Ari Goldwag - Vayishlach - Rising Above Angels

you're listening to the weekly parsha podcast with Ari Gold wag recorded with a gems never-ending assistance in ramappa jamish Israel 5777 2016 this week's parsha is part of a yesh lach impartial au choix is an amazing transition between the Jewish people's beginnings humble beginnings in the land of on outside of the Land of Israel as it comes in as it transitions into the Land of Israel where its main mission is the mission of the Jewish people is an arts Easter Island Land of Israel and so as the Jewish people are coming in for the first time as a nation as a beginning as a fledgling nation as it comes into artist role it's amazing to look at the parsha in this light and the light of talking about transition understanding that look at the whole posture this way you'll see that this is what's going on in the parsha all the challenges all the things that go on for Klaus are all that go on for the Jewish people in their a fledgling state I have to do with the fact that they're now coming in to a new spiritual place which is a land of Israel where they're going to manifest the spiritual purpose of the Jewish people which is to bring God's light into the world and of course that involves overcoming amazing obstacles amazing challenges and so you see that with the story of the challenge of Asaph with the story the challenge with Dina and as the parsha continues you see different things that have to do this idea but I'd like to focus in on a very specific point within this story within the description of events that the tour gives us and that is the Battle of Yaakov Aveeno of Jacob with the angel and it's very interesting we spoke last week about the fact that when Yaakov you left the Land of Israel so he needed to bring with him the power through the new dorm through his vow needed to bring with him the power of air to stroll he watched those angels going up and down the ladder but it wasn't as interactive as in our partial it's a battle with an angel because over there in that partial so it was used leaving our sister who's going down from a higher level to a lower level to Hood's Lords outside of Israel but here we is coming from a lower level to a higher level so that always involves challenge which is why we see that he has this battle this my vac this struggle with the angel there's an interaction between them and we're gonna see more about this in depth but it's very interesting to look at that also is very interesting to see and this is essential to understand what's going on here is that at the beginning of the parsha so you see that a sub is coming out with his 400 battle-ready men and he's coming out to fight against Yaakov Avinu and Jacob is afraid and Jacob takes all these different measures in order to protect himself etc etc but smack in the middle of it before even actually meets a so before that takes place smack in the middle is the battle is the struggle with the angel and as we'll see the angel represents the spiritual power of Asaph this is the angel who presides over a sub so to speak now how does this struggle come about the Torah tells us in chapter 32 verse 25 I have a sir Yaakov LaVonda Jacob was left behind on his own he had already brought over the Jordan River all his family and all of his possessions buddy Ave kishi money and a man appeared there and he began to struggle with him and that struggle lasted idolized Sasha car until the morning until daybreak and now the verse tells us of Aiyar kilo y'all hollow and he saw that he couldn't succeed meaning it was it was really at a standstill there was it was it was a stalemate nah he got or a boy and as a result the angel struck Yaakov of eNOS thigh I take a copy of Yaakov and it caused the wound they of call you money while he was struggling with him but you know Michelle Haney angel says to Jacob send me now let me go kiala shocker the morning is broke by Uemura la caja Jacob said I will not send you can be our honey until you give me a blessing but y'all were in love and so the angel said Marcia macula what's your name by you miryang Kobe said Jacob is my name by Omar Lee Yakko ye armor simcha the angel says that your name is no longer going to be Jacob which denotes the idea of the heel the lowest part of the human body Kimmy Sorrell but rather your name is going to be you straw which denotes the highest aspect the the root of the word is SAR which means a prince so it's somebody who is above all the others ki sorry Simon like an edema no shima to call because you are able to triumph Oh for godly beings meaning my laughlin angels and with human beings and you were successful verse 30 by you shall Yaakov a Yamaha Judah no sham fo Jacob asked what's your name what's the name I'm dealing with this angel I'm having this struggle what's your name now Yammer a la maza to show Laxmi wave are closer Shawn and he said you can't ask me Pat that's not a question you can ask me and he gave him a blessing so the angel gives Jacob a blessing now there's a few interesting points here I won't see mad Russian will see the Cleo Kerr who has a beautiful explanation of what's going on here but the first point that we see is that Jacob was left behind by himself because I'll tell us what was he doing he was going back for packing katana there were small different things that he needed vessels and and he went back for them it wasn't the most significant things but he went back for them and as a result of that he ended up struggling with his angel so we need to understand why was that the provocation or the act which resulted in this struggle also significant is the fact that the Torah repeats that it was the morning they were struggling until the morning and when the morning came so the angel wanted to return to his spiritual place to his spiritual abode so we see this as significance to the fact that morning came in fact two verses later it says by use dracolich a master the sun shone for him so we need to understand what is the idea of the sun shining here it doesn't mean just a literal sun shining it also means that but there's something deeper that's going on with the sun shining for him and that the morning is breaking for him we also need to understand what is the concept of this name change why is he going for me called Yaakov - you throw what's the difference in these names we mentioned quickly yakko has to do with the lowest part of the body you sorrell us to do the highest aspect the ability to rise above but what's the depth of what's going on here why is that name changing now and also we need to understand this in the context of the fact that Yaakov is coming he's transitioning from foot so just like we said he's coming from the from outside the Land of Israel back into the land of Israel back into that place where he's going to have a true connection to God so what's the depth of what's going on here what's the significance of all these different points in the verses so before we get into the mid Russian that speak about these sukham I want to share with you a beautiful idea from the clea car Clio car is one of a portion of the commentaries on the Commish and this is an extensive explanation of what's going on here I'm gonna quote it the kid sir I'm gonna say a short version of it but he speaks about the fact that the angel who is in charge who presides over Asaph that angels name which we don't pronounce but I'm going to just say part of the name and you'll have to figure out for yourself within the full name of the angel list his name is sama and then like all angels end with Hashem's name like raphael and mikail etc so his name is sama and we don't say the whole name sometimes we'll refer to him as the tsaatan as a Satan sometimes we'll refer to him as the Samak mem because that's the first two letters of his name the clea kur explains that the purpose of the tsaatan the purpose of the Yates ihara the evil inclination these are all different names for the same spiritual force the purpose of him is the some may the word some a means to blind a person it's to blind a person from the spiritual sight that he has it makes a person unable to see there's a spiritual light which is representative of a codel whose power God's power and he wants to bring into the world through the Jewish people Yacouba vino is the quintessential sadiq he's the righteous individual who manifests God's light in the world and the counter force for that is something which has in its name the aspect of blinding and so Yaakov is fighting against the blindness the blindness which is caused by a subs angel which tries to prevent him from seeing the light which tries to prevent him from seeing what's right and the clea occur also explains a very important point why is it we asked before why is it that this happens when yahko goes back for the Packham Kitana when he goes back for those small vessels which don't seem to be so significant what's the idea and we need to understand this at his depth but first here at a superficial level the idea is that Yaakov Avena perhaps as a result of the fact that he spent so much time in full arts in places that are distant from God so he became more involved in the physical realm whereas previously he was sitting and learning in the Achieva of shame behavior he was sitting there and studying god's law you're studying spiritual principles so but when he went out into the world went to host arts to develop his family to develop his wealth so he was completely involved in the physical realm and as a result of that he became more attached to the physical realm and cleofus has an amazing thing that when a person doesn't open up a peso he doesn't open up any kind of doorway for the eight suhara to come in for the evil inclination to come in so if he just completely closes off anyway from to come guitar doesn't have access to him but the moment that a person is overly involved in the physical realm is not really involved I mean drawn after things that aren't that are the opposite of spirituality so if he does that he opens himself up from the possibility for the eight suhara for the evil inclination to step in and to do battle with him and that's what happened over here Yaakov Avena because he went back for those small things small physical objects as a result of that he opened up the possibility for this struggle to take place he was blinded a little very small amount by his over involvement in the physical realm and as a result of that he opened up the opportunity for the angel evasive who's all about spiritual blindness for him to come and to do battle with him ultimately Yaakov Avena triumphs ultimately the Sun does shine for him he's able to see that spiritual light but still by opening up that small pestsof that small opening for him the struggle begins now let's look at the magician there's a few points there are three points three main points that I'd like to share with you that come out of these different magician amazing ideas foundational ideas and it's something that we need to know for our own lives and can help us in our lives the measures tells us on the verse Veva Sri Akal Avada by Yahweh Kashima Jacob remind remain behind by himself and as a result he began to struggle with the angel the message tells us and I'm gonna say it in brief item muy Seca magical dish beaucoup a las seis lost and lovely you find that everything that Hashem is going to do in the future time he continued I saw you there tsadikim bottom has a God did that very thing via and through the righteous people of different generations in this world my colors for Oklahoma hi I miss him in the future God is going to bring the dead back to life early Omaha is amazing Elijah the Prophet brought people back to life I got this I'd say a shaman millio itsuka Shaolin God has the power to cause the rains to stop Elijah the Prophet also had that power measures goes through a few different cases Elijah had the ability to do something Hashem is going to do in the future Elisha his student also had the ability to do these things that a Shem is going to do in the future I'm skipping to the end of the magic Schmeichel dish for glucose oh boy miss kibosh on a bad day a fiat go be a master Yakko Devolder and we see that this is true not just in regards to Elisha and Ellie Oh Elijah the prophet but it's also true in regards to Jacob that just like Hashem in the end it's gonna be clear that he alone is all of the power that there is in the world he's the root of all power and that's gonna be something that's made known in the future time when the Messiah arrives so to Jacob it says about him that he was left alone that he also somehow in a spiritual sense were presented this ability to be alone we need to understand what is the idea of being alone what is the concept how does it apply to Yacouba vino and what is the message teaching us when it says that whatever a chef is gonna do in the future Hashem does in this world also through the righteous what is the depth of this teaching I want to read you another mesh which is also very important and has the same idea it's in the next section it's in partial I in Zion simin Bay's at the end the Metra speaks about the fact that at first yeah cool Aveeno wasn't even aware of the fact that he was fighting with an angel he thought he was fighting with a person but at some point the angel revealed what was going on he revealed that he was not just an ordinary person rather he was an angel how did he reveal that Aruna by safe Ebrahim Allah at the end the angel decided that he's going to say I knew my di Meo Isaac I'm going to make known with whom he is dealing I want him to know I want Jacob to know he's not just fighting with an ordinary person he's fighting with Amala men also what did he do no son it's boba aretz he stuck his finger into the earth his gila hardest sssh and as he did so the earth around him started to burn with fire yeah Covina sees this he realizes who he's dealing with it's not just dealing with an ordinary human being oh really yeah Chaminda automatically so Jacobs response is very interesting he says you're trying to make me afraid of you because of your fire and a cool a Miele I am completely composed of fire says Jacob and though deceive ohio-based Jakob H we saw and find the verse says in Obadiah inavaja chapter 1 verse 18 that the house of Jacob will be like fire and as verse continues it's going to consume all of a sub very interesting but it's right speaking about this topic right there in that verse but the question is what is this back and forth between the angel and Jacob why is the angel saying that I'm like fire and he shows him he's fire and and Jakob says no I'm even more like fire what is the idea what's the depth of this now there's one last measure should like to share with you and it says like this me advi-- archaeologically right away the verse tells us that he saw that he couldn't succeed who's seeing this who's recognizing this not clear exactly if it's speaking about the angel or it's speaking about Jacob realizing that neither one of them is going to succeed in a struggle so the measure she explains like this motion lamella it's an analogy to a king Shia like a lava green our enemy right he had two different animals one was a wild dog and one was a tamed lion oh yeah man I tell it's been knowing now the King took his son woman laba boy Bihari so what he