Yishai Fleisher Show: The Priest, The Building, and the Budget

[Music] Shalom everybody and welcome to the Shai Fleischer show broadcasting live from Judea to the world you're a part of it wherever you are Shalom and be blessed wherever you are yes we are going to be talking about amazing blessings here from the land of Israel and you are you are energized you're gonna be energized through it because we have an incredible Torah portion and I am I'm by myself on the one hand I'm a little bit like where's rabbi Mike where's Malka on the other hand you know I'm feeling good it's been an intense intense few weeks and I have a chance to kind of sit down with you a little bit it's it's morning here in beautiful Judea and we're on the Land of Israel Network and I have a chance to discuss with you something that I that I have a deep love and connection to and that is the beginning especially we'll talk about the rest but the will start with the beginning of the Torah portion of ie8 save ie8 say which is chapter 28 verse 10 of the book of bere sheet book of Genesis and we're gonna like this is one of the apex moments of Genesis this is one of the kind of key I don't know how to even say it it's it's just one of these dramatic dramatic moments and you could see it also in in the amount of commentary that's around it and we're gonna talk about of course the dream of the ladder of seeing the angels going up and down and Jacobs kind of sojourn towards leaving the Land of Israel and the promise to come back we'll get to that in just a second I do want to tell you that there's some good news on the offing and that is some rain is coming which is so great because we haven't had any rain here in the Land of Israel and I was thinking to myself that we don't have a government and we don't have any rain and that was just like making that connection to myself in my head just today I was thinking myself the Sun is blue the sky is blue the Sun is out and things aren't kind of progressing forward weather-wise and it's the same thing with what the fact that we don't have a government and there's no there's no flow and there's no you know and the money you know the government's government really about governments about money right sending the money that they've taken from you and sending it to other play says whatever we're not gonna get into the tension between socialism and libertarianism and anyway and the spectrum in between I'm not I'm not getting into that I'm just getting to the fact that I was at the Knesset yesterday and I'm taking this fabulous course run by Adi Arbel and as part of the civil society for Israel which is part of the qohelet Policy Forum which is teaching people like myself how to have a better contact with the Knesset better better house release a smoother operation with the Knesset both from a funding point of view but also just to get laws passed and different things in fact I'm very excited next week we're going to actually start the more practical element of the course where we actually have to submit what we'd like to see happen through the Knesset and-and-and-and-and with the group work on it in any case we were actually in the physical Knesset yesterday that's Israel's parliament Israel's governing body and lots of Secrets lots of interesting things I learnt along the way yesterday it was really neat but but everybody was complaining that there's kind of like no now you have to understand it's a little bit weird here in Israel there is a Knesset it's it's still operating and discussing there are ministers but there is no coalition no ruling coalition therefore a lot of budgets that aren't being passed and monies that aren't flowing all kinds of stuff and so so everybody's kind of in in in in wait in a waiting period and the Knesset is like a little bit sad they're just a tad and I thought to myself there's no rain and there's no and there's no Knesset either and then I thought to myself then I thought to myself actually I didn't think that that that was the end of the thought the thought was I'm disappointed because there's no government and there's no wet there's no rain but on the other hand I thought to myself yesterday I thought to myself there's no government but but the process of the Jewish people returning to the Land of Israel is still moving forward things are being built people are having babies you know kids are going to school life is still happening so I thought to myself well there's no government but you know what it still it still moves forward and it does no rain but maybe there'll be a lot of rain later and it's a beautiful sunny day and that's also something good right it's good to be alive in the Land of Israel but then this morning I heard that the rain was actually coming and I thought to myself Baruch Hashem the rains coming you know what and maybe good news is coming for the government of Israel as well you know let's let's let's let's pray for all these things let's pray and do you see the connection like there's when we say the Jewish people when we say Mazel Tov right you've heard that Mazel Tov right what does that mean it means good luck ostensibly but the Kabbalists explain that the word Mazel which which means you know your your star your luck all that business comes from from another word which is which is to mean that means flow Lisl so you know we need good flow you know and that's you know there's a book written about that flow that's the zone that you know NBA players you don't get into when they're really in the zone they got flow they got it's just it's just kind of coming out to flowing out so I want to bless all of you guys with good flow you know in everything and parenting and business and in being a spouse and and being a human being in this world being a servant of God good flow good the sense of Hots laka success and i want us all to turn that blessing right around and bless the land of israel and the governing body of the jewish people the land of israel is the state of israel that's the sovereign and let's bless all of those you could bless them together or independently there's nothing to get like two stuck on you know that you you you you don't love the state of israel as it is i love it even if it's with its imperfections I just just see that this is the gift that God has given us and we've got a we've got to really you know maximize it and move it forward that doesn't that a dozen it may need changes it it certainly needs changes for sure and it needs to become more in line with with the greatest gift that we ever got is a people which is the Torah no question about it that it needs changes and maybe these are earthquakes these elections we are probably going to third elections but I thought to myself just as there's this news that we're probably going to third elections so - there's news a train is coming and I thought to myself you know what let it rain let let it rain and let us keep moving forward thing is about life is that it's a little bit like a slalom course / Tetris things are coming down fast we live in a time where things are coming down fast Tetris is a good example it's like things are coming down fast from heaven and you got to just order them as best as possible and and see if you could you know stack them