Vayeshev - Chasing Away the Enemy

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with ari goldwag recorded with ashram's never earning assistance in ramachamish israel 5782 2021. this week's parashat is part of ayeshev and we have the beginning of the story with yosef at sadiq and his brothers and at the very beginning of our part of yaakov the verse tells us that after all the trials and travails that he went through in lovin's house and then in his interactions with asav as you saw in last week's pressure finally by yeshua yaakov he lived in the land of his father he had a certain sense of peace he had a certain he settled down now the majority should like to show you a few different pieces in the majorish the first piece says like this an incredibly powerful idea and it's very nuget to us it touches on something that we ourselves are experiencing today says a very interesting thing the verse says there are different understandings of what the word means but we're going to go with a particular understanding when you call out in pain you will be saved by your gathering what does that mean tani the bryson says kinusse vikino's bonavitsov what was it that saved yaakov that saved jacob from the interaction with asov what saved him was the fact that he was canus which means gathered in i'll explain in a moment what that means he was gathered in and his sons were gathered together that's what saved them from asof and in a moment i'm going to read from the atheist because i want to see the beautiful language inside the verse says all of them will be lifted by the wind they'll be taken by emptiness ze's of aloof this is a reference to asaf and his children is all of his descendants they all were removed they left out israel they left the land of israel and we'll see in the next section of the magistrate exactly why they left the one who trusts in me says hashem he's the one who will inherit the land zayakov so there was a moment here in time where yaakov avinu inherited the land he dwelled on the land he rested in the land he was calm he was calm he was living there okay what was that it was yaakov why was that we'll see let's hear that see i said i'd like to read it inside they says it says this verse which is in isaiah chapter 57 verse 13 so the majority is understanding that it's a hint yaakov that this occurred to him we know that originally he needed to run away from asev why because he was alone as aytosi was about to say in kibbutz [Music] with his return to the land of israel so he had a kibbutz he had a gathering together he had a group of people he wasn't by himself there was a kibbutz gullius you know if we think about it now we're living in israel hashem nearly 7 million jews have returned to israel only 200 years ago there was barely any jews in israel maybe a few thousand but yaakov with his with his sons it was the first time that the jewish people existed and it was the first time that they were returning from gulas returning from exile into the land of israel so it's a kibbutz harabim that in gathering of more than one person of a multitude [Music] an amazing thing in explaining the major that they came in as a group and why were they successful in pushing out asev in pushing back on aesop's influence and pushing back on aso's desire to kill yaakov to cause damage to the fledgling jewish people it was the power of their prayer the fact that they came together the jewish people were gathered and they prayed that was the power of the command this is what it means kinusa he's gathering together in the gathering of his sons calamity philosophy it's a reference like we come to a basal canesus to the to the synagogue it's referred to as the basiness which means a place of gathering the house of in english ordinarily translated as house of worship but really it's a house of gathering because we gather together for prayer the prayers bring together our questions when we're together with other people when we're praying not just as ourselves if we pray by ourselves sometimes hashem will look at us in a negative light heaven forbid because we're not perfect but when we bring together a group of people so hashem you know it's as if each of the individuals compensates for other individuals and so hashem looks at them as if they have no histories as if they have no blemishes so the coming together of the children of yaakov in the land of israel the result was just probably that's what saved him it wasn't just yaakov's lone prayer by himself but rather was the prayer of all of them together it feels vanishes that because of the feel of the prayer of yaakov and the prayer of his sons and all of them praying together the family that prays together stays together right so the result of that prayer was that they were protected from asap not only that but asap and his children were pushed out of the land of israel the verse says that those who trust in me will inherit the land zayakov shamias from that point on isa no longer laid claim to the land of israel the land of israel became the sole claim of yaakov and his sons the jewish people and that's why it says that yaakov dwelled there what is the idea of yaakov he sat there in a in a quietude in a certain level of quietude what does it say immediately after vaishav it refers to the fact that it says told us these are the generations the children of yaakov because why was yaakov able to lay claim to the land of israel to dwell in the land of israel it was because of the kibbutz of his children aelu told us of the children yaakov of venus kids the schwartz obviously on the bottom and he ends off with a such an essential important statement which is what makes it nogai to us touches our very lives and that is that myself is similar bottom that whenever we see something that was done by the obvious we see avraham is we see the greats who came before us who were the foundations of the jewish people so it's a simmon it's a it's it represents something that's not only that was in their own personal lives but it's also something which is in our national lives and i believe that what they said is saying something very powerful he's saying that the prayer a few things actually but he's saying that the prayer of the jewish people together is not the same as the prayer of an individual obviously on his own furthermore he's saying the jewish people when they're spread out amongst the nations of the world when there's a period when there's a separation between us so the prayer is not as powerful we're not as protected from an asap from a loved one from those who wish to hurt us the europeans etc the protection is not as great as when we are nikbats when we come together and specifically when we come together in