What Happens When Your Goal in Life is To Acquire Wisdom and Responsibility with Rabbi Poston

[Music] Shalom Alim everybody welcome back welcome home to Torah I can't say welcome back to the the Y because we're no longer for just the last few weeks and maybe who knows how long because we're here in the what do I call it again no not in heon we're in you we're I don't want to say where we are anybody who's interested in joining us send me an email and I'll send you the exact address but we are in the um the war room so to speak where we're making titas for our Kim and in a second I'm going to show you a clip that describes what we're doing okay I just wanted to show you what we're doing here this is the command center we are making tizes for the soldiers the green ones are for the regular Soldiers the white ones are for the KY of for the uh um the the well the Navy and the Air Force okay so I want to just show you a quick glance of okay you didn't do it yet okay so this is what the room looks like this is the command center and they're being shipped out every day to the front lines and now we're back so now you have an idea why we change locations to here so we can make tits for this is the Spiritual armor now I don't like to talk about politics and I won't I want to mention about Mitzvah of learning Torah in order to to uh really solidify our strength right even the word Kim we went up kushim from Egypt some translated and understand it as we went up armed that's correct Rashi actually says clay which means armed but the clear explains we went up already accepting the Torah the five books of Moses even though we didn't receive it but we went up to receive it so therefore we went up armed this is our armit so learning Torah is so important however there's another aspect and that is to judge not only everyone favorably but especially the Jewish people God says I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you those he who curses you I will curse so keep that in mind when we think about the Jewish people especially at this time the other thing I want to mention how important it is to learn about The Binding of Isaac even the Christians believe in our Torah unfortunately we have a large group of yishmael who actually think that we corrupted the Torah and it was yishmael who went up on the uh The Binding and um it's it's a big problem because the more we learn about it and I tell you it will help us understand how precarious the situation is I spoke a lot of a lot about it last week so those who missed it go back to the last half hour of last week but basically who gave their lives who gave their lives for God and who doesn't so let's uh let's proceed since Torah is the most important thing it says in Genesis 241 we are in parar I want to mention that if you want to follow the original Hebrew sheets there are links below to that you could get to the website our website and choose which book and which par and which year um so it's important to try to learn Hebrew and the beauty is in the Hebrew that's first of all um second of all if anybody wants to receive the English sheets they send me an email and I'll add them to the list okay so in Genesis 241 that's what we're going to deal with it says Abraham was old advanced in years and the Lord had blessed Abraham with everything okay the Abraham Z now in Hebrew we're gonna deal with at length what does Bo mean the translation here in the kabad is advanced in years uh art scroll I believe says um something very similar he was well off in years but the word bought means means coming literally means coming coming in days coming in we can use the word years because that's what days implies maturity old age it says he was old and he was advanced in years okay so that's what we're going to mainly deal with in the beginning the problem that clear has is that already back in Genesis chapter 1811 that's six chapters ago how many years ago is that that was 37 years ago okay 37 years prior now Abram and SAR were old coming in years Sara had ceased to have the way of the women in other words this is the the um the scenario when the Angels come and tell her she will have a baby and of course she laughed and we know the whole story but the problem here is how come the Torah has to repeat itself if we learned 37 years ago we learned six chapters ago that Abraham was old and advanced in years even though it's plural I get it so it says right in Hebrew Zak right we are going to learn a little bit of grammar here okay let's go into the clear he says right away it's see it's halfway down where it says chapter 24 on the first page the ab was old and well off well into his old age har many of the commentators were a gast were in wonderment here hello didn't it already say like I mentioned in chapter 18 verse 11 the it already said this why does the Torah need to repeat itself and he explains the clear right away that there is a time period between chapter 20 chapter 18 and 26 24 there was approximately 37 years between these two time periods now I I I get it Abraham I'm sorry that yak was 40 years old when he married Rifka so maybe you want to say it was 40 years remember um Sara was 90 when she gave birth to yak and she died at 127 and this is in parar soon after she died so it's appropriate to think there's SE 37 years between these two time periods so there's a lot of time so Abraham was already old and advanced in years 37 years ago why we being told that now so we do know in famous Med that you know what hasem did he created a miracle and he brought them both both Sara and abah back to their youth I mean if you wanted to have a baby so I understand at least for the woman she now has her her menstrual cycle but also Abraham is now full of energy and whatnot and we'll discuss what that means exactly and the clear says this should be a good enough answer but he's not satisfied with that that could be a good enough answer he says like this I he's not happy because a what is a medish a medish is expounding on something that's in the verse something that is alluded to and is drawn out from the verse so the clear's initial reaction is there's nothing