Tomer Devorah Middah #9 MAY YOU CAST ALL THEIR SINS INTO THE SEA with Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston

[Music] everybody love me because hey good day everybody welcome back to beyond the seven live from Jerusalem with Rabbi Aaron David Poston uh we have done this class for about four weeks uh um uh just the way scheduling works uh but we're glad to be back in his sharing with us a beautiful book uh Tomer devorah and today we've got lesson nine uh and I look forward to hearing what he has to share apparently this is quite a large portion in the book and so uh uh without any delay let's just jump right in and see Rabbi Postman Shalom Rabbi posting so good to be with you again um you're live on the air we're going to turn it over to you sir we look forward to hearing more of Tomer davora to all the listeners and those who are listening afterwards um I'm glad to be back thank you for hosting this um I heard your con conference went well and um glad to have participated so let's get into the nitty-gritty I'll tell you for those who have no idea what we're talking about in the ninth attribute I just suggest go back to the beginning but I will give like a very very brief idea for those who are listening for the first time if you go to chapter 34 in Exodus this is after the sin of the golden calf so Moshe prays on our behalf that we should be forgiven Hashem of course forgives us and it's mentioned it's chapter 34. I guess it's verses five all the way until seven so I'll just read it real quickly Hashem descended in the cloud and stood with him there and he called out with the name Hashem Hashem passed before him and proclaimed and these are the 13 attributes of Mercy this is in the Torah and this is attributes that we are obligated to imitate that we are to um to facilitate within our own lives how to deal with other human beings so just as God acts this way with mercy so too we shall be merciful so the verse continues Hashem Hashem God compassionate and gracious slow to anger and abundant in kindness and Truth preserver of kindness for thousands of generations forgiver of iniquity willful sin and error and who cleanses but does not cleanse completely recalling the iniquity of the parents upon the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth Generations now the Tanakh is made up of the Torah the Naveen the prophets as well as the tsuming so in the prophets in Mika which is the last of the prophets chapter 7. you have a reiteration of these 13 attributes of Mercy that we obviously should um know and emulate nevertheless on Rosh Hashanah we go by a body of water I'm sorry I'm looking for here is not the last but anyway in chapter seven at the very end of mikha chapter 7 verse it's actually the very end the last three it's Verse 18 until 20. it's only a few verses we on Rosh Hashanah in the afternoon we go and we to we go to a body of water and we I'm putting in parentheses here we throw our sins into the water this is significant because the attribute that we're discussing today is May you cast all their sins into the depths of the sea so I'll just read the verses from Mika who is a God Like You Now we did this in in other words we've discussed up until um these words may you cast all sins into the depths of the sea in the previous episodes who is a God Like You Who pardons iniquity and overlooks transgression for the for the remnant of his Heritage he does not maintain his wrath forever for he desires kindness he will once again show us Mercy he will suppress our iniquities and ready for this you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea that is the topic for tonight but going on Grand truth to Jacob kindness to avraham as you sportswear forefathers in days of old so just to get an idea what we're talking about these 13 attributes of Mercy in the Thomas davara that we're discussing is in Mika so the ninth attribute the Tommy devorah Begins by explaining this is a metatova la courage barcode this is actually a good trait he doesn't mention these words by any of the other traits all the other traits are also good that's the whole point of them but he goes out of his way to explain this because as we go through this it may not seem so good but you should know that it really is good um one of the I'm not going to say problems one of the challenges that I found in preparing for this class is that there are some fundamental concepts that I personally needed to really get a I felt to get a better grasp on so I needed like an extra week um so I hope I'll still say in my own humility um there are some things that are just very esoteric and Beyond a simple grasp a simple understanding and I hope that those listening will bear with me and know that sometimes the words cannot be totally understood but we'll do the best we can so he begins by telling us that when Israel sins okay we all sin that masaram biyadparo for example we were Idol worshipers in Egypt okay we or for maybe even for whatever sin that avrah himself might have done that caused us to go down to Egypt or Abraham Isaac and Jacob all of them for whatever reason Pharaoh I mean in the Brit Bain of atarim in the original promise as I call it as opposed to a punishment a promise that we would be strangers in a Strange Land for 400 years and be oppressed and and suffer it doesn't mention Egypt by name okay but nevertheless fat we did go down to Egypt Pharaoh did oppress us and um not only that we we did chuva the shovel nevertheless the big the great question is why was Pharaoh punished in other words if God says you the Jewish people if you do all the torrent Commandments like you're supposed to nothing bad will happen to you there'll be peace in the land but when you fail when you come up short so then the Nations will oppress you how is it that when the Nations oppress us they are punished so why is Pharaoh punished or why is sancherev for example the king of Assyria punished or Haman right or anybody like him we're like them so that first of all is a great question that he has his own answer there are many famous answers if a nation is going to oppress us because God wants to oppress Us in fact it even says in the prophets that Assyria is the um is the Wrath is the rod of God so to speak so how is it that they're punished when they come and afflict us so there's there's several