Vayikra - Israel's Foes Already Fell

You're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari Goldwag, recording with the show's never-ending assistance in Ramat Beit Shemesh Israel 5786 2026. This week's parsha is parshas Vayikra, beginning of a new safer of the Torah. Hashem calls to Moshe, Moshe Rabbeinu, alone, hears the voice of Hashem calling to him from the Ohel Moed, from the tent of meeting, from between the cherubim, from between the two cherubs which stood upon upon the Aron Habris, the Ark of the Covenant. The Medrash teaches us, as always, a beautiful beautiful idea that has to do with the chosenness, the specialness of Moshe Rabbeinu. And before getting to Moshe Rabbeinu, we're going to look through two other people who were chosen and Hashem spoke to them. One was Avraham Avinu, and one was David Hamelech, King David. And in understanding each of them, we'll understand Moshe, we'll understand why he was chosen. We'll also We'll also understand how we can all make ourselves prone to being chosen. And the Medrash in speaking about it, brings psukim in Tehillim, perek peh tes, beautiful psukim. And in perek peh tes, pasuk yud tes, it's going to start talking pasuk chof, but already going to share with you something from pasuk yud tes. It says like this, "Ki l'Hashem magineinu, to Hashem belongs our protection. He is our shield. U'ktzish Yisrael malkeinu, our king is either belongs to our king belongs to, meaning whoever is the leader of the Jewish people, he's in the hands of Hashem, or the one who is our king is the Holy One of Israel. That's the Ribono Shel Olam, the master of the world. And then it brings another psukim and focus in over here very well because we're going to understand and explore these psukim in the Medrash together. "Az dibarta Az dibarta b'chazon l'chasidecha, then you spoke with a vision to your to your righteous one. At timer shivisi ezer al gibor, and you said, "Shivisi, we've spoken about the word shivisi, but in this context, it means to place, or as we'll see, it can mean to value. Shivisi ezer al gibor, Hashem says, "I have placed the help on the one who is mighty. I've given you your strength," Hashem says to King David, and we'll see it's Avraham and also to Moshe. "Hareimosi bachur m'am, I have lifted out the chosen one from the nation." This Hashem chooses David, Hashem chooses Avraham, Hashem chooses Moshe to be the one that he speaks to. And we'll see why. "Matzasi David avdi b'shemen kodshi m'shachtiv, pasuk in the pasuk chof is talking about King David, "I have found David my servant, and with my holy oil I have anointed him. Asher yadi tikaneinu, my hand will be established with him, Hashem acts through him. U'zro'i t'amtzenu, my my arm will give him power." Okay? So, it's important to understand, as we'll see in the Medrash, that what gives a Moshe Rabbeinu his power, what gives an Avraham Avinu his power, what gives a David Hamelech, a King David his power, it's Hashem's power. He's just an expression of Hashem. Let's study this together. Rebbi Avin b'shem Rebbi Brechya saba pasach, Rebbi Avin in the name of Rebbi Brechya, the elder one, opened. And when we open, we're opening a new book, Vayikra, and we're opening a new chapter in our understanding of our relationship with Hashem, what it means for Hashem to call a person. What does it mean Hashem called Moshe? Why did Why was Moshe chosen? How can we be chosen? How can we be called and hear the voice of Hashem? >> [snorts] >> So, in explaining this, he brings our our psukim in Tehillim, perek peh tes, chapter 89, verse 20. "Az dibarta b'chazon l'chasidecha, then you spoke with a vision to the righteous one." "Vayidaber Elokim el Avraham." The Medrash starts over saying that this is speaking about Abraham. Avraham Avinu, "Asher nidbar imoi b'dibur uv'chazon, Hashem spoke to him both with words and with visions, right? Right, often it says, "Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe, Hashem spoke to Moshe," which means that he heard Hashem's voice. But sometimes Hashem speaks with a with a with sound to the to the navi, to the prophet, and sometimes Hashem shows him a vision, he sees something. Ad lo dichsiv, this is what it says, "Acharei hadvarim ha'eileh hayah dvar Hashem el Avram b'machazeh leimor, Hashem spoke after these matters." It's a pasuk in Breishis, in Genesis chapter 15, verse 1. Avram hears the word of Hashem and he sees a vision of that which Hashem wants to show him. L'chasidecha, to the righteous one. What is it that qualifies a person for a vision? How do we get to hear Hashem's voice? What is