Parsha: Tzav - Runaway Brain (5784) + Parsha Podcast Appeal 2026

I just got off the phone with a very special listener of the partnership podcast.

He made a donation.

He went to givetorch.org and he said, I want to support the partnership podcast.

I want to support the great work of Torch.

I want to support Rabbi Walby.

He made a very generous donation and it got magically doubled.

It was matched, givetorch.org and he left his number there and I said, you know what?

I'm going to call him to thank him and I called him and I said, thank you so much for listening

to the partnership podcast and for making a donation and he wrote such a nice little note

his dedication.

Thank you for one of the best partnership podcasts out there, Rabbi Walby.

I said, thank you so much for your very generous contribution and your very generous words

and your kind words listening to the podcast and supporting us means so much to me.

And just me, yeah, Rabbi, it's the best.

He loves it.

It's so clear.

It's so understandable.

It's so delightful.

I've been listening for four years and then he tells me every year it's its fundraiser

season and every year I hear your pitch and every year I'm on the fence.

His words, not mind, I'm on the fence.

I'm not sure.

Should I do it or not?

I'm on the fence and this year he pulled the plug.

He pulled the plug.

He did it.

He went to givetorch.org.

He made a donation.

He selected the team partnership podcast.

He made a donation to support the great work of torch and in particular, the partnership

podcast.

So if you're in the same situation, you're like our friend who shall remain nameless.

He chose to be anonymous.

So only I know it's a little secret that we have.

Only I know and he knows he's anonymous, but maybe you're like this anonymous listener

of the podcast.

You listen every week, maybe not to all three episodes, maybe to one or two, maybe not

every week, maybe listen to every episode twice.

I've met people like that.

And every year you hear the pitch, you hear me trying to persuade and argue and and

and call you and woo you and try to get you to make a contribution.

And you're every year, you're kind of on the fence.

Here we have some inspiration, a real live partnership podcast listener who tells me

he's been listening for four years, loves the partnership podcast.

One of the best partnership podcasts out there.

And he was on the fence and he took the plunge and I said, thank you.

He said, well, it's the least I can do.

It's the least I can do.

If you're on the fence, maybe you too can take the plunge.

We read about the nation, they're surrounded by the water.

They're in danger.

They're at risk.

The Egyptians are behind them and someone takes the plunge.

He jumps into the tempestuous waters, the raging sea.

He jumps in, he takes the plunge and when he does it, other people can follow.

Here we have a partnership podcast listener who's listening for four years.

On the fence every year, he took the plunge.

He made a contribution.

He says, I want to support the great work of torch.

I want to make a donation.

I want to be part of this wonderful enterprise.

He made a donation.

He got magically doubled.

We had a little chat.

I told him, now you have my phone number.

You'd call me, text me any time.

We're best buds.

We're pals.

He supported us.

He's a partner.

Do you have a torch?

Or do you have an example?

Someone to emulate.

If you are on the fence, just do it.

You'll feel great about it.

And you know what?

If you regret it, this is, I'm not going to tell you my college.

Most of my colleagues don't listen to the podcast.

But if they do, then I can like what I'm going to say.

That's okay.

It'll already be released.

If you go to givetorch.org right now and you make a donation, every donation is doubled.

And you say, I want to support the partnership podcast.

And you make a donation and it's doubled.

I'm predicting you'll feel amazing about it.

That's my prediction.

But if you regret it, I hear my pledge to reimburse you.

I'll reimburse you.

So there's no risk.

It's a return policy like Amazon, like Amazon used to have, like Costco, you go to Costco.

You bring it three years later.

You return it.

No problem.

We'll do that return policy.

There's no downside, givetorch.org.

Don't tell my colleagues, please don't get me in trouble here.

Don't tell my colleagues at the torch center that I made this offer.

It's our little secret.

It's our little partnership podcast, secret, a return policy, Costco return policy.

Givetorch.org.

Take the punch.

Now, I want to say, and when this is, I'm very important.

Come before we start.

I got a text message from one of the amazing friends of the partnership podcast.

One of the real pillars of the partnership podcast, his name is David Block.

And he tells me, you got to push it, you got to push it really hard.

You're doing the fundraiser.

You're at 73%, you're persuading with all of your, your tricks that you're doing.

You should maybe do an episode about appreciation.

And then he writes, this is his words.

He says, I think people who enjoy the podcast should donate.

That's what David Block is saying.

People should contribute.

So I said to him, I said, David, you're one of the pillars of the partnership podcast.

David, by the way, is the, he's the composer of the partnership podcast.

Gene Gull, he's one of the OGs.

Why didn't you record?

Why don't you record your pitch, your story.

And I'll post it on the partnership podcast.

So he sent me a voice recording, and I'm going to play this at the end of the show.

So if you want to hear the persuasion, the argument of David Block, who is one of the

great supporters of Torch, he's actually one of the mattresses, he's one of the mattresses

of our campaign.

When we say that there's a, there's a mattress, there are people and they would say, I'm

going to support Torch to such a degree that I'm going to match what other people give.

That's a, we have a group of mattresses that collectively agreed to do that.

He's the composer of the partnership podcast.

You want to hear his persuasion, listen to it at the end of the podcast.

And as always, maymo just his rabbi will be a gmail.com.

Most people don't associate parchas, sav with fun.

It's sacrifices.

And it talks about the inauguration of the temple, this sacrifice and that sacrifice.

It's one of those partios that we told them a few weeks ago, the flyover partios, not

as exciting.

