The Only Key That Can Unlock Victory in Israel - Tehila & Jeremy Gimpel: Land of Israel Fellowship

one of the most remarkable things about the Tanakh which is different than any other spiritual scripture that I know of is that there is a constant focus on how the people of Israel are called to be better every time something bad happens to us it's never God's fault it's never the enemy's fault it's always our responsibility and the action is always inward saying what did we do wrong how can we repent how can we emerge stronger from this catastrophe how do we realign ourselves how do we return to the path that we're destined to walk it's always a reflexive response going inside and since October 7th I can't help but just constantly asking myself how did we get it so wrong you read the news articles and it's mindblowing how just the intelligence agencies that were wrong and they had the information but they didn't act on the information and they had the information but they didn't send it to the government and why didn't the Government Act and how did the billion dooll fence I mean the fence that was made there the most technological Border in the whole world was just walked through there's actually one video I was trying to find that I couldn't find it but there's like a man an older an elderly man on crutches that's walking through the fence you're like the most technologically advanced fence and there's just this old gauen man that's going to plunder the Jews that have been attacked by the militants and you're like the fence couldn't stop the old man on crutches like something has to have happened here that we need to look deep inside and all throughout the Torah there is a key there is one thing more than any other thing one attribute that more than any other other attribute that defines our success in the land of Israel I just want to really drive this point home I want to watch this video of the just the hubris the arrogance sounding the music behind it about the achievement of the most technological fence in all of the world look like the Titanic all over again [Music] call [Music] [Applause] the most sophisticated thing from here to Athens from Australia the amount of concrete the amount of iron this is the most amazing fence that's going to protect I am here to declare the security and safety of the people of Israel and who is going to save us the fence is going to protect us and I can't help but look to Deuteronomy chapter 8 and it's the get-go Moses's final speech to the people of Israel as you enter into the land then you may say in your heart my power and the might of my hand have gained me this success and you shall remember the Lord your God for it is he who gives you power to succeed that he may establish his Covenant which he swore to your fathers as it is this day then it shall be if you by any means forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and serve them and worship them I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish so God is saying I'm making a testimony here the verses right before say and your heart will be lifted so high you'll become so arrogant to think that your strength and your power and your technology and your fence the people literally just walked through the fence they just walked through yeah they had tunnels that went down to stop the walls and the security cameras but in the end they just took a big tractor and made a hole in the fence and people just walked through because if we are so arrogant the essence of arrogance is forgetting God in fact I would posit that you cannot really truly be a good person if you don't believe in God and I a lot of people like well hell I know a lot of good people that they're but not really because if you don't believe in God and you're very smart and you're very talented and you have an amazing fence and you have great technology then really what are you you're just arrogant inherently because my power and my strength and my engineers and my technology ology and my success is from me me me and then God says I want you to know that's the one thing the one thing I'm telling you before you enter into the land of Israel is don't let your heart be lifted up and don't say my power and my strength will bring me our success in the land of Israel the key attribute is humility and humility is inherently connected to our belief in a higher power saying who gave me my strength who gave gave me my intelligence who gave me my wisdom who gave me my life God that humility can only come from a place of acknowledging a higher power that humility which is essential to our success in the land of Israel can only come from God and who is to teach us that the leader of Israel that's going to bring us into the land and prepare us for 40 years along the journey and with that I wanted to introduce you to helig gimpel he taught me this and it is exactly the answer to everything that we've spoken up until now the Cure or the keys to our success in the land of Israel are actually encoded all throughout the life of Moser raenu of Moses and tahila puts it all together through the Hebrew language in a way that I've never seen before and you will absolutely love this so I want to revisit an idea that we started talking about a few weeks ago and I want to develop it a little further I want to argue that the character of Moses mosha rabenu the one who has chosen to take us from point A to point B of Exile to redemption in his life can reveal to us the keys that are necessary for that journey and if ever there was a time that we needed the key to that Journey it's