it that we need to do to merit it? We need to be a chassid, the pasuk tells us. We need to be righteous. Right? The word righteousness, a chassid, is someone who does chassid, does kindness. Titein emes l'Yaakov, chesed l'Avraham, the pasuk says, "Give truth to Jacob, kindness to Avraham." The mida of Yaakov Avinu, of Jacob was truth. The mida of Avraham was kindness. And it's that kindness, we'll see more about this in relationship to King David, but it's that aspect that qualifies him as a chassid and therefore allows him to hear the voice of Hashem. At timer shivisi ezer al gibor, pasuk says that there is a statement, and the statement is that Hashem places help upon the mighty one. Wait, so I have a question. If we are defeating our enemies, if we are killing out the leaders of Iran, right? If we are succeeding in battle, so does that make us mighty? Do we the pasuk says says, "Shivisi ezer al gibor, I have placed my help upon the mighty one." So, is he mighty? Does he have any strength of his own? Is Hashem just helping him? Let's see what the Medrash says. This of course applies to our times as well, so important. "Sh'arag arba melachim b'laylah echad, the psukim tell us that Avraham Avinu killed four kings in one night. He ki- He He had a targeted strike against four leaders on the same night. "Ad lo dichsiv, pasuk says in Breishis yud daled, pasuk tes v'eileh, "Vayichalek aleihem laylah, v'yagimem, they went out at night and attacked the four kings in the battle of the four and five kings." Amar Rebbi Yitzchak, the pasuk says something funny. It says that they killed the the dead ones. They killed the dead ones. Amar Rebbi Yitzchak, "V'chi yesh adam rodef harugim? Can you Can you run after Can you chase down the dead ones? People who are dead?" "Vayakin vayeredefem ad Chovah." Pasuk says they struck them, which means they killed them, and they ran after them until a place called Chovah. How do you run after somebody you've already killed? Ela m'lamed she'Kadosh Baruch Hu horeg v'Avram rodef. This teaches us a foundational idea. You want to know how Klal Yisrael has the ability to destroy our enemies? Avraham Avinu was the example of this. How was he able to kill these four kings who had captured his nephew Lot and bring back the people of Sodom to win in battle and of course to be a representative, myself as Siman L'vanim, that Am Yisrael in the future will have successful battles, as we see today. How is it possible for Avram to kill someone who's already dead? The answer is, that's the secret. He was killing someone who was already dead, which means to say that Hashem had already determined that these kings would be vanquished. Why was Avram able to vanquish them? Why did he run after them if they were dead? They were dead, as it were, in a spiritual sense. Hashem had already decided that these kings are finished. Their time is up. Their ability to suppress, to oppress, to do whatever evil they've done, it's over. Time is up. The time is up for the Iranian leaders. Now, when Klal Yisrael comes in and destroys them, of course, it's with Siyata Dishmaya, it's with spiritual help, it's with help from Hashem, but on a deeper level, their spiritual life force was already taken away from them. That's what gave them the the That's what gave the ability to Avraham Avinu to kill, to run after those who are already dead, spiritually dead, spiritually detached from Hashem, and therefore Avram is able to get them all in one night to destroy the head of the viper, the head of the snake, alongside all of his henchmen all in one blow. Why? Because Hashem had already taken away their spiritual sustenance. I remind you the possuk says, Hashem separated a chosen one, a bachur. What's a bachur? We think of a bachur as a young man. The word bachur means a chosen one. Like in the lashon Ze Avraham bachur Hashem Asher bacharta be'Avraham. Hashem chose, like we see every morning in davening, Hashem chose Avraham. Which means, what does it mean to choose? It means to separate something out from something else. I have a whole display of apples, I choose the ones that I like and I put them in my bag. Now, as we're going to see, was there something specific? What's the idea of choosing something? Is it random? Is it a random choice? Is it something that they've already earned? So, we'll see that it's not per se something that they've already earned. It just represents something that they are and the potential for who they can be. Let's see this in the context of David. Till now we're speaking about Avraham Avinu and we will return to Moshe, of