Ari Goldwag - Bamidbar - Raise Your Flag

you're listening to the weekly paraa podcast recorded with hashem's NeverEnding assistance in ra Israel 2016 before I begin speaking about the par I just want to share with you at the end of this podcast I'm going to offer you an opportunity to be involved with a project that I have been involved with for numerous years it's finally coming to a close and it is my safer my book which is at the final final stages of proof reading and copy editing and within a few months this book is going be printed inem with God's help and it's going to be on the shelves it's a book on personal growth it's entitled Perfectly Imperfect breaking out of the ordinary and striving for greatness so watch out for the end of the podcast when I'll speak more about how you can get involved in being part of the release of this exciting and momentous book now I'd like to share with you a thought on the paraa as always and we're going to speak about pares B midbar which is the para that's being read outside of Israel this week in chapter two verse one it says God says to Moses and Aaron verse two each person shall be by his flag with signs according to the house of the fathers which is how the people of Israel are going to encamp and they're going to encamp in a formation surrounding the surrounding the mishkon the Tabernacle where God's divine presence rests I'd like to share with you a beautiful piece from the RAB bakai it's really worth seeing inside it's in the it's on this verse in the beginning of chapter 2 verse two and he speaks at length I'm not going to read the entire thing but he speaks at length about the concept of theim the concept of the flags what were these flags each and every one of the shim each of the tribes had their own special flag it was a different color had a different image on the flag and each one had to do with its Special K the special ability of that specific tribe which was attributed to that tribe usually by yob by Jacob and the blessings that he gave all of his 12 sons so I'd like to read to you the beginning the first small piece inside it says like this each person was by the flag which was designated to him with signs what does it mean with signs so ra says it's referring to the signs of the heavens these are the symbols that were on each and every one of these flags on the flag of Ru Ru was the first he was the there was a picture of a of a man of REM which was a hint to the special D was a kind of plant which he had found and he gave to his mother Leia it's a whole story in in in Genesis it speaks about it but it looks like the shape of a human being so that was the T that was the picture which was on his flag on the flag of Judah there was a picture of a lion because we find that Jacob compared him to a lion cub Shore and on the flag of Ephraim there was a picture of an ox in in like the verse refers to it refers to Joseph and to his sons as an ox very interesting on the flag of Dan there was a picture of an eagle and now what we have is we have these four different flags with four different images on them a human being a lion an ox and an eagle and interestingly brings that these four Images were the four images that Ezekiel Saw when he had his vision when he saw the movo when he saw the vision of the charity saw hashem's kov his Divine Throne as it were when he saw that so there were Angels which he was able to Envision and these angels had different pun they had different faces or different aspects different sides one way you looked at it you would see a human being one way you looked at it you would see a lion one way you looked at it you would see an ox another way you looked at it you could see that that there was the face of a neser of an eagle in a parallel way the Jewish people also had these four different aspects which obviously we need to understand what they are but these four different aspects were represented on the flags which represented each of the four different groups of of tribes so in this first explanation of the r we see that the flags what is the idea of these flags what is the concept somehow we see that the Jewish people correspond to this Angel figure which is in the highest Heavens that surrounds God's Throne as Ezekiel Saw we need to understand what is the idea of this what is the concept of the fact that the Jewish people are compared to Angels who have these four different aspects these four different figures that appear on their Flags so now I'd like to share with you the next section also the rakai which gives us another twist or another angle on this concept another way of explaining the concept of signs the word can also be read which means the desire the desire of the soul the people of Israel they saw someone else they saw another group that had these flags and they also had a desire to have these flags they saw when they saw they saw God come down at Mount Si and reveal himself and and say the The Ten Commandments to them they saw with their own eyes how Hashem was surrounded by the Mal by the angels and these angels also had flags and so the Jewish people desire just like the angels have Flags we also want Flags so again we need to understand what is the concept of flags what is the idea of flags what does it mean that the Mal the Heavenly angels have Flags what are these flags what do they represent and why is it that the Jewish people desire also to have these flags what does a flag do for the particular group of the particular group of tribes what is its spiritual Essence and what can we learn from this and use as a tool in our own lives perhaps before we start to answer these questions I want to share with you one more medish which brings he says like this what does it mean that each one was by his flag with signs was actually with the signs that were given over to them by their father who's their father when Jacob passed away so right before he passed away he gave a command to his son that no egyptian should touch his casket and none of his grandchildren they shouldn't be involved in carrying his coffin back up to the land of Israel there were those of his grandchildren who had indeed married from the girls of Canan this is what it says the sons of Jacob did as they were commanded his sons carried him back up to the land of Canan his sons did it and not his grandsons he said to them as follows Judah and they're going to carry the coffin on the Eastern side these three sons they're going to carry me from the south these three are going to carry me from the West these three are going to carry me from the north Joseph will not carry me because he is a king shall not carry meem in the future he's going to be the one his grandchildren are going to be the ones who carry the holy Ark of hem the ones who are going to carry the Ark of the one who lives forever it's not correct for them to carry the coffin of someone who's dead and yob told them Jacob said to them if you carry my coffin as I command you in the future in the Merit of what you've done now Hashem is going to place his divine presence amongst you and he's going to do it in such a way that you have these flags and you're situated