Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Parsha Review Podcast.

Welcome back everybody. We are live at the Torch Center in the frigid Torch Center. It is below 30 degrees in Houston, Texas, and we have so many incredible people who trekked out, came to come learn Torah together. It is such an honor and such a privilege to be here. I apologize that the Torch Center is not a little warmer.
The heat is on and it will be hopefully by the time we're done. It should be at a very toasty 70 degrees. But till then let's learn some Torah. Let's get inspired. Let's hopefully elevate and heat up our bones with the Torah of this week's Parsha. So we begin with Parsha's bow. Last week I was at a commission. I was not here. I was traveling. So I was not, I'm in debt. I need to pay back for my debt of
Parsha's bow, the Parsha pearl for this week. So we know what happens at Parsha's bow. We have the last three of the seven plagues. We know that God inflicted the Egyptians with ten plagues in total. Our sages tell us that in some opinions it turned into 50, some it turned into 100, 150, 250. Many plagues. It was a mess. Now between plague number nine and plague number ten, there was a miraculous event that happened. What was it? Is that during the plague of darkness the Jewish people
inspected, they did not steal, we're not thieves, they inspected the possessions of the Egyptians. They saw what was in every drawer. They saw what was behind, what was in the walls, behind the closets, what was inside the walls. They saw what was going on there and later on they asked the Egyptians what can we, can we have some of your, can we borrow some of your silver, some of your gold, some of your copper, like we don't have any, like
top drawer, middle drawer, in the socks, you know, where's everything? And what that later happened was that the Egyptians gave the Jewish people, now why did they give them those gifts that, or you can call it the loot, but the loot is when you take it against will. This was not against will. This was given by the Egyptians to the Jewish people. Why would they do such a thing? So the Passock says an amazing thing. V'yit'en Hashem eschen ha'am be'ine mitzrayim,
gam ha'ish Moshe godo mi'od be'eretz mitzrayim, be'ine avdei paru be'ine ha'am. And this is chapter 11, verse number three. Hashem granted the people favor in the eyes of Egypt. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of the servants of Pharaoh, in the eyes of the people. And what is the next, the next list is later on, sorry, in chapter 12, we see the same thing repeated again. In chapter 12, verse number 36.
V'hashem no'san eschen ha'am be'ine mitzrayim va'yash ilum be'in natzlu esmitzrayim. Hashem gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians and they granted their requests so they emptied Egypt. You know, this is really astonishing. The Jewish people found favor in the eyes of the Egyptian. You know, you try to curry favor with someone, so you try to be nice to them, you try to be cordial, you try to be friendly, you try to, you know, butter them up. We just studied in our
Jewish inspiration podcast, we talked about flattery. You can even try to use the tool of flattery. Maybe that'll work with currying favor with them. What did the Jewish people do? The Jewish people, when they are in Egypt, they don't try to curry favor with the Egyptians. It says, lo'shinu esh'mam, they didn't change their names. lo'shinu esh'malbusham, they didn't change their clothes. lo'shinu esh'malbusham, they didn't change their language. They stayed separate. You see, most people think
that the way to curry favor is, let's be like them. Let's assimilate. Let's be like them. And if we're like them, then they're not gonna point this out. Then they're not gonna say, Oh dirty Jew. Oh filthy Jew. Oh Jew, you're, why are you so different? Why are you the wealthy ones controlling the money? Why are you the ones controlling the weather? By the way, we're all very busy, right? Because of the weather, it's all us controlling it today. But you know, why are the Jews in
control of the politics? They're always yelling about the Jews. And what do we always say as Jews? Mistakenly, not learning the lesson from our ancestors in Egypt. We say, you know what? If instead of Chaim, I become Charles. Instead of Yossi, I become Joe. Then they're not gonna even know. Then I'm just gonna be one of them. Instead of Shlomo, I'll be Seth. And everything is gonna be normal. What we see here in the Torah, the Torah is giving us a live example of
how when we stay true to our convictions, when we stay true to our relationship with the Almighty, you know what happens? Where does Chaim, where does grace come from? Where does favor come from? Comes from the hand of Hashem. You think that if you wear your payas, you wear a yarmulke, you have your tzitzis hanging out, you think that the nations of the world are gonna dislike you? God, you got another thing coming.
You think if you're in the airport and you put on your tefillin, everyone's gonna look at you and they're gonna say, oh. You know, what's amazing? You know, what's really amazing? Is that you know, in some cultures, they're very intolerant of Jews. Very intolerant of Jews. But when they see Muslims putting out their mats and bowing down in the middle of Times Square, it's so beautiful. They're committed to their religion. But when a Jew walks with their yarmulke,
they're like, filthy Jew. I know, I grew up in Brooklyn. I've had this experience myself. So what's the key to all of this? The key to all of this is not shying away from our commitment to Hashem. If we are steadfast, if we are firm that we're not gonna change our name. We're not gonna change our clothes. We're not gonna change our language. Are we gonna be cultured? Yes. Look at the entire world. Look at the culture of every single country, of every single nation.
