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 - RAW (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody to the Parsha Review Podcast. We are going to do a little in focus on this week's Parsha, parsha's Va-Era. Va-era is the second portion in the book of Exodus and everyone is welcome, of course, to listen to the previous episode where we talked about the entire summary of the Parsha. We did this last year and it is rebroadcast every week the weekly portion. It takes about five minutes to get through the entire portion and then we talk about different ideas from the Parsha.

00:46
Now we're going to talk a little bit about something unique that we see that always I try to link every week to current events. Last week we talked about Jewish pride and we talked about how important it is for us not to back down from our convictions, not to back down from what we know is the right thing to do. If you know something is the right thing to do, then don't back down. Don't back down from anyone, not if someone threatens you and not if someone embarrasses you or shames you. In fact, I'm reminded the first halacha in Shulchanoruch, the first halacha in the code of Jewish law, is the following and don't back down from those who mock you, from those who ridicule you, from those who threaten you. It's the first halacha, the first law, because it's such a fundamental principle. Don't back down if you know that what you're doing is right. And how do we know what we're doing is right? Because God tells us what to do. It's God's world. He created this world and he a little secret here. He gave us the manual for living. He told us what is right and what is wrong. He tells us exactly what values are the correct values and what values are the incorrect values. It's in His Torah and it's our gift that Hashem gave to us. So when we're doing the right thing, we have no reason in the world to be ashamed or to feel intimidated by anyone. So I want to continue in that vein.

02:38
As I mentioned last week, my dear friend Shlamee Zayans is a world-renowned social media influencer and on his Twitter a few weeks ago, he posted a picture of himself on an airplane with his long, curly peyis, with his yamaka undeniably present on his head, sitting on an airplane, and he says today is a perfect day to be proud to be Jewish. I'm not going to hide my Judaism from anyone. Nothing's going to stop me no anti-Semites are going to stop me. And it's had an unbelievable impact because so many people were inspired by this. People who have never been engaged in Jewish life, or people who have put it and made it dormant for years and years and years have hid their identity, are now coming out proudly saying you know, I'm Jewish and I'm not going to hide from it. He put out, he created a new merchandise website where you can buy his merch really great stuff, really funny stuff. It's at candle and strap comm and if, by the way, to all of our listeners only, and to all of our participants, if you put torch in the discount code, you'll get 10% off so you'll be able to get that sweatshirt and that t-shirt and that baseball cap and all that other candle and strap candles referring to the Nair Nishama, to and yes, all spelled out candles, the Nishama of the Jew and and strap or the straps of the Tefillin, and it's really, it's really fabulous. So I called them this week and I said do me a favor. I'm gonna be talking about this again because I was preparing for today's class and we're gonna be talking about Jewish pride and therefore I said do me a favor. I want our listeners and our viewers to have. It's a disc special discount code, so just type in torch in the discount code. You'll get 10% off and I think you'll thank me later because you're gonna love this stuff.

04:52
So the Jewish people are saved. We're in the process of the redemption from Egypt. We're in the process of the beginning of the redemption. The Jewish people are about to start their way out of Egypt. They're there for 210 years and now the Jewish people Start seeing the hand of a sham. The Egyptians start seeing the hand of a sham now.

05:23
Just just as a small little note, we talked about this many years ago when we did the breakneck through the Bible. We talked about this of why we're 10 plagues necessary. In this week's partial we have seven of them. Next week's partial we have the final three. What do we need? 10 plagues, give them one. Good you know, tsunami and it's all. And they're all wiped out. And it's good to go save the Jews. They're all in the rooftops. Nobody else knew. Everything else is wiped out and goodbye.

05:54
What does God need to create? Dumb the bloods, fardea the Frogs, keen him the lice. Each one of these plagues for what? Because what we're seeing is more than just a demonstration of God's power. We're seeing God's control over the entire world. Every single aspect of existence is Hashem's creation and Hashem controls it. And the Jewish people needed to see. Right here in front of our eyes, they saw oh, that's the hand of the sham, the little little lice and the giant animals and Everything that goes on the hail. We experienced them some hail yesterday in Houston. The hail, everything that God performed in those miracles, including the death of the firstborn, was so that every single Jew can have instilled in their nishama, in their soul and Muna, faith and knowledge of Hashem, and no one can have any doubts. So in what merit the Jewish people Get saved from Egypt? We're seeing, the beginning of the redemption is here, and next week already is the splitting of the sea. Sorry, in two weeks is the splitting of the sea, but we have the beginning of the exodus, is the beginning of the plagues and we see through it. We have seven plagues, seven plagues.

07:31
In what merit did the Jewish people deserve this redemption? What did they do right? We do know that the Jewish people are on a very low spiritual level. In fact, our sages teach us that the Jewish people were on the 49th of 50 levels of impurity. If they would have hit 50 at rock bottom, there's no getting out. They were just saved at the nick of time. When the Jewish people were standing 50 days after the exodus at Mount Sinai, they were at the 49th level of holiness. So there's a long journey getting out of the rut and up into the holiness. What was the merit? They were on such a low level. What was the merit that kept the Jewish people Alive and saved from Egypt? Our sages tell us three virtues. Number one Loshinu-ish-shmahm they didn't change their names. Number two Loshinu-ish-malbusham they didn't change their clothes. And then third, loshinu-ish-shmahm they didn't change their language. These three qualities protected them. These three qualities are what helped them get out of Egypt.

