Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston: The Nature of the Blessing and the Curse

[Music] okay hi everybody we are in partial a in Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse we're gonna start with verse 26 I'll read it in English and then we're gonna be able to first verse and then I'll say in Hebrew see I present before you today a blessing and a curse Renai see an Okie note in this next step I am placing before you hi y'all today bracha Luke Lala a blessing and a curse as we know we read the movie this very carefully we see that what happens later on not very much later on but in verse 29 theirs is a modern clone a dress rehearsal but God is telling us that when we come into the land of Israel that we are going to be standing on these two mountains and making blessings and curses and accepting them and as you see in verse 20 verse 30 it describes where this place is and later we'll see much more to do about this how we how it's choreographed so to speak okay so why does it say first of all I'm presenting to you today a blessing and a curse I'm placing them before you went in all truth it doesn't happen for another approximately three months where five weeks before Moses dies Moses dies in these thirty three days before Israel enters the land so that is the five weeks plus another 33 days and then it's not for another few weeks before we stand at these mountains and present the blessing and curses and accept them so that's going to be one of the major issues we're going to be dealing with why does it say today but if we look deeply into the Hebrew the word is retained its singular see it could have said real or tiró that you should see plural because the word lifts niqab is plural I place before you plural today okay so anytime there is a anomaly where you have within the verse a singular and then a plural we have to ask ourselves why what is going on and the truth is this is a running theme this is a running theme in Judaism anybody that wants to convert after we get done reading this you realize why it is that we're not looking for converts and why we make it somewhat difficult to meaning we're just want to see that the person is sincere because after you get finished internalizing and absorbing and swallowing these truths you'll realize that it's a huge responsibility to be a Jew and it has major ramifications of the world in other words you know about the butterfly effect effect you know what that is I don't know how true it is in in science but science claims that there is such a thing as the butterfly effect and they must have got it from the quantum physics and the metaphysics of the Torah because if they butterfly on some island in the middle of the Pacific flaps its wings of course there's no real noticeable effect of the wind and yet that wind somehow may pick up and have an effect on some other storm system and God forbid that one flap of a wing of a butterfly in the middle of the Pacific Ocean may have a major effect on a storm front in the Atlantic coast and it could Ratish it could ravage the whole city with floods and tidal waves and a tsunami so I know I'm only talking theoretical at the moment but one second we'll take a look the Clea car says the word Renee is committed are barely I eat it's as if it's speaking to an individual Moses is speaking to the people in the name of God we don't even see where God says normally the da da da Noya bushel anymore the God speaks to Moses saying oh if the Renee C is singular as if it's speaking to an individual what about the word lift mayhem before you I place before you before using the commit DiBella Robbie as if Moses is speaking to the matru the many to the masses so as I was saying that you have a very famous verse that you find all through the first not the first book but the you know the second Exodus Leviticus and numbers God speaks to Moses saying that he should tell over book of the volume of Deuteronomy is all of Moses speaking and of course God agrees with every word as if it's coming directly from God himself so see individual each individual each individual should see as if I placing before all of you what does that mean so we have a good more a condition that explains ready for that you have to like put on your seatbelts for this leo la llamada Kilauea coal hole up maquettes a maquette sir so for your father knows that each individual should look imagine perceive as if the whole entire world is sitting in a perfect balance between the amount of midst is the positive actions that we do versus God forbid the sins the other note that we do we're sitting in the perfect balance that's the whole world so then he continues and it says awesome it's LA Cotte all you have to do is perform one particular mystical just one any one of the 613 mitzvot history at Oxford that called the house loot that you will by doing that one positive action by doing the one midst of the connection further to her shell you are then doing what your half three are the word half Korea is determining your closet the scales not to be balanced anymore but to be right heavier on the mitts the side right now by doing that one Mitzvah you determined now the scales are not only for