Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello, my friends, and welcome back to this week's episode of the Practical Parasha Podcast. This is Rabbi Shlomo Cohen, and I hope you are well for this week. I want to start off by wishing you everybody, all the listeners, a ah Gemara Hasima Tovah that you should be sealed for a new year for everything good, a good sealing. I hope you had an enjoyable Rosh Hashanah, a meaningful Rosh Hashanah, an uplifting Rosh Hashanah. And now we're in the 10 days of repentance, the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah.
[00:00:32] And actually, in fact, the sages bring down that during the week which is between Rosh Hashanayom, um Kippur, right after Rosh Hashanah and then till Yom Kippur, there's seven days, right? There's 10 days total, including Roshana and Yom Kippur. But in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is seven days.
[00:00:57] And obviously during this time, right, we have the righteous were already sealed for a good year on Rosh Hashanah. The wicked were sealed for not a good year, and there's everybody else in the middle. And also, additionally, whatever decrees that were set on Rosh Hashanah, it's much easier to have them erased to be rewritten for good, God willing, during these days until the gates closed by Neilah on Yom Kippur. So the commentaries tell us, the sages tell us that during these seven days in between Roshan, Yom Kippur, we have the ability to rectify all the different days of the week.
[00:01:41] So today is Thursday.
[00:01:43] So today, if we're able to go through this day in a proper way, to do it in the best way possible, we're able to rectify all the Thursdays of the past year and so on and so forth for every day of the week until we get to Yom Kippur. So these 10 days are very special.
[00:02:04] Thinking about that, that Rosh Hashanah was Wednesday and Thursday.
[00:02:11] It's very intense days, good, intense.
[00:02:15] And was thinking, should I do the podcast? Should I skip the podcast?
[00:02:21] And this thought that I'm sharing with you right now came to my mind that if I want to rectify all the Thursdays in the year, that maybe I didn't do it the way I was supposed to do it. Maybe there were things I missed on a given Thursday.
[00:02:37] I wanted the ability to make that up now, to do my best. And I thought a big part of that is putting this podcast out on A weekly basis. And if there was ever a time to do the podcast, it's now during the ten days of Repentance, the, uh, Aserasimete Teshuva. Um, we all are looking for extra merits, me included.
[00:03:02] And I hope this should be a merit for, for me, a merit for you and for all the Jewish people.
[00:03:09] And before we begin, as always, if you have any questions, comments, would like to reach out, feel free to send me an email at Rabbi Shlomokon kohnmail.com I'd love to hear from you.
[00:03:24] This week's Parsha is Parshas Vayelech after Moshe Rabbeinu. And last week's Parsha seals this covenant. On the last day of his life with the Jewish people, he takes leave of his nation that now the mantle of leadership was given over to Joshua, to Yeshua. He's going to be the one to lead the Jewish people into the land of Israel.
[00:03:48] And Moshe's time has come to pass on and he goes around to all the 12 tribes and he takes leave of them.
[00:03:57] He reassures the Jewish nation that they will be able to conquer the land and instills in Joshua, his successor, the confidence and in front of the nation to show that he is the leader now to take them into the land of Israel.
[00:04:15] Additionally, this week's Parasha has the Mitzvah of Hakel, where when the Jewish people will enter into the land of Israel, once every seven years after or on the holiday of Sukkos, the Jewish king will read portions of the Torah to the entire Jewish nation.
[00:04:35] Additionally, from the verse in this week's Parasha, we learn that there is a Mitzvah upon every Jew to write a safer Torah, to write a Torah scroll.
[00:04:44] Finally, the Parasha concludes with Hashem commanding Moshe Rabbeinu to write a Sefer Torah to write a Torah scroll. And Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu to write down this special song which calls upon the earth as witness to the special oath between the Jewish nation and Hashem. Uh, and G D. And that's going to be written in next week's Parsha, Parshas Hazinu, the special song which calls upon the earth to bear witness to the to the covenant the Jewish people has made to Hashem.
[00:05:19] Now, the first idea I want to share with you today takes us to the beginning of the Parasha. The first verses read as Vayelech moishe vayedaber Esadvara mael o kol Yisrael. Moshe went and spoke these words to all of Israel vayom er alem ben meya ve esrim shana anochi hayom m loi uhal oyd lots.
[00:05:48] He said to them, to the Jewish people, I am 120 years old today.
