Parshas Kedoshim: The Enticement of Modern Idolization: Football, Money, and Strangers

0:00 Look down at your hands. If you will Move your eyes down to your fingers, see your perhaps wrinkly or beat up fleshy, meaty hands, your yadayim. Examine them. See the and feel the blood and the cartilage just hanging out inside of your skin. Your unassuming hands that are connected to your body, waiting for a decree to come from the brain to start moving, from the brain to start moving.

0:45 Examine these hands, for they have remarkable power. Inside of every single person's palm is their moral and just free will, inside of these hands, to choose, to create, to do incredible things. Inside of our hands, our capabilities. Every person, whether you are an amputee, god forbid or not, whether you have an ingrown fingernail or not, some dry skin or not, your metaphorical hands.

1:28 They have the koach to do wonders. You can build a house with these hands and share it with the people that you love. These hands may have already put a ring on a loved one's finger to unify souls together. Your hands may hold the lulav and shake away evil winds while doing mitzvos ase these hands, these fingers, the fleshy, meaty yodayim that you have. They can be washed, they can be cleaned, purified. They can light a menorah. They are priceless Yodayim.

2:10 Our hands are our everything. They represent our ability to do Our Yodayim. We can create worlds, we can create buildings, we can create mitzvos. And this week let us explore in Parshas Kedoshim something that you have the ability to create, something that you may never have thought that you had the power to construct. And let us caution ourselves when we become aware of this koach that is currently being misused and abused by some less than adequate parts of society, foundational point that really should impact the way that we view pop culture, society and the Jewish norms.

3:12 Let us get our bearings where we are. After a beautiful Yontif of Pesach, we return back to Parshas Kedoshim. We have been through Sefer Shamos. We have had the Exodus. We have been through Sefer Shamos. We have had the Exodus. We have become God's chosen people. We have had the great revelation. We have gotten the Torah and its laws. We have built a house, a structure, a edifice, a domicile for HaKadosh Baruch Hu. We have found our goal to be to enter into the sanctuary, go even closer into the Kadosh, into the Kodesh HaKadoshim, to understand and get as close as possible, as holy as possible, at the right times and at the right places, to live underneath the wings of the Kruvim.

3:57 We have heard all of the laws that pertain to proper service of Hashem, through Sefer Vayikra, through the Midrashim of Torah's Kahanim, the thoughts that are supposed to be impressed upon our minds through all the different sacrifices and all of those that are replicated in our tefillos. And now, when we reach Parshas Kedoshim, we get the overarching theme, the message, the clout, the essential laws of the Torah that God wants us to keep in mind.

4:38 A bit of a summary Parshas Kedoshim Speak to all the Jewish people, the assembly of the Jewish people at Hakel. So let's make sure men, women and children are there. Let's get the king out, let's open up a safer devarim and let's go ahead and step on top of this wood platform and let's go and say Don't be a sordid, pleasure-seeking individual, because it may be possible to stay within the guidelines of the Torah. And technically it's kosher wine, so let me drink seven bottles of it. You didn't do a navera.

5:18 Technically, schnitzel is totally kosher, so let me eat 15 schnitzel sandwiches. That is technically kosher. But Kedosh Shem Tihu, understand the overarching message of all of these 613 mitzvos. Let it be your goal to become Kedosh. Sanctify yourself with that which is technically permitted inside the realms of the Torah, another halacha, that is, Roiv Gufei. Torah taluyim bahen, another law that is crucial for a functioning and healthy holy society Ish aviv imo v'aviv tira'u.

5:58 Fear. Dad and mom, have some respect for your elders. Understand where you came from, that you're sprung from your parents' loins and that they can take you out and build another one, just like you have that basic seventh day off. Make sure that you fear and keep Shabbos. These are kind of the main laws, the holy code of the Jewish people. And then Pesach Dalet, a bit of an odd Pesach, but it's a Pesach that hopefully you'll never forget. That's where our talk begins.

6:42 Al-tifnu, el-ho-el-ilim, ve-el-okei ma-se-cha, lo-sa-asu lachem, ani Hashem el-okei-cham. The basic translation Al-Tifnu, don't turn el-ho-el-ilim, don't turn to foreign gods, el-okei ma-se-cha and to gods of molten, formed, created gods. Lo sasulachem, you shall not make for yourselves, ani Hashem Elokeichem, I am your God. Now, pulling this posseg apart, we have a plethora of questions.