you but the entire world the entire world is balanced you look at your own life is balanced and you do that one more act of kindness or towards fixing the world and guess what happens the entire world turns to the side of merit and therefore what is really being said here is being told to each individual rank you I'm talking to you you have to look at yourself to see she here a but aim sickly look with your spiritual eyes your spiritual intellectual eye that he called my sob yeah so let's make em a little cool ahem that each action you do comes back like the word karma but we're not going to use that word it gets recycled it comes back there's consequences to every action that you do and it will affect everyone else I mean this is heavy stuff here one action that you do you do you is your light you do one thing and you know it's going to happen it's going to affect the entire world and this is he says that's why the whole idea is mentioned right here with the oath is going to take place at hard raising the heart a bow meaning these are the mountains where this oath will be taken by the Jewish people the oath of what it's called the oath of our roots our roots means collective responsibility collective responsibility okay and what's going to happen it says the history Indians ever partial zoo and amid coming to Barrett's make Indian heart grieves Eva why why is it mentioned here this idea of collective responsibility because they're at the mountain at the mountains I should say quiche I'm not a soup wholly Israel I raised him Zeb by death it was there at the mountain that there was that became a collective responsibility to an oath of ravings Abaza of collective responsibility of being a guarantor one for the other every single Jew is responsible for every other Jew responsible Norway ready for this it's like if you didn't have your seat belt tightened now you have to tighten it one more notch Masada our booths Robin it's passing Bivona your feed from the aspect on account of this collective responsibility the masses the Robie are the masses they're knit passing that means they seize upon they grasp they grab they absorb they swallow up the sin of the individual I mean this is a heavy responsibility I hope you understand now when I gave you that introduction what's happening here this is the Jewish people are light to the nation's how we behave how we treat each other are ultimately hopefully that the non-jews the nations will say wow this is a wise and holy nation and we want to follow in their footsteps and they treat each other they treat their own neighbors their own city dwellers as brothers as the Jewish nation treats each other as brothers capisce I hope you understand the severity and the responsibility of conversion okay so now we turn the page and it mentions the word hi y'all right we saw let's see I present before you today blessing and curse so the clea car begins by telling us off I'll pee even though she's Monica for lick up a lotta Cholula that in only it's going to be in the future there's a set time and it's not today it's telling us the word today why because even though there will be and there is a set time for that Cholewa to take place as you I mentioned look in verse 29 it shall be when the Shem you God bring the youth to the land that you come to possess it then you shall deliver the blessing on Mount Elysium and the curse on man melt Abel in Hebrew where's the hockey Ilyas ha it will be when you come when a sham brings you a sham lukashka el Haaretz to the land i share a table or Shama liver Easter which you're coming to dare to possess to conquer then the talk to Ezra Cobb their God will give you right there's gonna be the brook in the cloth on these mountains now again why today why do you need the concept today let me ask you a question there have been many people who made both and only later come to regret them and they would say if I would have thought about it a little bit longer I would have never made that oath how about people who make confessions right the police NAB them they pressure them you know maybe rightfully so in most cases a lot of cases but sometimes it's unjustifiable and there's a tremendous pressure for the person to make a confession how many confessions have fall apart because of police brutality or undue pressure and of course later in court the the judge or the jury or somebody proves that there was undue pressure and the confession is Dawne void so here we see this idea that when a court okay let's not let's not jump ahead let me just tell you when a court a Jewish court makes tells a litigant to take an oath they don't want to put undue pressure why let's see he says the reason it says today because she may high yamato toes man usually shamsher hood leave my leg that from today onward until that day arrives with her standing on the mountain there will be enough time for them to change their mind to really come to a solid conclusion whether or not they want to take this responsibility I think also you can that could be a justification for why the the conversion process takes as long as it does obviously in Israel takes a lot shorter because it's very intensive but outside the Land of Israel