The “Real” Influencers

Moshe Taragan for the U's all para video series of sharim speaking from gushion still thinking about the nissim that we were za to I won't speak about this directly but kazal are very critical of for not reciting shes after the nis biflo that he and the besieged people of matu when san's army was obliterated overnight Same story over unfolds in Zakaria perkdaled where some of the people from the original generation who had seen the first bas were unable to celebrate the nissim of returning to usim and building the second bas mikdash even though our Yeshua is still partial and we're still living in murky times. the Nissim we were Zoha to the last two weeks in Erit Israel unfortunately military officials were expecting close to god forbid I don't want to say the name the number thousands of casualties preparing for that willing to accept that as a legitimate but hard harsh price to pay for avoiding a nuclear holocaust or the potential for nuclear holocaust by the Iranians bar who sent us is Yeshua Uh unfortunately about 30 people did lose their lives and thousands of people are homeless and of course several thousand are injured. We don't want to overlook that or sugarcoat their suffering or ignore their suffering. So um everyone should try to find the way to register the nace. And typically the way to register a nace is not just cognitively or intellectually but to try to give expression to say and uh to make it a when you're a go when you're nigal has to be new and vibrant and contemporary and updated. Some people in this week said hal a lot of people probably those listening to this year are of a orientation where you don't say hal that often finding proimil to add not just the shiralosim orali my two favorites but you can choose your own because they're so wellknown you don't need a sitter but they really capture some of the mood is per kuf msmor fiveim and peraglammed msir kanuka of David. You know them, you recite them in David, but to recite them specially and to think about Denise and not just mouth words, but what did we experience and what were the dynamics and what were the fears and how did they shortcome. Anyway, getting back to parasukas. Parasukas contains a really fascinating satire. Satire is when you say one thing and you mean not just another thing, you mean something inverse. A metaphor means you mean A and B. A satire means you mean A and not A. And the more that you stress the A, the more that you uncover the not A. And it's a satiric um section as Am Israel are battling Melik AI. We're given a lot of military information about the war between Amori and Moaf. Now at a practical um historical level, the war between Sikh and Meluri and the people of Moav on the eastern bank of the Jordan River is historically impactful because Alt Tatsar esov were not allowed to battle Moav. Moave is a descendant of Lot, part of the same family. Mov is going to be the ancestor of David Melik for all sorts of reasons. Moave is handsoff. Amorei is a different story. They're part of the Amori tribe. The Mi tribe is also resident in Erits Israel and Erit Kenan. And this was a savage paganistic idolatrous bloody tribe. And ultimately we did vanquish. But there was a prior war between Sikh and Malik, at least the Amory and the Moabites. And the implications of that war were very very significant for Amisil. Had Moav victored and maintained their lands, those lands would have been off limits to Amisau because we're not allowed to war with Moav. Fortunately, from our perspective, Sikhon vanquished Moav a decisive victory. All the lands of Movy of the lands of Mov were transferred to Sikhon and subsequently and consequently when we defeated Sikhon those lands then transferred reverted to Am Israel ultimately to be settled by the two and a halfvatim Ruven god and half of the shvet of Manasha. So the Torah has to inform us of the lands that we would conquer from Sikhon. These were lands not just that Sikhon and Amari had owned but that they took from Mo. But the degree of detail seems to be disproportionate to the function of these. This is the city of whit and he captured it from known and took all the lands of mo are known als bards were early poets and many of their poems and songs were about war. thing about Homer, a thing about the Iliad, thing about all the wars that poets spoke about. They didn't have YouTube, they didn't have sports, they didn't have baseball games, they didn't have movies. So, they gathered and heard the poem or the poet describe the great wars of Troy or the great these were the great wars of and alim all the bards and poets. Let's gather into it's not just the poets, but it's also the politicians. This is actually the poets talking about all the politicians and diplomats who gather in the which was the metropolis that was the metropolis in the east bank now that has captured from Moab that city should be built and established because it's now acquire it because a fire came out to a flame came shooting out from the center of a mo consumed mo cities balm and the Highlands of Arnon Moav. Here the poet is bemoning and whailing. Woe is to you the people of Moavos. You've lost the people of Kimoshanim. The children have become refugees and the daughters are now being taken captive who conquered you in the war. Vanashbon and you also lost the kingdom of Kashbon. Is the king. He lost Kashbon to Advon till the lands of Dvon Vanashim. And you also lost from Adnova Asha. Wow. There is a lot of information here that's not necessary. All we really need to know is that conquered Moab and all the lands were taken and then we conquered those lands. Who cares about Nofak Nam Nashima? Who cares about Bamos Aron, the highlands of Aron? Who cares about the fire? Who cares about Moab? Why are we bemoning the Torah? Has entire meto at a predicate or an extra letter if at all. And here an entire PK bemoning and whailing the great losses of Moav and describing the politicians gathering in Khbon maybe to sign a peace treaty maybe to go to war. Hard to know a lot of information here tmi about an event that only marginally affects Jewish history on the east bank of the Jordan. So because it's so disproportionate and a lot to do about nothing as Shakespeare himself would to say and write and title his bookal saw that there's a deeper message and I want to read I'm reading it out of Tamim just it's easier to find it but it's a garbas one of my favorite gamar and again I read the puzz that the gamar hone hones in on and