Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

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

00:14 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody to the Thinking Talmudist Podcast. It is so wonderful to be here. We are in Tractate Brachot 7a and last week we discussed that Hashem has a moment of anger. What is that moment of anger? We discussed that, that moment of anger. We gave the answer already, but the Talmud's going to talk more about it now. How long is that moment of anger? As quickly as it takes to say the word regah, kimemre, as the Talmud says and we all said it last week Rega, you say that moment of Rega, that's it. That's Hashem's anger has passed.

00:49
Okay, we also mentioned that Bilaam, the wicked prophet, tried to manipulate God's anger to be against the Jews and curse the Jews at that specific moment, and he did not succeed in doing that. So the Gemara now seeks the scriptural source that God's anger lasts a moment. From where do we know that God's anger is only for a moment? For his anger endures, but a moment. His favor extends for a lifetime. And others say that the source of God's anger being the length of time that it takes to say it says that it takes to say Rega. It says Chabi kimat, rega, ad ya'avor zo'am, hide for a moment until anger passes. For behold, hashem is going forth from His place to bring punishment. So we say, chabi, just hide for a moment, because it just takes one moment for Hashem's anger to pass, which is, by the way, a very good trait. It means if a person does get angry, there are people who get angry and you talk to them a minute later, they don't even know what they got angry about. They're like just passed, gone, they have no, they don't keep record of it. You know. They say that men should always forget their mistakes. Because there's no, you know, because their wives are going to remember, right? There's no use in two people remembering the same thing, right? So, but if someone gets angry, someone gets angry. It's not a great thing for someone to keep staying angry, as we learned in our other classes. It's not a good thing for someone to try to appease someonease someone in their moment of anger.

02:48
Okay, so now the Gemara discusses the time of day of God's momentary anger. And when does God's anger flare up? For a moment during the first three hours of the day, when the comb of the rooster pales and it stands on one foot. So every morning there's a moment that the rooster's comb pales and it stands on one leg. At that moment is the moment God gets angry, and that's it the Gemara asks. But surely at many other times of the day the rooster stands like that on one foot with a pale comb. So what are you talking about? Just at that moment? In the first three hours of the day, it can happen many times that the rooster does that. The Gemara answer is called Shato Isbe Shuraike Sumke. At all other times there are red streaks in the comb of the rooster. Some of the original red color is retained in the form of streaks Be'ahishaito lesbe shureiki sunki. However, at that moment, the moment that God gets angry, there's no red streak in it whatsoever.

04:23
So now there's a story regarding a sage who attempted to make use of this indicator For what? Probably to seek Hashem's revenge on the enemies of the Jewish people. We'll see in a moment. Hahu Tzuduki Mina Dehavi Bishvavuse Durev. So there was a certain heretic who was in the neighborhood of Rabbi Yeshua ben Levi, and this heretic would constantly harass Rabbi Yeshua by citing scriptural verses to prove his sectarian doctrines.

05:04
It's very interesting that we say we have a special prayer in our prayer every single day in the Amidah. We say it three times a day. It was called. Originally it was called Birchash Haminim, which is against the heretics, which were the original Christians, by the way, which were the original Christians, by the way they were as Jews, but going against the word of the Torah. Later they said okay, we're no longer Jews, we're no longer Jews, we're a different religion. Okay, but it's For the slanderers. Let there be no hope, and may all wickedness perish in an instant, and may all your people's enemies swiftly be cut down, and may you swiftly uproot, crush, cast down and humble the arrogant swiftly in our days. Blessed are you, hashem, who destroys enemies and humbles the arrogant.

06:35
So this blessing was added because there were a group of heretics that started to serve idols in human form, as we mentioned previously, and it's very interesting that the men of the Great Assembly did not add that prayer to the Amidah. Why? Because they said we are scholars, we grew up, we don't have any relation really to people who are heretics, but someone, one of the great sages of that generation, was from a family that had a group of heretics, who had a group of minim, and they asked him to write it Because he'd be writing a blessing that would be basically to punish his family members. He would have the right sensitivity to write it properly. And it says that the heavenly voice declared that he was worthy of having the revelation from heaven to indeed construct this prayer. So this made it 19 prayers in the Amidah.

