Mindflex- REVELATION- G-d Speaks to Man- Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan

i wanted to thank project inspire for giving me this opportunity i also wanted to dedicate the learning um of this shir in memory of my grandfather shemal arum ben sv whose your say it was this week his nisham aliyah so we're in the time now of the show and what that means is that on a yearly basis we read about the access story we start with schmos and we go for six weeks shemost is six partios that take us from the beginning of our slavery in egypt through the the ten plagues the the redemption the salvation and then us leaving egypt to the to the spilling of the sea and then ultimately culminating with the revelation at harcina at mount sinai and this is a process and we read about every year we celebrate as well on pesach on an annual basis and the idea is that it's not just that we're going back and and reading a history a story of the history of of of our people but rather we're supposed to try to relive these events on an annual basis and to connect and to somehow be able to glean from these events and then to bring them into our daily lives and we'll see as we go through this um through this uh through our study that uh it's not only to bring it into daily events as much into our daily lives but also to then help have it help us to move forward to to go forward and to and to really help us pave the path of the future so when we think about the uh the passover story so we we uh we think about the idea that we were slaves in egypt we talk about moses moshe avenue the plagues but what i want to look at tonight and the the title of the classes about revelation is really to focus to go back in time to the beginning because in order to really understand how we got to where we are now we really need to go back to the beginning and that beginning starts with auburn ravine with abraham avrum is the first jew and he's really uh he is the bedrock he is the foundation that everything's built on so in order for us to understand how we got here and really also where we're gonna go where we're going we really need to go back to avraham so and and and what we see in the torah also is this idea of how hashem talks to abram how abu talks to god and we will we there's a tremendous amount that we can learn from these conversations they're really um foundational in terms of everything that we we do as a matter of fact and i was thinking about it when we when we read the shema estrella and we start out and we say and we and we begin our our conversation with god in in this monastery we bless god and we say eloquently we identify hashem as the god of abraham isaac and jacob and so our relationship in many ways is really based on on that so if we want to understand who we are and how we relate to hashem this is where we have to start from we have to understand this this relationship that uh had with hashem and hashem had with so when we open up in the torah the first this the first time that hashem talks to avraham at least that's recorded in the torah is in parikh you base in you need to go from your land from your birthplace from your father's house to the land that i will show you i will make you into a great nation i will bless you and make you great you shall become a blessing i will bless those who bless you and and he who curses you i will curse all the families of the earth will be blessed through you okay so here you have this really it's uh it's it's it's such an important uh message that till today it's very current and so we need to uh we need to focus on this on this passage right here because it it you know when we want to ask ourselves to understand uh what where are we going or what what is this all about it's right here in this message here and then we'll see the next uh major discussion but one of the things that we see that's over and over again repeated as hashem promises our the land the promised land we have a phrase this this this this we refer to the land of israel as the promised land so here is this land that's promised the question is what is that what does that do for us so on the first level we need to understand that we have a very deep connection to the land of israel as jews being connected to avraham our father our our our forefather that our whole relationship to the land is based on the promises that hashem made to him at the beginning this is the promised land but then the question asked we have to ask ourselves is okay that's nice so we've promised this land now what what do we do with that where what is the what's the point what's the idea behind that so we need to we need to figure out we need to delve into that idea so what so now that we've been promised this land and that avram is repeatedly promised i mean multiple times we can go through the different sources and see at every turn that hashem is promising avraham this land and his offspring the question is for what purpose so that's we have to really like kind of put that aside and try to come back to that question of what's the idea behind this relationship of the promised land so we see though though we started our starting point here is that when hashem talks to adam the first time he tells him now in the translation it says go away from your land but in the hebrew it's more subtle means to walk to go does not mean just to go away but it needs for you so god's message to avram the first time that we hear them speaking to each other or the god messages to abram is he's telling him to go for you and that's a very important idea that we need to understand the that if we think about it if god the almighty god the endless god has everything what's the one thing that god does not have is us and what we are going to become and that that's we see here that when hashem says to abram i want you to leave your your your place of birth your father's home your comfort zone and i want you to go to be you to you to become you so that that's the thing that we as as and every human being has the opportunity is to become ourselves and that's something that's unique that we see here in the first message that hashem gives to avraham is i want you to go and become you and what where does he want him to go he'll ha to the land that i will show you so the question we have to ask ourselves is why doesn't god say listen here's the