Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Yaakov Nagel and Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe from TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Unboxing Judaism Podcast.

00:13 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
Welcome back. Welcome back to the Unboxing Judaism Podcast. Rabbi Nagel, so wonderful to be back here.

00:19 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
Yes, I love doing this with you, so it's awesome. Glad we worked it out and.

00:23 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
Mazel Tov on the recent celebration of the Siyam Hashas, the conclusion of the entire Talmud 2,711 folios of Talmud. It's an unbelievable accomplishment. So, mazel Tov, and it was a beautiful, beautiful event.

00:42 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
Send it out so people can see it's on.

00:44 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
YouTube. We posted it, the entire event, all three plus hours of footage Amazing.

00:50
All the speeches all the music, the dancing. It was just incredible. So one of the things that are noticeable when we go to such an event is that we see us dancing, see the Jewish people dancing with the Torah, and as a people that are dancing with the Torah, there's a certain feeling of uniqueness, that we are an Am Segula, we're a chosen nation, am Hanivchar. So I wanted to talk about that a little bit. You know, we're the only people that go by the title of the chosen people. Wherever I go in Texas, you have people, the title of the chosen people. Wherever I go in Texas, you have people. Oh, you're Jewish. Yeah, you know, you're the chosen people, the God's people. We pray for you and they say it's you know, it's a fairly common thing that you find in Texas. So I want to talk to our various you know population of listeners how to feel about it as an individual who is a Jewish person and is part of the chosen people, and how to also have that perspective in balance with the nations of the world.

01:56 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
So Okay, so let's get right, delve right into it. So, first of all, it's a. It's a. It's something that a lot of Jews, in particular, get very uncomfortable with. It's like, well, you know, like, why are we so high on ourselves? Why do we think about ourselves? We're just human beings like anybody else. And it's really something that people who don't really understand this principle turn them off quite a bit. This is Jewish people, not to mention. You know, we live here in the South, so there's people who, when they say chosen, you know, chosen they don't mean it in a nice way, but you go somewhere else. Chosen means that it's an anger, it's not a good thing and it's a jealousy. Jealousy and it's like who do they think? And that's really, to me, a big you know. So for us, it's important to have an answer for ourselves and an answer for the Gentiles as well, who would be jealous or like kind of business, you know, and that's like why do you think you're, you know?

03:05 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
why do you think you're special?

03:06 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
you're better than thou, right, right, and you know, like, and that's uh, it's like, and also like isn't it true that we're supposed to value humility and and not, uh, not be high on ourselves? You know, that's something, that's a very important quality and um, and so why isn't that um, why is this not a contradiction to that, basically? So that's part of the question that we really need to grapple with.

03:31 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
Yeah, I always tell my students in our classes that we're only the chosen people, because we chose God. You know the Medrash tells us, you know the famous Medrash, that all the nations of the world had prophets. Every single nation had a prophet that was equal to or greater than Moshe. At the end of the day, they all fell short of their responsibilities, which we know. Part of our foundational principles of faith is that there was no prophet like Moshe. That's because he took his responsibility seriously. But Bilaam, our sages tell us, had a greater vision had greater powers than Moshe, but he neglected them.

04:14
But each one of those prophets got the memo from God asking do you want to receive the Torah? Do your people want to receive the Torah? And the Midrash goes on to tell us that every nation asked what's in it. And they said thou shalt not steal Nope, not for us. Thou shalt not perform adultery that's not for us. Thou shalt not covet that's not for us. Thou shalt not murder Nope, not for us. Until the Jewish people, and the Jewish people accepted the Torah, they said na sevin is nishma. We're going to do it, we're in, we're locked into this relationship. And then we'll hear later the rules We'll hear. It means it's like a couple who gets engaged. The girl doesn't say well, I'll get engaged, but I want to know what this entails first. No, no, no. I'm in because there's a relationship here that I'm valuing and I'm excited about, and whatever life brings, we'll do it then. And that's the Jewish people. Their relationship with God is like we're na'aseh there's no limits, nishma. Later We'll hear later what is involved in this relationship.

