Ari Goldwag - Lech Lecha - Fame and Fortune

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with hashem's never ending assistance in ra Israel 5777 2016 this week's paraa is the very beginning of the par the Torah tells us about God's instruction to to Abraham and it says like this 12 vers1 God said to Abraham leave your land the place of your birth the house of father to the place that I will show you verse two I'm going to make you into a great nation I will bless you and I will make your name great and you shall be a blessing verse three I will bless those who bless you those who curse you shall be cursed and through you all of the families of the Earth all of the people of the earth will be blessed as a result of your presence now in the the simple understanding of the verses I want to know why is Hashem telling him all about giving him this whole description of the blessings and how great he's going to be he's going to be famous generally speaking when we study spiritual text when we study ideas of muser ideas of of ethical Behavior ideas of character refinement we find that it's not necessarily something good for a person to be famous it's not necessarily good for someone to have have a lot of Honor why in the simp understanding why is Hashem telling AB telling Abraham that if you follows his direction if he goes to the promised land to the land of Israel that he's going to have this great Fame what is the idea that Abraham is going to be so famous so I'd like to share with you a beautiful medish that speaks about a few different aspects of this verse and gives us some very interesting Concepts to think about and to examine and try to understand how they might apply to us me says like this and it's going on the verse that God promised Abraham I'm going to make you into a great nation so there was a conversation as it were between Abraham and God they had the following conversation soem says to him I'm going to make you into a great nation Abraham says it's beautiful that you're offering me that you're going to make a great nation out of me but Noah he got a better deal it seems he got 70 Nations so said to him no there's something very special about the nation that's going to come from you the verse says about this go God this great nation what is the special aspect of this great nation so if you look at this verse which is in Deuteronomy 4:7 it says the Jewish people have something very unique and special about them that makes them great and that is the fact that they are a great nation that God is close to them God has unique relationship with the Jewish people and that verse continues in speaking about what is it that the Jewish people have that we are close to God like our God God is close to us whenever we call out to him and the verse continues one more verse I'd like to read who of the great nations are there of the 70 nations of the world that has such beautiful and righteous laws like this tor that MOS was saying that I'm giving to you today we have a unique relationship with God we have a special relationship with God and we have a special relationship with his Torah which directs us how to have that relationship with God and as a result of that we are an amazingly great nation who is like this nation there is no other Nation like that and Hashem was saying to Abraham this nation that I'm speaking about this amazing special nation that has unique relationship with me and a unique relationship with my Torah that is the nation that's going to come out from you so that's the first point the says continues I'm said when the verse speaks about the fact that God is going to cause Abraham to be a great nation it doesn't say I will place you to be doesn't say I will give you to be which are the normal way of saying these type of things rather God says I will make you not I will give you that status I will make you into that there's a creative Force that's going to happen you should know has is giving him a hint as to when it's going to happen because at this point in the story Abu is 75 years old and it's not until he turns 100 25 years later 25 years after this point that he's going to give birth to a the Jewish nation is going to start but Hashem says I want to give you a sign you know when it's going to happen when is it going to be that you're going to be a great nation when is that Nation going to begin to to to start when is it going to be germinated it's going to to the point where I make you into a brand new creation when you become someone new you become like you never were before you become young again you and your wife SAR in a miraculous way become able to conceive again that's the moment that you're going to first have children and that's the moment that the Jewish nation is going to begin and that's the moment that you're going to see that this this concept of this good God this great nation that has a unique relationship with me as we spoke about before is going to to come into existence so this is the second point of the Mish thatu is going to be made into a brand new creation in a miraculous way as we're going to discuss soon and that is going to be the point that things change that's going to be the point when this nation is going to begin now I'm going to skip a few lines which aren't directly relevant to my point and the mes continues in explaining what is it mean why is why is abam need to be assured at this point that he's going to be made famous that he's going to have this beautiful Nation that's going to come out of him says he's about to embark on a journey and ordinarily when a person is journeying when he's on the way and then they didn't walk they didn't have a car they would walk so when a person is walking on the way he's traveling so it causes three things it makes it difficult to have children because one's not in his normal place was not going to be able to be with his wife as often as as is normal the second thing that happens is that a person can't make as much money when he's traveling it's much more difficult he needs to be in a settled place is shame and ordinarily a person's name a person's Fame doesn't get greater when he goes and travels it's something that occurs when he's settled he's in a certain place he builds himself he builds his reputation slowly slowly it builds but if you're going from one place to another you're constantly traveling there's no opportunity for any of these things to build properly but despite the fact that that's the normal way hasm was saying to it's not going to be that way with you as far as the first issue that ordinarily when you travel it causes a person not to be able to have children so much I reassure you that you will be a great nation second point in regards to the fact that a person doesn't make so much money when they're traveling I'm going to bless you you will make a lot of money you will become rich and and as far as the fact that you will not be able to build your reputation it won't seem like it's possible to get to become famous I assure you I will make your name great I will personally intervene that although naturally things should go a certain way there will be a supernatural occurrence which will make things go the opposite way so here in this third Point Hashem is telling him that he's going to begin aaga an amazing