Haazinu-Rosh Hashana - Rising to the Heavens

you're listening to the weekly para of podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with hm's never running assistance in Israel 2024 this week's para is paru and before that we have Rashana and I'd like to share with you a thought Inu which is shabua which has to do with the concept of chuva and I'd like to connect it to the concept of theur we're going to see M together that bring out a beautiful idea that we can take with us into rashash and understand what is rashash about what is theer about what are we trying to do when we do CH first in says turns to the heavens and he says listen oh heavens and I will speak and let the Earth hear the words of my mouth the words of the Torah come down like rain they sprinkle like do they bring about the growth of the grass Etc he speaks beautifully about the power of the to make things grow it brings greatness when we speak about t when we try to look for the will of Hashem it brings Hashem into the world that's really the essence of we're going to speak about here but the M says something which as we read it it's a little bit Pedic it's some it's a little difficult to understand and the me says as follows you know the heavens as you know are the heavens and the Earth is the earth now everything is supposed to be exactly as it is the heavens are above the Earth is below it's the of Heavens belong to God says the PUK and the Earth belongs to human beings flips the order right before we get to the the the place that we see it according to the mes but in the simple understanding before we even read any further where's standing he's standing on the Earth but he speaks to the heavens and he says listen to the listen Heavens meaning it sounds like he's he's above and along the way we'll talk to the Earth as well why does he start with the heavens it sounds like he's in the heavens so human beings are really supposed to be shot we're supposed to be uh rulers over the Earth that's the says but flips things why M went up to God the P says in in Exodus 19 verse3 he went up to God he spoke to God what does it say about God God came down on Mount Si right so things seem to get reversed with mosu Hashem comes down to the Earth and Moshe goes up to the heavens what's what's the idea we have to understand what the m is trying to teach us I'm going to read a few and try to understand what's the flow of these M how they connect and also we're going to connect it soon to the shaer and to chuva me tells us something that seems unrelated tells us that the heavens and the Earth were created to praise God the P says that the heavens say the praise of God says the uh something which is unusual hard to understand M came and silenced them he said listen Heavens stop speaking stop praising why would mhu want the Heavens to stop praising what's going on I'm GNA skip I'm in par I just read SE the end of section B I'm going to skip giml we're going to come back to giml and I'm going to read to you another explanation what does it mean listen oh heavens me says something again we talk about Med excuse me the med says something which is hard to understand we got to understand what it's talking about what it means the heavens have a mouth the heavens have a heart the heavens have ears we know we just had the the heavens say the Praises of hem how do we know that the heavens have a heart it says in regards to the Revelation at Mount Si the fire went up to the heart of the heavens how do we know that the heavens have ears because he said listen listen with your ears moshu said to the heavens like to read to you from the explains this the heavens have all kinds of there's air that comes down there's clouds there's all kinds of effects that the heavens has on the earth spiritually the spiritual Heavens but the physical heavens and this itself Praises God we hear this the praise of Hashem from the heavens that's what it means it has a mouth what's a la says the r there's a point the center of its highest place the highest place of the heavens from there the heavens are spread out that point that heart the heart just like the heart of the human being is pumping blood to the entire body so it's the center and the source of the human being's life so two the heavens have a heart they have a center and that Center is Hashem Hashem gives them their existence God Is Standing he's the he's the foundation the the the pillar of the heavens right the human being also has a heart that's where his life comes from so the so the heavens have a mouth they sing hashem's praises the heavens have a heart the heart is HEM and they have an ear what's the right we pray and as it were the heavens answer right we D in for rain and the heavens respond this is how hasem created the foundations that there's a an interaction between us and the heavens when we pray when we D for for the Heavens to give forth the rain so they respond that's how hasem created the world beautiful idea but I want to know what does this have to do with us what does this have to do withu saying lend me your ear so to speak what is the concept of it and also as we saw in the previous Mish mhu silenced the heavens from it seems like from their praises so what's the idea of mosh was silencing the heavens why would he stop the heavens from saying Praises so the middle piece which I didn't read to you and I'm not going to read it inside it says an amazing thing it says that the sadic I'll read you just the PK it brings a PK in B it says God says that that the the rock of Israel which is Hashem the one who rules over the human being he says that has the ability when God to to bring God's kingship his rulership into the world what does that mean it means that whatever hasem does says the the do Hashem brings the dead to lifei did it Elisha did it Hashem brings down the rain El is able to do that there are different things and different aspects of hashem's kingship his his rulership that sadim the righteous individuals have the ability to grab the key so to speak and and take control why because as we spoke previously in previous podcast Hashem when when the sadic goes with hashem's will when a sadic makes hashem's will to be his own so then he becomes a manifestation of hm in the world and he has power just like hasem has power in the world that's what the mes says so what is the idea so starting to to we can piece it together the me seems to be saying that mosenu was able to reverse the order of things really the heavens belong to God and and God decides if there's going to be rain God decides a person's going to have kids right that's one of the things