it's through proper conversion could take a few years but in Israel it's less than a year to be nine or ten months in order that they don't say a new streamlined we were forced there's no such thing in Judaism as a forced conversion we're not interested the other religions that are empty and void of any meaning of course very very likely in the past they've had said with the sword to your neck convert or die I mean that obviously it's looked down upon and many many of the religions will do anything to entice you to convert and we'd be happy to convert you the same day but nevertheless it says that in order that the Jewish people making this oath of collective responsibility don't turn around and say we were forced can they're a kosher bush you know it names my opinion knocking my anytime an oath would be administered by the court they allow enough time for the person to make a decision lest they regret cognate on the hands Ahmad so they give them enough time shallow ya'muru so they don't say come up above the ear baba we were confused we were all mixed up meaning we were pressured we were forced no because then they would end up saying after that is evil Heil and show me my life loss no how you will see that if we were only given enough time we never would have taken this responsibility we would never have taken this oath who in the world gots to take it out where they become responsible for someone else's sins does that make any sense to you that's kind of like it's crazy okay so that's the first death let's say it's the first level of understanding what hye-young means because it certainly sounds out of out of context what the world did you need the word hey y'all I present before you a blessing and the curse and go on why today so that's one reason another reason for today that the word hi y'all what is it him - if I say to you something is happening today does it mean it's happening at 8 o'clock at night does it mean this happening at 3 o'clock in the morning could it be at 12 in the afternoon what is today today could be a 24-hour period correct today over a 24-hour period or does it mean during daylight such as the word hye-young actually could symbolize the Sun I know this is sounds like a stretch but when we finish here you're gonna get a better idea of what it means first of all a blessing and a curse what is a bleb what is the nature of a blessing and a curse and why is the word I young placed next to those two words see in the English I'm not sure it works like that it does actually I set before you today a blessing in the curse the word today didn't even have to be right there next the words blessing in the curse it could have said today I put before you a blessing of the curse it could have said see today and right now in other words after the word see it could have said a blessing the curse today anyway it says hi y'all Bravo Clara the hey y'all we are going to see is somehow the word itself could be replaced with the word son and when I say son I meant ask um the thing in the sky that's bright yellow maybe that's what the color is she says it's a ram as El Gaga hi yo me it's a hint it hints to that ball in the sky or perhaps the let's say like this the orbit of the Sun from sunrise to sunset because that could be day day is from sunrise to sunset or maybe a few minutes before a few minutes after Sun sunrise to sunset but there's the proximity that the cloaks close proximity to the words brother and the concept of broth and claw Barajas blessing to Allah is the curse so what is the verse telling you okay it's telling you that just as the Sun Comeau Hashem is just like the Sun sure who s hot we only have one Sun in the sky and it's PO L Shanaya but it acts in two different ways and I'm not even to them at the Sun itself don't that the effect of the Sun has two very distinct different effects for example he gives a few examples have you ever left a candle on your windowsill and I'm talking about not the window in the back yard by the shady tree I'm talking about the water the the window you always close the drapes because you get that Sun if you left the candle on your windowsill and you came back later in the day that when that candle would go like this death like this you'd be like I don't know how much money for such a beautiful candle but you'd be a little disappointed you didn't even get to benefit from and it's already you know so what can the Sun do - something hard like wax the Sun can melt something hard it can soft in something hard what about an egg before you crack the egg you bought it from the story you know that every egg you've ever opened you've never bought a hard-boiled egg you bought a raw egg but if you take that egg and put it on the roof of your car maybe not in Washington State but let's say in Arizona you put you know maybe an acaba you take that egg and put it in the Sun for a couple hours I guarantee you it ain't a soft but it's not soft anymore it could be hard-boiled well that's to say boy find bait it's a heartache so the same son can take whacks with his heart and make it soft and it can also take an egg which is soft and make it hard and on the other hand what about try to imagine the old days but we used