Vaera - Getting Godly Powers

You're listening to the weekly para podcast with Ari Goldwag recorded with writing assistance in 5786 2026. This week's part is part of Hashem has a conversation with Mosha Rabenu and tells him that although power was going to resist, although it's going to be a tough time for the Jewish people, he will let out the Jewish people ultimately. He will experience all kinds of signs and wonders. And you, Hashem says to Moshe, meaning you will be somebody will have power over parro. Hashem says to Moshe, actually, behold, I've made you a god over Pharaoh. And when you read theim, so theim continue and talk about how he's going to be like a god to Pharaoh. Aaron is going to be the nvi, the prophet through whom Moshe speaks. Mosha is going to tell Hashem is going to speak to Moshe. Mosha is going to speak to Aon. Aaron is going to speak to parro. And they're going to do all of the wonders. And eventually parro is going to let the Jewish people out of Egypt. But the interesting thing and we're going to discuss today, we're going to try to understand is the fact that Hashem says, "I've made you to be like a god, an Elohim to Pharaoh." What does that mean? So in a simple understanding, the word means a powerful one as we saw last week. So it can mean the one who judges, right? That name is used when we speak about Hashem as the judge, as the one who we experience Hashem as bringing about justice. We've done something wrong. Hashem interacts with us accordingly. So, parro is going to have a judge and his name is Moshe, right? Moshe is going to be like a judge to parro. He's going to bring about judgments upon parro. is going to be the vehicle through which Hashem sends the makos the plagues. Now there's two parts to this medish. The first part I'm debating if I should read it extensively. The second part is the main part which brings us back to Moshe and an understanding of what it means that Hashem says that he is a god to Pharaoh. But the first part is also important. It seems unrelated but it's very much related. I'd like to read it to you. Say famous famous verse raise up O gates your head. The auron the auron was the the ark of the covenant and it had upon it the kuim the cherabs and inside of it was the Torah and the the l the original tablets of Moshe the broken las were inside. So when was building the bdash he had built it he was now bringing it he was bringing the in. So he said he's trying to bring the in right which really means the essence the center the spiritual center of the ba mikdash of the temple is the holy of holies what's in the holy of holies the ark of the covenant right because this is the place which represents the the relationship that hashem has between him himself and the Jewish people and the relationship is forged around the Torah. The Torah is that which is our obligations to Hashem, right? So he wants to bring it into the holy of holies. He wants to bring it into that space. He wants to establish our relationship in this world with Hashem. But now the thing is like this. He had to say, "Oh gates, open up. Open up your gates." [sighs and gasps] Now why did he have to say open the gates? There was something that was there was a problem. Professor Amos he made he made a box within which as M for explained he placed the ar of Mosher Rabenu he made a larger box that that he placed within it the the ar of Mosher Rabenu which is very interesting because I never heard this before but here it is and it was 10 high it was 10 cubits high the Mishkum was a much smaller structure the sanctuary in the wilderness the bamedish that King Solomon built was much larger much taller. So he made this box 10 cubits. He had made a miscalculation. The box that he made was 10 cubits and the entrance of the md was 10 cubits. It was precisely 10. It couldn't get in. He couldn't get it in. They were also carrying it, right? It had to be carried. So it was it was a little higher. It wouldn't fit. So he tried to bring it in. He couldn't do it. And by the way, we need to understand here that I don't know if the story is literal or not. It doesn't really matter to me. But conceptually what it's saying is that there's a challenge when it comes to the the consummation of the relationship of the Jewish people to Hashem. How we can't fit both. The ark of the covenant is something that represents Hashem's will for us, right? And it's in it's contained within the Tyra which is contained within this box which is contained within another box. And the basish is the place where we serve Hashem, right? And somehow it seems like you can't you can't really you can't how can we exist in the face of Hashem's will? We lose our existence, right? That's I I believe what the Medish is trying to say. And as we'll see from the second part of the Medish, which relates back to our para, it's clearly what's going on. So he couldn't get it in. How do I get Hashem's will in to a place where I also have my will. I also have my desires was embarrassed. Right? On the on the simple level, he made the box too big. It didn't fit. He didn't know what to do. So what does he do? How do we get out of this issue where we have our will, we have hem's will and it's very hard that the twain shall meet his we started praying started ding in front of Hashem and it's interesting what his looked