Ari Goldwag - Va'eschanan - Entering Israel

you're listening to the weekly paral podcast recorded with hashem's nevering assistance in rapel 5776 2016 this week's par is par and at the very beginning of the par Moshe Ru Moses describes to the Jewish people the supplication the prayer that he put up towards Theon shal to the master of the world to Hashem to God and he asked God let's read this together it's in chapter 3: 23 I supplicated before God but as at the time lay more and said as follows God you have begun to show your servant your greatness your Great Mighty hand which God is there in the heavens in the earth that is able to do like you do and and has that great might has that great power then in verse 25 mosu says his request e let me pass over let me go over there let me please be able to go and see the good land to see the land of Israel which is on the other side of the Jordan River the good mountain and the Le which uncle is translates as being reference to the B mdash to the temple he wanted to go there he wanted to build the B mikdash and mha tells us that hasem responded to him God said to him he was very angry he got upset at him because of the Jewish people God did not listen God said to Moses you have enough you have a tremendous amount of you have a tremendous amount of merits don't speak to me about this anymore then in verse 27 which is the last verse we'll read at this point hasem says I want you to go up onto the top of the mountain turn your eyes north south east west you'll see with your eyes you can see Israel you can see the land of Israel you can be able to miraculously be able to see the entire land but you're not going to be able to go over there you're not going to pass over the Jordan River now as we read this we need to understand the conversation what is mosh renu's request why is it so important to him to go into the land of Israel it seems like he wants to finish his task he wants to bring the Jewish people to the promised land but it seems from Kaz from our sages that that's not his request that wasn't what was underlying his desire to go into the land of Israel we'll see soon what was but what was his indeed what was his request what did he want also what is hashem's response hasem says you may not go there don't ask me anymore but I'm going to show you the land of Israel you're going to be able to look at it and you're going to be able to see the land of Israel the question is what is the significance or the depth of the idea the fact that mosh is going to see Israel if he has a request he wants to go to Israel how does it help him to see the land of Israel so I'd like to share with you a medish and a g and if we put all these pieces together we see a beautiful idea which is related to what we spoke about last week the tells us like this told the Jewish people that God that he prayed to God at that time and he said what is this statement of and he said says that whenever it says the word lore it's to say over there's something that needs to be taught there's something that needs to be repeated and what needs to be repeated and taught here is that mosu he was praying cuz he had something that he really wanted there was a pain that he felt there was a lack that he felt he had which was he was missing the opportunity to go into the land of Israel and he was praying to God please give me this opportunity and we learned from this there's something to be set over for generations and that is that when we are faced with a difficult difficulty when we are faced with a challenge we feel we are lacking something there's an obligation to pray there's an obligation to pray Moses even though it's it was said to him already that he's not going to pass over the Jordan River he kept praying he kept supplicating he kept begging God please let me go over to the land of Israel as K tell us the word the gatri the numerical value of that word is 515 because he prayed 515 times asking God over and over and over again please let me go into the land of Israel so it's an amazing thing that we see from here that when we're in a difficult situation when we are faced with some problem there's an obligation to pray we need to try our best to ask God over and over again that the problem that we're facing be removed now this point itself is very interesting because we don't see that mosh was answered we just see that he prayed and he prayed and he wasn't given permission to go into the land of Israel so we need to understand why is saying that we learn from here that if someone has a difficulty a challenge he should pray because we don't see that he was answered so if we're learning it out from here it sounds like we might not be answered second point of the another explanation M what does it mean when it says leore that he was to repeat this says that mosha said the master of the world please answer me give me a response if I'm going to be allowed to enter into the land of Israel or not I need an answer now what does this mean that he needs an answer what was he looking for so I'd like to read to you the who explains this the explanation is the intent here is what does Moses want what is he going for what is he looking for he just wants to do the will of hem if God will say to him that he doesn't want him to speak anymore if he will just respond and say that's enough mosha say When God says don't speak anymore about this matter so Moshe will now have a command and then by not continuing to request he will fulfill a command a Prohibition he will be fulfilling the word the desire the will of hem now now this is what hasem responds to M he says you have a lot you have so much that there is so much good which