Ki Savo - Indestructible Garments

Listening to the weekly Parsha podcast with Ari Goldwag. Recorded with a sham is never in existence in Ramapo Jewish history of 5786. 2026. This week's Parsha is Parshas Ki Savo. And at the end of our Parsha we have a few interesting Sukkot. Torah of course in this week's Parsha gives us the blessings and the curses if we keep the Torah and get the blessings. If we steer away from a sham so then built into creation is a device with which a sham uses to bring us back and remind us of our true purpose. After that the passage says Moshe will call you strolls is in chapter 29 first few verses it's the very end of our Parsha. Moshe calls to all of the people of Israel by Amara he says to them I tell Marie Samus call us here also a sham like make a message right. You have seen all that a sham did in front of you. The land of Egypt the fire the corner of water below I say you saw what a sham did to the nations the nation of Egypt to Pharaoh and all of his servants his whole land is a good as a sham ruin a clue you saw the amazing miracles of Isis and my stomach at all my him. When I saw a sham like him live with us so the passage says a sham did not give you the heart to understand intimately being 9 and 10 Royce and I used to see if I was my name is that until this very day you didn't have the eyes to see you don't have the ears to hear. So I'm Israel although we saw these amazing miracles but we did not yet comprehend the depth of what it means that a sham takes care of us in that way. We like a sham I am showing my midbar. >> And And Mosha says And he's quoting Hashem it seems. I walked with you. I led you 40 years in the wilderness. This is the part of the passage that we're going to discuss. Your clothes never wore out. And your shoes never wore out from upon your feet. You did not eat bread. You did not eat season. You didn't drink wine or intoxicating beverages. This is for you to know that I'm Hashem your God. So Hashem took care of us in the midbar. As we'll see miraculously, we had all the food that we needed. That was the manna. The manna. And we had clothing that didn't wear out, which was a miraculous thing. Think about it. The Jewish people left Egypt 1 and 1/2 million people strong at least. Maybe 2 million, 2 and 1/2 million. They didn't leave with any clothes. They They only had the clothes on their back. How did they get through their time in the in the wilderness? So their clothes never wore out, the passage tells us. Their shoes never wore out. They wore the same the same shoes. So how does that work exactly? What is the idea behind it? What's the depth So there's a measure here in our parsha which is actually a precise or almost precise quote of the measure in Shir Hashirim. And I'd like to read to you read it to you in Shir Hashirim because there's a reference there besides for talking about the clothing that we're talking about that never wore out. The measure also talks about a different set of clothing. Passage there in Shir Hashirim it's in chapter 4 verse 11. It says, Nofes titeaf min sifosech kalah. There's a honey or the uh uh a wonderful It's It's a The Song of Songs is a a mashal, an analogy to the relationship between Hashem, God, and the Jewish people. But, it's a it's a an analogy which is said over as a man to a woman. And the man describes his kalah, describes his wife, his bride, as one who the the her lips drip with this wonderful nofes. Nofes is a type of of uh sweet thing. Devash v'chalav tachas leshonech. Posuk says that there is honey and and milk on your tongue. There's a sweet taste, right? As the m'forshim explain here, the Medrash says that uh that's to do with our our Torah. It has to do with our study. It has to do with that which we do with our mouths. It has to do with the songs that we sing for Hashem. And then the posuk says, V'reach salmasayich k'reiach livanon. And here's where we get to the clothing. We're going to talk about the clothing that never wore out of the Jews in the midbar, what this represents. But, then where did they get this clothing from, right? Where did it come from? So, in reference to the smell of the clothing which had a smell of Lebanon, which obviously where where livanon could be uh some kind of good smelling spice. Now, before getting to understanding and looking at the sweet smell of the clothing of the Jewish people in the midbar, right? They walked around as much as he's going to say, how did they clean their clothes? How did they get the smell of sweat out of their clothes? We're going to see that. But it had a good smell. It didn't have a negative smell. There's another place where there are