famous answers the ramban mentions that perhaps they went overboard in other words there is an oppression that's supposed to happen and by the way why is this a good trade this is actually going to cleanse us I know that might be difficult to accept or understand but we'll discuss that as we go on this this class so the ramban mentions that perhaps they went overboard which makes sense they're going to be punished even though God decreed and wanted an oppression to happen but they were overly oppressive so that is one possibility another possibility of the rambam maimonides explains that like here in Egypt it wasn't mentioned Egypt so who said it had to be Egypt that did it and not only that even if it was Egypt that had to do it who says each individual Egyptian had to oppress the Jews so there is still a level of free will even if God says the Jew should be oppressed question is who's going to do it and even if that has been predetermined who's going to do it it doesn't mean that each individual Gentile has to be involved in a pressing the juice or overly impressing oppressing the Jews so the truth is the the Tomah Devore is going to go with a whole different route like I mentioned it's more it's going to be metaphysical it's going to be a little bit esoteric and it's going to be you know yeah it's not easy to grasp these ideas but hopefully any thinking person who has read the Tanakh has a let's say an over overview a view of what what has happened to the Jewish people in history so I think it would be easier to understand once you already know the Tanakh so he continues to say that God is Not consoled only just saying okay new so they they dechuva so they dechuva then came loyalam oh which basically means like this that it's very nice that the Jewish people dechuva therefore let there be no more evil but no something actually is going to happen so why would these nations like hamon or Faro why would they end up or why would they end up disappearing eventually they disappear not at first Hashem is very um what's the word patient right and we're going to discuss that idea as well so why don't you just remove them once they had done truva so the Tommy divorce says this is not enough what Hashem will do he will pay retribution to all these people that oppress the Jewish people and I mean if you just look at history I mean where are the Persians the ancient Persians right Iran is not the same Egypt is not the same right all these Greece right we're coming up to Hanukkah there's no real Greeks today these are all people that were all mixed up most of them are probably Turks and Europeans and whatnot so it's a big mishmash nobody really knows who they are except the Jewish people do who know who they are which is a miracle in itself so let's move forward the idea now is going to bring us to a little bit of like this esoteric idea that I mentioned we do not believe in vicarious atonement however there is a concept once the Jew does chuva oh by the way let me just re-emphasis another point that I've mentioned throughout the series we're here on the noahide movement website people who have accepted the god of Israel the the people of Israel as the witnesses right they acknowledged that we stood at Mount Sinai that we are the Jews that we had experienced thousands of years of Jewish history it's written in the Bible and um and they have accepted I'll say at least the five books and if not the rest as the authentic the the same Torah that we have today is the same Torah that we received back then and that we are the guardians of God's word and we are God's Witnesses so there's so much wisdom to glean from the Jews because we understand the interpretations the meanings what else did we do for 40 years in the desert other than learn the truth and what else did we do through history unfortunately made mistakes fixed them made more mistakes fixed them and this is a covenant that was never broken and we're going to discuss this as well but so now the Tommy Devore is going to explain something very interesting about for example I just mentioned we don't believe in vicarious atonement nevertheless we're all aware that on Yom Kippur there is a goat that is sent out to a zazel which seems to be like you know hell or to the Satan and is killed and is somehow carrying Away The Sins of the Jewish people again it works when we do chuva when we fully repent okay so keep that in mind that that's why I mean that's what I meant we don't believe in vicarious atonement the atonement may happen through other means were assisted by other means but it's it's up to us to do Chula it doesn't just happen by something else okay so as the verse said in Leviticus 16 Verse 22 let me see where my see where she is the he goat shall thus carry upon itself all their sins precipitous land and he shall send off the hego into the desert of course then it's it's knocked off the cliff and of course it dies Okay so what does this mean what does this mean exactly that the goat literally carries Away The Sins now again we're discussing this idea based on these words and I'll just say them in Hebrew right may you cast all their sins into the depths of the sea Versace God is going to cast off into the depths of the Seas here in a very similar fashion which we all know is written in the Torah this goat right the cohain is going to confess the sins of the Jewish people and he places his hands he lays his hands he does what we call and the the the goat is then sent out into the wilderness it's a very hard idea a difficult idea to get across knowing that we don't believe in uh vicariously coming so how does it work and this is really the foundation for everything we're going to discuss right now and he says this is a very this is very difficult because what do you mean the sins are are the Jewish people's sins but the goat Bears them I mean like this is it doesn't make any sense so he explains that this is the this is this attribute will explain how it works uh let's say a person confesses his sins and when you do the confession when you're doing the intention is to purify yourself isn't that obvious why else it's part of Chula King David himself said in Psalms chapter 51 verse 4. Wash Me thoroughly of my iniquity and Purify Me of my sin obviously this is he wants okay I think we discussed this before I know we did