Shabbos Chazon - Parshas Devarim: The Overlooked Key to Triumphant Success

Welcome in to the weekly Parshah podcast as we embark on this journey together of safe air diva rim the English translation, one of my favorite words due to dranomy in which we will be privy to Perhaps the greatest Drusher ever given, someone who, the Sheena, the Almighty's presence, would speak from his esophagus. Every word of safe air diva rim divine. And it's interesting to pick up and notice on which episodes Moshe Rabbeinu chose to highlight, which he chose to go into depth and Be mevare, clarify, clal Yisrael's actions, to give subtle rebuke Sometimes not so subtle rebuke special encouragement. We're going to have the handing off of the baton from the mantle of leadership being given from Moshe Rabbeinu to his main disciple, yaheshua. We're going to Be able to feel the emotion of Moshe Rabbeinu and Mirza Hashem and the Parshos of Eschanon, akev and Re'eg, in which we're going to hear the Parshos of Shema and what Hashem truly asks from us. And you know, it's not bad for someone who described himself as being tongue-tied when he was just Traveling to go speak to paro in his house. Chazal say that Moshe Rabbeinu had a Khoevid pay at a heavy mouth, whatever that means some sort of speech impediment. But here there is very little impediment, there is clarity, and it is the safer that the altar of Kelm, speaking of savor Devarim here, that the altar of Kelm called the book of Musar Musarim the ultimate and pinnacle book of Musar. And here this week, at the beginning of savor Devarim, we have one of those prime examples of one of the lessons that Rabiruchim revisited every year, a lesson that is what the Ram Bomb calls, what the fools overlook and what the scholars know. And it's an idea that if we can bring to life, if, with the Almighty's help, we can clarify the topic, we can really try to Take it from koach to poil. Well then the fruits will then, god willing, be bursting forth. And Without further ado, let us jump in. Savor Devarim begins with five psukim that seemed to not really stick out any more than a White shirt, black pants, wearing yeshiva Bachar in the middle of base Medjish, gava on a Thursday afternoon, which is to say that it shouldn't and doesn't stick out very much at all. It's psukim all about Moshe Rabbeinu giving them, giving the Jewish people, telling his flock, his holy flock, about Different places that they went, different places that they wandered in the wilderness. A la had Devarim, these are the words I shared. Debar, my shell call Israel, but a very hard about me, bar bar of a Molso of pain, part on been who been Tyvella, will all of them the chatzir eyes, vedeez a hub? These are the words that Moshe spoke to all of Israel On the other side of the Jordan, concerning the wilderness, concerning the Aravah opposite of the Sea of Reeds, pusk Bay's, 11 days from Choyrave, by the way of Mount Sayyar to Kaddish Barnea. But when you hear what Rashi has to say, when you read the Gimmaras, when you see all of their reshining, you'll see that there is such depth here. And in fact these Psukim are not even an introduction to the Seifer. They are perhaps the thesis statement for all of Seifer Devartim. Each word so weighty, each word veiled rebuke, hidden criticism. It's a master class in how to give tochacha, to give rebuke to someone. Moshe Rabbeinu has three different tanaim, three different stipulations that he must make sure that he takes care of before he mentions anything that may be considered critique. And just to give you a flavor of what the veiled critique was, when the Pusuk says it was b'a midbar, b'a ravah, molsof bein puran, obein tovel, ve'lavon, ve'chatsi roz ve'dizahov ra'shi says, what does it mean? B'a midbar? Moshe was referring to the sins done when they may have got angry in the midbar. We want to have more food. We want to go back to Egypt. B'a ravah was a mentioning of Beshbil ha'a ravah, shachatu b'bal pa'ar, the sins of the idolatry and the sins that we did in Shetim and in Arvosh Moab. And when Moshe referenced the reeds, the molsof the sea of reeds, that was on the fact. That was critique there. For when the Jewish people said is there no graves? Are there no graves for us to be buried back in Egypt? Complaining b'in puranu, b'in ta'i b'a v'lavon, that was when the Jewish people said ha'i b'i chan al hadvahum, sh'in nafu al hamun, that they wanted not mon, they wanted more food, and it was really referring to love on, which is white, and the mon was white. So here we see how the hidden messages and how Moshe subtly was able to deliver his points, and the one we will focus on today is the last two words of the first pasak of divah, moshe told them. And lastly, the di z'ahuv. And when we went, when we were in, regarding the episode of di z'ahuv says Rashi, and every word is of utmost importance Ho'i chan