Shoftim - Ending the Plague With Peace

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with ari goldwag recorded with hashem's never ending assistance in ramaphishima 5780 2020. once again i'd like to encourage you to go to arieldwegg.com new album and contribute to my video campaign we're looking to raise twenty one thousand dollars but hashem we're almost at seven thousand about six almost at about six and a half thousand almost at the first video three videos we like to do and in order to spread the messages of positivity and closeness to our kurdish prohibitions to god we need your help so join in now our goldberg.com slash new album thank you so much this week's parties parties shoftim and in our parsha the torah tells us what to do when it's time to go out to war there are times of peace there are times of war and our the measure speaks at length and i'd like to share with you a few ideas what is the concept of peace and it's very interesting we talk about the concept of peace within the context of war secretary of ear because the passage tells us that when we get too close when we come to a city we get close to a city so there's an obligation to reach out to the people of that city and to say instead of war we'd like to make peace that's give them we give them the first option of peace that's the first thing that we do we're not looking to have war we're looking for there to be peace really sometimes in order for there to be peace we need to fight and indeed there were certain circumstances where the jewish people reached out for peace and the people responded and said we want peace there were the governor came to the jewish people and they wanted peace and others as well so the message tells us there's there's a number of different ideas concepts that we see that the terrorist specifically wants us to pursue peace what is the idea of pursuing peace what does it mean to find peace there's a number of things that are hazal instituted that our sages say were important say that are important in order that there be peace between people because as we all know naturally the human being is very i don't want to say combative but there's takaru there's come there's competition there's competitiveness amongst human beings so ghazal instituted a number of different things in order that there should be peace there shouldn't be this competitiveness this competition is what our sages said in regards to pursuing peace of israel right in the when it comes to the services in the base in the base hakunas and ashool so there are places where people get kibbud and they get honors one of the places is when it comes to receiving an aliyah torah and aliyah so it's easy for there to be a taharut where to be competition hey how come that person got an aliyah how come i didn't get an aliyah so our sages instituted that there's a hierarchy that the kaihan since they have the highest level of kadusha the priests of the jewish people they are the ones who get the first aliyah the levites they have a secondary kadusha a secondary holiness they get the second aliyah and then the israelim after that they receive it that's very interesting because when we think about how does that create peace i mean maybe the quran will fight with each other maybe the levites will fight with each other maybe the israelites will fight with each other what's the idea what's the concept but the idea here is very clear that what is the reason why we have competition why does one person get upset another person why am i jealous that that person got and aliyah i didn't get an aliyah what's the idea that is because we don't understand our place we don't know who we are and and we're not honest about it khazal made a beautiful takana beautiful um zera a rectification let us call it right in an order that there be a clarity who is who who is the most hush of a christian about the kanama the priests who is next the levites the israelites and in so doing ghazal are saying we need to know who we are each person has his place each person is important of course the kohanim why are they why are they important because they're the ones who serve god in the in the temple the basamignas and they are naturally the leaders of the jewish people and the levites also have a certain aspect as well of leadership they're the ones who play the music in the temple they're the ones who guide the jewish people to show them to how to do what's right and so in so doing are teaching us you want to know how you have peace know you really are just be honest about who you are so that's the first concept of peace is having honesty and sometimes as is clear from this madrid we need to have it from outside we need someone who is not in subjective as far as who's important here who's less important he's someone who's objective clause has our sages who guide us and show us exactly what the proper perspective is how the hierarchy is set up and it has to do with hashem who is the most question of israel those who serve god more those who act on our behalf the gohanim are our there are our agents when it comes to bringing the quran so sacrifices etc very interesting the measure brings another example of where we have dakisha where we have peace where we have something in the celestial uh beings so to speak when it comes to the sun and the moon so we know that the moon sometimes it waxes and wanes it gets larger it gets smaller what was the reason for that it's all measured as to there were it was there was a conversation between between god and the moon during the six days of creation the moon said how can i rule over the skies if the sun is also ruling over the skies two kings can't have one crown and god says to him her