that when one whether it's a Mitzvah or anavera whether it's a transgression or a positive um good act Angelic forces or energy however you want to call it um are created so these become your Defenders or your prosecutors in Judgment Day so when you're doing positive X you're creating the Defenders well they will last forever of course but what about the negative ones are isn't chuva a possibility the whole Torah is telling you about juva you can repent right even Adam the first man right Ms Marshall he wrote on he wrote regarding Shabbos Shabbos is a time to for repentance because the word Shabbat means to return because it's the same root as teshuva that you return to who you really are you so it's a time to reflect and to think about what's important okay so the whole concept of Shabbos now that's what can um that's what Adam wrote It's Tove Lo Hashem it's time to give praise it's good to give praise to Hashem but we discuss this idea instead of translating the word Shem it's the the word vidoy is the same root as as the hodot so it was good to confess to Hashem similar like we just read in uh recently that Yehuda confesses these are ideas of chuva that Hashem Praises Yehuda obviously it was a good thing for Adam as well but anybody that does true is is cast in a good light okay so what happens is when you do a Mitzvah so those energies are going to be forever what happens when you do a sin and we know true of his existence is a real existence like we just discussed so there has to be a disintegration of that energy there has to be a a nullification of those negative Energies and you can just use your imagination that the coingato is putting his hands on this goat and sending it out and it's part of the atonement process obviously truva has to be um a prerequisite but nevertheless it works so too how's we're going to discuss we're asking God to cast all of our sins into the depths of the sea so too this is a way of let's say negating or nullifying those negative energies that were created and they will no longer be there to prosecute Us in the day of judgment because we have repented but there's a process this we're going to talk about this in a metaphysical way how is this process of getting rid of these negative forces that we ourselves created through our transgressions so I just quoted uh Psalms 51 4 in Psalms unbelievable is requesting that God generously cleanse him from all of his trans Discretions we also say on the Yom Kippur and the Shimon esri we ask that God erase what I have sinned from before you in your great Mercy these are realities okay this we can start on a new new slate I'll I'll even tell you see another secret I'm sure you guys have heard this already that if one does repentance out of fear there is a cleansing and there is any racing but that's not the highest level when one does repentance out of love there's an actual transformation of those negative energies Gets Zapped and become you know from I don't really know that much about electricity but imagine if it's possible that you have a negative flow of electricity turns into a positive flow of electricity so in other words it's not erased what's even better is you're getting credit I mean can you imagine okay nobody should sin in order to do repentance that doesn't work like that but if one did Sin and they want to repent out of love there has actually becomes credit that those transgressions those are veras the mistakes that we made turn into the positive side to our credit and that's an amazing idea okay so a person's only prayer is that the punishment be light now this is a very interesting idea because why should the punishment be light and are we praying that I don't want to suffer therefore it should be light or are we praying is exactly as the term of divorce says we're asking the punishment punishment be light so that it doesn't interfere with our service to God with our ability to study the Torah okay and that's going to be the difference between and you saw him uh for sin so if you're I think we discussed these ideas before I'm laying a lot of things on you guys right so if one sins and they find themselves suffering we're obligated to just do a what we call investigate our own um you know actions feel our actions out go through our you know interactions with people did we sin and if you come up with a particular sin so you can fix it hopefully it's measure for measure the suffering should match up with a particular sin I mean if you're if you have enough Clarity if you ask Hashem for clarity hopefully you'll get it and if you have investigated and you found nothing you cannot come out with a single thing you did that could match up with the severity of your suffering so then the suggestion the gamar gives is you're probably not learning enough Torah now at first glance we said oh maybe the punishment or the suffering you're experiencing is because you know you're not learning enough Torah he said no no no the reason you didn't come up with a measure for measure answer is because you didn't learn enough Torah to know what you even did wrong Ah that's like a brilliant concept the more you learn the more you know oh my God I realized oh I've been doing that wrong for like years or for months or I didn't know how the severity of that so the more you learn the more you have a chance of fixing your past okay so one of the things we would um so basically it says that if you checked out your own actions you came up nothing then you looked at your own ability to study and you're not lacks you've been studying and you should have figured it out and you still can't figure it out then chalk it up to what we call is suffering out of love meaning that Hashem just wants to Grant you may have made very small mistakes which may not be real big mistakes at all and things you could never have figured out but nevertheless God is sending you these sufferings in order to increase your world in the world to come your space and the world to come so part of this this idea on on Yom Kippur when we pray that our punishment be light we should ask but not through bad suffering not through um you saw him Roy not through a tremendous suffering but again in order not to cause any um negation of of the service to Hashem so I think that's altruistic I mean that's really the level we should all be on we should