Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston: Passover being raised from the dust and sitting with the Nobles

[Music] hag samara everyone welcome home to torah and this is a Pesach special but I want you to know that the message that I want to share with you is applicable all year-round and hopefully we'll take the message with us we'll be able to internalize it and we'll really understand there's some very fundamental ideas about Judaism and I'm very happy that you joined us and the first question I'm going to ask okay is why is the concept of leaving Egypt so pivotal so important it's so critical and it serves as an anchor in terms of a paradigm example for religious life where we call Judaism okay now I just want to stress one more thing before we really go deep down into the rabbit hole and there is there is no such thing as a secular Jew and how do I know when I look around during this pandemic during this critical time of kovat 19 virus I notice that especially the secular what they call themselves and they say oh you know Judaism is too hard for me maybe they believe it a little bit maybe they're very proud that they have a heritage but you know what they're extremely disciplined and when it comes to discipline there's no excuse life comes before everything and by keeping to the rules right not touching your face for example right no washing your hands constantly putting on a mask when you go outside wearing gloves not standing within six to eight feet of another human being it shows me that they cherish life and if they are if they really understood what they were doing there would really be no excuse for the never to my cherishing life so that's what that's what Judaism is really about Judaism is about life we say Lahaie of Lahiya right it's unbelievable that's all we think about is life god forbid the opposite that's what our enemies right whether it I'm a lake or modern-day enemies whether it was the Nazis or today's that lets it calm terrorists right extreme Islamic terrorism it's all about death okay so once we understand that there is no such thing as a secular Jew because what is a Jew a Jew a religious Jew is someone who cherishes life so why is it that leaving Egypt let's get back to our question why is it that leaving Egypt is so fundamental in terms of Judaism what we're going to close Judaism now it's not just the night of Passover and it's not just this week okay there are so many things with solemn Commandments or directives or instructions in the Torah itself that relate back to and they basically say in order you should remember or because you were in Egypt right or because you were slaves this is going to be so fundamental in terms of so many mitzvahs which I will list shortly another thing is about people who are in recovery will call them you know people who went through a 12-step program that's not the only way for someone to recover but recovery has succeeded in in tremendous ways through what is too known today in modern terms is a 12-step recovery program for all kinds of addictions and I have to admit this is not confession time but this is a I'm just admitting that I personally experienced a spiritual awakening and I experienced the 12 steps thank God now in terms of my own personal experience and I think that most and I hope most other people who are in recovery have experienced the same thing the concept that we were in bondage right that's what myths Rahim actually means Egypt in Hebrew is mates are myths rhyme mates are is a tight constricted place where you can either cannot breathe you cannot free yourself you're extremely limited in terms of addiction that's exactly what's happening because a person has really cut himself off from the the Almighty right the Almighty that the 12 the 12-step see there's a book book big book of Alcoholics Anonymous that describe alcoholism and I'm just going to say it's the truth is probably for every other addiction as well it is a spiritual disease it's a spiritual illness it's an illness that is based on a lack of or misdirected spirituality that's what it comes down to so the 12 steps are a experiences which bring you back into a spiritual lifestyle again there's no religion in terms of the 12 steps but even Judaism is not a religion I just going to get to straight we are a people who the Hebrews the Israelites who were in bondage in Egypt and became a nation a nation and the first the first of the Ten Commandments the first of the directives we don't call them Commandments but they were statements I am the Lord your God who took you out in the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery so once you understand that this is what it's all about so Judaism is not a religion it's a way of life of freedom true freedom from all kinds of addictions or all kinds of limitations or all kinds of Saur Saur it can also mean pains and tribulations you could be redeemed and you could be saved you could be enlightened I don't know whatever word you like okay but basically that's the secret to freedom or let's say leaving bondage is going to be all about service because as most people know this famous phrase that mojo said let my people go let my people go he said this to Pharaoh but nobody Russians see nobody most people do not quote the rest of the verse the rest of the verse is crucial right let my people go in order that may serve me now that's Moses talking the name of God not that they should serve Moses but that they should serve God so one of the basic fundamentals in terms of recovery is called service in terms of Judaism it's the basic premise is now it's all about service which I will list a tremendous amount of mitzvot Commandments that all have to do with service right practicing worship or somehow everyday