Lech Lecha - Smashing Idols

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with aem's n running assistance inap Israel 2024 this week's par is par and like last week where the end of pares braus told us about Noah and then Paras Noah gave us the full story of Noah at the end of Paras Noah we have mention of AR ainu then called aam and then in par we have more extended story on into the part that follow I'd like to share with you a medish which is at the end of leading into and it's a very interesting it's more of an extensive description of the story of what happened with Abu before we're really introduced to AB we're introduced to Abu with says go to Israel go to the land of Israel go to Earth Canan and but before that so our kazal teach us our sages teach us and it's hinted to in theim that ainu had an incredible experience where he was thrown on the fire he almost died Al KES hasem before he even had a chance to start the Jewish people he was thrown into the fire he survived miraculously and as we'll see it was actually the beginning of his career in teaching others as the does tell us explicitly in sah there's the there were the souls that they made he and his wife he and Sarah were involved in the first Outreach kir of organization we could say that occurred at that time but what presaged it all was his willingness to be mo neish and as we saw in the call of mhi podcast the reason that he was sent to the land of Israel the reason he was chosen by hm to live in a special land in a place where there's constant like no other place in the world was because he was willing to give up his life in order to serve Hashem for his for his belief in the one God that would go on to be called the god of Israel the god of Abraham Abraham The Shield of abam so I like to share with you the medish that speaks about this story and there's some amazing insights to from the and let's see let's let's study this together the Torah tells us in introducing AB that there were three brothers it was abam Haron and N the three sons of T and Haron is an important character because he has a son named lot which is ab's nephew and haran himself the P tells us he died ter was still alive when Haron died and the story that we're about to tell about the salvation of abam was a moment of test for Haron as well Haron would end up dying in the fire or outside of the fire as we'll see very interestingly and so the the family members are important here also important is that when Abram sends Eleazar later on to find a wife for his son y he goes back to he goes back to his family so abam his story is important of course in so far as himself but we also have important aspects of the story that relate to his nephew Lo he goes to save his nephew Lo who ends up in sedone Lo escapes Lo ends up having a child named moav moav is the great great grandfather of ravio who becomes the great grandmother of mashia of masiah but the familial connections are important here the Torah tells us thaten died now what are the circumstances of his death that's how we find out interestingly about the story with Abraham and his willingness to sacrifice his life for Hashem but it started earlier it started with ab's recognition already at a young age it's not clear exactly at which point if he was 3 years old if he was older than that significantly older than that there are those who say that the story happened when he was 13 say the story happened when he was older but let's see the story the grandson the grandson of of said the following story he says that ter the father of Abram was he worshiped Idols not only did he worship idols he actually was an idol manufacturer one time he had to leave the country we had to go traveling and he left abam in charge of his idol store somebody came into the store an elderly man and he wanted to buy an idol he said to AB of you know how do you have any Idols for me and and ab said to him how old are you tell me 50 60 years old says to this guy it's really pathetic if you're 60 years old and you're bowing down and you're serving an idol that's one day old that was just made yesterday like and he was embarrassed the person was 60 years old he was embarrassed he left he didn't take the idol he didn't buy the idol it's important to understand that we don't understand what it means to have Yara an evil inclination to serve an idol perhaps we can relate to it a little bit there is a whole Christian world that serves believes that God manifested in a human being which is considered idolatry according to Jewish law so we could perhaps relate to it people need something that they can grab on to that can relate to it's hard to relate to or it's harder to relate to a god which is incorporeal doesn't have a physical manifestation you know see Hashem so people would create these Idols because they were something tangible that they could relate to it originally started off so raham explains that they were serving the the stars and the Sun and the Moon because they saw them as you know the Sim the officers of Hashem through which he sends down his Divine influx they disconnected it from Hashem why does Hashem have to be bothered with us he's a king he's he's up there doing whatever he does up there so they disconnected but slowly they ended up serving idols and a was saying to them that these physical manifestations that you worship because it's something tangible that you can relate to they're just that's all they are is just one day old and you're 60 years old how can you bow down to this that's what he said the guy was embarrassed pus a woman came one time and she had in her hands some kind of container with flour and the way that they would serve these Idols which in we also serve hasem with corbus we were not able to bring them today today the caronus that we bring are our prayers but we would bring animals we would also bring flower offerings wine Libations all of these things are part of our service of Hashem it's a show of of subservience to Hashem when we bring these things we're showing hey this is something that's valuable to me I'm giving it to you and I pray for your grace as a result so people would bring these types of things to to Idols to their idols to show their subserviant and their wish to obtain something from their from the idol from the spiritual power there so she brought to Aram some kind of basket with with with an offering of flower and she says to here it is take this and bring it in front of the idols in your store come so what he do was he he took he took the basket of flow whatever the container of flour and then he took an axe and he smashed all of the idols in the store he took that Axe and he put it into the end of the largest Idol so father returned from his trip to so to speak returned from his trip abroad and he says to abam what happened here how did this destruction happen to all these Idols so says I can't hide from you what happened a woman came and she was carrying this package of flour honestly he he said she said to me uh bring this as