Daily Bitachon: Recent Episodes
Rabbi David Sutton
We are up to the song of the Tasit , which comes from a famous pasuk in Tehilim 121,2 עֶזְרִי מֵעִם יי עֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם / וָאָרֶץ My help comes from Hashem, Creator of Heaven and earth What is a Tasit ? The word Tas means to fly , and the Targum Yerushalmi in Bereshit 15,11 says that at the Brit Ben Habetarim, after the animals were split, וַיֵּ֥רֶד הָעַ֖יִט עַל־הַפְּגָרִ֑ים / The Ayit came down on the split animals. Rashi says there that the Ayit is a certain kind of bird, such as a vulture, that comes down on carcasses. Based on that, the Targum Yerushalmi translates it to the Taisa comes down, and Rav Chaim Kanievsky ztl saysthis is the Tasit , from the word tas / fly ( today a pilot is called a tayas because he flies, based on this word). Why does the Tasit say עֶזְרִי מֵעִם יי עֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ ? Rav Chaim Kanievsky explains, based on a pasuk in Yirmiyah , where the Jewish people are compared to the Ayat , in a negative way: הַעַ֨יִט צָב֤וּעַ נַחֲלָתִי֙ לִ֔י הַעַ֖יִט סָבִ֣יב עָלֶ֑יהָ לְכ֗וּ אִסְפ֛וּ כָּל־חַיַּ֥ת הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה / Has my heritage become for me like the bloodstained bird of prey, which other birds of prey surround ? He points out that this Ayit is not liked by the other birds. It's surrounded by other birds and it's bloodstained , which means maybe it has already been attacked. It's an unpopular bird, surrounded by other birds that don't like it. And it's flying around looking for carcasses. And it says, עֶזְרִי מֵעִם יי עֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ: Hashem is going to help me. This bird doesn't get fed every day like domesticated birds, like the chicken or the dove. He's got to make it on his own. He has fight for a living. He doesn't have an exact system, and therefore he's on the bitachon program. And so this vulture says, עֶזְרִי מֵעִם יי עֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ: I once read an article about vultures that really added to my appreciation of nature. Vultures, or other types of scavenger birds are a tremendous help for the environment. They are what's called nature's sanitation department. If dead animals were to just lie there, they would attract all kinds of diseases and become smelly and odorous. But the vultures come and scavenge, and clean everything up. And Hashem, in His tremendous mercy, created the stomach of vultures to contain an exceptionally corrosive acid, enabling them to safely digest carcasses that are infected with all kind of toxins, such as anthrax, cholera- lethal poisons- and yet they're able to eat them and thereby remove these bacteria from the environment. This is a wonder of wonders. Amd it's really the ultimate Ezri Me'im Hashem. Hashem is helping the vulture. He's out there eating carcasses ? Who knows what's going to happen to him? But don't worry, Hashem worked it out. His system is such that it can handle it. That's the vulture. The Hovot Halevavot, when talking about bitachon, tells us to look into different animals and birds and see how Hashem works it all out perfectly. They all have all the tools necessary for what they need to do to survive. Another interesting thing about vultures is that urinate straight down their legs, and the uric acid kills the bacteria that accumulates on them from walking through carcasses. It also acts as an evaporative cooling agent. Wonder of wonders, look how Hashem cares for birds and gives them what they need, even if they are, so to say, in a very difficult economic environment. That's a lesson for us. עֶזְרִי מֵעִם יי עֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם That's the song of the Vulture saying, Hey guys, don't worry, I don't have any set system. I don't know where my food is coming from day to day. I I'm not like the cow that just grazes the grass knowing what's coming. The vulture says, Listen guys, it's day by day, and we survive.
Welcome to our Perek Shira series. We are now up to the song of the Snuneet , which the Mabit says, based on many Rishonim, is actually a species of the Agur/crane that makes a similar sound (see Sefer Shorashim on the topic of עגר ) סְנוּנִית אוֹמֶרֶת. The Snuneet says, לְמַעַן יְזַמֶּרְךָ כָבוֹד וְלֹא יִדֹּם יי אֱלֹהַי לְעוֹלָם אוֹדֶךָּ: (תהילים ל יג) / So that kavod (which refers to the Neshama ) will sing to You forever and not be silent, Hashem my God forever, I will praise You. We'll explain in a moment why that song is specific to this bird. But before we do that, we will discuss what the Gemara in Masechet Shabbat 77B tells us, quoting a Brita that says there are five strange types of fear wherein something weaker instills fear in something that is stronger. -A mafgia/ a certain type of animal that makes a very loud sound, scares the lion -There is a fear of a mosquito in the elephant, -The fear that the spider instills in the scorpion, -The fear of the Snuneet, a type of crane, with its loud noise, on the Eagle, the king of the birds -And the fear of a certain type of small fish on a whale. We won't go into the details of each one of them, although it's quite interesting. But the Ben Yoyada on Masechet Shabbat , the Ben Ish Chai's commentary, says these five animals correspond to the five nations that put the Jewish people into exile. We look at them as the four Galuts- Babylonia followed by the Persians , the Medes , and then Edom , western civilization. He adds a fifth one, the Yishmaelim -the Arab world. Each one is a powerful nation, yet the Jewish people can instill fear in them. He says the word for Emat/fear is the same as Uma / nation , and these five nations that subjugated the Jews will ultimately be afraid of the smaller nation-the Jewish people. And one of these nations, specifically Edom, the galut we're in now, is compared to an eagle, as it says in Ovadia, 1,3 אִם־תַּגְבִּ֣יהַּ כַּנֶּ֔שֶׁר / If you lift yourself up like an eagle, Esav wants to go high like an eagle and he wants to keep flying up. But that eagle is ultimately afraid of the Snuneet , this less powerful bird with the power in its mouth , which is the power of the Jewish people. That's the message of the Snuneet to the Jewish people. The Mabit explains that the pasuk before לְמַעַן יְזַמֶּרְךָ כָבוֹד וְלֹא יִדֹּם / I'm going to praise you forever says , הָפַ֣כְתָּ מִסְפְּדִי֮ לְמָח֢וֹל לִ֥֫י / You turn my mourning (my eulogy) into a dance And he says just like you can't have prophecy without happiness, so too, you can't sing songs if you're in a state of mourning. Therefore, in order for for us to sing, we have to put ourselves in the right mood. לְמַ֤עַן ׀ יְזַמֶּרְךָ֣ כָ֭בוֹד וְלֹ֣א יִדֹּ֑ם Even though I'm in galut, I'm able to turn the mourning into a dance. And I will forever thank You Hashem, for what You've done for me as You take care of me. That's the powerful message that the snuneet gives us, that there might be stronger forces, but your song and your praise to Hashem will ultimately bring down the most powerful. The Shevet Musar from Rav Eliyahu Izmir 2,15 says this is also a message to the Yetzer Hara.. We tell the Yetzer Hara, You might be stronger than me. You might look more powerful than me, but don't be so confident. Don't think that the small one can't beat the big one. The small one can beat the big one. And I can take over the Yetzer Hara. I can take over Galut. That's the message of the Snuneet , the crane, number two.
