Latest / The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke / Parshas Pinchas: THE HARDEST JOB IN THE WORLD
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: There are some pretty terrible jobs out there, some pretty dangerous jobs, some exhausting, terrifying and dangerous jobs.
- 0:12Speaker 1: You could be a roofer, work with low pay, long hours and the burning hot sun, not to mention one slip and could spell doom.
- 0:25Speaker 1: You could work as a detective and become an explosive diffuser expert, where literally cut the wrong wire and, kaboom, maybe, become a pilot.
- 0:40Speaker 1: While you get paid very handsomely, you're never staying in one city for a long period of time.
- 0:47Speaker 1: It's exhausting.
- 0:48Speaker 1: How about become the terrible job of a stunt actor, where you fill in for the main actor to do all the dirty work, where I came up with a slogan for the stunt actor hiring agency Sign up here.
- 1:03Speaker 1: Where it's all the pain and no fame.
- 1:06Speaker 1: But all of these jobs, all of these exhausting and dirty jobs are like?
- 1:16Speaker 1: But child's play, preschool play, compared to the hardest job known to mankind, it isn't even a question.
- 1:27Speaker 1: It isn't hotly debated.
- 1:31Speaker 1: There's one job that is mankind.
- 1:34Speaker 1: What is this job, you ask?
- 1:37Speaker 1: Well, it's to follow behind Moshe Rabbeinu and to be the leader of the Jewish people.
- 1:54Speaker 1: For just think about it.
- 1:55Speaker 1: In our parashah, we're told Moshe asked for a successor and the credentials, or at least what Moshe asked for a successor and the credentials or at least what Moshe had, that you're going to be filling his shoes.
- 2:09Speaker 1: So just make sure that when you want to be nominated you might be compared to Moshe.
- 2:15Speaker 1: You're going to have to maybe fight with angels.
- 2:18Speaker 1: Convince them that the Torah is not for them and make sure that the Jews get the Torah, them that the Torah is not for them and make sure that the Jews get the Torah.
- 2:27Speaker 1: You may have to intercede for the nations or on the nation's behalf to make sure that there isn't absolute annihilation.
- 2:32Speaker 1: You may have to threaten God, so to speak, that I don't want to have my name written in the Torah for certain reasons.
- 2:40Speaker 1: You may have to waltz right in to the most powerful man in all of the world's inner sanctum and demand that he let thy people go.
- 2:50Speaker 1: You may have to split oceans and seas and then guide people through to the other side, safely, saving the chosen nation repeatedly.
- 3:03Speaker 1: It's all there, part of Moshe's legacy and what you will have to fill in for once, moshe now is hanging up the cleats.
- 3:15Speaker 1: Can you do this?
- 3:17Speaker 1: Who can?
- 3:19Speaker 1: How could anyone possibly fill Moshe Rabbeinu's shoes?
- 3:23Speaker 1: But that's one of the questions conundrums, quagmires that needs to be answered in our Parsha you have to have vital leadership skills and this week on the weekly Parsha podcast, we will explore who was chosen, why he was chosen, and then ponder how we can mimic the next great Jewish leader, the new chosen one, and what unique skills he acquired, and how we can foster similar skills to hey, maybe become successful and kind of like the ultimate chosen one, vaidaber Moshe El Hashem.
- 4:14Speaker 1: Leimar is where we begin.
- 4:15Speaker 1: Parshas Pinchas.
- 4:16Speaker 1: Welcome in Very unique posse here.
- 4:19Speaker 1: Just to kick things off, moses spoke to Hashem saying the actual opposite.
- 4:23Speaker 1: Of the most famous and frequented verses in all of Torah is the classic V'idaber Hashem El Moshe L'Amor, cited more than 70 times throughout the Pentateuch.
- 4:34Speaker 1: But here we have, when Moses spoke to Hashem saying V'idaber Moshe Interesting I'm not sure if it's ever said again in the Torah, but a very unique passage.
- 4:41Speaker 1: What is it that Moshe knocked on Hashem's door?
- 4:44Speaker 1: To ask him who's next?
- 4:59Speaker 1: Who should be appointed to be the president over the community, the new leader?
- 5:06Speaker 1: You must be able to go before them and come before them.
