Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

00:00 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe from TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Prayer Podcast.

00:09 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
My dear friends, after the morning blessings, we have the special, special prayers of the Akedah the Akedah is the binding of Isaac. And then we go into the korbanot, the offerings. Our sages tell us that the akedah needs to be mentioned every single day. Why, what's so special about the akedah, the binding of Isaac? So the first thing is is that we learn what it means to be truly dedicated to Hashem from Abraham. Abraham was how old? Abraham was 99 years old when he had his son Isaac. His wife was 90.

00:58
The Torah says God tells Abraham by Yitzchak, you will have your future descendants. It's going to come out of Isaac. Isaac is your son, that's your guy. And then the next day, almost in a bipolar manner, god tells him oh, that son, your son, that you love, your only son. I want you to bring him to me as an offering. Didn't you just tell me? Didn't you just tell me that this is the son, the future leader of the Jewish people, my future generations are coming out of Isaac. And now you're telling me to bring him his offering. But you know what? Abraham did not even flinch. God said wakes up early in the morning, gets his donkey ready, let's go, let's go, let's go. We got to go. Wait, wait. What's the rush? I'm bringing you as an offering. God told me to slaughter you. What in the world is going on here?

02:13
Our sages tell us that selflessness that Abraham and Isaac demonstrated to do the will of Hashem the eagerness like we discussed last night in our Jewish Inspirationem, the eagerness like we discussed last night in our Jewish Inspiration podcast the eagerness with which they demonstrated their desire to fill Hashem's will, is the most incredible demonstration of love for Hashem ever displayed in the history the binding of Isaac. You know what that binding is. The binding of Isaac to the will of Hashem. Binding Hashem says this dedication here. I will remember. I will remember this.

03:11
You know we face challenges every single day as a Jewish people. We're dealing now with a hostage crisis. We're dealing with such trials and tribulations as a people. The Jewish people don't have their head raised up high. You know what we do every single day. Remind God of our commitment to him. Look who we come from.

03:42
We come from Abraham and we come from Isaac, and you remember how they committed their lives to you. You remember how you told Abraham take your single, only child and bring him to me as an offering. He didn't just say, oh okay, I'll find some time, I got it. No, the next morning, early in the morning, he wakes up At the crack of dawn, quickly, quickly. He was excited to do this selfless act. For the sake of heaven, it's such an astonishing thing.

04:20
We bring this memory every single day in front of Hashem. Hashem, I may not have done everything correctly yesterday, but you know what I'm wrapping that Isaac mercy, that Abraham mercy on me every day, the Akedah, the binding of Isaac. We bring that memory every single day in front of Hashem's consciousness, so to speak. Hashem, I really need a great day today because don't forget who I am. I'm the son of Abraham, isaac and Jacob.

04:56
Remember Abraham and Isaac. You remember that incredible selflessness that they had. That's where I come from, the progenitors of the Jewish people. That's who we're bringing back. We're recalling what they have done. We want that same mercy to be brought upon us today and that's why, if you look at the entire prayer, we say A person should always be God-fearing. If you look at the entire prayer, we say Le'olam yehe'odam yirei shemaim A person should always be God-fearing. Say Serba Goli, privately and publicly, wherever you are, because we're representatives of Abraham, isaac and Jacob. We shouldn't hide that, hashem. Look, we're not going to run away from our Jewishness. We're very proud. We wear our yarmulke proudly. We don't hide it. We're not embarrassed by it. On the contrary, we wear it as a badge of honor. We have our tzitzis, we see them, we have them out. We're not hiding our Judaism. We dress with modesty, with pride that demonstrates us like a queen. Think of the Queen of England, the modesty with which she carried herself, the dignity, the honor. She's a queen, she's royalty, she's royalty. A Jewish girl is no less royalty than the Queen of England. She's much more. Carry yourself with dignity.

06:35
And then we go into the prayers of this special section of the Akedah. But then we have the Karbonot, we have the offerings, and we are particularly going to focus on four of the different sections of the offerings, and that is the kior, the laver, the truma, sadashin, the ashes that were brought as an offering, the karbon tamid, the burnt offering, and the ketores, the incense. The karbon tamid, the burnt offering, and the ketores, the incense these were the offerings that the Jewish people presented in front of the Almighty every day. These were the daily service. This was the daily service that was brought in the temple every day. Sadly and unfortunately, we don't have that temple today. So what do we have? We have the words. We can recite these words, hopefully with great emotion, and it's as if we fulfilled these offerings.