all work to that point he says this is also the intent this is also part of the confession on Yom Kippur when one says you are just in all that befalls Us in other words we're accepting all the suffering that has come upon us and which is interesting in other words you're when when you actually accept it then it acts as an atonement in other words you're accepting it for those things that you either are aware that you've done wrong or you're willing to accept that perhaps I haven't found what I did wrong but I'm willing to accept the suffering in other words not deny it and not try to get out of it since there are men there are sins which can only be expunged through either suffering or death now we mentioned chuva can alleviate all those additional options um Yom Kippur in other words there are certain sins that just truva will work on there's certain sins that you have to go through Yom Kippur in order to be expunged as well as sometimes there are suffering and sometimes even death now one could experience what we call and I I don't want anybody to get this the wrong way okay um because many of our listeners are ex-christians but this is an idea called being born again okay it's a Jewish concept that when one sinned and they really transform who they are there's a it's like a sense of death of the old person and understanding that God has given you another chance this is really in in fact we talk about not just chuva but let's say a convert even someone who converts all their sins are forgiven in Hebrew we call it um Tino katino chinola dummy like a brand new person like they were just born that day so this idea of I mean it's crazy that all the good stuff in Judaism the Christians stall or plagiarized and perverted and perverted and did all kinds of crazy stuff with it okay anyway enough of that part so now this is how the attribute actually works as soon as a person confesses now by the way I usually try to read it in the Hebrew the original but I think it would just take too long because we've so much really to go through we uh we we're already a half an hour in and I'm telling you not even a third of the way through the the information here so as soon as the person confesses in his prayer which we do in our prayer it's mentioned in the Zohar that the Satan which is represented by the goat receives his portion what does that mean what does that mean so this is obviously I have to try to explain this as best I can what is this portion that the Satan is is receiving so we mentioned that you created these negative energies and and if you're doing chuva part of the confession uh part of the treatment process is the confession so as soon as you have sinned Hashem decrees suffering upon the person so there is going to be suffering that doesn't have to happen as we'll see and the satin instantly appears to collect his debt this the goat remember the Sutton is like a goat I think I discussed this amazing idea I discussed in the Parsha of the week of the year shave I discussed this a little bit about the the the administering angels of the different nations especially Greece this is Arab Hanukkah basically is actually a verse refers to him to the uh to the king of Greece and the arch uh the what do you call the Tsar the and the the administering Angel as as the goat so really on a certain level these we'll call them intermediaries to extent because the Jewish people go straight to God whereas the nations are caught up with intermediaries and these intermediaries are not god let's just say they're agents of God and so too is the satin and therefore there's a equivalency of of getting caught up in these administering angels of the different nations um okay let's move on so basically the the Sutton instantly appears to collect his debt the goat carries the sin that was God who gave him permission to collect their debt of punishment and then the Jewish people are purified now there's a lot to say and I have a lot of um Source material I want to go through so I don't want to get too caught up here but the basic premise here is that the suffering that the Jewish people go through is part of the process of cleansing them from the sin there's a certain aspect of that negative energy that was created from the sin has to eventually go back to the the Sutton himself okay now you're getting a little bit of an idea why the um the sins are cast off onto the goat into the desert and perhaps even at this point why the sins are going to be cast into the depths of the sea so let's continue now at this point once this Satan has this suffering or the the debt that he's collecting and it's now the responsibility rests on the Sutton the reason for this is that God who decreed upon his world that anyone who don't who does so will be a note now so in other words the truth is when we sin depends on how severe the sin is let's talk about the sin of karate karate is to be excised from the Jewish people that's a pretty severe there are 36 specific sins that carry uh karate they're like some of the worst sins so here for example in vayicrin in Leviticus chapter 20. verse 15. so when a when someone behaves let's say it's called bestiality someone sins by lying with an animal so that person should surely be put to death and you shall kill the animal why is the animal put to death so obviously the the simple shot the simple explanation is that it's a it's a it's a desecration of God's name that this human being Jew had bestiality with this animal and every time you see the animal you remember this very negative disgusting Act okay that's going to be on a simple level but as we're referring and we're about to refer that this negative energy has to be completely wiped out as well so there is this negative energy that is surrounding this animal and so the animal has to be killed as well now what we're about to explain something that I was not really aware of although there's a Gamora that mentions it and that is when a person is stoned to death or they remember the Sanhedrin only put someone to death maybe once in 70 years and if they did so it was considered they had blood on their hands the Sanhedrin really went out of their way to exonerate people so if the person was killed with a sword or a stone or for strangulation is a clot that's wrapped around their throat or they were hung on a tree all those