Re'eh - Choosing the Blessings

You're listening to the weekly para podcast with Ari Goldwag recorded with Hashem's neverending assistance in Shamish Israel 5785 2025. This week's para is paras and our para starts off in chapter behold I am placing before you today a blessing and a curse. There's an opportunity in life. In every moment, we have a choice between a life of blessing or a life of a curse. Heaven forbid. What does it look like? What does it mean to choose the blessings? When you choose to fulfill, you listen to the commandments of Hashem your God that I'm commanding you today. That's what the blessings are. The blessings are and the blessings come. We keep the mitzvah. We have a purpose in life. We're aligned with Hashem's will. We're aligned with what's really good in the world. So, we have a feeling of blessings in our life. If we feel Hashem is in our life, it's important to point out the word braha we're blessings. Root of it is buff. B is two r is 200 and is 20. So it's 222. It's the doubling. It's the rebui. It's the increasing. There's there's the spiritual aspect of reality. When it's infused into the physical aspect of reality, we experience blessings in our lives. We can try to grab all the things that are blessings. We can try to rob, steal, do all kinds of wrong acts in order to get it, but that's not where the blessings really come from. And there's no satisfaction in that. The braha is the mitzvah. The braha is fulfilling the commandments. The braha, the blessings come when we are in Hashem's will, when Hashem is in our lives. And last that I want to read about. What does the curse look like? It's possible for a person to live live in this world and not listen to Hashem, not fulfill the commandments of Hashem, not align themselves spiritually. And if a person does so and turns away from the path that Mosher Rabenu is teaching us about today, Okay. The can go on, we're not going to read them inside, but the can go on to say when you get a so you're going to place the blessings on one mountain, the curses on a different mountain is going to commit to the blessings is till this very day. Whether a person is religious or not religious, we have a mission. And our mission is to be concerned about the blessings, to be concerned about aligning ourselves with Hashem's will of of coming into a relationship with Hashem. Medus says in explaining this, Medish brings a near me. Jeremiah the prophet says and I'm gonna actually read this inside before we read the maj says listen up listen carefully I'll take b don't be don't be in a state of ga don't be egotistical don't be so concerned with your own egos and what your lower self wants. This is what Hashem says. The says tells us, the prophet tells us, give Hashem honor before things get dark, before your feet end up with a neg before they trip, before they fall on on the mountains of darkness. Beautiful language. You're looking for the light. You want the light, but you're going to end up in the darkness. You're placing in front of yourself darkness. Sal is an interesting word. It means the shade of death. A rafel is is darkness. Don't place in front of yourselves by turning away from Hashem says your mo very similar to don't place in front of yourselves the darkness. You're looking for light. That's what you're after. If you don't listen, says, you don't listen to the word of Hashem. So what's going to happen? My soul is going to cry in the dark in the hidden places because of the ga because of the ego. My eyes will pour forth tears. Very poetic because the congregation of Hashem, the the is not a congregation. It's a it's a flock. the flock of Hashem, the sheep of Hashem, they've gone into darkness instead of coming into light. So Yo is bemoning the fact that Am Israel is not aligned with the light of Hashem, not searching for Hashem's word, not searching for the light, searching for the blessings. So Mesh brings this pause again. It says like this, what does it mean when it says listen and hear? Listen and hear the word of Hashem. Don't go into the darkness. Listen to words of Torah. Don't speak so hardily. What does the Torah do for us? Think about it. I want to do what I want to do. Right? That's what my ego says. I want to do what I feel like doing. The word Tyra means instructions. The Tyra gives us the instructions for life and says you want to have a good life. Love your neighbor like yourself. You want to have a good life. Do charity and justice. You want to have a good life. Honor your parents. The Torah gives us a lot of instructions. But I feel like doing what I feel like doing. I don't want to I don't want to give away my money. I I earned it hard. I it was hard earned money. Took took great efforts to earn it. I don't want to honor somebody else. I don't want to admit that someone else that I owe something to somebody else. I don't want to respect anybody else. Pik says, you know, listen up. Don't