Thinking Talmudist Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:00 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Thinking Talmudist podcast.

00:14 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back, my dear friends, to the Thinking Talmudist. It is so wonderful to be here. It's so wonderful to see so many beautiful faces. Thank you, chef Ed, for the delicious lunch. Magnificent choice of menu, all right.

00:29
This week's Talmud, we're going to continue where we left off last week, on 7a in tractate brachot. So the Gemara now turns to the next verse in the discussed passage and expounds on it by Yomer lo suchal liros es panay. This is when Moses ascends to the heavens to receive the Torah. So he says God, I want to see your glory. This is last week's Torah portion. By the way, last week's Torah portion, what does Hashem say? You cannot, you will not be able to see my face.

01:09
Ta'ana mishmei de'arav, yishua ben karcho, a b'ra'i so was taught in the name of yishua ben karcho, kach amar lo ha'kodesh boruch le'moshe. The following is what God said to Moses Kishor rotsisi lo rotsiso, achshav sha'ato rotse, when I wanted to reveal my glory to you by the episode of the burning bush, remember we left off with this at the end of last week. Then you didn't want to, you turned away, but now that you want to be, you want my revelation. I'm not in the mood right now. Right, I'm not gonna right. So Rabbi Yeshua ben Korchah thus understands you want my revelation? I'm not in the mood right now. Right, I'm not going to right. So Rabbi Yeshua ben Korchah thus understands that there is a complaint against Moshe for not wanting to look at the divine revelation manifest in the burning bush.

01:57
The Gemara cites a contrary opinion Upligi derav shmo bar nachmani om rabi Yonasson, rabbi Yeshua theuel Bar Nachmani, who said, in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, rabbi Shmuel Bar Nachmani, rabbi Yochanan, in reward for three things that Moshe did in regard to the burning bush, he merited three things. We know there's a very fundamental principle in Judaism, in the facts of life, there is reward and punishment. You do good, you get good. You do bad, you get bad. You do stupid things, you get good, you do bad, you get bad. You do stupid things, you get stupid prizes. Okay, that's the way it works. You do good things, you get good things, okay.

02:58
So what is the three things that Moshe did correctly, that he merited three special things In reward for? And Moshe hid his face. He merited that. His face was shining. Remember, after he had the revelation at Mount Sinai, what did Moshe do? Moshe came down and everyone was like we can't like Moshe put a covering over his face because it was glowing. Imagine you can't like Moshe put a covering over his face because it was glowing. Imagine you can't because the radiance was so incredible, which now just gives us a little bit of a understanding.

03:36
In the background, it says that Moshe didn't breastfeed from the Egyptian women because they were idolaters. The mouth that's going to speak directly with the Almighty can't take in food from a non-Jewish. By the way, the halacha says something so incredible. The halacha says that I have to show you this inside because you won't believe me. Okay, the halacha says that I have to show you this inside because you won't believe me. Okay, the halacha says as follows in chapter 46 in the Kitzer this is about forbidden foods. Listen to this.

04:19
The Talmud in Yoma 39a relates that, in addition to the prohibitions involved in the consumption of non-kosher food, such consumption leads to dullness of the heart. Dullness of the heart, an inability to attain one's spiritual potential. Imagine that by eating something that's not kosher, you're creating a spiritual dullness that now you can't attain holiness and spirituality on the same level. Amazing thing. For this reason, the Ramah rules that even very young children should be stopped from eating non-kosher foods, and an infant should not nurse from a woman who must consume those foods due to illness. So even if there's a Jewish woman who keeps kosher but, for whatever reason, she has to eat something which is not kosher for her health, a Jewish baby should not nurse from her. Why? This is but one indication of the significance that is attached to these laws. When we talk about kosher, it's not about it has a supervision. It doesn't have a supervision. Our entire spiritual antenna is clogged by non-kosher food. So the fact that we're just even mentioning this kosher food, I want you to understand something Today, with the industrialized food production, it is very hard you have to look for something which is not kosher. Most things are kosher.

