Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston: Why were we chosen? Not as you thought! LOVE THE CONVERT

[Music] welcome home to torah tonight's lesson is not going to be what we call pc or poc i don't know politically correct it's nothing to do with any politically correctness nor is it for anybody who's looking for a safe spot okay this is going to make everybody extremely i hope uncomfortable especially to the jews as well as to the gentiles and the only people who i think will feel somewhat comfortable with this message are those who are righteous and hopefully that we will all then become more righteous by the end you will see what i mean throughout i hope you will just put on your seat belts and enjoy the ride so we're in chapter 10 of deuteronomy in particular and we're going to look at 14 and 15 verses 14 and 15 but the truth is we're going to let's go we're gonna still let's start at 12 and we're going to go further on into 19 okay so let's read the verses now starting at 12. now o israel what does hashem your god ask of you okay what does god want from you only to fear hashem your god to go in all his ways and to love him and to serve him and to serve hashem your god with all your heart and with all your soul 13 to observe the commandments of hashem and his decrees which i command you today for your benefit 14 this is our verse behold to hashem your god are the heaven and highest heaven everything belongs to hashem the earth and everything that is in it ready drum roll please verse 15 only your forefathers did hashem cherish to love them it doesn't end there only your forefathers did hashem cherish to love them and he chose their offspring after them you from among all the peoples as this day now i'm going to stop here because we will read 16 through 19 as we go further on in the class so the cleo car wants to point out that word only rock okay he points out two things first of all that yes hashem is the the lord of lords the highest of highs everything belongs to him but it's only your forefathers that he had a heisei means a desire okay if we go back to that verse it said only your forefathers did hashem cherish he had a desire okay to love them so what is rock the word rock and i don't mean r o c k i mean reishkuf means only and it's coming to limit something it's coming to diminish something it's coming to exclude something so it's coming to exclude the rest of creation the rest of the heavens the rest of the earth now this is according to the first opinion in other words he only loved us he only loved israel he didn't well let's say i can say he didn't love he didn't desire the heavens which includes the angels what does the meaning of desire has the only thing that he loved the only thing that he desired was our forefathers to exclude everything else go ahead how about marissa okay so you're asking me if i told you that adam arishan had the soul of israel had the soul of israel and it played out there was free choice it could have played out in different ways could have been game over messiah and everything if he hadn't sinned okay so we're talking about israel when i say your forefathers from abraham isaac and jacob the soul of am israel the soul of israel so that's what adam and richard had okay so i don't know if that answers your question okay it doesn't look out of everything god only desired our your forefathers and he says the clear car by the way we use the clear car for those who don't know as the um outline for this discussion okay so if you're not familiar go back to the beginning look him up the cleo car goes on to say kadas this is according to all of the kabbalists all the mystical teachings of israel however you know the rambam was not known as a mystic although believe me he was extremely mystical and i'll even go as far as saying irrational i know nobody nobody wants to hear that but yes yes i don't mean in a negative sense i mean the most positive sense so let's continue with the thought of the das the actions of the righteous is greater than all of creation itself and this is absolutely un crazy you understand what i'm saying here that what we do in this world when we do mitzvot when we do kind acts when we do good acts when we act righteously is greater than creation itself now we could take it as the act of hashems creating the world this is greater or than all of creation meaning even the angels however you want to look at it in the meantime he says the his kimu lamar that all the rabbis agreed they were in agreement by the statement you can find in ketubas which we'll read the second shakulam niv the entire creation was created for the sake of man so if that's the case again who is adam okay who is i should say that's the righteous ones and all the creation was on account or for the sake of them as it says in the talmud 5a the gomorrah cites additional agatic statements of bharkapar this rabbis taught that the handiwork of the righteous is greater than the creation of heaven and earth as with regard the creation of heaven earth it's written now listen to this it's written with one hand that hashem created the heavens and the earth listen to this this is in isaiah 48 13. my hand also has laid the foundation of the earth and my right hand has spanned the heavens in hebrew af yadi it's singular even my hand yost the yamini talking about which hand it goes on has spanned the heavens now their hand is written in singular by hashem's hand when it comes to the handiwork of the righteous look in exodus chapter verse 17. it says the place which you have made for yourself to dwell in that's the tabernacle lord