around the divine presence which is in the center in the mishkon now Moses when hasem spoke to him when spoke to and said to him I want you to set up the Jewish people in this way he was worried that there shouldn't be an upset an argument between the tribes who's in the East who's in the west everybody knew that there were certain spots that were more significant that had different significances said don't worry you don't have to be concerned about this they already received the tradition from their great-grandfather from Jacob as to how they are to set up as as to how they are to be located around when they're in a formation and so you don't have to be worried that that there's going to be jealousy that people are going to be want to be in a different spot than you're going to assign them I'm going to assign them in exactly the same way that Jacob assigned them when they brought his coffin up to ER to the land of Israel to be buried now there are a few questions that we can ask on this Mish and from the questions we'll see that there's an amazing idea that this m is saying and that all the mosan that we've been quoting are saying first question is why was it so important to yakob to Jacob that only his sons carry him why couldn't his grandson so what so they had married someone who was not from the clan of the Jewish people but what was the big deal why couldn't any Egyptians carry him it was only specifically his 12 sons what's the significance of that also what needs understanding is that we see that the medish is clearly created creting a parallel between the carrying the coffin of Jacob and the Jewish people encamping around the mishon the Tabernacle and and moving in that formation as well throughout their sojourn in the wilderness those 40 years what is the idea how does the how is there a parallel between Jacob's coffin and the that we see that there's this formation that's happening in both cases what's the idea here also the fact that Moshe was concerned that there would be mlus there would be arguments about who's going to be in which spot and don't worry about it hm says because they already have a tradition as to how they're supposed to be set up it's something that they received from yob from Jacob what is the idea that they received it from Jacob how is it that it's going to help them that they shouldn't have any arguments now in this formation around the around the divine presence in the midbar in the wilderness so to begin to understand what's going on here we need to look at the ofanim we need to look at those angels that Ezekiel saw when he had his vision of the merova of the divine presence the kak God's holy Throne which he sits upon in order to interact with the world so to speak we see that these Alan and these angels had four different faces they look like four different things they look like an Arya they look like a lion lion is the king of the beasts King of the wild animals one side looked like an ox the ox is the king of the domesticated animals on one side he looked like a ner like an eagle the eagle is the king of the flying animals and on the another side he look like the Adam the human being who is the king over them all now we need to understand what is the concept of the king what is the concept of these four different faces but what we see immediately is that you have one being one Angel which really is a manifestation an angel is always just a glove an extension of Hashem as it were how Hashem manifests in the world he sends these little angels these little worker bees we could call them that are the ones who manifest in this world that we see Hashem is working in this world through them but when we say that they have four different faces that have these four different aspects what we're really saying is that you have one being you have one spiritual being which has four different ways of being seen in the world four different ways of manifesting said in another way I AR goldwag I have many different ways that I appear in the world so to speak some people know me as a singer some people see me as a teacher other people see me as a father my children see me as as a father to my wife I'm a husband but I have different faces I have different aspects they're all part of one person they're all part of arol they're all part of who I am but depending on how you look at me depending on your relationship with me you will see a different face as it were so the ofan Thea these angels have all these different faces truly they're one being but they manifest in different ways Hashem also is one being he's the ultimate one being that includes all the different aspects in the ultimate unity where there is no separation where there is nothing there's no differentiation only Hashem it's all one we don't understand this concept but Hashem manifests and appears to us with many different faces Hashem is our father Hashem is also our King Hashem is the one who does he does kindness but hasm is also the one who does g sometimes he withholds kindness Hashem does many different things in the world hasm manifests through all of the different things that we see in the world so hashm has many faces so to speak hashm has many ways that he appears to us but Hashem is one there is one being and that's God who's behind all of them behind all of these different aspects behind all of these different activities that we perceive in the world now when Hashem comes down on Hari on Mount son is's about to reveal himself to the world reveal himself to the Jewish people to give those Ten Commandments he's accompanied by 22,000 angels and these angels as the RAB gets into at length and we won't these angels are also encamped into four encampments on all four sides as it were of God's revelation of his divine presence and they each have flags and the Jewish people see those flags and they want flags as well what is the idea of a flag a Flag represents my unique contribution each country has a flag the Jewish state has a flag it has a blue star and it has two lines which remind the Jewish people of their unique purpose in the world do you know that that the the Israeli flag originally they placed tius on the four corners of it and the tius clearly represent our unique purpose Bringing Down the tius are the things that we look at the word tius means to to look to take a look so things that we look at that remind us of the heavens the blue is the heavens reminds us of our purpose in the world which is to serve ASM to reflect the Heavenly Abode into this world so the flag of a nation and the flag of an Angel and the flag of a tribe represents their unique purpose their unique gavan their unique color that they bring into the world their unique manifestation of hem in the world that flag is raised up high because it's sometimes so easy to forget what is my purpose maybe I can confuse my purpose with someone else's purpose hey what's he doing in the East I want to be in the East whatever the East represents I want to be doing that way I want to manifest hasem in that way the deel the flag reminds that group what is their purpose what is their place you are in the East you are in the