Mishpatim - Creating Angels

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with hm's never ending assistance in R Israel 2024 this week's par I'd like to share with you a small medish at the beginning of our par and a longer medish at the end of our paraa and although they don't seem to have any connection I'd like to share with you a thought that is the connection between the two of them the m at the beginning of our par is going to these are the laws and as is the way of the medish as is the way of kazal we want to understand the connection between the end of the previous para and the beginning of the new para at the end of last week's para it spoke about the fact that there's a ramp you need to have a ramp going up to the m up to the altar in the mishkon in the temple and the reason for that is says the Torah so that as the coin is walking up his private his private areas are not revealed so the Mages points out something and says like this don't go up on steps when you walk up on steps so that has the effect of revealing a person's private areas so we want to understand two things first of all what's the connection between the idea of having a ramp going up to the m to the altar was the connection between that and the these are the laws that's question number one question number two is says Torah tells us that the Kohan would have a special underwear that they would use in order to cover up their private areas so even if they would be walking up steps it wouldn't reveal anything inappropriate so what is the understanding of this says the there's another understanding or a deeper understanding of what the PK means when it says that they shouldn't allow their private areas to be revealed to the m it means there's something else that shouldn't be allowed to be revealed they shouldn't take big steps when you go up a ramp you take Little Steps the measure says if you go up steps you're taking bigger steps and when you take big steps big steps are in our sages eyes in the in the in the understanding of our sages big steps show Hess big steps represent the fact that I think that I'm amazing that I think I'm so awesome in a way that's over the top right that's P gas a humble person walks maybe looking down a little bit walks in small steps they should walk in small steps like this one the the back of the foot next to the beginning of the other foot the idea is the T is teaching us that when a cohain walks even though he's a messenger of the Jewish people to serve Hashem even though he's he's a spiritually awesome person you need to have humility it needs to be done with humility when you serve Hashem it needs to be done with humility generally life needs to involve humility now we have the connection between the the ramp of the and the which is our which has to do with these are the laws to place in front of the judges so that the judges know how to to deal with matters that have to do with the Jewish people when they've done things wrong Etc there's an obligation on judges Hashem says exort the judges that they shouldn't walk with big steps in judgment which means there should be you have to have Extreme Caution if you are a judge you have power if you are a Cen a priest you have power you have honor sometimes it comes from the fact that you're a spiritual leader sometimes it comes from the fact that you're a you have the power over people's lives power of judgment is very powerful but either way the m tells us it's so important to take small steps to limit our GAA to be aware of the fact that it's so easy for our pride our our arrogance to slip in even if we are great or maybe especially because we're great as our sages says whoever is a greater person has a greater Sahara so that's the first point the first point is of the of of the beginning of our para we need humility to the fact that we are great we need humility and that could be between ourselves and our children our families we are the leader of our family have awareness of this we have power over them we are the judge we are perhaps even the spiritual leader of our family we're like the khanim but we need to have we need to be aware wear and have take small steps in the language of our SES now I want to share with you something which at the first at at first glance seems to be unrelated but I think that there's a deep relationship between this first idea and the second idea that I'm about to share God says to says that he's going to send an angel in front of the Jewish people to lead them who the angel is it a good thing is it a negative thing many of the MIM here say that the fact that there was an angel instead of Hashem directly leading the Jewish people was a negative thing but there are also M that say that it was a positive thing so I'm going to read you two of them says I'm going to send an angel in front of you mag says a beautiful idea says to him in Psalms 34 Verse verse 8 Hashem places an encampment of Angel it says it in singular an angel encampment Hashem places around those who fear Him and he saves them what is this singular Angel when a person does a single Mitzvah he gets a single Angel which there from from then on henceforth that angel is around him and protects him when I do a positive action I give S I learn a word of Torah i d with kavana I act with kindness towards my friend when I do a Mitzvah I create a Mal I create an angel and that angel protects me the more you do the more you get if you do two mitzvas you get two angels to protect you says in Psalm 91:1 God will command his angels which is plural the the least amount of plural Angels is two to to protect you in all of your ways if you do a lot of Commandments Hashem will place half of his encampment of Angels at your disposal if you do lots of the word as is explained by here sometimes means to fall but it can also mean to to dwell so you'll have a Thousand Angels or 10,000 angels dwelling near you that's half of God's encampment there are 20,000 angels that accompany God as it were accompanies God's uh Chariot The Chariot mova where where sees Ezekiel sees the Chariot it means the The Throne of God that he sits on he rides that's the Jewish people he rides on us which is an important Point actually that's to do with our topic as we'll soon see you do a Mitzvah you get an angel you do two Mitzvah you get two angels you do a thousand Mitzvah you get a th Angels 10,000 10,000 angels you get God's encampment you get the encampment of angels when we do hashem's will which in this para we say isma we will do your will God whatever you say whatever we're going to do we will listen it happens when we when we keep God's will when we do hashem's will we get protection we get angels that protect us last meas last meage for today also on the topic of [Music] angels God says to Moses the the angel that I sent to protect the forefathers AB andov that same Angel is going to protect their children this reminds this reminds us of the idea which we spoke about previously that has to do with what mosh's face changed to abah's face has to do with the fact that Theus that our forefathers the incredible spiritual power that they brought down into the world through their Good Deeds remains for us today this is represented here as well the angel that they created perhaps we could say based on the Other M the angel that protected them protects us as [Music] well says Abraham in blessing Isaac says them that God the the god of the heavens he will send his angel in front of you you'll be protected what do we find that yob says to his kids to right he speaks of the angel that protected him so he had this protective Angel as well and he blessed his children and grandchildren that they would also have this protective angel this Angel protected me from as it protected me from who it the the angel which again the angel is the spiritual protection that's created when we do good deeds it is that which gave me my sustenance in the times of famine God says to Moses says the angel that they had for protection that's going to be that's going to be available for the Jewish people as well that angel is going to be available whenever you see the angel along with the angel comes the okay so let's let's get this you do a Mitzvah you get an angel with the angel comes means God's divine presence manifest you see that hasem is there you experience godliness where do we see it we learn it from the fact that when mosenu had the awesome Revelation at the SN at the burning bush so the PK says that an angel appeared to him the angel that appeared to him the angel that appeared to him then after it appeared to him Hashem called to him right so you see that the angel and then first comes the angel then comes the divine presence not only that but the time that the Jewish people call out to God they get saved okay so we said the angel provides protection but not only does the angel provide protection and not only does the reside there but when the Jewish people call out to God they get a Salvation meaning it doesn't just protect them but if let's say they weren't protected for some reason and something negative is occurring to them it's still the angel can still be activated through their calling out to that's what it says again by the hasem says to mosu the call the call the the the scream of the Jewish people in pain because of the difficulties that they were going through has reached [Music] me says byon it's in in Judges chapter 6: 11 and 12 there was also a similar concept there regards to gon that he called out to there was a revelation of hasem and then Hashem first there was a revelation of the Angel and then Hashem himself was revealed but there's a Salvation gon was able to to act as a savior on behalf of the Jewish people because of this um uh order of things because of this train of Events first the Mitzvah second the Angels third the and fourth the Salvation he was able to act as a vehicle for all of these aspects [Music] G says you want to know what's going to happen at the end of time when the ultimate salvation is going to occur it's going to occur in the same procession in the same order in the same way the Jewish people creates merits the Jewish people creates malim angels the Jewish people experiences God's presence and the Jewish people experiences salvation it's an incredible thing and I want to point out one more thing which is going to connect us back to the beginning of the par and also give us a deeper understanding of what's going on here and once a person let's say has gone through this train and has the protection how do you keep it how do you hold hold on to that connection to Hashem and and that it shouldn't be lost the one of the explanations one of thefor on the side of the says our sages tell us that this Mal that we're speaking about here this Angel is a huge spiritual being it's like unbelievable it's a very powerful spiritual entity so our s said Al says don't uh don't contradict or don't don't uh mix anything up in relationship to this Angel literally it means don't defy the angel but say that means to say don't mix me up with the angel let's get things clear don't get confused right we see throughout the pares that Hashem put puts a cloud and the cloud represents that his presence is there the Jewish people know that God is present because they see the cloud don't mix up the cloud with Hashem right it's an important it's an important foundational Concept in yish God is incorporeal he doesn't have a physical body God is transcended he's spiritual but he interacts with us he shows himself to us sometimes we can recognize it through seeing the Divine Providence that's in our lives sometimes we see it openly sometimes it's hidden but the Mal that we experience the special that we have don't make a mistake don't make a mistake and think that it has its own existence separate from Hashem says the how could I make a mistake it's an angel this is God this is an angel how can I make this mistake says that once hasem reveals to the Jewish people that you can get salvation like we saw at the end of this Mish you can all you need to do is call out to me and going to answer you so what happens when I call out and I'm answered I can make a mistake hey look I did it I did it I prayed God did it but I can make this mistake it's such an easy mistake to make that through my God brought about a salvation but I brought about the salvation through my you got to keep it Al but don't mix things up don't mix things up be clear be very clear when you have an angel when you have a when you have when you have the answer to your prayers you have salvation comes don't think that it's you but I did the Mitzvah and I created the no you did the Mitzvah you follow God's Will and God placed a Malik an angel there to protect you and help you but it's not you let's get it clear it's it's it's still not you it's still not you back to the beginning of the we said that the the has to be careful don't walk up the steps in in big steps with GAA with with with ego don't walk up the steps that way be careful careful be careful as you walk up the steps be careful as you judge people be careful any place that you have power don't take it for yourself don't think that it's yours spiritual power Social Power wealth all of these things whatever the context is and everyone has of a a certain amount of power in their lives no matter what because of course everything is relative but everyone of us has this issue that we need to to look at squarely and say it's not mine where did the where did the Talent come from comes from Hashem where did the Mitzvah come from it comes from Hashem where did the power of prayer come from it comes from Hashem and that you want to know what are the rules of life you want to know what is the true way of existing in life this is it it's with a recognition that no matter what we have no matter where we are we can't take credit for ourselves it always comes back to Hashem and the blessings that he's given us we just need to have gratitude for them and remind ourselves and repeat to our and say it over and over again Hashem it's you take small steps do something in your life that's physical that requires humility remind yourself so I speak to you and I speak to me when I say that I would like to bless you and ask you to bless me that we should be able to recognize the awesome spiritual power of our Mitzvah of of humility even should help us to indeed recognize that the power comes from himm should give us theim the angels to protect us and we should remember that he is the one ultimately who is always protecting us 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