that gives us this story that's within the Torah itself so therefore it's not sufficient even though that should have been sufficient answer he says like this some say that the word is in chapter 18 where it talks about both Abraham and Sarah that would be present tense present uh perfect Now that statement can also Bim can also be passed it could be as well but then if that's true it could be passed and maybe it should have said as in past T it would have been more appropriate for the Torah to use the past tense as but it didn't it used a present perfect therefore the clear car is concluding what's really happening is that in chapter 18 they are coming of age they are maturing into to a certain extent okay there's a certain maturity process that's taking place and therefore it would be present tense right as the present tense implies that you're coming of age but here in our verse in chapter 24 the word b implies past tense okay so now now it's also becoming a little bit more clear and he says which implies a past tense and this bakes it a very good analysis a correct analysis so far the CLE is somewhat happy that there is an reference to within the Torah in other words why does it have to say then because that was present tense and now in our chapter 24 it's past tense now he became uh fully matured so to speak however the CLE the car has such an amazing Insight that will blow everybody's mind even according to the simple explanation you're actually able to say ready for this this is in [Music] vers okay number five on the sore sheet Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse 9 and part of the verse chapter 4 verse2 it says that two are better than one we all know that two are better than one very nice this is King Solomon Ecclesiastes two are better than one since they have good reward for their toil and then in verse 12 and if a man Prevail prevails against one and two will stand against him then a three stranded cord will not quickly be broken in Hebrew the Turn the Page it says right a three stranded thread take shall not quickly break so two are better better than one and three are better than two okay so what I'm going to do is I'm going to try to describe to you what the C car wants to say think about the stat the state or status of Abraham all he has is his wife before yits is born and that's considered two yit is now born and now you have three because you have Abraham SAR and Y now we're in par K SAR SAR dies and now we're back to two so two is better than one three is better than two and let's hear how the clear describes why we need to know this information so after he says these two verses he says what does this mean you know what a good wife is May you know what a good wife is she's m she adds life to her husband so the husband alone okay he's a guy all of a sudden he gets married and he's more than a guy he's Superman right because he has a wife a good wife and she adds the life force and if you look in chapter 9 verse 9 of coelis which you will find on number six enjoy life with the wife whom you love so in Hebrew right now if that's true by a wife she adds life to the man what do you think a son does the clear says a son will add he will the the life force the man is alive he's really alive meaning additionally to what he has just from his wife and then he says it's an amazing concept anyone who raises a righteous child it's as if he never dies now I think we're talking about a legacy we're not talking about absolutely physically Never Dying we're talking about a legacy now if that's true in other words it adds such a life force so to he says how much more so in his own life while he's alive and now he spells out what I mentioned so from the time that y was born until SAR dies that is like a three threaded uh how do we say that before in the pusk three stranded cord cord right that is not easily broken and then he says AB that this added while he was in that 37 years that that there was a means a life force that was added to Abraham from two aspects from the aspect of his wife as well as from his son y now just notice everybody it doesn't say anything about yes that we dealt with last week okay and during all these year these 37 years all these days he was able to stand and remain in one level of status unchanged and he didn't become weak like normally the older we get the weaker we get right no he stayed in the same status of strength during those 37 years was full of joy and blessing during those 37 years not to Discount he still had right the the the from his wife and after his wife died he still had y there was still a level but there was a level for 37 years that remained unchanged and was quite a higher level than before or after to those times so the cleard says prior to being born he didn't really have joy except from his wife which is not a bad thing now after SAR died so after s died the only simp he received was from his son so basically gim are like borders we're going to call the margins the these between these two margins bookends everything was equal so very close to the birth of yak was very similar to what happened after Sara died meaning it was only a two two heads are better than one so to speak therefore we see the same language that's used remember the original question is why did we need to hear both thir you know 37 years ago in chapter 18 we heard that they both were old and coming in age and now again the same phrase is used about being old and advanced in years even though there was a lot of time between them there's a story that needs to be told now we understand why he wanted a wife for his son Yak right then and there therefore he was quick to chase after a wife for his son what was he thinking Sara maybe if I get a nice a good wife for my son she'll fulfill she'll bu the place that is missing because s had passed away and we're talking about would be happy through the wife of Y Mish and that's exactly what happened we have a we have a tradition that that Rifka was born just moments before Sara died and I'll tell you the importance there in a second that just prior to the sun setting Su n setting of Sara meaning right