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.

00:13 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Alright, welcome back everybody. Welcome. Good afternoon, happy Friday. I wish everyone in advance a beautiful Shabbos.

00:22
Today we're going to continue the Talmud. We taught last week about the coming of Messiah and we talked about the different judgment that's going to be placed in front of the nations of the world, where the nations of the world are going to be asked what did you do for the Jewish people? Did you stand up in the UN and vote against Israel or for Israel? Did you vote for Hamas or against Hamas? All of these questions are going to be very serious questions and they're not going to be able to shy away in the court of Hague or other places and say well, you know, we have policymakers and etc. Etc. That doesn't work. And if you're a world leader and you say that Israel responded over the top, perhaps you need to be very, very careful is what I'm saying is that the Talmud here talks about the judgment that's going to befall the nations of the world. They're not going to know what hit them because they weren't properly caring for the Jewish people. Okay, so now the Talmud continues. The Talmud now says the Gemurr notes the discussion that we had last week, that we talked about how exactly the nations of the world are going to want to come and convert. So now he says others teach that statement that we mentioned last week from Erbitschok. They say it in the following way the Talmud was taught in the Braysoh. Rabbi Yossi said Le'osid lovo boin obdei kchov, mimis gairin, in the future to come, the idolaters will come to convert.

02:03
Now we know something is very, very important for us to establish at the onset, and that is in Judaism we do not proselytize. Number one. Number two is we don't go out and missionize, we don't try to convert people. It doesn't give us validation having more people convert to our faith. On the contrary, we say you have the seven mitzvahs, the seven Noah's laws, and fulfill those and you're good to go. You don't need to come and be Jewish in order to be and earn your place in the world to come. So what happens here? So now the nations are going to come, but the other nations of the world are going to say, hey, we want to convert. We want to convert when it's going to be a little bit too late, because once the show ends, you can't say hey, I want to. You know it's too late. So the Gomorrah asks Umim iqablin, minayu, but will we accept converts from among the nations at that time?

03:09
Now, one other point before we continue Is that Judaism is the only nation that doesn't proselytize and doesn't missionize and doesn't seek converts. It means if someone comes to convert in Judaism, we say, nah, not a good idea. And then they come back and like, no, I really want to convert. Nah, not a good idea. And that's what the halakh says to push them away. Because we're not looking for members. We're looking for genuine, real, authentic people who want a close connection to Hashem through not only seven channels of the seven al-Qaeda laws, but 613 channels that they want to take it all in.

03:50
Now, other nations I got a comment from someone. He wrote too long of an email so I didn't even bother, but it was. It was like just tell me what you want in three lines, or it's like you know, but it was like 30 paragraphs of like a whole thing about the Quran and things like that. So what I? What the bottom line is like this is that the other nations if you don't convert to their faith, you're considered an infidel or you get eternal damnation and Christianity right Because you don't accept their Lord and Savior Happens to be a nice little Jewish boy.

04:24
Okay, so I you know, I you know what we say when Jewish people complain and a store, they don't want to speak to the store manager, I want to speak to the owner. You know what I mean. I don't want to speak to the nice Jewish boy, I want to speak to the boss, the big boss, and we talk directly to Hashem. We don't go through intermediaries, we don't go through. Now. It's not, we're not here to put down anybody and whatever their thing is. But our commandment in the Torah is you shall not have an idolatry before Hashem. And that's what you're doing when you're serving a person and calling him a God. That's definitely inappropriate in the Torah's eyes.

05:04
So now the nations of the world see that the end of times are coming and they're going to say oh, we want to convert. So are we going to accept them? We learned in Ebrisa we will not accept converts in the Messianic era, for Israel will then be ascendant and would be converts, would will be assumed to be acting out of ulterior motives. So the Cayote Ben. Similarly, low Kiblu garrim. We see that they did not accept converts. Low Bimey David, low Bimey Shlomo, neither during the days of David, king David and nor during the times of King Solomon, for during these periods Israel was ascendant, israel was at the top of its game.

05:54
And when they were at the top of the game, of course everybody wants to join. Everybody wants to go where it's popular, where the influencers are, and the Jewish people at that time were influencer status. You know what I mean. Everybody wants to be in their group and everybody wants to be part of that famous people, someone who's Jewish. There's a mitzvah to expose them and to bring interest to them in their Judaism. If the guy keeps saying no, so there's a hope that one day they'll say yes. That's why he's doing this. They'll hopefully one day. I'll give you an example. There are different ways in Jewish outreach. Now, jewish outreach is focused on Jewish outreach. It's not focused on Christian outreach. It's not focused on Islam outreach, muslim outreach. It's not focused on, you know, atheist outreach.

06:48
If you're Jewish, then we want you to have as rich a relationship as possible with your creator of heaven and earth, okay, and have a personal relationship. If someone is not born Jewish, then that's conversion. Someone who is Jewish, they're Jewish. You just want to make that relationship richer. I'll give you an example.

07:10
I got a phone call from Home Depot about two months ago, like towards the end of December, and they said we just want you to know that you're a very valued customer of ours. I thought it was like a scam. Okay, what's the catch here? And you have a credit by us that you haven't used and it's going to expire before this and this date in January. So we just want to let you know about it, right? So what are they doing? They're just like we don't want you to be an unpleased customer because you never got any benefits. You understand, because you didn't understand what was in this relationship.