06:02
I remember I was once sitting with a gentleman. We were learning together in his living room. Every week we would learn together one of the houses in Bel Air, and he says to me Rabbi, listen, kosher. It's very nice and all, but there's no way in the world I'm ever going to be kosher, I'm never going to eat kosher. I said really. I said come with me to your pantry and I will show you that more than 90% of your pantry is kosher. He says not possible. I don't even know what a kosher symbol looks like. So I go into his pantry and I show him here. Look at this Right over here. You see this OU that's a kosher symbol. He's like no, I thought that was like a registered trademark sign. I said no, no, no, ou is a kosher certification. Take out the corn. You see the star K that's a kosher symbol. You see this CRC that's a kosher symbol. I started showing him there were maybe six products in his entire pantry and it was like a walk-in pantry Six products in his entire pantry that were not kosher and most of those six were just because he picked the brand that wasn't certified. But you can find the exact same product with the certification on it. That means that it was supervised to ensure that it was kosher without any hesitation.

07:20
Today we live in a world where it's unbelievable. You can be literally any place, in the United States at least, and you'll find kosher food Any place. It used to not be that way, but when I travel to New York and back in the summers we drive up and we drive back at the end of the summer I can stop literally any Walmart, any Target you go. Almost every single product has a kosher symbol. It's an amazing gift. It really is an amazing thing. It used to be. You had to be in a Jewish community because that's the only place you'll find something which is kosher, that you know that no non-kosher elements were brought into the food Milk. Today, in the United States, we have something called the USDA. The USDA, the Department of Agriculture, has very strict rules regarding milk. So you can go anywhere in the United States and any milk that was milked in the United States is kosher, even if it doesn't have any symbol. Why? Most have a symbol anyway, the kosher symbol. But why? Because you have the federal government which is breathing down the back of those farmers to ensure that nothing else is mixed in with that milk. No pig milk, no camel milk, no other any other type of milk. It's only cow milk. If that's what you're buying, you understand this is so today. It's really unbelievable the luxuries that we have as Jewish people, that we can buy kosher anywhere. It really is an incredible gift.

09:04
Okay, so now the Talmud continues. Oh, so we were talking about reward and punishment, right? So how did we get to this? How did we digress so far from our? Okay, but either way. So what was the reward? We started with reward and punishment right, reward and punishment, and somehow we got into this conversation. But b'schar v' reward that Moshe covered his face he merited to a shining face. In reward for that he was afraid of the Almighty, he merited that they feared to approach him. And in reward for what the verse says, that he gazed. What does that mean? He gazed, it says, and the commentaries here explain that.

10:02
In Numbers 12, verse 8, it says in reference to God showing Moses his back, moses was able to see that closeness to Hashem. Now we're going to get into this whole conversation of seeing Hashem's face versus his back. What's really going on here? It says the Gemara the Gemara expounds on the final verse of the passage. Says the Gemara the Gemara expounds on the final verse of the passage. Then I shall remove my hand and you will see my back. Omer Rav Chonabar Bizno. Omer Rav Shimon Chassido. Rav Chonabar Bizno said, in the name of Rav Shimon Chassido this teaches that Hashem blessed is. He showed Moshe the knot of his tefillin, which is worn on the back of his head. We know that the tefillin have the box in the front. Then we have a strap that holds it and a knot in the back of the head. That knot is what Hashem showed Moshe.

11:05
This is last week's Torah portion, by the way that this whole conversation transpired. Moshe says I want to see your glory, I want to see your greatness. Hashem says you can't see my face. You can see my back. What are you talking about? What are you talking about and we've discussed this many times Face means future. Understanding what's going to be Back means the past.

11:32
What Hashem is telling Moshe, or sages tell us Moshe, you can't see the future. You won't understand how this plays into the future. We're trying to like. You know what? Why are people just as a? Why are people just just as a? Why are people so intrigued by the news? You open up the television. Yeah, you have a couple of channels sports, some fashion, some other things News. You have 100 channels on news. You'll have three on sports. What's the intrigue with news? Because we're trying.

