Vayelech-Yom Kippur - The King's Gifts

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with ari goldwag recorded with hashem's neverending assistance in 5782 brand new year brand new powershell partisan and i'd like to share with you a thought based on two pieces in the madrish in this week's parasha which i think the theme of which very much connects to the 10 days of repentance which we find ourselves in these 10 days which span from rosh hashanah through yom kippur from the new year to the day of kapara of atonement we're the jewish people when we take a new look we take a new stance we head into a new year with a new attitude so i'd like to share with you this thought really powerful verses very somber tone in these midrashim and sobering but i think that it's a very powerful and important lesson which we learned from them the verse tells us the very beginning of our parsha moshe went moses went vaidavra is called israel he spoke these matters to the jewish people they are lame and he said to them 120 years old today i can no longer go in and go out shaman he laments the fact that although he prayed many times he supplicated in front of god asking god to allow him to go into the land of israel he would not be the one to lead them but rather it would be yoshua verse seven i'm skipping moses says to joshua strengthen yourself for you will be the one who is going to bring this nation into the land that god has promised to give them and you'll be the one to give them this inheritance skipping once again to verse 14 the verse says the time has come for you to pass on from this world god says to moses joshua and you too shall stand in the tent of meeting together and i will command him and moses and joshua come together to attend the meeting to the tabernacle and god indeed commands moshe commands yeshua transfer of power new leader joshua shall bring the people of israel into the land of israel now as we read these verses so you know moshe rabbin it's a hard thing it's a challenging episode in his life it's a challenging time to give over the power to another leader and to face off with the fact that it is the time for him to pass on from this world i'd like to read to you two mid russian one of which i found in the aishah midrashim here it is i saw madrashim it says like this it would have been correct for the verse to say that moshe went with the beginning of the parsha is that moshe goes and he says that's it i'm go i'm i'm 120 years old today i'm about to give over the power to yoshua but then it says that hashem tells them that it's time for him to die it should be in the reverse order so where is moshe going the verse is telling us in telling us in this order that moshe went where was he where was he going he was leaving the place where he had been he had been in a place where he was talking to god he was challenging god and he was saying i don't want to move on so to speak i want to continue to be around i'd like to continue to be perhaps not the leader of the jewish people if it's my time to no longer be here's here's the conversation moses said to him god master of the world this card sergeant starting israel that's i mean the reward for my the challenges that i endured in in facing off with the jewish people leading them so much pain so much difficulty that i had i'm being rewarded by being told that i'm not going to go over the jordan river what's the idea god said to moses the world was created says god with an order there are kings there are leaders and they lead their generation said god when abraham passed away from the world at the age of 175 do you think that he had any sins available the reason that abraham died was because it had come time for yitzhak isaac to take over as the leader of the jewish people of the spiritual uh inheritance that he had spiritual legacy why did he used to die because jacob's turn came now it's joshua's turn to be the leader so if a new leader is to come on the scene and he is indeed to be the one who leads the jewish people into the land of israel moshe ravenous time for you to step off the scene so um let me stay i'll be around i'll stay alive i won't go with the jewish people to the other side of the jordan river to lead them because that's joshua's job but let me stay here why do i have to die so god says to moses as follows what you're asking is something which is going to cause that the jewish people will take away their shivers their their respect for the torah three times a year to be seen in jerusalem or in that time to be seen where they're wherever the tabernacle was israel utterly regular they now tell you mine if they go up to the tabernacle and you're not there you know where miami they'll say who was the one who commanded us this who told us this moshe was moses why did moses not go if you're going to be over here on the other side of the jordan river they'll say hey where's moshe why is he not going he's the one who taught us this he's not going we're not going to go either there will be a disregard then for the words of the torah for my holy words is another example of it afterwards there's an obligation to come in etc if mosh raven is still around people will disregard his command god's command reminds you allah israel he says let me go into the land of israel then yeah joshua will be the inner sanctuary so to speak he'll be the one who everyone comes to on the inside and i'll be outside i'll be be part of the action talmud he'll be in charge he'll be the teacher and i'll be the students he'll be above and i'll be below you can't even be secondary yeshua is the one he's the leader he's the one who's going to take over now very sobering you know time comes person needs to move on person needs to move on and recognize that he's no longer the leader and