Talmudist: Judgement for Idolators
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)
Welcome back to the Thinking Talmudist Podcast. It's so wonderful to be here, it's so wonderful to see everyone here. So the Talmud that we studied last week, which ended on track at Avodah Zara 4a on top, we talked about, we gave two reasons why men is like fish. Number one is because a fish out of water will die, so to a Jew out of Torah will die. And then we gave another reason because fish, if they're exposed to the sunlight, direct sun, they will dry up and die. And so too, there's another parable to that where we discussed last week about that. Now we're going to give a third and, I believe, final comparison between the Jewish people and fish.
01:10
Okay, dava achar, an alternative interpretation Ma adagim shabayim. Just as the fish in the sea kol ha'godom chavero, bolay os chavero any fish that is larger than his fellow devours him, devours a smaller fish, avpani Adam so too it is with human beings, ilmallimorosh l'machos. If it not for the fear of authorities, kol agodom chavero, bolay os chavero whichever person is greater, more powerful than his fellow, he would devour his fellow, and this is the concept that was expressed in what we learned in the Mishnah. Rabbi Khanina, the deputy of the Khanim, would say have him espal, b'shlom os shlomachos, you should pray for the welfare of the government, shlomallimorosh l'machos. If it were not for the fear of government, ish esreayu haim blo, then men would devour his fellow. Okay, so what's going on here? Basically, in fish world, if you're a bigger fish, you swallow a smaller fish and you eat them up goodbye. That's the way it would be with human beings if there wasn't any laws, if there wasn't any government, if there wasn't a legal system to prosecute those who commit crimes, and one of those crimes would be devouring your fellow men.
02:43
Now let me ask a question though Do we perhaps do that in a legal way? Do we perhaps devour someone who doesn't act the way we think they should act? We talk about them negatively, right, la shun hara? When we speak negatively about our fellow, what are we doing in essence? We're killing them, we're devouring them in public. If we share that information in public, and this could be devastating for people and our society as a whole, it's really not a very good thing. We have to be very, very careful about that, that we shouldn't fall into that terrible trap of being devourers of those who are smaller than us.
03:30
Okay, the Gomorrah returns to discussing God's judgment of the idolaters. And if you remember the past two weeks, three weeks even we talked about what's going to happen at the end of time, when Mashiach comes and people will be held accountable for hating on the Jews. All right, we have a responsibility to we as the Jewish people. We have a responsibility to uphold the laws of the Torah. The nations of the world have an accountability to uphold the seven Archeid laws. So what happens if they don't follow the teachings of the seven Archeid laws, if they do not properly give opportunity for the Jewish people to fulfill their purpose in this world, then they're going to be held accountable for that. So now the Gomorrah says Rabbi Khanin Bar Poporami.
04:26
Rabbi Khanin Bar Popor contrasted the following verses. He says K'Siv Shaddai le Mitzonnuho Sagih Hoach we do not find the Almighty to be overbearing in His strength. And it says elsewhere K'Siv God al-Adunaynu v'rav koach. Great is our Lord and abundant in strength. So that sounds like it's a contradiction. And it's also written Yiminchoa Hashem. K'siv Yiminchoa Hashem, ne'edori bakoach your right hand, hashem is glorified with strength. So the latter two verses indicate that Hashem's power is openly manifest, while the first verse says that we do not observe God's full might. So what's going on in the Gomorrah answers lo kashiyah, it's not so difficult. Kahn Bishas hadin. In the former verse, we are dealing with a time of judgment, when God is judging Israel, kahn Bishas mochama. But we're dealing with the last two verses where we say that God's strength is so strong that's at a time of war, when God is defending Israel against her enemies. In such an instance, he crushes the enemy nations with the full extent of his power.
05:42
My dear friends, let's bring back the miracles of the war of 48, the war of independence, when we were attacked the day after the UN voted to allow Israel to become a state. What happened? We were attacked. I believe it was 13 nations and Israel who had few soldiers, if any, and an air force that was ill equipped. The miracles that were visible. And then you have the Six Day War in 1967. And then you have the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Then you have the War of the Golden Heights in 1982, shalom Agalil, and then you have the Antiphadas and you have everything that's been going on in Israel. And now, obviously in 2023-24, we have the Simchastor War. We see miracles that are beyond comprehension and we see that God is there with us, protecting us, defending us and creating miracles in front of our eyes, where you have.