right and when you stack them right things kind of go below and and you keep you keep building in that you keep you keep doing what you got to do and and you kind of just got to kind of fold away the blessings that you're getting and and and and and then you know don't don't let it get too chunked up don't let it get too messed up you know keep it orderly that's the gifts of God and and at this time he's decided for whatever his reasons are capital H whatever his reasons are that this is a time of great great blessings so let's really prepare ourselves to receive those blessings and in when we get blessings whatever they are and sometimes they're disguised as non blessings but there's still blessings let us thank God and also you know prepare ourselves to order the stuff and and and move the project forward as best as we can in our life and really that's the best that's the best thing they could say about us when we pass away that that we that we were part of this great project we we we we help we help move it forward one way or another and the archetypal the archetype kind of hero for the Jewish people as Jacob all the three forefathers have got their their energy that they bring to the world and Jacob has his very particular energy and in some ways there's an interesting tension between who the most chosen of the forefathers it's either Abraham or Jacob Isaac his greatness is that he was kind of chosen almost from birth his miraculous birth and then his and then the the binding and so in some way he's like a perfect like you don't touch him he's like there's something about him that's like perfect and almost a suit above human just a tad and and also at the same time while he's a bit untouchable in his perfection he's also a transition element he's supposed to transition between and we talked about elastic between Abraham and Jacob but but Abraham his great gift to this world is that he was the first and that he recognized that he recognized God and discovered God by himself and that will never that that suit that merit will never be forgotten the genius the hugeness of Abraham a pillar of this world yet he's got Ishmael and Isaac as children and there's a certain about of a certain amount of imperfection in that Jacob on the other hand he is a kind of middle ground between the kresson of Abraham the the the the characteristic trait of kindness and the polar opposite of that which is Isaac's yira his like fear his aw of God so you have the love of God and you have the of God Abraham is love Isaac is all right so so like Jacob is somewhere in the middle he's called T Ferrat he's like in the middle between he's somehow a hybrid or a middle ground between these two characteristic traits and all of his children his twelve sons are going to be the inheritors of the Abrahamic way and therefore there's something about about about Yaakov which he's called the Bahia vote he is the chosen the most chosen of the forefathers all right there's no there's a lot of a lot of Kabbalah on this on these topics in our our show our podcast is really about trying to kind of you know grip as much as possible on a certain amount of surface level of what's going on in the text of the Torah portion and also life lessons about how we could take it forward so let's uh so we're not going to delve into super Kabbalah but what I do want to say is that let us remember what happened last week and this is now this is a bit of each guys take on the on the situation and I like to kind of humanize and put it into a kind of story context and look at the picture and here's what here's what I'm getting it you have you have Jacob his mother says to him you gotta go and trick your father and get this blessing and he says I'm gonna get a curse she says your curses upon me okay so I trust Rebekah she's awesome she never falters well let's do what she says when he when he gets the blessing the whole thing work the food work the the goat skin on the arms work great he comes out his mom says to him oh boy you got a go you got a run rabbit why is that well your brother wants to kill you okay so I got a say goodbye to my mom my father the tents that I'm a tent dweller in the soups that I know how to make I gotta leave all that and get out of here to do two things to want to save my neck from a sub my brother and also to find a wife to continue the family way so I don't mayor Mary a Canaanite girl but like so I've come out of this room and now I'm cast off now I'm running away and the mattress keeps going and takes it to another level of measure says that that Jacob also was on the run and a sovereign deed wanted to kill him he sent his son to murder him well the son runs his son ace of son runs after him and the son's name is Ellie foz so this le father's running after he's a sub son and he's running after Jacob and he catches up with him and Jacob says to him what are you gonna kill your own family member and he says well I promised my dad I I would so he goes you know what wow this is a great Jewish kind of Talmudic workaround legal loophole says take all my money and if you make me poor being poor is likened to being dead so he says okay so he takes all his money and and Jacob is therefore quote-unquote killed but the the bottom line is that he ends up being impoverished destitute he's a bum he's got nothing he's a deadbeat he doesn't have a penny on him right and so this is where Jacob finds himself on a hilltop in in the what we call today the benjamin region in the town that we call beta l we'll get to that in a second where it is exactly and he finds himself on a hilltop the sun is setting and he's got nothing he's got nothing on him he doesn't have a shekel or a drachma whatever it was drachmas way later that's like 2,000 years later but like no 1500 years later but he doesn't have a penny to his name okay he doesn't have a shekel to his name it doesn't have any of the tents because we thought we were told that he's a tent well er so he's got nothing and he's on this hilltop and the Sun is setting and it's cold and there's animals out there now I lived this is very important part of why I'm spending so much time this because I lived in Beit el for seven years and I I know that hilltop I know that area and I'll tell you something there are wild pigs there boars and and other animals so he doesn't have a cushy cushy pillow he's got to put rocks around his head or under his head different understandings but that's what he's sleeping on he's sleeping on a barren hilltop with rocks to cover his head no blanky and what is he thinking to himself at that moment I was right I was cursed everything that I know is gone my beloved mother gone my father a gun might my life gone my tents a gun there's no warm soup and there's no warm blanket and I'm out here on my own I have been exiled from all that is good and holy in this world from all that I know that that that protects me I am completely alone and the whole thing it went kablooey the whole thing was a train wreck so I am utterly broken and alone my brother hates me my father probably doubts me my mom told me to get out I've got nothing in this world I am I have been cursed I am alone and that is the backdrop to the story so it says so let's read the verse it says v8c ICO of me