items had to be destroyed as well now we're buried with the person okay so I want to go to that good morning now let me just see here it is so it's a good morning Sanhedrin 45 B so it's referring to the stone that was used and it implied that the stone was placed back so that it could be used for the next doning however that we have a Bryce that explains just as I told you that it's taught that any stone that was used whether or or the tree that the the corpse was hung or the sword with which he was killed or the cloth which he was strangled are going to be buried with the person is that really true basically the bottom line is the truth is that that stone or or item is going to be buried within grasp and there's actually a verse from let me just see if I can pull it up because I kind of had it here yeah and one second I have have it open but I don't know the worst [Music] um I'll tell you what it is in a second it's Deuteronomy 21 verse 23. you wouldn't know it in the English um but I'll try to read it to you in the Hebrew Lo Tully those two words at the end that I just read is a double language of being buried okay in English but you shall not leave his body on the pole overnight rather and shall bury him around that same day for a hanging human corpse is a blasphemy to God and you shall not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance yeah so in English I don't think you would pick it up right because it says rather you shall bury him on the same day it says the very fact is a double language of you shall surely bury him usually when there's a double language it I would translate it surely but it does have a emphasis of burying twice so not only is he buried but that which was used to kill him is also buried with him okay so we're just getting to the nitty-gritty the nuts and bolts of this this item that was used to kill him because he sinned that same item then has to be destroyed it carries with it this negative energy I hope you're following this whole this whole uh idea here so this is um the statement the final statement in that paragraph by the Tommy Devore he says after justice has been fulfilled their existence and power must be an old we there has to be an a nullification of that negative energy so again we're talking about something everybody knows about with the goat that's going off into the cliff perhaps they didn't know one of the attributes of Mercy is that God will take our sins and throw them into the depths of the sea and that's what we're discussing so so he now begins with a very interesting idea in Daniel this is also the secret of the statue from Nebuchadnezzar's dream the Jewish people were delivered into the hands of the king of Babylonia it's true now one of the descriptions about this particular statue was that its head was fine gold I'll just continue that said Daniel chapter 2 verse 32. it mentions about its chests and arms were silver now each one of these different things represent different um Exiles different nations that oppressed us so Babylonia is represented by the the head of fine gold the Persians are represented by the chest whose arms were silver now these were all defeated every one of them defeats the next one the next one um until I'm going to say the the the the last The Last Exile which we're still in until Bane Israel descended to its feet which were part iron and part clay this as you'll find in verse 33. so we started by saying this is a good trait that God throws our sins into the depths of the sea so what is the good what will be the good result from ultimately all this well Hashem will bring them all to Justice he'll destroy those Nations that came up against us this is like I'm not warning you anybody reads the Bible understands this so there's a very interesting verse in Deuteronomy um 32 verse 23 and this is going to require some explanation and we're going to find this in so to 9A so the verse says if you want to read it for us 32 verse 23 yeah verse 23 reads I will ink or link evils upon them I will use up my arrows on them now what does this mean so we're going to start off with a very famous verse in Malachi chapter 3 verse 6. so in the Gomorrah Begins by quoting a maymar teaches this the name of Rabbi hanemia bar Papa you want to read the Malachi Malachi chapter 3 verse 6. I just want to focus what you just read was I will use up my arrows on them a color bomb okay we're gonna focus on Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 23 but in order to explain it we're going to malahi chapter 3 verse 6. 3 Verse 6 reads uh for I the Lord have not changed in you the sons of Jacob have not reached the end okay so I'm going to just translate a little different for either Lord change not and you sons of Jacob are not consumed see in the Hebrew of Deuteronomy 32 verse 23 ahala that means consumed and over here also we're using the same the same yeah exactly I just wanted to get my um see in the Hebrew in Malachi 3 it says I haven't changed now shaniti it sounds right Shanita I haven't changed from the word shinui but we're going to explain lotioniti like Shaney I haven't um continued to strike and therefore attempting yaakov low kalitam you the Jewish people will not be destroyed okay now if you're not you the Jewish people are not going to be destroyed so what does it mean when God says I will consume my arrows upon them so more explains that I will consume my arrows that's what God is saying but you the Jewish people will not be consumed okay I mean this is unbelievable um I have quite a few wow quite a few things to talk about it but basically um where do we even begin I have some comments maybe I'll start with them we have discussed a certain verse and I'm sorry I don't think I have it in front of me we talked about God says I will not uh destroy you I think this was so I think I wrote it down I didn't write it down but the basically God says I won't Purge you I won't destroy you but he has a covenant with us that will last forever so this is a common theme it's not just one verse but I think I explained this already that the word shinoy loshiniti I do not change but it also means I don't constantly repeat over and over again but I have a lot of patience and therefore don't be mistaken to think that I changed and loved bad and hate good because when we see the good suffer and we see the