Parshas Vayeitzey: The Burning Fire for Spirituality

this Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com in the past we've spoken about the name ruen um today we're going to speak about the name Yehuda says that she conceived again you know she's popping them out one after another said this time now I'm going to thank therefore she called him and she stopped having children says Rashi oh now she has to thank after the first kid she didn't have to thank says I took more than my share now I have to thank explains that she that would have 12 and yob would have four wives so she figures if four wives 12 kids each each wife's going to have three kids so she already had her three she had now she has more than her share now she has to think just think about this for a minute there is no guarantee that any wife would have any children right she definitely did not seees that how many children each one of them were going to have because she was surprised that she had more and in fact they didn't all have equal amounts Rael only had two Leia ended up having six right and Bill so she's not guaranteed of anything so she has to thank Hashem only after the fourth she should have thought thank the after she had the first kid you know maybe R's going to have 11 bill is going to have one I mean nothing's guaranteed so what do you see from here see from here in life people write off certain things that they feel they're entitled to right people think you I don't have to thank Hashem for my health because of course you know if I'm going to be in this world I'm going to have health and I'm going to have parasa I'm going to have whatever I need and you know if I have anything beyond that then I'll thank Hashem and this is a human emotion this is what you see from Leia Leia says now I have to thank Hashem not that she didn't have to thank Hashem before but is uh until a person has more than they feel they they deserve or they're entitled to there's a certain feeling of you know it's harder to thank it's coming to me that's what we call entitlement today big my focus yeah okay so thear continues the gar says look at number three one of them from the day God created the world no one ever thanked until Le came and she thanked him so you hear this God's waiting you know how many years is that um 2,000 years no Adar never said Thank You shame never said Thank you never said Thank You Abraham that's not true never did he depends who said that very brought a car isn't that very strange a very strange gar thear says nobody thanked Hashem until Le Leia was the first person to thank Hashem how do we understand that no one I mean no one what about or what about right so you say well maybe they said but they didn't say What's the difference so the one of the commentary what we call a super commentary one of the commentaries Rashi explains according to the calculation that she should deserve not she took more than necessary seem to me this is what the means from the day God created the world no one ever thanked until Leia thanked him I mean he says this is very farfetched you're telling me that when AB had a kid at 100 years old he never said thank you right so theas says something very beautiful and he says the L of is a l that implies you're thanking Hashem from an outright miracle and no one ever thought thanked hashm for an outright Miracle before why because never in history did really an open Miracle take place to anybody so you say well Abraham had a s a son at the age of 100 okay I mean he was fertile for many years it was sort of in the course of natural existence is a l of ha is ation of thanking Hashem for a mirac so what was the miracle that Leia was thanking hasem for Leia held herself so undeserving and so not worthy of this BR hasem that she should be to have more than her share she considered herself So Unworthy of that that in her eyes this was an open miracle and she thanked Hashem with the perception and the understanding that this was like in other words Leo was the first person to recognize that she was So Unworthy of hashem's that the fact that gave her this it's like a nest that's what he's a very beautiful he says why why would she determine herself to be So Unworthy of a her humility and her her recognition of her unworthiness and her anas and her shias and her appreciation was so great that in her eyes this was like AIG why was a a lot of people have a lot of children question felt that first child but he's saying the of why did she have children finally no she's unworthy to be the recipient of having more than she deserves more than more than her more than her sh he says that refers to a miracle something that is beyond the pale of normaly Beyond The Pale of nature like a car bring on this is the praise of she thanked for fourth son as if this was something unnatural what's unnatural she had four kids it's me why is Hashem selecting me who am I that I should be the recipient of having more than I deserve so what happens when she has a fifth and a six so you know she had already gone beyond the pale she that was that was the time that she stops all together giving her so we'll see we'll have to see about that we'll have to see about that already we'll have to see about that said look at the med the very amazing the says of the it's very strange what happened yeah and then she calls because she gave thanks to and when she gives thanks to now she stops having children so it's almost her how stopped having children as a result of she gave oh good we're going to talk about we're going to talk about that that's very very interesting deal we're going to talk about that look at the medish first the medish says Le Leia grabbed the Endeavor of thanks and people who were grateful um people came out from Le in other words Leia adopted the Mida of gratitude and from her emerged individuals who had great gratitude Yehuda like Yehuda weak Yehuda Yehuda recognize the objects she's righteous it was from me also to you the god of my fathers I praise and I thank so Leia adopted this m and she had descendants who had this of gratitude um the med makes absolutely no sense whatsoever because Le thank I understand he said said Yehuda he didn't show gratitude to anyone he said it was me it was me he didn't thank Hashem he admitted what is admission got to do with gratitude right it's a different L it's a different word there's which is gratitude and then there's like if I let's