prayer in the land of israel as happened in those times of yaakov and his sons there is a special protection for the jewish people when we come together in prayer in the land of israel we are in the place where we're supposed to be we're in the place that god promised to us we are in the place where once we pray in this place and we show that this is our place and this is a place that's ours because of its spiritual significance because of its being a gift of god to us for spiritual purposes for prayer etc once we recognize that there is no way that we can be affected negatively by the nations of the world by the um asylum by asap by right asaf is pushed out and by other forces of evil that's the powerful idea that's contained in this first section of the magician i'd like to read on and it says like this nassu vein right if russia it says in michele says the next piece in the madrid that the russia runs away and there's nobody chasing him but those who are righteous so they trust like a lion cub a lion cub has a lot of miles he has a lot of advantages number one he's a lion and a lion is fierce and mighty and courageous but besides that he's a cub he has a mother and a father he has a his parents are the lions those courageous animals who are the king of the jungle so a clear a lion cub has a very has a very uh powerful ability to trust so sadiq are like that sadiq have that ability to trust arakushiya says the magistrate this is a reference to the russia who is a serve and it's who is yaakov iraq with shiva liver differently the the wicked person runs away but no one's running away no one's chasing him it says about asap that he left the land of israel we saw this in last week's parsha he left the land of israel he went and he lived in har sayer in the mountain of sayer and why did he do that why did he leave no one was running after him his own fears got the best of him there are two understandings of why asav russia left and both of which are so essential and so important and this is another important lesson we'll see both in this in this section of the measure so the next section as well he says like this says that there was a document an outstanding debt a document which represented the debt that asyf did not want to have to pay he didn't want to have to pay the debt and he didn't want to receive the reward what was that it's a mattress earlier in uh the previous parsha which refers to the fact that asaph left because he knew that whoever would live in the land of israel at this time would be subject to the the warning or the process that hashem had promised abram your children will be strangers in a strange land and then through that difficulty and challenge that they would go through in that strange land ultimately they would return to the land of israel and inherit the land of israel asap said you know i'm not interested in the assuming i'm not interested in the hard times i'm not interested in being stranger a stranger in a strange land and i won't receive various so i won't receive the land of israel and as a result he took his family and they left rabbi schwab been levy um shuman levy says that the reason that he left was because of his embarrassment he had given away the behavior he given away the firstborn rights to yaakov avinu it sold him for a bowl of lentils and as a result of that this is perhaps how we could understand it as a result of his giving up those rights he understood that he's not the one who has the capability or the interest really to be spiritual and to be the beholder to be the one who brings the karbalas to hashem to bring the sacrifices to be the spiritual leader asap saw he was honest with himself he could have been if he had chosen that way but he didn't choose that way so he couldn't be the spiritual leader and the land of israel is given to the jewish people because of the spiritual element as we said before [Music] he said knew that he lacked that spiritual ability and therefore he said you know i'm not going to make it i'm not going to make it as a spiritual person he sold his to yaakov who would be able through he and through him and his children they would be able to succeed spiritually asap was embarrassed he was embarrassed he saw himself as a spiritual failure and therefore he left the land of israel acknowledging that he was incapable of being able to uphold the necessary requirement to be able to live in israel [Music] they trust they have trust what does it mean they have trust it means that they recognize that it might be tough it might be a challenge it might be difficult it might be impossible excuse me to accept upon yourself and your children hundreds of years of gullus hundreds of years of exile and now thousands of years when we look back throughout history through the history of the jewish people to accept upon yourself such a difficulty in order to receive such a great reward at the end the the ability to be the spiritual leaders of the world which is what it's going to be when mashiach and the messiah arrives the jewish people will be the ones to whom all the nations of the world will come to for guidance in spiritual matters they will come and ask us how we get to hashem how we get to god it's a big reward at the end closeness hashem that we can share with others it's an awesome reward but it requires a tremendous patience a tremendous willingness to put off pleasure gratification you know pleasure and gratification asap was not willing to do that yaakov was willing to do that so again in this piece as well we see the power of yaakov avinu we see the power of his children the prayer as we saw in the first section but we see that there is a hint not just for his own personal time not just for yaakov in the times that he lived in and the events that occurred in his own life but it also is representative of where we are and who we are and the challenges that we've gone through throughout the generations the hatred that the nations of the world have had for us down until this day it's irrational but despite that we still held on to our yiddish we still held on to our judaism and here we are facing off meshech is so close the messiah is soon to arrive with hashem the jewish people have returned to the land of israel almost seven million strong and the jews are returning more and more as time elapses so it's represented by this amazing madrish and the story of yaakov avinu and i want to share with you one more point which is the next piece in the magispoint the verse says an eof it refers to a a a stick a type of uh a type of stick that was used in order to apply punishment sometimes if the courts were not careful enough when they gave the lashes when they gave the punishment it sometimes