Welcome to our Perek Shira series. We are now in the Song of the Bird , which comes from Tehilim 84, 4. צִפּוֹר אוֹמֵר. גַּם צִפּוֹר מָצְאָה בַיִת וּדְרוֹר קֵן לָהּ אֲשֶׁר שָׁתָה אֶפְרֹחֶיהָ אֶת מִזְבְּחוֹתֶיךָ יי צְבָאוֹת מַלְכִּי וֵאלֹהָי: / Even the bird found a home, and the dror (a type of bird) a nest for her, where it lays its young. Your mizbehot, Hashem Sevaot, Malki V'Elohai The first, beautiful explanation of this pasuk comes from the sefer Kol Rina. It says the Jewish people are compared to a bird, as it says in the Brit Ben HaBetarim, that they did not split the bird (which Rashi says refers to the Jewish people who are compared to a bird). Hashem is saying that we shouldn't forget Yerushalayim, and we should always hope for the Geula , even in the times when we're in Galut . He says further that there are two kinds of Jewish people: Some are compared to the Tsipor Matzah Bayit/The bird that found a home. That means they found a home in Chutz L'Aretz and that is not good. This song is telling us that certain birds that find a home are easily domesticated. You bring them into the house, and they'll stay. So too, some Jews have found a house in galut , and that's not good, Hashem. We can't have that happen. Other birds, such as the dror, which is the free bird, is compared to another type of Jew, who doesn't want to be subjugated to its host nation. They're only here as a kan/nest. They don't stay in household dwellings. This bird puts its young by the mizbe'ach . What does this mean? In a spiritual sense, they want to bring their young to the Mizbe'ach , because they feel a connection of kedusha, like the birds that are always hovering around the Kotel. They have some special connection to holiness. This is compared to the sadikim that want to put their children in yeshivot . They're not looking at Chutz L'Aretz as the place to be. These are two different types of people in klal Yisrael- the Tsipor and the Dror . Have mercy on them, both the Tsipor whom we're afraid might get lost in the galut, and the dror, who's going against the tide. Regardless, have mercy on them and take us out of galut . That is one approach to this pasuk. The second approach, brought down in the sefer Hakol Yeshabchucha on Perek Shira says that the Tsipor refers to a small bird that is seemingly unimportant and not worthy of supervision. Big, wild animals may seem more important, but Hashem also gave importance to these birds. We use them to purify the leper and we use them (doves and pigeons) for Korbanot . This shows the tremendous amount of respect and importance they get. Therefore, they sing a song that God made us important . Even though we seem insignificant, we're able to be involved. In the process of purification, one bird is slaughtered and the other bird is set free, and they are both singing the song of appreciation that We were allowed to be involved. גַּם צִפּוֹר מָצְאָה בַיִת - bayit refers to the purification of the house, וּדְרוֹר קֵן לָ הּ refers to one that is sent out for that process, and אֲשֶׁר שָׁתָה אֶפְרֹחֶיהָ אֶת מִזְבְּחוֹתֶיךָ - some birds are brought on the mizbe'ach יי צְבָאוֹת מַלְכִּי וֵאלֹהָי Hashem the God of the legions. So the bird is referencing the different instances where it's used for the purification processes and saying, My song is that I'm able to do something to bring about kavod shamayim. Rabbi Miller used to say that if the flowers at a wedding could talk, they would say, " Wow, what an honor! Here we are, at a Jewish wedding, making Jewish people happy! Our friends are just withering away." This is like the story that the is told of Eliyahu HaNavi at Har Carmel when they had two identical cows-one of them would be brought for the baal and the other would be brought for Hashem. The one intended for the baal complained, It's not fair. We're brothers, we were raised together. To which Eliyahu HaNavi answered, " Even though you're being brought for the baal, the fact that the fire will not come down means you're also bringing about kavod Shamayim." So too, for all creatures-that is their ultimate kavod Shamayim. The songs of the creatures are not necessarily physical songs, but a recognition of the fact that they're bringing out their potential by being used for Hashem. That's why when vegetarians are based on the philosophy of How dare we eat animals, they don't understand that we're doing the animal a favor- it's an uplift. They're proud to be on our table. And that's the song of these birds, that are proud to be involved with what's going on.
Today's song is from the Agur , not a well-known word. We're working with the explanation that it's a crane , which is a type of bird, and he says הוֹדוּ לַיי בְּכִנּוֹר בְּנֵבֶל עָשׂוֹר זַמְּרוּ לוֹ: ( Tehilim 33,2) / Thank Hashem with a kinor/harp, with the nevel-asor (an instrument with 10 strings), sing to him. The pasuk that follows this one in tehilim, continues, שִֽׁירוּ־ל֭וֹ שִׁ֣יר חָדָ֑שׁ הֵיטִ֥יבוּ נַ֝גֵּ֗ן בִּתְרוּעָֽה׃ / Sing a new song to Him, play well with a trumpet. Why exactly does the crane sing this? The Mabit tells us something very interesting about the crane. The crane has a tremendous power of tsifsuf / chirping or noises, and is able to sing in a very powerful way. There is a pasuk in Yeshaya 38,14 where Hizkiyah Hamelech says, כְּס֤וּס עָגוּר֙ כֵּ֣ן אֲצַפְצֵ֔ף I'm going to make noise like a crane. The crane was created in a certain way to, to communicate. It has a very long trachea and its mouth is different than other type of birds. It's able to make a call that can be heard for several miles. So, the crane is known as a very powerful, loud bird and therefore, says the Mabit, the crane tells us, ' You might not have my abilities, but you have your own abilities. You can use your kenor/harp . Why does he say Hodu L'Hashem b'kinor/ Thank Hashem with the harp? He answers that a harp is something that is quite simple to play. This Hodu/ Thanks to Hashem is directed to the four people that have to say Gomel . The word Hodu is the term used in the prayer of HaGomel , which is said after surviving a situation of danger, whether crossing the ocean or desert, being released from captivity or recovering from an illness. And since these are common events, the crane says, I can't ask you to do something complicated . It needs to be a common thing. Everyone has their kinor/harp, the standard way of saying thank you. And the people that are on a higher level, whom he calls the Benei Aliya , won't simply do a Hodu they'll do Zamru/ a song , and they will use this Nevel-asor , which is a more complex instrument. The commentaries discuss about the Asor and ask, why a 10 string harp? The Gemara in Masechet Arechim 13B quotes a pasuk and tells us that the harp of the Bet Hamikdash had seven strings When a Mashiach comes, it's going to have eight strings, and LaAtid Lavo when it comes to Olam Haba , the highest level, it's going to have 10 strings. And that's actually our pasuk, where it says a 10 -stringed Nevel, and then the next pasuk says, a new song-which is the song of Olam Haba. What exactly does that mean? The Ramban explains in Shaar Hagemul letter 144 that this symbolizes the forces and energies that we have. The is the world of seven, and there are seven different Middot that are revealed to us, which are the seven Ushpizin . So we can sing to God with the harp of seven . But that's for the common folk. Then we go on to a higher level of eight, which is Olam Haba , and then finally we go on to 10. This means different people have different energies and different abilities, but whatever your ability is, you have to use it to praise, to sing, and to give over what you can and sing your song. So the crane is saying to everyone, You don't have to be like me. Rav Wolbe was once sitting with a student by the beach when they saw a beautiful bird landing in the most elegant and graceful way. The student commented, " Wow. Look how elegant and beautiful that bird is as it lands." Rav Wolbe replied, " You too can be elegant and graceful if you use your talents to do what you have to do." That's really the message of the crane. He's saying, ' You might not have my voice, but Hodu LHashem b'kinor-You can use your kinor or your nevel or whatever your instrument is.' The bottom line is this beautiful message, the song of the agur הוֹדוּ לַיי בְּכִנּוֹר בְּנֵבֶל עָשׂוֹר זַמְּרוּ לוֹ:
Today we are discussing the song of the Tarnigolet/ the female chicken, as opposed to the rooster . The commentaries discuss why, of all the birds, animals and creatures, we suddenly have a separate song for the female species for the tarnegolet ? (See Rav Yaakov Emden's siddur for an answer.) Others say the tarnegolet is not a regular hen, but a different species altogether. That being said, we will go with the simple explanation that it's referring to the female of the chicken family. The sefer Kenaf Renanim offers a beautiful thought. It's one of the early commentaries on Perek Shira , by Rabbi Lowe, who lived between 1787 and 1847. He says the lesson here gives tremendous musar/rebuke to people that are short-minded and lack Bitachon, who do not appreciate God's goodness. He says, ' This is a disease, that ( in his times ) spread throughout Germany and Austria , where people wait until 35 or 40 to get married because they want to first have enough money to be able to support their families.' What an interesting historical fact! And why is this a message to these people? He says, because there is no bird that reproduces more than the hen. It lays an egg a day, and it has a tremendous mercy on its chicks. Why doesn't it stop laying eggs? Shouldn't it be worried and anxious, wondering, ' Where am I going to get food for all of these chicks?' But, he says, built into the chicken is a natural reliance on Hashem, that Hashem takes care of everything, and Hashem has no shortage of abilities to take care of feeding all the world's animal population. That is why the song of the tarnegolet/hen is נֹתֵן לֶחֶם לְכָל בָּשָׂר כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ / God gives bread to all creations, because His kindness is forever. That is the message that the chicken gives us. And interestingly, Rav Chaim Kanievsky says (separately, in his commentary on Perek Shira ) that the chicken's food is always accessible. It goes around pecking, and wherever it needs to go, it always has its food. Based on this explanation, it's no coincidence that the chicken has so much food, because Hashem sees its reliance, and therefore supplies it with whatever it needs. As he says, we don't see chickens dying from starvation. This is the beautiful message of the chicken: Hashem is Noten Lechem L'Kol Basar Ki l'Olam Hasdo/ God gives bread to all creations, because His kindness is forever. The Chida, in his sefer Yosef Tehilot , quotes Tehilim 119,89, לְעוֹלָ֥ם יְהֹוָ֑ה דְּ֝בָרְךָ֗ נִצָּ֥ב בַּשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ /Hashem Your words always are in the heavens. לְדֹ֣ר וָ֭דֹר אֱמוּנָתֶ֑ךָ כּוֹנַ֥נְתָּֽ אֶ֝֗רֶץ וַֽתַּעֲמֹֽד׃ / from generation to generation is Your trustworthiness, You set up the land and it will last. And he asks what the message is of " Your words are forever , Your loyalty is from generation to generation so the the land will stand?" He says this is same concern. The Chida lived at about the same time as Rabbi Lowe, and parnassa was probably hard all over the world. He says people might say, How can I get married? How can I have children? There's so much financial stress. How can I do it? And he answers, We have to rely on Hashem that He's Noten Lechem L'Chol Basar/ He gives bread to all creations, because His kindness is forever, and marry and have children. That's what L'dor vador/from generation to generation, means- even in these later generations, when we're in exile and life is difficult, do not hold back from having children. Why? Ledor V'Dor Emunatecha Hashem's loyalty is there from generation to generation. He's reliable. Count on Him. He wants you to get married. Konanta Eretz/ He wants you to set up the earth , which refers to getting married having children. Ki L'Olam Hasdo/Because His Kindness is forever
Welcome to our Perek Shira series. We're now up to the song of the eagle. The eagle says in Tehilim 59,6 נֶשֶׁר אוֹמֵר. וְאַתָּה יי אֱלֹהִים צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הָקִיצָה לִפְקֹד כָּל הַגּוֹיִם אַל תָּחֹן כָּל בֹּגְדֵי אָוֶן סֶלָה: (תהילים נט ו) You, Hashem the God of the hosts, God of Israel. Wake up, to (usually remember , but in this case) punish the goyim. Have no mercy on all the rebels forever. We're turning to Hashem asking Him to pay retribution against those that have been oppressing us. Why the eagle ? Because God is compared to an eagle, as it says in Devarim 32,11 כְּנֶ֙שֶׁר֙ יָעִ֣יר קִנּ֔וֹ עַל־גּוֹזָלָ֖יו יְרַחֵ֑ף God is like an eagle that arouses his nest. Rashi says the eagle acts toward his children with mercy. He doesn't just come suddenly into its nest. It flutters its wings, it wakes them up by banging tree to tree, branch to branch, so they can wake up and accept him. The eagle wakes up his children slowly, in a merciful way. Then יִפְרֹ֤שׂ כְּנָפָיו֙ יִקָּחֵ֔הוּ יִשָּׂאֵ֖הוּ עַל־אֶבְרָתֽוֹ׃ when it comes to take them, it spreads out its wings and asks its young to jump on its back because, unlike all other birds that are afraid of what might come from above, the eagle has no fear of anything from above, only arrows from below. The mother eagle says, let the arrows come into me and not my children. So too, God carried us on the wings of eagles. He was like an eagle that the enemy shot arrows towards, but the Ananei HaKavod , which symbolize God, absorbed them. Furthermore, says Rabbenu Bachye, when the eagle carries its young, it's all alone, high up in the sky where no other bird can come, and וְאֵ֥ין עִמּ֖וֹ אֵ֥ל נֵכָֽר׃ / There are no other forces, no other gods . Just like the eagle is alone up there, so too, God is leading us alone, with no other forces. As it says, En Mazal L'Yisrael. And as the pasuk in Tehilim 73,25 says, מִי־לִ֥י בַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וְ֝עִמְּךָ֗ לֹֽא־חָפַ֥צְתִּי בָאָֽרֶץ׃ There is no one in heaven for me other than You. There's nobody other than God, leading the Jewish people. The Mabit says on this pasuk, that first of all, we use the term V'Atah/and You . What does that mean? That You are the only One that really exists . The only One that truly gets the term Atah is God, because God is the only thimg we can say You to in a lasting way. Nothing else exists forever, only God. God is the One that's everlasting. He's the everlasting force. The Everlasting power. Although it looks like there are other forces (which refer to the goyim ) that are oppressing us and taking us over, we know that God is the ultimate Force, the Constant that's in control of all other forces. That's why He's called Elohei Sevaot/God of hosts. Those other forces don't have a constant control -One goes up and one goes down. And that's why we ask Hashem, Please, we know You're above everything. Come down and take us out of Galut. And why is the term Hakisa/wake up