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)
Welcome back everybody to the Parsha Review Podcast. It is awesome to be with you here today preparing for what's right after Pesach, that we're going to have the Parsha of Acharei Mos. And this Parsha is a really fabulous Parsha because we talk about Yom Kippur, the holiest day, which our sages say is not only called Yom Kippur, it's called Yom HaKadosh, the holy day. Why is it called the holy day? Because even the smallest, most least spiritual, the least spiritual person feels holy on this day. Everybody feels holy, everybody feels elevated and connected. We're almost levitating on this day, such a special, powerful day of Yom Kippur. So if you look at the entire Parsha, you see towards the end of the Parsha it talks about all the forbidden relationships, sexual immorality. It's really like what? Why don't you leave Yom Kippur pristine, leave it on its own, and then you're talking about it in a different place? We need to talk about it right here.

01:17
Our sages tell us something so critically important is that the key to holiness is not only doing good things, it's staying away from bad things. We know that there's sur meira va'asei, tov, king David tells us stay away from bad and do good. It's two separate components to our spiritual growth. Number one protect yourself from harm. What do we say about medicine? Medicine. The first rule of medicine do no harm. Then, if someone has an illness, we'll try to help cure them. The first is do no harm. Spiritually speaking, the first step to growing and connecting to this awesome day of Yom Kippur do no harm. Stay away from bad ways. Stay away from immorality. Stay away from bad ways. Stay away from immorality. Stay away from forbidden relationships. That's step number one. So what's someone going to say? Say, rabbi, I'm an upstanding citizen, I'm a decent human being. Is the Torah accusing me? God forbid of doing something so terrible? I'm a good guy, so it's not relevant to me. I'm committed. Like we mentioned in the previous Parsha Review podcast On Parsha's Mitzorah, the two turtle doves. They're committed to one another. No infidelity. I'm like the turtle dove. No infidelity. My wife is my wife and that's it. Not considering another option. Torah's not referring to me. I'm a good guy. Sages tell us the thought is worse than the action. I may act in a certain way. That's dignified. But what about my thoughts? What nobody sees? Are perhaps my thoughts a little bit skewed in a different direction. That our sages tell us is the key to spiritual holiness. You want to get to the greatest level of holiness. It's not only to not do things, it's also not to think about certain things. Things it's also not to think about certain things, it's to protect our thoughts. So how do we do that? How do we protect our thoughts? Oh, this is the secret our sages tell us. Now, just before we we talk about that, let me give you a parable.

04:24
There's a wagon driver. He used to drive people on his wagon, his horse and buggy, for years. Everyone relied on him. He was dependable. You would order your taxi At a certain hour. He would show up at your doorstep with his horse and buggy. You put your bags in and he would take you wherever you wanted to go. He was reliable, he was dependable, he was professional. But eventually he became old, became an old guy. It was difficult for him.

04:58
Some young whippersnapper comes along, buys a horse, buys a wagon and starts competing with him. So the old man goes to him and says listen, it's not fair for you to take away my business, it's not fair for you to compete with me. He says listen, with all due respect, you're an old guy already. It's time for the next generation to come and take you over. He says it might be true. Before you do so, let me just test you and see if you know what to do in wagon driving. He says what's if you get stuck in a pit? You get stuck with the wagon. What are you going to do? He says, if I can't get the horse to pull it out, I'll get another horse and together they'll be able to pull it out. He says and what's if that doesn't work, then I'll get another horse. And if that doesn't work, he says, then I'm in the wrong business because obviously I wouldn't know what to do. So he says look, I've been driving wagons for many, many and I'll tell you, I don't either know what I would do, but a professional wagon driver would make sure he never gets stuck there.

06:18
You know, we all need to learn how to never fall into the situation where our spirituality could be compromised. It's not about what are we going to do when we're stuck there. We need to learn to never be in a situation where we can possibly get stuck there. So it's where we go, it's who we associate with, it's what we allow ourselves to see, what we allow ourselves to be influenced from. I've shared this many times openly. My rabbi, may he live and be well.