07:42
We know there's supposed to be 18 prayers in the Amidah, so why is there 19? A little problem, and it's still called the Shmona Yisrael. It's called the 18 blessings, but we added a 19th, our sages tell us, because we firmly believe that it's going to be restored to 18, and there aren't going to be heretics in the world again. There's going to come a time. So we're not going to change it to oh, now, the 19 blessings, no, no, no, we're keeping it 18 because we firmly believe that all of the heretics are going to disappear in recognizing that there is a Hashem, there is a creator of heaven and earth, and that he is actually, if you look in the Ten Commandments, the Christians have a very big problem with the Ten Commandments, because you look at the first of the Ten Commandments.

08:31
The first of the Ten Commandments is Anokhi Hashem alakecha, I am Hashem, your God, asher, hozeiticha me'eretz mitzrayim that I took you, be'yitav edim, I took you out of the house of slavery in Egypt. Well, the man they refer to as God wasn't around then. So it can't be that that's the Hashem. So if you look in the New Testament, they don't have that commandment. You look at the first. They changed it. Don't have other gods in front of me, don't say my name in vain. It doesn't say I am Hashem, your God, I am your God. That's not a commandment in the New Testament.

09:18
Very interesting, okay, yes, I looked it up yesterday on Google. That's what Google says. I looked at many different sources and they bring from their writings. That's why they needed to create a New Testament, because it didn't fit right, because when you qualify, I am Hashem, your God, who did something right, and the person they call God didn't do that something because he wasn't around. It was a thousand years before he was born, got kind of a little problem. Okay, now, just a little.

09:57
Now it's very interesting that there are opinions that say that it's not even idolatry, it's not even. It's just it's not. You know, we're not going to get into it now, it's not the topic of our conversation, but just so that you understand that the generation of those heretics did not last long. It did not last long. It did not last long and eventually they were removed from status of being heretics either, because they just believed in a different religion. So they were idolaters, right. A heretic is more someone who twists what is true. An idolater is like he doesn't believe in what's true, he just believes in something else. Okay, so either way, yom Achad, the Shokal Taranagol of Ukmei, ben Kar Eid, the Arsa, one day Rabbi Yeshua took a rooster and tied it between the feet of his bed, the Ayinbe, and he steered at it intently.

11:01
He thought when that moment comes that the rooster's comb pales and it stands on one foot, I will curse this heretic, for then my curse will be effective. What happened when that moment actually came and the rooster's comb turned pale? What happened? Maybe Yeshua already dozed off? Omar, their partner of Yeshua, said Shema mino lav orach ar l'me bat-hachi.

11:36
One may deduce from this occurrence that it is not proper to do this. Birachamav al kol ma'asov, he brought a verse. The verse says that God's mercy is on all his creations, even the heretics, and it says as well also for the righteous to punish is not good. It's not good for a righteous person to punish. We shouldn't be going around trying to be the arbiters of judgment. Don't punish. It's not our place to punish. Our place is to be pleasant. Our place is to be kind, benevolent, forgiving. It's very interesting.

12:31
We're going to talk about this a little bit in the coming prayer podcast we're talking about. We're going to be talking about the special prayer at the end of the morning blessings, which is that a person should always be God-fearing, in private and in public, and it's a very interesting prayer. There's no real source to it in any of our liturgy, in our prophets and writings. There's no real. You know, it's not like it comes from Tehillim, it comes from Psalms. Where's it coming from? Turns out, I found in one of my books that I'm learning about prayer.

13:16
He writes that in the time of the Babylonian exile, they put guards in front of the synagogues. They were not allowed to recite the Shema. They were not allowed to recite the Shema. They were not allowed to recite the Shema. It happened many times in our history that they put special and if you did, you were executed. You're not allowed to recite the Shema.

13:34
So what did the Jewish people do? They added a new part to the prayer, which was Le'olam yehei, adam yirei Shemaim. A person should always be God-fearing. What is God-fearing Shema is the prayer of Ol Malchut Shemaim, of having the burden of Hashem, the yoke of Hashem, on us. So this was a reminder. It was written as an instruction Always remember, whether you're in private or you're in public, always have the yoke of Hashem upon you, meaning say the Shema in private, at home. And the decoy was also in public. Be God fearing, but the idea really in private, so that the Babylonian guards wouldn't understand the hint that was given. By the way. And if you look in the prayer book, it says prayer book, it says baseter bagoli, and it says by day and by night, like to always have this meaning reminding you say the Shema at home, every morning and every evening.