better shot shava viola Havana so Yaakov went he left bare Sheva and he and he started heading towards southern Turkey and it says and then the measure says that he actually and my good friend Hornstein mentioned this to me reminded me about this it says that it during actually his simcha this week it said that he went all the way to almost to harren he remembered that he forgot to pray in the prep and the place where his father and his grandfather had that very special moment the akkada he forgot to stop in Jerusalem so he starts heading back he actually heads back just to pray just to stop and pray and anyway as I said he's totally alone he's totally poor he's totally broken and it says for if God by macomb he encountered the place where he hid the place and he spent the night there violin shaman he had to go to sleep why he buys shemish because the sunset and my friends EV who I mentioned a second ago also reminded me to listen to this week's oh you ash nama crap podcast which I recommend often to you guys and and this week it was Menachem Leap tag and he talks about how this is very similar this whole story here that we're going to encounter today is similar to the covenant between the parts with with some important differences but in any case also in the covenant between the parts so - did did Abraham have to go to kind of fall asleep because the Sun had been forcibly set by God and it says here they come heaven a macomb that Jacob took from the from the rocks plural remember that of the place and Vyasa made a short table and he put it around his head vishka of a mekomo who and he laid in that place now the word macomb is oftentimes the mikvah macomb is Jerusalem little problem here that I want to get to very quickly are we talking about Jerusalem or Beit el there are two different places and and they always throughout the whole tune us they are two different places well wait a minute what does beta L mean it means the house of God so the house of God is only in Jerusalem right but the town of Beit el words where it exists today was also in the times of the Tanakh was also a separate town in Jerusalem and and the the commentators struggle about where we're talking about and in Rashi I think has a very you know both a very interesting and very meaningful comment which not everybody agrees with but I but I like very much and he says look and I tell this to people all the time the Temple Mount it's got what we call in Judaism spill cos it's got ants in its pants it is not a it's not always just hanging out in one place the the Temple Mount basically it went to three different places throughout throughout Jewish history once it jumped the Temple Mount jumped to Mount Sinai so it could be part of the giving over the Torah and once later on it jumped towards Mount Carmel and became part of Mount Carmel in order to have the the fire come down when Elijah beckoned it to come down forgot to to receive the sack of the offerings but here when Jacob comes to Beit el then the Temple Mount jumps to him just a few kilometers north of Jerusalem to the town of Bethel the town of Beit el but what for what do you need what do you need the if you're ready walking all the way back to Jerusalem why not just go all the way to Jerusalem to that very place why go to I tell and I think that that I I was privileged in my life to hear an amazing answer and one of the experts about Beit el as a guy as an amazing gentleman a professor by the name of Kagi been artsy he's actually the brother of Sarah Netanyahu in any case been artsy and he he said I asked him this very question and he says to me look around here in beta L what do you have here in beta you have the ability to see north south east and west and we'll get to that in a minute this verse that says look north south east and west you can expand greatly north south east and west it's a place where you can visualize the whole Land of Israel from where I used to live in in beit el you could see all the way to gaza and the mediterranean all the way to the pheromone all the way to the jordan valley and all the way to the Hebron hills and beyond you could see really really far and so so Jacob came all the way what walked to Jerusalem Jerusalem came to him but it met him at a place where he can understand and receive the blessings of the whole Land of Israel that was a wonderful explanation that I appreciated in any case so so he puts these rocks this destitute and poor Jacob whose broken has left his family it has got nothing and he lies down in that place by McComb in that place the place led that that Temple Mount that came to beit el viaje loom and he dreamt Vahini Sula Musa Arzo villo show Maggie a Shamima here he sees a ladder who's who is it's placed on the earth but its head reaches the sky now folks if you need a meditation in this world there's one thing that we can meditate on if there's one thing that God wants from us is to have our feet on the ground and our head in the sky that's what God wants our feet on the ground and head in the sky if I if I could bless you with anything is to have your feet on the ground and your head in the sky meaning be grounded in this world know how to work it and have at the same time your head your thoughts your beliefs your your heart your prayers in the heavens and if you think about it we talked about it last week as well when did I say this exact same idea when when I mentioned that the hands are the hands of a sub but the voice is the voice of Jacob what does that mean the hands this worldly stuff you got to have this worldly stuff you got to have the ability to be hands of Esau get it done this world but you have to have the voice of Jacob which is your prayers your thoughts your your higher your higher consciousness has got to be like Jacob so here again that theme is is is was reintroduced which is you got to have that's the whole tree and that's the dream folks the dream is have your feet on the ground in your head in the sky and but that's not the end of the dream okay says it says Vahine a and an end and behold Moloch day Elohim or Liam vo Dumba the angels of God are going up and down upon it right so what does that what what does that mean that there's angels going up and down it means this is a connection point by the way between heaven and earth but that does not mean that God sends his angels down that he commands everything everything everything and that and that this world has no feedback that's the Islamic idea right which is like God says and you do meaning to say if Mohammed would have this dream then it would be and the angels of God are coming down in this world and if it would be a secularist type dream it would be God God has you know detached from this world and the angels are only going up you know we are the creators of this world our thoughts was what is what controls and in and and where the we're the center of this world the Angels emanate from us whatever they are and and we're the Masters of this room but what what the story is is that Jacob saw a ladder in angels of God are going up at aleem vo Dean Bo just that concept orally in viola Dean Bo that God God sends his of course God as the Creator but at the same time we give him feedback and we're part of the creative process of