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 back to the Parsha Review Podcast. This week's Parsha is Parsha's Pekudei. Parsha's Pekudei is the last portion in the book of Exodus. Next week we begin Leviticus Amazing. Next week we begin Leviticus Amazing.

00:28
This is the portion that talks about the construction or the fabrication of the garments of the high priest. So the high priest is now going to get those clothes are going to be put together exactly how God prescribed three portions ago. Remember we had in Pashat Tetzaveh. We talked about what it is going to entail and now it's all coming together. So we look at chapter 38, verse 1. Let's translate From the sky blue wool, the purple wool, the crimson wool. They made the garments crocheted for packing to serve in the sanctuary and they made the garments of sanctity that were for Aaron, the high priest, as Hashem had commanded to Moses, as Hashem had commanded to Moses. So what I want to focus on here is the kavanah, the intention that is required for everything that we do.

01:48
You know, there's a story that's told about these two people that were going to investigate the successes of other cities and they would go travel. They were sent by their country. They would go travel to different cities and they would learn about the city, what makes it succeed, what makes it successful, what makes it vibrant, what you know the food that they produce, that goats see their fields and how they grow their crops. They would go, learn and learn from each city. They would send, like these, spies to go out and look, so, but they need to learn the culture. So they would go and they would rent an apartment and they would stay there and like this, they would get to learn. You know, they would meet the people, they would talk to them and they would learn about the city and then they would, with the intention that they're going to go back to their homeland and they're going to bring those pieces of wisdom and apply it to their own city, to their own country, and like this they would, they would go, but you know, sometimes they would go and they would enjoy it so much, like you know, we're vacationing and we're in New Zealand, and like we love the, the whole environment, it's so great and the food is delicious, and they, suddenly they're like, aren't we supposed to go back home? Like, aren't, aren't, like? Suddenly they're like, aren't we supposed to go back home? Like, aren't, aren't, like, and they're like, but we're enjoying this so much and they forget why they even went. And it's very easy for a person to forget why they do something. I'll give you an example.

03:25
Many people want to choose a career. They choose a career. Why do they choose the career? So some people do it completely altruistically. I want to help people and therefore I'm going to be a doctor, I'm going to be a nurse, I'm going to be whatever, whatever a profession they're in.

03:34
Some people go into a profession because I'm going to make a lot of money, but they forget to evaluate. Why do you even want that money? Why is it even important to you to have money? So most people tell you what do you mean? I can raise a family, but was that the purpose? Was that the goal? Or did you get so comfortable making that money, buying cars and going on vacations that you forgot to get married, that you forgot to have children? It means, if the purpose was for this end goal, then am I focused on that goal? Am I just doing it because I enjoy it and not because I have a purpose that I want to fulfill? This is true with career. This is true in every area of life.

04:28
I'll give you another example, people get married. What is the thought of every young bride and groom when they get married? To live happily ever after. That's why everybody gets married To live happily ever after. We're going to take this romantic, beautiful relationship and we're going to take it to the moon together. And then, a few months later, they're sitting in my office, fighting, yelling, kicking, screaming, because everybody forgot that that was their goal and now they just want to be right. Now, they just want to be understood. Now they just, instead of thinking of you Now, they just want to be understood. Now they just, instead of thinking of you, know. They say the difference between children and adults is that children fight on the playground and three minutes later, they continue playing like they're best friends. Adults fight and don't talk to each other three years later. Don't talk to each other three years later. Why? Because the children are invested in being happy, right. So yeah, you pulled my toy, you took my toy. My goal to be happy is more important Adults. Their goal is to be right. It's truth, and I'm going to do this till the end. So they forget about being happy. You see, our function as people, as human beings, as Jewish people, is to serve Hashem To serve Hashem. That's our stated goal, that's our purpose.

06:04
When we come to this earth and we are born, you know what a baby does? A baby cries. Why does a baby cry? A baby cries because he was in such a good place. I was living in a perfect existence. I'm being fed, I'm being taken care of and I'm learning with the angels. I'm close to godliness, as close as I'll ever be, and now you take me from this place that's so warm, that's so comfortable, and you put me into this cold world where I'm now going to have challenges. I'm going to have. And what do we do? We try to appease this child. Don't worry, don't worry. You know, we give them balloons and we give them toys and dolls or trucks or this, and that Just be happy, stop crying. Give them pacifier, give them their bottle. Just don't cry. Just don't cry.

06:52
But why is the soul crying? Because the soul, it's very interesting. I think that the rib cage is like a prison for the soul. It's like imagine it's in a prison, looking out, saying get me out of here, why am I locked up in here? But what is the purpose of the soul? The purpose of the soul is to inspire the body together in tandem to do great things. So we say don't worry, little soul, don't worry, you're going to accomplish great things and you're going to get on a mission.

07:28
But what happens if a person gets carried away and starts saying you know what I'm kind of getting to like this situation here? I'm liking this luxury, materialistic life. I'm liking the new cars, I'm liking the new houses, I'm liking the fashion. I'm starting the new houses. I'm liking the fashion. I'm starting to get comfortable here, I like it. And then we start thinking one second there's a time that I may die. Oh, my goodness, why would I want to die? I'm terrifying. We want to live forever. Give me that pill that will help me live forever.

