. What is this that we're talking about?

16:27
So, if you ask someone, what does it mean to be a servant of God? Give me a picture of what is it. Who is the ideal image of someone who is a servant of God you think about it. I'll tell you that most people will associate that with someone who's sitting and learning Torah all day, someone who's very righteous, has a beard from here to League City, like someone who's really, really holy, right, that's someone who's a servant of Hashem, and perhaps it is, we don't know.

17:09
We don't know who the servant of Hashem is. It's like I remember as children people would ask who is a more righteous tzaddik? Who's a more righteous sage? Our sages always teach us we don't know. We don't know who's more righteous. There's no way to quantify that. Why? Why can't we quantify this? Because we don't know what challenges they grew up with. We don't know what they need to overcome to be the Rebbe Akiva. We don't know what they needed to overcome to be the great sages that they became. One person could have grown up brilliant, smart, motivated, intelligent, easy for them to learn Torah Someone who has been difficult, and they had to chisel their way through a page of Talmud hard work. It took them two years to get through one page of Talmud. That doesn't make them less righteous. It doesn't make them less holy. It's about the journey.

18:21
But typically we think that someone who is especially in the world we live in today. You know, we think that someone who is completely removed, someone who exercises abstinence from material things, such a person is holy In the church. That's the way it goes. Someone who doesn't get married, someone who's minimalist in their materialistic endeavors, such a person is holy. But that's not the way Hashem created the world.

18:55
Hashem created a world that is material. You know the first thing Hashem created world that is material. You know the first thing Hashem created Shomayim, the heavens and the earth. The heavens is holiness, is spirituality, earth materialism. Everything we have comes, almost basically everything we have is from the earth. It's all materialism. Paper comes from the trees, plastic comes from oil and gas right, it's derived from that. The wood, this desk from a tree, even the steel. Everything comes from the earth. Hashem created materialism as well. Materialism as well.

19:43
Our sages tell us it is a huge mistake to think that the only way to become holy and righteous is through the spiritual aspect of it. It has to be through the materialistic aspect as well, meaning the way in which we eat. It has to be through the materialistic aspect as well, meaning the way in which we eat, eat. God made good food. Oh no, I'm not going to eat good food. I'm just going to eat bland food.

20:11
Then why did Hashem create the delicious food? Why did Hashem create it? Not for you to enjoy. Hashem didn't create wine for you to really, really enjoy a great glass of wine. Hashem didn't enjoy delicious fish and meat and chicken and fruits and vegetables for us to enjoy. So why did Hashem create it? Oh no, that's for the materialistic people. That's for them. No, that's for every single person to be able to have more and more opportunities. That's for the materialistic people. That's for them. No, that's for every single person to be able to have more and more opportunities to elevate and connect themselves to godliness. That every person, every single person, can take their materialism and associate it with their connection with Hashem. So you're enjoying your coffee. Thank you, gary. You're enjoying your coffee, enjoy it. You have to realize that this drink that you're drinking, thank you, hashem, for creating the coffee beans. Thank you, hashem, for giving me hot water. Thank you, hashem, for giving me milk water. Thank you, hashem, for giving me milk or sugar, whatever else that Hashem created to make your coffee so delicious. Thank you for making it for me, you see, because the relationship we have with Hashem is not that you made it for the world. I happen to be benefiting from it. No, no, no, hashem made it for you.

21:40
One of my rabbis he said if you're ever, ever sad, he says before you take a bite of your dinner, stop and look at your plate with the variety of foods that are on it and ask yourself how many people need it to work so that my food gets on my plate. Work your way back. Who prepared the food? Who cooked the food? Who shopped the food? Who shopped for it? Who put it on the display in the store? Who took it off the truck, unpacked it? Who drove that truck? Who loaded it up? Who put it in at the farm? Who selected it? Who planted it? Who bought the seeds? Everything that was required the entire process on your plate for dinner, an ordinary, simple dinner.

22:43
At least 50 people had to work for you to enjoy your dinner and you don't feel loved that 50 people had to. Oh, they had to earn a living. So what do you want? No, we don't work with the approach. Well, why should I be grateful to my housekeeper? It's her job. No, I benefited from it. My house is clean. It's a pleasure to be in it. The attitude is not that. Well, that's their job. I pay them to do their job. Well, that's the doctor's job, right, doctor? Oh, why should I thank my doctor? That's your job. No, I'm grateful that I benefited from you. Thank you for doing what you do to help me. I'm just here to do my job. No, you took special time to take care of me as your patient, and it's the same with the banker, and the same with the cashier, and the same with your Uber driver and the same with the chef in the restaurant.