06:55
I remember we had a neighbor when I grew up in New York City, in Brooklyn, new York, where we had a neighbor who lived across the street from us for a few years. He was a former IDF, iaf, the Israeli Air Force pilot and he said to us that he would. During the Six Day War he was shooting the machine gun of the fighter jet one way and suddenly a plane that he didn't even see and the other side and the other area out of his direct aim blew up randomly Out of no place. He would shoot there and that would blow up. And you shoot there and that would blow up. It was crazy what was going on.
07:39
City saw open miracles and this was when he was telling us why he became religious and why he decided to start observing the Torah. He said I was completely secular, he was a kibbutz Jew who had really no interest and no exposure to Torah, judaism and he wanted to just See this is this is these are open miracles. I have to see more into what this God is. Did in his his investigation, found that there is a God, found that he gave a Torah as a manual for living and joined those who are under the wings of the, the wings of God's sheen, of God's presence, and Decided to become an observant Jew. Yes, right, miss, it did. Look that this is.
08:31
This is the reality of how our Existence as a people doesn't make sense. Our existence as a people forget our military, the IDF. It doesn't make sense as a people that we can survive all of the expulsions, all of the persecutions, all of the Holocaust that we've experienced. It doesn't make any sense and yet we're standing tall, strong. You know, the greatest doctors in the world are Jewish doctors, right, doctor? Yeah Right. The greatest scientists, the greatest inventions? They. It's unbelievable. Okay, a similar dialogue. Rabbi, come up, a rabbi, hanina Romney. Rabbi, come on, the son of a rabbi, Hanina contrasted the following verses XIV Come on in, lee, I have no wrath.
09:22
Xiv no, came. Has shemmu Balch came on. That has. Shemm is vengeful and full of wrath. So which one is it? The Gamora answers low Kasha, it's not difficult over here. Khan V, israel. In the former verse we're dealing with God's relationship with Israel Towards his people. He does not display the wrath Khan be of the Koch of him, but here, in the latter verse, we are dealing with his relationship with idolaters, and God punishes them with his full wrath.
09:55
An Alternative explanation where Hanina bar Papa, on our Hanna, the son of Papa, said Hamah a Lee, the verse is to be understood as follows God says Although in theory I am full of wrath at Israel, I have no wrath at Israel. I have no wrath in my actual dealings with them. She car nishbati because I have already taken oath against becoming angry with them, me at Naini, she'll low nishbati. If only One would grant me that I had not taken such an oath, ehyeh, shamir vashas, I would be towards them like wartime Marauders who ravage a vineyard, leaving not but weeds and thorns. Meaning Hashem, if he hadn't made this oath, perhaps he would punish us too, but Hashem made this promise. Hashem made this promise that he will not Beat his people.
10:55
Okay, so now, if you remember, previously in previous episodes, we talked about the excuses that the nations of the world Will give to why they didn't support the Jews and why they didn't help the Jews, and we started this whole series Back when the Hague was in session dealing with the South African government's claim against the apartheid state of Israel. Right, so? So, obviously not, but. But that's what you do when you hate, when you're so filled with hate and you don't know the facts and you just go there. They're gonna be held accountable. They're gonna be held accountable. We said that. We say this in the UN as well. When they vote against Israel, they're voting against God, they're voting against God's people and they will be held accountable at the end of time where God will say what did you do for the Jewish people? You voted against them, okay.
11:54
So now the Gomorrah says behind who? The honorable, a chastendry? This reflects that witch of Alexandria said my dexive a hoi by Yomahu, avakish lahash me this color game. The verse states In Zacharia Zechariah, and it shall be on that day, I will seek to destroy the nations that come upon Jerusalem. Avakish me me. The verse states I will seek. Which begs the question from whom or what will God seek permission when he wishes to destroy the nations on record? Ish boruch with the Almighty, says Avakish Nignatia lahem, I will seek merits in their chronicles, which contain a history of their actions. If yeh shoes, if they possess merit of them, I will deliver them in love. If not, ash midaim, I will destroy them.