05:18 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
There's a trust that what God gives us is something that we're going to be excited to receive, because we know God is out for our benefit and wants what's best for us and that's it, and we don't need to ask any questions. Well, what's in it? I'm not sure whether I'm interested. It has nothing to do with that. There's a lot in it. That isn't easy, but we understand that if God's giving it, it's something that's for our benefit, it's something that we need, for we have what to gain for it, and that's exactly what it's all about. So to me, that's part of what the whole.

05:49
Yes, there's a saying I think it's like an English poet who said how odd of God to choose the Jews. That was the line that he said, and there was a response to that Twas not odd. The Jews chose God, which, basically, is really what you're saying in a nutshell, and that's really what it is. It's not. It's, yes, it's true that God has a special relationship with the Jewish people. That goes back to even before the receiving of the Torah, but everyone had that chance and everyone really still has that chance to, if they really want, and hear the calling of mila shamilai, that anybody can really take on the Torah. That's the truth.

06:33 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
And the truth is that, you know, the challenge is that the world looks at us as if we grabbed that title. But we did, we did. We grabbed it because we saw an opportunity and, in a way, you know, one of the things I like to say. I like to give like a little parable. Imagine my class is full with students and one of them, I buy him a lottery ticket. It's $650 million. Happy birthday. It's your birthday this week. I wanted you to have a special birthday. He says.

07:03
Listen, I appreciate it very much, but my likelihood of winning is zero, so I might as well give it to the person next to me. It looks like he needs a pick-me-up, he needs some encouragement. I'm going to give it to him. He gives it to the next person and each one is being kind and benevolent and giving it to the next person. The last one's like. I'm not going to pass it around the room again, I'll just hold on to it. Fine, if I win, I win and he wins the $650 million lottery. What happens to the rest of the people in the room? It's my ticket, it's my ticket, it was mine. I didn't mean to give it, I was just being nice, I was just being this Everyone, and the truth is, is that that's what the nations of the world are kicking themselves about? The nations of the world feel like they had it in their hand.

07:46 - Intro (Announcement)
It was in their inbox, they were offered it.

07:48 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
You offered it and you said no. The French were told no adultery, they're like forget it, that's not for us. And the Germans were thou shall not murder, forget it, it's not for us. So they did have the opportunity and they said no, they blew it. So no wonder they hate us, no wonder there's antisemitism, no wonder there's so much and the Jewish people? We haven't had it easy. Nobody should think that being the chosen people means that we're just, we're safe.

08:13 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
It's going to be a fun life.

08:15 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
Yeah, the Jewish people have faced more turmoil than any nation on the history of the planet Right.

08:26 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
There's been no nation. Well, thanks to its longevity right that also we just have. So much history so, and not an easy history.

08:30 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
So there you go. Definitely not, it's been. It's been quite a run, uh, and god willing, it continues for many, many, many, many, many, many generations to come of uh expanding the name of hashem, which is really our, our bottom line.

08:44 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
That's our number one responsibility. What is the responsibility? We're looking at it as not chosen for what, not chosen to be, but, yes, to be. But there's a responsibility attached to that.

08:57 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
I don't know if I told you my story from Costco. So I had an elderly man walked over to me and he saw my tzitzit and my yarmulke. He says you Jewish? I said yes. So he says can I touch your tzitzit? I said sure. So he goes and he holds onto my tzitzit and while he's holding it he says do you realize your responsibility? You're the chosen people, we, the Gentiles, we look up to you to be an example of what it means to be God's people.

09:25
And it was a shocking moment for me because it was like wow, this is a huge responsibility that we have. You know, a typical boy in yeshiva may not understand that that's a responsibility. I try to tell that to my children, by the way, Every time we go someplace. We went for Hanukkah, we went away for a couple of days. I said, guys, before we left the car, I said guys, remember, the world is looking at us, you, the little children who are going to yeshivas, who are going to cheder. The people are looking at how you behave because you're the Jewish people.

