Parsha Review Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Parsha Review Podcast.

Good morning, everybody. Beautiful morning here in Houston, Texas. Welcome to the Parsha Review Podcast. It is so wonderful to study this week's Parsha, Parsha's Amidbar. What's interesting is that most of what we're going to quote and talk about is not actually in this week's Parsha, but what we see is something so incredible that every year, the Shabbos before the holiday of Shavuot, is always the portion of Amidbar.
Amidbar is the first portion in the Book of Numbers. The Book of Numbers is very interesting why it's called the Book of Numbers, because the Jewish people are counted again and again and again, and our sages teach us, just know it's important for you to always know and remember that you count. God counts us because we're so precious. Someone who has something really valuable, he's always checking to make sure that they're there, making sure that it hasn't gotten lost.
The Jewish people are very precious to the Almighty, and God counts us, which is why the entire book in the Latin and in the English is called the Book of Numbers. Amidbar, though, in Hebrew, is in the desert. The Jewish people are in the desert. And it says that the Jewish people always have the parasha of Amidbar read the week before Shavuos. Next week is going to be the holiday of Shavuos, and then this Shabbos is going to be, we're going to read the portion of Amidbar.
Why? So our sages give many reasons for this. We're going to discuss it a little bit. Number one, because the Jewish people, in order to receive the Torah, our sages tell us, Rashi brings this down, in order to receive the Torah, you need to be like a desert. The desert is always thirsting for water. The Torah is like water. You need to be like the desert that's always thirsty for the Torah. That's reason number one. Number two is that the desert is humble.
It gets trampled upon. People step, it's low. It's humble. Harsinai, the Mount Sinai that the Torah was given on, was the humblest of mountains. It wasn't the biggest mountain. You have Mount Everest. You have Grand Teton, great, beautiful, gigantic mountain in the, you have Pikes Peak in Colorado, a mile high, right? It's unbelievable. It's really special. It's more than, it's three miles high. A mile high stadium there in Colorado. But it's, you have mountains, beautiful mountains.
No, God picks Mount Sinai, which is like a little hill. It's like a little mountain. Why? Humility. The Jewish people, in order to attain, in order to acquire the Torah, you must have the trait of humility. Without the trait of humility, you cannot acquire the Torah. Additionally, we see in this week's Parsha, Parsha Shabbat Midbar, we see how Moshe designates each of the tribes with their flag. Everyone gets a flag. Each one, each tribe has their own identity.
They have their own flag, their own color. They have their own location, exactly where they're positioned, around the ark, around the Ark of the Covenant, around the tabernacle. So you had three tribes on each side. Moshe says to the Almighty, I'm not so sure that the Jewish people are going to accept my designation as to where they should be positioned. They're going to say, whoa, you put me on the south side. Maybe you should have put me on the north side.
And you know, these are Jewish people. They're not, they're all going to be complicated. It's all going to be difficult. Hashem says you have nothing to worry about. Jacob already took care of it. Because before Jacob died, he told his children, I want you to bring my body up to Israel, to Hebron, to be v'shochavti im avosai, I will lie with my fathers, with Isaac and Abraham, with his mothers, Rebecca and Sarah. He says, I want you all to bring me.
And this is the way I want you to be positioned. And he told them exactly who's going to stand in front, who's going to stand on the right, who's going to stand on the left, who's going to stand behind. And that's the way they're going to escort their father. God tells Moshe, they're already accustomed. They know exactly where they need to go. They know their positioning. They know exactly how it's going to work out.
And we do see that it wasn't just random that they were complaining about where they're going to be. We see that certain tribes were affected by their neighbors. Like Korach was affected and affected his neighbors. You have a bad influence has a strong, strong impact. But we're about to receive the Torah next week is the holiday of Shavuot, which is the day that the Jewish people received the revelation at Mount Sinai. When does the Torah reveal that to us?
Right before the Jewish people receive the revelation of the Ten Commandments in the book of Exodus. These verses, I want to read to you a few verses from there. God gives the instructions of exactly how the Jewish people should prepare themselves for receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai. And the following happens. By he, by Yom HaShlishan, it was on that third day, which is the day before the Jewish people are going to receive the revelation at Mount Sinai.