i think one of the the messages here in the in the mattress before we get to the the next message which i'd like to share with you one of the things that we see clearly here is that each generation each time has its leaders and i like to think about things in terms of music because that's what i relate to but you know you have you can have a song you can have a song which speaks to particular generation or sound you know my parents they love the sound of the music that they grew up in and that spoke to them and i love the sound of the music that i grew up with and that spoke speaks to me and my kids love the music that they're growing up with there's a certain message there's a certain sound there's a certain song that speaks sometimes there are songs that transcend that you can have a song you know that was great 20 years ago and it's still a great song people are still singing it but generally speaking it has its time a song has its time and then people move on to the next song la havdil that's how it is also each generation has its specific leader moshe menu he was meant to be the leader of the jewish people to lead them out of egypt to lead them during their time in the wilderness and when it came time to enter the land of israel it was time for him and our and miriam to pass on from the world yeshua was to take over very important thing to understand each person has his place and has his time perhaps we'll see something more about this we'll see a deeper depth in this as we continue but and we'll also see clearly how it relates to us in this time of between rosh hashanah soon as well i'd like to read to you a second madrish also a sobering majesh in regards to moshe albano it came his time to go to pass on from the world says the magistrates king solomon says i i sat and i saw that in this world those who are quick are not necessarily the ones who are running says what does it mean when it says those who are quick are not necessarily those who are running this verse is speaking about moses ketzat how was that not so long ago moshe rabino had been able to climb up to the highest heights of the heavens the spiritual realms to to to rise up now he's asking to just be able to cross over the river and he's not given permission to do that he'd like to have our sarah then is that you shall not pass over this river the verse continues in ecclesiastes in kahalas those who are powerful they do not have the ability to wage war es in the fun of not so long ago the angels were afraid of moshe men of moses he battled the angels he came up to the heavens and he battled with him and and gave good reasons why the jewish people should be able to receive the torah and the torah should not be left in the heavens tells us that moses says that i had to gird myself against the the angels who were referred to as afin he couldn't fight them he didn't have the power went up and he brought down the torah from the highest heavens now who's the one who has the torah and it's no longer in his hands it was given to joshua the land of oyster those who are wise do not have the wealth it used to be he spoke with god like a wealthy person who everyone pays attention to him everyone listens to his pleas and entreaties moshe said moses said to god go back don't be so angry forgive your nation he was able to be very resolute he was able to have great sway with god now when he's speaking as he's about to pass on from the world he speaks like a poor person he uses a lotion of supplication please god give it to me for nothing he doesn't have that same resolution those who who know do not have grace previously he knew how to supplicate and appease god kuma hashem hashem get up god and do this return god do not do that now moses had supplicated for a full week and in the end what does god say sorry it's time for you to pass on from this world so moshe abano was at the highest heights of power of of impact of ability spiritual physical came a time for him to pass on from the world he lost that amazing impact he lost that ability very sobering madrish what is the message coming to tell us what is the depth of what the message has to say and i think in thinking about it in light of the theme of rosh hashanah and yokipper the theme of a cersei mechuva i think we can understand it even deeper what is that theme we know on rosh hashanah and anion kippur we continuously speak about the fact that hashem is the king that god is the one who is everything and we speak about the times of mashiach when we will all do yes we will all join together bonded together allah with a full heart this expresses the fact that really what are we here for what are we trying to do what are we trying to accomplish what is the impact that we're trying to have where does that power come from i think that's what the message is really coming to say where was moses's power why was it limited why was it that one day he was the leader the next day was going to be yeshua why was it that one day he had the ability to battle with the angels and the next day he lost that ability one day he can convince god with just two words and the next day 515 supplications don't seem to succeed then the answer is that that power that ability that he has is god's it belongs to god god gave him that ability god gives us our abilities our curses our gifts the impact that we have belongs to hashem belongs to god it's so important to recognize that and i think that's part of what the message is trying to say the message is saying to us this that you have is yours for a time when the time comes god gives that gift to the next person and it's not to say that our time and our impact is not significant it's not to say that our gifts aren't important you know if somebody wrote a song 100 years ago and people were