Yom Kippur - Pray For Israel

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with aem's never ending assistance in 5785 2024 this week is yipper we don't have a par we do read about the a the service of the K the high priest on Kipper but what I would like to do today is I would like to speak a bit about the high priest and his role and His function but I would like to share with you something from which I found in of the last para of the Torah it's a par that we don't often study together because it's onus and usually we talk more about suus than about the par but I'd like to share with you a mish there that talks about the ability of mosha raenu to give to be the one to give the blessings to the Jewish people and I'd like to connect it to the co go the high priest who was somebody who also would pray on behalf of the Jewish people seek their atonement pray forem to give them a good year and we read on we we read all about the co God the high priests and and all of the things that he would do in order to gain atonement for the Jewish people and indeed the blessings and the prayers that he would beseech hasem to place for the Jewish people for example this is what it says in this is what he would say maybe or will please let this year it's beginning now for the Jewish people let it be for for your entire nation of the House of Israel it be a year of prosperity a year of abundance a year of blessings a year of good decrees he would go on and on asking for the blessings of the Jewish people that's something that we say right after we describe the a after he comes out of the Kash the holy of holies where he would bring the incense offering to atone for us and he would sprinkle the blood on the capus the parus and the the the reading that we read in mus describes how beautiful the unbelievable of seeing the Coen when he came out from the holy of holies EMS Mana famous song [Music] Ms he would come out of the holy of holies without having had any kind of negative consequences right cuz especially at the end of the second M many times Co wasn't necessarily A righteous individual and so sometimes the high priest would die didn't have the right thoughts he wasn't a big enough righteous individual but the sight that one would see when the coing god of the high priest would come out safely having obtained atonement having blessed the Jewish people would be an amazing sight and what is the what do we say in the peute that we read you say like a canopy stretched out among the Angels who dwell on high that's what what the Coen looked like like lightning flashes that came out from the radiance of the Angels the K A different kind of angels Mar that's how he looked he had this shine on his face he had this unbelievable look to look at the coing gutle was an unbelievable site and he keeps describing all of the different descriptions of what he looked like and as we're going to see mosenu who also blessed the Jewish people and especially at the end of his life he was somebody who we're going to see why was it that he was able to bless them and we'll see that there are parallels to who mosha was the blessings that he was able to give the Jewish people and the blessings and who who the Coen G was what are the characteristics what is it what does it take to be someone who gets atonement for the Jewish people as mosu did as well right yum ker was the day that he came down with that atonement after the golden calf what does it take to be that kind of person who brings blessings and I want to point out as we go into the medress and try to understand what it's saying that the way that we think you know how do we think about rasher wherea it's a very serious time it's the of a year we're asking hm to forgive us for the mistakes that we've made over the Year we're asking hasm to give us a new year and one of the things one of the foundational ideas which I'd like to offer to you to think about as we study this together is that the concept of blessings y also gives the blessings as he's about to pass away he gives the blessings to his sons mosu gives the blessings as he's about to pass away blessings have to do with a culmination right a culmination for us of the previous year all the things that went on in the year that has passed we want to point out to Hashem we've made mistakes we're we're trying to correct those mistakes and we want to start this year with a new a new year we want the previous year and the mistakes that we made to be behind us we want to start a new year but the blessings always have to do with there's a culmination there's a completion in mosh's case there's a completion of his life and he was bequeathing to the Jewish people he was planting seeds for the future that's a foundational idea of what blessings are blessings right Yu gets the blessings from his father as believes he's about to pass away but all the blessings have to do with material sustenance and wealth and a good life so that he can succeed spiritually and M also is going to give that for the he's going to bless the Jewish people and we ask Hashem and the Coen God asks on our behalf forgive us for the past and and help us go into this new year with a with a clean slate but with the seeds for an awesome year for a really good year and let's let's study together what the M says in regards to MH how he was able to do that because if we understand that so we can understand the radiance of mosha mosha was known for having a Radiance coming out of his face as we'll see as did the the co G he had a Radiance coming out of his face we talked about the Maran what the the high looked like and so what is the idea of a Radiance coming out of one's face and how do we get that