the sanctuary lord which your hands have established so whose hands by the way if you look in the english it's small y o u r it's your hands in hebrew it says even though it says hashem right before that it says in hebrew so either way we're talking about the tabernacle which was made by man made by the righteous people and guess what the hebrew in yadakha with the yud khaf at the end is plural so that's hands so this is the proof not that we need any proof but thank god there's proof that the work the handiwork of the righteous is done with two hands and the handiwork of the vashem is done with one hand as if the same quantity if you have two hands involved that's greater okay that's needs for uh some meditation and contemplation about it similar you know when hashem told moshe to lay your hands on joshua to give him ordination it actually says put one hand and moses put two hands and we could talk about that another time okay but in the meantime that was the proof over here okay let's go on with the cleo car and he says now according to the rambam low kadas harambam not like the the uh the ultra rationalist rambam what does he write he says that man is the true principle the in highest regard in this lower world which excludes the angels we don't know in other words he's taking the world that we just described that everything that's in it man is the greatest right i mean it's the whole purpose of man and he's saying you know what there's a split we're going to somehow divide up we're going to separate whatever is way above in the heavens the el yonim and whatever is down here in the name in this world and man is principle he's king of this world that's of this world although eric but you can't even compare it right we say in english you can't compare apples and oranges so there's no point in comparing us to the angels we are the highest level of creation in this world meaning in allah whatever is in the shema shamayim that's a whole other story and we're not even going to compare it okay so then he goes on now according to the reasoning of the rambam yes le faresh pasuk the rest of the the class is going to go according to the rambam's definition of the greatness of man shikola sipur nimshach la mashnemar introducing that the verses we just read continue as one story one theme one narrative until verse 19 including 19. so let's read i think we need to read 16 through 19. so in 16 it says you shall cut away the barrier of your heart and no longer stiffen your neck for hashem your god he is the god of the powers and the lord of the lords the great mighty and awesome god who does not show favor and who does not accept the bribe 18. he carries out the judgment of orphan and widow he loves the proselyte that's by the way the gertzedek the righteous jewish convert the one who converts to judaism and get to give him bread and garment and then drum roll please 19 you shall love the proselyte you shall love the convert for you are strangers in the land of egypt okay what does the clear car want to say that this is according to rambam easy to understand once we understand that verses as we started out 14 until in including 19 are one storyline and that's because hashem what does god really truly desire you ready for this that israel should cling should cleave should attach should join up with converts yeah amazing how do we come to that conclusion watch this nobody should take this the wrong way even though they are considered as we usually translate as strangers because they don't have the background they don't have the experience so the word means on a lower level but they're really not on a lower level right they're just inexperienced and and new right our whole job in this world is to imitate hashem we should see what he does and do what he does and what is that verse what did that verse if i'm not mistaken say he carries out the judgment of orphan and widow and loves the convert to give him bread and garment and i'm going to add the word right before verse 19 therefore just as he does therefore you shall love the proselyte because i love the proselyte because we started off in verse 14 saying how great god is he's the god of the heavens the lord of lords all the powers to him the ingoido ramus barak how great is hashem mccol macomb nevertheless what does he do it's only in the remember this according to rambam he goes into the he comes down into this world and it's only your forefathers that he is loved that he has desired what does that mean isaac and jacob they are might be the greatest in this world but means in the lower world he comes down so deep so low he goes to those who are considered lowly in relation to the angels okay that's the first lesson but he goes on to another example another lesson for your god is the god of all gods what does that mean and then he continues i thought he came even though he's the highest of highs right oh he's saying he makes justice he's involved with whom the atonement who are the eto meme the orphans the ammanna the widows the old ger and he let's just say you know he's already in this bring himself down to the point where he's taking care of all those vulnerable people he and says love the gear um this is what rav yochanan says regarding this verse and that's what i want you to turn now to my mistake it's number four on the sword sheet [Applause] that says like this rabbi yokonan said wherever you find the reference in the bible to the might how great hashem is the might of the holy one blessed be he you will always find another reference to his humility adjacent to it and now the gomorrah brings three proofs from