14:56
Okay, now later it was added into the liturgy to also recite the Shema right there. So we actually say Shema four times a day, twice biblically and twice rabbinically. We say the Shema right there. So we actually say Shema four times a day, twice biblically and twice rabbinically. We say the Shema in the prayer of the morning service, in the Shema blessings. We say it in the evening in the Shema blessings, and we say the Shema. And then we say in the morning, when we wake up, before we leave our home and then we say it as well at night, when we're home and go to sleep. And like this, we have four times that we recite the Shema, two that are biblical obligations and the other two that were constituted by the rabbis of that generation. And once we institute such a decree, we don't really stop with such a decree, because it's very difficult for a custom that's instituted to be pulled. Once it's instituted, it's in.

15:56
Okay, now more of the practice, sorry, of understanding the precise moment of God's anger. So the Talmud now says, at the moment that the sun shines in the morning and all of the pagan gods from the east and the west place their crowns on their heads and bow to the sun in worship. We mentioned this last week. Immediately, the Almighty becomes angry. This is the cause of God's anger. Right, the crowns and kingship belong to Hashem, the true king. He, in his wisdom, allots a certain measure of stature to mortal kings among the nations, which, by the way, is part of the blessing that we recite when we see a king.

17:09
When you see a king, there's a special blessing. I have it here. I will show you the blessing, and anytime you see someone who is of power, really tremendous power. It is proper to recite this blessing. It has to be someone who's actually in office, not someone who's a former, like a former president wouldn't qualify because they have no more power in their current status. Can you please pass me that sitter on the bottom? Yeah, that one, perfect, thank you. So in the magnificent Wasserman edition of the Art scroll sitter, we have a special section here which talks about which has all the different blessings. I'll try to pull it up here. So look upon seeing a gentile king who rules lawfully but who cannot be overruled and who has the power of life and death.

18:11
The following is recited but today it could be, I don't know. You see putin. Maybe he has the power of life and death, but I don't know. Do they have a legal system there? That really is serious or it's just a joke? Uh, probably president xi of china, umably a president of the United States. They say he's the most powerful person in the world. Probably not the premier of Canada, right, right? So you think of who are the people who have life and death in their hands?

18:44
Okay, listen to the blessing. Baruch atah Hashem Elokeinu Malachon. Blessed are you, Hashem, elohim. Blessed are you, hashem, our God, king of the Universe, who has given of his glory to human beings. That means God allows human beings a beautiful blessing. Right God, by the way. There's another blessing if you see a great Torah scholar, a great Torah scholar, you see someone who's a really masterful Torah scholar. There's another blessing if you see a great Torah scholar, a great Torah scholar, you see someone who's a really masterful Torah scholar. There's a blessing who has apportioned of his knowledge to those who fear him. That's an amazing blessing. You see someone who's really up there in Torah wisdom. That's anfully powerful blessing. Alright, so, okay. So now the Gemara continues. So then Hashem gets angry. At that moment when all of those kings bow down to the sun, he gets upset.

19:52
Okay, another statement by Rabbi Yochanan in the name of Rabbi Yossi. Rabbi Yochanan said, in the name of Rabbi Yossi, a single impulse of self-discipline in the heart of a person is better than many lashes. Yosef, mikama, malkios, shememar, where it is stated I don't even know why he goes here into this, I don't even know what the segue is here. We'll see in a minute. Therefore, for it states therefore, behold, I will hedge your way with thorns and I will hem her in with a fence and she will not find her path. And she will pursue her lovers but not reach them. She will seek them but not reach them. She will seek them but not find them. Ve'amra Eichov, ha'shuvah el ishi, harishon hitov, li oz me'ato. Then she will say I will go and I will return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than it is now. Reish Lakish Amar. Reish Lakish says Yosemim me'er malchios, self-reproach is in the heart of a person, is better than a hundred lashes, and he brings a verse for that as well. The humbleness resulting from reproof is more evident in an understanding man than a hundred lashes in a fool. Okay, another statement by Rabbi Yochanan B'Yossi. He's bringing a few of these statements, but he's going to return to our discussion in a fool. Okay, another statement by Rabbi Yochanan B'Yossi. He's bringing a few of these statements, but he's going to return to our discussion in a minute.

