Chukas & Balak - The War of Og After Succos

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with hari goldwag recorded with hashem's neverending assistance in urban israel 57 82 2022. this week's partial hoots lords is pasha skulkas and inert cicerel it's partials bollock and as i mentioned every year precious bullock is an exciting time for me because it's the completion of a full round of the entire torah i started 15 years ago with parshas pinchas each time i get to balak it's an exciting time for me 15 years of the partial podcast and as i do ask as i've asked last week and in previous years visit ariegoldweg.com click on the donate button and help this podcast to continue and also help that the camera that you're watching this video on if you're watching the video um it was recently repaired it was an expensive repair for hashem over 400 has come in to help out with that repair you have a skus in the video in the podcast if you indeed do take part at this time of course it's this close at any time and if you want to dedicate it to somebody a loved one uh in honor of somebody in memory of somebody you're welcome to do so and this week i'd like to share with you a thought that's really quite amazing connected to partial scrukas in the battle of moshe robben of the jewish people with og melaka bashan and sikhon what was unique and special about the approach of moshe albano in his battle to uh with og and also looking carefully at bilaam bilum russia it's very interesting we call him and we refer to him as somebody who's very evil and the way that rashi speaks about him is indeed in the midrash he's very strong and the ramban has a very nuanced approach to bilaam i'd like to share with you a little bit of that nuanced approach and we can see the difference between the way that bilum thinks and the way that he approaches things as opposed to lahav the way moshe rabeno approaches the battle that he's about to face with og and we'll see a very powerful idea which will connect it to parshious and will help those in khutslaar it's outside of israel those within israel be connected through the parsha through this to our torah so i'd like to start first with the madrish as they usually do the majorish in parshas khukas says some very interesting things which when we read them we need to understand what's going on we need to understand the depth of it because hashem's help starts off telling us something which doesn't seem so relevant but perhaps if we think about it a little bit deeply we'll understand the depth of it in referring to the fact that the jewish people completed their war with sikhon and then went on to war with og melakha bashan this great giant who they were able to vanquish as well so it says which means they turned and they went up [Laughter] now the metris wants to understand what is this language why do they turn and go up what is this language the measure says that there are those who say that the war that the jewish people waged with sichuan was in the month of elul it is coming up after av it's only about a month and a half away a month and three quarters away the month of l which precedes the month of tishrei which precedes the month of sukis and rosh hashanah etc so that was the month when they battled with sikhon the measure says they continued through the year they kept the into which means they went through sukkos and after sukis was over that was when they battled with og very interesting where does the magisk get this from how does the magician know this well as the maforshim explained arunachaleian died at the beginning of av a month later they finished their crying for him so at the beginning of l was when they spent or that they went on with the war with sikhon okay but they couldn't battle during during the month of tishrei because of the that's the poshes the push-up shot the simple understanding they waited until after sukkos and then they battled with og says we can actually figure this out from the language it says they turned and they went up so there's a concept of going up in a concept of turning in regards to the in regards to when we have is finished success supposed to wait there in jerusalem we're supposed to spend our hag in your shallam and then we turn and we go so from the fact that it uses similar language similar concepts in regards to the battle with og this teaches us that it occurred immediately after khag immediately after sukis that's when this great battle of og occurred and i want to understand what is the significance of it besides the fact that it sounds like they took off for for young if they didn't want to be involved in wars during yantev like what is the idea behind it why is them why is the magic telling us this point and and especially as we read the magi as it continues it doesn't seem so related to what happens afterwards but as i understand i believe it's very much related mentorship continues so hold on to that question let's let's continue reading by eight say augment comes out the king of bhushan comes out something very interesting if if the jews would have had to run after and gone into the lands of their enemies to see khon's land into oak's land so then it would have been a much more difficult war but what hashem did was hashem brought him out brought out sikhon from his place brought it og from his place all these people came like claudius trail they came to greet so to speak the jewish people they came out in battle and it made