Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello, my friends, and welcome back to this week's episode of the Practical Parsha podcast. This is Rabbi Shlomo Cohen, and I hope you are well this week it's a special episode. Well, every week, special episode. But this week's extra special.
[00:00:16] Do you know why?
[00:00:18] And if you listen to the rebroadcast, you might have a hint. But this week, Parshas Balosha, uh, begins the fourth cycle of the Practical Parasha podcast.
[00:00:32] And it's a special moment for me because, you know, I can't say I. But I would say we've completed the cycle of parshios of Torah portions three times.
[00:00:48] Um, and it's something, I don't know. I'm having a little bit of a hard time even believing it. But the point is, I think the message for myself is that three years ago I started something.
[00:01:01] I wasn't sure exactly where it would go.
[00:01:04] Thank God.
[00:01:06] It's been an amazing journey every week, or almost every week, putting out a podcast on the Torah portion to make it practical, relatable for every Jewish person, no matter where you're at, whether you're a newbie, that you're just getting involved in your Judaism, whether you, or perhaps you've for years you even went to yeshiva or you have a strong Jewish background. I do my very best that everyone should feel that this podcast is for them no matter what stage you're at.
[00:01:42] So I hope you enjoy.
[00:01:45] It's definitely been a journey for me, and God willing, I should be able to keep doing it. And like always, I have to give a honorable mention to my wife, Penina, because without her support, there's no way I'd, uh, be able to do this and spend the time to give over Torah thoughts to you every single week because of her, Mira M. Snafesh, her dedication to this podcast succeeding, and for Torah to be spread, that I'm able to make the time to get my thoughts together and share them with you.
[00:02:32] So thank you to my wife and number three, I wanted to reach out to you, the listener, and thank you for taking time out of your day, your week, to listen to this podcast.
[00:02:47] I really hope it's inspiring. It's something you enjoy, something you look forward to, and something I'm actually requesting. If you listen to this podcast and you enjoy it and maybe you've been listening for a while or even if you just started listening, I would love to hear your feedback, how you enjoy this podcast, your thoughts, any questions? It really means a lot, all the emails I get. Every email is Read. I do my best to respond to every email, and please feel free to send me an email. You want to wish me mazel tov on completing my third cycle of the Parsha podcast.
[00:03:31] Don't hesitate, don't be shy.
[00:03:33] Send me that email. You could actually just put it on pause right now.
[00:03:38] Go into the show notes. Go to Rabbi Shlomokon kohnmail.com send that email. I would love to hear from you. Introduce yourself. And I'm looking forward to another great Year of Parsha podcast together. God willing. And here we go.
[00:03:57] This week's Parsha is Parshas Baha Loskha. Just to give a quick overview of the Parsha. The Parsha begins with the commandment that Hashem speaks to Moshe Rabbeinu to tell Aaron that he is to have the special mitzvah, uh, the special commandment of lighting the menorah. Lighting the menorah in the temple every single day.
[00:04:21] And the Parsha continues with the consecration of the Leviim. The Leviim are to be consecrated second separated, that they're the ones who are going to do the service in the temple with the Kohanim. The first mitzvah in this week's Parasha is the mitzvah of Pesach Shaini, the second Pesach. Now, what does that mean? It means that during the times of the temple, we offered a carbon Pesach, a paschal lamb, a sacrifice that's given on Passover.
[00:04:52] And when the Jews came out of Egypt, they offered the paschal lamb, the carbon Pesach. But there were individuals within the Jewish nation who had to carry out the bones of Yosef. And because of that, they were ritually impure and were not eligible to participate in the mitzvah of Karbon Pesach. And since these individuals wanted to do the mitzvah so badly, God gave them the commandment of Pesachin. He gave them a second chance that they could purify themselves and fulfill the Mitzvah of Karbon Pesach. So Korban Pesach, and we're going to talk a little bit about this shortly, is one of the few mitzvahs where you have the ability to make up even though you miss it. So a person, for some reason, he's impure. He's ritually impure for reasons that are beyond his control, he's able to still bring the carbon Pesach a month after Pesach and fulfill his obligation.