before she passes away Zar shim that's when the son of Rifka Shone or began to shine the Sash and she became a splitting image of SAR through her actions kha perish Rashi B look at look at verse 67 where do we find this in number nine on the S this is very interesting so it's chapter 24: 67 and it says Isaac brought her to the tent of SAR his mother now in the Hebrew it's a little bit little I'm G say it's different but there's certain Nuance here the uh the sorry so it says that yit brought her into her tent and then it says SAR emo Sarah his mother so it's a little bit of a disconnect but what does it mean Sarah his mother it's describing Rifka that Rifka did the same action she was a dgma she was a perfect example of Sara as we will soon see in the Rashi are you saying she was a girl no not at all look at Rashi he brought her into the tent and behold she was Sarah his mother what does that mean she became the likeness of SAR his mother for as long as SAR was alive a candle burned from one Sabbath Eve to the next what is this kind of reminds you of this is like you know the Miracles in the Bas of mikdash but okay their tent was like a mikdash so the candle burned from one Sabbath Eve to the next a blessing was found in the dough there was always enough or much more a cloud was attached to the tent so when SAR died these things cease and when Rebecca arrived they resume these Miracles resume so Michael I don't know I'm not that much into gulim I don't know of anybody that says that Rifka was a remember she wasn't that she was um we said she was born right before like moments before if one would say that she was born moments right after after maybe there would be a reason to think that you hear what I'm saying it's my own reasoning but you know but that's that's got to be mid born before she could have been born after this right so the mid says she was born because there was never without light the light of the world came in right before she passed away so there was never a moment where there wasn't light and it's very similar to The Cloud of Glory when we were in the desert there's a similar phrase over there that we were never without protection in the desert there is another part of this rash I want to read it is the way of the world that as long as a person's mother is alive he's attached to her but as soon as she dies he finds comfort in his wife okay we'll leave that aside anybody wants to tell uh um what do you call these jokes mother-in-law jokes we'll leave that for another time so now the next part of this paragraph just the clear says on this verse right when he brought her into the tent SAR his mother the cleard is quoting from the medish Rashi IMO she is his mother now we're not getting into Freud right we're not going to go there but for some reason we you already discussed what does that mean that she was a an example of everything that was connected with Sara she brought back and that's why the cleart ends by saying this is a proper connection regarding our verse regarding the uh the um the union of Rifka and Y okay now we'll continue we're still stuck I just want to give a little bit of a preface an introduction but I don't want anybody to get confused okay and that's my goal not to confuse you right so forget what we're about to read for a moment when the Sun rises in English we say the sun is coming it's coming up and when the sun sets in English we say the Sun is going well in Hebrew it doesn't work like that and in gorah BR we discussing the uh the night of St krat night it mentions these words B hashes and there's actually a discussion is that sunrise or it's sunet now the conclusion is that it's Sunset so the coming of the sun is actually Sunset the going out of the sun is actually Sunrise okay now putting that aside we're now talking about the word b me coming of days why is that at the end of someone's life similar to Sunset so listen to this even according to the clear who's an expert in Hebrew would say you know what makes more sense if you're on your way out right you're 90 100 120 you're on your way out so use the word would be make more sense that's what the Torah should have said but no we're gonna find out you want to be righteous I want to be righteous so we're going to find out the difference between righteous people and not righteous people what is it about the of the people who are not righteous I know this is counterintuitive okay but if it wasn't counterintuitive it wouldn't be worth learning it's got to be something counterintuitive when these evil people are born that's when they see the light and the brightness because now they can I'm gonna use this word eat what's the word drink and be merry because it's really good for them to get involved than using the physical aspects of this world that is thear the clear says that's their purpose eat drink and be merry you know what happens when they get olda it's like Darkness it's like night it's not day but the world is getting darker on their account now this just a phrase that's quoted from 1 Samuel 1443 it's just a phrase I don't know what is behind the pusk but he's quoting the verse because he wants to get a certain point across because they didn't yet taste from the honey that's at the tip of their staff meaning they want more you know you have like this whole idea of you know carot and a stick so why would you give people a carrot when they deserve a stick so you know to encourage them to do something so or they have desires so you want to trick them here you're talking about the world according to the the the Russia according to evil person is basically the carrot the whole thing is the carrot there's no discipline the AL therefore their youth their their earlier days are much better than their later days because it's as if they're leaving their days towards night because that's life for them life is Young liberal irresponsible okay Progressive you know just like what's we're seeing in in always in universities the young people then they grow up and they become conservatives but when it comes to the righteous people that we all want to be it's the opposite it's the opposite they're leaving