Ki Savo - For Hashem's Sake

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with hashem's never ending assistance in R Israel 5784 2024 this week's par par kavo and famously as we get closer to rashash so the Torah tells us our sages tell us we read the bras we read the blessings that hasm gives us when we do what's right when we keep the tah and we read the CL the curses have for when does not keep the T and our sages tell us because we want to express the fact that we've learned our lesson in a certain sense we want the the year to end the the curses we want them to be behind us and we want to come into a new year we want to have a year of blessings I want to recognize that this year was a challenging year is and has been a challenging year for Amel and we know that challenges are still ahead of us but still we want we we recognize that the root of of the challenges the root of the challenges come the difficulties come or the I would say the challenges are made are exacerbated are made worse when we don't recognize what is the cause of those challenges means we recognize and we read about the curses that happen when we don't keep the tah so we understand that it depends on that our relationship with hem the the all that happens to us in our lives is really just a reflection of what's going on between us and God and that's the recognition and with that recognition our sages are telling us with that recognition so we say that the curses should end the negative situations we've been in all these things we've learned our lesson of let the blessings come let's experience blessings so in this context the says the beginning of chapter 28 verse one verse tells us if you will listen it uses a double language if you will listen you will listen to the voice of Hashem your God so Hashem will send you all these different blessings your lives will be filled with blessings and Torah goes on to describe all the different blessings that we will experience it's said in a compact way but the blessings are from Al to T they all the letters in the alphabet the curses though they're described at length they are minimalized they are minimized God's attribute of kindness and goodness is is always greater is our father he loves us but the language that the medish points out is interesting say say why does it say it if you will hear you will hear it's double language so you know colloquially in Hebrew in the times of the so sh means certainly if you will certainly hear means you must hear you must hear this but our sages teach us that there's more to it than that that when the Tyra says to hear to hear first of all there's a classic example of this idea it's also here in the M if you if you learn the T and you go over the T you try to understand the T and you try not to forget the T it's something that you're always talking about it's always on your lips it's always part of your conversations the things that we talk about a lot those are the things that are that go into our Consciousness if you remember the Torah you will continue to hear you can you you get a greater depth of spiritual understanding the more you learn and just says for example that you're raised in this world you're raised in the next world there's a double hearing but I like to share with you uh the second section in par Z the beginning of our par on this PUK I also want to say that I'm learning it's it's time so pulled out a few mus form one of the form that I'm learning is the just beautiful book encouraging us the power of learning every single word is precious every single word is a Mitzvah and of itself how many words you say in in a minute in an hour of learning Torah it's incredible each word is a Mitzvah how beautiful the Torah is so I was learning a piece in here he talks about a certain topic and then I tripped over in another medish that I was learning not this med on the kalas hopefully I'll share a little bit of it shipped over the same exact idea in Maro and uh and then I realized not only that but it's exactly the piece in this Mish as well that we're about to read and then I mentioned this to my rabber yob abber and I said you know is that a message from Hashem when the same idea keeps coming up and he said of course and then he started giving me another idea related to it which I will share with you but um you know it's called you see hashem's hands first of all when you're looking for it but second of all when you're trying to do what's right when you're trying to learn when you're trying to you're trying to grow so it's all time I'm showing trying to show my uh desire for relationship with hem and it's it's sweet to feel that kiss back anyway this is the talking about hearing and it will be if you will hear all the blessings will come if you will hear you will hear so what is the idea a in Mish in chapter 8:34 it says praiseworthy is the one who listens to me sh Ali so as the Maru explains the P already said the idea shomon already told us that we should listen to God and praiseworthy is the one who hears the word of hasem so why does it repeat it here so I understand this in two ways one is explain it and wanted just to p as far as I understand it what are the things that we're listening to what are the things that we're hearing about I try to put on for myself when I'm preparing my lunch or whatever to listen to to hear sh from him especially the most recent ones that he spoke during this war and it's very appropo to what's going on right now what is what is it that we turn to where are we what are we listening to what do we want to hear what's the kind of music we listen to what's the messages of the music about hem is is it about serving God is it about strengthening our faith in hem that's to me the is saying praiseworthy is the one who what he's listening whatever he's listening to what's what's exciting to him that he wants to hear lee he wants to hear me hasem says he wants to hear my what I have to say he wants to hear what the tah has to say that's my humble mes is explained slightly differently by the here and they say Ali means that when a person is the which literally means something that you have heard is another word for Aya in the gamar the the concepts and the sections the concepts and this and the I don't have the right word in English for it but each piece of gamar let's say or each idea that's being conveyed in a medish the suia the topic there's the word the topics that we learn when we're learning the T there's there's two kavanas that we could have and of course we're human and we have both cavanas but the part that needs strengthening is a particular intent when we're learning we can be learning because it's interesting to us because we feel it's right even to be learning Torah it's because we feel better we feel good when we learn Torah but the highest aspect says the me as explained by the is why am I learning I'm learning forem sake learning the sh interesting thing I want to tell you LMA means for for God's sake or for its own sake and this is an incredibly important idea said he would talk about the fact that in