certainly now so this idea relates to this week's portion but really to all of the Torah from the book of Exodus and on till the end is a kind of meta idea that I think that can highlight for us in our own spiritual lives and as our na in as part of our you know Collective National lives uh how to go from that place of Exile spiritually and physically to a place of redemption and inheritance of the land of Israel so you know as we're reading these portions about the plagues it's hard to avoid this word that keeps repeating itself in English the punishments that are rained down on Egypt are referred to as plagues but in Hebrew they're called makot which literally means hits to be stricken to be like swacked and the hitting is not just in the description of the plagues there's this constant Act of actual physical striking like in uh chapter 7 verse 20 mosha literally hits the water to turn it into blood and uh you know 811 they're called to hit the earth to to make the the lice and so you know the mot are physically and spiritually whooping the Egyptians and the way that they're brought about is this actual physical symbolic Act of hitting and now what's so interesting is that if we look back to the beginning of motion life it's not the first time we see this repetitive appearance of this word Maca to strike so we don't know that much about M's early life growing up in Pharaoh's Palace we only see this snapshot of these two days in his entire life as a young man in Egypt that's it and both stories interestingly enough are characterized by this particular word in chapter 2:1 we see that mosha grows up and it says it came to pass in those days that Moshe grew up and went out to his brothers and looked at their burdens and he saw an Egyptian man man striking a Hebrew man of his brothers now it says that he turned this way and that way and he saw there was no man you know some people understand that as like he saw that he wouldn't get in trouble but you know our sages teaches that he saw that there was no one being the man that needed to be there in that moment to fight up against you know fight against the the evil and the oppression so he did it and then he it says in verse 12 he struck the Egyptian and hid him in the sand now notice that these two verses describing the very first day we meet Moshe as like a person not a baby it uses this word it was the Egyptian giving a makah to the Hebrew like striking the Hebrew and Moshe striking the Egyptian now there are a million billion words that could have been used to say this thing could have said the Egyptian was abusing or killing or there's all these different words that can be used again why the same word that we're going to see again in the plagues now what's so interesting is in general we know that Mosa's most prominent attribute as a human being is a humble person the Torah says he was the most humble person in the world now I always thought M was humble it's like like he was born that way that's why Hashem chose him but if you look at the very few you know few verses that we have about him it does not seem obvious that his inherent natural personality is characterized by this kind of timidity that you would imagine a really humble person having according to these verses he steps out in the world he sees evil he sees oppression he looks around sees no one's being a man he's like well I'm going to be a man I'm going to fight against evil and he strikes the Egyptian and he makes this like act of heroic vigilante justice what does it mean to strike he's like changing reality and now you would imagine obviously Pharaoh's not going to be so happy about this so he buries them in the sand now you might say fine you know maybe he was usually humble and Tim timid and this was just like an exception this was like a different day but if that was true you know if this was just an exception in his personality he would go out and lay low but the verse says that the next day he goes out to do it again he goes out to like what does he think is going to happen that it's going to be really nice out there he knows he's going to see evil again in the world so he goes out again but now it's deeper than that think about this mosha buried the Egyptian in the sand but who so the Egyptian couldn't tell the tale but who could tell the tale that Jew that he saved now I imagine he thinks of two possibilities either the Jew is you know going to tell his brothers listen this most amazing thing happened to me this guy saved me and uh you know but they'll be so like scared they'll just kind of lay low and keep it to themselves or maybe it would start some sort of Grassroots Rebellion right like people be like hey we can fight against our oppressors that's amazing let's call that guy and maybe he'll be our leader and so you know those are kind of like the two options I imagined mosha envisioning but neither of those happen he goes out the next day seemingly ready to keep on tackling evil in the world and what happens is he sees two Jewish people fighting and he says hey why are you guys fighting like there's so many more important things to be doing we have Egypt to fight against why are you fighting with each other now the verses are short but you can imagine there's a whole conversation there like guys come on really let's try to have some Unity let's do some chuva let's do some repentance now what do they say to him it says he went out in verse 13 in uh chapter 2 it says he went out on the second day and behold two Hebrew men were quar and he said to them uh Wicked one why why would you strike your