Sparks of Alshich: What Does It REALLY Mean to Be a Jew? Rabbi Shmuel Wagshal

Okay gentlemen another al and this week the was sponsored mosha and the shama should have an aliyah. >> So this week the alik is going to be really discussing a very important question. What does it mean to be a Jew? What is Jewish regulity all about? And what is what is the true essence of a Jew? And the Ashik starts off with a very interesting famous [clears throat] gamarra in Bakama. The Gamarra says he who wants to be a a pious person. to Hashem should make sure and be very careful with the laws of Nazikin, the laws of damages, the laws of how one uh behaves towards another person, interpersonal relationships. If you want to be a very very pious person, make sure to be very very careful with the laws of nikin damages. And the obvious question is when we think of a pious person, we think of somebody who spends his whole day in his bodhus ding, learning, sitting in a room somewhere, fasting, talking to Hashem, doing holy and elevated things, not spending his day with worrying about mundane ideas, business, law, property ownership, damages. you know, it's important, but that's not the essence of what aid is. But the garra says that really, if you want to be aid, you have to be very involved with this stuff and be very careful with this stuff. And again, the question is why? And this question really segus into a uh very famous idea from this week's para. And that is really if you think about it, we just finished the story of Israel, the story of Matan Torah, the story where the greatest revelation that Hashem made to man ever occurred. And the Jewish people were in a high highly spiritual place. Uh they were one nation. They were one one soul accepting the Torah and they were very very spiritually elevated as we know where they were in the 50th level of Kadusha. They reached a place that was never reached before [clears throat] and in that uh spiritual vibe in that uh feeling Hashem brings us right away into what the Attaching the story of Israel, we get the story of Mishbatam. What is the story of Mishbatam? And these are the rules that I place before you. And what are they? So you would think they would be high lofty ideas, keep shabas, yam kipper, laws of chuva, who knows high ideas. You're sitting right now at Harina. And what is the what do we speak about? If somebody owns a slave, how do you treat that slave? Make sure that if your property damages somebody, you're going to pay him back. Make sure that your property shouldn't damage someone. Make sure not to hurt another person. Make sure not to steal from another person. Make sure that if you watch someone's item, you should watch it well that it shouldn't be stolen. Otherwise, you're going to have to pay him back. Very mundane technical legal stuff that is important. But you would think that standing at the foot of Sinai again there should be more spiritually uh esoteric ideas keeping the feeling going of Sinai not these everyday Monday morning [clears throat] basic you know business laws. So it's the same question in another way. But the idea is what is so important and so uh integral about the laws of damages and interpersonal laws of how one treats someone in business and and is sensitive to somebody else in in everyday life that this is the integral message of what a Jew is. So says something very very important and he says that really Hashem before the revelation of Sinai was in a way the king of Shemayim. He was the ruler of the world from heaven. What does that mean? Everyone understood, even people that didn't necessarily believe in Hashem, but understood that there was a God who created them and who makes the big picture move and takes care of the weather and takes care of the wars and he's running the world from the heavens. He's running the big picture of the world and we have to thank him. We have to pray to him and we have to make sure to uh glorify him and send sacrifices to him and commemorate uh miracles that happened from him. But that is the sh the the god in heaven and that's what hashem was basically overall until hari. But the whole purpose of the Jewish people and the whole purpose of the revelation of Sinai was to extend God's sovereignty not limited to just the the Shemay the God in heaven the God who runs the big picture but to extend his sovereignty all the way down into our everyday lives. to understand and to live with the consciousness that God is involved with us intimately in every decision we make, in every move we make, in everything that we do. And in this way, we are not just serving the God of heaven, but we are serving the God of earth. And we are making sure and we are bringing God bringing God down into everything. And this was really the purpose of our scenai. Hashem came down to show us that he is here with us and that he cares about us and that he is sensitive to us and that he wants us to behave kindly and nicely to each other and that matters to him and how we act in the privacy of of our own homes and how we act in the privacy of our own uh offices do matter to him. And in this way we are showing that God is not just [clears throat] the God of the big picture. The God who runs does [snorts] great miracles. The God who makes sure that the big the cosmos run in its right way. But we are showing that Hashem cares about everything that we do and that everything matters and that every word we say and every act we do and everything that we are involved with, Hashem is with us and Hashem cares about that and Hashem is interested in making sure that the world runs smoothly in that way. And this was really the purpose of Hina. And this was really the purpose of the Jewish people to be Hashem's agents in this world to allow him and his rule to be throughout all of existence and not just limited to heavens. And this is the idea of this is specifically why Hashem teaches us right after the story of Hari. These are the rules and the statues that I'm going to place before you. I want to show you that I am here with you and that I want to give you rules that apply to you. Because Hashem understood that although the Jews were feeling in a great spiritual state at that time and they were feeling elevated, but Hashem understood this is not reality. This is not going to last forever. The Jews sitting at the foot of Sinai is not going to be the their existence forever. They're going to have to go to Erit Israel. They're going to have to build homes. They're going to have to build businesses. They're going to have to plow fields. Don't leave God at the foot of Sinai, says Hashem. The whole purpose of what I'm doing here is to extend my my reign, my sovereignty, my kingship everywhere. And the fear was that if I am not going to make the point here at Sinai that these things matter, people are going to make the mistake as some people do that Hashem is limited just to the Yumipper just to three times a day when I go Daven that's where Hashem exists. He's limited to the foot of Sinai. He's limited to the holy places. But when I'm out in the workfield, when I'm out with in my day-to-day life, ah, Hashem is not extended to