Radiance so that we can also ask Hashem for blessings for ourselves and our families and our communities and for all of am Israel for the coming year so let's look at this measur together and it says like this the meas tells us this was the blessing that MOS gave to the Jewish people why was he able to give it says the and it brings that we read on we're going to read this we read on I think says the chapter 24 verse three who will go up on the mountain of Hashem who has that ability and of course mosh raenu is the classic example of someone who went up on the mountain of hem we could also say the co he rises up on the mountain of hem the B MDES the Holy Temple is on the mountain Haria the highest spot of that mountain is the kashh from the holy of holies which was where he would enter so when we think about moshu going up on the mountain to receive the Torah to bring it down to us we can think about the co we can think about ourselves trying to access spirituality this way how do you do it me who goes up on the mountain of our sages tell us this speaks this is speaking about mosim it says that mosu went up and he experienced the revelation of God the next says or the the continuation of says who can stand up in the place of hm's Holiness Z this is also mosha so mosha has the ability to go up to the spiritual location where God is found so to speak and what's the reason we find that in reference when mosu experienced has the first time he had that Revelation at Hari by the snap by the burning bush Hashem tells him remove the shoes from your feet the space the place that you are standing on is a holy place the Earth that you're standing on is a holy is a holy place so who can stand in the place of Holiness that's mosha he stood in a place of Holiness he removed his shoes which means for us was idea of removing our shoes which we do on of course we take off our shoes we wear special shoes that are not made out of leather that aren't as not as physical what is the idea it's the idea of taking off one's physical aspects being more focused on the spiritual the K the says who can go up on the mountain someone who's has Clean Hands he says I never took anything from another person excuse me I was never paid for my services being the leader of the Jewish people I was never I never asked for anything of anyone else when I wanted to take a taxi no one else paid for it I paid for it myself as it were I mean he was talking about a donkey that was their means of travel in those days so he was the K up I me didn't take anything from anyone everything he got was directly from hem the tells us that kazal tell us that he got the remnants of theas lus were made out of sapphire you got the pieces of the sapphire that were broken off of the luos he was someone who is pure of heart how do we know that generally speaking we're going to see that M says something which is a bit shocking one person wouldn't usually say it to his friends such a statement but MOS said it to hasem what's the statement he says was angry at the Jewish people they had just sinned with the golden calf and mosha says why are you so angry at your nation it was pretty obvious why he's angry he's angry because they are like a wife under the under the who's having a relationship with someone else besides where the the men she just married right CLA Isel had sins with a golden C why are you angry at your nation butu even though it's it's like a to say such a thing but it didn't matter to him that he was saying something which seemed perhaps inappropriate because he just he was focused on one thing he cared about the Jewish people he wanted to get them atonement that's all he cared about he didn't think about what he was saying oh why are you angry hasm like hasem had a right to be angry but that's not how he thought about it so he was willing to say that he had that purity of heart because he just cared about the Jewish people he hasn't given into the foolishness of something physical or spiritual so not this is reference to the fact that when moshu went and he killed the Egyptian the Egyptian was striking a Jew so he killed that Egyptian he didn't care about the soul of the Egyptian why because he stood up for the honor of the Jew he knew first of all he used hashem's name he didn't actually strike the mitz the Egyptian he used the 72 letter name of God in order to create a spiritual explosion which caused the death of the egyp but the reason that he did it was because asfor explained here he consulted with the angels and he asked them is this person going to have any future any spiritual future and they said no and so mosenu went again caring about the Jew caring about his fellow doesn't care about anything else and he took the soul of that Egyptian he didn't make an oath or or swear for some falsehood Z it's a reference to MOS he was so careful with his words he didn't make an oath needlessly that's a reference to he's careful to use his words correctly people will often say things without thinking about it they'll make Oaths they'll swear they'll make a promise they don't end up keeping it was careful says about himu was with his father-in-law with Israel he marries isra's daughter Zora and he discussed with Israel that he's going to stay there for a long time he made a commitment to him and in the end when he needed to leave he asked permission from Isel to be able to leave which means that he's committed to his words which is interesting because as we all know kre the first thing that we say on Yumer we speak about is the Oaths the vows that we've made do we take our speech seriously this is what it takes you want to be somebody who gets atonement you want to be like a moshu you