21:33
Another statement by Rabbi Yochanan. In the name of Rabbi Yossi Shlosh ha-dvarim bikesh. Moshim lefnei ha-kodesh boruchu. Three things. Moses requested three things from Hashem Ve'nasalo, and Hashem granted it to him.

21:50
The Gemara is now going to state what those three things are, but I want to, just before we do that, I want to just touch on what is the anger that Hashem has. So our commentaries explain that God's anger is not at the kings, who are idolaters. We mentioned this last week. God doesn't get angry at the idolaters. God gets angry at the Jewish people. Why does he get angry at the Jewish people? Because that's our job. Our job is to teach the world. Our job is to teach the world how to conduct themselves. Our job is to go out there and share that Hashem is the king of the universe, hashem is the creator of heaven and earth. And if the nations of the world don't know this, if the nations of the world don't understand this, then what's the problem? We haven't done our job. Hashem gets upset. Look, they're still serving idols, they're still bowing down to the sun, to the moon, and there's an entire Gemara that talks about why that happens.

22:53
Why did people distance themselves from the? Rambam actually talks about it that it wasn't out of a bad will that people started serving idols. It's that they said what is greater? What is greater than serving Hashem's creation? Even right, hashem created the sun. Yeah, but Hashem is too far for us. Hashem is too. It's too lofty of an idea for us to connect to God Sun. We see the sun. That's Hashem's creation. We're going to serve the sun, and then the moon, and then the stars, and then eventually drifted further and further away.

23:44
The Rambam writes that they didn't do it out of ill will, they didn't do it out of a rebellion to the Almighty, they did it mistakenly, thinking that this would be glorifying Hashem's name, and it's not Okay. Which is why you look in our 13 principles of faith, the 13 principles of what a Jew needs to believe in, that we say in the animamin, that we say in the yigdal, beautiful song that we sing every morning in our prayer you see the 13 principles of faith is clearing Hashem. Nothing else, nothing else, not the sun, not the moon, not the stars, not people, not money, not any type of blessing the person gets. Where does that blessing come from? Hashem? So don't bless what Hashem gave you. Bless Hashem, who gave it. Okay.

24:42
So now the Gemara says three things that Moshe asked for and Hashem granted so. Number one BK asked for and Hashem granted so. Number one BK he requested that God's divine presence rest on Israel, and Hashem granted it to Moshe. How then will I know that I have found favor in your eyes, I and your people, unless you accompany us and we know that Hash have found favor in your eyes, I and your people, unless you accompany us, and we know that Hashem did accompany us. Okay, the second request BK Me request that the divine presence should not rest on the nations of the world. Hashem granted him this request and I and your people will be made distinct.

25:35
The third request of Moses he requested of God that he make known to him the ways of the Holy One blessed is he with regard to dispensing judgment. He wanted to know. Moshe himself wanted to know. V'nasam l'on. Hashem explained it to him sh'nemar ho di'eni nos r'checho, make your ways known to me. Omer l'fon of Moshe said in front of the Almighty, your Bona Shalom, master of the universe, m'pnei ma yesh tzadik v'tov lo v'yesh t.

26:16
What is the reason that there's a righteous for whom things are good and there's righteous for whom things are bad? There is a wicked person that gets good and there are wicked people that get bad. So the obvious question that we all ask why do bad things happen to good people? This is Moshe's question, by the way. Why do good things happen to bad people? This is Moshe's question. This is 3,300 years ago, moshe was asking the Almighty this question. Amal Moshe Hashem said to Moshe Moses Tzadik v'tovlo Tzadik ben Tzadik, a righteous person for whom things are good, is a righteous person, the son of a righteous person.