[00:05:52] The Parasha also speaks out for us, the divine signs of the Jewish people's travels that when the Jewish nation was in the desert, they were the Anane Hakkavod. These clouds of glory which protected the Jewish nation, gave them light at night and also guided them on their journeys. When the cloud rose up, they knew it was time to travel. And they would follow the cloud wherever it would go until it would stop. And then when it would stop, they knew that was the place where God wanted them to encamp. And they would stay in that place until the cloud rose up again and started moving. That's how the Jewish people traveled throughout the desert.
[00:06:38] Another story which is related in this week's Parsha is the, uh, story of the misogynym.
[00:06:45] Now, the Jewish nation in the desert, the way they were sustained was from the man, the mana. The mana was heavenly food which was sent down to the Jewish people on a daily basis every day, except for Shabbos, right? On Friday, they would receive a double portion, which would be enough for Shabbos. But. But every day they would get their heavenly rations to sustain them.
[00:07:08] Every single day. They were totally reliant on Hashem, uh, and the Jewish nation, and we'll also get into this as well, they complained to Moshe Rabbeinu about the lack of meat. They didn't have meat, and they didn't have certain things, delicacies that they were used to. Even though the man tasted like any food.
[00:07:31] They complained to Moshe Rabbeinu and the Parsha speaks out this episode about the misogynym, um, the complainers and the miraculous quail that came to the encampment of the Jewish nation that came down, that provided the Jewish nation with the meat that they so desired. Finally, the Parasha finishes with the story of Miriam M.
[00:07:55] How Miriam spirit slander on Moshe Rabbeinu and on her level, and how she was afflicted with tsaras and quarantined.
[00:08:06] The first idea I want to share with you today takes us to the mitzvah, uh, of Pesach Shaini, this second Paschal Lamb.
[00:08:17] So normally, right, the Jewish nation, we have a mitzvah, we have a commandment of giving a carbon Pesach. This is in the times of the Temple, in the times of the tabernacle. Today, we are not able to offer any sacrifices, any carbonos, and the carbon Pesach is included in that. We're not able to do that. And in the desert, the Jewish nation, when they came out of Egypt, they did perform the carbon Pesach, they performed the Paschal lam. But there were individuals, like I mentioned before, who were not able to do it. They didn't have the ability people, because they were impure, they had to take out the bones of Yosef for no fault of their own. They were not able to perform this mitzvah. Because in order to perform the carbon Pesach, to do this sacrifice, a person needs to be ritually pure, and they were not, so they couldn't partake.
[00:09:06] But we see here that G D gives them a second chance to do this special mitzvah. And their question that begs to be asked is, is why is it that specifically this mitzvah of Karbon Pesach, there's a redo we don't see anywhere else, that if someone. Or maybe in most other places, we don't see that if a person misses a mitzvah, especially a biblical mitzvah, that they can have another chance to do it, right? If a person misses Tefillin, God forbid they missed it, they can't do it twice the next day. It doesn't work like that. If a person misses eating matzah, there's no chance to eat matzah again, uh, a week later. It doesn't work like that. You have the chance to do the mitzvah then, and that's it. So why over here, by the mitzvah of carbon Pesach, do the Jewish people get a second chance? Why specifically this mitzvah? And the answer to this question really lies in the attitude of the people that missed out on this mitzvah. That, as I mentioned, these people were impure and they were not able to do the mitzvah. But the Torah tells us very clearly in the verses how they approached Moshe Rabbeinu with such a desire to do the mitzvah, with such a fervor and such a, uh, wanting that G D saw what they wanted to do. He saw how badly they felt that they wanted to perform the mitzvah. And therefore he gave them the opportunity to do it. He saw their desire to accomplish, and he gave them the opportunity, the mitzvah to perform, Even though normally we don't get that opportunity.
[00:10:51] And I think the lesson here is that when a person puts his effort forth and they have desire to achieve, and this is really when it comes to spiritual endeavors and I think good things in life that we want to accomplish for good, that if we have that tremendous desire to do good, and we want to do good, and we want to accomplish, and we want to get closer to God, and we want to do mitzvahs, and we have that burning desire and we put it into action.
[00:11:22] Even though maybe it doesn't seem exactly clear the path of how we're going to get to that point, G D gets us to that finish line. And I think this ties back to this week's Parsha and to this specific podcast. You know, for myself, just for a moment, you know, starting this off, I didn't really picture where this was going to go, and I just did it. I knew I had this desire to spread Torah, and I, God willing, want to continue doing this, but I didn't necessarily see what it would turn into or what it's turning into. God willing, I just went for it. And I think when we have an attitude of just that, we have that desire and we have that passion and we take the step forward to accomplish, we just take that first step.