building with him together that's an amazing thing that that we're sending angels back towards towards God as well that's the way I understand it right that our prayers our dreams or thoughts are part of shaping this world and we're in an interchange with God we're in a discourse with God a dialectic I'm using all the all they all the you know the fancy words of dialectic they love those words though that's like a that's like that's like a you use that word in conversation among certain groups and you're in okay just say dialectic we're having a dialectic so in any case there's this dialogue between heaven and earth and and that's really the vision that he has that that is the vision that's his vision going on that there's a ladder and there's angels going up in the air and the rest is gonna be dialog but that's that's the picture and if you look in the commentaries oh my god what did he only not see he saw the Exiles and he saw the temples and he saw everything everything the whole the whole story is basically in this ladder between heaven and earth if you would encapsulate in many ways if you would encapsulate the whole vision of the whole the whole shebang I'm talking about the whole shebang it's a ladder between heaven and earth and angels going up and down that's the only thing that Jacob the great Jacob sees but there's there's conversation there's gonna be already commentary about it so so here's a commentary directly from the mouth of the the proverbial mouth of God Himself v-net adenine eat serve I love God was standing over him by Omar and he said to him Annie I don't I Allah Hey of Rama visa fellow hey it's Hawk valet Chuck I am the God of your father your father Abraham and also the god of Isaac which is an interesting play there right harlots the land Asha Natasha Cavalera this land that you are laying upon this very land that you're laying upon Lahaina now Lazar exit okay this very this very land that you're laying upon I'm gonna give to you and your seed your offspring after you that's the first message that God says to Jacob wait a minute Jacobs like wait a minute I'm getting kicked out of the land I'm running away God says this land that you're laying on and and the measure says so beautifully but the whole land of Israel was folded underneath Jacob at that very moment that is the promise that that's the first line that God system this very land that you're laying on is yours for perpetuity and to your generations the first part of the phrase is actually I am the God of your father Abraham and the god of Isaac we need to say they served me the and and and I've promised them this land I promised it to you now as well so you're also gonna serve me and and this is the land that I give to you and to your seed also so so that's the promises of the land but also it's not gonna be you know it's not gonna be theoretical because the highes that effect if I audits your seed is going to be like the dust of the earth that stop yama the Kadima if it's a phone of the and you will expand greatly west east north and south Yama's towards the sikh admah is the east it's a phone as north Nega is towards the south and what not only that is there's a tripartite promise the first part is you'll get the land until your gonna have a lot of kids and vaniville cooper Hakodesh pocket Adama over Zelenka and in all the families of the earth are gonna blood be blessed through you and through your seed right there at the end they're like you're like you'll you'll you'll have this land you'll have a lot of kids so thanks a lot God but no but but you know it's not doesn't stop with a particular it becomes universal the whole world will be blessed through you that is the promise that God gave Jacob do you guys understand just can I just go into print parenthesis mode like when you read this stuff deeply he just desperately want to be a Zionist and part of this amazing story like this is happening and you you know like I you can't badly but be wowed by these words and understand that it's happening in our time anyway that let me let me put it maybe a little bit more dispassionately which is people like me and I think people like you our whole life is bound up with these words I've wanted to be part of this great story but it doesn't stop there God also got also now it's gonna go to the particular about Jacob Vienna and behold Anna Lee Emma I God and with you Sushma decide before the show today I'm gonna protect you in all that you walk that she voted Isla Damas old I will return into this land kylo as veca for I will not leave you I - air until that moment EEMA City when I shall do yet assured about Tilak which I have spoken to you I will not leave you until that very moment until I have done which I have spoken to you words are a bit convoluted here just a tad there's something there's something like beyond these words mean you'd say I'm not gonna leave the way I read it in my heart this is the way I read it and maybe you'll like it maybe don't I won't i won't I I won't stop the story until it's all fulfilled then maybe maybe maybe down the line when it's all all fulfilled so to completion then then maybe the story of the world will be over but I won't I will never leave the story of humanity the story of the earth the story of the giving of the Torah until until it's all done okay so that that was the conversation remember the vision is only the latter and the angels there's the ladder then there's the angels right so there's a ladder that's that's what a human being should be right I got a godly human being feet on the ground head in the sky and then the angels the connection between heaven and earth that's the vision then the conversation about what how it's gonna actually play out which is I'm gonna give you this land you're gonna have children and they're gonna bless the whole world and then for you particularly to make that happen I'm gonna protect you V now now here's the other side of that contract because it was pretty much so far it was God saying that's what I want and here's the great amazing transition or the other side of the contract and contractual relationship here and listen what happens listen how Jacob takes it via kotse a commission I thought yet Jacob awakens from his from his dream excuse me from his sleep Valmet and he says I can yes Hashem Adonai by McComas even okay lawyer Dottie there is God in this place and I didn't know it what does that mean I didn't know it what does that mean didn't you know that God is everywhere no I didn't know it I thought that I was outcast I thought I was broken I thought I was alone out there I thought I thought that that this land had rejected me and that there was no place for me anymore here and and and but there's something not only that but there's something special about this spot where I got this vision of a ladder between heaven earth the very spot and that's the weird thing I may have thought that God is here God is there God is truly everywhere I would have thought that there's an equality between between godly revelation everywhere but there's some kind of realization that I didn't know that God is by McComas a he's in this place we need to say this is the place where he's really really in which is weird why would God be in a chosen