07:01
Rabbi Yitzhak Berkowitz, has told all of his students, talking about his students, talking about over 500 ordained rabbis that he has trained, and he sent out a message to all of his students stating don't contact me if you don't have a filter on your computer and on your phone. What does that mean? That means a protective mechanism so that you don't fall into a trap of spiritual compromise. That means, if you're a spiritual person who values your spirituality, a spiritual person who values your spirituality, you'll never allow yourself to get into a place of compromise to begin with. That's our responsibility. Our responsibility is to never allow ourselves to fall into a situation. It doesn't mean that he's accusing over 500 rabbis of going to inappropriate websites or to doing things that are inappropriate. No, it's giving a value to your own spiritual existence that you'll want to protect yourself from it.

08:18
You know, my wife and I made a commitment that God willing, willing, will leave this earth having never gone to Vegas, committed to never going to Vegas. Why? Why? Because any place that calls itself Sin City. I don't want to be there. I don't want to be there. Yeah, but you know you can go and you cannot be in sin city. If you call yourself sin city, that's the Sodom of this generation it's committed to sin. Yeah, you can go and not be committed to sin. I don't want to be there. If my spiritual status is important to me, if my relationship with God is important to me, I don't even want to travel there. You can go other places. You can find vacation in other places, and it doesn't mean that people who go there are sinners God forbid. But for me, it's my fence that I put to protect myself, and that means not only there, physically, it means other places physically, internetly, webly.

09:35
Making sure that we create a fence to protect ourselves from influences. Be like the Iron, iron dome of spirituality. When the Yetzirah is trying to send rockets into your spiritual sphere, you block it. That's our responsibility and that's why it's in this week's Torah portion To tell you you want to be all holy on Yom Kippur. You need to create a barrier from being influenced negatively from outside influences. You have to. It's part of your spiritual growth. You cannot grow spiritually if you don't protect yourself. You can't have a good spiritually. If you don't protect yourself, you can't have a good offense. If you don't have a good defense, you need to have a defense too. Yom Kippur is all about the offense. Hashem, we love you, hashem, we're close to you. Hashem, we're committed to you. What am I doing to protect myself? In the same portion, we give the defense mechanism that is required. This same portion, we give the defense mechanism that is required. This is the essence of who we are as a people.

10:53
Our holiness is the foundation of our Judaism. When we remove the holiness, there's nothing left. We need to preserve that holiness. We see this with the Jews in Egypt. What did they do to keep their holiness? They were slaves. They were not. They didn't have the ability to serve Hashem. They didn't have the ability to come to a torch center and learn Torah. A few things they kept Loshinu is Shmam, loshinu is Lashonam, loshinu is Malbusham. They didn't change their names. They didn't change their names. They didn't change their clothes and they didn't change their language. They kept something. They kept a framework to maintain their holiness.

11:38
If you look at the first verse in Psalms, king David says such a fundamental principle Ashrei Ha'ish praiseworthy is the man who did not go and did not follow the advice of the wicked. The first key to our spirituality is protecting ourselves from negative influences. This is our job. Protect ourselves influences this is our job. Protect ourselves. We need to create the defense mechanism already today. Every person figure out. If you look at the world, look out there, do a research Where's the number one place for people to fall spiritually? How am I protecting myself? Put together a plan. How am I going to ensure that I don't fall like others fell? The torah is not accusing us. The torah is giving us the tools. You want to succeed and be holy. The tool is number one defense. Protect yourself from negative influences. Preserve your holiness.

13:07
My dear friends, is the beginning of a summer. After Pesach, that's it summertime. Summertime could be a time of great challenge for people spiritually. The beaches isn't a great place for spiritual connection with the almighty summertime. Sometime people feel like, oh, I can let loose summer after all. It's a time to protect ourselves.

13:33
We launch the summer with a warning Be careful. Be careful of immorality. Yeah, no one's accusing you of having an illicit relationship with somebody. No, the Torah is saying protect yourself so you never get to that point, so that the thoughts that lead to action, that the thoughts don't even start. What do you do? Maybe I shouldn't watch certain things. Maybe I shouldn't read certain things. You know my opinion about movie ratings. If it's not appropriate for my child, it's not appropriate for me. My spirituality is any less valuable than my child's. My soul is any less valuable than my child's. My soul is any less sensitive than a child's. If it's inappropriate for a child, it's inappropriate for me. My soul is just as sensitive as their soul. My dear friends, let's enjoy our summer, but let's create the necessary barriers to protect and defend our holiness and our spirituality and always be God-fearing people. Wherever we go, people should be able to point at us and say Ah, that's Hashem's people. My dear friends, have an amazing Shabbos.