It's not like Joseph and his brothers or some drama, next week we have a lot of drama

partios, meaning it's hard, it's hard to make it exciting.

And today in this partial podcast, Mark your calendars, March 27th, 2024, this is going

to be changed because I'm emptying out my armory.

I'm depleting all the reserves, I'm throwing the kitchen sink.

I'm leaving nothing for next year, you know, most years, I look at my notes and say,

okay, what do we got on the parasha and I say, okay, well, let me say this idea, let

me see that idea.

But those ideas, let me leave you for next year.

I want to do, this is year eight of the partial podcast as you know, it's year eight.

I want to do with the help of the Almighty, I hope it will give me long life and vitality

and the ability to do this for a long time.

I want to do this for seven years.

So year eight, we got 62 years to go.

So I always, I always got to leave something for next year, right?

You got to leave something, you got to put something in reserves for next year.

But this year, I've just, I'm going a little wild.

Maybe it's an honor of, of, of Tova and her recent engagement, but I'm leaving nothing

for next year.

I'm depleting my notes.

I'm emptying it all out, putting it all the table, throwing the kitchen sink to make your

relationship with partial staff that just completely, fundamentally, irreparably, permanently

altered to show you how it could be fun and interesting and deep, of course, deep and

deeper.

Dad, that's this year's theme.

So let's begin.

We have five segments, five fun segments, and the first one begins with the first comment

in Rashi.

And I will tell you, just a trick that you learn at the helm of the partial podcast for

eight years, when you look at a partial and you want to find out, kind of, where are the

interesting points of leverage in the partial?

Where do the commentators all spend a lot of time talking about?

Very often, the very first comment in Rashi that gives you a lot of portals into the

depth behind the partial.

I think there's a, a custom that the whole partial could be summarized, could be encapsulated

by the first comment in Rashi.

And this, this, this partial is no different.

And in fact, there is a ton of literature on the first, the first comment in Rashi in

our partial.

The partial begins, Savus Aron, command Aaron, and his sons, what's the command?

Teach him about the laws of the Ola, the elevation offering.

There are elevation offerings, many different types of offerings, the Ola offering, that's

the elevation offering, the offering that is entirely burned atop the altar.

And there are two daily communal elevation offerings, meaning that it's brought, it's

covered by the coffers of the public.

There could be individuals who bring their personal, optional or mandatory Ola offerings,

but these, the ones referenced in the beginning of the partial, are talking about the communal

daily, tamed offerings.

And Aaron is told, Moshe, is told by God to go command Aaron and his sons, regarding

the protocols and laws of the elevation offering, that's offered once the morning, the tamed

of the morning, and once in the afternoon, that's the tamed of the afternoon, which is

burned and processed atop the altar overnight.

Now Rashi notices that the word, the verb here in question, Moshe is told, you know, go

convey this to Aaron, but he's not told, go tell Aaron, and typically God tells Moshe

to go, go say this, dabarabane is told, speak to them.

Here there's a different verb, it doesn't say, speak, it says, saav, that's the name of

the partial, saav, command.

We actually have another partial with the same verb, titsave, partial is titsave, means

to command, but it's relatively rare to find this verb as, what Moshe is told to go

command, usually grows instruct, go say, why command, that's Rashi's question.

And Rashi tells us, ainsave, when the word saav, the word command, only means zeros, it's

a term of zeros, which means to encourage, to prox, to its ort, to make sure that someone

does it both now and in the future, because they may be a bit less inclined to do it.

When there are things you don't want to do, you're not in the mood, they're difficult,

you need extra encouragement, extra nudging, and that's what this word connotes, the word saav,

it connotes some extra encouragement.

Moshe explains, why is there a need for extra encouragement in this particular sacrifice

that Aaron does in Aaron, and his sons do a lot of things at the temple, the tabernacle,

why is there a need for a specific higher level of instruction, not just to tell them,

but to command them, to ensure that they do it, why specifically here?

So Rashi continues, whenever there is a loss, there's a monetary loss, therefore in those

cases, there is more of a risk of people being less excited about it, you know, when there's

a mitzvah that you enjoy, you got to eat the meal, it's a feast, we just had parm this

week.

Okay, you got to drink a little bit, and we dance, and we sing, and we have a festival,

that's exciting, you don't need to encourage people, one at a time, what's time to go study

Torah, the elevator, yes, I got to study it, oh man, it's long, it's the clock is moving

so slowly, I'm here for an hour, the rabbi's joining on and on and on, where will this

end?

Then you need a bit more of encouragement, Rashi tells us that when it comes to a mitzvah,

there's a monetary loss, chisaron kiss, there's a monetary loss, as in the case of this

Ola elevation offering, there is a need for extra encouragement, and that's why over

here, specifically it says it's sad, the word the verb is, is to command not just merely

to instruct, that's what Rashi says.

And all the commentators are trying to figure out this, the commentators, super commentators

on Rashi, what does Rashi mean when he says that there is a monetary loss?

This is referring to a sacrifice that's paid for by the public.

This is like the tragedy of the comments, right?

You don't really care so much about someone else's finances, when the government spends

a little bit, you know, 50 billion here, 50 billion there, sooner or later you're talking

with about serious money, that's one of the senators said, like a billion here, a billion

there, sooner or later it's some real money.

One of the other people's money, it's much less painful to spend it recklessly.

So why is there a concern that the Kohanim, the priests, they won't take this as seriously

because there's a loss of money, you take this big animal, you just burn it on top of

the altar and there's no one has any material benefits?

