Matos-Masei - Preserving Wealth Spiritually

You're listening to the weekly para podcast with Ari Goldwag recorded with Hashem's never ending assistance in Ramap Israel 5786 2026. this week's part is paras mats and mas and I'd like to share with you a piece on the medish bar mtos and hopefully we'll also get to a second piece on the medish and pious mas and there's a theme that runs between these two concepts which is extremely important and extremely powerful and extremely relevant to all of us in our para. So the ben ruin the children of the tribes of God and Ruv and half the tribe of Manasha they come to Mosher Rab and they say we don't want to go into the land of Israel together with you. We see over here on this side of the Jordan River many pastures place for us to be able to develop and and uh graze our farm animals. and uh we want to be able to have that that space over here. You guys can take the portions in Israel. We're going to take this portion over here. And Mosher Rabenu responds to them and says, "As long as you will come over and fight with us, destroy the nations that are there in Israel. Help us capture the land of Israel so you can have this part." But in in speaking to them, so there was a clear um mistake that they made and the mistake was that they focused on their physical their their gashmas, their livelihood. They were overly focused on their gashmas. And you know, that's not necessarily a bad thing. In order to be able to have spirituality, you need to also have your physical needs taken care of. But they placed the importance, the stress on their physical needs over their spiritual needs. And the proof is from the fact that they say we're going to build cities for our animals or we're going to build uh pens for our animals and cities for our children. They place their children second. I don't know if we'll see that the magic brings that that that was their mistake. But the magish launches into a very interesting discussion about money, about wealth, about gashmas, about physicality and tells us a foundational principle which I think if we understand it properly, so we can understand what it means to approach wealth and approach attaining one's physical needs in a spiritual way, in a proper way, in the ty way. here says like this god they had a lot of cattle the children of ru the children of godam says there were three gifts that were given to the world if a person merits one of them you get everything if a person merits wisdom you've got it all if you have strength you got everything if a person has wealth, you've got it all. Right? And I would say that each of these things has a certain clear advantage, there's a certain power, right? When a person has great wisdom, so you can amass wealth, maybe you can take care of your needs. These are the things that naturally when a person has these things in the world, they give him a natural advantage. So the message says the obvious if we're going to have a spiritual conversation about this and that is that when is it true that these gifts serve to be something uh powerful and and allincclusive and and a positive type of gift that is when they're given as a gift from heaven when they come with the strength of the Tyra. Okay, which means to say, and this is going to be the theme here, which means to say that if my gifts, if I recognize that my gifts are from Hashem, they're gifts of God, their gifts for me to be able to serve Hashem, they're just a clea, they're just a vessel. So then all will be well. But if they're aspects of my reality which just reflect something physical flesh and blood they have no value. Okay. So that's the says right? A person should not think himself to be great. Don't praise yourself for being so wise. Don't praise praise yourself for being so strong. Don't praise yourself for being so wealthy. The the only way that you can praise yourself in all of these aspects is if you know me. If the advantages that you have, the gifts that you have, you recognize that they come from Hashem and they're being used in order to facilitate your own and others service of Hashem. when they come when they don't when they aren't recognized and they're not used to serve Hashem. So then the person loses those gifts. Okay? And this is an important thing if you think about it here in Israel. It's so important. We have gifts. We have wealth. We have gas reserves to sell. when we have AI and other technological advances, but if they're not focused and and we don't remember that it's about if we don't give the importance to the those who are studying the Torah understand that the focus of all of this goodness is only for one purpose which is to serve Hashem. So then it's not a good thing. This is what we see with these children of the tribes of they had a lot they had a lot of physical wealth. What was the result? They overly valued their physical wealth. They loved their house in Borrow Park. They loved their their multiple cars, their SUVs. in in other locations. They uh got caught up they got caught up in all of the places that you can get caught up in. Okay. So the says that therefore they were exiled first and I would say it makes it very hard to come out of exile. Makes it very hard to come out of exile. It's important thing to think about during especially during the 3 weeks but all the time that uh overly caring about our physical needs or being overly concerned with and infatuated with is what sends a person out of Israel or makes it hard for a person to return to Israel. They were the first to be exiled. They separated themselves from their brothers because of their physical because of their possessions. Okay? Now, that's one aspect. Okay? And that's an important aspect for today. It's an important aspect to think about, to ponder, to consider, to recognize that we're making this mistake. We got to correct this mistake. Okay? That's one aspect. But there's another thing that I want to really dive into, and that's the next part of the medish. says that Hashem takes those who are low, lifts them up. Takes those who are high, lowers them. Says going from east to west, which also means leaving Israel, that's not what makes you wealthy. Person goes from east to west. Person goes through the wilderness. Person shows self-sacrifice. Gives us his gives up his comforts. gives up a comfortable lifestyle in order to run out and to to buy merchandise to bring it back to sell it etc. That's not what makes you rich. He says that what does the word har mean? Don't go to the mountains. Don't go to the wilderness. Don't go to the mountains. So it means it's not going to be something. The