Vayikra - Prophetic Paradox

you're listening to the weekly paral podcast recorded with hm's never ending assistance in Rael 5775 2015 this week's para is par at the very beginning of the par the T tells us that Hashem after the Jewish people had had brought all the pieces of the mishkon together after M had stood up and erected the mishkon hasem gives a command to Moshe to Moses and says him to come in to the mishkon and God would there speak to MOS he would speak to Moses from within the mishkon from inside of the Tabernacle from above the Kim from on top of the cherubs on the Ark of the Covenant and now our sages tell us that previously before the mishkon was erected before the mishkon was built before this Tabernacle came into existence so hashem's presence hm's has the prophecy that a person could experience that was something that could be experienced anywhere in the entire world and it could be experienced by any one in the entire world whether Jew or non-jew alike now once the mishkan was established says the medish once the Tabernacle was made so no longer could M no longer could Moses receive this prophecy anywhere he wanted it was only and specifically inside of the mishon inside of the Tabernacle that Moses would be able to receive the prophecy the revelation of Hashem as he would Express his will to Moshe to be repeated to the Jewish people the Mish goes on to say that not only is that true of Moshe himself of Moses that the Revelation became limited that he could only experience it in the mishkon but it was also true of the prophets of the world whereas previously the prophets of the world could indeed receive and experience divine revelation from this point on just like moshe's Moses's Revelation his prophecy would only be able to be experienced in the miss in the Tabernacle so too the Revelation the prophecy God's speaking could only be experienced by Jewish prophets now the mes does challenge this and point out that bam who was perhaps the famous the most famous of the non-jewish prophets he did indeed have a revelation after this point so clearly there were exceptions to what this Mish is saying we're not going to get into that at this point but it's very important to try to understand what is the meaning of this Al the Mish goes on to say it's speaks of the difference between Moshe R Moses experience his prophecy as it relates to other prophets Moshe had an experience of Prophecy which is called when he experienced God's revelation when he when he spoke to God as it were so he saw God through a lens which was clear or through a window pane so to speak that was clear whereas when it came to the other prophets so they experienced God through nine window panes or nine lenses it wasn't as clear it was dark it wasn't as open the Revelation that they experienced the Mish when it speaks about this idea it finishes off after talking about the difference between Jewish prophecy and non-jewish prophecy Jewish prophecy occurred in the day non- prophecy was only at night Etc when it goes after it goes through speaking about these differences between mosha and the other prophets it ends off with an enigmatic statement it says in this world in the world as it is today the divine presence only reveals itself to individuals but in the future time it says in Isaiah this is a verse in Isaiah 40:4 the honor of God will be revealed and All Flesh will see together that God's mouth has spoken meaning in the future what mosha what Moses was able to experience and the prophets to a lesser degree and the Jewish prophets to a lesser degree that experience will be something that all of mankind all of Flesh all of the the people in the entire world will have an experience of now what's interesting here is that why does the Maes finish finish off with this statement that in the future everyone's going to have this experience so the who's the commentary who I have here on the side of my medish he explains that it's the way of the Mish to finish off with words of consolation it's almost like as we read this so as we we hear about the differences in Prophecy we hear about MOS being a y he was you know he was very special and he was an individual who was able to experience God it's like we could read this and become depressed it's like I want to have a a revelation of hhm I want to have a relationship with Hashem so so this is something that's reserved for y it's only for individuals it's not something that I can have or it's not something that the the nation can have as a whole so the mes wants to console us and tell us that don't worry in the future everyone will have this experience it's not something that's going to be limited toos it's not going to be something that's limited to the prophets or to the Jewish people or even to to non-jewish people who are righteous it's going to be something that all of mankind will experience as the as the prophet tells us as Isaiah tells us now in thinking about this I think that there's a great depth here why the mees finishes off this way and to try to understand it better I want to draw your attention to another mes I don't actually want to get into what the mes says I just want to speak about the comparison that the Mish draws the me speaks about the fact that there's two Revelations that we could speak of we can compare that mosha Moses had the first revelation that Moshe had was at the the P says the the burning bush the Bush was burning but the Bush was not getting consumed very famous it was his first revelation it was the first time Hashem spoke to him and commanded him to go to the Jewish people to go to the Pharaoh and to instruct pharaoh to let the Jewish people out so that they could serve God so they become they could become a nation unto God now that was the first revelation and we have another Revelation which is occurring here it's a seems to be a very different type of Revelation where Moshe whereas previously as we said Moshe could experience God have that Revelation anywhere now Moshe has it in a very specific location it's only from within the mishkon that God is going to reveal himself that mosha is going to be able to hear the voice of God now what's interesting is if we look at the Revelation at the bush we look at the M we we we delve into the idea what does it represent that the fire is burning on this Burning Bush so the mimashi there explains that the bush represents the Jewish people and it represents the Jewish people in gulus in their Exile and represents the fact that God is with them there's God he places his divine presence upon the Jewish people even when they're lowly even when they're distant from God that's the fire the fire of reprs God refers him as as a consuming fire but despite the fact that God is a consuming fire nevertheless the Jewish people even though they're in Exile even though they're distant from God they don't get consumed they don't get destroyed they remain and they remain to soon have a true relationship with Hashem which is represented in the mishk as this m says now that's what's represented by The Burning Bush when we get to the mishkon and we get to the Revelation that Moshe has that Moses has in the mishkon as we said it represents an exclusive an exclusivity an exclusive relationship which seems to be only for mosha of course it's a relationship which is for Moshe in order for him to reveal it to the Jewish people the will of hasem to be revealed through Moshe but still the Revelation that Moshe experiences is one of exclusivity where it seems that hem only relates directly to mosha to Moses as we saw in the previous Mees that we quoted and so the question becomes how are we to understand the dichotomy or the the contrast between these two different Revelations Hashem comes them originally in a way which seems to show that he reveals himself to everyone even to the lest person the person who is the farthest from him but then when it comes to the mishkon it seems that hasm only reveals himself to those who are on the highest level to to individuals how are we to understand these two different ways that seems to relate to the world there's another interesting Mish that I read on this week's para which also demands an explanation the me tells us that if the um if the nations of the world would only know how significant the mishon is they would place they would station armies around the Mish and around the Tabernacle to protect it to make sure that no harm befalls it what's the significance of the mishkan to the um to the nations of the world says the Mish the Mish says that before the Mish before for the Tabernacle so as we said Hashem God would reveal himself even to the to the prophets of the nations of the world but now what would happen would be excruciating for these prophets when Hashem revealed himself to these prophets their entire bodies would tremble and they would defecate in while they were standing there in the presence of God as it were they would defecate they would have a bowel movement and the measer says that as a result of the mishkan coming into the world soem no longer longer revealed himself to the prophets of the world the prophets of the nations of the world but limited that Revelation to the pro prophets of the Jewish people and specifically here to mosha to Moses now the question here becomes besides to the fact that why would they prefer this why would the non-jewish prophets prefer to have no Revelation I'm not sure I'm not going to address that point in this in this podcast but besides to that a question that can be asked is why indeed if these prophets of the nations of the world cannot handle it they end up defecating they end up trembling physically unable to receive this Prophecy from God they can't handle it so then why indeed does it start off that way why does Hashem reveal himself to people who can't receive that Revelation and taking this question further moshu as we said originally he is able to receive prophecy anywhere he wants even outside of the Mish outside of the Tabernacle now the Tabernacle is built it's only possible to receive that Revelation inside of the Tabernacle why why the change is it better is it better to only be able to receive it inside of the Tabernacle wouldn't it be nice to be able to receive that anywhere and indeed if it's better to receive it as it seems inside of the Tabernacle so then why indeed in the beginning was it not that way why was the M originally previously was able to receive that Revelation anywhere he wanted but now becomes limited to only inside of the Tabernacle inside of the mishon so before we answer these questions I want to take you on a little bit of a journey into the future we said that in the future when the Messiah comes so hasem will reveal himself to All Flesh to all people this is something that's also expressed in the mes which we quoted in the past which says that in the future God is going to create a circle dance for the righteous and the righteous as our sages tell us it's referring to the entire Jewish people and it's it seems perhaps it could also be referring to all the righteous individuals within the nations of the world so we're going to be in this massive Circle dance surrounding God and everyone's going to be dancing around pointing to this is our God we we've been waiting for him now can you imagine we're standing in this dance and everyone is in a perfect circle that means everyone is equidistant from God and everyone's there and and we're all looking at God and God is looking at each of us and we see from the twinkle in God's eye ey as it were that he he just he looks at me and he says wow you are amazing you are the best you have done such an amazing job in this world and now here you are in this dance joining with me and I'm going to look over at my friend or people are going to look over at the people around them and they going be hey what's that guy doing here what's that guy doing here he doesn't belong in the circle of the righteous I mean what was he doing his whole life you know can you imagine this I mean just think about it in today's terms how we would think today obviously we're going to be in a completely different spiritual realm but think about it in today's terms that the the jealousy the K the potential for jealousy that could be there it's something that our refer to as that each person can be burned by the relationship that they see that God has with his friend you see someone else who has a relationship with God you know you're in this big circle and this circle represents our relationships with God on an individual level besides are on a communal level as a as a group so there people are in this amazing dance the music is amazing Celestial music and they're dancing and they're looking around and saying what's he doing here how come he's in this circle what he's the same as me or put it a different way let's let's imagine a parent and the children are around the parent each child is vying for the attention and the love of that parent and if the parent would show anyone of his children or her children that that child is that parent's favorite it would create a tremendous jealousy amongst the other children and yet a parent wants to show each child that that parent loves that child like anything like intensely and dearly but that love has the potential the the expression of that love has the potential to cause jealousy amongst the other children now hold on to that idea hold on to that thought that feeling that emotion that picture for a moment and I want to come back to the burning bush because I think that with the burning bush with the SN we can understand what's going to happen in the future the feelings that we're going to have in the future the SN that Revelation ofu is incredible it's intense but what the SN buer says is that there's an there's a fire and that's God God is an because when you have a relationship with God so yourself the the individuality of the human being becomes it disappears it disappears if you would have a revelation of hem your your your freedom of choice would be severely limited because how could you not do what God wants how could you not do what God wants it's like can can you imagine just as a musil just if you could if if you have someone who's a very beautiful person or very influential person who asks you to do something someone who you respect tremendously who's a very famous person who asks you to do something your level is very low your your level of choice is very limited it's almost it would be an almost immediate response of course I'll do whatever you want and there in the same way Hashem asks me to do something and it's clear that it's God how can I not do that is an God as it were we disappear when there's a revelation our individuality disappears but the the analogy or the representation of the burning bush or the SN Boer is that when Hashem reveals himself to the Jewish people that means that my individuality ultimately when messia comes when the Messiah comes you know what's going to be hasm reveals himself the entire world will see that there's a God will I completely lose my individuality will I just be a puppet and and that's it so it's important to understand that the first revelation whenever you have the first thing in the Tyra the first thing encapsulates the essence of that thing M he's being commanded to take the Jewish people out of Egypt he's being commanded to bring them actually to the Messianic age to bring them to to the to the land of Israel to build a b to build a temple that's ultimately what their what the goal is to get to the land of Israel to build a temple based on a relationship that's presented through the Tyra through the five books of Moses through the oral law Etc is being given the first revelation which encapsulates his entire Mission it represents the promise the Messianic promise that is what the the revelation of the burning bush is and what does that Revelation say it says that I am going to have a relationship with you God says I'm going to have a relationship with you with the Jewish people but you are not going to be consumed you will not disappear you will still exist as an individual and separate entity even as you are completely engulfed in the fire of my love the greatest