07:47
When we are part of a Jewish people and we don't maximize that relationship as a Jew, then we're missing out. And just like our children, we wouldn't want them to miss out on the birthday party, we wouldn't want them to miss out on the bar mitzvah. So we try to encourage them oh, why don't you go? Go be with your friends, you'll have a good time. So too, as Jews, as fellow brothers and sisters to one another, we want to make sure that people maximize the beauty of Shabbos and maximize the beauty. It's not trying to convert anyone.

08:16
If someone says, no, leave me alone, don't bother me, which, by the way, that changes. I had a guy who told me I reached out to him, probably back in 2010. Someone gave me his phone number. He says just give him a call. I think he can use a rabbi. You know a Jewish guy. So I called him up in 2010 and the guy is like listen to me, don't ever call me again, lose my number. Okay, ten years later I get an email from somebody. He says to me I have this guy I do business with. I think you should give him a call. I look at the name. I'm like I know that name. I looked into his record and I see he told me in 2010, don't bother me, don't lose my number. I obviously didn't lose his number, but I didn't bother him since I called him in 2020. He's like okay, when you come to my office, it was 10 years later, but he was very excited to meet in his office and to talk and to become friends.

09:07
So it's just because someone says leave me alone, it doesn't necessarily mean leave me alone. It means leave me alone. Now. You know what they say. No doesn't mean no, it means K-N-O-W. They need to know more. You need to know more. They need to have more understanding in the. So it could be that it's a time where someone says you know, leave me alone right now, but in the future it doesn't mean now if you tell them, listen, you're bothering me, you're bothering me, you're bothering me, stop bothering me. Right, that's a different story. They might get it. You just like give a nice, a nice. No, sometimes they're like okay, no today, but maybe yes tomorrow.

09:44
Okay, but we're talking about conversion. We're talking about someone who's completely not Jewish, not born to a Jewish mother, and now wants to join the Jewish faith. They want to join and there's a process to this. Okay, meaning, I had a guy who called me up. He said that his daughter, his son, got engaged and his son was going to get married to this girl. I said, oh, very nice, where's she from? She's from Utah. Who lives in Utah? Mormons live near, she's a Mormon. So, either way, I said to him what's the plan? I mean she's not Jewish. He says, oh well, she's converting. I said, and this was like she's converting. Like in a week and a half, $1.99, just pay here, fill out the application and you're good to go.

10:31
Like that's not the way conversion works. He says well, she's more involved in Jewish community than many Jews I know. I said that could be possible, but you know what? I'm an aviation enthusiast. I'm an aviation enthusiast, I know a lot about planes. Will you let me fly the plane without a license? But I'm more of an enthusiast than most pilots. So, like that doesn't make a difference. If you don't have the license, you cannot operate the airplane.

11:02
So just because someone is an enthusiast about Judaism, it doesn't mean that they qualify to be Jews. There are principles that the Torah says that under these guidelines, under these fundamental principles, someone accepts them and they're willing to accept the entire Torah upon themselves, which a betin, a bona fide betin, which is a Jewish court. If they determine that the person is serious, they're observing the Torah, they're following the mid-svote, then they say OK, let's see and they'll evaluate whether or not this person is worthy of becoming a convert in their court. Now the person may say I'm not interested in going to this court, I'm going to go to a different court. That's fine, you can do that, but you want to get.

11:47
Just for those out there who are interested in converting to Judaism, I would recommend to find the like, just like we do for education. We don't say you know what? What do you say about the student who went through med school, who got top of the class, and the guy who got the bottom of the class but still passed? You know what? You call them Doctor. It doesn't make a difference if they're at the top of the class or the bottom of the class. But we all know that everybody wants to go to the best medical school and everybody wants to go to the best law school, and you want to get the best conversion, highest level.

12:19
We don't go cheap on our cars, we don't go cheap on our houses. Why are we going cheap on our relationship with God? It doesn't make any sense to me. So therefore, I say that if you're doing it, do it and you'll be welcomed and you'll be accepted and loved and appreciated in the Jewish community. But the, the and don't. Don't try to find shortcuts. There's no shortcuts to building a relationship. There's no, and what we're doing essentially is building a relationship with the Almighty.

12:52
So when the nations of the world see that the end of time is coming, suddenly they're going to say oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We want to jump on board. We want to jump on board and by that time it may be too late. So the Gomorrah says how can you say that they're going to convert at the time of Messiah? We know we don't accept converts when the Jewish people are ascendant. So the Gomorrah answers elishanasu gerim gururim.

13:21
Here the Brysa means to say that the nations will be, would be converts, uminichin, tfilin bur'ashayim, and they will place tfilin on their heads, tfilin bezerosim, and tfilin on their arms, tzitzis bevigdayim, tzitzis on their clothes, mezuzah befitchehem and mezuzahs on their doorways. Ke'ivon shiroin, milchemiz, gogo ma'gog. Once they see the war of Gog and his nation, magog, that will be waged against Israel, omer Lahand, the nations will ask Gog and Magog, al ma'basen, for whatever you come, omerim lo. They will answer them al ha'shem ve al mashicho. We have come to wage war against ha'shem and against his anointed. Shenem ar loa rokshogayim ulu'umim yehaguirik.

14:10
Where? Why do nations gather? The verse says why do nation gathers and regimes talk in vain? Vechol echod menatek, mitzvoso, veholech. And each one of the nations will rip off the mitzvos and go on his way, thus revealing their true colors, meaning they're going to start the process but not finish the process. Shenem ar nenatek esmose simo. They will. Let us cut their cords and cast off their ropes. Vechol echod eshborchu yosev u mesachek.