08:00
We forget about our purpose totally because we get comfortable here. Our portion here reminds us with these five beautiful words that end this verse Ha'asher tziva, hashem es Moshe, just as Hashem commanded to Moshe. You know why we're doing this? Because Hashem commanded us to do this. Let's not forget the reason that we are doing all the things we are doing. Let's not forget the purpose for which we're on our mission. Let's not get carried away, get off course, forget why we're even here. It's so difficult for us to stay focused. We have to remember HaShem Osi, like HaShem commanded me. Hashem put me in this world to fulfill a certain mission, to fulfill a certain purpose. Am I actually fulfilling that purpose, or am I getting carried away, getting distracted, getting diverted into other things? If I'm here on a mission, just stay focused on that mission. And it's so difficult? I'll give you another example.

09:41
Someone's life is saved. Saved. They were on a ship. The ship capsized. They're floating, just surviving in the ocean and they say God, you saved me. I'll give all my money to charity. I will always be there for my spouse. I will always be there for my children. I will always be there. I'll. I will always be there for my children. I will always be there. I'll dedicate every last breath that I have for you.

10:15
Suddenly there's a helicopter flies send them the, the, the life-saving uh tube holds on to it. They pull him up, they save him and his life is speared and he goes back to dry land. He says boy, that was a harrowing situation, that was difficult, right, but now that I'm back, I've got to get to work. Now that I'm back, I have to. You know, totally forget about it. I know this as a fact, because I was on a life-saving mission where we saved someone. Thank God, we saved their life and they said they're never going to stop appreciating what it means to have a roof over your head, to take a warm shower, a hot shower, but like two months later it's like never happened.

11:15
God is trying to align us, put us on a mission. Sometimes we get completely diverted from that mission. So what do we do with mitzvahs that we perform daily? How do we ensure that those mitzvahs that we perform daily do not just become habit, that they do not? For example we've said this many times a person does any mitzvah the mitzvah of Shema to recite the Shema daily. So biblically, we're obligated twice a day to recite the Shema.

11:51
The mission statement of the Jewish people Declaration undertaking the burden of the Almighty on ourselves, the yoke of God. That means that we're aligning all of our life's power to the will of Hashem. That what are we saying? V'ahavta t'shamol ha'kei ha'ai, we'll love Hashem With all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your means. What does that mean? To love Hashem with all love of Ha, with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your means. What does that mean? To love Hashem with all of your means. That means that everywhere I go, I have the love of Hashem within me, focused, clear and let all of these matters, all of the matters that Hashem commands us to be, on our heart, means to be focused in our observance, and we'll tell our children about it. Whether we're at home, sitting in our home, or we're traveling, or when we lay down, or when we arise, when we wake up, we're going to be focused on one thing the service of Hashem. This is what we declare every day, right, but after you say this 10,000 times, before the age of 13, when the obligation actually kicks in, the obligation begins at bar mitzvah. So at the age of 13 for a boy, 12 for a girl they begin this obligation, this biblical commandment.

13:21
I'll tell you my little baby daughter, who's two years old, recites the Shema every single day, every single night, we go to sleep. We recite the Shema In school. She recites it with her class. This is the mission statement of the Jewish people. You think she knows what she's saying 100%. She does not know how, about by the time she's actually obligated, by the time she's 12 and 13,. How many times did she say the same thing again and again, and again and again.

13:50
To now stop and know what it is that we're saying. We're creatures of habit. We forget and we don't realize what it. We're creatures of habit we forget and we don't realize what it is that we're doing. So this is not a criticism. This is hopefully an inspiration for us to wake up that we not be robots, that we not sit and study Torah because I enjoy it, because it inspires me. We learn Torah because this enjoy it, because it inspires me.

14:19
We learn Torah because this is the word of Hashem and this is my communication with Hashem and because I love Hashem, I'm going to invest in learning his language. I'll give you an example for that. A husband and wife speak two different languages. So if you love your spouse, you will invest time in learning their language. There's actually a fabulous book by Gary Chapman called the Five Love Languages Outstanding book. If I care and it's important to me about my relationship, I want to learn the language of my spouse Very important, because it's something that's important to me. I want to learn their language, something I care about. How, about learning God's language? Learning God's language means I learn his Torah, because that's Hashem talking to us. Yeah, as a side benefit, I also enjoy it. As another side benefit, I also get inspired from it. As another side benefit, it helps change my actions. It helps me become a better person, but that's not why we do it. It's not a self-help book. The Torah is learning God's language. This is Hashem talking to us.

15:49
Remember I was once in a synagogue. The rabbi stopped in the middle of the reading of the Torah because people were schmoozing. People were talking, although the halacha says not to. Sometimes it's difficult for people. They haven't seen their friends in a long time. The whole week this one was traveling and this one has his job and this one is here. Finally, they see each other. Shabbos morning. They can't resist schmoozing.