course, which is our parsha. Davar acher az dibarta b'chazon l'chasidcha. They have another explanation by this possuk. Then you spoke with a vision to your righteous individual. V'dar Avraham David she'ne'emar b'chazon u'v'dibbur. It's speaking about King David. Hashem spoke to him. Shem interacted with him both with speech and with a vision. Navi d'tzidkecha Avraham Avinu k'chol ha'chizon ha'zeh. Kein diber Nosson el David. Possuk refers to Nosson ha'navi, the prophet Nathan. That he had revelations through speech and through through visions which were intended to be given over to David ha'melech, to King David. V'chasidcha It's for the righteous individual. That's a reference to David, to King David she'ne'emar shomra nafshi ki chasid ani. He says, "Protect my soul because I am righteous." V'ta'am she'v'si ezer al gibor. Just like we said by Avraham Avinu, Hashem was his help. Which by the way, by Avraham, just taking back for a moment, we said, "She'v'si ezer al gibor." He was a mighty one. Hashem gave him help. So, we understand that his strength didn't really come from himself, right? He was only able to defeat them because Hashem had taken away power. So, maybe it could be that the ezer al gibor, Hashem is the gibor. Hashem is the mighty one. And the human being helps, as it were, because he's the one, the human being, one who is zocheh, one who merits, he becomes a vehicle for the divine justice in this case. He becomes the one who metes out the punishment, brings about the downfall of these kings. Rebbi Avraham bar Chanina, back to David ha'melech. Omer shlosha asar milchamosav shel David. Rebbi Avraham bar Chanina says, King David waged 13 different battles. Rabbanan acherim shmona asar. The sages say, "No, there were 18 battles." V'lo pligi, they're not actually arguing. Were there 13? Were there 18? The answer is yes, there were both. Mai d'amar shlosha asar she'l Klal Yisrael. The one who says that he waged 13 battles, obviously we're saying with the help of Hashem and he was able to defeat his enemies. Why? In a similar way to Avraham Avinu, because Hashem had taken away their spiritual sustenance and now it was possible to destroy them in the in the physical realm. So, the one who says that there were 13 battles, it's because it's referring to the 13 battles that King David fought on behalf of the Jewish people. V'mai d'amar shmona asar, one who says 18 battles, chameish l'tzorech atzmo, there were five that he did for his own self. Shlosha asar l'tzorech Klal Yisrael, and there were 13 that were done on behalf of the people of Israel. The bottom line is, he's able to do it. Why? Because Hashem is doing it. I remind you bachur me'am. Here's where where we come to an important point. Hashem chose out, Hashem lifted out King David from the nation. He He chose him. Zeh David she'ne'emar David avdi. He cho- chose King David, his servant. And and in the next possuk, which we also read, possuk aleph says, "Matzasi David avdi." I found King David, my servant. Why is David ha'melech chosen? Why is Avraham chosen? And why will we see that Moshe Rabbenu is chosen? So, the reason is because he's Hashem's servant. I want to read to you inside what the Malbim says on these psukim in Tehillim. Possuk says, I remind you bachur me'am, I remind you me'am, it's out of me bli hachana klal. Rachamim chati l'kach. Malbim says an amazing thing. I chose him without any preparation. I just plucked him up and pulled him out from the entire nation. This is my guy. Which almost sounds random, but it's not. Says the Malbim, "Matzasi mefaresh neged emunah k'fi ha'chana." There is an aspect here of no preparation, but there's a different aspect of preparation indeed. Omer matzasi David avdi she'matzasi oso muchan l'kach. It looks like I just plucked him out randomly, but that's not the case. David ha'melech was chosen because of his own personal preparation. Mitzad she'hu avdi v'lo avdi l'eisi. Because he serves me, he's my servant. V'neged ha'chesed ha'elyon omer, so there's one aspect which is rightfully, it's right it's rightful, it's it's correct. Tzmi'da k'neged mida, you want to serve Hashem, you are chosen. But then there's an aspect of chesed as well. Hashem is doing kindness with him, he doesn't deserve it. Omer v'shemen kodshi m'shachtiv, the possuk also says that Hashem anointed him with the oil of his holiness. M'bli ashkeif al hachana. There's an aspect of Hashem looking at his preparation, there's an aspect of it without any preparation. K'yishpati al kiddush elyon al yedei m'shichasi. Hashem pours out an amazing, awesome, transcendent holiness