Wait a minute, this is not your money, it's not your money, why is there a concern that

you will be less enthusiastic about the smith sum?

That's the question that the Ramban asked, the Maharal asked, everyone asked this question.

I actually listened today to the rebroadcast from a couple of years ago and we addressed

this, we gave a variety of answers.

One answer that we mentioned is that the Kohan even though he doesn't have any financial

liability in bringing the sacrifice but if he made some blunder, if he made some mistake

he's on the hook to pay for it.

Even though there is no, in most cases, there would not be a monetary loss, nevertheless

there is the risk, the liability that if you make a blunder you have to pay for placement.

Maybe that's what Rashi is referring to.

Alternatively, there's another answer that there's the opportunity to cost.

Yes, your Kohan, your process in the sacrifice, you get nothing out of it, it's all elevated

on top of the altar, you don't eat any of the meat, yes, you do get some of the hides,

sure, but the benefit that the Kohan garners from the Ola offering has much less than all

of the sacrifices and you could have done something else, there's the opportunity cost.

You could have done something else with your time that would have been more lucrative

and therefore maybe that's why Rashi is telling us that in this midst for you need an

extra encouragement because there is a chasarone kiss, there is a loss of money.

These are some of the ideas, no, this year I saw something very interesting.

That's going to serve as segment number one of this week's Parshapak test, something novel,

something clever, something deep, deep and deeper.

In Hebrew with the word chasarone means a lack or a loss of kiss means a wallet or a pocket

or a pouch.

So in tamudic parlance chasarone kiss means the loss of money because it's like losing

your wallet.

But the word chas, not like a kiss the way you, in English, right?

Like your chasarone, not that, kiss spelled like in Hebrew, right?

It means a wallet or a pocket or some sort of pouch, some sort of sheath.

This word literally means something which covers something else.

So it's used colloquially as a loss in your wallet, it hurts your wallet, it's like

you teach people who never speak English, you're like no, attribute and attribute, those

are different words.

And the word then and then it just has a radically different meanings and so on.

And allowed, is it allowed and it's set it out loud, allowed.

It's hard, it's hard to learn new languages because words have multiple meanings.

The word chasarone kiss can literally mean the lacking of a cover.

So one of the commentators says something unbelievable, why do you bring an Ola?

If someone were to bring an Ola offering, why they bring it for illicit thoughts.

If someone has an illicit thought, an improper thought, we believe that that damages them,

just like a sin damages, you do an action of a sin, you do words of a sin, you do thoughts

of a sin that creates a spiritual damage, it's not just actions, you know, we think

words are cheap, right?

And thoughts, yeah, well, those, those are ungovernable.

That's what we may think.

Tara tells us that the three dimensions of our behavior, our thoughts, our speech, our

actions, if you say something improper, there are many, many, many prohibitions against

speaking improperly.

If you think something improper, you have to make a sacrifice.

Did you know that?

Did you know that someone has an improper thought, an illicit thought, a sinful thought,

they did nothing, they didn't say anything, they didn't act upon that thought, that thought

nevertheless needs to be addressed, needs to be cleansed, needs, the consequences of it

needs to be undone.

And someone would bring an Ola offering for such a sin, so much more subtle sin, much

more ethereal sin, the sin of an improper thought.

So one of the commentaries here on Rashi says something unbelievable.

When Rashi is saying that you need extra encouragement, in a case of chisaro, in case he's offering

to the monetary loss, with the loss of the money, the monetary loss, he's talking about

the lack of a cover, your eyes, you have islands to have a cover, your mouth, you got multiple

covers, your teeth, and your lips to cover it, even your nose, you could clench it, quiet.

And your ears, the Talmud tells us, it has an only extra flap that you could just put inside

your ears, do this right now in my hands, do you have these little flaps on top and the

lobe on the bottom, you can't see it because it's just audio, but I'm folding my ears.

And the Talmud says, why did Rashi give us ear lobes?

They're unnecessary.

Well, the reason why we have it is because when someone is speaking improperly, there's a cover

that Hashem gives us to cover ears so we don't hear anything improper.

Our audience that we can potentially misuse, we could do sins with cover a bit, we have covers.

There's something inappropriate, you don't want to see it, you close your eyes, there's a cover.

You don't want to eat something, you clench your jaw, you close your teeth, you purse your lips.

You don't want to hear something, you cover your ears, it's like an unpawn, right?

So in our shul, they have the reading of the Mighilah and everyone bains by Hamad.

And some people, my goodness, they bring pots, they bring pens, they bring drums,

and they make so much noise.

I'm sure there's a lot of hearing loss that happens every poem, so much noise,

because when they say the name of Hamin, right, Humman, he got a bang, because he's a villain,

we got to boo him, but people you get really into, especially the kids, they love it, tons of noise.

I'm too old for this, I'm too old for this, I'm too old for this, so last year,

I, you know, this is touched after all, so I have these, these earplugs, but the ones that you

that you have at the shooting range, at the shooting range, because you don't want to ruin your ears,

so these massive, looks like headphones, but all they all, all they do is they just

surmetically seal off your ears, you cannot hear any sounds. I brought it to shul, I'm poor him.

I put my cover in my ears and say, okay, I don't want to lose them, I don't lose my hearing here.

I want to do this for the 70 years, the partial podcast, it's only year eight,

with the help of the Almighty, please Hashem, give us many more years at this.

You cover your ears, you protect them. What about your mind?

What about that gray organ that's sloshing around in your skull?

What about that superpower, that little nuclear reactor that you have balancing on your shoulders?