12:11
We have this never-ending desire of trying to understand how this plays into the future. It's a never-ending desire to try to understand how God is going to play out this world. We think we understand it. Suddenly, there's a rocket from the Houthis. You thought that that was not going to be a problem. Suddenly you have problems from the Lebanese, from Hezbollah oh, that's not a problem, that's taken care of. Suddenly you'll have a problem from the Syrians oh, that's taken care of, we're back to Gaza. It's like and then you have the Egyptians, and then you have the Jordanians and you have. What in the world is going on? We're always trying to figure out. There's an obsession in humanity. We're trying to understand how God's world operates.

13:00
Shem says you'll never see my face, you'll never understand the future, you'll only see the back. Look back at history and you'll see that I always took care of everything. You'll see that you were always well taken care of. I always protected and preserved the Jewish people. The Jewish people will never be eliminated, ever. It's a promise. This is the intrigue that Moshe started. He says I want to understand the future. I want to see your face. Face representing the front, the future, the back representing the back, the history. Let's continue. So another statement by Rabbi Yochanan in the name of Rabbi Yossi. So I'm Rabbi Yochanan, rabbi Yossi, kol dibur v'dibur, sheyotza mi pi ya'kodesh boruchu l'tova Afilu al tanay.

13:53
Every single statement uttered by Hashem, by the Holy One, blessed is he, was in a person's favor, even if it was based on a condition. If you do this, you'll get that. Even if it was based on a condition, a precondition, it was always positive. Just stop for a second here. What does this teach us? This teaches us that every single thing the Almighty does is good, even like what. How could that be? How is that possible? That's like literally the worst nightmare in the world, and yet Hashem only does good. How is it possible? It's happening to me. Ah, you don't see it yet, you don't understand it yet, but it's only for your good. It's only for your good.

14:49
So, min olam, where do we know this? From Yamosher ben? We see this from Moshe, our teacher, sh'nemar hereth imeni v'ashmideim, release me and I shall destroy them and I will make you into a mightier nation and more numerous than they already are and more than their enemies. Af agav d'bo'o Moshe rachmei alo d'milso uvatlo. Even though Moses prayed for divine mercy concerning this matter, and it was voided, even so, the promise to Moses that he would make them a numerous nation was fulfilled to his descendants. It never happened. Moshe says no, no, no, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it to them. Hashem still fulfilled his promise. Shemem, as the verse states, b'nai Moshe, gershom Eliezer, the sons of Moses, gershom Eliezer, v'yiyu, b'nai Elezer, rechavya, harosh. And the sons of Eliezer were exceedingly numerous, v'etoni Rabi, yosef and Yosef Torna Brisa, concerning this verse, that the descendants of Rechavia numbered more than 600,000 descendants came from him. Asya, revia, revia.

16:20
This is derived by means of a Gezereshava, because we see that any time it uses Ravu, any time. So there's a known principle in how we learn Torah Any time you have two verses that use the same terminology, you can equate them and you learn something from one. It means if one is about 600,000, the other is about 600,000. Because that's why it uses the same exact terminology, you link the two. There's no mistakes in the Torah. If there is a terminology that's used the same way, identically, there's a reason for it. It's hinting that they're linked. So because it says it says exceedingly numerous Over here and it says elsewhere and the children of Israel were fruitful, teamed and became numerous.

17:20
So the Talmud now teaches us that you can link the two. What was the numerous over there? 600,000. So over here, because it uses the same terminology of Ravu, they became numerous. Without giving a number, it's also 600,000. Yes, sir, this is the grandchildren of Moshe Yep. Amazing, an amazing thing. All right, so now the Gemara continues on 7b in tractate parachot.

