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.
[00:00:08] I apologize about last week, it's the summertime. But thank God we came back from camp. We're home from West Virginia.
[00:00:17] Looking forward to getting into an amazing podcasting schedule, sharing beautiful Torah ideas together.
[00:00:24] And before we begin, as always, if you have any questions, comments, would like to say hello.
[00:00:30] Don't be shy, send me an email at Rabbi Shlomokon kohnmail.com I'd love to hear from you. Before we begin this week's episode, I just want to talk for a moment about Tisha B'Av the 9th of AV. Uh, now this week's episode is going to be released either Monday night or Tuesday morning.
[00:00:50] Not my usual Wednesday night or Thursday night, maybe sometimes Friday morning.
[00:00:56] I've been pretty good. But the reason for that is because this week on Wednesday night and Thursday is Tisha Bav the 9 of AV. Um and Tisha Bav the 9 of AV commemorates the destruction of both of the temples. The two temples were destroyed a few thousand years from each other on the same day.
[00:01:21] And actually other tragedies as well have befallen the Jewish people on the 9th of AV. Uh, the first one, the Sin of the Spies, where Moshe Rabbeinu sends the spies into the land of Israel and they give these slanderous reports. They come back, they give a bad report in the land of Israel, and the Jewish people cried in Vain. That was the 9th of AV. And G D decreed that since we cried on that night, this night would be a night of crying for us.
[00:01:52] Now, Tisha Bav the 9th of AV the destruction of the temple is not just. It's not just commemorating the destruction of Beis Hamikdash, which was the first temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, the second temple was destroyed by the Romans. It's not just commemorating that which is a something in its own right, but really it's a national temple. It's a day of commemoration for all Jewish tragedies that have ever really befallen Jewish people. And I've talked about this before in other episodes, but really, if you drill down to it, the fact that we don't have the Beis Hamikdash today, that we don't have the temple, is really the cause of all our problems. The fact that we don't have a Shechina, that we don't have the Divine Presence giving us that clarity of mission, clarity of purpose, Helping us reach our potentials.
[00:02:45] You know, those two things in of itself is tremendous tragedy and really the source of all tragedies. But one thing I wanted to talk about today is I heard a beautiful thought on Shabbos shared by Rabbi Dan.
[00:02:59] And this Rabbi Dan explained, uh, just a very, very beautiful and positive outlook on these days. And specifically Tisha Bav, the ninth of Av. So really Tisha BAV is not just, it's not just one day. And that's it. The whole, um, experience of this time of year is really a build up. And it starts from three weeks ago, the beginning of the three weeks, which is the 17th of Tammuz, all the way through the 9th of Av. It's three weeks.
[00:03:29] It starts with a fast day and finishes with a fast day. But it's really a build up where the progression of mourning increases as we get closer to Tisha B'Av.
[00:03:40] And it's really an experience. The sages knew what they were doing when they set up this system. They wanted us to feel the loss in ways that we can relate to.
[00:03:52] And as we get closer to the day of Tisha B'Av, you feel it more and more. So right now we're in the middle of the nine days. So from the beginning of Rosh Chodesh Av, from the first of Av till the ninth of Av, the restrictions are even more strict.
[00:04:05] And on, um, the week of Tisha B', Av, which is now, it's even more severe. And then it becomes on Tisha B' Av and you start feeling it and you start thinking about it and it's not the most pleasant experience. A person. You're not supposed to take these enjoyable showers now during the nine days only for necessity, if you can't function and you're not supposed to have meat or wine, there's certain level of things maybe you feel lacking a little bit. And that's the point of these restrictions, to make us feel that we are lacking because we are lacking. Now. One beautiful idea that this Rabbi Dan explained is that when we think of the three weeks and we think of these days of mourning, that's what it is, right? A certain sense of mourning. We're supposed to remember and contemplate our loss.
[00:04:52] What's the right perspective? So on one side it could be very sad and almost, I don't want to say the word even maybe a little depressing even, you know, listen to music.
[00:05:04] It says in Shulchan Arach in the code of Jewish law that we're mamatim b'. Simcha. We Decrease our joy in the month of Av.