the darkness they're exiting the darkness they're coming in from the darkness to the days you know why the the days towards their end are actually good the days towards their being elderly are good because they're going El they're approaching days where they can really acquire wisdom isn't that the tless isn't that the goal to have to make the right decisions to have the correct behaviors the right actions and when we're young we're only starting out we're only learning and we think we know it all right Al listen to what it says in coelis that's Ecclesiastes 7:10 do not say don't say how was it in the former days how was it that the former days were better than these for not out of wisdom have you asked concerning this beautiful alar mAh um I just want to stop here for one second because all of our Generations are being judged according to who we are what Generations we are we know that we have this concept called yuros Soros the further we get away from Mount Si the further we get away from ABR yob mosha David the lower we are that's all true but we're like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants God actually loves us more this is a really strong statement R shim and Schwab said it I heard this from Rabbi Daniel gladstein just today we make a br a and we normally translate it as God's unbelievable amount of love right he's just got so much love an un Bountiful love there's no limit to his love but the word robaab is increase that as we go further and further away the tests that we have are not the tests that they had maybe whatever we're more fragile dainty we wouldn't be able to handle the Crusades we wouldn't have been able to handle the destruction of Bas mcash who knows but the love for us is increased nevertheless we should really have that in mind um now let's continue the last thing we said was that verse and the clear ends this paragraph by seeing by saying anybody that says what said don't say you can tell they're not at all concerned or interested in wisdom that's why it says by the righteous they're coming in their days towards and I'm going to say old age but really towards maturity acquiring wisdom and really the tus of what life is really about the goal of what life is all about okay let's continue now we understand why it actually says coming in their Days by Abraham Laos to teach us what Shalom it wasn't like he saw a ghost and turned white right it wasn't like the pain of old age just jumped off jumped at him but rather as we said earlier like there's a process there's a maturity there's a responsibility that comes and that's why the verse ends it says God blessed him with everything um it wasn't because of pain right it wasn't you ever you ever hear that expression like I thought I saw a go like why you you turn white but I'm talking about your hair like when you have a lot of stress it could make someone age but that's not what happened to Abraham the were actually able to say even by by the next verse which we're going to now deal with at length by elezar elezar is called Zak baso Abraham is placing a tremendous amount of responsibility on him because he's the Elder of that the house the Elder of the house doesn't mean you're old it means that you're responsible and you're mature and you can handle a lot of responsibility and that's what the clear says elzar now we understand why elzar is called Z the only reason he's called The Elder of the house because all the responsibility of the house was placed on him two more lines and then we're going to change the sub the Torah informs us now since he was old from the aspect that he was of age he didn't have the power the physical power to go all the way to the north into Syria to find a wife for his son he couldn't go alone and he also didn't want to send y now we could talk about the reasons obviously God didn't want it to happen but even from Abram's point of view why because AB would say if I send my son to look for his wife what if I die suddenly I'm kind of old here who would put his hand on my eye so to speak as we see there's a similar verse look at number 13 Even God says to Yakov I will go down to Egypt with you I will also bring you up of course after you pass on to the next World um back to Israel to be to be um buried but he mentions and ysep will place his hands on your eyes this is a very um it's very important thing I mean unfortunately we're dealing with war but even when not in war when you're by someone's bedside and and they pass on the eyes should be closed I think we see that in the world today at least I mean how many people are around when someone dies but You' probably seen it in the movies okay now I just want to I think this next piece is absolutely fascinating it's very short and it says like this if you look at number 14 on the S and Abraham said to his servant okay remember he's talking to his servant but he didn't say anything yet he's going to say at the end place your hand under my thigh okay but we're not there yet who is his servant his servant is Eleazar and who is Eleazar the Elder of his house this is the narrative Abram said to his servant the Elder of his house who ruled over all that was his I want to focus on the word his who's his it's Abraham's right I mean from reading the verse Abraham is the master he has a servant the man the servants is in charge of everything that belongs to Abraham so who is his that would be we call P what if I told you his is eleazar's would that change anything perhaps let's look at the Clear Car he says right away Koto abah saw him loyal right he saw that he was loyal with all of his Abraham's possessions perhaps that's how we read it Alo therefore Abraham trusted him that he wouldn't take bribery right you can imagine you know look the father-in-law says you know you marry my daughter right the potential father-in-law says to the son-in-law you marry my daughter I'll give you a deer I'll give you an apartment I'll get you a job in my company right it's called a bribe well maybe not but you know there's all kinds of things that could influence a is Abraham was confident that that who that elzar would not take a bribe to