"And You, Our King Have Drawn Us Near To Your Service" with Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston

[music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music and singing] >> Shalom aleichem everybody. Welcome back to the even of A Bais Medrash. Welcome home to Torah. A warm welcome. Again, we're dealing with the safer Rinas Chaim, which the subject matter is the prayers on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and of course we're praying for the whole year. Right? So, a lot of the hashkafa, the lot of concepts of our world view is relevant all year round. So, amazingly enough, if you turn to lamid we're continuing and leaving off from last week where we stopped, and keep in mind some of the things that Rabbi Flachs had just spoke about we're going to deal with. So, part of our prayer is the K T >> [singing] >> Malkenu, right? We're asking Hashem, and you are king. The Avodah Shecha, right? Draw us near to your service. Draw us near to your service. What is that prayer about? Those three words. Well, it's actually result of what we spoke about last week, the Kidashtanu Bemitzvotav, that we spoke about this idea that we should be sanctified through your mitzvahs. Sanctified means to be elevated, right? To be made holy through his mitzvahs. I'll just sum up the previous paragraph in English. Right? The function of the mitzvahs are in order to sanctify us to to raise us up and make us holy. And every additional mitzvah with that a person does increases more and more holiness, more and more kedusha. And this kedusha itself is actually the reward that one gets for doing the mitzvahs. As we know, it says in Pirkei Avot, mitzvah s'char mitzvah mitzvah. The reward for the mitzvah is another mitzvah. Meaning, it's like inertia. You're moving in that direction, and God is just granting you more and more opportunities to come close to him, to connect to him. Meaning to say that the reward for the mitzvah is the holiness of the mitzvah itself that is hamakif es adam. It surrounds us like the light. It's the life force, life itself. Life itself. In fact, the more mitzvahs we do, the more lach, the more tal, the more dew enters our bloodstream, so to speak, for the resurrection of the dead. Okay, the more mitzvahs we do, the limbs are going to rise >> [clears throat] >> at the resurrection of the dead. And not only this, but also causes and stimulates and assists us to do more mitzvahs, which will only elevate us more and more. Now we're going to start the K'dei Tanu Malkenu L'havdil Sechvi. So, what does it mean? And you our king, you we're asking um um to have drawn us near to your service. We're asking to be drawn closer. And I said this is a result of the previous paragraph. Right? We're going to be sanctified through his mitzvahs. That it's through the mitzvahs that we become sanctified, right? Through the mitzvahs that we then become fitting to be the servants of God. I mean, you just imagine the difference between a Noahide, he has seven mitzvahs, and the Jew, and anybody can convert to Judaism, right? They have 600 We have 606 additional mitzvahs. Right? The gematria of Ruth, we're approaching Shavuot. Ruth is the famous convert, and we learn about her and we read about her on Shavuot, cuz she took on 600 more 606 more responsibilities, opportunities, to come close to Hashem. To sanctify God. Uh just like Rabbeinu Yonah writes, "Ikar machshavah shelanu Hashem Yisbarach b'torato u'mitzvosav, u'mitzvosav. V'hivdilanu l'hiyot lo l'am." That the prime sanctification, the ikar of what we are doing when we're sanctifying God, we're doing it through his Torah and through his mitzvahs, and what is happening, we're being set apart to be his people. Right? That's exactly the whole story of Ruth. "Your people are my people." Right? When someone converts, it's not because they know it's the truth. You can know it's all the truth and stay a Noahide. It's when you want to actually connect and be a part of Am Yisrael. "K'dei l'kadshe u'l'yir'ah mimenu." The idea is, in order for us to sanctify him and to have awe. So, love, we're I'm going to ex- um what's the word? Extrapolate and say, to sanctify him because we love him, and to fear from him. Those are the two big mitzvahs out of the 613. "Ki chol [snorts] Ki chol hataflishalanu hi l'kades es Hashem." That our purpose, our real mission, our goal, is to sanctify God, to make a kiddush Hashem. "V'al kaf ro'i sheyu m'kadoshav k'doshim." And wouldn't it make sense that those who are sanctifying God, they themselves should be holy and sanctified The Derek ha- I addition of the human misses and the way it's done is through the fulfillment of the misses and now he brings a call the homer. A call the homer is one of the 13 principles. It's a logical conclusion that if this is true on the lower level, how much more so that should that be true? So think about this. The killing in the base of Mcdash have to be holy. They have to be right there's a procedure where they're