14:44
And then ha'shem will sit among them and laugh. As it states Yosev be shamaim yishchog, he who sits in the heavens, will laugh. Rebbe Yitzchog says e'en lo la'chod eshborchu schog ele osa yom bavad. That ha'shem only has one time where laughter overtakes him, and that is that one day when all of the nations suddenly run and you see the true colors of everyone.

15:09
Now I want to share with you something, if you heard, is three mitzvos that were pointed out here, three of the most important mitzvos. One is the mitzv of Tefillin, second is the mitzvah of Tsitsis and third is the mitzvah of Mzuzo. Tefillin and Tsitsis are something on our body and Mzuzo is on our homes, but I want to share with you that I think the easiest mitzvah to perform is the mitzvah of Tsitsis. Why the mitzvah of Tsitsis? You see, tefillin need to be worn with a tremendous seriousness. It needs to be done with a clean body, with a clean mind. You're not allowed to be falling asleep, you're not allowed to be thinking other thoughts. It's a very serious mitzvah, it's a powerful mitzvah, but Tsitsis and by the way, you can't talk with your Tefillin on idle chatter. You can't go into the bathroom with your Tefillin, right, there's a lot of restrictions to the mitzvah of Tefillin, but for the mitzvah of Tsitsis there's no restriction. There's no restriction All day. You walk around. Every nine feet you walk in Tsitsis. You fulfill another mitzvah. You can wear the mitzvah. You put it on in the morning like an undershirt. You have the fringes instead. They don't have to be sticking out of your pants, right, they can keep them tucked in even. And that's it. Nobody even knows.

16:54
I remember one of my students many years ago. He was working in a law firm and he started slowly observing and he called me up one day. He says I feel like I'm an undercover Jew. He says I'm walking around my law firm and nobody knows that underneath I'm wearing Tsitsis. So I said I need to see this undercover Jew. I came to his office that day and he pulls out his Tsitsis. He was so excited. He says but I'm walking around as a Jew with my four-corner garment with the fringes on it and nobody needs to know. It's not a yamaka. That pronounces on my head, I'm a Jew. It's not to fill in where everyone sees them. That's on my head, on my arm, it's underneath my shirt. Nobody knows that I'm wearing my Tsitsis.

17:42
It's such a simple, easy mitzvah and I want to offer everyone. You know we have a war going on right now in Israel. Our brothers and sisters are fighting a very, very serious battle for our survival, and what happened at the beginning of the war was absolutely miraculous, where you had thousands and thousands of soldiers saying I want, I'm going into battle, I want armor, not body armor, shachpatz, which is the bulletproof vest. I want the spiritual bulletproof vest. I want to wear Tsitsis, and thousands and thousands and thousands of peers of Tsitsis were given out to soldiers. In fact, the first and second week of the war, the number one selling item in all of Israel was Tsitsit, and I'm offering here that anybody who wants both those listening online, those watching online and those here live in the room, those on, on, on. I have peers of the green army Tsitsit and the strings right here in the torch center and we can make them together. I'm happy to do one night a special event where we prepare the Tsitsit, will tie the Tsitsit for our own selves and you can wear the same green, army green that the soldiers are wearing in Gaza. So I'm offering it. You tell me when and we'll come here together. We'll all do it together. It'll be a night in. We'll come. It takes about 30 minutes to put together all four corners of the Tsitsis and we'll learn about it. We'll do it together. It's an incredible activity, but also an unbelievable mitzvah, and I'm offering everyone this opportunity. We can look like those soldiers Really impressive, good looking soldiers. Every yeah, well, it's, it's, it's every dollar. Almost every four, almost that one walks with Tsitsis is a mitzvah. Yes, yes, every, every single, every, almost, almost. In this thinking Thomas series, we're almost done the whole time and not yet we still got like a good 10, 20 years, but we're almost. We're almost done.

19:58
It's very important for us to recognize these mitzvahs. If you don't have a mizuzah on your door, we have a scribe in Houston that writes mizuzahs. Who writes to fill in. It's such a special thing for us to bring that godliness into our lives on a daily basis. It's really really special, really powerful. But either way, what we're saying here is that the nations of the world come and then run away. Run away, like you know. It's like, oh, we're terrified.

20:24
The idea is we have to be able to also withstand the test of life. You know, before they shoot a rocket, they do engine tests and more engine tests and more engine tests to see that it can withstand that kind of pressure that they can. The part of our growth is we constantly have challenges where Hashem tests us to see whether or not we're able to handle challenges and, for example, when we were talking in our Musseh Masterclass, we were talking about any trait that we would talk about so many times. People say anger. I'm an easy guy, I don't get angry, not a big deal. And then when we learned about it, they're like you know what? I didn't realize that I get angry more than I thought I did. Because as soon as you learn about something and you start growing, hashem tests us and gives us another test so that we can strengthen that muscle. Life is a journey of growth. Life is a journey of growth when we're dead, there's no more opportunities. But while we're on this side of the grass, we constantly have opportunities for growth where Hashem will test us to see strengthen us.

21:34
Right now, the Jewish people as a whole are being tested in our Emuna. We're being tested in our connection with Hashem. We're seeing terrible tragedies and it's very difficult for many Jews to be pronouncing their Judaism out loud. What do you mean? I don't want them to know that I'm Jewish. Well, that's one way of looking at it. There's another way of looking at it which is like heck, yeah, I'm going to show you that I'm Jewish and I'm not going to hide it. And no anti-Semite is going to make me shy away from my Jewish pride. I'm proud to be Jewish and nothing's going to stop me. Wherever I go, I'm going to proudly proclaim it with my kippah. I'm going to have my tzitzis. I'm going to do all the things that I do with pride. Which one helps us more, which one brings us closer in our connection with Hashem? So the Talmud here continues.