that that sadik were able to do to to help someone have ch a child God decides when is going to happen when the dead are going to come back to life when the sadic goes up to heaven when mhu goes up to heaven he reverses everything first he talks about the heavens because was standing as it were in the heavens he's brought the heavens down to earth he's gone up he goes up to God as we we we say these kinds of words in regards to on we use these kinds of this kind of language there's an alah there's a going up to God we're going to see what this means in regards to the schifer but the point thatu is teaching us is that it's possible for a human being to rise up and reverse the nature the natural order the natural order is Hashem is in heaven hashem's in charge of all spiritual matters and in charge of controlling all of reality but when we seek and try to do God's will it's possible for us to reverse that and it becomes possible for us through our pray through a we say we can reverse everything everything through spirituality through chuva repentance coming back to Hashem reaffirming our commitment to God's will through prayer through Saka giving giving charity which really is a hard thing to do right to take the money that I earned I spent my life on my my time my efforts to give it to somebody else that's a reversal of nature to to ask Hashem for help when I I think I'm the one that's doing it reversal of nature to shua to admit that I did something wrong and and I want to change that's that's the ultimate reversal but these aspects switch around the heavens and the earth when mhu says to the heavens be quiet and listen he's not telling them really to stop their song really he saying I'm going to sing the song instead of you right he's saying I'm going to sing the song it's the song of the T it's the song ofu it's the song of what a relationship with hm looks like now I'd like to turn for a moment hold on to that thought hold on to the idea of reversal and understand that that is the essence of what theer does the B says the first day of the month of the seventh month of Rashana this is an obligation to blow the schaer what is the concept of the shaer the schaer is a Ram's Horn we have lots of different ideas that are associated with it I like to share with you two different pieces in the medish that if we understand them well we understand them deeply we'll see that it's very much connected to what we're talking about in the other MOS we just read M says like this this is in theama inra section three the that we say when we blow the again the language of going up like was so God goes up bet tra there's a there's a a tra what's the sound what is the idea the concept of the sound of the shaer the sound of the shaer is a Triumph it's kingship it's God is our King and God Rises up as it were he sits on his throne of judgment hasem so there's a concept of tra which is that trumpet blast but there's the voice of theer which is connected to the name Hashem which denotes hashem's Mercy starts off with judgment and then it switches to Mercy there's a reversal that's what we're going to try to understand at the time when hasem is sitting on his throne of judgment rashash is a day of judgment it's a serious day right and we don't want to be judged within the letter of the law because man you know what can a human being how can a human being ever believe that he's righteous and we've done we've done really what's we've done enough for hasem so but Hashem starts off there on the throne of God's judgment he goes up to the throne of judgment that's the say God goes up it's the name which denotes his judgment but when we take our and we blow and we blow that in front of somehow it reverses things he gets off of his throne of judgment he stands up and he sits down on his throne of Mercy the name which denotes God's Mercy is his the the interaction of hasem with us through Mercy is activated with the sound of the chaar what's the chofar what is the what does the word chauffeur mean or what how is that activated what's the concept the finishes off God is filled with Mercy towards us and he has compassion on us and he turns around he flips over the the Divine attribute of of Justice into into into Mercy when does this occur in the in the seventh month let keep saying this in the because the concept of the seventh the seventh as we've spoken about many times excuse me shabas is the seventh day of the week TI if you count from niss is the seventh month the concept of seven has to do with malus it has to do with kingship it has to do with making Hashem our King has to do with stepping back from action and letting God be in charge so we have this measure saying that somehow the chauffeur reverses things whereas God he goes up he's in the heavens which means he's removed from us he stands at a distance he's like a king looking down at us with a judging eye heaven forbid somehow the chauffeur changes it around God comes closer to us he steps as it were onto his throne of Mercy how does it work so here's another M explaining the concept of of the and explaining the concept of heed the which we say blow on the on the new month on the on the means the first day of the month blow on AER says what's the day that that it's the first day of the month and we have a it's rash obviously what's the the concept ofes means a month but it also means new it's a new month there a concept of of renewal somehow there's renewal through the Scher what is the idea says the M on this month when you have the seventh month it comes and it says it's time for it's time to make yourselves new it's time to to beish yourself to to renew yourself renew your actions the word sh says the m has the same root as the word Shu which means to make beautiful means to make pretty to make beautiful Shapiro means people take the Scher somehow the Scher means make your actions beautiful again if you have renewed yourself if you have made your ways good I'm going to do like the shaer I'm going to do somehow the sh represents a renewal how does it represent the renewal it says like this hasem says you make made yourself new I'm going to do like theer what does do like theer mean just like a schifer you bring a sound in from one end of the schifer and the sound comes out of the other end right right it's a thin area which is the mouthpiece of the schifer you blow a small sound in it's not very loud but comes at the other end a large sound right that that small space where you're blowing the Scher represents the aspect of din it's a in a place of constriction answer me with with a great expansion Hashem says if you act like a