the torah meaning the five books of moses from the prophets and from the ketuvim and the five books of moses the proof is from our verses what does he say what does it mean evidence of this fact is written in the torah repeating the prophet stated the third time in the writings as it's written the torah in chapter 10 verse 17 of deuteronomy it says for the lord your god is the god of the gods and the lord of the lords and immediately after it says he executes judgment he's immediately involved even though he is so high and mighty that's what he does that's what he does displaying his humility in caring for even the weakest parts of society i want to tell you and this may sound strange because i know in the missionary and how do you call that the missionary the messianic communities they have no idea what they're talking about you know i don't know where they got this from maybe the christians but they didn't get it from the jews it says over there when god wanted to make man it says let us make man you know what they say god is conferring with himself he's talking to himself i mean that's what they say let us make man because god's like divided into three god forbid so he's talking to j.c j.c penny no that's not what we learned we learned that he asked the the the the angels that he already created let us make man because it's a act of humility when you have a big boss and he confers with his cabinet or his employees it's it's such a great act of humility don't think you're so great you need you don't need you don't need to ask advice hashem taught us that from the very beginning you've heard that before right larry yeah there's also a second explanation okay that since since he involved the earth and the creation of the animals he also involved the earth and the creation of man okay the difference between man and animals is that man has a godly soul so the earth contributed the the body and god injected a soul into me very nice ber hashem thank you okay let's continue with uh by the way this is in tom with bobbie mcgill at 31a in case i missed that part robiokinon had said this now we're the prophets and we're using every time that god's greatness is mentioned immediately afterwards you have his humility in meaning that what we should do to follow this is the character traits that we should uh incorporate into our lives it says in isaiah 57 15 for thus says the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity whose name is sacred and in the same verse right afterwards in the high and holy place i dwell with him that is a contrite and uh humble spirit that's what god says to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones it's also in the writings and i say the writings are talking about psalms it says extol him who rides upon the clouds whose name is the lord and immediately afterwards that was in psalms 68 5 so you'll find in 68 6 of psalms a father of the fatherless and a judge of widows exactly the same theme i just want to reiterate there's nothing new in the prophets the prophets and the writings is part of the oral torah it explains the written torah okay in other words the prophet can not come he cannot come and say anything that we didn't already know because he's coming to rebuke or to inform us and get us and give us instructions how to do what we supposedly already know because that's what rebuke is to get you back on the path of what you're supposed to do okay i brought number five in because this is something i learned in the clear car in a different parsha and that is i have a chart i don't know if you can see it here it's called the gematria it's where every letter doesn't only have a value which we already know that's standard gematria aleph is one bet is two gimbal is three but each letter is actually a word the word aleph is aleph lamin pay bet is bet you're tough and they also have gumatrias as a fullness so allah for example would be aleph lamin pay which aleph is one lamin is 30 and pay is 80. it's 111. that is bet you're tough bet is 2 uid is 10 and tough is 400. so you're 412. well guess what every word is made up also of letters right so you have a gematria for every word that's ever made as well the yud and the hay and the love and the hay which is the great and awesome name of god right we tremble when we say it we're full of awe and just hear me guys the uid and the hay and the above you can see on my chart are the absolutely smallest numbers open up to page two you'll see it the hay is only six hey aleth there's different ways to do it but anyway they're always you know very small numbers love is verb you'd love which is twenty-two and you it is you dwell down which is 20. add them all together and add the another hey to it you get 54. 54 with all four letters of god's name is is smaller than look on the chart gimmel is the smallest of 73. zion is 77. llamad is 74. pay is 81. but all the others are like hundreds 200 300 400 so just the great and awesome name which god created his own name he created everything in the universe right every atom every molecule and his own name is the smallest of all the matches in its fullness this i say fits exactly that criteria where you find his greatness you find his humility you are reminded that every time you think of hashem's name you think of the characteristics of hashem that fascinating i thought it was absolutely fascinating and now we're going to continue so he says [Music] yeah those have you do it which is 20. you do it is not really the name of god but that's you're saying that's the name of god okay you'd hey is 15. but we're not using that we're talking about the you'd be 20 and 20. anyway god's name is not eugene you'll find it in the text because what the printers did was they didn't want to print hashem's name so they used the yud from ado nai and the yud kevke in other words anyway we're supposed to think of both names whenever we say those words whenever we pronounce hashem's name we don't pronounce it the way it's supposed to be pronounced we say ado nai and we think jude kevke as we say okay so the udyr is a reminder for that that's not really god's name they only put it in the text because they of shameless and ganesha and they don't want the the printed papers that they print god's name on to be disposed of them properly okay so it's not we grew up thinking your good was god's name but it's not then you quickly realize that oh i don't see it anywhere except right in a text that was printed we don't find it okay anyway that's a background so basically at this point i just want to reiterate what it the clear car mentions about it says rabbi yokonan komakom every place you find the greatness of god mentioned atom will say toe that is where you will find his anova his humility now um from these two introductory concepts comes out as a result and you shall love the gear in other words the bottom line is we have he loved the gear he is so great in money and he loves the gear he goes down and takes care of right he has a very intimate relationship with the gear by the way abraham eisen and jacob they were gerim that's what god said to him at the at the um brisbane battarium at the covenant between the parts this is we spoke about why for 400 years they had to be wanderers they couldn't settle down in any one place even though god promised that they would be that abraham's seed would be garim they would be wanderers in a land that is not theirs as long as avraham was alive he made sure to be always wandering even though he was a nurse israel he never settled so too isaac he never left the land but he never settled he said gareth garto he said i am a both i am aguer but he always everyone all three call themselves gerim and they were commanded to be gary okay let's go on the word ah however a diagnosis we still need to carefully examine what actually is said here it says rock only your forefathers hashem had a desire their seed after them we are now going to examine what it means to be the chosen ones we are so we have such a high level of self-identity right that's how jews identify themselves we know we are the chosen ones what makes us chosen that's why i said in the very beginning this is not going to be very pc nobody's going to like this but this is the truth and the truth hurts the truth could hurt okay if you actually look at that verse there are two parts of that verse it begins by saying only your forefathers god desired when it comes to true choosing he chose their seat after them there's a snakta after the word hashem okay let's see it inside so we have it right in verse 14 it says like this we call it verse 15. and the bottom of the tough on that he loved them it's like a semicolon in english it's an upside down wishbone it's part of oral torah and those who read the torah properly know that's where you must stop to catch a breath as a concept before that point and there's a new concept the youth car bizarro and so god only had a desire for our forefathers to love them but nevertheless or as a result or as a new concept he chose their seed after them from all the other nations as is this day so the clea car says based on the fact that you have this division in the verse there's a clear difference there's a different concept between desire which we equate with love and choosing choosing is not necessarily based on love now i actually brought this down in the store sheets for you and i think it's worth i could try to sum it up but if i sum it up i'm not going to do any justice if choosing is basically you like in elections we all know that all the politicians are corrupt so when we vote we're usually voting for the lesser of two evils so when hashem chose us it's not because he loved us he loved our forefathers i told you it's not going to be very comfortable okay i think i'm going to stick i'm going to read the the the text look guys it's here with it's here so read it with me okay low let's read the verses together you'll find this in chapter 7 of deuteronomy verse 6. it's really verse seven but let's start with six for you are a holy people to hashem your god hashem your god has chosen you he chose us right there in the hebrew he chose you to be for him a treasured people from all above all the other people that are on the face of the earth so the jews are chosen not because we're loved we don't see the word love yet not because you are more numerous than all the other peoples that hashem desire you and choose you for you are fewest of all the people so it's not because we're many now we'll have to see what that means many or few we'll have to discuss that rather because of hashem's love for you and because he observes the oath that he swore to your forefathers did he take you out with a strong hand and redeem you from the house of slavery from the hand of pharaoh king of egypt so in verse 8 their love is love is definitely mentioned okay and then nine you must know that hashem your god he is the god the faithful god who safeguards the covenant and the kindness for those who love him and those who observe his commandments for a thousand generations okay so let's go deeply into what the cleochro has to say not because you're more numerous than all the other peoples did hashem desire you or choose you so listen to the hebrew lush this verse we just read lo meru became not because you're many me you're not the most numerous of all the people hashem the god desired you we if he chose you this language requires explanation the first question here's a list of questions number one from where would we ever think just because you're the majority god would love you why would you even think that why would we come to say muruba that's what politicians do that's what politicians exactly the truth is we're very few furthermore mao shanatantam there actually is seems to be a reason for his love it says rather hashem loves you so sounds like the reason for love is just the love itself there's no other reason unconditional love the next question is it says he chose you i'm sorry he desired you and he chose you but in hebrew the word you was used twice why couldn't he just said he desired and chose you use the word beckham once it says just use the term khashoggi if so he basically comes to the conclusion there must be a difference obviously between between desire and choosing because he has ma being and further this requires even further analysis from the very fact that one word that you are well it's not because you're numerous but the word numerous is talking about two things it's talking about the people and it's talking about the quantity the people and the quantity one word meru became so he says that both concepts the people and the number are included in the one word okay so ba'amro muhammad and when it says you are small in number it's yatseal nahim that we're now going to see a division between what it means even though we said it's all in one word you the people and the the word merubah many that there really is going to be a distinction between the people and what we mean by a lot or small basically when it came to a lot you're included when it came to the small amount you're not necessarily included but let's see because he explains it in the most beautiful way the habior likol zehu and to explain all this is as follows sharon god saw the jewish people and the truth is they are nowhere near perfect in any way you got that the jews are not anywhere near perfect in any way because we are a stiff-necked people ah however now don't shoot the messenger shaheem we are considered better the best but not great we're nowhere near great but when you compare it to everyone else they're really bad so we have to be okay you follow what i'm saying when you have all the ducks lined up and they're all ugly ducklings you'll pick the least ugly duckling okay so god tells us because we're we're the least corrupt just just like when you choose a candidate for president you choose the guy who's less corrupt seems like that's what he's saying here ah we seem to be better than them because what do we have we have a lot of merits yoter minami more than the other nations and when it comes to the miu when it comes to the negatives to the minuses we are small in sin me so we might have the most merits and we might have the least amount of sins the sacred diet you might have thought reboy from the fact that we have a little bit more zucchinis of merits hashem that's why god chose them because basically you would come to the conclusion that the desire of god would relate to something that like the characteristic that is loved right but that's not we're not anywhere near perfection so it's not really that at all we'll meet sachie's but the fact that we had less sin that's why god chose us [Music] and that's pretty much what larry's been saying all along it's like choosing the whatever is less evil and that's it that's it that's why we're the chosen people you you started out here by by recommending that people who work when they go to vote vote for the candidate is less corrupt yeah machem you too lomar now maybe people will come and make a mistake by saying him retweet you know why they were chosen because they had such great character because they their actions were so superior and desirable and appeasing to hashem that's why it says it's only because god loves you this is called this is why you're you're pleasing to hashem only only because it's unconditional love not me ma i say him your actions were not pleasing there's nothing we could chalk up and say it was because of our actions the logarithm that doesn't cause it doesn't you know not good actions it doesn't cause loche lo bachira has nothing to do the actions have nothing to do with the choosing now the last paragraph we're still in chapter seven verse six of the cliakar zesha amar this is what it means when it says not because you are more than any other nation meaning we're talking about reboys cleo's not because you have all the merits not because you're more forget number you're not well yes number but not number in terms of population but not because you're so much merit had the booking behind that would be clinging to us that we've acquired remember we said when it came to the pluses the word meru bechem had both a nasheem and a number all connected in one word and that's only for the honor of israel that he put that word together with the suffix of hem it says god didn't desire you from the aspect you had a little bit more merits within you than all the other nations but rather the ifr he chose you so by choosing you that's going also on the word low as if to say she gambled because you had less sins than anybody else as one chooses the the lesser of two evils or the lesser of many evils that's why in the verse says without ma it doesn't include the people with the avant with the sin so there's no real