Shavuos-Bamidbar-Naso - Carrying the Torah

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with ari goldwag recorded with hashem's neverending assistance in our mapping championship 57 82 2022. this week's parasha if you're in hudsolar it's his parches bemidvar in artistrel it's parches nasi and for everyone this coming sunday is going to be matsushabus is going to be schwarz the holiday of kabbalah and i'd like to share with you something which i was really excited about and i am really excited about because the end of parshas bamidbar in the beginning of parshas nusso is one topic and it's hard to understand exactly why when set up our parties they split the topic in the middle we're going to discuss it we're going to try to understand it but anyway the any way that you look at it uh it's really nice because it it connects in to the concept of torah and kabbalah satora so it's exciting that we have these two parties together joined around the topic of kabbalah satoru of torah itself which is the the idea of schwest receiving the torah so to begin with i'd actually like to start with talking about schwooz asking a question which the altar of novartic asks and we'll learn together some adression one at the end of partisan or one of the beginning parties not so and we'll see something amazing and we'll bring it back to the to the void of the altar of novartic the altar of novartis poses the following question based on the gemara to gomorrah and shabbos if i'm not mistaken page 88. the gemara says that there were two times in history that the jewish people received the torah of course the most famous time is when the jewish people receive the torah at harcina at mount sinai kiblu uh i'm sorry uh they said na seven ishma they said we will do and we will hear they had a kabbalah they received the torah and there was a second time says the gemara that the jewish people received the torah they accept it upon themselves the torah the second time was king of akibu when the jewish people had the miracle of purim performed for them when god saved the jewish people miraculously they were able to overcome their enemies instead of themselves being hurt so they also received kim of akiblu the one understands that when it says that they established they they ratified and they received upon themselves what did they receive upon themselves so in the past so kim is talking about that they accepted upon themselves the mitzvos of purim to read the megillah to matura et cetera but the gemara understands that king of aqib also means that they renewed their commitment to torah they accepted upon themselves once again the torah now what was the difference between these two kabbalah satora so the gemara says a very interesting thing a foundational thing and that is that the jewish people at har sinai it's basic says that the jewish people encamped bhitakti sahar at the foot foot at the base of the mountain now the word tactus can also mean underneath it can mean underneath so gumara says that in fact hakodeshpo who raised up the mountain above their heads and hashem said to them if you do not accept the torah sham takurasam this this place or there shall be your grave so hashem as it were hung that mountain over the jewish people's head and he said to them accept the torah or else this is a great statement against the jewish people can now say look we were forced to keep the torah right we were forced to keep the torah we were forced to accept the torah we didn't have a choice god said if you don't if you don't keep the torah if you don't accept the torah we're going gonna drop the we're gonna drop the mountain on your head but when did they indeed receive completely the torah and accept it upon themselves willingly without being forced it was in the time of poor and that's the gemara says they accepted upon themselves the torah at the time of purim so the altar in the verdict he brings this gamorni says it's very difficult to understand we understand we we know that when the jewish people received the torah they said not they said we will do whatever you say god we're ready to do it that was the generation that needed to be forced to accept the torah the jewish people in times of aches versus the times of mordecai and esther they accepted the torah that was an amazing receiving of the torah it's very hard to even understand how they received the torah the jewish people at the time were involved in being enemies they they benefited from the meal the great festivities of she was celebrating the downfall of the jewish people it had been 70 years since the jewish people were exiled the prophecy was not fulfilled based on his calculation and therefore he brought out the the close of the coin god allah says the jewish people what are they doing at this party what are they doing at this party and they're involved in they they lost their connection they were so far and they were the generation king of the qibla that accepted the torah it's very hard to understand what is the concept what is kumar saying what's the understanding how do we how do we how do we reconcile these two generations which seemed to be polar opposites the dordeja the generation of the wilderness they had an incredible revelation they needed to be forced and the jewish people later on king of aquila they accepted it out of love out of you know without being forced what's the idea what's the depth of that so hold on to that question before we answer that question i would like to turn to the magist there's two parts of the and actually just as a preface to what we're going to read in the majorish it's very interesting at the end of practice by midbar the torah tells us that moshe rabino was asked to nestorius beneath count the heads of the sons of kaas now kahas we had three sons of levi right moshe knew was a was a grandson of lady great grandson of lady really both so kahas was his father's father was his grandfather amron van gaan so kahas the three sons of levi kirschenkos and these different families had different purposes within the the avoidance of ishkan in the service within the mishkan the tabernacle now the first ones that we enumerate are the family of kahas which of course needs understanding because gershon goss and kasamura is how we count them gershwin was the oldest goss was second murari was third but still kahas is first in the counting when it comes to the counting now we understand in a certain sense there was a kashivus there was a significance to the tribe of kahas or or we should call it the family of kahaas within the tribe of levy what was that significance it was that most sharabino aranakain miriam the great leaders of the jewish people the mashiachs of their time they came from kahas so that's a natural advantage that they had but still we need to understand exactly what was special about cajas about this family why are they counted first where are they counted out of order also we need to understand why are they separated why is it at the end of practice bamid but we only mentioned count the bine cause we stop that's in last week's parsha or for for include starts it's in this week's parsha and then the following week we read about the soyuz raish bene gershwin count the the family of gershon and count the family of mirardi why's why did it's why are they separated what is the teaching in this we're in the middle of a discussion of counting the the people of levy and we say sip and we stop in the middle of the of the of the topic it's not it's very out of the ordinary for for the to have split the departures in such a way right in the middle of a topic what's the understanding what's the idea behind it so the first hint is in the matrix in parses nusso and then we're going to go back to the magician parshas bermuda and then we will return to the question of the altar of the verdict and we'll have a deep understanding something important that we can all take home with us we can all take home especially coming to schwooz it's so important so here's what the measure says is so first of all the measure says i'm not going to read this part inside but the measures talks about the fact that we need to understand what it has to do with anything and we will understand very shortly but it says that a person is someone who has studied the wisdom of the torah and he's become a great person he's become well-versed in the torah he knows the he knows the gemara he knows he knows he knows everything he knows the secrets of the terry knows everything when it comes to who do we give precedence to let's say there are two people in front of us who need to be buried and they need to be we need to be must be them we need to eulogize them who do we do first a tremendous great torah scholar or the king of the jewish people says them says the majest and it goes through a whole order of importance but it basically says that the most important the talmud a torah scholar even if he has dubious lineage even if he is a lowly person even quite in the kind of ammariz a person who is a mom there an illegitimate child but he made himself he made something of himself became a talmud he comes before a coincidental priest who's an ignoramus so even though a coin girl he has all the qualities of greatness but he's not a tory scholar he's not as great it's a torah scholar who's great now we'll see in a moment what does that have to do with parties not so what does that have to do parties by midbar what does it have to do with the discussion of the families of the levites so listen to this this is really quite amazing the measure asks hold on a second we spoke in last week's parsha in francis bamidbar or for you in consorts with this week's departure we speak in parishes by midbar about the family cause then we speak about gershon why is why is cause first why is gershon second even though gershon usually kershaw's bakori is the firstborn usually the torah gives honor honor and precedence to the firstborn so what's the idea of our because the reason is and here's the bottom line importance of kahaas what was so special about them not just the fact that motion aaron and miriam were from that family maybe we could even say that it was a result of the fact that god said something special intrinsic to them which was expressed and manifest in what their service was in the mishkan what did they do what was their job in the mishkan each of the families had a different part of the michigan that they would carry as the jews wandered through the wilderness it was the job of the family of kahats to carry the orion the auran or bris which is where the torah was placed read the torah that moshe received from our sinner from sinai was placed inside of the ara and the ark of the covenant so therefore edema caused the gersh yes the third chapter verse 15. more precious is the torah then pearls what is the word peninum the word panim can also be understood as the word lif-nim like something from before which is an older brother me because yet the terror is more precious than the firstborn he says means the torah i'm sorry it's the first thing right the