Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Parsha Review Podcast.

00:10 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody to the Parsha Review Podcast. So this week's Parsha is Parsha's Tetzaveh. Tetzaveh is the portion that talks about the assembly or the design of the priestly garments of the high priest. We're going to focus on the breastplate and we look in chapter 28, verse 29. Aaron was the high priest. Aaron shall carry Aaron was the high priest. Aaron shall carry the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate, the breastplate of judgment, alibo upon his heart. B'vo el haKodesh, when he comes into the sanctuary, li zikaron lefnei, hashem tamid as a remembrance before Hashem, constantly. Okay, so very interesting. If you look in the details of these 12 different stones, these gems that were in the breastplate, so you find something very, very interesting. They all had a unique color that was different. They all had a unique color that was different. They all had a unique texture that was different and they all had different letters on them that were different. They were all different and it was very, very, very important that each one of the tribes be represented on the heart of the high priest, that when he comes into the Kodesh, when he comes into the holy and the holy of holies, he have the names of all of the tribes prominently displayed in front of him.

02:10
You know, the Arizal says that there are 12 channels to the heavens. 12 channels to the heaven, as we know that when the brothers of Joseph came into Egypt, they all came in through different doors. And we know that when the Jewish people left Egypt, they all came in through different doors. And we know that when the Jewish people left Egypt, the splitting of the sea was done through 12 different channels. They were able to see through one another, they were able to communicate with one another, but there was a barrier of water. They were able to see through, they were able to pass things through. They were able to eat from the fish that were in the water between them. It was an amazing experience, but they each had their own channel.

02:57
And the obvious question is why and, by the way, just an interesting thing they would ask questions. They would ask questions that they didn't know what are we supposed to do? And the different letters on the breastplate of the Kohen Gadol would light up and it would give them the answer. It was like the AI before AI right, we don't know what to do, tell me what to do. And the breastplate would light up the different letters and they would have their answer what was right and what was wrong. But why are there so many different types, 12 different types? You can have unique stones, right, but each one has to be different, has to be a different color, has to be a different texture, a different composition, a different type of stone. Remember there's a student of Torch. Many years ago for my birthday he got me a little chiseled out stone from each of the 12 stones, from the breastplate of the Kohen, all the different colors, all the different types. I have it sitting in my study at home. Very special. Now they had bigger stones, but what is the? What's the reason the Kohen had to wear this? What's the reason the Kohen had to wear 12 different stones? And probably I can imagine that this breastplate was not a very light garment. It was quite heavy. Why was it necessary?

04:44
Our sages tell us that, firstly, the Kohen Gadon represented unity. The Kohen Gadon, the high priest, represented. He was a representative of the entire people, not just my tribe, not just my people. You represent everybody. We have to understand the responsibility that someone of leadership has is that you represent an entire people. You know a rabbi of a congregation of which, thank God, I'm not a rabbi of a congregation a rabbi of a congregation. But you realize right away, you get many, many complaints. I spoke to a rabbi yesterday a congregation. He told me at this moment I only have two families that are angry with me At this moment, only two. It's amazing why? Because we have to realize that the job of a rabbi is putting together the 12 different tribes and you have unique personalities and you have unique interests and everyone has a different perspective and everyone has a different uniqueness, a uniqueness that is individualized, and not everyone in your congregation is a sheep and is just going to follow the pattern of everybody else. They'll follow the path of the one in front of them and they're just fine. No, they're different. Anytime you bring an eclectic group together, you're going to be more powerful.

06:29
Look, we live in a country, if we're all a country of immigrants. Everyone comes from a different place on planet Earth and everyone has a different idea of what democracy means, whether they like it or they don't like it. What is success in war? What is not a success in war? What is a good politician, what isn't a good politician, what is a good representative and what isn't? Everyone has a different idea. That's fine In Torah. That is the essence.