[00:05:53] I can no longer go out and come in. For Hashem has said to me, you shall not cross this Jordan.
[00:06:01] Now in this verse, Moshe is telling the Jewish nation, I'm no longer able to lead you.
[00:06:09] And if you look at the commentary, Rashi explains on this verse that number one is Moshe Rabbeinu is exactly 120 years old.
[00:06:20] Additionally, the verse tells us, I am no longer able to go out and in with you.
[00:06:29] So if you look at that verse, the plain understanding, it could seem to mean that Moshe Rabbeinu was old. He was 120 years old, right? He's not able to physically lead the nation anymore. He has to hand over the mantle of leadership to the next generation.
[00:06:44] So Rashi tells us that's not the case.
[00:06:48] Yochol shetoshash kocho. You would think, maybe we would think that Moshe Rabbeinu's strength ebbed. He became weak.
[00:06:58] Ta' aloymar loykeosa, uh, einav loy nas leicha, right? The verse tells us later on that Moshe Rabbeinu, even on the day that he died at 120 years old, he still was just as vibrant as he was when he took leadership of the Jewish nation.
[00:07:17] What does it mean that he's not able to take. To go in and go out? He's not able to lead them anymore? What does this verse mean that he's not able to go out and come in?
[00:07:30] It means.
[00:07:32] It means he didn't have permission anymore to do that. He didn't have permission to lead the Jewish nation because it was taken away from me, the permission to lead the Jewish nation from me, and given to Joshua.
[00:07:50] Now, there's a very interesting understanding over here if you think about the leadership of the Jewish nation.
[00:07:57] And what is the epitome of that?
[00:08:00] What did it mean to be the leader of the Jewish people?
[00:08:05] And sure, being a leader means guiding the Jewish nation, deciding where they're going to go, right? Taking the cue from God of what to do next.
[00:08:17] But the top, the epitome of being the leader of the Jewish people for Moshe Rabbeinu and for any really Jewish leader, was being the transmitter of the Torah to the Jewish people, to teach Torah to the Jewish nation, to expound upon the Torah and give it over to the elders and to the people.
[00:08:41] That was the highest calling of Moshe Rabbeinu.
[00:08:46] And now, as his life is coming to an end, Moshe Rabbeinu has reached his spiritual potential. And the only thing left for him to accomplish were the mitzvos that had to do with the land, the mitzvahs that are specifically tied to the land of Israel. And Moshe Rabbeinu, because he sinned, because M. Hashem had decided that he could not enter the land, he would not be the leader chosen to take the Jewish people into the land of Israel. Rather, it would be Yeshua. And therefore, the mantle of spiritual leadership, of this teaching, of learning, of giving over, of transmitting the Torah, was given over to Joshua.
[00:09:32] So it came out that Moshe Rabbeenu, even though he was strong and he was vibrant, but he lost that ability to grow spiritually.
[00:09:44] He wasn't able to become anything greater than he was now.
[00:09:49] So for Moshe Rabbeinu, once he'd reached his spiritual zenith, the pinnacle of spirituality that he could become, at this point, he could go no more.
[00:10:01] Because life for him was only worth living if he could grow, uh, if he could give over Torah, if he could grow spiritually, if he can give over, if he could teach. And now he didn't have permission to do that.
[00:10:18] So his life was completed, his mission was done for Moshe Rabbeinu, for Moses, he could not go into the land of Israel to get that next level of Mitzvos observance, to develop more spiritually.
[00:10:32] He would not be able to do that. And therefore he was capped spiritually. And he accepted the decree of his death. Because for Moshe Rabbeinu, life without spiritual growth was not worth living. Rabbi Twersky brings down a beautiful.
[00:10:47] We know that Moshe Rabbeinu, and really any prophet for that matter, had to serve Hashem to serve God with joy. And in fact, we know that the curses can befall us as a nation because we don't serve Hashem with joy. Tachas hashelei avadati as hashem lokeha b' simcha vetuv levav.
[00:11:12] It says in the verse in the curses that because we didn't serve G D out of happiness and joy, that's why these curses come upon us.
[00:11:23] So we see that having joy is an essential component in serving Hashem.
[00:11:30] And in fact, he brings down from Hirsch that the word sameach, which means happy in Hebrew, is connected to the word in Hebrew, which means grow.
[00:11:44] And there's a connection here that true happiness in life is from spiritual growth. Sometimes we go through challenging situations and it hurts.