could cause the death of the person he couldn't withstand the lashes that were being meted out upon him antoninas charles there's a famous relationship between anthony and what does it mean in the verse when refers to the fact that someone will get killed suddenly by the punishment stick [Music] um lays down a foundation what is the idea of yesurin the challenges and difficulties that yaakov avina went through the challenges and difficulties that we in our personal lives go through in our national life the jewish people has gone through what is the idea of username he says an amazing very interesting idea he says that imagine someone who is upon him it was decreed upon him that he was to receive a hundred lashes a hundred lashes how can you survive that but for each lash he would receive one gold coin he would receive a total of 100 golden coins he would become a rich man as a result of these lashes but in order to get the full hundred the four hundred golden coins he has to receive the full measure of the hundred lashes in order to receive it that's the that's the uh conditions of this particular deal kenyan so now what happens if the person in the middle says i can't handle it i can't i give up i can't receive any more lashes i feel like i'm going to die or if he dies in the middle he sometimes the person can die he couldn't handle it sometimes emotionally he couldn't handle it or sometimes physically he couldn't handle it what happens is he doesn't get the full if he gives up in the middle he doesn't get the full measure he doesn't get anything the deal was that you have to get all 100 lashes in order to get the full 100 coins so he ends up with nothing and all he ends up with is embarrassment people make fun of him so to speak so in one sense this piece of the message is going back on asa because he didn't want to receive he was part of the jewish people but he stepped out so what does he have he has embarrassment contrast that with yaakov avinu in in a sense yaakov is willing to go through the eastern he's willing to go through the challenges because he wants the spiritual rewards that are at the end but in a sense as the message is about when a person wants to sit and say look i've had enough challenges in my life now i want to sit and learn now i want to sit in quietude i want to sit in peace i want to live my life the rest of my life i want to be a pensioner the the saturn comes and says hey this guy is not yet finished with his lashes he hasn't completed he wants to get the reward before he has completed all one hundred of his lashes doesn't work that way online the sudden says it's enough that he has what he needs waiting from the world to come in they also want to have peace in this world they also want to have the reward already in this world yosef so because he wanted to sit quietly and peacefully in this world so the difficulty and challenge that he was about to undergo with yosef that's what came upon him the verse there says i wasn't quiet i didn't have that serenity shall after me ace of shaka's i didn't have serenity and peace from a7 lavon medina i didn't have the ability to rest because of the challenge that happened then comes the anger then comes the difficulty in the challenge the challenge and difficulty of yosef being taken and sent off to egypt yaakov thinking for 22 years that his son is dead that terrible situation was a result of his thinking for a moment we could say thinking for a moment that i i want to stop i don't want any more of these history i don't want any more challenges and difficulties i want to just stop in the middle of this deal so to speak so this is a very powerful thing because ultimately of course yaakov did receive all of the challenges and difficulties that he was to receive and as we saw before i myself similarly bought him the the actions and the situations that the forefathers went through was indicative of what was going to be in the future for us so the jewish people we have gone through so many trials and travails we've gone through so much and here we are back in the land of israel and we want to we want to just live in peace we want to be able to learn the torah we want to be able to do the misfits a large percentage of this country has spiritual affiliations you know believes in hashem believes in god large percentage of the country is religious fulfilling the torah learning the torah sitting in yeshivas and learning i think the khari population is at 20 something like that maybe approximately 10 maybe excuse me for not knowing the numbers but we can't rest on our laurels that's what the manager is teaching us the measure is telling us yes we have protection as we saw before yes when we come together in narcissist we have special protection when we pray when we're spiritual in the land of israel we belong here when we do so so the elements that are not that way are pushed out they can't remain here because they don't have that same level of spirituality but still until it's not over till it's over right we're not there yet we haven't reached the point where yaakov finally at the end of his life comes back together with his sons altogether the schwa are all together and he lives the last 17 years of his life in peace we're still at that moment in time perhaps we're at the moment the switchover moment about to have mashiach come and the jewish people to be reunited in the land of israel all of us but still there are challenges that we need to face off with and undergo and we need to know and it's such an essential important thing that the challenges that we experience the asus the ones who come to try to destroy us to hurt us the challenges that surround us on all sides the difficulties spiritually physically etcetera all of these are for our good all these ultimately are leading in a certain direction are leading us to the ultimate redemption to the ultimate moment in time when the jewish people are gathered together in the land of israel for prayer and for spirituality for torah so i want to bless you and ask you to bless me hashem should help us to be able to incorporate this idea to recognize the power of prayer the feel of the seabird governing together the power of living in our city kibbutz scully is the in in-gathering of the exiles and how ultimately that's the prerequisite for us to be able to greet mashiach hashem should help us to recognize that and act on it should help us to recognize that the challenges that we face are all part personally and nationally are all part of the process of bringing about the ultimate spiritual redemption of the jewish people and of mankind 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.ariegoldwag.com or search on itunes ari goldwag [Music]