used? The Midrash Tehilim , in Mizmor 59 tells us that in this world it's like God is, as if to say, sleeping because He's not saving us. That's why the pasuk says in Tehilim 78, 65, Vayikatz/God gets up, as if He was sleeping. But in the future, God is going be awake as our pasuk says הָקִיצָה לִפְקֹד כָּל הַגּוֹיִם / Hakitza/wake up to punish the goyim . That means Hashem is going to come out in His full force. It's actually a pasuk in Tehilim 44,24 that is said by Sephardim during Elul . ע֤וּרָה ׀ לָ֖מָּה תִישַׁ֥ן ׀ אֲדֹנָ֑י הָ֝קִ֗יצָה אַל־תִּזְנַ֥ח לָנֶֽצַח׃ Wake up. Why are you going to sleep? Don't leave us forever. The Gemara in Masechet Sotah 48A asks, What about, 'Hineh Lo Yanum V'Lo Yishan,' -I thought God doesn't take a nap or go to sleep? So what does it mean Wake up? The Tanna D'Rav Eliyahu in perek 23 asks same question, Does God sleep or does He not? The answer is that when we're suffering it's as if God's sleeping. When we're not doing God's will, it's as if He's sleeping. The Maharal,in Bereshit 6,6, tells us that of course God doesn't sleep. What sleep means about God is that we're causing God not to be able to do what He needs to do. We're the cause, and it's up to us to get up. When we wake up, then kal v'yachol, He will wake up. Of course He's always up, but it's up to us. It says, God wakes us up like the eagle. This is the eagle's song. God wakes us up, like the eagle knows we have to wake up. The eagle symbolizes God waking up his children. God is waking us up, He's not sleeping. We have to get up. And when we wake up, then it's as is if to say He'll get up. Finally, the Arizal says the words, הָ קִיצָה לִ פְקֹד כָּ ל הַ גּוֹיִם / wake up to punish the goyim are Rashei Tevot for הלכה Halacha , as it says, God only has the four cubits of Halacha, w hich means when we learn and we do what we need to do, that causes Hashem, as if to say, to wake up. And that's the song of the Eagle.
Welcome to our Perek Shira series. We are now in the second song of the Dove, יוֹנָתִ֞י בְּחַגְוֵ֣י הַסֶּ֗לַע בְּסֵ֙תֶר֙ הַמַּדְרֵגָ֔ה הַרְאִ֙ינִי֙ אֶת־מַרְאַ֔יִךְ הַשְׁמִיעִ֖נִי אֶת־קוֹלֵ֑ךְ כִּי־קוֹלֵ֥ךְ עָרֵ֖ב וּמַרְאֵ֥יךְ נָאוֶֽה׃ My dove in the cleft of the rock, in the hidden level, let Me see what you look like, let Me hear your voice. Your voice is sweet and what you look like is beautiful (Shir Hashirim 2,14) This is from the love song of Shir Hashirim , and the Jewish people are compared to the dove. The Sefer Ikarim ( Maamar 3, perek 1) quotes this pasuk from Perek Shira יוֹנָתִ֞י בְּחַגְוֵ֣י הַסֶּ֗לַע and says, the Jewish people are compared to a dove, and we learn from the dove. The dove is modest; We are modest. The dove is loyal; we are loyal. We learn many things from the dove and therefore the Jewish people are represented by the dove. What is the story of the dove in the cleft in the rock? Rashi on Shir Hashirim says this refers to when Paroah was chasing the Jewish people after they left Egypt. He caught up to them at the sea, where there was no place to run. The sea was in front of them, there were animals around them, and at that moment they were like a dove that has a hawk chasing it. It enters a cleft in the rock, where there's a snake. If the dove goes in, there's a snake waiting for him, if he goes out, there's the hawk. That was the danger the Jewish people were in at that time. Hashem said, " Let Me see what you look like ," meaning, Let Me see where you turn in a time of difficulty. Let me hear your voice. And, as it says, The Jewish people cried out . The Midrash Raba in Shemot 21,5 cites a beautiful mashal based on this pasuk . A king was out on the road and heard a princess screaming for help because bandits were attacking her. The bandits heard the king approaching and ran away. The king saved the princess and they got married. Sometime later, they got into a fight and weren't speaking to each other. What did the king do? He sent robbers after her. Again, she screamed out and the king saved her. He said, "I wanted to hear your voice. " So too, the Jewish people in Mitzrayim . They were subjugated and crying out and lifting their eyes to the heavens, and as it says, they cried out and Hashem saw their difficulties and took them out. Hashem wanted to hear their voice again. Hashem wanted that heartfelt plea of connection. That's what Hashem wants. So Hashem sent Paroah after us to arouse us, once again, to cry out to Him. And on this we say, הַרְאִ֙ינִי֙ אֶת־מַרְאַ֔יִךְ הַשְׁמִיעִ֖נִי אֶת־קוֹלֵ֑ךְ I want to hear that voice that I heard in Mitzrayim , and they cried out a heartfelt cry and they were answered. This is the dove that symbolizes the Jewish people, and Hashem wants us, like the dove, to give that heartfelt cry. I saw something very interesting that might be news to some, in the perush of Rav Binyamin Hakohen on the on Shir Hashirim . He says, the reason why the dove is called a yonah יונה is from the root of Ona'ah which means to be oppressed because the yonah is always oppressed . He proves it from a pasuk in Yirmiyah 46,16 where it says ק֣וּמָה ׀ וְנָשֻׁ֣בָה אֶל־עַמֵּ֗נוּ וְאֶל־אֶ֙רֶץ֙ מוֹלַדְתֵּ֔נוּ מִפְּנֵ֖י חֶ֥רֶב הַיּוֹנָֽה ׃ / Let us go back to our land, to our birthright from the sword of the yonah/oppressor . Rashi says that here, yonah doesn't mean dove . Doves don't have swords. It means the sword of the oppressor. And there's a pasuk in Sephania that say העיר היונה the city of the yonah and the Radak quotes two explanations – either the city is being oppressed or the city that's like a dove . So when you see the word yonah , it may seem like it's two different explanations but according to this, it's really one and the same. The dove is called a yonah because it is oppressed and that's why the Jewish people are compared to a dove-we also are constantly oppressed, like that dove that cries out from the hawk on one side and the snake on the other. In Bereshit 15 ,10 Hashem made a deal with Avraham Avinu and they split the animals. That's why it's called the Brit Ben Habetarim. The HaSipor/the bird wasn't split, and Rashi says the goyim are compared to the animals and the Jewish people are compared to the dove. The Jewish people won't be split, which means we're going to last forever. Why? Because we have that trait of the owner. Based on this, Rav Yerucham Levovitz explains an important concept in bitachon. We've said many a time that we think that we have a problem, and we pray to get rid of the problem. But we often don't realize that the problem was sent to get us to pray. The end goal is the prayer . And that's יוֹנָתִ֞י בְּחַגְוֵ֣י הַסֶּ֗לַע My dove in the cleft of the rock God says to every one of us, הַשְׁמִיעִ֖נִי אֶת־קוֹלֵ֑ךְ /I want to hear your voice. We all know that when we're experiencing challenges or difficulties, our voices are different. It's a shame that we need the challenges to summon that voice, but that's what Hashem wants to hear- that heartfelt cry, that connection. It doesn't have to be a connection of sorrow. It can be a connection of joy, like the famous story of a man seen bawling at the Kotel. A wealthy man happened to be standing nearby with the head of Ezer M'Tzion, who said " If it's a health problem, I'll take care of it." The wealthy man said, " If it's a money problem, I'll take care of it." But when they asked him why he was crying, he said, " I'm crying because I married off my 12th child. I can't believe it! I'm so full of gratitude, I'm crying out to Hashem." That's the Kol that Hashem wants to hear, and that's the kol that we should be able to produce, without the need for anything negative.