says to the moon you're right we're gonna make the sun big we're gonna make you small now what happened because of that as a result of that um the moon waxes and wanes it gets larger and it gets smaller but if you look at the moon and we understand this you know because the sun is obviously shining its light upon the moon but also look at the fact that the side of the of the beginner salavana the side where the moon is not shining doesn't have light that side is never seen by the sun so to speak it this indicates something right this is we have a natural understanding of it as well scientific understanding we could say but but there's a deeper lesson to why it's set up that way because allah teaching us that it's set up that way because the the the sun shouldn't see the pagina the lack of the moon and that means when we have when we let's say look at our kids right so we are the the in a relationship there's the male and the female the male is the giver the woman is the receiver right that's not just that's not just the literal thing between a man and his wife or a man and a woman but it's also true in regards to any relationship a mother and her children so the mother is the male aspect because she's the giver and the children of the female aspect they're the receivers and telling us that when it comes to a relationship between the male which is the sun the male aspect and the female which is the the moon which is the female aspect so there's an obligation wants us to see the good hashem for example in the human being that men are attracted to women they look at their beauty naturally when a person is going out with with uh let's say his prospective wife so what does he see he sees the nice things we look at the nice things allah teaching us that we need to look at the positive side of our children we look at the positive side or spouses whenever there's a relationship the way to peace is by focusing on the positive so that's the second aspect the first one was everyone knowing their place having a clear understanding of who we are right i shouldn't think that i'm better than i am i should know exactly who i am exactly where i belong in a hierarchy that's one way that we get to peace the second way is to look at the good of others not to see the negativity of others second point now the llama came in we find that hashem makes peace amongst the the heavenly bodies okay um says an interesting thing when it comes to the masalas when it comes to the to the constellations in the heavens so everything moves that's that's how the constellations are set up well as they move says rabbi levy they are not facing forward if you would if we could imagine that the constellations have a face if you look at the way if we would look at it in in spiritual terms so they look they're looking behind them they're not looking forward they're not seeing who's in front of them they don't look they there's a certain sense perhaps of competition there but they don't look at who's in front of them they look at who's behind them what does that mean when a person is going down a a ladder so he doesn't look up he looks down he has to see where he's going hashem set it up in an interesting way and again this isn't this is a lesson for us this is a spiritual reality we need to understand hashem set it up that the constellations don't look up they look down this way they all feel like they're they're on top they're the first one right so it's an important thing in life this is teaching us about peace about how to have peace with ourselves how to peace with the world around us don't look at those who are ahead of you don't look at it like oh my gosh i'm losing the race always look at those and it's not it's important to understand it doesn't mean to to knock down others kashm to to to think of others in a negative way but a person should always feel like they're winning the race look where i am again this comes in line with being honest exactly what once places in the world who am i what am i accomplishing what what what are my accomplishments i don't need to look at other people's accomplishments someone who's ahead of me let's look at where i am perhaps look at how i'm succeeding in regards to those who are not as successful as me but the point is to appreciate where i am in my place and not to look up and not to look past at those who are perhaps more successful than myself happy eyes to show me this is the idea that god creates peace in the heavenly spheres another place that we see it so we were talking now and until now we're talking about the celestial bodies we find this awesome when it comes to the the angels in heaven the angels in heaven themselves so we see that what is the aspect of mikhail mikhail is the aspect of snow whatever this means what is the concept here let's understand it as it applies to us mikhail is the aspect of snow gabriel the angel gavriel he's the aspect of fire they stand next to each other and they don't cause damage to each other why because each one does what they're supposed to do each one has their purpose and they balance each other out the the snow angels so to speak michal michael does not put out the fire angel gabriel gavriel they do exactly what they're supposed to do there's a perfect balance um so we see that hashem uh he inculcated he imbued into reality on the spiritual realms whether it's the malachan angels or whether it's the celestial bodies because who imbued into them a balance a piece each one has its place each one feels like it's important each one does what it's supposed to do nobody looks at the negativity of the other so if that's the case in the celestial celestial spheres where there is no taharut there is no