Nitsavim-Vayelech - Israel's Unstoppable Goal

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with hashem's never ending assistance in Rish Israel 5784 2024 of course we're also in the home stretch on our way to Russ shabazi will'll be starting to say and we're in the home stretch chuva is on our minds repentance coming back to Hashem and AR par has one of the most classic texts in regards to chuva in regards to coming close to Hashem returning to Hashem returning to and I was learning I'm learning now during L I've been learning the sav of and he actually brings in what I was learning this week he brings from our par I'd like to read you a little bit of what he says and also read you a mish that brings home the point the idea chuva and what our Focus can be and should be as we come into rashash as we come into a new yearim quotes from some from pericam PUK PUK yud I'd like to actually read to you from the beginning of chapter 30 and he refers to a par interestingly as par which means the section of the Torah which speaks speaks about Redemption okay and now it's important to understand that the section that speaks about Redemption is talking about chuva it's talking about repentance and it's talking about returning to Israel returning to Earth Israel it's talking about G it's talking about how Hashem brings us home how Hashem reinstates us into Earth Israel and makes us the leaders of the world so if we want to understand which really it's the purpose of the entire Jewish people this is our goal this is what we're after this is this is what the Jewish people are all about the state of Gul is the state of tikun is the state of even when we're not in a state of G even when we're not all the way at the point of redemption it's certainly the state that we desire and that we are hoping for and that we are trying to reach even here even where we are and it's a state that we talk about on right all of the evil is going to go up and smoke and all of mankind will join together as one to serve Hashem properly to serve Hashem with a full heart okay so our paraa is really giving us the the foundation of what Redemption looks like what the future time of what mankind has the potential to look like and what each of us as individuals need to do in order to get to that time and that place and that space even now so the says I'm sorry the say like this I'm going to read to you the because they're so very powerful last week we spoke about the blessings and the curses the blessings if we keep the Torah curses if heaven forbid the Torah is not kept so hasem says when all of these matters come to pass when you experience the blessings that come when you keep the Torah when you experience the CL the destruction that happens to am is forbid don't have to look too far into the past just 80 years to see what's what how how bad things can be for so this is something that you're going to notice and pay attention to and place on your heart when you're amongst all of the Nations that Hashem has spread you out amongst when you're there in Gus so you got to pay attention to what happens look at history understand the blessings that come when we keep the understand the the curses that come when we don't keep the and should come back you will come back to hem your God and you'll listen to his voice right when we have a deeper perspective of life when we have a broader view of the way things are we understand what's really true how things really are and what is really the result of doing what's right that will bring us to repent as it's happening right now in Israel and as has happened over the last year or so so many people are more connected through the difficulties we become more aware of our yish kite you're going listen to like all the things that I'm commanding you today you and your children all with all your heart and with all your soul there's a lot of stuff here in the P but so much here but listen listen with your with your heart because this is talking to our hearts there's a wakeup call that happens and we come back to with all of our hearts and all of our souls now the tah says that when there's this wake up am Israel will start to come back or am Israel will be returned to the land of Israel as has happened over the last 8 years 80 years ago there was maybe 50,000 Jews in Israel by 1948 there was over half a million and now we have over million but it follows the awareness and the difficulties and travails that we've gone through God will gather Us in from all of the world all of the Nations that he has spread us out if you all have been pushed to the farthest reaches of the Heavens interesting it sounds like it's a spiritual issue even if we have distanced ourselves from the true way of the T Hashem will still bring you back from there hem will take you from there I will bring you back to the land of Israel the land of your fathers and you will inherit it he will do good to you he will there'll be there's so much learning in Israel it's it could be argued the mount Torah learning that's going on right now in the land of Israel is more first of all than anywhere else in the world and second of all than anywhere in the world at any time in history the amount of people sitting and learning and the amount of prosperity that the Jewish people are experiencing here makes me always wonder when people say they are worried about Pros in Israel the rout of prosperity that's in Israel right now is out out of this world and hasm says I'm going to make you even greater than your forefathers and and this is what's going on now as well hasm is going to circumcise our hearts circumcise the hearts of our children you know it's very interesting in sa T SAS not in the section that I'm going to read to you but in another section he talks about how a person needs to strengthen themselves because the children are usually less than the parents so if the person himself does a certain thing let's say he dobins or he dobins at home he allows himself to be weak and he doin in his house instead of doing in the synagogue so his kids are going to end up not doing at all right because there was a downward trajectory that was going on the time of the sa was written in the early 1900s but I want to point out I cann't help but think how it's really the Jewish people are heading on upwards trajectory today so many Bala so many MIM so many people are strengthened it used to be that 80% of the kids would go off to Der go off the path of the Torah today 80% or more stay on on the path of the Torah so we're getting stronger by the day it's unbelievable but that's the promise is going to awaken us circumcise our hearts so that we'll love Hashem with all of our hearts and all of our souls and we'll have life we have real life and the promises and the curses that we read about in last week's para hasem instead of giving them to us we're going to start being on the correct path hasm is going to place those curses upon our enemies they're running scared they're afraid wherever they go they're blowing up beepers and walkie-talkies and and bombs being dropped on leaders wherever they go they're being they're they're Running Scared that's because has is taking the curses and placing it on our enemies those who ran after us who hated us and you will return by the way 1948 you will return and you will hear the voice of two short years from now and he will do all the Commandments of hem right it's a process getting from 1948 to 2026 it's a process Jewish people are on an upwards climb you're going to do all the misses that I'm commanding you today and here we come finally to more and we're at the that we want to talk about today will give you more and more in all of your in all the all of the work of your hands you have more kids have more you'll have more parasa it's the fruit of the animal and the fruit of the Earth for Good Will Rejoice upon you for good as he did for your forefathers finally when you listen the voice of your God to keep the Commandments statutes that written you will return to your God with all your heart with all your soul that's one which we're going to see about in the and then the next is we're going to see about in the says famous the MIT that I'm commanding you today the these things are not distant from you there's something that's very close to you it's in your mouth right it's very close to you it's in your mouth and your heart to do it so it's it's absolutely amazing says this is what it says in the in the section of the Torah which talks about Redemption this is redemption and Redemption starts with what when you return to how do we start to listen to the voice of when we do is teaching us what do we want what's our goal our goal is to to fulfill the Torah to fulfill the Commandments what's the prerequisite for that the prerequisite for that is a desire to return to Hashem with all of our heart with all of our soul that's why it comes first first we need to do chuba first we need to have a Rashana we need to establish what is our desire is it to make money to have livelihood that's that's a secondary thing that's a nice thing we need that in order to live but what's the center of our life the center of our life isem returning to the essence of who I am serving God doing aem's will he talks about I'm not going to read it inside he talks about how it's AAR tries to stop us from doing this he tries to stop us from fulfilling our obligation to do chuva but he says and this is important this is why I want to read the main thing I want to read here in the as to do it what does chuva look like so first of all chuva is very on the first step of Chua is very simp you can become a sadic very easily you can become a sadic a righteous individual very easily all you need to do is think in your head I want to be different I want to change which means that I'm changing my focus the gamar says a famous gamor it's in kadu says that a person wants to marry a woman and he says to her I I want to marry you on the condition that I'm a sadic I'm a righteous individual says even if he's a rash he's known to be a wicked individual completely Wicked the condition is fulfilled because all you have to do is have a little thought of Chua in your heart and you can become a sadik and sadik doesn't mean I'm perfect doesn't mean that I've changed everything doesn't mean I've uprooted the past that means that I'm I'm changing my attitude I'm changing my focus I'm changing my goal my goal is no longer to be involved in all of my tias all of my desires all of my natural inclinations my goal is to beem my goal is to serve God so that's entry-level chuva we all get to do that we all have that opportunity we've had it we always have it but especially we think about it now but says what is it look like after that because it's not enough to just want to change we have to actually change it's not even enough to say okay I'm not going to do it anymore I have to do in front of it means I have to admit now this is very hard for us human beings have hard time admitting that we've done wrong and to feel bad about the past right remember it's we have to return to with all of our hearts and with all of our souls so that means that the emotions are involved here the intellect is involved we got to be aware of it we have to admit it and we have to feel bad and we have to take on those are the three steps you admit we feel we express K we we say with our mouth Hashem I feel bad I did this particular action and third is that we accept upon ourselves not to do it anymore to commit to change ourselves to turn ourselves around not fall into that foolishness anymore the wicked person should leave his path okay so that's what I wanted to read from and I'd like to read to you another another amazing thing it's incredible I was reading this and I was like wow this is this is so amazing and it's Su Mish that the measur quotes but it shows us and as I'm reading it I want you to try to think about we're going to we're going to talk about anel we're going to talk about a person who's very lazy okay but I want you to think about what's the center try to understand as we read it why is he so lazy why is he make every excuse why does he want to avoid going to hear his RBI speak let's see let's learn together says it's so close to you the Torah itself the Mitzvah it's it's so close it's in your mouth it's in your heart you can just do it we're going to see what does that mean exactly is it's so easy to to fulfill it it's so close what does it mean but let's see our sages tell us that there were seven things that King Solomon said about a lazy person but the thing that we just said that Moshe says that it's in your heart and in your mouth and you can just do it that statement is much more powerful he says one thing and that one statement is much more powerful than all of the statements of theel of the lazy individual Kad and and as we read this again we're talking about a lazy individual but we're going to see that the essence of the laziness it's not just this that this you know this person if if there's like a you know if he's interested in sports so and there's a game you know he's going to run to the game like the guy is only lazy when it comes to hearing his Revy speak let's let's be clear because that's part of the hint of what's going on they said to the lazy person they said you know go and learn Torah you're rebi came the famous Rabbi is re's here the first thing that he says out of the seven excuses is I'm like I'm afraid if I go out I might get hit by a car or in the mush of the of the M I might get hit by the lion might there's a lion there I'm afraid there's a lion says in the 26 ver 13 lazy person says there's a line on the path your rebi is not in a in a different city you don't have to go out of the city and go on a dangerous path and there might be a line he's in the city in this city go and study from him I'm afraid I could get hit by a car in my own town I mean not I to go on the highway but maybe I'll get hit by a car in my own town a line will eat me up says there's a fire there's a lion in the in the streets so they say to him look the the re is actually giving a Shear not far away you know in one of the houses nearby he says maybe the line is right outside of my house says the the same lazy person says there's a line outside the re came to your house to give the she in your house he's in your house it's in the same apartment building say what if I go there and the house is locked the room is locked I'm going to have to go and come back it's open they say the door's open they the door open but the guy the lazy guy is still on his bed doesn't have anything to okay door's open door's closed I just want to sleep a little I'm tired says how long will you lazy one continue to rest so he gets up in the morning from his sleep the of they put it in front of him they say eat and as explained it doesn't mean food it means they gave him the T they said here's the information from your rebi here's the shear here it is on an MP3 put it in your ears he says he's too lazy to put the food in his mouth he doesn't even want to bother to put the earphones in his ears the lazy person sticks his s into the into the the plate and he's too lazy to actually take a bite it's a funny thing so what's the seventh of them the seventh excuse from the winter he's lazy in in the time of reaping he's lazy he's not there comes to say that what's the essence of what's going on here is that the person doesn't learn when he's young can mean the winter but it could also mean when he's young and sharp when he's young and sharp he didn't put in the efforts he didn't put in the investment when he gets old he says you know when I get older when I'm retired I'll start to learn it's not likely to happen right the time of weeping it's when a person is older he already has he already is retired so it comes out that what's going on here is something amazing the the the odel the lazy person what's why is he's so lazy can't get out of bed he can't put the food in his mouth he can't put the MP3 in his ears but the answer is that he has every excuse because he's not interested he's not interested he thinks he knows it already asfor will say he doesn't want to learn from anybody he doesn't want to learn from a rebi he's a he's not a tal as the Alder of naric explains things a is the one he already thinks he knows everything why do I need to learn anything from a rebbi I already got it I'm already smart I don't need to ask advice I don't I I learned everything already I know everything already doesn't know anything but he says he he's already developed his way of life he's not interested in changing he has no other goal doesn't have any intent there's no there's no forward there's no forward movement for this person he's lazy because he's not interested he knows it all he's not a to he's not a student of wisdom who wants to learn and get wisdom wherever it is but gives us the the the clearest representation of what it means gives us different representations of what it means when a person doesn't not have the focus mosha gives us one clear message about when you do have the focus if your wish and your desire and your heart all it wants is to all it wants is the will of Hashem all it wants is to make Hashem your king if that's what I want I'm going to get it because all of the actions that I choose to do all of the the there are absolute complete continuous results of the central desire of the person of the goal of the person everything comes out and extends out from the desire from the focus from chuva chuva means I come back I become aad aad is the first step and I say this this is what I want Hashem I want to be your servant I want to be whatever the Tyrus says I'm supposed to be and everything else comes out of that I'm going to go to wherever the rebi is even if he's far away I'm going to I'm going to if he's nearby I'm not going to be worried about there might be some kind of something that will stop me from getting there I'm going to defy all of the odds I'm going to defy all of the challenges I'm going to get there because this is what's most important to me it's the center of my being it's it's in my mouth what I'm always talking about it's I'm always thinking about what I'm always doing as a result of it being what I'm what I care about it's in my mouth and it's in my heart of course it's going to be what I do I'm not going to I'm not going to be afraid of anything stopping me that's why says this is what G is about think about it what is g what is redemption why is the Jewish people here in AR Israel 7even million of us and why have we been getting stronger and stronger and in previous generations there was a weakness that was getting weaker and weaker it was getting weaker and weaker because the focus wasn't there as said the GU so his kids end up not ding at all that meant that he lost his focus and his and his drive on his goal but Israel has had a goal for 2,000 years and that's what Gula is it's the seeing of the goal it's the it's the realization of what we've been after all the time Israel is the goal why is Israel the goal because this is the place where we keep the tah this is the place where bik is going to be built this is the place where we have the why did want to get here so badly because this is where it's this is where it's at Isel right here Isel this is the place this is the goal and that's why we're here and it's getting stronger and stronger and we're supposed to remind ourselves every time every day and especially that's the goal all of mankind will serve Hashem single-handedly and I want to finish off with a story that I read I'm reading now really I read it already but I'm reading it the second rabman was the alongside RAB both of them and in this book first of all it's an incredible book about an incredible human being and he mentions a story that happened with rakov kineski who was one of his Rak kesi in the late 1930s escaped from Europe came to America became one of the G the of is I'm sorry of America and his son now is the the god of America andak ketki met up with the satarov satar rebbi he was they were passing by in Williamsburg and it was the month of Sian and he asked the satar rebbi so he looked a little bit down he so he didn't look like his normal up self and keski asks satov what what's wrong what's going on Sam says Sion it's the month that was the month when his family and his kahila was murdered by the Nazis he survived the camps but his family did not and Rak keski says to him what's what do you think is the reason why you survived what was the that you had for your personal survival and he said it is reason the reason that he survived is because he never went to sleep he would fall asleep at at a table learning but he wouldn't actually go into his bed he wouldn't go to sleep and he felt that was this that he had that caused him to survive and the South turned to came and asked him what was the reason that you think you survived left they escaped in 1938 what was it that allowed you to survive his whole family survived yum says because he never told a lie he always spoke the truth keski was known as the is never never told a lie now I read the story and I was very moved by the story because what it means and it comes back to what we spoke about here that's the with my goal and I encourage you and I'm I'm going to try myself as well to find something in your that is so important that you make the center you make your goal that this is something I will always always do was known making sure he D with a minion it could be any PR be say something that's so important to you that no matter what that thing is going to be an anchor for you that thing is going to help you and no matter what happens in the world whatever storms are are are raging will'll stay centered is my king I want to bless you and I ask you to bless me that we should Merit to focus to Tru bring ourselves back to what is our real goal should help us to have clear what it what it's all about he is the center of our existence thank you so much for listening have a wonderful Shamus this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.old wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]