we'll see how the garamar redirects it I believe it's the name of again the p in the middle of this whole saga this whole war story alim The rulers say, "Let's gather in Khbon. Let's go to the city of Sehon because a fire came out of Khbon. A flame from Son to conquer Hashbon from Moab and it consumed Moav. Woe are the children of Moab. Your sons have been taken refugee and your children have been kidnapped and hostage taken." So according to all these three are one big satire because you and I think that the real story is unfolding in the metropolis of the rulers of the world and the outcome of the war and the refugees and the captives and the hostages and the lands that have been conquered. But say as follows, who are the Moshlim? Not the diplomats, not the generals, not the presidents, not the tyrants, not the kings, not the monarchs, not the soldiers, but people who control their impulses. People who control, who impose moral will upon their desires, upon their needs, upon their weaknesses. How do they exercise that control? They conduct on effes. They think about not just onesh in the micro sense. What did I do right today? What did I do wrong today? Which is important from time to time. Sometimes it can become a little bit obsessive and fixating if every day you're conducting as once paraphrased of your clothing should always be white. And once said, well, that doesn't mean turning life into a perpetual laundry. You're not always whitening your clothes. You're living life and once in a while you want to check your behavior. But it's also more of a macro analysis. is the pleasure, the need you serve, the insecurity you attend to. And of course, it has a heid and heid of an is worse than thear much more steep than thear. Every aa is a sacrifice or a barter of eternity for transients. And that's a very very poor exchange. And the same with a mitzvah. Every mitzvah has a cost. Whatever sacrifice, whatever limitation, whatever work you have to do that you rather not, not that you'd rather not, but you have other things that you may want to spend time on. And of course the he said is is paramount and therefore thear is is enormous and therefore overwhelms whatever investment financial or otherwise you have to make. So the moshim are not the dictators and the diplomats and the generals and the kings and the monarchs but the people who exercise moral will let's conduct the and if so then if that happens if that happens then the city will be built sturdy. What is the city being built sturdy? doesn't mean the city of Khbon. It means the city of a human heart, the city of a human soul, the city of a human life. But if you fail and you don't build the city, then the fire will consume you and the the fire will overcome you. That's a person who follows his own will, who ascends the highlands of Bamos Arnon, who becomes horty in vain. And so this whole story about the dictators, tyrants, and kings gathering in Kashbon, deciding either to go to war or to end the war, it's hard to know. The fire coming from Sikhon, consuming Moab. You and I think it's the war. And essentially, it's a code for a moral war that takes place on the eternal landscape or the internal battlefield of the human heart and the human moral saga. And the real leaders are not the monarchs but people who control their heshbon is not a city. It's a calculus of sin and a calculus of mitzvos. And the consequences are either a city will be built sturdy or the fire will come out and eliminate the city and cause drama and hardship and devastation and metaphorically children being left as refugees and daughters being taken as hostages. Now what makes this so satirical is that the literary reading of theukin and Khazal's Russia are antithetical namely what shapes reality what shapes our world wars diplomacy generals kings or the internal moral battle and it seems at least to the naked eye the literary reading when you read the text what first hits you well it's whatever is in the headlines and whatever wars are being fought whatever treaties are being signed whatever leverages are being exerted That's what shapes human history. And if you look a little deeper, you realize that headlines come and go, politics comes and goes, monarchs come and go, empires rise and fall. So it's 2025 as we recite this year. Does anyone listening to this year, maybe aside from the archaeologists and the Middle East or Near East, ancient Near East historians, does anyone know where Keshbon was? Does anyone really care? Does anyone know who those Muslim were? The nondescript, unnamed leaders that gathered for this summit meeting in Keshbon, the big metropolis that everyone gathered to that at all the shops and markets and comingings and goings. They've long since vanished from this world. Does anyone know where the Bamos Arnon are? The highlands of Arnon? Maybe you could look it up in it, but does anyone really care that they were the highlands of Arnon? Does anyone really know where Divon Nashim, Nofak, and Medva were? These are just coordinates that have long since disappeared from history. So, if you were living through these wars and following the headlines of the Mesopotamian Gazette or the Hammurabi uh I don't know, Hammurabi Times, whatever people were reading those days on their tablets, I don't mean their Apple tablets, but on their stone tablets. Obviously, they weren't reading any newspapers. You would think these are going to shape history. The big war between Son, the fierce warrior, the king of Amari and Moav, and who's going to win, what boundaries will be set, what boundaries will not be set, and who even knows who Son was, who even knows who Moave was, where they were, where the battles, they've long since faded from history. But moral decisions, brave moral decisions, they ripple with impact far far beyond the moment in which they are taken. These decisions, even though they don't appear in headlines and people aren't paying attention to them, moral energy shapes history much more impactfully than headlines. And I think for people that are involved in both, it's more of a delicate balancing act. There are some Orthodox Jews today who completely disdain or disavow the world of the world of politics, the world of war. It's all desaya tara magna. We occupy a purely metaphysical realm and that's the soul realm in which history is shaped. And I assume for most people I think listening to this share we are involved in both realms. And though we know that the metaphysical realm of moral