7:22 What does the word altifnu technically mean? Do not tifnu to gods, we are told. Tifnu and its real shoresh means to turn your head, to explore, to gaze considerably at the Gemara in Shabbos, points out. The sages told us tifnu elilililim, it's prohibited to even examine, maybe, a church or an idol. It is Tifnu that becomes prohibited here. Other verses talk about actually doing Avodah Zarah, but all Tifnu.

8:02 Don't think about it. Don't give any room in your thoughts for this nonsense. Okay, so don't turn and stare with a lot of interest to Elilim, the form of gods, false gods, idolatry, the Elokei ma sech alo sasu. But then again, another word for these false gods. They're called Eloke, these molten gods, these constructed, these molten, created false idols. Well, there seems to be a bit of a discrepancy between what they are.

8:43 Are they different? Don't turn towards Elilim. And then don't turn to Elokei Maseicha. Are these different gods? Are these different Avodah Zarahs? I shall not tifnu to them. And Rashi, he's on the ball for us again. Of course he always is, and he tells us here something you need to know, a side in life Velokei Masei Harashi says Tchilason, elilim At the beginning. They are Elilim. Elilim, it stands. It is the word that contains the syllable Al, which means not nothingness of no value.

9:28 These gods have no power. They are Elilim. That's what that means. Don't turn to these false, fake, pathetic, worthless, valueless gods. They are Elilim. Rashi continues First. They are Elilim. But if you will tifnu to them, if you will pona end, you will make them into godlike, you will deify an inanimate object, you will turn this rubbishness, this elilim, into an elokai.

10:12 The Puzzle is kind of a play on words. It holds a deep lesson that human beings, they have in their fleshy, meaty hands, inside of their capability, inside of their noggin, the ability to conjure up, to create and to form something that is totally inanimate, a dead domain, a totem pole, a wood stick, they have the ability to turn that into a god. It isn't actually the newest idea that human beings have the courage to create great things and that they can even create gods, avodah, zarahs, for themselves, for worship.

10:55 It happened in our own history. On a tragic day, a tragic event, when we built the Egil Azov, we were able to create this false Sheker God. The rest is the rest of the story, is the rest of our history and the suffering that has come from that mistake. The Egil Azov is t'chilason elilim. It's nothingness, but with enough giving it of significance, bestowing of it honor and glory, you can turn with your hands, with your koach, a egel, a calf into a God, into an idol.

11:37 And in our times there are people doing this. There's a vodazara inside of your very backyard, or there may even be a vodazarah inside of your very backyard, or there may even be Avodah Zarah inside of your very home. God forbid, I hope not. But metaphorically. Just think about this, because I'm sure you're thinking yeah, yeah, yeah, there was Avodah Zarah, that's the Egil Azav, when people were running, picking up their ropes to run even faster towards totem poles and Avodah Zarah. But we don't have a thirst for that sin anymore. Avodah Zarah is dead. But let me ask you, let me show you how it's hardly dead. What is a God? Define it, put it onto paper, think about it for a second.

12:20 God, a supreme being, something that is immortal. The lone authority, an item thing, something, a power, a being an entity that is alone worthy of worship, a higher power, something that one will readily submit to, that he will change his behavior in order to please that said entity, that deity, a god lowercase g, a higher power, says Rabbi Rucham L'Vovitz, this koach that Rashi is pointing to, of asa'um, of creation of gods, of deification.

13:09 Just look around the world, how it has everyone still tripping up, how people are able to create gods, inanimate objects, into worlds, into supreme beings that are immortal, that are alone worthy of worship, and people submit to them and change their lives for them, for this nothingness that has been conjured up by their own minds, it's called the koach of asoom. Before we poke some fun and try to expose some of the fabrications that society tells us and we explore this koach of deification, the ability that we call asoom, that Rashi tells us here, let us just point out how maddening, how odd this koach really is.

14:08 I heaven on marco hellas. People are deifying objects that we know very clearly. King solomon told us heaven, love. All of everything on this world is bound, is limited, is stuck, it is not eternal, it is not immortal. But no, the ground, the dirt people, no matter what you look at or see, it isn't aimed so if it isn, or see, it isn't ain't so, it isn't forever going, it isn't the light of above, but it is just Afar ve'efer. This world is dirt, it's ash, it's temporary, it's transient, it is low, but yet with the koach avasom deification, these things can become hayahay ve'vi' and get us all tripped up.

14:49 Let me point you to a couple examples of this. It was a couple months ago, a Sunday in February, that the world stopped. Around 150 million people put their loved ones on hold, put their businesses on hold, plop themselves on a couch to watch a football game. They call it the NFL Super Bowl. Millions of viewers, people getting together to celebrate it like a holiday. And it is but a fun activity, sports, a recreational game.