an offering in front of the idols gev and I brought it from them and the idol started fighting one says I want to eat first said no I want to eat first tells to his father the biggest Idol saw what's going on he grabbed an ax and he smashed all the other ones so father says them what are you what kind of story are you telling me what do they know these are they're they're inanimate is are inanimate what do they know how can you say that they they this big one smashed the other ones I'm said to him let your ears hear what your mouth is saying they don't know anything why are you making these Idols why are you bowing to these Idols why you creating representations for spiritual forces they have no power they have no understanding they have no knowledge I'll mention I want to say to you you know we talk a lot about in the podcast and that we have an idol today very powerful Idol it's called the idol is that it's my power that's accomplishing it's my effort that's accomplishing but I want to point out that it's not precisely true many times we see that we've done something we've put in efforts and we make money you have a job you make money but I want to point out that there's a sensation I've experienced it there's a feeling when a person works hard that there's a there's a Whittle there's a some subservience to the goal of making money I would say and that subservience in B is directed towards Hashem that feeling of sub servance you Hashem I bow to you you are the one who's going to provide me with my parosa I have a choice and this is very similar to what was going on there in the times of the where they worshiped idolatry I have a choice do I place my subservience into my goal into trying to make money am I am I making myself subservient to God but either way that this is how I understand it there's a subservience that I feel that pulls into my world the things that I need Hashem gave the human being that power the question is do I recognize that ultimately that's from Hashem am I subservient to Hashem or am I subservient to the money is the money my idol it's important idea important idea so AB says this father dear what you're saying the Idols are nothing the Idols are nothing an amazing thing ter the father of ab so he's perhaps ashamed I saw particular safer that says that that uh ter was a servant of nimrod he was Nimrod was the king he wanted everyone to serve idolatry really wanted everyone to to serve him as the creator of the world and ab ab was given over to nimr by Terra terak his own father said here this is this guy is defying your rule he's defying the idols he's defying defying Society the societal Norms it's very interesting that he was willing to do that to his own son so AB says look they have a conversation which is also interesting a says to to n or it's clear that aam says I don't I don't believe in these Idols this is there's one God you it says at least you can bow down to fire fire is a powerful force of nature that okay if you want to created God created but you know bow down to the fire so well say that fire is a great power but water is much greater power water can put out the fire we should serve the water said okay that's fine bow down to the water I don't I don't care says aam says if you want to say that we should is very lumish it's very uh talmudic AR says well if we're going to B down to the water so then we should really B down to the clouds because the clouds carry the water the clouds are more powerful than the water so so says okay that's fine bow down to the to the clouds okay so says look we're going to look for what's really more powerful so so P bow down to the to the wind the wind is more powerful than the clouds the Wind Blows the clouds says I agree let's bow down to the clouds I'm sorry to the wind Aram says instead of bowing down to the wind you should bow down to a human being because a human being has within him all all really all he doesn't say all these forces he says inside of the human being is wind right we breathe there's wind inside of the human being it could be that he was intimating that there's a God and God gave the the wind so to speak into the human being perhaps he was also intimating as I said that all of these things fire water uh clouds wind these are all ele the you know basic elements according to the Ancients the basic elements of of reality the human being contains them all the human being contains all of these elements which means to say I was intimating to Nimrod that just like a human being contains all of these elements and where did he get all these elements from Hashem gave him these elements Hashem made him a whole human being containing a spiritual element and a physical element so there's a God and that God is much higher than all of this he's all encompassing he's all inclusive and all of reality is a part of his somehow a part of his incredible Unity which of course is a very difficult thing to understand and it's a reason why this you know the the ancients they had Idols because it's hard to conceptualize a God that's so great and so exalted and yet still infuses all reality with his Oneness his Oneness so n doesn't buy the final the final uh argument of he says he says you're just saying words or that other understanding in the you're saying a good you're saying a good TAA you're saying something that has validity it's not clear if Noone you know agreed to abam or or agreed you know understood his intellectual argument but n said look you believe in God you believe that God is all inclusive you believe that a human being includes all the elements I bowed down to the fire I know that fire is more powerful than a human being says I propose a test to see whether your theory is right or my theory is right I say that fire is more powerful than human beings and therefore we should bow to the fire you say God that is more powerful and all inclusive of of anything so I'm going to throw you into the fire and we'll see if your God Saves you Hab so Haron was watching this whole story A's brother ab's brother Haron was watching this entire story he was standing there and he was unsure of which way to go he was torn it seems that har was also being challenged In This Moment ab's dear brother Aon wasn't sure if abam was right or n was right so he said look if if AB comes out of this alive if God Saves him I'm going to be on AR's side he's clearly right if if nimro comes out correct it I'll be on nimro side K sh so what happens goes into the fire they throw him into the fire and arra miraculously survives unbelievable incredible na not only that the in another place in a different Mish I believe it's tazar so it says that he went inside of the fire and there were it was cold inside meaning it was it was cool he was safe the there were uh trees growing in there and there was fruits on the trees sounds similar to what happened when the Jewish people went inside of the yamu according to Mish but it was a place interestingly if we could think about it for a moment his m nees his willingness