way that God is going to behave toward him and ab is going to represent a person or he will be a person who things go the opposite of the way that they should go things go supernaturally naturally things should go down things should descend things should decay in this type of situation everything will be the opposite things will only build things will only become greater because Hashem is saying I will bless you and I will make you great now here we come to the fourth point of the maish which to me is really interesting very beautiful and we need to understand what is the Meer telling us what is the depth of the idea I want to share with you just really quickly that I saw an introduction to the medish of the a who's the commentary who I use on the medish he mentions the fact that all of the M are written in they're written in riddles and our job as we read the med as we try to understand what's going on here is to uncover and to decipher the riddle of kazal so we need to know every time we read a Maes as we've been doing for a long time now whenever we read a med theal our sages are trying to teach us something there's a depth here which they want us to unravel they want us to put in the effort to try to understand so let's look here very carefully as we try to understand what are teaching us said in the name that what is the idea of that God said to ABR going to make you into a great nation that you're going to be famous everyone's going to know about you what is the idea God says that I'm going to give you a coin a coin is going to come out in your honor in the world and you're going to become famous as a result of this coinage and not only you as the M continues but there's going to be other descendants of yours that are also going to have coins minted in their honor there were four we find that coins were minted on their behalf in the world by the Jewish people Abraham we find in regards to Abraham God said to him I will make you into a great nation we find that this making great this Fame had did it come about it came about through a coin that was minted for him and as a result of this coin being minted his Fame began to spread as that coin was used for people's monetary dealings what was the coin what did it look like what was engraved on this coin on one side there was an elderly man and woman on the other side there was a young man man and a young woman so who are these two were they different sets of people says the a YF in one explanation no they're not two different people they're actually AB both sides are Abraham and Sarah Abraham and Sarah depicted on one side as being an elderly man and woman which they were when they were when they got old to be the age of 90 and 100 but on the other side there was a young couple and the young couple was also Sarah and Abraham but it wasn't an old picture of them it was a newer picture of them because they became young young again when they hit 90 and 100 respectively they became young again and they were able to conceive and have children at that advanced age so the miraculous this this coin was minted in honor of the miracle that Abraham and Sarah became young again and they were able to start this Jewish nation in a miraculous way so it's very interesting that the point when is it that Abraham and Sarah became great when were they when was their Fame known throughout the world as a result of the miracle of then becoming young again being able to conceive of Y of Isaac the coin was minted in their honor and then everybody knew about them they became famous now what is the idea of the coin what is the concept of a coin what does it mean that their Fame became great because of a coin and back to our original question why is it so important for ab and and Sarah why why does Hashem have to tell him that you're going to become famous Fame is not necessarily a spiritual ideal what is the idea why is Hashem assuring him that that's what's going to happen and why specifically does Hashem cause Abraham to become famous through this unique Miracle of them becoming young again and being able to conceive of a child now I'd like to share with you a little bit more of the Mish the other three people that we find that had coins minted in their honor because first of all it's interesting and second of all it will have some of them will have to do with the point that I'd like to bring out the next person is yahushua is Joshua verse says in Joshua 6: 27 he God was with josua he was heard about in all of the land he became famous what does it mean here when it says that he became famous like we said before by Abraham Joshua also had a coin minted in his honor M what was on the coin on one side was an ox on the other side was a wild ox what's the difference between these two types so the verse hints to it which follows Al and it's based on the verse which refers to Y and his tribe it speaks of the ox refers to the horns of the wild ox and explains that the shore the power of the sh the regular Ox it's a very powerful Beast which is why it's used in the domestic context because it's something that that's it's a beast of burden but the wild ox isn't as strong but it has more beautiful car and has more beautiful horns so yahushua's coin represented the fact that he had both MERS he had both advantages he was strong as an ox as a domesticated ox but he also had the beautiful horns of an ox which was a wild ox so that was the second coin the coin of yua in regards to King David the tells us that King David's name went out he became famous in all the lands as we said before this means that a coin was minted and that coin began to be used in the world and he became famous what was this coin what was on it what did it look like on one side there was a picture of a staff and a shepherd's bag which represented the fact that King David came from very humble beginnings he was a the lowly Shepherd and on the other side was a tower which represented the fact that he became the king of Jerusalem he was the one who built Jerusalem up he had the mdal David he had the Tower of King David so the images on the coin represented and spoke of the amazing contrast between where King David came from and where King David ended up fourth coin Mor was in regards to Mor the story of Esther the verse refers to the fact that Mor was great in the house of the king and he was heard about consistently in all of the countries and all of the different provinces of the king what is it referring to Y that he too had a coin Meed in his honor what was his coin on one side there was sackcloth and Ashes representing the AOS the sadness that he had experienced the fear that he had of the destruction of the Jewish people and the mourning that he instituted so that they would do Chua so that they would repent that was on one side mik the other side was a crown a Golden Crown the one that he was given as the story turned around as he was brought into a position of power as he became someone great in his kingdom so that was the coin that everybody saw and as a result of that coin everyone became aware of the greatness of morai and he became famous now what's interesting here is that each of these coins had something unusual about them which was not in conidence with how coins are usually minted usually a coin is minted by a king