26:59
Tzadik v'ralo Tzadik ben Rosh. When you see a righteous person for whom things are bad, this is a righteous person, the son of a wicked person. Rosh HaVetovlo Rosh HaBen Tzaddik. When you see a wicked person whom things are good for him, he's the son of a righteous person. And when you see a wicked person whom things are bad for him, he's the son of a wicked person. Right, rosh HaVetovlo Rosh HaBen Rosh Ha.

27:27
So the Gemara is going to explain this, and we're going to explain it here as well, but I want you to think for a second. Why in the world would it make a difference who your father or mother was? It's who I am. Okay, it's who I am. It's me. What does that have to do with my lineage?

27:47
I met an individual here in Houston, texas, who was a well-known rabbi, who in his speech, declared that his grandfather was a Nazi officer and his father converted to Judaism. And he is a very special rabbi who speaks his great lectures. What's it his fault that his grandfather was a Nazi officer. Look, we changed our ways, we changed our path. We left it. What is it my fault? All right, why are we blaming this individual? Or the measure of their reward or punishment is based on their lineages, and so it's an important question to ask. So, first is we have to understand that lineage does matter, and when a person does have certain roots, we have to work very hard to change those roots. That's our job is to change those roots and our choice.

29:06
I'll give you an example of how this plays out. Many people doctor will confirm this. Many people have challenging lives, challenging upbringing. They were abused as a child. They were abused by their spouse, they were abused by this, by that or whatever. Many, many different scenarios. You have two types of people that come out of it. You have more than two, I'm sure, but you have two primary different categories of people who come out of tragic situations.

29:37
Some people succeed and some people fail. Some people succeed because they say you know what? I had that trauma, but that's not going to dictate my life, I'm going to use it as a tool for success. And someone else might look at that and say look, I'm a loser because of this. They blame everything on that. Look, I'm not successful because of this. I'm not successful because and they have an excuse for everything there are people who take responsibility and say you know what, I'm not going to let that ruin my life. Yeah, were they wrong? They were wrong, they were terrible. I had a bad father, I had a bad mother, I had a bad sister, a bad brother, I had a bad uncle whatever it is, a bad teacher, bad friends can blame everybody for all of our failures. Or we can say, notwithstanding all of those terrible things, I'm not going to be a loser.

30:39
I met someone this week who had a very difficult childhood, early childhood, very difficult early childhood, and they declared when they got married and started having children that they're not going to do the same. They're going to change. They're going to be very, very different than the upbringing they had, and they've gone on to be very, very successful in their parenting. Someone was telling me this, telling me I was hearing the whole story that I'm not going to be like the parents that I had. I want to be different.

31:18
I'm not going to use it as a crutch of you know why I'm a failure? Because I'm going to point to my parents. You know why I'm a failure? Because I'm going to point to my appearance. You know why I'm a failure? Because I'm going to point to that abuse I'm going to. You know why I'm a failure? It's very easy to blame others, but to stand up and say I'm going to take responsibility for my life, then it's going to be difficult and I'm going to have to go and get help maybe, and, and I'm going to have to go and get help maybe, and I'm going to have to seek counseling and I'm going to have to talk to friends and I'm going to have to get encouragement and I'm going to have to reassure myself constantly. Yes, it may be difficult, but I'm not going to be a failure. I'm going to use it as a tool for success.

31:58
Let me give you an example. You may have heard. There was a fabulous basketball player on the Boston Celtics. Anybody remember in the 80s? Larry Bird. Everybody knows Larry Bird, one of the greatest, one of the greatest.

32:15
Do you know that Larry Bird had a father that was a violent drunk, grew up in Chicago, and you know what he did his entire life growing up. He stayed out of the house Because his father would fall asleep at about 7 o'clock, being drunk and beating everybody up. So he'd stay outside in the freezing basketball court in school and play basketball when his father would fall asleep already. Then he'd come home. Did he let it? I'm sure he needed a lot of therapy. I'm sure he needed a lot of people to talk to to overcome that, but he didn't let it take him over. He did not let it. He didn't let it take him over. He did not let it. He didn't use it as an excuse to be a loser. I know sad.