say you come to me and you say you know gladstein you owe me 100 bucks so what do I say N I only owe you 50 what's that called well I'm thanking you I'm thank you I'm not thanking you I'm admitting to half so the fact that Leia had gratitude what does that guy do with Yuda who admitted to the truth so tells us has nothing to do with the admission of Le this is only acknowledgement of the truth not a praise the thanks of Le was praise and thanks says that in order for person to have gratitude the first thing they need to do is they need to acknowledge the fact that somebody did something for them yeah you know well do we feel grateful to our parents I don't know the first thing you need to do is think about the fact acknowledge the fact that you know till you're 3 years old you're waking them up five times every night and they're changing you and they lost hours of sleep and they're worrying about you you know for years and years taking care the first thing you can't have gratitude gratitude emerges from from admission you have to sort of zero in yes yes you claim I owe you $100 I acknowledge I owe you 50 the first step to have to have gratitude is admission you need to be you need right first you can be and then you could you could uh Express um gratitude all the other people yeah we find a lot of people giving thanks we find a lot of people than for example the Le were constantly bringing Carbono but that's just a general Praise of Hashem these individuals were able to zero in on specific that were done to them and say Yes says you saved me from I acknowledge you were the one who did it said you were the one who taught me how to interpret n's dream that is the point of that there two types of things one type is just a general than see thank you thank you that's not what we're talking about here we're talking about acknowledgment hoodner says the word has two meanings one is thank you no I'm grateful to you and the other one is I acknowledge that you did something for me that you did something for me in the what do we mean to say do we mean to thank or do we mean to acknowledge even though if you looking on this STM it says Thanksgiving it really the word m can mean two things and it depends on the word that you use afterwards are you saying I acknowledge or if you say sh so you know what I'm doing I acknowledge that I am right is I in other words to you I admit to you not we thank you no doesn't mean we thank you we acknowledge that I acknowledge the following this is a list of the things that I acknowledge and then after we acknowledge it now we're ready for the next part I thank you how do I know it's thanks for this and this and this so if Hunter says that the word could mean two things it could mean acknowledgement it could mean thanks how do we know what it means it depends how it's defined if it's defined like that's that's an admission I admit to you right how do we say right these are the things that I acknowledge and therefore I thank you for but these are two meanings of and what we're what the common denominator between Yehuda and Leia is not the fact they both thanked Hashem it's the fact that they both had this Mida of acknowledging the truth Leia acknowledged the fact that this was from hasem Yehuda acknowledged the fact that he was the one to blame the Taz Taz says an added point the Taz says that the word could mean two things this is the the word mean two things one is a great feeling of Thanksgiving and the second one is not just acknowledgement in other words if you say why do you do this and I say you're right you're right I did it so what am I doing I'm more than just admitting I'm submitting submission submission so the mid of gratitude is you know why people don't want to feel gratitude to someone else cuz when you have gratitude to someone you owe them something you owe them a debt of gratitude acknowledgement and a certain element of submission and therefore Leia says to Leia didn't just thank thank you Hashem what did Leia say Hashem I'm a myself because I recognize the that you did to me and this was the of where he was himself yes he was that it was him okay take a look at the on this so when we say in the morning it's not a so it's a so it's an acknowledgement no is thank you we said is acknowledgement right yeah so is so according to what rutner is saying it's it's like it's like I acknowledge in other words I I I have a recognition Hashem that yeah this is something that you did for me the point of that re people would say that it's a praise you know for it is a praise because you know what uh why why is somebody why are you thanking someone you're saying oh you're the greatest guy in the world is that what the person appreciates or the person appreciates that you recognize what you did for him you recognize what you did I think the purpose of thanking is to show the person that you recognize what what was done for you the let's take a look at it he says she conceived again she had a son and she said this time because from this son kings are going to emerge and's going to come out the king who is going to thank Hashem did she know this yeah that she sees yeah because of this she called his name and she stopped giving birth so think about it for one moment Leia has many many great descendants we we are all descendants of Leia manyik many she could have seen scho she could have seen all the she could have seen Rashi she chooses to look at D and what aspect of dav's life the fact that David had gratitude to hasem so here you have a n who in her all in her grand scope of History what is most important to her the fact that she's going to have a descendant who shows gratitude to Hashem in other words more important than any achievement of any of her descendants in her eyes was the fact that she is going to have a descendant who displays gratitude to Hashem she zeros in on that as if this is her most uh the achievement she's most proud of and she says that's what I want to focus on that's what I'm going to call my son Yehuda you know you could look at it from a different perspective entirely and you maybe you might be able to say that if she had rage and she knew that she was going to have these descendants with malus and all of that that's Theon reason why she was mured to hasem now and gave her do because until now maybe she wasn't so thrilled or so happy and it's only because she had these descendants and now she's saying oh