did was he took him and he placed him in front of the tame lion the child didn't know that this was a tame lion he just thought it was a line a scary lion shame yelaya caldas da big like the reason the king did this he placed his son in front of the line so the child would see that the king of the beasts the lion is the king of the beasts and he has nothing to be afraid of when it comes to that lion so this way when the dog the wild dog would come humor lamella I read like how you Yahoo la my boy the King would say to this wild dog that the lion didn't have a chance against my son bottom of a cashless day vaguely and you're gonna try you wild dog you're gonna try to attack my son you have no chance so it was almost like a trick that the king was trying to play with it with his animals so now this is the analogy cop in this fish amia volume I saw it on this Davi glyceryl if the nations of the world will come and try to do battle with the people of Israel you ever Amoco this world who God will say to them Sark am la jolla Yahoo la my boy your prince your heavenly angel was able to win in a battle with Jakob immune with Jacob bottom of actionless Davila vana you think that you're gonna win with his children you think you're gonna have success in battle against the Jewish people who are his great-great grandchildren there's no chance so now we read this and we need to understand it because obviously if the lion is a tame lion it's not a big deal that the son is able to overcome the lion so what is the idea here what is the depth of what this manager is telling us so when we return back to the previous question which had to do the conversation about fire so the depth of what's going on will be very clear the 80s it explains what's going on he says like this that when the angel showed Yaakov Aveeno that when he stuck his finger on the ground so a fire started burning in the area but what he was showing him really was that he is a messenger of Akhilesh both who God is referred to as H Eichler God is someone who is an all-consuming fire when the angel showed Yaakov avi know that he also had the ability to cause an all-consuming fire he was really saying I am a messenger of god I am Amala I am an angel now what was the response of Yaakov Aveeno Yaakov Avena assist him you think that your fire I'm I'm completely fire mahalia based the occupation the future time Jacob is going to be a powerful fire that's gonna consume a sub is gonna consume the forces of evil now what was Jakov really saying at his death based on the way they exist have explained the malice statement Yaakov was saying you think that you have the power of God within you you think that you have that ish I love that consuming fire I'm the one who has that H I climb on who has that consuming fire meaning Yaakov was saying to the angel that I have a greater manifestation of godliness in the world then even an angel has and that was something that the angel acknowledged when he said your name won't be Yaakov any more OBS rel your name will be something which represents the fact that you are your shark Lu you have straight access to God and you are someone who rises above even the heavenly beings even those angels you are someone who's higher and what this means is that just like in a certain sense the Moloch is a reflection of godliness in the world he is someone who is fulfilling God's mission in the world in on an even deeper level Yaakov avino Jacob the Jewish people we are people who fulfill God's mission in the world we bring down that heavenly fire into this world and the heavenly fire serves to destroy the forces of evil we are those who reflect godliness in the world and that's the chat also in the first measures that we quoted which express the fact that all that hashem is going to do in the future meaning what's the future the future is the time when God reveals himself in the world all that hashem is going to do in the future is done through the tsadikim in this world in our times those who manifest godliness in the world reflect God's light into the world they themselves are the fire of godliness that expresses and manifests in the world through them now if we look at this carefully we see that Asaph spiritual force the parallel spiritual force of Asaph is this angel is is this assault on the Satan what is the spiritual force of the Jewish people what is there is there an angel that represents us in the higher realms and the answer is that we see from this mesh that the spiritual force that represents us in the higher realms is God himself and we manifest in the world the Jewish people represented by Yaakov of you know really Bayou Sorrell we manifest in this world godliness on a higher level than an angel amazing thing now what is the concept behind this whole muscle with the fact that the prince was able to tame the lion so the wild dog has to be afraid what's the idea here the depth of it is that Asaph a sub has a spiritual force as a spiritual power which stands behind him and he is a reflection just like the Jewish people is a reflection of godliness in the world so to Lahav dill a sieve also has a spiritual