bad people Prosper we may think that God changed his mind you follow what I'm saying okay but no I don't change and I have this Everlasting Covenant with the Jewish people but what I will do is I will give it to them in small measures I won't hit them so hard they're destroyed because I have this Everlasting Covenant with them and I've already told them I won't destroy them okay so that's one idea another idea which I think I mean I kind of just explained it but all these you saw him about Israel come in order to clear to cleanse us and to purify us and certainly not to destroy us therefore if um I'm sorry what they do is they these um consequences they come little by little in a in a measure that we're able to to handle um oh yeah this is a very interesting idea you know we did discuss this before about the the um the burning bush the burning bush the The Burning Bush was the prime example of this that it's brought down in the name of the remaining bahaya regarding this idea it's hinted at when God revealed himself to Moses of the burning bush you can see this in Exodus chapter 3 verse 2. you want to read that or I can do it Exodus 3 verse 2 reads an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within the thorn bush and behold the thornbush was burning with fire but the thorn bush was not being consumed right so this is the same idea that the Jewish people would be yeah I'm going to use the word punished but let's just say cleanse through suffering but we would not be consumed this was told over to Moses at the bush that this hence the idea that only a lowly people that's burnt that um and basically going to experience consistent hardships this whole idea would we we would end up standing in the end we would be the ones Last Man Standing um against all our enemies through basically through Miracles which again you know just referring to the idea of Arab Hanukkah there's nothing greater that I could um describe other than that's exactly what happened um in fact I can pull off here just to read for you what we do say in our prayers on Hanukkah it's like absolutely unbelievable um let me just pull it up here it is so in the days of Matisyahu first of all we're thanking God for the Miracles the Redemption the mighty Deeds the victories in battle which God performed for our ancestors in those days at this time in the days of Matisyahu son of joking on the high priest the hasmonean and his sons the wicked Greek king Kingdom rose up against your People Israel to make them forget your Torah and force them to transgress the statutes of of your will it was then that you and your great compassion stood by them in the time of their distress you Champion their cause judge their claim and avenge their own you deliver the strong into the hands of the weak the many into the hands of the few the impure into the hands of the pure the wicked into the hands of the righteous and the Arrogant into the hands of those who were engaged in the study of your Torah you made for yourself great and holy renowned in your world and for your People Israel you perform the great salvation and Redemption as of this very day your children then entered the holiest part of your house cleansed your temple purified your Sanctuary kindled the lights in your holy courts and designated these eight days of Hanukkah for giving thanks and praise to Your Great Name it's a really unbelievably saying this for the next eight days starting tomorrow night uh there was something interesting that I found in terms of and what the bait din says to someone who wants to convert are you crazy though I you realize that's what they say that you're joining a people persecuted people but you should know I mean after the answer yeah yeah I know I know I know that the the Jews will be the last man standing so to speak I'll just read in Hebrew because it's easier and then I'll translate it even in Allah there is this concept brought down [Music] just like the bait din would say to the Gare the the potential convert cashier when it comes to convert the anal kala that we will continue to exist we won't be destroyed the call peraniosole him that all of these horrible negative consequences that we face on a daily basis or yearly basis or every generation as we say on the pace they're coming they're coming Upon Us during this long and dark Exile all of them are for our benefit that we shall not be destroyed in other words in order not to be destroyed Hashem has measured it out and given us given it over to us and um over a period of time and question is why use the idea of arrows we said I will use up my arrows on them I just want to read Rashi on that verse I will finish up all my arrows on them meaning until there's no Arabs arrows left you understand he he divided up and he gave us in these small now this curse according to the usual way retribution is expressed is actually an implied blessing namely that God says my arrows may come to an end but Israel will not come to an end they will never be annihilated um there's some comment on this Gamora that I wanted to share uh it could be that I kind of went through it all but it's good to see it inside oh I know the verse that I wanted to show you was in Leviticus 26 44. that was the verse about um well you'll read it you'll you'll get the idea 2644 of Leviticus reads but despite all this while they are in the land of their enemies I will not despise them nor will I reject them to annihilate them thereby breaking my Covenant that is with them for I am the Lord their God yeah yeah foreign wants to explain why arrows are the language of Laro the arrows are being used and the arrows are consumed but not the Jewish people right to explain the actual language like I just said that the arrows are consumed it's analogous to a King who's angry with his son he's so angry he makes a shivoy makes an oath that he's going to place a very large Stone on his son and when his anger gets a hold of him he actually breaks the rock into a bunch of little pieces and then he sends all these little pieces on top of his son so the the father is actually fulfilling his oath but his son remains unharmed because all those little pieces cannot do the kind of harm that right so any any um any decree that's very difficult against the Jewish people is usually used as a nickname let's say symbolic of the heights