12:54
So imagine every nation, by the way, I think the greatest and most kindest nation to the Jewish people in history was is United States of America. The United States of the of America is the only country that hasn't persecuted the Jews, the only country. Canada's part of Britain. We know that the Jews had a miserable time throughout the British Empire, russia. We're persecuted and all through all, throughout Europe, in Egypt, obviously. We know we're only two months away from Pesach. We know very, very well how Egypt dealt with us, all of the nations you think of all the nations and how the Jewish people were pursued and and and and murdered and expelled and Burnt and slaughtered, one after another, one country after another. The only country that has never had a A system to hurt the Jews was the United States of America.
13:59
Now, it doesn't mean that there weren't specific instances, like in the Six Day War, where the American army betrayed Israel. That happened. I E, the USS Liberty wasn't randomly attacked by Israel during the Six Day War. It was espionage for the Egyptians and America was caught and Israel punished them and America apologized. Hey, it was, it was, it was not. It was not very good for for America. But either way, hashem will look at the end of time at all the nations open up their chronicles and say, okay, what did you do? What did you do to help the Jewish people?
14:39
I recently shared that we found the recordings of my grandmother and grandfather's interview by the Foundation what's his name? The? He does all the recordings of Holocaust survivors, spielberg, the Spielberg Foundation, where they recorded and they, they had about a two-hour interview with each of them, my grandfather and my mother's father, and my and my mother's mother, my maternal grandparents, and it's it's unbelievable. You know. He asks them questions of like when did you live? What type of home? Was at a house? Was it an apartment? Did you have, you know, a Paved street? Did you have like, what, like what? What was your life?
15:24
And they start explaining, and it's unbelievable, the picture that's painted of a vibrant Jewish community and what's left? What's left of that by the community? We're all their houses, where's all their property? Everything was taken away, gone. They're left with nothing but the clothes on their back. If they had that, taken to Auschwitz, taken to Birkenau, taken to, you name the, the, the, the, the hellholes they were taken to, it's just unfathomable, unfathomable.
16:03
My grandfather was born in Berlin. It's my paternal grandfather, born in Berlin. Where's his house? My paternal grandfather grandmother Lives in Lithuania. That a beautiful home, many children. Where's that home? Home is still standing. It's not owned by us.
16:23
Now, what happened to all of that? Plundered, taken away by our host nations. So then the coming, it's gonna come the end of time where God's gonna say oh, lithuania, let's open up your books. Well, it doesn't look like you did so much good for the Jewish people. And let me, let's look at Czechoslovakia, and let's look at Hungary, and let's look at Poland, and let's look at Germany, and let's look at England, and let's look at France and each one of the nations. What are they gonna say for themselves? We built bridges for the Jewish people. Really, that's what you did. You didn't build bridges for the Jewish people. You built bridges, like the Talmud says earlier, to charge taxes. You build the marketplaces for your own reasons. You didn't do it for the Jewish people.
17:13
Okay, the above stated Statement makes it clear that, while God does not seek excuses to judge the nations harshly, he does judge them rigorously, following the letter of the law. The Gomorrah cites another remark which makes this same point. I knew the Omar Rover and this is consistent with what Rover said my dhikse what is the meaning of that which is written low Be ye shlach Yod In, be fidol lehen shuah. But let him not stretch out his hand in total fury in their lot, his pit, which means destruction. There is relief for them, omerlein Akodeshborch. What is the Almighty? Tell them.
18:05
Lee's role to the Jewish people? Kishanidon is Israel. When I judge Israel, ain't any done, or some kid over the Koch of him. I do not judge them as I judge idolaters to Xiv, avon, avon, avon, asimeno. They have acted innocuously and there are sins, and, and for their sins I will make Jerusalem into runes. It's referring right, hello, I mean if Robb him keep paid shell tarnagolus. Rather, I punish them Bit by bit, like the pecking of a hen, meaning the Jewish people will get slow, little, small Destruction after small destruction. That's the way we are punished.