17:52
The Gemara commences a series of statements transmitted by Rabbi Yochanan in the name of Rav Shimon ben Yochai. Rav Shimon ben Yochai, you know who Rav Shimon ben Yochai was? You remember right? Okay, so in exactly two months we're going to be celebrating not exactly, but give or take two months and a few days, or take away a few days, will be Lag BaOmer. Lag BaOmer is the great day that B'Shimon Bar Yochai, the one who wrote the Sefer Zohar right, all Kabbalah that was brought down to this world was brought down through B'Shimon Bar Yochai. B'shimon Bar Yochai was in a cave. For how long Anybody remember? It was nine years, nine years. He was in a cave and he came out of the cave and we learned this Gemara. Actually, we learned this, gemara, he came out of a cave and anything he looked at burnt.

18:51
He looked at you and you burnt A flame. Done goodbye. So he was told to go back into the cave because he was unhumanly all right. He was so godly with his unbelievable powers that he had attained with his being completely isolated and learning and close to Hashem in such a level that this is not the way Hashem wants the world to be conducted that whoever Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai looks at will die instantaneously. So either way. So now we're going to hear some amazing teachings from Rabbi Yochanan in the name of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. So, number one Mi Yom Shebar HaKadosh, baruch Hu Esa Olam Lo Hayah Odom Shekrao La HaKadosh.

19:42
From the day the world was created, there was no one who called God as master of the universe until Abraham came along. And he says until Abraham came along by Yomer Adonai Elohim Bama Eida Ki Erushanah, where he said Master of the Universe, hashem Elohim, how will I know that I am to inherit this land that you promised me? He used that term and that's why, by the way, what prayer was instituted by Abraham? The morning prayer, shacharis. How do we start our shacharis prayer? Adon olam, master of the universe. We use the same term that Abraham instituted in how we refer to God as master of the universe. You understand how revolutionary this is that till Abraham, there was no one who believed in God. Essentially there was no one. There was all these pagan beliefs.

20:41
And if you look at the Rambam, the Rambam it's such a. We have to learn this. Rambam Rambam talks about how idolatry came about. You know how idolatry came about? It wasn't that people were like looking, let's mess with God, okay, let's mess with God. It wasn't that people were like looking, let's mess with God, okay, let's mess with God. No, it's that people said you know what Hashem is? Such a gigantic concept, it's too big and broad for us. Let's simplify it. Let's connect to Hashem through his creations, like the sun. The sun is so powerful, wow. If Hashem created the sun, he'll be very thankful that we idolize the sun and we'll make the sun into the representative of God. We're not going to serve the sun. But what happens when you create that barrier? That barrier continues to grow. And then it became the moon. And then it became other things the stones, and it became the sticks, and it became all of these different the tree. There was the Asherah tree, which was served as an idol, all of these things. Oh, we're not doing it to distance ourselves from God. We're doing it as a representation of what God created in the world, without malice intent, but that's the result. That's the result when you create a barrier. It wasn't malicious intent, but it became malicious.

22:06
Where then, suddenly, nobody believed in God and Abraham comes with this revolutionary idea and everybody wants to kill him. Everybody wants to kill Abraham. Why are you killing him? What do you have with Abraham? Oh, he's going to take away my business. I'm selling stones and people are buying it. Imagine it's a good business, it's a good grift. I'm selling these little babushkas, right, and it's just selling like hotcakes and people are buying and they're putting it in the middle of their homes, they're putting it in the middle of their gardens. Wherever they go. They're buying a travel little travel idol, people doing unbelievable.

22:57
And comes Abraham he says no, no, no, guys, this whole thing's a fraud. Hashem is everywhere and Hashem created all of this that they're calling gods. Hashem created it. There has to be a power that everything spins. Imagine someone is walking like this with a finger and there's a basketball just spinning on the finger with no human influence, because typically, when you see something spinning on your finger, there's somebody who's slapping the ball making sure that it spins. But imagine it's just spinning. That'd be a miracle, right? Oh? And the world spinning perfectly on its axis, right, just happens. No, it doesn't just happen. Hashem is making those, those, the world, spin so perfectly. It's an amazing thing. Okay, so now the Talmud continues. And the Talmud says a related teaching Amarav, one second. Now that we got onto this topic, we're going on a tangent. Now we're going to continue onto something else.