want to climb up on the mountain of hasem which again we say it every single rashash the night of rash the night of yipper every year we invoke these words which is speaking about how we get up on the mountain how do we reach that place where mosu got to how do we seek atonement like a coing g like a high priest it's through these attributes what what's the result of all of these attributes such a person will get blessings from hem says an amazing thing what it means to say is that such a person gets blessings but we find that how do how do we get Blessings by giving blessings to others MOS because he has all of these attributes and soon we're going to see even more of the attributes of mosha and how he compares to different figures in history but most because he has these attributes he's able to give blessings to others and thereby also be a recipient of hashem's blessings so let's go through it again just for a review MOS raain was somebody who's able to climb up on the mountain how because he's he respects when he's in a holy place he takes off his shoes he recognizes that he's coming he's approaching Hashem when you approach Hashem you have to approach him spiritually and we do that on Kipper we take off our shoes we respect we show respect mosh was somebody who was careful about not taking anything that wasn't his he was respectful of other people's money he didn't take something that wasn't his he was pure of Hearts he was somebody who cared only about the Jewish people's welfare and when he would speak to hasem sometimes it would come out in a way that perhaps could be inappropriate but he only cared about the Jewish people he was focused outwards he was focused on caring about getting atonement for the Jewish people and he was careful that the ramifications of his actions should always have correct spiritual ramifications there shouldn't be any negative spiritual consequences okay so it's a lot to ask but Kipper we're rising up we're trying to be our best we're trying to be focused and this is why I'm bringing this m here because it's about bras it's about M giving blessings to others it's about the co praying on behalf of others this ker is a unique opportunity for us not just just to ask for life for ourselves and really this year is a special year we've it follows a year of tremendous difficulty for Amel and we're going into a new year we hope that things will start to turn around and Israel will have an incredible victory in Earth Israel and wherever we are Isel we we care about am Isel and we want individually we want to be safe and individually we want success but moo and the co they didn't just seek atonement for themselves they saw atonement for everyone around them they were looking for blessings for everyone around them they were seeking to bring about atonement and blessings for the entire Isel so that's something that we need to work on this Yumer more than any other Yumer let's read a little bit more in the says mosenu it's referring to him there are many girls many wives many ladies out there who have done great things but you Rose above them all right we said that MOS is who can rise up on the mountain of hem that's mosha so he is the the one who rises above so now we're going to talk about how mosu in relationship to others was also someone who Rose above let's see what does it mean was higher than everyone say the like this said to Moses I am greater than you why he said and of course this is this isn't the literal conversation but the M understands that in their Essence there were certain things about and as we'll see about and andov which one could say seemed to be greater than Moshe says so to speak I was created directly by hasem in the image of hem you could look at and you would the Angels looked at him and they made a mistake they thought that he he was God they started to praise him instead of Hashem when they sang their song it says created in His image so it would seem that Adam had this aspect he was greater than I'm sorry sorry says no as it were again this is not a real conversation but it's the M saying that mosha was higher in a certain sense because you you were given this honor you were given this shine you were given this godliness but it was taken away from you was not able to stay in that state of honor of reflecting hashem's light says the shine that gave me is still with me testifies about MOS that he would that he until his dying day he still had that spiritual shine he still shown right mosh we know he when he came down from AR from Mount he had this unbelievable shine coming out of his face the says that it's the same type of shine that originally had but lost so had that shine now what is the shine I'd like to explain it already now the shine represents the fact that he has the Torah he's received the Torah and he's ready to reflect it out to the Jewish people that's why the Torah says that he would wear a mask he would wear a mask to cover the shine he didn't realize that his face was shining once he realized he could cover up his face it's too bright for the people but he would take it off whenever he taught Torah when he was giving out to the Jewish people once again has to do the blessings this has do the atonement M was somebody who was teaching when he was teaching so they could see that shine this is how we get to the highest place that's what we're seeking this is what we're going for teaching shining out to others the Torah of hem the spiritual path says I'm running out of time so I can't read every single thing inside but then Noah said look I I'm greater than you Noah look I was saved of all the people in the entire world I was saved in the generation of the flood everyone else died I was saved hasm saved me personally says there's a big difference between me and you the difference is between mosha and Noah Noah yes you saved yourself you were righteous and you saved yourself but I didn't just save myself says Moshe I saved the entire Jewish people once again this theme Moshe wasn't just focused on himself he was focused Hashem says I'm going to destroy them all and make a new nation out of you mosha says no way you got to save the entire Jewish people this is what we celebrated it's the day that Moshe came down from SII with atonement for the Jewish people for the S of the of the golden Cal says what is this comparable to you have two ships on the sea and each one of them has a captain on one ship the captain saved his own life but he didn't save save the rest of the people on the ship the other one Captain was more dedicated he saved himself and he saved those around him so who do they praise not the one who just saved himself was on a higher level he didn't just think about himself he was busy thinking about everyone else around that's again think about it on yum Kipper we're we're not just ding for ourselves we're ding for our families for our communities for all of Israel CL Israel wherever we are says the medish says look I was greater than you in a certain sense why cuz I would be giving food to everyone everyone who passed by and the Torah describes that was involved in doing doing kindness and mha says look it's true you did but you only did it for people who were aelan who were uncircumcised they weren't Jewish I placed my focus into the Jewish people to those who are M those are circumcised those who are on a higher spiritual level I made sure that I didn't do my kindness for I I focused my kindness on those were the most had the most potential interesting idea says I'm greater than mosha why as I was willing to die for hasem and I saw Hashem there on the on as I lied there excuse me on and says look it's true that you did that but when you saw Hashem as it were so your eyes were weakened when you saw hem you were willing to die for hem this is how I understand what the is saying you were willing to die for hem but I was ready to live for hem toach allowed to live for hem and mhu when he saw the his face was shining his eyes didn't get weak as we saw before that's says to MOS I'm greater than you I was able to fight with the angels and I won to fight with an angel the angel of of asov and I won and mha says look you f with an angel down here on Earth okay he's in your territory but I went up to the heavens and I fought with them up in the heavens you as I understand what the m is saying you fought with an angel of a human being I was fighting to get the Torah and bring the Torah down and I fought against all the hosts of the heavens who spiritually wanted to hold back the spiritual power of the T that shouldn't be brought down to the Earth but I brought it down to the Earth says many many are those who many girls have become sucessful successful you Moshe rise above them all and that's why he's the one since he's the one who was higher than them all we he's the one who can bless the Jewish people so it comes out an amazing thingu we see over and over again he wasn't he didn't just care about himself he was completely selfless he was the UN all he cared about was that Hashem manifest in the world that the Jewish people be forgiven that the Jewish people have blessings he wanted to plant that seed he wanted to take all that he accomplished all that he accomplished in his 120 years and he wanted to give the Jewish people an opportunity to be able toter to be able to grow further to take the seeds that he receives from Hashem he wanted them to have that and that's what blessings really are think about it what are blessings blessings are you see an example of says about that there's a triple blessing you have enough in the sixth year for sixth seventh and eighth Year blessings are about going forward you have all that you need the seeds are planted you've got it all prepared for you says it's the seventh day everything is it's blessed because everything is prepared and ready and now you just enjoy what you have I spoke about in the Mia podcast I mentioned numerous times that you have a six month Series going from Nissan then you have TI is the seventh month which is the month we're now which is the culmination of that and we we receive all the blessings and everything that's gone on until now we begin a new year and it's the beginning of this next set of six but that's the blessings the blessings have to do with everything that's happened until now it's it's available and ready for our use and and we're going to use it in the coming year but how does it work how do we experience the blessings it was yose who cared about his brothers who was a leader who was involved in facilitating all that the Jewish people needed physically spiritually that's who brings down the blessings to the degree that we are involved in facilitation caring about others caring about those around us caring about our communities caring about our people caring about am Isel and Israel and everywhere else when we focus on those blessings so it's and it's we help bring about blessings for others and we are experien blessings as well I want to bless you and ask you to to bless me should help us that we should be able to see those blessings to pray on behalf of others and experience the blessings an amazing year of success and victory for all of thank you so much for listening have an amazinger this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit w ww. arold wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]