Bitachon 246 - Removing Our Idols

You're listening to the 246th edition of the Betalkin podcast. And we are going to jump 30 chapters later in Yirmiyahu. Chapter 48 verse 7. The passage says like this, and it's speaking to Moab. The Moabite people. So they were from Lot, from Avraham Avinu's nephew. And they had established a kingdom of their own, Ammon and Moab. And they for a long time were it was difficult to deal with them. They were a thorn in the side of the Jewish people. And Yirmiyahu is telling them that they're going to they're going to find destruction. They were around for a long time. Many hundreds of years, if not a thousand years. They were around for a long time. Their society was established. And it was based on, as we'll see, a particular way of Zara, a particular particular idolatry. And the passage exhorts them, and in the exhortation of the people of Moab, we also receive a bit of direction. Passage says Kiyan bit chech be masayich u'masayich. You, the people of Moab, you trusted in your actions, in your creations, in your otzaros, your treasure houses. But since you've done that, gam ati lachedi, you will also be trapped. You'll be ensnared. V'yotza Kemosh bagolah. K'Anav sarav yachdav. They had this idolatry was called Kemosh. And it's going to go that the idol itself is going to go into exile alongside the priests and the princes who are involved in that society, involved in that idol worship. The thing is important to point out here. I was thinking about this recently. I was looking at the sun. I was looking at the sun. I've done this a bunch of times recently. I was looking at the sky and and I was contemplating how it's millions of miles away and the incredible power of the sun, the light of the sun, the nuclear explosions that are creating the light. It heats up our earth. Gives life to everything that's here on earth. It's just an awesome creation of Hashem. Something that we need to notice. But I I was thinking about, you know, in the olden days, thousands of years ago, there were those who worshipped the sun. And of course we we don't understand it. We don't relate to it. They bow down to the sun. What does that exactly mean? What does it mean to bow down to an idolatry? It's hard for us to relate, but I was thinking that the reason that we don't relate to it is because we lack reverence. We don't appreciate the incredible power of the sun. We're not, of course, supposed to bow down to it. Right? That's idolatry. But to appreciate the the unbelievable manifestation of Hashem's hashgacha protis for you, for me, individually. I come out and it's warm. At least here in Eretz Yisrael it's warm. I know it's cold in New York. You come out and it's warm. There's sun. Wherever you are, you come out and there's light. You can see. What what an amazing what an amazing creation the sun is. And how it provides life for everything. The heat of the sun, the light of the sun. There will be no life on planet earth if not for the sun. Of course, there are lots of elements, but the sun is a powerful one of them. So we lack reverence for it. We don't appreciate it. We don't see it for what it really is, which is this incredible gift. So we don't understand how they would bow down to it. We can understand that that's not God. That we get. You know, we we don't fall into the trap. They had so much reverence for it. They saw it as something in and of itself instead of seeing it as a gift from Hashem. But in in trying to understand idolatry, and that's what we're going to talk about here, we can see that we do the same thing. We give something power. We have reverence for money. We have reverence for our jobs. We have reverence for even people who are spiritual teachers. Even people who are examples for us of goodness. We have reverence for them, and in some places that's appropriate as long as it doesn't get stuck on that person, which is an idolatry. But ultimately our reverence and our faith and the recognition of where the power comes from has to always come back to Hashem. That's the issue here. That's what bitachon is. Bitachon is about not trusting in my own creations, not trusting in my own beliefs of what's successful, not trusting in my treasure houses of money, and not trusting in any idol, any idol. The Ramban says V'tam oy l'cha Moab u'vartok Am Kemosh. Passage says in Bamidbar, refers to Moab and its idolatry all the way back in the times of the Torah. Not just hundreds of years later with Yirmiyahu. Passage says Woe unto you, Moab. You are lost, O nation of Kemosh. The nation that uh serves this idolatry called Kemosh. And and we can think about it in terms of anything that we serve, anything that we give power to. Kiy Amoyav ovin l'Kemosh elohav. They worshipped this thing. And think about it, if if there's something in your life that you see works, so maybe it's your job, maybe it's your relationship. You see that that I I feel good there. I feel happiness there. Right? So we worship that. We we get stuck on that. We think that that's the only way. A person loses their job, their life feels like it's over. So they serve this idol called Kemosh. U'voinu bamois u'v'suach vayoisem kolam. They built altars to it and they were they trusted in it more than any other nation. U'veitz soros am elokeinu u'shieinu. When they were in trouble, so they said, "Get up and save us. Take care of us." K'nicho maskivim b'chol makom Kemosh u'chasuf. Passage says this consistently. It's passage in Yeshayahu. V'yikni'u K'ni'u Moab al habamah u'vo liktosh l'hispalel v'lo yuchol. They are trying to get help from this idol, the thing that they put their place place their trust in. And uh they come into the temple and doesn't help them. U'narei'u yotza Kemosh bagolah K'Anav sarav yachdav. Our passage here brings. Passage says that ultimately this is what happens with the with the ego. The ego grabs onto something and says, "This is where my salvation comes from." And then ultimately it doesn't really come from there. It's just not true. It comes from Hashem. So if I'm stuck on anything, in the end it causes destruction. If I don't give credit where credit is due, it causes destruction. And that's what happens. Moab is destroyed ultimately. And their idol goes into exile alongside them. U'shvati l'Moab neum Hashem mala bamah u'makteilah l'lo. So Moab is going to is going to be ended. And they're busy trying to get help by by bringing idol uh bringing sacrifices to their idol by by bringing incense offerings to their idol. L'kachecha Moab b'no ki Kemosh nosan banav b'plitim. And that's why those who ultimately will destroy Moab, or maybe destroyed, past tense. So they make fun of the fact that Kemosh, their idol, left them with children who are who are have nowhere to go. Their children have become refugees. K'leim borchim min osam b'nei cherev. They're running and they're being chased by the sword. U'neisa b'shivim b'shaviyos. Their daughters were capt- captured. Kimamenu boy. Yikbu banav min osam k'she yikbu imoy amoy chein bas El Nechar. Whenever you have an idol that you believe in, so then you just become that thing. And then when it's destroyed or your when when the person that believed in an idol is destroyed, so then the idol is destroyed along with it. Because the belief is just inside of the person. And that's gone. And I think that uh our society has its idols, it's money, and it's things that are going to guarantee happiness, a home and a car and a this and a that. And uh and it's easy to see that it's just a world of consumerism. It's just a world of of wants. Wanting. More and more wanting. That's just who people are. And it's a sad statement, but it's it's the idol of today. Brings here from Rabbeinu Saadia Gaon. K'shem she' oso b'nei Shvatim Kena'anim oso K'chazal Lo Hayam she'nemar When Hashem brings judgment upon a nation, so Hashem brings judgment upon their gods. As the posuk says, "U'v'chol Eloheihem asah Shvatim." And you think about It says that in regards to Egypt, God brought judgment upon their idols. But think about, you know, the idol of Iran, let's say. America has its own idol, which we talked about. But the idol of Iran is force. You know, "Force everybody to believe in God the way I do." And what happens with that force, the nuclear force that they're trying to create in the proxies that they've created to try to force force their way through. It just ends up being a source of destruction. Ish b'nei Yisrael Shvatim U'shonim z'manim zeh, there's different judgments that happen. Mi she'asah Yirasah shel Even Nismatzeitz u'nishbar achas l'fanav. A person is destroyed that or nation is destroyed based on the type of idol that they worship. So if they worshiped stone, so then they're they blow up and they're thrown in front of the stones. Mi she'asah Yirasah shel Matachas Eis u'nitachas u'nidachas l'fanav. A person who had some kind of metal idol, an idol made out of metal, so then ultimately that person gets gets torn apart by metal. And and in that state lies down in front of his idol. K'shem she'ein Malchus l'ken al ish Yirasah l'ken Eimah. So the general principle, as we said before, that whenever there's a downfall of a particular call it It's the word is Malchus, which means kingship, but I would call it ide- ideology. Which comes from the word idol. Whenever or could be from from an idea, but it's i d e o. Not sure. Whenever there's a particular ideology that falls, so then so the people who believe in it fall at the same time as the concept of the ideology itself. Shekein b'Bavel Amar Nikud Bavel Chayish Bal Cheis Merodach. So this is about Bavel. I'm going to translate the posuk, but think about it in terms of Nazism. That concept basically saying, "It exists, but not with power." Hamas It's It's a It's an idol. It's an idol of power. All these things are idols of power. And they fall, they're destroyed. The concept is destroyed. Shekein b'Moav Yotzei Kamosh b'Golah brings our posuk. This is Rabbeinu Saadia Gaon, and it's elsewhere in the Torah. And but the idea that the that Kamosh, the idol of Moav, falls alongside the people of Moav. U'chein tzei u'plishtim u'shkima Dagon Malchus u'nidagon l'fanav. As of the Aron Hashem This It doesn't get better than this one. The example is that the Philistines had stolen the Aron Bris Hashem, which represents the relationship of Klal Yisrael to Hashem. And they had placed it in their in their temple, where they had a They lived in Ashdod, which is on the coast, so they their idol was the fish. And they had this huge idol, this huge statue of a fish, and the statue fell in front of the Aron Hashem. K'shem she'Hashem caused it to fall to show that they fall, they have fallen, their ideology has fallen. It all falls together. But think about the the World Trade Center, which I'm not you know, I'm not saying a >> [sighs and gasps] >> not coming to say something uh positive here, but it it was a symbol of a of the idolatry, which is why the Arabs went for it. It's kind of funny that that that the Muslim world has its own idol, which is the angry God. And the Christian world has its idol, or the West has its idol of of finance and and and money being their God. But there's this fall, there's a fall of the idol- ideology. And it falls in front of the truth. Right? That's what's represented by this fall of Dagon. It falls in front of the truth. And it's like, "How do we get into Bitachon?" We spoke about last time. One way is, which is not the highest level, but one way is, you see that it didn't work for you. My belief in money didn't work out for me. My belief in guaranteeing my future didn't work out for me. It's time to to get back to the truth. It's trying to time to get back to Hashem being in charge of my life. Shekein b'Achaz U'shaya Aivel l'Chama. We find this also in regards to Achaz. It's very interesting. He was a sun worshiper. Yom she'nefrah mimenu Hakadosh Baruch Hu nefrah af min hachama. U've'eisa Yemei Midah she'shnei Sha'os. We find that Achaz, when Hashem paid him back, it was the day of reckoning for him. So the day itself was short. The sun was only out for 2 hours of that day. The day was shortened. So the sun itself, which was being idealized or idolized, put the right word, the sun itself lost power that day. K'she'ba Chizkiyahu Hashiv Hakadosh Baruch Hu she'nemar When Chizkiyahu came, was the Melech of Klal Yisrael who had potentially been Mashiach, and he brought back the realization and recognition of Hashem himself that all the power is Hashem's power. So when he came, Hashem gave back the missing hours. She'nemar "Hineni meishiv es tzel hama'alos." As posuk says in Yeshayahu chos posuk chos. Hashem is bringing back the the the levels of the shadows. Which means to say, those hours that were missing from the day that Achaz was destroyed, they have been returned. And And the idea here conceptually is very really quite interesting, this last one, because what it's saying here is that as long as there's an idolatry that's blocking between me and Hashem, so that has to be smashed. If there's a belief that the sun, there's over-reverence, let's say, in the sun, too much too much credence, too much power, too much uh I would say, separate power is given to the sun. So then the sun has to be limited, so that the the people of the world uh don't give it that that credence. Don't give it that power. But the moment that there's a king like a Chizkiyahu who comes and he teaches us, "This is what it really looks like. This It's all Hashem." I mean, if a king can say that, and a king It's the most prone. A person who has all that power, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. And if a king can say, "No, it's not me." If a king can be humble and say, "I don't have any power. All my power is from Hashem." That That's what we're waiting for, isn't it? The king, Mashiach, who's going to be like that. He's nothing of his own. Less than he got from Hakadosh Baruch The moment that that happens, so then the sun can the sun can shine extra hours in the day. It's okay to have reverence for the sun as a person is connected to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and sees the sun as Hashem's gift. But the moment it becomes something on in and of itself, it has to be destroyed. Radak Gam At Eloheihem. Posuk says, that they trusted the people of Moav trusted in their idol. And the result was that they would also be ensnared. K'lומר Gam At K'lומר Acherim. She'einam Otsaros K'moicha. Other nations don't have the money storehouses that you have. But they get ensnared. They don't have all the things that you think guarantee you. You, Moav, will also become ensnared. You'll also be trapped. K'she'amar Sha'anan Moav u'Goyim Posuk says, the quietude and and calmness of Moav. U'ficha Amar Gam At. Saying, "You, too." K'lo Yoiluha Otsrosicha she'hayis Botach Bahem. The the storehouses, the money, the savings, all of your guarantees that you think that you have, your pension, your this, your that, Moav, it's not going to help you in the end. All the things that you trust in. Kamosh Elohecha This idol will also not help you. Ki Gam Hu Yetzei b'Golah. It will also be lost. It will go out into exile. Okay. >> [snorts] >> One more piece we'll read here. Marpe Lashon l' l'Ramad Vali, who was a student of the Ramchal. He says like this. K'she'botzeach b'inyanei Olam Hazeh Hashvanim Agurim. So when he trusts in matters of this world, which are lowly and they're inferior. So that person is actually detaching from the highest levels of light, meaning Hashem's light. And he falls from his level. K'she'amar Botzeach Ashrei Lo Yipol. Posuk says in Mishlei perek chos posuk chos. Someone who trusts in his wealth will fall. V'nilkad V'nilkad Meroid Fav. And he gets ensnared by those who are chasing him. That's the meaning of that possuk which says that since since they were they were trusting too much in their own creations, their own produce that which they produced >> [sighs and gasps] >> and their treasure houses, so they will also be ensnared. What does it mean when it says that the idol will go out into This was the god of the people of Moab and Ammon. We find this to be the case when Yiftach sends a message to the king of Ammon We see a reference to this. Because the idea here is that just like Ammon and Moab had one father, right? It was Lot. So, whenever we speak about an an idol, an avodah zarah, so there's a mistake. The mistake is that the person or the nation believes in something which is Hashem's means of giving them what they need. Right? There's a sar. There's a an angel which is in charge of each nation. And Ammon and Moab had the same sar, the same angel in charge of those two nations. Again we have this idea that Hashem when he comes to to make a reckoning, make an accounting with a nation, so he also makes a reckoning with its god. That's the that's the angel of that nation. So, the reason I say may God loose say because the sar is the place in heaven, as it were, that Hashem is sending its shefa, the power, the influx through that spiritual being. So, as the nation falls, so that sar is also disconnected from its root. And then they fall from their level. And that's the idea of golus, that's the idea of exile. And when the angel falls so too all those who serve the angel fall and all those who trusted it. As the possuk says in the Tehillim those who who worship the idol will be like them, they'll be destroyed. And that's what it means in this possuk when it says that in the destruction of their false idol and their false false bitachon, so their idol is destroyed and they're destroyed alongside them. So let's put it on a positive note. When we trust in Hashem, of course so then we have we become like Hashem. Kima'ameha is true, as we've discussed previously of idol worshipers, but it's also true on the side of good. For we worship Hashem, we become like Hashem. We become We have the true power. The true power is the power of humility, which is Hashem's ultimate manifestation. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you again next time.