sanctified in the beginning. And they can't become coming and if they become coming they have to be cleansed. So just like these inanimate objects, these vessels they have to be holy, think about us. We're vessels. We sanctify sham. We are the instruments. We ourselves are the instruments. Of course we have to be holy. The sugar just as the vessels in the base of Mcdash clay shards of the base of Mcdash they're just physical vessels and yet three they have to be holy. They have to be separate. They have to be sanctified. I'll ask us come to the comment how much more so she never we actually did have a choice each and every one of us. I remember of Noah saying just because you were born Jewish doesn't mean it it's not enough. You could have been born in Iran you would be following Khomeini. We don't even know if he's alive. If you were born in Ramallah you'd follow Arafat. If you were born in Lebanon you'd follow Nasrallah. You're born in Mashhad you'd follow the certain Rebbe. Guess what? You have to make a choice. You have to make a choice and wait till you hear this. We decided our own when on Shavuot. The vibe I took so since we decided ourselves of course we have to be holy. Nimisha Nimisha it comes out of that very reason we said earlier of kiddish tanu b'mitzvah secha that we're going to be sanctified through his command, through his word, through his directive, through his mitzvahs. He ki kiday she ay day him nit kadesh. Because it's through the very mitzvahs that we achieve our holiness. V'niya roiyim and only then we're actually fit to be these vessels to serve Shashem Yisbarach and he should y'karveinu l'avodato in order to bring us closer to his service. And that's what it means v'kareivtanu makainu l'avodasecha. Before we go any further and I [clears throat] will place this, I hope to remember, on the screen on the YouTube. But the Atbash, right? We discussed this before. Uh the aleph is equal to the tav. So aleph is equal to 400. Okay, it's a code. Okay? And I mentioned that the Jap- the the Americans beat the Japanese using this code. Look, Atbash, AT, BASH, look at Wikipedia and it'll tell you it's an ancient Hebrew gematria that was used in World War II against the Japanese. So you do it with English, like A would equal Z and B would equal Y. But here, so the word mitzvah, the last two letters is vav and hey, which is God's name. But then you have the mem and the tzadik. The mem and the tzadik of the word mitzvah actually is in the in the Atbash yud and hey. Okay, so what we're doing is we're we're by doing mitzvah you should kavana, you should have intent. We're bringing godliness into the world. We're bringing, you know, yud and the hey combining with the vav and the hey in a real true way. Okay? And in fact, the word mitzvah means to connect. Like the word sevet, it's a group of people all working with a common goal. It's Rashi interprets the word mitzvah in the Talmud at least twice as le chaber, okay? Which means to connect. Kiruv zehu, this whole idea of drawing near to Hashem, mashian omrim b'chol yom, that we actually say in the birkas ahavas rabba in the shma in the morning in the in the bracha the kerevtanu l'shimcha hagadol, that you draw us close to your great name. Shma, like I just said, the the word mitzvah is actually God's name in the atbash with the first two letters. And [clears throat] since we're more than halfway towards Shavuos, sh'b'maamad Har Sinai nosan l'hem techilah koach lishmor kol hamitzvos. When we stood at Har Sinai, God gave us the strength. He first started by giving us the koach, the strength, so we could guard all the mitzvos. I know what the Christians say, it was all a test, so you couldn't do the mitzvos. They're >> [laughter] >> Hello. God gave us the strength only as a collective, right? Some are for farmers, some are for kohanim, some are for kings, some are for women, some are for men. Only collectively, only collectively. In fact, just to reiterate, the 72-letter name, it's actually 72 three-letter names of God, the 18th name of God of the 72-letter names, 18, it's chai, right? Life. Life It says God says live by them to do the mitzvos. The 18th name of God is kaf lamed yud, kli, kohanim, leviim, yisraelim. The only way we can live as Jews, as a community, and and be to salvation, which we're going to see, is only collectively. And at Har Sinai, we stood there with like one people with one heart. So at har at at Har Sinai, God gave us the koach, the power, to guard all of his mitzvahs. And then, as a result of our action, as a result of our serving God, we produce great fruit, goodly fruit. That's the difference between a Jew and a non-Jew. We are perfecting the creation. And it may sound very cruel. Doesn't matter. A non-Jew can always join. Always join. Okay? So, there's an idea of tikkun olam. That's through the the priesthood. And that's what we are. We're a mamlacht kohanim. We are kingdom of priests. We're kadosh. And anybody can not only join us, but they can even