word harim can also be read as being lifted up. Right? Aar is a high place. Means to be lifted up to be raised. A person is not raised up from these matters. Person does not acquire spiritual heights by being involved in this. Hashem wants us to understand that this is true. We need to have a proper understanding of what happens when a person is overly obsessed with making money, overly obsessed with physical possessions for their own sake, and loses sight of the fact that it's from Hashem, loses sight of the fact that it's in order to serve Hashem, loses his connection in it. So what Hashem does is he takes away the means possessions from one person and he gives it to another person that's says judges which means to say there is in the world which means to say that when a person is not connected so he enters enters into a place which has more judgment he calls the judgment upon himself and therefore looks and sees oh well you're not connected to you don't really deserve the money lowers that person list somebody else says that's why they call which means possessions also means something that's covered up because sometimes it's covered up for one person and it's revealed to another person hides a treasure forgets where the treasure is someone else comes along and finds it money is called zuzim the the the word zim which means money also can mean to move moves from one person to another okay just goes through a few different examples of that but the concept here is the the foundational concept here is that when I don't have the proper focus when the focus is incorrect when there's a when there's a disconnect from so then the money loses loses its traction. I lose the traction. I lose the connection to the money because the money is only there because Hashem gave it to me. It's only there for me to use it properly in my in my service of him. And then I I'm going to end up trying harder and harder to hold on to it. And I'm going to end up in a darker and darker place. Heaven forbid. Me also points out that we have the story of the destruction of Midian, theel does with Midan right next to the story of which we see teaches us that Hashem takes away the possessions of Midian and repossesses those things in their in their war which means to say that when a person is on a low spiritual level they lose it. Midian was trying to cause destruction of gly caused Israel to to behave less sensiously and as a result of that the Jewish people fell. The Medionites caused that fall caused that and they were also people who served idolatry. So they were lowered they were their possessions were taken away from them. It was given over to Clra and Klas now is going to use that those possessions in order to raise them up and draw ourselves closer to okay then the meas says one more thing which which we mentioned earlier which is that the made a mistake they placed the stress in the wrong place they talked about their their possessions before they talked about their children look if let's say I want to have I want to be able to make money I want to be able to support my family that that's a spiritual purpose, right? I want to be able to have kids. I want to be able to support them and and bring them to a relationship with in a comfortable environment. That's a different story. But that means that the kids are first. The whole reason that I want to have any possessions at all is so that I can provide for my children. They got things backwards. They talked about their livelihood first and then they talked about their kids who corrects them. Okay, that's the last part of the maj. Now I'd like to skip forward to precious mass and I'd like to to to read to you is on the precipice. We are on the threshold of getting into the land of Israel and says you're going to come to Israel and you're going to inherit the people there. Let's read this together. It's in chapter 33 speaks to him. They're on the border with Moab. They're on the Jordan River. They're about to go into the land of Israel. Tell the Jewish people. Hashem says to Moshe, "Tell them, the Jewish people, they're about to go over the the Jordan River. They're going to enter into the land of Israel. You're going to inherit all of those who live there. And then important foundational this is all about getting to is all about destroying the idols making it clear that there's only one Hashem that we are connected to and that's what the Jewish people their life mission is. It's called destroy all of their graven images. It's called to destroy all of the altars that they have to to bring sacrifices to idolatry. You will inherit the land and you will live in that in it. I have given it to you in order to in order to inherit it and to give it over to your children. But what's the foundation of it? Destroy all false connections. Destroy all idolatry. Remember that your whole life there's only one central theme of what your life is about. It's about serving Hashem. And don't get caught up with the idolatry. And idolatry could be could be an idol or it could be the idol of believing that I'm the one providing for myself. I'm the one protecting myself. I'm the one getting my livelihood or my bosses is my god. Right? Don't make that mistake. Walking into means that you're entering into a relationship with me. Hashem says you're destroying all the false relationships and it's all about me. It's all about so says like this. Listen to this carefully. It's a powerful. It says you're going to inherit the land. You're going to take you're going to take over the land from those who live there. Which means to say you're going to destroy the people and the idols. Going to destroy a culture of disconnect from me. Hashem says we're supposed to learn from animals and we're supposed to get wise from the birds. If you can hear the birds chirping in the background, we're supposed to get wise from the birds. What does it mean? Shem says to the Jewish people, I want you to take a lesson from the cow of Elio. Okay? Story with Elio challenging. He was challenging the Habal. They had these false idols in the times of Elio. Elijah the prophet. They serve they served idolatry. The king was king Aav his wife Ezel Isabel and they were killing out the nie Hashem. They were killing out the prophets of Hashem, the true prophets. And he created a contest to see who would win, who would be the one who would show that indeed it was the Jewish people, their connection to that was the only real power in the world as opposed to the idols. So he made a contest on Har Carmel, Mount Carmel. And there were two altars, one for the Nia, for the false prophets and one for