naric there were certain topics that were the hot topics the most important things that they stressed one of them was which we talk about a lot another one was now think about this idea because I don't know if you're going to hear this anywhere else that's used to say I don't know if we're going to hear this from anywhere else the idea ofma of doing things for the sake of God not for my own you know all of the all of the biases and all of the different motivations and of course again I'm human I'm going to have multiple motivations but I got to make sure that amongst my motivation and I I have to strive that that should become the main motivation is doing it for God's sake what does it mean to hear to hear it means to hear deeply to really hear to to really hear to not hear superficially to not do it for all of the regular human reasons why we do stuff but to include at first it's going to be small that's fine but to include within the the ideas of reasons why we're doing it to do itma for God's sake you know my my son mentioned to me a few months ago that something aav during in our daving you know we want to come we want to see we want to succeed in the battles that we're battling we want to feel safe in Israel we want to feel safe in the diaspora want our enemies to fall want the good guys to win but that motivation is about us naturally it's naturally about us my son said to me moov he said to me that there's an idea that he read it was from pinkis I don't remember where he got it from at the daving we can for for your sake right for your sake God so that your honor be revealed it's like a child who prays on behalf of a parent it's not an easy thing to do a child who prays for the success of a parent CU really that's the child success as well we need to DAV in on beh of for God's sake when is going to bring mhia is going to going to be the the the revelation of hm in the world is going to be incredible so there's a lishma for God's sake for God's sake see more about that soon but I want to share with you this IM and and it's because it's really quite beautiful how it relates to the idea of LMA we understand it the says in Mish the same verse that says praise really is the one who listens to me for my sake the person who's learning for God's sake so the P says that this same person he's constantly he's consistently by God's doors now why is supposed to say doors plural maybe it's in God's door you come through the door of the B come into the synagogue into the study hall me says something interesting it says if you're coming to pray in the in the synagogue in the don't stand in the outer area in the hallway and D in there in the outer area of the sh go inside of one door go inside another door right shes a synagogue is supposed to have two doors one door to an anti anti room in anti area entrance way and then the main Sanctuary make sure you go all the way in says the you're consistently coming through the doors get your make your way all the way inside let it doesn't say to to consistently be inside of my door it says is coming to two to two doors what's the idea why don't you they come to two doors so the me says because hem counts your steps when you walk all the way into sh you you walk to the front of the sh get closer to the sanctuary get closer to the Ares get closer to God as it were physically sh rewards you for the extra steps that you take towards him and I want to say that if a person I would say in a in a there's a mushro here there's an analogy here that's going on that's related to LMA because what does LMA mean what does it mean to to learn for God's sake that's something only you know about really something that only you know if you've done it it's something deep inside of ourselves it's all the way in and the same way that LMA is all the way in walking all the way into the sh instead of standing you know around the periphery on the outer edges of the sh in the synagogue when I go all the way in I'm showing I'm all the way in it's symbolic Hashem gives me a reward for my extra steps because it's really saying I've aligned myself more I want I show I want to be close show I want to be close right the student who sits in front of the teacher that's the one who clearly wants to learn but it's related to the LMA aspect it's something that really only I know about something that's inside of me and it's a subtle thing because it's easy to sit in the back I don't really want to be noticed I don't need to be in the center of things but it's a different thing about LMA which is I'm doing it for God's sake I'm going all the way in I'm not going to do this in a superficial way I'm going to do it all the way the last part of the P says that we are first of all to go inside of the doors but second of all we're supposed to protect and watch over the M of the entrances what does it mean to have a on a on a on a synagogue is referring not to the muas that we think of muas which has the scroll inside of it has sh on it written on it but rather it's talking about the actual doorway the M are the doorway that the it's composed of it's composed of the the these these it's called a lentil in English lentil so so uh what is it talking about k so just like it is that the doorway itself doesn't move it's it's nailed in to the opening of the of the door the frame more precisely the frame of the doors is nailed to the door area don't R don't move from the Sho the the place of learning sit and learn sit and and and stay there don't don't leave there don't leave the place of spirituality now what's the reward you're going all the way in and you're staying there you're being LMA you're learning for God's sake you're doing it not just in a superficial way you're doing it all the way what is the reward you should know that you're going to receive you're going to have a spiritual experience you're going to see God's divine presence because what's the end of this one who finds me has failed life right when you do things for God's sake when you go all the way into the sh and when you make it your business to stay there as long as you can maybe after after ding you stay and you learn from bit or maybe more than a bit come to your she stay there a bit after the sheer sit and learn in the B mes morning seder whatever the person's level is but the more a person gives to Tyra the more person is consistently inside with the place of prayer and of learning the more Hashem reveals himself to that person you find AEM there that's what you're finding doing it for God's sake you find how can you come to the and not find God there you know if you're running in running out to do the duty running in running out that's not that's not where you're going to find God but how can you how is it possible that you stand there means to stand and to stay there I'm sorry when you stand there when you stay there in the sh soem stands over you how do we know this because it says theem stands over those when there's a minion when there's a group of people who are coming together to pray and to connect to Hashem soem is there is with them excuse me not only do you receive God's presence do you get a chance to experience godliness inside of the sh you take it with you you get blessings that go with you when you leave the leave the says Those Who find me have found life as we said before by and they take out the will they have it's literally they take out the will but it means they have received God's grace they receive hashem's blessings as a result of this it means that's what it means in the P when it says if you will hear you will hear it's not just about doing it on a superficial little I hear like they say I hear I hear you to really hear inish is a word d to deeply understand to hear it really if I understand what mitzah are about it's not just about me it's not just about me feeling good and happy because I'm spiritual person I'm doing what's right it's deeper than that I'm doing it because this is hashem's will I'm doing it for God's sake and I'm not going to read it inside but I'd like to just share with you the says in the it's at the end of par the end of the eth chapter he speaks about the fact that he gives a mush to a guy who was he was an old man and he brought his family with him he was about to get on a boat to to go to Israel to go to Israel and as he's about to get on the boat the captain of the boat says I'm sorry but some of your children need to leave behind cuz they're not healthy enough to come on the boat they could die in transit and the man is distressed and distraught and the children are crying and they have to leave their father he's an old man he he knows he'll never see these children again says that this is a mush very interesting it's a little bit tough to hear but this l so we can hear a little bit tough we got to think of what we want to strive for and the importance of it he says the says one says your kindness is until evens another P says your your kindness hem is above the heavens this is also the Maru brings this down I'll get to the Mar in a moment and Cal us the gar says what does it mean that some kindness of of Hem Of God is only until the heavens and some of it is above so the me the the gar says that when a person does MIT I do it for God's sake and I try to minimize my own biased motivations and again we're human but here an idea that's something we should strive for that we must strive for when I do things for God's sake for hashem's sake nobody knows about it nobody knows that I've done this good thing I do a favor for somebody he doesn't even know about it and do something good it's forem or I make my motivation more about Hashem I try I think about that I'm aware of it the when I do things that's there's a separation that happens and that's the mush of the guy who couldn't bring his his kids all about to there are some MIT that I do with extraneous motivations those mitzah are very nice they're beautiful they have value but they don't the the angel that I I made when I did that Mitzvah does not accompany me it accompanies part of the way but it can't CLE the boat to get up all the way to sh that aspect that kind of Mitzvah doesn't accompany me there all the way the tough mitzva the one that required a deeper sense of commitment a deeper recognition that it's for Hashem mean it's for you God that MIT accompanies me all the way up to the highest places because it doesn't have any earthy aspect effect it's much deeper it's much more powerful so and and that's what we're saying here you want to get a relationship with Hashem you want it to be deep you want it to be real needs to be praiseworthy is the one who hears for my sake who's learning who tah who mitz whose actions are done for God's sake this is a very lofty ideal especially we live in a western Society where everything is about me what do I gain from it even the way that we encourage our children as we say hey have a candy oh isn't that fun isn't shabas so fun everything is about fun isn't it so nice even the way that we talk about turning off our devices for shabas oh it's so nice it's so much more relaxing I feel so much better not being attached to my whatever you know but that's not what shabas is about shabas is about relationship with Hashem we do it because God said to that's much deeper just because God said to yeah cuz God said to we keep shabas and we do Mitzvah and we learn Torah because it's something that gives to it's something that Hashem enjoys seeing his children following his will yeah it's good for us yeah it's enjoyable shabas say wow nothing like chabas nothing like a good gor a good medish he things are enjoyable when we say we ask though Ali we say we say it every day let us learn your t for your sake for its sake for with a pure motivation the more pure the motivation is the more powerful it is and the more hashem's blessings are manifest in our life we said at the very beginning of the she of this you know all the things that have happened to us in our lives all the challenges we've gone through of course they're supposed to help us grow and become greater people but the problems that we Face are there for us to recognize that hey we're not yet in complete relationship with Hashem we're not staying long enough in the base Mish we're not doing long enough we're not having the Cav that we we know we should have we want to have we're not necessarily doing it for the right reasons all the things that we do but we want to improve we want to show hasem as we round up the year we want to put on our best shabas clothes we want to show Hashem that really this is who we are we're people who are striving to do things for his sake it's not easy it's especially not not simple for we for us westerners who are so used to everything being about us iPhones and I pants and eyes I I I me me me but the mag is telling us the t is telling us you want to know where the blessings come and we know this in our guts from experience where the blessings come Western Society doesn't want to have children you and I know the greatest blessing is children what a greater blessing is to but having a child means that I have to give of myself I have to wake up in the middle of the night 1:30 last night my son woke up my one and a half-year-old and I put him back to sleep took half an hour and uh well what what better what better thing is there in the world than that what better thing is there in the world the experience of doing for somebody else the experence expence of doing for hem experience of not being about me we're so weighted down by it being about us I want to bless you and I ask you to bless me should help us that we should be able to do things a little more LMA start with a little bit of LMA for God's sake do a little bit and a little more and a little more until it grows and becomes our main motivation should help us all to be able to have a year the the the challenges and difficulties and the curses of the previous year may they end may the blessings begin in our coming year may it begin now thank you so much for listening we wonderful Shamus this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.old wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]