speak from a hotty place. Don't think that you're high and mighty, greater than anybody else. Don't go that way. Form has spoken. Where has hem spoken? Hashem says it's an abomination to me. It's disgusting to me. Whoever is haughty of heart. We have to know that you want to have a good life. We got to get rid of that hoiness inside of us ourselves. We got to get rid of our ego. The the part of ourselves that wants our way. Look at every single problem that we've ever faced. Almost every single interpersonal relationship issue, it's because I want it my way and I think I know what's right. It's because I've judged if I've judged a situation and I said I want it to be a certain way. That's the val that's the the hottiness inside of us. We got to watch out for that. Hashem, it's it's disgusting to Hashem. those who are horty of heart. I think it's got to be a certain way. And it could even be a spiritual thing that I believe it has to be a certain way. You got to be careful. I got to watch out for that because Hashem hates the holy heart. Hashem wants us to be humble. Hashem wants us, you want blessings in your life, you got to be humble. You got to figure out how to subdue one's ego, to crush one's ego. Because it means if Hashem doesn't if Hashem hates he hates holiness of art it means Hashem is not there like you know say a person who stands up which means he stands tall and proud. So he's pushing away the rag that's the he pushes away the feet of the divine presence. doesn't mean a person can't can't uh have a healthy self-esteem, but it means that a person needs to make sure that the thing that he has self-esteem from is Hashem's will. I got to watch out for my G. I got to watch out for my natural inclination. We all have it. We're all human. We got to watch out for my natural inclination to be hotty, to try to pick myself up above others and lower others in order to to to feel higher. that pushes away the ragly. And by the way, the what's the the divine presence of Hashem? It's found when there's harmony, right? When is is together when loves each other. When there's harmony in a home, which means it's only possible to have harmony if I give up what I want or the way I think think things should be. That's the only way to get harmony. So if I don't want to be rejected, heaven forbid by Hashem, I got to get rid of my gal. And that's what the if you look at the right in I don't know if I can get to it so fast but if you look at the it says it means subdue myself to Hashem's instructions listen I'm commanding you I don't want to be commanded I don't want to be told what to do but if I don't listen to commandments if I don't listen to the instructions of the I'm in trouble I'm going to end up I'm going to end up without Hashem in my life. And what do the curses look like? It's the hardiness. It's turning away from the instructions of Hashem, the mitzvah of Hashem. So the first issue is don't beaughty of heart. And the second issue is make sure that I turn to listen. I got to listen. Listening is hard. It's hard to listen. It's easy to talk. It's easy to to bulldoze over others with my will and with my understanding of life and with with my whatever it is. It's it's easy to do that and not listen. Listening, the capacity to listen means I have to be humble. I have to bow my head to listen. I got to be able to hear what someone else is saying and not interpret based on my preconceived notions. Listen to the Tyra. Lean over. Listen to the Tyra and don't pick up your Don't pick up your head. Don't pick up your ears to think that I know better. Keep Keep leaning over, leaning towards listening. Right? You want to hear something, someone's speaking very quietly. You got to lean towards them. You got to listen carefully. Form has spoken. Say that if a person turns his turns his ears away turns his ears away from listening to the Torah. So then his prayers are not accepted. It's very interesting. Why should it matter? I'm praying for something. I want something. I want something from God. This is a relationship. I got to be listening to God. I got to be trying to do Hashem's will. I got to try to, you know, if I have a relationship with you and I'd like to ask you a favor, but I never ever listen to you. I'm not going to get a favor, am I? The prayer that I pray, the request that I make of Hashem, it's got to be from a relationship with Hashem. I got to be listening to him. I have to be leaning forward and listening. And then I could pick up my head and say, "Hashem, please help me." Another explanation, the measure says, listen to the words of listen to the words of Torah. This says two languages, shimu, vazinu, right? Shimu is to listen. Azenu is to lend your ear. So the the previous was listen, lean over and listen and don't pick up your ear. Here it's listen and listen. Interesting. the more you listen to words of Torah, the more you listen to instruction, the more you bring good into the world, which means to say that the Tyra itself, the power of the Torah is not limited to what I do in my immediate vicinity. I have a song I recently put out. We're about to do a music video with it as well. Filming right now, filming right as we're speaking. There's a concept and the song it speaks of. It's called Zamir. Go listen to it. The song speaks about the fact when I do a when I learn Torah over here, it has an effect and an impact elsewhere. The Torah doesn't just do something for me. Let's say I do I do a mitzvah. I give it give some sodak. I give it a shackle to a poor person walking around in the shul. I do a somebody somebody needs me to there's a a guy who sweeps the streets, an Ethiopian man. I try when I pass by to say thank you very much and I know his name. His name is I say it's so good that you're cleaning for us. I try to put in a good word. It doesn't just affect it does. It affects me. I feel like a mench when I do that. But it has an impact everywhere. I learn you learn a Torah. We're learning Torah together. I'm here in Israel. You might be somewhere in America, in Europe. You might also be in Israel. But the Torah that we're learning, the the mitzvah that we do, when we lean forward to listen to a word of Torah, when we lend our ear to it, it has it creates a spiritual impact. It's not just something that does something good in the immediate vicinity of the person, but it has it comes into the world. we love about don't turn away from allowing goodness to come into the world. It has an impact in that way. He says it says, I got to read it to you. It's so beautiful. It's as if it's so close. The goodness is is on the edge. It's like waiting at the doorstep. Hashem wants to bring good into the world. And when I learn a word of Torah, it it flips the switch, opens the hatch, allows the goodness to come into the world. But through a person's sins, so then the goodness of Hashem is lost. We're going to see for Hashem has spoken. Where did Hashem speak? him. If you will do that which is right and you will listen first chapter of Isaiah verses 19 and 20. If you will do what's right and you will listen you will eat the fat of the land. You'll eat the good of the land. You know, we think we think of our success in the physical realm as disconnected, disparit from our success in the spiritual realm. But the Pik tells us so clearly, you can't have one without the other. Especially in Israel, you want to have success, you want the army to succeed in protecting AmIrael, you got to have Tyra. That's the foundation. The spiritual force, the spiritual power of any physical success is the but if you refuse and you are embittered. If we turn away from Hashem, if we turn away from the words of Torah, so then the result is the sword. And you got to listen carefully to this because this is so important for today. For today, we have to understand the importance of our boys sitting and learning Tyra. Our men, we have to understand how important it is that we are learning Torah together. The power of our Tyra is that which brings good into the world, that which protects us. And without the Tyra, without the Torah learning, heaven forbid we there can be a sword, there can be death, there can be destruction. Now the goes into this interesting the the way that the expresses this that what came down from heaven together the two things were intertwined was a book or a scroll and a sword a safair and a scif which interestingly had the same twoletter root sam pay a fair and I would say that the understanding of it probably is that this the letters s and mean saf which means edge or end right a sword brings an end to somebody's life and the safer the safer brings an end to one's one's involvement in physical matters alone the safer brings us to a good end the scy brings us to a bad And the book, the Tyra, the safer Tyra brings us to a spiritual uh goal. So these two things came down from heaven and they were intertwined. The the safer and the safer Torah, the book, the instruction manual to life and the sword. is telling us if you do what's written in this if you follow the commandments that I'm teaching you will be saved from this sword. There's a there's a hefty price tag on being a Jew. There's a hefty responsibility because we are given the mitzvah and if we don't do what it says in the there's a sword waiting for us. If you don't do that which says in the if you don't to the lines within which the Tyra says the boundaries which are proper behavior according to what Hashem wishes. So then the result is death. So this is the these are the choices in front of us. The blessings and we got to understand the Torah repeats this and repeats this and repeats this and tells us this over and over again. This is Mainu's last message to Israel. You got the blessings in front of you. You got the blessings. Choose the blessings. He says later on in in part later in the