Vayetzei - Jerusalem's Inspiration

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with's never ending assistance in Israel 5784 2023 this week's par yobu leaves the land of Israel goes to Kon and there he meets his wives raal and Leia bilha and zilpa and there he has the 12 tribes ruim and bamin is born on the way back actually in next week's para and the entire Jewish people is formed in the house of L on all the trials and tribulations the challenges that he goes through at the very beginning when he first arrives in the P tells us is in chapter 29 verse one lifted up his feet and he went to the land of the children of the East and he saw he got there and he saw that there was a well a well in a [Music] field and there were three flocks of sheep that were surrounding it this particular uh well was a place where all of the Shepherds would bring their flocks there was a huge rock on at the mouth of the well what would happened was that the Shepherds would come with their flocks and then they would move they roll away the Stone from from uh protecting the well and then they would all give water to their flocks they would return the stone back onto its place so the the PK gives us a very long description of what Yakov saw when he came there it says how many f were there it says how many it says uh the nature of this well and how and how it had a rock that protected it and covered it and and what it required to take off that rock and go on to tell us that Yu has a discussion with the people he says do you know my my uncle love and then R comes with the Sheep now why is it that the T wants to tell us so much detail so actually the ran quotes the magish that I would like to share with you but I'm going to read the medish inside the medish tells us a number of different things that that the different aspects of this description correspond to in Jewish history which is an important thing to understand first of all it's important to understand what is the central theme of the Mish what is it trying to teach us what is the concept here but it's also important to understand first of all that whenever the tyus says things that seem to be extra unnecessary information the t is not a story book the T does not need to tell me so much so many details you know when you tell the story if you want to make the story seem more realistic you tell more details the ter is not a story book so whenever the tier tells me something there is something for me to learn from it okay so if the tier is telling me about the number of flocks there were three flocks and if there was a stone and there was a all this information is important for me to be able to Dar that's how the Mish approaches these kinds of Pim so we're going to see that there's a tremendous amount to learn from it but it's also important to understand the approach of our kazal our sages understand that in this moment it's a foundational moment right yobu is about to meet to meet raal he's about to end up marrying raal and Leia he's about to spend the next 14 years working in order to be able to marry them then working another six years in order to to have uh the Sheep Etc to have his to to support his family but this is the foundation this is the beginning this is like the the conception of the Jewish people it's the conception of yakob and his family so in this description in this description naturally there should be a foundational concept that's being taught about the Jewish people and as we'll see about our relationship with h with about our relationship with God says the Mish he saw and [Music] behold there was a well in the field explained here six six levels I'm not sure if six different ways of understanding it six different ways of understanding we'll see a number of different ways of understanding and they're really parallel okay the first understanding here is that when it refers to the well that he came to when he got toon as he was about to meet ra it is a hinted reference to a later well there will be a well that would accompany the Jewish people throughout their Journeys in the midbar in the wilderness that was already being hinted to and let's be clear what is that well that well was a miraculous well that traveled with them and provided sustenance it provided life provided water for the Jewish people it says that there were three there were three um flocks of sheep moam to what do these correspond the leaders of the Jewish people there was physical sustenance which was the well and there was spiritual sustenance spiritual guidance which was Moshe and Aon and Miram the G team as I like to say the P says in regards to yov from that from that well they would give water to the flocks that from there in a parallel way when the Jews were in the wilderness so they would take from the water who would take each of the different n the different leaders of the tribes they would draw water from the well towards their tribe and I would add it doesn't it's not clear exactly that this going on this as well but I believe it is they the the leaders of the tribes would also draw guidance from Moshe Aon and Miriam for each of their tribes not just that would separate down uh in in gradations first to the there were four Flags there were four groups one in each Direction then there were three in each flag group and then there were families there were families that made up the the the tribes so everything would be drawn to each one separately individually we said that there was a great Rock on the mouth of the well it had it had the it had a very small what does this mean one second Mas the the it was very small it's not clear to me exactly what this is saying uh it means there was at the at the top of the well there was it it came to a point and there was a rock that closed the point okay it's not clear to me what the what what it's coming to teach me the and they would all come together and they would and they would the the flocks would come and they would roll away the the they would roll away the Rock at the time when they were encamped yes would go back to its normal state at when they would be traveling the well would be covered up and it would go with them when they would travel so it had these two different functions or or ways of being just like the the well that yako found had a state of being where there was a rock blocking it and there was a time when you would move away the rock so too when the Jewish people was traveling the the the rock ke as it were covered the the well and it would travel with [Music] them and excuse me for the phone ringing and when it so it would travel with them it would be like when it was closed and when they were in when they were in one place they would be uncovered okay so that's that's the understanding so in the first understanding we have the the the experience of yaku ainu at the foundation of CLA represents the fact that the Jewish people receive sustenance physical sustenance and also spiritual guidance from their leaders and I would say if we think about it yaku ainu is traveling on his own he doesn't know where the future is going to bring him but he knows that he is the beginning of the Jewish people he knows that he's the son of yak the grandson of Abraham and he knows he has the blessing and he knows that he is the beginning of the Jewish people and [Music] therefore and therefore he knows he has this guidance he has this spiritual sustenance and physical sustenance this is this is what he was promised by Hashem all right let's see the next idea another explanation is there