Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Parsha Review Podcast.

00:10 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody, welcome back. It is so wonderful to be here. We got some catch-up to do for Parsha's Vayikra and I want to bring you to the verse in the first portion in the book of Leviticus nefesh kisachato amal, amal ba'ashem, if a soul sinned and took something. I'm going to read this from chapter 5, verse 21. We know that the Torah says that you're not allowed to steal. That's an obvious one. It's one of the big 10, the 10 commandments. But you're also not allowed to use something that is designated for the service of the tabernacle. So that means you can't misuse something. So a person, if he will sin and act with treachery against Hashem by lying to his comrade about an object deposited for security or about money for business placed in his hand, or about a robbery, by defrauding his comrade, and he brings over here, what will be if someone were to do such a sin? You know he'd have to bring it, you have to pay it back, you have to bring an offering, et cetera, et cetera, and that's the end of the portion, ends with the atonement that goes into someone who has sinned in such a way. So you know, there's a story that's told about a wagon driver. The wagon driver would take people on a ride and he'd go from one city to another, would take people on a ride and it'd go from one city to another. But right outside the city there was someone who had a beautiful field of fruits and different foods vegetables and fruits and this wagon driver would stop on the side of the road, take his bag out, look both ways, nobody there. He'd run into the field, fill up his bag, go back into the field, fill up his bag, go back into the wagon and continue transporting his clients. So one time his passenger was none other than the Chavetz Chaim.

02:22
And the Chavetz Chaim, he tells the Chavetz Chaim, when he's riding, riding the Chavetz you know, taking him from place, transporting him from place to place. So he says to him can you do me a favor, can you look out for me? If there's anybody coming, like, make sure you know, just let me know You'd be my Chavetz Chaim. Didn't realize what was going on yet, but as soon as he saw the guy open up his bag right by the field and he's about to, he says they're coming, they're coming, they're coming to see, they're seeing you. And of course the guy came running back. And you know, the obvious question is. The obvious question is like, what was the Chavetz Chaim telling him? What is he telling him? That you saw, you see the people coming, but there really was nobody there. So what are you doing to the guy? So he said of course I see, the Almighty sees. The Almighty sees everything that's going on.

03:20
Meaning the verse, actually the commentary on this Rashi brings that whenever you do a business deal, you should have witnesses and you should have a contract. Why should you have a witness, witnesses and a contract? To make sure that there isn't anything that goes wrong on your side. Meaning if I owe somebody money and I was wrong, I would want to know about it. I would want to be like this it'll be an extra protection that you don't defraud somebody else.

03:57
We have to recognize our sages. Teach us how careful the Torah is. You know things that are out in the open. Yeah, nobody would key a Tesla in broad daylight. Some people do, unfortunately, right. But you think about that like you're just like. Why would most people have a little bit of a self like I can't do that in public?

04:22
You know there's two types of thieves. There's a thief who steals in broad daylight, doesn't care about anybody, goes. He breaks into the house, robs and leaves. There's another one who does it at night, quietly. He hides. Why? What is he afraid of?

04:40
Our sages in the Talmud say that the second is worse. He's worse, you know why? Because he's afraid of people more than he's afraid of God. The first one is just nuts, he doesn't care about anybody, but the second one, the one who does it at night, he's afraid of the people. He's not afraid of God. Meaning we have to have an added element of fear, which should be the first level of fear fear of our creator. The Almighty sees everything that's going on.

05:13
Cheating just a little bit is not. It's like you know what they say. One of the great sages was asked by his students. Sages was asked by his students what's another terminology for exaggeration? He says you mean lying. If 98% truth is 100% false, it's a white lie. He's like you know. No, if it's not the truth, it's a white lie, then it's all a lie.

05:45
We need to find a way to protect ourselves. The Torah is about creating tools and mechanisms for us to protect ourselves from falling into a trap, not allowing ourselves to be tricked into doing something that we shouldn't be doing so. We create an extra protective measure. What's that? Make sure you have the witnesses, make sure you have a contract so that you don't make a mistake. Were you afraid that they're going to cheat you? If, more than you have to be worried about them cheating, you have to be worried about yourself.