life in your in your common behavior how am i of service to God and His plan to serve mankind now one of the most fundamental principles in these 12-step recovery programs is that if you if you are not honest with yourself you'll never get anywhere okay so the statement in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous basically says like this I'm just not quoting because I don't have a copy here it basically says like this that this program works okay the experiences that they lay out they actually work for most people but the people who will not work for are people who are incapable of being honest with themselves now this is going to be fundamental in terms of why are we constantly repeating the idea that we were slaves that we were in Egypt okay and in the Haggadah we're going to talk about the even being other worshipers okay so this idea that we have to be brutally honest with where we were and where we're at now in order to be removed in order to be released in order to be redeemed from that situation it will not work if you're incapable of being honest and now that brings us to the next point what brings somebody to that point hopefully they're not mentally ill okay we're so messed up in terms of the chemical imbalance okay hopefully a Shem could heal them from this but hitting rock bottom in my opinion is the is the basis for becoming brutally honest because then there's no excuses you have no excuse when you hit rock bottom and I know and addicts many I know many addicts by the time they think they hit rock bottom they really pray that that was it and that's gonna be key okay it's very important to really hope that this was the final straw that you don't want to go any further okay your rock bottom is where you choose it to be and I'm being brutally honest at this point now you have to have let's say a certain amount of you know you have air in you like this ego that has to be diminished and this is one of the reasons I brought show-and-tell here okay this is called matzo right look how thick it is these are three slices there is thin as a credit card okay so this is one he's very important that there is no leaven there's no in he would call comets or soar there's no ability for this dough to have been able to rise it was worked very quickly within a very short period of time yes it was just basically flour and water but there's no yeast there's no ability for it to rise the the idea of comics that we Jewish people are forbidden to eat for this whole week it says in the Torah on a symbolic level it represents eagle represents pride okay it represents all those things that cause us or do not allow us to be honest with ourselves okay there's a great amount of defense mechanism in every human being so when we hit rock bottom hopefully this is I called rock bottom okay I'm not even make this whose rock bottom can't get any worse than that right so this is a prerequisite for our leaving Egypt okay on the other hand the Pesach offering on a certain level represents the unity you're not allowed to break a bone you're not allowed to separate the bone you have a group of people that II didn't they have to be facing each other and they have to nobody can leave the the the place where you're eating it there has to be a certain amount of unity okay so this given to represent as I began to speak about even those so-called secular Jews they have not departed from the ultimate value of life is sacred okay because they are so disciplined in trying to keep alive and other people alive and taking responsibility for others people's lives that it shows no doubt that they are so connected to what Judaism is all about okay so what I want to do is go into a Gomorrah that's going to discuss a very important point but I also want to list the commandments so you have like a little bit of an idea how connected our daily life is to the leaving of Egypt and okay so also in the Shema itself let's open up to the Shema that is here o Israel the Lord is our God the Lord is one okay now in the paragraphs that precede those blessings that precede the Shema and there are blessings that are after the schmuck so let's start with the morning blessing first of all in the palookas is Imre in the verses that we say prior to the Shema we we sing the song of the splitting of the sea and we mentioned many times throughout about hashem salvation and that he brought us out of Egypt so now in the Shema blessings itself in the morning so afterwards we say like this and here we go you were the first and you were the last besides you we have no King Redeemer or Savior from Egypt you redeemed us from Egypt you redeemed us I mean it's Ryan gluttony wash MLK no and from the slave house you delivered us we base a vadim pd sano right all the firstborn you killed we're reminding we remembering and reminding ourselves Koba Claire ahem Hirata right not only that but your firstborn you redeemed you killed their firstborn but your own firstborn you redeemed clerk Agathe the arm soothe the kata and the sea you split the sea of reeds you split visiting Tabata I think you drowned the arrogance okay the water covered their phones not one of them was left okay so that is in the morning in the evening Sh'ma and we're saying like this liesl and Ernie seen on the camera the Pharaoh who did miracles for us and brought vengeance upon against Pharaoh also sumo seen the odd moths beneath calm and performed signs and wonders in the land of Kong's children I'll just keep the English who smote in his wealth all the firstborn of Egypt and brought out his people Israel from their midst into everlasting freedom who led his children through the divided Red Sea plunging their pursuers and enemies into the depths it goes on and on and on Moses and his children