Parsha Review Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

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

Welcome back everybody. Good morning. It is so wonderful to be back here. Today we will do a Parsha Review Podcast episode. So Parshas Nosso is the largest Parsha in the Torah. I believe there are 176 verses, 176 indeed verses, and the longest Talmud is also 176 pages, which is Baba Basra, I believe. But either way, it's a very, very interesting Parsha.
We have a lot of talk about the woman who is an adulterous woman accused by her husband, an amazing portion of the Torah. And then we go straight into the portion of the Nazir. And then we talk about why this portion is called Parshas Nosso. And Parshas Nosso is because, and by the way, we also have the blessing of the Kohen. We have Yevarechecha Hashem Yishmerecha, the Kohen's blessing that till today is recited daily in Israel and in Sephardic congregations every morning.
And in Ashkenazic, it's only outside in the diaspora, outside of Israel, it's only on the three festivals and on Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur. And then we have all the gifts of the Naseem. The Naseem, the leaders of the tribe gave a gift to the temple. And you wonder why there's 176 verses is because they all gave the identical gift. And it is all repeated in each one's name again and again and again and again.
And you can imagine that if you were the one writing the Torah, you probably could have done something very easy, very smartly. You could have said, you know what, the leader of the tribe of Reuven and the leader of the tribe of Shimon and the leader of the tribe of Yehuda, etc., etc., etc. Each one of them gave the following gift, the same exact gift. And that's not what's written. No, it's the tribe of Reuven gave this gift and the tribe of Shimon gave the same exact gift.
And it lists the exact offering that they brought, the same gift that they brought to the temple. So why is it important for us to read so many verses of all the exact same gift that was given just by a different tribe? So the obvious answer, which I want to elaborate on, is that we know that each gift is unique and different based on the giver. So imagine, we gave this example before, but imagine Elon Musk gives a gift of $100 to
an organization and someone else who has very, very, very low income gives $100. Did they give the same gift? In dollar amount, it's the same gift, but it's very different because one gave one millionth of a percent of his value and one gave 120% of his net worth. For one person, the giving the $100 is everything he has plus. And for the other, giving $100 is nothing. Remember, they used to say that Bill Gates was making so much money, if he had $100 bills
from his house to his office, he'd be losing money if he picked it up. He was making so much more money than he would have, right? So for such a person to give $100 is nothing. But you mean it's the same gift, but it's different because we know that the most important thing in Judaism is not what you give, it's how you give. It's not what you pray, it's how you pray. The halacha says, Talmud brings this, God prefers you pray less with more focus and
intention than pray more with less focus, meaning that each one of our prayers is unique to our focus and our intention. It's more about what you do and how you do it than just, I did it. We also see that the Jewish people, when they were leaving Egypt, God splits the sea and what did they say? Zeh Eli Ve'an Veyu, this is my God and I will glorify him. That's a singular term. This is my God, this is our God, and we will glorify him.
No, because each individual had his own perspective. Each individual had his own understanding, his own clarity, his own relationship. And this really opens it up to all of our discussions that we've discussed so many times in all of our classes. And that is the uniqueness of each individual. Each one of us is different. Each one of us is unique. They will never ever be another Jane on planet earth. They will never be another Jane on planet earth ever. You know why?
Because you're one of a kind. You're one of a kind. And we need to remember that we're one of a kind because that means that we have an individual responsibility. That means that just because we're doing what someone else is doing, someone else did it. Yeah, but we could be doing it differently. We can do it our own way. The Nesihim, they all gave their own gift. It was exactly the same as the other guy.
But it was unique and it was different and it was special because it was theirs. And they used their own resources that was in their own unique way special to them. To one it was a little bit more, to one it was a little bit less. But what is the most important thing? The heart with which you give it. So now let's apply this to a personal level. Let's apply this to a personal level. You are working on a trait. You're working on an act of kindness.
You're working on the trait of kindness and what you want to do is become a giver. You want to be a giver. Now for one person that may be a very tall order, a very difficult task. You're expecting me to know what someone else needs? You're expecting me to understand the needs of another person? For them that job, that task is so incredibly overwhelming. That for somebody else that could be completely natural. So they're both giving, they're both givers, they're both doing fine acts of kindness.
But for one it's much easier for them to do it and for one it's more difficult. So now when they're both doing the same act of kindness, they're visiting a sick person. For one they have a very, very, very busy schedule. For one wide open schedule, they're retired, they have nothing on their calendar. Which one is more dedication? The one who has a busy schedule. The one who's, right? They're doing the same act, they're both showing up there, they're both the same thing.