22:32
The Talmud challenges Rebutzchuk's statement. He says ain't he. Is it indeed so that there is never a laughter in the presence of Hashem, except for that one day? And the Homer of Judah said, in the name of Rav Shteim es reshoz hava hayom? The day is comprised of 12 hours shalo'osh harishonos akharishporuchu.

22:54
Yoshhe v'osek v'etorah. The first three hours of the day, hashem learns Torah, the Shniyos. The second three hours yoshhe v'edonakol iskola'olom kulo. Hashem sits and judges the entire world. The Kaven, shrusheschaya'olom kloya, all made me kisehadin v'yoshvakisirahim. Once Hashem sees that the world is deserving annihilation, he stands up and goes to the throne of judgment and goes to the throne of mercy Shleshios. And the third three hour period of the day yoshhe v'zon eskola'olom kulo.

23:35
In the third three hour period of the day, hashem sits and provides nourishment for the entire world mikharinir re'emim ad-baitsekinim. From the horns of the re'emim, which is a tall beast with beautiful horns, all the way to the smallest little eggs of the lice, hashem feeds everyone. In the fourth quarter of the day, yoshhe v'om esachekim lev'yoson, he sits and amuses himself with the Leviathan Shenemar lev'yoson. Ze yotsartu l'sachek, you created the Leviathan to sport with it. Thus we see that Hashem amuses himself. He laughs during a portion of every day.

24:21
How, then, can you say that there is never amusement in the presence of Hashem, aside for that one day? Now? By the way, the Talmud says that the same thing that Hashem does during daytime, hashem does during the evening. So you just multiply it. The first quarter of the evening, hashem is learning Torah. The second quarter, hashem is judging the world. When he sees that the world deserves annihilation, he goes from his seat of judgment and goes to his seat of mercy. Then, in the third quarter, hashem feeds the entire world. Make sure that everybody gets their food. Everybody has lunch. Did anybody miss lunch? There you go. Chef Ed brought delicious lunch for everyone. And then we have the fourth quarter of every day where Hashem is amusing himself with the Leviathan.

25:13
So the Gomorrah answers on the Rev Nachman, rev Nachman, by Yitzchak. Rev Nachman says Rev Nachman, the son of Rev Yitzchak, says Im briozov mesachek, it's that he laughs with his creations every day. Ve al briozov eno mesachek. El lo osohayom b'vad. Hashem laughs with his creations every day, and those are the moments of joy and happiness that we have in our days. But about his creations, about his creatures? That is on account of sins that they have committed? Hashem only laughs on that one day alone. Okay, hashem doesn't laugh about his creations on a daily basis. On the contrary, hashem gives us opportunities for laughter. So I want to share with you something that I'm reminded of my rabbi. May he live and be well.

26:04
Rabbi Yitzchak Berkowitz just recently said in one of his classes I was listening to that one of the most beautiful and most amazing blessings that we have in Judaism, that unfortunately we don't say enough, is the blessing that we recite under the chuppah, under the chuppah, when a couple gets married, we say a really, really magnificent blessing. We say blessed are you, hashem, our God, king of the universe, asher Barah, sasain Vesimcha, who created joy and gladness, khosan v'chala, the groom and the bride, gila Reena, dica V'chedva, all these different forms of happiness and joy, mirth, glad, song, pleasure, delight. And then gets thrown in Ahava v'achva, v'shalim v'reios love, brotherhood, peace and companionship. And then we continue to say may Heirah Hashem y'shamah, please, hashem, let it be soon heard in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the sound and joy of the songs of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the songs of the groom's jubilation from their canopies and the youths and of the youths from their song-filled feasts. Let's talk about weddings we're going to have in the streets of Jerusalem. People are going to be dancing, going to be unbelievable joy.

27:31
But you notice that we throw in here, with all of this joy, we throw in a great gift from Hashem and that is the concept of love, of brotherhood, of peace, of companionship. This is a gift from Hashem. You ever wonder that feeling of love, that feeling of just a closeness and a connection to the people we love. Where does that feeling come from? That's a gift from Hashem too. Hashem created that special feeling for us and it's an unbelievable blessing that we thank Hashem for creating these pleasures for us. I think it shouldn't be taken lightly that God created these pleasures for us. That feeling of a young bride and a groom who fall in love so special, it's incredible. And then they get married and that love hopefully grows and it continues to grow and then they have children and hopefully that love for their children, that love, is also a blessing, special blessing from Hashem. All the different forms of joy go along with that blessing of love.

28:47
So Hashem doesn't laugh at his creations. Hashem gives us the opportunity to have laughter, hashem gives us the opportunity to have that joy. But there's only one time that Hashem laughs at his creatures, at his creations. The Gomorrah questions the statement that God amuses himself with his creatures every day. Omrileiravachalirav. Nachman Bar Yitzchokavachah said. Tour of Nachman Bar Yitzchok miyom shacharavbeisamigdosh.

29:18
From the day the Holy Temple was destroyed, e'en shcholklakotishboruchul. There is no laughter for the Holy One. Hashem has no laughter because his Holy Temple, his residence, has been burnt down. Hashem's residence is the Temple in Jerusalem and we know that for over 2,000 years. There is no Temple in Jerusalem.