is hidden for you you have earned an amazing reward like explains in you have a new commandment all of the Jewish people have 613 Commandments you have a new one which is don't speak about this anymore so that's Mitzvah number one the first point is that you have a negative commandment don't continue to speak about this interestingly also besides to the negative commandment you also have something else you also have a positive commandment go up onto the top of the mountain and there you're going to look over the land of Israel so moshu in his conversation earned something he got something and now is he got a positive and a negative commandment and as a result of that amazing thing says the that as a result of you asking as a result of mos saying I want a response I need you to give me a response even if it's a negative response even if it's don't speak to me anymore even if it's you can't go into Israel but you can look at the land of Israel because now says M has a negative commandment and a positive commandment which as a result of keeping those those two Commandments mosh would now Merit the reward of what he was looking for as if he had gone into Israel and fulfilled the Commandments the will of Hashem which he wished to fulfill in the land of Israel and he he ends off like the gamar in says on page 14a I'd like to share with you that gamar as well because it's really beautiful and it teaches us an amazing thing the says said the following idea why did MOS have such a desire to enter into the land of Israel what he wants to eat the delicious fruits of Israel he wants to get satisfaction from the good of the land this is what said this is this was underlying his request many Commandments were given to the Jewish people famous the only place to fulfill those Commandments is only in the land of Israel let me go into the land of Israel so that I be able to fulfill them so the foundation of the reason that Moshe so wanted to go into the land of Israel was because he wanted to fulfill God's will he wanted to get those Mitzvah he wanted to manifest godliness in the world as hasem commanded in regards to the fruits of Israel did he just want to eat the fruit did you just want to enjoy the good no he wanted to do the Mitzvah he wanted to fulfill the Commandments that were connected to the land of Israel the mitv of shita the Mitzvah of Meer the tithe the special obligations that are only possible in the land of Israel so God said to him what do you want you want to have the reward you want to have the Fulfillment of my will I consider it as if you have fulfilled these Commandments even though you haven't actually Gone to Earth Israel you haven't actually fulfilled those Commandments I consider the the fact that you wanted it I consider it as if you indeed did it and let's come back for a moment to what the at said because he referenced this gar it doesn't seem to be saying precisely what said but it it definitely comes out beautifully according to what he said because the said that he was looking for a response from Hashem he realized he's not going to be able to go into Israel but at least let me have some opportunity to fulfill God's will so that I can be considered I have done all that I can in ser in my service of Hashem in my desire to serve Hashem as is appropriate and so Hashem giving him a new Mitzvah don't talk to me anymore about that Losa say prohibition don't speak about it anymore and by Hashem going and saying here take a positive commandment I give you an obligation to go up on top of the mountain to look at the land of Israel those two Mitzvah that he received are considered as if he's gone into Israel somehow he's gone into the land of Israel and fulfilled God's will with the fruits of the land of Israel and as we read this we need to understand what is the message here what is the idea that the is teaching us that the gar is teaching us what is it that mosha wanted how is it considered as if he's gone into Isel as if he's gone there because he wanted to do it I mean it's a nice thing he wanted to but how does it work and what is the idea also very interestingly that there's a positive and a negative commandment what is the idea of this the two aspects here the statement that don't do this and do this what is the what are the two aspects now I'd like to share with you one more Med from I think the med really is eye opening it's beautiful and it will help us understand something that's going on here this piece is in the on the verse verse 25 that refers refers to the good land the mountain the good Etc brings we have an analogy to a King he wanted to marry a particular woman he sent his Messengers to go see her whether she's beautiful or not so these these agents went and they they saw her they came back and they gave the report to the king they said there's nobody more ugly than this woman she's she's just horrible you can't look at her now the king he had a particular servant of his a friend of his who heard what was going on and he said to them Ben name Mary you people you agents are liars you are rebellious against the king a she's the most beautiful woman in the entire world why are you telling the king that she that he shouldn't marry her now the king decided he's going to marry her now the father of this girl so the the Agents of the king they want to come to the wedding the father of the girl says to the agents he says I swear you can't come in here you said negative things about my daughter to the king now this friend of the king who had said nice things he wanted to come in the father of the of this girl says I don't want you to come in either so the friend of the king says I didn't even see