friend now it doesn't say in the actual story that they were striking one another that's his words meaning we're again seeing this word of Maka what's bothering him is like why are you guys striking each other the second story in his life has again this repeated word of hitting and then what does the guy answer Moshe he says who made you a man a prince and a judge over us do you plan to slay me as you've slain the Egyptian and then Moses became frightened and said indeed the matter has become known and then it says in verse 15 Pharaoh heard of this incident and he sought to slay Moses so Moses fled from before pharaoh and he stayed in the land of Midian and he sat down by a well so now you can imagine Moses thinking look you know there's a guy who was a witness to this killing of the Egyptian but he's probably going to be grateful right and what he finds out is not only that the guy wasn't grateful and quiet not only did they talk about it not only did that not start some kind of gratitude or Grassroots Rebellion or some sort of like at least you know uh kindness towards him it actually led to them doing the exact opposite of betraying him to Egypt to the actual oppressor and you know like the way that they're looking at mosha is certainly not as the most humble men they're saying what are you are a boss like what they're they're being terribly oppressed by the Egyptians and their biggest fear is that mosha is somehow oppressing them by like being a little bit bossy and telling them not to fight they dig in the knife so deep and they say mosha we know what you did like what are they hinting it's like a very thinly Veiled Threat that they're going to go behind his back and tell the king and then in verse 15 they really do that I meaning there's no way that Pharaoh heard about it except for from a Jew because the only witness that actually was there was that Jew that got away because the Egyptian was killed and buried in the sand so you have these slaves being tyrannized by this horrible government but they themselves go rat out mosha to that very government and at that point that he runs away because this is not what he envisioned right like that he would help people and have the best of intentions and then his very brothers that he's trying to help would betray him and then he can't even turn back and go back home and say forget about these Jews I'll go back and be a good Egyptian because his own father pharaoh who raised him as like as if he was his father has already rejected him and wants to kill him too can you imagine Mosa's feeling you know a lot of psychologists will say that you know um that that like the greatest traumas are not from bad things happening to you but they're from this feeling of just like helplessness in the face of horrible things happening and so you have this kind of terribly helpless and alone feeling that mosha has and so there's something so interesting happening in the story the story is showing us that it wasn't that mosha was just coincidentally genetically predisposed to be the most humble person in the world he became humble he was humbled the way you become the leader of Israel the way that you become worthy of redemption is by becoming humble and you know he had this audacity and courage and moral Clarity but he just wasn't at least perceived by his brothers as being humble but then we know him later to be the most humble person on Earth how did he get there it was from the most humbling experience on Earth of being rejected by everyone of everything you try doing just failing and then Moshe is in the desert he's practically starving to death he went from being a prince to Total homelessness and he just barely manages to kind of put Cobble together a life for himself in Midian and then Moshe is at the bush and Hashem tells him go strike at the Empire go hit parro isn't he not like the person who's supposed to be like yes finally I've been waiting for this but he's been so humbled that he doesn't have it in him anymore and Hashem says no no no no you don't understand what real humility is supposed to be it's not supposed to lead you to inaction it says that the Lord said to him this is in chapter uh 4: 11 he says who gave man a mouth who makes one Dum or deaf or blind is it not I hasem you know uh and it says in verse 12 so now go I will be with your mouth I will instruct you you what you shall speak what we see here is that there's this characteristic of humility it's as if the story is saying to us that mosha started out his life with conceptually the right idea and the right plan and the right moral Clarity but not necessarily the exact precise spiritual posture that's needed because Hashem hadn't told him to go strike the Egyptian and now this isn't obviously a critique on mosha like as if I can criticize mosha mosha on his work day is obviously a spiritual Giant and better than any of us on our best day but you know in order to tackle the giant task of redeeming Israel someone has to be more than just amazing they have to be like a perfectly tuned instrument and this characteristic of humility we're being taught needs to be perfectly refined and what is it to be perfectly refined in that there was the way that mosha was in the beginning which is like yes I can do this why don't we strike back at the empire you don't see him Consulting Hashem or being Guided by Hashem or being concerned with Hashem or telling people this is hashem's will or speaking in the name of Hashem we see him just doing this on his own and then we see him at the bush he's become crushed he's become crushed by