33:12
I'm involved with a lot of things in the community. People come and talk and I hear things, and one of the things I try to always tell people first is I'm not a therapist. I'm here as your rabbi, as a friend. But my first piece of encouragement is I understand your challenge and I'm so sorry and you need to talk to someone who's a professional. I'm begging you, don't allow this to give up on life. Don't allow this to dictate your future. You dictate your future and this the Talmud is telling us here. You're allowing the past to dictate you. That's your parents, that's your lineage. What happened happened. Don't let that dictate your future. That's my understanding of this Gamara. I'm inviting everyone to share their perspective on this. But, doctor, am I wrong? Here you got you, agree. I'll give you the microphone. Doctor, are you good? Am I off? Just tell me if I'm off. I'm okay, I'm safe, okay. Doctor says I'm okay. You know our in-house psychiatrist here. Guys, don't mess, I'm a lot, I'm safe, okay. Doctor says I'm okay. You know our in-house psychiatrist here. Guys, don't mess, I'm a lot of pressure, okay.

34:27
So the Gemara challenges the connection between one's parentage and one's lot in life. Omar Mar Tzadik, vitovlo Tzadik Ben Tzadik, a righteous person for whom things are good is a righteous person. The son of a righteous person for whom things are good is a righteous person, the son of a righteous person, whereas a righteous person for whom things are bad is a righteous person, the son of a wicked person, as we stated previously, right, is it so that one's fortune is dependent upon the actions of his father? You're saying that all of his future is dependent on his past, but the verse states it says elsewhere that sons shall not be put to death because of their father. So we see that you should not be punished for your sins of your past, of your lineage and we pointed out a contradiction between these two verses. And we pointed out a contradiction between these two verses and we answered, like Kasher, that it's not difficult. The Gemara says it's not difficult. One is when they continue the bad ways of their parents, and one is when they change, when they stick to the evil of their parents. And one is when they change. When they stick to the evil of their parents, then they're considered a Russia, a evil person, the son of an evil person, because you're continuing the same thing. But when is it that they're a righteous person, the son of an evil person? They changed it, they changed the whole script here. It is thus clear that a righteous son who does not follow the sinful ways of his father is not punished for the sins of his father. Accordingly, he can.

36:38
How can you say the Talmud's now going to say there's a contradiction here? How can you say that a righteous person for whom things are bad is a righteous person, the son of a wicked person? You already cut off that connection. So the Gemara concedes this point and offers another version of God's answer Eloho chikah amar leh. What did God really say? Not what we just told you, but differently A righteous person whom things are good for him is a completely righteous person.

37:14
When a righteous person has bad things going his way, it's because he's not completely righteous, rosh Hashanah. When a wicked person, it's because he's not completely righteous. Rasha v'tovlo rasha she'inu gomer. When a wicked person has good things coming his way, he's not completely wicked. And when a wicked person has wicked things, bad things, coming his way, rasha v'relo rasha gomer. When he has a wicked person who bad things are going his way, he's completely wicked. So Rabbi Yochanan said, in the name of Rabbi Yossi, that God granted all three of Moses' requests. I'll tell you that the Gemara may continue to talk about this. The Gemara may be talking about it soon. So we'll continue here for a couple of weeks still. So we'll continue here for a couple of weeks still.

38:03
But one of the things that we see is that Moshe had a glimpse and a vision at Rabbi Akiva. Our sages tell us that Rabbi Akiva was the reincarnation of Moshe and he saw that vision of Rabbi Akiva, his body being combed with combs of steel. Just the brutality. Moshe saw this and he says to Hashem this is your justice, this is your just, your just God. This is justice. The righteous Rabbi Akiva restored the Torah to its prominence, that same Rebbe Kiva has to suffer like this. That's your judgment, that's your justice, that's your mercy, that's your kindness.

38:58
What is this? And so? How did Hashem answer? Anybody remember how Hashem answered? What is this? And very so. How did Hashem answer? Anybody remember how Hashem answered? Hashem answered quiet, quiet. So Moshe continues to ask. Hashem says quiet. And Moshe asks again. And God says if you ask me one more time, I'm going to destroy the entire world. Oh, moshe got it where it hurts, right? Moshe got Hashem in a place where he can't answer.