24:24
After Nihilonana, elabishvila, avram, we see that Daniel 2 was answered only because of the merit of Abraham. Sh'nemar ve'ato sh'ma elokimestfilas avdokho ve'alta hanunov ve'ho erponecho al mikdoshcha ashamayim l'man, adonai, adonai. And now pay heed, our God, to the prayer of your servant and to his supplications, and let your countenance shine upon your desolate temple, for the sake of my master. He's invoking the Abrahamic text so that Hashem have mercy on him. Right, the verse should say for your sake. Why does it say for the sake of my master? Do it in the merit of Abraham, who called you master, lord.

25:22
Another statement from Rabbi Yochanan, the name of Rabbi Shimon Bar. Yochai, rabbi Yochanan. Rabbi Shimon Bar. Yochai V'amra. Rabbi Yochanan. In the name of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

25:29
Menayin she'en miratzin lo lo'odim eshaskasah. From where do we know that we do not attempt to appease a man in the moment of his anger? Sh'nemer is the verse Stayitz ponay yeleichu v'hanichosi loch, my face will go and I will give you rest. Or say just say since commentaries don't explain over here exactly how this so my face will go and I will give you rest. Meaning my face of anger will disappear and then I'll give you rest. You'll be able to. Meaning you have to wait till the anger passes before you try to appease your enemy. So someone, you hurt someone by mistake. Now they're so worked up, don't try to apologize then, because they're going to blow it off, they're not going to accept it. So wait till their anger passes and then you can approach them with the apology. Okay, now another statement, rabbi Yochanan, in the name of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

26:38
Rabbi Yochanan, in the name of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. Rabbi Yochanan said, in the name of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai from the day that Hashem created His world, from the day that Hashem created His world, there was no one that offered thanks to Hashem since the creation of the world, until Leah came around and thanked Hashem when she had Yehudah. When Yehudah was born, her fourth child was born. We had Reuven, shimon, levi and then Yehudah. She named them Yehudah to give thanks for giving her beyond her calling.

27:21
Since Leah knew that, through divine inspiration, that Jacob would have 12 sons with his four wives, she assumed that each wife would have three sons. Makes sense, right? Simple math. You want to make it equal. Every wife has three, and then it's equal. Therefore, when Leah gave birth to her fourth son, she named him Yehudah, which is thanks thankfulness, which is thanks thankfulness. She thus extended her gratitude to God for the extra measure, for the extra measure that she received over the shear that was coming to her.

28:04
There were certain individuals before Leah who praised God on account of some benefit they received. However, hoda'ah, this extra thanks was born out of recognition that one who received excessive benefit beyond what one thinks they deserve, they give extra thanks, right? Leo was the first to realize that God had given her something more than could be expected. And the truth is like this. Think of this.

28:49
Imagine you buy a little hamster. Okay, so you buy a little hamster and you don't feed it. What's going to happen? It's going to die, right, muerto, it's going to die. So let me ask you a question. Like Hashem puts us into this world and doesn't give us food, what's going to happen to us? We're going to die. So Hashem really has to give us food. Okay, so like okay. So there's a level of thanks. So thank you for giving me a great life and thank you for giving me food.

29:25
Now, what's food that God has to give us? Bread and water, that's it. Anything more than bread and water is totally luxury, because we could live a perfectly fine life with just bread and water. Pas be'melach tochal ma'ayim b'sor tishte, as the Mishnah teaches us, you want to be a really God-fearing spiritual person. Eat just bread and water. Sleep on the floor. You'll be very godly very quickly, because you'll appreciate, you'll recognize how much God loves us and gives us. Well beyond the call of necessity, necessity is bread and water.

