Shlach & Korach - Torah is a Lifeline

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with the show's never-ending assistants Israel d783 2023 this week's Parsha and Kutz Lawrence is partial and impartius NRC Israel it's parshus korach and at the very end of the parsh of partial we have a connection to the beginning of precious tell us the end of the parashat speaks about the titsis we'll see more about it in a moment in the very beginning of parchas Korra car sages tell us that korach when he came to argue with Moshe rabenu it says what did he take as we'll see he took a pair of titsis and he said if a garment is completely woven of treles out of the special Royal wool royal blue or royal purple wool so uh why do you need a string on the on the four corners or do you need a string on the Four Corners we'll see what the implication of that question was but we see that there's a clear connection between the two partios concept of cities we need to understand what is the idea of citizens we need to understand what was korok's challenge the most sharabena what was he coming to try to say what was his failure what was his mistake and what do we learn what can we learn and apply to our lives as a lesson from these two parshyas so I'd like to first read to you from the end of the magician partial because tells us that when we put on cities the purpose of the Mitzvah of titsis is to remind us of the blue is supposed to remind us of the sea which reminds us of the sky which reminds us of the kisiak cover the holy the holy chair the holy Throne of Hashem affected Hashem is our King the Titans are to remind us they hang out at the side of our garment they remind us that we are a servant of Hashem we have a uniform and to remind us that we shouldn't Veer after our hearts and after our eyes it's very easy to be drawn after our emotions after that which we see to desire things that we see foreign the heart in the eyes are that which causes the body to do something wrong they cause the body to act in ways that are inappropriate right the heart and the eyes those are the motivators of the human being what we see what we desire in our hearts the thoughts that we have these are the things that move our bodies cause our body to be motivated [Music] says the purpose of the titsis is to remember and to do all of my Mitzvahs to do all of The Commandments now in thinking about it you know there's a concept of Sur merava seita steer away from doing evil and do good and on one hand we need to stop ourselves from doing bad but one of the eight says one of the advice one of the pieces of advice that our sages tell us as far as turning away from bad is by doing good right a human being can only do one thing at a time of course we can have many motivations at the same time but we can only do one thing at a time if a person is involved in Mitzvahs if a person is involved in fulfilling their Commandments if my focus is to do good so that naturally I will turn away from doing evil it's an analogy to somebody who fell into the water he fell off a ship he fell into the water is beautiful mushroom the cities are like a a rope a life rope the the kubernet the the captain of the ship sees a Man Overboard and he's and he throws out a rope and he says to him grab onto this rope and don't let go if you let go you'll die Israel in the same way Hashem says to the people of Israel because here here is the Titus here is the life the lifeline here is the Rope I'm throwing out to you to save you remind yourselves through this rope remind yourselves of all of the missus if you attach yourself to the Commandments of Hashem if you hold on if you attach yourself if you hold on to the lifeline of the Torah if you hold on to Hashem to his Commandments you will have life [Music] in Proverbs chapter 4 verse 13. hold on to muser hold on to the teachings of the terror hold on to that which the Torah teaches us in regards to becoming a good person steering ourselves away from negative influences from those things that our hearts desire which ultimately can pull us down I'll tariffa do not let go of this protection it's something that gives you life [Music] he is some condition the person he says you shall be holy the purpose of the the midst of titsis is to remind us to steer away from that which our hearts and our our eyes desire to remember the mixes to hold on to the Mrs to hold on to the Commandments and you'll be holy bismatched what is the purpose what is the purpose of fulfilling the Commandments What Happens what is the pal yitza what is the the net result of the fact that we fulfill the Commandments of Hashem we become holy we become Sanctified interestingly the game fear us the nations of the world when we are doing what's right when we are fulfilling the Torah the claim then the non-jews are afraid of us right here in icy thrill I've heard many stories like this that the Arabs know that if we are doing what's right our God protects us they know that we have the true rights to use we have the true rights to build our basam English their place is just a pathetic a pathetic I don't even want to use the word replacement a pathetic I don't even know what to say it's nothing they know the truth if we're doing what's right if we believe in ourselves if we believe in our claim to artsy sirelle to you shalim to the makama mikdosh so then they're afraid of us when we are doing what's right when we are committed to Torah prash them so that's what makes us holy the Torah the myth so that's what makes us special that's what makes us holy when we