Parsha Review Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:03 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Parsha Review Podcast.

00:11 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Okay, welcome back everybody. Welcome to the Parsha Review Podcast. This week's Parsha is Parsha's Vayetze. We know Yaakov is on a journey and Ya, he arrives at the place and he spent the night there because the sun had set and he takes from the stones of the place he had 12 stones puts them around his head and he rests there. And he has a dream and there is this ladder V'rosha magia shamayimah. The ladder is on the ground but it goes into the heavens V'hinei malachi olakim olim yodim bo. And he sees the angels of God that are elevating and that are ascending and descending upon it, Hinei v'hine. And then Hashem was standing over him and he says Hashem tells Jacob, Yitzchak Ha'oretz, asherat ha'shochev, oleho l'cho etnena ulzarecho.

01:26
Hashem tells Jacob, the land that you are resting upon, Mount Moriah, which is what we know today as the Har Abayis, the Temple Mount, where the Western Wall is, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is, V'ho ya zarachok ha'afar ha'oretz. And your offspring shall be as the dust of the earth ufaratz liyamba v'kedma v'tsefayinu v'negba v'nivruchu v'chokam ishpachai sa'adam ha'uzarecho. And you shall burst forth westward and eastward, and northward and southward, and you will be blessed, and will be blessed through you, all the families of the earth and through your offspring. So this final verse here is what I want to focus on. Our sages tell us something so incredible. Read this verse again V'hoi azar achok, hafar oretz and your offspring will be as the dust of the earth. Ufaratz doyam avakadma, and they will burst forth. And your offspring will be as the dust of the earth and they will be burst forth westward and eastward, northward, southward, and all of the families of the world will be blessed through you and your children. Our sages tell us something very interesting here. The key to our success is in this verse V'hoi azarachah, your descendants, your children, your offspring shall be kafar arts, like the dust of the earth. What's the dust of the earth? The dust of the earth means be humble. Be humble.

03:09
The Talmud says an amazing thing. The Talmud says Hashem, excuse me. Hashem blesses Jacob and his offspring. Why not? Because you are many, because you are plenty. חושק השם בוכם כי אתם המעט מכל העמים. Because you are the fewest of the nations. So it's not because of your numbers that I love you. Hashem says I love you because you are the fewest. עומר למא קדוש ברוך לישראל.

03:42
Hashem says to the Jewish people G-d. Because even at the moment, G-d says that I give you greatness, you know what you do. You don't say, ah, look at me, I'm so great. Look at me, I'm the chosen one. Look at me, That'm so great. Look at me, I'm the chosen one. Look at me, that's not what we do. I gave greatness to Avram, to Abraham. What did he do? He says I'm like the dirt, I'm like the dust, I'm nothing.

04:21
Hashem, give greatness to Moses and Aaron. And what did he say to? Greatness was given to David. What does he say? I'm but a worm, I'm not a man. But what does it say regarding God? When he gave greatness to those of the nations of the world, he gave to Nimrod. What he says Now, I'm going to build a big city for myself. And what happens to Pharaoh? He says who's God? What does it say? Who is the God of all of these lands? Me, it says about Nebuchadnezzar I'm going to go to the top. Me, it says about Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar, E-Elel Obama say I'm going to go to the top. And to Hiram, the king of Tzur, it says Moshe of Elohim, I sit in God's throne in the middle of the sea.

05:17
We see that the contrast between Jewish leadership and non-Jewish leadership is that when we have greatness, we say we're nothing. When they have greatness, they say we're everything. That's the difference, the difference of how Hashem wants us to be. Hashem wants us to be. I want your offspring to be like the dust of the earth and then, when they are like the dust of the earth, then, to the north, to the south, to the east, to the west, you'll spread and you'll succeed. You'll have unbelievable blessings. This is the essence of our greatness.

06:07
The essence of a Jewish leader is not that look at me, I'm so great. Look at me, I'm nothing. How much more am I responsible? If you look at the incredible letter of the Ramban, the Ramban writes a letter to his son and what does he say? It's an amazing thing. He says to his son if you are wealthy and others are poorer than you, he says you know what you should do. Be humble because you have bigger responsibilities. If you are smarter than others, be humble because you're more obligated than them. And if you are poor and they are wealthy, you're required to honor them.

06:54
We always take the stand of being more humble. There's never a state where it says, okay, now you can be arrogant, Now you can show off, Now you can gloat, Now you can pump up your chest and say, look, I made it. No, there's never a state of a Jewish person's life where they should be standing on top of the mountain saying look what I've conquered, Look what I've accomplished. Rather, a person has to realize I'm so much more obligated. If I was able to climb this mountain, maybe I can climb a bigger mountain. Now we always have to look up further. How can I get closer to Hashem? How can I elevate myself? I had such great accomplishments. Is that enough? Maybe we need to push ourselves further. Maybe we need to go beyond.

07:45
What do we see later? We see later in the portion we see about Leah. Leah didn't take anything for herself. Look at the names that she gives her children. She has a baby named Reuven, Right, what is the name Reuven? Look, Look, here's a son, Ki roh. Hashem ba'oni. Hashem saw my poverty. Hashem saw I was in. Hashem saw my poverty. Hashem saw I was in an impoverished state.