[00:05:12] So, you know, on one end, it seems like a little bit more sad, a sad time, a serious time.
[00:05:20] Now, there's always in the Torah and Judaism, there's always a positive view on everything.
[00:05:27] And he explained he saw brought down, and I forgot where he said it over from, but he said there's one way for us to understand this in a very positive and uplifting way.
[00:05:41] He said there was a muscle that was brought down, a parable that could help us understand these days and maybe help us appreciate it and tap into it and maybe even. Even recognize the beauty of the situation we're in and the opportunity we have when it comes to our relationship with Hashem.
[00:05:58] So he said the following parable.
[00:06:01] There was once a king who wanted to get married. And he goes out throughout his kingdom to find a proper match.
[00:06:09] And lo and behold, he meets a girl who comes from a very, you know, very basic background. Not noblety, not royalty, not anything special, maybe from a poor background, but he likes her, she likes him. Finally, he's met somebody who's a proper match for him. After meeting all these princesses, he finally has, you know, come across someone who he's connected with. And she likes him, and they decide to get married. They get married, and fine. Now one day, when he's actually married, he thinks to himself, maybe this woman, she came from a poor background, that she didn't have any money.
[00:06:53] Maybe she really, really doesn't like me.
[00:06:57] And she's only doing this because I'm, um, the king. You marry the king, you're set for life. Nothing to worry about.
[00:07:05] No financial issues, no issues of anyone trying to get you.
[00:07:11] You're married to the king.
[00:07:12] And he starts thinking about this. Maybe she really married me for the wrong reasons. So he decides to make a test.
[00:07:20] He decides that he's gonna throw her out of the castle and see her reaction if she still wants to, you know, wants the king and still, you know, is sad about it and is upset about it and wants that relationship back. So then the king knows that she really loves him for who he is and not because of what he is, not the position that he's in. But if she doesn't care and she just goes on to her married life, so then he'll know if this is all a show.
[00:07:54] And so the king does that, and he sees that she really, really is upset and distraught, and she wants to have a relationship with him, and she.
[00:08:03] She wants to be his wife. And he discovers from this experience that she really loves him for who he truly is and not for the fact that he's the king.
[00:08:14] So you take that mushle, that mushle over here to our present day situation.
[00:08:19] The Jewish people, they were in the land of Israel.
[00:08:22] Everything was going good for them.
[00:08:24] They had the Beis Hamikdash at the temple, they had the Cohen Gadol, the high priest, they had a king.
[00:08:31] It was amazing.
[00:08:32] And they're living in the land of Israel and they're on top of the world.
[00:08:38] And so to say it's easy, you know, there's an expression, it's always easy to be on the winning team.
[00:08:44] They call those types of fans, fairweather fans, bandwagon jumping on the bandwagon.
[00:08:52] So Hashem, he sees the Jewish people were in the land of Israel and he says, you know, I want to know if the Jewish people really love me and not just because they have Eretz Yisrael and not because they have the Beis Hamikdash and not because they're on top of the world.
[00:09:10] So I need to send them out through all the corners of the earth to see that, uh, despite the challenges that they're going to face, are they going to cling to me? Are they going to daven to me? Are they still going to do the mitzvahs? Are they still going to learn Torah?
[00:09:27] And that's maybe one way of looking at this situation that we're in that the gullus were in now. Sure, the Jewish people deserved, um, to be the base of English, to be destroyed and to be kicked out of the Holy Land, but there's always a positive view to every situation.
[00:09:44] And now is our opportunity during this time when we're not with the Beis Hamikdash right now and we don't have Eretz Yisrael in the way that we're supposed to have it. We don't have the land of Israel the way that we're supposed to.