- 5:09Speaker 1: You shall be in charge of the community, of Hashem's people, so that they shouldn't God forbid be like a sheep or sheeps without a shepherd.
- 5:22Speaker 1: Here it is.
- 5:25Speaker 1: We have all the nominees, everyone's lined up.
- 5:29Speaker 1: Hashem was asked by Moshe Rabbeinu who is to be the next leader of the Jewish people.
- 5:39Speaker 1: The answer, definitively and immediately, by HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
- 5:48Speaker 1: Take Yehoshua Joshua, the son of Nun, for he is an inspired man, inspired prophetically, inspired spiritually, and then lay your hands upon him, invest with him some of your authority, give him smicha, anoint him, knight him.
- 6:16Speaker 1: Happy coronation day for Yeshua as to be the filler of your shoes.
- 6:22Speaker 1: Why, I ask you, so many great candidates, those hosting rallies, those lobbying, those with the knowledge of Torah, those with perfect mitos, those that were good spies, those that stood up for righteousness, those that learned God's Torah beautifully, all in the desert?
- 6:51Speaker 1: So many adequate candidates?
- 6:53Speaker 1: Who is Yehoshua the son of Nun, and what midos did he have, that he was hand-picked, hand-selected by the Almighty to be the filler for Moshe Rabbeinu, the substitute teacher, if you will.
- 7:14Speaker 1: B'mid Barabbah tells us the backstory, the subtext.
- 7:16Speaker 1: It tells us what we need to know.
- 7:18Speaker 1: The Medrash points out, by an inference of the word may the God of the spirits of all flesh appoint a man, the word Yifko.
- 7:24Speaker 1: The Medrash is going on that.
- 7:29Speaker 1: The backstory that's going on here is why is it that Moshe Rabbeinu at this moment is even trying to hire a successor.
- 7:35Speaker 1: Does he know he's going to die?
- 7:36Speaker 1: Is it time just to retire?
- 7:39Speaker 1: God forbid.
- 7:41Speaker 1: The Medrash says.
- 7:43Speaker 1: Well, we just finished off with the storyline, the narrative, the tale about the, the daughters who are left without a father, without any inheritance of the land.
- 7:54Speaker 1: But they wanted a piece of the pie and they said, moshe, we don't have a father, so what are we to inherit?
- 8:03Speaker 1: It's not fair.
- 8:05Speaker 1: So eventually Moshe buzzed, hakadosh Baruch Hu brought the question right to Hashem.
- 8:13Speaker 1: He got the answer.
- 8:13Speaker 1: He told the people, he told the daughters of Tzalavcha that they were to receive a portion of the land.
- 8:19Speaker 1: We get the mitzvah and the entire delineated exacting commandments of nachalah of inheritance.
- 8:25Speaker 1: But the mentor says that Moshe saw from here that it's interesting.
- 8:29Speaker 1: Somebody who is looking for a piece of something can inherit based on his father.
- 8:41Speaker 1: Moshe saw that at this moment it must be the proper time for me to dive in and ask of Hashem that, hey, maybe my kids should become Sitting in the big office chair taking my spot.
- 8:57Speaker 1: They should be the leaders.
- 8:59Speaker 1: Maybe it's my time to step down and give over the stellar To let my son become the Rebbe.
- 9:08Speaker 1: It was this that prompted Moshe to ask Maybe it's time to switch, to have a changing of the guard.
- 9:11Speaker 1: To which Hashem responded the Holy One, blessed be.
- 9:16Speaker 1: He, told Moshe Rabbeinu that the guardian of a fig tree will eat its fruit.
- 9:21Speaker 1: Apostlic in Mishle 2718.
- 9:23Speaker 1: That, noitzerteina yoichal pirio, you know who fulfills this.
- 9:29Speaker 1: You know who's the proper candidate.
- 9:30Speaker 1: It is Yehoshua, the son of Nun.
- 9:34Speaker 1: He is the one who watches the fig tree and, as the Malbim tells us on the apostlic, a fig tree is very unique.
- 9:41Speaker 1: It needs constant watching, constant tending to it.
- 9:45Speaker 1: Every fig ripens at an exactly different time, so you can never just harvest it once a year, but constantly watering and tending to it and making sure that the worms don't get to it.
- 9:58Speaker 1: See the ma'albim there, it's beautiful.
- 10:00Speaker 1: Neitzer te'ena yoichal pirio, who is that and who tends to the holy Torah that is compared to a fig tree?
- 10:09Speaker 1: It is Yeshua ben Nun.
- 10:12Speaker 1: What did he do, says the Mejush?
- 10:15Speaker 1: How did he tend to Torah?
- 10:17Speaker 1: Well, he served you extensively, he accorded you great honor.
- 10:24Speaker 1: He would awake early in the morning and stay late in the house of study, late at yeshiva, late into the night studying and wait for the big kicker.
- 10:32Speaker 1: You know what Yeshua would do.
- 10:35Speaker 1: Quote he would arrange the chairs for study in the morning and spread the tablecloths for study, because he served you with all of his might, he is worthy of serving Israel and he will not be deprived of his due reward.
- 10:54Speaker 1: Neitzer te'enu yoichal periach, take Yehoshua ben nun, because he arises early and stays late and sets up the chairs for study.
- 11:05Speaker 1: That's the reason.
- 11:15Speaker 1: Reb Reuven Grisovsky, the Holy Son-in-Law of the Birch Hashmul Rav Baruch Ber, wants to know why is this the reason, with all of the great Lamdanim, with all of the Birch Hashmur of Baruch Ber, wants to know why is this the reason, with all of the great Lamdanim, with all of the great diligent scholars, with all of the tremendously humble folk in the desert, why is it that arranging of the study hall and straightening of the chairs and making sure that somebody put a shekel in the AC, making sure that the Gemaras are all bound and ready for study, why is it that?
- 11:44Speaker 1: That is the make it or break it and the job requirements to be elected by a Kaddish, baruch Hu?
- 11:54Speaker 1: And explaining this Rav Ruven, he puts down such a powerful Yesod.
- 12:02Speaker 1: That begins with an insight from last week's parasha when he points out that that, bilam, he was trying to curse the Hebrews.
- 12:13Speaker 1: He raised his eyes and he saw they were encamped.
- 12:18Speaker 1: They were organized in their communities, tribe by tribe.
- 12:21Speaker 1: Rashi points out.
- 12:22Speaker 1: What did he exactly see, says Rashi?
- 12:24Speaker 1: He saw quoting.
- 12:25Speaker 1: What did he exactly see, says Rashi, he saw, quoting a Gemara from Bava Basra.
- 12:30Speaker 1: Balaam saw that the Jewish people were arranged in their communities, tribe by tribe, dwelling by themselves, not intermingling with another.
- 12:35Speaker 1: He saw that the entrances of their tents were not precisely facing each other so that they could not peer into each other's tent.
- 12:44Speaker 1: I'm inserting this now lest there be some problem of a lack of tznias properness there wouldn't be interspouse, mingling or protected from that, protected from any missteps, ensuring the success of Hashem's Torah.
- 13:06Speaker 1: Reuven points out that, from here, balaam was blown away, absolutely floored.
- 13:12Speaker 1: What is it that he saw?
- 13:14Speaker 1: What is it that actually led and the Pesach says this quite literally that led towards V'hi'alavruach Elohim?
- 13:21Speaker 1: What led towards, all of a sudden divine spirit?
- 13:23Speaker 1: Because, not like the Jewish people didn't sin, but because Bilaam was blown away by the fact that somebody would set themselves up in a way that he is so precise, he wants so badly to guarantee success, that the way he builds his community, he can't even see another male or another female from a different marriage.
- 13:52Speaker 1: That's someone else's wife, that's someone else's husband.
- 13:55Speaker 1: They went so far.
- 13:57Speaker 1: They're so particular about making sure that they get every little jot and tittle of the mitzvah, making sure that they don't even look at something.
- 14:04Speaker 1: Maybe they'll come as to encroaching upon immorality.
- 14:09Speaker 1: No, let's build communities in our houses, in our structures, our developments, in unique ways.
- 14:14Speaker 1: That's what Bilaam was blown away by, says Reb Ruvim Gerzovsky.
- 14:21Speaker 1: A mensch is avodah if he wants the shechina to dwell upon him.
- 14:25Speaker 1: And what Hashem looks to in godless is a person who sets himself up for success, a person who organizes his affairs to guarantee hatzlacha in his avodah, his affairs to guarantee Hatzlacha in his Avodah Hashem, he makes all the necessary arrangements to ensure protection from sin.
- 14:52Speaker 1: That is the mensch who has Vatiyah lavruach Elohim, and that is the man who Bilaam finds to be unfathomable.
- 15:03Speaker 1: Reuven leaps into this incredible proof to this idea about, when you think about it, this idea of protecting yourself from sin Before we get back to Yeshua, he says.
- 15:18Speaker 1: It's interesting to note that at the high point of the year, on Rosh Hashanah, the Yom Teruah, the second day, we read all about the Akedah, this epic episode the binding of Isaac Prepare to slaughter the son, the ultimate sacrificing of one's own will for the sake of Hashem.
- 15:49Speaker 1: This moment was so powerful that we reference it, we read about it and constantly, during Davani and Yom Kippur, we say to Hashem, please forgive me that you should recall the Zechus of the Akedah, the Akedah, the Vayah code, yitzchak Beno.
- 16:06Speaker 1: That's always what we reference.
- 16:08Speaker 1: You look at it, you'll see it in the liturgy.
- 16:10Speaker 1: But why?
- 16:12Speaker 1: What should be recalled is the.
- 16:14Speaker 1: You went ahead and sent his hand Vayishlach esayad, vayishlach avrohom esyodoy v'ikach esamach elif L'shchot es.
- 16:24Speaker 1: It should be remembered.
- 16:26Speaker 1: It should be remembered.
- 16:31Speaker 1: It should be remembered that he went with alacrity.
- 16:33Speaker 1: It should be remembered all these different things.
- 16:35Speaker 1: But Rabbi Rubin points out that the Akedah, the, and he bound his son, is what we reference, because the ensuring of the success, the setting up, the preparation, the guaranteeing of one's fulfilling of the Almighty's requests, that is what we care about in Judaism.
- 16:58Speaker 1: The v'ya'akod and he bound his son's hands, that's what we reference.
- 17:08Speaker 1: Our forefather, who organized, laid out his son in a way that he was scared lest I slaughter my son and there be some sort of disqualification in the Shchita.
- 17:23Speaker 1: I don't want him to move, I want to do it perfectly that the akedah, the entire story, is what we draw upon to save ourselves on the day of judgment and to remind ourselves, stay inspired on the Yom Trua on the day of Rosh Hashanah, the head of the year.
- 17:42Speaker 1: The preparation for success, the ensuring of fulfillment of God's will and the guaranteeing that one will not sin, that is what Yehoshua had and that says the holy.
- 17:59Speaker 1: Reproving is what is meant by Neitzar te'ina yoich alpirio.
- 18:04Speaker 1: Hashem points not to one's question-asking ability, not to one's study capabilities, not to one's diligence, not to his alacrity, not to his bekiahs, not to his ian, not to his sharpness of mind, but to one thing, and it is the arising early and organizing the chairs, the smoothing of the tablecloths, the preparation for success.
- 18:29Speaker 1: That's a leader, the one who sees what needs to be done to ensure hatzlacha for his people.
- 18:37Speaker 1: That's the person, the tender to the fig tree, he is the one who should be the leader of the Jewish people, noitzertein a yoichal pirio.
- 18:45Speaker 1: It's a powerful, powerful point, because he who knows this knows that success and failure is really just an outcome of how one prepares himself.
- 19:01Speaker 1: The Torah study is very much going to just be a product of, if you were Masadur the Safsolim and you were.
- 19:13Speaker 1: Pyrrhus, esamach, salos and Balaam knew this, ladies and gentlemen.
- 19:18Speaker 1: He knew that what the Jewish people were so brilliant at was ensuring success.
- 19:25Speaker 1: He saw that we were so far ahead of any possible sin that we organized our communities, not Pesach to Pesach, but a way.
- 19:51Speaker 1: You can't just curse them, you can't just attack them, but you need to beat them by beating the steps before, by wrecking, says the Medrash, tanchuma, where they cannot ensure success.
