What are Houses of Faith? - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Fellowship

shalom my friends i remember hearing the analogy of the lobster in a pot full of water the temperature is slowly increased one slow degree at a time and the lobster doesn't even realize because it's gradual and by the time he realizes what's happening he's being cooked in boiling water and it's too late as i look at what's happening in america and around the world that's what i'm seeing things that would have been ludicrous and unimaginable just a year ago are happening before our eyes and it seems like too many people are simply not seeing it i mean imagining that a barbaric looking horned tattooed guy would be standing at the senate plenum and that the president of the united states and scores others would be expelled from every social media platform and that out of the closet israel haters and jew haters would be gaining prominent seats in the congress the senate and the halls of power of the united states would have been unimaginable and now we see it happening before our eyes i'm not going to claim that i know definitively where all this is going but one thing i believe with my whole heart is that it's not going to a very good place and the extreme and unprecedented division and polarization and hate in america is only getting worse it feels like we're watching the unraveling of one of the greatest countries in world history that we're watching real time the decline of america from a global superpower to a nation that's eating itself alive and being that america is still currently the global superpower in some ways the capital of america is the capital of the world and as freedom and liberty in america goes so will go freedom and liberty for the rest of mankind and while i'm concerned for every american for every god-fearing person in the world being both a student of world history and jewish history i'm particularly concerned for the jews in america and throughout the diaspora because without going into every eventuality and scenario i can say that when things get really bad for a country they get even worse for the jews therein and no matter how strongly jews may think that they side with and are activists for one side or another they always seem to forget what history has shouted from the rooftops that in the end of the day we are not left or right we're not conservatives or liberals but we're jews whether we like it or not and so we see in this week's torah portion the jews went down to egypt and brought with them blessing and success and salvation for the egyptians the jews cleaved to egypt the torah tells us they really made it their home they believed it was their home then a new pharaoh arose in egypt who did not know joseph and the hebrews were taxed and singled out and persecuted slowly they didn't even realize it was happening to them before it was too late and they were full-fledged slaves to the egyptians but this didn't stop the suspicion and fear the egyptians had of them and pharaoh ordered the execution of every male baby born in egypt and he ordered this genocidal decree to be carried out by the midwives who delivered the babies and this is what i want to talk to you about there were two primary midwives shifra and pu'ah and there's much discussion about who they were and what really happened regarding them but what everybody agrees upon is that they were brave heroes who put their lives at risk to defy pharaoh's orders and save the lives of as many jewish babies as they could now rabbi sacks brought a perspective to my attention that i want to focus on with you today he brought down the perspective of both the abar banel as well as shmuel david david luzado who were two great sages of israel and according to these two great rabbis shiphra and puah were not jews at all they explained that these midwives were described ambiguously as hamila dota evryot which some define as hebrew midwives but they define as midwives to the hebrews meaning that they themselves weren't hebrews but they were midwives to the hebrews and that it wouldn't have made sense for pharaoh to appoint hebrew midwives to implement this horrific deed because pharaoh simply could not have expected hebrew midwives to murder the male babies of their own people's children so the command was given to non-jewish midwives to commit this horrific genocide and what did these heroic non-jewish midwives do they defied orders at risk of their own lives these midwives were ordered to commit a crime against humanity and for the first time in history these righteous gentiles who could have claimed they were just following orders refused laying the groundwork for the schindlers and the wallenbergs and the corrie ten booms of history to endanger their lives and more often than not sacrifice them in order to protect jews and save them rabbi sachs explains that when moshe abbey knew moses was told by god to say to pharaoh my son my firstborn israel he was essentially saying to the most powerful leader in the world who considered god by himself by his people much of the world considered him god he was saying that while these israelites may be your slaves first and foremost they're my children the children of the living god of israel and but by defying pharaoh's explicit commands these midwives not through their words but through their actions were saying that they answered to a higher authority than pharaoh himself they answered to god creator of heaven and earth and by standing with israel they were casting their lots with israel and tying their fate together with the fate of the nation of israel even if that meant a most probable death and how were they rewarded for this courage and courageous and revolutionary act of faith shalom broad pointed out that the torah tells us elohim that the midwives feared god and they were rewarded and hashem blessed them with houses and while there are many different interpretations to what that means different dimensions of understanding the ishbitsarabhi explains that these houses refer to tranquility of mind which hashem provided them with as a reward for their fear of him above all else due to the fact that they recognize that hashem alone is the master of the world the ultimate authority hashem blessed them with these internalized spiritual houses of faith within which they they could take refuge within their own hearts they were able to to hide within these homes allowing them to continue doing what was right and true without the otherwise crippling and paralyzing fear of pharaoh the mortal king as i've shared with before maimonides explains that the greatest distance of the world is the distance between your head and your heart you can know a truth but to truly and completely internalize that truth into the very fiber of your being well that's a different story that's what i believe the holy ishpitzer is saying that due to their faith in hashem they were blessed from above with the complete internalization of hashem's sovereignty allowing them internal peace and tranquility during times that would otherwise be fraught with fear and doubts now one thing i believe the torah shows us is that no matter how often the jewish people rebel against god and disobey god and the torah does not hide the multitudes of times in which we have that no matter what god loves the jewish people unconditionally and blesses those who bless the jewish people and protects those who protect the jewish people we even see an interesting illustration of this in this week's torah portion when moses encounters god at the bush he expresses doubts doubts about his own ability to ability to lead but also doubts about whether the people would believe him at all in the beginning of chapter four we see that moses says replied they will not believe me they will not listen to me they will say god did not appear to you and so god gives him three signs the first is his staff turning into a snake the second his hand becoming white is snow with leprosy and the third a goblet of water turning into blood now if you look carefully the first sign and the third the staff snake and the water blood are actually used as signs both for the israelites and for pharaoh himself but the second his hand turning into leprosy is never used at all how do we make sense of this what is this telling us the sages explain that later on miriam was punished with leprosy for speaking for speaking negatively about moshe they point out that leprosy is a specific punishment for the sin of lashon hara and that the second sign of moshe's hand becoming leprous was not a sign at all but it was a punishment a punishment for him speaking negatively of the nation of israel of him saying that when the time came that the people of israel wouldn't believe when in fact we see that they did and the sages explain that he was also punished measure for measure that he said that the israelites would not believe and toward the end of his life when he hit the rock rather than speaking to it as he was commanded god himself says to him that he cannot enter the land because as we see in numbers 2012 because you did not believe in me so extreme in exacting is the divine punishment of speaking negatively of the jewish people of not believing in the jewish people no matter how convincing the evidence is otherwise and so while we're blessed to have a holy mix of jews and non-jews a beautiful mix of people in this fellowship i share this message with our non-jewish brothers and sisters in particular because we're going forward into very scary and confusing times and you very well may face opportunity to stand with the jews and protect jews even if it would mean real danger to you and your families and while there may not be reason to give of why the jews may be deserving of such sacrifice loving the jewish people and believing in the jewish people is loving and believing in god himself and god makes clear starting in genesis 12 and continuing through the very end we can make all show just about that and so i want to bless all of you i want to bless all of you because in my heart i know that you're all already there that in egypt you would have hidden the jewish baby boys just as you would have hidden the jews in nazi germany and so many countless times in between and so my blessing to you is that during these times when the temperature is increasing one degree at a time as we approach boiling during these times of growing danger and threats that hashem should build you houses houses of internalized courage and strength houses of peace and tranquility which you and your families can take refuge in during the unstable and even chaotic times ahead may hashem bless you my friends may hashem bless you and protect you we love you all very much shalom back to you jeremy