39:41
Our sages tell us no, that's the answer. What does that? No, that's the answer. What does that mean? That's the answer. The answer is if you want to understand why things happen, you have to see a whole picture. You have to see the world from its beginning till its end. So Hashem is telling Moshe if you want to understand why something on page 522 happens, you have to read from the beginning of the book till the end of the book and you can see a full picture. You can't open up. You can't walk into a shul on one Shabbos one time and say such disrespect for the rabbi. The rabbi doesn't get an aliyah, the rabbi doesn't get called up to the Torah.

40:23
Hello, you weren't here last week and you're probably not going to come back next week. So you're coming in the middle of a whole year long. You're coming in the middle of a story. You don't know what's going on. Moshe, what are you looking at? Rabbi Akiva, and you're seeing this. If you want to see the whole picture, you have to see it from the beginning. God is saying I'm going to have to destroy my world so it starts over again and you're able to see from the beginning to the end, the whole timeline. Then you'll understand.

40:51
But if you're just looking at this picture with such a limited perspective, you're not seeing a full picture. That was the answer so many times when we are conflicted with why does this happen? How can Hashem do this? How can Hashem do that? That means we're too zoomed in. We're opening up the book at page 612, not understanding of this 25,000 page book. You're just looking at one story and it looks unjust. But if you look at the full story you see a whole different picture. You know we're way too close to start rationalizing or understanding or making believe we understand the Holocaust just 80 years ago. How can we understand that? We can't. We can't possibly wrap our heads around it. But when we zoom out more and more and more, we zoom out that lens 100 years, 200 years, 300 years away from that incident, suddenly we start seeing a different picture. Look what happened a few years later. There was establishment to the state of Israel. You started having robust yeshivas learning Torah. You have more study of Torah today, 80 years later, than you have ever had in the history of the Jewish people. Maybe Part of the picture we don't know, we're too zoomed in. We got to zoom out a little bit to see a bigger, broader picture. And that's the secret here.

42:25
I I believe in what the Talmud here is teaching us. So the Gemara says Rabbi Yochanan said, in the name of Rabbi Yossi, that God granted all three of Moses' requests. The Gemara notes that this is a matter of dispute. Who pleaded with Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yossi disagrees with Rabbi Meir. Why? Rabbi Meir says that two of Moses' requests Hashem granted, and one God did not grant him. Not grant him Sh'nemar v'chanosi. Yisasharachon virichamti yisasharachem. Afal pi she'enohogun virichamti yisasharachem. I shall show favor to whom I choose to show favor, which implies even though he may be unfit for such favor. Virichamti yisasharachem. The verse now continues and I will show mercy to whom I choose to show mercy, even if he's unfit for said mercy.

43:25
The Gemara turns to the next verse of the discussed passage. We know that Hashem said to Moshe you can't see my face. The price was taught in the name of Yeshua, the Rebbe Yeshua ben Korcho. The price was taught in the name of Rebbe Yeshua ben Korcho, kach Amar Loach, hakadosh Baruch Hu LeMoshe. Hashem said to Moshe as follows Kishu Rotzi, si Lo Rotzi, so Ach Shav, shani Rotze, shato Rotze, eini Rotze, when I wanted to reveal myself to you in the episode of the burning bush, you didn't want Mos self to you in the episode of the burning bush, you didn't want. Moshe saw and behold, the bush was burning in the fire. But the bush was not consumed. Moshe thought I will turn aside now, right, that's what the verse says. And look at this great sight. Why will the bush not be burned? Hashem called out to him, amid the bush, and said Moses, moses, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. But Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to gaze towards God. God says I wanted to appear to you, but you didn't want to see. Now you want to see me and I'm not ready for this. Okay so, but I don't want. Rabbi Yeshua ben Korcha thus understands that there is a plaint against Moses for not wanting, there's an argument against Moshe for not wanting to look at the divine revelations manifest in the burning bush right. Where was the time? Oh, so over here. Moshe's asking to see Hashem's glory and Hashem is not showing it to him.

45:14
The Talmud now continues. The Talmud, says. Rabbi Yeshua ben Korcha disagrees with the opinion stated by Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani in the name of Rabbi Yonasson. Rabbi Shua ben Korcha said, in the name of Rabbi Yonasson In the reward of three things that Moshe did in regard to the burning bush, he merited three things.

