Vayakhel - Giving and Taking

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with's never ending assistance inel 5779 2019 this week's para is parak and we continue with the t's description of the mishkon of the C of the Mish the Tabernacle and the vessels of it and God's request to the Jewish people to bring their gold their silver Etc I'd like to read to you P this is 35:4 Moses says to all the congregation of the children of Israel L more and he says this is what God has commanded verse five take from you a a donation to Hashem to God call anyone who is generous of heart he shall bring a donation of God Gold Silver and copper and so classically in Trum Trum it speaks about the fact many people speak about the fact that the verse says you shall take for me instead of it saying you shall give to me what is the understanding why is it that the Torah says you shall take for me what's the idea of taking for God as opposed to giving to God why does the verse say simply this concept of giving and I want to share with you a beautiful and deep V two two parts to to this idea from theam from the altar of naric and he says just a fantastic idea but he explains it in a very deep way it might be something that you've heard before but it's very deep very beautiful and very something which is very practical for each and every one of us he says that there's something amazing there's something interesting and there something important to understand this is in chapter the chapter that speak which we actually read from last week but this is a little further along in the chapter it speaks about a concept related to our a person is afraid to give himself over completely to the Torah that the Torah will guide him in all of his paths because a person sees that he's just giving and giving it seems on the surface when it comes to what the Torah is asking of a person is that the person give endlessly uh it doesn't seem like he gets too much from IT person has to give up on his money has to give charity he has to buy certain things that the Torah requires to buy Fillin he has to buy Lula vess Etc there's a lot of money to spend he has to buy food for chabas and it affects his physical body what does he seem to get from the Torah the Torah however reveals to us an amazing thing which is the opposite the person who is receiving they are the person who's giving the it seems like the person who's receiving something getting a gift getting some kind of they're actually the ones who are giving the one who is giving is the one who's actually receiving what is the idea there's a little note here on the bottom of the page the person who's giving receives more than the person who's receiving the person who's receiving the person who's receiving gets something physical which is constricted which is limited a person who is giving so they get many different things he's giving it a very simple aspect the more you know the the first layer of it which is that a person who gives so what does he get he gets a purified heart a good heart he is purifying himself spiritually when I give to I give charity so I get rid of my ego each time I do it because it's hard to give charity it's hard to give away my money that I earned but by doing so it purifies my heart helps me to be more spiritual that's on one level on another level it makes me closer to God it it makes me in spiritual terms and this is from the readings that I've done in spiritual terms so when a person gives so they become closer to God what does that mean the more uh a person is D the more that two people are di more two people are similar the more that a person makes himself similar to God that's called spiritual closeness so to the degree that I give since God is a complete Giver God can never receive anything to the degree that I make myself to to a giver I become in tune with God I resonate with God and to the degree that I resonate with God I am drawing spirituality into my life more good things come into one's life when a person is connected to God because God is all there is God is the source of all goodness says the alar we can see this in many different ideas for example a person is afraid to give up on his honor let's say a person wants to do a certain act because he knows it's the right thing to do but people are going to make fun of him that person would like to do God's will but people will make fun of him so he feels like in order to do the right thing he's going to lose something in the eyes of others he's going to lose his honor needs to give up something T tells us the exact opposite it's an amazing thing if a person wants to achieve greatness person wants to achieve honor how does one do that so person can run after the honor and run after the things that that a person maybe he he tries very hard to be an intellectual great or he tries very hard to be a superstar in whatever area his talent is but kazal tell us that if a person runs away from honor runs away from greatness runs away from [Music] Fame the result ultimately is it's a spiritual principle that who do we respect truly who do we truly respect the people who are running away from honor who are humble when a person is trying not to receive that's where the person receives so it's a spiritual principle the verse says in Ecclesiastes in Co 8 ver5 that a person who keeps a commandment will not know any evil is telling us the the spiritual principle of the Torah is if a person keeps the Tor besides for the fact that they won't lose out furthermore they will gain but the imagination of a person the of a person the evil inclination of a person is constantly worried that they will lose out okay so we see here an amazing thing we see that in the tiest terms giving is taking and taking is giving so when the says or here in our take from you a truma the Torah is is um giving us Torah is pointing out to us that when a person gives to the Mish when the person gives to his spiritual life he is actually taking he's actually going to receive he's actually going to get an amazing gift which is a deeper level of spirituality which in turn will draw to him more and more of what the person needs gives a few examples of this concept in areas of life we've been speaking about the the idea of we've put out already to podcast about about trusting God so the alar one of his she