29:39
We're hoping and praying every single day, shiibonabesamigdosh, that the base of Miigdosh, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, should be rebuilt with the coming of Messiah, god willing. But God doesn't have laughter, it says when there's no Temple, he's homeless. You go to a homeless guy unless he's on something, he's not going to be laughing, because it's not a very good situation to be living under a bridge. Hashem, in a way, is living under a bridge right now and that's why we pray every day Hashem, please, we need your Temple rebuilt to restore your glory in the world. What we're going to do in the time of the coming of Messiah is that now the whole world will seek Y'sheim, hashem, nikra, alecha. Wow, you're godly people. There is a God, there is a Creator of Heaven and Earth. How can we have gone astray, how can we have distanced ourselves and invested all of our time in culture and science, as those are the idols in technology, when we didn't realize that Hashem was right here in front of us?

30:47
Before clarifying its question, the Gomorrah provides source for the statement Umnoondileka schokhen. From where do we know that there is no laughter after the destruction of the Temple? The Gomorrah suggests a possible source and immediately repudiates it Ilayy ma medichsi v'yikra Hashem alokim tzvos, bayom ahu levchii v'lemisvaydu l'koroch'o. If you want to say that, it's from the verse, Anashem, god of legions, calls out on that day, the day of the destruction of the Temple, for weeping and for eulogizing and for baldness. Dilma huyom v'suloh, perhaps, who was only on that day that God was mourning, and not after that, and not today, not many years after that incident happened. So this verse does not prove that laughter ceased permanently with a destruction.

31:43
The Gomorrah examines a second possible source, elod ixiv, rather the verse that says the famous words in Psalms Im e'shkachech Yerushalayim tishkach yeminii tidbak lishonil ichiki imlo'eskereichi Rather, perhaps we can derive it from that which is written If I forget you, jerusalem, may my right hand wither, may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. If I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy and that's why, by the way, it's so beautiful at every Jewish wedding we break a glass. Why do we break a glass? The Talmud tells us. We break a glass to remember. Yes, you can have a great time of joy now, but we don't have a temple. Our temple is shattered, just like that glass, our temple is shattered. It should be with balance, have joy, have great excitement, but it should be with inmoderation. It should be inmoderation, put things into perspective. So the Gomorrah rejects this source as well. Fitakhah dhylak cosechihah, addiction. Perhaps this first means only that there is no forgetting of the destruction, but still they can be laughter. You can't forget it, but they can still be laughter.

33:14
The Gomorrah concludes Elam e Ha'a Ha'a sheisi me olam acharish is apeik Rather. The source is from the verse which says I have long kept silent, I have been still. I have restrained myself, having shown that Hashem indeed has not laughed since the time of the destruction. Or have ach asked Rav Nachman bar Yitzchok b'riviyos mayovid, if so, that there is no laughter in the presence of Hashem since the destruction of the temple, then what is God doing in the fourth quarter of the day? He's having a good time with Leviathan. But really, what's going on? So the Gomorrah answers Yosef umelame tnokos shobhizrabantorah.

34:00
Hashem sits and teaches the school children Torah Shenemar, esmiyorideyah esmiyovin shmuaah gemu'uley me cholovatikem shedayin? To whom shall I teach knowledge? To whom does one explain a message? To those weaned from mother's milk removed from the breasts? That's a verse, the verse in Isaiah, isaiah 28, verse 9. Beautiful verse where God is saying who am I going to teach Torah to? I'm gonna teach it to the young children. I want you to know something the Torah that we learn. I know I sit in the front of the classroom, but I want you to know there are so, and not every single time.

34:48
I remember this with my grandfather as well. I would come into my grandfather's room on the days that he was preparing his big lectures, in front of the Mir Yashiva and in front of the Yashivan Koltora and all these big, big Yashivan institutions, with thousands and thousands of listeners coming to hear his words. My grandfather sitting all day preparing his lecture, and I'd come in towards the end of his preparation. I'd say no, so what are you gonna say? And he would answer I don't know. If Hashem gives me what to say, I'll have what to say. If Hashem doesn't give me what to say, I won't have what to say. And it was with that simplicity. And I have found dozens, if not hundreds, of times where I've prepared classes and I was confident that this is the way the class would go. And I come in and Hashem puts different words in my mouth and something totally different comes out. I prepared this and the class was that. You know why? Because Hashem teaches the classes. We're little puppets here moving our lips, recording with cameras and microphones and things, but really the classes.

35:59
Hashem says I want to teach my children Torah. All right, you're the representative out there looking like you know what you're doing, but really it's all Hashem teaching his children Torah. So here is the verse that says that Hashem looks for his children and teaches them Torah in that fourth quarter of the day. So, lam'i o'redaya, to whom does God teach knowledge? Lam'i avin shmua. And to whom does God explain a message? To who? Lagmuleh mechol avalatikim me shadayim? To those who are weaned from milk and removed from the breast, and these are the little children, the young children and the older children who are already weaned.

36:41
The Gomorrah asks one, just one second. The Gomorrah asks umayyikara man hava mig marluhu. So initially, before the destruction of the temple, who was teaching the school children? The Gomorrah says I bayis eimah mitatrun, the angel mitatrun taught them. I bayis eimah haveha, avid that, both God and the angel. Oh, sorry that if you prefer to say that God did both, he amused himself with a Leviathan and simultaneously taught the school children, torah.

37:12
Thus far the Gomorrah has discussed God's schedule. So now you know what God does every minute of the day. So right, so to speak, during the day, the Gomorrah now inquires about his activities at night. Ubelayley, mayavid, and what does God do at night? What is he busy with at night? So I bayis eimah if you prefer, you can say meayin yama yama that whatever God is doing during the day, he does it night as well.

