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.

00:13 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, good evening everybody! Welcome back to the parsha review podcast. It's so wonderful to be here coming to you live from Passaic, New Jersey. I know all y'all are in the south, most of you in Texas, some of you in Alabama, right, david? And it's an amazing parasha to talk about because we have the incredible story of Pinchas. Who was Pinchas?

00:41
So we know the famous story the Torah tells us at the end of last week's parasha, the beginning of chapter 25, in the end of last week's parasha, the end of parasha's balak, the beginning of chapter 25 in the book of numbers, torah tells us that the Jewish people got close to the people of Moab and this was a whole plot to try to entice the young Jewish men to engage in illicit relations with Moabite girls. And the plot sort of worked. It was going to be a combination of things. It was going to be that they'll be near them, they'll be in their midst and they'll serve their idols and they'll get together with their women and, like this, there'll be sort of like an assimilation. And this was very, very, very unpleasing to the Almighty. In fact, the one individual who was considered to be a righteous person, his name, was Zimri. And Zimri. What did he do? He said no, no, no, I'm not going to go and be in their midst, I'm going to bring her to my family, I'm going to bring her to the Jewish community, I'm going to bring her into my home. And like this, and if you see, there's a special emphasis where the Torah tells us that he cohabitated with her before the eyes of the entire assembly of the children of Israel. He cohabitated with her Before the eyes of the entire assembly of the children of Israel. He was right there, in front of everyone, and we know Pinchas, who was a very, very pious, righteous person, took his spear in his hand and he ended the lives of these two individuals, zimri and Cosby, who were together. There's an amazing question that needs to be asked. What was he trying to do to bring her into his community? Sarsae, just tell us that what he was trying to do is to say you know what, like this, it's not that bad. You know what I mean? It's like it's not great what we're doing, but it's not that bad. And our sages tell us that blurring the lines is the absolute worst. Blurring the lines not knowing right from wrong. When you blur the lines, and it's just a hazy gray and you don't know right from wrong. That's the worst. We see this with Rebecca.

03:22
Rebecca, we remember that she was pregnant and she was conflicted and she was very disturbed. What was she disturbed about? She was disturbed because she realizes that within her womb the baby she didn't know yet it was twins of Jacob and Asaph. So she was concerned Because every time she passed by the study hall when the righteous people sit and study Torah, the baby kicked. And every time it passed by the house of idolaters, the baby kicked. So she was very conflicted and very confused.

03:58
What's going on here? So she went to the prophet of her generation and the prophet says no, no, no, no, no. You have twins and they're going to be two nations. One is going to be going to the synagogue, to the study hall and learning Torah, and one is going to be an idolater. And what happens after that?

04:22
We see, the Torah tells us Rivka was very pleased and she was happy. Well, what's there to be happy about? I mean, it seems like it would be just the opposite. She'd be more concerned Because now she's going to have one child who's going to be God-fearing and serving Hashem and the other who's going to become an idolater, she should be very conflicted. Sages tell us that she was happy, she was relieved, because if it was one baby who's confused, that's the worst. That means a person needs to know where they stand. A person needs to know where they are. We see the same idea, the challenge that we had by the story of Esther.

05:11
What did Haman try to do? He tried to blur the lines. He says we're going to make a feast for everyone, for everyone, everybody can come in, so that the Jewish people will now feel like they're part of the non-Jewish culture and then, like that, they'll become assimilated and like that, they will become part of us and, like that, they'll sin and once they sin, they turn away from God and God doesn't protect them anymore. That was his ploy Blur the lines, them anymore. That was his ploy. Blur the lines.

05:51
And I think that the most important lesson for us to learn from this week's Power Show is to never, ever compromise. You see, when it comes to our food, to our health, we don't compromise. When it comes to our materialism, we don't compromise. Compromise when it comes to our materialism. We don't compromise when it comes to our vacations. We don't compromise when it comes to our you think of anything in your life typically we try not to compromise. We want to get the best experience, we get the full package. But when it comes to our spiritual connection to God, then I'm willing to compromise. When it comes to the mitzvahs that I perform, then I'm willing to compromise, and this is something which our sages teach us is something we need to be so vigilant about. We need to be so cautious about not falling into the trap of compromise. When it comes to the service of God, we cannot fall into the trap of blurring the lines. What side of the fence am I on? I'll just give you an example.

