Ari Goldwag - Vayikra - Servant Leadership

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari Gold Wegg recorded with a chums never-ending assistance in Roma patronage Israel 5777 2017 this week's parsha is farce vayikra and it's the beginning of a new book in the Torah the Book of Leviticus which describes for the most part the carbon owes the different sacrifices which were brought on behalf of the Jewish people by the Kohanim by the priests it's also referred to the safer the book is also referred to as Taurus Kohanim Natur the section of the tour of the book the teachings that have to do with the Kohanim with the priests and as I often do I was looking at the partials looking at the beginning of the parsha and the RAM bond in his introduction to savor my go to the book of I occurred to the Book of Leviticus speaks at length about the fact that most of the partials and explains the connections even the idea of the Matsuura the person who has leprosy and many of the different laws that are contained within this book have to do with the Kohanim has to do in some way sometimes a little bit less directly but for the most part in some way has to do the Kohanim the priests and what struck me right away as I read this was you know this is a book of the Torah this is a book that's given to the entire Jewish people and that being a case why is it or how are we to understand how we to relate to it I'm a regular Jewish person I'm an Israelite I'm not a Cohen not a priest not a Levite and so why is it or what's the message for me as a regular Jewish person who's not being instructed perhaps directly in regards to core bonus in regards to the sacrifices those are exclusively brought by the Kohanim by the priests so what am I to take from the partial what am I to take from this book from the safer of via Cara and and as I looked a little further as I was looking at the Midrash him in the parsha so there was something that really struck me and brought out this question even further I'd like to read you the measure shirt says like this by ecran Moshe the parsha starts off with the fact that God called out to Moses and we need to understand that what are we speaking about here it's really continuation of the previous purchase we were talking about the building of the Mishkan the tabernacle that was we spent a lot of time on that we spent a few weeks on the Mishkan so the measure addresses this point maxilla malhomme how Union what's he speaking about immediately before this part is mr. Mishkin he's speaking at the Tabernacle assured siva shyam is Misha and the verse says in regards to the Mishkan over and over again it says that everything was done as God commanded Moses mashallah Mela the message brings us an analogy to a king should Siva Abdo he commanded his his servant Vollmer Lloyd be nearly Politan and he said that I want you to build me a palace I'll call deber deber Shia Buena now when this servant had gone and built the palace so everything that he did when he was building the palace everything that he would build hyukoh see about love shmove Sharmila he would write the name of the king on each and every detail every part of the palace well yeah Beinecke Solem he would build the walls the Christ of all a mishmash of Melek and he would write the name of the King on those walls Oh your mom and I moved him he would put up pillars because of all a mishmash MLF and he would write the name of the king I am a carob Icarus he would put up the the walls and he would put up the roof okay so a mishmash Psalm Elif each stage you would write the King's name on each of the parts Leon a few days passed Nicholas I'm Ethel Templeton he walked the King walked into his palace this newly made palace called arrivederci Shyam Abbot I am mighty sure mcawesomeville of every single thing that he looked at in his palace he saw that his name was written on it how mark color covered hastily Abdi he said Wow all of this honor that my servant has done for me honey maybe if name of humor hoots and he's outside and I'm inside I don't want to be in here alone I want to give respect and honor and appreciation to my servant who did all of this amazing work and he put my name everywhere kirilus Chicanos laughs novelist name please call him bring him I want him to come and be with me inside of here I want the Builder to be here as well cough says the magician in the same way be sure Shyamalan Kodesh Markkula Misha when God said to Moses a saline Michigan make a tabernacle for me I'll call number of a Derbyshire sorry Kosovo location see wash em estimation every single thing that he did moshe rabbeinu wrote that he did it as he was commanded by God so he placed God's name onto it it was very clear that every single aspect of this mission of the tabernacle was divinely ordained divinely attributed I'm gonna echo - woohoo so God says to Moses Calico it as a assalam Aisha I see that Moses has done all of this honor for me he's given me the credit he's made it clear that it all came from me my name is written on every single aspect here I name him if name whoo-hooing buffets and he is outside imam inside car Allah Sheikh honest Laflamme lifts name I want to call him so that he should come inside the coffin of I equal my sure that's why the verse says that God called to Moses so we see here that Moshe Rabbeinu because of his special relationship with Hashem because of his special acknowledgment of Hashem in in the building of the Michigan at the time of the tabernacle so he is called in lift nivel if name to hear the voice of God to be able to converse with God and God will speak to him and so when I read this the thing that stood out for me and the question that comes up for me which is also related actually to what we spoke about last week and the week before is that we see that there's a person whose name is Moshe Rabbeinu in this context last two weeks the context was about bit sallow in that individual who had his special ability to fashion the different parts of the mission but we see that there's a special individual who has a unique relationship with Hashem Hashem manifests uniquely in him uniquely in his life and as I read this I asked the same question that we asked before now this is a beautiful thing it's nice to know about Moshe Rabbeinu that he had a special relationship with Hashem but how does that help me me Here I am 3,300 years later reading this amazing measure reading these amazing lessons trying to understand how does this apply