So three days, they needed to be preparing themselves with holiness, with purity. When it was morning, there was thunder and lightning. And a cloud that was heavy descended upon the mountain. And the sound of the shofar was very powerful, exceedingly powerful. And trembled did the entire nation, the entire people that was in the camp. This is chapter 19, verse number 16. In Exodus. By Yotzei Moshe Es HaOm, Moses brought forth the people, Likras Olehim, towards God, Min HaMachaneh, from the camp. Ve'yisyatzvu b'tachti sahar.
And they stood at the foot of the mountain. Ve'har Sinai Oshan Kulo. And the mount, Mount Sinai, was all a smoke. Me'pnei asher yorah dolov Hashem be'eish. As a result, that Hashem came down upon it in the fire. Ve'yal ashonoy k'oshon. And ascended its smoke, like the smoke of a furnace, hakivshon. K'oshon hakivshon. Ve'yekherat kolo oma'od. And trembled did the entire mountain, exceedingly. The entire. Ve'yikol hashofar. And there was the sound of the shofar, holech v'chazak mi'od.
And the sound of the shofar was growing exceedingly stronger. Moshe yidaber, ve'he Elohim ya'nenu b'kol. Moses would speak and God would respond to him with a voice. So it's really unbelievable that if you look at these words, something hidden here is going on. What does Rashi say? They came towards God. They came towards the mountain. Ma'agit shehashchino yotzol l'krosom, k'choson hayotzol l'krosokalo. It says that the presence of God came towards them like a groom walks towards his bride. Like a groom walks towards his bride.
You hear this, Gary? It's unbelievable. Who are we? The Jewish people. We are the bride. Who is our groom? God. God comes towards us. Ve'zeh shenem ra'hashem mi'sinay bo. And this says that God came from Sinai. What is that referring to? We go now to the book of Deuteronomy. The second verse in chapter 33 in the last portion of Deuteronomy. In v'zo sabracha. It says, ve'yomer ha'shem mi'sinay bo. He said, ha'shem from Sinai came, ve'zorach me'seir lamo.
He shone forth from Seir to them. Hofia mahar poron, ve'osa merivavos kodesh. He appeared from Mount Poron and then he approached with some of the angels, myriads of the holy angels from his right hand, eshtos lamo. He presented the fiery Torah to them. What is going on here? Rashi says, shaholach sham ve'pasach le'bnei yishmau sheyikablu ava lo ratsu. I've said this numerous times. But I want to, before I say this, I want to begin with a question. The Jewish people had an alarm clock.
The morning they were about to receive the Torah, they had an alarm clock. What's the alarm clock they had? Moshe wakes them up. He says, guys, let's go. What are you sleeping? God is about to reveal himself to you. You're going to have the greatest revelation in the history of the world and you're sleeping? What is wrong with you? What is going on here? How is it possible? Think rationally for a second.
How is it possible that the Jewish people are at the edge of the greatest experience in world history? And what? They're sleeping. So we mentioned on Sunday in our class that the Jewish people wanted prophecy. They wanted prophecy. They wanted nevua. How do you receive the message, the revelation of prophecy? When you're asleep. They said we're going to have the revelation from God. We need to be asleep. It's not that they weren't excited.
They went to sleep so that they can have the revelation of prophecy. Some can look at it. This is why we have the custom of staying up all night on the holiday of Shavuot. We stay up the whole night and learn Torah. My dad's been with me many years, staying awake the whole night. This week, this year, we're going to have a program again, learning the whole night, throughout the night, multiple locations. Not only in the synagogues you have it all night, but you have different torch classes.
You can have it in Torchwood. We can have another torch class in the community that's going to go the whole night. We do that to repair for the image that it could be seen that we weren't interested in receiving the Torah. We weren't excited and anticipating this revelation, and they went to sleep. It doesn't look good. So we stay up the whole night. Since then, the Jewish people stay up the night of Shavuot and learn all night.
We wake up and we're early in the morning to pray at the earliest possible time at the crack of dawn, and then you can go to sleep. You showed your excitement. So why did Moshe wake them up if they're about to have prophecy? If they're about to have that revelation in their sleep, like most prophets did, then why in the world do they need to have Moshe wake them up? Moshe doesn't need to wake them up. They're going to get the prophecy.