30:14
Realize the magnificent gift that Hashem gives us every day of pepper and a cucumber and an onion, and you just think of all of the different fruits and vegetables. And not only are they so delicious, their scent, their delicious smell. For me, I love berries. The smell of the berries is just like it's just, it's so godly. It's such an incredible gift.

30:43
You know why God didn't need to give us strawberries and blueberries and raspberries and all the others. God didn't need to, and yet he did. Why did he? More than our sheer? We become a Leah every time we recognize that Leah. Our matriarch taught us what it means Realize what is the minimum that God needs to give you, so to speak. God doesn't need to give us anything, but God put us into this world. He needs to sustain us. That he does need to do so. God gives us way beyond. He gives us a nice car, gives us air conditioning, gives us clothes. Anybody here only have one set of clothes. We're luxury, luxury. What a life we live. What an incredible gift. We should be dancing on the rooftops every single day. Anybody here ever travel through the air? You get on an airplane Right. Isn't that incredible? What a gift. You would have to go on a horse and buggy. Oh, they make cars too, and trains. You realize what a luxury this is, what a gift.

32:02
We take everything for granted, which is why we're a miserable generation. We're a generation that's more medicated than any generation in history. You know why? Because the more we have, the more we take it for granted, the more we take it for granted. The more miserable we are, the more unhappy we are. It really is tragic and it's doing serious damage Unless we stop. We stop and we realize. I just saw a clip yesterday of someone complaining that they were broke. They're walking around with a $2,000 computer in their hand and they just bought a brand new car and they're broke. You understand, that's the generation we're living in. It's a crazy thing that people don't appreciate what they have.

32:54
God didn't need to give us all of this luxury. You know what's a real luxury Electricity, a washing machine? You know what the advertisement for washing machines was Back when it was first discovered the first right? Do you know what the advertisement was? What are you going to do with all of your time? How are you going to spend your time now that your clothes are just you put in today?

33:22
What do we complain? Ugh, another load of laundry put in today. What do we complain? Oh, another load of laundry. Oh, what a headache. Right? Instead of realizing what a gift it is, can't believe it, I have to do another load of laundry.

33:35
I remember my mother's friend. She says I pray to God that he always give me money. Like laundry, it never stops coming. It never, load after load after load, to realize that, you know, we buy more and more clothes. We're a consumer generation. We consume and consume more, and then we need to wash more and more, and then we need to. It's like we're, instead of we have to stop every day and give thanks.

34:04
Thanks how many times a day? At least a hundred times, at least 100 times, at least 100. I would say even 100 times a minute, not 100 times a day, 100 times a minute for all the incredible luxuries we have. You know, the gift of living in an air-conditioned home, in a heated home, the fact that we have books printed like this, the technology that we have you can communicate. My son is right now. He left for Pesach. They're traveling back to the States and they stopped in Europe for Shabbos, and there he is on the phone. I'm able to look at him and my daughter-in-law. I'm able to see their faces. What an incredible gift. We can use it for our connection to Hashem or we can God forbid use it to distance us from Hashem, but that's our choice here.

35:02
The Talmud teaches us the importance of using everything that comes to us as a gift, to recognize as a gift, as an opportunity to thank Hashem. As an opportunity, hashem, thank you. You didn't need to give this to me, but you gave it to me anyway. Right, the perspective that lay ahead. Right, the perspective that lay ahead. Now I realize that this is well beyond what I needed. It's a total gift, alright.

35:39
So the next piece is a little bit longer. We're going to stop here. God willing, next week we'll pick up from here, but I want to share that we're going to start a new program. God willing, next week we'll pick up from here, but I want to share that we're going to start a new program. God willing, next week we're going to start going through the Haggadah. Okay, so I'm going to still work out the details. God willing, look out for it. We're going to do a series, maybe like a three part series, maybe a four part series on the Haggadah, so that when we come to the Seder this year, we will come armed with an understanding, with a clarity, with a knowledge of the incredible gift of Pesach. Have an amazing Shabbos, my dear friends.

36:20 - Intro (Announcement)
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