09:00
God says when you maintain, regardless of what's going on with your captors, what the Egyptians were doing to them, the Jewish people still maintained their language. They maintained their names and they maintained their garb. What does garb represent? It's not only to keep you warm. Sometimes fashion can be a statement. When you see a Hasidic Jew walking with his tzitzis over his shirt, it's a statement. It's a statement that I'm proud to be Jewish. I'm not going to hide it, the side curls or the pious it's representing. I'm not shy. I understand my responsibility and I'm not going to shy away from it. The way we dress represents who we are. Loshinu-ish-malbusham, the Jewish people said we're going to maintain our clothes. We're going to look the way we are supposed to look. They didn't change their names. They kept their Jewish names and, lastly, they kept their language.

10:18
You know what? You can speak German, you can speak Spanish, you can speak English, but we all still need to speak the Holy Language, modern-day Hebrew, but Lushanakodesh, the Holy Language. This is what it's all about. When I was a few weeks ago, I was out of Houston and I see somebody, clearly from Mexico. I heard him talking to his wife and children in the supermarket. I knew they weren't from Texas, so I don't speak Spanish. I said Shalom and they responded back in Hebrew and we had a whole conversation in Hebrew. It doesn't make a difference where you are. Yeah, you're right, I can't speak Spanish, they can't speak English, but we can both speak Hebrew. We need to maintain our language. We need to maintain our identity and not shy away.

11:14
So last week we addressed a question when does it say that one should pronounce their Judaism proudly. Where does this Jewish pride? Where does it say in Anhalacha? So this is the first source. We see it in the Torah. The Jewish people kept their pride and they were proud in the way they dressed, in the way they talked, in the way they they named their children, they gave them all Jewish names. But there's another thing my brother shared with me over Shabbos. I think it's so incredible.

11:53
What did the Jewish people we'll see in the next, in the coming portions, the Jewish people right before leaving Egypt, what did they do? They took the lamb, which was the, the representative of the idol of the Egyptians. This was their idol, this was their God. They tied it to their bed For three days and then, in the fourth day, they slaughtered these animals. And then what do they do? They roasted them. Why do you need to do that? Take your sheep and slaughter it when you leave Egypt, when you get out in the desert. What do you need to slaughter it here? Why do you need to roast it here? Our sages tell us it was roasted because then the smell of the barbecue is the strongest, and then the Egyptians will smell the scent of their idols quote-unquote being roasted, and then they'll know that our pride is not going anywhere.

13:04
So there's something to not sticking it to them. We're not trying to stick it to anybody. We're trying to declare our own identities with pride, without shying away one iota, even if it means that they're going to say hey, hey, you know, actually yesterday a man comes over to me this is yesterday. He says to me gives me that look, you're Jewish, you're Jewish, right. I'm like what gave it away? Like which part of this gave it away? My tzitzis, like my yamaka, which part you know was gave it away? Say. He says to me you're from Israel. I said yeah, and he, we went on to have this whole long conversation and it was very nice, it was a very special interaction.

13:54
Our job is to represent our beliefs without shying away. Our job is not to hide it so we just look like it will blend in, we look like everybody else. That's not our job. This isn't you have to stick it to them. We have to stick it to anyone. It's not a competition. We have our responsibilities, they have their responsibilities.

14:19
That doesn't mean just because you're a policeman it doesn't mean you don't walk around in your police uniform in the fire station. I don't want to stick it to the firemen that I'm a policeman and they're no. Each one has their own identity. We have our identity and we shouldn't hide it. They have their identity and they shouldn't hide it. But the more proud we feel, the more we wear it with pride as a badge of honor.

14:51
The nations of the world don't hate us for it. They love us more for it, because we are known to them as the chosen people. The nations of the world look at us to be an example, and when we are that example, that's when the nations of the world say ah, that's Hashem's people. Those are the chosen people and we hope the coming of Mashiach. We hope that Messiah will be here speedily in our days. Because what will happen when Messiah comes? We learned this in our Talmud class on Fridays. You can listen on our Thinking Talmudist podcast. What are we focused on? Right now? The world is focused on everything but God. What's going to happen with the coming of Messiah? Kishem Hashem, nikir Alehah, the world will see God, they will see the Jewish people and they'll recognize that God is present.

15:56
Just by the way, there's going to be a mad rush when Messiah comes, because everyone's going to say oh, I want to convert. I want to convert. It's going to be too late. You've got to get it now. If those who want to, you've got to get it now at the ground floor. It's going to be impossible later.

16:12
But then you understand, the nations are going to want to. The nations are going to say we want to be part of this. They have to be genuine, they have to be real, they have to desire truthfully, they have to believe in Hashem and they have to perform the mitzvahs. But it's such an important thing for us to realize the real perspective of how things work in this world. When Messiah comes, there's going to be total clarity in the world.

16:37
No one's going to have a doubt whether or not there's a God. The school for atheism will shut down All of it. People will suddenly know he nail the khenuzah. This is our God. We see him. It's so clear. It's like when we point at something, it's like we say here, this is a cup, this is a cup. We know, we see it.

17:02
Nobody has a doubt when I point at this. You know that I'm pointing to this cup. If I say this plate, you look at me odd. That's not a plate. When we point to Hashem. We say this is Hashem. It's going to be so clear, so real to everyone. No one's going to have doubts because they'll see it with their own eyes as well. Hashem should bless us all. We should have an amazing Shabbos. Don't forget to learn the parasha, and I'm so happy and proud of our new prayer podcast that we launched last week. Thank you to all of our listeners, those who are watching and those who are listening on podcasts. Please join us. Our next episode is beginning shortly. So, my dear friends, have a great Shabbos and I look forward to being together every week studying the parasha and, of course, now with our new prayer podcast, studying prayer together every week.