18:58
The Gomorrah offers a second explanation of the verse. And again, what do we punish for? We're punished for not properly observing God's ways. God says geek gives us the manual in his Torah and he tells us this is the way in which you need to conduct your life. And we're not listening, we're not involved. And Xiv means and it's written yeah. The Gomorrah offers a second explanation of the verse to varacher an alternative explanation. I feel a new storel. Oh, son mitzvah, lefne lefona. I key in math. Even if Israel performs before me only a small number of mitzvahs, capitual tarnagolus from in a crime by ashbro, like the pecking of hens who nibble in the trash heap, I mean it's our. From the cash one, god. Oh, I combine them to produce a large Calculation, a large sum. God counts every sentence. People don't understand.
19:56
Many people have asked here in the class well, you know, why should I keep kosher? I don't keep out all the misses of the Torah, it's not like you know, I keep. Maybe I don't keep Shabbos, or maybe I don't. I don't perform mitzvahs like this and profile. I don't put on sit this, I don't wear to fill in, I don't this, I don't that. Maybe it's hypocritical if I keep one mitzvah, not the other. So this is one of the Important things for us to remember as Jews that it's not all or nothing Everything that you can do. It's like. It's like someone saying like I don't follow all the laws, so why should I keep the speed limit? Why should I keep to the speed limit if I, if I don't, you know, you Know what everything that you can do is is appropriate.
20:40
The G'mor digress is for a short comment regarding the last two words of the aforementioned verse and then returns to its previous discussion. He says what does it mean? I share in the feed-o Lohen Shua. What does that mean? That Shua means relief, relief for them. Normally, the Hebrew word for relief is yes, shua.
21:01
Since the unusual term of Shua is used, the verse lends itself to be expounded in the following manner Beschar shemishavin lefoni, in reward of Israel's crying out. Shava means a crying out in prayer before Hashem, anima, shia Osam, the same word as Mosheah, which means I will deliver them from their distress. So when the Jewish people cry out to Hashem, hashem delivered, hashem saves them, hashem protects us, and this is one of the things that we've been talking a lot about in our brand new prayer podcast how the crying out to Hashem is Is so beloved that Hashem, because when we are Be a shavi, a love, when we are crying out to Hashem, hashem is Mosheah. It's the same root word. When we cry out to Hashem, hashem Comes and delivers us from our distress. So the Gomorrah cites another source which demonstrates that God, god punishes Israel in small increments. So they may merit a portion of the world to come.
22:11
As Rava has said about now, it's important to understand if Hashem wipes us out, we have nothing left. If Hashem punishes us too harshly, we may not be able to recuperate from it. So Hashem gives us little bits. Katana Gola, just like the beak of a of a Rooster, pecks away little bits. That's the way Hashem punishes us there behind with the Omor of Abba. This is consistent with that which of Abba said my dhikh see what is the meaning of that which is written.
22:48
But on oh, he after a hemer Debru, a likes of him, I would redeem them. But they have spoken lies about me. And he a marty. After the mnemon and Bola Mazeth, I said I would redeem them with their money in this world. Could they, she use school all on Abba, so that they will Merit a portion of the world to come, the hemer Debru, a likes of him. Yet they have spoken lies about me.
23:14
Understand this, see, many people are short-sighted. Many people are short-sighted in that they think that everything is about this world, everything is about this world, but that's not true. Everything's not about this world, everything is about our portion of the world to come. Sometimes a person can say what I lost, all my fortune. I had so much money. Hashem hates me. Hashem is punishing me. What did I do wrong?
23:40
I give charity, but a person needs to understand that we're seeing things only in two dimension, which is this world above ground, below ground. That's the two dimensions, but we have to see the pictures far greater, because there's another dimension, which is the world to come, the big picture, and sometimes, sometimes, hashem needs to punish the righteous in this world so that they get their portion of the world to come. Sometimes Hashem says the wicked I'll give them all their reward in this world so that they get nothing in the world to come. Where is it more important for a person to invest in this world or the world to come? Well, the world to come. That we know.