clothes that smell, which are referred to in the Torah. Yaakov Avinu comes into his father Yitzchak to steal the blessing of Esau. Isaac wants to give a blessing to Esau, his son Esau, the older brother. He sends him off to get some some good food for him to get in the right spirit, the right mood, so as to get bring down the blessings upon Esau. Yaakov is instructed Jacob is instructed by his mother Rivka to wear the clothing of Esau and to put it on and to trick his father into giving him the blessing cuz the father couldn't Yitzchak couldn't see. He was blind. It's an interesting thing. Yaakov he's wearing these clothes of Esau, but he also has on his neck and on his arms, in order to fool his father, he put the skin of of a goat that's very hairy. So that if he would feel him, he would feel this feel this uh goat skin, feel the hair. So, the smell of goat hair, the smell of goat skin is terrible smelling. >> [sighs] >> So, but the possuk says that he smelled his clothes and seemed to be a beautiful smell. Says says the Midrash that when Yakov vino came in so in with him came a smell of the Garden of Eden. It's like says I can smell the smell of my son. The smell of my son is the smell of the field that a sham has blessed and the madras understands that the field that a sham has blessed is actually a reference to the Garden of Eden. That's the field that a sham has blessed. So Yakov vino came in with a supernatural smell. Yakov fools his father but he doesn't really fool his father. His father smells both figuratively and literally smells that this is the right one to give the blessing to. This is the one where the the Garden of Eden is going to be with this one with this son. So he smells Yakov. He smells the smell of Gan Eden. After Yakov leaves so Esau comes in. And he comes in and what is what happens? Nick and his team again. A smell of of of Gan Eden of hell came in with him. When when a person who says a Zaid which is an intentional sinner when he comes in embarrassment walks in with him. No. It's very interesting, right? It's like it's confused because when when Yakov came in he smelled Gan Eden when Esau comes in he smells Gan Eden there's a smell to it. We'll see what that means conceptually. What was the It was the smell of of something burning. Gehenna is described as a place of fire, but the idea of of the fire of Gehenna, as explained by the deeper sources, is a state of embarrassment. Right? When a person's embarrassed, so they feel humiliation. They There's a fire that goes We We describe it as fire. So, when Esau walks in, he brings with him a different smell. He brings a burning smell. Cuz he's a He's not a righteous individual. He's a wicked individual. So, he brings in with him and the and the wicked people have They're full of regrets. That's what Chazal say. It's a possuk, I believe. They're full of regrets. Cuz they never fixed the problems. They never looked at the problems. They just There's a There's a um darkness. A smell that accompanies them. Hashem okay, the smell of the tzaddik. That smell of the oven, the smell of burning that came in with him was the one who had tricked him. So, but let's come back to the possuk. The possuk says "Reiach salmasav kereiach Levanon." The smell of the clothing is the smell of Levanon, of Lebanon. And that's a good smell. It's the smell of of whiteness. Of Levanon Levanon is is white, purity. Yaakov Avinu came in with purity. He was the righteous one. He was the one who would be the progenitor of the Jewish people. So, when Yaakov comes in, so there's a good smell that accompanies him. Cuz he is the righteous one. And you know, if you've ever met somebody, you can tell. You can read it on them. You can see their righteousness. And you can see their darkness. It kind of reeks. When a person is a is a person who's focused on negativity, person who's focused on on darkness, on on dishonesty, a person who's dishonest or that you can sense it. If you have a certain level of intuition, you can sense it. Yitzchak, all he had was his sense of smell. He couldn't see. But he could smell it. Yaakov walks in, he smells the he smells Gan Eden. Okay, so that's for real, some of us are like Lavon. There's a a beautiful smell that accompanies a person who's spiritual. And this is an incredible uh really deep and important spiritual principle, like a concept, like a teaching that when we do what's right, we smell good. When we do what's wrong, we smell bad. And we can smell it on ourselves. We know when we've done wrong, and it feels uncomfortable, doesn't sit well with us. You heard a particular spiritual teacher say, you know, think of the worst thing that you've ever done in your life. Think of the worst thing that you've ever done in your life. Now, the very fact that you consider it the worst thing shows that that's who you are not. That's who you are not. That's not who you really are. Right? Klal Yisrael, the Jewish people, we at our core we have the pintala Yid, the the spark of divinity which is inside of us. And so we have that good smell inside of us. We we can smell when when we don't smell right. We know ourselves when we've done something that's not really in consonance with who we really are at our essence. So, that's one p'shat in the Re'ach Someachim Re'ach Levonah. Now, we're going to see the other p'shat in the clothing that smelled good is that's referring to our clothing, the clothing that the Jewish people wore throughout their time in the in the Midbar, by the time in the wilderness that had a good smell. Now, we understand that a good smell doesn't just mean it smells nice. I mean, it could be a dust. But, it means something to do with Gan Eden, something to do with with livanae, with whiteness, with purity, with a lack of contamination. Shimon bar Elazar bar Shimon as Shimon bar Yochai ben Lakonya Khamai Uh Shimon bar Elazar bar Shimon asked his father-in-law, I think it's his father-in-law. Shimon bar Yochai ben Lakonya He said, Klei Koryos Yotzei Mitzrayim Midbar How did the Jewish people have clothes in the wilderness? Did they walk out of Egypt with with uh cloth machines? Machines that make cloth? Moreh Nevuchim said no. Amar lei Rav Akiva Eicha Yisrael Midbar Practical question. How did the Jewish people have clothes in the wilderness? And the Moreh Nevuchim points out that you can't say that there were traveling businessmen, merchants who would come and sell to them. There was just not enough enough clothes for that amount of people. So, how did they have clothing for those 40 years? Amar lei Rav Akiva Mashal Bishul Malachei HaSharet They were clothed by the angels. The Jewish people at Mount Sinai at Har Sinai So, they had an incredible experience. They had an incredible spiritual experience. The heavens opened up. I read it once to you guys. Chaim Vital writes that they it brings from the Zohar, I believe. That they experienced the oneness of all of creation. They experienced that there is one Hashem. That all of creation is an extension of him. It was an awesome revelation at Har Sinai. Besides for that revelation where they saw that everything is connected, that there's an absolute oneness and a love, right? Love for each other. They were all connected. They were as one man with one heart. So, besides for that amazing connection they had with all of reality and with each other and with Hashem, they were also malachim shalom. They were angels that appeared. These angels came down from heaven. Well, I don't know if they're I don't know where the angels are, but they came down from wherever they are. And they we all are familiar maybe with with the fact that each Jew received two crowns. That was also part of what was given to them. But another thing that they received was the special clothing. They received special clothing at Mount Sinai. And and we need to understand this. It's related very much to to Yaakov and the clothes of Esau. Well, I don't know if I'll get into it deeply, but Yaakov took the clothing of Esau. That was the the smell, reah. Reah reah bnei ki reah the the clothing smelled good. Cuz it was the clothing of Esau. Esau had stolen it from Nimrod. Nimrod had taken it from Ham, from Noah originally, and it was the clothing that originally were worn by Adam Harishon, the first man, okay? And it had that smell of Gan Eden. It's a topic that I spoke about a few years ago, a year or two ago. But, um the Jewish people at Mount Sinai, they returned to the state of Adam Harishon Kodem HaCheit, as we know. They came back to that exalted level of Adam before the sin. So, in that moment, they received special garments that wouldn't wouldn't wear out. Very interesting. And even though they sinned, they lost the crowns, but they did not lose these garments. So, these were the garments that they wore throughout the 40 years in the midbar. Those 40 years in the wilderness, they wore these special garments. Now, listen, we're going to hear more about them, and then we're going to try to perhaps have a depth of understanding of what it means. What are these garments? They were given to them by the Malachim Hashareish, by the angels. By God's ministering angels. The Sif Val Bisham Rikma, possuk says in Yechezkel. In Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 10, it talks about Har Sinai, talks about Matan