[00:09:58] Now is our time to show Hashem that we're with him no matter what, through thick or thin. We're not fear Weather fans. We're not bandwagon fans. We are for Hashem. We love Hashem. We want to do the mitzvahs. We want to keep the Torah no matter what. That's something we need to remember when it comes to these days of Avelos. Sure, there is a serious, and maybe, I don't want to say the word depressing, it's more of a sad, you know, feeling to it, but it's also a feeling of inspiration And a feeling to know that we are with the winning team no matter what. No matter if the winning team is not in the best place right now, we're going to stay. We're going to stick to the team. We're going to stick with Hashem no matter what. And that's a beautiful idea we see during these times, and especially when it comes to Tisha B'Av. Just to give a quick overview on the book of Devarim and this week's Parsha, the book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Torah is really a sort of a review and an inspiration. This message of hope, inspiration and a review of the entire Torah along with new Mitzvos that Hashem gives to the Jewish people. It's Moshe Rabbeinu. Moses is reviewing the Torah now before they're about to cross into the land of Israel. And the whole book of Devarim, the whole fifth book takes place a few weeks before Moshe Rabbeinu's passing. And Ves Channon continues this idea that we're going to talk about in the next couple of weeks where, uh, it's a mixture of a message to the Jewish people of where they've gone wrong and where they need to correct themselves, reaffirming their commitment to Hashem and the Torah. Blessings from Moshe Rabbeinu. You know, different Mitzos that Hashem is commanding the Jewish people and a reminder of the pitfalls that can happen to the nation when they enter into the land of Israel. The first idea I want to share with you today takes us to the beginning of the Parsha where it says, I implored Hashem at that time, saying my, uh. And the Parsha continues that how Moshe Abinuke davened to be let into the land of Israel.
[00:12:11] And Hashem says to Moshe, God says to Moshe, he's not going to let him in.
[00:12:17] Now the commentaries explain, if you look at the word ve', eshanon, it's 515.
[00:12:25] It equals in Gematria, the numerical value of the word ve' eshkhanon equals 515.
[00:12:31] And the comment there is explained that 5:15 corresponds to the number of prayers that Moshe Rabbeinu said. To enter into the land of Israel means that before this week's Parsha, Moshe Rabbeinu knew that he would not enter into the land of Israel because he hit the rock, he did not obey God's command. And according to his level, because he didn't listen on, um, the great level that he was in, the punishment was he could not enter the land.
[00:13:02] But yet we see at the same time, Moshe Rabbeinu did not give up.
[00:13:08] He continued to pray to Hashem. And actually, in fact, he prayed so many times that God in this week's Parasha had to tell him stop. He had to tell him to stop davening, meaning if he would have continued, God would have had to allow him to enter. And he did not want that to happen. So God told him to stop.
[00:13:25] But the point is, is we see something great. G D tells Moshe Rabbeinu can't enter into the land. And Moshe, what does Moshe Rabbeinu do? He goes back and Davin's please let me into the land. Please let me into the land. Please let me into the land.
[00:13:37] 515 times, can you imagine for a moment, you go to ask your boss for a raise, he says no, and you go back a second time. Okay, third time, 515 times, you go back to ask your boss for a raise.
[00:13:53] Or 515 times, you go back to ask, you know, a kid asks his parent for the lollipop.
[00:14:00] That is determination, that is grit, that is perseverance.
[00:14:04] And we see a tremendous lesson here from Moshe Rabbeinu when it comes to success, especially in spiritual matters.
[00:14:14] And I think it's not just in spiritual matters. It's really in everything in life.
[00:14:19] If we want to see success in the spiritual matters that we do to grow spiritually, and not just that, just to be.
[00:14:28] To have success in really all areas of our life, the key is being persistent. Someone mentioned something to me today and really reminded me of this idea, said, oh, Shlomo, you're the one who gets, uh, things done. And you're the one who. The people respond to that. When you ask for something, they listen to you, the higher ups. And I said, I don't think that's true.