the hates is the arrow and the arrow will be consumed um and it's like he made from one big Arrow so many little arrows and therefore there's a lot instead of having a great destructive pain it's just a bunch of small pains that that Israel is able to um to handle okay so that is that point okay so let's go back into the Tomah devorah we're mentioning that this statue in Daniel of another connection is actually totally crushed and destroyed then they it says in chapter 2 verse 35 then they will be crushed together the copper the silver the Gold Everything is and struck the feet of the statue That's How It Ends that's verse 34. so there was nothing of the statue but its feet because the power of its head its arm in its chest were an old the whole idea of being crushed into nothing it's going to be an old and they were removed so in the end they will be crushed together again this whole idea they this statue represents the different nations that came to destroy or came to uh oppress and in the end they're the ones who are being destroyed so Hashem is destined to bring uh back to Sutton and the wicked sorry let me just read this again Hashem is destined to bring back Satan and the wicked who follow his actions and deeds and meaning their own and bring judgment upon them and that's what it means in our verse that we're dealing with may you cast all their sins into the depths of the sea which basically means that Shem sends his judgment to be carried out by by those who are likened to the depths of the sea now there's a verse in in Isaiah chapter 57 verse 20. verse 20. Isaiah 57 verse 20 reads but the wicked are like the turbulent sea for it cannot rest and its Waters cast up mud and dirt so the similarity here of the wicked are like the turbulent sea so the sin is being cast into the the the depths of the sea we see that the wicked are like the stormy seas so these are the ones who inflict judgment upon Bene Israel starting again right we sin we created this negative energy we do chuva that negative energy has to go somewhere it goes back to the Satan who who started who who instigated who started it up anyway so their deeds will return upon their own heads just think of the Sutton or think of the Nations that came against the Jewish people I mean where are the Nazis today I mean they wanted a Thousand-Year Reich we're around and they're gone right think about all of history whoever came against us so they're still in the Exile of Rome believe it or not we just read a vladia last last Shabbos and um the destruction of Adam and we believe we understand that Adam and Rome this is uh symbolized by Western culture or maybe better yet the Christian religion and they they have you know I don't have to tell you the history we know what they did to the Jews for the last 2000 years and uh there will be retribution not me I'm just you know quoting what Hashem says and uh we'll see what happens hopefully in our days uh when the mashiach comes okay their deeds will return upon their own heads once we have been punished God reconsiders even on what happened before and demands retribution for their shame so there's a verse in Zach Zacharia Zechariah Chapter 1 Verse 15. you want to read it it's chapter 1 verse 15. Zechariah 1 verse 15 reads for so said the high and exalted one who dwells to Eternity and his name is Holy with the lofty and the holy ones I dwell and with the crushed and humble in spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the crushed okay I'm not sure if that's what I have um Zechariah I hope it's not a typo let me see what I have here because I actually prepared it I think I did I am very angry with the Nations that are at ease that's not what you have no not nothing Zachariah I'm in Isaiah hold on I'm still in Isaiah 57 forgive me Rabbi uh 1 verse 15. yeah one verse 15 reads is that uh for and I am very angry with the Nations that are at ease for I was Wrath a little and they helped to do harm think about what I discussed earlier that from the very beginning if God decreed that the Jews must suffer because of their sin then the nations are again they're doing God's will why are they punished so we discussed that they did much harm they went overboard perhaps or who said it was that nation that had to do it another Nation went ahead and and took up the mantle so it's a very you know you understand that Hashem is very angry with the Nations and they're not they're not thinking much about it but they help to do much harm okay so I hope that this was like I mean I still have a lot of a lot of interesting ideas here one of the idea let me just before I read the last paragraph um in Gamora makut it mentions when a Jew gets stoned that he right he's obviously evil he he did something which would be the the in order to get this type of malcoot and in order to get these lashes he committed a sin that was called karate okay okay karate means to be cut off from the Jewish people yet in Deuteronomy chapter 25 verse 3 if you want to read it Deuteronomy 25 verse 3 says he shall flog him with 40 Lashes he shall not exceed lest he give him a much more severe flogging than these 40 lashes and your brother will be degraded before your eyes the main point of this ver this verse that I want to point out to you is your brother shall be debased before your eyes he's called your brother so in other words when the Jew experiences the suffering that is again with truva that's the cleansing process and even though he committed a sin that would excise him from being a Jew because of his suffering this is a suffering through the flogging through the lashes he's actually experienced a reunification with the Jewish people meaning through the suffering his sin is expunged that's the main thing I wanted to show you here um and just a side point that uh for those who have who know if there was a flogging we would never give 40. there was always combinations of three and three never adds up in other words it could three times three or ten times three right but you would never have um 40 and because the the Torah itself says you might give him too much so Eve it's always called the 40-1 or 39 or anything that is a divisible by three um another point of this Gamora which I didn't read yet was basically that when you're um when you when you do a sin so you basically well this idea of getting