07:03
We see that every tribe didn't only have a different stone, they had a different flag and that flag had a different image on it, representing their uniqueness. You see, what we need to understand is that Hashem loves our uniqueness. Hashem loves our uniqueness, but that does not negate the fact that we need to have unity. Unity is the first agenda item in Judaism. The first agenda item in Judaism is unity. I'm unified because you're my brother and you're my sister. You don't have to think like me, you don't have to talk like me, you don't have to believe like me, you don't have to act like me, but you're my brother and sister. So the first thing is we're unified.

07:57
All 12 tribes are on one breastplate, on the heart of the Kohen Gadol of the high priest, and he does not enter the Holy of Holies without it. You don't come and stand in front of the Almighty without a representation of the entire people. That's your job as a Kohen, your job, you know it's very interesting. The Kohen is not allowed to do his service in the temple if he was in a quarrel with any human being. He had a fight with his neighbor about the lawn about this. You should have cut here. You know what Can't serve in the temple.

08:43
You have to be in absolute peace with everyone. Why? Because when you represent the entire Jewish people and you're in a fight with someone, you can't represent them properly. You have to be at peace. You know what else is peace? The name of Hashem Shalom. This is why the halacha says that you're not allowed to greet your fellow in the restroom. You go in a public bathroom. People walk in and out. You see your friend. Oh hey, how are you Shalom, not allowed to say that it's the name of Hashem. The name of Hashem. Why is Hashem's name Shalom? Peace? Because Hashem is telling us in that you cannot serve Hashem if you don't have peace.

09:36
The Talmud says this Don't come to God and pray when you're busy, in a quarrel. You have to come with peace of mind. Because what happens in prayer? We are like the Kohen Gadol. We represent the entire Jewish nation. You look in our prayer and everything is in a plural. Everything is in a plural Slach lanu Rifa einu Baruch aleinu Hashiveinu. It's all in a plural. I'm not asking only for myself. I'm asking for everyone of my brothers and sisters, whether they're here in synagogue or not.

10:13
When we come to pray, we are the Kohen Gadol going into the Holy of Holies, which is why, very importantly, there is a custom that many people which is why, very importantly, there is a custom that many people, before they pray in the morning, they recite a special prayer which says God, please bless me to fulfill the mitzvah of the Ahavta L'Reach, hakamoha, that I should love my fellow as myself. The mitzvah, a biblical commandment. Why do we say that in the morning? You pass me one of the sitters there. Any of the sitters should have it, right over there, that blue one should have it. Yeah, perfect, bring it please. Thank you so much. Right in the beginning of the morning prayers, behold, I accept upon myself the mitzvah of loving my fellow Jew as myself. Many, many Siddurim have this special little prayer. Just a few words why? Because when I come to pray, I am like the Kohen Gadol, I am like the high priest standing in front of the Almighty in the Holy of Holies.

11:40
What is the ark called? It's called an ark. What is the ark called? It's called an ark. That's exactly like what was inside the Holy of Holies where, by the way, there was also a Torah scroll sitting in the Holy of Holies in the ark because our synagogues represent the temple, which is why many congregations call it a temple. In lieu of our temple in Jerusalem, we have our synagogue, which is a temple called the Mikdash Me'at. When we come into that temple, we are the Kohen Gadol, we're bringing the offerings in front of the Almighty.

12:23
Can we come in to the Holy of Holies without a representation of the entire Jewish people? Can't do that. Can't do that. We have to come in as a unified force. I'm representing the entire Jewish people, which is why it's very understandable why our sages tell us before we begin our prayers in the morning we say this To say I'm not just coming in to say my requests, I'm coming here as a representative of the entire Jewish people. You know there's a.

