Ari Goldwag - Bechukosai - Finding the Balance

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast recorded with the shims never ending assistance in ramat beit shemesh israel 5770 6 2016 this week's parsha is partial Ikuko see if you're outside of Israel and I'd like to show you a thought on a partial based on I'm a Jewish this week's parsha perhaps his most famous for the claw is the technical the rebuke that a Shem gives to the Jewish people first the blessings that are shown promises the Jewish people if they fulfill the commandments if they maintain their relationship with Hashem and then a long list of difficulties that they will encounter if heaven forbid they don't keep their relationship with Hashem if they're not involved in that spiritual relationship with God now right in the middle of all of the difficult challenges the Torah describes there's a verse this is in chapter 26 verse 42 and if you listen carefully when the Valkyrie is reading from the Torah you'll hear that when he sets the title ah it's in a more subdued tone it's more quiet however when it comes to this particular verse the tone rises because the verse describes the fact that no matter how difficult it seems no matter how far it seems the Jewish people have strayed from God God will always remember the confident that he made with the forefathers and so for that verse the ball Cory will raise his voice and he will say it out loud even though the rest of the type of clock is set in a more quiet voice and then immediately after that first you'll see that the volume is going to go back down because the topical will continue the claw is the curses and the rebuke will continue it's interesting to note what is this verse that all of a sudden smack in the middle of everything we have this verse it says it's a hearty esprit sialkot God says I will recall the Covenant that I have with Jacob the office brizia talk and even my covenant with Isaac office procedure brahim his car and also the covenant that i had with Abraham I will remember hard disk or I will recall the earth now one of the first things that we notice as we listen to this verse is that the patriarchs are mentioned in reverse order usually we speak of them as avraham yitzhak vehic of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but here if he gives with Jacob goes to Isaac and then it goes back to Abraham what is the reason why the verse in mentioning the patriarchs reverses the order of the patriarchs what is this too chess and also another important question what is indeed the understanding why is this verse in the middle of the type of car at the very end of the talk of her at the end of the rebuke you'll see only a few verses later that the tone will rise again and ashram says that i will never despise them i will never throw them out i will never destroy them completely because i have this covenant but what's the reason why we have this verse that all of a sudden it goes up and then it goes back down why is this verse chosen to be in the middle of the title ought to be at a point where it's still not yet out of the title co not out of that rebuke what is the lesson of this verse so i'd like to share with you a magician at first as is often the case with the measure ish it doesn't seem to have to do with our discussion with our verse but we will see that it does very much have to do with that this is what it says it's impartial I made love section 36 in the first part of that section and olive is the heartiest we see archive I will remember my covenant with Jacob how do we see if that's what the verse means when it says as follows the phoneme ha rhd sarita my co de Foix am i'm in speaking of the creation of the world the psalm says in chapter 10 to 24 26 that at the very beginning God founded the earth and the works of your hands this is King David speaking to God the works of your hands are the heavens so what's the order usually we speak about the fact that God created the heavens and the earth but here we see that the earth is mentioned before the heavens hey Shauna bass hello so we have an argument classic argument between Bay sharma and Basilio pastrami I'm irma shamini rutila neshama says that the heavens were created first yah ha kaha Arts in afterwards the earth was created shania as the verse says the very beginning of Genesis gracious bartokomous of Sheamus are it's in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth so we see that the heavens are creative first whistle I'm rim they sell says are at sniffers kila actually the earth was created first the africa from I'm and then the heavens were created and we're going to see that he's going to bring a verse as well but certainly it's indicated in this verse in Psalms it places the earth before the heavens so bacillus saying that the earth was that which was created first I'd like to point out already at this point in the mesh that we need to understand that at the very beginning of creation time was not yet created there was no time yet which is why we find that there are contradictions their issues as far as what happened when when did it happen on the calendar which day of the year was the world created but we need to understand that it's really at the very first moment of time very first moment of creation god of course is beyond time he's unchanging he's perfect there is no time in God's realm so so time is a creation of God so it's really hard to talk about first and last which was created first which was create a second when there's not yet a creation of time so this already indicates for us that when we speak about which was created first it's almost implicit that the discussion here has to do with which is the ikar which is the main concept was the world