- 20:08Speaker 1: Moons before an even mitzvah or sin is to be fulfilled, in the preparation stages, the organizing stages.
- 20:18Speaker 1: That's where you need to get them.
- 20:20Speaker 1: And who did he get us?
- 20:22Speaker 1: Mejertan Chuma, simeon Chess.
- 20:28Speaker 1: How was it that Balak was finally able to bring down the fortresses and the impenetrable force fields around the Jewish people?
- 20:37Speaker 1: The men began to cohabit, to stray after the daughters of Moab.
- 20:48Speaker 1: How is it that it happened?
- 20:50Speaker 1: I can't even read to you the Medrash because it's too graphic.
- 20:51Speaker 1: Stray after the daughters of Moab.
- 20:51Speaker 1: How is it that it happened?
- 20:51Speaker 1: I can't even read to you the medrash because it's too graphic.
- 20:56Speaker 1: But the very beginning of the medrash tells how, in order to get the people just to even come close to sin, the medrash says he set up old women out in the marketplaces and he had them offering super cheap goods.
- 21:30Speaker 1: And the old Safda would say I have this incredible Italian wool Free gold giveaway.
- 21:35Speaker 1: Just take it, just come here and sign your name.
- 21:41Speaker 1: Eventually they'd bring him inside and before they signed their name, the softo would step out.
- 21:48Speaker 1: Bring in a backup who would feed meat and wine, encourage all different types of free things, giveaways, giveaways, until eventually a person would become so foolish, so taken with his passion, that he would end up doing really, really stupid things and even bowing down to Avodah Zarah in the only way.
- 22:13Speaker 1: This was ever possible.
- 22:14Speaker 1: But v'tekravna l'am leziv chayel ha'ayam.
- 22:17Speaker 1: For Jews to do idolatry was if you set up an old safta handing out free gold because you need to ensure that they can't protect themselves.
- 22:30Speaker 1: You have to make sure that they can't protect themselves.
- 22:32Speaker 1: You have to make sure that they don't have their filters on.
- 22:34Speaker 1: You have to make sure that they cannot set up their force fields, otherwise we are doomed.
- 22:40Speaker 1: Balaam knew this.
- 22:45Speaker 1: He saw this.
- 22:46Speaker 1: Henceforth, 24,000 lost their lives Because the Gedarim the necessary precautions were melted.
- 22:56Speaker 1: He learned how to have the Jews sidestep their protective fences.
- 23:02Speaker 1: That's how you're going to get them In our own mitzvos.
- 23:10Speaker 1: Adherence and sin prevention.
- 23:13Speaker 1: This is it it's all about to become emotional, to become a melch, to become a leader, to become someone who has self-control.
- 23:25Speaker 1: What is it that Hashem looks to?
- 23:28Speaker 1: He looks to Yeshua because he arises early and ensures success in his study.
- 23:34Speaker 1: He arises early and ensures success in the whole study hall.
- 23:40Speaker 1: He makes sure that the coffee is brewed, the AC is paid for and the lights are working.
- 23:49Speaker 1: And to get very, very brutally honest and super practical in our lives, in our Avaita Hashem, sometimes we jump right in to try to have success in our learning.
- 24:03Speaker 1: We believe that we're really, really giving it our all, but the Gemara's not working, it's not going.
- 24:07Speaker 1: Or my Tzfila I'm trying, the Gemara is not working, it's not going.
- 24:10Speaker 1: Or my tefillah I'm trying but it's not working.
- 24:13Speaker 1: But we forget that we have to be in the sadr as a safsala and we have to organize ourselves before If you want to see success in our tefillah and in our Torah.
- 24:24Speaker 1: Sometimes we have to be real with ourselves that we don't really know what the words mean in tefillah.
- 24:32Speaker 1: Maybe it will be more emotional and meaningful if I knew what the words meant.
- 24:38Speaker 1: Maybe, if I was, I got myself a with a set spot every single time, with a bit of an organized mind, with proper preparations.
- 24:48Speaker 1: I used the laboratory before and I silenced my cell phone and I really then took the steps forward of Hashem's Tafasai Tiftach.