achievement that a human being can get that he can reach is when the human being becomes so expanded so expanded so large that the human being can include within him the physical aspects of himself the the tyus the desires the the animal nature within him if he can include that within his spiritual nature he's become so expanded that he can he can see how that all is part of his service of God that is the greatest achievement that a human being can do that he can accomplish that's that the bush is on fire there's a spiritual imperative within the human being they're on fire they want to be so high but that doesn't destroy or negate the physical aspect of the human being no the physical aspect is drawn in the separateness the the physical the animal nature the human being which represents his separateness from God his separateness from spirituality that's drawn in that even the separateness becomes part of the the relationship with God with spirituality now let's go back to the mush the analogy of the children who all vying for the father's attention can that father has so much love within his heart that the CH each child feels each and every individual child feels like he's the most loved even though at the same time he knows that every one of his siblings is also the most loved that obviously requires a tremendous expansion on the part of the parent to be able to communicate that to his children when we are standing there in a circle surrounding God dancing in the circle we won't be looking over at the other one saying what's he doing here we won't be because we will feel so intensely that we are loved individually and and and that God appreciates who we are individually for what we've accomplished and for who we are that the fact that hasem loves each and every other person won't matter it won't be a contradiction to that love there'll be this fire burning yes because we'll know that God appreciates and loves every other person so naturally there could be a jealousy but it won't it won't consume us because at the same time as we experience that everyone else is love we'll know how deeply we are loved so the contradiction that exists within them we will each feel like I am the most loved even as I know that everyone else is also feeling that feeling and it's true it's true for all of us that contradiction that the the two sides of that the contrast of that won't be a problem will be expanded now this Mish seems to be saying something exclusive about Moser Rao that only he had this relationship with Hashem but it's not a coincidence that this Mish ends off by speaking about the future time and speaking about the fact that that every single human being will have an amazing experience of God what it's telling us is that today there are today there are individuals or really then there were individuals who had an incredible Revelation and it wasn't something that everyone could handle in fact some people if they would receive that Revelation they would defecate they would tremble their entire bodies they couldn't physically receive that re reation but the depth of it here is that when Hashem when he limits it and he and he places the the limitation on it and says no it's not for everyone no it's not for everywhere it's specific it's individual what happens is just like each child it's it's like telling us what it's going to be like it's hinting at us how the feeling is going to be for each and every one of us in the future that incredible revelation that mosha had that Moses had which only he could have cuz only he was that expanded and I don't want to get deeply or really I can't really there's not time now to get into Moses why he was special and how he was able to have that experience even then Moses was someone who was raised in the palace despite the fact that he was a Jew he was someone who experienced this broad broad contradictions he married a midnight woman there's there's many examples of it the the parts of his his face the physiognomy of his face it seemed that he was a murderer that he had very low character traits but yet he was the most humble of all people he was somebody who was so expanded that he could he could include within himself the lowest of himself that he could it wasn't a s he was able to experience his reality even the basest aspects of himself without it being a contradiction to the highest aspects of himself so but Moshe was someone who was able to do that even in this world but in the future world we will all be able to have that experience I want to bless you and please bless me back hasm should help us all to be able to recognize that yes we're not there yet no we haven't gotten to the highest reaches of spiritual expansion where we can get to that place where we can experience Hashem in that way but should help us to see that it's coming it's not far off should help us to be able to live to be able to experience the day Hashem Reveals His honor and we all are in such an expanded space that we can bring the lowest aspects of ourselves into the highest aspects and all of humanity will join together in that Eternal Circle dancing with God recognizing even as we see that God loves each and every person everyone else with an incredible fiery love that God loves me with that fiery love and God loves you with that fiery love thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabas 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]