torah is more kosher more important than the fact that a person is born first it gives them a certain kashibus gives them a certain significance gives them a certain spiritual power first born originally before the ego the firstborns were the one who were chosen to serve god so there's a certain intrinsic power but someone who carries the torah someone who carries the orion who carries the ark of the covenant so there's in a certain way they're higher they're on the are they're it's more special they need to be counted first but the question is as we discussed my son and i when we learned this the question is why did goss get to carry the orange i'm saying let it be the job of gershon he's the he's the bro what was it about ghaz so let's see so now we come back to the madrush in in uh parshas bamidbar because the magic there speaks about what was significant and special about cause first of all the message lays down that the entire shiva lady the entire tribe of levy was the cream of the crop of the jewish people that's first of all what was special about them that they were the ones who were carrying the parts of the mishkan they were the ones who were chosen for service right each of the tribes had a different each i'm sorry each of the families had a different part of the service that they carried the minimum warranty had a certain thing that they carried them in a cash not a certain thing that they carried and as we said the binet kahas carried the r and the art they carry the ark of the covenant so what was special about the family of kahas why did they have this special honor and the answer is that there was something about them that was different here's what the measure says okay let me find it um oh i'm sorry there's something here each of the different families okay each of the different families of the levine would carry the different parts of the michigan as we said but they were able to place those parts of the mishkan onto wagons so they wouldn't have to actually physically carry those things as they're as they travel through the mid bar through the wilderness where the family of cause they carried the oran on their shoulders all right let's remember we're talking about a golden box have gold is one of the heaviest items on earth one of the heaviest metals they had to physically carry it okay so so number one is you got to do things that are hard the children of kahaas were willing and ready to do things that were difficult to carry a heavy burden the torah is not necessarily easy they're parts of the turret that are schmack enjoyable fun you know the tire is noisy it's nicer right the orange is nice it's nice if the arm really carries those who carry it the tire is a yoke it's a challenge it's a difficulty it requires commitment so the first thing that we see was that the venekas were ready to shoulder the challenge there was another thing that they were even more powerful even more special than all of the other levites when all of the other ones would be walking so they would be walking on you know they'd be able to face forward and see where they're going but the banay kahas when they carry the uran so they would walk backwards [Music] they didn't want to turn their backs to the r and they wanted to give proper honor to the rn so because of that they would walk backwards okay so point number two they were willing to so to speak bend over backwards to do things that not only are heavy and burdensome but to do things that are uh you know uncomfortable we don't like to not see where we're going i don't know about you but if i'm driving behind a big truck i don't like to be behind the truck i like to see what's going on in front of me right they had no problem with that they were willing to to be uncomfortable [Music] point number three amazing thing even though the family of ghosts was greater than the other fam the other families of levi baines arkham and israel and they were greater on a higher spiritual level than the rest of the jewish people nevertheless they didn't allow themselves to become haughty bottomless the reason that they had they were ready to carry the burden number one they were ready to do things they were uncomfortable number two and number three they were extremely humble they had they had that character of being humble and willing and not thinking of themselves as being wow i'm so amazing i'm so great what comes out is that we find that even though the family were princely they were on they they were exalted they were on a very high level of the cave and shahid literally when they would carry the orange they would carry it like they were slaves they spoke god says torah's life okay finishes off and says that there's a special indian there's a special idea that god wants the life of the nikahas they want he wants them to live he wants them to have good life or a long life what do we see here we see here an amazing thing that it's not about it's not about who's older it's not about who has the natural hashibus the natural greatness per se it's about the choices that we make it's about the choices to be humble the choice to carry a heavy burden the choice to to be uncomfortable and to and to be willing to be that person who carries the torah it's not an easy thing but what we see here is is something that we can choose right it's not it's not by birth it's not because they were born first it's because they chose to be great people now i want to bring it back to the question that we asked what was the difference between our sinai the way that the jewish people the alternative arctic asks the way that the jewish people received the torah at heart sinai why why was it called that it was kapha they marched that god as it were forced them to keep the torah and why is it that in the time of of purim in the time of mordechai and esther a thousand years later almost why is it that then the jewish people receive the torah in a better way out of choice what's the idea even though they were on such a low level so the altitude of nevada explains and i believe it's very much related to what we spoke about here in parishes he says an amazing thing he says when the jewish people receive the torah harsinai you can't compare it to what happened in the times of purim because at the time of our sinai they understood that sin is bad on an intellectual level they understood that we don't we the tyre says things and we don't do what what the terrorist is not to do we do whatever the terrorist says to do nasa vanishma it was an intellectual thing it was like yeah i got to do hashem says to do it i don't want to touch the i don't eat the forbidden fruit but you see much later on in times of porn the jewish people had dropped to a very low level they had tasted the forbidden fruit and they knew that it was worthless they had tasted this world and they saw that this world held nothing for them it didn't get them anywhere all that got them was a death sentence from amalek from haman and mordechai everything that he came to do was to get the jewish people back on track to get them back into doing what was right standing up for what's right being willing mordecai was the one who would not bow to haman he would not let the jewish people he didn't want them to eat at the sudha of he when they were already there he dealt with it you know but he was the one who stood staunchly he was ready to carry the torah to interestingly he's from shiva binyamin but he was willing to carry the torah he was very similar to the family of kahaas but it was something that he that because of him the jewish people were able to choose they chose it out of that place of recognition of how of experiential recognition not just an intellectual understanding this is what alternative says they did it because they realized it was no good why it didn't work it didn't work look at the society around us it's not working very well all of the choices that the societies the society has made to go off into the farthest reaches of depravity and and i don't want to talk about that right now i want to talk about torah but when we take on the burden of torah we see that's not a life that's not a life that's worth living the kind of life of the people all around us [Music] it's entire life that's powerful yes it involves challenge yes it involves difficulty it's a heavy box and yes i'm going to walk backwards i don't want to see what's going on in the world around me just like the just like the penecos and yes i'm gonna be uncomfortable and yes what was the other item sorry i lost it yes i need to be humble it's not easy what do you mean i'm a great guy i'm awesome i'm in the palace of the king i'm carrying the iron i have the torah i'm the best no humility can i be humble that's not an easy thing but that's what the banaykas were able to do and that's why they were greater and that's where they're counted first and it's that type of attitude it's that type of experience that we in our lowly generation have the ability and and opportunity to choose to choose torah not because it's forced on us not because it's an intellectual this is what's right and this is what's wrong but because we see it's not working for the people all around us to to throw off the burden to let go of all of the boundaries of the tire sets it's not working the tyre is what works when we stand up staunchly and keep the torah that's what works that's the difference between the kabbalah satya the original way that the jewish people receive the terror which was missing something and the capacitor that came later the comes first before the king before every other different before a kind guttal why because the illegitimate child who has chosen who has chosen to become a torah scholar to become a person who's dedicated and his burden is is tired he's greater than the person who's a kind of a high priest who's in that role because his father was a kind and his father was a kind the torah is not yerushalan the torah it is jerusalem it's something that we have as an inheritance but it's an inheritance that we need to grab we need to choose that we need to take because this is the only way that's going to work everything else just doesn't work and when we choose when we choose to to carry that burden when we choose to be uncomfortable and when we choose to be humble it's the greatest thing ever it's greater than anybody else it's greater than anything else is greater than any other natural born talent [Music] this is it we have an opportunity every day and especially on this coming month we will choose to learn to receive to accept the terror upon ourselves i want to bless you and i ask you to bless me hashem should help us that we should indeed be able to recognize the incredible opportunity that the torah affords us we can choose to be first to be counted first to be humble to be uncomfortable to carry that burden because we know that it's the only way that works thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabbos and a wonderful yantef this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www or search on itunes ari goldwag [Music]