to do our laundry right - used to go down to the river and we walked a few miles we went to the river or maybe it's your backyard and you were scrubbing that laundry you're scrubbing the the garment I don't know how they did it their nails with their knuckles maybe they had an instrument but what happens to your face your face turns a little bit darker you get a nice tan from sitting out there for the few hours so the Sun will cause something that's light to become darker and it will happen to the laundry when you leave it out in the middle of the summer for more time than is necessary today the dyes that we have in our clothes are much better than they used to be so it might not fade right away but the Sun has an effect on the law on the on the cloth on the dye it has a bleaching effect it has a whitening effect so something that is dark by the same Sun become white and something that is white can become darker it's the same Sun but it's having very different so he says like this at the same Hebrew this mati Keshava it melts the wax bhumata P beta but it can harden the egg mascarpone avec of these it can darken the face of the launderer or mouth being a pagan but whiten the cloth told the coalition a halal dough and all these changes let me ask you how they why are they taking place it's the same son it's because of the molecular structure the makeup of the thing on the receiving end Capisce capisce it's on the receiving end that's where the change that's the cause of the change the Colosseum hollow ain't blowing it's not as damaged not coming because of the Sun of course they are but rather because of the earth from the aspect of the cobbling that which is on the receiving end Casa brought us the clothes this is exactly how the blessings the Karstens curses in our lives work as well how boy me till he's brought a mop machine lobelias bra they're not coming through actually the it's not coming because with any change in God God does not change look at and I have to open up my sushi I believe it's the first source we finally arrived to the source sheet Milwaukee Malachi 3:6 for i the lord have not changed me a Shem lucien ET god doesn't change so how do you have a blessing and a curse coming from God ella ella but rather the chino to change the rather the changes coming from the aspect of the macabre from the the thing on the receiving side and we have another verse in a that slamming patience 3 verse 38 from that mistaken yeah me PA own from the mouth of God for the mouth of the most high low Tate Sahara oaths of the hot oath from God you have neither good nor bad coming from I mean that's what right you see it it's black and white so we think of curses and blessings as good and bad right curses are bad and blessings are good and they're coming from God this verse says from the mouth of the Almighty will not come forth neither good nor bad neither bad nor good so what is the nature of this blessing and the curse first of all so far he says that's another reason why it says hi y'all he's focusing on the word hi y'all because it has to do with the son now that he proved it has to do with the son he's gonna prove it even further the far ahead we find in Gomorrah nadar II can't I'm I bet that's that's a page 8b guess what it says that there is no Gehenna like it would be nice if I just stop there it doesn't say this don't get Hannah it says that there is no gihan them in the future but what's really gonna happen meaning there really isn't to get him what do we call hell that a sham that God because it's borrowed the Holy One blessed be he he brings out the Sun from its sheath somehow the full heat of the Sun is being protected we're being protected from the full force of the sun's power but in the future what we're gonna call hell is when the Sun will be unleashed now what does the Gomorrah use to prove this two verses I have to find that here this would be number four number three on the sheet in Milwaukee it makes sense that it says trail of the Sun comes glowing like a furnace but I want you to know it doesn't say the Sun comes let's just read it in English for love the Sun comes glowing like a furnace and all the adacia sinners the willful sinners and all the perpetrators of weaknesses with wickedness will burn up they'll be like straw and the Sun will that comes birch shall burn them up so the truth is the first time the Sun is mentioned in Hebrew doesn't say Sun it says behold the day is coming the word day do you see it it's the day that is coming and it's translated as the Sun because that's what it means that the Sun is coming during the day it's glowing like a furnace but it's the Sun but it doesn't say Sun so later on the birth and all the xavie for the willful sinners and all who do evil will be like cash cash is stubble cash is straw the low hate Oh Tom hey y'all hey Bob again the word hot it doesn't even use the word shemish here either it says in in English and the Sun comes burn them up it's the day that comes the day itself is burning them up now if that's true by the Sun even though it doesn't say Sun it's gonna be the day it's gonna burn them up look in the next verse we're not talking about a different chapter we're not talking