What about the human of the human, the most human part of you, within that distinguishes us from

animals? If an illicit thought, what we would bring a carbonola sacrifice and innovation offering

for, if that is a sin, where's the cover, where's the sheath, says the commentator, that's where I

should refer into, you have to be extra encouraged when you're bringing an oil offering for a sin

of illicit thought, you need extra encouragement when there's a chisaron kiss, when there's a lack

of a sheath, this is a literal interpretation of what the rush is saying. There is no sheath,

there's no pocket, there's no wallet, there's no cover, there's no way to really

protect your mind from it going rogue and thinking about all sorts of improper themes. How do you

control it? Can you control it? Can you determine what you want to think about? And what you don't

want to think about is that possible. You have a superpower, but it could be commandeered,

it could be appropriated, misappropriated, by the Aitsara. Our understanding of our life,

the primary battlefront between good and bad within us is over our mind, over our brain.

The Aitsara wants to take the brain and use it for its purposes. The soul wants to use the brain

for its purposes. And this battle, this Titanic standoff, that is what determines the righteousness

and or the wickedness of who we are and what we become. And I'll tell you,

one of the prime purposes of the study of Torah. Now I was privileged to go to the great some of the

great Yashivas in the world. And we spend a lot of time studying Talmud. And if you were not

initiated as to what happens in the Yashiva, you were just parachute it in. They just drop you in

there and they say, okay, well, look at these young scholars studying Talmud. I'd be like, oh,

this looks pretty interesting. They're fighting, they're arguing, they're streaming at each other.

It's a very vibrant play. This is not a library. It's like it's a battle, it's a battle zone.

It's a battlefield. Some of these great intellects, they're duking you now on top of the lunch.

I remember when I finished a four hour session of study, my throat was hurting.

Because here I am, and I'm screaming in the podcast. But this is what? We're 20 minutes into this.

You try doing that for four hours. And there's cacophony sounds from all directions.

And everyone's streaming each other and you're 18 inches away from your

Havrusi study partner. You can't hear what they're saying. And you can say, you gotta do it a little

louder. It's sad. I cannot hear you louder. And you're streaming, and they're streaming, it's a

battle, battle zone. And what are you streaming about? So we spent the year once studying Yavamos,

Leverite Marriages. How many times have you seen a Leverite Marriage?

Oh, or Baba Kama. Baba Kama. Spend the year studying what happens when my ox goes your ox.

Oh, what about when it tramples on your fruits in your field? I don't have an ox. I don't have a

field. I don't have any fruits. I don't even like fruits.

And someone may wonder of what are these people doing? Maybe they should go to the army,

why we have these young sages, these young scholars that they're arguing about, no in sense.

Babamitsiya. Two people walk into the baston, into the court, and they're each clutching half

over government. And one guy says, it's mine. And one guy says, it's mine. And one guy says,

I found it. And the guy says, I found it. What do we do? Each one needs to swear an oath.

And then when they each swear an oath that they don't have any less than half, they each take half,

Yakhlaku. Okay, spending six months basically on that. And you wonder, is there a better use of your

time? What are they doing? What's it all about? What's the secret? What is the underpinning of this

entire enterprise, the fascination of session with Torah study on the highest level?

I'll tell you a secret. Parshatsav 574, year eight of the Parshat podcast.

One of the prime purposes of Torah study on that level, it's to earn a cover, to gain a cover

for your brain. Your brain is a muscle, but it's a superpower. And you start a life, and your brain runs

a muck. And the person, the thing, the entity behind the wheel is the Aitsara, complete in control.

Good luck trying to control your brain. Good luck trying to harness it for incredible things.

Good luck trying to avoid thinking about things you don't want to think about. Good luck. You need it.

You spend time in Yashiva. You spend six months, a year, six years in Yashiva. You learn to control

and to marshal the superpower that you have. And you gain a cover. You can now selectively apply

this superpower, this brain. I want to think about this, and this only. Boom, laser-focused.

I want to think about that. I don't think about that. I have control. Where do you get control over

your most powerful organ? Your brain. That's part of what's happening when you're studying Torah.

So even if the actual laws featured in the Talmud are not applicable, that's not necessarily

what we're doing there. We're not there to learn the laws. You can learn the laws. You can read

the book of laws. You're there to learn mastery over your brain. One of the reasons is many, many reasons.

It's interesting. In the very first verse, well, after the introductory verse,

Savus, our command, Aaron, and his son, saying, Zos, Torah, Saulah. This is the Torah or the system

of laws of the Ola of the elevation offering. And the Talmud tells us that this teaches us.

And when you want to bring it carbon, Ola, you bring water, make an Ola sacrifice.

And today we're going to have a temple. We're going to have a natural. We can't bring it to

Ola sacrifice. We can't bring it to a sin offering. We can't bring it to a slumber. We can't

bring any sacrifices. So what can we do instead? Well, instead, we can study the Torah of it.

We can study the Torah of an Ola sacrifice. And that renders it, said the Talmud, as if we

brought an Ola sacrifice. According to our understanding, there's a deeper message over here.

The Ola, well, that's about the atonement of illicit thoughts. Well, why don't you have an

illicit thought? Because you don't have control. You don't have the, there's a chassarantist,

there's a lack of a cover. Your brain is running a mud, and you don't have the reins. You don't

have control. Your subject to the whims of your Eats are out. The Eats are out deciding what

you're thinking about. And you're helpless. You're helpless. You cannot win because your brain is

not in your hands. You're going to bring an Ola sacrifice. That's the Talmud. Today we're going

to have one. We don't have an Ola sacrifice. But what do we have? Torah, Ola, the study of the

sacrifice? Well, how does that help? So simply put as well, if you said it, the Torah, it's like

you gain some sort of the spiritual benefits of the sacrifice, as if you brought the sacrifice.