force which is the force of the Satan and so he manifests that in the physical realm in a parallel way so now when the Jewish people or Yaakov Avenue representing the Jewish people is able to succeed in his fight against the spiritual force of Asaph in effect when he's succeeded in that battle he has also succeed in his battle with ASA there's no more fight the physical can't manifest any more than the spiritual manifest so once the spiritual aspect evasive is vanquished the physical aspect of Asaph is also vanquished because he is no more than a physical manifestation of that spiritual ability of that spiritual power now it comes out of this whole idea is that as the Jewish people are coming into Israel as we mentioned at the beginning as they're leaving a place of a lower spiritual level entering into a place of a higher spiritual level of a higher recognition of godliness in the world or manifestation of godliness in the world so the rule is that whenever such a situation occurs that transition like that occurs so the powers of evil try to force the Jewish people down they try to prevent us from entering into that higher place so here Yaakov Aveeno he's coming back into this realm but he makes a little mistake he slips a little bit as the clicker says by going back and being too concerned about the physical realm with his physical possessions so he lets in the darkness a little bit and it's a much you know it's an analogy to you can imagine somebody who's been living in a cave for months and months or years and he comes out of the cave out of the darkness the Sun is way too bright for him yes to put on sunglasses and he might have to wear them for a while until his eyes get used to light they haven't seen such intense light in many many years so he has to blind himself to a certain extent in order to become accustomed to the light and then being able to actually experience the light to its fullest extent and I think that that's exactly what's going on here Yaakov Avene was stepping out of the cave of darkness of hoods Larsen is coming into the light of air too strong and so what happens is there has to be you know there has to be a recognition that the things that I've done outside of Israel when I was in darkness weren't they can't be the same as I come into a tea stall and so there's a blinding that comes and it comes in the form of this angel and it comes in the form of ace of himself coming to do battle and Yaakov Aveeno has to put on those glasses to put on those sunglasses you know what it to watch out he has to have this battle because it's dark and he's trying to come out into the light and that's why this has happened in the middle of the night and its transition into daytime because it represents the fact that ya coveno is transitioning from a place of darkness into a place of light but the very fact that he has to go through this struggle the result is that now he becomes adjusted so to speak to the light just like the person who puts on the sunglasses eventually can take off those sunglasses so ya Covino has to go through this struggle and in so doing realize recognize that the mistake that he made in going back for the Parkland Catania and going back for those in significant physical details that's not something that's appropriate when I come in tears to show that's something that in Eretz Israel I need to be on a higher level otherwise I will open myself up to the 8th Sahara the evil inclination the Sutton from entering into my life so I need to watch out for that once I have that recognition my eyes have adjusted so to speak then I can have access to the full extent of the light and then I can be that fire completely burning on a higher level than the angel the angel has a certain level of fire but he's not manifesting godliness in the world to the extent that a yaku Aveeno can as he comes in to Artie Strauss he comes into Israel so I want to bless you and please bless me back a Shem should help us to recognize that as members of the Jewish people we each have the ability to manifest godliness in this world on a higher level than an angel it's an amazing thing we have that fire burning inside of us that possibility to bring godliness into the world so I should help us see that and recognize that should also help us recognize and when we go we try to get to a higher level or trying to enter in tara t-cell so to speak whether it's literal or whether it's an analogy for us we're trying to climb to a higher level of spirituality shem should help us to recognize that that will involve when we come out into the light there will be blindness that's going to happen it's goodit's that's an automatic result and that's the struggle that's the challenge that we're going to face myself should help us to be able to be someone who faces off with that challenge all the way until the morning until that point when the Sun shines on us Shem should help us to be able to see that beautiful light and to manifest that light all around us thank you so much for listening have a wonderful Shabbos this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.gfi.com/webmonitor [Music]