it easier for the jewish people to be able to to overcome them this in itself was an incredible practice marisha shiva talks about it repair talks about it was because of the fact that something seemed bad to the jewish people that edom didn't let them go through their land but it emboldened and emboldened and og to come out against the jewish people from the fact that the jewish people balked when the wouldn't let them through their land it emboldened them but it enabled the jewish people to be able to overcome these enemies in an easier way zesh armor okay i'm sorry i skipped love says the magic to the next point which is very important and this is the center what i want to talk about says to is don't be afraid of og i have already given him over into your hands you've got this i'm i'm behind you i'm with you you don't have to be afraid of og so this is central what it was moshe albino afraid of what did hashem have to um what did hashem have to inspire him not to be worried about why did he need encouragement so measure says like this zesty tells us that it is appraisal thing for a person to be constantly afraid what does it mean to be afraid it means to be worried that perhaps i did something wrong i don't have the merit to to be able to receive the blessings that god wants to give me says this is the the attribute of the righteous era them it's going to be good you're going to have what you need i'm going to take care of you i'm going to protect you i should have made that promise with the sadhikim the righteous ones they're nervous now this is not a bad nervousness they're afraid that perhaps they've done something they may have done something that they shouldn't that they that they don't deserve it yaakov we find this is jacob was concerned he was afraid when he when asif came out to battle with him was afraid maybe maybe i was dirty with some sin maybe i did something wrong and because of that i'm not coming in clean with god and because of that maybe akush work will not protect me at the same level maybe i won't be able to merit a miracle the afmac also just like his great-great-grandfather yaakov avinu had this this fear this justified fear this spiritual fear this spiritual approach he was afraid um perhaps the jewish people when we were involved in that battle with sikh perhaps the jewish people benefited from something they shouldn't have perhaps they did some sin they shouldn't have done i'm like hashem reassures him don't be afraid don't have to worry about it okay now the measure so first of all first point such an important point most revenue coming into battle is afraid is nervous perhaps i've done something wrong i don't have the merit second of all this is more famous the more famous issue is says the second point in the match why was moshe afraid he said i'm 120 years old it's a long life vid if not for the fact that he had had some merit he wouldn't have lived this long the rabban brings his message brings the idea that and rashi brings this idea that moshe was afraid ogh had hundreds of years earlier nearly 500 years earlier he had brought the information to avraham avinu to abraham to tell him that his nephew load had been captured in the war of the four and the five kings og had ulterior motives he wanted abram to get killed in the war so that he would be able to marry sarah but nevertheless he had a he had a merit he had told abram about this and indeed abraham went avrah mavina went and he battled the four of the five kings and he brought back low he brought back the raku she brought back all the people to sudan who informed him who had the merit of informing aramavino even though he had ulterior motives it was the same person oh mel habashan so moshe was concerned that merit that he had perhaps it's going to stand for him says don't worry i have given him into your hands even though indeed he had a merit from your great-great-grandfather you should know that he because of as the ramban points out because of his bad intent because his intent was that avraham avinu should get killed in the war so he could marry sarah the bad intent took away the merits and ultimately og would fall he would fall in the hands of the great-great-grandchildren of avraham and sarah he would fall by the sword to the jewish people so moshe did not need to worry so two things that he was worried about one was that the jewish people didn't have the merit and number two was that his enemy perhaps had a merit that was his concern and i'd like to just read the end of the madrish because you know i always like to talk about mashiach when it came to the battles of the jewish people and the nations of the world so the battles happened slowly slowly first they killed sikhon then they killed the og then over the next seven years of keeping sha'arez it took a long time seven years a long time to capture the land of israel and even even those battles didn't complete the job so that's how it was in those times it takes it was done in a short amount of time when it comes to the future time god promises that the um will be destroyed in a moment at one time it's not going to be a tahliq it's not going to be a process brings the verse in isaiah 33 verse 12 it speaks about how the nations they will be destroyed and fire they'll go up in smoke they'll go up in flames when kurdish work who wants to bring salvation to the jewish people so the destruction of the um asylum is not going to be something that takes very much time