Vayelech - All of Us As One

you're listening to the weekly Parsha Podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with hashem's never ending assistance in 57.83 2022 we're starting off a brand new year we're reading this week Shabbos shuva we're reading shoes return klystra to hashema we have 10 days of repentance and we're reading this week from parchment and at the very beginning of our past sorry goes and he says all these matters to the people of Israel well she says I'm 120 years old today I cannot come in and out any longer Hashem Hashem said to me so first he says the word which we have as a theme already in this week's Parsha and in last expression it's of him the concept of hayam today and Moshe is speaking to the entire Jewish people as soon as he were actually going to read a message from last week's part to the beginning partial needs of him but let's just see at the beginning of our Parsha Hashem is foreign tells them about the power that they have they're going to go into the land of Israel Hashem is going to destroy the the guy in these nations and they're going to be able to you know Yoshua is going to lead them Yeshua is in a certain sense of his generation the Messiah comes from the house of Joseph he'll show us from Ephraim the Jewish people as they walk into the a Redemption for them to be able to overcome the land of Earth Israel to to conquer that land how does it happen it happens because of the fact that they are all together that they are all together today there's a concept within the concept of today there's a concept of of the Jewish people militia is speaking to all of them and speaking of how he is going to the Hashem is going to stand up for them and help them conquer all of these nations they're going to have they're going to have God is going to be with them and he's going to rest his divine presence upon him so that they can overcome all of their enemies but let's now look back for a moment at the beginning of preciousness 7 because in last week's Parsha is a very powerful measures there that speaks about the power of the Jewish people which relates very much to Serious to the Tennessee's repentance and the power of the seabor the power of being together in a congregation so let's look back now at the beginning question 37 begins with the plastic you are standing here today today powerful world to powerful word today you are all standing here together in front of Hashem your God Israel the heads of your tribes your tribes your elders your police officers all people of Israel your children your wives and your righteous converts from those who chop down the wood to those who draw water the greatest to the least of them Allah in order to have you here today to affirm the Covenant to affirm your relationship with Hashem today Hashem is that he is establishing with you today I'd like to read to you from Majors there's a few different ideas in the message about the word today what is the concept of today I'd like to share with you a piece that speaks about the concept of today in relationship to mashiach of all times because doesn't sound like the times sounds like today the times that we live in however we see we spoke about this previously but it's worth thinking about of course because we're still not serious between Russia Russia and Yom Kippur we both in both uh and both days both contexts we speak about the concept of mashiach Rosh Hashanah we know that they have shown created the human being makes a lot of sense but Yom Kippur as well today that we speak about mashiach because mashiach is the time when we will all join together to do hashem's will as one as these people describe we will re-establish our commitment and our relationship with Hashem in a much stronger way than ever before so Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur which are about that rededication to our relationship with Hashem we have this theme now let's see this inside there's a measure that says like this mayor so we find what is the word mean it means today it also means the day so we find in regards to a daytime regards to the 24-hour period that we refer to as a day so the day has a cycle it's cyclic sometimes it's dark and sometimes it's light after time there's a cycle in the world the Jewish people are used to a certain Darkness we are used to experiencing anti-Semitism we're used to experiencing hatred from the nations of the world negativity undo negative interactions with us and Hashem reassures us that although it's dark now although it's dark in our experience of the world today although we are oppressed although we are treated in an improper way nevertheless there's going to be a morning so to speak there's going to be a time when everything will be the opposite of that when although it looks dark now it's going to be light foreign posix says Isaiah 60 the Hashem will be a light for you forever when is this so first of all we have here that even in our Darkness we know that we we are already thinking about we're thinking about that moment in time when the Jewish people will be exalted raised up above the Nations will be recognized for their spiritual leadership in the world but now when is this when can we hope to achieve that time when are we able to perhaps say that we might Merit to have that experience very interesting we find the language in our Posse it refers to the Jewish people as um you are standing here today all of you there's another pasok also in savings also in Deuteronomy which says a similar language of all of you today it says yeah all of you who attach yourselves to Hashem you are all living today so the magic shoes is this to show us we find both of these so first of all we see in a spot like that how do we attach ourselves to Hashem it is that today today we are standing all together all of us together all of us as one the way that we access the light of Hashem is through our togetherness it's