Ekev - Miracles by the Water

You're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari Goldwag recorded with Sham's never ending assistance in Israel 5786 2026. This week's parv and there's a P in our para it says listen to me oh people of Israel you are about to cross over the Jordan River and you're about to enter into the land of Israel. Now the question is that the Mesh is going to address. Why is it important for us to hear that the Jewish people are crossing over the Jordan River? Why does that precede the concept of entering into the land of Israel into the measure starts off with a person who's thirsty drinks water he makes a bra the blessing that we make is blessed are you Hashem our God and the God of the universe everything was created in his by his word says interesting. I don't know if he's referring to the first or the last blessing, but he refers to the fact that God creates many different souls and all that's lacking for them and he fills those lacks. Okay, that's the blessing. But as for explained, there's a concept when it comes to water, when it comes to drinking water of sha everything comes into reality by God's word, which as we'll see, it seems in reference to the fact that Hashem makes everything miraculously. And as again, as the mfort explained, when we are crossing over the Jordan River, we're crossing through the water. We need to understand the concept of water. That's what we're going to speak about today. What does it mean? What is the idea that somehow when we have we're about to enter into land of Israel, we walk through the water. There's a relationship between water and miracles. Means everything came into existence through his word. All of reality is something created by Hashem by something from nothing. Okay. So a person is thirsty that's the language of the medish person who's is thirsty which means to say you feel weak you feel dehydrated you need some water is the foundation of life everything is created by his word the the foundation is water let's Theans say let's let's take a look at this and notice that whenever we have miracles almost all the miracles not every single miracle but again as the portion explained the initial miracle of gula of redemption of walking into Israel of the makus as we'll see the initial Creation of creation is starts with water. And if you think about it, every human being's life starts in the water, right? Inside of our mother's bellies. So we exist and we form within the amniotic fluid. Life begins. The miracle of life begins with water. Kate said when they were in Egypt sawm the first miracle was at the at the Nile River think about Rabenu the very beginning of his life he's placed into the Nile River right but the Jewish people the first miracle that they experience is where the water of the Nile becomes blood says that you could see a contrast when the Egyptians and the Israelites would go to the river to drink water from the river. They cup their hands, lean over, Egyptian would bring up uh blood in his hands and the Jew, the Israelite would pick up water in his hands. Okay? So the initial miracle happens by the water and when the Jewish people leave Egypt also the miracle there occurred by the water he says that the the sea saw the sea the sea was able to perceive and it split it it ran away from the mess something very interesting and we're going to try to get a little bit of depth in this part of the medish as well. You know, try to understand what's the concept of water and how does it relate to miracles. But listen to this. The sea saw something. The waters of the Yamsov saw something and it and it ran away. What did it see? Rear says that the sea, the Yamsu saw the the name of Hashem etched onto the the staff of Moisha, the staff of Moses. It had Hashem's Sheam, the Hashem's holy name, his explicit name on it. When it saw that, it split. says it wasn't the staff of Moshe but rather the water saw Hashem's hand as it were and therefore it split. Okay. So again miracle first of the 10 plagues with the water miracle as they're coming out of Egypt with the water. Another one They came to the place called Mara and the waters there were very bitter did a miracle there showed him a particular piece of wood. He threw it into the water. The water became sweet. It was originally very bitter. Right? So they came out of Egypt and they they had to have water right away. Right? It's the foundation of life. Water is the foundation of life. They're thirsty. They're thirsty. And the Egyptians thirsted because their their water turned into blood. At the rock, Hashem did miracles. Said, "Speak to the rock and the rock will pour forth water." and they they they were miracles with the with the well of Miriam and they sang songs to celebrate those miracles. says to you should understand and know that all of the miracles happen through water to the water and also when it comes to going into the land of Israel understand there's going to be a miracle and it's going to have to do with water you're going to cross over the Jordan River is going to in the future when it's time for you to get into the land of Israel There's going to be a miracle with the water. The Jordan River is going to split like we find in the S Yoshua. The Jordan River splits. The the water actually goes up according to some opinions straight up into the to the sky instead of continuing on its journey downstream. But there's going to be a miracle at the waters. And as is explained before, part of what's happening here is that it's a reassurance. Hashem is showing us at the at the beginning. Think about it in terms of a person's life. A a person a fetus develops inside of a damnotic fluid inside of water which is a place where human beings cannot survive. But Hashem shows the human being that I give you life in the most unlikely place for life to exist. It's not possible for a human being to live underwater. I want you to know that. And there under any conditions, you're going to be able to survive and exist because Hashem is going to protect you. You're going to have miraculous life throughout your life. The Jewish people are told as they're entering into the land of Israel and and we need those miracles, right? We we know that from the Moragum. The spies said it's impossible. The people who inhabit the land of Israel are too difficult. They're too difficult to overcome. So, Clauso needs to see an incredible miracle at the waters as they come into the land of Israel to reassure them that the beginning is going to be miracles and the continuation is going to be miracles. I'd like to read to you from the Mahazoo. He explains like this in the in the Mish they had the following question, following issue. this is you are going over the Jordan River. So that's talking about conquering the land of Israel. Why does he need to mention they're going to go over the Jordan River? Therefore, the understands that is going to do miracles for them on the Jordan River. It's going to be a good sign for them that there going to be miracles not just at the beginning but throughout the time that they're going to conquer the land. Just as it was in Egypt, the first of the 10 miracles or the 10 plagues, they were plagues for the Egyptians and miracles for the Jewish people. The first one of them was at the water. So the Jews are going to be in the in the wilderness for 40 years. They didn't know that at the time, but they need to know that they're going to be taken care of. So there's an initial miracle that happens with water. The water indicates and that's why we say you drink water, you're thirsty. Just as Hashem is giving you your basic needs. Hashem gives you everything. Hashem creates everything. Hashem creates all of your needs. Everything is created by his word. So when they come into the to the yams I'm sorry into the it's a good sign they're going to be constant miracles for the next 40 years. So too in the 40th year before they entered the land of Israel there's miracles for them with the bear with the well of Miriam with the Jordan River all these things indicate that's what's going to happen in the future says the maru very interestingly when they would anoint a new king where was it done it was done by a spring this king was going to be in charge of taking care of the needs of the Jewish people. Understand that his mash, his anointing is done by the water. By the water. It indicates that this is a birth. This is life. Life is starting here. of the new beginnings of the Jewish people when they found their mate. They started the next generation of the Jewish people for true for Jacob. It was true for Mishabenu. Where did they find their mate? They found them by the well. Okay. So to the learning of the Torah, which I'm not sure what it's referring to, but I did write here a note um on the side of the medish, which I think is important. And that is that receives his Nva, his divine inspiration, which is you know, God miraculously speaking to and communicating with Cla through Yaz. Where does that happen? Invar at the at the river. And we also find that something called which means that the gar tells us in that what was the symptoms the joy of the drawing of the water which we celebrate on sukus it was the joy of drawing divine inspiration it's not a coincidence divine inspiration which has to do with aira miraculous supernatural connection to Hashem, understanding his will. Where does that happen? It happens in the B of Mikdash on sukus when we are drawing the water. We're doing the miraculous waters. We're we're accessing the miraculous waters and it gives us access to the higher waters of divine inspiration. I have to mention this week I was in Yaleim, did a whole bunch of things in your with my family and one of the things that we did was we went to the tunnel tours next to the hotel and we went to a location which I've never seen before. It was really very interesting. It was like a time warp to 2,000 years ago. go underground and you see they did excavations and you can see and and they gave a whole description of the incredible system of bringing water. They brought through aqueducts. They brought water to us and there was a huge um fountain of water that was used originally just for bathing but at some point it was used for mikvah to be able to go into Harabas. In order to go on there, you had to go in the mikvah and and they had a whole system of underground um places for the water, the waste water to be able to get out. It's an incredible thing from 2,000 years ago. And uh you could see it, but water water is an essential component, right? You had the water libations in the B mikdash. Water was needed for the regul for those who were coming up to Jerusalem for the different opportunities to commun with Hashem to connect with CL Israel on the on the holidays pukes and so water is an important component. Also interesting as I was thinking about the fact that it says there was an incredible joy, an incredible party they made that had to do with the water and it also as we said connected with the that people would attain divine inspiration that they would attain. But not only that, but it says if you never saw the amazing joy of you never saw a real party. And if you ever if you never saw the beauty of Jerusalem, you never saw a beautiful city in your life. And you can see can see the splendor, a little taste of it. Go back 2,000 years in those tunnels. It's it's an incredible thing. But Jerusalem was a high-tech city. It was a high-tech city. It was a beautiful city. It was a It was a stunning city. But that same aspect of stunning of incredible something incredible to see was connected also with the water. It was an incredible thing because what it really represented was I think this is maybe the beginnings of the what it really represented was that Hashem if Hashem is going to give you divine inspiration if you're going to be able to access prophecy or divine inspiration which anybody can access as we've spoken about. So then that means that your life is founded on aeshb your life is founded on a connection to hashem. Okay. So if that's how it starts if you know that the miracles start here with the water inside of the amniotic fluid you know that your life is going to be filled with miracles. Now I'd like to share with you the marzoo mentions a few other midrashim which one of which I'd like to share with you which seems to be a contradiction to what we said because we said that when mish raenu walked into the water with with his mate with his staff the water saw the name of hem the explicit name of hashem on the staff and it split which by the way really you think about it it means to say that it's the the miracle happens because of Hashem's name because of Hashem. Let's see what this means. This is infr. It says that according to this maj actually put down his staff before the miracle of the splitting of the sea happened. And it's comparable to a person who is who is a a leader of a particular country. He's someone who is appointed. So he's walking around and he has this stick and it's the stick that he uses to punish people if they don't listen to the rules. Imagine a guy walks around with a gun. Guy walks around with a gun. So you got some respect for the guy. But why do you have respect for the guy? Because of him or because of his gun? If not for his gun? If not for the stick, he wouldn't be honored. The king says to his his officer who's in charge of, you know, punishing people and he's in charge of keeping the order says to him, I want you to go out without your stick. You go out without your gun and anybody who doesn't say the proper doesn't give you the proper respect, I'm going to show up. That's what the king says. So, The Egyptians said, and by the way, there's a little Egyptian inside of all of us. The Egyptians said could only do this, do all the miracles because he had this stick. It was a magic stick. It was a magic wand. How did how was the river turned into water? It was you he brought all the all of the plagues through that stick. Now, when they got to the water, Egyptians are standing behind them. Shem says to Masha, "I want you to put down your stick. I want you to put down the the staff. I want it to be clear. It's me. I want you to put down the stick. I want you to put down the mat. And I want you to do nothing. I'm the one who's going to do it. it will be very clear to everybody that I'm the one that's doing it. I'm the one that's splitting the sea. There's no magic wands here. It's only Hashem. So the Maru mentions this magic and he says it seems to be a contradiction because in our maj saw the mat it saw the stick. It saw Hashem's name on the stick and therefore it it stepped aside. magic seems to be saying Hashem's told to put down the maz to put away the stick. But I don't think it's a contradiction. I think it's pretty clear that it's saying the same exact concept. If you have a stick and that's what you use, let's say a person has whatever it is that he his job that he makes parnas. So if I'm using the stick, if I'm using the whatever it is to make parnas, if my boss pays me my paycheck, looks like it's my boss who's giving me my parnas. Looks like it's my work that's creating the parnas. If Hashem's name is written on it, if if the yamayanos, so if that's the case, if the the the water is splitting, why? because it sees the name, not because it seems to stick. I hit it with the stick hits the rock, right? But that's not how he was supposed to. He's supposed to just speak to the rock cuz it's really about the name of Hashem. It's about the name of Hashem. He's supposed to say something. He's supposed to say Hashem's name. Which means to say he's supposed to say it's not me that's doing it. It's not my hitting that's doing it. The miracle happens because I spoke. The miracle happens because the human being has the ability to speak. No other animal has that that ability. It's the breath that was blown into our mouths. The says Hashem was blew into our nose. The the spirit and as the transl shows that we are created in Hashem's image. Anything that we see is just really Hashem. That's what it means. We're in we're in Hashem's image. Hashm doesn't have a physical image. But we are a manifestation of Hashem in this world. Which means to say the less we are, the less stick that we're using. Put away the stick. Doesn't mean it doesn't mean that Mosher Rabenu necessarily put down the stick on the floor. It means that put away your belief that it's the stick that does it. Don't let the Egyptians think that it's the that it's the stick. It's not the wand. It's not the magic wand. It's Hashem's name. It's Hashem's name that is seen. There's another message right after this message I have to read to you because it's just so cool. A Jewish woman, an Israelite woman is inside walking through the sea, walking through the she's holding her child in her hand. The child is crying. Child's hungry. So she sticks out her other hand into the sea and she takes out an apple or a pomegranate. Baby's crying, right? Sounds similar to me to the person who's thirsty drinking the water sticking her she's sticking her hand out into the water to get what the child needs because the baby's crying. And when the baby cries, of course, there are tears. And she gives it to him. They walked through the depths of the water just like they walked through the wilderness. It was a place where it seemed like it wasn't possible to have your needs, but we did have our needs. Hashem took care of us. So too, in the depths of the water, Hashem took care of the needs of every child. This is what Mosha says to them. 40 years you're here in the wilderness. You were not missing anything. Ask your what does it mean when it says? You're not missing a thing. The word means a thing, but also means a word that all they needed to do was to to say the word. The very thing that they they spoke about was created for them. They got whatever they needed. It seems fantastic. They they didn't even need to speak. All they needed to do was have a thought. A thought in their heart. Notice where the heart is. It's in the space where the lungs are, where the ruach is. That's where the speech comes from. The foundation of speech is the heart, which is the thoughts. All they need to do is think it and it was done. They tested Hashem with their hearts. ask for food for their soul, right? It's very interesting. Reminds me of the brain. You're not missing anything. When are you not missing anything? Listen, the magician. They weren't missing anything in the entire world. All you had to do is think it and you got it. How do you get there? The way that you get there is through chuva. It's a funny ending of the take words and return to Hashem. Admit that you've done wrong. It return to Hashem. Med is saying something fantastic. Hashem creates the world with words, right? 10 statements, 10 words. Where does it start? It starts with water. How does the water move out of the way in the in the miracle of the splitting of the sea? How does the water move out of the way? Because it sees the the shame the word which is Hashem's name. It's the word. It's the ultimate word. How do you get whatever you want? It's not you. You realize it's not you. It's not me. It's it's the shame hashem. It's chuva. It's returning back to the truth, back to the root. What's the beginning developing in the amniotic fluid? How did I did I do anything there for my existence? Did my mother even do anything there for my existence? I mean, she ate something to sustain herself, but the sustenance was given to me automatically without anybody doing anything. It's only the Hashem. It's only God's name. That's it. The the the needs are met. Why? Because the child cries, the tears remind of the am remind one of the amniotic flu. They remind one of the beginning of time, the beginning of one's life, the beginning of we mentioned that they found their mate by the water. Each one of us finds our mate by the water. the the mating that Hashem does between people is compared to the creams. What does it mean? It means that just like just like Bayams, we didn't do anything. It was just the name of Hashem. That's what caused the waters to part. So too, it is with us with the beginning of the next generation with with our lives. Every single thing that we do getting into it's just Hashem parnas livelihood is just Hashem. We need to remind ourselves because we hold that stick in our hand. We have to put down the stick. We have to put down the belief that it's us doing it. Go to the core of it. It's Hashem doing it. I want to bless you. Ask you to bless me. Hashm should help us that we should recognize and feel and sense and internalize that he is the essence of all success. He's the essence of all we need in order to see miracles. Everything was created with his word through him. He's the one who did it. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful Shabamus. This podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you. For more podcasts like this, please visit www.argoldwag.com or search on iTunes Ari Goldwag.