רב מנהיג או אליל? פרסמו שם ה' בעולם! • פרשת לך-לך | הרב אליהו ובר

This week we are going to read Parshat Lech Lecha. We have already finished Parshat Noach. Parshat Lech Lecha. In Parshat Noach, we dealt with Noah, the nations of the world, and all related matters. We are now dealing with our forefather Abraham. Our forefather Abraham was chosen to represent the Name of God in the world. I saw a whole discussion. What is the difference between Abraham and Noah? Why did Noah not merit being the representative of God's Name in the world? We discussed it; we don't know. The Torah says Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generations, but the Midrash draws a distinction: "Noah walked with God," Noah walked......after God. But our forefather Abraham walked—he had something else—he walked before God; he went to make God's Name and publicize God's Name in the world. Noah was a righteous man, but our Sages say he was only for himself. Ezekiel perhaps hints at this in his prophecy when he speaks of Noah, Daniel, and Job , that they did not save their contemporaries. Midrashim quote this a little bit. It doesn't necessarily have to be the simple meaning of Ezekiel. But with our forefather Abraham, there is one point: he publicizes the Name of God in the world. I want to talk about a specific point regarding the subject of publicizing God's Name in the world. It is a very, very, very important thing. Many people speak about repentance, talk about performing mitzvot, and give classes, but the topic is not always mentioning the Name of Heaven. Sometimes they talk about mentioning this rabbi or that rabbi, and its importance. Now, I just heard about the elections, so they say: "Vote for this party because it honors and will bring respect to Rabbi So-and-So," or "If you vote for this party, Rabbi What's-his-name will look at you and thank you, and bless you in Heaven." I am not getting into which party actually serves the honor of Heaven more, but the point should not be there . The subject is where we publicize the Name of God in the world. Not the name of this rabbi, and not the name of that rabbi. All rabbis, everyone is intended to bring the word of God into the world . That is why there is a rabbi. It is written in the verse: "And you shall do according to the word they tell you from that place which the Lord shall choose." Meaning, the words of the Sages must be heeded, because they are saying to you the word of "the place that the Lord shall choose"—they are bringing you the word of God in the world. If we don't know the word of God , we go to ask the Sages and the elders , "come to the judge who will be in those days," because we want to clarify the word of God. And then the judge tells me: "Know that this is what the Holy One, blessed be He, says; the Holy One, blessed be He, says this, the Holy One, blessed be He, says that." But if he says: "This is what this rabbi says, and this is what that rabbi says," and he does not mention God's Name, then his statement is essentially missing something. Today people basically say: "They say so-and-so," like in the Mishna, "Rabbi Meir says, Rabbi Judah says." You never see it written in the Mishnah: "Rabbi Meir says, 'Thus says God' such and such," or "Rabbi Yehuda says, 'Thus says God' such and such," because the phrase "Thus says God" and "this is the thing that God commanded" is the speech of a prophet who heard the exact words. But it is clear that when Rabbi Meir speaks, or Rabbi Yehuda speaks—or even today when someone gives a lesson and says, "It is written in the Shulchan Aruch thus, and the Rama disagrees, and this rabbi rules this way and that one that way"— everything, everything is truly meant to reach the goal of invoking the name of God. And that is likely the reason why at the end of a lesson, always a Torah lesson, we conclude with the words of Rabbi Hananya ben Akashya: " The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to grant merit to Israel, therefore He gave them Torah and commandments," as it is stated. They don’t just bring it in; they say it at the end of the lesson so you know that the entire lesson just given, everything, everything, everything, is solely to bring about the name of God. And this is the issue; when we want to know who is walking with the Holy One, blessed be He, we need to examine what he is saying: Does he speak for the sake of Heaven, or does he care about the honor of other things? And this is especially evident in this period, but one must know that it is like this all the time. And another point, and this is an important point that many get wrong. It is written in the Mishnah, Tractate Avot: "Make for yourself a teacher ( Rabbi), acquire for yourself a friend." There is another passage in the Mishnah , Tractate Avot: "Make for yourself a teacher to remove yourself from doubt." So there are those who are certain that one must choose only one rabbi and it is forbidden afterwards to ask other rabbis. There is "My rabbi says this" and "My rabbi says that," and "My rabbi ..."—you know this? You know us from the family: "My rabbi, my rabbi"—no! Because the word of God was given to all of Israel. Of course, a person does not have to get into all the messes all the time and start constantly: "This rabbi says this, and this one says that ," and then he falls into doubts. So he chooses for himself— "Make for yourself a teacher"—to remove himself from doubt. But this does not mean that someone should enslave himself, not check things out, not clarify things to remove doubt, and not take any action to resolve doubt, but only rely on " Make for yourself a teacher"—in the end, he turns the teacher into an idol of his own. We won't get into the laws of idolatry now, whether it is actually idolatry or not, but it’s not... it’s not that everything immediately becomes idolatry. But one must know that this choice of a specific teacher — "I only ask him, and if I don't know, can't find him, and can't ask him , and people tell me to ask another rabbi, but no, I can't, no...my rabbi doesn't want to, won't answer me, can't answer me, ah...it doesn't suit him right now to answer me"—that’s it, we’re finished, so there are no other rabbis? That is a crime like no other. And besides that, even someone who hears something from their rabbi, the rabbi says my rabbi said this, the rabbi of...said that, and they say to him: but you should know, there is no doubt here. True, there is...there is no doubt, but my rabbi says this–he has already stopped serving God, he is serving someone else. And this matter, "and you shall act according to the word they tell you from the place that the Lord chooses"—therefore one must go to the priests, the prophets, to the judge in those days, you don't go to one person, you don't go to a single individual! In the Sanhedrin 71 sit, in a rabbinical court three or 23 sit, depending on the size of the court and its matter. It is always that way, never a single person. I thought about this, even though there might be something special about Abraham...our father Abraham, it didn't end with Abraham, there was Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's how it is, we don't turn our father Abraham into a lone figure, there is Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Also Moses received the Torah, so the Holy One, blessed be He, gives it to Moses and Aaron together. It is true that it is mainly the merit of the Torah of "Moses My servant," the Torah is named after him, but there is still a giving, "and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." There is never just one person and, this is incorrect leadership to follow in this way, rather to follow only the Holy One, blessed be He. And even now, people are talking about elections, so people put up a sticker with someone's picture: everyone vote, I don't know, for Bibi, for Ben Gvir, for Smotrich, for some picture...no, how can that be? It's impossible! True, there is a party with many people, perhaps that's why there is an electoral threshold—so that in every party there will be a bit more than one, not to be enslaved to one person. Not that a party is such an important thing, but I am talking more about the sages of Israel, but also not to follow, never to follow just one person. To follow the sages and listen to everything, to do what they say in the name of God—a very important thing, but never to be enslaved to any human being completely. Follow only God . This lesson is for the elevation of the soul of... >> David Gal son of Chanina. >> David Gal son of Chanina who ascended here to the Temple Mount, we were privileged to be with him, and may the Holy One, blessed be He, bind his soul in the bond of life, and may he rest in peace on his resting place, and let us say Amen. >> Amen. Yeah.