her I said to the king that there's no one more beautiful than her I said she's the most beautiful woman in the world they said it makes sense that you shouldn't let them in they said she's the ugliest woman in the world I want to be able to see her now so that I can see who is right if if they were right or I was right you have to let me in I'm allowed I should be allowed to come into this wedding Moses said the same thing to he said the spies said this negative thing about the land of Israel they said it's a land which eats up its inhabitants consumes them I wasn't the one who had gone through the land of Israel but nevertheless I said the Praises of the land of Israel to the Jewish people says says to the Jewish people God is bringing you to an amazing land a beautiful land should let me into Israel so that we can see that I can see was I right or were they were they right that's what he was saying let me go in so I can see this good land I called it a good land and I hadn't even seen it I want to go in and see it so I can see that I was right and they were wrong now in this medish there's a very important question that we can ask and that question will get us to the core of what's going on the question is like this mosha never saw Isel he didn't see the land of Israel how did he know that it was a beautiful land what what gave him that idea how did he know how could he contradict the maragam the spies who actually saw the land of Israel and they said it was a place which is not a good place how Doha know that's question number one and really it's the same question in the shushin the friend of the king he spoke and he said no I know she's the most beautiful woman in the entire world how did he know he hadn't seen her that's what he says he hadn't seen her so how is he able to know to promise the king that this was the right girl that this was the most beautiful woman in the world and I believe that the answer is based back on that gamar in sa on D page 14 where the gamar says why did he want to go into Israel what he just wanted to enjoy the fruit he wanted to get pleasure from the goodness of the land of Israel says no no no no no heaven forbid that's not what he wanted he wanted to be able to do the Mitzvah of Isel he wanted to take the M he wanted to take the tithes from the fruit he wanted to be able to have the spiritual benefits of being in the land of Israel now I want to say that the truth is that there are really two aspects there's an outer aspect just like we spoke about last week There's an outer aspect and there's an inner aspect the inner aspect is the spiritual accomplishments the spiritual Beauty that's there the opportunity to do a Mitzvah to raise something up to be able to use this in the service of God now it has a spiritual significance the fruit is not just fruit now it's something which is infused with spirituality with soul but the fruit itself is an expression of that when when the says did he just want to eat of its fruits did he want to just enjoy the goodness of the land it's not saying a contradiction it's not saying that can't be what he wanted it's saying that can't be all he wanted meaning when something is infused with spirituality when you see the soul of that thing so now that thing takes on a brand new dimension and that thing becomes not just a physical thing but the the physical thing itself reflects the spirituality which is ingrained within it if the land of Israel is a place where I can take Myer where I can use the fruit in my service of God even the fruit if it's a place where I have a mitzah shita just refraining from from tilling the land during the seventh year through that I become closer to God that's an expression of the fact that the land itself the fruit itself is Holy is amazing is beautiful the fact that the the fruits the Morin came back with fruits that were so beautiful and so large why were they so big why were they so large why were they so luscious why is there the land of Israel so beautiful it's a reflection of the fact that there's something spiritual going on and in Israel just as we saw last week in the land of Israel it's not a contradiction the physical aspect the amazing physical as aspect of the land of Israel is not a contradiction to spirituality all the way around ad the land of Israel is a place where the spirituality manifests as beautiful things as beautiful physical things so coming back to the question of mosha how did he know how did the shushin know that she was beautiful how did Moses know that the land of Israel was so amazing the answer is because he knew that if the spiritual aspect of Israel is so powerful it's so beautiful has the opportunity to serve God in a way that you can't do anywhere else in the entire world that must Express itself that must manifest in something physical that's beautiful and so he was able to be sure that he could say to the Jewish people that the the spies they're lying they're saying a falsehood there's no more beautiful place in the entire world than the land of Israel and that's because it's a manifestation of the amazing spiritual aspect the amazing spiritual opportunities that are only there in the land of Israel and in the analogy as well the shushin the friend of the king he knew that the king would never send his agents to anyone but the most beautiful woman in the world very fact that he was interested in this woman must have meant that she was beautiful if they're saying that there that this woman is ugly that she's the most ugly woman in the world they must be completely off their rocker and that's how the shushin the the friend of the King was able to say no she must be the most beautiful