Elio. And they each brought an animal on this altar, the Nvieal, the prophets of the Bal of the idol. They called out and they called out and they called out the name of their false god and they weren't answered. Then Elio calls out the name of Hashem and immediately the fire comes down from heaven burns the burns the sacrifice on his altar says Hashem will hashem is our god. So this amazing display it was prefaced by bringing into this into the onto the mountain two cows. So we're going to learn from these cows something important. He said to them, "Why don't you take the first you choose the first cow?" There are two identical cows as we'll see. One of them Elio says, "You take that first cow and and and bring it as a sacrifice." this rag of 450 group two two groups of idol worshipping prophets stood up and they they tried to move this cow. The cow wouldn't move. The cow wouldn't move. He wasn't interested being sacrificed for for a for a nefarious purpose. So what does it say? It says that that they took one. Alio took one. But it it's prefaced with the fact that he says choose two cows to two bulls that are that are twins from one mother. Okay. So there were these two cows identical. One of them was chosen for the one of them was chosen for Hashem. So the one that was chosen for Hashem followed after he was happy to be chosen to be used for a positive purpose for but then the the one that was to be used for the idol. So that that cow they couldn't move it says to the cow go with them. Okay. This second cow the cow that was supposed to go with the to be used for an idolatrous sacrifice. He says me and and the other cow were were twins. We grew in the same place. Why do I have to go and be used for an idolatrous purpose, for a nefarious purpose? He got chosen for a good purpose, the other cow, I'm being used to anger my creator. So Elijah says, "My dear cow, my dear bull, don't worry about it. Go with them. There's not going to be any any problem with what you're doing. There's going to be a a sanctification of Hashem's name through you just like the one that's coming with me. She says, "You're giving me this advice, but how do I know it's true?" The cow says to only go if you personally give me over with your hands to them. says they took the the idol idolatrous prophets. They took the bull that was given to them. Who gave it to them? So what was it? El knew that nothing was going to happen with that idolatrous sacrifice. So by there being a contrast between the one that's the animal that's not going to be burned and the animal that will be burned, that's for Hashem. So there would be a great kishm. That's what he promised the cow and that's what happened. So this is what we learn out. This is what we learn from the the cow. What we learn from the cow is I don't want to be used in a negative way. I only want to serve Hashem. I only want my kus. If I'm in this world for a purpose, I only want that purpose to be one of serving Hashem. That's what the cow wanted and that's what he was reassured about. And that's what we are when we're coming into there's only one reason we're here. We're here to be a light on unto the nations to serve and that's it. Second part of the says we learn from the birds. What do we learn from the birds? Learn from the from the ravens that they were sustaining Elijah the prophet. They would bring food. Where would they get the food from? Where would they get the bread and the meat from in the in the morning and in the evening? This says differently from the Gumar says famously something else, but we're going to focus on what it says here. They would take it from the m from the table of Yahushafa, King Yoshafhat, which means to say that Elo the prophet. He was connected to the good king, the king of the Jewish people who chose not to serve idolatry. There was a king of Israel of the northern uh kingdom which was a and there was a king of the the kingdom of Judah which was Yosha who was from the line of David, King David. and and he was the positive aspect of those who serve Hashem, those who choose not to serve idolatry. That's where they brought the food from. They didn't want to fly in to take any food from the evil in order to feed the righteous individual. Why? Because in a's house there were idols, right? Clearly he's the the birds are only going to take it either from King Yosh or from from King Aka because those are the leaders of Israel and Al represents that he's the leader of the Jewish people spiritually. But the the birds did not want to go to a place where there was a confusion about where the food comes from and who it's what it's for. Right? Very clear very similar concept to what we saw with the benu. So we need to learn from the birds. The birds only wanted to go to a righteous source, a place where there is righteousness in the earning of the livelihood in the in the purpose of having food in the purpose of having bread and meat. What's it for? It's from Hashem and it's so we can serve Hashem. There was that clarity. Learn from the cow of Elijah the prophet that did not want to do anything that could possibly be that could desecrate Hashem's name and learn from the don't turn towards the idols and we learn this from this whole concept that what is the purpose of going into what is the purpose of destroying the idols the purpose is because we have a deeper, a more powerful, a more spiritual approach to life, which is why we're still here in this world. I used for 3,300 years still exists. Why? Because we have a central lesson to as long as we stay true to that lesson, we will continue to exist. That lesson is that the entire purpose, the entire reason that we come in, the entire purpose that we have livelihood, the entire purpose why we build cities for our children is one purpose is to serve Hashem to make our lives into a life of godliness, of spirituality. I want to bless you and I ask you to bless me. should help us to recognize the centrality of of serving Hashem in our lives and the centrality of Israel being that place. And Hashem should help us to see that sometimes or often times we need to sacrifice the mistakes of of being drawn into physicality. We need to sacrifice those beliefs, those nonspiritual beliefs. And we need to recognize Hashem should help us to recognize that this the where is the place of our ultimate goal our ultimate spirituality our ultimate connection should help us to realize that that place is should help us to realize that that is the purpose of everything that we do. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful Shabas. 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