like right first of all when we d if we're ding correctly we're not just asking for what we want but we're we're showing we're proving as we spoke about in the podcast a few weeks ago we're proving and and and kind of stating that Hashem I know I can't do this. I know that you can. I know Hashem that you are the one who can provide me with parnasa with my livelihood. You are the one who can provide me with wisdom. You can cure me all the things that we ask for. You can bring back the bd to Jerusalem to so he starts ding. Now what was his amazing thing? He went and he brought the casket of King David his father. Okay was dead. He brings his casket in and he said, "Hashem, God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one." Amazing thing happens. Okay, but let's see the scene. Let's kind of try to picture it. Okay, someone can't get in with the he can't he can't finish the B mikdash. The entire the entire show is waiting. He wants to get it in as it's meant to be as as he's envisioned it. He brings the casket of King David, his father. He says, "Hashem, in the in the really is what he's saying. In the merit of my father, King David, I clearly don't have the merit. I I made a mistake. Maybe we could say my ego was too big. Look how he look how he limits his own self by saying do it in the merit of my father. The indication of the is don't turn away the face of your anointed one. That brought actually to face the bdash king David in his casket. At that moment, King David came back to life. When he was alive, he wrote a speaking about the fact that God will raise him up from the depths will raise him up from his death. He gives him life. So came back to life. We have to know what this means. But conceptually what it means, [sighs] we'll we'll explain in a second. He comes back to life and says, "In the merit of my father, King David, open the gates." Open the gates also there. Remember [clears throat and cough] remember the kindnesses of of David your servant. So Schlomma says, "I don't have the merit. I can't do it on my own. I need the merit of my father." He humbles himself. King David comes to life. His who what was the essence of King David of David? His name is Daled Vidal. Dallas le of his own. He completely completely gave himself up for Hashem. He was all about he was the ultimate servant king. Completely gave himself up. He was just there for Hashem to manifest through the Jewish people, through him and through the Jewish people. That was his entire essence. That was who he was. That's what he did. Invokes his father, invokes that aspect. In order for us to have a relationship with Hashem, we got to start off clearly. You got to You want to get in the door? I want to get in the door with my big ego. [laughter] I got to say, Hashem, I give it to you. I give you my ego. I'm ready to do what you want. Was immediately answered immediately after this invoking bringing his father's casket casket invoking the the merit and kindness of King David. That's when Hashem appeared as it were. The fire came down and it consumed. He was able to get the the ark, the box into the door in a miraculous manner and Hashem's honor filled the entire house. Says in that he praises those who are dead that are already dead more so than the people who are alive. Right? The person who is alive still has their ego. David Hamelik was brought out to remind Schlommo perhaps you could say of where we're going. Remind that reminder. How do we get into a place of shiflus to a place of subservience to Hashem to place of of ego deflation? It happens by remembering this. King Solomon said, "Okay, gates you can open up now and let the king of honor come through." So the the gates said, "Hold on a second. Who is this king of honor that you're talking about? You talking about yourself?" No. He says, he says, "No, Hashem, the Lord of hosts. He is the king of honor. That's who I'm talking about. So once the gates didn't want to let him through, the gates did not want to let the through but once he made it clear that it's not about he's not the king of honor. Hashem is the king of honor. So they backed off says if not for the fact that he had made it clear he's not talking about himself the gates would have trampled him. They would have destroyed him. Right? The ego of a person has the power to destroy. The only path in especially someone as great as Schlamel, King Solomon, the only path in, the only way to be a great king as we saw that Yoseph was through ultimate humility, ultimate recognition that everything is Hashem. Everything is Hashem. Okay. So, this is a powerful lesson. And with this idea, we're going to have a real depth in what it means that Hashem says to Moshe, "I'm making you a god over Pharaoh." What does that mean exactly? How does a person become godly? How does that happen? Because I learn a lot and I become very uh aridite well-versed in Torah. That does that make me into a god? That's not what we're going to see together. There's a another explanation which is really the same concept says who is the king of honor. Why is Hashem referred to as the king of honor? So I mean we can we can talk about what this means exactly. The king of honor in the it means is the honored king is the one who we honor. Excuse me. The measure says something different. covenant. Why is Hashem called