Welcome to our Perek Shira Bitachon series. We are now up to the Song of the Dove. It's a statement from Chizkiyah HaMelech (Yeshaya 38,14) כְּסוּס עָגוּר כֵּן אֲצַפְצֵף אֶהְגֶּה כַּיּוֹנָה דַּלּוּ עֵינַי לַמָּרוֹם אֲדֹנָי עָשְׁקָה לִּי עָרְבֵנִי: (ישעיה לח יד) Like a swallow, and a crane, so do I chirp. I moan like a pigeon (which is a dove). My eyes were raised on high.Hashem snatch away my illness. Be my guarantor. We need a little background to understand where this is coming from: Chizkiyah Hamelech was told by Yeshaya the Navi, " Because you didn't get married, you're going to die in this world, and in the next world." Eventually, Chizkiyah did Teshuva, prayed to Hashem and 15 years were added to his life (Masechet Berachot 10a). Yeshaya was told by God (in 38,5) Tell Chizkiyah that the God of your father, David heard your prayers, saw your tears, and is going to add 15 years to your life. " Chizkiyah then writes a letter, and Rashi says it was a letter of thanks for the miracles that happened to him, that he was healed from sickness. Our pasuk is from his letter, written labout the birds chirping and the dove groaning. When Chizkiyah says " I am chirping like these birds," it refers to his constant supplications praise and Thank Yous to Hashem for the fact You that healed me from my sickness. And being that these birds chirp without any knowledge, he says, I'm more than that. Ahegeh K'Yonah/I groan like the dove. The term hegaya refers to heart, like it says, Hegyon Libi lefanecha/the thoughts of my heart . So there's something about the dove that has more heart . Maybe it's related to the fact that the dove is considered a loyal mate. And then he says, I lift my eyes up to the heavens, that You are the one that's going to heal me, not the doctors. And then he says that the Yonah looks up to the heavens and says, (and this is all part of the Yonah's request) I'm looking up to the heavens. I want my food to come from You, even if it's bitter, rather than from a person of a flesh and blood whose food is sweet. He's saying, Hashem, I want to deal directly with You, I want You to be my Guarantor. I don't want to be controlled by other people. And that's why Perek Shira continues on with this statement of Chizkiyah Hamelech, citing the dove, that says, " Master of the universe, I would prefer my food to be bitter like an olive in Your hands, rather than sweet like honey given by a human being. This happens to be (there are no coincidences) a Rashi in Parashat Noah ( Bereshit 8,11). When the dove comes back to Noah with an olive branch in his mouth, after searching to see if the land is dry, it says Taraf B'Piha meaning food (teref is food) in its mouth. It could mean torn away , but it could also mean food in its mouth. Rashi says in its mouth means it made a statement to Noah. Now obviously birds don't talk the way we do, but there is bird language. What did the bird tell Noah when he brought in this olive branch? What was the symbolism? I would prefer my food be bitter in the hand of Hashem and not sweet like honey in your hands, which means Very nice. I was locked up in a cage and I was being fed by you. Thank you, Noah. But the way the Yonah is, and that's supposed to be the Jewish people, so, I prefer to be busy with hard work and maybe some difficulties, but have a connection with Hashem. That is his statement of thanks, based on the message of the dove. There's another pasuk brought down about the dove that, B'Ezrat Hashem , we will continue with next week.
Welcome to our Daily Bitcachon-Perek Shira series . We're now up to the song of the Rooster. This is one of the longer passages because the rooster has multiple songs. The first thing that the Tarnigol/Rooster says is When Hashem comes to the Sadikim in Gan Eden and He brings out all the wonderful smells and fragrances, the sadikim start to get up and praise. So, in Gan Eden, the Sadikim wake up at a certain time, at Hatzot/Midnight. And when the rooster does that first cocka-doodle-do, he says, שְׂאוּ שְׁעָרִים רָאשֵׁיכֶם וְהִנָּשְׂאוּ פִּתְחֵי עוֹלָם וְיָבוֹא מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֹד: מִי זֶה מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֹד יי עִזּוּז וְגִבּוֹר יי גִּבּוֹר מִלְחָמָה: (תהילים כד ז-ח) Let the portals open up, and open up the the gates. Let the glorious King come in. Who is that? That's Hashem. Both the Chida and the Mabit explain these different songs or sounds of the rooster take place every hour from midnight until the morning, which is exactly six hours It starts exactly at the middle of the night, which is a perfect 12 hours in Gan Eden, where it's a perfect day. The first and second rooster songs are made are to let God into Gan Eden. In the third cock-a-doodle-do, the rooster says, Sadikim, get up and toil in Torah. And that way your reward will be doubled. Why doubled? The Mabit answers that learning always gets rewarded, and when you get up to learn in the middle of the night, which is difficult, you get double the reward. An hour later, the fourth cock-a-doodle-do of the rooster says לִישׁוּעָתְךָ קִוִּיתִי יי (בראשית מט יח) Hashem, I'm looking forward to Your salvation. The Mabit says this is because in the merit of those people that learned Torah, the salvation will come. I'm looking forward to the salvation, which will come due to the learning of Torah. Additionally, people will pray for the Geula later in the day, and that's what this is referring to. The fifth sound is for the man who has not heard the two previous sounds, which were saying get up. So now the rooster says to this man, עַד מָתַי עָצֵל תִּשְׁכָּב מָתַי תָּקוּם מִשְּׁנָתֶךָ: (משלי ו ט) /Lazy man, how long are you sleeping for? Get up already. You heard all these noises. It's time to get out of bed! Next, the sixth sound is אַל תֶּאֱהַב שֵׁנָה פֶּן תִּוָּרֵשׁ פְּקַח עֵינֶיךָ שְׂבַע לָחֶם: (משלי כ יג) Don't love sleep. You will end up becoming impoverished. Get up already. The rooster is pleading with this man, who has not yet gotten up, that it's time to get up. It's time to get out of bed. You already had a good night's sleep. It has been six hours. You slept through the night. Finally, the seventh sound, already at morning, says, : (תהילים קיט קכו) עֵת לַעֲשׂוֹת לַיי הֵפֵרוּ תּוֹרָתֶךָ It is (literally) time to do for Hashem. Break the Torah. The Mabit says that this refers to the fellow that didn't learn. The whole night passed and you didn't learn at all? You didn't get up to learn? הֵפֵרוּ תּוֹרָתֶךָ:/Therefore, you people did not keep the Torah The Chida says that עֵת לַעֲשׂוֹת לַיי הֵפֵרוּ תּוֹרָתֶךָ means It's time to do for Hashem. Learning is one thing and prayer is another. When we pray, there is a certain connection that we have with Hashem. So Hashem says, Stop learning. It's time to pray. עֵת לַעֲשׂוֹת לַיי הֵפֵרוּ תּוֹרָתֶךָ Learning has its time and prayer has its time. Now it's time to pray. That is the beautiful messaging of the Tarnegol. And as the Chida tells us, every morning we say Hanoten LaSechvi Binah L'Havhin Ben Yom u'ben Laila because it's the rooster that differentiates the time. They didn't have clocks back then. The mission of the tarnegol is to wake us up and get us ready for the learning that must be done (or should be done) throughout the night. People used to do these things. People used to get up in the middle of the night to learn. Even as recently as the last generation, great people got up. Rav Elyashiv got up at about two in the morning. Rav Moshe Feinstein got up at four in the morning. We don't have the strength that they did. They got up early and used their night time for learning, and that is the message of the rooster.
