Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.

00:12 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you so much for coming here today and being here on this beautiful Friday afternoon. I just got back from Israel and, as I promised you, I'm going to share with you some of the incredible things that I learned on this trip. Aside from the conference that I went for, I had the great privilege of being around the Gaza area and meeting people who were really really special people, and as we see hostages coming out, we hear stories that are really really remarkable that I think I want to focus on for a few minutes. The first is I had the great, great privilege of meeting a widow of the Brigadier General, jonathan Steinberg.

01:01
Jonathan Steinberg, on October 7th was the night of Simchas Torah, which is October 6th. In the evening he was dancing in synagogue Simchas Torah evening and he's dancing there with great joy and great celebration. And here he is. I heard from his own brother-in-law told me they were dancing together like they were the center of the universe, dancing with the Torah with unbelievable joy. And then the next morning he gets the phone call early in the morning that there was the invasion from Gaza and he jumps into his car and he is so far the highest-ranking officer to die since October 7th in this battle. He's a religious Jew and he gets into his car and starts driving towards where the infiltration that was reported and where his unit was, and on the way he was ambushed and killed. But because of his ambush and another car that came right after him that was ambushed as well, it stopped these terrorists from continuing further down that road. There's a lot of sensitive Israeli intelligence there, a lot of sensitive Israeli outfits there, but that stopped them from proceeding further. They just turned around and went back to where they came from, from wherever their terrorist hellhole is.

02:37
Either way, it was really remarkable hearing the story of his commitment, of his dedication, of his love for his people, his land, his relationship with God, and I was there with my rabbi, rabbi Yitzhak Berkowitz, and we all heard the story together and were really moved by it. I don't think I cried like that for many since many, many years ago that I cried just like tears flowing when you hear the story from his widow and from his children and you're sitting in his house the presentation was in their house it was just unbelievable. You know to be really in the midst of greatness. You're sitting in a place where you see where this is what true greatness is someone who's dedicated. We got back onto the bus and we're heading to the location where he was ambushed. We were actually there where his soul was returned to his creator and my rabbi said you know, we talk a lot about our commitment to the Almighty.

03:49
We talk about in every single time that we pronounce the words of our mission statement of the Shema. We say Shema Yisrael, hashem Elokeinu, hashem Echad. I hear O Israel, hashem, you are our God, you are one. And then we say Ve'ahavta et Hashem Elokeinu. You should love Hashem, your God. V'chol avavcha, with all of your hearts. V'chol nafshacha, with all of your soul. V'chol me'odecha. But when do we have the opportunity and the privilege to actually really give ourselves with all of our soul? It says, this holy individual did just that His whole soul, everything he gave for the Almighty. To understand what that really means, what are we willing to give up for, hashem?

04:55
Oh, you know, there's a story I've repeated many times of this woman who you know became. She wanted to convert and she converted and she finally was like all in and she calls in the rabbi after she converted and the rabbi kashers her kitchen and on his way out, after he's done kashering the kitchen, he sees these chiclets on her coffee table. He says those chiclets, those aren't kosher. She says well, he says, rabbi, I'm ready to let go of everything, but those chiclets, those aren't going anywhere. You know, we all have our chiclets, we all have our things that that I'm not ready to let go of, that I'm not To let go to say Hashem, I'm willing to do the service for you and ready to let go of my soul, I'm ready to do whatever it takes. What are our chiclets that we're saying no, that I can't let go of? I can't let go. My non-kosher restaurant, that's my family growing up.

06:04
I have a friend of mine here in Houston, at the age of ripe young age of 65, decided that he's never going to eat shellfish again. You know what that takes. He says I grew up, since I'm three years old, my mother was feeding me shellfish. He grew up in Virginia. And to let go of that, what are we willing to let go of To show our commitment to the Almighty? So I'm like, just like blown away. I'm like what am I ready to give up on? What am I ready to do to change and show Hashem? I'm ready to do this for you, to show my commitment. You know, if a guy meets a girl and she says, listen, I'm willing to marry you, but you're going to have to change this, all right, whatever you want, no problem. Whatever you want, okay to have your hand in marriage, I'm ready to do anything. What are we ready to do for the Almighty? What are we ready to change?

07:10
I want to share with you a few things that I heard recently, since that story from hostages and, by the way, the majority of the hostages that were taken were not religious, not observant. I just saw this morning an interview of a hostage that was released. In the most recent release he said to the interviewer every single morning I recited the Shema. And the interviewer says to this hostage that was just released, he says and did you say Shema previously? Every morning, before being a hostage, he said never in my life, never in my life, turn the page.