I think according to what we're discovering over here, there's a deeper message.

When you're sending the Torah of something, you're learning about how to control your brain.

And thus, in effect, you are fixing the actual cause of the sin of the illicit thought.

And therefore, that achieves the Atonement because after all, isn't that what Atonement is?

Isn't that what repentance is? Isn't that the undoing of the sin? Is that the repentance?

And thus, I mentioned a lot more since. It's a much deeper nuanced point.

So Torah, so this is the Torah of the Ola, when you study the Torah of the Ola, that's when you

achieve the Atonement of the Ola absent, the temple absent sacrifices. Now we understand that

maybe at a deeper level. I will point you to a very famous line in the words of the Rambaam.

Rambaam at the very end of many of his laws, right? Because the Misha Torah, the Rambaam, it's

its inner compilation of all the laws of the oral Torah. And in many laws at the end,

at the very end of when he delineates all the laws, he gives us like an idea, like the fundamental

philosophical principle of that set of laws. And when he talks about improper behavior, illicit

behavior, he says, this is like the last line of his delineation of these laws.

There is no illicit thought, only in a heart devoid of wisdom.

If your yaitsara is in control, and you're thinking all sorts of illicit thoughts, that's because your

heart is devoid of wisdom. But what does wisdom have to do with illicit thoughts? I have

illicit thoughts. I can't control them. Yes, you can. Feel your heart up with wisdom.

Not just your mind, your heart, connect to it on a sensory level, on an emotional level.

The way it's done in the great Yashimos are doing, as if it depends on it, debating with

ferocity. You do that. There's no thought of, there's no illicit thought you're in control.

This is segment number one, a deeper reading into this comment in Rashi.

When Rashi tells us that, let's have command them, don't just tell them, don't just tell the

Aaron and his sons, the Khan of the priests, don't just tell them about the laws of the

Ola, command them. Why? Because there's a chassaricist, there's a lack of a wallet,

there's a loss of the wallet, there's a monetary loss, alternatively, in this area,

in the area of the Ola offering, there is a lack of a pocket, of a sheath, there are no eyelids

for your brain, there are no earlobes for your brain, there are no nostrils that can be

clenched and closed, there aren't gates to your mind that can be slammed, shot, actually there

are, actually there are those toras Ola. You look a little bit, you look something about why there's

an obsession with Torah study and one of the great benefits, one of the many, many, many, many, many,

many benefits of Torah study, many years ago, many years ago, we did a study of this,

one of our shows and we actually come with 20 and then it actually grew to 30 different reasons

why we're so obsessed with Torah study. This is one of them, now you know, let us continue.

A few verses into our parasha, segment number two, we read about how there must be an ever-present

fire atop the altar, and there are different fires, different fires as they're called,

and you have to always add logs to the fire to make sure that they don't ever get extinguished,

it must always be on the altar, it must always be an ever-present fire. Aish tamid, always there's a

fire, to come as back will be burning atop them, as back atop the altar, low circumaction never

get extinguished. And this is one of the most remarkable realities in our history that for hundreds

of years, this was true. The fire never was extinguished from atop the altar, you know, they have

fires like the Olympic fire or the fire to remember the fallen soldiers, you know, we don't have

really, I have a fire that's been continuously burning for a hundred years, I don't think, maybe

there, maybe there are, maybe there is, I don't know. But do you imagine a fire that was at

stand for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, that's the fire atop the top of the

Mesbech, the top of the altar? Even if there are no sacrifices, there's no processing of sacrifices,

you still must maintain a steady fire at all times, and two years ago in the parasha

practice from year six, we spoke about this at great length. I want to give a little bit of an

addition to this, there's a very interesting comment in the midrush, Aish, Tamiyid, an ever-present fire,

always. And the midrush tells us always means even on Chabas, typically on Chabas you can't

make a fire, you can't add lots to a fire, but this is an exception, you may add lots to the fire

on Chabas because of this explicit verse of tells us that this overrides the Chabas, there must always

be a fire atop the altar. Tamiyid, there's always a fire at Batuma, even when there is impurity.

Suppose there is impurity, there's no sacrifices, there is desecration and defilement, there still

must be a fire atop the altar. Aish, Tamiyid, there's a never-present fire at the Masos, even during the times

of movement, of transportation. As we know, Jewish people spent the 40 years in the wilderness

going from place to place, they would spend some time in a place, sometimes there would be a long time,

so it would be a short time, but they spent some time there, and then the cloud would move and they

would begin their journey, and they'd follow the cloud until the cloud settled in another place,

and over the course of 40 years they encamped in more than 40 places, 42 places to be precise,

as we learn in the end of the book of numbers. What happened to the fire atop the altar during

transportation time? So we learn that even when there was a time of movement and traveling,

the fire was maintained, the fire atop the altar was always maintained.

The Midrush is stressing to us that there must always be a fire atop the altar,

always, even when you may think that it could be a time where you could distinguish the fire or allow

it to go out. There's a time of impurity, chaubus, when you're traveling, you're in transition,

you're in a new environment, and these times, maybe, well, this should be perhaps an exception.