[00:14:52] They don't listen to me any more than they listen to you. I'm just persistent. And like, really? And I said, yeah, because it's just being persistent. And obviously success is not in our hands. But when we're persistent, that's the best chance, you know, God willing for us to succeed now, especially when it comes to spiritual endeavors, which is way more important than other things, that if we're persistent in our goals, we want something so badly and we're willing to give up anything for it. We're persistent. We keep pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing. We'll get there, God willing. The Mishnah tells us, if a person tells you, yogati veloi matzosi altamin. If a person says he worked but he did not find, you do not believe him, but he says, yogati matzasi tamin. If a person says he worked and he found, meaning to say is he worked and he found success, whatever it may be, then you believe him. But if a person says he worked and didn't find success, you don't believe him. Interesting. That's the Mishnah tells us. And I think we see this idea right here. When it comes to persistence, 515 times, Moshe Rabbeinu asks, till God is to say no and stop. But we see if we want something, we need to be persistent. We can't just give up after a day, after a week, after a month, after a year.
[00:16:09] Sometimes it means even our whole life to focus on the mission of the things we need to do and to not give up. That is what we see from this week's parsha. The second idea in the SHI radio takes us a little bit further into the parsha. So Moshe Rabbeinu is giving this speech, this magnificent speech to the Jewish people.
[00:16:28] And he tells them, va' atem hatvekim b' hashem elokehem chaim kochem hayom.
[00:16:37] He's telling the Jewish people to listen to the decrees of Hashem and to observe the commandments. And he says, but you who cling to Hashem, your g d, you are all alive today. And on a simple understanding, Moshe Rabbeinu, Moses is telling the Jewish nation that despite all the challenges that they have had till this point, they're still here today. They're still standing. They're here. They're here right now, and they have gotten to this point.
[00:17:03] So, number one, I think this is a lesson for us on, you know, we worry about the future.
[00:17:09] We worry about tomorrow.
[00:17:12] We have to think, did we get here to this point? Okay? Did God take care of us until this point in time? And the answer is yes, we are here. Despite the challenges we may have had. And maybe we are not done yet. Fine. But have things worked out?
[00:17:30] For the most part, and probably more than the most part, so many good things have happened to us. We're here. We're alive.
[00:17:37] A lot of positive things have happened in our life. So many millions, billions. We're here.
[00:17:44] On a deeper level, Rabbi Twersky brings down that this is a tremendous insight on how we are to be that persistent person and how we are to accomplish.
[00:17:55] Because what is Moshe Rabbeinu telling them? He's adding in one important word here.
[00:18:00] He says, Va' atem hadvakim baashem elokeem chaim kochem hayom.
[00:18:08] You who cleave unto your God, you are all alive today.
[00:18:13] And Robert Twersky, actually, who in his career, he counseled people with drug addiction and people with alcoholism.
[00:18:23] He says that one of the fundamentals of aa, of Alcoholics Anonymous, is taking things day by day.
[00:18:33] Meaning if a person who has a drinking problem and he's trying to recover, he looks at the rest of his life and says, I'm never gonna take a drink again.
[00:18:45] It's too much to handle. It's.
[00:18:47] The mind can't comprehend such a thing, and it's ultimately going to lead him to failure.
[00:18:53] But what AA does is it breaks down life into day by day.
[00:19:01] Because a person who has some type of. Maybe an addiction or alcoholism, they could think of one day without taking a drink. That's something that people could handle.
[00:19:14] And once they get one day, they get another day. And for people who have been in recovery, they count every day.
[00:19:23] He brings down Robby Twersky, that he knew somebody, one of his friends, who was a recovering alcoholic. And at the end of his life, he counted every day there was 16,000 days, 60 years of days that he was sober.
[00:19:39] And the point is that this, uh, discovery, which was discovered by alcoholics Anonymous maybe 150, 160 years ago, was something which Moshe Rabbeinu, the Jewish people, the Torah Hashem, knew already.
[00:19:56] Because what is Moshe Rabbeinu telling the Jewish nation here? He's telling them, how do we cleave to God? How do we grow, grow in our relationship with Hashem? How do we become the Jew we want to become?
[00:20:10] How do we get to a place where we can observe all the mitzvahs to do everything Hashem says?
[00:20:16] And the answer to that is taking it day by day.
[00:20:22] And it's something we need to focus on. Someone I know, a friend of mine, he says, we overestimate how much we can do in a day and underestimate how much we can do in five years.
[00:20:34] And really, I think this idea could fit here as well.