decisions, Torah, mitzvah, moral courage, whatever those decisions are deeply deeply affect history, we also know that the instrument instrumentation for history's trajectory is politics and wars and diplomacy. And our people are now getting close to having been at war for about two years now. and we're suffering the toll and carrying the weight of being at war for so long. But it's important specifically for people in our community to especially now that there's a bit of a break. I know we're still fighting in Aza and we're wishing all of our to come back safely. They should come back safely and then certainly towards hopefully what will be the end of this war. We should end without any sour notes, without any losses. Hashem should be enemy should flee as they have fle in the north they should continue to flee in the south but especially now that we have a little bit of time to think and to ponder especially to ponder the nim that we've been z to and those hashem delivered to us because of because of because of because of all the of Jewish history of but also because of The Torah we continue to learn and the we continue to d and the mtoim and the moshim the way we continue to conduct ourselves in the spirit of Moshlim and um that's what makes it so satirical because you read a and you think that it's the literal reading the Muslim and the leaders and the diplomats and then the undercurrent is not really a it's anti- a it's what you don't see in the headlines what gets hidden I always remind myself of my grandfather my Zadei who was living in White Russia around the early 1920s. I may be off if there's anyone in my family, my large family, which I'll allude to a little bit later listening to this. And at some point the um pgrams and the discrimination and the anti-semitism of Russia was just so much that he made the decision to pick up and move to America and he moved his alone and he saved his pennies and he brought over his brothers and his parents and today I don't know how many people with the last name Terrian Ashkenazi Teran. There are safari terri out there also probably our ancient relatives but how many every Ashkanazi Terrigan is we're all related. world, one very very large big family and it was one quiet decision, brave decision, courageous decision of myian and the decisions that had rippled afterwards. And I always ask myself, if you go back and read the newspapers of that day that he decided to leave Russia and journey to America and you'd read the headlines and who was deciding what and what policies were being shaped and what post World War I and and those are just the sands of history. They wash in, they wash out, they come in, they come out. the tides of history high and low and nothing from that time really has lasting impact and everything is is just a cycle and a circle and yet my grandfather's decision which was quiet which wasn't covered in any headlines that decision I think is shaping history like everyone's brave it's not because my last name is Ter not because of my grandfather I'm sure many people listening to this share can think back to similar brave and courageous decisions that people in their past made that didn't make headlines But when you look at it 80 years later, 90 years later, 100 years later, it reshapes history. Um, so be careful about not getting too caught up in the headlines. And again, I keep saying this particularly from people in because when I travel to I sometimes feel like people are so longing to connect to Israel. And from afar, the easiest way along and to connect is to open up the news and to be up um up to up to date with what's happening to in this battlefield and that battlefield. And sometimes you can get get dragged into this vortex of headlines. And number one, as I've said so often, not look beyond the headlines into the spirit of our battle, but also um it's hard to feel that your personal experiences have meaning and impact in a war that's being fought collectively and nationally thousands of miles away. And you really are holding the gun proverbally and driving the tank proverbally and in the cockpit over the skies of Iran proverbially. Not that we don't need we shouldn't be grateful to but in addition to that just know that especially during war your decisions whatever those decisions are they could be decisions that express themselves in the ritual world more learning Torah more during David more commitment to mitzvah or they could be decisions that express themselves in the religious world which is in ritual notice I use the word religion just being a kinder person being better to your spouse being a better parent being more honest being more respectful for people. I think sometimes when we think about upping our game and bringing our agame when it we immediately immediately default to how much more Torah am I going to learn how many more sum am I going to make coming perm and they're all important and if you're able to those should be summoned as well but it's also have I changed my personality if there if there are people at war defending you and you feel like they're laying your lives on the line maybe you should be a little less petty maybe you should be a little less angry the next time And sometimes that packs a moral punch that's a lot stronger than just the tum and the learning for different reasons. It's easier to disconnect the tum and the learning from people's heroism and sacrifice. Whereas if people are sacrificing, the least you owe them is to just be a better person and a bigger man and a bigger woman and and less petty and less jealous and less weak and less lazy and less um distracted, whatever that less is. So this is a beautiful beautiful gamarra. It's again it's inabas. It's a classic satire. Torah is describing one thing but it subverts it almost sabotages it through the drasha of the gamar and bababasra that the real Moshlim are not the people who seem to control the fates of other people but the people who control their own inner battle their own inner struggle. And just to give you this gimmar inabas may sound familiar to you is the gamarra that the ramal leads with in it's the garamar he quotes to talk about the importance of nephesh and controlling your moral impulses. So it's a well-known gamarra and um it's a beautiful satire and especially living through historical moments. Remember you and I shape history in the inner quadrants of our heart and our experience. The same way we also shape history in the skies of Tehran and the borders of Erit Isra.