Welcome to our Perek Shira Bitachon series. Today's song is the song of the grass . דְּשָׁאִים אוֹמְרִים / The Grass says, יְהִי כְבוֹד יי לְעוֹלָם יִשְׂמַח יי בְּמַעֲשָׂיו: (תהלים קד לא) Hashem's honor should be forever, Hashem should be happy with His handiwork . This is a familiar pasuk as we say it every single day in our prayers as part of a collection of pesukim . It actually shows up in the chapter that we say on Rosh Chodesh, Barechi Nafshi , which talks about all of the wonders of creations. In Tehilim 104,24, it says מָה־רַבּ֬וּ מַעֲשֶׂ֨יךָ ׀ יְֽהֹוָ֗ה כֻּ֭לָּם בְּחׇכְמָ֣ה עָשִׂ֑יתָ מָלְאָ֥ה הָ֝אָ֗רֶץ קִנְיָנֶֽךָ׃ / How wondrous are Your acts, Hashem, that were all made with wisdom. Then it goes on to the ocean…. זֶ֤ה ׀ הַיָּ֥ם גָּדוֹל֮ וּרְחַ֢ב יָ֫דָ֥יִם שָֽׁם־רֶ֭מֶשׂ וְאֵ֣ין מִסְפָּ֑ר חַיּ֥וֹת קְ֝טַנּ֗וֹת עִם־גְּדֹלֽוֹת / There's no end to the creepy crawlers, large and small creatures… And it goes on to talk about how God takes care of all of His creatures. And then a few pesukim later, comes our pasuk יְהִי כְבוֹד יי לְעוֹלָם יִשְׂמַח יי בְּמַעֲשָׂיו / Hashem's honor should be forever, Hashem should be happy with His handiwork . The Sefer Ikarim ( Maamar Sheni , chapter one) asks why this pasuk shows up the end, and he explains that it's because we discussing small, crawly creatures, talking about things that come from rotting fruit. So lest one thinks, Why would God involve Himself in feeding all of these creatures, the answer is, יְהִי כְבוֹד יי לְעוֹלָם יִשְׂמַח יי בְּמַעֲשָׂיו which means that God's honor comes from everything in creation. Hashem is happy with everything that He created because they are all indicators of His great wisdom. Kulam B'Hochma Asita .. it's all a revelation. Creation there for us to see Hashem, and we can see Him in the smallest of creatures. That's one possible reason why the grasses are singing this song. These grassses and herbage are things we step on. They are not the tall and mighty cedar trees. It's the Ezov , the Hyssop , the tea leaves, the lowly things on the ground. These lowly growths also give honor and glory to God. Interestingly, the Gemara in Masechet Cholin 60A says יְהִי כְבוֹד יי לְעוֹלָם יִשְׂמַח יי בְּמַעֲשָׂיו was originally sung by what's called the Sar HaOlam/the ministering angel of the world (whatever that is), when the following event took place: When God created the trees, He said, Limino ..Everything should be created according to its species . But when it came to the herbage , the desheh , it doesn't mention anything about lemino / according to its species, so the grass made what we call a kal v'chomer. The grass said, If God said trees, that normally don't grow in a mixture or multitude of confusion, should come out lemino/ each one of his proper species, then surely we that do grow in a mixture, in a multitude, should come out lemino, according to its species. So here, the creation, on its own, figured out what God wanted. And when that happened, this angel sung the song, יְהִי כְבוֹד יי לְעוֹלָם יִשְׂמַח יי בְּמַעֲשָׂי ו /God's Glory should be Ever Forever. *And He should be happy with His creatures. What does that mean?The Chatam Sofer says the added point here is that we don't like when there's an intermingling of people, which is what brought down the Dor HaMabul- the people (and animals), Rashi tells us, were not careful to mate in the right way and it caused the destruction of the world. So therefore, this ministering angel said, I hope that Hashem will continue to be happy with His creations . Just like the grass understood the importance of not intermingling, so too the rest of the creation should get that as well. That is the song of the grass. The grass is telling us, I made the right choice. I made the right decision. Learn from me. Make the right understanding of God's will and make Him happy. That's the reason why this is the song with the grass, says the Chatam Sofer on Chulin.
Welcome to our series on Perek Shira . We're now up to the song of the vegetables of the fields. It's a pasuk from Tehilim (65,11) that's a bit of a tongue twister, full of hard words. So first let's try to understand the pasuk: יְרָקוֹת שֶׁבַּשָּׂדֶה אוֹמְרִים The vegetables of the field say, תְּלָמֶיהָ רַוֵּה נַחֵת גְּדוּדֶהָ בִּרְבִיבִים תְּמֹגְגֶנָּה צִמְחָהּ תְּבָרֵךְ: Her ridges (of the field), you water generously, It settles in the furrows of the field. With (rain) showers you soften the field and the growth of the field is blessed. The Mabit says that these vegetables are not just saying ' Thank you for the rain,' they're saying ' Thank you for the wisdom of the agricultural society and the farmers that make these furrows ,' because even if there isn't so much rain, the water can gather in the furrows and slowly soften the ground, maximizing the benefit of the rain. There is a commentary on Perek Shira , which we have not quoted yet, by Rabbi David Oppenheim, the Chief Rabbi of Prague, a very prestigious position, before the Noda B'Yehuda, over 200 years ago. In his commentary on Perek Shira , he asks why we are talking about the vegetation of the fields? What about the vegetations of the gardens which are more protected? He explains that vegetation of the fields indicated things grown the wild . And he gives a beautiful explanation, but to understand it, we needs some background: Hashem asks us to give a large portion of our food in Eretz Yisrael away. There is Terumah , which is 1/50th or 2%, there is Maaser another 10%. There is Bikurim , the first fruits, and Pe'ah the corners. With all of this, he calculates that 25% of the produce is to be given away. That means basically God is saying you have to give it away. Why? To explain, he cites a Gemara in Masechet Taanit 25B that says that rain is only responsible for 25% of the watering; most of the water used for the growth of crops comes from underwater streams. (Many people are not aware that even in the arid desert, such as in Arizona, the reason things are growing is not so much from the rain that comes above but because there are underground streams that are providing water as well). So 75% comes from the water below, 25% comes from the water above. And we know that Shamayim L'Hashem, V'Haaretz Natan L'bnei Adam/God owns the heavens and He gave us the land, which means that the underground springs and water sources belong to us, and the rain belongs to God, because when you give the land, you give the water source as well. Therefore, he says, since God is a 25% partner in in our growth, 25% of the crop is given away to where God says it should be given. That explains why we are able to benefit from our controlled produce, which has the laws of donating- to the Kohen and the Levi, the poor and so on. But what about things that grow out in the wild, that are hefker ? How can we then eat them if we're not giving a portion away? The answer is that Masechet Berachot says even when something belongs to God, once you make beracha , you can now eat it. So the Beracha is what allows us to eat the fruits even when they haven't gone through the process of Terumah and Maaser . With this, he explains our pasuk - that the first part talks about the rain coming down and yet Nachet Gedudeha, which he explains means it's being given over to us to eat. So if that's the case, how is it that we're allowed to eat it? The answer is the last two words of the pasuk - Simcha Tivarech / making a beracha on the fruit makes it allowed . His beautiful explanation reading into this pasuk is that Yerakot b'Sadeh,the vegetables of the field call out, " You might not be giving portions away to the poor; so the only way you can eat me is by making a beracha." And that is their song.
We continue in our Perek Shira series, and today we will talk about the song of the Barley kernel : שִׁבֹּלֶת שְׂעוֹרִים אוֹמֶרֶת. תְּפִלָּה לְעָנִי כִי יַעֲטֹף וְלִפְנֵי יי יִשְׁפֹּךְ שִׂיחוֹ (תהילים קב א) The barley kernel says, A song to the Poor Man. As he wraps himself in front of Hashem, he pours out his prayers. The word yaAtof means to wrap himself, but the Radak says, it doesn't mean to literally to wrap himself, but rather, when someone is praying and he's in a difficult situation, he's hunched over as if he's wrapped within himself. The Malbim says the term YaAtof refers to hunger, as it says נַ֝פְשָׁ֗ם בָּהֶ֥ם תִּתְעַטָּֽף i n Tehilim 107,5 and also in Iyov in chapter 2. So the term of LaAtof refers to someone that is in hunger . Regardless, this poor man is in trouble and he's crying out to God. The Mabit explains that this poor man eats barley , which is actually animal food . This barley is, so to say, expressing the song of the poor man who has nothing to eat, to the extent that he'll eat even barley , and he pours out his heart to Hashem. The term of Si'ach means someone that's in pain . Rabbenu Bachye says in Bereshit 24,63, that Yitzhak Avinu used the term LaSuach BaSadeh when he went out to pray. Tefila L'Ani ki YaAtof and it's actually a Gemara in Masechet Berachot and a Midrash Rabba in Bereshit 60,14. We see from here that Yitzhak Avinu represents Middat HaDin (Avraham is hesed, and Yitzhak is Din/judgment) and וְלִפְנֵי יי יִשְׁפֹּךְ שִׂיחו ֹ was the prayer of Yitzhak Avinu, which is Minha . Avraham Avinu symbolizes Hessed – as it says, in the morning, there is kindness. The birds are chirping, everyone's in a good mood. But once the sun is sitting, there's impending doom. Nothing happened yet, but Yitzhak Avinu's Mincha , which is Middat HaDin is hovering. It looks like something is going to happen. And Yaakov Avinu's Tefila is Arbit - in the night. So at Minha , nothing happened yet . But it looks like we're in a little trouble here. That's Middat HaDin and that's the prayer of this poor man. He doesn't know where his next meal is coming from. Nothing has happened yet, but he has what to worry about. So the barley is connecting to the poor man on the simple level, as we said from the Mabit, because a poor man eats barley. But the Sror HaMor in Vayikrah 23,10, and other places says that barley symbolizes God's judgment. We know the days of the Omer are days of judgment, and we start off with the barley Korban. That's when the students of Rabi Akiva passed away. The Sotah , a lady who is suspected of being unfaithful, brings a barley offering to arouse God's judgment. Barley symbolizes judgment . He points out that the wordfor barley , שעורה SeOrah , is spelled with a ש sin , but it's interchangeable with a Samech ס ( as Sotah is spelled with a ס Samech in the Torah with a ש sin in the Gemara ). And the word sa'arah means hurricane , a wind of turmoil and tumult that is coming to the world. That's barley . So barley symbolizes the judgment that's coming, and the barley is telling us, Pray . Wrap yourself in a talet, wrap yourself in yourself. Pour out your heart and we could turn it around. Yitzhak Avinu prays and what happens? His wife comes with 10 camels of gold. He becomes the wealthiest of the Avot . He turns everything around. Yitzhak Avinu is Pachad, Emah, Yirah, which are three terms of fear and that have the same initial letters as Pote'ach Et Yadecha; because with his fear and his praying, he turned everything around. Our last thought on this pasuk is from the Chida in his sefer Homat Anach on Tehilim . In perek 102,1 he tells us in the name of the Yavetz that there are three reasons why a prayer should be received. One is because the person is easy . He takes insults. Number two because is he controls his desire. And number three is that he prays a lot, and he cites this pasuk תְּפִלָּה לְעָנִי כִי יַעֲטֹף וְלִפְנֵי יי יִשְׁפֹּךְ שִׂיחוֹ and says, Tefila L'Ani means he's humble , YaAtof means he wraps himself , which we said also could mean he's hungry , which means he controls his desire. And Lifnei Hashem Yoshpoch Sicho means he is constantly praying . That's the increased prayer. So those are three secrets for one's prayer to be answered. תְּפִלָּה לְעָנִי כִי יַעֲטֹף וְלִפְנֵי יי יִשְׁפֹּךְ שִׂיחוֹ The barley's song is teaching us the secret to overcome the Middat HaDin , Hashem's trait of justice.