37:42
Before we get to the second and third answer, you have a question, excellent question. So if Hashem wrote the Torah, he gave the Jewish people the Torah. What is Hashem busy learning? It's an amazing question. So let me tell you like this what is the Torah?

38:04
The Torah is not only the manual for living. The Torah is Hashem talking to us. As I said recently in one of the classes I remember saying this that I was in a synagogue here in Houston with Barabayah Kobi and it was in. I was a guest by him on Shabbos and in middle of the reading of the Torah. You know, sometimes during the reading of the Torah it's not exactly the most exciting part of the service.

38:27
So, and people getting a little restless, you know, calling one person for Ali, another person for Ali, another person for Ali, like it's like it gets you know and then you read so Rabbi stopped everyone. He says I need to tell you something. What are we doing now? We're reading Hashem's message to us. That means Hashem is talking to us through his Torah. We're talking while Hashem is talking. We're talking, hashem is talking to us. It's such a powerful thought when we realize we're actually Hashem, through each weekly portion, is talking to us. He's telling us exactly what we need to know and what we need to hear. So when Hashem is studying Torah, what does that mean? Hashem is studying Torah. Hashem is reiterating his message, his message to each and every one of us.

39:22
The Torah is not just a book of laws or a history book or a story book. The Torah is a book of Hashem's. Will Hashem's communicate with us? Hashem wants us to know this and when we study Torah, that's what we're doing. We're learning Hashem's language. But it's not only that. It's also blueprint. It's the blueprint of the world. Hashem doesn't need reminders and Hashem doesn't need to say okay, today's the day that Iran does this and Iraq does that, and Syria and Lebanon and Israel and Gaza and Egypt or Mexico if you're the president. It's just amazing that, for those of you who don't know our president, he referred to LCC, who's the president of Egypt, as the president of Mexico. It's fine, don't worry, everybody understands what's going on here. So, either way, I think it's important for us to realize that Hashem has a manuscript of how this world runs. Hashem doesn't need to study it and to refresh in his memory, but the idea is that this is the structure of how the world operates.

40:41
Yes, question two. Okay, so, excellent question. How do we define the Leviathan and what's the Leviathan's purpose? I want to dedicate some time in our thinking Talmudist in future classes talking about Leviathan. There's several Talmuds that talk about Leviathan and, god willing, we'll get to it. So I'm just going to notate here that we will have a future class about that, god willing, thank you, all right, so now let's continue here.

41:13
So what does the Talmud say? So he gave an answer saying that God does in the evening like he does during the day. That was answer number one. Answer number two was that oh, he says and if you prefer to say, I'm a roche, al-kruf kalshalo, god rides upon his first cherub and God flies among 18,000 worlds, as it states, god's entourage is myriads, thousands of angels. I'll take Shinnon. Don't call it Shinnon, which is angels el-Sh'e-enon, rather Sh'e-enon. Referring to that means that they are not. That is, god's entourage of worlds is 20,000 minus 2,000 or 18,000 worlds.

42:15
The world we live in, the little globe, the earth that we live on, is part of a massive network, right, and there are different worlds that Hashem has in his endless expansion of Hashem. Hashem is ain't so. There's no limit and there's no way even to understand what that means. How far does the world expand? I don't know. It goes forever and ever and ever. That's right, because Hashem is forever and ever and ever. There's no time, there's no space, there's no limitation In that that Hashem created. There are 18,000 worlds.

42:58
Now, this world that we live in is the world where the Torah was given. Hashem says Shomaim, shomaim and Hashem the heavens. That's for Hashem to deal with and for NASA to be busy with. But to try to figure out, and they still don't have a clue. There are no Sanlevne Adam, but the earth. This earth Hashem gave to us, to mankind, for us to find our perfection, for us to utilize the wisdom of the Torah, to maximize our experience in this world. So we don't have to get into the worlds out there. That's not our world. Are there aliens? Are there not aliens? Hashem, shomaim, shomaim Hashem, the heavens that's for God, or it's not. Be grounded on earth here, two feet on earth. This is our place. This is what we need to be worried about. We need to be worried about interpersonal relationships. We need to be worried about our God's relationship. We need to be worried about our well-being here in this world.

44:00
The third answer by Yoshe V'shoma'a Shira Mipi Chaios. During the night, god sits and listens to the song from the mouth of the Holy Chaios. Chaios, literal translation, means animals, but in the spiritual realms, chaios are the godly angels. During the day, god is involved in acts of loving, kindness. Oh sorry.

44:25
Chaios are a class of angels mentioned most prominently in the first chapter of Ezekiel. Rambam notes that there are ten levels of angels, of which Chaios are the highest level. As we were talking about the highest level of angels, how many angels are there? Billions and billions and billions of angels. Right, because the Talmud says that there isn't a blade of grass that grows without an angel saying grow. Imagine how many blades of grass there are in the world. You need an angel for each one saying grow, grow, grow. Okay.

44:59
The third answer we said was the Chaios, that God hears them sing. What does it say, shenemar, the verse that backs this up Yomam yitzava'ashem chazdo'u v'lailo shiro imo? In the day Hashem commands his kindness and in the night his song is with me. Okay, so it means the angels are busy helping with the world's operations and at night they're busy singing with Hashem, singing to Hashem.