08:05
You see hostages saying stories of Yom Kippur. They told their captors it's Yom Kippur. They told their captors it's Yom Kippur. We're not eating today. So the captors said you know what? We're going to leave the light on in your room. You know, yom Kippur, the day that even the most secular Israelis observe Yom Kippur Today. We don't do any creative labor, we don't turn on the lights. We don't turn on the lights, we don't turn off the lights. We don't eat, we don't drive our car. You see in Israel that even the most secular of secular will ride their bicycles on Yom Kippur. They're not going to drive a car on Yom Kippur. Streets are empty.

08:45
Everywhere across the country these young hostage girls were in their captors. You know homes. The captors left the lights on intentionally Yom Kippur evening so that now the girls, if they want to go to sleep, they're going to have to turn off the lights. You know what they did. They didn't turn off the lights, they slept with the lights on because it's Yom Kippur and they're going to observe the Yom Kippur the way the Almighty wants us to observe the Yom Kippur. And they said for Sukkot you know what they did inside of their room that they were locked up in. They decorated their room like their Sukkah. You know what they did for Rosh Hashanah. They asked can you get us some honey? They asked their captors can you get us some honey so we can have a little honey for a sweet new year? And on Pesach and on all the different holidays Tu B'Shvat they said do you have maybe a date so that we can eat? A date for Tu B'Shvat, to do something special for each holiday? You're talking about people who never observed these holidays Completely, a life that was completely secular.

10:05
And how many of these amazing parents and siblings and children of those who were held captive started observing Shabbos, started putting on tefillin every day, started reciting blessings before they eat? This captor that was interviewed, I saw this morning. He says I felt the presence of God with me, just to have the emunah, to have the knowledge Hashem is with me at every moment. He says that itself was my comfort. I knew that Hashem was with me and the miracles that transpired for them. This young girl who was held hostage said to her captor can you please get me a siddur, a prayer book, a Jewish prayer book? See, he laughed. He says here, I can give you a Koran. Two days later he came to her. He says your God loves you. One of the Israeli soldiers that had been in that area forgot his Siddur and he brought this young hostage girl a Siddur.

11:17
I'm fascinated, because we're living in a world where nobody wants to believe, nobody wants to let go, no one wants to be in a situation, in a circumstance where we're not in control. We're convinced that we're in control of everything. You know, these smart homes convince us that we can turn on the lights. We can turn off the lights from afar. I can be in the other side of the world. I can close my garage door from my phone and I can turn up the heat. I can turn it down. We can control everything. So we get convinced that we're in control of everything. But we're not. And the minute we're ready to relinquish that need to be in control of everything, that moment is where we start to grow. That moment when we say everything is the hand of Hashem, we allow ourselves to feel that closeness. We allow ourselves to feel that closeness, we allow ourselves to feel that connection, the power of a single mitzvah.

12:28
The power of a single mitzvah, oh, I'm going to do it just one time. I'm going to do the mitzvah. It's hypocritical because I'm not doing it every day. No, hashem loves that one mitzvah that you do. You say you know what you're inspired one day to put on tefillin. Put it on. Well, I'm not going to. Who knows if I'm going to put it on tomorrow. It's hypocritical. I've heard so many people tell me this Put on the mitzvah, do the mitzvah one time. It's like saying I don't know if I'm going to be a good husband tomorrow. Why should I buy you flowers today? Today, you have an expression of love. Express it. Tomorrow, hopefully, you'll have another expression and you'll express it as well.

13:08
A mitzvah is a tool to build and reinforce our relationship with God. That's the purpose of a mitzvah. A mitzvah Hashem gives us the tremendous privilege to serve Him through His mitzvahs Beautiful mitzvah. A mitzvah Hashem gives us the tremendous privilege to serve Him through His mitzvahs Beautiful mitzvahs. And one of the upcoming Talmud that we're going to learn together is going to be whether or not the mitzvahs were given for pleasure or not. Is that the purpose of the mitzvah? For it to be for pleasure, and we'll see. We, the go through the whole Talmud, is going to give different opinions whether or not it's for pleasure or just do it because God said to do it, or should you actually derive an enjoyment from it. But definitely, according to all opinions, the observance of a mitzvah brings us closer to God.