connection with these sins there's no real connection to the people with the sin element it's something outside of us it's for neither reason neither one of these aspects is why god either desires us or that he chose us because something as small as this is not something that fluctuates and goes up and down but the truth is after the fact that our actions were not that well they weren't really acceptable but it's because hashem loves you you got to take a deep breath the reason god loves us is not intrinsic in ourselves that he loves us it's because of our roots because of our forefathers because of the oath because he loved abraham isaac and jacob it ain't in us sorry as the verse says he guards the oath meaning to say we always talk about this gustavos we were so worried they're going to run out because if they do run out where are we where are we without the merit of our forefathers abraham isaac and jacob but in the meantime in the meanwhile the merit of our forefathers is standing up for us and this is hinted in the word ethem at atem levada hamritsuyam you alone that was pleasing but your actions nothing to do with your actions as it says in deuteronomy chapter nine verse five you have to read this inside lo bitzat lo bitzat kosacha not because of your righteousness not because of the honorary honesty of your heart do you come to possess the land but rather because of the wickedness of the nations why did we get to come into the land because they were worse than us not because of our righteousness but because of the wickedness of the nations the lord your god drives them out from before you and in order to establish the matter the lord swore to your forefathers abraham isaac and jacob now i want to go now back into the clear car and finish off this most important lesson by reading his words so he goes back and he says we left off third line down shmamina what do we hear from all this that we just read in in chapter 7 verse 7 we hear the word rock is going on what on what's coming afterwards what's below that's only your forefathers that he desires meaning it's only because of it's only your forefathers alone that god desired he had the strong desire and had this eternal love of allah but not you allah but nevertheless he still chose your seed their seed not your seed abraham isaac and jacob seed from amongst all the people meaning to say the erecha matem niram taydem only when you compare us to everyone else we seem to be okay because when you talk about choice or maybe in elections shai kafila madhava shayno told me if you're relating to something even if it's not necessarily good in and of itself it's your choice right it's like you have a what's the word when you have a test and you have no clue but if you have a multiple choice and there's four you may have a 25 chance of getting it right you're going to choose hopefully what you think is the most appropriate but you don't know well here hashem is choosing us only because of the our relationship is basically better than than everyone than anyone else he says like this kilos that choosing is only relating to something it's not necessarily good in and of itself zulachu told missoula toe other than the fact that it's better than the others that's it only because the best choice that's why it says and he will choose your their seed after them in you that's why you're chosen this very fact that there's something let's say missing degrading right we're on this lower level that's depending on us and that's why the verse if i'm not mistaken let's go back to it says here in ours in our verses number 16 this is where god says you must circumcise your heart you shall cut away the barrier of your heart and no longer stiffen your neck do you understand this is how you could i'm not going to say earn it but this is the only way you're going to have a sense of it's not just gutabos it it's not only dependent i mean it's basically dependent on them but you can have a feeling of accomplishment in your relationship with hashem if you do what is necessary which is work on your character be sensitive to other people right become more spiritual what does it mean to cut away the barrier of your heart and no longer stiffen your neck that is how he ends it and he says three more words in order to be able to reach the level of your forefathers in other words in hebrew kedesha tagu so there is some hope in other words there's always hope for the jews people as a nation there's no question about it right we're not going to disappear we're an eternal nation we have this un this unconditional love but if we really want to have a sense of some aspect of earning it and not only relying on scrutavos get with the program as they say right get with the program and i want to say this applies to all righteous people because we're all like haim said well from other marichon and people can connect to the jewish people in all sorts of ways whether you convert entirely as a girthic or you become like a gertoshav or you become a righteous nothing and you are basically attaching yourself to the god of israel to the people of israel and you're doing your you're you're doing what you need to do right so that is my only suggestion take these words to heart no matter who you are know this is the bottom line that anything this unconditional love that god has don't it's you can't take it for granted okay don't take it for granted god says he wants you to mount him at arlat levathem to circumcise your hearts and with that i wish everyone shabbat shalom and a great life and we hope to see you back here next week welcome home to torah [Music] god