[00:11:58] But the experiences that we gain from those challenges, it's worth more to us than anything else. And the classic example, which I've said many times, is the hermit crab, that because it gets squashed in its shell, has to go out into the dangerous seafloor to find a new shell. But if it would never have felt that initial discomfort, it never would have gotten bigger and stronger.
[00:12:24] I think this is a very important idea we see from this week's Parsha from Moshe Rabbeinu. Out of all the creatures in the world, out of all them, the only one that seeks purpose is human beings.
[00:12:41] It's what defines us.
[00:12:43] It's one of the things that make us different. We're the only creature that needs to find a purpose.
[00:12:49] Every other animal just lives their monotonous lives and is happy with it. Us as human beings, we need fulfillment.
[00:12:59] And, uh, as a Jew, we have to know that true fulfillment and life is this. The fulfillment of. Of a Jew's life is a life that's filled with spiritual growth, that's filled with learning Torah, that's filled with doing mitzvahs.
[00:13:19] Otherwise, what's life worth living?
[00:13:23] And I think just to take this one step further is that, you know, you might think of this idea, this task, as an arduous task. It's not easy.
[00:13:35] It could seem like a huge mountain to climb. But we have to know that true happiness is only found through growth, and specifically spiritual growth, because that's something which is forever. It's something which is everlasting.
[00:13:56] I think this is a very important idea we see from this week's Parasha from Moshe Rabbeinu. He saw, um, that he reached his potential. He wasn't allowed to go anymore. So for him, he accepted that this stage was done, and now it was time for him to go to the next stage, to accept death and to give over the leadership. Because for him, for Moshe Rabbeinu, life without growth was not worth it. And I think the message for us is that we need to look at life as an opportunity. Every moment. We have to grow, to become better, to get closer to Hashem, to do more mitzvahs, to increase our Torah learning. That's what we're here for. And as Rab Nachman of Breslav famously said, as long as the candle is lit, we're able to repair, we're able to do. And for us who are not on the level of Moshe Rabbeinu, where Hashem is telling us we can't do anymore, we've reached our potential. We're not there. We're not at the level.
[00:14:53] We have to know that as long as we are living, as long as we are on this earth, we're able to become better, we're able to grow.
[00:15:03] Because Hashem decides for us when it's our time, when we fulfilled our potential. And we have to utilize every moment that we have in the direction of serving Hashem better, of getting closer to him and becoming a better human being.
[00:15:20] The second idea I want to share with you today takes us to the portion of the Torah where Hashem comes to Moshe Rabbeinu and tells him to write this song, this special song, which will be in next week's Parsha, Parshas hazinu. But in this prophecy, Hashem tells to Moshe Rabbeinu how the Jewish people are going to sin, and he will conceal himself from them.
[00:15:47] And at the same time, Hashem will never forget the Jewish people. He will never leave them, and eventually they will come back to him.
[00:15:58] Now, the verses are interesting. It reads as Vichara API vo bayemahu vazav tim v' histarti panay meyem vahoya leechel umatzo ros rabos vitzaros vaom v' omar bayemahu haloi al ki en elo kai bikir bi matzuuni haroz hayla.
[00:16:19] My anger will flare against it on that day, and I will forsake them, and I will conceal my face from them, and they will become prey. And many evils and distresses will encounter.
[00:16:29] Will say on that day, is it not because my God is not in my midst that these evils have come upon me?
[00:16:37] Right. Hashem is prophesizing to Moshe Rabbeinu, and he's saying that the bad things that will happen to the Jewish nation, the Jewish people will come to a point where they'll say it's because Hashem is not in their midst that all these bad things are happening.
[00:16:55] And they have that recognition. But then the next verse is even more interesting. Vaanoki haster aster ponay mahu al kolaro asher asa uh kipan fanah ah el Elokim acherem.
[00:17:09] Right? It says in the next verse, but I will surely have concealed my face on that day because of all the evil that it did, for it had turned to gods of others. And the next verse reads that Hashem is going to conceal himself from the Jewish nation because of their sins.
[00:17:26] The question that's raised on these verses is that if the Jewish people have A recognition that the bad things are coming upon them because Hashem uh is in their midst.