24:22
But it's gonna mean that we're gonna have to sacrifice a little bit in this world. What does that mean? You know, someone who wants the pleasure of running the marathon is Gonna have to let go of some of the pleasure To get there. What's that pleasure? I want to sit back and eat my comfort food. I want to eat my potato chips sitting on the couch and Watching my favorite show. Well, you're not gonna be able to run the marathon like that. You know what it's gonna take to run the marathon really hard Blood, sweat and tears. You're gonna run and your legs are gonna hurt you and you're gonna be out of breath and you're gonna be on the bayou and it's gonna be so hot and you're gonna be dripping sweat and it's gonna be unpleasant. But if you want to run that 200 to a 26.6 point two miles For the full marathon, or 13.1 miles in the half marathon, or the 5k, 5 kilometer run or the 10 kilometer run or the, they have this, now this, this 100 mile run. They do this like extreme marathon, unbelievable. You know how much hard work that takes. You know much determination that takes.
25:33
So anything worthwhile is painful, anything worthwhile. Do you ask anybody what is the most pleasurable thing in your life? They'll tell you my children, my Children, my children's the most pleasurable thing. But what gives you the most pain? Your children. The more pain, the more gain. So, and what gives you the most worry and what gives you the most concern and what keeps you up at night? Your children. But yet your children are the greatest pride and joy.
26:03
The more you invest in something, the more reward you get from it. And sometimes people think, oh, I want all the reward first. No, no, no, the reward you get first is maybe not such a good thing. We see that the evil doers get rewarded in this world For any good that they may have done. They get their full reward. And then Hashem says in the world to come, you get nothing, while the righteous in this world is the hard work, it's the toil, because all the reward is reserved for them in the world to come. And this is another indication that we see here in this Talmud.
26:38
On 4a, in Tractedavot, azar, the Gomorrah had stated that God sends tribulations to Israel so that they will be moved to prayer and thereby be saved. It now cites another source that makes this point. And this is the same principle that Ravpapi said in the name of Ravah, and I have afflicted them, I have strengthened their arms, but they think evil of me. Hosea, chapter 7, verse 15,. Om Rakhosh Borkhoom, the Almighty, said I am the one who is in this world, I am the one who is in this world. I am the one who is in this world, and I am the one who is in this world. And why do good things happen to bad people? You know who asked this question Moshe, your world, where is justice? Where is justice in your world? God says if you continue asking what's going to happen, I'm going to have to destroy my world completely. What type of avoidance of a question is that? Moshe Arbeno asks Hashem, I want to understand your world. Hashem says you continue asking further how justice works in my world? I'm going to have to destroy the world.
28:43
Sages tell us, because you can't understand the full picture by just a little glimpse. Imagine you have a painter who is painting on top of a mountain a magnificent picture, magnificent painting. A guy walks up and says I think there's a mistake here. What are you doing here? He says if you stand back all the way back, you zoom out, you'll be able to see that this line needs to be here. You have to be careful you don't walk back because you fall off the mountain. You have to realize that you have to see the full picture in order to understand what's going on over here. You can't look at a little sliver of the canvas and say, oh, you have to look at the full picture. We come in to this world, born 1900, you die 2020, 120 beautiful years. You only see a little sliver of history. You're trying to understand everything from the beginning of creation to the end of creation. It doesn't work, moshe. It's not going to work. If you want to see the whole picture, I'm going to have to destroy the world. Why? So that you see it from the beginning to the end? That's what it means.
30:17
Say, just tell us that Moshe asked to see God's face. God, show me your glory, I want to see your face. It says that Moshe was able to see the back of Hashem's head, but not the front. Fun all your own. You can't see my face. Now, we all know that God doesn't have a face. So what are you talking about? What is God? What is what's going on here in the conversation between Moshe and God? You know, you know. You know that that's not how it works. Moshe, god doesn't have a face. He doesn't have a back either. So what's going on here? Say, just tell us that what Moshe was trying to ask God is the face means the future, the back means the past. Moshe says Hashem, I want to understand the future, I want to see how this plays out. God says no, no, no, you'll never be able to see the future, you'll never be able to understand the future. But you know what you can't see.
31:15
You can look back and if you look back at history of your own life, history of the world, you see that it was always Hashem always took care of everything. There was never a time where God neglected to take care of you. Oh, you just forgot about me. No, you didn't realize. It was part of a picture. It was part of something much greater. You know why you had to go through that experience, so that 10 years later you'll be able to help someone with that issue. You know why you lost that job so that you get a better job. You know why this happened to you, so that that can happen to you, so that you'll be open to new opportunities, whatever it is. We sometimes look microscopically at a specific incident and we're like where was God? Where was God? It's not a healthy perspective. We have to see an entire picture. But you know what the problem is we can never see an entire picture.