15:32 It really is kind of silly to think about where the world has taken a very simple act like football, throwing a pigskin ball around a child's game, really kind of like Legos People put on their T-shirt and shorts, but with the kolach of a soem it's funny. It's become a god. Sundays are kratzmich. Sundays are like Thanksgiving. Football's really even taken over Thanksgiving. It's outdone that as a holiday. If you should speak against my God, my team, and perhaps even do it inside of my holy sanctuary, my home stadium, I'll throw rocks at you, I'll shout you down.

16:22 How dare you disrupt my temple or my holy quarterback while he's at work? Let him do his holy work. The quarterback like the culling guzzle people bowing down to the celebrities of the sports world. The child who's best able to chase down that pigskin or cross it over the yellow line? The man who can kick the ball the farthest becomes like the levy. The outfits like the big day, kodesh, the gentlemen, the adults paid millions, the promotion, the imagination, the people behind it, the coaches, like the rabbi, figures, it is all.

17:05 Think about what has happened. That the entire world, including myself, a sports fan, would have become a bit naive to the asaum power. That, with the right people, the right mix, the right amount of money, the right promotion, the right marketing, what has happened to a child's game that has become a god? That something alone is worthy of worship, a higher power. That my family stops, that all stops. That my free will. It bends when it's Sunday football or when it's Monday night baseball or whatever sport it is.

17:46 It is a bit funny just to point out the glaring truth that is overseen. That's my stadium, that's my place, that's my holy temple. Football alone is worthy of worship. And that trophy, when they finally present it, with the coaches standing around, the partying begins. It looks like Simchas Torah, when God forbid. This comparison would be that they're dancing around a Torah scroll, Torah Hashem Tamima, but instead there's a Larry O'Brien trophy, or whatever they call the NFL trophy.

18:34 That's the prize. That's their eternal light. Aso'um, creation, imagination, creation, t'chilas en el lilam, v'sofo'n elekei masecha. Creation, imagination, turning a valueless, nothingness, foolish product into God's Giving them respect. Now another example we are commanded to love God, to serve Hashem with all of our hearts, with our yitzerto, with our yitzahara, to give everything we got to God, even if there should be a knife upon our necks.

19:19 God forbid that painful cut. It must be tolerated, as we are in this tough position that we would have to give ourselves up for the name of God, for the sake of Hashem. That's something we're prepared to do. When we say, even if you take my soul, bring it on, because I'm for God and that's an eternal life, that was a hard one Sacrificing our money. V'chomei Odecha, though, is a hard one Sacrificing our money. It is well documented that the climb for the right profession. Ever since the ghetto walls opened and we've been given freedom to do whatever we want, the goal of doctor lawyer has been deified.

20:10 The goal of financial wealth, financial success, sustenance, millions, respect, honor, covet for one's money, the dollar bill and money we trust. But it's bleta, it is spiltlach, it's bletlach. We're playing with stones. The altar of Kalem would point out. Money is but wooden paper, it's but some rocks of the ground, gold, silver, it's toys, but it's made into something bigger because value is given to it by people, and that's just so we can have a normal system, so we don't have to barter things and switch items a lamb for a sheep but instead we can just all give value to some item and sooner or later you can kiss money goodbye, because it's going to go all online with different financial and internet currencies.

21:15 But to Kohach, to turn it into a God. But look at what's happened with money in the profession that people will literally sacrifice their idols upon the altar of their profession. But they will cut ends off of the Torah in order to create their molten God, in order so that they should find favor in the eyes of being able to achieve wealth, financial success. It has become a god when it comes to the enduring, all-powerful, omnipresent, real god and only god.

21:56 When we get to talk to him, some mincha or a chance to engage in more business, the lines become blurred, blurred. The dollar bill aso'um, deification of financial success. Al tifnu el lilim ve'elokei masecha lo'isasu lachem for t'chilasen al lilim hem v'm'ata pona achrayim. But if you should turn towards them, so v'ichlasos anelokos, at the end you make them into a real god. Prosperity and money has been enthroned up on high.

22:36 It will throw away all of their Torah study, their mitzvos and turn. For the sake of just so they should be able to sing to the holy dollar bill and an impressive corner office in their profession. Just think about some interesting halachos or ha'aras you've heard recently and different things you want to engage in so that you will look better in the eyes of Hashem or so that Hashem should give you something good. Maybe you've heard we've spoken about the advice of the shlaw to make good brachos, to have concentration.