So we know that Moshe was very different than any of the other prophets. Moshe was so holy that he was able to communicate with God, Peh elpeh edaber elov. God spoke to Moshe face-to-face, mouth-to-mouth, meaning not through a vision during sleep, with full consciousness. Moshe says, Jewish people, I know you're sleeping because you want prophecy. It's time to get up because we're going to have a whole other level of revelation. So now we know why Moshe woke them up, but the Talmud, the Midrash, Rashi here brings
this. That Hashem went to all sides, meaning He asked all of the nations if they want the Torah. The Talmud in Avodah Zarah brings this. And here in this Passach, in this verse, in Deuteronomy 33.2, says that God came from the mountains. Where did He come from? The Midrash says an amazing thing. That on God's right, He had Yishmael, and 35 nations with Yishmael. And on His left, He had Esau, and 35 nations with Esau. Yishmael on one side, with 35 nations.
We know there's 70 nations in the world. Yishmael's with 35 nations, Esau's with 35 nations, and God sends out that memo. And He says to them, who wants My Torah? And they all ask, answer back, what does it say in it, Maqsib Bey? And God gives every nation the answer that is appropriate for them to hear. He tells the French, the laws of modesty, they're like, no, thank you so much. Thanks but no thanks, not for us.
He tells the Germans, thou shalt not murder, no, not for us. He tells the Muslims, thou shalt not steal, they're like, no, thank you. He tells each nation what the mitzvahs are in the Torah. Maqsib Bey, what's written in it. He sends them back the prospectus of the Torah, and they're like, no, thank you. Thanks but no thanks. The Jewish people didn't ask what's in it. What's wrong with them? The Jewish people, who are the ones who ask the most questions, they're the ones who like,
you know, do you want to make an investment? Well, I have to see, tell me about it, let me see the spreadsheet, let me see this and that and that. It's like asking a thousand questions, like, okay, enough, I don't even want your investment anymore. Well, the Jewish people suddenly don't ask any questions. Ah, now seven ishmael, we're in. We will do, we'll hear the contract later. Because it makes sense that the nations of the world should ask what's in it. It makes sense.
You're about to sign a contract, read it. You're about to sign a contract. You bought your house, you didn't read the contract, of course you read the contract. You made sure that it has a roof still. You made sure that it comes with the pool. You made sure that it comes with, you're not going to read a contract. What's the complaint about the nations of the world? The Jewish people seem to be reckless. What are they doing?
We've said this so many times, that we have to understand what it means to say yes in a relationship. The Jewish people are the bride. The Almighty is the groom, says that God walked towards the Jewish people, like a groom walks towards his bride. A bride doesn't say yes on condition. A bride doesn't say, well, what does this really entail? How many children? What's if they're great children? What's if they're difficult children? What's if they have special needs?
What's if we don't have the money that you think we're going to make? What's if we lose our home? I want to hear, what's the contingency plan? There's no such thing. Most guys would say, you know what, this is not love. I'll find someone else who actually loves me. That's the way the Jewish people, the Jewish people recognize that this was a bond with God on the highest level. There's no questions about that. So they received the Torah immediately.
But why were they sleeping according to this? They should be excited. They should be excited. Why are they sleeping? According to this reason, they should be sitting there ready with their pen so there's no backseas. It's too good of a deal. Right? Give me that contract. I'll sign it. We're ready to go. Sign the deal. Goodbye. Instead, no. The Jewish people went to sleep. Yeah, they're playing hard to get now. Sages tell us something really incredible.
Just by the way, an interesting thing. So God goes to the French and he sends them Macron. He says, do you guys want the Torah? He says, let me see. I'll send it to Brigitte. Right? So they look at the Torah. What does it say? Eh, it's not for us. Let's take a vote. So they put it out there in the French population. Who wants to receive the Torah? 90% said no. What happened with that 10% that said yes?
Yeah, we think it's a good idea. God is a pretty good investment. They go to other nations. And what happened to those who said yes? Sages tell us those who said yes are the future converts to the Jewish people. The Midrash says, because they wanted to, they were outvoted. What can you do? But since they wanted to, they will have the privilege to join the Jewish people. And what's about the Jewish people? Maybe not everyone said yes.