through our Unity it's through our recognition that all of us are part of one Collective Soul called the Jewish people and it's referred to interestingly as we say in the davening um the the people the all of mankind will form a Collective Bond they will form a collective group in the darling it says will fall art so now what happens when we're a collective group when we're a bundle that's the right word here an aguda which means a collective group is also a word for a bundle what happens when a human being takes a bundle let's say you have a bundle of sticks it's tied together when you have a bundle of sticks it's much harder you can you can break a single stick but it's very hard to break a bundle of sticks but if you take each stick by itself so even a child can break such a stick might says the magic that you want to know what is the Merit that will bring about Gula that will bring about our Redemption the Merit that brings about Redemption is when we combine when we come together as one because when we are individuals so then Hashem looks at us as individuals and we have many faults we're imperfect when we come together as a nation as individuals who come together to form a united front right so then what happens is Hashem does not look at each individual per se but rather he sees our unity and the Milos the positive attributes of certain individuals will actually foreign conquer so to speak or or cancel out the negative aspects of other people okay obviously I'm going to read it again the people of Israel will be redeemed only when we form a United bundle um in those days and at that time says Hashem the children of Israel which is a reference to the ten tribes the northern kingdom of the Jewish people and the children of Judah which is a reference to the the three tribes in the lower section of the Jewish people Judah and Benjamin and the relive its amongst them at that time meaning in the times of mashiach the times of Messiah the Jewish people will will join together the different parts of the Jewish people the aimer foreign the Jewish people will come from a Northerly language there's always a reference to the gullus to the exiled Jewish people we will return from our Exile and we will join together we will return all the different aspects of the Jewish people which are referred to as the children of Judah which is why we're called Jews the children of of Israel which is a reference to the other the other elements of the Jewish people foreign so when we are attached to each other when we are joined when we are together as one so then we receive the face of the shrina so to speak we we receive hashem's presence Hashem comes together with us as it were why because we come together and like a father wants his children to be happy like a father wants his children to to love each other like a father who wants his children to get along when we come together and we get along so we have this powerful ability now we have this powerful ability to receive hashem's presence you are standing here today in front of Hashem when there's a kuchen when we're all together all of us every single aspect every single individual all of us together from the greatest of us from the from the greatest righteous individuals to the most simple manual workers all of us when we are joined so then we are standing in front of a chef now this is such an important idea this is such a powerful idea because what we're saying here is that the the Jewish people the individuals each and every one of them has a special place has a special function within Cloud Israel and certain people looks like these are the most important people look they're the the righteous individuals they're studying they're learning Torah they're the ones who are Leading the People they're the ones who are the most connected spiritually but the Posse is teaching Us in this message is teaching teaching us that each and every individual whoever they are is also essential to the Jewish people think about it who are these people the ones who are the Wood Choppers and the and the water carriers right they're the simple folk they don't really have a a highly developed way of earning a paranas of earning a livelihood this simple but but what do they do they are there to serve others right why does a wood Shopper chop wood because there are people who need to heat their homes why is the water carrier carry the water because someone has to go to the river and bring the water to the people the people of the Town these are people who are concerned about the needs of others of course it's because that's how they earn their livelihood of course that's true but this is a secret this is a secret to what it means to be connected to each other the secret to being connected to each other is seeing and realizing how we can serve our community how we can serve others how we can try to not be only thinking about ourselves to not only be concerned with our own needs which of course we need to be concerned with we have to pray for our own needs but there's a focus that needs to be there also outwards Focus How can I how can I provide for others around me and this is something which contributes to our ability to have a relationship with each other and that's how we create an aguda akhas and interestingly that's how we stand in front of Hashem you know on Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur we we strive to pray to Daven with it to dive in together with others we don't want to be taken and looked at it on our own like the measure says here a single stick is easy to be broken but when you have a bundle you can't break a bundle of sticks right we want to be together and not only that we want to as you say in keeper we want even the people who are avarion even those who have sins even those who have done things I would say even against others since between each other of course we need to ask each other for forgiveness but