Mishpatim - Embracing Natural Balances

You're listening to the weekly para podcast with Ari Goldwag recorded with Hashem's never ending assistance in Israel 5786 2026. This week's parishim and there's a lot of laws as the name implies. We like to focus in on two different concepts that are mentioned in our para. One has to do with giving saddaka, giving charity, and one has to do with when a person lends money, making sure not to take interest. There's a prohibition in the Torah of taking ribbis. Let's look at these together in the medish. The maj tells us something about giving sedaki, giving charity. Very sobering idea. Says, "Take care of the poor person who's with you. God is a judge and sometimes he lowers one person and he lifts up another person. The message tells us something very important to understand. Poor person comes to us is asking for charity and if they're asking us so probably means we have some kind of money. They don't have money. They're down and out. So what's the proper approach to this? We might be thinking in our heads, hey, get a job. What's a proper approach to this? You know what this is like? This world is similar in this way. In in this world, what's it like to a water wheel? a wheel that brings up water from from a stream maybe or from a from a pit that has water in it, a well. So you have a turn a turning wheel and as the wheel goes down it comes up with water in it and as the wheel goes higher so the water is already empty and it it goes down empty. blame the lower ones rise up full and the upper ones go down empty. So it's a mush for for us to understand person one day can be wealthy person one day can be poor same person similarly whoever is rich today may not be rich tomorrow person who's poor today might not be poor tomorrow the world is like a turn style It's like a turning circle like a like a wheel goes round and round. Okay. The maj brings a number of different to show us that the world is like a like a circle. There's a circle of life. Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down. Right? Today I might be the one who's giving but heaven forbid tomorrow the person who gave could be someone who has to receive. Says praiseworthy is the person whose hand is outstretched to the poor. See what the says. The rich man and the poor man meet. Hashem makes them all. Which means to say he might be rich and another person might be poor but it's all from Hashem and Hashem can decide in a moment that the tables can turn. Hem is the one who lights up the eyes of the two of them. And of course we want to be from those who are giving. The poor person gets money and gets what he needs for this world. And let's be clear, that means that it's Hashem who's giving him the money. The rich person might feel like I'm the one giving the money, but it's Hashem who's giving the money. So, you need to have humility when you give. Recognize that Hashem has different ways of giving money to people. Sometimes it's through our efforts and sometimes it's not through our efforts. It's important to know that we can just as easily be receiving money not through our efforts and that might be embarrassing [sighs] but the the rich person has an opportunity and the poor person has an opportunity. The poor person receives the money he gets his needs taken care of. Remind yourself it's from Hashem. The rich person gets the world to come. He gets his his uh by by diminishing himself I would say. Right. It's a diminishment to take the money that I earned. It was hard earned money and give it to somebody else. That's that takes a certain level of humility. And that's what we're after. And that's where we get that's how a person earns the world to come. Understand that if a poor person sticks out his hand and says, "Please help me." And the rich person doesn't give, you need to know that Hashem makes them all. Yes. says, "Hashem will turn the tables." You got to remember, you got to remember that the money comes from Hashem and tables can turn. I better make sure to give while I can so that I don't end up having to be on the receiving end. That's the medish. Beautiful medish. Now, I want to focus in more. I I wanted to get this concept of the turning wheel of the cycles of life of sometimes a person is rich sometimes a person is poor. So just hold on to that thought for a moment but I want to share with you the concept of ribbis. Now ribbis is a very interesting idea interest to exorts us not to charge interest. If I have money that I can lend to somebody, can help them out, help them start a business, they're down and out, they need, they need a loan right now, they hope to have money that's coming along in a month from now or whatever, 6 months or a year from now. Lending money is a tremendous mitzvah. Helping somebody out. I've got a little extra. I can lend it to you. You can benefit from it. Now, ribbis is interest, which means charging for the loan. Torah says you can't do that. Which is very remarkable because if you think about it, money is money is worth money. Having money right now when you don't you're not going to have it till later. It has value. With money you make money, right? So not charging for it. The Tyra says you should not charge interest. So that's a huge it's a huge novelty. We need to understand what the issue is. And I'm not going to read the measure, but the measure actually earlier says that a person who who lends money and takes interest. He's done such a terrible thing that when he gets up to heaven, all the angels that usually speak on our behalf, they have nothing to say. They can't speak on our behalf. Ordinarily, when we get up to heaven, you have angels that speak positively of a person and you have angels that speak negatively of a person. But everyone there's only negative to to say about a person who takes interest. And the question is why? Why would it be that way? Why is ribbis such a negative thing in the eyes of Kazal in the eyes of the Tyra? So I'd like to share with you the following medish which really gives us a deep insight into the concept and teaches us something about power. teaches us something about the one who has power and what it means to use that power and and what it means to misuse that power says don't be a don't be somebody who lends money and tries to benefit from it personally to make money off of it who presses the people who are owing him money says chapter 112 verse 5 it is good for a person it means I give something for free the root of the word is gra it means grace graceful but it means that it's something that you don't deserve. That's what grace is. Hashem, we don't deserve it, but you give us wisdom. I don't deserve if someone's going to lend me money, they're doing me a favor. I don't deserve it. Someone gives me charity. Heaven forbid if I need charity, someone who needs charity. So, it's it's for free. They don't deserve it. They don't deserve it. It's good for a person to be gracious and to lend money. Sometimes it's saddaka for free. Sometimes it's lending money. His words or his manners are sustained with judgment. And we're going to see that there's a concept here of judgment. When we say judgment, I don't mean any ne in any negative sense. I just mean it in the sense of fairness. There's a certain fairness that comes out. It's important that there be a balance of fairness. Now, let's see what this means. Come and see. All of Hashem's creations borrow from each other. Listen to this very interesting. The day borrows from the night and the night borrows from the day. Which means to say sometimes, right, we have two points in the year where the day and the night are the same. They're equal. 12 hours of day, 12 hours of night. That's the equinox. Now, in the winter, the days get short and the nights get long. So, the night borrows from the day. In the summer, the days are longer and the nights are shorter. So, the day borrows from the night. Okay? So, we have this back and forth, right? We have we have an imbalance that happens in reality but it's cyclic says that it's not like human beings when the day borrows from the night the day doesn't say hey when are you going to pay me back when the night borrows from the day doesn't say hey when are you going to pay me back says from day to Okay. there's an expression of of speech and if you read the continue there the night from night to night there's a an expression or an a making known of of the night's opinion as it were as explain the says that there's no anger there's no um there's no uh judgment and and argumentative behavior between the day and the night. One lends to the other when he needs it, the other one lends to the other one when he needs it. And they discuss things quietly. Okay, it's time to pay back. Pay it back. Unlike humans, hey, when are you going to pay me back? I lend you that money so long ago. When are you going to pay me back? Right? That's how humans talk. There's no right, if you think about it, what is anger? Anger is like a a display of power. It's like I'm forcing somebody else to to do my will. Instead of instead of it coming out of love, it's coming out of a place of anger. Says that the the the moon borrows from the stars. Stars borrow from the moon. Which means to say as the forum explained that there are times when the moon is brighter and it's hard to see the stars. In the middle of the month, the moon is full. The stars are less visible. There are times when the moon disappears and the stars take center stage. They're the stars. Points out something very powerful and that is when Hashem decides the stars in the moon don't even come out. They're all invisible. time sometimes turns off the moon and the stars and that could be on a cloudy night but it could also be a reference to what's going to happen in the future before Msiah comes before the Messiah arrives says the sun and the moon and the stars will all be turned off and that's to show us that it's Hashem who really is the one providing this this light the sun is this powerful fireball millions of miles away provides ides light and heat and warmth for our entire planet. Unbelievable. But it's not really the sun that's providing that warmth because it's really Hashem, right? So, we have cycles. We have the day and we have the night. We have the sun, the moon, and the stars. And they seem to they seem to have power, but they don't even have that power. But there's a back and forth between them. When they do rule, they each give each other space. Sometimes one has more, sometimes one has less. They borrow from each other. Okay, interestingly the measure says that the sun borrows from the light and the light borrows from the sun which as MForcham explained again here this is not the same type of borrowing right we understand that the day borrows from the night borrows from the day we can see it getting the the day getting longer and the night getting shorter etc but with the sun and the the lights so these are two different parts of a singular process, right? But there are two parts, right? The sun is the fireball. Yes, it it creates that light. The light is emitted from the sun, but the the the light itself is separate from the sun. It's something that we receive here on Earth, right? But it's separate. They work in tandem. The sun and the light work in tandem. Sun and the moon stand in its place. Each thing has its place, right? The moon