to me this is Moshe Rabbeinu he was amazing he was transcendent he was a prophet he heard God's voice but how does this apply to me or what can I take out of this maybe that's somebody like him he had a relationship with God he was kosher to wash I mean he was able to right on everything that he did on all of the parts of the Michigan he was able to write God's name so to speak in regards to each of those aspects and therefore Shem called him in lift neither lift him how does that apply to me is that something that I can have access to or is this only for individuals this is only for special people like a Moshe Rabbeinu or in a case of bits Allah so he was a unique and unbelievable special individual he had amazing talents and so he was filled with God's wisdom but how does that apply to me I'm not so talented I'm not such an artist I don't have the ability to make beautiful vessels for a mission for a tabernacle I mean if you think about solids like thinking about it it's amazing also the in the in the base hamikdash the third temple that God willing will be built soon they're going to bring back that Ark the original Ark of the Covenant which was fashioned by a bit solo but Sol stays with us forever his work is with us forever amazing thing and is that something that we all have access to or is that only for individuals and if that's the case if it's only for individuals then I then I want to understand so what is the teaching for me because I you know it's nice that there are special people out there but that's kind of like okay that's for them what about me and this question for me personally is is it especially pertinent and I think about it a lot because Hashem I have been zouk I've merited to have some really beautiful and amazing songs coming to the world songs that are being sung by Jewish people everywhere there's my kuribon which people sing on Friday nights they don't even know that I can post there's Yeshua tikva which I wrote for another singer named Benny Friedman there's my song on the HOD which many of you may know that I sing and there's a new song every enoki there's ma Hashem I've had opportunities that I could be a craftsman so to speak through whom God would send something he wants his people to be able to sing to be able to hear a message something to give them physic to strengthen them and all the time I hear songs people send me songs people who are more well known people who have songs that have become well known and people who are not well-known people send me songs I hear a lot of songs and I always wonder it's like you know there's so many songs out there there's so many people who are making up songs so many people have songs but not everyone merits to have their song become well-known to be sung by many people so it's an amazing merit it's amazing slows and so this question is like really important for me to understand and perhaps you can share this question with me what is the shot or what's the what's the understanding how we two relate to the fact that there are some individuals who have more of an impact or have the opportunity seemingly to have more than more of an impact and there are some individuals who don't have that level of impact but even looking at myself looking at my own songs I have hundreds of songs and only a select few of those songs become very popular and well-known and even if we look at the life of Abbott solo how long did he actually spend using his talent and creating something that would last forever it was for a very small period of time during the time of the creation of the vessels of the Mishkan after that what happened how did he use his talents in the service of ahem do we have any remnant of that no we don't but so so you see that there even even within the people who they themselves have amazing talent and they themselves manifest ahem in a way that's eternal so even they have a limited impact it's not all of their actions that are going to to be able to do that there are parts of them so to speak that are also just simple but not as they don't have that deep lasting impression that lasting effect and so even with an individual who let's say does have a great impact that person needs to be able to understand how are they to approach the rest of the time the rest of their songs the rest of the things that they do that don't have that great impact so the first thought that I'd like to share with you is connected to the next verse the next buzick and I want to show you a beautiful Madras which contains both the answer to the question and a strengthening of the question and you'll soon see what I mean next verse the next puzzle says chapter 1 verse 2 says Abell Benicio Valle Martelly I'm a donkey aku macam Carbon Hashem that the verse says some calls to Moshe called it to Moses he system I want you to come and I want to talk to you the fog lifts nim as we said before but what do I want you to do what's the message for you the message for you is not really message for you it's really a message for the children of Israel I want you to speak to the children of Israel and I want you to say to them that when you bring a Corbin key autumn key aku macam when you bring from yourselves a sacrifice Corbin loss Shem it's gonna be a sacrifice to God now the measure says something very interesting which needs explanations a shock Asif this is what the verse means how vain ya Kirlia frame the verse in Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 19 speaks about the precious child of God and refers to the Jewish people with the interesting name of a frame a frame was the son of yo safe he was one of the 13 tribes or twelve tribes and the ten tribes the the Jewish people have been split up into two different sections we had the ten tribes of the north where the two tribes in the south and if ryeom represented he was the leader you're often benefit was the first king of the ten tribes and he was from a frame and he potentially could have been mischief been yo safe he was a failed machine we know safe but that's a conversation for another time actually you can see about the shipping of him I safer perfectly imperfect but so a frying refers to the Jewish people have a knee oculi of frying the Jewish people are referred to as a frying and as a precious child as a precious child so what is idea of this precious child so the first piece of the magician which I'm not going to get into it speaks about it at length but the second piece which I want to focus on is it's