the right and maybe because of that is because she should have been she should have given when she had one or two and she had her portion but to have to wait until she got descendants who are going to be the m isn't that a negative okay so we'll have to see we'll have to see but um but it's is a very interesting idea from from the tag in other words in the scope of History Leia has the opportunity to view through her her panoramic uh prophetic vision and see all of her descendants and what sticks out most in her mind is the fact she's going to have a descendant that shows great gratitude to Hashem and this is what r Miller used to say t what is good in this world not what is good with a lowercase G what is good with a capital G in other words what is truly good in this world that is what is what is inherently good that is the highest ideal said look at another thing this is going to this is going to turn turn it completely upside down says she saw that admitted to the truth so here another very interesting insight and that is she's looking in all of her descendants and what is most admirable and what stands out most in her mind is the fact she's going to have a descendant that admits to the truth that's something she's most proud of that takes tremendous courage and gura and because of that she names her beloved Son after that incident but David said correctly she must have seen that uh Moshe was going to come out of Ley he was going to be the greatest Nai the greatest leader that we ever had focus when we have air on ley's name we'll talk about ley's name you know now we're talking about yehuda's name okay say one more thing one more thing one more thing this is an amazing ibra really fantastic IM imz wants to know what is going on over here she stopped having children now you could say she decided you know the bills were getting big and she told her husband that's it you know I ain't doing this anymore but that's not what it means I knowes just mean it happens to be she just happened to stop having children sayra listen to this what's the reason this time now that I have four Sons now I'll thank I don't desire to have more as if she's saying I thank hasem call that he gave me all of this this whole big family and I'm satisfied therefore she stopped having children in other words what's the Ezra saying you know IA was being punished that she was no longer fertile and she was no longer able to have children because she thanked Hashem you hear that that's whatz says is not coincidental it's purposeful because she thanked Hashem Hashem punished her that she couldn't have children anymore I mean does that make a lick of sense do that make any sense she's being punished for thanking Hashem we just said the purpose of uh one of the chief ideals in this world is and here Leia is being punished for thanking hasem look carefully at the words right when you have a reshine every word is so important why is she thanking Hashem now sometimes you know when you feel that you've accomplished a certain Mission and you've done what needs to be done and you've set out on a goal and you've achieved it so you sort of sit back you take stock and say thank you Hashem for giving me a family in other words it's sort of you're concluding you're saying you know what I've done what I needed to do look at the words ofra I don't desire anymore and therefore I'm thanking hasem for what he gave me and the asically it's enough AR she the one that make that decision Hashem says oh it's enough you're happy you're you got it you say it's enough I say it's enough also but I don't still don't understand aren isn't a person supposed to be I mean in life if Hashem gives you something you're supposed to be content you're supposed to be satisfied you're supposed to be and here Leia is saying Hashem I'm happy I'm happy I oh enough you're happy I won't give you anymore she's on a different it's if the same let's say you know you look at your bank account you say oh $10 million enough oh enough you're I'm not giving you anymore what's the answer answer is very simple cuz we're not talking about money over here we're talking about we're talking about this spirituality and when it comes to a person can never say I don't want more a person could never say that's poison that's Venom Leia sort of sits back and says okay I already built a a third of CLA I'm already satisfied I'll let someone else have an opportunity I already learned sha 10 times it's enough I'm happy happy I'm satisfied I already know I already Get Up 3 hours before doing I think that's enough you don't want more you don't want to learn more you don't want to have more children you don't want to have a bigger in you don't want to accomplish more inem says you're saying you're saying enough says I say enough also she's punished maybe say if she knew if she knew that there were going to be 12 children you could say this you could say it's almost like neas I don't want more of my portion because it's going to adversely impact the other one that and because of that you know I I I know what our colage want but I don't want the other wives to feel bad so you'll say witha you'll say what do you mean maybe Leia was saying I don't want more I want someone else to have a chance person shouldn't say that when it comes to you come first what he says is right you can read it another way she had four children she and the word it has a different of right but why but the is saying look carefully that's why she stopped having children right that's why because she had gratitude she stopped having children that sounds like unfair punishment to me it sounds like there's a critique of you should not just sit back there and you know take stock and say okay I'm happy with what I've already accomplished this is a very important attitude that when it comes to R A person can never say I had enough no matter how much a person accomplishes a person has to have a burning desire for more as much as a person learns a person should always want to learn more person should always want to D better a person should always want to do more to give more I'm not finished I'm not finished yet a person is acknowled she was thanking and this is point out the he points out that we just learned so many k that we're praising Leia for her gratitude and we're not taking that away from her she's being rewarded for her gratitude but kazal with their probing analysis they look into the