16:12
But the rabbi said something so inspiring. He said who wrote the Torah? It's God. Right, we all know that Moses. God threw the hand of Moses. Why did God write this? So that he can communicate with us. So one second. So we read the Torah every Shabbos. God is communicating with us through his Torah and we're just talking to the person sitting next to us. Putting that into perspective, putting it into perspective. This is God talking to us when we perform a mitzvah.

16:49
Any mitzvah learning Torah is a mitzvah. Putting a mezuzah on our door is a mitzvah and every time we pass by it, we shouldn't just throw a kiss at the mezuzah. Tap the mezuzah. Give it a kiss. Much more than that. Stop and remember that Hashem commanded me to have a mezuzah. Give it a kiss. Much more than that. Stop and remember that Hashem commanded me to have a mezuzah on my doorways and that Hashem is right here with me. It's a different experience because now, every time I walk in and out of a room, it becomes a godly experience.

17:23
I feel my relationship with God. It's like imagine you want to express to your spouse how much you love them. You wake up early in the morning and you put Post-it notes I love you. You put it on the mirror, on the faucet, I love you. You go into the cabinet and you put on the lipstick thing I love you. You go and you put it all over so that they should never forget that I love you. That is the I love you note that we have on every single doorway of our home. Hashem is saying hey, I'm here, I'm here, I love you, you're so precious. This is the command that we see the teaching that we see from this verse Ka'asher tziva, hashem is Moshe. You know why they did it. Not because it's beautiful. They didn't put together these beautiful colors for the garments of the Kohen of the high priest. Because I have a magnificent designer. I'm going to design these clothes and it's going to be so beautiful, it's going to be so satisfying. It's going to be so satisfying. I'm doing it because it's the will of Hashem.

18:33
Our sages tell us one of the great Hasidic masters, reb Eli Melech of Lezhensk it was just his yard site last week, it was his day of passing last week, a couple hundred years ago. But he said in everything that you do, bechol Advarim, sheba Olam, hein be Torah, whether it be studying Torah, hein be Tfiloh, whether it be prayer, hein be Mitzvot, masios or any mitzvah that we perform, any performative mitzvah Yargil Es Asmo, lomar Bezelosh a person should always say as follows Areini osezos l'shem, yichud kutchebri chushkinte. I'm doing this to fulfill the will of the Almighty. I'm doing this to fulfill the will of the Almighty, lasos nachasurach, laboriiyis baruch sh'mo, to bring God satisfaction, because God loves when we perform the acts of mitzvahs that he commands us. This is our display of love for Hashem, b'yargil es atzmo lo marzos. A person should say this with focus, with intention, and what will come as a result of this? It'll awaken us to not do things out of habit. It's like stop, I got to focus here. I got to focus, I got to give some time so that I know what it is I'm about to do.

20:11
My grandfather writes that prayer, prayer, daily prayer. We go, sit and pray. He says you know the most important part of prayer Stopping for one minute 60 seconds before you open up your prayer book. Close your eyes. Close your eyes. Close your eyes, shut down everything that's going on in the world. Close the news, close the notifications, close everything. Just as a side recommendation, don't even bring your phone into synagogue. Don't bring your phone anywhere near it, because it's a communication device that counterfeits our communication with God or it interacts. It doesn't allow us to focus as well For a person to just stop for 60 seconds.

21:04
What am I about to do right now? I'm about to talk to God, creator of heaven and earth. I'm about to talk with God directly. Imagine that Now standing up and now giving praise to Hashem, and now thanking Hashem for giving me eyesight, thank you for clothing me. Thank you for giving me the ability to stand upright, giving me the ability to have shoes and to tie my shoes and to close my belt, to get dressed, to walk around, to learn Torah, to function as a normal human being Using the restroom, washing our hands, learning Torah To function as a normal human being Using the restroom, washing our hands. Learning Torah. I mean the amazing gift that we have when we stop for a second and just focus Hashem. I want to communicate with you.

22:01
I want to get closer to you. I want to thank you, give me the clarity, give me the frame of mind Hashem should bless us all that we should learn from this week's parasha. Parasha tziva Hashem is Moshe to do things for the sake of our creator. Why? Because this is what you commanded me. I'm in a relationship with you, hashem, and I want to grow in that relationship. And I'm doing this relationship with you, hashem, and I want to grow in that relationship. And I'm doing this because you commanded me, not because I enjoy it. The fact that you enjoy it, great, enjoy it. But that's not why we do it. We do it because this is your command. It's an added benefit that we enjoy the mitzvah.

22:44
So Shabbos Shabbos doesn't just become a day of rest. Look, I need a break, so I'm observing Shabbos. Is that why we're doing it? Or we're doing it because Hashem commanded us? Now it happens to be that I also love Shabbos. Okay, so great, you got a freebie. You know that's the interest on top of the principle. But the principle is doing it because Hashem commanded me, and this is my display of my love and my commitment to our relationship. Hashem should bless us all that we should be successful in this journey, that we should find every day the time, the moment to bring that clarity to every one of our actions. Amen.

23:27 - Intro (Announcement)
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