Vayakhel - Names Essence and Oil

you're listening to the weekly paral podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with hashem's NeverEnding assistance in R Israel 5785 2025 this week's para par and we have a continuation of the conversation about the mishkon last week we had theel in the previous weeks we spoke about the mishkon we returned to that subject and we returned to the Jewish people's willingness and excitement to bring their donations to the mishkan and after we have a description of that so the PK says not only do they bring their donations their gold their silver Etc but they also brought their talents this is in uh chapter 36 I believe no chapter 35 towards the end of the chapter it speaks about the fact that they they all brought whatever they could to the Mal to the work that was involved in building the Mish say says something very important to the Jewish people and they needed to understand this and as maam explained he's about to point Bal butal is going to be the chief overseer of all of the work of all of the designs of all of the talent that's going to be involved in making the mishkon and when he's going to appoint someone in that capacity over the Jewish people so you have to ask their permission you have to show who is this person what is his greatness look he says to the Jewish people God has called out the name his called out a name a specific name of someone to be in charge Bala the son of URI the son ofur from the tribe of Judah and as the mfor point out his grandfather was actually killed in the Mel in the middle of last week's paraa when he stood up to try to prevent the Jewish people from serving this Idol he was killed in the process and so his grandson Bal is going to be the one who oversees the kapara for it the atonement for it says God filled him with a spirit a Godly spirit with wisdom with intuition with intimate knowledge and in all types of Works he had the ability to do he had the ability to think about things he had the capacity to Envision p goes on to say he's the one who has that that special talent that special gift of Hashem he's filled with God's spirit I think it's worth noting that when we speak about God's spirit normally we think about is something that's reserved for sikim for righteous individuals and that's true those who are studying the Torah those who need to guide am Israel in their service of hem so they need a a special Divine Providence a special Divine guidance and that's certainly something that we see with our gum our great sages but there's another aspect of it in the in the art in the Arts that's used in order to serve Hashem it could be music too I'd like to I'd like to think that there's a there's an inspiration a Godly inspiration that's there that can be recognized on a person and that's who Balo was he had that Godly inspiration to be able to create something beautiful to create a mishkon which is going to serve as the location and as the Prototype for all places that we serve Hashem that Aron that he designed or that he built was the AR that was in the mishon for the next 200 years and was in the b mdash in the first temple for for the duration of the first temple until it was hid away but he is laying the foundation for am service of Hashem in the sanctuary in the mishkon and so he is filled with divine inspiration as he does that as he is there to create that place of service that's the P now the m points out that the PK says when it's speaking about the fact that God called him out God said this is the person Hashem says this is the individual who's going to serve in this capacity so the P says I need you to see which is interesting there's a there's a concept of seeing we've spoken about seeing versus hearing seeing is a whole picture hearing is just putting the words together one word after another after another until the concept is completed then you understand the whole picture r see see the big picture God calls out the name which name what is the idea of hasem calling out a name what is the idea of a name what is the concept of a name what is the root of this concept of a name cuz it's being used here not it's not a coincidence the P didn't need to say called out the name of could have said hem has chosen maybe why does it say Hashem called out the name so the M says like this an amazing thing and we're going to study together not just the M but theuk themselves theuk that speak about a name it says like this see that God has called out in the name of this if you want understand what it's talking about when it's talking about the name of B so you need to look at another PK the PK says in in chapter Zion chapter 7 verse one a name is better than good oil what's what's what's oil what's what does it mean a name a good name is better than oil what is good about oil what's good about a name a good name so let's listen here carefully because as we read this this we're going to understand the concept of a name we're going to understand the concept of oil what is the idea of oil right we know that oil is something that floats to the top it's something that we light our shabas candles with maybe we light our kanakas with something that if it burns it creates light what is the concept of the name and notice that the word shame is in the word shemen right the first two letters of the word sheman which means oil is the same letters as the whole word of Shame which means a name so what's the connection and what does it mean that the a name a good name is better than oil good oil a good name is better than good oil what's what's the concept so me says how far does it go if you have good oil what happens with oil oil you pour it out and it goes from one room to the hallway meaning if let's say you're standing next to the door you pour the oil it can drip down out the door and into the hallway it doesn't get very far okay listen carefully it sounds a little bit strange but we're going to understand this but a good name is not limited to that location it's not limited to a certain space that it only get so far a good name can go from one end of the Earth to the other what is the idea what is the idea we find there are other places where used this phrase when was creative so he whatever this means his existence he he was so huge say that he he extended his maybe his physical being or his spiritual being extended from one end of the Earth to the other okay the Earth is round so if it's from one end of the Earth to the other it means completely surrounding excuse me but somehow and also we find another place kazal say that the soul when it's inside of the the mother when the when the fetus is developing inside of its mother so the soul is there and it's studying with a Malik and there's a light there's a light that's shining upon its head listen carefully a light that's shining upon its head that shines from one end of the Earth to the other and that's the soul the soul is something which is all-encompassing somehow a shame a name a name is all-encompassing