the king of honor? He's called a king of honor because he gives honor li to those who fear him, to those who stand in awe of God. And we'll see what does it mean to fear God. What does what does Hashem mean? What does it mean? We're afraid as Westerners, we're afraid of the concept of fear. Fear of God even. We're afraid of talking about fear because we don't like like to be fearful. We have an aversion to fear. So let's talk about awe and we'll understand what is this idea of hashem because it's important because if you want to be godly you need to have ya you need to have fear of hashem or awe of hashem and we need to know what it looks like. What does it mean? And what happens when a person has fear of hashem? Hashem gives them honor. We're not after honor. That's not what we're looking for. But we're after the real honor which say who is honored the one who honors others. Right. Right. Who do we give who do we have respect for? We respect people who respect us. A rebby a rv who respects us. We have respect for them right that's natural. So how does a person get real respect? Not you can't grab respect. You lose people lose respect when you try to grab respect, right? But Hashem gives honor. Hashem gives a sense of respect to the person. He gives that covet. Why? Because they are they are the ones who fear Hashem. What does that mean? Kadri has a beautiful idea. If you have a human king, so a human king, don't ride on his horse. Don't sit on his throne. You can't do that. If you do that, you're going to be in trouble. But does the opposite. Hashem, so to speak, shares the throne. Hashem shares his horse. We'll see what that means. Hashem placed King Solomon on his own throne. What does that mean? Says that King Solomon sat on the throne of God and he was the king. So somehow it's possible to sit on the throne of God to get the actual honor of Hashem to act in a godly way. I would say was able to do that. Why? Cuz he was called. He was one who feared Hashem also. Another place that we see this as the medish is with Elijah the prophet Elio sat on the horse. He rode on Hashem's horse. What does that mean? Says, "What is the horse of Hashem as it were? What's that horse? What does it mean that God has a horse? Sufa the measure says and I believe that the word sus which means a horse it's it has a just like we said is and the sam and the sam are sufa vis which means a storm and a whirlwind. The other day I was it was raining and it was thunder and lightning and I was holding my kid my son. He was almost three. And the thunder echoed and he grabbed me tightly. He was afraid. I said, "We're okay." But Hashem rides on the the thunderous storm and on the whirlwind. Hashem makes his entrance. Hashem rides through. Sometimes Hashem appears in a whirlwind in a in a frightening way. But there's a storm. There's a a whirlwind. And under his feet, as it were, there's a cloud of of of dust. So that's Hashem. Hashem rides on that, so to speak. Hashem appears. We experience Hashem sometimes in a where Hashem comes in as a scary god. Shim Elijah the prophet before he went on from this world he he was still alive when he left the world he rose up on a on a whirlwind the puss says so we see that Elio Anovi also had that mida right we know the whole story or maybe we don't know had the mida of calling the Jewish people to task in a very fiery way in order to get them to recognize that Hashem is the one who has the power. So, Hashem allows to ride on his horse, so to speak. Uh, human king, you can't use his scepter. Don't touch his scepter. With his scepter, he decides who will live and who will die. Hashem gave his scepter to Moses says he takes the the staff. Moses has a special staff. It says on it. It says on it the initials of the 10 plagues. And Mashiach one day is going to have that same staff. But how is the staff referred to? It's referred to as the staff of God. It's God's staff. And a staff is a staff of justice, right? Moshe uses that staff and brings about plagues upon the Egyptians. It brings death to the Egyptians. Brings life to the Jewish people. That scepter, a king, a human king, you cannot wear his crown. the melsiach. Hashem will allow his own crown to be worn by the king Messiah, the Messiah. [clears throat and cough] What is a crown? Crown represents the fact that this person is raised above, right? He's on a higher plane. But really, the crown of Hashem says, "I am the one who's at the root of everything. I'm raised above everything. I am higher than everything but I also infuse everything. And Mashiach's job is to wear that same crown. Hashem is above everything and infuses everything. Refers to we reference it. What is Hashem's crown? It's a golden crown says the song of songs. Hashem on his head as it were has a golden crown. The crown shows that Hashem is ris rises above us says in Psalms that on Mashiach's head is the same golden crown says a human king you can't wear his clothes you can't wear the royal garments but the Jewish people who are called are called the ones who fear Hashem We are called the ones who represent Hashem in this world. Bring Hashem into the world. [snorts] We wear Hashem's clothes. Where do you see this? What is Hashem's clothes? It's strength. Hashem wears the the strength is that which guards him. Strength is his clothing. Hashem