is one of his important principles that he lays down is a concept of trusting in God person who trusts in God completely and doesn't try so hard when it comes excuse me to his parnasa to his livelihood to whatever whatever ever it is that he's trusting God about so that person it seems like he's just giving himself over to the to the decree of God what's going to be I'm not going to do any effort I'm not going to try my hardest and break my back in order to make sure I have my livelihood but the truth is that a person who gives himself over completely to God person who completely trusts in God even though it seems like he's not going to get he's not going to end up with anything cuz he's not trying very hard for his livelihood the truth is he gets everything like the verse says in Jeremiah chter 17 verse 7 a person gives himself over to God and then the person ends up receiving seems like he's giving away and giving away but really he's receiving by giving away he's giving away all of the ideas that he believes are going to give him success Etc and the the Torah tells us clearly the person who trusts in God so he is going to be blessed in his physical circumstances besides for that a person has the satisfaction the Deep um the Deep uh Joy the je deep happiness that comes with knowing that all of his needs will be provided for that God is constantly taking care of that person that advantage that Joy is is incalculable even more so than the fact when a person has that spiritual Assurance knowing that God is on his side forget about the fact that he knows what's go that everything's going to be okay physically so he has he has inside of himself as we spoke about in the podcast he has inside of himself a a satisfaction that that person is a person who is a who trusts in God I am somebody who has that Milo person realizes that person develops that it's an awesome it's an awesome thing just like somebody who has the power he's so physically powerful he can he can beat anybody in a fight so that's a certain even if he doesn't have to fight with anybody he has that Advantage he has that ability and it's the fact that he has that ability is even greater than the fact that he could would be paid for that okay and therefore our sages tell us it is good to have a moment in this world of doing chuva have doing doing good deeds repenting more than the entire world to come why because the world to come is is the payment but the fact that a person is is a person who is always repenting or a person who's always doing good deeds that person has that Advantage has that that title of somebody who's aone who's AA someone who is a person who is constantly involved in Repentance before we get to a very important question that he addresses and explains I want to tell you that he talks about this in regards to charity and that's related very much to our para because it's speaking about the trus the charity the the free giving the Jewish people did in regards to the tabern but this is true in regards to charity for the poor tell us in page 9 that a person who gives a tithe he gives a percentage of his income to the poor such a person the the language of the the the very letters which means give a tenth can also be read AER which means theyve become rich again we have this principle that a person who gives is a is a is the one who gets because because now that they become more spiritual now they're connected to the source of all wealth which is God the mind of a human being the mind of a man is is actually what seems to be intuitive is actually counterintuitive he only sees the outer aspect of it which is the actual giving he doesn't realize that the giving itself creates a a vacuum into which he actually ends up receiving a spiritual gift and a physical gift okay so that's the powerful idea now when it comes to to working on this so we have a very important question that he asks and he explains he says like this Mish this is the question of someone who's truly searching person who's looking for the truth trying to understand the spiritual principle that's going on here since it's true that giving is receiving and receiving is giving we have a big problem because if let's say I'm giving let's say I'm giving s I'm giving charity because I want to become rich because God promises that a person who gives charity you're allowed to test God in this area say you can test God when it comes to giving charity so what happens person is giving in order to receive so then he's not really the giving is marred because he's trying to receive so he's really receiving and if he's giving in order to receive he's really trying to receive and then he shouldn't be able to receive he shouldn't be able to receive at all he's not really giving and the result will be or should be that he's not going to to receive it all and he says an even even deeper problem like it's it's like a almost a game here it's a psychological problem we're going to have a psychological game if you even if a person gives and he's not doing in order to receive the person knows clearly person understands the spiritual principle that when I give it's really I'm I'm going to receive that's really what's going to happen I'm not doing it in order to receive I'm doing I'm doing because God says but I know that that's what happens by definition the awareness of that will turn everything around and make everything be backwards the the giving that he's doing Turn it it becomes a receiving and therefore the ultimate result will be that his awareness his understanding of the spiritual principle ruins it and he won't be able to receive even though he gave it without the intention to receive it's not going to work out since he knows that that's what's going to happen it's no different than giving it on on the condition of receiving a person who gives in order to receive it's as if he hasn't given at all and if he doesn't give at all so then he's not giving himself over to the Tyra so what is the idea I'm sorry if he's not giving if his giving which is done in order or with the awareness that he's going to receive is done that way so then it's just it's not considered giving so he's not he doesn't have that full giving himself over to the T how can a person properly keep the Commandment how can a person trust in God and run away from honor in