Parashat Eikev: What’s Dveikut B’HaShem

[Music] we have here fromes where in this He commands us to Simply follow his laws once again once again he tells us to follow his laws uh where he tells us it shall be because you will listen to these judgments and you will observe and perform them that Hashem your God will safeguard for you uh the Covenant and the kindness that he swore to your forefathers he will love you he will bless you he will multiply you and he will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land your grain your wines and your oil The Offspring of your cattle your herds of your flocks upon the land that he swore to your forefathers to give to you lots and lots of blessings says if you just simply only listen to the Torah if you just listen to the Torah and you follow the laws you get all these blessings now of course a person says oh follow blessings what to say I could do that what to say I could do that to uh say I could do that to put on the fing I could do that I could do a lot of things but then when he sees that in chapter 7 verse number 25 it says says that the uh carvings of their gods idolatry uh you shall burn in fire you shall not covet silver and gold upon them and take for yourself lest you being snared because of it for it is an Abomination to hasem your God so here tells us that one of those Commandments that's not that's not that's not necessarily so easy is not only to uh destroy idolatry when it's possible uh you know such as the that Yeshua had to destroy as soon as they entered or all types of other idolatry but to despise idolatry to mock idolatry so much so that we have a clear understanding that we cannot benefit from idolatry in any way shape or form so if let's say for example somebody sacrifices their hair uh to their false god in India and then they turn that hair into a wig we cannot buy that wig we cannot wear that wig we cannot sell that wig because that would be benefiting from idolatry and this unfortunately is the majority of the wigs in the world today they're coming from idolatry it's a uh clear Torah violation that fought against vly the today is fighting against it saying that it's clear to him that not only are wigs forbidden because of the modesty issues but they're forbidden because they're coming from idolatry and many other have joined the battle uh to fight against the idolatry of uh wigs uh you know over the last several years uh since we brought a lot of the uh uh research out there and proofs that it's simply impossible to find a kosher real hairwig out there that's not you know that's not coming from idolatry so one of the things that a person needs to do is to understand that he has to fight idolatry tooth and nail has to maret he cannot benefit from it where if it's a uh uh a product or if it's even missionaries that are going door Todo or making videos online a person needs to warn people about them if it's anything to do with uh things that are against hem that hem finds as an Abomination a person has to be aware that uh he has a obligation to not only stay away from it but uh if the opportunity uh is is given to such a person they have to fight it so this is not such necessarily such an easy Mitzvah especially for people that uh are falling for the uh the Trap of the Satan which is money uh where it says don't fall for the uh the uh um gold and silver uh even if there's gold and silver on this idolatry don't take it because you're not have to benefit from it so theot is that if let's say they found a uh Idol and the idol has all types of diamonds on it that are worth a lot of money you're not allowed to take those diamonds and sell them in the market why because that would be benefiting from idology you have to destroy them with the idol even though if even if that Idol could build 50 you cannot benefit from it needless to say the same thing goes where a lot of people are taking money from the idol worship of Christianity Today where they're taking donations from them in order to build all types of places uh that are connected to Judaism but in reality we see that not only is this a trap from Christianity in order to keep an open door policy for them to missionized the Jews but also we see that there's a lot of problems in those institutions that are taking Christian money Soh told us that we have to uh you know follow the Torah and not necessarily just the easy things things that perhaps are not politically correct and so on so how could a person get himself to such a point so in the par we see there's a couple of times where commands us to for to to be glued to him to cleave on to him where it says saym your God shall you fear he shall him shall shall you serve to him shall you clink and his name shall you swear so it says that we have to fear him we have to serve him we have to cling to him later on in the end of the Paras this was in chapter 10 uh verse number 20 then later on in chapter 11 um verse number 22 it says that uh for if you will carefully observe this entire Commandment that I command you to do it to love hem your God uh to go in all his ways and to cling to him Hashem will drive out all these nations from before you and you will take possessions of the Nations greater and mightier than yourselves so again we're commanded to uh to cleave to a in addition to loving him to fearing him and a lot of good things will come out of it question is what's cleaving to hasem soim say how can you cleave to hasem he's uh a all consuming fire so it says really to cleave to it's not possible but you have to cleave to cing to is not only just learning the Torah but looking for opportunities to help help them financially help them in in and and socially help them in any way you possibly can and uh to to really be as close as possible to and try to help them in all the possible ways so much so says a person that is a learned T but does not uhle to the to do to help these cannot be why is something that is keeps you close to a uh where you're able to learn certain things that you can't learn from the sh you can't learn from the books uh and you can't learn just uh for no reason hasem literally has to gift it to you as a result of your behavior one of the great things that uh We've merited to have coming is to be closer to our own dear and to be able to do more and more that things that of course we've tried to do everything we can from afar but things that you there certain things you can't do from afar uh and uh it's a uh if a person understands what it is he truly gets a A literally a spiritual pleasure out of going to get a coffee or breakfast for his Rabbi to that extent but a person doesn't understand that thinks all way what is that idolatry what is this what is that so such people unfortunately are still far away the question is is that all means to just no if we look at Theus of this week's we see that onos he gives an additional clarification on cleaving