14:02
The observance of a mitzvah gives us the opportunity to feel close to Hashem and the more the different levels of each mitzvah that we observe, and we'll talk about this. There are five different levels of a mitzvah, not only the observance. The observance of it is just level one. You get to level two, it's having the right intention. Number three there's levels in this game, just like there isn't everything.

14:31
The observance of mitzvah, the very basic level, is just to observe it. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm lighting the menorah. Do I know what this does in the upper realms in the heavens, by my observance of lighting a menorah, lighting Shabbos, candles, eating kosher. Do I know what that does? Maybe, maybe not. I can't maybe connect to all the deep. You know Kabbalistic, deeper meanings of it, but I can observe it, even if I don't understand it.

15:04
You know we don't tell our children not to run in the street. You know, because you just say it's dangerous. Don't do it. Why do they understand? Why? No, their parents told them not to. At a certain age they can't yet understand it, but they know it's. My father told me not to do that. My mother told me not to do that. I won't do it, not because they have a whole understanding.

15:31
Level one is just do it, observe the mitzvah. You have an opportunity Every day. We have opportunities to do mitzvahs. We have 613 mitzvahs. We have 613 mitzvahs. By the way, I don't know how many laws there are in the entire Torah, derived from the entire Torah, but I can tell you they're in the millions and millions of mitzvahs. Each observance. I'll tell you. I'm now part of a new group of rabbis that basically, and I'm now part of a new group of rabbis that basically and I'm going to share this with our listening audience, with our class here at the Torch Center that basically, any halachic question that you have, it gets sent to a group of right now we have 14 rabbis on this chat. Within 10 minutes you'll get an answer.

16:18
And can I tell you how many times just today? Today is Rosh Chodesh. It's the last day of the month of Shabbat. Tomorrow is going to be also Rosh Chodesh. It's a two-day Rosh Chodesh. Tomorrow is going to be the first day of the month of Adar.

16:32
Can I tell you how many times people ask just today whether or not you can have a haircut on Rosh Chodesh Right? There's a custom not to. It's proper, not to, even if it's on Erev Shabbos, when it's right before Shabbos, sometimes, in the honor of Shabbos, you should Custom, not to. How many people ask that question. Why does it make a difference? Who cares? Get a haircut, you don't need a haircut, I want to do the will of Hashem. It's such a beautiful thing.

17:11
People are asking it's another little mitzvah of the thousands and thousands, maybe millions of mitzvahs that we have to properly connect ourselves and align ourselves. The thousands and thousands, maybe millions of mitzvahs that we have to properly connect ourselves and align ourselves to be vessels that are able to maintain the relationship with God. So if we can all feel like hostages for a day and say you know what, what can I do to just connect with God, to feel that closeness that Hashem is right here with me? I think it's so incredibly powerful for us to just think about this. How can we be like the hostages who just are clinging on to a relationship with God and say you know what? There's something I'm going to change, there's something I'm going to do? I was so impressed.

18:01
One of the mothers of the hostages, two, two different mothers. One mother said she says I'm begging. Please, all the television, all of the radio, please do not video my son being released on Shabbos because all of the releases are on Shabbos. She says I don't want my son's release to cause the desecration of Shabbos. Another mother traveled to where he was going to be released before Shabbos, so she doesn't have to be released before Shabbos, so she doesn't have to be transported on Shabbos in a car.

18:35
These are women who are not Shomer Shabbos. These are women who were never observant of Shabbos before, but now they feel Hashem is talking to me, hashem is telling me something and I want that relationship to thrive. I want that relationship to continue. So I came back from Israel on a mission to take a step, a single step, that I should change one thing, one habit, to show Hashem I'm committed. This is my giving my whole soul, my whole soul meaning my habits, giving away the things that I'm comfortable with, the things that I enjoy Something for Hashem. And I think on this path, if we take one mitzvah, one thing, it can really transform our lives. It can change who we are, it can change everything about our closeness with Hashem and hopefully take us up that ladder, step after step, to get the closest we can be, that we can get to a point where we're willing to give up our soul for the service of Hashem. Hashem should bless us all.

19:50
We're going to begin the Talmud Lunch and Learn in one minute. My dear friends, thank you so much for joining us. For those of you online, we're going to move on to. We're going to move on to our Thinking Talmudist podcast in a new broadcast. Thank you so much. Have a great Shabbos.

20:08 - 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.