08:15
The whole name Re'uven is for her to constantly remember her lowly state. Hashem lifted me up. Why? Why does she remember that? Because you know who her husband was supposed to be. Her husband was supposed to be Asaph. So what did she do? She cried and she cried and she cried and she cried. And then you know what she did, Mark. She cried even more, To the point where it says Einei HaRakois. Her eyes were so weak because she cried so much. She wanted Yaakov to be her husband.

08:47
Finally, she gets Yaakov, she has a child. She says she doesn't say look, Hashem, I've accomplished, I've done things. No, immediately humility hits her Ki ra Hashem b'oni Hashem. So Ki ra Hashem b'oni Hashem. So Hashem discerned my humiliation. So she names her son that.

09:15
What is the next son? Shimon, because Hashem has heard that unloved I was, you understand. And then she has another child. His name is Levi. Why? And then she has another child. His name is Levi. Why? Now, this time, join will my husband with me, Because I born him three sons and therefore his name is Levi. The three names she gives her sons are all humility. Then she has a fourth son. What does she do now? She says HaPam Odeh Hashem. This time I got well beyond my calling Again, humility. I'm grateful to Hashem, that's why she named him Yehuda. We see a constant state of humility. I'm grateful to Hashem, that's why she named him Yehuda. We see a constant state of humility.

10:16
It's interesting that I, in preparation of our prayer podcast, talking about Pesuket Dezimra. Pesuket Dezimra is all about the song. It's a song. Zemer is a song. We're singing to Hashem. Where does singing come from? It comes from Levi. It comes from Levi. He brought song to the world. He brought music to the world. The tribe of Levi were the ones who were singing in the temple. That song has to come from a place of humility.

10:56
Everything that we see from our patriarchs and our matriarchs, their greatness wasn't them feeling high on the hog. Look at me, I'm so great. Look at me, look at my accomplishments. But then we contrast that with Hagar. Remember Hagar, the concubine of Sarah. She gives her concubine to her concubine of Abraham, the helper of Sarah. She says Sarah says look, I'm barren, I'm not going to bring you any children. Take Hagar. What does she say? We see that Hagar marries Abraham. And it says she looked down upon Sarah. Again, she felt high. What does Rashi say? Sarah, she's arrogant. She says look at that Sarah. Sarah was married to Abraham for so many years. She never got pregnant. Me, bingo, one time I'm pregnant. See, I'm greater than Sarah. We see the contrast here. We see the contrast that our ancestors, our Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

12:36
Our matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, were so infused with humility they recognized Hashem is great. Hashem gives me everything. What do I have I only? Hashem gives me everything. What do I have? I only have what he gives me. I haven't accomplished anything on my own. These are all gifts.

13:04
They stayed in a humble state at all times when Yaakov had all the greatness. What did he say Right here in the beginning of Parshas Vayetze? What does he say? Hashem says to him you know, I'm going to give you the greatness. What he says right here in the beginning of the parashat Vayetze. What does he say? Hashem says to him you know, I'm going to give you the land. You're going to inherit this land. You know what he says. He doesn't say ah, I made it. That's not what he says. He says ma'anoyra amokam azeh. How awesome is this place? It's the place that's so holy. He takes off his shoes. I'm unworthy to stand here.

13:38
He saw himself not as being like look at me, look at what I've accomplished, Look at what I have done. He did not see this as a reward for the 24 years that he sat and learned in Sheva Eivor. He sat and learned Torah 24 years uninterrupted. He says ah, you see, I've done something with my life, I've accomplished something. No, V'zeshar, Hashemayim, this is the gateway to heaven.

14:08
Everything pushing away from taking credit, recognizing the greatness of Hashem, Recognizing the greatness of the gift that he got undeservingly. What does that mean? Undeservingly? Not because he didn't deserve it, but he didn't take credit for the accomplishment. He didn't take credit for what he had attained. All of it was giving credit to Hashem. All of it was saying Hashem, I'm unworthy. It's not because I'm great that I've gotten these things.

14:41
You look at Abraham. You look at Isaac. You look at Jacob. You look at the. We look at Jacob. We look at the tribes. Look at Yosef. Look at Yosef. His brothers did terrible things to him. What does he say to them after their father dies? Just don't be afraid. It wasn't you. I know it wasn't you.

14:57
Hashem sent me down here. Recognizing right away, I'm not a ruler over you. Hashem placed me here so that I can have. I can have food for you. You understand, there's a different recognition of where things come from. It's not about what I accomplish. I can only accomplish when I recognize that it's a gift. What I accomplish, I can only accomplish when I recognize it's a gift that I have. I only accomplished because you gave me something, Hashem. Ah, you gave me. Now I can do things. If you didn't give me, I couldn't do anything.

15:41
This is the key to success in Jewish life. The key to success in Jewish life, the key to success in Jewish life is be small to be great. You need to be small, you want to be great. Yehalelu chazar don't praise yourself. Let someone else praise you. King Solomon tells us that. Let someone else praise you. Don't take credit. All you need to do is deflect and say it's a gift from Hashem and feel it, not only say it. Feel it. I cannot accomplish anything if I didn't have a gift from Hashem, Something I think is so.

16:27
This is so important for us when we look through the parasha to see the gifts, to see the humility that we experience when we right, when they make themselves humble, then then you will be great. Only when they make themselves humble, then then you will be great. Only when you make yourself like the dirt, like the dust, when you realize that it's not you, then you will be blessed. It's almost, it's counterintuitive to what we think. When we realize that it's all a gift from Hashem, then the gifts keep growing. My dear friends have an amazing Shabbos.

17:09 - Intro (Announcement)
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