upon David ha'melech. When David ha'melech succeeds, King David, we've spoken in the past about ruach ha'kodesh, a spirit of holiness. It really means something that it's beyond any human nature. It's beyond something that a person naturally can accomplish. Esther ha'malka couldn't naturally walk into Achashverosh, she would have been killed. She should have been killed. Shimshon ha'gibor couldn't naturally have such incredible physical power. Avraham Avinu couldn't naturally kill four kings in one night. The Jewish people today, the the very Iron Dome that quote unquote protects us, knocks down the missiles from the sky, it doesn't work the same in the rest of the world as it does in Israel. In Israel, the numbers, the percentages of how many it's able to knock out of the sky are much higher than anywhere else. The same system. It works because Hashem allows it to work. Siyata d'Shmaya, we don't deserve it. We don't deserve it. But Hashem pours it out on us. Yeah. Okay. So, that's the idea that I wanted to share from the Malbim. So, the Malbim is telling us that David, Avraham, Klal Yisrael, we get this amazing divine assistance without necessarily being worthy of it. In some ways we are. Why are we worthy of it? Because we have shown ourselves to be interested in serving Hashem. What are we doing here in Israel? Why are there Jews in Israel? Because this is the land, this is the place that we're meant to serve Hashem. Right? The mitzvos The mitzvos are meant to be fulfilled, they're designed to be fulfilled in the land of Israel. Now he brings, the Medrash finishes off, Davar acher az dibarta b'chazon. Then you spoke with a vision. V'dar Avraham Moshe she'ne'emar b'dibbur u'v'chazon. It's speaking about Moses. God spoke to him both with speech and with a vision. She'ne'emar peh el peh dibarti vi. Possuk says, "Mouth to mouth I speak to him." And there's also in that possuk it refers to the fact that there was something that he saw. He saw. He was able to speak, right? Face to face. L'chasidcha Why is Moshe, how do we see in other contexts that Moshe is referred to as a khasid as someone who is uniquely righteous. Shimon Ishi Levi possuk says cuz he was from the tribe of Levi. Refers to the righteous individual of Levi of the Levites possuk in Devarim. Possuk says I have placed help upon the one who is strong. This is a reference to that which it says Hashem uniquely spoke to Moshe. Now this is something that requires a lot of strength, stamina, ability to receive, to withstand. Usually something that's difficult for one person to carry it's easier with two. If two people have trouble carrying something, bring four. Do you ever find that there was something which was too heavy for 600,000 people but it was easy for one person to carry? All of the people of Israel stood in front of Mount Sinai and they said Im yeshua nachnu shmaya They said we can't withstand listening to Hashem's voice. The first two of the dibroys the first two of the 10 commandments were stated by Hashem, heard by all of the Jewish people. And then subsequently they said we can't handle it. They said we can't carry this. But Moshe Rabbeinu 600,000 people can't hear it but Moshe says the Medrash he was able to hear the sound of Hashem's voice and he lived. Teida d'kashu kein. We can know that this is true. Shem kol karah dibur el Moshe. >> [snorts] >> Because of all of the people who the the word of Hashem called out to who heard it? Who is the one individual who heard it? She amar vayikra Moshe it was specifically Moshe. Rami assi bachur me'am. Hashem chose him from all of the nation. He lifted him out. He chose him. Lulei Moshe b'chira possuk says here it refers to Moshe that Moshe was the chosen one. He was chosen by Hashem. And again I want to reiterate and and repeat and think about and and bring awareness to why was Moshe chosen? Why was he chosen? Why was he the b'chir Hashem? Why was he called the eved Hashem? He was called the servant of Hashem. That's why he was chosen to be the b'chir Hashem. Bachur me'am. He's the one who's chosen from the nation. He's the one who out of 600,000 people they can't hear Hashem's voice but Moshe can hear. Why? Cuz he's similar to a Dovid Hamelech. He's similar to an Avraham Avinu. What is unique about these individuals? They had the ability to stand up and serve Hashem to make the center of their life their most important central component of their life was serving Hashem was being an eved Hashem. And as a result of that a Moshe Rabbeinu is called Right I I was discussing recently with someone about the idea of ruach