it's going to be something that occurs in a very quick moment perhaps we could say that's what the measure says okay so now let's go back and we'll also we're going to go back over the mantras and we're going to go forward to bill him and try to see something very interesting about his approach and his mistake and how that relates to the contra the contrast to to moshe albana what we see from moshe is that when it came to battle when it came to facing off bringing the jewish people into the land of israel helping them face off with their enemies so we're at a pivotal point in time we're at a point which is goola the jewish people's redemption left they left the exodus happened 40 years before but now they're entering into the land of israel this is an incredible moment a turnover moment in history jewish people coming in they're going to take over the land they're going to destroy all the idols and be an example of a nation that that worships hashem exclusively worships god this moment in time is a pivotal moment it's an explosive moment it's a moment of a war it's a moment of things changing and motion knows that in order to go into a time of war in order to go into a moment of judgment a moment where things are switching over into a new reality so you have to face that with a merit you have to be much more pure you have to be on a higher level you have to be in a place even even though hashem made a promise hashem promised he's going to protect yaakov avinu still he knew he's coming into a battle with asap it's a pivotal moment he's coming in also it was a moment jacob also was coming in to the land of israel with the the fledgling jewish people with the 12 tribes his 12 sons at that moment when you're coming in you have to watch out you got to be worried maybe i've done something wrong i gotta be my fasfish have to look around look at myself i need the assurance of mako that indeed i'm okay that i'm clean and if i'm not clean i better get clean right i have to do chuva for my avarice in this type of time and i think it could be that that explains monk sharabin's concern of course but also the first part of the measure which says that they battled them why they battle sikhon why they battle immediately after arunachaleian dies why they battle og immediately after sukkus and i think that it could be the shot is the understanding is that when a first when assad dies and the jewish people cry for him for 30 days that's an incredible squish for them it's an incredible merit they appreciate what sadiq is they appreciate what a righteous individual is that's the moment that they can go into battle that moment they've cleansed themselves the the sadiq is happier there's an atonement that happens when a when a righteous person dies they're in his copper they can walk into a battle now they want to walk into the next battle wait hold on a second we need more merits let's have a hag let's have a regular let's have a sukkah we're going to shake the lulu we're going to sit in our sukkas we're going to bring our carbonus and the mishkan we're going to bring the sacrifices which are special sacrifices the shivan param we're going to bring the bring the sacrifices which represent the diminution of the nations of the world and we're going to bring that one power which represents the jewish people on the last day of sukis then at that moment that's when says the they went and they battled with og why because that's when they have these merits they have the purification that's when the war happens the war happens right after sukis that's when it happens and it represents us and teaches us when we're going into a battle when we're when we're entering a new phase which i believe is going to be very soon as far as our personal the times that we're in the momentous times that we're in and the advent of mashiach which i believe is going to be very soon but as we walk into that time and we face off with the the the fires of destruction that that the the pacific tells us that the meditation told us about we have to be sure that we are clean that we clean ourselves off and we have the merits and we take the opportunities sadly so sadly so many great sadhikim have died and passed on from the worlds very recently but this is an opportunity for us to learn from them to to see what were their things what were their actions what were they good at what special things that they bring to college throughout what can we learn from it just like they did just like when aaron died they cried for him for 30 days what do you think they were crying about what a loss are you even showing me he ran after peace he loved peace he helped us to do the right thing he was our benefactor he was the one who connected us to heaven through his avoidance we learn from that but we also take with us we need to to find all the merits that we can we need to be clean of a various of sins and we need to be looking for opportunities for mitzvos for for commandments to fulfill hashem whether it's whether it's kindness whether it's a charity whether it's terror learning whether it's all the places that we have to work and there's so many places that we need to work i want to bring us now for a moment to bilum and i want to tell you something that the ramban says that ramban tells us in in talking about bilum he says it's very hard to understand russia has a certain approach hashem well the ramban doesn't want to go with rashi's approach he has his own approach hashem says to bilham and and bill reports this back to the to the to the messengers of of balak who wants him to go and curse the jewish people right they're afraid jewish people are going to come in and just eat them up eat them up alive bilaam he says look i can't come with you god said to me and he had a real connection to hashem god said to me i can't i can't curse them they're blessed i can't curse them so bullock thinks you know he's just you know pushing him away because he didn't honor him enough so he sends him another set of of uh him of agents to try to bring him and now hashem says to him you're not going to be able to curse the jewish people but hashem gets angry at him that he goes why does that mean he says you can go with them hashem says you can go with them but don't but you can't curse the jewish people you'll not be able to you're going to bless them as i say but why does hashem get angry suraj has a particular shot but the ramban doesn't want to learn like debsha because it doesn't sound right that i call the shibbole who doesn't change his mind god doesn't like change his mind and say oh now he's angry because he's the ramban says something very important and this comes to the crux to the center of the difference between bilum and lahav maisharabenu's approach bilaam should have said to the says the ramban he should have said to these messengers again you want me to come with you i'm just telling you i'm coming with you to bless them you want me to come with you to curse i am not going to come with you to curse them i'm coming with you to bless them as hashem said and indeed that's what happens later on he kept he blesses them and bullock says what are you doing i hired you to curse them you're blessing them and he says i can only say what god says but in this moment at this point in time as he's going he doesn't say that to them they wouldn't have had him come if he would have said this it's clear that says that that bilum was desperate to go with them he wanted to go we wanted the honor maybe or he wanted it's not clear exactly why he was planning to go if he knew he's going to end up blessing the jewish people but he wanted to go and he didn't say at this moment that god is gonna again he didn't repeat that god is going to bless the jewish people through me and he made it it was it was it was a desecration of god's name because it looked like as if hashem changed his mind and said yeah you can do whatever you want heaven forbid but that's not the truth and in his going with them at that moment and leaving a moment where they thought that hashem would allow him to curse the jewish people that in itself was what made a kurdish angry what made hashem upset leaving for a moment that kind of killed hashem even though ultimately he's going to bless them he's going to bless the jewish people but leaving it possible in their minds to think that there's going to be a klalla heaven forbid a curse that was what hashem was so upset about with regards to bilaam so it's a very fine nuanced approach the ramban takes as to what was the problem with bill and what was what was he doing wrong but what you see is once again and i'll point this out again because it's so important that bilum is going it's a time of din it's a time of judgment for the people of moaf it's a time of judgment for the people of the jewish people for the people of israel we're we're entering a new phase and in that phase there's a deeper din there's a deeper looking at kashmir who looks at us in a different way we need to be careful we need to know we need to know what's going on with ourselves we need to recognize am i causing hashem bilaam was not careful about the hashem and that's what made hashem upset my sharabanu again looking at moshe and his carefulness maybe we've done something wrong maybe we weren't careful enough about maybe we're not careful enough about not doing an average about doing a sin maybe we did something wrong maybe they have some merit that we don't have that's mushroom's approach and that is the difference between abhilham and mishra that's the difference between the way the the way that the um the way that the nations of the world approach things in the way that the jewish people need to approach things we need to look at ourselves and we need to be honest with ourselves i wanted to say where am i doing something wrong where am i making hashem am i not sanctifying god's name am i desecrating god's name i need to watch out for that i need to be looking for that and i need as the jewish people did i need to be looking for merits whether it's by learning from our great sadhikim as we said the righteous people or whether it's by looking for mitzvos commandments that we can perform but either way if we want to come into a new time a time of the messiah if we want to get to that place we need to know the right approach to be able to traverse the difficult road between here and there so i want to bless you and i ask you to bless me hashem should help us to recognize and learn from the mistake of abulum and from the approach the correct approach of emotion hashem should help us to be able to have the merits that we need to learn from those we need to learn from to collect those mitzvahs that indeed will be able to green to greet hashem's kingdom as hashem brings his base amigos into the world amen thank you so much for listening have a wonderful show miss 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 you