and the children of Israel then sang a song to you with great joy it's so basically one of the one of the ideas is that the Rambam rings down it's broke down throughout Jewish law the one is obligated to show himself as though he came out of Egypt there's a difference in whether it means to show himself or to view ourselves as if we actually came out of Egypt it's either way it's a very powerful thing that when we are experiencing this evening of eating the matzah spur talking about a one day a year you're experiencing or re-experiencing we're actually supposed to try to bring that down into the week 364 other days in the daytime and in the night time meaning all the time we should live with this idea that we were and this is where we're going to get into this idea that I want to bring down in the Gomorrah it's called galoot shame or degradation and then schmuck so basically I want to just give you a clue what the Gomorrah says and I'm gonna go back to these Commandments so basically it says like this was taught in the Mishnah that the Father begins his answer right we have the Mohnish now we have the questions that the child should ask with disgrace and concludes with glory so in Hebrew it's good news and the good news would be shame or degradation when the sign - lock but conclude with praises and glory so this is going to be very important gonna be key how I'm gonna get to in a second I know there's so much to share with you I want to try to keep it as simple as possible okay let's back up a second first of all in Gomorrah sucking 1/16 B it says the called or verdure hi evidently rose as hot smoky Lu y'all so a minute's right in each and every generation a person must do himself so review himself or see himself or show himself as though D P how is it that you're supposed to do this and and then there's a verse so it's in Exodus 13 eight you shall tell your son on that day so this is by the night of Passover so one night but we're going to bring it into the rest of year that's going to be key okay that's gonna be so crime so II car you cannot escape I won't let you escape it right the the tour won't let you escape it you're gonna tell your son on that day so the night of the 15th the night you left Egypt you're gonna say it's because of this you're gonna point to the matzah is you're gonna point hope it all the Pesach offering but when we do right you're going to talk about these different things that that a Shem did for us listen to the words it's because of this which the Lord did for me what do you mean for me it says for us or for me I'll read it again it is because of this which the Lord did for me when I came forth from Egypt meaning in every generation a person must say this is what the Lord did for me each and every generation how is it that 3333 years later I'm supposed to say this is what the Lord did for me for me that I left Egypt which Egypt are we talking about the one 3300 years ago yes but also the one that just happened to me last week the one that happened to me last year the one that happened to me 30 or 40 years ago wherever my Egypt was I have been redeemed that I should share this and I should get this off my not just my chest because I need to then but I should educate my children about my relationship with the Almighty okay so that that's going to be very key but why is it that we start with good Newt so go back into the game or just go back in one page in 116a so it was taught in the Mishnah that the father begins know what if I should you know what I looked back to the actual mission itself let's go with the mission the mission it tells us that every father has to teach his own child according to the ability of the child according to the intelligence of the child so it tells it tells us that the father teaches him about the exodus and when teaching his son about the Exodus it's important that he teaches about the Jewish people's disgrace and that's where you begin and you conclude with the glory and the mission that tells us to take it from Deuteronomy chapter 26 verse 5 this is when we bring the first fruits to the temple during shroud right and I'm army and tried to destroy my father ok so what does that mean doesn't really say here but basically we're talking about annihilation it could have been about Yaakov with lavon it could have been about Avraham and and the generation that he lived in about the non-jews about the non the idol worshipers trying to kill the first Hebrew okay so that's how but it doesn't say the other explanation it only mentions one example of this is how he doesn't honor our am ian tried to destroy my father what do we do we start with a Vadim hyena we were slaves in Egypt listen to the Gomorrah later on it's Reedus cussing the Mishnah it says that it was taught in the mission the father begins his answer with disgrace and concludes with glory so the good more I asked what is them what is the term good news what does it mean disgrace so there's a mock locusts is an argument a discussion between Rob and Schmuel now it doesn't mean that they disagree with each other in terms of what to say what the disagreement is what do you begin with which is more disgraced or which is more important to discuss first so Rob says we say that our far our forefathers were idol worshipers okay and you concluded glory where Shmuel says no you start to begin with Ovid mi e know so I have it in front of me happens to be that we do begin with a Vadim hyena and when we mention about being idol worshipers the paragraph is talking about Abraham had lived beyond Euphrates Ridgid River Tarek to the father of Abraham and Nahor they served other gods whereas God took our forefather Abraham from beyond the river and brought us brought him to this land okay so we see two concepts