in order to express the fact that this is my kingdom and all of the dealings that go on here are beholden to me you have to pay taxes the very fact that there's a possibility of having uh commercial success or having any kind of commercial interactions is because of my grace because of my allowance for it to occur it's because of my governing ability it's because of my oversight of all that's going on in my kingdom and sometimes a coin will be minted in honor of a great event as well for example the Romans minted a coin when they when they captured Jerusalem when they destroyed the temple so a coin was minted in honor of the destruction of Judea Judea capta it said on it so it was a great Victory and it was Comm commemorated with a coin but but again this is something which shows the greatness of the king the power of the king his his abilities his greatness but if we look at these coins except perhaps for yoshua's coin which needs an explanation which I don't think we're going to get to today but if you look at the coins the coins are recording unusual events the coin of Abraham and Sarah records the fact that there was a miracle they became young again the coin of David records the fact that there was something unusual which occurred with him which is he came from nothing he was a shepherd and he became the one to build Jerusalem and the coin of of morai as well speaks of the fact that he he had been in a state of mourning and then all of a sudden he became a great and honored person a person who had a Golden Crown on his head so what is the idea of these coins what's the depth of the idea and why are they these coins which represent this idea why are they the ones that cause each of these individuals to become famous and I think the idea or the depth of what's going on here is something which I saw explicitly stated in the MOs of Rashi which brings down rashis from other places and it's just a few words but explains the depth of everything here the verse tells us God promises him I'm going to make you into great nation what does it mean I'm going to make you into a great nation Rashi adds in two extra words I'm going to make you a nation of the great God what does it mean that the Jewish people will be a great nation it means they will be a nation of the great God of Hashem as we've seen as we've seen in the medish but there's a there's a little thing here that's a little change a little switch we're not talking about the fame of Abraham we're not talking about the greatness of ABR ofo of Abraham we're not talking about the greatness of D we're not talking about the greatness of Mori who are we talking about the greatness of what are the coins what do these coins speak of they speak of the greatness of Hashem the Jewish people represent God in the world Abraham he brings blessings into the world wherever he goes whoever blesses Abraham will be blessed whoever blesses the Jewish people will be blessed why is that because Abraham is just somebody who represents God wherever he goes God is shown to be there if somebody blesses Abraham they're really recognizing that God is there each of these coins each of these coins shows an unbelievable Miracle the miracle for Abraham was that he became old it didn't seem possible it seemed impossible that the Jewish people would ever come into existence but no God says I will make you great at that very moment when you become young again at that moment that Miracle will make you great but it's not going to make you great you're going to become a great nation a nation which is connected to the great God which is Hashem because now you will show in the world that Miracles are possible that that God gets involved with individuals and God gets involved in the world in an intimate way and that God makes the impossible a reality and that's what that coin represents the coin is not just to make Abraham famous it's really to show the true king who is the real King just like a a regular coin if you're in America and you have a coin and you see a picture of George Washington on it it represents the fact that there is a country here had great leaders that's the country that you're part of that's what this money is about when you have a coin on it that speaks of a miracle speaks of the fact that God made Abraham and Sarah miraculously young again so that they'd be able to start a nation this coin says there is a God it says Abraham and Sarah are the beneficiaries of the kindness of that God and that all those who wish to can receive those blessings as well and the money that you're using which represents the the abundance the Prosperity that is also to remind you that God is the one who's the source of prosperity and abundance Hashem was not just saying to Abraham you're going to be famous Hashem was saying you are going to be the one who brings my fame into the world and there's no greater Fame than that there's no greater Nation Abraham says to God as it were what do you mean you promis that there's you know Noah has 70 Nations and God says to them no no no no no his nations are not like your nation your nation will be unique your nation will show that God is close to them that God can be close to human beings and that God will direct human beings how to have a relationship with him and there's no greater Nation than that King David's coin shows that it's possible for a person to come from very humble beginnings to be a shepherd and Hashem will come into that person's life and say you are destined for greatness the coin of morai says the same thing the very difficulties the very challenges that you face in your life ultimately will transform you into a greater person such that there will be a Golden Crown placed in your head that's God's will God is showing that I am in your life I am involved even when it seems like I'm not there which is the entire story of Esther but that coin goes out and everyone recognizes the greatness of a morai not because of morai but the greatness of Hashem who has manifested in mori's life the greatness of Hashem who was manifested in King David's life and the greatness of Hashem that that despite the fact that you're going to be traveling in a place where it seems impossible to have children It seems impossible to make money and it seems impossible to become famous the other way around I'm going to manifest in your life in a miraculous way such that all will know that you are blessed that I am here and they also by recognizing that will receive those blessings I want to bless you and please bless me back Hashem should help us to be able to recognize that he is in our life that the coins that we use the money that we use let us imprint on those coins in our imaginations the fact that these coins are hashem's coins God is running our lives God is involved in our prosperity in every aspect of Our Lives let us remind ourselves that the blessings whenever good things are in our life it's because of God let us recognize the Miracles that have occurred to us and to our people throughout history and remember that we are blessed and the more that we recognize that we are blessed the more that we will see the blessings in our life thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabas this podcast was made possible 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