specific place but that's the way it is and I realized that now that it's not everywhere there's something about this very spot and that's where God's will see in a second what will understand it that's where God's houses yee-ha he had an off feeling he was frightened by Omar and he said ma no la I McComas how awesome or even awful we need to say how like the word no Ryan this in this case has a double meaning mean that it's it's it's certainly amazing but it's not like yay thought this is this is what we're gonna make Epcot Center this is we're gonna make Disneyworld this place has there's there's something amazing about it but Revelation is not a simple thing this is where you meet God face to face eyeball to eyeball and that's not you know maybe I'll keep it to face to face not eyeball toy because God doesn't have an eyeball but he does have a face not a physical face but they're just got space if God does also have eyes we need to say there's these when I say has eyes I don't mean to say has physical eyes I mean to say that God about himself uses this anthropological words to talk about God's eyes a nation by the Lord's eyes of course this is Jim to make us understand these but in any case God does see does look but this place is it is it is an awesome and sometimes even awful thing to be able to look God face to face because there's something about that that can easily melt us away because we are we we are a candle we're not even a candle it to his son and these are just parables but the point is is that we can be swallowed up in his in his awesomeness and therefore this there's something scary and amazing about this the whole thing but in any case but yo Matt Monro in Macomb I said how awesome is this place ha Macomb the place ain't said this is none other qiyam beit elohim this is the house of God is in shock husha mine this is the house of God and this is the gate of the heavens we saw nothing and this this rabbi menachem leap tech points out there was there's nothing about this this is that mentions there's a house of God there was a ladder and there were angels going up at them ok the second part Shara shall I am the Gateway of the heavens ok but where did he get this idea that there's a house of God here and that is the other side of the contract it's not that he realizes that there is a house of God here he realized that he wants to build the house of God here he realizes that that is what man gives to God I'll explain in a second let's read the next verse but yes cam Yaakov Ibuka Jacob awoke in the morning he got up in the morning v Kaka to Evan he took the singular form stone where was the stones well the rabbi's jump all over this the stones unified united into a stone I show some initiative that he put it became now a pillar that he put that he put under his head or around his head it became one but by the way if it is indeed a kind of circle half circle of stones that he put around his head so that animals don't eat it if it became one it looks like a game right looks like a kind of gate but if it was under his headlands 12 different stones then they became one stone and and and Rabbi liebe tag says a cornerstone for what for the temple right the the the and and the simple knowledge of this and the Jewish tradition is that this is the foundation stone this is where humanity was was was born this is where Abraham sacrificed almost sacrificed Isaac this is the foundation stone and that is today on the very Temple Mount under the Dome of the rock so he tooks the stone because the Evan I show some initiative which he put under his head but yeah Samanta matzah and he made it into a pillar took chemin l shot and he poured oil on its head and noticed by the way the word head again right it's there's the there's a rush there there's a head remember that we our head was in the sky he but but here's the head is now on earth and He pours oil on this on this rock rabbi he leaped AG points out that oil is not something that goes away you can maybe go 20 years you come back maybe there's a still a remnant of that oil in any case he anoints it we know what anointing is annoying thing is is to is to make it King like Micah at scheme' mikuma who beit el and he called the place of the call that very place beit el which means the half of the house of God the word beit el is one of the most popular biblical name types that there's out there right how many beth-el synagogues and bethel churches are in this world however it says Alam and and however and you should know that Luz shaimaa italiana the place had another name first which is Luz now the people of Beit el are very happy that it was changed to Beit el from lose because or else the people lived in Beit el would have been called losers alright so you don't want that and so we're all happy that it got changed to a baked out I can't get into it now but the word Valon and the word however appears only four times in the whole Torah and its meaning is that somebody was able to see something that wasn't quite there I was able to see past two times the word Olam is about Jacob and two times it's about it's about God but we're not done with the story yet Vado Yakov Neda Yakov made a he made an oath right so Yakov makes a another and oath saying Amy I'm sorry I took a chuckle because I remembered something that was said yesterday that I heard on the on the class yesterday and I'll repeat it now just made me laugh it's good stuff Vado Leah Cove nettles Jacob makes an oath and he says lame-o in yeah Elohim EEMA D if God will indeed be with me but it's not if when God will be with me whoosh um Ronnie but there cuz they should I kneel there and wilt it will protect me on this way but that is cos it and this path this path this life path I should I know that which I walk when a timely let him the hall o beggarly bush and it gives me bread to eat and clothes to wear says my rabbi rabbi Tendler says why does it say bread to eat and clothes to wear isn't that obvious oh don't you just bread and clothes why do you need bread to eat and clothes to wear and the answer is that much does rabbi Tendler he knows he says I know a lot of sick people who have bread in the fridge food in the fridge but they can't eat it they have club beautiful clothes in their closet but they can't wear it give me not only sustenance but let me have the ability to actually use it in this world god bless rabbi Tendler and he says so jacob says if you give me bread to eat close to where the chef debisch elements Beethoven and I let me return in peace to the house of my father which eventually he will via Adonai lilulu him and God shall be for me for a god hashem should be for me for god forgot but it really means in this case that that that kind of let me walk and serve you throughout my life let me be successful in being and letting me serve you like in in a sense one of the things that we can ask God is help us serve you let me give a strength to serve you that's what he says here is like protect me bring me back to my father's house and and give me the strength to serve you that and not only that but I will do something for you God this is this may sound a little a little surprising but this is very Abrahamic in that let's turn it around for a second Evan Azote he says this