perhaps could represent the reflection of the light of the sun. Each thing has its place. This one is very interesting to me. Wisdom borrows from from intuition and intuition borrows from wisdom. And these are two aspects of of mind of understanding. Is related to seeing is related to seeing. You see a whole picture at once if you're watching the video. So you can see the fence behind me. You can see the trees. You can see there's a a house. You can see the lemon right above my head. Right? We could there's lots to see. KMA is like a a full experience. It would take a long time for me to describe what you see in a moment. Right? When it comes to vina, vina is intuition. Intuition is something that's developed as you get more and more information. As you get one piece and another piece, it's related to hearing. We spoke about hearing as you hear one word and then another word and another word and then the words add up. You have a sentence, you have a concept, it comes together, the pieces come together. So that's more of a linear type of learning is beina. So intuition is you put the pieces together and you and you complete you're able to complete a concept. So sometimes a person can have and based on the he can intuitit things and sometimes after using one's intuition you can get a whole picture. Right? So each of these different aspects of mind are interdependent. They work together. They work together. So one so to speak borrows from the other. Sometimes the more dominant aspect is it's the wisdom. It's the big picture people and sometimes the more dominant aspect is the beina is the is the uh intuitive aspect people and not neither one is greater or or better. Each one has each person has a type of wisdom that they relate to more sometimes and each one has its day so to speak. Say to wisdom, you are my sister. The heavens borrow from the earth, right? Where does the rain and the clouds get its water from? The rain gets its water from the seas, from the lakes, the evaporation, right? And sometimes the earth borrows from the heavens, right? It rains and we get to have that water down here on earth. Says Hashem will open up for us his good storehouse, the heavens, right? That the beautiful abundance that comes with the rain. Gives us another example. Kindness sometimes borrows from charity. Charity sometimes borrows from kindness. Which one is greater? Doing someone a kindness. Let's say you could have a rich person who still needs a favor. Needs someone to give him a smile. Need someone to visit him when he's sick, right? But he's rich. He's got lots of money. He doesn't need your charity. So sometimes is dominant. Sometimes charity is dominant. Dealing with a person who's poor. said sometimes these are two really what the measure seems to be saying I'm trying to understand it trying to get it down to its core is that you have two interdependent concepts right in order to give charity so you have to be someone who's willing to do to do kindness right you have to be able to get out of yourself not say oh why don't you get a job you need to be able to say I'm needed here the money that I have I can help out somebody else with it. I can lend him money or I can give him charity. There are cycles in life. There are there are times when charity is greater. There are times when is greater. These are two aspects of a greater whole. Interesting. The right the teachings of the learning Torah which we're doing here together. So sometimes that's stronger, sometimes that's more important. Person needs to have a time that's set aside for learning every day. Person needs to focus on spiritual teachings on what is the will of Hashem, right? You need to give that it's got to have its time. But what about the mitzvah? What about performing that which it says in the Torah to do? What about the actions? That also sometimes needs its time. And sometimes it's more important to be learning. And sometimes it's more important to be doing mitzvah to fulfilling the commandments. He says, "Keep my commandments and live, right? But again, there's an interplay. These are interdependent aspects of the same thing, right? Because the Tyra is the teachings of what we are supposed to do. And if I don't know what to do, I can't do anything, right? So I got to learn Torah." And then on the other hand, if I just learn Torah and I don't do anything, if I don't do what the Torah says to do, so then it's just theory. Doesn't change me. Hasn't made me into a more humble person. Hasn't made me into a more loving and giving person. So I got to do lots of mitzvah. But I can also get lost in the doing and the actions if I don't come back to the spiritual teachings which remind me of the focus, which remind me of this is about Hashem. This is about humility. This is about love. I don't I can get caught up in my mitzvah. Hey, and I can step on people who are in my way of doing my mitzvah. And so I got to have that reminder as well. They're interdependent. They're interconnected. says the creations of Hashem as we saw all these aspects that we're talking about here, the day and the night, stars and the moon, etc. So, they borrow from each other. They recognize the cycles. They recognize the movement. They recognize that sometimes this one's a little higher and sometimes that one's a little higher. Sometimes one person is rich and sometimes another person is poor and it can flip around in a moment. Sometimes a person feels successful person is making it. Sometimes they're doing well and then sometimes the cycle moves and they need to be humbled and they need to lose the traction that they have. That's all part of life. We make mistakes. We learn from our mistakes. We lift ourselves up. We try to be a little better. So here's where we come back to the ribbus issue. What is the issue with taking interest? Why does the Tyra view that with such negativity? The measure says that there's a lack of proportion. There's a lack of humility. It is a lack of recognition that there's an interdependent interdependency that's the word between myself and others when I am lending that money. The tyro wants me to understand that the world is cyclic. If I have money today, that's today. I can't It's easy to say, "Hey, I've got the money and you're going to pay for it. I've got the power and you're gonna pay for it. It's easy to misuse my power to for for me to get out of balance for me to get a little too self-important to think I'm just too great for myself. And that's especially true when a person is successful with their finances. Hey, I've got things. I've got it going. You don't pay. You got to pay for it at some point. It's easy to think that way, to feel that way. T says, "Don't make that mistake. Don't use your power with too much with too much gya, with too much ego. That's what's that's what's at stake when it comes to the interest that a person charges. Oh, I've got the power. I'm going to I'm going to charge you for it. I got the money. I'm going to charge you for it." Because I'm going to swallow you up by stealing. And it's also a type of power grab. When I steal your money, what I'm saying is I'm strong. You're weak. I'm going to take it. Says something a little scary but true. Important to know. When a person takes Ribbis, what they're saying is, Hashem, you know, you created this world and you lend to us our lives. You lend to us our lives, our souls. You lend us our families, our blessings, our homes, our cars, our wisdom, our success. We're here for a short time, for lucky 70, 80, 90 years. How long are we here for? Hashem is lending us our lives right here and right now. When a person takes service, what they're saying is, Hashem, you know, you could charge. You have a right to charge for this life. It's a little scary, but that's what that's what a person is saying. It's almost like they're saying, "Hashem, of course, you have all the power. You could take advantage of us with the power, right? Everything that we do here has a repercussion in heaven. You should take payment for the fact that you're you're sending down the rain. You should take payment for the fact that you are causing the things that grow to grow. You should take payment for the fact that you're shining the sun on us. You should take payment for for the soul that you placed into us, for the body that you that you guard for us that it should be healthy and well. Can we pay that payment? Do we have the ability to pay back what God gives us? Could we ever repay it? Hashem says to them, "Look at me." Hashem says, "Don't don't arouse a judgment. Don't arouse this kind of statement that you should be able if you have power to take what you deserve because of the power." You know, it's really true. You go to a bank, you're going to pay interest. They're going to pay you interest. Money is power. Money has value. Don't take advantage of your power says the medish. And Hashem says, look at the world. I did not take any ribbus from it. I don't, you know, Hashem doesn't come out and say, hey, respect me. Hey, what are you guys doing with your lives? Why are you not devoting your lives to me? Sh doesn't do that. She wants us to find it on our own. Shm doesn't demand anything. says, "I don't say to the earth, where's the where's what you owe me because I bring down the rain." So, Hashem in essence is saying, "I give you a gift and I'm not it's a free gift. It's your life. and everything is in balance and that nishama is going to return back to me and and understand that everything is given with love. It's not it's not that uh it's not of course of course there's there's a reckoning, right? Did we do what we could with this world because that's why we're here. It's but it but there's a balance in it. That's what the message is saying. There's a balance in it. Just like the sun, the day and the and the night. Sometimes there's more day, sometimes there's more night. And and there's there's a quiet in the exchange. There's a quiet in the return. The way that Hashem interacts with us is also that way. Hashem loves us. Hashem gives life to us. Hashem is he's a loving God. He's not a demanding God. He's not a judgmental God in the in the sense of anger. But it comes with with a quiet with a quiet request. Hey, I gave you your life. What are you doing with it? I I gave you a loan. There's a quiet request that Hashem makes of us to wake up and recognize it. And I think that it's important to come out of this with the ribbus means I I have to be careful myself not to make demands on others because of the power that I have. And if I do so, I awaken that inside of myself that Hashem will not make undue demands on me. I think that's clearly what the Medish is saying. I want to bless you and I ask you to bless me that we should be ze we should merit to indeed have this sense of balance have this recognition have this understanding that the world is cyclic and to the degree that I can make sure that I am in balance and not overstepping my balance not overusing my power will reflect that in his relationship with me should bless us to be able to do it, to understand it, to live that, and to experience that. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful Shabas. This podcast was made possible [music] through the gracious donations of listeners like you. For more podcasts like this, please visit www.argoldwag.com or search on iTunes, [music] Ari Goldwag.