You'll always see Jews at the top of the pyramid. Always. Without an exception. Whether it be back in communist Russia. Karl Marx is a relative, a relative of ours. Okay, Jewish guy, in case you didn't know. Not exactly the source of pride in our family, but yeah, in most cultures you look and you'll find that the Jews are always at the top of the pyramid. Albert Einstein, of course. Look at all of the, all of the, you know, the Nobel laureates.
Jews, 30, over 35% are Jews. It's unbelievable. That's not our problem. Our problem is, they don't hate us because of that. They hate us when they see us being fake. They hate us more when they see us trying to assimilate. They hate us more when we are not committed, when we are not devoted, when we're trying to just blend in. And instead of currying favor, it has the opposite effect. Exactly the opposite effect. Who gave us favor in the eyes of the Egyptian? As the verse states over here,
it was Vayitein HaShem Ez Chena'am. You know who gave favor to the Jewish people in the eyes of the Egyptians? HaShem did. The same Jewish people who didn't change their language, didn't change their clothes, didn't change their names. Those same Jews are the ones who found favor in the Egyptians. The Egyptians said take it all, take our gold, take our silver, take our, take our everything, all of our jewelry, everything, take it. Well, what suddenly happened? God turned up the favorability, the likey, likeness of
the Jewish people. I like them. They're good people. And we are. In our world today, 2026, we're looking at a world which is so crazy with so much insanity going on. And we're thinking to ourselves, what can we do to not inspire the rage of the world? You know what we need to do? Do exactly what the Jewish people did. Not hide our Judaism. Stand proud. Not to stick it into people's faces. Be really authentically proud of who we are as a people.
God chose us. We chose God. Don't hide it. Don't push it aside. Wear it as a badge of honor. Say, God, I'm going to embrace you. I'm not going to hide my Judaism. I'm not going to hide my study of Torah. I'm not going to hide my identity as being a Jew. This is the key to us finding favor in the eyes of Hashem. To find chen in the eyes of Hashem. To find favor in the eyes of Hashem.
And then in the eyes of mankind. That's what we're looking for. The Egyptians had every reason. Pharaoh. Pharaoh was an individual. An individual character. He didn't like the Jewish people. Okay. But the Egyptians, they found favor in the Jews. The Jews were in a miracle almost. You hate them. Suddenly you love them. And you're giving them everything you have. Because the favorability knob is not in our hands. It's in Hashem's hands. And when Hashem turns it up, it's not because we hid our Judaism.
It's because we were proud of our Judaism. A proud Jew doesn't need to hide. A proud Jew doesn't need to camouflage themselves. A proud Jew should stand up tall and say, Hineni, I'm here. And we see this with Abraham. You see this with Isaac, with Jacob, with Moshe, where God calls them and says, where are you? He says, Hineni, I'm right here. I'm standing firm. I'm not hiding. I'm committed. I'm loyal. I'm dedicated. I think that this is a remarkable idea that we hopefully can internalize
to not be shy. You're going out with your kids. You're taking them to the library. You're taking them to some sports place. You're taking them to the baseball game. There's no need for us to hide our identity. We're the yarmulke with pride. We're Yitzhitzitz out with pride. There's no need to hide it. There's no need to hide it. I always laugh with my children that, you know, you see some of these Hasidic guys, they go to Yankee games, you know, they have their side locks,
they have their curly payas, and they're wearing a Yankees cap. Like, I had no idea you were Jewish right there. Nothing gave it away. The long beard, the payas, didn't know. The Yankee cap just threw me off. Like, you know, it's like, we have to wear our Judaism with pride. We have to wear it with pride and not hide from it, not feel ashamed, not feel embarrassed, not feel second class, not feel judged. We don't care what other people say. We care what the Almighty says.
And if we're genuine, and if we're real, Hashem will give our chein in their eyes. They will see us favorably. In the turn of a dime, it all changes. My dear friends, have an amazing week. Have an amazing Shabbos. It's the problem that the Jew is embarrassed of the Jew, not the Jewish Jew. It's the problem that the Jew is embarrassed of the Jew, not the non-Jew. You know what's funny? I always was that Jew.
In the airport, I said, like, I have to find a corner to put my tefillin on. And then I said, you know what? I'm not embarrassed. I'm not embarrassed of anybody. I'll put on my tefillin right here. A guy walks over to me and says, do you mind to put on your tefillin as well? Right there in the middle of the airport. Of course. What a merit. What a privilege that someone else was inspired. Said, let me put on tefillin too. We should never ever hide.
Be real. Be genuine. Wear it on your sleeve as a badge of honor. Don't hide it.

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