this stone the heaviness of this very stone that I poured oil on I share something much survived which I made into a pillar yet beta Elohim will be a house of God the caller Sheltie Tenley and all that you give me I said a sedan Allah I will tithe to you everything that you give me I will tithe to you so rabbi leave text said something yesterday that just made me chuckle out loud he says whenever you're building a synagogue you know you need three things right you need three things what do you need you need a uh you need a rabbi you need a building and you need the funds to make it happen right so you need you need the rabbi the building and the budget and I was thinking about calling the show today the rabbi the building in the budget and and and if you pay attention that's what he says he says listen if you return me to to this house it did to the my father's house if you're bringing back to this land and return me to my father's house then you will be I God for me to say I will serve you diligently I'll be the rabbi and this this stone that I put as a pillar will be a house of God there'll be a synagogue but and everything you give me I will give tithe back to you meaning to say I will I will make a budget for it for the temple and so you have the rabbi the servants or the priests you have the building and you have the the upkeep and that's what you need to build a to build the synagogue and to build the house of God in this case but in any case it's a it's it's a surprising quid pro quo but that's that's what that's I think the wrong way to look at it the right way to look at it is you God promised me all these things what do I ever give you back let me build a temple for you let me let my whole purpose in life be to bring God's presence into this earth let me create a a resting place for you here a tabernacle and abode a dwelling place for your presence and and if you listen to the Hasidic teachings which I which I think makes so much sense which is they asked a simple question what's the purpose of this world what's it all about look what is our role in this world and I think that the Chabad and is one that is to me very compelling and that is our job is to make a place for God in this world to make a develop lace for God that's that's what we're all about not about self-actualization and mistake that is not the purpose of the world to self-actualize nope nope it's actually actualized God in this world and we could talk about that a lot but the the point is is that what Jacob says is let me do one thing for you and that is to build a house for you and that's really what the Jewish people are saying let us build the house for you there are there are there are places and even say just say that that the temple will come down from heaven and other sages disagree with that and other sages explain the other sages that's not really that the full temple is gonna come down on mass and whole rather will bring a time into you know that God will will create the consciousness that will be able to create a temple here's the bottom line when anybody says to you God will send down the temple you say to him but that's our job for him that's the one thing that we could do back for him we could grant him that's that's the one thing we could build for him that's the one thing that we could really give God back right which is no no no you don't build a temple let us build your temple please let us build a house room look if you created this world and you've given us strength all we're asking us give us the opportunity to build a house for you which is very very different then you know he'll build a house for him and we'll kind of like you know come in and be happy no no no God please don't take away from us the the merits of having the ability in this world that's what Jacob says let me build a house for you you protect me on my pet you give me a chance to come back to this land you fulfill your promises and I'll fulfill mine which is I'll build the house of God for you and the next verse is is is very important very Sayaka václav and Jacob picked up as his legs viola hots up and they killed him and he went to the land of the of the children of the east meaning to say he he adroitly in this I picked up from the TiVo column he after God said to him no I'm with you he up his feet and just took off and I was like okay I'm not cursed God has revealed himself like we can make this into a very personal story which is I thought I was cursed I'm all destitute God says you're not cursed I'm with you I'll bring you back to this land so it's like okay I'm ready to go I'm picking up and I'm going and here I have to stop and tell a story and to me this is a very meaningful story and it's a story also about Beit el and it's a very it's a it's a it's a it's a very personal story I don't know if it's so personal it's just personal to me because I guess I'm the person telling you whatever lets get to it or a t-shape okay mark and I were married and we were considering right after the law school to go to Eretz East route to go to the Land of Israel but I wasn't sure because we had established an ally organization called kuma in the United States and it was it was making inroads and I thought to myself if we leave in one way we'll really stop actually promoting the Land of Israel because this is where it's needed and I didn't know what to do and I wasn't sure now now here's the weird part I actually got through after my father's death and a phone call that happened between one of the fundraisers in the beit el institutions - my mother he was fundraising from her and he heard that her voice was sad and he asked what happened and he said you know he heard about my father's death and he said what can I do for you and she said well my son needs a job maybe in the land of Israel and anyway crazy stuff but here's the bottom line I got a job offer to come work in Arutz Sheva in the Beit el institutions but Mark and I were not sure whether we should make aliyah to the land of Israel what was at the time maybe we could have stayed a little bit more maybe we could worked off some of our student debt cetera so so we weren't sure and I went together with maka we went to Rabbi lavey Stoics house he was our Habad rabbi in Crown Heights and we went to pray we went for Shabbos it was Shabbat Suva between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we went to 770 in Brooklyn I was really concerned about this issue and I prayed hard and I really asked for guidance and I said to God listen I'm here in a place where emissaries are sent this is a place of schlegel this is a place where where where a righteous man sent so many people around the world for their sleeve oh I don't know if I'm really supposed to go to beit el or stay here in america what should i do what should i do what is my food anyway I prayed my little heart out and then I went I needed the bathroom and I wanted to hide my see door because finding a good seed or a prayer book at 770 and is not always so easy so I went down the stairs and I went halfway and there's these like vending machines there and I wanted to put my seed or behind one of these vending machines just to keep it safe and pick it up and as I'm coming down to the vending machines I'm thinking about these issues and I'm about to put my my seed or like above the vending machine I reach up to put the see do it the the prayer book above the vending machine and I looked up and there was a giant box not a giant box but a big big box and it had in big words and I'll never even forget the coloration because it was like in kind of celebratory colors and look like kind of a candy color thing and it said in big words bait in Hebrew it said Beit el I'll never forget this I'll never forget how it looked beit el and it said and then I look I saw it am I believe it was if somebody had put the words Beit el on a side of a box and then I look closer and it said Ichabod come in little words it Habad and then the big word beit el and then it said in hebrew in little words PE luta Kadesh action under fire and I thought to myself oh my god this is my sign I asked whether I should go to Beit el and here's the thing from that very town from that very town somebody obviously Israeli had written this thing and it was the Chabad from beit el had put this box there and they were visiting or something and I never found out and then it's a Chabad abate though yet the letters were colored in like a swirl like a candy cane type of swirl but and and and it's a you know beit el i was like it's like you know what i felt right there I felt this is my sign this is my sign I didn't and I want you to know that there are times in life where you just there are times in life where you just don't know there's many times we live we just don't know and then there are times in life when you know I knew that this was my sign and I'm telling the story I remember that feeling and I know that feeling in my heart till to this very day that was my sign it said Beit el and I knew right there and I want to tell you in three weeks maka and I were in living in Beit el three weeks from from when we saw that I had no I no more doubts it was just so clear to me that this was this was this was this was my I wouldn't say sign it was my directive and we went out so so and we packed up our feet lifted up her legs and we were out of New York City in the rest of history right and I just want to thank God so much for that for that clear sign I want to bless all of you for clarity of knowing what your schlitt is and there's many times in life when you don't know there are many many many times and it's rare when you do know but there but there are times when you when you those times when you do know remember them those signposts those signposts along the way those are very important the rest of the Torah portion is has many many important stories but I'm going to summarize it very quickly because I want to get I don't want to go too long today and we're ready at 51 minutes but I do want to say two more things before we finish off the podcast the show for today and that is that Jacob goes he meets Rachel he cries when he sees her he kisses her and and then he goes into the kind of work servitude for LaVon Laban for seven years he gets tricked he gets he gets Leia instead of Rachel that he wanted to marry and there's a lot there so so much to talk about here but but I can't do it today but in any case he also ends up marrying Rachel these two wives competes for Jacobs love and they and they give birth through them and through the handmaidens to the eleven sons of Jacob the twelfth one is going to be born next week that's going to be Benjamin who's going to be born in the land of Israel Benjamin is where the the town of Beit el is but in any case there's competition and then and then there's people are having both Rachel and Leah are having a hard time giving birth at different points they compete for the love of their husband and competition breeds blessing sometimes because they both they both get pregnant and have their children and then and then finally Joseph is born finally Joseph was born and very very interestingly maybe we'll talk about it next week when she names him Joseph when Rachel named Joseph she says God will give me yet another son and that's going to be Benjamin but that is his name-o and my good friend Arie Silverman he's got a son that has that name Yosef in English increase right an increase in that is you know like increase Mather type thing increased means means more God will give us more but in any case Jacob then goes on to try to make his wealth by by using the kind of science and here we come in to animal husbandry which is what what one of the blessings here and he knows how to get his flock to be the speckled a flock he set up these rods of hazel and chestnut he peeled white streaks in them laying bare the white of the rods he set up the rods she peeled in the Runnels and the water receptacles in which the flocks came to drink and then they became stimulated when they came to drink and then basically whenever it was mating time for the stronger of the frogs Jacob would place the rads and rods in the Runnels and the bottom line is the man became exceedingly prosperous and attained flocks made servants and servants camels and donkeys he became rich and then Laban LaVon started becoming jealous and he realizes that that something is not going right and I'm getting to the point that I wanted to get to which is that he calls out his wives to the field away from Laban away from Livan and he says to his wives you know that I've worked hard for your father and then he says basically says I think it's time for us to go and he tells about this dream that God revealed him how to increase his his blessing how to increase how to do the animal husbandry and be blessed through it but then then there's one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible and that says a lot for me anyway it's definitely in my top five Bible verses this is and I I want you guys so all whoever is not living the land of Israel I want you to like emblazon this somehow into your hearts or put it physically somewhere in your house this is chapter 31 verse 13 he's telling his wives just a few verses before that he says an angel of God came to me in the dream he says Jacob and I said Here I am and he said raise your eyes if you please and see that all the he-goats mounting the flocks are ringed speckled and checkered for I've seen all that LaVon is doing to you we need to say I'm giving you the secret about how to make what how to make a success for yourself prosperity for yourself but now verse 13 I know he ha L beta L I am the god of beta ow listen to this carefully i'ma so Scott says I'm associating myself with the name of a place I am the god of Beitel enoki l they tell i am the god of the house of god a shamash akbash omits eva there you anointed a pillar I should have known that Alicia I'm Ned there you made an oath to me I thought now come get up seminar that says Oh leave this land the shoe Vilayet smaller latekka and return to the land of your birth that's what God tells him in a dream I am the God of Beit el we had a contract now this part of the story is over I want you to go back to the land and the wives a wives say to him of course you've got to smoke into this way it's time to go and we are strangers in the house of LaVon and so we're ready to go but but God revealed him in the dream it's time to go make your make your welfare