32:15
Anybody who tries to say that they understand the Holocaust doesn't understand anything, because we haven't seen a full picture yet. It's first, as it's too close for us to understand, to comprehend, to wrap our mind around it. You know what I mean? Six million Jews being murdered. It's unfathomable. How many 1.2 million children? 1.5 million children? It's unfathomable. And and there weren't criminals. There weren't terrorists. There were. There were successful people in their Countries respectively. They were good people. There were tax-paying citizens Murdered indiscriminately. How do we understand that? We look now, 80 years later, we're trying to figure it out. What make hats and tails? How do we figure this out? How do we figure it out? We can't figure it out because we don't understand the full picture.
33:16
There is a teaching that says there's a school of thought in Judaism where search says that every year of the, every Year of our existence, is a verse in the Torah. And if you go to the year of the Holocaust, it's a warning in the Torah in Deuteronomy, meaning year number 5700 and 5600, and Maybe five, five thousand, seven hundred and whatever that area Number verse, you'll see that God warns the Jewish people of terrible, terrible Calamities. They'll be for the Jewish people if they forsake the relationship with the ship. It's Deuteronomy, it's not. This is not. This is not a surprise to anyone. Torah says it.
34:04
Torah says not only that. The Torah says that the people are going to ask where is God? One of the things that was happening in all of these concentration camps. It was something called the God syndrome. People were saying, if there's a God, where is he? And this is what the Torah says is going to happen. The Torah says they're going to ask where am I? From the beginning of the Torah. If you count that year, you can match it exactly now again, I don't know if that's Accurate.
34:31
I'm not suggesting that it is. I'm not suggesting that it's a punishment for anyone. This is not for me or for us to really delve into that, that arena of oh, we, we understand how a shem's world works. We don't understand a shem tells us. We don't understand. But what we do know is that a shem talks to us, a shem communicates us. Who knows if that was not the springboard that made it possible for us to have our homeland? It's only you know, three years later, 1948, we were gifted with the land of Israel back. So who knows if that's not the greatest reward. What do we know? What do we understand? I'm not. I'm not here to predict anything. All I do know is that ha shem Is in charge of the world and he does his job very, very well. He's pretty good at his job. And we're only here to get a glimpse of one little speck of history. We don't understand if we may be a reincarnation of some great prophet or prophetess, or Some character in the Navi, you know, in the books of our prophets, or the book of Artura, or later on in history, and we're here to correct a certain trait, to here to correct a certain action. It's very possible. Most likely, we're here to not delve into the other realms of the of existence, of whether or not there are Aliens. They're not, aliens there are. What do we know? What do we know? All right, we're here. Shema, shema, imlah shem, the heavens are for God, well, or it's the son of the outdone, but God gave earth to mankind. This is for us to study, this is for us to learn to grow from and to hopefully connect to God on the greatest level we can. So the Gomorrah cites an incident pursuant to Ravus principle that God punishes Israel for its sins in small increments rather than all at once. Mishtabah lohoo rababah limino limine the Rav Safra. The Adam God will, who have a bow, praised Rav Safra to the heretics, saying that he was a great man. Shov Kuley mi chse the place our shnin. They therefore exempted Rav Safra from taxes for 13 years. Yom ahadah, one day they found her. Of Safra, I'm really. They said to him Xiv rock Eschem yodati Me comish pochos hadama, it is written. You alone did I love for all the families of the earth, from all the families of the earth. So who did I show love? I show loves the Jewish people. Alcain effgod, aleichem a's call of onus a him. Therefore, I will hold you to account for all of your iniquities. And the heretics. Asked man, the islay sissia, does one possess? Does one possess with hostility, turn it against his beloved? The rachmo of massaclay? Of course not. Ishtik will all over, will only, dear of Safra, kept quiet and did not reply at all. Romulay sujro be tsavoray. So they tied a kerchief around his throat, around his neck, viko mitzah roulay, and they were causing him distress. Oh, my rabab, oh, I should have him. No, I bavow came and found them doing this tour of Safra. Oh, he said to them I'm I mitzah Risu lay, why are you causing him distress? Why you? Why are you causing him pain? I'm relate, they said to him the love I'm reslander.
