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)
We are on the edge. On the precipice of the holy holiday of Shavuot, sunday night, we begin the all-nighter annual commemoration. What happened the night before the Jewish people received the Torah the 6th and or the 7th is a disagreement in the Talmud which day it was, but it's really. It's an amazing. It's an amazing. It's an amazing. Right now, there's an alarm in Israel for a rocket that has been launched, most likely by the Houthis. So I received these alarms as I was in Israel and, unfortunately, while I was there, this happened multiple times yesterday as well. So right now there's a rocket and we dedicate today's Torah study to the safety of the Jewish people, to the land of Israel and to all of those who need healing of course they should have healing and all of those who need recovery and all of those who are hostages to be released. Amen, speedily, speedily, today. So the Jewish people are about to receive the Torah. Moshe prepares them and Moshe tells them get ready, get ready. God is about to give you the Torah. He's about to receive the Torah. Moshe prepares them and Moshe tells them get ready, get ready. God is about to give you the Torah. He's about to give you the manual for living. He's getting ready to give it to you and the Jewish people. What happens? They go to sleep. It's okay, tomorrow morning, tomorrow morning is a special day. Tomorrow morning, we're going to get that special delivery, that special revelation. They go to sleep. What that special delivery, that special revelation? They go to sleep. What type of business is this? You're about to get the document. You're about to get the greatest gift.

01:53
Imagine someone tells you listen, tomorrow I'm delivering to you. You hear this, carlos. Tomorrow I'm giving you a Cybertruck. He's not going to be able to sleep at night. He's going to be so excited he's going to get a new gift. I can't believe it. I can't wait until tomorrow. I can't wait. That was a political statement. I'm sorry, I did not mean to give a political statement. I'm going to give you a Rolls Royce. Okay, he wants the Tesla. A person can't wait. They're so excited they're going to get this gift.

02:23
Imagine you get the greatest gift of all gifts in the history of the world the Torah, the manual for living. Imagine that you get the gift that all the nations of the world hate us for. In fact, the Midrash says that. Why was the Torah given at Mount Sinai? Because descending with the Torah was sinna was hatred from the nations of the world. I sat with someone the most remarkable experience. I sat with someone in the airport, some random guy I met. He says it's the most remarkable thing. He said why do they hate the Jews? Why, what did we ever do to them? Why, what did the Jewish people ever do to the nations of the world that we deserve the honor of their hatred? You know what it was. I'll tell you. It's very simple. We received the Torah, not them. When the Torah descended at Mount Sinai. The Torah descended at Mount Sinai. Hatred descended at Mount Sinai. Because imagine the following we gave this example before We'll give it again. Imagine I give.

03:36
You said it was your birthday recently. I give a happy birthday. Here's a lottery ticket for a billion dollars. Okay, you take the lottery ticket. You say no, thank you very much, rabbi, I appreciate it. Happy birthday. But you know what I want? To make Carlos feel good, you pass it on to Carlos. Carlos says thank you very much, I feel good. Now I have the billion dollar lottery ticket and he passes it on. And he passes it on. Every person gets it around. We go around the whole classroom and then finally Liana's the last one standing here. She says I'm not going to keep on passing it around again. That would be insulting. Give back the gift that someone else gave. That's not right.

04:14
I'm just going to hold on to it. She holds on to the gift, the winning lottery ticket, and then comes Saturday night and they run the numbers and guess what? She wins all of the numbers, every single one, with the Power Bowl, and she wins a billion dollars, a billion with a B or a trillion who cares how much it is? What's everyone going to feel around the room? You know, we were very happy for you, but it was. It was really mine, I was, I had it, it was you should. The right thing to do would be to divide it between all of us. You know, and it's like, after all, you know, rabbi gave it to me, it was my birthday and then I passed it on, just this to be nice, to not insult anybody else. But I didn't really mean for you to be the winner. I meant that if we're the winner, then we should all enjoy it. No one's going to say we're happy for you. I can guarantee you. Nobody will say that. The Medrash tells us. The backstory of what happened when the Jewish people received the Torah at Mount Sinai Is that God went to all the nations of the world and spoke to their prophets and sent them a memo, a text message saying press one if you want it, press two if you ignore it. So they went to the nation. They went to the French and they say Frenchies. They went to Macron. Imagine, right Slapped in the face. And they said, frenchies. They went to Macron, imagine, right Slapped in the face, and they said do you want the Torah? And they said no, no right, we don't want it. And there was one or two guys who said, yeah, I kind of want it. It's like sorry, you're a minority. Goodbye, not for us. The Frenchies don't want it. They went to the Muslims. The Muslims do you want the Torah, god's manual for living? They're like well, what does it say in it? No, adultery, no adultery, not for us. And they went to each nation and God said you want my Torah? What does it say in it? And God tells them what it says in it. Like not for us. No, stealing, not for us. No, murder, not for us. No, coveting your neighbor's wife? No, not for us. Kosher, not for us. Every nation, one after the other, the Jewish people say what Naseh v'nishma we're in Because we realize that the Torah is more than a book of instructions. The Torah is more than just a book of laws. The Torah is a relationship between us and God, the Jewish people. The first thing they said is we're in, we're in. What does it entail? It's like a guy gets engaged to his betrothed. She doesn't say he gets on one knee right. He says will you marry me? She doesn't say whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's hear what does this entail? Let's hear what does this entail. Does this mean that if you get sick, if you make money, you lose money? If you have children good children, terrible children, healthy children what does it entail? I don't know any girl that asks that. What does it entail? I don't know any girl that asks that. What does it entail? It entails a commitment between me and you. That's what it entails. That's it.