Maybe there was a skeptic back there that says, you know what, but it would be better living in Hawaii and I could do whatever I want and I don't have to have this religion and I don't have to be busy with morning, afternoon, and evening prayers and putting on Tefillin every day and keeping Shabbos and keeping kosher. Leave me alone. I just want to do what I want to do. Maybe someone would say no. The Midrash says that those are the people who left Judaism.
The people who at that moment, it means you have one moment of buy-in. It's like imagine the people who bought the Apple stock or the Tesla stock or the Google stock in its infancy. You buy it when it's a penny. You did really well. If you missed out, you missed out. Those who got in and said yes at that moment when God made the offer, they got in. And by the way, the nations of the world aren't left out in the dust.
You don't need to be Jewish to get heaven. As the Torah says, God, the Talmud brings this down, where God says to the nations of the world, do you know something? You have the seven Naachite laws. Observe the seven Naachite laws, you're just as good. The Jewish people, you want to be locked in a certain relationship with God, you got to keep all 613, all 613 commandments. But the nations of the world, they don't. They have seven Naachite laws and they're good to go.
God says, one second, now they're going to come to complain to God. God's going to say, they're going to say to God, it's not fair. If you would have given us the Torah, we would have accepted it. We would have been righteous. We would have done the right thing. God says, I gave you the chance. But how about the seven Naachite laws that I gave you? Even before the Torah, did you observe those? There are very few.
Sadly, there's a movement, there's a growing movement of Naachites today. It's a beautiful thing. I encourage it. In fact, I sat in a Bet Din, according to the Rambam. The Rambam says that in order for someone who's a Gentile, not a Jew, in order for them to undertake the seven Naachite laws, it's not just that they sit at home and they decide it. They have to stay in the front of a Bet Din.
And they have to declare all deities false, publicly, in front of the Bet Din, in front of the Jewish court. I presided as one of the rabbis on a court, as one of the judges on a Jewish court, where we had dozens of people who were coming to declare their commitment to the Naachite laws and denouncing all other gods other than Hashem. This is a real, incredible thing. So someone shouldn't say, oh, I didn't get in on the ground floor as a Jew. I'm done. I'm toast.
No. You have the opportunity. You have the privilege. We need to recognize that the Jewish people went to sleep for one reason. Why did they give such a quick no? They thought you're going to go to all 70 nations, it's going to take some time, deliberation, they have to make a referendum, they have to have a vote, dimple chads, fix the machines, voting records, ID, it's going to be a process. No. They said no on the spot.
God comes back to the Jewish people and says, let's go, let's close this deal. Jewish people said, yes, we're in. Goodbye. They're like, what? You're back already? They didn't even deliberate. They didn't even think about it. That's why they were sleeping. We were excited on the same way that the nations of the world were excited to say no, we were excited to say yes. And that's why Moshe comes in the camp and Moshe declares, he says, everybody, it's time to wake up.
It's time. This is a new dawn. This is a new beginning for us as a people. We were not Jews till that point. We're not. We were called Ivrim. We were Hebrews till then. From that point on, we became the Jewish people. From that point on, it says, you know what descended with the Torah? Hatred descended with the Torah. You want to know where antisemitism comes from? It comes from Mount Sinai.
Sinai, and the word Sina, which means hatred, it says the Torah descended at Sinai. Hatred, Sina, descended at Sinai. Because the nations of the world are now kicking themselves saying, why didn't we say yes? We said yes 3,300 years ago. Do you know what we need to do today? Today, each and every one of us need to say yes again. Each and every Jewish person needs to say, you know what, God is coming to me today and offering me the Torah.
Am I saying yes or am I saying no? Am I saying yes on condition, or am I saying, well, let me consider, let me deliberate, let me evaluate, let me see if it fits into my schedule, or are we saying yes? This is our opportunity, on Shavuot, for us to say yes. We mention this every holiday, that there is a rebirth of the same exact aura, of the same exact experience that the Jewish people experienced back when those holidays were founded.
The holiday of Pesach is a redemption again. We can get out of our exiles, our personal exiles, we can get out of it. Just like they did leaving Egypt, we today have the same ability to leave our own bondage, our own slavery. On Rosh Hashanah, on Yom Kippur, we can attain the same level of atonement as the Jewish people did for the golden calf, because that's when Yom Kippur was founded. When God says, you asked for forgiveness, I'm going to give you forgiveness.