38:12
Adam, god, who did you not tell us that he was a great man below your dilemma alone? Perusha, type suko. Yet even though you claim he's such a great man, he could not tell us the interpretation of this verse. Based on your recommendation, we ex exempted him from taxes because you said he was so great. For all of these years we accepted of taxes, taxes. Now we see that he's a total fraud. Amar, who were above? I was said to him, amar the Omru l'hu betanai. I Said that he was a great scholar only with respect to Taneik literature. Becroy me, amrich, amrich, who l'hu did? I say that he was a great person with respect to scripture. Thus my recommendation stands, and you were correct in exempting him from the tax.
39:10
Omru lay. They said to her, above all my snow. A soon do you that? Did you do soon? What is different about you? That you know scripture wears her up. Software does not know scripture. I'm a lui, said to them. Anand the Shakhachinon Gabaychon.
39:28
I, we, who frequently visit with you, raminon enough shin Umaynon, we take it upon ourselves to delve into the study of scripture so that we will be able to answer your questions. Meaning these are heretics. The heretics would ask questions that find the verse like oh, what does that mean? What did that mean? He says so. We, because we meet with you regularly, we Study these verses in scripture so that we can answer you appropriately in Ulami. But they rabbis, like Raph Safra, who do not delve into scriptures because they do not speak with you oftenly and frequently. So the heretics said to her of our omru lay, lame alone. Ah, then you tell us the interpretation of the verse. You tell us what it means. Omru luhui told them em shall a chemo show.
40:20
I will illustrate the matter to you with a parable Lamad, or a dumb, or to what this matters, analogous Laodom. She knows, she Missh name, ney adam, like a person who has been collecting debts from two people, a chud, oh, oh oh, and how to know, from one of his. One of these people he's his friend and one of these people is his enemy. Oh, I've only from a man who met me. When you love someone, you collect the debt from them little by little. It's okay, give me a hundred, give me another hundred, it's fine until you pay it up, he says, but so no near for a man of a vasachos, whereas when you Hate someone, you collect the entire debt in one shot, one in one, in one time.
41:06
What does that mean? That's referring to explaining to them that verse that they asked Rebovo about, where they said the Jewish people who a shem loves, a shem Takes from them, collects his debt little by little, but others, who a shem perhaps does not have that kind of love for why? Because they didn't follow his Torah, they didn't follow his ordinances, his teachings, his laws, so a shem punishes them in one fell swoop. Okay, more regarding divine judgment. I'm a rabbovo, bar k'ana.
41:43
Rabbovo, the son of Rav K'ana, says my dekhsev, my dekhsev, chalala L'cha Maasos Dabr Bad, kadabr Azeh, laham Isadikim Rasha, alila Alila means heaven. Forbid to you to do such a thing, to bring death upon the righteous along with the wicked. Amar Avramlif Naya Kondesh Baruch, with our patriarch Abraham, said to Hashem, creator of Heaven and Earth, the Holy One blessed to see Reboner Chalala, master of the Universe, khulin Hu, maasos Kadabr Azeh, it would be a desecration to you, laham Isadikim Rasha, to bring death upon the righteous along with the wicked. And this is referring to the people of Saddam-Gamorah right, where God says to Abraham I'm going to destroy the entire city. And God Abraham negotiates back, saying what do you mean? If there are 50 righteous, it starts with 50, you're going to kill the righteous with the evil, with the wicked people. God says you know what. You're right. If they are 50, I'll save them. And then, if it was 40, 45, 40, 30, 20, 10, and even 10, there weren't 10 righteous, there weren't. So the Gamorah asks the Lord but does God really not punish the good together with the wicked? If you are a proxy, it's written that I will cut off the righteous and the wicked from among you. So here we see that punishment is made out to evil together with the righteous alike. The Gamorah answers Bitzadik She'ino Gamorah.
43:22
The latter verse is referring to someone who is righteous but not completely righteous. They're righteous-ish, but they're not completely righteous. They're more objective Bitzadik Gamorah, bitzadik Gamorah. But are you saying that a person who is completely righteous they're not punished together with the wicked?
