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.

00:09 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back everybody. Good morning, welcome to the Parsha Review Podcast. This week's Parsha is Parsha's Mitzorah. Mitzorah is the leprosy-like affliction, the skin affliction that befell a person who spoke negatively about another person. We talked about this previously in our partial review podcast. We talked about the summary of the portion where we talked about what it means when someone talks negatively about another person. But I want to focus on one of the verses here that shears something really incredible. Now, what does it mean to speak negatively about another person? But I want to focus on one of the verses here that shears something really incredible. Now, what does it mean to speak negatively about another person? That means you know my definition of this, my personal definition.

00:56
I may be wrong and this idea may be flawed, but just to help us understand a little bit, imagine that every person you know it's like when someone opens up a new credit, new person is born. So they give him a credit that probably starts at 700. They give him some credit. You want to go to the bank, it's a new. You have to build your credit, get it up there. It's 710. When you borrow money and you pay it back you borrow money, pay it back the credit grows Like, oh, he's trustworthy, he's trustworthy, he's trustworthy, he pays his bills on time. Okay, great. Well, now we up his credit even more, even more.

01:35
We also have something called human credit, human credit. I know people like to do a social credit, a social score. We're not talking about that. We're talking about a human credit. Typically, you meet a normal person. They look like they're a dignified person, they look like they're honest. So we give them let's say we give them 1,000 credit points. Now, let's say you talk to your friend, you say, oh, I just met this new person. You know who that is Like. Oh, fabulous, fabulous, amazing people, amazing, I've done business with them, I've gone to events with them. They're the nicest people. So where does that human credit go now? From a thousand it goes up, depending how much I admire or respect the person who's telling me this. That human credit will be elevated. What's if I have that great admiration and respect for the person talking to me but he says the opposite. He says watch your wallet, be careful. This person, I don't know, do your research, things like that. What happens Now? That human credit went from 1,000 to 950 or maybe 900. And then I go to another person they say something negative about that person, it gets declined even more and even more. It's declined even more and even more. So we have the ability, with our words, to build or to destroy. But now let's look at what happens as a punishment for someone who speaks negatively about another person.

02:58
Zos tia, torah sametzorah this shall be the procedure, the Torah of the metzorah of someone who got this skin affliction. And in verse number four it says v'tziva ha-koin, and the koin shall command v'lokach la'mitair, that one take for the person being purified. Shneit ziporim, two birds, chayos that are alive, tahoros that are kosher, the eights eres, cedar wood and crimson-dyed wool, the ezov and hyssop. You wonder really what's going on over here. You're bringing these two birds, you're bringing the cedar wood, you're bringing the crimson dyed wool and you're bringing the hyssop. What does one have to do with the other? And why is the Torah emphasizing these unique objects that come together in order to bring about atonement for this afflicted individual? So Rashi tells us what does it come from?

04:13
Rashi says where does this come from? To begin with, I'll read this to you, verse number four Rashi. He says this to you. Verse number four rashi. He says leficin hanigoim boyin al-lashon hara, because all of these afflictions come due to one speaking, someone speaking slanderously about another person. A lot of tweets, a lot of chirping, rashi says, because this person is chit-chatting a lot, talking about other people. What's the process of purifying this person? You bring these birds, that, what do they do all day? They chit-chat all day, they yap all day, they chirp, they tweet. That's the repair. Just like we are talking constantly, so too, the process, rashi says, to bring about atonement for someone who spoke negatively about another person is by bringing these two birds. They're constantly chirping, constantly tweeting, and that's the rip here. These birds are brought as an offering and that brings atonement for this person. But then Rashi continues. We talk about the cedar wood, we talk about the crimson dyed wool, we talk about the hyssop. What does Rashi say? He says something very interesting. What's his repair? What's his healing? What's his repair? What's his healing? Yashbil atzmo, miga avaso.

06:10
He has to humble himself from his arrogance, just like the crimson dyed wool and the hyssop. We just said that the reason we brought the birds was because he's chit-chatting, he's talking too much about other people, and now we're saying no, no, no, it's arrogance. Which one is it? Our sages explained something so powerful, something so important. We need to understand that they're both exactly the same. They're both exactly the same. They're both exactly the same.

06:46
It is impossible for a person to start talking about another person if he doesn't have arrogance. You feel good about yourself. You put yourself on some pedestal. I am so great. But look at them. The only way we can start talking about another person is when we're a little bit too arrogant.

07:16
This is a counter measure to growing in Torah. It's counter indicated. You cannot grow in Torah if you have arrogance. You cannot grow in Torah if you're chit chatting about other people. It's a barrier. It doesn't allow you to grow. It's a barrier, which is why there's an entire portion in the Torah dedicated to telling us, in this book of holiness and connection with Hashem, the book of Leviticus, to tell you this is going to be a major barrier. We all love to talk, but talking negatively about another person, that limits our ability to connect with Hashem. Why? Because that's arrogance. There's no place for arrogance near Hashem. There's no place for arrogance near Hashem.

08:25
Our sages tell us in the Mishnah Me'od, me'od ha-vishval ruach, very, very much. Be humble, very, very much. Be humble, very, very much. You don't see that term a lot Very, very Meaning to such an extreme. We have to be humble, not to feel elevated above other people. You want to feel good about yourself. Feel good about yourself, but it shouldn't come at the expense of another person.