flogging actually could cause death I mean it's only a Sanhedrin that can actually implement the death penalty that is able to even um uh give a verdict to get flogging because it's someone people do die during flogging so it's basically a it's basically a capital crime a capital punishment to give someone flogging and it's as if your soul could leave on the other hand what happens when you do Mitzvahs your souls are actually enlivened and I just wanted to mention how uh merciful Hashem is there's this concept that when one does mix this so that's on one hand you're going to get a reward when one does sin so they're going to get a punishment what's the difference are they equal no not even close you wait till you hear this it's a one to 500 ratio you get rewarded 500 times more is that how it is no uh well let's do the math watch this if you go to Exodus chapter 20 verse 5 it mentions about Sin foreign Exodus 20 verse 5 uh reads you shall neither prostrate yourself before them nor worship them for I the Lord your God I'm a zealous God who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons and upon the third and fourth generation of those who hate me okay so when it says the fourth generations of those who hate me this is the in other words the punishment will extend up until four generations what about when you do a performance of a Mitzvah a kind act in chapter the the following verse chapter 20 verse 6. verse 6 reads uh and I perform loving kindness to thousands of generations to those who love me and to those who keep my Commandments now in Hebrew a la theme alphae is always plural and we go with the minimum which means not one thousand but it's plural so it's two thousand so 2 000 Generations versus four generations that's easy math that's a 500 times difference okay so when it comes to God's love and kindness and extending it there's a 500 times difference so in other words the difference between the reward for doing a mitzvah or the punishment for doing an Avera the difference is a ratio of one to five hundred I thought that was an interesting uh thing to point out guys let me just see there's still some pieces I didn't get to 10. glad I did okay I actually yep okay covered all that let's go to the last paragraph because this is with the summary we talked about these ideas how we're supposed to treat other people and when we treat other people this way the Heavenly flow of God's mercy comes into the World perhaps I should have said that at the beginning of the class maybe I would have more people still listening but we've said this all throughout all of these Meetup all of these character traits are in order for us to imitate in order not just in order but as a result of us imitating these we open up the floodgates of God's mercy and bring it into the world so the Thomas Devore Ends by telling us so too should one act towards another even if he's wicked he's a wicked person who's crushed down by suffering the person you can see did you harm or did other people harm and you see that person now suffering you shouldn't hate him for after he has become disgraced he becomes your brother one should draw close the rebellious who have been punished and actually have mercy on them do you understand when when you do this listen he may not be your best Chum and Chum buddy you know but had some mercy you see that he's suffering he's a seemingly evil guy who's now suffering maybe he detruva perhaps the suffering has cleansed him so rather on the contrary he should rescue them from their enemy and not say his son his sin brought it upon him but instead he should have instead he shed Mercy on them in accordance with this attribute and ultimately if you do that you're you're opening the floodgates unbelievable not just on the world but mainly focusing on yourself I mean you are part of the world but this is a very personal thing and I hope this message came across clear I'm sure there's still questions people have it's uh it's a little bit you know in the Twilight Zone where some of the ideas we discussed um but uh it's about character development and figuring out how we can imitate a sham and we're going to be constantly faced with different scenarios and this is probably one of them and how we Act is going to determine the fate of the world not to put on everyone's shoulders but that's the way it is wow wow beautiful huge uh thoughts in there for sure especially uh the way uh the punishment and sin uh connections uh amazing stuff Rabbi I want to thank you so much for sharing that with us uh today um I I don't know what your schedule's like you've got Hanukkah uh coming up so you'll be in the middle of Hanukkah next week won't you yeah I don't know yet I'll let you know I mean we'll give it a few weeks I think all right sounds good sounds good so uh we hope you guys enjoyed uh uh part nine of Tomer devorah uh we want to thank uh Rabbi uh Aaron David Poston of ubana.com you can find him uh his website yubinay.com uh uh you folks still doing a fundraiser for some new projects you're working on for next year uh Yep this coming year we have a lot of exciting new projects and it's the end of the year I know people are interested in first of all giving and people are interested in giving in order to get a tax rebate or tax refund or in order to pay less taxes and give to the institutions that they actually you know support benefit from yeah sure this is an opportune time for sure and they can find the website or on the um the bottom on the in the what's the word the description box in YouTube just look down below and they can find at least the last few videos of the year coming out of your bunny excellent yeah and that's on the Yuba uh uh YouTube channel as well uh so we want to thank your Rabbi Poston for uh spending time and sharing uh uh the Deep insights with us uh from this wonderful book Tomer devorah so uh we'll let you know when we come back with part 10 folks uh uh it'll probably be a couple of weeks heading into the new year and we wish everybody in Jerusalem and Israel um uh a wonderful wonderful uh Festival of Hanukkah uh we hope you guys have a a great time and lots of Joy there and uh uh May Hashem be with you all and uh thank you once again so uh we're gonna sign out for today folks um have a wonderful wonderful day everybody bye for now happy anybody [Music]