to give up his life for what he believed for God if it would produce fruits right that's the symbolism he would produce fruits he's going to because of his willingness to sacrifice for hem he's going to end up being first of all becoming someone who's a teacher and and bring people to the truth the souls that he made in Kon him and his wife he ends up going to Israel the place of ultimate connection to God it Bears fruits his self-sacrifice his willingness to give up everything for hem but now Haron is the Observer watching Haron was undecided until this moment and they turn to and they say who side are you on he said I'm on ab's side now he felt confident he felt like he could stand with Abram he felt look Abram was saved clearly Abram is correct and by the way what you see is from the fact that he's saved is that this is how I thought about things perhap we could say that Abraham's tinina was what he believed was that the human being can Rise Above All of nature a human being who is infused with with Ru With the Wind of Hashem with spirituality with a connection to Hashem you can expect miracles right we know generally as a principle but we've also learned together about and V means that I can rely on a miracle why because once I Infuse my life with hashem's spirit with the ru with the spirituality of Hashem my life becomes raised up just like hasm is allinclusive the human being is all inclusive and such a human being can Merit miracles AB was saved so Haron says if he's saved I'm also saved but the problem is that Haren didn't have it all the way he was he was on the on the fence he was on the fence or now a very interesting thing happened and this is people know the story but they don't necessarily know this part of the story Harden was thrown into the fire and as I understood the Maro to explain his physical body wasn't burned the outer aspect of himself cuz on a superficial level yes he bought into what AR believed but his Ben his iners were burned his inard because inside he didn't completely believe he didn't he didn't have the ru like R the the the breath of hasem that come gone completely into him that saves didn't have that he went out he came out of the fire he hadn't yet died he died subsequently he wasn't burned in the fire interestingly only his innards and I want you to notice something which in talking about this story with my children my my little girls my 10-year-old and my 8-year-old seven-year-old so she ate I don't remember I'm confused in talking about this my daughter mentioned my 10-year-old she said she's something about Aon she thought I'd mention MOA and that's who the story is with that's what she thought I said no I said no and and I suddenly noticed that the name Aon has this has the three letters of Haron in it it's Alon is he I don't know the significance of this I didn't see this mentioned anywhere else but I also do know that that aon's Sons also had a had an issue n with fire and their bodies were intact even though they died from the fire which is sounds very similar to what happened to Haron but the indication here is that there's an outer aspect which Haren add but there was an inner aspect that was missing look at L his his son haren's son who accompanied abam abam takes him with him which is is very significant perhaps he saw the greatness of Haron the willingness to die or the Readiness to to come onto the side of Abraham missing something but still something else the mes later on the next piece in the mes talks about the fact that haran's son was L Haron also had daughters he had a daughter named yisa and a daughter named milka yisa in English is Jessica yka was actually another name for SAR aam was married to haran's daughter SAR was haran's daughter why did a marry her what did abam see in her why did abam bring L with her because he saw this there was something very good about Haron didn't work out the in the inner aspect was missing wasn't completely there but there was something there there was something there something powerful there indeed from L would come as we said before lo as up having Moab and Moab is up being the great grand father of Russ this ends up being the great- grandmother of so there was something very good there it wasn't it it would take generations for it to come out in a in a fully positive way no but this is the me finishes off this is what the p is teaching us when it says that Haren died in front of ter this was the story this was the story behind it it's an amazing lesson it's an amazing you know one of the things that the maam say about Haron is that he was missing the sh when AR went into the fire he didn't know he was going to be saved by the fire he was just fully willing to die for God and he fully believed that what he was saying was right and true Haron you know he he saw the possibilities he was on the fence and and ab succeeded so he said you know this this must be the right way but it wasn't he he thought that he would be saved when you go into a miracle this is interesting when you go in thinking that for sure the miracle is going to happen it seems that it endangers the possibility of the miracle happening there's different aspects here because in with if a person has real a deep level of so the miracle is guaranteed so we have to know exactly how to to balance all of these aspects but certainly what we see is that in order for that Ru the spiritual aspect that saves Abraham not only does it save him but it entitles him to the land of Israel Lo is not entitled to the land of Israel that's the whole discussion in our paraa as far as the RO the Shepherds of Lo the Shepherds of abam who's going to get it in the end Abram has that ruach completely in him and so he merits the land of Israel Lo the son of Haren doesn't have that Ru completely in him it's there he ends up with Generations later with something but it's it's not complete Haren doesn't have it completely and so he doesn't Merit the miracle I want to bless you and ask you to bless me Hashem should help us to be among those who Merit the miracle to be among those who understand and believe completely that it's all about true subservience to Hashem that our parosa our livelihood all the good things that we want in in the world the success the protection wherever we are in the world in Europe we know we need protection now you know we need protection if person is in amsam wherever we are in the states in her Isel but who does it come from the protection the Salvation the help it comes from Hashem ultimately that's what we're all waiting for that's what mhia is about it's about recognizing that it's all from hasm so I want to bless you and please bless me that we should be able to recognize this we should be able to not sit on the fence and not even be somewhat convinced but we should be able to have that strength inside of ourselves that conviction of what's true and what's right thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shamas this part podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]