The Midrush tells us otherwise by saying, Tommit, always, there's a fire atop the altar,

always, chaubus, in impurity, and during transit. Now, if you've got a chance to listen to

the parjet podcast from two years ago, we spoke about this idea of having a fire atop the altar,

and the deeper lesson behind it, we suggested, is that a fire, the fire must always be there,

because you never know when the opportunity will strike, when the opportunity will arise,

and you don't want to be fumbling for a fire when the opportunity arises, because you may miss

the opportunity, and that we explained that we suggested, that would be a lesson for us,

that we must always be on the prowl, always be ready, because we never know when the opportunity

will arise, and we want to pounce on it, the fire must always be there, now it's the less than we

that we took, that we deduced from the fire atop the altar. Perhaps we can't suggest,

that this is what the Midrush is highlighting, this is like an extension of two years ago's

parjet podcast. Midrush is telling us, when chaubus comes, what chaubus, it's a change of pace,

it's time to stop and to take stock and to reflect, to cease creating, cease being

plugged in, to relax and to alter the rhythm of your life, that is an extra powerful opportunity

for growth, and the Midrush emphasizes there must be a fire there, you have to be ready, the fire

should be lit atop the altar, when chaubus comes around, there are bound to fall opportunities

for spiritual greatness, make sure there's a fire, make sure you're ready for it, make sure you're

able to absorb the opportunities and the lessons and the tremendous accomplishments that are just

ready for the taking on chaubus, what about impurity? So you may think, well, impurity, that's a setback,

things went wrong, things failed, life through you, some curveballs, you failed, you blundered,

this is not a time for growth, you may think, this is not a time of opportunity,

says the Midrush, no, the fire must be lit even during impurity, when you find yourself in a place

that you never imagined that you would be, that you would descend to, you're down, you're in the

dumps, you're in the morass, and the quagmire, you have to know, there's a special opportunity that

that that situation unlocks for you, make sure you have a fire even then, the Thamathas of someone

who wants to become pure habala tahr, you tell God, I want to become pure, I want to come closer

to you, I want to achieve more, I want to develop myself spiritually, I want to purify myself,

I want to cleanse myself, Messiah and oh so, he will be aided from heaven on high, you look at

you look at a divine boost, how about a thame, if someone wants to become impure, post him low,

he will be opened, he will be availed to what he wants, you want impurity, okay, heaven won't aid

you, but heaven will open it up for you, will allow you to descend, and of course the question

can be asked, heaven never does anything to us that is too our detriment, if we do something to

ourselves to our detriment, okay, that's our choice, but heaven never does something to us to our

detriment, so why, why, if someone wants to become impure, why is there some sort of, it's not an

aid, it's not an assist, not a boost, but there's an allowance for it, post him low, it's open for him,

and the great altar of Slovakia used to say about this, if someone wants to descend,

if someone wants to spiral, if someone wants to impurity, heaven in their benevolence,

gives it to him, this is what you want, try it, see how much you like it, descend

further, into the bowels of sin, of impurity, when you hit rock bottom, you actually

realize that it was empty and vacuous and useless and bitter, and that will actually help you get out

of your predicament, so actually it is to the person's benefit, because when you descend into

impurity, there are new opportunities, there are new mental models that you can develop that you

will learn, they open up for you, you okay, take some of it, try some of the poison,

imbibe on some of the poison that you so desire and covet, try it, you take it, and you realize

it does not bring you to the bliss, to the ecstasy that you thought it would give you impurity,

in a counterintuitive way, it's actually a great opportunity,

and that's what the midrush perhaps is telling us,

Tommy, there's always a fire, it must always be a fire, even in impurity,

even when you are down in the spiritual dumps,

realize there's an opportunity to make sure of the fire to capitalize on it,

and find out when you're traveling, you're in transition, you're in a new environment,

you are not settled, you're not secure, and you may think, well I cannot flourish in this environment,

I need to have stability, when things quiet down, we always have a joke in our family,

we'll do that once we're married, once Shira gets married,

well there was a family, they had a daughter, whose name was Shira, and they used to always say

that when Shira gets married, that's what we'll do, that's what we'll go on our

vacation finally, that's what we'll eventually do, we'll travel the world, we'll do this,

we'll accomplish that when Shira gets married, of course they had a bunch of kids afterwards,

so that joke, but that framing stuck, we have this joke, I'll study Torah, I'll accomplish my

mitzvahs, I'll undertake my dream, my project, when Shira gets married,

but no, it just tells us otherwise, after myself, life is crazy, it's chaotic, you're traveling,

and it's so busy, and there's so much mayhem, this is not a time for growth, this is not a time for

opportunity, this is not a time for transformation, only with stability can you have that,

says the midrush, no, even when there is a masouz, even when you're traveling,

this should be an ever-present fire, low sick-mashin, never be distinguished,

the mission tells us, empirical evos, al-tomar-lit-kish-e-f-ne-es-ne,

it's persuasive, because it rhymes, anything that rhymes, it sticks,

if the glove don't fit, you must, or quit, no one ever says, wait a minute, why, what if the glove

don't fit, and you still don't, or quit, but it rhymes, and our brains sometimes were persuaded,

we remember things that rhyme, and that, oh yeah, glove don't fit, you must quit, maybe not,

if the glove don't fit, you still put him in jail, because he's a murderer, maybe,

but that doesn't quite have that same range, if the glove don't fit, you must, quit.

