Vayera - Shining the Light of Truth

you're listening to the weekly paraa podcast recorded with hashem's never ending assistance in Rael 5775 2014 the six Paras Paras V and I'd like to focus in I'd like to read to you a piece from Ras which quotes from one of the PIM in our paraa it's not a direct explanation of something that's going on in the paraa but the idea is so beautiful and so deep that I'd like to share it with you the Ty tells us so just give you the idea of the story and we'll see the Dr we'll see how he uses the PK it's a little bit out of context but he uses the verse to explain this idea the sukim is talking about how l l the nephew of Abraham of Abraham had come to live with the people of sidom hasem had decided that it's time to destroy the people of Sodom to destroy the city but Lo was to be saved so Hashem sends these malim the angels to go and to save him now in the process of sending these malim so L brings him into his house which is something which was forbidden in the city of sedom the people of sedom they were extremely wealthy they had all of their needs but they still had a very constricted view of reality they felt that if I have what I have you can't come I can't come I can't give it to you I have exactly what I'm meant to have and if I come and I give it to you there's no such idea as Abraham abam has a concept of he shares his wealth he gives it to those who are in need but the people of sidom they felt felt that I can't give away what I have what I have is specifically for me and if I give it to you there's something immoral immoral about that so they were of the opinion that anyone who would come into their Town asking for arms poor people who would come these people were trespassers these people were unwanted undesir bles and so it was forbidden in sadom to to give sedu to give charity to help people to give people anything so now when these malim came Lo had been trained by by Abraham and he had gone the way of Abraham and he also he emulated Abraham to a certain extent and he wanted to bring these malim he thought they were people but he wanted to bring them into his home and now what happens as a result is that the people of sidone find out about this and they're coming and they're surrounding the home and they're trying to prevent Lo from doing this kindness from doing this the the that he wishes to do and there's almost literally ack that goes on outside of his house so this is what happens it says in verse in chapter 19 verse 5 they came from young to old the people of s they surrounded the house and they called out to load and they said where are those people that came to you tonight bring them out that we will know them and as Rashi tells us it meant that they wanted to have homosexual relations with them so this was a serious they were serious they wanted to they wanted to to to rape them now what happens is L comes out he tries to convince them also in a very strange way we won't get into but tries to convince them no don't take my guests and then the the people of s say to him this is in verse n they said to him come come forward they said to him what you're going to come here you want to live with us and you're going to judge us let us do what we want let us do what the the evil that we want to they tried to convince him and they came to try to break the door now the next verse says now what happens is the the Angels were there to save Lo so first they actually had to save load from the people of sidom and so they pulled load into the houseu and they close the door such that the people of sidom can't enter into the house then it says in verse 11 so you have children you have adults all these people coming to try to grab to NAB the trespassers these malim they didn't know but they were Angels who had tried to come in and they weren't able to because what happens is the malim they struck all of these people with blindness amazing thing that the people of s this despite the fact that they were now blinded they couldn't see anything but they still tried to get to the door they were not ready to give up they're going to they're going to do whatever they need to do in order to perpetrate their crime against these unwanted guests now let's take that whole scenario that whole background that whole story that whole crazy chaotic scene if you can imagine it in your mind and now let's let's see what Ras has to say because he says that what's what this whole scene really represents is the way that the side of of impurity the side of Darkness the side of evil tries to prevent a Jew to prevent a spiritual Seeker from accomplishing his goal from having a true relationship with Hashem and he says that if you read the P carefully it says the chaotic forces of evil the force of s this force of Destruction this force of of anti of anti-k kindness what does it do that even though they're blinded they're are trying to find the doorway they're trying to find the entrance so he focuses in on the word entrance and he says like this where's the fight where's the battle that the other side the side of evil the forces of evil have it's at the doorway of Holiness that's the place where they lie and wait to ambush they don't let a person enter into the doorway of Holiness the evil forces are called those who wait at the doorway th those who wait at the gate they stand there at the door they don't let a person enter from outside into the inside until a person merits to destroy the forces of evil this is the aspect of what the verse refers to when hasem is speaking to Cen after Ken is upset but before he's actually killed he before Cain has killed Abel God says to him be careful watch out at the doorway you're at the threshold of something which is very dangerous there's evil the sin steering away from goodness is right there at the doorway so this is the aspect there there too it uses this world this word PES the doorway sh when it says the word which means sin it's referring to the sign of evil which sits right there at the doorway he's find another verse it's in Proverbs 14 the evil ones wait at the Gate of the righteous one sh who are the evil ones sh which is the the forces of evil they stay right there they stand there at the gates of the righteous one sh what is the gates of the righteous one refers to the the gates of Holiness they don't allow a person to enter now this is a tremendous challenge the chaos that we see in the world today whether it's to prevent Israel the Jewish people inside of Israel from protecting ourselves whether it's just the the the challenges that we face throughout our day whether it's from internet or whether it's all the there's so much chaos there's so much the forces of evil are really bucking up they're really getting up and trying to prevent us from entering into the Shari Kusha the gates of Holiness so how do we bypass this what's the the tool what's the power tool that helps us to bypass the forces of evil awesome how does one subordinate the forces of evil says MS it's by employing truth through the light of Truth a person can see through the