45:28
Another teaching Amir Ablaivi said kolaposek bedivitoro theosek bedivitor, ma'akilon gacheli resomim. So another teaching Whoever desists from the words of Torah you're learning Torah, you're busy learning Torah. You turn to your friend and you're like hey, you know nice car, what's going on, how things going? I guess business is going well, right. You're talking in regular idol chatter. Ma'akilon lo gacheli resomim. They will feed him long-burning rosem, wood coals. Shenemar kotvim maluach ale siach vishorish resomim lahmam. Those who uproot moist words on account of engaging in chatter, the root of rosem, meaning the coals, will ultimately be their meal. It's not going to be pleasant. The Gomorrah cites a different exposition that is also based on the verse cited in the Gomorrah above. Omer Reshlakesh said kola osik bator b'lailo.

46:34
Whoever involves himself in the Torah study at night, ha'kodishbor chum mosh'ich olov chhut shalchesit bayom. Hashem will endow him with charm during the day. Learn Torah. At night, hashem will bring unbelievable blessing your way. Where do we know that?

46:53
From Shenemar Yom om yitzavah shemchazdo, that in the day, hashem commands his kindness when Ovalayla shiro imi, when at night, his song is with me. And what do we know about the Torah? The Torah is called a song Ve atah kisvul ahemes a shiro hazos, because the Torah says ee in Durranimi, and now write for yourself this song. That's a commandment in the Torah to write a Torah scroll. The Torah is called a shiro, a song Ma'atam yom om yitzavah shemchazdo. Why does Hashem give his kindness and his charm during the day? Why, because mishum debalayla shiro imi. Because at night, his song, which is the Torah, was with me. So very, very beautiful.

47:37
The Talmud says elsewhere that if someone is studying Torah, you're studying Torah and you say ma'a noi ilonzo, how beautiful is this tree. It's as if you were warranting a death sentence. What, what do you mean? I'm praising Hashem, I'm learning his Torah and I'm praising Hashem. What's the problem? That should be the greatest act in the world. I'm not lazing around like other people might be doing. I'm learning Hashem's Torah and I'm praising him.

48:11
So our sages give a very beautiful analogy. Imagine a king gives you an award, a big, big present, special present, and you come to the palace on the day, then they have the whole parade and it's all for you to honor you, for you know some type of purple heart or whatever heart. It is unbelievable getting a big, big honor. You're getting the Medal of Honor, the Presidential Medal of Honor, whatever it is, and you come there to the king's palace and now he makes his whole announcement I need to let you all know what a great person this is and he says oh, come up to the stage, I need to present you your award. And then I'd like you to say a few words. Gives him this tremendous gift and it's beautifully wrapped, and he opens up the wrapping. He opens up the gift and then he stands up to the podium and he says King, I have no words. The beauty of this wrapper is just unbelievable. I've never seen such a wrapping like the one on this gift. The wrapping was just so spectacular and the wrapping was so beautiful.

49:26
How can I thank you for the wrapping? What would you say? That's a little odd. Why are you praising the wrapping? Praise the gift. What is the Torah and what is a tree? The Torah is the gift. The tree is the wrapping.

49:44
Hashem wants us to have a beautiful world around us. Great Hashem created trees. You're praising the wrapping. You're not praising the actual gift. That's harsh. It's showing that the gift is not valuable to you like the wrapping is, and that's why there's such a harsh punishment for someone who's in the middle of studying Torah. Great, you're doing a great thing.

50:08
But if you don't realize that this is the real gift, not what's outside now, if someone's not busy learning Torah, they should be praising everything around them. They should be taking the time and recognizing the beauty of a sunset and the beauty of a tree, the beauty of a leaf, the beauty of every single of God's creations, every species and every kind and every animal. Of course, we're obligated to do that, and we're obligated to do that with blessings, and we're obligated to recognize the beautiful sense of a fruit and a flower and an aroma. We have special blessings for this, so we're not taking that for granted, but there's a proper time for it, and that proper time is not while you're learning Torah. While you're learning Torah, you're learning the words of Hashem. That's the only thing you do, then the Gomorrah presents a different version of this teaching Iked Amri. There are others who say it as follows Amr Ishlakish said Kala'osek ba'atora ba'olamaze, whoever engages in Torah study in this world, hadom al-Alaila.

51:16
We just compare it to the night. This world is darkness. We don't see things clearly, we don't understand rhyme or reason. Why is this happening? Why is that happening? It's considered night. Hakadishborchum moshach olavchut shalcheset ba'olamabah. The Almighty will endow him with incredible charm in the world to come Hadom al-Yom. And the world to come is considered day, because then we have absolute clarity. We see, oh, my goodness, how did I miss the boat? How did I not see that this was connected to that and that was connected to this and this was connected to that, and everything makes sense now. That's the world of clarity. So when we learn Torah in this world, the world which is compared to darkness and night, we will be rewarded in the world to come with great reward Hadom al-Yom. And that's because the verse says Yom em yitzava ha'Shem chazdo, because Hashem will command His kindness on the day. The G'morah now continues.

52:10
Another thing about the virtue of Torah study Amra behud, amr shmoh behud is said in the name of Shmoh. What is the meaning of that which is written mayidech siv vetaase odom kidge hayom kiremes lo moushobom. The verse that states in Chavakuk, you have made man like a fish of the sea, like creeping things without a ruler. Lo mo'nim shlub ney adam kidage hayom. Why is man compared to the fish of the sea? Lo mo'lachit's teaching you maa dogim shabayyam.