23:52
They are doing something for you to enjoy to make you closer to Hashem, or doing something for you to enjoy to make you closer to Hashem. Every single materialistic thing that we enjoy is an opportunity to elevate ourselves and become closer to God. It's virtually impossible, if you look at our prayers. It's virtually impossible to pray the morning prayer and not jump out of your seat and start dancing. I'm not kidding, it's virtually impossible. You see all the goodness that Hashem bestows upon us. Like I'm the luckiest human being on earth, this is the greatest thing on earth. Look at this. Hashem gives me the sun, he gives me the moon. He gives me night, he gives me day, he gives me strength. He gives me sleep to refresh myself. He gives me food. He gives me drink. He gives me vacations. He gives me a job, a career that I love. He gives me a job, a career that I love. He gives me friendship. He gives me children. He gives me whatever it is that God gives us. What an amazing gift.

25:13
And we verbalize them in our prayers, in the Pesuka de Zimra, the verses of song. You know, we're going to talk about this soon in our prayer podcast. We're going to talk about this soon in our prayer podcast. We're going to talk about psuket zimmer, the verses of song. Our sages tell us that zimmer doesn't only mean zemmer song. It also means zemir, which means to prune, to cut Songs of cutting, of pruning. What does that mean? Yeah, we're cutting away from our habits, we're cutting away from our materialism that we're so dependent on, and we're stopping for a second to recognize the gifts that we have. We're taking a renewed feeling to what's going on in our lives. We're stopping the habits. We're stopping just everything as usual. Everything is just, everything is just fine. I'm just living another day. No, I'm maximizing another day. I'm enjoying another day, I'm connecting another day.

26:12
One of the things that made me dislike baseball more than anything is that it's called. It's the old American pastime. You're trying to pass time Like. You're just trying to like let me lose four hours and just watch a game Because I need to pass time. Life is a great. No, I'm not saying we shouldn't watch sports. I'm not saying that. Enjoy it.

26:39
I try to use it as an opportunity to enjoy with my children. My children love the Astros X-Sims. Use it as an opportunity to build that relationship with your children, but not to desire to run away from life. I need something to distract me. I need something to run away from life. All of Shabbos is bringing us back in. It's giving us the ability to focus on me, my family, my relationship with the Almighty. It's such an amazing gift when Hashem teaches us in His Torah I'm giving you a day to enjoy materialism All day. All day, every day of our weekly activities. We're accumulating, we're working, we're toiling, we're collecting, we're gathering things. We never enjoy them.

27:43
I went to Costco on Sunday. It's very rare. I walked out without anything. I went to just go see. I was looking for a specific. I told my wife I said it's surreal, walking out with nothing. It's great, but that place was a madhouse.

28:01
People are buying and buying and buying, and how many people you know? There's a business. I know someone who has a business in New Jersey. It's called shopping in your own closet. I kid you, not Shopping in your own closet as a professional. People pay money to help them shop in their own closet.

28:24
Ooh, I never knew I had this dress. I never knew I had this. It's sitting there and sitting there with the label to tags on never worn, because we are accumulating and accumulating and accumulating and it's not a good thing if we don't enjoy it and we don't thank Hashem and we don't take it and elevate it, say Hashem, thank you for dressing me, it's a blessing. We say Mal bish arumim. What do we have without clothes? Nothing. We're unclothed, we don't have anything, anything. Hashem, thank you for making me dignified. Thank you for making me feel beautiful. Thank you for giving me clothes. That makes me feel good. It's a blessing for that. Every morning I have clothes. You have a washing machine. That's where you make that blessing also. You say that same blessing. Think about it that you have a washing machine. That's where you make that blessing also. You say that same blessing Think about it that you have a washing machine that can wash your clothes and it can make you feel, ah, I'm all clean.