if you have a good name it reaches from one end of the Earth to the other okay so we need to understand what is the idea of a name how does it align with adon's greatness let's say or the Soul's greatness that it extends from one end of the Earth to the other what is the idea but where do we see this from King David's name went out he became famous became famous his name went out to all of the lands he was recognized his good name extended far sheman is a localized thing oil is something that's only local a good name is something that's much broader it's International M says another idea if you put if you put uh oil even good oil onto a dead body interesting so it makes a bad smell when you have flies flying around the dead body so it ruins it gets ruined even by the finest oils AIS I want to point out that in our p in Calis I like to just read it we'll get back to it says PK says it is good a good name is even better than good oil like we said the day of death is greater than the day a person is born we're about to to quote this PK as well this part of the PK what does it mean the day of death is greater than the day that the person is born so the Mish is going to say that when a person is born so it's like you're sending out a ship to from the port so everyone comes out to to send them off to wish them well farewell right so the ship as it goes it we don't know what's going to happen we we hope it's going we bless them and we hope that they're going to they're going to succeed in getting to their destination but we don't know how it's going to end up when a ship returns so that ship it got through all the dangerous perilous Waters it got through all the storms it arrived to its destination but people are more excited when they are sending off somebody on their Adventure than they are when the people are arriving back from their Adventure so to speak it's the same thing when a person when a baby is born everyone's excited but you don't know what's going to be in the end and and when the when a person dies so you see all that they accomplish you can see the totality of a person's life and that's the beginning of trying to understand this idea the day of death has to do with the totality the the whole picture the big picture the the makif the all-encompassing vision when a baby's born you just have that moment you just have the joy of potential but you don't have you don't yet have the the completion of it okay so hold on to that idea excuse me I'm a little a little bit clogged today but let's continue so right when it comes to the oil if the oil touches a dead body so then the oil it's there's a bad smell but a good name when there's a good name whatever this means and it falls on a person who's dead whatever this means again so then that's not something that makes a bad smell and where do we see where do we see this PK says that Ali as he was about to do he was going to bring a a child back to life so what he did was he got up on the child so so he was able to resuscitate the child it wasn't mouth to mouth resuscitation the child had been dead for a long time but he was able to bring him back to life why because Alisha Hani represents the concept of Shame somehow he represents the idea of a good name and a good name when it's on top of or manifesting upon a dead body it brings that body to life again these are Concepts which we're not yet [Music] explaining okay then the Mish goes through this thing that I told you about the ships leaving and the sheeps ships returning okay the M continues I'm giving you the questions before we get to the answers really very interesting andar these three they were they went into the to the fiery furnace and in contrast to n the sons of Aon n were burned by a spiritual fire because they brought that fire in in an inappropriate way they were the kohanim were anointed they were Anointed with the oil of anointing okay let's think about what does the oil of anointing mean the oil of anointing is something that was poured on their head and it would drip down perhaps onto their body Etc down down them what is oil what is the concept of oil why would they do that also they would do that it says by he was anointed was a mashiach the word Messiah which means translated into Messiah the word Messiah means anointed what is the concept of an anointed one what is the concept that the Coen is Anointed and obviously that has to do with we're saying that shame the name is greater than the fact that someone is Anointed that's what's going on here what does anointed mean anointed just like we find that sheman oil andfor him explain this sh when you put oil into water the oil Rises to the top right conceptually A King is the one who Rises to the top he's meant to lead and guide all those beneath him he's meant we spoke about this in previous weeks the the individual who's who is raised up is supposed to lead others he goes down to where they are but he always is above them he's always above them guiding them from above he has perhaps a larger perspective the coin is somebody who drips down like like we said before right the PK says in regards to to Aon the says in in in thealis in chapter 133 of says like good oil that's on the head that comes down and drips down onto the beard refers to the beard of that comes down based on his mid according to his character traits like think about what's a character trait this cuz this is what the oil the oil dripping down it's it's as we saw at the beginning the oil is in one room and it drips out into the hallway what does that mean what does it mean the whole the the the room is my personal place the room is my personal space it's who I am and dripping out into the Hall the hallway is where I meet the world it's where I start to walk out of myself walk out of my dollarus out of my personal space and I enter out into the world through that hallway so just like the meus of a person right a person has character traits a person has a certain ofie a certain way of being which is inside of his head that's the Shem that's the oil it doesn't it but it drips down right the way that a person's M manifest in his relationship to others the way that my character traits unfold play out you can see who I am by how I interact with others Shem is the same says the says oil is the same thing it drips down from the head and we're going to see the head by the way this location on the head the place where the fill and rest is called the concept of Shame it's the concept of the name but the sheeman drips down from that location down onto the beard down onto the face and onto the beard and out what does it mean what does it mean that sounds very esoteric but it's a straightforward concept and that is that the person who I am is encapsulated in my name and the Shem and the oil represents how it unfolds and manifests in the world in my interactions with others the kohanim are masu because they're the ones who are involved in action they're anointed because they are the they are the ones who