Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello, my friends, and welcome back for this week's episode of the Practical Parsha Podcast. This is Rabbi Shloimocon. I hope you're well. And it's the last parsha of the year, Parsha Hasnitzav and Vayelech.
[00:00:13] Next week, Friday night begins Rosh Hashanah, and it's a double parsha this week, and it's actually interesting. Before I begin this week's episode, I wanted to wish everyone, to wish all of you a Kseva Vechasima Tovah to be written and sealed for a sweet new year.
[00:00:34] Um, and I want to thank you for taking time out of your day to listen to this podcast. I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy it.
[00:00:43] And if you have any questions, uh, or, uh, you'd like to reach out, please introduce yourself. Don't hesitate. I don't bite. I'm very nice. I always love getting feedback. So don't hesitate. Reach out. Even if you have never reached out to someone before, you're not that type to call up a radio show or to send an email or write a letter to the newspaper.
[00:01:05] Send me an email.
[00:01:07] You know, introduce yourself. Please feel free. My email address is Rabbi Shlomo konkohnmail.com. i'd love to hear from you.
[00:01:16] So, as I mentioned, this week's Parshas, Parshas Nitzav and Vayelech.
[00:01:20] And the Talmud tells us that Parshas Nitzavim always comes out before Rosh Hashanah.
[00:01:26] And the reason that's given, it's Shatikh Leshana Vicholoysa, that the year should finish with all its curses. And therefore there's a little bit of a separation from last week's parsha had the admonition and this week's Parsha, which is the last parsha of the year, going to the new year into a fresh new year. And we want to make that little bit of a separation.
[00:01:44] And, and there's different connections that could be made from Parshas ni Tzavim to Rosh Hashanah. And maybe hopefully today we'll try to make a little bit of a connection between the weekly parsha and Rosh Hashanah that is going to become upon us, God willing, just to give a little bit overview of the two parshios. So Parsha Nitzavim, um, is really the beginning of this covenant, another covenant. Now it's the last day of Moshe Rabbeinu's life. The last four parshios of the Torah are the last day that Moshe is on this earth alive. And now Moshe Rabbeinu is going to re enter, reinvigorate the covenant between the Jewish people and Hashem.
[00:02:26] And the Parsha, uh, begins this speech that Moshe Rabbeinu has to the Jewish people. The Parsha tells us about. Moshe Rabbeinu is also giving us a warning against idol worship.
[00:02:38] And he talks about the.
[00:02:41] And the Parasha tells us about the eventual repentance and redemption of the Jewish people.
[00:02:47] And this idea that the Torah is accessible to all. Uh, one shouldn't say that the Torah and Mitzvos are too far from them to perform. It's really within reach of every single person. Parshas Vayelech. Moshe Rabbeinu continues. He's taking leave of the Jewish nation.
[00:03:04] And he actually goes around to all the different tribes to personally say goodbye.
[00:03:10] There also is a Mitzvah of Hakel, this Mitzvah where after every shmita year, the sabbatical year, the sukkos after Shemitah, the Jewish king would read the entire Torah to the entire Jewish nation.
[00:03:24] And the Parsha finishes with Moshe Rabbeinu's end, drawing closer and drawing nearer.
[00:03:30] Now, the first idea I wanted to share with you today is from Parshas Nitzavim.
[00:03:35] So it says in Parshas Nitzavim Atem Mitzav Mayem, um Kuchem, Lufnokeham, Roshechem, Shivdachem, Shatrachem, kolish Israel, That you are standing today, all of you, before Hashem, your God, the heads of your tribes, your elders and your officers, all men of Israel, your small children, your women and your proselyte, who is in your midst of your camp, from the ewer of wood to the drawer of water, right? Says for you to pass into the covenant of Hashem your g d and into his imprecation, that Hashem your God seals with you today, right? So Moshe Rabbeinu is telling the Jewish people have this new covenant that the Jewish nation is renewing now as Moshe Rabbeinu is passing on the mantle of leadership and going to be passing on.
[00:04:22] And the one thing that the commentaries point out is that everybody was at this speech, at this covenant, everyone was there.
[00:04:30] And even in the verses it says that even whoever is here today and those who are not here are still entered into the covenant. And the commentaries tell us that even the souls of each and every one of us were present when Moshe Rabbeinu made this, um, covenant with the Jewish nation.
[00:04:48] And one thing it tells us it's very interesting.