being brought down Rob and Schmuel okay so Rob held that we talked about our forefathers where idol worshipers first how do we actually pass him not like that okay that's not mentioned first schmoes the one who says we were slaves I've Vadim hyena and the Rambam by the way pastas like small but most of us write our God out are the opposite way so what is actually going on here and what's the difference between being a slave physical slavery versus spiritual slaves meaning idol worshipers so we will discuss all that in a minute there's rats a sham I just want to adjust the camera there we go so I want to go into that again the different Commandments or things that we use on a daily basis to remind us that we were slaves in Egypt so we already mentioned the first of the ten commandments you can find in Exodus 20 chapter 2 we mentioned about the Shema the parrot the blessings before and after it but what about the Shema itself wait to hear this so in the third paragraph is the Mitzvah is talks about the Mitzvah of seat seat you can find this in chapter in numbers chapter 15 twist the end of that chapter and it says all about the Mitzvah seat seat and at the very end this is gonna remind you to keep all my Commandments and be holy to your God for I am Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be our God I am the Lord your God so it's very important to Lord seat seat is definitely connected to the to the mitzvah of Ramat remembering the you left Egypt also we have to fill in right you can look through the partial to tefillin also it's to remind you that you had been brought out of Egypt with a strong hand God took us out of Egypt with a strong hand what about the midst of Shabbat Shabbat if you look in Deuteronomy chapter 5 verses 12 through 15 it's clear that Hashem tells us to keep Shabbat because he redeemed us from slavery than we should remind remember that we were slaves in Egypt what about scales in other words business being honest in business which is the very first thing that we're going to be asked we go to heaven right we're not going to be asked to be so religious no how religious were you is going to determine how honest you were in business so if you go to the Eco from chapter chapter 19 verses 35 to 37 you should keep these scales and weights proper and just for the sake of you let's look it up this is Leviticus chapter 19 verses 35 and on you shall not commit a perversion in justice in measures of length weight or volume you shall have correct scales correct weights correct dry measures and correct liquid measures Irish em your God who brought you forth from the land of Egypt you shall observe all my decrees and all my ordinances and you shall perform them I am Hashem okay what about Sukkot it's obvious right you dwell in Sukkot in order to remember that you were that God took you out of Egypt and while we're at it remembering on my lake you can find that in Chapter in Deuteronomy chapter 50 25 verses 17 through 19 right remember what I'm elected to you on the way out of Egypt and I think this is one of the most important things but don't oppress the gare don't oppress the most vulnerable Society I'll give you a whole list Exodus chapter 22 verse 20 Exodus chapter 23 verse 9 Leviticus 19 33 34 Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 19 okay so you'll find all these ideas of you were there you have to be empathetic you were there you were oppressed do not oppress others how this is we're talking about daily consciousness we're talking about living with this reality okay you have to know how tiny you are right how poor you are right you have to know that your ego has been deflated right now this is only if you hit rock bottom what about someone like a Siddiq who's brought up in such a beautiful home who had everything he ever wanted and never ever felt oppressed very hard to believe that every human being didn't feel on some level everyone has a lesson to be learned and even our own during the the inauguration of the altar which he did not participate in and the reason why it didn't seem like right he participated in he was not involved with the sin of the golden calf I know you might read it and think that he was but he was just holding them off and he told them to gather the gold because he knew the wives wouldn't give the gold and it was just delayed Moses was coming down but he was delayed anyway so he was not involved in the sin of the golden calf at all at all okay now what happened was that when the inauguration for the altar was being performed all the different princes were bringing they were bringing stuff gifts for the inauguration and he had he felt a little bit down like where's mine Hashem told him you're gonna raise up the lights on the menorah and that his children who later became the hutchman ìiím in the story of Hanukkah were part and parcel of this miracle and therefore were able to till today we like the menorah in honor of the corneum who did also did not participate in idol worship and they held off in terms of the enemies as well couger idol worshippers where we going with this we're trying to say that this person Aaron was like a like about chuhwa but he wasn't he never sinned and yet he had this feeling because all our kirponos is a broken heart God doesn't want the car Bono's right it doesn't mean he doesn't want them it means that it doesn't if it's not accompanied by a broken heart by this squashed ego by this deflated right here it is again right this deflated ego if it's not accompanied and that's all year round we pray three times a day we do all kinds of service - a sham all the time it has to them the ego has to be removed if the ego is not removed it disgusts Hashem he's not interesting you cannot bring except for Shiva's we do not bring