are to to serve they're like the hands and the body of Amel in Amel service of God they're the ones who are doing it they're the ones who are not just the concept they're not just the idea of service of Hashem they are the ones who you see the the the manifestation of that service of Hashem but you see there's two things there is the shame which is the concept of service of God you know broad concept of service of hem they were great sadim they had the idea they had the idea and the concept they were connected into the root and that's Hashem God himself is the root of all of our names when we talk about a name we talk about our purpose our name expresses who we are my name isi the lion the lamp of life so each of these aspects each of these aspects Express the essence of who I am and every person has a name and the name doesn't have to per se only be your literal name it has to do with the essence of who you are and what you're part on this Earth to do kanar they were connected completely to their name Kan somebody who is given by hasem m he's asking of God aaria he sees that God is helping him they were connected to their names and so when they went into the fire because they were so connected to their root nothing happened to them they weren't affected by the fire which could destroy n a yes they were people of action yes they were people who had the oil the anointing it came down into their actions their service of hem but they did things they were Unfortunately they did s something that was disconnected from their shame disconnected from Essence disconnected from their purpose they did things on their own they didn't consult with those who are older than them they didn't consult with mosha and Aon says the the difference between a shame which means a good a good name which is I'm connected to the root which is Hashem which is good versus Shem which is good actions but not necessarily connected all the way back into the name right that's why it's shame and shame men shame is the name is the root Shem men is how it manifests but if the Shem is not manifest based on the original Roots it's doing its own thing that's the difference they went to bring a Corbin and they were burned they were disconnected butara they had they were connected to name to the concept of name of the good name and therefore they were not burned and bringing it back to says the name of B was different the name of was the is it gives us it lets everybody know that Balo has a name what does it mean that he has a name it means that he is the one who's connected into the root of what it's all about Pik says I want to read it again r B God has called in the name that means that b Hears A calling he hears the root he hears Hashem calling him in everything that he does he hears Hashem calling and it's always connected what he's doing is always connected to the root but he's creating and this is the concept here the name has to do with the root being connected to Hashem being connected to the root but it's the all encompassing mgar the framework within which the oil will come down all the actions will happen Bal has the ability to create the the big picture within which we all will exist you know the says about the the says in that that the they live forever they stand forever the concept of the mishkon is always with us that's why we have to read so much about it the concept of the Mish of service of hasem remains till this day and it's going to be it's brought down I saw rash writes in in thear that the the mishkan is going to stand right the original Mish it was Nas it was put in storage and it's going to be put back up right next to the bikash we're going to still see we're not going to use it but that it represents the fact that the concept of it the foundation of it it's connected into the root and therefore it remains forever that that framework is still there it manifests more in the bik that's the full manifestation of it indeed we needan we need the we need the oil to drip down but it's not as the oil is not as all-encompassing it's not as powerful as as the good name as the name as the name which is the all-encompassing thing which always if you want to have the oil coming down you always have have to be hooked in to the name now I want to I want to read this Pim and cois again and and just hear what the the are talking about because it's so powerful the name is greater than it's good it's it's much better than it's all encompassing than the oil that drips down the day of death is greater than the day of a person's birth when a person is is born so we don't know how it's going to play play out we don't know how the the the oil is going to drip down it could have forbid end up like n of an of you being disconnected the day of death means that we see the whole picture we see that all-encompassing thing who is this person what was his name where did he go what did he do with his potential says it's better to go to a place where they're mourning somebody than to go to a place of a party right what's what's happening at a place of morning they're talking about how this person was connected to his root they're talking about how this person served Hashem how who who was this person where was his connection into his shame into his name into his root into God into Hashem known as hashem's name is Hashem hashem's name is Hashem the name which means he is the root of everything going to a place of a party where there's people and there's action and there's so much going on that's nice but that's not foundational that could be disconnected it's better to go to the to the place of mourning because that you get the whole picture of the person you see the end of the person and if you see the end of the person then you can see how to start it's something that a person who's living and wants to and we are all we're all like the we are in action we're moving we're we're on our way we're doing stuff but we got to make sure that it's the right stuff we got to make sure that it's connected into the shame into the root the lesson of is you got to see it and like we said seeing is the big picture you got to see it we have to be connected into the name to the to the root of who we are as individuals but really how we connect into into hashem's purpose for the whole world and for us as individuals I want to bless you and I ask you to bless me Hashem should help us that we should be able to see our name that we should be able to recognize Who We Are Who we're meant to be and should help us to take the actions and do the things and and be involved in the world of AIA in the world of action in a way that's connected to our name and we should be able to create things that they are a framework for ourselves for our kids for our grandkids for all those who come after us so that just like the mishun lasts forever so to the Legacy that we leave will last forever thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shamas 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 [Music]