you know my team is one of the things that we say on the night of kalnidre is that we we are asking Yeshiva shamalu Shiva shamata we're asking for permission to pray together with those who are sinners why because we need everybody here because even the Sinners have something to offer the community even the even we all need each other that's the bottom line here so what is the concept here what is the idea here we need each other we need each other and we need to be concerned with others and we need to be focused on on service of others and I I wanna I I really want to tell the story it's not completely relevant to the point of this magic but speaking of service and speaking of thinking of others you know as a parent as a parent so we understand what it means to be of service to others because we have our children we want the best for them we want to provide for them I want to tell you just the personal vignette that happened yesterday to me which has to do with my kids right now I'm currently in this in the in New York visiting the states because I leave the high holidays the tequila the prayers and uh in New York visiting family and I'm here with two of my girls and we had a little bit of an adventure yesterday and but I want to just show you what it what the focus was for me personally and I think that this is an important message that's connected to this magic and it's a and it's a powerful idea and an important idea for going into the Madden and that's the focus on I had my daughters here or Hashem it's it's a great thing for me personally to have children with me to have my family apart so at least a part of my family with me on a trip like this is very lonely to be alone in the states leading the prayers about myself this year I was able to bring to my kids with me and but the thing is that I want them to have a good time I wanted to be happy I want them to have you know I want to trip not just to be like I have a nice time I have my kids with me but I want them to also have a good time so yesterday we we said look we're gonna do the schoolwork we're going to catch up on our schoolwork and then we're gonna go on an afternoon trip we're gonna go go karting we're gonna do something fun and we get to this you know we look it up we we it seems like this place might be open it's not clear if it was open or it wasn't open we drove all the way to Brooklyn and we get to Coney Island which is where this place was and we find out that the place is closed so disappointed we said maybe we're gonna go to an arcade the arcade was closed we went for a walk on the beach which was really nice and then and whenever there was a there was a there's a community nearby there called Seagate and we actually were able to to I got an app on my phone which helped me find the minion but that minion wasn't even there but but the rabbi happened to be coming there at that very moment to I don't know to open to close his shoe and he told us to go around the corner there's a shoe right there they have a minion and we we caught the Minion from we felt like Hashem was a little a little hug we're able to download the minion the girls stop in the ladies section and then we ended up going to a bowling alley and we ended up flying finding some arcades there that they could play Etc they were able to have a bit of fun it was a long day extended and tiring day but what we learned from this what I learned from this personally first of all hashem's in charge of Our Lives he's decides whether or not we're going to have fun in a certain way or in a different way whatever it's going to be and we can be disappointed at times but ultimately of course Hashem is concerned for our good and he wants us to be happy but the thing that I took out of it was that my focus is here on my kids and it's such an important Focus to be focused hours it's easy for me to be focused on myself and trying to do the things that I want to do learn the things that I want to learn yesterday in the morning I help my daughter with her work so basically my learning time was spent teaching which of course is also an amazing thing the idea is that where are we being of service where are we giving to others where are we thinking about others and not just thinking about ourselves the message tells us that when our focus is not only on ourselves our focus is outwards when our focus is on the shame all of those qualities throughout all of these people of Israel what makes us the people of Israel that's United and and bonded is the fact that we think about others the fact that we're thinking about of course our children that's the the best teaching tool that Hashem gives us to be able to think about others but even Within our live lead our parnassa there's opportunity there for us to be of service to others if I'm going to go sing for for uh for kids or for a concert or for leading to felis There's an opportunity there for me to of course earn my livelihood but there's an opportunity for me to inspire others for me to give to others for me to lift people up to give them a smile to be able to to sing to dance to have a good message to hear a positive good word and good idea so that's the idea that I wanted to share today and I want to bless you and ask you to bless me Hashem should help us that we should be able to indeed connect to other people to focus outwards to be able to be of service to to connect to each other through this idea and in this way Hashem should help us today today Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur today we should be able to stand in front of him we should be able to Merit by coming together by coming into relationship with each other to be able to Merit the Final Redemption when Hashem reveals his light upon us all thank you so much for listening our wonderful Shabbos this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.regoldwag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]