[00:04:51] The Parasha tells us it goes through everything. The leaders, the elders, the kohanim, the Leviim, the converts, even the ewer of the woodchoppers, the drawers of water from all the different parts of society are being entered into this covenant.
[00:05:09] And we see that there's something very important here that we see. Obviously, there's different jobs in Judaism. Everyone has their specific mission and things that they're needed for.
[00:05:20] But when it comes to, um, having a covenant with Hashem, when it comes to the eyes of G D, everyone is equal. And that's why the verses point out everybody. It says Chopper, the Kohen, the Levi, the leaders, that everyone was equal in this regard. When it comes to how we relate to Hashem, our obligation to Hashem and how we are viewed in the eyes of Hashem, we're all the same. And it's really up to us on how we take advantage of the situation and how we act and what we do and the choices we make to really determine where we're gonna get to and where we're gonna achieve and where we're gonna be when we come to Hashem.
[00:06:02] And I feel like this idea is very important coming into Rosh Hashanah because many times people, uh, are under the impression that, you know, uh, maybe, you know, they beat themselves up. I'm not good. I'm not a good person.
[00:06:14] Uh, I'm not the rabbi. I'm not the leader. And therefore, you know, God doesn't want to hear from me. And this is. Maybe it's called Jewish guilt. I don't know if you've heard of it, but I've definitely, as, uh, being a rabbi working in Jewish education, I've definitely experienced it from many different people. And I must say that I probably have some of it myself. But one thing we need to remember when it's come, when we're coming into Rosh Hashanah, is that from this week's Parsha, we see that when it comes to the eyes of Hashem, we're all the same, and we should take advantage of that. We should utilize that when we're coming into Rosh Hashanah, we should recognize that we might not be, you know, the guy next to me who you think is the big Tzadik.
[00:06:56] You might not be better off than him. You might be better off than him. Who knows who's greater in G D's eyes? And therefore, we should try to utilize that to come to Rosh Hashanah with a full heart, to reinvigorate ourselves for the coming year. To forget about, obviously. Not forget about, but to maybe to leave the past behind in a way. To maybe. And to go forward with a new, uh, you know, a new appreciation, a new charge. To do the will of Hashem, to do the mitzvahs, to learn Torah, to reapply ourselves to the noble cause of doing what Hashem asks of us.
[00:07:29] A second idea of this week's Parsha, which I also feel touches into this concept of Rosh Hashanah, is that the verses tell us that when Moshe Rabbeinu is talking about the prohibition against idol worship, there's a very interesting verse which the commentaries talk about in different ways.
[00:07:48] The verse is as follows. It says, pen yeshpochem isha yisha oy mishpocha oishaved asher levava y foine me Hashem elokenu leleches lavodes eloife elohei hagoyem oheim pen yesh bochem shayresh poire royish vela'. Ano.
[00:08:05] It's translated as follows. It says, perhaps there is among you a man or a woman or a family or a tribe whose heart turns away today from being with Hashem, our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations. Perhaps there is among you a root flourishing with a gall and wormwood. And the verses continue. Vahayah bishamoyas divreh allah azois visb bareik bilvava lamar shalom yi ali ki bishrus li bi eleiich la man s foys harava esatzemaya.
[00:08:33] And it will be that when he hears the words of this imprecation of the curses, he will bless himself in his heart, saying, peace will be with me, though I walk as my heart sees fit, thereby adding the watered upon the thirsty. And really what this verse means is that maybe there's someone here who. Who thinks that after hearing all these curses that was in last week's Parsha, you know, say, ah, I'm still going to do what I want to do, and the curses are going to come upon me. And on that, um, the verses. Tell us the next verses say, ah, Hashem will not be willing to forgive him, for then Hashem's anger and jealousy will smote against that man. And the entire imprecation written this book will come down upon him. And Hashem, uh, will erase his name from under the heaven. So it's very strict judgment on somebody who, after he hears all the warnings, but yet says to himself or herself, it's not going to affect me. I'll still do what I want.
[00:09:27] The commentaries really discuss this idea a little bit. What's the verse talking about? Who's he referring to? And there's a lot of different, uh, understandings of the posseq. But what I wanted to focus on today was one specific, uh, idea which I believe ties into Rosh Hashanah as well.