07:46
I want to point out one incredible piece here. When we talk about the incense, it really is an incredible, an incredible thing when we see the list of all of the different incense, different ingredients that were put in. There were 11 different ingredients, 11 different ingredients that were put in. There were 11 different ingredients, 11 different ingredients. One of them was the halbana. The halbana had an awful smell. The incense is supposed to be something which is delightful. Ah, it smells good, but one of these ingredients was absolutely awful to be something which is delightful. Ah, it smells good, but one of these ingredients was absolutely awful the halbana. And what does it say immediately after that? And if we were missing even one of these ingredients, like the halbuna, which didn't smell too good, chayiv Misa, chayiv Misa, you put to death. Hello. I'm trying to improve the things here. I'm trying to make it smell better. I took out the thing that smells awful. Our sages tell us the halbuna represents the sinner. Took out the thing that smells awful. Our sages tell us the halber represents the sinner, the halberna represents the sinner.

09:23
Sins don't smell good. You know the way you help someone improve from sin. You put them together with things that do smell good. You put them together with people who are righteous. You don't push them away, you don't separate them. You bring them together because you know what's going to happen. It's going to undertake the delicious aromas, the delicious smells, the incense of the other good things. It's going to absorb it. You're not going to smell the putrid smell of the halbana, but rather it's going to take the sense of the other things. You're going to be able to infuse it with positivity and that's going to transform it. It's an amazing lesson that the Torah is teaching us. Don't miss a single one of these, not one. Don't say you know what this one is like it doesn't smell good, put them aside.

10:32
Every single Jew is precious, even the one who doesn't smell good. Bring him in Together with those who do smell good. It'll make a delightful aroma to Hashem, because there's unity. I want to share with you one more idea, which is not here. It's part of the morning offerings, which is the menorah, the service of the lighting of the menorah. So the halacha says such a beautiful idea.

11:03
The halacha says you don't fight with the candle, the light, so you have the shamash, the lead light. You don't toy with the fire, with the wicks, but rather sit it nicely next to it, and then it's ole yof me'atzmo. Just put the candle next to it. Don't toy with the wick too much. Put the light next to it and then it'll absorb, it'll take the light and become a light of its own. Our sages tell us that this is one of the secrets of parenting. Sometimes we want to correct our children, so we want to toy with the shamash, we want to toy with the wick. The wick is the child. Fix him, correct him, move him. This and that you know what you need to do. You're the shamash, you're the parent, you have the light, you have the guidance. All you have to do is lovingly put your light next to them and then it's ole yaf me'atzmo, it lights up on its own. It'll absorb it. Our children we shouldn't shun our children. We shouldn't push our children. We shouldn't shun our children. We shouldn't push our children away. Put your light next to them, let them take from your light, and you know what happens? Then it'll grow to be such a beautiful light on its own. It's going to absorb its own oil. It's going to absorb its own oil. It's going to take its own power. All you have to do is stand next to it. Let your light be absorbed by them. This is such crucial lessons the Torah teaches us. I'm so excited that we are going to embark on this journey shortly, to invest time, to invest our focus into these offerings.

13:15
We're not able to bring an offering today. Sadly, we don't have a temple. We pray every day that it be rebuilt speedily in our days. Hopefully, today we have Mashiach. Tell us, guess what? Guys run to Bush Intercontinental Airport, get on a plane free seats, open seating Like oh, what's going to be with my car? Am I going to sell my house? What's going to go? Free seats, go. Planes are taking off. Everyone's going no more flights to Atlantic City, no more flights to Vegas, no, just to Jerusalem. We're going direct flight to Jerusalem and we'll have our temple rebuilt.

13:50
But the offerings, when we're able to recite them before the temple is rebuilt, it's as if we brought these offerings. They're loved by Hashem, they're loved by Hashem, they're desired by Hashem. In lieu of these offerings, we have our prayers, but the Torah, we can read the actual verses of how these offerings were brought and in so doing, it is counted as if we brought our offerings today from Houston, texas, even without a temple. My dear friends, hashem should bless us, that we should merit to fulfill His mitzvahs with love, that His mitzvahs bring light to our own lives, to our relationship with Hashem and to the entire world, and that every day, every day, we, every day, we merit to get closer and closer to Hashem through every mitzvah. Amen, kein Yihir Hatzonet, to be the will of Hashem. Thank you.

14:54 - Intro (Announcement)
You've been listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe on a podcast produced by TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. Please help sponsor an episode so we can continue to produce more quality Jewish content for our listeners around the globe. Please visit torchweb.org to donate and partner with us on this incredible endeavor.