06:22
By mistake, nobody look, is there anybody here who's intentional, has an intention to cheat other people, to steal from other people? No, god forbid, we'd never want to take. I want what's justly mine. Never want to steal from someone, never want to take something that's not mine. We have a dignity. We work hard, we earn a living. I'm going to buy my own things, okay, we understand that. How is it that you walk into the courts and they have a docket that's from here to here right, and you have depositions going on every day in legal firms, right? For what? Disagreements in business, disagreements in what? What do you mean? Didn't you have a contract? You had a contract and they're still disagreeing because everyone sees it their way.

07:14
What the Torah is teaching us is to have an extra level of sensitivity for ourselves. Protect yourself so that you don't make a mistake, so that you don't do the wrong thing. I think this is such an important rule. Someone who, out in the open, goes and sins, right, okay, they don't have a fear of God, they don't have a fear of humanity, they have bigger issues to take care of. But someone who, like I'm afraid of people, but I'm not afraid I'm missing my vision of understanding that Hashem sees everything Wherever I am. Yeah, cheating just one number is cheating, round it up. It's just like you know. It's something which is so important.

08:09
I want to share with you an incredible story Back in the mid-90s. It was a tragic, tragic event that happened. I remember I was in Israel at the time. You can look this up. You can look this up, you'll find it on Google, you'll find it on Wikipedia.

08:25
There was a soldier who was abducted, who was kidnapped. He was on his way home for Shabbos for a weekend and he was abducted. His name was Nachshon Waxman and I remember the entire country was in a standstill because they had the army found out about this, and then, obviously, the Shabak and all of the secret service, and everybody got involved in trying to find. They figured out this is, I think Yitzhak Rabin was then prime minister and they gave an ultimatum that they better release them by a certain time or else and I think the other side, the terrorists who kidnapped this soldier, said that they gave an ultimatum saying if we don't have them by nine o'clock Friday night, we're going to kill them If we don't have our prisoners freed, or whatever it was that they requested. And I remember that the unity in the country between the right, the left, the religious, the secular, the ultra, this the ultra that you name it everybody was like brothers, like sisters. There was no. You couldn't find one Jew who didn't love another Jew in the entire country in those couple of days of tension. It was the most unbelievable thing. Sadly, he was killed by those terrorists, by those animals, and they were also killed. Israelis, you know, tried to save him and they were too late to that, but they were able to eliminate all of the terrorists During that whole story.

10:09
There was another story that happened and that it was a few weeks after Rabbi Yashiv, one of the great rabbis, one of the great leaders of the Jewish people. His wife had passed away a few weeks earlier and they had always been talking as a husband and wife that whoever dies first should come to the other one in a dream and tell them what's holding him back. What's holding Moshiach back? Why doesn't he come already? Look how many challenges we face as a people. We need to have antisemitism in all universities. We need to have all of these nations throwing rockets at us.

10:51
It's like once Moshiach comes, that's all going to be cleared away. We're not going to have Syrian terrorism. We're not going to have Lebanese terrorism or the Houthis or the Gazans or the West Bank or you name it. Whatever it is Judea, samaria. We're not going to have any of that. No rockets from Iran. The time Moshiach comes, it's going to be clarity. The whole world's going to know who's who. So what's stopping Moshiach from coming? What's blocking him that night?

11:19
So the story that, as I heard it, reb El Yashav, whose wife had passed away a few weeks earlier, came to him in a dream and she said that at those moments, the unity that was going on amongst the Jewish people, moshiach was ready to be revealed. Like it was. Like there, it was one thing blocking and that was dishonesty in business. Dishonesty in business is something which is so terrible that that blocks the Moshiach from coming, and that's something I think we need to make an extra investment in ensuring our honesty, in ensuring that everything that we do and we say and the way in which we act is not just it's okay, nobody's going to know.

12:05
No, it has to be above board 100%. It's almost tax season, right? April 15th is tax day. To make sure that everything that we do is 100% above board, without any doubts, without any questions, without any suffix. There shouldn't be any single doubt. Without any doubts, without any questions, without any suffix. There shouldn't be any single doubt. And if we need someone to review what it is that we're doing, to ensure, just look over what I'm doing, just make sure that I'm doing the right thing, that I'm not tricking myself for my own benefit. We have to be so careful of this and this is the incredible lesson from this parasha.

12:53
Yes, there's an atonement for it, by the way. Hashem wants us to make amends for our mistakes. Hashem doesn't want us to say oh, someone else took care of your sins, or that you're not responsible. No, no, no, no, someone else took care of your sins, or that you're not responsible. No, no, no, no, you're not good enough to repent and receive atonement. No, yes, you are, you're right, they're wrong. If God forbids, someone steals, they have to return it. Be'hesheves achzela shagazo. You return it, you rectify it and then you bring an offering and you ask for forgiveness and you don't do it again. That's part of the repentance process.