al ha'egel. He was giving them rebuke about the episode of the golden calf. It seems to be living in the fact that Moshe referenced gold z'ahuv Sh'ah'u'su. And why did the Jewish people do this sin? They did it by Sh'vil rov z'ahuv, because of the surplus of gold, sh'ah'u al ham that they had. Sh'enemar, as the verse says in Hose'a 2.10, ve kesef, herbase and silver, ay increased law for them. The z'ahuv and gold asu l'aba'al, and gold they made into, they fashioned into an idol. Now here we go, let us build this idea. So Moshe Rabbeinu is referencing the sin of the golden calf and there's a Gemara in Brachas, daf 32a, where the Gemara tells us that Moshe Rabbeinu was. He ti'ach edivar im kalpeh ma'ila. Moshe Rabbeinu would throw his words up to heaven, he would pray for the Jewish people to save them and he told Hashem ve'omar ve di z'ahuv, it's enough gold, but sh've'al kesef e'zav sh'ahoshvat ol'ahem li Yisrael ad sh'ahumru da'ay. This is at the moment in time when Haqqad Sh'baruch was ready to annihilate the Jewish people because of their sin of the golden calf and Moshe Rabbeinu went to bat for the Jewish people and he fought back with Hashem and he said Hashem, don't destroy them. And you know why? Because it wasn't the Jewish people's fault that we sinned with the golden calf. You know what he said, hashem, it's your fault that this happened, because you gave them gold when they were at the banks of the river, when the Egyptian had died, and you gave the Jewish people access to all of their gold. And as they amassed such gold, such silver, such wealth, who g'aram you caused Sh'asu Esha'egel to do this sin? Haqqad Sh'baruch? Listen to Moshe. The Jewish people were saved. There's actually a famous idea here from Rev Desler about having a great person go to bat for the Jewish people, but that's neither here nor there. But there's something even greater than this. These words v'dizahav that saved the Jewish people, that there's enough gold, meaning it's not our fault, hashem, it's just we had too much, we were too rich. And what else was expected? Well, there's a medrash. The medrash says that there is a parable, that this episode can be likened to Moshe Lemelech. This is a parable of a king, because all good Jewish Michelin normally seemed to have a king. Moshe Lemelech, shehirchit es benoh, a father, a king that rinsed off his son. He cleaned up his young son, the hill of Beeshu and he bought him this fancy tuxedo. He got him all dressed up. Begod him, kno him in beautiful clothes, the echeluhu. He fed him, he fattened him up, he made him full and feel very satiated. The hishkuhu gave him to drink v'tolo loikis bitzavaroh and put money around his neck. In modern times that can be likened to a black credit card, an unlimited limit. You can buy anything that you want. And he took his son, the emidu lifne pesach beis hazoineth, and he put him right outside on the steps of the house of the harlots, as if to say leave him on the strip in lost vegas. Ma ya'ase haben shalom yecheta. What should the son do? That he should not sin? Rau'anu mik'an. We see something absolutely astonishing from here. When the chazal seek to define a sin, to get into why it happened the agel hazov, why did the sin happen? We see a yasoid and a chidish gado. It's not like we normally think that the sin happened, for we made a bad decision, poor judgment, no, but it was all because we were showered, we were bathed, we were fed, we drank, we had the money and the sin afterwards, the actual outcome of the event, the agel hazov, the idolatry that seems to happen. Later on, it's beged there. It's as if ma ya'ase haben shalom yecheta. Well, what do you expect from the kid? What should the child do? That he should not sin. And this is what Moshe Rabbeinu told Hashem to get the Jewish people off the hook. They were so rich, they had so much gold. Chazal, with their glasses, with their ruchniistic glasses, they show us the ickr sibas hachet. What really caused the sin was much time before the actual occurrence of the sin. It was old rochok, harbem hachet, and the sin was actually done with things that were entirely mutter. Chazal had a bigger problem with the eating and the drinking and the unlimited credit card. That's where they focused their attention, and even more Bowing down to idols and dancing horas around a golden calf. The sin Medi dimimela. That's just an outcome of what's already happened. That's beged there. Ma ya'ase haben shalom yecheta Ha See, this is the concept for today. This is the idea that is overlooked. Sin and mitzvos they have a haschala. There's a beginning, there's a reason why there's a hachana, there's an introduction and where most individuals, when they want to embark on something they want to do, a mitzvah they God forbid fall into sin. The attention is on the actual item, the mitzvah, the avairah, the sin, whatever it is, but the truth. Chazal cared much more about the haschala of it. What was the action that led this to be the outcome of what transpired? Sez rabiru Ha rei bohem toli kol ikr avaitis ha'odam. We see the chazal. They spend all of their time highlighting the introduction. It is therefore the first step. Therefore, it is our avoda to be involved. La haz here To be very scrupulous, be haschalos with our first step, with the beginning, the haq damos in our introductions. And what is the lead up to an event? A sheh lechatoyim to sins? The truth, often the haschola, the haschola of a sin, is something that's totally mutter. The shower seems to be worse in Chazal's eyes than the dancing around the Iglazah. And listen to this Ram Ba'am in Moira Nivuhim. You'll find it in the first Shahr in Lamed Daled that there is one essential or most common reason that people do not acquire wisdom. Quote Shachas men hasibos shemonahas es rovah olam me hasagas hachachma. This is one of the reasons that most of the world is held back from acquiring wisdom. Hu mashech chasar lahem ha'akdamos. They are missing the prerequisites. They are missing the haschola, the serichos that are needed. Lahas agas hachachma to understand wisdom. Qu'ha chachama for wisdom. Ka liknoisa is very easy to acquire, ach sarech mikodem liknos. Yet before this, one must acquire ha'akdamos. It's first things, it's introductions. Vahachasilam the fools, soinim ha'akdamos. They hate the first things, they hate all the paperwork. At the beginning. They write to me they want raqas. Ha'akar, give me the main stuff, I want the real hachma. They jump right in In the world of hachma, in the world of mitzvos. There are introductions, there are haschalos. The haschola is what holds the key. It's as if we're trying to run before we walk. You're trying to do something that's pushoot is obviously impossible without the necessary introduction and beginning. Ha'ayyoyt silanu, it comes out from here. Mizey y'shoid gudl. We have a tremendous foundational and principal idea in our service to the Almighty beinyan on the topic of haschola, of the initial step, the beginning of anything She'ikur ha'akol tolui ach verak bahaschola. The entire thing is totally dependent on our haschola, on the introduction needed, on the first step needed for this event to be a success, and whether it's for good or whether it's for bad and you should know that every single mitzvah has a haschola. We tend to think, or kind of, we just get stuck in the lull of our routines, where it's one thing leads into the next. We daban asachas, we daban amenchah. We have a night-sader. We daban samariv. Oh, it's sukkah, so we do this mitzvah. Everything kind of gets kind of mashed into each other. It turns into one big chulent of mitzvahs. But each of the 613 that we have the merit to fulfill has a haschola to it, a beginning, and the haschola more important than the actual mitzvah. It's where everything lives. That's where our focus needs to be. The Mishnah, it tells us in Masecht Abbas, chapter 4, mishnah 2, have a rutzla mitzvah, kala run towards a mitzvah and Rabirah comes Medaik. And if you see the commentary there, it's so beautiful and it sings like a song that the most important thing that we can be doing is to run towards a mitzvah. That's the introduction. In fact, shulchan Aruch tells us we should be running, as we are in proximity, close to the basehack in Ashes to Shul, you should start to run. That's the introduction to the mitzvah. Think back to the times that you truly had a good Seder, a good session of Torah study, and then think about how it was that you got there. What were the initial hachonos preparations that you made for that? I know for myself that any time that I've seen any Hatslacha in Torah study I have a picture in my head that I probably. Showed up at my desk with a big fat delicious coffee, some caffeine, the AC. I made sure it was going to be good. I knew that I needed certain gemaras, so I brought them. I set them up. I made sure that I took care of any sort of something that might nag at my brain before I sat down to learn. I made sure that I would use the restroom before so it wouldn't be mevatel what I was going to try to accomplish in my learning. You get your chavrusa, you sit down like a mensh, the hachonos all there, and now you open your gemara and now let's go Amarabai. And things work out often. But then one asks themselves when they go to Yeshiva and they're running late. They drop their kids off. They're now half hour late and now, as they run in, they pour an instant coffee together. They use blue milk instead of red milk because they didn't have any time. Their chavrusa is sitting there and the chavrusa is not happy with you. As you come in, you still have a stomach ache from the amount of food that you ate the night before. And now you try to learn the gemara. Your head's all over the place because you remember that you have to book a dentist appointment and finish up some banking details. And then, when the Gamar doesn't work, you say you say it's not working, the Gamar doesn't work, I'm not enjoying this, and you close the Gamar, you go home. Nothing happened and very little amounts of progress was made in the Hasmada and Lima Natira. And why? Because there was no proper introduction, there were no Hachana, there was not sufficient Haschala and looking at this concept from the bird's eye view, truthfully, an entire Zaman, a winter Zaman, an elio Zaman, a summer Zaman, is very much based on the first couple days and weeks of the Zaman, the way you kick it off. So there's the Hachana, there's the preparation for the day one. The first week is the preparation for the three month summer Zaman. And if you show up at your Zaman bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, you get a good night's sleep. Before you set up your coffees in the place where you're going to have your coffee, you make sure that you have your water bottles, you make sure that you're ready to go in your camp, you're ready to go in your business, you're ready to go in your Zaman, anything that it is. That's going to be a lengthy undertaking, but you show up prepared, don't you think you're going to have a better chance for success, and I'll prove this to you, because I'll tell us that Kola's Kha'Los Koshos. All beginnings are hard, and don't you know that the Seine, agadol, the Yates of Har, loves to destroy the spots in which things will sprout forth beautiful, spiritual, successful fruits? Don't you think he specifically picks on the beginning, on the Haschala, because it's the most important. That's why, on day one of camps in Yeshivas and businesses, it's so hard to get anything accomplished, because Haschala is the icker Step. One is vital. This is the khokhmah from Chazal and this is what they're showing us and that the sun left all pampered on the steps of the base Hazoinus. That is exactly where we focus our attention on the Haschala, and we care very little about even the sin of the Eagle Haza'ov. They die Zahav. Too much money. It was enough gold, hashem. Therefore, forgive the Jewish people and let's get into Tfilah, for it's very apropos and fitting right now to discuss Tfilah, because really you'll see that David Amelich, shlomo Amelich and Anchik in Eszahakadol actually refer to the base Hamigdash as Kihi-Basey-Base. Tfilah, it is the house of prayer, it's the place in which we did carbonos and now that we don't have carbonos, we have prayer instituted in place of the carbonos, but clearly carbonos very interconnected with Tfilah. And now that we've lost the Harabayas, we lost the Beza Amigdas, we've lost our temples, our holy edifices, well then Tfilah probably should be a focus in our Avaidas Hashem. And when it comes to Tfilah, don't you know the Gamara and Brahos on 6B, kol Ha Khoi Veya Mokkoim L'tzphiloso, eli Kayavra, homba Ezro, that any individual who sets up a unique and special Mokkom Kavua, a place that he will daven every time that he goes to daven a certain stender, a table in the corner of the shul, a place that every day he comes to with proper preparation, already Akodesh Borch, who says that the God of Avrohom will be there to help you, to aid you, the HaKhana for Tfilah. Don't you know that? The Mishnah tells us that there were certain pious individuals that spent an hour in HaKhana for Tfilah. Hakhana is everything. If you show up to shul, you're running two minutes late and you're in the way of being haping Amenchah, haping at Tfilah. Well, you can't really expect much for your Tfilah not to go very well. But think about it if you have a davening at 7 o'clock and I'm talking to myself and you go and you have your coffee machine go off at 6.30, and then you prepare yourself, you get dressed and then you show up a bit early and you walk into shul and you find your place and you set up your Tfilah, and you set up your Talis and you stand there at your stender, at your Mokkom Kavua, ready for the chasin to begin. And now you are Hashem sifal, saith tiftah and you're opening up your mouth and you're going to daven All of this, after this beautiful sing-song of Psyukheta Zimra, of understanding the greatness, the grandeur of Akhadash Baruch in his world, don't you think that you're going to have a bit more Kavana in your Shmona Esrae? And don't you think the Hashchala in your Shmona Esrae, that first bracha is so important because of its Hashchala, because it's a beginning, the introduction, our first steps in our Tfilah, is where the entire service of Tfilah lies. It's rather simple, it's easy Kvias makum, giving yourself a makum kavua. You're already considered to have done something very special in the world of Tfilah, because the God of Avraham is already on your team and, year after year, rabiruchim