08:55
And who do we know is the greatest human being to ever walk this earth? The greatest ever was Moses. And what do we know about Moses? Moses, he was more humble than anyone alive, anyone alive who had the. If Moses wanted. He had the right or not the right, but he had the opportunity to be the most boastful, arrogant guy. You know, nobody else was called up the mountain to speak to God. Nobody else was elevated up to heaven for 40 days and 40 nights. Nobody else came down and even touched the godly tablets. Nobody else got a pat on the back like Moses did when he broke the tablets, where God says Good job for breaking the tablets. Nobody else handcrafted the second set of tablets. It was all Moshe.

10:01
Moshe led the Jewish people out of Egypt. Moshe helped the Jewish people win the wars. Moshe had a lot to be proud about, but yet Moshe was the most humble of men. In fact, in the Torah that's written by Moshe, dictated by God. It says that Moses was humble more than any other man.

10:28
So what is humility and what is arrogance when we recognize that everything that we have in our lives our health, our success, our livelihood, our life, our family, the things that are most precious to us where does it come from? You know, I'm a very talented person. We have good genes in our body. I'm very smart, I'm a good businessman, I went to the best schools. We attribute it to many of our own doings. That's not humility, that's arrogance. Humility recognizes that everything I have is from Hashem. Humility recognizes that every breath I take is a gift from Hashem and that I have no ability to do anything without Hashem's say-so I can't, I can-so, I can't, I can't function, I can't operate.

11:38
In our prayer podcast, we're soon going to be talking about the blessing of Asher Yatza. Asher Yatza is the blessing we say after we go to the bathroom, because we can't even take a single step without recognizing that Hashem gives us everything that we have, even using the restroom, is a gift from Hashem. And not to take that for granted. Keep us in check. Remember who's boss, remember who's in charge. Yeah, you might be so successful. Remember that Hashem can turn it off in a split second. Anything you do have is a gift from Hashem.

12:22
Moshe was so close to Hashem. He realized how nothing he was. He realized that he was. He realized that he was but a little speck. It's like I saw last week. We had the eclipse and someone posted a video of how many moons can fit into the earth, how many earths can fit into each one of the planets, and and then how many Earths can fit into the sun. Millions and millions of Earths can fill into the sun to fit in. That's how enormous the sun is. Imagine we're standing on this Earth and we're like so proud you get an inch closer to the sun. You'll burn to a crisp. We don't realize how small we are. You'll burn to a crisp. We don't realize how small we are Yet, notwithstanding our infinitesimally small abilities.

13:30
Yet we're the chosen people that Hashem says. I'm giving them my Torah because they're going to bring my light to the world. It's each and every one of us have the ability to bring the greatest light to this world, greater than the sun, greater than the moon, greater than anything. We have the ability to bring that light to the world. The same ability we have to bring light. We have the ability god forbid to take away light and bring darkness to this world. That's what lashon hara is. You can say kind things about people or you can say negative things about people. You can compliment people and make their day, and make their month and their week and their year. You can make them feel like they're walking on the clouds, or you can take away everything from them.

14:31
This, our sages tell us, is our parasha teaching us. You know what you're going to put together as an offering for atonement for this person who has now this skin blemish as an affliction for speaking negatively about others. He needs a lesson in humility. We're going to have to get some crimson dyed wool. We're going to have to get some crimson dyed wool. We're going to have to get some hyssop. We're going to have to get some cedar wood. What does that have to do? Give me a nice bull offering Something. No, no, no. He needs to learn humility. He needs to learn to shine a light to the world, to be a source of blessing to other people. This is a small teaching from our Parsha, where our Torah is telling us the keys to bringing light to this world. It could seem like a very boring Parsha, but when we look at the details, by the way, it's very interesting.

15:41
What type of offering do we bring two doves? Why two doves? Doves? Why are they the symbol of peace? It's an amazing thing, because doves are very, very loyal when they find their mate. That's it Mate for life. They're always together and when one dies, the other doesn't remarry Finished. That was my mate. We call lovebirds. What we're trying to represent here is the doves.

16:21
The Torah says bring both. Bring both to teach this individual love. The Torah is so sensitive to these birds we won't take one without taking the other. If one is brought as an offering, the other one comes as an offering as well. Don't leave him as a widow from its fellow bird, from its spouse. Both of them together are the offering, because that will teach this individual who sinned. True love is commitment to one another. The Torah is so sensitive even to a little animal, even to a little bird. So you're going to ask well, so why are we even killing these birds? Why are we killing these birds?

17:19
It was created for this purpose to be brought as an offering to Hashem. What privilege to be an offering to Hashem, the level that every human being strives for is to be dedicated to Hashem. For is to be dedicated to Hashem, the greatest is giving our life to Hashem. We say this in our prayer every single day, that we should love Hashem With all of your heart, with all of your soul, meaning I'm ready to give my soul.

17:55
If someone walked in here today to the Torch Center and says either commit to idolatry or I kill you, we're all going to stand tall and say I'm not going to disavow my relationship with Hashem. I'm ready to take a bullet to the head and not forsake my relationship with Hashem. I'm ready to take a bullet to the head and not forsake my relationship with the Almighty. That's like the little dove giving his life for the service of Hashem. My dear friends, let's take a lesson from this. Let's be a light to the world. Let's bring light to other people, bring joy to other people, bring a smile to others. Let's not talk negatively about others.

18:52 - Intro (Announcement)
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