[00:12:14] Hashem uh, G D will get us to the finish line and help us achieve things that we never could have imagined we could have done beforehand. I think that's the lesson of Pesach, that we just have to have that strong desire and take that first step. And Hashem uh, God will help us achieve things.
[00:12:33] Amazing.
[00:12:34] Second idea I want to share with you today takes us to the clouds of glory, the anane uh, Hakavod, which miraculously protected, gave light, and led the Jewish people in the desert.
[00:12:48] So I just want to go through some of the verses here and help us develop an idea that really we can take out of this for our lives.
[00:12:58] It says in the verses, chapter nine, verse 16, Ken Ye, uh, tamen anon yechesinu mare eish lailah. Thus it was always the cloud covered it, right? And there was a firelight glow at night, referring to the cloud over the tabernacle.
[00:13:26] And only when the cloud rose from the tent did the children of Israel journey forth. And at the place where the cloud settled, there did the children of Israel camp.
[00:13:34] Alpi Hashem Yisro B' Nei Yisrov Alpi Hashem Yachanu Koyem Yashir Yishkananon Alhamishkon Yachanu. At the behest of God did the children of Israel journey forth? And at the behest of God did they camp? As long as the cloud rested upon the dwelling place, did they remain in camp, Right? As long as the cloud was dwelling on the tabernacle on the Oamoid, uh, which is a part of the tabernacle, did they encamp, uh.
[00:14:04] Even when the cloud remained over the dwelling place for many days, the children of Israel kept God's charge and did not journey forth. Meaning they only moved when the cloud moved. When the cloud stayed, they stayed.
[00:14:19] Uh, and it happened sometimes that the cloud remained upon the dwelling place only for a few days. At the behest of God did they camp. And at the behest of God did they journey forth. Right? Sometimes the cloud stayed in a place only for a couple days. And the Jewish people listen, uh, um, it also happens sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning, and the cloud rose in the morning and they journey forth. Or it remained for a day and a night and then the cloud, and then they journeyed forth. Right? Same idea. Sometimes it was even as short as a day.
[00:14:59] And just quickly finishing up these last two verses, it says, oyomim chodesh, oyom yomayim bahairachanan alamishkan leshakayin Allahso yisro. Or remain for two days, right? Or a month or a year. When the cloud remained over the dwelling place for a long time and rested upon it, the children of Israel remained encamped and did not journey forth when it rose, they journeyed forth. And finally, the last verse here, uh, regarding this topic. Ah, es mishmaris hashem shamaru alpi, uh, hashem biyad Moshe, at the behest of God did they camp. And at the behest of God did they journey forth. They kept God's charge at God's behest through Moshe. So I just, I know this is a lot of verses here, but I really wanted to bring out this idea in such a very clear way. The Rabbi Hirsch, he brings down these verses as a very fundamental idea that we see here regarding the Jews travels in the desert based on the direction of the cloud of this, you know, the clouds of glory, which was God was directing the cloud. But we see very clearly from the verses that the Jewish people totally aligned themselves to whatever they did. They just followed the commandment of God. Whatever the cloud went, it moved. It sometimes stayed for a short time. They stayed for a short time. Sometimes they didn't, uh, know how long they're going to stay for. And even to make this idea a little stronger, the build up over here is that we know when the Jewish people came out of Egypt, the, the journey, right? The journey from Egypt to the land of Israel was only supposed to be a three day journey. It only takes three days to get there, Right. Ultimately, we're going to see next week's and next week's Torah portion that the Jews was decreed upon them to stay 40 years in the desert. But before they sinned, it was supposed to be, you know, was supposed to be a short trip. They're supposed to be in there after, um, after getting the Torah.
[00:16:53] And the trip was a short trip. It could have taken three days. But we see they're moving around from place to place, staying, going, staying, going. And they see they're not too far from the land of Israel. They see what's going on. They see they're right there. They're so close to being in the land of Israel, but yet they see they're going forward, they're going backwards. They're staying for a month, they're staying for a day. And sometimes they're staying a short time in a place that is very hospitable for camping and for having an encampment. And other times they're staying in a place for a long time, which seems very unhospitable and not good for an encampment.
[00:17:29] And I think the idea here is that we see that the Jewish nation. That from this. The Jewish nation, they totally devoted themselves and totally relied on on the direction that they got from God, right? Which was through this cloud, the clouds of glory. So what am I trying to bring out from this? What is the practical lesson that we see from this week's parsha regarding the divine? The clouds of glory?
[00:17:58] And that comes down to alpi, uh, hashem yahanu va alpi hashem yisu.
[00:18:04] That the Jewish nation, everything, they encamped at God's behest, and they traveled at God's behest.
[00:18:11] And the idea is that many times we go through life and we wonder, why are we in this situation?
[00:18:20] The finish line is so close.
[00:18:23] Why am I here? I can't figure this out.
[00:18:26] And other times we're like, wow, things are going great, but why is God making me change the situation?
[00:18:32] So sometimes it's, why is G D keeping me in this challenging spot? And other times it's, why is G D taking me out of this thing where, uh, it's so good for me, right? We can't figure it out. We're not sure what's going on, but we have to realize that it's alpi hashem yahanu vaal piashem yiso.
[00:18:50] We're following.
[00:18:52] The happiness that we should get is realizing that we're following the commands from God that ultimately we're not gonna understand every single movement we have. We're not in control of the movements that we have. We do our part, but ultimately Hashem has a plan, and he has a mission that he wants to be fulfilled. And we're part of that mission and plan. And we have certain things that we need to do. But ultimately we have to realize that we're part of this bigger plan that God. And he's gonna put us where he wants us to put us. And, and we're going to go through what he decides for us to go through. And ultimately the happiness we receive should be the realization that we're doing God's will, that whatever situation we find ourselves in, it's alpi hashem yachanuva alpi hashem yi. So that it's, uh, at the behest of God that we're in this moment. And it's going to be the behest of God that we get through to this, to the next moment. And we have to realize that in any place we are in our lives, in any moment, in any situation, we, with any people, we find ourselves, it's not by accident. It's supposed to be like that. And there's a reason and there's a plan. And a lot of times in our own lives we realize and recognize after the fact why we had to go through what we've gone through. You know, when we're in the moment, it's very challenging. But if you speak to most people, and I'm not saying it's every situation, some situations we're never going to fully understand until we come upstairs after 120. But if you speak to a lot of people who've gone through challenging situations, and I can say this for myself included, and I bet there's many listeners who would agree with this statement, that when we go through a hard situation, when we come out of it, we realize the benefits we've gained from going through that moment. And it's sort of. We can see the logic, you know, in our limited mind, we could sometimes see why it was necessary for us to go through certain encampments and travels in our lives, even though it might have been not pleasant. And sometimes how the pleasant things maybe weren't the best thing for us. And I think this is the, uh, power, this powerful idea we see in this week's Parasha.
[00:21:01] Uh, uh, Rabbi Hirsch also brings down from these verses that we see very clearly from the fact that the emphasis in the pasuk is placed on the waiting. We see how Hashem, how God was training his nation to have a certain sense of patience, a certain sense of endurance that would help us throughout the centuries, the almost 2,000 years of Gallus, of exile that We've endured since being sent out of the land of Israel, since being exiled from the Beis Hamikdash, the temple being destroyed, that because of our exercises in patience that we went through as a people in the desert of being totally reliant on Hashem, we're able to withstand and to recognize that, you know, that we truly believe in God, and that we're able to continue to have that belief and to know that Hashem is there, he's taking care of us, and he will ultimately bring us to the third redemption. I think this idea goes together really, because when a person has trust in Hashem, when he realizes that his movements, you know, that he's in the hands of God, right? And he realizes that the, uh, you know, the encampments that he has in his lives, the situations are really, you know, he's just sort of part of this puppet show, really, and that God is the one pulling the strings, and he has that realization. So then a person is gonna have that patience. A person is going to not overreact. When a situation tends to be tougher, tends to be more strenuous, seems to be not working out the way that he or she thought it would work out because he knows it's not in his control. Hashem, uh, is the one pulling the strings, and that's that. So the idea here is this. I think this is such an important idea for us to internalize into our lives. It's not something which is so easy, but it's something we can do, and it's something we need to do in order to be the best we can be. So with that, I'm going to finish for today's podcast. I, uh, hope you enjoyed. If you have any questions, comments, would like to reach out, feel free to send me email at Rabbi Shlomo konkohnmail.com have a great day.