competition there attached also imbued into the reality that we exist within that there should be competition that there is anger that there is uh hatred and and and jealousy allah has come about showing so we certainly need this aspect of sean we need to imbibe the lesson of peace which which we see that kashmir who sets things up that way in regards to the upper worlds rabbana the sages say how awesome how great is the concept of peace this comes back to our pastor in our parsha where we come out to war who says when you come out to war call out for peace even when a person comes out to work you're coming out to war you've got your swords ready you've got your your daggers ready what do we do the first thing that you need to do when you come out to war is to say we want peace we're not interested in fighting we're not interested in killing anybody what we really want is peace we really want that we should have we should come to an agreement you name it right there's an obligation to call out for peace so we see that there is this aspect of peace that's the first part of the magish and it's amazing part of the madrish and it speaks about it speaks to each and every one of us we gotta know who we are we gotta be honest we gotta not look at the negative of others but only at the positive and we need to look not at those who are beating us not those who are ahead of us so to speak in the game of life but rather look at our personal accomplishments perhaps in uh contrast to those who are below us that's the the first part of the major now the second part of the message is a bit longer and i don't know if we'll get to all of it but it's important idea which which also speaks to the concept of peace and understanding what does it mean to live in a peaceful world what does it mean to live with peace this verse is the verse the message quotes in eof in job chapter 22 verse 28. and and the the rabbinators say that the verse is speaking about a circumstance where there should have been a lack of peace there should have been destruction right peace means that you have two parties perhaps they're at odds perhaps they're in a fight and they come together instead of muhammad instead of warring with each other they have peace they come to an agreement they say we're not going to get upset at each other even though we have cause to you know we have every reason to be upset instead we're going to have peace so there was a situation a situation hashem got angry at claudia's hair why because they had done the eggel they had bowed down to the golden calf and there was no greater uh defines of kaduspoku than to bow down to an idol instead there there they are waiting for akushboroku to send down with the lucha is with the tablets with this with the covenant with the torah that he was there for forty days and forty nights to receive on their behalf and instead of waiting that extra day claustro created an eggel they created a golden calf which they bowed down to hashem was angry but everybody said i'm going to destroy them i'm going to bring a plague upon them and i'm going to give you you're going to be the future of claustro so what happens kevin i'm skipping a bit here he's very interesting when moshe roberto heard this he heard muhammad he heard the should he heard that shem is angry at claudia the the jews are going to be destroyed heaven forbid that the relationship between hashem and khalifa is over hashem is saying what does my shirabino do he says please god have mercy on them don't destroy them have mercy on them um hashem he said this is the verse i believe uh i believe i'm not sure where this verse is but he said eye to eye they saw you hashem near at hashem nero ata hashem you saw them they they were they saw you eye to eye now think about it when two people are eye to eyes so they're they're shoving as the before should i explain here they're they're on equal footing you have the the the attribute of divine justice saying look they broke the relationship with me they have to be destroyed but there's there's on the side of racham we got it we've got a balance okay we have we have the scales here they're they're in balance how is how so i thought about everybody you say i'm going to destroy them but i'm saying forgive them don't destroy them who's going to win it's it's it's a perfectly balanced scale you say you need to destroy them but i say that you need to have compassion on them mosh rabbin was able to bring about peace now it's very interesting how is he able to do that how was he able to have the chutzpah so to speak to say such a thing how did he know that he could say to a spoke anything and marzu explains one of the perushimir on the measure so it's an amazing thing it's based on the government other places that moshra banu hashem you know hashem when he wants to and we find other places in the tower where indeed that's what happens when hashem is angry so the destruction happens it can happen immediately when hashem wants to destroy hashem doesn't need to say anything to mushroom oh i want to destroy israel he could just do it we find elsewhere that indeed it just starts on its own when it came to the story with korach it started on its own aaron had to go out just to prevent the mageifa to stop the plague from happening here's hashem say him i want to destroy when hashem says i want to destroy and he doesn't actually just do it it's an indication to mosh rabbenu says the maharizu it's an indication of motion that he hashem is implying that he needs to intercede that he needs to say something he needs to speak up because akash charcoal does not really want to destroy when there's a plague for instance you know think about the the corona