was a a well in the field this is a reference to to Jerusalem to the hab to bdes to the Holy Temple because it's referred to as a field hinted to in the very beginning of the Jewish people at yaku's entrance into interestingly is something that has to do with the bdes the Holy Temple which is really the life force of the Jewish people it's the place where the Jewish people receive as we're about to seees Divine influence divine inspiration they hear God's voice that's the place where they hear God's voice where we will hear soon so the where's the well and again the well represents us having spiritual or physical sustenance here it's referring to Jerusalem which is the place where we draw water what's this water these three flocks refer to the three festivals right each and every year the Jewish people would make sure there was an obligation there is an obligation to come to Jerusalem to connect to BD to connect to the temple to go on to go onto the Holy Mountain to be seen in front of to bring to bring sacrifices and what happens when when we are we when we're there from that well from the B mikdash they will be they will get water says the from there from the BD it's a famous statement in the gar Suka that from there they would be they would draw we think of drawing as referring to drawing water and we have a there was a water drawing ceremony they would draw water then they would pour the special water libation on the M on the altar during sukus every single year in the MDES and they had a a a water drawing party in the mikdash but it wasn't just that they were drawing water they were drawing it was representative and in fact it happened concurrently they were drawing divine inspiration many prophets received their first prophecy at that time in the BD on during the big rock the great rock is the rejoicing over the water drawing or really over the drawing of of divine inspiration Bas doesn't just mean to draw like we said to draw water it also means to draw divine inspiration down very interesting there was a set time the Jewish people had a relationship with God they would come to be seen they they come visit their father their father in Heaven they'll come to God's house they come to their father's house to the base of English to the Holy Temple and there they would have an awesome inspiration once a year one out of the three regalim there would be a chance for everyone to have R to have divine inspiration PK says that when mhia comes when the Messianic age arrives Hashem will pour out his divine inspiration on All Flesh but this was something that happened in times of the b mdash as well every sukus you would come and you be blown away by a spiritual experience by an open revelation of hashem's of hashem's Love kindness will but just like this rock where they would take off the Rock and they would get the get the sustenance for their flocks then they would put the rock back until the next time so to it was the meas says when it came to the they would get this divine inspiration once a year and they would have to last them throughout the year until the next the next sucus and then in the meantime they would put the rock back on so to speak the wine the the water Libations would stop and then it would return again the following suus the mes goes on to say that there's another parallel to the to the beston in the B mikash the high court that was in the temple and a few other examples it gives but I like to skip to the last example it also mentions the the gulus the different the different Exiles that the Jewish people will have to go through but the last Point here feels to me the most um the most relevant I'm sorry let me read it from the beginning we saw it's we saw it's we saw it's the experience of the Jewish people in the midbar and the last shot is that it's it's us it's talking to us we who have a sh we have a b that's the that's the well in the field it's the SHO the three flocks who are coming to drink from the waters those are the three people who are called up to the Torah to read from the Torah in this way we hear the T we draw water one way is through divine inspiration that's in the times of the Temple one way is the water that they had and the leadership of emotion iron that's in the times of the Wilderness but today how do we draw how do we draw inspiration how do we get that lifegiving water that yaku established there's a be there's a well the Jewish people will always have with them it's by going to the B the B medish it's by going to the sh by going to the synagogues by opening up the Tyra and reading from the T and trying to understand what is God's will having G Sahara says the mes beautifully there's a great Rock which blocks us from receiving and from hearing what the Torah has to say it's called theara the evil inclination say the men amazing how do we roll away the Y Sahara how do we roll away the rock which blocks our hearts from hearing the T the answer is where do we read the T where do we have these three people who are called up to read so we can really hear the T it's in a it's in a a Sho in a synagogue with a congregation when we have a large group of people who come together to serve God together the large group of people together can roll away the rock cuz that's how we can we can roll away the rock together but it's a process because it says that they would roll the rock back on what does that mean it means according to the this point in the Mish that when we leave the Sho when we leave the safety net of being together with others from being part of our community we return to our individual life which we have to have a back and forth but we lose the safety of being part of a seor we lose the safety of being part of the congregation so we need to go back to shul we need to go in and out we need to roll that rock off so that we can hear the Tyra so we can hear God's will so that we can draw inspiration from that which the tah says and I want to say I want to point out that that the magish is teaching us that there's something that happens at the beginning of the Jewish people that stands with us through about time that applies to us as the Jewish people no matter what situation we are in no matter where we found ourselves throughout history whether we're in the wilderness whether we're in Bish in in the the land of Israel as it's supposed to be whether we're in gulus whether we're in Exile whether all we have is a is a synagogue that's our only place of Refuge no matter what there there is a place of Refuge there is a well there is a source for life that we can access that Hashem made available for us at the very onset the very beginning of the Jewish people's existence coming into existence it's there it was there it is there it's always there our relationship and access to Hashem is always available all we need to do is roll off the stone and it and it means being part of our congregation being part of artor being part of the Jewish people being part of those who seek to listen and to hear what the T has to say because that is the only way that we can fight the the evil inclination the rock that sits on our hearts and prevents us from having that spirituality I want to bless you and I ask you to bless me hasem should help us that we should be able to indeed Roll Off The Rock from our heart join with others Merit to have the divine inspiration that we seek and Merit to draw Waters from the from The Well of eternal life 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.wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag