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. Good morning. It is so wonderful to be here for today's Parsha Review Podcast. All right, this week's Parsha is Vayakhel. Vayakhel is the second to last portion in the book of Exodus and it begins where we left off last week.

00:30
Last week we talked about the importance of the observance of Shabbos and how Shabbos is the key. And where do we learn Shabbos from? Shabbos we understand from the laws that were prohibited in the construction of the tabernacle and the deconstruction of the tabernacle and the deconstruction of the tabernacle, all of those, and the service in the tabernacle. We don't do any of that on Shabbos. Obviously, they brought offerings on Shabbos, but we today do not do anything that was done in the tabernacle, in its setup and breakdown of the tabernacle.

01:03
We begin this week's parashah. It says and Moshe assembled the entire children of Israel and he says to them these are the things that Hashem commanded us to do Six days a week work, work, work, work. On the day of Shabbos, on the seventh day, it should be holy, it should be sanctified. Shabbos, shabboson, a complete rest to Hashem. Anyone who does on it work, creative labor, shall be put to death. Now listen to this following verse Chapter 35, verse number 3. You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the day of the Sabbath, on Shabbos, there's no lighting fires. There's no lighting fires. Very important teaching, you know? Sages tell us something so incredible, and that is that what is compared to fire? What is compared to fire? Anger, anger is compared to fire. Our sages tell us this is not only a warning not to light a fire, an eish, but not to get angry on Shabbos. Now we know that a person should never get angry, not during the week and not on Shabbos. Why not? The Talmud tells us and we see this in many, many of our teachings throughout the Torah that kol hakoes anybody who gets angry, it's like he serves idolatry. Anybody who gets angry, kol minegihenem sholtenbo, all forms of purgatory take over the person who gets angry. Anger is a really, really, really terrible trait. We discussed this previously in our Jewish Inspiration podcast. We talked about the terrible, terrible devastation that befalls a person who gets angry.

03:36
In the famous letter of the Ramban, he writes and be very, very cautious to always speak all of your words with a pleasant voice לכל אדם ולכל עס ובזה תנצל מן הקס. To every person, in every situation, wherever you are every circumstance. Why? ובזה תנצל מן הקס? Every circumstance, why u'bezeh tinotzel min hakas. Like this, you will protect yourself from falling into anger. The Ramban writes in his letter to his son the devastating effect of one who gets angry v'hoser kas me'lipcha remove anger from your heart and you'll remove all illnesses from your flesh.

04:33
It says so many things in our teachings about anger and its pitfalls. Anger is such a terrible thing. What happens when a person gets angry? His face turns red like fire. A person who gets angry, it's like what happens with a fire. You can't reason with fire. Say, listen, you can burn this, but you can't, don't burn that. It doesn't work like that. Fire doesn't reason with you. Anything that's in its way goes down. When someone is angry, it's the same thing. When someone is angry, anything in their way, you try to appease them, you try to block them, you try to protect them, you try to hold them back. No, fire absorbs everything, everything, everything.

05:25
Sayages tell us something really, really frightening that fire is compared to purgatory. But what is shut off on Shabbos? The Zohar tells us that the wicked people who are suffering in purgatory. On Shabbos, it's turned off. Shabbos, they have respite. Shabbos, the ovens are off Shabbos, they're off, and now you're going to get angry and turn it on. That's a contradiction to the rest of Shabbos. The Zohar tells us. That's how careful we need to be. Yeah, on a regular, ordinary day, definitely we have to avoid it. But on Shabbos, the day where God says I'm going to rest, I'm going to take a break now from everything, that's a day that we're going to turn on the fire, the fire of anger, and that's going to cause terrible, terrible things.

06:39
It says in all of your dwellings. We never see such a term, almost ever in the Torah, in all of your dwellings. We never see such a term, almost ever in the Torah, in all of your dwellings. That means in all of your things that you're involved with. Don't get angry in synagogue. Don't get angry at home. Don't get angry with your friends. Don't get angry with your spouse. Don't get angry with your children.

07:04
Shabbos is a time. In fact, now I understand the halacha, which I never really understood. It says about Yom Kippur. It says Yom Kippur. A person should be very, very careful not to get angry on Yom Kippur. On Rosh Hashanah even more so. Why? Because Rosh Hashanah is a microcosm of the entire year. You want to know what your next year is going to look like. Look at what Rosh Hashanah was.

07:30
My grandfather said that he had a little tinge of anger on one Rosh Hashanah. He said that affected him the entire year. The entire year. He had the impact from that little anger. Every single Shabbos is a rush Hashanah. For that week, the rush Hashavuah it's the beginning of the next week that you're about to experience. Even a little tinge of anger can have such a devastating effect. You think for a second the impact that it has on our entire year.

08:12
Yom Kippur, the holiest day don't get angry, just don't get angry. Just don't get angry. And the Yetzirah is trying. As we're fasting, we become what they call angry, a mixture of hungry and angry. The Yetzirah finds a way.

08:33
The Halacha says something very important that a person, every husband and wife in every household, should be very, very careful about anger before Shabbos. Because what happens before Shabbos? You're busy cooking, you're busy shopping, you're busy this, you're busy that All the nerves are on edge. And what happens? The Yetzirah is there stoking the fire. The Yetzirah is trying to find a way to get you under your wife's skin and your wife under your skin and to get things to be irritated so that there be a blow-up, so that there be fire, so that there be a blow up, so that there be fire, so that there be anger, so that we not have the rest we need on Shabbos, because we're still burning from Friday. We're still burning from that fight, from that argument, from that quarrel. Our sages tell us we have to be so careful lo sevaru eish b'chol moshvo seichem b'yom ha-shabbos. We have to be so careful to avoid all types of conflict, all types, anything that can lead you to anger. Because what happens if it does lead you to anger? You're turning on the purgatory, which is resting on that day. Hashem says no, no, no, we're turning it off. We're like no, no, no, we're turning it on. That's a contradiction to our very existence.

10:02
The Talmud in Shabbos says as follows Yom HaShabbos Tzarech Li, yos Kulo Be'cheinu b'chesedu b'sholomu b'avarava. Shabbos needs to be. This is the shlom brings this down, his explanation on the Talmud. He says Shabbos needs to be a day which is full of grace, full of kindness, full of peace, full of love, great love. Ki bo shof simafilu reshoim sh'bagenim. Because even the wicked people in purgatory, they also rest on Shabbos. Val kein averikfulahi mi shemarek haspe Shabbos.

10:49
Therefore, it's a double sin. It's doubly sinful for a person to get angry on Shabbos, and this is what the Torah says here in our verse, chapter 35, verse 3. Verse 3, and this is the fire of quarrels, the fire of dispute, the fire of anger. Be careful not to have this on Shabbos. From when does that start, says the Shlach HaKadosh? He says from Friday at noon. Already, it's already, that's it, it's coming in, that's the time. It's very easy to trigger a fire when there's so much flammable content. You know what flammable content is, holiness, whenever there's an opportunity, I'll tell you an amazing story.

12:04
My grandfather was invited by the Pana Vizharov. Pana Vizharov was Rev Kahaneman. He was the one who built the largest yeshiva in its time in Israel, right at the beginning of the establishment of the state of Israel, and he was establishing the Panevijarov yeshiva and he was making it large enough for a thousand students, and that was unheard of A thousand students. Today we have 10,000, we have 12,000, right with massive yeshivas, but it was a thousand and everyone thought that he was crazy, crazy. So he invited my grandfather. I heard this from my grandfather and they were walking on the beams, on the boards that were there by the construction site and he was showing him where the study hall was going to be and where the dormitory was going to be, where the classrooms were going to be, and they were looking at it. And while they're walking on the beams, the Panovich Rav stops and he says the following it's going to be great, but I'll say the actual words the way I heard it from my grandfather Kish yesh his eurus shel gedusha az ba ha-sitra achar.

13:22
When there is an inspiration of holiness, the yetzahara comes right in the yetzahara. When there's an inspiration, everyone's like we're going to get this, we're going to accomplish, the Yetzirah comes right in the Yetzirah. When there's an inspiration, everyone's like we're going to get this, we're going to accomplish, we're going to do great things. Suddenly, the Yetzirah comes. That's when he's going to clash. That's when he's going to clash with us. You know what the elevation, what the opportunity for holiness is for each and every one of us? Shabbos, shabbos. Do you know who comes to fight with us? Yetzirah. He sees. Oh, they're going to be.

13:59
Look at this beautiful couple preparing for Shabbos. They're singing songs of Shabbos playing from their boombox. Right, they're so excited. They have their Shabbos playlist playing Erev. Shabbos. Before Shabbos. They're cooking, they're preparing the challahs, they're preparing all the food.

14:18
I'm going to ignite a little match here. I'm going to light up a little fire. I told you to peel six potatoes. Why did you peel seven potatoes? Why did you do this Right? Why does it make such small things, such small things, but it's so flammable? Why? Because it's so ripe for holiness.

14:40
When we have an opportunity for holiness, everything is so delicate around us and we have to be even more focused to ensure that there is no ignition that lights up a fire. I'll tell you I've made some policies in my house that there are certain things we don't do. After midday on Friday Midday is chatzos. Midday on Friday Midday is chatzos. Today it's because we changed the clock. We're now in summertime, in the central daylight time, so it's a little bit later. It's like one, two o'clock in the afternoon that we have midday.

15:23
But one of the things that I've told my wife and children I really don't want them to do is sometimes, friday, kids get out of school earlier. They get ready for Shabbos, so people find it as a time to go shopping. People go to the mall, people go buy, you know, clothing, shopping, whatever Is this the time they have to do it. And I told my wife and children not after Katsos, not after Midday. Midday needs to be dedicated, not to go and acquire new things. It's a time to prepare ourselves. I try to even make sure that our whatever food groceries that needs to be shopped should be done before as well.