inspired by that song but no one's singing it today it doesn't mean it wasn't important it was important it did have an impact and it was hashem's light that's the point that i want to bring out here the impact that we have on those around us it doesn't have to be an impact on the entire world or the entire jewish people it could be an impact on those around us on our families our children on our neighbors on our friends on ourselves the impact that we have to whom does it belong it belongs to hashem it belongs hashem one of the thoughts that i've had recently it's like kind of a little bit of a funny thought but but i think for me it's helpful maybe it will be helpful for you i think of it as akadeshwar who created us we're not robots but hashem created us with a certain amount of talent hashem created us with a certain we're programmed we're pre-programmed obviously it's up to us whether we live our potentials whether we fulfill and have the impact that this worker would like for us to have but ultimately whatever impact we have is because god wants us to have that impact if i compose a song and that song reaches hundreds of people thousands of people whatever if it has that impact it's it's really i'm just just being that which god wants to you know god wanted to bring that song into the world and he had this guy who he made maybe his name was harry goldwag maybe his name was mordechai and david maybe his name lavdo was king david hashem has a certain thing that he wants to bring into the world and each of us each and every one of us has the impact and the light that we're supposed to shine on those around us but that light is not our light and that's the concept of malchus means kingship we speak about god as the king the concept of for us means king david was the the king he was david or ghazal our sages tell us that leslie gar may come he had nothing of his own he was like the moon he just reflected the light of the sun he had nothing of his own he was just a vehicle for god to manifest in the world that's malchus god is my king means i'm just here to be who god wants me to be i'm just here to try to fulfill my potential to have the impact that god wants me to have on the world and those around me but that's it and roshana to yom kippur this time is a period of recognition that god is the king that all my talents come from god all my gifts come from god and a chance for me to look around at the year that passed and say where did i fall short where did i not fulfill my potential where could i have done better where could i have accomplished more that's what this this time is an opportunity for introspection looking in retrospect that what's what's going on where did i not fulfill where was i not reflecting god's light where was i not making god my king and therefore where was i not accomplishing all that i could accomplish where was i not impacting those around me to the full extent that i can that i could that's the same truth and i think that's what the medrush is alluding to and speaking about mushroom and saying look he had a certain amount of time and a certain amount of impact he had a certain power he was able to climb to the highest heights and be able to sway god as it were to forgive the jewish people and at a certain point that power was limited in describing the power is limited i think that the measure is teaching us this concept this powerful aside this foundational idea that our impact ultimately that which we can accomplish is completely within the the hands of god it's completely that which hashem wants for us and to the extent that we can acknowledge that to the extent that we can recognize that so that helps us to be able to have a greater impact because the more i recognize that my light anything that i can shine in the world is really just hashem's light to dex to the extent that i recognize that god said hey this is this guy is somebody who i'd like to use i'd like to use him to impact the world i'd like to use this person to because he's not taking credit for himself it's not about me i want to bless you i ask you to bless me hashem should help us to be able to recognize indeed the powers that we have the impact that we can have and of course our i want to mention one more thing before i finish this is something that i discussed with my son moshido it was his his thought important to to to mention of course being that we have a certain pre-programmed perhaps we could say talent gifts etc doesn't mean that we can't expand beyond those gifts doesn't mean that we can't push past what it seems that they are of course we can always find new areas new gifts new we can always expand in to new horizons in the impact that we have so we're not limited by this i don't don't want to come across this saying that we're limited ruby keep is a great example of somebody who until the age of 40 he didn't know a word of torah it became one of the the greatest sages of all time our sages say that he was on in a certain way on a level of kin to mushroom to moses so it's important to keep that in mind as well but i want to ask you to bless me and i bless you as well that we should be able to recognize that the light that we have the impact that we have the gifts that we have all come from hashem and hashem should help us to be able to indeed have the honesty look at it honestly and be able to to see the places where we fell short and be able to recognize that to the extent that we recognize that we are shining hashem's light we will be able to shine so much more light thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabbos have uh an inspiring asermenshuva and an uplifting yom kippur may we all be zakha to gemara hasimativa 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 on itunes ahri goldwag [Music]