Torah. The revelation on Sinai. And it says that Hashem gave the Jewish people clothing, right? So, it's interesting. Let us be clear. We talk about Malachim, we're talking about angels. They're just messengers of Hashem himself. But, Hashem dressed the Jewish people through these Malachim Hashareish, through these angels, with these um the super clothes. Rashi says my Amar Porfira Tir Tirgam Akilas Ifa Likta. It's some kind of uh garment that's made out of trailers, interesting. Made out of blue out of blue wool. With special blue wool that was dyed with the the blood of the Chilazon. Which some surmise today that it's the Murex trunculus snail. But, they were given It was a royal garment. It was a very rare type of dye, very expensive dye. Royal blue or royal purple that was used in garments of kings. And so, each and every Jewish person standing there at Mount Sinai received a special garment. A beautiful garment, a and it would never wear out. It would never wear out. That's one of the unique things about the connection of the of the blue or purple dye of the trelas with wool is that it it stays steadfast and it doesn't fade. And it represents the malchus, the idea of king kingship, the fact that we are the child of Hashem. We're God's children. And we are royalty. And our connection to him never fades. The clothes never fade. Right? Adam's original garments never left because those garments were specially made by Hashem to remind Adam of his original state. That he was connected to Hashem, he's a child of Hashem. And that when he wears those garments it reflects that. It reminds him of that. And so the Jewish people received, it sounds like, I was saying I'm I'm saying I'm shot here in the Medrish, doesn't say this explicitly, but they received a similar type of garment. They went back to the state of Adam Harishon they received these special garments that would never fade, that would never uh wear out. So the Medrish says you call him. He he says to him they wouldn't they wouldn't uh get worn out. And so he quotes from our possuk in our Medrish in our in our parsha in our holy possuk uh huh. Your clothing never wore out. But it's actually a different possuk elsewhere, it's the same same idea. Or you good day learn huh. Did they grow? Did the people grow? Let's say a little kid got that garment when he was a child. He's 5 years 5 years old at at Har Sinai. And he wears these clothes. And uh as he grows up, what happens? he needs a new pair of clothes. Then the people grow. Or they Interestingly, it says we can learn that from the chilazon. Which is the very type of animal that you get the blue dye from. And if we say that it's a snail, it's very clear what what the measure is saying. That it has a it has clothing. It has a has a shell. And as the as the snail grows, which is the soft part of the snail, so its shell grows with it. And so too these clothing would grow with it. Speaking to the boys, they never needed to be cleaned. Did the clothing need cleaning? Did they ever get dirty? Interesting. The measure says that the the clouds of Hashem's glory Now these clouds which represented Right? That's how they knew the Jewish people that Hashem was with them. The the clouds would come down upon the upon the Mishkan, on the Tabernacle. Or if it was time for them to move, the clouds would rise up and they would start to follow the clouds. Represented the the presence of Hashem. And at night there would be fire. In the daytime they would just be maybe smoke or cloud-like. So some of these clothing would be cleaned by the clouds. Or measure says, "Wait, but these clouds were not just clouds, they were fire. Wouldn't it burn the clothes?" Measure says which I'm going to explain according to the meforshim that you have clothing that can be made out actually out of stone. I [clears throat] don't know how they would make clothing out of stone, but apparently there was such a thing. And when you make clothing out of stone so then those obviously getting into us very small stones excuse me. And the way to clean the stone garment is with fire. I believe that in a different place it it says that they were spiritual garments so they were obviously could be cleaned spiritually. It's not a problem they're not going to get burned. All right, I have a lot of things coming to me eyes. Did they get any They didn't get moth-bitten the clothing. They didn't get They didn't have any kind of worms that get into the clothes or or uh lice. And a lot of them in this lesson with him also we find the Medrish says that when people would die in those times their bodies would not uh be consumed. They would not deteriorate. Interestingly. The