07:55
What does the ring do? The ring symbolizes the commitment of this relationship. You know, a newly engaged girl drives only with her left hand. Because that ring is sparkling on that steering wheel right. Because what is it demonstrating? The commitment, everything, the whole relationship is in that ring. You know the ring that we got on Shavuot, on this amazing holiday. We got our ring. We got our ring.

08:33
The Torah is our ring. Every mitzvah that we fulfill in the Torah, every single mitzvah, has the power to bring us back to that revelation. Every time a woman looks at that ring, the whole relationship, everything, the full circle, everything is in there. By the way, you know, a ring is round. You know why? Because it's really one piece of metal silver, gold, whatever it is and it's the man this way, the woman this way, and now you bring them together and you make this circle that now we're united. I was going my own life, you were going your own life, but now we bring our lives together, we unify our worlds. We're now making our own world. Now it's our world, and a man's commitment to his wife and the woman's commitment to her husband is to be there for one another. That's our relationship with God. The ring that we got is the Torah, where every mitzvah, the mitzvah of mezuzah, has the ability to bring God into our life the way it was at Mount Sinai.

09:58
That revelation, one of my favorite things I heard from my grandfather many times. He would say, at the Seder table, seder night, which is 47 days ago for those counting the Omer. 47 days ago, what did we sing at the Seder? We sang the beautiful song of Dayenu. Had only God taken us out of Egypt but not split the sea. Dayenu would have been enough. God split the sea, but not each one of those thank yous that we say it would have been enough. One of them doesn't make sense. Had God brought us to Mount Sinai but didn't give us the Torah Dayenu. If God brought us to Mount Sinai but didn't give us this manual for living. If God brought us to Mount Sinai but didn't give us this manual for living, it'd be enough, why bring?

10:51
us to Mount Sinai if you weren't going to give us the Torah? Why take your children to the ice cream shop and not buy them ice cream? Why are you bringing us to Mount Sinai if you're not going to give us the Torah? We understand the answer. The answer is because the purpose of going to Mount Sinai was not to receive the Torah. The purpose of the engagement of a man and a woman is not for the ring. The purpose of the engagement is the commitment. The ring just symbolizes that commitment. I guarantee you, if he's a poor guy and he cannot afford a ring, they're still engaged. If cannot afford a ring, they're still engaged. If she loses the ring, they're still engaged.

11:37
God at Mount Sinai, we're the betrothed to the Almighty. We sort of are in a union with God, in a committed relationship with God. What symbolizes that relationship? The Torah, where the Jewish people said wow, such an incredible revelation, such an incredible partnership between us and God. How do we memorialize this? Where is that ring?

12:14
Hashem says I'm going to give you 613 reminders. I'm going to give you 613 ways for you to remember this relationship every single day of your lives. Things that you do proactively that remind you of the relationship and things that you refrain from that that remind you of the relationship, and things that you refrain from that will remind you of this relationship, that, even if the Jewish people did not receive the Torah, we have the relationship. It's all about the relationship. That's what God was actually asking the nations of the world. They're like getting into the details, they're getting into the nitty gritty. Well, what does the commitment really mean? It means it means this it means that I forget it. I'm not into that.

12:52
The jewish people says we're in because it's a relation. We're in nishma. Later we'll hear what it entails. Later we'll see that journey. And that journey was a rocky road. Right, nowhere in our history was history was it an easy journey. Nowhere in our history did it ever say that the jewish people are just gonna live hunky-dory. Oh, it's just gonna be an easy journey. You'd be my chosen nation. Look at, look at suffering. While we're in middle of this class, we have rockets, ballistic missiles flying from the Houthis in Yemen to remind us we're a chosen people, to remind us we're in a relationship. And in that relationship you're going to have ups and downs. But a girl doesn't say oh, you lost the money that when I married you, you were a wealthy guy. Now you're a poor guy. Take the ring back, I'm out. No, a true loving relationship is that now we need to bond even more. Oh, you fell to bad health, I'm out. This is not what I signed up for. Everyone would say that's not nice.