darkness he can see that entrance to be able to enter from outside to inside someone who's not fitting to be able to enter inside they don't let these forces of evil don't let him in to get into the sh to enter into the gates of Holiness the where does their power come from to prevent a person from entering it comes it's in that which they spread themselves over the entrance way they darking it in front of the person to the point where he can't see the entrance the truth is if someone is looking from the outside if you're looking objectively subjectively it feels like it's impossible to get in it feels like it's impossible to have a spiritual connection feels like it's impossible to do hashem's will it's impossible to keep the Torah that's how it feels but that's all the lies of the forces of evil the truth is that it is possible the truth is that you can walk right through it's right in front of a person it's so simple and it's so easy there's nothing preventing a person the main thing that prevents a person is the darkness which is referred to as a prevention like the says it refers to the fact thatu had the willingness to give up his son he didn't withhold his son the word which means to withhold the same letters also are the language of Darkness so AB Abraham was willing to do what was right to walk through the darkness to walk through the forces of evil to walk through and to enter into the Shar kadus the gates of holiness this means that the the the trickery that happens that which a person is tricked with confusions and foolishness the the forces of evil darken a person's eyes close a person's eyes he feels like there's no openings there's no way to get into Holiness to to have a real relationship with Hashem it's impossible of but the real truth is the way of life the true path a way of spirituality the the way that leads to God is right there in front of every single person every single person no matter how far they are no matter where they are they can just pick up and take that road the road is right there in front of them even though it doesn't feel that way even in the farthest deepest depths of deprivation of distance from Hashem it's possible to come close to writes many times the person the human being is blind he can't see that opening because of the dark Forces which are called Darkness these forces blind a person they prevent him they this is the forces that we're speaking about in this verse they're blind and they're trying to prevent a person at the doorway in this aspect of our verse that their eyes became blinded and they were unable to find that doorway they were trying but they were unable to find the doorway so the the P the simple explanation of the verse that it's speaking about the people of s but the the way that rnas is explaining it is that the forces of evil act in this way to prevent a person to be blind a person and prevent him from finding the doorway into k a person who's not doesn't have that spiritual power doesn't choose to to attach himself to Hashem to hasem spiritual power to to break through the darkness so they don't let him in this is the aspect of blindness till he tries but he can't succeed to find the doorway the only what's the only way there's no other way to challenge the forces of evil there's no other way except for employing truth shining the light of Truth wherever a person is person needs to look not just at the truth not at The Superficial truth we've spoken about The Superficial truth which says I you know where I am I don't deserve to have a relation relationship with God where I am the sins I've done that's that's a lie that's the lie that's the darkness the Mamita is no matter where I am no matter how far it seems Hashem is is infinite I can attach myself to hhm no matter where I am Hashem can forgive me no matter how far I've gone to draw himself a person needs to draw himself only to truth wherever he is and when he prays he needs to say true things and and we'll see soon what that means cuz sometimes a person has a hard time praying I can't D and I just don't feel the words aren't flowing I'm not I'm spacing out the words aren't coming I don't feel anything he needs to be real in his in his in his request of hem wherever he is honest be honest even though he can't D at all he can't say anything to God he's angry at God no matter what at least if he's angry so say the truth say Hashem I'm so angry at you and mean it and say it for real with all your heart or or if a person feels like they have nothing to say to they feel unworthy say this re save me but say it and mean it say it for real at least say those words just simple Hashem save me save me from myself save me from from the darkness just say it and mean it just say it real so so the LIE the the the the sanim the blindness the darkness the forces of evil they they lie and they cover up the truth and they say this is our harabas they say this is our Temple our holy place and all of the forces of evil report the media reports this is their holy place but it's not true it's a lie what's the truth it's ours it's our holy place this is our Center of the universe this is our this is not a place only Arabs can pray this is a place for all nations to pray it's the Jewish house it's the harab it's the house of the Jews and through that it's the house of worship for the entire world it's not limited to any one people heaven forbid so that's the LIE the truth the truth is what breaks through the lies and similar to this in all other things that a person might say say it for real say it in Truth say a person can't say it with life he can't say it with a with a fire just say it simply with truth say it for real just be real an amazing thing if you're just simple and real about where you are and who you are and you have a real statement Hashem help me Hashem save me so then that shines a light and then all of a sudden you can see the opening it seemed like there was no opening and see like the darkness said that there's nothing here there's nothing here a little bit of Truth a little bit of Truth clears away a lot of lies then promises for sure you will Merit to get in to the place of Holiness there's no such thing there's nothing that's stops a person if you want it you can have it if you want a relationship with hem no matter where you are you can have it if it take the moment you see the moment you spy you spot that entrance into Holiness you can for sure get in there's nothing that's going to stop you you just have to really want it just have to be honest that's it I want to bless you and please bless me should help us to be able to clear through the chaos the darkness the S the sodomites which to destroy us and wish to to block us from entering into the Shar kadus the gates of Holiness Hashem should help us to be able to see the truth to be able to shine a light of Truth through the darkness and the chaos of the world that we live in should help us to have a real relationship with him thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shopas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]