[00:09:44] Rabbi Twersky brings down in his commentary on the Torah. He said that there was a great tzadik known as the Magid of Chernobyl, Rav Mordecai of Chernobyl. And he was known for his lavish tzedakah, giving. He would give tons of charity. And at one point, suddenly, Rav Mordechai, he stopped giving tzedakah, he stopped giving charity. And it wasn't that he stopped giving charity. He went as far as that. When once a woman was in his courtyard picking up, uh, branches for kindling, he knocked on the window when he saw her and told her to leave.
[00:10:19] And then suddenly, just as fast as he stopped giving tzedakah, uh, he started giving again with abundance.
[00:10:27] Now, everyone seeing this behavior was puzzled. You know, what's going on over here?
[00:10:34] The rabbi, first he gives tons of charity, then he gives no charity, and even chases away this woman who wants to pick up some branches in his courtyard.
[00:10:42] And then he starts giving charity again.
[00:10:45] What's going on?
[00:10:47] So Rav Mordechai, he explained to the people that he said as follows. He said, when I used to give tzedakah, when I gave charity, I wasn't giving because it was a mitzvah, because God commanded me to do this.
[00:11:03] But rather it was because my heart was aching for the poor. I felt bad for the people that are coming to me, so I gave to them because of that reason, right? So even though there's nothing wrong with it, I was acting on emotion rather than on intellect, on, um, thought.
[00:11:21] And acting on emotion, um, has great risks because emotions can also disorient a person and cause someone to make a bad judgment, right? So even though feeling for the bad is a good thing, but to do a mitzvah just to soothe one's conscience is not the proper way of fulfilling a mitzvah.
[00:11:48] Because when we're doing something based on emotion or reason, we put ourselves at risk of our judgment and our rationalizations and our conscience, which is really very much swayed by our emotion and how we're feeling and what we're thinking.
[00:12:08] And many times it could come out with things which are wrong, you know, and therefore he said, I stopped giving tzedakah, uh, in order to train myself to be indifferent to the poor.
[00:12:21] And only once I was able to achieve this state where I was able to not feel for the poor person did I. And not be under the sway of emotion did I start giving tadaka again because of, um, the mitzvah. Because that's what G D commanded us to do.
[00:12:37] So at first glance, you might hear this story and say, what type of story is this? It's hard to understand. And that's really what Rabbi Twersky says as well. As a child, he had a hard time comprehending this story.
[00:12:49] But I believe as us, as thinking adults, as thinking people, we can understand it if it's explained a little bit more. And this is something that really ties into this week's Parsha. You know, if you look in the verses, it says that when he hears these words of this imprecation of the curses, he will bless himself in his heart, saying, peace will be with me, though as I walk, as my heart sees fit, right? A person could hear all the curses that could come upon on somebody, but yet say to himself, that doesn't affect me. We can rationalize to a point where even after hearing what we're not supposed to do, we could tell ourselves, nah, it doesn't apply to me.
[00:13:35] And this is what the Torah is telling us here is that a person, when it comes to our mitzvahs, observances, how we perform mitzvahs, when we learn Torah, we can't make it dependent on our emotions.
[00:13:46] Rather, it has to be dependent on Hashem's commanding us to do it. Sure, we could put our emotions into it. But step one has to be understanding that we're doing a mitzvah because Hashem wants us to do the mitzvah. And when we rely on emotion as an impetus for us to do a mitzvah, we're always letting ourselves to be at risk of being deceived of what is truly right. Because emotions and our conscience can be deceived.
[00:14:16] So therefore, just like Reb, uh, Mordechai, he trained himself to overcome his emotions. That his intellect should overpower his emotions, so too with us as well. When it comes to our closeness to Hashem, to our service of G D, to our mitzvah's observance, and to how we are as people. One of the main tasks we have at hand is to take our intellect what we know is correct, and to over out power our emotion we have to have. We can't let our heart rule our desires. It's important to have a heart. We need to have that emotion. We need to have that feeling. But, uh, what's in charge is our intellect. Our mind has to be in charge, because if we don't do that, we're in a situation where we risk being fooled by our heart and to do things which are wrong. And I'm sure we could all think of examples of this, where our heart pulled at us, and we knew in our mind it was not correct, but we nevertheless got swayed by our emotions and did the incorrect action. And therefore, it's important for us to remember that it's not just about how we feel. It's about having our mind of knowing what is correct and knowing what to do and having the intellect, the knowledge to overpower our heart, even when it's pulling us to know that this is what Hashem requires of us, this is what he wants to us. Even though maybe at this point, for some reason in my heart, I have this feeling that it's not the right thing to do. But I have to know that if the Torah tells us something to do, if there's an obligation that Hashem set out for us, we have to know in our mind that that takes precedence over the emotions of our heart. And I feel like this ties into Rosh Hashanah because the concept of Rosh Hashanah, if you ask people, if I say to you, what is Rosh Hashanah all about to you? You know, so some people jokingly might say, you know, raisin challah, everyone loves the raisin challenge or honey cake or all the other goodies that we have, Roshana. But that's not. Roshana is about. And some people might say, you know, answers more depth about renewal, restarting.