52:43
Just as the fish of the sea, kivin sh'olim leyabosho meyadmeisim, as soon as the fish is lifted out of the water onto dry land, they die Af bney adam, so too with mankind, kivin sh'aparzhom adivre toro min amitzvos meyadmeisim. And as soon as they go out of their water, which is the Torah, or out of its mitzvos, they perish. The Torah is compared to water, as the Talmud explains soon. Thus, just as fish must be immersed in water to live, a person too must be immersed in Torah to survive. The Gomorrah now is going to show us a different explanation to this verse. D'avur Acher. We can say an alternative explanation Ma'adagim Shabbayyom. Just as the fish in the sea, kavun Shakhadra le'em khamo me'ad masim, as soon as the sun shines upon them, they perish. Kahpani Adam. So too with mankind, kavun Shakhadra le'em khamo me'ad masim, as soon as the sun shines upon them. They perish. Don't know what this means, but the Gomorrah does, and the Gomorrah is going to elaborate.

53:53
Ibayisayim ab'olam azay. If you prefer, you can say it differently. Say that they perish from the sun in this world. The Ibayisayim alaylam ab'ah, and, if you prefer, you can say that they perish from the sun in the world to come. Ibayisayim ab'olam azay. If you prefer, you may say that they perish from the sun in this world. Kaderab-i-chanin alayk rab'i-chanin says. He says hakol bideh shamaim chutz mitzinim pachim, all manner of suffering is in the hand of heaven, except for sickness brought upon by exposure to hot and cold. Catch a cold catch. Now we have to understand what this means. We know that everything comes from Hashem, but if you walk outside without a coat when it's 20 degrees, with beer foot and you know you're going to get sick, that's the way things work. Shenem artsinim pachim b'derech ikesh shom enash shoyi chak mehem. Cold and heat are in the path of the perverse. One who guards his soul will distance himself from them.

54:58
Talmud now gives another explanation to this Ibayisayim alaylam ab'ah. And if you prefer, say that they will perish from the sun in the world to come. Kaderab-i-chanin alayk rab'i-chanin says it's in accordance with what rab'i-chanin alayk rab'i-chanin says Umreb shem alakish. Rab'i shem alakish said ain ghennem lausid lovo. There is no actual ghennem in the future world, in the world to come. There is no purgatory, elakodeshpor ch'humot zichamem in artikah.

55:22
But what really happens? We know, there's this concept that the people are going to burn for their sins, right, okay? What is that it says? Rather, the punishment to the wicked will be meted out this way the holy one blessed is. He will take the sun out of its pouch, umakdir, and allow it to blaze forth at full strength. Rishoyem nidonimbo, the wicked people will be judged by the intensity of the sunlight. Bitsadikimis rapinbo, and the righteous will be healed by it. So there are those who the sun will burn them the time of the coming of Messiah. What's going to happen? The sun is going to get taken out of its pouch and those who will merit will be healed from all illness, everything, by that sun, and those who won't will be. It'll be like bzzzap, like a little zap. You know those things, the blue things, like you have the blue lights and the flies go in it. Bzzzap, bzzzap, whatever. That's the way. The sun is going to burn and make the wicked people disappear through the intensity of that sun.

56:28
The Gomorrah first shows that the wicked will be judged by it and then demonstrates that the righteous will be healed by it. Rishoyem nidonim, the wicked people will be judged by the sun. As the verse states kihine hayom bo boir katanur. This is, by the way, from my Haftorah, my Haftorah from my Bar Mitzvah. This is a verse from my Haftorah in Malachi, which is behold, the day comes, referring to that day, burning like an oven.

57:03
Vohayukol ze'idim holo seerish okash. And all the wicked people and all the evil doers will be like straw. V'lehato sum hayom habo omar Hashem tzvakos. And that coming day will burn them up, says Hashem, master of Legions, ashelao ya'zovlehem shoreshvah naaf, and that it will not leave them a root or a branch. Everything will be burnt.

57:29
The Gomorrah explains the final phrase lo shoresh bolem azzeh. There will not remain a root of them in this world. V'lo anaf lolam abo, and not a branch of them in the world to come. The Gomorrah demonstrates that the righteous will be healed by this hell. Tzadiki misrapin bo. The righteous will be healed by it because it says in that same mayhaftora again v'zor cho'alakhem yireishim yishemesh tzakom arpe bichnofehah. And it shall shine. For you, those who fear my name, a son of righteousness with healing in its race. And Reshlakesh continues and he says v'lo aud elosh shem misadnim bo. Not only that the righteous will be healed by that son, but furthermore, they will delight in the unsheathed son. It'll give them a nice suntan, it'll help their skin. We're not going to have to go to the dermatologist for skin cancer from sun exposure. We're going to have beautiful skin from that as well. So something to look forward to. Shenemar vi tsastim u fishten ka egle marbek, because the verse states and you, those who fear my name, will go out and flourish like calves fattened in the stall.

58:46
Okay, so, my dear friends, we're heading for some really, really special times that we need to be prepared for.

58:53
The Torah tells us, we see, here, in our, in our, in our Talmud, that one thing is for sure there's no free rides. There's no free rides. We're here for a purpose, we're here on a mission we're here to accomplish, and the Talmud here is encouraging us to do what we know is the right thing to do, and to do the thing that brings us closer to Hashem, and Hashem should bless us all, that we should merit to not live in a world of darkness, but rather live in a world of clarity, to live in a world which is daylight, a world where it's clear, clear for us to see. In the only way, the only way for us to get to that clarity is through opening up Hashem's Torah. It shines a light into this world. It shines a light into our lives. We're able to see clearly.

59:51
Anytime a person has a challenge, they're not sure what to do. You know what we do. We go to the Torah and we seek advice. Hashem talks to us through his Torah. Hashem should bless us to have that clarity every day of our lives. My dear friends, it's been a total pleasure have an amazing Shabbos. Thank you so much.

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