pandemic that we're that we're going through right now you know it could be so much worse it could be terrible i mean there are places where it was terrible immediately and indeed many people died and people are still dying and there are places where it didn't it it took until the second wave for it to happen but but why is it what is the why is that who do that it's obviously the hand of hashem that that when a kurdish broker wants to create a mag he wants to bring about a plague to cause many people to die heaven forbid he can do it you can do whatever he wants right but when there's a pause when there's uh when there's when there's a kuleshwar who's saying hey this is what i want to do just watch out this is what i want to do so the magician is teaching us when i who does things in that way he's giving us an opportunity to do chuva he's giving us an opportunity to to beg for mercy to ask a question who please forgive us we have done something to to destroy our relationship with the kurdish we each and every individual needs to think about it how is true in their own personal case but we need to think about it as on a national level as well what has our society done to this to to um to separate ourselves from from our world from god what what are we doing that we're not connected in our businesses do we believe that hashem's don't providing us with paranasana or do we believe that it's us doing it do we have bhitakhan do we work on our faith in that kasparov do we depend on hashem are we connected to him or are we not are we are we creating our own away our own calf our old golden calf are we in a state of peace with god or are we in a state of war with god so if we're in a state of war so the media comes out and says watch out watch out there's going to be a plague heaven forbid but it's if there's a pause or if it seems like there's an opportunity for us to to to take stock which is a monster i've been who saw am i sure it took that opportunity and indeed he won hashem was excited hashem says i'm so happy you you brought about rakhine brought about the mercy that's what i want hashem hashem prays as it were that his media should overcome is that his his attribute of mercy should overcome the attribute of divine justice but we have to ask for it we need to ask for we need this is it's the beginning of l now it's the time the the this is these are the days that moshe rabbenu was on our c9 asking from now all the way until yom kippur that hashem should have rock on him have compassion on us hashem have compassion on us hashem in a moment could send a vaccine a shove in a moment could could could change the strand of of the kovit 19 virus that it should be it should be have no effect just like a hurricane could be a terrible destructive force and then all of a sudden it could turn to a tropical storm and then become an abate and become nothing because a moment can do that but what does it depend on because he starts up within hashem says this is what it is i'm upset you guys have broken your relationship with me and then we need to step in just like a mushroom and see oh because who's giving us space hashem is giving us an opportunity do we ask for him do we come back into the relationship do we say how could you have mercy on us we realized we were disconnected from you because we're going to work on everything we're going to work on our connection to you believing that you are really the one that does it you are really the one that provides that nasa it's not the government it's going at the crazy debt it's not netanyahu it's not trump it's not anybody it's just you know you are the one i want to be connected to you that's how krishna was waiting for we have 40 days right now until yom kippur and yom kippur last year yom kippur it was czar rosh hashanah three m keep it was niger what we saw this past year the corona virus alcohol decreed on rosh hashanah of last year that is going to take over our lives and our minds this year do we want it to change do we want to see something different do we want a vaccine do we want to see the world back to normal back to what we what it was like before the chronovirus is that what we want do we want the plague to end this is the secret the secret to the end of the coronavirus is right here in the magish it's the secret to peace the secret is asking for coming back into a relationship with hashem wants us to win so to speak she wants us to win by saying hey we want peace and i want to come back to what we said before and it's true not just in our relationship with our question without god but it's true in our relationship with others as well we need to know who we are we need to be honest we need that peace we need to look at the good of others and we need to be excited about where we are and our accomplishments not looking at those who might be ahead of us but looking just at ourselves and looking at what we have accomplished and not being jealous of others so it's so important recognize the importance of peace and this is the path out so i want to bless you and i ask you to bless me hashem should help us that we should be to have to have him to have mercy on mercy on us and we can be exactly with it hashem should help us to recognize that we can change it by entering back into a relationship with him should help us to be comfortable with who we are be honest about who we are and indeed to see the good of others and to enjoy the accomplishments that we have without looking at others and jealous way haven't forbid thank you so much for listening have a wonderful show miss this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.ariegoldwag.com or search 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