marry off y to a woman who is not fitting because why else if he's not going to take anything that's not fitting for him because and he is in control of everything that belongs to him I think we can make a switch now if we're thinking it means Abraham that fits it also might fit that belongs everything that belongs to to elezar but we're going to make it clear according to the clear as he says I don't know if he proved this point before but at least now he's going to we can actually say that the word his is definitely going on elzar elzar has absolute control over everything belongs to him elzar how do we know this because we know that anyone who's obsessed after he's chasing after right he's got the desire for money the money really controls that person okay you can control your money or the money controls you we'll see and there is a verse in Proverbs 211 it says about a king's heart P May me be so all that he desires that's where his inclination is for God actually allows you he'll give you enough rope to hand yourself he'll always lead you in the direction you want to go I mean unless you're sadic and you've daved and you it's not worth God will protect you God will protect people from self harm but we're not talking about that in this moment we're talking about the general idea that God does Lead You In the direction you want to go so this person has desires for money okay but he doesn't have any control over the money now watch this there's gonna we're GNA deal with two words one Isen and Nan I want to compare two verses in coelis chapter 6 verse two it says a man whom God gives riches now gives riches in Hebrew I don't know if it's gives riches but it's will give riches to will give riches to and property and honor God gives him no power to eat of it and then I just want to take you just as a preview to Ecclesiastes five 18 it's a very similarly worded verse also every man whom God has given riches in property too now this is past tense and has given power to eat thereof the person will consume his own stuff and not only that he'll rejoice in everything so let's look at the way the cleard dissects these verses starts off with the man who God will give he's the one who's God doesn't even allow him to eat from it doesn't allow him to enjoy it now the clear says you know what haar would have made more sense in verse chapter 6 verse two to say the one whom God gave but it says God who will give so what isain it means it's future the person doesn't have it he doesn't have it and he wants it he doesn't have it and he desires it he's not satisfied with what he actually has since the verse is actually speaking in chapter 6 verse two someone who is not satisfied with what he has and we ask who is a rich person someone who is satisfied with what he has so this person feels empty he's he wants more listen what he says hasem he's constantly looking forward anticipating for God to give him more that's why it's future tense he wants more than what he has in his own hand because whatever he has is not enough this is the person which that's the one that God does not allow to benefit from all of his his own um property why because he has greed or he's um um he's not happy with whatever possessions he has he's not thanking he's not in a state of gratitude and thankfulness for what he has and he wants more that's by the Russia that's by the person like that but if you look back at Chapter 5 Verse 18 that's where it's present tense and the person actually benefits and is allowed to benefit from what he has this is talking about the person who actually has God already gave him riches and property God allows him to to uh eat and enjoy this is a gift from God so the very fact that says is ation of Arts past tense because he he is actually satisfied with what he has he's happy with his lot he is the person who's in control of all that belongs to to him he would not take anything that doesn't belong to him where it's not fitting for him and this is all from the aspect that what that Abraham trusted Eleazar how did he trust him because he saw the way his attitude was for the everything that he had not what Abraham had but what elezar himself had k Abraham knew that this servant of his elzar was an absolute control of everything he had the the money did not control elazar therefore you you the money did not incline him or force him to do anything on this on that account Ro V whatever was the money did not cause him to do anything improper but he was a straight shooter and I think zakar the clear explains this is a very dear explanation even though in English it says right his at first glance it there's no problem understanding that it would belong to Abraham right that elezar was a trusted servant who took great amount of responsibility with Abraham's possessions you can read the verse that way but it's an amazing Insight from the clear how you can actually read other people but the truth is it's not just reading other people how should we look at wealth how should we look at money how do we look at doing what is right and what is wrong um in in this world and that's where I want to just end here by letting you know look someone asked me if if you don't have children who are you supposed to teach because I mentioned the Jews are teachers so I said you find students you find students right now we're teaching the world a lesson right the the world the Ben they're our students and we are teaching them an important lesson and we are extremely T taking self criticism right we understand what many of the problems are but we are the people of the book We are following the Torah okay hopefully right there's enough pressure on the leaders that to follow the Torah in the situation and if anybody is bothered a Jew is bothered by the situation please write me an email let's talk about it if any nonu is bothered by what's going on please send me an email and we'll talk about it okay so batem we are alike to the Nations what will come out of this will be absolutely positive for the world as as long as we follow the Torah I wish everyone a peaceful week and a shabbat shalom and we'll see you next [Music] week is oh