support us. And by supporting us, you're joining us. Okay, you're not exactly a Jew, but it's it's a great it's a great level. If every non-Jew I think it was the right, the Romans. If they understood what what they did by destroying the Beit Hamikdash, what they did to themselves. Right? They would have actually sent guards and protected it because we brought 70 korbanos on Sukkos for them. Right? We're praying for them. Pray for the for the sa- for the um peace of Yerushalayim. If only they knew. Mila zu, this whole idea of this great level that one could be on, shalom Israel, that Israel had, ain't no ain't no davar echad pa'ami. It was not just a one-time event. Remember, we're approaching Shavuos. It was not just a one-time event. In fact, it's not just every Shavuos, but it's every single day and every single moment. We maybe we'll talk maybe next week. Why is there a mincha chadasha on Shavuos? Because and why is there no date the the Torah does not give you a date of when Shavuot is. I mean, why it is 50, it's going to be 50 days after we leave Egypt, but you have no specific date. And that's because God wants us to feel every day as if we're accepting the Torah upon ourselves. We'll talk about that maybe next week. But he says it's not a one-time experience. That we were given the Torah. Well, but rather continue on with Dover Zev to meet. We heard that word to meet tonight a few times, right? That we should renew it. It's like renewed this matter constantly, constantly, every single day, every single moment. It ain't no Nisha. It never ceases. Like it says, and there's a possuk in Deuteronomy chapter 27 verse 9, "Highom ni ni That is this very day you become my people. You become the people of of of God." So, it's not just today, it's says today. So, every single day is like that. We wrote that at small. Remember we said ki ilu in the Rabbi Flax was saying ki ilu it's not exactly like you're bringing the korbanos. Wait till you hear what the word ki ilu really means. That a person is obligated to see himself just like on Pesach that he left Egypt. He's obligated to see himself ki ilu mikabel Torah Mar Sinai as if he received the Torah from Mar Sinai. >> [snorts] >> Kol makom amar Chazal ki ilu Every place that Chazal ever you were ever use the word as if ze oto bechina mamash. It means it's the exact same thing, exactly the same experience, exactly the same circumstances that we really are bringing the korban tamid according to Rabbi Flax. And here also it's as if we actually are receiving the the Torah from Har Sinai. Even though superficially or at first glance, on the surface, it doesn't appear like that. But really this grander idea, this grandiose idea, is that it's true, we are renewing ourselves every single day. The importance of this idea to me to me Remember the word to me. We need this refreshing, this renewal, this a constant renewal. Okay? And a strengthen a renewal in our strength. It's a dash. The a new energy, a new every day we need a new energy to serve Hashem. This really fits in well with the tell me the offering we spoke about. It's not enough that Hashem renews it. Wait till you hear what he says. It's upon us. It's placed upon us the each one of us every single day. We have to renew our conviction. We have to renew ourselves. We have to sanctify ourselves in the sanctification through the fulfillment of mitzvahs and through that we're going to come close. We're going to be fitting to be servants of Hashem. And guess what he says next. You have to feel it constantly. You have to arouse that feeling within yourself constantly. When you're doing a mitzvah, I that what we have to say is right now I feel I'm able to serve God on account of the fact that right now he's giving me this renewal, this renewal, this renewed energy to serve him. And he ends off with this last line. If it had not been for this renewal of energy, Sorry, I skipped one word. Then it would not be possible to serve him. We would not be able to serve him. And our service to Hashem would not accomplish anything. We need this I don't know what you want to call it, turbo, a turbo. We need to be on fire. What's the first to look in the Shulchan Aruch? Wake up the morning. Don't let the morning wake you up. Right? Come to Shacharit every morning exactly the same time. That's the tamid. Tamid, consistency. That's most important pasuk according to some in the Midrash. Yeah, it's consistency. Right? People want to learn Kabbalah, they want to learn mysticism, and that's all good. You have to have a foundation. You have to have two feet firmly on the ground. And that's what God wants. And that's why the tamid is so important. And consistency is very important as well. And with that, we'll just sign off. And hopefully we'll continue this next week. Everyone have a great night and a great life. >> [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [music and singing] >> Oh, na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na. [music]