It's a day that for eternity remains an opportunity for the Jewish people to get atonement. Shavuos is the same exact thing. We need to declare and say yes, as if it's the first time that God is offering it to us. Today, the 12th of May, 2026, today we need to make that declaration as well. And tomorrow, the 13th of May, we need to make that declaration again. Yes, I'm in. This is a daily thing that we can re-declare, I'm in. I'm all in.
I'm all in to receive the Torah. I'm all in. I'm not going to hide my Judaism. And by the way, we have to know what it means to be a proud Jew. We talked about this previously. Why am I proud? What makes me proud? It's just my team. My team is doing better than your team. What does that mean? It's like, oh, I love the Houston Astros, but what happens if they lose? Well, I'm not so excited about the Houston Astros.
They're doing terrible this season, by the way. But you know what? That's not why we pick Judaism. We pick it because we want to be on the right team, the team with God. We're in a relationship when we take, you know, I tell guys who get married, you want to succeed in your marriage? Take the exit signs off. You walk into a building, there's always an exit sign. You know where you can run for the door. Take the exit signs down.
You're locked in this relationship now. Make it work. Figure out what you need to do to succeed in your relationship. Figure out what it takes to make this the greatest friendship ever. To build that love, remove the exit signs. You're committed. You're in. And when you're in, you will find a way to succeed. The Jewish people need to be in. We need to make a commitment. And you know what? Yeah, Rabbi, I didn't grow up with kosher.
Rabbi, I didn't grow up with Shabbos. Rabbi, I didn't grow up with mitzvahs. So what? So what? You think Hashem doesn't want us all to take a step? Take one step. Someone reached out to me this morning. My dear friend Chaim from New Mexico. Shout out to Chaim from New Mexico. He texted me this morning. He says, I'll read it to you, because I posted the, you know, that Trump has been encouraging
the Jewish people to keep this Shabbos in honor of the 250th birthday of the United States. It's unbelievable. He says, may I just, he says, maybe I'm just in the mood, but why are people going nuts about this Shabbos Trump told us to observe? He says Hashem told us thousands of years ago to observe the Shabbos. Shabbos should be this big and public every week. He's 100% right. Chaim, good job. This is our responsibility every single week, regardless of Trump, regardless of 250th birthday
of the United States. And I hope that there are many people who are inspired and say, yes, I'm going to keep a Shabbos. Yes, I'm going to turn my phone off for this Shabbos. Yes, I'm going to light Shabbos candles for this Shabbos. But not only this Shabbos. Start with one. See if you can do another. Start with one. And you know, just, I'll just tell you. Can you imagine the merit that he will have if one person keeps Shabbos because of it?
One person. Can you imagine? But imagine even more what merit we have if we keep one Shabbos. Imagine if we keep one Shabbos. Imagine if we keep one Shabbos, the merit we get for able to inspire others. And it has to be something small. The person's not accustomed to not driving to synagogue. Figure out something that you can do that can make your Shabbos one drop holier. You know, I did something this Shabbos I was learning.
And I realized in my learning that I love the news. I love politics. I love what's going on in the world. I'm very, very engaged in it. I said to myself, what would happen if I took a week off and didn't look at the news at all? And I accepted on Shabbos, I accepted that as soon as Shabbos is out and I pick up my phone after Shabbos, first thing I'm going to do is delete all the apps that have news. And it's exactly what I did.
As soon as I was done reciting the Havdalah, my family, I took my phone and I deleted all the news apps. I don't get any notifications. I don't know anything that's going on in the world right now. You can share with me, but I'm not going to look it up. I do not have a television. I only get it from news apps or if I go to a website that has news. No news.
And I can tell you that Sunday and Monday so far have been my most productive Sundays and Mondays in a very, very long time. I knocked more off my list in these two days and I'm not listening to podcasts about news, current events. One week. Hashem asks us not to do that. One week. One day. Turn off the world. One day a week, Friday night from sunset to Shabbos is out, Saturday night till stars are out on Saturday night. Just turn off the world.
Turn yourself on. Your relationships, your friendships, your personal relationship with yourself will flourish. Your community, your neighbors, it'll grow. It'll flourish. All we need to do is say yes. That's it. We need to do. My dear friends, have a magnificent Shabbos.

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