14:09
Our relationship with God is a relationship like a husband to a wife and like a wife to a husband. Through thick and thin we're committed because we're na'aseh. Later on we're nishma. Later on, hashem gives us the exact details of the Torah. Come later on, the bond, the Ten Commandments. It's very interesting. Our sages tell us that the entire 613 commandments are all narrowed down to the Ten Commandments. They're all embedded into the Ten Commandments and all Ten Commandments are all embedded into the first commandment of Anokhi Hashem Ha'alakach I am Hashem, your God. And all of the first commandment is embodied in the first word of Anokhi and all of the first word in the first letter of Aleph. Very interesting that the Torah begins with the letter Bet, the second letter of the Torah. What happened to the first letter? What happened to the first letter of the Torah begins with the letter Bet, the second letter of the Torah. What happened to the first letter. What happened to the first letter of the Torah? Shouldn't the Torah begin with the letter Aleph?

15:18
The answer is if you want the relationship with God, you're going to have to be in it. It doesn't just oh, I opened up the Torah and there I am, anokhi. No, you're going to have to dig in. You're going to have to go through the trials and tribulations of the Jewish people. We have Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel, and you have Noah and the flood, and you have the Tower of Babel, and you have Abraham and you have Isaac and you have Yishmael and you have Esav and you have the brothers and you have the selling of Joseph. You're going to have ups and downs. You're going to be slaves in Egypt and you're going to have Moses and you're going to have the 10 plagues. Each time they're like oh, he's going to let us out now. No, he's not.

15:59
He's going to let us out now, but it's a fraud. No, he's not. You ups and downs constantly. You get further in. Then you find the Aleph. You find the Anokhi Hashem Elokecha. I am Hashem, your God. Oh, you're going to have to go through a journey to get there. This is. It's so amazing to see how Shavuot is a special anniversary between us and God. It shouldn't be a holiday. That's, you know, forgotten. It's one of the three main festivals of the Jewish people. We're supposed to wine and dine on this festival, like we do on all the other, like on Pesach, like on Sukkot. But also there's a very special custom. What do we do? We stay up all night. Why? Because when you're about to get into such a special relationship, you should be on pins and needles. Ah, I'm so excited I'm about to get into such a special relationship. You should be on pins and needles. Ah, I'm so excited I'm about to get married tomorrow. You're going to sleep. The Jewish people in the desert.

17:16 - Intro (Announcement)
They went to sleep.

17:17 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
We're tired. Went on a journey. We were traveling. You know what it means to leave Egypt. We went through the sea, and then we had a fight with Amalek, and then we're eating the manna, and and then we had a fight with Amalek, and then we're eating the manna, and then it's like it's just we're tired. We're tired already, just going to take a nap and tomorrow we'll be refreshed. Our sages there's no, by the way, the Torah doesn't say that we're obligated to do this. Our sages say this is a custom since the next year after the Torah was given that the Jewish people stay up all night to learn Anticipation Excitement. I can't go to sleep the night before I'm getting married. I'm so excited.

17:57 - Intro (Announcement)
This is what we do in.

17:58 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Shavuot. In Shavuot we show our commitment. We show that we're in this for the long call. We're in this through thick and thin. It's interesting. We have a custom a custom, by the way, it's a small custom to eat dairy. People made it into a whole religion now, especially the people who make the cheesecakes. Right, it's a whole thing. I remember my rabbi said he says you have a little milk in your coffee, you fulfill the custom. People today make it into a whole thing. I remember my rabbi said he said you have a little milk in your coffee, you fulfill the custom. People today make it into a whole thing. It's like the whole holiday is a cheese festival. It's no obligation, there's no halachic obligation to eat cheese. It's a custom to have a little dairy. We can get into that another time because just to give you the source for it quickly.

18:50
So the Jewish people now get the Torah. What are they obligated when they get the Torah? When they receive the Torah? The laws of milk and meat, the laws of koshering. To that point they did not have the obligation to separate between dairy and meat, so they have to kosher everything. Now they have to kosher their pots and pans. They can't cook their meat, they can't cook their chicken, they can't cook anything. The only thing that they can eat. Right, because it's a holiday. On a holiday you can't do that, you can't kosher everything on the holiday. So they needed to wait till after Shavuot. So what did they eat? They had dairy Dairy. They can eat now Because now they were obligated to those laws.