woman in the world it can't be any other way you the king would never be interested in a woman unless she was the most beautiful woman in the world now coming back to the first points that we made we said what did Moser Rao want what was he looking for and what did Hashem respond to him what did hasem give him he let him see the land of Israel and the answer here that we're seeing as the pieces of this picture the puzzle comes together we're seeing that mosu if he's looking at the outer aspect of the land of Israel if he's able to see it if he's able to see the beauty of the land of Israel it means that at some level he has been Z has merited to touch to access to manifest whatever is the inner aspect whatever is the spiritual aspect that he was so Desiring he was looking to fulfill the will of God he was looking to manifest in the world whatever is able to be manifest only in the land of Israel and Hashem said to him I'm going to give you a chance to do something which is equal in this case what's equal for you is to stop asking for it and that's the negative the prohibition and for you to go to the top of the mountain you have a negative and a positive commandment the negative commandment is the inner aspect of it it's him listening to God's will fulfilling God's will the outer aspect of now go and see the land of Israel is that by fulfilling God's will of not asking anymore to go into the land of Israel you have now mosh you have now fulfilled whatever it is you wanted to fulfill the the Mitzvah of Israel as it were it's considered as if you've done them so now you have access to the positive command which is the outer aspect the manifestation of the beauty of the land of Israel which you now have permission to look at it's very interesting and very beautiful but what comes out is one final point which is which is amazing and that's connected to the the first part of the Mish which we asked the following question it said that we learn from here the word says the T says lay more that I prayed I supplicated I begged God and this is what I said now whenever it says lay more this is what I said it's always there's something that needs to be repeated there's something that needs to be taught we said what is it teaching us it's teaching us that whenever we Face Off with a difficult situation we are to pray we are to ask for our needs we're supposed to ask God please take away this difficulty please give me my needs it doesn't seem like he was answered so why are we learning from this place and the answer is that he was answered he was given exact what he asked for but not in exactly the way he thought he thought that the way to fulfill God's will to manifest that spirituality in the world was only by going into the land of Israel in his particular circumstance he was able to fulfill that will of Hashem without going into the land of Israel just by listening to God now the the amazing thing here is that when we pray when we ask God for something so we don't always see that God has answered our prayers but what this Mage is telling us is that even when it seems that God has not answered our prayers just like mosha Ru it seems like he didn't get his request he didn't get to go into the land of Israel but we're seeing something amazing that other the way around by this prayer he got the Fulfillment it was as if he had done it and not just it was as if he had done it he was able to see the land of Israel the outer manifestation which means that he did it he walked into Israel he fulfilled the Mitzvah of the land of Israel he fulfilled those commands commandments so too when we ask Hashem for something when we ask God to take away difficulty or when we ask him for a certain request something that we want more than anything it can sometimes seem like we're not getting what we've asked for and the message of this Mish is that we need to pray and we need to keep praying maybe sometimes even 515 times but we need to pray and we need to know that there's no such thing as it Fila that's not answered if it's really real if it's really sincere and sometimes the is answered in the opposite way we ask for something and Hashem says no and yet what are we here for what are we trying to do just like mosu just like Moses we're just here our our goal should be to be here to do the will of Hashem whatever it is that hashem's will is that's what we'd like to make our will sometimes we think the way to serve Hashem is X that's how we do it and sometimes hashem's response is no you will be considered as if you've done it it but I want you to do why sometimes it's something different than we thought and that's also okay and that's also true and that's the lesson of mosh that's the lesson that we learn here that when we're in a time of difficulty and challenge we need to pray and then we need to believe and know that Hashem has answered us that God is giving us what we need and what's truly the best for us I want to bless you and please bless me should help us to be able to try our best to serve him to do his will as we understand it and also to be able to accept when things don't precisely go the way we'd like them to even in our even our in our service of God may hasem help us to realize to be able to see just like MOS saw the results he was able to see the land of Israel may hasem help us to see that even when things don't go exactly the way we'd like to may hasm help us to see that the results if we have the right intentions Hashem should help us to have those right intentions to serve him and that the results will show that indeed our desire to serve Hashem ultimately is fulfilled thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag