Mikeitz - Destruction and Hope

you're listening to the weekly para podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with hashem's never ending assistance in Israel 5784 2023 this week's para is para Mikes and in our para yadik finally comes out of jail he becomes the leader over Egypt second in command to parro and his brothers come before him and they go through a whole difficult situation but before that the Torah tells us something and it has to do with yaku and his vision and what he saw the brothers did not see but before we get to that before we read the medish just want to tell you that um today's podcast is going to be slightly different than the regular podcast that I do often what I do is I read a mish try to understand what it says and uh today I'd like to give you some Impressions not just of what this says in the medish but some general feelings that I have today we've been in Earth Israel here in the land of Israel it's been 70 days since the last day of Kaneka which is today Z Kana is exactly 70 days from shatas the last day of sukus when this War began and I have a lot of things to say today that have to do with that and I forewarn you that if you don't want to hear about things that have to do with the war it's probably better not to listen to this podcast but what I'd like to share with you is not just again text based but emotionally based um I'll preface it before we get to theim I'll just preface it by saying that today I went to a Shiva I went to the first day of Shiva for uh the lern family or lern family who the father Alicia lern or lein passed away was killed on Wednesday evening and his wife emailed me yesterday in the morning to tell me about it I I wasn't aware I don't I'm not looking at the news at this time but I went there and I want to give you some Impressions from that and I want to share with you a dream that someone in my house had two nights ago before I found out about this and a dream that that same young lady had the night of shmin Ates 70 days ago and I hope to connect it as well to the paraa to what we're reading here and uh again not my regular type of the VAR Tor but I think it's very powerful and I think it'll be very touching let's read the Mish first and then I'll share with you my Impressions and then we'll come back to the m says Jacob saw that there is food in Egypt now the me points out what do you mean there's food in Egypt was was yob in Egypt that he saw the language of seeing means you see with your eyes what does it mean that Yakov saw right the B then goes on to say that when he speaks to his sons he says I heard I heard that there is food in Egypt so what does it mean that he saw that there was food in Egypt seeing indicates a more direct type of experience so M says from the fact that the PK changes the way it speaks it speaks first about about yob seeing and then it says that he that he heard from the time that yo that Yosef was taken from the time that he was sold into slavery he lost yobu Jacob lost his divine inspiration he wasn't able to see and know things that he knew before whereas before Hashem would reveal things to him and he would know things through that Revelation from the time that ysf was sold Yakov became sad he became depressed Andes the divine inspiration that he had before left him and so he no longer was able to see directly through his heightened spiritual awareness he didn't have that heightened spiritual awareness the mag says he would could see but he couldn't see he could hear but he couldn't hear the information that previously he knew with great clarity the the ability that he had before was lower to level and if he would be if things something would be revealed to him through spiritual means it would be unclear to him it would be vague right okay so the mes is saying that he saw and he heard right so the Mish is understanding that when the P says he saw and he heard it indicates that it wasn't a complete seeing it was a a seeing that was hearing he he knew what was going on in Egypt through through divine inspiration but it wasn't complete he didn't have a complete Vision there was something missing from his vision but the mees points out that the language itself of the there's something else to to notice why didn't he say that there is food in Egypt the language that the PK uses the verse uses for food is different the word is CH the word sh is is another word for food but it's an unusual word we find that the PK says that in Egypt at first there was bread but then they were hungry they became hungry so what does the p mean that he saw that there was food in Egypt we see that there was a lack of food in Egypt as well so what does it mean when it says the me says that the word CH since it starts with the Shin you can take the dot on the right side of the shin and move it to the left side and you can read it s now what is the word s the word SE means [Music] h means to [Music] Hope says the medish he had a vision at this point and an earlier Med says that he had the vision and the brothers didn't have the vision yov saw he didn't realize what he was seeing he saw that there is hope in Egypt he saw that there is there's a future for CLA Isel in Egypt there's a future for the people of Israel in Egypt as a the truth was that there is hope on a simple level there's going to be food for them for them to live on another level there is a future for clisa for the Jewish people because Yosef is there there is hope that he will see his son his beloved Son Yosef once again there is is a hope so it's very interesting because he has a vision he has he sees something and and In This Moment there's no hope he never thinks that it's 22 years since his son as far as he knows was killed by a wild animal but still he's getting a vision that there is hope within the moment where you should give up already it's 22 years you'll never see your son again he I'm I'm sure he didn't imagine he would ever see his son again when Sak baser comes to tell him he doesn't he doesn't believe it it's such an impossible thing to imagine for Yakov so the farthest thing from his mind is any hope of him seeing his son and yet he's given hope he doesn't even know what he has hope for but he's given a sense of Hope in in a time of really the greatest sense of of yush of giving up that's the medish that's the medish that I'd like to attach and connect to some Impressions that I want to share with you I mentioned at the beginning that I went to the Shiva I wanted to go to the Levi I didn't know exactly when the funeral would be and I was unfortunately I missed it last night but I went to the Shiva why did I go to the Shiva of Alicia lern which if you're following the Jewish news you probably saw his face a redhair a red beard a soft smile so this same Alisha lern I've been in touch with and him and his wife his wife is incredibly strong person I've been in touch with numerous times over the last few years they came to my online shows that for my crowdfunders they were they were amongst those who gave and helped that should be able to create the music of the albums and a few weeks ago exactly six weeks ago on November 1st I received an email from Alicia of blessed memory and in this email he sent me a text from the rambam from my monties and I'm going to read to you part of the text if I have it here I thought I had it in my pocket I do going to read to you from the text he had been drafted or according to what my friend just told me he chose to go of his own valtion and he was in the armored corpse in the in the Army in the Israeli Army in the IDF and he said he wanted me to write a song for him to beaz him to strengthen him to strengthen other soldiers from the says when a person enters into the war so he should lean on the hope of Israel the one who saves them in times of Oppression a person needs to know that he's fighting for the of he's fighting for God's sake person should place his soul in his palm not be afraid not be afraid interestingly the the the r says don't think about a person's wife and his children and a person should forget about his wife and his children erase their memory from his heart and place all of his focus on the war and the the ram goes on to say if he does this and he's not afraid so he'll have blessings all all the good will come and ultimately he'll Merit to have the world to come it says really quite powerful things in the rambam so I I compos this song I'm not going to sing the whole thing right now maybe we'll put out this song at some point but the the song I sent to him to Alicia and and he loved the song and I said he could share with whoever he wants this morning when I went to the Shiva his kids had all heard it his wife had heard the song and um you know they had been in touch with me I never met I never met them in person but they had been in touch with me the his parents live here in not far from me in be chesh and uh they had wanted to come perhaps one time to meet me and it was sad that this is the this was the time that we would meet under these circumstances but I told the kids who were very excited they they know the music they know our you know they know my music very well Ari goldwag music and uh came and I sat with the kids and I sang for them and I was very touched and they were too and uh but now I'd like to share with you from that impression I'd like to share with you another impression my daughter my nine-year-old daughter on the night of Shas Before the War Began so in the morning we came into this into the room when the the sirens were blaring and she she just woke up she said I had a dream she said I had a dream I saw Messiah came Messiah arrived Messiah arrived and she said that all the houses turned into flamingos just so we know it's it's a dream and everyone was so happy that was her dream on that night and I felt like this is uh this is a good dream obviously it's a good dream and if you've heard my mhia podcast so you know that I think that we're in a very important I don't know if Mia is about to arrive or where we are in the process but certainly we're in a very important year connected to 1948 67 2005 and this year go listen to that if you'd like but just two days ago right before the night yesterday before I heard about the fact that rebela was killed so my daughter had a dream same daughter almost exactly 70 days later as we come into the end of of Kaneka final days of Kaneka she had a dream and in Her Dream don't worry it's going to it's going to be good in the end she's it's going to sound bad at the beginning of the dream but I believe it's a very good dream the beginning of the dream she says that she she had died in the dream and she said there was no water and no milk in the world in in Earth Israel because of the war and Hashem told my daughter in this in Her Dream she he said I want you to go down and bring milk and water to Israel and also bring a note that they shouldn't that they shouldn't bury you because you're going to come back to life this was our dream and then it was supposed to be on a Wednesday it was very specific clear dream and then she came back to life and she went to school to to pick up my other daughters who were there in school with her and they were so excited to see her they were so excited that she was okay and I heard this dream and I I said this is a very good dream this is a very good dream and I'll add that this I mean all my kids barash are spiritual and are sensitive but this child is especially and to me what this dream means and what it okay sometimes people have dreams about what's going on you know we know there's a war going on we know times are hard but I think that there's more to this dream and I'm not going to get into all of the details and how I I think that the Wednesday the fact that this there's something revolving around Wednesday is significant I can't really explain it exactly here in full detail but what I will say is that the Jewish people are going through a hard time and Cloud usel there our our soldiers are dying and that's where I was today and just like yobu it seems like it seems is there hope you know okay maybe in the war with Hamas it feels like there's there's hope but let's look at the broader what's going on with Lebanon with the West Bank sham with Iran with theis and if we think about it we could we could feel y we could feel like it's it's hard it's it's challenging it's tough you go into a Shiva house you come out and you feel you feel broken the word shev can also mean broken It Feels Like Everything Is Broken But the word Chev which means broken is also the word sever which means hope yobu doesn't even know he doesn't even know what to hope for he doesn't even know that he could hope to ever see yoseph again but in the in the darkness in the broken in the Brokenness in the Brokenness in Egypt what a terrible place to have to go like we saw last week but within that there is hope there's hope in the darkness in my daughter's dream it seemed like oh no it's very it's terrible look people I see her the what she spoke about as as representing the death that's going on in K Israel and the Jewish people but there is hope there is hope and there's a point of turning which is called Wednesday which is if you look at the days of the week it's the fourth day to feris n and if we count in the months of the year starting with starting withan if you listen to my podcast you'll understand why which is the month we're in now shat there's a turning it's the fourth the fourth month in this series there's a turning on the way to other base there's a turning and there's a darkness and there's a moment where it feels like there's no food and there's no drink there's no milk and there's no water but it's it turns it turns and you read the rambam and you feel like I you know I sang you this song [Music] Alisha and it says you can depend on Hashem and it says here which I didn't read before but if you do it with all of your heart and with without fear and as Alicia's wife said to me hadash lern as she said to me I told my husband that he yes that you rais not think about me at all like it says in the rambam and he thought that way I said I didn't include those words in the song cuz I can't say that but you could say it she's so strong so impressive but it says at the end whoever does it they're promised they're guaranteed nothing bad will happen to them that's what the ra says it's a promise and uh as I sat there next next to those kids today there was a man looked like a RV who sat there also next to the kids next to and B and he said to them and then his wife came over as well he said that his wife had been previously married 30 years ago his wife his wife's first husband was killed in a terror attack and then he married his wife and and he raised her kids and he wanted them to know that they lost their father but their father will always be a deut a a an example and someone who will affect their lives and I don't think that they could hear that or understand that they're 12 years old 11 years old but I heard it and I needed to hear that and you say look the ram says a promise at the end he says that he will build a house and they will Merit forever and he'll Merit the world to come well it's easy for me to believe that he's in the world to come and his wife said that as well he's going to build a house the house will be built the house will be built I could tell I could read on the face of these kids and there's hope and and and that's what I want to say I going to kind of bring it all together in the moment that that with shanas when this War Began and, 1400 people were killed and and and claar was plunged into a war and into a into a challenging difficult time with so much has yes there's destruction we sever there's so much hope all of the petty things we were fighting about before have flipped and we're all of the all of the the Jewish people has been so nisic so strengthened in the breaking is Hope in that moment there's that dream of Messiah and in this moment in the middle of it when there's a breaking when there's when there's a Shiva when there's a when there's great loss Jewish people are experiencing great loss seven seven Bena from the same Yeshiva this Alicia lern seven he and six other students of this Yesa and were killed in the war that's a tremendous tremendous loss not just of of Jews but Benet Tyra and in the Chev there's s in the breaking There's Hope in the breaking there is hope and the middle of the middle we are here smacking the middle of the winter I once wrote about this but here we are at smack in the middle of the winter it's the least amount of daylight the shortest shortest day and it's the most Darkness the most night and it's in Israel is first starting to get cold it's starting to get cold and we're buckling down we're we're you know it's it's a time of it's a time of it's a time of dark but in the dark in that moment where it seems the darkest it's actually right before Redemption is about to arrive and he start it's already starting to shine it's already starting to reveal itself in the greatest darkness in the greatest destruction in in the greatest breaking of Egypt there's hope I can't even imagine can't even imagine the hope but there's hope and I want to say that you know in a natural way the way that things are unfolding here in Earth Isel and in the world it could be worse it can get worse I don't wish it to but this message this is such an important thing that we need to remember in the darkness hold on a wants to send down like my daughter's dream he wants to send down a note that it's going to turn around that that the death that we see that we're touching that we're encountering ing is going to come to life it's going to transform us it's going to make us different people it's going to bring so much life the water and the milk is going to come back the life is going to return we're going to embrace we're going to embrace just as yov and ysf are about to embrace in next week's Para so that's those are my feelings and thoughts my unconventional partial podcast this week and I'd like to bless you and ask you to bless me hasem should help us to to hold on tight to be able to have the vision to be able to see to be able to hope to be able to see to be able to hear okay we're seeing and we don't see we're hearing and we don't hear like Yakov V we've been in we've been in Gis for 2,000 years we've been in Exile could it be that we're almost at we're almost there at the end the end of the tunnel could it be it's hard to imagine it it's been so long 22 years yob didn't see y maybe we're really there 2,000 years we haven't had a b mik maybe it's almost maybe we're really there sh sh bless us to be able to hold on tight to be able to believe to be able to return to be able to experience and to feel that real Embrace of a as he brings us back and brings about the ultimate Redemption thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabas this 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