This mission has that same effectiveness, al-tomar-lit-kish-e-f-ne-es-ne,

don't say, when themes become, when themes become calm, and I have all the time, and I finally have

the ability to breathe, and things relax, and things settle down, then I'll study,

why, shema-lo-tipana, maybe, you'll never have that, who's to say, you'll ever have that time,

who's to say, that things will ever quiet down, that chaos, that man, that pandemonium,

that upheaval that's in your life, this is here to stay, who's to say otherwise?

After she regrets married, not going to happen, it's not going to happen,

because after she regrets married, something else will happen, life is like that, right?

We're always in transition, there's always chaos, there's always a million stuff happening,

and with themes do quiet down, who's to say, that we'll have the faculties to be able to do what we

need to do, who's to say, that we'll have the, the strengths that we have now, you're like, if I just

had today's strength, with tomorrow's quiet, I'll be a superstar, maybe not, you'll, you'll never

have today's strength tomorrow, shema-lo-tipana, maybe there won't be any time, where you'll have that

peace, instability, and quiet. I want sort of an interesting interpretation of this, of this

Mishnah. I'll tell our Likasha, after Asha, don't say when things quiet down, and I have the ability

to think properly, and there's no chaos, everything's quiet, then I'll study, shema-lo-tipana, so the

simple interpretation is, perhaps, you'll never have that time, but the Khasiddhik masters used to say,

something very powerful. Shema-lo-tipana, perhaps, what God wants of you is not accomplishments,

born out of ideal circumstances, born out of a time where things were great, it was quiet, it was

perfect, it was just ideal conditions, maybe what the Almighty is xyrus of what He created you for is

shema-lo-tipana, perhaps, what He wants is for you to flourish in a situation of low-tipana, in a

situation where there is no time and quiet, and just all that freedom, maybe He wants you to flourish

amid chaos. And that's the third part of this midrush, you have to have a fire, an ever-present fire

all times on Chabis, in impurity, and even when it's so chaotic, and there's just so much happening,

and there's so much going on, and things are really up in the air, and you're juggling 12

torches, or better yet, 12 knives, with very razor-sharp jagged edges, and someone says, well,

now it's time to study Torah, I can't even think, I can't breathe, I don't have a moment to free,

that's what the midrush is telling us, even when you're traveling, chaos, craziness, noise,

upheaval, the fire must be lit, and in fact it's quite possible, it's quite possible,

that that is in fact the time where you could accomplish even more, who knows, and I did tell you I have

five segments, but I'm looking at the clock here, it's very been more than 45 minutes, some debating,

what should I do, should I give you one more segment, should I give you three more segments,

should I tease you and say no, we're done here, you'll have to wait till next year,

I don't know, so I'm just here myself in the room, so I have to make a decision,

what should I do, what should I do, should we stop here, should we do one more again,

you know, we'll do one more, we'll do one more, we'll leave something for next year,

what do you say, are you okay with that, listen if I could tease my sister-in-law,

that's just the way it is, I could tease you as well, it's a little bit of a bait and switch,

I said five segments, we'll do only three, in our part she talks about another sacrifice,

the carbon toda, the faint-stiving sacrifice, why would someone bring a faint-stiving sacrifice,

is it because the lines are playing at home and the cowboys are playing at home,

is that what we have faint-stiving? No, there are four times where you would bring a faint-stiving

sacrifice, number one, you survived a trip through the desert, number two, you survived a trip,

over the ocean or the sea, which in antiquity was much more complicated, of course, you survived

God forbid a trip to the slammer jail, prison, or you were in mortal danger for your life,

and you came out of it, you were terminally ill and you survived with a gift from heaven,

and one of these, for instance, you bring a carbon toda, you bring a toda, a faint-stiving sacrifice,

which is a type of a shlummim offering, one of the commentators, chapter 7, verse 12 of our

parasha, he says something very interesting, there's a fifth instance where someone

brings a carbon toda, where someone brings a faint-stiving offering, and that's by a wedding,

a wedding, a new couple, a new link in the glorious chain going back to Abraham,

and Sarah, and Sinai, another addition to this glorious heritage of our people,

of course, you're thankful, and you bring a carbon toda, that's what we're told,

now I was trying to figure out, where does this commentator, the great Rabina Baha'i,

where does he get it from, because of Thomas's otherwise, Thomas says there's four reasons,

four reasons, now five, so how does this great commentator, where does he get this from,

where does he source this from, you want to say something nice, it is, that's great, you want to

propose something novel, that's wonderful, but if the the Talmud says that there are four or not

five, you cannot invent another reason to bring a carbon toda, a toda offering, a faint-stiving

offering, so the commentator says something, some few beautiful things, some wonderful insights,

the first thing we're told is that when someone gets married, all their sins are forgiven,

and if all your sins are forgiven, well, what happens if someone does a sin,

well then they're condemned to have to address that, if they repent, great, but if not,

that they're going to need to be incarcerated by God, so to speak, in predatory until that is

addressed, did you know that, a sin creates a blemish on your soul, we learned there are three

different categories, there's thoughts, there's speech, there's action, regardless if there's a sin,

there's a blemish on the soul, and how do you cleanse that blemish, how do you remove it,

either through repentance, or if there's no repentance, then it must be removed externally,

by some other process, God forbid someone suffers that cleanses their sins, God forbid someone dies

without repenting or having them cleansed, well, it'll be addressed post-mortem, if someone

does a sin, and it's unaddressed, and it's not repented for, their soul, it's already half

incarcerated, because the soul is much more sensitive to man as the spirit than the body,

in fact the body is completely not sensitive to it, the soul is completely attuned to it,

so the soul realizes it's like already in prison, and the person gets married, he gets married,

and what happens to get married, well all this is different, the day of a wedding,