[00:17:43] Why is it that the next verse seems to be even a harsher punishment than before? Right. Verse 17 said that all these bad things will happen, and then the Jewish people will come to a recognition because Hashem uh is not among us, that all these evils have found us. And then the next verse, verse 18, yudhes, it says that Hashem will conceal himself even more to us. Right. You would think it shouldn't be even more severe. It should be better that the Jewish people came to a point, they came to a recognition, and now they're ready to do teshuvah. They're ready to return.
[00:18:20] What's going on over here?
[00:18:22] So there's a famous svasemis that's brought down that the sin over here that we're referring to that causes this even more severe sin of concealment is the sin of giving up hope, of being miyayesh, of giving up.
[00:18:45] And what does the verse say? That these bad things happen to the Jewish nation.
[00:18:50] And they're gonna say, hashem is not with us anymore. He forgot about us. He's forsaken us.
[00:18:58] He doesn't care about us.
[00:19:01] Because of that.
[00:19:02] Because of that sin of giving up hope, Hashem uh says, I'm going to conceal myself from you.
[00:19:09] So in essence, the recognition that they have is the wrong recognition.
[00:19:17] They have a recognition. They're thinking, mistakenly, that Hashem does not care about them anymore, that he doesn't desire to be close to them.
[00:19:25] That in itself is a sin.
[00:19:29] The sin of giving up hope. The sin of giving up. I remember when I was in high school, you know, like every good high schooler, we had good stories as kids, but I forgot one time, my class, we were supposed to go on a special trip to Washington, D.C.
[00:19:45] i don't remember exactly what happened, but we did something without permission. It wasn't like the maybe. I, uh, don't know if it was the worst thing.
[00:19:56] I don't know exactly what it was. I don't remember offhand, but I remember the rabbi coming in and said, you're not going to Washington anymore.
[00:20:03] And it was like, almost as like, we're giving up on you guys.
[00:20:07] That was like the worst punishment out of everything. It was worse than losing our trip to Washington. It was us saying, like, it was already at the end of the year, and the school saying, you know, we gave up.
[00:20:20] That was even worse. That felt even worse.
[00:20:24] And I think the idea here is that we have to know we can never give up.
[00:20:29] And I think this idea is especially important now, coming into Yom Kippur, which is going to be, God willing, coming upon us Wednesday night, Thursday, day of forgiveness.
[00:20:40] That Yom Kippur, it's brought down that Yom Kippur itself. Just the day of going through a Yom Kippur in of itself atones.
[00:20:50] Just experiencing it atones. It affects teshuvah. It affects the returning process. Now, obviously, the more a person invests into it, right? The more we reflect on our actions, the more that we look at where we can improve between our relationship between us and Hashem and us and man, it has even a bigger effect. We could even get to a level where our sins could turn into merits for ourselves if we return out of love to Hashem. That's the highest level of teshuvah, the highest level of returning.
[00:21:21] But either way, we have to remember that no matter how far we've fallen and. And no matter where we are, we can always turn back to Hashem. And Hashem is always with us. He never gives up on us.
[00:21:37] Hashem uh never gives up on us. And I once heard a powerful story that if Hashem uh never gives up on us, so we should never give up on ourselves.
[00:21:49] It's a very powerful thought.
[00:21:51] God will never, ever give up on a person, ever.
[00:21:56] We always have that ability to turn things around, Even if we're going through challenging situations, hard times. It seems so dark, it seems so confusing. We can never give up hope. We never have the right to do that. We can't. We're not allowed to. We have this covenant. We have to know that Hashem uh is with us, and he's even with us even more at those times when we're going through the challenges. He's always with us. He shares our pain.
[00:22:25] And we have to know that, because if Hashem doesn't give up on us, we surely can't give up on ourselves. And I think this is a very powerful thought for us to have going into the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, where the focus is about doing Teshuvah. It's about returning. And I think if we could think over these next couple of days, going into Yom um Kippur, about where we could improve ourselves just a little bit, to become a little better with our relationship between us and Hashem, to become a little better between our relationship between us and other people. Where can we, uh, improve a little bit?
[00:23:05] Think about it. We all have areas that we can work on.
[00:23:08] Surely when we have that attitude that we're trying to fix things up.
[00:23:15] Hashem will see that we recognize that he's with us. We recognize that he's not given up on us, and he's going to help us, God willing, that it'll be a merit for us to have a gemarchasimatov to be sealed for a good year.
[00:23:30] So with that, I'm going to finish for today's podcast, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out at Rabbi Shlomo konkohnmail.com have a great day.