hakodesh. How does one get ruach hakodesh? Is it possible to get ruach hakodesh today? And we've talked about this at length and I'm going to keep talking about it cuz it interests me. Is it possible to hear Hashem's voice? The answer is yes. How do I know? Cuz it says it in our holy sforim. Shulchan Aruch says it. It's brought down elsewhere. Ruach hakodesh today? Yes. And how do you get there? The answer is what we're saying here is eved Hashem. Why couldn't we handle hearing it 600,000 of us? Why couldn't we handle hearing it? The recognition that Hashem is all there is it's a powerful recognition. Anochi Hashem Elokecha the first two commandments we heard. But living in a space where Hashem is all there is that means I got to get rid of myself. Means I got to get rid of what I want. Means I got to get rid of all of all of the uh all of the things that my ego desires. But in doing so I start to hear Hashem's voice. I start to hear Hashem's voice. Anochi Hashem Elokecha all there really is is only God. I don't have any other gods. Don't let any of your physical desires, your physical needs become your god. And what is a god really? It's the one that we focus on. What is an eved? A servant? It means that everything that I do is just for my master. That's what an eved is. So if I know Anochi Hashem Elokecha is the center of my life which was the case for Avraham Avinu case for Dovid Hamelech, case for Moshe Rabbeinu what happens? What happens is there are no battles. There are no battles. Avraham Avinu doesn't kill those kings. Those kings are already dead. Moshe Rabbeinu doesn't battle Og. Og is already dead. Dovid Hamelech doesn't battle his 13 or 18 battles. His enemies are already dead. Why? Cuz he lives in a space where he's aligned with Hashem. There is no there's no power that can oppose the one who is only interested in serving Hashem. There's no power that can oppose that person. To the extent that Klal Yisrael is focused on serving Hashem there's no power that can oppose us. V'ru kol amei ha'aretz ki shem Hashem nikra alecha v'yaru mimecha they become fearful of us. Not cuz we have superior weapons but because we are superior spiritually. I don't remember if I mentioned this but maybe I did but the there's a video I saw recently from Rav Shmuel Eliyahu who's the who's the Rav of Rosh Yeshiva of Tzfat the chief rabbi of Tzfat and he speaks about the fact that the Arabs have I mean now they can't go at all because Har Habayit is closed but over the last few months they've been going less and less. And when asked about it they responded and said they've seen how the Jews were doing shticha v'avaya there showing their full complete subservience to Hashem. And as a result of that they are afraid. They're scared. They're scared to come up there. They know that once the Jews start to completely give themselves over and and fall in front of Hashem there's no power that can destroy us. And that's in a certain way symbolic but it's at the depth of what's going on. It's at the depth of what gives us our power. Gives Klal Yisrael our power is that we serve Hashem that we fall in front of Hashem completely uh bottle completely surrendered to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And I I was talking to this person and we were talking about ruach hakodesh and he said uh you know ruach hakodesh comes accidentally. It doesn't just arrive or or uh a spiritual revelation sometimes we have an insight. It doesn't just it arrives by accident. Right the sense when a person has an insight or even when I make up a song sense is that it it just came. But it's a an important thing to be accident prone. That's that's something that we can do. It comes by accident so to speak. But we can develop the ability to be accident prone. And the way that we do that is by making ourselves into servants. We prepare ourselves with hachana to be that person Hashem will choose. And then Hashem chooses us and what he gives us is chesed. It's a kindness. It's not something that we necessarily deserve. I want to bless you and ask you to bless me. Hashem should help us that we should indeed be his servants. We should indeed learn from an Avraham from a Moshe, from a Dovid what it means to truly battle. It means to be his servants so that our enemies they fall before they fall and we're chasing people who are dead men. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful Shabbos. This podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you. >> [music] >> For more podcasts like this please visit www.arigoldweg.com or search [music] on iTunes Ari Goldweg.