would bring this idea of that sins happen because it's mayasah ben shalom yehta. What are we supposed to do? What is the child able to be blamed for. He was stuck. Everything is about this idea. Every single mitzvah, he would piece it together. One year we spoke about tzadukah, how you want to give more charity. Well, the haschalah is overlooked, it's all about. You got to be a giver, you got to understand, you got to have a good heart for you to be able to give. You want to do mitzvah as well, as it starts from before. The haschalah is the lilmoid which ends up being the lasso. Later on, everything has a step, one that is overlooked. And one year he then added to the concept. The great Mirimashkiach described how, actually, even at a good haschalah, somehow the entire action is already closed. With a good kabbalah, with a real starting, a real haschalah, the entire action is as if finished, because everything is only begeder mayasahaben shalouyehta. If you first have a proper haschalah and a beautiful and successful start, or perhaps we'll say kick off, this is it. This is the secret. If you want to have khachmah the Ramam told us you can't skip the first step. You can't skip the haschalah, the khachmah. If you want to have a good Zman, or at least even one good study session, you have to prepare for it. You can't overlook the coffee, the AC, the Gemara, the sitting down with a menschlichkeit. You want to have a good Tfilah. You want to daven like a mensch. You can't skip the waking up early and the coming on time and the setting yourself up in your Mokkoim Kavua, prepared with a haschalah to daven to Hashem. You want to give tzadukah. You have to become somebody that prepares properly and acquired a laiv taiv, a good and giving heart. This is it. You want to acquire a mitzvah. The most important thing is the haschalah, the ruts, the running, the mitzvah, kala. Run after every single mitzvah, because every action has an often overlooked, most important step, and that's called the haschalah, the beginning. This idea hopefully clarifies some things. It kind of also makes things a bit easier. We have a place to be able to focus our kohos, our strengths, and specifically in the realm of sins. I'd imagine that if somebody is caught up, ensnared in the trap of whatever it is that he can't break free of, the sin that he keeps falling prey to his Achilles heel, so to speak, well then, think about the haschalah, think about how you get involved in it, don't think about the actual sin and necessarily taking steps to repent for it. Yes, we will do that. But how can you prevent it in the future? Think about when you go to that place that leads to this, which leads to that. That's probably where Moshe Rabbeinu went on to take a neszagedayla, and chazal would have focused on because sins are together maa yaa sehaben shalou yehta Just because it seems to be prevalent, and this is what the chazal and what the rabbis have told us is the issue of this generation and where we need to put significant effort in and the sogyev technology. If a person should be trapped by the sins of the internet, the wasting of time and the perverse behaviors on display, god forbid one should see that or be stuck in it. Well then, if you are someone that has downloaded on the phone Snapchat and Instagram and Facebook and WhatsApp and this and that and I it's impossible, it's maa yaa sehaben shalou yehta Then you're not working in the right avoda. Unless you're getting rid of the reasons of the dressing and the eating and being left on the footsteps of the base of the harlots. It begins in the haschala. That's where we put our effort. That's where we stag Moshe Rabbeinu. He chose to highlight this episode, dizahov, for a reason. Chazal have put a big spotlight on the idea and clarified why things happen and how we can help ourselves to literally become prophets and see the future and where our energy should be put. And the wisest of all men, shlomo HaMelach, in Koheles. In Ecclesiastes, he declared that Toivh Acharis Dover may Rishiso, that the end of a thing is better than the beginning. But in conclusion, esat Marebe told us that the Posse can be read and translated differently. It really summarizes the entire idea. Esat Marebe said Toivh Acharis Dover, the end of something succeeds. It is only good may Rishiso Because of the beginning. When you prepare properly, when the first step, when the haschala is done with utmost care and caution and with a focus, and when you show up to Yeshiva or to Shul a couple minutes early, fully mochon umezuman, to fulfill the mitzvah, and when you see and you go back and you understand where is it that I have prepared myself to become trapped by the sins of the Yetzahara? Well then, remember may Yaseb Ben Shalom, yecheta, and only anything ever succeeds at the end if you properly prepared Haschala. The beginning is everything.