09:57
The way you behave, how courteous you are, how friendly you are, how you know respectful you are. You see an elderly person stand up, give them a seat. You know why? Because it says it in our Torah. It's a verse in our Torah that teaches us these morals, these values, these ethics. There are certain things that we do not because it's just a nice thing to do. The Torah tells us to do this and, being a part of the Jewish people, we need to represent what it means to be God's people, and it's a big responsibility.

10:32 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
Look, there's an expression in the Talmud that talks about that. The goal really is that the Shem Shammayim should be Misahiv Al Yodcha. That people will look and they'll see you and they'll see the way you behave and they will love Hashem, because this is the way he's teaching his children how to behave.

10:54 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
That's really what it is Kishem, hashem, nikro, alecho Because the name of Hashem when you look at the person, you see this is a godly person and obviously that's our aspiration, which is why we have so many mitzvahs. We have so many mitzvahs that each mitzvah is a vehicle through which we bring Hashem into our lives Right. Growing up in yeshiva, that's not the way we typically thought of a mitzvah.

11:16 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
No, it's so interesting because so many people who grew up religious they miss the memo on this because they just feel that it's like, it's not fair. All these, you know, gentiles can run around and be wild and they have fun and I have to behave and I can't do this and I'm in the mall and I can't you know, I can't do this, I can't do that, and they just feel that it's, you know, it's not fair. It's not fair. You know why can't I have the same fun and be as free? And they don't recognize that it should be.

11:51
It's such a point of pride, you know, like, look at that. You represent God. Think about it for a second. You're like that's such a special thing and I think that's something that needs to be really brought home to our own children. That pride, the feeling of like, yes, I'm proud that I'm Jewish. I'm proud, I'm not hiding it. I think that one of my favorite customs that was established years and years, thousands of years ago, is that the men wear a yarmulke on their head, and it's like something that it shows the world. It's something that we're proud that we're Jewish. I'm not ashamed, not embarrassed. I'm doing something that shows who I am. I'm not hiding it, I'm not trying to hide it.

12:42 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
And that's such there used to be a custom where and people who are Torah observant wear a yarmulke in public. But there were many people who were religious Torah observant Jews who didn't wear yarmulkes in business, at work, at work, at work. They didn't. And there's an individual that we know here in Houston that made an announcement I think it was about 10 or 15 years ago to his company he's a big company, made an announcement that he used to think that not wearing a yarmulke would.

13:14
He says but my responsibility as a Jew is to represent God and therefore, from today on, I'm going to be wearing my yarmulke every day to work and all of his non-Jewish workers so that they understand I'm a Jew. I'm going to be wearing my yarmulke every day to work and all of us non-Jewish workers so that they understand I'm a Jew. I'm proud of it, I'm not going to hide it, I'm not going to put it in my pocket when I'm in public. I'm going to walk around representing my Judaism and I think that that's an unbelievably prideful thing. I think it's something for us to also recognize and to hopefully bring to the attention of our children. People are looking at us. You have a responsibility.

13:48 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
And don't fool yourself. I mean, the truth is, you know, it doesn't take a genius to spot a Jew. Okay, I'm just saying.

13:55 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
Okay.

13:56 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
You're saying putting a.

13:57 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
Yankee cap doesn't camouflage this.

13:59 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
It doesn't camouflage. It's like there's a story about a certain Hasidic Jew. A brilliant guy went to Harvard Law, and he got hired by a very significant law firm this is back in the 80s and he was asked are you going to wear your yarmulke to work? Because that was like a thing that wasn't done. And so he took off his yarmulke, with his curly pants and long beard, and said Do I look any less Jewish without it? What's the point? What am I trying to hide? Exactly, so exactly I mean. The point being, though, is, to me, it's such an important thing. Like, oh, sure, you wish that you could do certain things, but you remember that you have a yarmulke on your head that reminds us that we have God over our heads, right, and yes, it matters what we do, and we can't forget that, and it's a responsibility. That's a 24-7 responsibility. It really is, and yeah, so oh, but I don't have to be. You know what? If I want to cut off somebody, I guess you shouldn't do that. You know what I mean?

15:05
Like I remember some guy used to like put his yarmulke down every time he was like.

15:10 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
Being aggressive on the road being aggressive on the road.

15:12 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
Tom Hughes, like being aggressive on the road, I was like you know what.

15:16 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
Maybe you shouldn't be aggressive on the road. Maybe it's not a good idea to have a magnet of your child's yeshiva on the back.

15:20 - Intro (Announcement)
You're right, exactly.

15:21 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
Point being is is that is that it's? It's besides, for the fact that it's a tremendous responsibility, it should be something that you should be, we should be extremely proud of, and we should be extremely proud of, and we should never, god forbid, let the words leave our mouths that it's hard to be Jewish. That's not the point. We're so happy and so proud of who we are, yes, and it's amazing that sometimes it takes the Gentile in Casco to remind us of that. It's scary. Why didn't I know that myself? Why didn't I feel that the same way he felt it? And that's a tremendous wake up call for us to think about it in that way that, yeah, it matters how I behave.

16:09 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
That wake up call, that wake up call that you suddenly realize I have a responsibility. But what do we say to the nations of the world? You know, people come here a lot to convert. In our community we have many, many people who have either converted or are in the process or have interest in conversion. And the first thing I tell them is like why? Why would you accept upon yourself 613 commandments when you can be sufficient with seven? The nations of the world can get their place in heaven. We're the only nation that says that the nations of the world also have a place in heaven. You don't have to believe in Judaism and act in a way with the commandments.

16:51 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
Keep all the commandments.

16:52 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
Yeah, in order to get your place in the world to come. Right, you can do that just with your seven Noachide laws, you know. So they don't need, and it's an important thing is that someone does not need to be Jewish to have a place in the world to come.

17:08 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
That's an amazing right. I think it's a unique thing about Judaism. It really is amazingly unique. Think it's a unique, unique thing about Judaism. It really is amazingly unique that it's not my way or the highway, which is what basically all the other religions are like. This is your ticket. Without it, you don't have no go. You know what I mean. It's like all or nothing. Either you're in or you're out. It's not like that by Jewish belief. It's like you can be a good person, whoever you are, and if you follow the basic principles of what it means to be a good person, which is encapsulated in the seven Noah Chai laws, then you have a place in the world.

17:51 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
You have a place too, so there's no need. Then People ask me why are they pushing me away from the Bet Din? Why are they trying to make me not convert? Don't you want members? We're not a numbers game, it's not, you know. But it's interesting. You mentioned that we shouldn't say that it's difficult to be Jewish. You know, it's an amazing thing that Moshe Feinstein, who was the leading rabbinic halachic decisor of the 20th century, passed away in 1986. And he said that one of the things that destroyed Jewry in America is the phrase it's difficult to be a Jew.

18:30
You know, and understandably, there were many Jews who came in the early 1900s or the mid 1900s and weren't able to get a job because every Shabbos Every week they lost their job. Every week they lost their job, so they never had a steady job, and the next Sunday they had to go to get a new job and that coming Sunday they'd get another pink slip. There's someone who told me that their grandfather would have all their pink slips in their sukkah as their decoration of all of the companies that fired them.

18:58 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
We cannot imagine that challenge. We cannot imagine the challenge. That's why it's very. You know we was like how did they do that? But we cannot judge somebody who went through that difficulty. It's the challenge that only happened in that time. It didn't happen to us. You know what I mean. We don't have that. We live in a situation now where you have a better chance of getting a job if you're a religious Jew. You know what I mean.

19:25 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
That's a different world, but they still don't count us as minorities.

19:29 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
No, not in that sense, getting into a higher college. Sorry, I got news for you. You're not a minority. Not in Harvard you're not a minority, you're well overrepresented.

19:40 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
Yeah. So that culture of it's difficult to be a Jew is a very, very damaging one for the Jewish people. On the contrary, we should be saying it's kishmak to be a Yid.

19:55 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
It's awesome to be a Jew. It's fun and it's exciting, it's a delight, it's meaningful. And we're always searching for meaning and I think that's part of what we don't realize how much our happiness is connected to meaningfulness. Having meaning, how?

20:14 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
privileged.

20:14 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
we are Right to have every single thing, every minute of our day, be meaningful, to have significance. That's the beauty, that's the something. So, yes, the awesome responsibility that every second I have to think about a lot of things what am I gonna do, what am I not gonna do? But that makes it all meaningful. You know, a friend of mine told me he lives in LA and he things what am I going to do? What I'm?

20:33 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
not going to do, but that makes it all meaningful. You know, a friend of mine told me he lives in la and he's a big executive for a pretty significant company I'm not going to mention the name, but great, great person. He was here in houston, we visited and we talked. He said that, um, he was sitting with a bunch of friends. They were talking about their favorite vacations and everyone was talking about their favorite vacations and everyone was talking about their favorite spots and he likes to go here and this guy likes to go there.

20:56
He says my favorite vacation I go on a cruise with my wife and kids, like this. I don't have internet service, I don't have my phone, I don't have anything, no distraction, and I love this vacation so much that I take this vacation 52 times a year and it's only a 25-hour cruise. As soon as that ship departs the dock, that's it, you're done. Whatever you have, you have Whatever you don't. You don't Like, really, where do you go? You have 25 hours. You do this 52 times a year. He says, yeah, it's Shabbos. He says Shabbos, he's like going on a cruise. No, whatever food you have on the ship is what you're going to have.

21:36 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
You're completely disconnected from the rest of the world and the world is so excited about Thanksgiving and people are preparing.

21:43 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
What are they going to talk with their family? Are they going to talk politics? Are they going to talk this?

21:46
They're preparing their menu and everything is planned and that's our Shabbos. We have that every single week. The greatest gift in the entire universe. Hashem says this Matan totoiva. The greatest gift I have Gnuza, bebeis, gnozai, shabbos, shema, it's Shabbos. We have that as part of our. You know it's. Growing up as a Shomer, shabbos Jew, someone who grew up with Shabbos, it's hard to sometimes appreciate the awesomeness of it, but that we can sit with our family without any interruptions of phone calls, without any emails.

22:25 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
This is like a classic example of where less is more. People don't realize that the less technology, the less distractions, the less ability to go all over. The place is so much more. It opens up what's in front of you that you never even take time to see your children, your wife, your community this is what it is it's like and that's what Shabbos is. That's why it's such a special gift. It cuts out all the extraneous things and lets us focus on the most important things in life. We have an opportunity to pray more. We have a community that we connect with.

23:07 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
We talk to our neighbors, to our friends.

23:10 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
It's an unbelievable thing and that's the thing by cutting out all this noise that we have in this world. Now, it's such a noisy world. We have so many distractions all over the place. This is again. That's just one example of 613 of opportunities. They're responsibilities, of course, but they're opportunities for amazing gift in this world.

23:37 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
I would say that another part of our responsibility as a Jewish person, as being the chosen from the chosen people, is, to you know, part of our goal in this world we say this at the end of every single davening, we say is to give praise to the master of everything and to bring that to the consciousness of the world. On that day, the consciousness of the world by Yom HaHu Yiyah, Hashem HaChad, Ushma HaChad, On that day, the coming of Messiah will be a time where the entire world sees what we experience. But that's our job. Our job is to go, not to proselytize, not to convert the world, but to bring the recognition of Hashem to the entire world. It's like I remember walking with my grandfather.

24:26
My grandfather was a very, very holy rabbi. For those of you viewers and listeners who don't know that, he was a very, very prominent rabbi and when we lived in Brooklyn before we were neighbors in Muncie, but when we lived in Brooklyn so we had a lot of rough neighbors Italians, and a lot of Puerto Ricans and African Americans who were really tough on the Jewish neighbors and they almost terrorized us on a regular basis. But when my grandfather came to visit and I walked with my grandfather to shul the respect that they showed to my grandfather. They didn't know who he was, but they saw this is a godly person. It's something different To me.

25:14
They knocked off my yarmulke and they would beat us, but when they saw someone who was holy, someone who was dignified, someone who was, he looked like he had godliness on him. You know, and that's our aspiration is to be someone who's godly they just they stopped and they walked to the side and they said hello and good morning. It was like, with a bow and a nod, it's like it was like it was an amazing thing. That's something which is, you know, I should be, at least for all of us an aspiration, something that we should aspire to attain such a level where it's nikra alecha, kishem Hashem, nikra alecha, you just look at God's people and you should be able to see godliness.

26:04 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
You have to live it. That's how it works. That's the secret. You really live it. You really have all the characteristics that God put in the Torah that we need to inculcate in ourselves, and that's what I think is the secret.

26:20
I wanna point out something, because you mentioned that what we say in Eleno how we need to be a light unto the nations really is what you're saying. It's the other part of what it says, and that the nations should see that and everyone will recognize that. So people have to realize that there's actually a mistake that people make on this. They say, well, if the whole goal is what the nations are going to see, so then why do we have to have our own set of laws? Why do we have to do all these extra mitzvahs? If the goal is that they should be able to see what ethical behavior is, so let's just do the ethical stuff and the dogma we can leave aside. And this was what reforms Judaism. That's what was the principles that we can leave aside. And this was what reforms Judaism. That's how it was the principles that it was founded on. That's why they spent so much time in Navi studying the Nach, because these are verses from Navi, because they accentuated that to what the prophet said and left aside all the laws that are written in the Torah. So what I want to say is that the mistake is a profound mistake, because living the way we live for ourselves, by keeping all the commandments and showing that, that's what creates a vision of being a godly nation.

27:43
If you are living as a Gentile and just trying to be ethical, I got news for you. They look at you as just straight competition. You're like you're honing in on their business, you're trying to be part of their world, and that is a negative. It's not going to work. What really works, what really will make the biggest impression, is when we keep all the laws for ourselves. That they know is very difficult to keep and they're seeing us keep it. That's really what's going to make the difference for the Gentile and say, wow, this is I mean otherwise. Like well, I could behave that way. Why are the Jews special if they're just doing the same things? You know what I mean. They're not doing anything any higher calling, and that's really what we have to recognize is that it's exactly all those extra mitzvahs that are not only the ethical ones, but also the ethical ones that make a big difference in making the impression on the nations of the world and spreading light, spreading God's light to the world.

28:45 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
So, in conclusion, what we're not saying is that, hey, jew, you feel like you're so special. Perhaps you might feel and every person should feel as an individual that they're so special. But no, our responsibility is not to gloat. Look at me, I'm part of the chosen people. Our responsibility is to realize that it comes with a bag of rules and regulations and responsibilities that require us to do so much more. It's not bragging rights, it's a big undertaking. As a Jewish person, you're obligated to so much more. It's not just like I'm, just like my neighbors, I'm just like my friends, I'm like everybody else. No, your job is to do different and do better, and you're held to a higher standard. They have seven commandments. You have 613 commandments. You have to be at such a higher level and that's our responsibility.

29:41 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
Yeah, it's really, but it's not like, like you said, it's something that we should be proud of and it's a gift. All of them are gifts. All the extra responsibilities that we have are gifts. They're not chores, they're not burdens, they're not. Uh right, we need to be proud of those ex those, each and every one of those 613 commandments. The the more you study them, the more you learn about the depths and meaning in them, the more exhilarating it is to perform them and the more it affects how we behave in all areas of life. And, like you say, we can aspire to be like your grandfather, in the sense that it will be apparent to all that this is a godly individual.