depths of the heart of Leia and they see yes she's grateful but in a certain sense she's also a little bit self-satisfied at the same time both feelings are true it's possible to be grateful but at the same time okay Hashem you know it's like thank you I had my whatever kid thank you in other words enough no not enough person should always desire more it doesn't mean person will always be able to do more we're not talking about necessarily doing more wanting to do more that's the important look what Leia said with the the critique on Leia Point toar she said I don't want more by the way you're right but says there's a to teach when it comes to you should desire there's no such thing as when comes to spirituality says a very beautiful CU it says later on in P test saw that she stopped having children she takes her she gives to as a wife I don't understand why is thek saying again Le saw she stopped having children I mean the already said why is the repeating she saw that she stopped having children the answer is says the Torah is saying exactly like the first time it says it when Leia thanked Hashem in other words thank you Hashem okay I'm happy now T said she got punished why was she punished she said I don't want more but Le IMU immediately learned the lesson you know what the lesson was that she could never stop Desiring her role in building clo so she saw she stopped having children she was punish so what does she do she says if I can't have children at least let me take Zila give Zila toob maybe through this I'll be able to produce another two children for cl another two what happened after she did that Hashem said oh you learned the lesson you understand how important it is not to stop Desiring to accomplish more Le was able to become fertile again she had another two children because the whole purpose of the was only to teach her how she shouldn't say once she got the lesson she became fertile again yes but isn't there later on a commentary that when Dena was born she said this is going to be a boy I don't want to take another child from from so she's doing the same thing again so there I mean maybe over here she didn't want to take away from her it's not it the iban ezar is not saying that she said it was enough because she didn't want to take away from someone else and there was a little bit different there she was saying like this she said that if I'm going to have a boy then ra is not even going to be like one of the maid servants right CU she's only going to have one and they're each going to have two so there it was a matter of really hurting the feelings of of uh ra but here she doesn't want more okay good question in I always want to point out one more thing in this Vein from the par naali the name by the way the name Yehuda and naali are some of my favorite names you have two boys name I have I also like the name Leia um so why is it why is it called why was he called naali soash says that of what does mean so rash means many beseeching I beseeched Hashem and many twistings and turnings and finagling and pressuring I pressured Hashem until he gave me another child so does that's what ra said right Ra was giving bah to yob so think about from yeah so think about what what ra says ra doesn't say ra doesn't even say I she says I beseeched and pressured and finagled and twisted and turned Hashem give me a child hasem right look at the it says I pushed him sounds a little to me you know what do you mean what she was finagling and it almost sounds like it's okay I'm ask him okay here's a kid already I mean what is that that's how your person's supposed to be right it sounds like she's like finagling you know when you call when you call the office you know what you know you don't think you could get what do you mean you don't have it in I ordered it now I'm sorry we're not going to be able to get it in until 2 weeks from Tuesday you're not going to be able to get two weeks from Tuesday I need it today sir didn't you hear what he said well maybe you could try you know after all they're going to they're going to kick you they're not going to want to deal with you but it sounds like ra said well maybe God you know maybe you could do this like she kept on twisting and turning and twisting his arm and the T says pressuring him and pushing him that's how you're supposed to be so points out that if you look in says yeah you got when it comes to when it comes to spirituality you can't take no for an answer you have to be like a man on a mission when it comes to a person's a person has to basically do whatever it takes and if you got a pressure and put out doesn't mean to be to other people the point is to be persistent like he says the say to be an action I am he says if you didn't have this me of being stubborn and persistent and pushing and saying that's it I will write the Miss and I don't care what anyone's going to do I don't care what anyone's going to say it's going to happen never would have gotten done he says that when the was about to publish the Mish a certain tragedy struck that if it would have been a regular person it would have completely destroyed them physically monetarily and emotionally doesn't say what it was and he said made an announc he says I want you to know I'm afraid to say this he said I want you to know you could do worse to me I don't care I am going to publish the Miss and said this is a very important medida that's necessary for a person to be successful in where a person has to set his mind they're going to accomplish certain things they're get certain things done and I don't care what's going to happen and this is what ra said you know why I got naali because I told God God give me I want I want a biggest share in ch I want a biggest share and what did Hashem say no no Hashem please give me I really want it said no so she twisted his arm and she pressured and she finagled look at the of rash I never saw these I never heard of these like twisting finagling tning that's how you have to be when it comes to Ras and that's the ton Lea Theon Leia was I'm already satisfied we would say sad you know she has a lot to be satisfied with right Ley you know if it was me or you we would say yeah that's a lot to be satisfied with no it's not enough M Aon Ley Yehuda davl still not enough there's no such thing as having enough when it comes to have a wonderful sh you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by Torah anytime.com