is like this how binocularly become a commission mr.lee mentor says where whenever it says that this is mine Hashem refers to something as his is there anyone that's more precious to me than my child a frying my child the Jewish people so to me God says that this is my child anytime you see that it's his God refers to it as his anus uh slalom so that never changes forever label has a Elohim haba something that doesn't change in this world and on the next world and the measure gives a number of different examples very interesting important examples about Kohanim Civ in regards to the priests it says this is an exodus chapter 40 verse 15 Vicki andouille they shall be priests unto me Pallavi missive regards to the Levites it says the holy Halloween this is in numbers chapter 8 verse 14 the Levites will be to me they shall be mine peacefrog serve in regards to the Jewish people it says he leaving Israel the children of Israel are mine and it goes through a number of different examples of us including the true MA the concept of true MA Concha papyrus the first-born pecans of the Sanhedrin comes the land of Israel the concert of Jerusalem the malkos base David the kingship of the house of David regards to the temple Bosley Mick - Sarah goes through all these different examples I'm a Jewish finishers often says how about mawkish and mr.lee Anna's does Loyola hase played on my book anytime where it says God says that this is mine anything that belongs to God so to speak it means that just like God is forever so - that thing is forever it never changes the love where that thing doesn't move not in this world and not in the next world so in some way the con of the priests are chosen they're taken to God they they're God's love for them lasts forever the Levites that love lasts forever the Israelites the Jewish people that love lasts forever Land of Israel Jerusalem there's some special relationship that God has with each of these things now I want to understand what is the idea of this specialness what is the idea of this Eucharist of this preciousness God says the Jewish people is precious the Kohanim the priests are precious Levites are precious their precious unto me they're mine what is the idea and I think that the the question the question that I asked was you know how my to relate to the fact that there's a special person like a Moshe how does that relate to me that's Moshe he's the one who's called liftin I've left him he's the one who merits I remember hearing a story that at the sium of the DAF Iommi at the see him seven and a half years many many people were involved in learning a DAF a folio of tomat every single day and at the end of those seven and a half years they made a big scene thousands upon thousands of people tens of thousands of people attended this great event celebrating the completion of the DAF I owe me and at the same time as that happened there was a great gun will be Estrela great sage who had passed away and one of the one of the speakers who spoke at the scene started to talk about this great cuttle start to speak about this great Talmudic scholar and there were some people who were at the scene who were upset they felt bad because they felt like the celebration of the scene is a celebration of the regular person of the regular person who has the ability to learn a Dafa day he doesn't that you know he goes out to work he doesn't have the ability to spend all of his time studying Talmud are studying the the law of Hashem of God and and so they felt upset like this is not the place this is a celebration of our accomplishment this is a celebration of our level of learning and they felt like it wasn't appropriate to be speaking about somebody who passed away whose accomplishments were on a different plane than those who were celebrating there and so this is really the same question is it really the same question moshe rabbeinu he's on a different plane how am I to relate to that and what is it supposed to teach me and what struck me as I read this this mesh is it's what what was communicated to moshe rabbeinu what's the celebration of the fact from me for the regular person who doesn't necessarily have access liftin I've lived whom I can't go inside what's the celebration for me of his celebration of being able to come lift live lift him and to me it's very clear the answer is what did I Shem say to Moshe when he came inside it wasn't even about Moshe God didn't say to Moshe I love you I want you to come close to me here's what I want do for me God said Moshe Colt emoji said come live live live NIMH which is an acknowledgment in and of itself of the good things that Moshe did but the first thing he says his dad Meribah name is Rafa Martel ahem I want you because of who you are because of the great person you are I need you to speak to the Jewish people so that they can come close to me Donovan ISA no Martin Odum ki aku macam Carmen wash em when you shall bring close to me somebody the Jewish people they want to get close to they don't have the kind of access that you have they can't come and lift neither lift em and even the access that you have what's it for it's only to facilitate the Jewish people so that they can have access to me I said you know we we read this booklet Leviticus there Ambon says it's really talking to the priest and talking to the Kohanim what does it have to do with me and the answer is what is the purpose of the Kohanim what is their job it's not about them it's about me their entire job is to facilitate God's relationship with me and when we look at the the individuals or the aspects that are precious and special to God what we are really looking at is we're looking at the places or the people that have a special ability to serve as a conduit for the broader world to be able to have a relationship with God the Kohanim or the first on the list of things that are precious to God the Kohanim as we said serve to connect God to the Jewish people we have the Levites who also do that we have the Israelites the Jewish people themselves who are like the priests of the world attempt to you Lee Miletus canna Coco - the Jewish people are priests - they're to the world we are the ones who bring the awareness of God into the world we are precious to God because we manifest God in the world we're the ones who make God available for the entire world Jerusalem is the center of that era ceased on the land of Israel is the center of that the base HaMikdash the temple is the center of that