30:23 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
That's the goal. You know. I like to tell over that. It's not 613 commandments, it's 613 opportunities. Each mitzvah is an opportunity of another layer of closeness. If you look at you know we have I'm going to plug one of my other podcasts, the Everyday Judaism podcast, where we're going through halacha one chapter at a time and we're explaining it down to the base. The number of laws that we have in Judaism is just like it's astounding, it's unbelievable the number of the details.

31:00 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
It's unbelievable. It's such a beautiful.

31:03 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
Each one is part of a mitzvah that brings us closer. Oh, you think Hashem cares if I say it like this or I say it like that. You're right, Hashem doesn't care. He's giving you the opportunity to be closer to God. Doesn't he appreciate the fact?

31:15 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
that we think that he definitely does, that we're thinking about every step that we make. Every breath, every nuance, from the minute we wake up, every facial expression is all part of how it's dictated from God what's the right way to have a smile on our face, a greeting, a pleasantness about everything about us. All these things, not allowing anger to overtake us. These are things that are every step.

31:43 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
You said, even emotion of the face. There are two areas specifically that I recall in halacha that it talks about facial expressions. Number one is regarding to the laws of Lashon Hara, that if someone asks you about somebody else, even the nod of a face could say something. See like you just twist your face, you're like meh, you know, even that could be slander about someone else. The halacha prohibits it, even the little curl in the face. That's number one.

32:11
And the second is it says that during davening, one shouldn't make even a motion with their face to another person to tell them yeah, whatever, when you're talking to God, you're talking to God. Even a motion, it's like what? Even like your eyes shouldn't be roaming around. That's regarding, you know, protecting ourselves from seeing negative things, things that are immoral, things that are immodest, things that are. When we're praying, we shouldn't be looking around, we should be looking in our prayer book or closing our eyes. That's halacha. It's like what, like from the minute we wake up, how we wash our hands, you know every single detail of the right left, the right left, how we tie our shoes, how we get dressed, how one bathes and how one sleeps and how one eats and how one walks. Each and every detail of life is prescribed in the Torah.

33:05 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
I have a morning after prayer, so we learn a little bit of halach every morning and we're learning details about washing the hands in the morning and there's whole sections about what water qualifies Is it clean water, Is it hot water, Is it cold water? All these things it's like wow, unbelievable. It's like to the detail, the amount of nuance that makes a difference is fascinating.

33:30 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
And it's all part of our building. It gives us opportunity.

33:35 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
The more detail-oriented we become, the closer our relationship becomes, the more meaning there is in everything that we do.

33:44 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
It's an amazing thing. It's an amazing thing, it's an amazing gift. The nations of the world are definitely welcome, but we're not going out to missionize and we're not out to proselytize. Our responsibility is very clear and we try to be very welcoming and friendly.

34:01 - Rabbi Yaakov Nagel (Co-host)
Be very proud of what we do and again, like that's what I said in the beginning, like before, we try our best that the name of God should be beloved to the people. They say wow, it's a godly nation amazing.

34:20 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Co-host)
All right, my dear friends. Thank you so much for listening. We look forward to hearing your feedback and if you'd be so kind and email us at unboxing at torchweborg If you have any questions or if you have a topic that you want us to discuss, absolutely We'll be happy to. We're going to try to do these more regularly, so we appreciate your patience. It's been a busy year, a lot going on, thank God.

Thank, Thank God. Thank you so much and have a magnificent week ahead. Amazing.

34:50- Intro (Announcement)
Thank you for listening to the Unboxing Judaism podcast. We want your questions. If you'd like your question featured in a future episode, please email us at unboxing@torchweb.org. We look forward to hearing from you.