19:39
So to commemorate that commitment, we have a little dairy. We're not obligated in a halachic ruling. No such thing. It's a beautiful custom, very nice. Don't make it religion. It's a beautiful custom, very nice. Don't make it religion. It's a nice thing.

19:54
We all love cheesecake, don't get me wrong. That's right. You know why. But why do we do so many? Why do people have so many cheesecakes and so many different things? Because they're trying to beautify their relationship with Hashem. Again. Let's keep that in mind. We're trying to commit ourselves. You know, there's a special verse in the Asyashir, when the Jewish people left Egypt and they sang the song by the sea. So what did they do? They sang. What did they sing? They said this is our God and we will beautify, you know.

20:29
Let me ask you a question. So most proper men we know, today is Friday. We're going to come home. We're not going to just come home empty-handed. We're going to go and find beautiful flowers for our significant other. We're going to bring them flowers for Shabbos. So we're going to just go and say, just get any flowers. Go to the florist and say, just give me flowers. I just need to punch that ticket, tell her I got you flowers. Or we're going to find the nicest flowers we know exactly what she likes, what color she likes, what mood she's in and pick out those flowers, say I want better, I want a different shade, I want this. Oh, fresher flowers, I want better, I want a different shade, I want this. You know, fresher flowers, I want it to go.

21:16
One of my rabbi's students one of the other students of my rabbi said he witnessed him picking hand, picking each petal, each one, each one for the bouquet that he was bringing. He was there for 20, 30 minutes picking out the flowers because it's an expression of my love. An expression of my love. I don't just spit it out. It has to be done in the finest way. When we buy an etrog, a citron for our four species on Sukkot, we don't just buy one, we look at it very carefully to make sure it's perfect, because this demonstrates my love, this expresses my feeling to the Almighty. Just flippantly, pick one out, pick one out. It's fine, it's kosher, it's certified. Who cares when we bake the matzosahs. We want the matzahs. We have to be the nicest matzahs. Not only that, we make sure that we have the finest wine. Why? Because I'm celebrating my relationship with God. God says I want you to enjoy. We're wining and dining together with the Almighty.

22:33
So remember that there are people who, in every single shake of every single spice that they put in their food, for Shabbos they say l'kovet Shabbos koidesh. It should be for the honor of Shabbos, because Shabbos demonstrates my relationship with God. So it's not just because I want to eat good food. Yes, that's true, I want to eat good food, but why? Because everything I'm doing here is part of the process of demonstrating my love with the Almighty. That's what I'm doing.

23:08
So those cheesecakes, yeah, make those cheesecakes, enjoy them. It's expressing your love for the almighty, hashem. Remember that when you're making them, hashem, I'm going to make another one which is even more special, because I know that my husband likes this one and he's going to be overjoyed that he has this special cheesecake. This is my favorite flavor. I'm going to make this one because this expresses my joy in this relationship.

23:34
We're in a world of relationship with God. This is our life, this is our opportunity. On Shavuot, this is our wedding day with God, and if we can't stay up all night, do something special to express our feeling of devotion and commitment to the Almighty. That's our job, that's our goal. On Shavuot, how can I bring this relationship to another level? To be a Naseh, I'm in. I'm committed. Whatever it takes After we are committed, whatever comes our way, we'll be Nishma. We'll hear it, we'll be able to tolerate it, we'll be able to accept it Because we're in a relationship with God. That's the goal and it connects to what we spoke about before.

24:27
Hashem gives us challenges that we don't always understand. Hashem gives us challenges that we're not always ready for, but when we're in the relationship, we'll take it. We'll take it. We're in a commitment. We're in this to win this. We're in it and we'll take it.

24:55
Hashem should bless us all. Hashem should bless us all. That we should merit. We should merit to a Shavuot that is enriched with the closeness in our relationship and we should feel that closeness and we should delight in that closeness in our relationship. But we should feel that closeness and we should delight in that closeness and no matter what goes on around us, no matter where we are, to know that Hashem is always longing to that closeness with us. A parent always wants to be close with their child. You know what. You made mistakes. We said things that we shouldn't have said at each other. It's fine. I want the embrace of my child. Hashem wants that closeness with us. We should all merit to grow further and further in our connection with Hashem. We should always delight in the closeness with Hashem and, god willing, always merit to see God's presence in our lives every single day.

25:58
My dear friends, have a beautiful Shabbos, have a beautiful Shavuot. Thank you so much. Sure, and that's exactly what we pray for every day to be able to deal with it and to be able to have the perspective. We say Don't bring us, but if you do, it shouldn't be an embarrassment that we aren't able to properly, you know, understand and deal with the challenges that come our way. So that's our prayer. My dear friends, thank you so much Thank you. Thank you.

26:40 - Intro (Announcement)
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