16:07
To do everything we can to not cause the ignition to be lit before as well. To do everything we can to not cause the ignition to be lit. Then you're in a rush and then you're stuck in traffic and then there's, ah, the shower, and this everything is chaos. The Etzahara loves opportunities, for holiness Loves Evil. Inclination is waiting, he's waiting, he's waiting. Yet the Arizal teaches us the holiness of baking bread after Chatzos on Friday, baking the challah specifically after it's supposed to be special and holy bread that is baked for Shabbos, right before Shabbos. It's not Thursday, not Wednesday, not Friday morning after Chatzos. Why it adds a certain harmony to the home. It adds a certain holiness, a certain reliance on Hashem.

17:07
So I think that it's important for us to take a moment and think of all of the areas in our lives that are triggers. You know anybody who you'll ask advice from on any area of life that needs improvement. The first thing that they'll talk about and we talk about this in our Muslim studies is identify what triggers. What triggers that outcome? Oh, my wife and I always fight about this. What triggers that conversation? What triggers that conversation? What triggers that argument? And if you are able to identify the trigger, then you avoid the trigger and then you don't get into that situation.

17:51
On Erev Shabbos, before Shabbos, the whole Erev Shabbos, the whole eve of Shabbos is one big trigger. And on Shabbos itself, we want it to be a day which is sanctified and holy and beautiful and serene. That's the time that is most triggering. Vacations should be such a special time, and yet many people say that it such a special time, and yet many people say that it's a triggering time, stressful. Why? Because it has such potential. The more potential there is, the more danger there is. The more potential, the more danger.

18:38
My dear friends, do not light a fire in your home on this holy day of Shabbos. What is that fire? Fire of dispute, the fire of anger, the fire of discord, the fire also the actual spiritual fire. Fire is not physical, fire is spiritual. The idea is that we by the way, it's very interesting.

19:07
Just a little thought, a side note why do we start Shabbos with lighting candles? It's an amazing, an amazing thing that we do. We light Shabbos candles and that begins our whole Shabbos. That's it. By the way. Just an interesting thing, most of the time, before you do a blessing, before you do a mitzvah, you recite a blessing, except for lighting the lights of Shabbos. First you light the Shabbos candles and then you recite the blessing why candles? And then you recite the blessing. Why? Because as soon as you recite the blessing, you're accepting upon yourself the Shabbos. You're not supposed to light the candles on Shabbos. So, therefore, what you do is you light the candles first, and that's why women cover their eyes, because the candles don't exist yet. I'm reciting the blessing and then, oh, they appear. The idea is like that's the lighting of the candles. I'm going to enjoy those candles after I recited the blessing. So we first light the candles. But why do we do this?

20:22
What is fire? The fire is one of the only things, the only thing that first completely defies gravity. Right, everything. I take my pen, I drop it, it falls, everything falls, fire goes up. Also, this is physical. I feel it, I touch it, I hold it, I see it. What is fire? Fire, you can see, but you can't touch fire. There's nothing there. As kids we used to put our hands through the fire. I'm sure everybody's done that once or twice in their life. It's nothing there. Yet it's there because we feel it, it's burning and it'll burn your finger. You know that it's there. Or say, just tell us that fire has the power of transforming something from physical to spiritual. What do we do the whole day? The Torah tells us here in this verse Six days a week work physical, physical.

21:11
What do we do on Shabbos? You take all the physical and now transform it into spiritual. We take the fire, we light this candle and now we're taking everything and elev, transform it into spiritual. We take the fire, we light this candle and now we're taking everything and elevating it. Physical is very utilistic. Everything falls.

21:27
What do we do Shabbos? We elevate everything. That means you go, work hard, you make money, you deliver the packages, you do everything that you do, you do right, we earn, we do things We've accomplished. Now is the time to elevate it all. Use whatever it is that you've earned, that you worked so hard for during the week, to elevate your relationship with God. You cooked to prepare the food for Shabbos. Now is the time to enjoy it. You worked hard to buy clothes. Now is the time to enjoy it. You worked hard to buy clothes. Now is the time to wear it. You went out and bought a nice bottle of wine now is the time to drink it. That means you're taking the physical of your week and elevating it.

22:14
Why are we doing it? Ah, I'm having a date. I'm having a date. Who am I having a date with? I'm having a date. I'm having a date. Who am I having a date with? I'm having a date with the love of my life, shabbos. Shabbos is our Shabbos queen. We all are collectively the groom and Shabbos is the bride. We call the Shabbos queen the Shabbos bride Bo-i-chala, bo-ii, chala, shabbat malchita. We say come O bride, come O bride, the Shabbos queen, that's our bride. We're having a date. We have candlelit dinner, we have our finest foods, we drink a glass of wine. This is all part of our God in his master plan designed this for us. What lights this all on fire? Anger. Anger burns it down. That's why our sages teach us from. This verse is a hint do everything you can to always have peace and harmony in your home. Hashem should bless us all that we should merit to have always peace and harmony every day of our lives, at every moment, in all of our homes. Amen.

23:34 - Intro (Announcement)
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