gives it to the people of Israel, right? We have a certain strength. Interestingly, is the same letter as we have a certain brazeness. We have a certain we're going to get through it all despite them knocking us down. We keep picking ourselves up. Hashem gives us strength. Gives us that spiritual brazeness and that's how we get to peace. That's how we get ultimately to peace. But the idea here is I was thinking about it also the mag doesn't say this but I was thinking about it in terms of the fact that the says we wear a crown they will see that Hashem's name is called upon us right if we're wearing the clothes of Hashem what it really means is and it's the the the tell us it's they see that we have the on and they're afraid of us that's the name of Hashem being called upon us but what it really means is we Understand what? Right. The fillain is like a crown. It sits on top of the head. It reminds us that Hashem is the power, the source of our power. Hashem gives us that power. We wear it on our on our sleeve, so to speak. Hashem is the one who gives us the power. With Hashem's help, we will succeed. Right? That's the power. They see it. The nations of the world see that even when we're fighting, even when we're going out to war, it's the power of Hashem that's manifesting. They see that. They recognize it. It's it's supernatural, right? A flesh and blood king, do not use his name. If he's called Caesar Augustus, don't adopt his name. say if you will use his name they'll they'll kill that person whoever does that now we finally come back to Hashem calls Moshe by his own name behold I've made you a god to to par to Pharaoh and the message finishes off by contrasting Moshe what's the difference between Moshe and parro parro is also a mighty individual. In fact, Moshe is asking him permission to let the Jewish people out. He doesn't just like say we're leaving. Power is a mighty individual. But Moshe has a different kind of power. Excuse me. Hashem says to the evil, wicked one made himself to be a god. He made himself to be a god. Buzzik says in that pharaoh said the Nile is mine. I made myself. I'm a self-made man. All the power that I have is mine. He he was disconnected from Hashem. He was completely it's my power that does it. Hashem says to Moshe, "I want Parro thinks that he gave himself the power, but you have the real power, which is my power. I want parro to meet somebody who's infused with true godliness, who really is godly. I want parro to see that this is the the coming together of Mosha and parro is a is is the difference between the ultimate hubris the ultimate ego and the destruction of that ego by somebody who is the ultimate humility whose ultimate y hashem and here's where we come to understanding what does it mean to be someone who fears god as he said with he couldn't get in with his ego he could only get into the ba mdash by invoking his father invoking the power the life of someone whose life was dal nothing of his own nothing of his own David understood that his power was only from Hashem Mosher Rabenu understood that his power was only from Hashem he was godly he had the power of Hashem because he was nothing he had no ego was the anomal he's the ultimate humble individual in each of these examples rides the horse of Hashem. Why? Because he has nothing of his own. All he cares about is doing Hashem's will grabs the staff, the mateim. He's just a a tool. He's just he himself is just a staff as it were in the hands of Hashem. The Jewish people, we wear the clothing of Hashem. What does it mean? It means that we are reflecting Hashem's light into the world. We are we are completely subservient to Hashem. That's what it means to be a y Hashem. It means to to say Hashem, not that Hashem is my God doing, you know, God please do my will all the way around. It's I am your man, Hashem. I am God's man. I'm Hashem's person. I'm here to do whatever you Hashem want. I'm completely I bow to you. I bow to you God. Whatever you say, that's what a Hashem means. When we completely humble ourselves in front of Hashem, when we completely seek Hashem's will, then the nations of the world see it. There's just a godliness about us. We're not here in Israel because the Jews need our own state to protect ourselves. We're here in Israel because this is where Hashem wants us. We're here because this is where we fulfill the will of Hashem properly. We're here because this is about reflecting God's light into the world, being a light unto the nations. When they see that, they run away. That's where the real peace comes. Not with the war. It comes with the recognition of who we are. And then Hashem's light shines through us. That's what it means to be a yas. Hashem. I want to bless you. I ask you to bless me. Hashem should help us that we should be able to be Hashem fearing of Hashem. We should have that sense like recognize who our parents were, who we come from, those who served Hashem, those who serve Hashem. Should help us to be like a Raenu walking in with humility. That's in that way we will be like gods. We will become godly people. Thank you so much for listening. I'm wonderful Shamus. This podcast was [music] made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you. For more podcasts like this, please visit www.argoldwag.com [music] or search on iTunes Arig Goldwag.