out of outside of the Land of Israel now it's time to come home and he associated himself and he says I want you be in other words I want you to come back and fulfill the other part of the contract that's an interesting thing by the way God system you made me an oath you made me an oath there remember that I want I want that oath I yearn for that oath that's what the rabbi's say this they just say that that that God yearns for a place in the slower lower worlds that's what says I want you to fill that oath I want you to fulfill that oh and I'm gonna protect you to help you fulfill that oath but you fulfill that or both there's more about of course the story portion which is just so fabulous but I do want to finish off with saying that we are this there's three things that we have to know first thing is that we're in the month of Hanukkah the month of lighting it up and and it's time to get get in gear already for Hanukkah and to and to immerse ourselves in this like light that we want to bring into this world that's number one number two is that it's the month of December on the secular year which means it's the end of the fiscal year which means also that if you have the interest in in giving donations is the best time the year write-offs etc and so number three is help us continue to try to try to bring light into this world through this show and through our other works many of our works some of which are are known and some which are secret please help us continue to do our holy work I'd like to ask you to go to Isha Fletcher calm and to donate especially maybe sign up for giving $18 a month $18 a month isn't is an easy way and you'll feel good about it when you see it come off your your credit card bill you'll be like I'm helping the folks in Israel I'm helping each I fly sure and then cumin Malka and everyone in Jerusalem and I'm helping that being that be built and fought for and I'm helping this broadcast which isn't which maybe is important to me I hope it's important to you and that's an easy way to do it of course if you could do more do more but I'm asking folks to help the Hanukkah light and with the Hanukkah gelt and the December gelt as well you know season's greetings and all that tax tax payers greetings and all that so $18 a month is what I'm asking for for you from you to give a little bit just like Jacob said I'll tithe to you everything a little bit of your tithe to our efforts will really help us out you know that we are you know this I don't have to say this you know that we're not about the money that's just not what we're about we are about something a very different but as we as we learned you need you need the rabbi you need the building you need the budget so so a little bit of your blessings and that's really what it is I'm asking for your blessings a little bit that's that's basically it when I see a donation come in it just makes me feel like you've blessed our efforts here and and not only are you blessed it but you're really part of it that's that's the real truth you're not really it's not that you're even giving empowering us it's more like you're the power and where you're sending us your you know your will your blessings and and we're we're together we're we're doing something that lights up the world I really hope so in any case I want to thank the Land of Israel Network I want to thank the amazing Jewish community of Chiron which is just such a blessing to be part of it is the kind of when Jerusalem is is totally lit up everyone's gonna be lit up next that's that's also a place where it says you know that you can only start the temple work when you see the dawn over ever and when you see it lit up we're trying to light that up as well trying to make it beautiful we're gonna make a campaign to to light up the Martha Matthew lies the tomb of the patriarchs is matrix the the mothers and the fathers that's part of what we do I I also can't tell you enough how much what a pleasure it is to see when I see people wearing the toilet I just love it I comment to people I'm like you are wearing awesome toilet loud and proud you are making me proud I just said that you know two times yesterday actually I said it to one guy and I thought it about another guy but I couldn't speak to him cuz there was no time but like when I see somebody wearing toilet it's awesome te KH e le T Telecom that would be awesome if you visited that one of our sponsors the Hebron fund heb ro n Hebron fund dot org come on the trip forget donations or you know what give donations but come on the trip see it for yourself be part of something incredible and God please help us to beautify the place and our good friends our J brick friends who make great LEGO sets there's great stuff for Hanukkah as well let's get fired up about Hanukkah I'm getting fired up about Hanukkah and remember what I said about also getting fired up about December the end of the tax year a little bit of your blessings will go a long way and thank you of course to the Land of Israel Network to re and Jeremy those those amazing leaders who are doing such such there they're bringing light into this world thank you so much for all that you do folks just lots of blessings to you wherever you are send me a hashtag of blessings of Hanukkah light you know what hashtag light hashtag light that's all I want hashtag a little that's all I'm asking you fire off hashtag light I'll see that in my inbox I'll be like oof that gives me that gives me strength and I got some great emails the other day I was firing back some emails thank you so much please write to me at a shy at the Land of Israel calm it really a little email from you is is worth so much to me okay so your second of just being like you know let me just let me just fire off from my phone right now just just hashtag light that's all I want to hear from you that's it and now just give me that will give me all the joy in the world if you want to add more great but like that's all I need so hashtag light and and we'll owe you shy the Land of Israel calm check out my website you should i flash calm and all the good work that we do Malka is firing it up on twitter so follow her I think it's the maca fleischer maca if whatever just type in maka flash or Twitter you'll find her she's awesome she's an awesome she's ripping it she's really she's really lighting up the storm on enter on on Twitter and just stay connected there so so many ways we hope to see you here in the land of Israel so sue god bless you more great stuff is on the way stay tuned stay strong stay connected Shalom and blessings from the land of glass [Music] if you want to improve relations between Israel and American Jews one of the things that you should do is encourage people to listen to the Land of Israel Network listen Eve Harrow and listen to each I Fletcher and listen to re Jeremy and slo-mo Katz and listened at Mike foyer and listen to Josh hastin because the Land of Israel Network has a mission and that's to spread love between Israel American Jews there's so much to love about Israel there's so much to love about Israelis and I think the Land of Israel network is part of the solution you are all part of the solution you're listening to the Land of Israel network at the Land of Israel comm broadcast