like the day of your grip, or it's why the bride and groom, they fast, and therefore,

well, if all your sins are forgiven, your soul is extricated from prison, from purgatory, from hell,

because all those sins went away, and therefore there are only four reasons to bring a sacrifice

of this variety, of a carbon toda, a Thanksgiving sacrifice, one of them is we got a prison, and you

know what, you got married, got a prison, very, very interesting interpretation in the commentator,

the Urbana Baha'i, in our parasha, parasha sav, it's a fascinating parasha, every parasha is, and we

perhaps foolishly, perhaps because we're so ignorant, we see sacrifice, oh this sacrifice,

that sacrifice, this animal, it's so hard, it's so intricate, it's so much minutiae,

where's the lessons, where's the insight, we'll let you know, that's what we do here in the parasha

podcast, we go deep and deeper, to try to see more angles and insights and ideas and lessons

that are practicable to us, and I appreciate your time, I had a relic in time here with you all today,

even though by myself in the Torch Center, in Houston, Texas, that's already Wednesday night,

I typically like to get the podcast on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, early, it's Wednesday night,

this is the end of, this is like a deadline, right, this is the end of the deadline,

and it's been now a couple weeks in a row, you perhaps were call what happened a few weeks ago,

when I got to my car, hope it doesn't happen again, it's the end, it's the deadline, but had a great

time, and you know what, this will be dropping, please God, on your podcast player, at the same time

every week, so what difference does it make, if we get it done for deadline, it's good, but I thank

you for listening, I thank you for your friendship and your support, I hope you have a wonderful day,

and a sensational rest of your week, and a superb, spectacular, sharpest upcoming, and please God,

with the unending help of the Omari, we will talk again next week, may we just say rabbiwamichima.com

Thank you for listening to this edition of the partnership podcast, my dear friend,

David Block, one of the tremendous pillars and supporters of the partnership podcast,

and of the Torch Center in Houston, Texas, one of the matches of our campaign, and most famously,

the composer of the partnership podcast, Jingle, he prepared a message, trying to encourage everyone

to contribute here, is the legendary composer of the partnership podcast, Jingle, David Block.

Thank you rabbi, my name is David Block, and I live in Huntsville, Alabama,

I've been a part of the Torch community for several years now, and I can honestly say that

Torch has made a huge impact on my life, I've learned so much from the rabbis, they've taught me Tora,

I feel closer to my religion, closer to my fellow Jews, I feel closer to the God, I've made some

close friends, and I found a community of people like me, people who were searching for something,

something that was missing from their lives, folks who were searching for something more than

the Judaism they grew up with. For many of us, Tora learning didn't come easily if it came at all,

not only did we not learn Tora Judaism growing up, but a lot of us didn't even know where to start

when we finally decided that we might want to learn, and then if you're like me, start poking around,

you start looking at your phone, making searches on the internet, and seemingly out of the blue,

something pops up, it's a class, a teacher, a podcast, a post, a message, and it hits you,

and suddenly a whole world opens up for you, and once it opens, you want more.

That's what Torch did and has done for me, and I know I'm not the only one,

so I'd like to share a little Alabama style thinking with you.

You see, there are two kind of folks in the world, those who are grateful for the good in their

lives and those who aren't. Most of us think that we're in the first group, we'd like to think

of ourselves as grateful people, and in many ways, most of us probably are, but the truth is,

we all have our blind spots, and I'm afraid that many of us have blind spots when it comes to

supporting Torch with our money. Today we live in a world where information feels free. Whatever we

want, we can go online and get it, we can talk to AI about it. We can go online and listen to

podcasts, we can watch videos, take classes, download apps, not only on Torch, but on science,

history, politics, anything that interests us. There's almost no end to what we can listen to,

and most of it is so instant, and most of it is for free. Because it's so easy to get and take

so little effort from us, it's easy to take it for granted. The content starts to feel like it's

just there, and we'll always be there no matter what we do. But that's not true. Every podcast has a

creator. The creator needs the knowledge, the background, the preparation, the equipment,

the time, the place, and just the money to make it all happen. But Torch isn't just a podcast,

even a collection of podcasts. Torch is a Jewish outreach organization. It's men and women who come

to work every day to bring Torra to the world, to bring Torra to us. And maybe most of all,

Torch is a community, and it's all devoted to spreading Torra.

And our sources teach us that in Judaism, there are a few things greater than helping Torra

spread in the world. Our sages teach that when a person helps Torra spread in the world, the

merit keeps going far beyond what the teacher alone could ever do, because every word of Torra

continues to have an effect. The same is true for those who support the teachers, because without

their help, the Torra would never reach so many people. So if you've listened to a Torch podcast,

if you've learned from a Torch class, if you felt more connected to Judaism because of it,

or even if you just want other people to have the chance to experience that kind of good,

then the Torra response is not to just sit back and enjoy it. But it's to stop,

recognize the good that's brought to your life, fill the benefit of it, and be grateful for it.

And show your gratitude by supporting Torch, by donating to fuel the Torch campaign.

Y'all the Torch Rabbis go easy on us. They only have one fundraiser a year, and this is it.

This is our chance to step up to the play to show our gratitude, not because of pressure, not because of

guilt, but because that's what a grateful person does. Please step up and give to Torch. Thank you

and back to you, Rabbi. Thank you, David Block, for that very stirring and persuasive message,

give Torch.org, every donation is doubled, support the partnership podcast, the link you

to find in the description of the podcast, and my address is rabbiwobiatchimil.com.