13:31
The opportunity for repentance is there and that we all need to take into account every single day to make sure that what we do, the words that we say to whoever it is, wherever it is, to ensure that everyone we do, the words that we say to whoever it is, wherever it is, to ensure that everyone is accurate, and every word, every action that we do should be truthful. Now I want to turn to something else, and that is that we shouldn't act in a way that is contrary to our values Meaning. I know that this is the right thing, but it's just. I'm not going to do it anyway, so let me give you an example. Okay, so you brought a great example, mark.

14:19
Earlier you said that you're something that you've taken upon yourself, which I think is heroic, is a special thing Not to mix milk and meat. That was your step in your growth. It's such a phenomenal thing. You know how the angels in heaven are dancing from such a step. It means you knew, you know that this is the right thing to do and you don't want to live in a contradiction and you don't want to live in a contradiction. You don't want to live in a contradiction. I know that this is something which is wrong for me to do, because the Torah says so. So, yeah, I know that that's where I want to get to. I want to be in, but at what point am I ready to make that transformation and actually do it? Not to just preach, to learn and to talk the talk, but to actually walk the walk of? I'm not going to live in a contradiction.

15:12
But that leads us to another topic, and that is not to jump. Our sages warn us of the dangers of jumping. Don't try to take too big a stride. Don't try to take too big of a jump. It's dangerous. If someone is ready, like Marcus, to take the step of not mixing milk and meat, not eating in a non-kosher restaurant, whatever it may be, every person at their step. Or that one light switch that you don't turn on or off on Shabbos one light switch, not the whole Shabbos, not all the light switches. One light switch, that's your Shabbos switch.

15:57
So I'm taking, I'm showing the Almighty. What I'm doing is I'm not ready for the whole thing yet. I didn't grow up with this. It's not my norm. Doing is. I'm not ready for the whole thing yet. I didn't grow up with this. It's not my norm, it's not my, but I want it.

16:06
How am I going to do it? I'm going to do something so small, just to show you I'm in the game. I'm showing you, I'm just I'm showing up. I'm showing up. And to not live in a contradiction and, by the way, this is for every area of life yeah, one day I'm going to get to it. One day I'm going to do it. When? When's that? One day, today, today's? That day I started since we spoke about in one of our classes. We talked about alacrity, not pushing things off that are inevitably going to be done. So to me, it's become a big, big motto since then that if I need to do it anyway, might as well do it now. Why am I pushing it off? Yeah, tomorrow I'll get to it. No, it's going to be done tomorrow anyway. So might as well do it now, right, might as well do it.

16:55
If I'm already thinking about doing it, might as well do it, not pushing things off, and if we have the ability to take a single step in any area of our lives. Even if it's microscopic, something so small, it has unbelievable value because it brings us in alignment, our values and our actions. That means it could be that I'm not fully there. I'm not going to be all kosher in a day, but that's my aspiration. I'm not going to be all Shabbos in a week okay. But at least there's this one thing I can do that one light switch. I'll put a piece of tape on it. This is my Shabbos light. I'm not going to turn this one light on or off and make it a light that you don't even turn on anyway. It doesn't make a difference. You don't go into that room. It's one step. It's such a microscopic step that's one small step for me, but one gigantic step for Shabbos, because I'm showing, I'm aligning myself with you.

17:58
Know it's like. You know it's like. Imagine you're on a sports team and you're sick and you're like it's now spring training. It's like, you know it's like. Imagine you're on a sports team and you're sick and you're like it's now spring training. It's like you don't even show up. Okay, you can't play, you can't get enough of your body. Just show up. You know what I mean, just like take one step, one step, one small step. I think that that's the key is to really live without contradictions is what we're trying to attain in our lives. Is what we're trying to attain in our lives To live with the things that we talk about, that we preach about, the things that we value, that we align ourselves with. That. I think that's crucial in our own personal growth. My dear friends, have a wonderful Shabbos.

18:40 - Intro (Announcement)
You've been listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe on a podcast produced by TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. Please help sponsor an episode so we can continue to produce more quality Jewish content for our listeners around the globe. Please visit torchweb.org to donate and partner with us on this incredible endeavor.