so each of these aspects are called they that they belong to God because anything that belongs to God is the place where God manifests and and that opens the possibility for a relationship with God and it's important to understand at this point that having a true relationship with God a person has to pay a very big price it's a it's an amazingly difficult level to uphold to stay in a deep and close relationship with Hashem even moshe rabbeinu he had his challenges and yet his places when he failed in his relationship with God but the uncle the regular person so to speak the the person like me and you who doesn't have the ability perhaps to sit and study Torah all day and perhaps meditate and be involved in that level of relationship with God but we also won't have access to God and so we need the help of those people who indeed have that dedication who have given up themselves who have given up their their their egos we've given up their own selves in order to have that relationship with God they have they have become a place where God will manifest more because of their selflessness that's who Moshe was and that's who but Salah was and when I think about in terms of my own music people ask me all the time like why did you give away that song to this other singer how did you let him sing and why don't you sing it yourself and I'll tell you the truth the reason is because in order to get a song like that that has such a high root it's it comes from a very high place and it has ability to have a very big effect well you know a far-reaching effect so a person has to be in a certain place a certain state and it's easier it's easier to be in that state for someone else because that state is a place of selflessness so to be an S State for someone else is less of a challenge than to be in that place for oneself it's much harder it's a different type of level to be able to access that place that that place where a Shem wants to give you something that's for everyone it requires a much deeper level of dedication and simplicity and meditation perhaps and focus and in an analogous way that's true in regards to anything that's spiritual as regards to any to try to attain any level of closeness to God it's something that requires dedication and supreme commitment and that's not something that everyone can hold up all of the time so I shall created individuals who would have more of a capacity to be able to do that so they can help others to be able to do that and then there's the Jewish people who as a whole have more of that capacity and then there's the nations of the world that they they're also individuals within the nations of the world who are on a higher level have a higher capacity but everything is done in this way so that Hashem wants really everybody to have a relationship with him but each person on their level each person has their place each person has the level of it they can attain in their relationship with Hashem but what I want to bring out and this is really the bottom line of everything is that when I see somebody else who seems to have a higher level who seems to have a deeper level it's not about them it's not about emotional banal it's not about a bit Sol and what is it about it's really they are there and they have that relationship to facilitate everyone else's relationship the priests help me be able to come into a relationship with God so everything is interdependent everything I need to root for him so to speak I need to be excited about the fact that there's a communal leader who has more of an ability to be more humble and be more of a conduit for God so that I can have access to God because I don't necessarily have that ability to have that level of humility but we're all in this together we're all here to serve Hashem together you know we are all interconnected to Jewish people as a Tomer Devorah says the saber Tomer Devorah the Jewish people are one unit we are all one soul we're all connected to each other and we need to help each other to be able to access that relationship with Hashem so when we read about the fact that Hashem chose Moshe because of the fact that Moshe was able to recognize in everything that he did that it was God was behind it all I need to see in that hey that's a level I can't attain perhaps on the level of motion but I can attain the level on the level of re I can I can do it at my level I can say how can I dedicate this to ashram how can I infuse godliness into all of my actions into all of my words into all of my interactions how can I try on my level to to be like Moshe to imitate what Moshe our being to do so that I can access God in my life how can I be like the Kohanim how can I learn from when a Shem commanded the Kohanim to do to facilitate the relationship of the Jewish people with God how can I do similar things to facilitate the relationships of others with God and to the level and to the degree then I am able to place myself into that place where God is the center of my life where the focus is serving God and helping others serve God to that degree I'm going to be able to help others to facilitate others and indeed to affect all of those around me but this is not something that's only for individuals this is not something that's only for Kohanim it's not something that's only for you sir a.m. it's not it's for anyone anyone has the ability to act as a facilitator and that's the message of our park shows that's the message that I can take home as a regular Israelite as a regular you throw reading about the Kohanim and what they did and about moshe rabbeinu and his relationship with god I can also do that I can also see that that great person is there to facilitate and help me and I can also try to emulate him see how I can help others and recognize that everything every little thing every every human being every person is special and important and is interconnected in this great soul of the Jewish people and of mankind so I want to bless you please bless me some should help us to appreciate the greatness of emotion obey know the greatness of the priests the opportunities that they had I shall help us to see how they're there to help us Shem should help us to be able to recognize how we can also do the same thing help ourselves and help others and ultimately we all will be able to have a true relationship with Hashem thank you so much for listening I have a wonderful Shabbos this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.gfi.com/webmonitor [Music]