here are the coordinates take out your gps take out your ways and here's the here's the address and go to specific place what does this mean that god leaves it open-ended so what's interesting is as we go through the torah we notice about when god talks about the place of the base of of the temple god refers to it as i'm sorry the place that i will choose now this is a little bit different but it has a little bit of a similar uh aspects and the fact that we see that it's not defined there's a lack of definition it's a shareholder the land that i will show you as opposed to a definitive place and the reason being is is that perhaps this is giving us a little bit of a sense or an understanding as to what it means when we talk about the holy land the promised land that this is a land that has to be not defined it's not given any definition because the nature of the place is something that is constantly unfolding it's in a state of becoming and maybe perhaps that is the special quality or aspect of this land because it matches the the directive if hashem is telling abram i want you to go and become you el haz ah to the land that i will show you that these are two very much in line things that they go hand in hand the place that is going to become conducive for you becoming you is the place that has to not be defined but rather is becoming and so right there in the first line of god's communication with auburn we have a very important message for us and that is the i want you to become you to the land that i will show you that is becoming and so that these two things are going to go hand in hand and we understand that this is very much a message to all of us that when hashem is talking to avram he's talking to his children he's talking to everybody he's saying go and become you and understand the sanctity the special quality of this place is the eretz i share our echo is this land that's going is becoming the chaos perhaps that we sense when we go to the heritage of the top to the land of israel is this dynamic aspect of the eretz asher ekka the land that's becoming now here's the second point what does hashem say he says he'll make him into a great nation he will bless him and will make his name great and then he will be a blessing and then we see this idea that those who bless him will be blessed and those who curse him will be cursed and that the blessing of all of the kamishbacho will be through avram so that we see this idea of that the land is a place that should if we if it tap if we tap in if we if we treat it the proper way it's a place that that's conducive for incredible growth and that it also is a place a source of blessing that we will when we are in tune with this that it is the source of blessing okay so now the next time or that really there are there is something before the major event and that major event is the barista so the covenant of the splitting where um is is really one of the most important um passages in the whole torah because in this passage we're given the keys to the entire exodus story and so then we have to go and we have to really like delve into it to try to understand as well that revelation that that vision that hashem gave in to avram and again it gives it gave to us as well so just just as as a secondary thing that again just before that event when little parts from avraham so lots is avalon's brother-in-law slash nephew and they leave they separate they they part ways load goes to stone and avram remains and at that point when lot leaves him god again says to him says to abram sanae raise your eyes and from the place where you are now standing look to the north and to the south to the east and to the west for all the land that you see i will give you and to your into your offspring forever i will make your offspring like the dust of the earth if a man will be able to count all the grains of dust in the world then your offspring also will be countable rise walk the land through its length and breath for all for i will give it all to you so as again we see this idea and multiple times over and over again hashem is repeatedly promising avraham the land and to his offspring so as a side very important idea that i think is extremely timely there's so much negative or questioning about the jewish people's rights to the land of israel and we need to we need to we need to articulate this idea of hashem's promise to avram and it's a promise to us this land is ours and so as these naysayers or these enemies of the la of the jewish people are constantly questioning this relationship we in turn need to repeat and to strengthen and to articulate our connection to this land that this is a eternal connection that from the beginning of time thousands of years ago god told avram multiple times this is your land and your children's land and then we see a clear uh passage from avraham to yitzhak to isaac and from isaac to jacob and ultimately we come from that line there's no question this is the land of the jewish people it's not it's not up for a debate and so as many times as people bds they want to question there is no question this is our land once we establish that just again there's a little bit of a a a side but it's important and it needs to be said is that when we understand this and it's clear then we can in turn turn and then if if there are issues with how people live together we can go from that place and make it work but the first thing that we need to have clear in our minds for ourselves is that that that relationship is not negotiable this is something that again goes back to here to avram and to god and the promise of our connection to this place but for us to understand once we get that in place the next important idea is to understand what we need to really delve into we started touching on it is the what is that what are we supposed to do with it it's not just enough here you go guys this is your place to be which is important but what are we supposed to be doing with this place what is our what what what is our our goal our mission like we described there's something going on in this place that is is conducive to us becoming who we're supposed to become as jews as the children of abraham okay so i referenced the what i think is one of the most monumental uh uh pieces of of the torah in terms of our again about understanding who we are where we come from is the story of the the brisbane of cerum the pact of the house so again we we have to remember the context first and foremost avram is childless until a later uh later age and hashem is promising him this land for you and your children and at a certain point from says to god says i you know you're promising me all these things but i don't have any children and at that point at the beginning of the brisbane serum god says to arum i i'm telling you i'm promising you you're going to have children and so therefore at this point again it says chapter 15 genesis 15 gracious test valve this is one of those things that we have to uh you know go back to read over understand the next step uh the other one is schmos gimmel where we're going to see in a few minutes the story of the snack the uh mimosas at the burning bush so these are these are these are moments in time where hashem leaves out for us the future of the of the nation of our nation so in the in this in this story of the brisbane and so first here hashem promises him that you will have children he takes them outside by you say o to he takes him outside and he says look up at the heavens us and count the stars into this are you able to count them now what's interesting is is that we saw earlier we just read before is the idea of the analogy of his of of his offspring to the the the dirt of the of the grounds of our hearts and now we're talking about stars which is kind of a shift from down up but what's also interesting is he takes him outside because i'll teach us that he took him outside of himself like he took him outside of his of his world and again this is something also for us it's very important when we hear these things to understand what the message for us is that sometimes we get stuck in our in our world in our smallness and the idea that here we see is god takes him outside that we need to sometimes step outside of ourselves and to be able to see things from a different perspective but at this point hashem says to him and basham and he believed that your children are going to be this this numerous and they're going to be like the stars and he and and he believed in hashem so here he believes next line god this is a very important idea is that god then says to avraham by yomer ela hashem to give you this land to as an inheritance now why is this an interesting line is that hashem the creator of the world is identifying himself as the one who took avram out of or costume we see this pattern when we get to mount sinai at the first of the ten commandments that when god identifies himself he tells us hashem your god who took you out from egypt so what's interesting here what's of note is the idea that hashem identifies himself not as the creator which is very impressive much more impressive than i am hashem who took you out from our costume in auburn's case or out of uh egypt in our case so we see this idea that hashem's identifying himself with us that this becomes a a god that's relating that's reaching out that's that's identifying himself as connected to us which is a very very monumental very important idea what's interesting is is that avraham in other places we see that he is praised for making god not just the god of the heavens but the god of the earth that he in a sense till avraham there wasn't this sense that god really existed within the world he was outside of he created it and then was outside of the days that the the what went on in the on in daily life and avraham was the one who brought god into this place of being not just the god of the heavens but god of the earth and being involved and so that it's very interesting that therefore we see this idea that god identifies himself as the one that took him out of our costume so then but here's where catholic you know very really a very uh monumental thing that a lot of discussion as to whether or not avram did something wrong or not he questions god how will i know that i will inherit or that my children will inherit so the question is was this wrong did he make a mistake there was a lack of faith now what's interesting is that two sentences earlier it tells us when god promised avraham that he's going to have offspring he believes him no problem then when he promises him that your kids are going to inherit this land already album says wait a second how do i how am i going to how do i know that that's going to happen so it's what happened here here you have the guy he has no kids and you know god tells them you're going to have kids no problem i believe you god but then um how do i know you know you're coming your kids are going to inherit this land how do i know that but my duck hiroshima so what happened here here's this guy he's a believer and the next thing two minutes later he's not believing so one of the answers that uh the basic answer is that when it came to something that's normal that is natural people have children it might be that he's a little bit older and sarah's older but okay i believe it that's something that's not outside of the normal the norms of nature but now you're at telling me that they're going to inherit this land right that uh i'm giving you lotte that already i know they're ready that that that either they're gonna be able to be worthy of the land that they're gonna continuously have a land there's a lot of different things that are not necessarily and we see that when we look at the history of our of our connection to the land that it hasn't been straightforward uh so then here this question of my da really how do i know that that's going to be that's already a question that uh that he's not not necessarily so easy easily convinced that that's going to happen so then god tells him take out take out a prime heifer a prime goat a prime ram a dove and a young pigeon he brought it so if abraham brought all of these for him he split them in half and placed one half opposite the other the birds however he did not split vultures descended on on the carcasses but avraham drove them away abram at that time his name was abram avraham avram brought drove them away so you have this already we have this kind of uh interesting imagery and there's a lot that's understood as to what the significance of each of these um animals why would they brought the the idea of uh it's mishulesh's that they're three like what's the significance