offerings of bread on the altar that have leaven in them all year round it is leaven free it's a matzah it's a cake that looks like this thin cakes okay so this is key to our daily life in our prayers in our service to a Shem I can go on just a few others the pinyon a band also is involved with reminding remembering the Shem took us out of Egypt interest we should get interest-free loans when someone is a Jew is in need of a loan or money for charity and we give them a loan in interest rate loan it's also to remind us also also the many harvesting gifts that we give to the poor so that we remember again it's the downtrodden and and who do we think we are we have money it's our money it doesn't belong to us right just the de Shem granted us as custodians to distribute it properly to use it properly okay it's not ours that this is something that we have to really live with now that we discussed the Gilmore I'm sucking and we discussed all the different mixes I want to kind of sum this up okay it's very important especially for those in recovery right and we all are recovering from something so the idea is number one we have to be brutally honest with ourselves hopefully we actually have hit rock bottom now what does it mean to hit rock bottom when you say wow this is I never thought I'd reach this level I never imagined myself which means that you actually have high hopes right you had some tikva in life you had some aspirations and if you're not reaching them and you're hitting rock bottom you're hitting a point where you said wow I never thought I'd ever reach this point so this could be a great turning point in your life know you've been there now's the time to get rid of the ego push it aside and rely on Hashem right rely on the shell was the creator of the entire universe he gave you it gave you your brain he gave you your soul he gave you your physical abilities to get up in the mornings and go out to work or do exercise or whatever it is okay so this is the time where you can turn around and tap into the most powerful thing in all of existence who has no limits Hashem has no limits now there's another verse I wanted to share with you because this would really bring everything home okay so I want to share with you in this psalms 113 which we use in howl which we're seeing on the Seder night right it goes like this pray hallelujah hallelu out the other nui hallelu ashame hashem praise you servants hashem praise the name of the Shem blessed be the name of a Shem from now forever the rising of the Sun to its setting and shams name is praised high above all nations is a Shem above the heavens is his glory who was like Hashem our God who was enthroned on high yet designs to look upon heaven and earth now this is the verse verse 7 he raises the destitute from the dust from the trash heaps he lifts the needy to seat them with nobles with the nobles of his people he transforms the barren wife into glad mother of children hallelujah so in Hebrew it's like this McKey me me Alfred ah me ash Pocoyo Rima yan-lo she ve Mandi D mu D they are mo now this is very important because this is where we're at this is where we could be coming from and hopefully this is where we all were on the night of the Pesach Seder and this is where we're all every single day of the year and really give ourselves over to the care of Hashem as we understand them today you know what it's gonna change right the more we learn the more we understand the depth and the greatness of God the less we learn the more limited we are not in our understanding of the Shem so when we hit rock bottom whatever that means he raises the destitute from the dust and from the trash heaps he lifts the needy to what to seat them with nobles and what are we doing Pesach night we all lean to the left and we eat and we drink and cuz this is how apparently in the old days this is how the nobles would eat they would have their own little table someone would serve them and they had these couches all right I mean gives them we see our old artwork of how they used to sit and how they used to feast and this is what they did so hopefully I pray that we all take than what we experience this past Pesach and we can truly experience from hitting cold rock-bottom being slaves in Egypt not knowing how to get out and then having a Shem who personally personally no intermediaries he personally took us out of each to be a service to him and I pray that we all can take that lesson and bring it into the mundane the meaning all year round all week long because shop is not so mundane doing this is not mundane the whole concept of Mitzvah the literal word means to connect this is how God gave us his instructions how we can connect to him okay because that's what he wants he wants this intimate relationship but we have an ego that's in the way and the best way to get rid of that ego apparently God's wisdom he has the secrets is somehow to lead us in the way that we chose which is god forbid the wrong direction for a while and then hopefully snap hit what we call rock-bottom the slavery of Egypt where we were 49 levels down down in the depths of idol worship and who knows what else and now we're in the process of counting the Omer which is all about character development and raising ourselves out of this trap trash heap again we cannot do it on our own I'll give another class just on that without Hashem help one cannot be removed from this trashy and we see it right here it's he he raises the destitute from the dust from the trash heaps he lifts the needy to sit them with the nobles may we all merit to sit with the nobles not only in this world but the real world which is the world to come visit to sham I wish everyone a hug soon as a great life and welcome home to Torah co 2 [Music]