07:01
So we talk a lot about the observance of Shabbat, we talk about the laws of the Torah, the laws and the mitzvahs that we are all commanded to perform, and we also know and I've said this dozens and dozens and dozens of times the importance of every person in our torch class times, the importance of every person in our torch class, the importance of taking small steps and not jumping. So isn't that a contradiction? He's saying you got to know where you stand, but you're also saying to take small steps, so it's exactly the same. They take small steps, so it's exactly the same Meaning. You have to know, for example, someone who says you know, I understand the importance of Shabbos, I am committed to Shabbos but I'm not observant of it yet. Versus being on the other side of that line of like it's a nice thing, but you know I'm not observing it, so it's not for me Meaning. There's a difference between saying I'm committed to something but I'm not fully there yet, for example.

08:17
Another example health right. Everybody knows you go to the doctor. Doctor says you know you go to the doctor. Doctor says you know you got to start worrying about you know your health. You're getting uh of age. You're now, uh, in your 40s, you're in your whatever. You know doctors tell you it's time to start being careful what you eat, doing exercise. Does that mean that now we're going to start being 100% healthy? No, but it means that we start in a small step towards that commitment of being again committed to eating healthier, doing more exercise, doing the things that our doctors and our healthcare providers guide us to do. Doing the things that our doctors and our healthcare providers guide us to do. That means, even if I'm not fully there in action, I'm fully there in my commitment and in my concept of willing to accept it. And this is something which is crucial.

09:24
Can I learn Torah all day? The Torah says to learn Torah all day. Yeah, you know, maybe I'm not there, yet I definitely. It means don't blur the lines. You know who else tried to blur the lines Amalek. Amalek tried to blur the lines to bring confusion to the Jewish people. Amalek tried to confuse the Jewish people. And what would confusion do? Once you're confused, you don't know what to do, and then you're in the hands of the Yetzirah. And what does the Torah tell us about Amalek? Because they were intentional, confused, you don't know what to do, and then you're in the hands of the Yetzhara. And what does the Torah tell us about Amalek? Because they were intentional, amalek instigated, they tried to confuse the Jewish people. And therefore the Torah says Eradicate, obliterate the memory of Amalek Because confusion, having those lines blurred, of not knowing where I stand, not knowing right from wrong.

10:33
You know, it's like we say Havdalah every Saturday night. So interesting that we say Havdalah when we distinguish between light and dark, between holy and unholy, distinguish between, you know, between the Jewish people and the nations of the world. So in what prayer, in what blessing do we recite this Havdalah? Why? In the prayer of wisdom, of knowledge, in our Amida, which is the fourth blessing? Why? Because it takes a wisdom, it takes an understanding to be able to distinguish between. What are you talking about? To distinguish between light and dark? Every little cockroach knows to distinguish between day and night. As soon as you turn off the lights, they come out. They know it's dark. That's not difficult. Between holy and unholy, most people can distinguish. But it's that. We're not talking about the extremes of it, it's when it's closer to one another, when it's not at the polar opposites, when they're one next to the other.

11:52
Sometimes we can be confused and call something which is holy unholy and something which is unholy holy. In fact, in the beginning of the Talmud, when someone sits down to study Talmud, there's a special prayer that we recite. What's that prayer? That prayer says Hashem, please guide me in my study of Torah that I shouldn't confuse pure and impure. I shouldn't confuse permitted with that which is prohibited. I shouldn't meaning. It should be clear what is right and what is wrong, what is on the right and what is on the left.

12:36
This is, I think, something so essential for us to understand the responsibility of having clarity of commitment, clarity of commitment. I am committed to this. I may not fully be there, I may not be running the marathon, but I'm committed to working on it. I'm committed to taking another step. This is the path. I identify with this because this is what God wants me to do and because this is the right thing, and because this is holiness, and because this is light, because this is the way of the Torah. This is the way of the Torah For us to feel a pride, for us to feel a closeness.

13:33
How many people have told me that they became October 8th Jews, that after October 7th, a switch turned on them. They said I can't be the same as I was before October 7th. The next day, october 8th, they're already different. They're transformed because they have a very clear conviction, whether it be the observance of Torah, whether it be the observance of Shabbat, of any mitzvah, that a person says you know what this is important and I'm going to do it. I'm committed to it. I may not fully be there yet, but I'm committed to this path. I'm committed to this journey because this is the right thing to do. This is an amazing, amazing lesson to learn from the Six Parsha, because we see the importance of defining things for ourselves.

14:36
See, in politics, people are very keen on identifying themselves. They're either part of this party, they're part of that party, I'm on the right, I'm on the left, I'm in the middle, I'm a libertarian, I'm a communist, I'm a socialist. People identify with things when it comes to holiness. When it comes to holiness, we have a more difficult time identifying our connection and sometimes we just say you know what, where do I pay my membership? I pay my membership to a reformed temple, conservative, orthodox, reconstructionist, or I'm not affiliated, I'm comfortable with that. Are we? Is that where we're comfortable? Or we say you know what, this may be where I pay my membership dues, but in my ideology, in my connection with God, that's not where I'm at.

15:32
I'm a Torah-committed Jew, I'm a Shabbat-committed Jew, who's not there yet. Perhaps I'm a kosher-committed Jew. Still may not be there yet, but I'm on that journey. I'm going to take a step. I'm going to do something to infuse more Judaism into my day-to-day lives, individually, respectively Each one of us, to find a way to make a commitment to our beliefs, to make a commitment to what we know is what the will of Hashem is.

16:11
And this is, I think, the calling of this week's Torah portion To define ourselves. Between holy and unholy, between spiritual and physical, between light and dark. Which one am I? You know, it's that twilight where it's hard to tell whether it's day or night. Which one is it? We have to remove ourselves from that challenge and define ourselves. No, no, no. I'm in the light, I'm not in. No, I'm in the light, I'm not in the darkness, I'm in the holiness, I'm not in the materialism, because once we make that commitment, it's much easier to pursue our goals.

17:06
I'll tell you an amazing story. There was a very famous actress that was visiting. I don't remember where this was, but I remember the person who told me this story was someone who was new to their religious life and they had never, ever, called themselves a religious jew, an observant jew. It was like they were on a journey and it turns out that now they were, but they never said it, and they met this famous actress and someone introduced this person to the actress and says oh, this is a religious Jew. So the actress says you're an observant Jew. And this was the first time they had to confirm to themselves yes, I am. And just saying that this person relayed. They felt a change in their commitment. Now they identified themselves as being in a certain category, even if they weren't fully observant to what they hoped to be yet. But by defining it, it already clarified the blurry line. They knew which side they were on.

18:32
Sometimes, for ourselves, we have a hard time defining for ourselves. We need to take a step back and say you know what? Am I committed to this lifestyle, to a lifestyle where I'm pursuing a closeness with God? And if I am, am I willing to identify myself as that? And if I'm willing to identify myself as such, then it's much easier for us to take the next step and the next step and the next step. So, hashem, should bless us all that we should have a magnificent Shabbos, but also to take some time over the next couple days over Shabbos to really identify who it is that we really want to be. You know they say that you manifest your existence. If you talk about being healthy, you'll be healthy. You talk about eating healthy, you'll eat healthy. You talk about doing exercise, you'll do your exercise.

19:38
We manifest our spiritual closeness as well, hashem. I want to be close to you. Hashem, I want to learn your Torah. Hashem. I want to observe your to you, hashem. I want to learn your Torah, hashem. I want to observe your mitzvot, your commandments, hashem. I want to do the right thing by saying those things, we manifest them as well and we allow ourselves, we give ourselves the opportunity To bring those things to life. So, god willing, hashem will bless us all the opportunity to bring those things to life. So, god willing, hashem will bless us all that we'll be able to identify our goals, our spiritual goals, to clarify them and then verbalize them so that we can manifest them into existence, so we can bring that life into our day-to-day experience. Thank you and Shabbat Shalom.

20:33 - Intro (Announcement)
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