[00:20:37] Because when we think about a day, a day goes with the next day. It's two days, and then it's a week, and then it's a month. But the point is, we need to look at it as one day at a time. The way we conquer things is in small increments.
[00:20:53] You know, these concepts, these grand New Year's resolutions.
[00:20:58] Most of the time, the percentage on them of failure is tremendous. Because looking at a whole year, a whole time is too much for people to handle. But when we take our life day by day, one day at a time, and we just, we take what we can and we come back, the next day we're back in action, that's success. And success breeds success.
[00:21:20] And that's how we grow in all areas of our life. In our Yiddishkeit, in our Judaism, um, our character development, everything. Taking it day by day.
[00:21:31] Very important thought to remember.
[00:21:34] The last idea I'm going to share with you for this week's episode is from the Shema.
[00:21:39] The first paragraph of Shema is actually in this week's Parsha Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokinu Hashem echod. Hear O Israel. Hashem is our God, Hashem is the one and only. And the Parsha continues with the first paragraph of Yahava, the first verse of that paragraph.
[00:22:00] The first verse of that paragraph is.
[00:22:11] You shall love Hashem ah, your g D with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your resources.
[00:22:18] The simple understanding of this verse is that it's. This is the commandment we see in the Torah, that a person has to be willing to give up his life, his money, everything for Hashem, right? Bechon nafshacha is all your soul, bechol meydecha, with all your resources and you have to love God. It's a commandment to loving Hashem, Love God with all your heart, with all your resources, with all your soul. And it means it's all encompassing obligation.
[00:22:46] Now, if you look at Rashi, Rashi explains when it says the word that you shall love, and there's a lot to digest here, a lot to explain here, how can there be a commandment for someone to love?
[00:23:02] Talked about that on previous episodes, but either way, Rashi explains on the word v', ahafta, it says that a person should do things when it comes to avodas, uh, Hashem, when it comes to serving God, should do it out of love.
[00:23:20] Because it's not similar, it's not comparable one who does something out of love to one who does something out of fear.
[00:23:34] A person who does something out of fear for his master or for someone who's on top of him, If it becomes too much for him or he's not looking, he's going to drop the whole thing.
[00:23:50] That's when someone does something out of fear. But when someone does something out of love, so then even if the Master is not there or it becomes a very stressful situation, you still love that person. So you're going to push through.
[00:24:04] And I think this is a very powerful concept when it comes to our relationship, you know, number one, with our spouses, with our children, and then on the next level, with our family and those around us and even our co workers, if we're in positions of authority, you know, how do you want people to look at you? Do you want people to look at you? Just they fear you.
[00:24:29] Because if that's the case, there's no real relationship there. And where this is so important is in our relationship with our children.
[00:24:39] Children need to fear their parents. It is important. It can't just be a relationship just of love, but it has to be a relationship that's built.
[00:24:48] It has to have that fear aspect, but also has to have love as well. It is natural for a parent to love a child and we know to make a little separation.
[00:24:58] Animals have a, you know, love to their children as well. But the difference is that there's a lot of differences. But one main difference is that Rabbi Twersky explains that the love, the love from a parent to a child has to be earned, meaning the parent has to show the child how much he or she loves, loves them, and it's unconditional. And the more a parent shows that love to their children, the more the children will reciprocate and do anything for the parent because they know that unconditional love is there.
[00:25:33] And really, if you take this to a general view of the Jewish people, we've had a rough couple of thousand years, right? Our history is replete with challenges. Even in this day and age, there, uh, are certain challenges Jewish nation faces.
[00:25:53] But yet we see time and time again that the Jewish people do not forsake Hashem. Um, they always are coming back. And despite the challenges they may face, we always have that love to God. We want to fulfill the Torah, we want to do the mitzvahs. Is that innate desire to overcome any obstacle to serve Hashem. And the reason is because we know how much Hashem, uh, loves us, that unconditional love is there. And because we have that unconditional love from G D, we reciprocate and do forth for him, no matter the situation, no matter the time, no matter the place. So with that, I'm going to finish for today's podcast. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to reach out, feel free to send me an email at Rabbi Shlomokon kohnmail.com have a great day.