[00:16:09] That's a good answer as well. But if you look at the prayer service of Rosh Hashanah, Rosh Hashanah is about making hashem king. You know, there's three different parts of the davening malchios, zechronos, and shofros. That there's a. The first part of the, uh, Musaf prayer is that we're making hashem king. Zechrono is that hashem remembers everything. And shofro says that G D we heed the call of the shofar to go forward, listening to the direction of Hashem. And this idea of making hashem king, what is that, if you take it down to the core, is that it's making Hashem's, uh, will, our will, that we're recognizing Hashem's uh, in charge. And therefore, if Hashem's, uh, in charge, we need to do what he wants us to do. And it's not about how we feel about things. Obviously, we want to get ourselves, you know, we're going to feel good about what we do. If we do what Hashem wants, that's a given. But that's the point of our Shoshana when we make our will, his will, so that Hashem will make our will, his will as well. And it's overpowering the intellect over the emotion to be able to serve Hashem to our fullest potential. Another idea I wanted to share with you today focuses in on the portion of Nitzavim where Moshe Rabbeinu, uh, prophesies about the eventual return and redemption of the Jewish people. And the Possex says, And it will be when all these things come to you, the blessing and the curse which I have given before you, and you shall take it to your heart.
[00:17:40] So there's a very beautiful understanding from Yonis and AIBC about this pasig that we could take out from the verses.
[00:17:47] You know, everybody thinks that being rich is the biggest blessing in the world.
[00:17:54] Uh, and the truth is, is that there is a lot of blessing in having money that, you know, you have peace of mind, you have, you know, you could free yourself for other pursuits, especially spiritual pursuits. A person could pray properly, A person could learn. A person could do the things that they need to do, spend time with their family.
[00:18:13] But the truth is that wealth can also be a curse on someone, right? And Shlomo Hamelech, King Solomon tells us that the test of wealth is a harder test than the test of poverty.
[00:18:27] A person can become arrogant, um, a person can be conceited, and a person could even deny Hashem, right?
[00:18:40] And the same could be said, obviously. Now any good thing a person has, there's always a flip side of how it could be perceived, how it can be taken, how it could be handled. You know, poverty can be a challenge for somebody, but it could also be a situation where someone can elevate himself to a higher level. You know, the Torah, the Talmud tells us that his Harum Ibne Aniyam ki meem teitu to Torah, they should be careful with the sons of the poor people, because it's from them that the Torah comes out. The Torah scholars come out. And the commentaries understand is that because they had to push themselves through hard times, they're able to achieve a much higher level of spirituality, not despite their surroundings, but because of it. Because of their situation, they're able to. They learned how to push themselves. They're able to get to such a high level. In Avodus, Hashem, in the service of G. Dionis and aips, explains that every situation in life can either be perceived as a blessing or a curse. It could be a good thing for a person or a bad thing for a person. And you know what? I could bring out examples.
[00:19:41] You look at people who won the lottery, and I think there's statistics on this. You could check it up yourself. That most people who win the lottery, um, go bankrupt within a few years and their lives get destroyed because they're living a simple life. Till then, they're happy. And the money, they didn't know how to handle it and to deal with it, and they went crazy. It ruined their life. And, you know, there's plenty of people who made money and it didn't equal into happiness.
[00:20:05] And there's plenty of people who don't have much money and they're perfectly happy. And really, though, it's the way we look at the situation and we handle it. And that's why the verse says, And it'll be when all these things come to you, the blessings and the curse which I have given before you, and you shall take it to your heart, meaning for us to determine if something's a blessing or a curse is if we.