13:00
The Talmud tells us we mentioned this yesterday offline Zachrin la'adam shalob b'fanov when something is a merit for somebody, you can accept it on their behalf. Okay, you can accept it on their behalf, zachin la'adam shalob b'fanov. You don't need their approval to accept something that will benefit them, because everybody wants something. So if someone, like the example we gave offline yesterday, if someone comes to me and says do you know, carlos, I have a watch for him, but I don't know where he is. I don't know where to find him. I know where he is. You can give it to me and I can accept it on your behalf. Why? Because it's a merit for him. Everybody wants to have that watch. But you cannot do something which is not a benefit for someone without their approval. Only if it's a benefit to them To pray on the behalf of other people who would say, no, don't pray on my behalf. Of course, I can always use an extra prayer on my behalf.

14:16
So when we come and stand in front of the Almighty, we're representing the entire Jewish people. We are the Kohen Gadol with a breastplate that represents all 12 tribes. But there's something else that we need to point out, and that is the uniqueness of every human being. That is a beautiful thing, not that, not the way I would do it, so you're probably doing it wrong. We see that there is Shisham ribopan in the Torah. There are 600,000 different perspectives of how to understand the Torah and in fact, the Midrash tells us that when the Jewish people had the revelation at Mount Sinai, every person heard it in their own way. Same command I am Hashem, your God. Everybody understood it in their own personal way. It was unique to them, it was special to them. It's an amazing thing that every person had an individualized Torah. That means that you, you, you, each and every one of us have our own Torah that we can bring to the world. We have our own inspiration, we have our own uniqueness.

15:39
One of the biggest challenge that people feel many times is like I'm just another one. I'm just another one, I'm just another person. I'm nothing special. As parents, we have to teach our children how special they are. They may not believe in themselves, but when we believe in them, they'll learn to believe in themselves. We're all unique. Unique, we're all special and we have to understand, we have to appreciate that uniqueness. The Kohen Gadol didn't come in with one big stone representing everybody. He came in with 12 different stones representing 12 different tribes. They're all unique, they're all special. They all have their own perfect place and it's a tremendous encouragement for every person to realize you know what. I may be different from that person. I may be different from that person, but I'm unique, I'm special.

16:40
We've said this many times in our Muslim Masterclass you are the only you there will ever be. You're the only version of this kind of person there will ever be, because you have unique parents, you have unique children, you have unique siblings. You have unique character traits that nobody else in the world possesses. What you possess I don't know about you, but to me that's very encouraging, feels good. I'm the only version of me there will ever be.

17:13
Can there be other people with the same name there may? Can there be people who wear the same, exact identical clothes as you? There may. It doesn't make you not unique. You are special, you are unique and God wants that special uniqueness to shine like the gem, like the gemstone on the breastplate of the coin. It was a gemstone. You're a gem, you're unique, you're special, you're different gemstone. You're a gem, you're unique, you're special, you're different.

17:47
It's such an empowering thing, such an empowering message that the Kohen wore each person's uniqueness, each tribe's uniqueness. You're part of something and you're also a unique individual. Collectively, we're part of a big nation, we're part of a tribe and we're also an individual. An individual that can influence all of that. That can change. Look at Moshe. Moshe, one individual. Look at Aaron, one individual.

18:29
My grandfather said once a very famous lecture that he gave is about the world is waiting for an individual. The world is waiting for one unique person to step up to the plate. Who's that person? You, me, each and every one of us. We have our place to shine. We have our uniqueness, we have our unique abilities and that's our job to bring our uniqueness to the fore, bring our uniqueness to shine. And it's not a, it's not a in opposition to being part of a greater unit.

19:22
You know, I was looking up something yesterday, two days ago, sunday evening. I was looking up something yesterday, two days ago, sunday evening. I was looking up the verses about the mitzvah of the bris milah, where God commands Abraham to circumcise himself and his and his son, ishmael, and then later, isaac at eight days. If you look at those verses, how Hashem tells Abraham look up at the stars, look how many stars. That's going to be your children. But there's another time that God says that he says look at the dust, look at the sand, look how many particles of sand. That's the way your children will be. Which one is it? The stars or the sand? Look how many particles of sand. That's the way your children will be. So which one is it, the stars or the sand? Which one.