created for the spiritual for the shaman or was that were created for the Arts for the earth for the land for the physical so naturally in a spiritual discussion a discussion that comes from the Torah so we would assume that the world was created for the spit spiritual we should say everyone should agree based like Bashar my that the heavens were created first so to speak that the main thing is the heavens and yeah we have base hill who says know that the earth was created for so the main thing is the earth so we need to understand what does base hillel mean what is the idea the earth is created first or that the physical realm is the main aspect of reality what it's what does that mean was the concept to the magic continues aw my theme time of ram each of them both ways on ebay halo bring a reasoning for their words for their concept time on David Shaw my Dino non-reaction magna vertically lavaca Haaretz the reasoning of a shaman what is the reason why they say that though the heavens were created first before the earth mashallah mashallah quise it's analogous to a king that he made himself a throne you shud saw once he made his throne I saw porphyria and shall I then he placed because he's sitting on a very high place so we needed a place where his feet to rest they didn't reach all the way to the ground so he had a stool made for his feet to rest upon so this is what we find a reference to the verse in Isaiah chapter 66 verse 1 ko mhm Sherman conceived ours have done regular this is what God says heavens are my throne and the earth is the place for my feet to rest so we see that the heavens are that which is created first they are the main thing the spiritual realms come first however the earth is the place where then God places his feet so to speak where God interacts to the world just like the feet are that which the human being uses to interact with the earth so to God places his feet on the earth but the earth is secondary the spiritual realms are primary the earth is secondary Taman debase hello what is the reasoning of a solo why do they say the earth is created first darts nearest aquila the aqua caucus room i'm and then the heavens are created mashallah Malik Shabana palitan it's analogous to a king that built a palace mashaba natok tina ambani i'll join him since he's building his palace he needs to build the foundations that goes first into the earth then once he has the foundations properly set he builds his palace upon those foundations but first comes the earth then comes the heavens passive and base hillo says we have the verse the verse explicitly mentioned this in Genesis chapter 2 verse 1 p.m. haces Hashanah came Eretz fishermen it refers to the fact that God created on that day the earth and the heavens so we see that it specifically from the ground up now a little bit farther on in the meddra Sh we have the following statement of rebbi shimon bar yochai Irishman by a height O'Mahony Eithne flick of asylum of reassure my merits he says I don't understand how they shall miss Hillel are arguing about this the creation of the heavens in the earth which one was done first Shani I'm air because I say Shyamalan abru-el Achilles Vicki sue he says that they were actually created as one unit they were created at the same exact moment the same time as we spoke about before idaho deceive and that's what it means in the verse after Yoda yasta Eretz via meaning typical shaman the verse refers to two hands of God as it were one hand founded the earth and the other hand created the heavens so we can see from this verse that God created them both at the same time all marvelous rip Shimon rebbi shimon bar yochai sunriver laser said in cudahy mar abba if my father is correct it explains something profound Oh Makka Moo Makka shane madolora to amok amok or who ever be I'm as a session ok marimayam the fact that we find that the Torah many times places the heavens before the earth and yet we find that the tour also places the earth before the heavens in the description of the creation and I'm a longish names Coulomb shoving zeikos a rebel Iser tells us that what the verse is teaching us with the tour is teaching us is that indeed they were both created at the same time but not only that the two aspects of heaven on earth are schooling shove him which means that they are if you had to place them on two sides of a weight of a scale it would come out that they're evenly balanced but they're both equally important so it's very interesting because it comes out that on base he'll are arguing which is more important the spiritual realm or the physical realm and then reply 0 chi minh and rubbish my high are saying no you can't talk about which one is more important but rather you have to say that both of them are equally important we need to have a perfect balance between the spiritual and the physical realms now it's interesting it's important to ask this question here is that rebel as the persimmon is telling it's a great hitter she sing a novelty and that is that the Torah says ordinarily the heavens before the earth and yet if the Torah singles at one time to say it in reverse order nothing is by chance it's always very careful with the words that it shows the revelation that Hashem gave that God gave to Moses was very carefully the words were carefully chosen so we find one time the Taurus switches the order that's enough for us to say that even though they haven't seemed to be more important than the earth or even though they haven't seemed to be created before the earth really from the fact that the Torah versus at one time teaches you that no they are equally important that they were created at the same time and don't think that the heavens were created before the earth or that the heavens are more important than the earth but the thing that we need to understand is why indeed does the tourists say it all of the time that the heavens come first why indeed is it enough that if it just says it one time it just reverses the order one time that's enough to show us that indeed that they are equal that they are equally important that they were created together if so then why is it or not place them equally widest in the Torah sometimes say it this way sometimes say it that way place the heavens before the earth or place the earth before the heavens in an equal manner why does it do it in this way where it's always seems to be that the heavens are first now I want to share with you the rest of the men Trish a few more examples where we see the tour places one thing before the other one person before the other and it seems that that that one is more more culture more important more significant but in fact the Torah in other places switches the order and that shows us that they are equal the first example that I like to share over here bohol Makka Moo Makka mochila Aaron in all places are generally speaking the Torah places Moses before Aaron well Malcolm at lemare in one place this is a verse in Exodus chapter 6 for 26 it says who are an Umi shisha refers to Aaron and then Moses Mel amateurish name Shalom's e così this teaches us that they are equal they are equally important in the process of gula in the process of the redemption of the Jewish people that they each have their tov key that they each have their special purpose that they have to fulfill in order to bring about this amazing Google of this amazing redemption pakka Makka Moo Makka mio schulich olive we find that Joshua always comes before Caleb / Malcolm fu Lou Hamer but in one place and by mid were numbers chapter 32 verse 12 it says bill tikal even if una kinesio Shubin on the only ones who were faithful to me and who go into the Land of Israel are Khalif and then Joshua places Kali first malawi sheesh name show music because thatís teaches us that these two great people were equal they both served an important purpose in God's plan and they were they were equally important baha Makka Moo Makka Makeba da flick Hebrew name interestingly we find that the Torah usually places the honor of the father before the honor of the mother welcome Ellen warmer but in one place over says you she might've Aviv tiro that a person is to honor and fear his mother and his father places the mother first allow me to shame coulombs ago so this teaches us that the parents are to be equal the parents of the mother and the father have to be honored in an equal way we do find that there is an exception to this haha min ha I've kamla aim if let's say the father says one thing the mother says another thing so the child is obligated to listen to the father what's the reason for that become a common issue the email I oven the fight of it because there's an obligation on the wife also to honor the father to honor her husband and therefore since they both have to honor the father so the child has listened first to the Father but the idea here is that we see that the Torah will say things one way we'll switch the order so that we know that the two ideas are two people the two concepts are equally important that they both serve different roles but equally important roles and here's where the message comes back to our verse which speaks of Abraham Isaac and Jacob in reverse order placing Jacob first and then Isaac and then Abraham what is the teaching us it's teaching us this idea hamako magnum Avram low voice in all places it places Abraham first the comic artists muziek wife he replaces Jacob first malama shush lush done shoving Zach cozy this teaches us that the three of them were equal we're equally important had an equally important and significant role to play in the foundation of the Jewish people now let's return for a moment to the question that we asked we said if indeed the Torah is teaching us that these concepts are equal by placing them in a certain order most of the time but reversing it once or twice that teaches us that they're equal then why indeed does a total reverse that only one time or two times why doesn't it are consistently reverse it so that sometimes it's this way sometimes it's that way but this shows us that they're equal and i think that the depth of the idea of what this measure is teaching us some of the tour is teaching us is that it's telling us an ideal it's telling us that ideally we should view the spiritual realms and the physical realms as equal it's not the natural state it's not the natural way of thinking about it really the spiritual realms are much more significant that's why the show mine is mentioned always before the physical before the creation of the earth but by the Torah reversing at one time it's telling us that this is how it's meant to be it's meant to be equal it's not the natural state but this is something that we need to work towards that we're raising up the physical aspect our selves until it becomes on equal footing with the spiritual aspect of ourselves infused with spirituality so that the soul and the body are not enemies are not fighting with each other but rather they're working in tandem Moshe Rabbeinu Moses his me the tacky Foose of strength of direction a very clear-cut direction and at times anger when things aren't done properly that meda is the meter that seems to be outstanding that's the miraculous way that the Jewish people are taken out of Egypt is through his power it seems that Moshe smeda his aspect his character trait is the more powerful meda but by the toe reversing in and showing us that our own comes before Moshe sometimes Aaron comes before Moses at times this teaches us that they are meant to be equal they're not always equal on the surface they don't seem to be equal the meat of Aaron is hide his his neither his character trade is giving in the the balance of those two is not something that is a natural thing that happens automatically but it's something that takes time and it's something that we have to reach for so the Torah ordinarily places motion before Aaron in order to teach us that his meda ordinarily on the surface seems to be greater but it switches the order to teach us that Aaron's neither is equally as important and it needs to be developed the natural state is not that they're equal but we need to get to that point and it's the same thing when it comes to the father and the mother the keyboard advil aim naturally a person is mahabad and fears and honors the father more as our causal telus a person is in all of the father the father is the one who directs the child he's the one who gives them you know if he does something wrong the father is the one to rebuke him so the father is the one he naturally fears and is in awe of to get to the place where the mother is also respected in that way it's it's important the tour is telling you it needs to be that way that they are equal that they're equally important the father and the mother but that's not the natural state the natural state of the child is to honor the father more it's to be in all the father more so it's something that needs to be worked on need to get to that place where the male and the female aspects are indeed balanced are working in tandem this could also explain you know they show my CLO they were great leaders in a previous generation of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai regime guardian i will give him the right to say that they're wrong to say when they spoke about which one was more important than no remission where I says they're equally important and I think even in that discussion in that back and forth measure she's teaching us that the first order is the first way it's set up the way that the earth is created is in a place of imbalance in a state of imbalance and Ruby shown by the high is telling us that yes it's true they held that there was there was a difference that one of them is more important but ultimately we're supposed to get to this place where they're equally important and I think that we can use this idea to help us understand why this worse this is a heart is Brucie a cliff why this verse that God will remember the Covenant it stands out for a moment it's it's spoken it's read out loud as opposed to the Takla which surrounds it on both sides the rebuke which is said quietly what is it to teach us and I think it's teaching us the same lesson that we see so many verses of rebuke so many verses of the close of the negative situations we may find ourselves in if we don't fulfill the commandments if you don't follow God's law if we don't make sure to be in a spiritual relationship with God it will seem like that's the overwhelming way things are going to be and it's going to be there's no way out of it it's going to seem like that's just how it is there's no way out and there are so many verses that describe it there's only one verse here that we say out loud that we stress that first says God will not forget I will not forget his covenant with Jacob with Isaac and with Abraham things are reversed it looks like it's so hard it looks like it's so difficult it looks like we're the downtrodden nation that we always receive the brunt of the nations of the world's wrath and yet God says everything is really reversed it's really reversed that which it seems is insignificant my promise seems insignificant it seems that the Khloe's the the curses the difficulties are overwhelming you don't think that that's really how it is that's how it seems to be but there's a process that's going on and it's a quiet process and it goes on behind the scene that says this is the truth this is the real truth there really is balance there really is going to be a time when you'll see that all of the difficulties all the challenges all the hardships that the Jewish people have gone through they were not the main thing it was really God's love God's memory of the bris of the Covenant that he had with Abraham Isaac and Jacob which represents his unconditional love for the Jewish people that's the true thing there the balance will come but it will take time at first it seems that it's out of balance at first it seems that this isn't the main way that God deals with us that God is not remembering his covenant but God is saying by throwing this verse here and teaching us this lesson with in this verse God is showing as measures teaching us that this is the true place that there really is a balance it's not something that you see right away it's not something that's there on the surface but ultimately it is something that's seen ultimately it is the true reality I want to bless you and please bless me back if some should help us that we should be able to find the balance in our lives we should recognize that there's a balance that we're going for that we're trying to reach for that is our goal that is our aim should help us to take the steps to move closer to that balance to find that balance between the different meadows different character traits the different aspects of reality that we relate to shrimp should help us to always have that balance of shrimp should help us to be zeljka to merit to see the fulfillment of the promise that God will remember the Covenant national show is ultimately the amazing balance of all of the aspects of creation thank you so much for listening 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