29:30
We are living in the most amazing life because we have today, today, to thank Hashem. If we write down every day on a little journal five things you're grateful for five things your coffee, just write it, just for your coffee. You're grateful to see your family on FaceTime? Write it down. You're grateful that you have friends? Write it down. Be grateful to see how much Hashem loves us. It's ungiving, ungiving, ungiving. This is created for us to enjoy and to build our relationship with the Almighty. We can't let it be two separate worlds. Oh, there's the spiritual realm. Oh, that's where the righteous people live. I come to my class and that's where I get my spiritual feed for the day. No, we have to carry it along with us.

30:33
So when we get into our materialistic world and you get into your new Tesla, who said they're getting a Tesla right? And you get into your new Tesla, who said they're getting a Tesla right? And you get into your new Tesla, that what happens is that we take it as like an opportunity to thank Hashem. Thank you, hashem, for putting me in a generation that has such incredible things. I have a toy. My car is a toy that I enjoy every time. Thank you, hashem. Thank you, hashem, for giving me this and use it as a tool to elevate, use it as a tool to connect and to grow our relationship with the Almighty. It's a direct relationship between me, hashem says, and the Jewish people, me and you. I gave it to you, I gave it to you, I gave it to you to enjoy.

31:24
But then there's a caveat, and that's Shabbos. Shabbos, don't pursue anymore. Shabbos, just take it in, just enjoy, just a rest, a day of vacation, a day you're going on a cruise. What happens when you go on the cruise? A guy told me he left one of his bags in the trunk of his car. He gets on the cruise and they pull away from the dock. He's like oh, my tuna fish sandwich. Imagine how it's going to smell in the trunk of his car when he gets back. Terrible. Once that ship leaves the dock, it's over. That's Shabbos.

32:10
Whatever we prepare, whatever we have cooked, baked, warmed up, heated, before Shabbos, that's it. As soon as Shabbos, the light's on, the light's off, it's locked in Done. As soon as Shabbos hits. We're now in a new reality 25 hours that we're in God's world. 25 hours that we can read books that we don't get a chance to read, that we can meet friends that we don't get a chance to spend time with. We can play games with our children, we can talk, we can laugh, we can cry. You're not supposed to cry on Shabbos, but you can do all the things that are enjoyable that we always miss out on.

32:46
Shabbos is that time. Take it all in. This is the time that Hashem created for us to enjoy, to enjoy, and if you look at the things that are permitted or prohibited on Shabbos, all creative labors are prohibited. Creative labors, hashem says this is the time. Don't create. You create all six days. Don't create.

33:12
Writing is creative, by the way. Building is creative. Demolishing is creating, creating new space. All of these things are creative labors. Don't work hard.

33:21
I want you to be on vacation today. Today's a day for vacation. That's Shabbos. The days that we have work, work Six days a week, no resting. You hear that, ed. No resting, no time off. Six days, you work, you toil. Fix this, fix that. Seven. Ah, it's a time to take it all in. That's the way we become God-fearing. Our sages tell us, you want to know what it really means to be God-fearing. Take the physical and elevate it. Don't let a physical experience, a materialistic experience, just be materialistic.

34:06
A friend of mine called me this morning. He happens to be the contractor who's working at my house. He calls me this morning. He says to me Rabbi, I'm not going to make it today. This morning this is two hours ago A friend of mine invited me to go fishing. So I'm currently in the Gulf of America fishing.

34:29
You know what I told him Enjoy, have a good time. God has given you an opportunity to enjoy and to be in his world and to do things. Enjoy it. Apologizing, I don't apologize, his workers are there but he's not. I hope I don't come back and have, like you know, everything's in the wrong place. No, no, no, it'll be good. But the idea of just you're enjoying something, enjoy it, live it up to its fullest. That coffee shouldn't be like okay, I take the coffee, run into my car, get my stuff, I have my bag, my this, my that, my keys, everything running and you don't get a chance to enjoy. No, no, no, Stop. Enjoy.

35:13
Thank you, hashem. You made this for me. You made this for me. I love you. Between me and you, me and you, it's a direct relationship. Using that in every area of our life helps us grow and become God-fearing. Hashem should bless us all. We should merit to live such a life, to live a life where we're able to maximize not only the Shabbos a day of rest, a day of connection but that the weekdays become days of connection, that the materialism becomes opportunities for connection, that every single thing we have and we enjoy in our lives becomes a tool for closeness with the Almighty Amen. Have a beautiful Shabbos, my dear friends.

36:02 - Intro (Announcement)
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