his life and he just says him yeah send whoever you're going to send and he he's become so humbled that he has no strength left in him to act out Hashem says no no no there's a space between there and there there's the middle ground of knowing that Hashem is with you none of this is from you it's only from Hashem but that doesn't lead you to inaction that leads you to action but in knowledge that all of your strength comes from Hashem so now I feel like this would be a great place to stop except for that the rest of Mosa's life is characterized Again by hitting just like these first two episodes of hitting in his life one was like improper hitting of the Egyptians and one was the successful hitting of the Egyptians we have another pair one properly and one improperly because right in this coming week's paraa we see in chapter 177 verse vers 5 that the people want water what does Hashem say he's just finished striking the Egyptians it says the Lord said to Moshe pass before the people and take with you some of the Elders of Israel and take into your hand listen to this part your staff with which you struck the Nile and go says before I shall stand there before you behold I shall stand there before you on the Rock in horb and you will take you will strike the Rock and water will come out of it and the people will drink and then it says that Moshe did so before the the eyes of the Elders of Israel now the wording here is so interesting because Hashem emphasizes this is being done by Moshe but it says in the presence of Hashem now what's also really interesting is that Hashem says take the staff with which you struck the Nile meaning mosha only has one staff that we know of and he could have said like hey you know that staff you used to split the sea which is arguably a more impressive uh thing and certainly more recent he says to Moshe the one you used to strike the Nile how what did you use it to strike the Nile for that was to strike the Egyptians in the proper way that was when you had a complete understanding of your acting in the name of Hashem through the strength of Hashem so he says to mosha stay in that state of mind and in that state of mind you're going to strike the rock that's going to be your spiritual posture and then the next verse we see that it actually works because it says he named the place Masa and mariva because of the quarrel of the children of Israel and because of their testing of the Lord saying is the Lord in our midst or not meaning there was this certain doubt among Israel is Hashem here or not and in Moshe acting somehow it was clear to them that that wasn't mosha himself but that that was a sign of hashem's presence so meaning he was able to sanctify hashem's name in the actual like proof in the pudding that's how the people perceived it he was able to sanctify hashem's name because they saw that his actions were essentially a vessel for Hashem in the world so something about what was being done there leaves this impression on Israel that Hashem is in fact with them but then the end of the journey in bamidbar in the Book of Numbers in chapter 20 we hear again a similar story where Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation in front of the Rock and he said to them now listen you rebels can we draw water for you from this rock now there are endless you know explanations for what precisely went wrong here but just looking at this simple meaning there's really a presentation perhaps to the people that this is something that we are doing and then it says you know after that happened again the proof being in the pudding the the impact that that had on the people was not similar to the impact that it had on them the first time they did not suddenly say wow Hashem is with us Hashem says in verse 12 there the Lord said to Moses and Aaron since you did not have faith in me to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them for whatever reason and our sages have many many explanations for what ex precisely went wrong but whatever precisely went wrong the impression that was given over to the people was not one of them doing this second striking of the Rock in in a way that conveyed that it was really completely from Hashem he says mosha this is the reason that you're not the right leader to complete this Gula process this Redemption process of going into the land so now there's this very interesting and little know mid we spoke about this already on the death of mosha mosha is having an argument with Hashem and he doesn't want to die he wants to go into the land and he brings all his claims he say I'm better than Adam I didn't take any fruits and he says I'm better than Noah Noah didn't fight to save humanity and I fought to save the Jewish people I'm better than Abraham I didn't make ishma in the world and I'm better than Isaac I didn't make ASA in the world and he's bringing all of his arguments and's like no no no no no no and then he says what is it what have I done wrong why can't I keep on living and go into the land now seemingly you don't need a mides to answer this because you're like uh yeah we know the answer it's written in the verses you hit the rock what does the midus say it says that Hashem answers him it's because you killed the Egyptian that's a weird thing because we've never heard Hashem say anything bad about that and then Moshe says but you killed a ton of Egyptians and Hashem says but you're not God so now the way mid works is mid doesn't spoon feed us what it wants us to think the mid knows that you can think on your own so it sends you on a journey through the verses to try to come to the conclusion on their own and so when there's something here that you think it's supposed to say and then it points to a different answer what that's trying to show you is that those two things are connected there's a connection between the second hitting of The Rock and the first hitting of uh the Egyptian and so now if we look at it all together we have this beautiful nested structure the two bookend of moshe's Life are characterized by imperfect hitting of the Egyptian or the rock again not to say as if we can criticize Moshe he's the greatest person to have ever lived but as a lesson to us through the elements of their life they're something to teach us and so then the middle part of his life is characterized by two correct and perfectly refined hittings strikings Rosia is able to strike the Egyptians to strike the RO rock in a way that leads people to see Hashem in the world it leads the Egyptians on understand that there is Hashem leads the Jews to understand that hasem is giving them water and it's like this is a lesson for us to what exactly we need to refine in order to Merit Redemption and going into the land of Israel and the Torah is really clear on this because Moshe himself is really clear on this in devm Deuteronomy 8 mosha is preparing us there to come into the land and he tells us what is our biggest danger biggest danger in Israel not going to be your enemies not going to be natural disasters not going to be droughts the greatest danger we're going to face is our own success and wealth because what will that do to us it will cause our hearts to be hottie meaning the opposite of humility which is moshe's characteristic it says your heart will grow hotti in in chapter 8 it says and you'll forget the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt out of bondage and listen to this who led you through the great and awesome desert where there are snakes and Vipers and scorpions and drought and where there was no water who brought water for you out of a solid rock it's like drawing it all together he's like the lesson that I learned from the rock is the lesson that you need to learn from the rock which is the lesson that if you are going to strike at reality try to change reality try to make action in the world against evil the only way you can do it is from a place of perfectly perfected and tuned in humility where you understand that every action that you do can only be done through the strength that Hashem gives you and so he says if you don't remember that and you know this is the what you know it says in verse right after this that you you're going to start thinking that the strength of your hand has done all this for you we're warned that the outcome of that is we will perish in the land and so it's like giving us this warning saying pay attention to this story and understand that this is what needs to be refined to inherit the land and when we look at our current situation here in Isel we can so easily see that the characteristic of humility is what we are being driven to work on because just as Moshe did not start humble per se you know in in a perfected level of humbleness we certainly are not humble Israel has been brought to its knees with all of our technology and might and wealth literally a rag tag band of terrorists have brought us into such a painful and terrible situation and you know and that is certainly humbling and not to say humiliating and what that can do is you know that that humbling is a necessary part it's like the Torah is guiding us to understand that this is part of the plan being humbled is a necessary part of inheriting the land because you mustn't think that you have the strength and if you listen to there's just endless videos of all the different Army generals talking about how protected we are because we have cameras and because we have Technologies and because we have Iron Dome and you just hear these videos and you want to just go oh my God how could they H how could we all have been so hauy and not remembered that this is the like this is the ultimate message of the story of moshe's life this is the constant reminder that we have in the Torah is to refine this characteristic of humility but now what could happen to us in this situation we could just become crushed in our Spirits we can just say this is so hopeless like we've just tried to make our little wobbly need Nation we tried to make a good Nation we're trying to be good people and you know we've been so humbled H we just should give up and the lesson of moshe's life is the lesson that we get at the burning bush that says no no no no no to have refined humility is not to say I'm worthless and I'm nothing it's to say I can strike back at evil I can bring this makah I can bring this you know uh uh you know force that I will use my strength against darkness and evil in the world but it's only going to be effective if you take that message that Hashem gives mosha at the burning bush and we internalize that message that says who is going to be with your mouth who made you the way you are it's only me Hashem so we're able to say our success against our enemies and our strength is only going to come from Hashem that is what gives us our potential might and our potential to succeed so you know it's through this refinement not to not to fall from this terrible refinement that we're going through but to use it to bring to an an Attunement and a refinement of this Mida of this characteristic of humility in our relationship with Hashem and er Isel so with that I wish us all a good week and