Shar if you are are constricted but you expand I'm going to turn to you instead of with constriction which is the idea of mid of judgment I'm going to be wide with you I'm going to act towards you with ra and with compassion which is we understand compassion is a sense of of wideness of of love I will switch for you and I want to mention one more thing that the the of course the the chauffer REM and we mentioned it numerous times in the daving of the was ready to die because God commanded it and was able to give up his his kindness his natural mid was to do kindness to to to be loving to bring people in but he was willing to give up his kindness and even kill his own son sacrific his own son for AES if that would be God's Willem said not to but there's again interestingly a reversal Y is willing to give up his life even though he's the one who's supposed to be the beginning of the Jewish people Abino is willing to give up his kindness and be cruel if that's hashem's will the reversal the the going from this place of constriction to the place of wideness it's it reminds us of what we said Inu reverses we go up to heaven we go up to heaven and if we're trying to beik we're trying to be righteous we're trying to be good we're trying to reverse things we're trying to to to make good to to change our actions to make them good I heard something very beautiful from my rabber this past shabas he said there's something called which is what we're after on rashash to sweeten the judgments now it doesn't say we're supposed to take away the judgments we're not running away from the judgments we're we're we're taking it's the same sound right think about the schaer it's that sound which is made in constriction and it's but it's widened right so we're we're somehow sweetening it sounds like Hashem is sitting in judgment but he's sits in judgment instead of sitting in judgment on the throne of judgment he sits in judgment on the throne of Mercy but it's still still it's still the denim it's still the Judgment but it's judgment with Mercy I'm sad means taking sweetening the the judgments what what does it mean in our context we're supposed to do that we're supposed to reverse ourselves that's what that's what we're trying to do here that's what the Sher is supposed to bring us to so is that a beautiful thing you know a person can be mid let's say person can get upset at other people he's very exacting things are supposed to be a certain way and sometimes a person can get upset at those around them because that person is not doing the way it should be they're not doing things as it should be done and that's a normal thing and that's a natural thing it's a human character tra but what if I take my mock PID what if I take my exactingness and instead of throwing it away and saying you know what I'm going to change I'm going to just be nice to everybody from now on which is that's a good thing too but what if I take my exactingness and I use it to be exacting with myself to make sure that I always have a nice word to say to somebody I'm mid to to start off a conversation with a compliment I I take my ma of hak I take my Mida of exactingness that character trait and I use it to be exacting with myself to be nice that's called that's called sweetening the judgments that's called it means I don't have to take as the Alor of Nar says I don't have to destroy my bad Midas I have to know how to use it in the right way to know how to redirect the and and take that sound that constriction and widen it redirect it it becomes a beautiful sound if I can take my actions like AER if I can all if I can go up to where God is the place of judgment T is exacting the t is laws but if I can bring it down to the Earth and beautify my actions can I take the physical act of eating and direct it to Hashem and say I want to eat so that I can learn your tah can I take the the physical act of having a family and say Hashem I want to have this family so that I can direct them all towards your towards spiritual life towards your kingship make your actions beautiful remember what what did he said I'm going to take my me of G and I'm going to direct it towards hm if hasm wants me to go I'm going to go if wants me to live I'm going to live for Hashem when we do this we we show Hashem we are going to be the opposite of our natural way but it doesn't mean that I'm going to destroy my natural way mean I'm going to redirect it I'm going to beim like Wasim I'm going to go up there and I'm going to bring it down to this earth and I'm going to reverse I'm going to change the earth to be spiritual I'm going to say to the heavens stop praising God it's my turn to praise God I'm going to be the one who takes that law who takes that Denim and I'm going to switch it to ra I'm going to bring it into my life in a way which is compassionate and loving and redirecting and using in the right way that's the schifer when we hear the sound of the schifer wakes us up hasem is the king it wakes us up to his kingship it reminds us that there's a judgment going on it's serious we've had a tremendous tremendously difficult year the Jewish people as a whole many of us as individuals we've had a tremendously difficult year but we're going to turn it around we're going to be we're going to hear that sound of the know that Hashem is the one everything is from hasem Hold On Heavens pause for listen we're going to praise hasem we're going to say the Praises that the heavens are supposed to say we're going to use the the heavens have a mouth the heavens have a heart right the heavens have all of these aspects the heavens what's the third thing and they have an ear we're going to use our ear to listen to what it means to pray we're going to use our mouth to say God's Praises we're going to is our heart and recognize that just like we have a heart that gives us our lives it's Hashem who's like the heart of the heavens Hashem is the one giving us life we're going to turn around all of the natural ways that we do things we're going to redirect we're going to beu that's the message ofu that's the message of theer I want to bless you and ask you to bless me Hashem should help us that the the curses of the past year should be finished the new year should come filled with blessings for you and me and for all of am Israel and Hashem should continue to help us to be able to make him our King and to be able to change and become greater and direct our actions towards him thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shamas a good this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this 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