west you are in the South you are in the north each of these different locations represent really a different aspect a different view something different that we bring into the world that we manifest Hashem in the world and yobu Jacob is the one who when he gave the blessings to his children he was telling them what is your spiritual ability what is your ability Yehuda Judah you are like a line lion just like a lion is the king of the beasts he reminds all the animals how they are to serve hasem how they are to manifest godliness in the world so to speak all of the wild animals are led by that lion Yehuda also is the leader he's the one who stands up he's the deel a leader is just like a flag he's the one who because he has such a strong manifestation of the aspect which his group who he is leading is indeed supposed to bring into the world he's the one he's he acts he serves as a flag a reminder of who they are supposed to be Ephraim on his flag there was an ox which represents the one who is the leader the king of the domesticated animals and their version of serving Hashem and manifesting Hashem in the world everything every single animal in the world everything is here to serve Hashem to manifest Hashem in the world and by the way and this is a mem muskus this is a parenthetical statement but that's why ad Marisha when he first comes into the world the first thing that he does is he names all the animals he's giving them their essential Purp purpose the name speaks of the essential purpose of that particular animal and now he is to manifest that particular animal is to manifest Hashem in the world so when we look at the last questions that we ask the last group of questions why was it that yakob only wanted somebody who is his sons not his grandsons no Egyptians it was specifically those who were outstanding those who were the deal those who were the flags who truly represented a full manifestation of hhm's will Egyptians they didn't have that yet they didn't they hadn't learned enough from the Jewish people the grandsons they some of them had married Canaanite women so they weren't fully manifesting that which was supposed to be for the Jewish people in this world at that time he wanted specifically those who were the dullum those who were the flags those who were outstanding who would in the future represent the Jewish people and also represent it's not a coincidence who would represent Hashem in the world the divine presence was surrounded on on these four sides by these four different formations four different aspects of the Jewish people each one of them represented another way that Hashem manifests in the world just like that ofan just like that angel which also represented how hasem manifests in the world depending on the angle depending on the side that you look at it from the Jewish people saw the Mal saw the angels that they had these flags they knew what their purpose was they were constantly being reminded of who they were and how they were supposed to manifest Hashem in the world what their special job was the Jewish people saw that they said I want that too at Mount sa when that Revelation was coming down and they realized that they were the chosen people who was going to manifest hasm in the world they said we need this reminder we need this flag we need leaders who are going to represent that they completely serve hasem they completely manifest Hashem in the world they completely their their job in the world is to manifest Hashem and to serve Hashem and to bring that aspect which they have that special aspect which they bring that they're to bring it down indeed into the world World we'd like to have that too and it's clear that the message of this magish of this of the idea that we're talking about here is that each one of us has an opportunity to grab onto a dle onto a flag we're not all the same we're not meant to all be the same we're each supposed to serve hashm in our own unique way we're each supposed to manifest hm in the world according to the flag that we gravitate to we need to find those leaders we need to find those people those individuals and groups that help us to accomplish our goal of serving hm to the best of each of our unique abilities we need to see those who have their flags raised and recognize that I don't need to per se raise that same flag but I also need to raise my flag I need to find the flag that represents my service of Hashem I need to hold on to that and indeed continue to be in that formation around the be somebody who manifests Hashem manifests hashem's divine presence in the world now I told you at the beginning that I'm going to share with you about my book like I said this book has been completed it's in the very very final stages and with God's help it's going to be coming out very soon and this book for me represents a different flag people know me as a singer people know that I've I've put out beautiful music that really has inspired many people and I also have an opportunity just like I've been giving the Z Torah in six weeks it's going to be nine years that I've been putting out every single weekor on the par and it's something that I continue to do I don't get paid for it but I do know that there many people that are listening to it hundreds of people listening to it and it's something that I do because this is how I raise my flag and putting out a safer is another way that I can raise my flag and help others to raise their flag as well now if you're listening and you've gotten this far it could be that you are somebody who sees that my flag is something that you relate to you relate to the raising of the flag that I am I am doing I have been doing and I ask you to join with me I need to raise $10,000 in order to print the book to have them shipped to the places that they need to get to it's a book that's going to be distributed by felim and my publishing imprint is mosaa this is an opportunity to help me to help you to help others to be able to spread this Torah this idea this the concepts which I teach here which are about personal growth and serving Hashem and manifesting Hashem in the world I invite you to donate $5 $100 $1,000 5,000 whatever you want whatever makes sense for you but take part you can go to my website www.wag.com brand new website which has come out recently go to the contact page on the top of the contact page is a donate button and you can write when you donate that money you can write that it's for AR's Torah book I also use that button for other things so I'd like it to be clear what it's for and I really appreciate all those who have already donated I've already bashem since I started this campaign I've already collected about $350 so I want to thank those who have already done donated and I want to thank you for listening and I want to thank you for being involved and considering taking part in donating and helping me to put out this book hem should bless you and should bless me all of us that we should be we should Merit to raise up our flag to manifest Hashem in the world and Inspire others to manifest Hashem in the world as well thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]