23:22 One should say brachos out loud. So why is it that many people let's say, for this example, taking this example in hand don't make brachos out loud? Maybe because they're lazy, but some don't make brachos out loud because they're embarrassed of what people will say. It's awkward, it's weird in society to stand up and say a bracha out loud in the middle of a meeting or to say a bracha out loud when people may judge me In any of our spiritual endeavors. The Mesilash Hasharon points out that people will fail to take that next step, that leap to do what God wants, for they're embarrassed of what people will think, what people will say, and in this contradiction between what HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants and what others want, which really doesn't matter at all, and the answer is quite simple and everyone knows it.

24:18 But think about how society and what other people think has been crowned as something that I need to conform to. The onlooker, the innocent bystander, who may not even notice you or care that much for you, you serve him, I serve him, al-tifnu el-ho-eli-lim, in this basic stira of what God wants, should I wear tzitzit? Should I not? Should I tuck them in, tuck them out? Should I dress like a Jew or dress like someone that people will think I'm cool? No-transcript.

25:17 Our pals. We've deified the robin. We have deified the social norms. We have deified what people think about us. We've given up our free will and what we know is right because we've been tifnu el ho'el elim. We've turned towards the idols and aso'um. We have turned people that are not gods into molten gods. The Messiah tells us, if we need the reminder here, that if it wasn't for covet, if it wasn't for onlookers, if it wasn't for that we care so much about what people think about us, these molten gods that we've created, if it wasn't for them, well then we would have one set of clothing.

26:06 We wouldn't care to buy fancy things we'd be very content with any sort of house, just need a bed or so, the bare minimums. We wouldn't care to buy fancy things, we'd be very content with any sort of house, just need a bed or so, the bare minimums. But I saw them, ladies and gentlemen, the molten gods that we have created or others have created in our lives. It's dangerous and when we see it with our own two eyes, with 20-20 vision, that knowledge is very, very helpful to see the madness that may somehow creep in to society.

26:48 Don't look too hard or it might hurt yourself. I'll tiff Noel Oily Lim. Don't look too hard or it might hurt yourself. Don't examine this idol Lest you use your imagination to deify something. Elokei masecha, we said the molten God. It flows beautifully in the possek Because this conformed, this conjured, this molten, which kind of gives a little reference to a creation, to a formed idol. That's because they are man-made. They are denying gods. They are these totem poles of what other people think.

27:30 They are molten gods that you shouldn't make for yourself, elokei Masecha, because you could turn a child's game, like football, into 150 million viewership, kratzmich, and you can turn a simple piece of paper, a green dollar bill, into what life is about. Stay far away. Loi sas ulechem. Don't make these formed, human-formed idols. Don't turn a regular author into this deity of Shakespeare. Don't turn someone that has an ability to paint nicely into this God called Picasso.

28:20 Do not crown and make sacred and make omnipresent, transient, worthless gods. And let me be quite frank and honest. A lot of these talents and things are quite remarkable and a lot of these pursuits sports, recreational activity, money all healthy and proper, maybe in the right place, everything at the right time, with the right mindset. But the point we're trying to make here is that when it's elevated to something so large, god-like, it's deified, that it actually can go toe-to-toe in your brain with what God, hakadosh Baruch Hu, the real and only blessed be he, hayah Hayveh V'iyah, really wants from you.

29:05 That's when we know that things have gotten out of hand, the dangerous power that your fleshy, meaty hands have to create gods. Keep this. You sewed this idea in your pocket. You'll see it everywhere Non-entities turned into entities and perhaps even deified. Let us take this moment, take a deep breath and reorganize our spiritual priorities. Understand the dangers of tifnu el ho'elilim of turning towards these things and deifying them. Let us notice the molten gods that have been created by people that don't have the right value system.

29:51 And let us take the time to recognize the only and one true God that is alone worthy of worship, the one who dominates the world, the one who is all-powerful, the all-one, anoichi Hashem, the only one, the Hayah Hayvevi, the Adokai, the Almighty, the Elohim, the one who has all powers underneath his dominion, the only and lone God. He alone is worthy of worship and that is it. And let us hear the call of Parshas Kedoshim that Kedoshim ti. See what's going on here, see the greatness of the gift that you have to connect with the divine, to connect with the real, and do not turn to the false heathen idols.

30:40 Do not create fake molten gods. Remember Rashi, the beginning. They are valueless, they are El, they are nothing. If you will turn towards them at the end, you will make them into something that is a God lowercase g. Be careful of those that misuse this power, be careful of deifying the non-entities, and let us begin to take truthfully and meaningfully the words of Kedoshim Tihu and turn our attention towards the real, enduring and eternal.

31:29 Hakadosh Baruch Hu.