when we separate ourselves from the Mitzvahs that's where we get in trouble we get in trouble and then we become heaven forbid we become emptied we become emptied we'll become empty shells that just look like look like Jews we look like we're moral and we you know we ascribe to Great morality and the wonderful things of the the ideals of liberalism and and climate change and all these kinds of silly silly non-important not truly important this is not really what makes us sin to Jews it's not really what makes us into good people there's only one true morality it's the terrorist definition of morality and the the cities remind us of that and they remind us to be holy because true Holiness means we've attached ourselves to Hashem and we are we are we have a life that's full we're not the opposite of of means means mundane but it means empty it means devoid kadusha means full I am full of Holiness I am full of God's spirit I'm full of True Life when I hold on to the when I grab onto the titsis so then I'm grabbing on tacos it's a beautiful thing the plastic says that that when mashiach comes when the Messiah arrives so the nations of the world ten non-jews will come and grab the Garment of a Jew and say take us really forgot his will he with you it's not a coincidence that they're grabbing the four cornered garment they're grabbing that sits us because the tsitis represent the lifeline the Rope how do we get into Hashem in the right way in the balanced way without making as the Arabs do God to be too judgmental and without making as the Christians do an idol out of Hashem out of a human being making an idol out of a false version of Hashem over overly permissive or really forgiving finding the perfect balance between a God who does forgive as a parent does but also demands of his children without being like a like a an evil Lord lording over lording over his underlings right they're going to grab onto the four corners of our garments why because the the cities represent the lifeline how we get kadusha how we feel ourselves properly with with God's presence with connection to Hashem now let's take a look back in the second Parsha the Parsha that is being read in arts Israel which those in hutzlords will read next week in pasius korach so posix says what did he take it's very interesting he took his Talus and he went to get advice from his wife his wife gave him bad advice his wife told him that he should fight against Moshe rabeno and he took his Talus and he said to him interestingly right the entire nation we just said that the cities is something which makes us holy which connects us to Hashem which connects us to the truth of who we are to the essence and he took this thing and he said he said we're all holy we're all these strings we don't need a Lifeline we don't need a rope we don't need something sticking out of the side of our garment the whole garment is Holy that was what he said now I'd like to understand as we read this I'd like to understand what is it that korach what is it the korach was trying to say what was the essence of his argument what is the significance that he went to his wife and asked her for advice let's say you would have decided to do this on his own let's say he wouldn't have asked his wife for advice why is the why is it important for us to know that he went to his wife what is the significance of this point let's feed on to the message now what was what was this problem predicated upon says the magic there was something that happened previously that irked korach that that brought out the contrast between who he was going to be the hashiv was the importance that he would have as opposed to aranakayan right because he comes out saying Aaron you why did you appoint him to be the koing girl the high priest why did you make him to have that his children are priests what about the Levites there was a challenge to the chosenness of Aaron so how did that how was that underscored because the plastic says that Moshe was commanded to take the levim from out of the children of Israelites I'll call the storm so they were shaved of all of the hair that was on their bodies so this was done to korak's one of the levium his skill locks are Ali Israel after he was shaved of all of his hair his his entire body his facial hair his hair on his head so they they went back he went back and started walking and nobody recognized him and they realized it was him they said who did this to you he said it was not only this they were they grabbed me but they took me and they they by my hands and my feet and they were shaking me they were waving me in each Direction and they were saying you are pure dressed him up beautifully and he dressed him like a like a bride he had beautiful clothing arnica and beautiful but big de Kahuna and he put him into Almighty he put him into the into the tent of meeting and here he left me to wander out amongst the Jews looking looking terrible Israel so the enemies of Moshe which as my son said moshadov he said it was Dustin and avirum to begin to fight with the Jewish people I'm sorry to cause the Jewish people to fight with Moshe um look at this nepotism has made himself into a king Aaron his brother is the high priest Aaron's sons are the the priests who are next in line we have to give gifts you have to give truma Miser to give 24 different matanus to the 24 gifts that are given to the coin look at this incredible way that he's taking the power to himself and he's taking money to himself they claimed that Moshe was in it for the money they claimed that Moshe was in it to give his brother and his brother's children favoritism so they all gathered in front of Moshe Urbana when they said this is not okay we don't accept this we don't accept this kind of behavior and he says to them I'm gonna believe um says look you you've done more to us than what they did in Egypt you've you've enslaved us more than what they did in Egypt you're just making a you're just lording over us once again we already had oh Lord his name was Pharaoh and now you are being our Lord so what's the difference between power and you we're not interested we'd rather be in Egypt everything was much better in Egypt there was much more food there was much more of everything relationship so they wanted to Stone Moshe foreign [Music] and he fell on his face foreign interested in in being a king I'm not interested in lording over you Allah I don't need Aaron to have anything to have the high priest shipment why are you complaining about an hour and he hasn't done anything says Hashem mass of the world is this not what you commanded Me by tahakri they left us bonavito you are to bring our and your brother and his children to bring them close how could it be we've done what's right we've done your command we have fulfilled your command Hashem you asked that I bring Aaron to be the coming of the high priest his children to be the the next in line the priests they're gonna they're trying to kill us Omar um so it seems to me who's the owner who spoke it seems to be that it's Hashem responding the morning will show the morning will come and will prove to whom who is the one that is special to Hashem has been chosen by Hashem Mao Kane what is what is this expression the morning will come and it will show what is this expression Hashem says look if all of The Magicians the entire world who are able to play around with nature if they would all join together and try to turn the morning into the evening where there's different Gears of turning the evening into the morning they would try to change the day change the order of nature they will not be able to foreign and just like I separate between day and night and I made it something which is incontrovertible it's impossible to to to contradict so too so too iron and his sons Aaron is has been separated to be holy of holies okay and that's what went on in the continuation of the story now what was Cora's Diner what was Korra saying what was he trying to claim and what was Moshe rabino's response in hashem's response really what was what's what's going on here and how can we also bring it back to the concept of the titsis how do we understand the the special power of titsis when I was thinking about it also just to to sharpen one of the one of the questions in regards to itsys it says in the muscle it said and this is connected here to Cork as well it said in the muscle and the analogy that there's a guy who's drowning in the water he's drowning in the water and the and the captain of the ship throws him are open and says hold on to this rope for your dear for dear life if you want to live hold on to this rope if you let go you'll die now does the captain really need to say that as a captain really need to say to him hold on to the Rope or you'll die I mean the guy's drowning he knows if he doesn't hold on to that rope he'll die so there's something going on here which is very much the the statement of korach korach was drowning in a sea of blue we could say when he mentions this whole concept of the titsis of the trailer so the Garment she's completely blue and he's drowning in the sea saying that everyone is the same but he doesn't want out of the sea he wants to stay in his mistaken presumption of how life should look of how things should be what was his mistake and what is this see that you need to be told you have to pull yourself out of otherwise you will think that you belong there and you sh it's better to drown or the drowning is actually living korach is saying like this he is saying look we don't need leaders we don't need anyone special that's what he means when he says that the entire garment is blue we don't we don't need a lifeline we don't need a Lifeline because we're we're not drowning in the water we are living up by the case we're all connected to the holiest place in the world the Throne of hashem's Glory we are all equal in the eyes of Hashem and there's a lot of truth to it there's a lot of you know karako is a wise person he wasn't a fool people want everyone to be equal people want to say that everyone is the same right that's that's one of the that's one of the greatest mistakes of Western culture which is coming to a head today in all of the in many many different areas which I prefer not to mention everything has to be equal everyone's the same women and men are the same women have to do the same thing that men do they need to wear Talus and villain and Daven at the hotel just like men do they need to they need to uh work and bring in money forget about their job as as parents as as mothers of children which is their god-given Merit there's Huss everyone has to be the same that's the mistake that korak makes he says that everyone is the same everyone is equal and everyone is connected and it's true that at a certain in a certain way everyone is connected everyone is right we all have a cell American we all are connected to Hashem but the reality is and this is what this is what Hashem is saying when he says just like I separated between night and day there's also a specialness this is how Hashem created the world that there's a hierarchy that there are some who are leaders or some who are greater and there are some who need to follow who need to be reminded they don't have that same sense that natural sense of what's right they're not as connected they're not as they're not naturally as holy there's a cover needs there's a captain of the ship he's standing above with his rope throwing it down to the person who's in the water and saying you gotta come up [Music] and the person who's in the water could say hey it's nice I love swimming doesn't realize that he's drowning he doesn't realize he's in danger he doesn't realize that living in a world where everyone is the same so to speak is a world of absolute destruction is the world which is mehulo which is emptied of holiness because that is not the ideal the ideal is not that everyone be the same the idea is that everyone be the best individual who they are exactly how Hashem created them exactly who you are is who you're supposed to be and what you're supposed to work with Korra says no we're all the same we're all able to we're all able to to bring carbonus we're all able to bring a kutiris they knew that another one of you died bringing the guitarists so obviously there are some people who shouldn't be bringing it or there are some situations where they shouldn't be bringing it no we all can do we can all go lift never lifting we can all go into the holy of holies we all can have full access to relationship with Hashem which of course is ridiculous it's not true and I think that part of what the measure is saying here he went to his wife now there's two things here why didn't he make the decision on his own why couldn't he be the one to make the decision we find great sages there's stories about great sadikim and they said to their wives I'm the one who's gonna make all of the spiritual decisions in in our family because the man is the one who's the most learned the most connected to Terror the most halachic understanding generally speaking so people who are in Sadiq and you he said to his wife will will make all of the decisions that have to do with gashmias have to do with our physical reality when he went to his wife he's trying to make her equal now that's not to say that there aren't incredibly Wise Women there are plenty of incredibly Wise Women and certainly it's a good idea to get advice from those around us sometimes they see things better than we do but the point I believe that the magic she's trying to bring out is that he went back to his wife instead of being the man instead of being the one who's making the decision intellectually correctly spiritually from a spiritual perspective he went and he asked her there's another thing that that in in a relationship between a man and a woman this is not exactly the point of the message but I think it's an important point to understand there's a Holiness there's a Holiness that things aren't just everyone equal everyone can do whatever they want right in a marriage the man and the woman Are Holy unto each other it's called kadushan it's called Holiness right it's you're for me I'm a yuad for you you're in my appointed spouse and I'm your appointed spouse nobody else has access this is Holiness this is absolute holiness and there's a Holiness in the relationship that we have without who not everybody can get inside of the holy of holies not all human beings are created the same not all human beings have the same relationship with Hashem the Jewish people have 613 Mitzvahs the nations of the world have only seven it's important to understand we are not all equal we are not all the same there's a liberal mindset which has crept into our own which is a dangerous ashkapha that everyone is the same well let's be a nation like all the other nations we are not a nation like all the other nations we are special we have the titses we hold on to that life rope which is called the mitsus natera Hashem made a special we have a special obligation we have a special purpose in this world we are the leaders and they're our leaders we need to know that and we need to respect our leaders we need to know how to grab on to our leaders and now make the mistake and think that everyone is the same korach makes the mistake and says everything is everyone is the same responds and says just like you understand is the difference between day and night let's not confuse day and night right you can't you can't magically change day into night at night and today so too you can't change who is the one showing the light the biker vioida who is the one who is the light of the day it's that Sadiq it's the chosen ones of and we need to recognize that we need to know that because it's an important understanding that we need to have we're not all the same we're not all equal but we all have our job and our job is to try our best to hold on to the life rope which is the Torah the life-giving Rope the mits US that sits us the kisiakave The Throne of hashem's Glory I want to bless you and ask you to bless me should help us that we should be able to have the right balance the right understanding not to turn after our hearts not to turn after our eyes but rather to hold on to the Rope to pull ourselves out not to think when we're drowning that we're having a nice time swimming but rather to recognize that we need to be pulled out through our connection to the Rope the life the life rope of the Torah thank you for listening have a wonderful Shabbos this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.regoldwag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]