Jews of that time their physical bodies would not deteriorate which is very interesting and and so the worms wouldn't get to the bodies. So certainly the worms didn't get to the clothing. But I think it's an interesting martial be called concept because the clothing of the person remind us that we're humans. I'm not just a physical being. I'm not just a monkey. I'm higher than that. I'm a spiritual being. That's what the clothes remind us. So if the clothes don't don't wear out then the physical body also doesn't wear out even even if the physical body may die but it's not going to deteriorate. It's very interesting parallel. What about the bad smell from the sweat? Would they Would the garments smell bad? Do they have to be washed? Midrash says that they would take Interesting. It's interesting because they wouldn't uh I would have expected it to say that the when it was cleaned by the when it was cleaned by the Ananei Hakavod, by the cloud of glory, so then it wouldn't smell bad, but that's not what it says. It says that they were there were um grasses or herbs that would grow. There's another Midrash which is quoted it's elsewhere it's in Bamidbar Rabbah Parshat Yitro. It's called Machavah, I looked it up. And there it talks about the fact that the Be'er, the water from the Be'er, the water from the well of Miriam, would go around the entire encampment and stuff would grow as a result of it. And amongst the things that would grow would be these herbs. They would take these herbs and they would rub it against the clothes. Or maybe it would make them not sweat. Maybe it was antiperspirant. Pasuk says, which we say I shall shoot this other times. >> [sighs and gasps] >> In the pleasant grasses God will cause me to rest. Midrash finishes off very interesting. Oh, you Rechan Na'ide If Misifas Olam Sofei. And their smell would stretch from one edge of the earth to the other. This wonderful smell. As the King Solomon is explaining when he says, the smell of your clothes is like the smell of of lemonade, the smell of that purity." I think that if we think about this Midrash, it's clearly teaching us that just like Yaakov Avinu was the righteous individual who his father could smell even though physically he might have smelled bad, but his father could smell the purity. The purity of his soul that came in with him. That maybe was reflected by the clothing that he wore, which were the clothing of Adam HaRishon. That's the song we say if See these clothes have good smell have a good smell. The Jewish people also had these clothes. We also had the clothes in the Midbar. The Jewish people in the Midbar in the wilderness, we were being forged as a nation. 40 years that's called the Dor De'ah, the generation of knowledge. What do we do in the Midbar? We were studying the Torah. With the foundation of the Jewish people. And we had this smell which we got at Har Sinai from the Malachei HaShareis, from the angels themselves. They gave us these clothes. They gave us the clothes of royalty. As the clothes of royalty that we all wear that never wear out and have a smell that goes from one end of the earth to the other. It's not a coincidence that the Jewish people, no matter where we are, everybody notices us. And you can tell if our smell is good or not. When we are keeping the Torah, when we are acting in consonance with Hashem's will, so then the smell is a great smell. The nations of the world are afraid of us. They see that we're wearing these garments of royalty. But when we're not, when we're not properly acting in consonance with who we are as children of Hashem, so then suddenly the nations of the world say, "Oh, you're not doing your job. We're taking over." We're taking over and that's not a good uh That's not a good place for us to be. So, it's our job to recognize and remember that we we are wearing these special garments, these special the special clothing which show that we are royalty. We are Sham's kids. Want to bless you, ask you to bless me. Sham should help us to recognize and realize and internalize the clothing that we wear that don't wear out. The fact that we have that pintala you that Jew that that spark of divinity inside of us. We are royalty. Sham should help us to see that we are princes and princesses. Sham should help us to remember that and recognize that our clothes never wore out. And to this day they remain the same. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful Shabbos. >> This podcast was made possible [music] through the gracious donations of listeners like you. For more podcasts like this, please visit www.arigoldwieg.com [music] or search on iTunes Ari Goldwieg.