45:40
In regard to the burning bush, he merited three things B'Schar v'yaster Moshe ponov. In the reward that Moshe hid his face, zochol haklaster ponim. He merited the shining face that he had, that was glowing. B'schar ki yare, in the reward that the verse states, for he was afraid. Zochol v'yiru migesh esaylov. He merited that the Jewish people feared to approach him and the reward for the gaze that he gazed at the bush but then turned away. He merited that. The image of God did not gaze. The image of Hashem does not. Does he gaze? Okay, the Gemara expounds. We're going to explain what this means in a minute, but that's in Numbers. This is a reference to God showing Moshe his back. We'll see. The Gemara is going to talk about this more. According to this opinion, moshe acted correctly when he did not wish to look at the burning bush. He was able to see the back. And we're going to the Gemara ends right here.

46:46
The Gemara expounds the final verse of this passage. The scripture states this is in Numbers 12.8, then I shall remove my hand and you will see my back. Omer Rabchanabar Bizno. Omer, reb Shimon ben Chassida. Reb Chano Bar Bizno said, in the name of Reb Shimon ben Chassida, melamed Shehera Kodesh Borchu L'moshe Keshershel Tfilin. This teaches that Hashem showed Moshe the knot of his tefillin, which is worn on the back of the head. That's what Hashem showed him, and then next week we're going to talk about this more.

47:31
Why is it that Hashem even is showing him the back of his tefillin? We know that Hashem does not have a human form. What does that mean? That Hashem is showing him the back of his head. Hashem is showing him specifically, when the Talmud says it's showing him the back of his tefillin. It's for us to understand something. What are we understanding here? The first thing is what does it mean that he says I want to see your face and Hashem says no, you can't see my face, you can only see the back. Hashem doesn't have a face. Hashem doesn't have a back either. Hashem doesn't wear tefillin. Well, we see, the Talmud said that Hashem does wear tefillin, but what does that mean that Hashem wears tefillin? What does that mean?

48:14
Sages tell us a very interesting thing that the front means the future. What did Moshe ask Hashem? I want to see the future. Hashem says no, you can't see the future, you can only see my back, meaning the past. The back is always the past, face is the future.

48:36
Hashem tells Moshe you can never understand the future Because the only way to understand the future is to see the back, right, to see history. You're not going to know the future until you see everything. We're limited, we're not able to. But you know what you do have. You do have a vision at my back. And what do you see in the back? You see the Keshershot Tefillin. You see the knot of the Tefillin.

49:03
What is the knot of the tefillin when everything gets tied together, meaning you, every single one of us? Do you know what's going to happen tomorrow? No, do you know what's going to happen tomorrow? No, by the way, most of anxiety is worried about what's going to be. Doctor, right, I don't know what's going to happen. People get nervous, people get anxious. What's going to be?

49:26
Hashem says don't try to figure out the future, don't try to see my face, don't try to see what's going to happen. You know what's encouragement? Look at the back, look at your history, look at your entire life, what had happened, and you'll see that I was always there. I always tied the knots. I was always there coordinating everything. So everything worked out perfectly.

49:51
What Hashem is telling Moshe here? The Jewish people? The future. They're going to try to understand what's going to happen. Don't get nervous about what's going to happen.

50:02
Look back and see how it was always there for you. That's something we see solidly, every single one of us. You look back. You're like oh my gosh, how's that going to work out? Don't worry, look back. Look back. It always worked out. How is it going to work? I have no idea how it's going to work out. I have no understanding of how it's going to work out, but I know that every time in the past I was worried. Everything came together. Hashem tied all the knots perfectly. It worked out exactly how Hashem thought it was perfect for me and it was better than I even thought.

50:38
I lost the job. What's going to be? How am I going to support my family? Look back Hashem got you a better job. You got better pay. You got better conditions, more time with your family. I was so worried. We're playing one-dimensional chess. We're not realizing that there's a big picture here. Hashem sees the whole thing. Don't worry, he wants good for us. Hashem should bless us all. We should always have that clarity, that understanding of the past. See the back of Hashem Meaning. Look at how Hashem ties the knots for us. He always makes it work out and it always works out better than we expected. Why should we worry about the future? My dear friends, have a magnificent Shabbos.

51:30 - Intro (Announcement)
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