[00:20:33] How we take it, how we view it, how we look at it. Because ultimately we know that every situation we're in is for our benefit. Now, it might not be easy to understand this, uh, at all times. But if we know, if we have this attitude that everything is a test and G D is giving it to us for our benefit somehow. So then it becomes easier to handle the situation. You know, we all wish that we had smooth sailing in our life. And we pray every day shlo lovely Denisayon, that we shouldn't have any sayon, we shouldn't have challenges. But we have to recognize and remember that when G D sends us something for us to overcome, it was specifically tailored for us to be the best we can be. And on this vein, the Orachayem Hakadosh says that in this week's posse when it says that, when it says, um, this wording of vahayah, the Talmud tells us that the word of vahayah indicates a positive tiding. It's a good thing, sort of tells us, um, happiness and joy.
[00:21:40] It denotes joy. And the joy that it denotes that the vahaya, even though it's talking about klalos it's how we handle it. Because sometimes the curse that we have upon ourselves could end up being the biggest blessing on a person. There's so much examples that a person could think of in your own life where the curse turned out to be a blessing, and maybe the blessing turned out to be a curse. But the point is, that's what the vahaya teaches us. The, uh, vahaya connotes joy. It's the and it will be right that tells us that it's all how we handle the situation, how we look at it. Because we could take any situation and use it to our benefit to be the best people we can be.
[00:22:21] The last idea I wanted to share with you today is from Parshas Vayelech. Now, in Parshas Vayelech, Moshe Rabbeinu is taking leave of the Jewish people. He's also giving a prophecy of what will happen in the future.
[00:22:32] And part of the prophecy that Moshe Rabbeinu gives is that after a certain point, because of, uh, the Jewish people's sins, Hashem will hide himself from the Jewish nation till we return. But the, uh, Torah tells us how his Hashem will hide himself.
[00:22:47] Haster, Asterpun, I will hide my face from the Jewish people.
[00:22:51] And what that means is that during the times of the temple and the Mishkan, the tabernacle, the Divine Presence, the Shechina, was seen. It was open. There was a certain clarity in life. We knew what to do to fulfill our potential. But once the Jewish people sinned, we're sent into Gallus. Until we do teshuvah, until we return, Hashem's face is hidden. It cannot be seen. We have to use our spiritual glasses in order to see the Divine Presence, meaning he's just as much here as he was before. But we have to make more of an effort to see him. And right after the sukim, the verses tell us about hiding. There's a commandment to write a Sefer Torah, the mitzvah to write a Sefer Torah. This is one of the 613 mitzvahs to write a Sefer Torah. And the way we fulfill it is maybe writing a letter in the safer Torah as a way of performing that mitzvah. It says, and now write for you this song. So the Chavitz Chayim explains that the reason why this mitzvah is given right after the psukim tell us how Hashem will hide his face from us is giving us a clear, um, indication of how we see Hashem during these times. Of hiddenness, that the way we see light, we want to see the divine present, is by studying Torah, by applying ourselves to learning the word of Hashem. And when we apply ourselves to learning Torah, we're able to find much light and consolation and clarity in what we're doing in this world. And that's the way we need to do it. During this gullus, during this exile, when things are not as clear, to connect ourselves to the study of Torah. It's not just, God forbid, it's not a history book, it's a way of life. It's our connection to Hashem. And it's something we always need to be involved in, no matter what stage in life we're at. It's not just about being bar mitzvah. It's something that we need to continue throughout our lives. And there's a story that's brought down from a Meirichil of Astra Vica that he came to a special celebration that they're giving a sefer Torah. The community was donating a Sefer Torah and it was a very joyous celebration.
[00:24:59] And one of the townspeople approached Rav Meir Yechiel at Shevitza and they said to him, rebbe, give us a blessing that we should have many more Torah scrolls. And he told the man, his followers, he says, you know, we have enough Torah scrolls. What we need is people to study the Torah and, and to, uh, do the mitzvahs. You know, it's not just about writing a Torah. Sure it's important, it's a mitzvah, but it's about learning the Torah to take what we learn and put it into action, to pursue it. And I think, you know, this is one thing we can take with us going into the new year, that we need to be Jews in action. That it's not just about, you know, learning, it's about doing and, you know, it's not. Judaism shouldn't be something which is a cultural activity for us. It's. It's something which is action based religion we need to do. And what we need to do is to study mitzvos and to apply ourselves. And God willing, when we do these things, we'll merit to a sweet new year and just want to finish, to wish everybody a khseva chasima tova good gebenchira. And this coming year should be a year of growth, happiness, a year where we fulfill our spiritual and material potentials with many great podcast episodes.
[00:26:12] Everyone have a great day, a good Shabbos, and we'll see you next week.