to AEM and he says that inem is to fear AEM to fear hm that's what inm is to be afraid of a so now we have a we have a problem what's what's the problem we if the only time that he mentioned to fear that is fear of hem and clinging to hem means to work on your fear of hem uh if the only time it was mentioned was at the end of the par where it says to love hem to cling to hem uh they're not fine but the problem is that it says it twice in this week's par and one of the times where it says it in chapter 10 it says to fear hem to serve asem and to cling to hem so meaning that in the same verse it says to fear asem and to cling to hhm so how could it be that we have to be afraid of hhm double how could that be so really the answer is simple there are levels in fear of hem the lowest level of fear of hem is simply fearing hasem to punish us we don't want hhm to punish us we don't want to send us to Gom we don't want to live a life that's so difficult it's like Gom whether it's the Holocaust Spanish Inquisition cancer diseases of all kinds pain Agony divorces there's no end to the problems that are in the world today so that is the basic level of fear of person does nobody wants to have these problems seeing loved ones die loss of uh uh money or other types of valuable possessions nobody wants those things so in essence a person that uh um connects to hem many times it's usually after those problems happen to him uh after those problems happened to them they want salvation and they know that they really the only way they're going to get their salvation is from something Supernatural especially if the disaster is very big so the fear of hem or fear of punishment is something that happens at some point practically to everybody it all depends on uh you know at which point during their life how stubborn they are sometimes it happens in the early part of their life sometimes later on their life but needless to say at some point or another before everybody dies everybody's afraid of hem sometimes it's too late cuz it's only the hospice center but nonetheless everybody's afraid of that ultimate punishment but then there's a higher level of fear of hem the higher level of fear of hem is all of his majesty all all of his glory all of all of him and the connection of him being uh being hurt where we're not serving him properly we're not you know we're not doing enough uh and this is something that's much much more significant and it requires a sure of its own and that's why it can say to fear AEM and also to be uh to have de in the same verse because there are multiple types of fear of the almighty of course everyone that has that's the higher level of fear of hem also has the lowest level fear of hem just like uh a uh anything else in life you can't just jump to the highest level without having all of the prerequisites uh of the lower level but uh says that he was praying that his generation couple hundred years ago would simply have the basic level of fear of Hem of just fear of punishment uh needless to say we wish that our generation would simply have that because all of his majesty the higher level of fear of hem is almost uh you know a u too farfetched for most people they don't even understand what it is now the question is how does this uh really how can we see this in real life life how can we see this in real life says fear of hem fear of hem changes a person's life if he has it whether it's the highest level or the lowest level needless to say they both change a person's life in their own respective uh uh uh levels but nonetheless they they change a person's life in his perspective on life how so says a person that has fear of hem thinks differently looks at things differently why he looks at anything whether it's a drink or it's food or it's a job offer or it's a relationship or or or anything else in life and he questions is this allowed or it's not allowed can I do this or not do this if I do this will I get rewarded or do I get punished is this Hashem allowing this not allowing this that's the way a person that fears hasm looks at things a person that doesn't fear hem does whatever he wants does whatever she wants and then says and rationalizes yeah this is probably allowed you know it's like those people that I've told you guys about where they eat something or drink something and then they send me a picture of whatever they eat or drank a rapper that's already opened and completed or food that's already complete and say Rabbi I just noticed this thing doesn't have Kut on it it's okay that I ate it right you know it's not it's not a sin right or what's the blessing on this after you already finished eating you know so obviously these are people that do not have fear of Hashem and probably don't even realize that they need to have fear of hem and how much it would change their life so first and foremost the person that is works on fearing hasem works on on on learning about this topic already is working towards a higher level of existence higher level of thought uh and and structure in their life now further the sabam naok says that someone that has uh fear of hem is not somebody that's just bornn with it but rather somebody that has to learn has to learn about fearing of hasem because it doesn't come to a person naturally uh he has to learn M and the point of this m is to keep a person from being satisfied with second best with bid types of behavior and rather shoot for to be the best many times you see people that perhaps they've been religious for a long time or their whole lives and in know sense or they're just you know people that just are b or converts but in essence you see their behavior where they're just looking to meet the minimum requirement and just get away with whatever minimum effort they can the point of having of learning m is to acquire because this this fear of hem is going to put a engine you know a boost under a person's n to get them to stop being satisfied with this second best to try to be the best just like everybody typically tries to be the best that's something that they care about whether it's a uh their their profession or or something else a person needs to be uh you know chasing to to be the best version of themselves in their servitude of hem now how does this uh you know look like in actual real life as as a real living example there was a um sadik about 100 years ago a little over 100 years ago50 years ago maybe named kski was a learned in and uh later on he went on to business and Hashem gave him a lot of success gave him success in business and uh he noticed that uh there was a shortage in uh certain products in the Jewish world and he saw that there's no Kosher for PES te in the Jewish World in Russia so what did he do he says okay let me get in let me use this success to uh not only donate money to yes not only to do good things but also to help the Jewish people have given them products that they need and he went into the tea business and he went into the tea business and hashm gave him an extraordinary amount of success and until this day you see his uh tea products wasoski products in the Jewish world and worldwide where this uh tea is a very popular and uh now the question is why give such success then until this day over 100 years later you still see his products out there you still see the the success why perhaps there was a whole list of good things that he did in his life but all of those good things can be personified in this story Roski used his money to show his to express his love of T and he donated to a lot of but he had a special relationship with the something out of this world so much so that everybody knew there was a difference one time a came tooski and asked him for a donation for yes and rosi went back and forth with him who what when how much and said to them I don't understand we learn Torah and we ask you for donation every time I ask you for donation we go back and forth and arguing how much and who and what and when but when the comes here everybody knows not only gives you give him a check and you tell him write whatever amount you want we I don't understand what's the difference he learns to we learn Tor he teaches T we teach T why you give him so much morei says to him thei says to him says listen all to me they give me a lot of Honor a lot of respect why cuz I have a lot of money and they want me to donate and they respect me because of the money that I had sure we're friendly with this with that but in reality a special type of respect that I get because of how much money I have so now because they give me so much respect for my money they remind me how much I can do with this money and they remind me how much I like the money that I have that I don't really want to give it away because it's so good why should I give it away so you know it's hard for me to give them a lot so I give but when the sabalo comes to me first and foremost he doesn't look at me the same way as everybody else he comes into my house after a long trip there's mud on his shoes he doesn't care about the mud and the shoes in the house and the fancy or anything soon as he gets into the house he's screaming woski wasoski money money waski what we going to do with your L all you have is money where's your withi where's your what are we going to do with all this money and the saam Naldo comes to me and he starts telling me how much of a problem I have that I still have money that I haven't used to publicize to help do to help all I have is money that is going to stay in this world I don't have enough for what am I going to do and he reminds me how the money that I have is simply a tool a gift that gave me in order for me to enter it's not to go buy more cars and helicopters and and all types of things it's for me to buy to help myself get TOA and if I don't use it the right way I don't havea what what value does this money actually have if I don't have that's what the comes to and reminds me he makes me realize this money that I have is not worth anything if I don't havea lot of people think that because they have money because they donate a th000 50,000 100,000 oh they're they're okay they don't realize it's all relative if you have a lot and there's not a lot in the Torah world there's not a lot good that you're doing with it you have a very serious problem the says that the people that will get the most amount of punishment are people that are successful and have a lot of money and did not use that money effectively to publicize more to people think they're doing the rabis a favor they're doing us a favor because they're donating a few dollars they don't realize everything everything is for themselves because is going to give anyway a person that's giving is giving for themselves that knew a lot of Tor understood this clearly but he still needed the Sab to remind him and he says that when the saal comes to me I know he's not taking a penny to himself I know he's not using it for himself he's simply coming because he feels bad for me he feels bad for me and he wants to come help me he wants to come help me get to so after I I get this reminder the shock I just give him a check I said please for just write whatever amount you need for the is whatever you need so I could at least have a chance to go to this this is not just knowledge that exists that we believe in him and we have faith in him and and we in him and we fear no no this is through the gift that gave you what happens a lot of times is that people get a certain gift shows them away to use their gift in an effective way they start good but then the comes and tries to steer them in a different direction they start helping but then the yet tries to steer them in a different direction they start doing something positive then the yet starts to steer them in a different direction how could we run away from this yet back the constant fear of the almighty that we need to get ourselves we don't need to get ourselves notoriety we don't need to get ourselves fans we don't need to get ourselves people to like us we don't need to get ourselves more material we don't need to get ourselves more popularity we don't need to get ourselves nothing other than and if a person does not use the gifts that gave him or her to constantly feed not having that person is the poorest person on planet Earth even if their bank account says billions of dollars and that's one of the reasons why the with certain people he would talk this way and he would tell them what do you have you have only money other times you would come to people and you say to them and they said but don't you wna don't you want to talk about money goes no no no let's just talk about t what so doesn't need money for his 70 the says to him page says that everybody knows what the and the do on the day of their but woe to the one who speaks about it meaning that of course you know I need more money to do more K to build more T to do all good things but why do we need to talk about it why does it it just come out from you that you want it that you need it why don't you realize that it's for your sake not for me with some people that's the way would talk to them with other people literally would cry with them the key is for us to learn from these stories and yearn to have real in that way we can not only live but we can live it a purpose may be his will that each and every single one of us listen to the laws yearn for with in such a way that when it comes to fighting idolatry or fighting our own yet or anything that's against hem we will do it with joy you will do it with Sim even if that means it's a war against all types of things that are out there that are against AEM because when you're serving AEM with there's nothing in the world that's greater than that amen ven [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]