43:43
Bok'h'vimimikdoshi tochelu, doesn't it say and begin with my sanctuary? Meaning, begin with my righteous V'etani l'raviosif and raviosif toot a'altikrimimikdoshi elo mimikudoshai? Not read it as my sanctuary, but rather my sanctified ones. So God is going to start punishment with his sanctified ones, meaning those that God loves. So the Gamorah says e'lubne'udam she'kimus atorom me'alif atof. What does it mean? The sanctified ones, those who observe the entire Torah, from alif to taf, from beginning to end. Yet even they are punished together with the wicked.
44:26
So there's a little bit of a problem here. So the Gamorah answers hasam nami dirtu k'ivan shahoyab, yadam limchos v'lamichu. Since it was within their realm, within their ability to protest the behavior of sinners, and they did not protest. Avaluhu katsadikim sh'inim gmurim. This renders them righteous, who aren't completely righteous. Why, if you see someone sinning and you don't say a word to them, you don't admonish them or give them a little critique, a criticism lovingly, you don't correct them, then you're not considered to be righteous completely. There we go, bystander versus upstander.
45:09
We see this with Noach. Noach was a tzadik in his generation. Our sages say yehdoshim osaligh nishvah, yehdoshim osaligh nai. There's some who interpret this meritoriously of Noach and some not so good for Noach. Why?
45:29
Noach had a generation of sinners and he just kept his mouth shut. He built his ark and he did his thing and he didn't correct anyone. Abraham, on the other hand, went out to his people and corrected their ways. He said listen, this is idolatry, this is wrong, this is immoral, this is unfaithful, this is incorrect, and brought multitudes of people together with him. Yes, right, so 100%.
45:55
The Talmud tells us we learned this, I believe, in 82b, 82b a or b, in Traktativamot, which states that a person has an obligation in the Torah to give criticism. But then the Talmud qualifies that and says well, just like there's a mitzvah to give criticism, to reprimand someone who will listen to you, there's a mitzvah not to reprimand someone who will not listen to you. And from there we learn that if you don't have a suitable relationship where someone will accept your criticism, or if you don't have the proper method or the proper ability in speech to persuade someone to make a change in their life, then indeed it's going to be problematic. If you can't properly criticize someone, you're obligated not to Correct, but a person can't say it's not my business, it's not my problem. For example, if you know that someone is violating a commandment in the Torah, you have an obligation to bring it to their attention. Now, what's the proper way to do that? Is it to bang down their door and say, hey, you're violating the Torah? No, you have to find the right way. You have to find a way to teach them and to love them and to nurture the relationship to a point where they're willing to hear and accept.
47:26
Okay, the Gomorrah continues its discussion regarding divine retribution. Raphaparami Raphapar contrasts the following verses v'khsiv ve'el ze'em bechoyom. And God is angered every day. And it says in another place l'fne zammom mi amod, who can stand in front of God's anger? If no one can withstand God's anger, then he becomes angry, and he becomes angry every day. How is it that mankind survives from day to day? So the Gomorrah answers lo kash. It's not difficult and we can reconcile this contrast of these two verses khan b'yachid, v'khan b'tzibur.
48:02
Here in the second verse, we are dealing with when God is angry with an individual. No single individual can withstand God's anger if it is directed specifically at him. We see this with Korah it took him and it took his crowd. We see this also with Nath Yavon, the two sons of Aaron, the high priest, that were taken boom. No one can withstand God's anger but khan b'tzibur. Here in the first verse, we are dealing with a community. Even though God is angered every day, they can withstand his wrath, because we already learned this multiple times.
48:43
Number one thing that God wants is unity, and if we come together as a congregation we spoke about this in our brand spanking new prayer podcast that why do we come together as a quorum, in shul as a minion, and dabban together and pray together? Because that brings togetherness. It brings unity. God wants unity. That unity is what makes our prayers successful. Okay, so we're going to stop here for today. My dear friends, have a magnificent shabbos. Thank you so much for being part of our Thinking Tomodist podcast. And to those of you online, thank you, have a great shabbos. We look forward to learning more together, god willing, every single day. Thank you.
49:30 - Intro (Announcement)
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