to different prophet we're talking about 3:19 of Milwaukee and then 320 and the word shemesh does appear in the Hebrew the Saahil ahem he racially shemesh schibetta well mark taken a fellow the son of Mercy shemish shemesh sadaqa the son of Mercy will rise with healing mark day cometh aha it'll heal all those wings to remove those who are Eurasian II who fear my through my name and the first word of the verses are I shall shine - so the Sun of mercy shall shine with healing in its wings - those through my name and of course it's like a brothel here then you will go forth and be as fat as fat of cats now it's the same verse right 3:19 it to be 20 and it uses the we're talking about the same Sun the same s UN and I'm going to call it the Sun of righteousness here it's the Sun of mercy the Sun of mercy the Sun of righteousness we're talking at the SU and in the sky the shemish will have an effect on the evil people we call it a curse it's the same Sun that will have healing powers that will somehow heal those who are righteous and give such abundance blessings so what do we see I hate to tell you it sounds like I don't hate to tell you but that we create our own destiny we create our own heaven and help your actions and it's not just for you it's for the world you can save the world the world is resting on your shoulders just like it's resting on life that's what the tour's teaching us but we're not through yet so it'd be continuous on it since this is what it means hi young Bravo : it's the Sun it's today it's this concept that's going to happen in the future when the Sham unleashes the the Sun from its it's guard and that day will be the time for the brach on the cloud yes we will find blessings and curses in this world we call them the dividends and we're not going to go into how one can receive the dividends right now but the main reward and Punishment is in the world to come you believe me don't trust me let's go to the Tanakh let's go right to the source it's the Gilgal how yummy Tim chakra and clawed its from the orbit of the Sun it's from the orbit of the Sun that will create and will bring forth the brooklyn claw up because we know it says in conclusion there is no reward in this world keep a high Alma in this world Scott mitts the lekha there is no reward where are we going to get the reward listen to this if you go back to where these mountains are located look in I think it's 30 are they not on the other side of the Jordan remember we're standing on the east like a few our friends are right now they're still there on the other side of the Jordan but in other words the we are standing presently on the eastern side we called the east bank the east bank of the Jordan looking towards the west far in the direction of the sunset where does the Sun set in the West in the land of the Canaanite that's land of cannot that dwells in the plain far from gilga near the plains of Moran okay it's a rhetorical question but that's where it is now when you are selling land right it's just transparent you have to tell the prospective buyer this is my field it goes as far as the tree line over there it goes as far as the base of the mountain over there it goes as far as the fence over here you have to be very honest right you're selling a piece of property you have to have delineations you have to have clear borders what they're buying as to not we call bugle dizzle guess all the dots you know how to steal people's minds and trick that okay so when you're selling a piece of property obviously you have to have clear delineation of where the property begins and ends so what does it say it says a star as in the direction of the sunset that just means west my wife she's Jamaican she tells me when that someone dies they use the expression they went west I know in the in the restaurant business they say 86 it but it also you can say it went west it's gone it's forever gone right to sunset since forever gone what do we understand there is no reward in this world there's only reward after the son of the person has said and that's what the first means here as he very nicely imperatively says the Lacock nothing seemed odd because there's no reward in this world he's actually giving in verse 30 the assign it's a free Derrick Marvel shemish after the setting of the side hustle said not to see money but sorry no gym in a motor today over this is giving even better definitions better than a person who's tried to sell feel when it says the way or the direction of the setting of the Sun what do I need that's work everything else is very clear right as I mentioned you said it says it's on the silence it's going to be in the land m2k night that dwells in the plain far from Gilgal near the plains of Moria it's exactly where now Abel and mouth greasy mine but in direction as far as the the Sun in the direction the Sun sets that's not that's not a it's not it's just sweat that's not a real demarcation mark so the clear car says Lama Lee why do I have such a statement eligible aramos it comes to hint eager cabela's a scar that the prime place of receiving rewarded punishment scar varnish is through the setting of the Sun me me after one has passed from this world okay [Music]