now that is something that that for another time but there's a lot of deep uh symbolism that's going on here and why the birds were not split vultures come down avram has to send them away so there's something going on here so then it tells us when the sun was setting fell into a trance and he was stricken by a deep dark dread so here now hashem is about to show avram the future of what's happening and when when he's basically he's showing him all the exiles that are going to come and at that point it's a very deep heavy darkness that abram feels god said to abram yeah yes know for sure that your descendants will be foreigners in the land that is not theirs for 400 years they will be enslaved and oppressed but i'll finally bring judgment against the nation that who enslaves them and they will then leave with great wealth you shall join your fathers in peace and you'll be buried at a good old age the fourth generation will return here since the right sin will not have run its course until then and then it goes on and tells us then the the sun set and it became very dark smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the animals on that day god made a covenant with abram saying to your descendants i have given this land from the egyptian river as far as the great river the euphrates the lands of the canaanites the kinesites the kadamites the hittites the presidents the refinement the amorites the knights the gergashites and the besides so at the brisbane of assam here we have a vision of multiple things there's so many layers of what's going on here from the simplest level hashem leaves out for avraham and avraham asks how will i know that they will inherit ya you should know they will inherit through a process what is that process that they'll be they'll be 400 years of foreigners there's exile there'll be slavery and servitude now it's interesting it doesn't say that they'll be slaves for 400 years it says they'll be foreign for 400 years so that there's this process of far being of being foreigners of them being enslaved and then ultimately a redemption and what to come back to the land so here you have the playbook it's laid out for us when avraham is promised that any and again it's interesting how like this progression here god has promised him multiple times this land but it's here in this context when when avraham presses god how will i know that they will inherit god tells them and and gives them a vision of darkness of dread that there's going to be a process so whereas in abram's case if we go back and we look at this here album starts with i want you to go to this land and i will make uni great and your name great and you'll be a source of blessing for the entire world to the land that's going to the land of our echo that is kind of this land that has this dynamic aspect that needs to constantly be in a state of becoming when it comes to us it's a process of slavery of being foreigners of going through this long process in order to come back so it's it perhaps what abram is bothered by is here he understands he's the one who discovers god in his own so perhaps he already has within him the tools so to speak to be able to get things done to be able to then come to the land and he's already in tune through his travels if you think about what album have to do i've had to leave his birthplace to the place that he knew so well he had and he didn't he left it on his own and he followed god and in that in in on that pathway on his own he was able to accomplish and become i'm being able to come to the land and then come in and be able to appreciate and to be able to be in totally in tune in step with what the land is about and what abram's understanding is he says to god but he done when he's asking that question he's what he's asking he's saying i understand myself i went through this personally but how do i know that my kids are going to be able to my offspring is gonna be able to handle this or be able to accomplish this and god says you're right you know what your children are gonna need to go through this process that is a way forced on them whereas you did on your own they're going to have to go through this difficult process and it's not going to be a one-time process in this brisbane of psalm if you look closely darkness great those things the rabbis look at and say that's not just one time with egypt but it's going to be four other exiles that are going to come they're going to be the similar type of thing we're going to have to go we go in we go out we go in we go out we keep on coming in and going out because we're still in the process of being able to be ready to accomplish what abram already was able to accomplish on his own be able to really be able to be in tune with the land and what it's supposed to be about so what so just to just to kind of do a little bit of summary here to see what we're up to here at this point we ask the question we're in the weeks of the show then we're talking about the exodus story and what i suggest is that we go back to the beginning to avraham and to look at the first time that god spoke to avraham and god messages our room the first time i want you to go for you to become you to the land that i will show you the land that is a land the nature of which is a land that is constantly in a state of becoming the dynamic nature of this place so this is the core is the kernel this is what it's all about the idea of the message of where we're going is that then when we get to the chapter 15 and auburn asks but how do i know that my children will really be able to inherit this and god tells them it's a process the process is the egyptian exodus and that same model is going to be repeated even though it's subtle here but that is going to be a process that we're going to see and play out multiple times of exile and redemption but what is it for it's to get to this land to this place of for you to become you and our echa a s going to become that's going to be chosen because that is what it's all about and so when we come back to the story of the exodus what we need to always go back to is the beginning this kernel this important point of where it all started from because if we missed that we've missed everything why do we have to go through these difficulties why why to go through this to get back to this what's going on here in in genesis 15 voracious tasman the brisbane of sarah maida as another side very important idea is that the focus is on the eyes to know and that one of the things that we do at the night of the seder is we ask questions why are we asking questions it's an idea of trying of obtaining an understanding that god says to abram they will know that through this process of what what album is being shown what we understand what we've gone through ultimately is for us to be able to attain a certain understanding a certain clarity so here we have and and so as we as we go through this process of reliving the idea is that we are supposed to really understand um that we aren't you know that we are in a process that the idea of actually in this message of avram is to go is to be in a process of of development of constantly of evolving and developing fast forward to today we talk about our laws as halacha is supposed to also be something that evolves that is developing and so when we talk about again as a side but this is an important idea that when we talk about our our the jewish law it is something that's constantly evolving so we have the torah that hashem gave us and then as we go through our lives and as the world develops we take that that the law that hashem gave us this torah and we apply it it's dynamic and so i'm looking across from me i have the i have the ability which is a a recent uh shia listen to a question and answer from um yosef i look over and i see of motion feinstein and then i see the mission of rural the ara khashoggi all these different things we see this night it's an idea that's of of development so going back to avram as hashem told them i want you to go we are continuously being told go for you go for you go and become become become and so as we as we are through the shove in period we are we are we're in this process and we have to tap back into what the pathways that were created by an avram and so the same thing is we see again when it came to hashem directing abram to do his breaths now here i just want to make a very important uh observation this is in chapter 17. so hashem says to abram he's 99 years old and hashem appears to him he says to him [Music] so hashem says i am god almighty walk before me and be perfect i will make covenant between me and you and i'll increase your numbers very much now what's incredible here is so here again we have this idea of going but what's interesting here is that hashem is asking avraham to go in front walk before me and be whole not with god as much as in front of us as to say avraham to be truly like an independent person that i'm looking for you to be go in front go before me which is i think a very very powerful idea about what we're being directed and ultimately in this in this in the covenant of the british meal of what we of of what we until today are are involved in so hashem promises this this uh this again this covenant forever not just with avraham himself but with his offspring just to skip ahead here again we see this idea that i will be a god to you and to your offspring after you to you and your offspring i will give this the land where you are now living as a foreigner the whole land of command shall be your eternal heritage and i'll be a god to your descendants so here for the first time it's not just the land but we see a shift of the idea of hashem saying i'll be this relationship with him that i'll be a god for them so that there's a shift also it's not just the land but also the relationship with hashem so just with a couple of minutes left and god only next class we'll look at the uh we're going to shift to the discussion of moshe at the snap and also the revelation that sinai and not sign that but we see this idea of now an add-on of the idea that hashem will be our god and that he's promising avram not just the land but also the special relationship that we'll have with with hashem and he'll become our god and we see that in the exodus story as well so the takeaway the rambam mahmoud wrote a letter to his son and in that letter which people read on daily basis called there he says that when you learn something you should take it the what you learn and try to apply it to your daily life so just want to make sure that uh in this in this learning that we did tonight that we take the takeaways is that we we hear what hashem is talking to abram and this this this this this uh these important messages they're not just they're not some kind of history book hashem is talking to us right now i want you to become you i want you to become the most that you can be we need to strengthen our relationship hashem told us told avrom i'm going to be a god for them we have a relationship with hashem it's a it's as much as whatever relationships go it's what we make of the relationship and we have to also constantly remind ourselves i think it's so important especially today this special relationship with we have that we have with the land of israel no matter where you sit on the political spectrum as a jew we always have to remind ourselves hashem told us definitively this is your place and also not to stop there but to realize it's a place that's special to us because of what it means of what it tells us that we're supposed to become something that it's a place that's conducive for us to be coming and that when we do this as a people we are the source of the world's blessing they say that if the world understood if the nations of the world understood the source of blessing that is there when the jewish people are in in tune and doing what we're supposed to be doing they would put all the armies of the world around the country and protect it so that nothing would happen because that's how powerful it is so it starts with us we have to recognize and appreciate these these eternal world words that hashem promised avram he promised us and then we should strengthen our bonds with that with it and even if we're not there to recognize and to be connected because as we connect to it it's a place that gives us that strength the energy to be able to become so blessing i have for everybody and for us is that we should be able to take these and to really connect to these eternal words and to then continue on the path because this is a path it's a place it's an idea of us going we're on a path each one and every one of us is on a path to become