in Devor, you got to choose the blessings. You got to know what's in front of you. You got to know what your choices are. a life with Hashem. What does it look like? What does it look like? It looks like everything that you wish. You're going to have all your physical needs taken care of and you're going to have a sense of satisfaction in life. But if not, you know what you're headed for? You're headed for the sword. Rabbi Harov another marshall the medish brings is it's like a a slave and this slave is offered he's given an offer by his master and the master says like this I have a beautiful golden chain that I would like to be able to give you to wear to adorn you around your neck if you do what's right you'll have it and it will be around your neck and it will be an adornment but if not if you don't want to use it in that way if you don't follow my instructions my dear servant. So what's going to happen is it's going to be like chains of steel. It'll be around your legs instead of being around your neck to symbolize how good you are and what a what a proper servant you are of mine. It will be around your legs. It will be around your hands. You'll be handcuffed. it will end up being like chains to destroy you. That's the power. The Tyra, the Tyra is a beautiful gift, but it's a choice of ours how we interact with it. And it's a responsibility of ours to react with it properly. That's what Misha is telling us. This is what Hashem says to Israel. If you do my will, every good thing is going to come. Every good thing, every blessing is going to come. But if not, so then the very thing which is which is meant to be that beautiful chain, that beautiful golden adortment, it's going to end up being a curse for you because if you deny if you defy the will of Hashem. So it's going to end up with end up in destruction. I'd like to read to you from the Marzu. says here in speaking about this shelv this golden chain he brings this a slightly different mushall it's not with a with a master and a slave but rather it's with a king and his son the king had such a great love for his son he made for him a golden chain put it around his neck the father. So he got upset at his son. His son did something to to defy his father. The son was unfaithful to his father. Father got upset. He ripped away the golden the beautiful golden chain and he turned them into chains that he put on his legs. Shem took the letters of the Tyra. This is a beautiful Shem took the letters of the Tyra and made them into a chain. He, you know, have you ever seen those those uh those necklaces that little kids make? They have little letter beads. They make their name. She took the letters of the Tyra and made them into a a beautiful necklace for us to be around our necks to to say, "Hey, look at what you could be. You could be somebody who's like we said before who loves his fellow. You could be someone who's a who's looking for for righteousness. looking for charity says that it the Tyra is a beautiful thing for you. It's it's an adornment for you. It's something that goes around your neck. It's a it's like a a a beautiful necklace. So what happens when leaves the Tyra turns away from Hashem's will? So So then Hashem takes those those beautiful letters and he rearranges the letters. Instead of saying and praising how great we are, they they turn around and they become they they speak of that which is that which is around us, the necklace. Instead of saying, "Wow, I'm so awesome. Hashem loves me." It says, it says, "How did they get to be so lonely? How did Jerusalem lose all of her inhabitants?" It's a similar explanation to what's going on here. Okay, he gives another thing but and he brings it back to what he said earlier that the two choices that we have the two choices that we're faced with right here right now every day is do we choose the blessings of Hashem or do we choose the curses are we looking for the blessings the good of the land that Hashem wants to bless us with the peace the harmony between us the love that we could potentially have. Is that what we choose? Or do we choose heaven forbid the sword? Because the sword comes as we've seen when we lose our commitment to the Torah. When we lose our commitment to loving each other as the Torah commands us and wishes for us, I want to bless you and ask you to bless me that Hashem should help us to understand what it means to keep the Torah. Hashem should help us to understand what are the blessings should help us to understand the impact of how our Tyra, our fulfillment of the commandments, our goodness that we do, how it bursts forth from us and it spreads out to the entire world. It's just waiting. It's just waiting there. Hashem is waiting. Hashem should help us to realize all we got to do is open the hatch and all the blessings will flow upon us. 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.argoldwag.com or search on iTunes Arig Goldwag. [Music]