reality if he's keeping the Mitzvah in order that nothing bad should happen to him that's not going to make him properly keep the Commandment it's going to be considered that he hasn't kept it Comm properly and he's going to be missing the aspect of no no bad thing can happen to him your fear is your foolishness okay I'm not sure exactly what that means I'm going to skip it's clear that he hasn't reached the highest level if a person is keeping the Mitzvah without the intent of receiving a reward his awareness messes him up so how can a person have the proper intent how can a person truly be how can they really do it for the right reasons the same problem is in regards to running away from honor if a person is running away from honor but he keeps looking over his shoulder to see if the honor is running after him right that's not considered running away even if he's not actually looking behind him if he knows that he's that by running away from honor he's going to get honor still it's running after him even though he's not actually physically looking behind him but his awareness makes it that he's actually running towards honor so how is it possible to run away from honor properly okay so here he tells us an amazing thing when it comes to chuva and this is a foundational idea it's a concept that you may not hear anywhere else because it's so deep so beautiful and it's based on the G he says like this find in regards to repentance when a person does CH when a person repents they've done something wrong they have to decide with a very strong and Resolute decision I will never do that act again I won't continue that foolishness we've got a big problem with this the person knows that last Yer I repented and I decided I'm never going to do it again passed maybe a month pass maybe less maybe more but I went back to it I I did the same AA again I did the same sin so that awareness how can a person ever repent each time that they tried to repent they'll remember the time that they tried before and it didn't work out so well right so how is it possible to repent if each time a person has to decide they won't do it again okay writes something amazing that there's a certain level that we can achieve of love of God of fear of God of serving God properly and we have to put in every effort possible however when it comes to the most inner aspect of a person's love and fear of God follow the person needs to give himself over to the Tor without any trying to figure things out without trying to use his intellect person needs to do it to understand that if the T says it it must be good for me to keep it as well as they can when it comes to the rest which is out of his ability when it comes to these types of inyan that we're speaking about here where if I know then it's considered etc etc that a person needs special help from Hashem that's something the inner aspect of a person's fear of Heaven the most inner aspect of their love of God is something which they need help from God and only God can do that for them but that help only comes after a person has done all that's within their power once a person has done all this within their power they've tried their best to to do it for the right reasons they've done all that they can they' thought all that they can but they're still aware that they have to give over to God this explains all of the questions previous person who wants to truly keep a commandment to run away from honor and to return to God to repent that person has a special Help From Heaven indeed when he gives even though he knows in the back of his mind that his giving is receiving and he's going to get more than he gives still it's the giving is considered a giving his receiving is a real his his acceptance upon himself his decision is is indeed powerful he did everything he could person needs to forget all of the things that they know that they understand the the their deep understandings of spirituality forget about it anything that's out of his control but if a person doesn't give himself over completely doesn't try their best to do it with the right intentions with the right with the right attitudes so then it will mess it up but a person gets a special special help that's why it says in regards to the Tabernacle and here's what we bring it back to our topic the Tabernacle the verse tells us they shall make for me a tabernacle they shall make for me holy place and I shall dwell in their midstem says hem promises that I shall dwell in the heart of each and every individual if a person gives himself over gives his heart over to try his best or her best of course to to do all that God commands when it comes to that little amount that they can't do themselves promises they will get special they get special help from God in that regard that's why the Torah says and we find also in our para that God says take for me a truma AA a giving I'm sorry a a uh a gift it doesn't say you shall give because the giving is taking when is it true only when a person fulfills each person who has given over their hearts this means therefore it means that when a person gives over their heart they they try their best with all their heart to fulfill the Commandment of God then the giving is truly giving and therefore they will indeed end up receiving okay so that's the idea I want to bless you and ask you to bless me hasm should help us that we should be able to internalize this concept there are so many opportunities to use it to to recognize that yes we have to do as much as we can in our service of God we have to try our best also recognizes there's a certain aspect that we can't accomplish on our own that we need special should help us to recognize that to be able to be to Merit to receive that Divine assistance that Divine help so that our giving whether it's charity or whether it's any spiritual act that we do or whether it's the running away from honor perhaps that we do should be a true giving should be a true charity should be a true running away from honor so that we will indeed be able to receive the amazing blessings that God has in store for us to the to the extent that we become more spiritual thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shamas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.ar goldwag or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]