You know some people have a custom that when they visit the house of a mourner that they don't say to everyone together, that the Almighty comfort you among the mourners of Zion in Jerusalem. But rather they say it to each individual, not as a group, they say it to each individual. Why do they say it to each individual? Because everyone's relationship with that deceased is different. Everyone will mourn differently. Everyone is missing something, everyone is feeling something that is unique and special to them.
What we're learning here and I think is the most incredible lesson that the portion teaches us in parashat Naso is that we all need uniqueness. This is our craving. There's nobody on planet earth who just wants to be another person, oh just another guy. Rather everybody wants to be unique. Everybody craves to be unique. If you compliment your child and you say you're just like your sister, you're just like your brother, you're just like the other kid in your class, no one's going to feel complimented
by that. What do you mean I'm like them? I'm like me. I want to be me. And Hashem wants us to be our own individual self. So while we may do the same action as other people, we can't fall into the puppetry of you're just doing the motions. We're not just doing motions. We're bringing out our individuality. We're bringing out our uniqueness, our specialty. That is what we're looking to do. We are looking to find our uniqueness, our special place.
And particularly when children are in their preteens, teenage years, it's a time where they're trying to identify their own character. Who am I? And as parents it's part of our responsibility to bring their uniqueness to their own understanding, to their own recognition. They should be able to see their own uniqueness, their specialty. And to not be just like everybody else. When our child comes home with a score on their test, it shouldn't be, well, what did everyone else get? Are you above average? Below average?
What did you get? What is your capability? Because if your capability was to get 100 and you got a 90, that's a bad thing. If your capability was to get a 50 and you got a 90, that's an amazing thing, but they got the same score. But it's not because you're each unique individuals. Naso is teaching us that we need to be individuals. And what does it come on the heels of? It comes on the heels of the holiday of Shavuot.
The holiday of Shavuot when we receive the Torah, we spoke about this last week, that the portion of Bamidbar always falls in the week prior to the holiday of Shavuot. Bamidbar always, why? Because there are lessons we need to learn from Bamidbar and there's also lessons we need to learn from Naso. You want to attain Torah, you want to grow in your connection through the observance of the Torah and mitzvot, you know what you need to do? You need to be you.
Don't try to be anybody else. Your uniqueness is there and waiting. It's waiting for you to do your thing. There's a contribution. Our sages tell us that there's a contribution to Torah that every person has waiting. It is sitting and waiting before you. That means there's an aspect of Torah that each individual brings to light. That only they can. There's a perspective. There's a book waiting to be written that only has your name on it. That nobody else, you're not copying somebody else's book.
It's your own thoughts, your own ideas, your own perspective. It's bringing your own vision into this world. That's our responsibility. Uniqueness, not to just be the run of the mill. This is it. Be like everybody else. I want you just to be a normal kid like everybody else. No. I don't want you to be a normal kid like everybody else. I want you to be you. That's what God wants of us.
Because each and every one of us, we've talked about many, many traits over the last 20 years of our Musser classes. And it's amazing to see how everybody reacts differently to different traits. Anger. Some people are so calm, they don't get angry. Rarely, once in a while, once in two years, they'll get angry. Some people, every day, they have to take a Xanax to calm down, to relax, because they're so on edge. Every person's different. So for one to overcome anger, it's a lot of work.
For the other to overcome anger, easy peasy schmeasy. It's not a big deal. Every one of us are dealing with a different set of tools. Our traits are called Middot. Middot means measurements. Each one of us have different measurements of different traits naturally gifted to us. The Almighty imbues within us a living soul. Within that soul is all of our traits. And each one of us has a unique, a unique measure of that trait.
So while one person may have a five in kindness, an eight in patience, a three in anger, again, everyone has different measure. The person sitting right next to them may be a nine in kindness, a one in patience, a seven in anger. Everyone is different, different construct. We have to appreciate this about ourselves. We have to realize that we are one of a kind. We're not meant to be just run of the mill. We're not meant to just be another normal, ordinary person.
The world would like us all to fit into a box. So you have these political parties, they try to create classes. You're part of this class, you're part of that class, upper class, middle class, lower class. No class. You're unique. You're one of a kind. You're one of a kind and we need to embrace it. We need to embrace it. We need to cultivate it and use it as a strength. We need to use it as a strength with pride.
Each and every one of us need to find that uniqueness, embrace it, work with it and be the greatest you can become because you are the only you there will ever be. We need to find it, identify it. Don't run from it and say, why can't I just be like everybody else? God never, ever wants us to be just like everybody else. God wants each and every one of us to be us. The uniqueness to bring that to the fore. My dear friends, have an amazing Shabbos.

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