Transcript
Just for aminute, imagine that you reached such a level of clinging to G-d that Hashem is standing right opposite you, and He whispers into your ear and He says, wow, you have really found favor in My eyes. Not just you, your whole family. You know with all those shtreimels, you guys are so frum. So cute.
When I posted this picture of my family, it was like a mixed blessing for me. Because on one hand, I put so much work into it, and built a house. But it was my house. What did I do for Hashem? Did I neglect Hashem‘s house?
So Hashem says, you guys are givaldig. You know, when all those other people who are busy talking politics, running after power, money, lust. Off with their heads. Wipe them out. Start new with you. A couple years of fruitful multiply, and I’ll make you into a new nation.
How many of us would be able to resist the enticement from the Creator of the World who is telling you, you have found favor in My eyes. I want to make you into a great nation.
That was the offer that both Moshe and Noach were given. What does Noach have to do with the Golden Calf? The Zohar connects the two. Why did Hashem call the flood after Noach? He didn’t bring the flood. Noach was informed about the flood, and he focused on his family, and not the rest of the world. He could have prevented the flood.
Now, I want to tell you that the Zohar defends Noach. Noach, number one, there weren’t a lot of tzaddikim in his generation and he lived before Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. But nevertheless, Noach was not on the same level of self-sacrifice as Moshe.
Says the Zohar, this was the test of Moshe Rabbeinu. How did Moshe look through this and recognize that here is an opportunity, here is a door to higher consciousness? What was the codeword? Hanicha li. Leave Me alone, Hashem says.
Why are those words so important? Leave me alone. Rashi explains that He hinted to him, that only if he left Him alone could He destroy the Jewish People. But if Moshe wouldn’t leave Hashem alone, He couldn’t destroy the Jewish People.
Wow, big time. Moshe said the following, better I should perish rather than the Jewish People be destroyed. How did he understand this? Because Hashem whispered into his ears this codeword. I heard this from Rav Zvi Cheshin (ph), hanicha li is the gematria of mei Noach, the floodwaters of Noach.
The Zohar brings another pasuk, another verse. Moshe said, “Im ayin mecheini na,“if You don’t forgive them, wipe me out. I’d rather die. Mecheini is also theletters mei Noach, the floodwaters of Noach. And Hashem forgives them because of Moshe’s prayers. The word v’yinacheim, is the third important hint word. Three words Hanicha li, mecheini, v’yinacheim. All three spell mei Noach. In the name of Rav Zvi Cheshin. An amazing chap in the sugya of this Zohar.
So Hashem was hinting to him the whole time. You want this calamity to be called your Golden Calf? So leave Me alone. And Moshe understood right away the hint. And therefore, to the nth degree of self-sacrifice, Moshe went into high gear and started praying until he literally got sick as Chazal say on the pasuk vayechal. Vayechal is lashon tefillah, but also he literally made himself sick, he prayed so much.
We talked about the concept of the Golden Calf being a problem that’s really an opportunity. If we have the right attitude towards problems, we can recognize that they’re cosmic setups. Don’t get upset. Hashem wants to bring you to a higher level of consciousness.
So for the Jewish People, we call it, what do you do when the lights go out? For Moshe it was a whole different test. The anger of Hashem, for Moshe, is the darkness that parallels the darkness for the Jewish People. When the Jewish People lost it, they lost it because Moshe disappeared. For Moshe it was a different test, but it was still very, very hard. What do you do when Hashem says He wants to wipe out the Jewish People?
What do you do when calamities come to the world, and it appears that Hashem is not happy with the world? What made Moshe so expansive? His da’as, his ability to see the big picture. This is the headspace of the tzaddik. Better I should perish and not the Jewish People.
Let’s end with a parable from Reb Nachman. There once was a king who wanted to go hunting. Kings go hunting. They get into hunting clothes. They want to move around freely. You can’t hunt in a crown and a cape. He was with his ministers and all of a sudden, torrential rain. Reb Nachman called it a mabul, a flood. All of the ministers run for their lives, leaving the king in the middle of the forest alone, mortal danger.
He wanders and wanders until he comes to a shack. He knocks on the door. An old man opens up. Hardly nothing inside. He brings him in, gives him a pot of porridge, changes his clothes, puts him to sleep on this wood bed, and the king is having the time of his life. He never felt so much comfort, so much warmth, so good from the hospitality of this simple person.
In the morning, all of the ministers come with the royal carriage, the clothes. King, we want to bring you back to the castle. The king says, I’m not going anywhere with you guys. You, you only care about yourselves. I’m going to go back in these clothes, with this guy’s horse and buggy, and he is going to sit next to me on the throne.
Says Rebbe Nachman, before the Mashiach comes, there is going to be a flood and it’s going to be worse than the flood of Noach. It’s going to cover even the highlands of Eretz Yisrael, the Rebbe said. And it’s going to be a flood of heresy. It’s going to be a flood of promiscuity. The only ones that are going to be saved, are the people who are not running after their own agenda, the simple people. Because the only people that understand Hashem really, are the people who understand that the King is homeless right now. You want to build your family, it’s a mitzvah to build your family. But to only think about yourself, it’s not the right way to be.
The only people who are going to survive are the simple people. Specifically the simple people have the ability to, inside all the turmoil of the world, focus on the fact that the Creator of the World is without a house. How much are we thinking about Him in all of our chaos?
How much are we just so much focused on ourselves survival, not being able to see past our noses. Especially now as erev Parshas Shekalim. Every person brought whatever he had to the table, to be part of the Mishkan. This is part of our mission. This is what I call unity.
When all of Klal Yisrael comes together for a purpose of putting Hashem back in His house, bringing the redemption. Even if not everybody is involved, if there’s a critical mass of unity, we can push the spiritual buttons that are needed to bring the redemption. That’s what we need. Don’t give up. The problems are really the opportunities for something bigger.
The problems are so big that a person thinks, if I can’t fight this, this is big. This is pandemic. This is world problems. I can’t even deal with my own little problems. No, we have to recognize the King is without a house. Now it’s time to focus on Hashem‘s house. Let’s build the house of Hashem.