- 24:55Speaker 1: Maybe, and most likely yes, probably then one will witness the success of Neitzar Te'ena, yoichal Pirya and having some real, devoted, pleasurable Torah study and tefillah With the coffee in the belly.
- 25:12Speaker 1: The Gemara opened up to the right page.
- 25:14Speaker 1: He knows what tractate he's studying.
- 25:16Speaker 1: He knows he's even spent some time thinking about what these Aramaic words mean.
- 25:20Speaker 1: He has an Aramaic dictionary with him.
- 25:23Speaker 1: He isn't running on five hours of sleep.
- 25:27Speaker 1: That's what it means to arrange the study all and prepare yourself for success.
- 25:32Speaker 1: He knows that he doesn't need to be like one of the folk that has to quickly look away from something that's immoral, that's a pop-up on a screen that is totally indecent and anti-Torah.
- 25:46Speaker 1: But he's already prepared himself for success because he's ensured that his device has absolutely no possible way of even having one of those indecent pop-ups.
- 26:00Speaker 1: I actually know of a Yehoshua come to think of it Somebody who ensures success.
- 26:06Speaker 1: He's a fellow yeshiva bachar.
- 26:08Speaker 1: He's about 27, 28.
- 26:10Speaker 1: He's a bit yeshiva bachar.
- 26:11Speaker 1: He's about 27, 28.
- 26:12Speaker 1: He's a bit of an entrepreneur.
- 26:13Speaker 1: He got himself a nice job in a high-rise office in Manhattan, at least back when Manhattan was the center of the business world.
- 26:23Speaker 1: And in commuting to and from his house in Lakewood to his office in the city he would normally take the Lincoln Tunnel, but eventually I don't.
- 26:30Speaker 1: He would normally take the Lincoln Tunnel, but eventually I don't know if you can envision the Lincoln Tunnel.
- 26:35Speaker 1: But all these lanes and easy pass lanes, toll plaza lanes come together to just two lanes.
- 26:41Speaker 1: Maybe it's three or four.
- 26:42Speaker 1: But there's this big billboard on top.
- 26:44Speaker 1: And at one time the fellow said that there was a massive, indecent, highly inappropriate billboard that was plastered above the tunnel that it would make him have to literally close his eyes or put his head down, which isn't very good for driving.
- 27:00Speaker 1: But what to do lest he do something that God doesn't want?
- 27:05Speaker 1: Go against his father's will in heaven?
- 27:09Speaker 1: Do you know what he does?
- 27:11Speaker 1: This Yehoshua fellow, this Neitzer, teinah Yoichel, pirio, masad El Tafsaf, solomon fellow, he arises 20 minutes early and takes a different route into the city, so he doesn't have to even put himself in that place of sakana of even possible failure.
- 27:30Speaker 1: That's one uupping bilam that's living like a Yehoshua that is becoming the next melech and filling in for the shoes of Maisha Rabbeinu.
- 27:42Speaker 1: Reb Ruvain tells us Yehoshua was selected because he organized, prepared himself to ensure success in his Zavai Desh Hashem, making sure that even at the biggest level, ensuring the success of the entire study hall, and therefore he should be chosen to ensure the success of the entire assembly of Israel.
- 28:07Speaker 1: That's this week's weekly Parsha podcast.
- 28:08Speaker 1: The takeaway Don't put yourself in a makam sakana.
- 28:18Speaker 1: Take care of possible sins that may arise and protect against them moons before the opportunity will present itself.
- 28:24Speaker 1: Guarantee yourself success by going to sleep on time.
- 28:29Speaker 1: Get yourself a chavrusa, a study partner that you know will be beneficial for your study.
- 28:36Speaker 1: Organize your affairs and your tefillah that you have a spot that you can pray properly to the Almighty.
- 28:44Speaker 1: That's who was chosen, and way harder than all those impossible jobs we spoke about, there is somebody that can bravely, heroically, fill in for Moshe Rabbeinu and become the successor of his.
- 29:05Speaker 1: It's the great Yeshua, because he knows the secret.
- 29:08Speaker 1: He knows that when you're Masad Resaf, saf Solomon, you guarantee success and you ensure success and you ensure fulfillment of Hashem's will by arising early and staying late.
- 29:18Speaker 1: You know the secret and you're the perfect man for this job.