that place. Hashem is not really following me. Hashem doesn't really care what I do. It's more the bigger picture. Don't be a murderer. Don't don't be a bank robber. Don't be a terrible person. Serve me. Keep shabas. The big things, you know, remember the day I took you out of Egypt. The big things. But the nitty-gritty of my life, ah, it's not so important. Hashem is not really paying attention to that. Hashem's got better things to worry about than me stealing a few bucks or me being not 100% honest in my business dealings or me saying something uh insulting to my friend. Hashem doesn't really really care about that so much. But in order to counter that possible mistake, Hashem right away immediately after the revelation of Sinai says, "And these are the laws that I placed before you. I want you to understand that I'm here. I'm with you on Sinai and I'm with you in when you go to Israel and I'm with you wherever you go throughout the whole world and in every single thing you do live with that awareness and the more a Jew lives with that awareness the more the Jew lives with that sensitivity the more he is spreading God's kingship into this world and if God forbid you only live with God as the God of the heavens the philosophical God the esoteric God the God that I pray to on Yamipper the God that I am excited about on P by night, but I don't live with that reality and awareness always. Then I'm is it it's as if I'm not really living with the true essence of what Hashem is. So what does the Garra say? The Garra says, who is a pious person? Somebody who acts pious with his creator and does do well not acts. Somebody who acts kindly to his creator really does to his creator. And the question is what does that mean? How does one act kindly to God? And with this we can understand because the whole purpose of what Hashem wants from us is that we should live with his awareness everywhere. And we should understand that he is the king and he rules us and he cares about us in every place we are. And the more we live with this consciousness, the more we are spreading his kingship and his desire throughout the world. And the more we live with his values in our everyday life, the more we're saying, "Hashem is not just here, but Hashem is here. Hashem is here. Hashem is in the business place. Hashem is how I act when I talk to my buddies. Hashem is how I act in my own privacy in my home. Hashem is how I'm here with me. When I act whatever I'm doing, Hashem is here with me." And in this way, we are in a way doing a kindness with Hashem by spreading his kingship everywhere into all of reality. And this is the greatest thing a Jew could do to spread the consciousness and the awareness and the sensitivities and the values of God in everything we're doing. And if we're only limiting Hashem to the higher realms, we're actually doing in a certain way the opposite of kindness. We're doing a disservice. We're keeping God as the God of heavens. And that's specifically what he didn't want because Hashem wanted to rule us here in this world. And for us to understand that he cares about us and we have a relationship with him and that we're he personally is involved in everything we're doing. >> And when we live with this, we're living with this awareness. We are doing the true service of what Hashem wants from us. And this is the true way to be a servant of Hashem. And this is what religion is. Certain religions, they go to church on Sunday and then they forget about God for the rest of the week. You know, it is what it is. go once a week and I think about God and then when I do what I do in my private life, forget about it. That's the exact opposite of a Jew. The essence of a Jew is what he does in everything where he lives with God in every space. And this is what it says, he who wants to be a pious person. Don't live as if you're in the heavens and as if only when you're in the privacy of your home and you're and you're doing his bed and you're, you know, dabing. That's where you're serving Hashem. But understand that the real place to serve Hashem. The real place to extend God's sovereignty across the entire world is when you're acting towards another person. The way you're behaving towards another person to make sure that your items don't damage other people. I'm too busy learning. I can't worry about what my items are doing. I'm too busy praying all day. I can't worry about, you know, these nitty-gritty stuff. Exactly opposite. Exactly opposite. When we are careful about how we how our items don't damage others, how we're careful with someone else's um properties, how we're careful that we shouldn't cause harm to others, how we speak, that is showing that really Hashem is everywhere. And he's not just limited to the base measures, he's not just limited to he's not just limited to the cosmos, but he's hashem. And this is how the al finishes off. says again the quote from the Garra is who wants to be aid he should delve and study the words of Nazik and damages. Why? Because in it is the rule and the ideals of the entire Torah. How in the rules of damages is there everything in the Torah that the Torah has to teach us. How in the rules of damages is there the whole ideal of the Torah is in the rules of damages. And the idea is exactly this. Because if a person could truly live with Hashem in every moment of his life, even in the mundane things, even in his secular existence, then certainly he will live with God as the God of Shay. Certainly he'll live with God in the spiritual realms. Certainly he'll be careful with God in the higher realms. But if you're only living with God in the higher realms, you're only thinking about Hashem when you're doing mitzvah and when you're when you're when you're serving God, but you're not careful about how you think you're not thinking about God when you're how when you're interacting with others, then you're not you're missing the boat. You're not really doing the service that Hashem wants of us. But if you are careful to be kind to others, to be careful with others, to make sure that you don't hurt others, and you're living with the awareness of Hashem in every place you go, in every step you take, then certainly, of course, you're going to live with Hashem in the base medish when you're learning, when you're ding in the spiritual realms. So the way to make sure to be encompassing the entire value and the entire ideal of the Torah is to bring it all the way down to your mundane life. bring it all the way down to your everyday existence. And in that way, you're bringing Hashem into that space. You're bringing Hashem into the higher spaces. And you are truly doing what Hashem desires of you. And that is the true ideal of a somebody who is pious, somebody who is doing kindness to Hashem. Someone who is truly pious is a we and conscious of what God cares about and that is everything. how we treat one another, how we act towards one another to make sure that we don't cause harm to one another and of course how we pray, how we learn, how we dab and how we do everything. And if you can live with that consciousness and that awareness of 247 then you are in fact a true