20:10
Well, it depends how we act. If we act like the stars, the nations of the world will look up and they will be wow, it's so beautiful, look how incredible. Those are the stars. But if we act lowly, they'll trample on us, they'll stampede us. It's our choice whether we're the unique ones or whether we just want to be ordinary. I'll be just and the world will tread on us. When we see the world treading on us, we see the UN treading on us, we see the UN treading on us that means we're not acting like stars. When we see the nations of the world glorify the Jewish people, that means we're acting like stars. They're looking up. It's our choice. Each one of us, as individuals, have the opportunity to be a star, or we can be like the dust. This Torah portion tells us how the Almighty wants us to be a star.

21:20
You're a gem on the breastplate of the Kohen Gadol. You're represented by a tribe, but you can sparkle, you can shine. You can bring something to the world that nobody else can bring. You can make a light shine that nobody else can shine. We all have a uniqueness. We all have something special. There's no such thing. I'm just an ordinary person. I'm just a simple nobody. I'm just a no. You're special, you're unique, you're talented, you're one of a kind Literally. It's not just like platitudes. We're just going to say nice things to our children. No, no, no. We have to understand that, we have to believe it, we have to see it, we have to say it to allow our children and ourselves to be unique, to be special. And that's why the tribes all had their own unique flags. They had their own unique gemstone represented on the breastplate. They had their own unique path leaving Egypt. They had their own unique path walking into Egypt. They were individuals.

22:31
Yeah, we're part of a unit. We're the children of Abraham, isaac and Jacob, but we're also individuals who can shine, and that is what Hashem wants. Hashem doesn't want puppetry. Hashem wants us to bring out our uniqueness, bring out your specialty, bring out your character, bring out your light to the world. This is the gift, the gift of our Torah. The Torah teaches us how great we can become, and we learn this from the verse here, chapter 27, verse 28, verse number 29. The Kohen brought this into the Holy of Holies on his heart, knowing everyone is unique, everyone is special, everyone is different, yet we're all united. It's an amazing privilege to be part of the Jewish nation. It's an amazing privilege for us to realize that we're part of a big unit, yet we have an individualized role, a specialty, a uniqueness that can shine a light to everything around us, I think, to our children, to our grandchildren. You know, think about this.

23:56
An army, you have the infantry, you have the navy, you have the air force. You have many different factors and they're all important on the mission of conquering and beating the enemy. Each one is unique, though. Each one is unique, though Each one is different. You have a different task. One guy's job could be just making sure that the wheel on the tires of the aircraft are tight. That's his job. Another one, making sure that the straps for the bullets, for the missiles, for the bombs, that they're properly tuned. Everyone making sure that their job is done right. Collectively it makes one military, but individually is critically important. This is our job as a people.

24:59
Yeah, we're part of an entire nation, we're part of a big people, but we have an individualized role. What one person can do I've said this before, but imagine how much one person Susan Komen, I believe her name is the one who brought breast cancer awareness right. One person and you have people in the NFL the most macho sport in baseball wearing pink gloves, hitting with pink bats, walking around with pink sneakers on the basketball court, on the football. For what? Just cancer awareness. One person, one person. That's what we need. We need individuals.

25:50
Hashem tells us be an individual. Yeah, you're part of a great unit. Feel proud. You're part of the Jewish people. You're on the breastplate of the coin, but you're unique. You're part of a great unit. Feel proud. You're part of the Jewish people. You're on the breastplate of the coin, but you're unique, you're special. That is the beauty of our people. That's our goal, that's our role, that's our responsibility. My dear friends, let's harness that responsibility. Let's take it with pride, with joy. Let's accomplish amazing things. My dear friends, have an amazing Shabbos. I look forward to continuing to learning together throughout the week. Shabbat Shalom, thank you so much.

26:30 - 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.