The Song of the Grain Shemini Aseret Welcome to our daily Perek Shira series. We're up to the Shaar Shibolim . It's not specifically the wheat or barley, but other general growth. They sing the song of Tehilim 65,14. שְׁאַר שִׁבּוֹלִים אוֹמְרִים. לָבְשׁוּ כָרִים הַצֹּאן וַעֲמָקִים יַעַטְפוּ בָר יִתְרוֹעֲעוּ אַף יָשִׁירוּ (תהלים סה יד) The meadows don sheep and the valleys cloak themselves with grain. They shout for joy, they even sing. In this chapter of Tehilim, David Hamelech talks all about the beauty of rain. The word Karim refers to beautifully luscious meadows , and he says it's as if the area is cloaked in sheep , meaning there are so many sheep because there is so much pasture, thanks to the rain. A previous pasuk says פָּ֤קַֽדְתָּ הָאָ֨רֶץ/ Hashem take heed of the earth and water her . So there's so much rain that there's an abundance of grazing area. If you were to look down at it, it would appear that the meadow is wearing a wool, sheepskin coat, because there are so many sheep there. So that's what it means לָבְשׁוּ כָרִים הַצֹּאן wearing a coat of sheep The Mabit, in his commentary on Perek Shira, says that the sheep are grazing from a certain type of food that is not necessarily fit for human beings, in the area we'll call the meadows. The human beings are eating from the valleys, which is where there is human- edible food. That's why two terms are used: יִתְרוֹעֲעוּ אַף יָשִׁירוּ/They shout for joy and they even sing. The shouting for joy is for the animal food and the singing is for the human food. So both the humans and animals are thrilled with the rain. The Midrash says that one of the benefits of rain is that it's for both humans and animals, so everyone is singing. As we said, the humans sing, because of course when there's rain and a famine ends, prosperity returns, and the people shout and sing for joy. But there's also a certain symbolism here. The Ibn Ezra says that when the the growth comes out, it looks like the the creation itself is singing and giving out its beautiful song. The Radak takes it even more literally and says, when the wind blows through the fully grown stalks of grain, there's a soft, pleasant hum, which sounds like a song of joy. This is also a mashal for Klal Yisrael, that when they return from Galut, they will also be rejuvenated and invigorated and sing out in sheer ecstasy. So this pasuk is the song that comes at the end of a negative spell, whether it's a physical famine, and the humans, the animals sing, or it's the Jewish people in exile. The Midrash Raba on Bereshit 13,4 brings down different qualities of rain. And again, there are no coincidences. We are about to enter Shemini Aseret when it says our final request for rain, and human beings are judged for rain. During this holiday, we have seen a lot of the hand of God directing our Perek Shira class, without any planning on our end. These qualities are called Givurot Geshamim/ the Powers of Rain. And we say Mashiv Haruach U'Morid HaGeshem in Atah Gibur, so rain is included in the Beracha of God's strength. It says that the power of rain is equal to creation. God says in Iyov, God does wonders, referring to creation, and the next word is rain. So rain is equated with creation. Additionally, Rabbi Chiya bar Abba says in Midrash Raba 13,6 that rain is as great as Techiyat HaMetim- just like the dead come back to life, trees and vegetation come back to life. That's why we put Mashiv Haruach with Mehayeh Metim;because it's like resurrecting the dead- there are no leaves, everything's dead, and then boom, the rain comes and everything comes back to life again. Furthermore, just like there's song by Techiyat Metim, where Yeshaya 42 says Those who were buried in the rocks will sing, and there is song when it rains, quoting our pasuk. Further in that same Midrash it says a certain goy asked Rav Yehoshua ben Korcha, "You have holidays and we have holidays. When you're happy, we're not happy and when we're happy you are not happy."And he listed some holidays that they had, that we have and they don't coincide. So when do we both have happiness? The answer was, when it rains. When it rains, They are going to sing a song. Who is singing the song? Not just the Jewish people, but everyone's singing the song. In the next chapter of Tehilim, 66,1 It says, הָרִ֥יעוּ לֵ֝אלֹהִ֗ים כׇּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ /The whole land is singing, referring to the rain. It's something that we don't really appreciate. We're not farmers, we don't sing. But the Gemara in Masechet Taanit 6B says that when rain comes down, there's a beracha to make. We are supposed to say Modim Anachnu Lach, Thank You Hashem for every drop that came from the heavens… and it continues to the entire Nishmat, that people say when they're saved from kind of some problem for some other segulot. But here we have a Gemara that says you're supposed to sing the Nishmat, so to say, when it rains, as a celebration. Here in America there's a nursery rhyme: Rain, Rain, go away, come again another day. If you look on Wikipedia, it dates back to the 1600s and quotes John Aubrey, an old philosopher who wrote in one of his books, "Little children have a custom, when it rains, to sing or charm away the rain. They all join in chorus and sing, 'Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.'" That's old, Western culture. But when I lived in Israel, my daughter went to nursery there and they had a song הרבה טיפות היו בתוך ענן טיפה אחת ירדה נפלה לתוך הגן גשם גשם והשמחה רבה להשם תודה ותהילה There were many drops in the cloud. One drop fell into the garden. Rain. Rain, the happiness is great. To God, there's thanks and praise.' That's the way they train children there. Rain is great. When it doesn't rain, there's not enough water in the Kineret, there's a drought and we don't have enough food Rain is a great thing. Rabbi Miller used to speak about this. He said you can train either your children from when they're young to say, "It's a nasty day," when it's raining outside, or you can tell them what a wonderful thing rain is. He would go on and on about rain. That's this Perek Shira/the Song of Creation-appreciating rain. And if you hear this before Shemini Aseret, you'll have an appreciation for it.
We are up to the pasuk of Tapuach Omer. What is the Tapuach ? For now I'll say Tapuach is apple , but we'll soon see a very big hiddush . תַּפּוּחַ אוֹמֵר. כְּתַפּוּחַ בַּעֲצֵי הַיַּעַר כֵּן דּוֹדִי בֵּין הַבָּנִים בְּצִלּוֹ חִמַּדְתִּי וְיָשַׁבְתִּי וּפִרְיוֹ מָתוֹק לְחִכִּי: (שיר השירים ב ג) Like the Tapuach in the forest, so too is My beloved, amongst the children. I coveted to sit in his shade and his fruit is sweet to my palate . What are we talking about? Rashi says it's a tree of tapuchim among non-fruit bearing trees in the forest (such as pine trees and the like) And everyone's very happy with this fruit tree that has a good smell and a good taste. That's what my beloved is. Hashem is the most choice of gods and therefore I want to sit in His shade. Furthermore, the Midrash says, according to Rashi, that the Tapuach tree doesn't have that much shade so people go away from it. So too, everybody else left God at Har Sinai- the goyim didn't want the Torah, and we did. We went under His shade, even though it might not be the most covered of shades. The Mabit adds that as we said before, even though the Tapuach doesn't have so much shade, we want to sit under it because there's a great smell and we're going to wait for the fruit to ripen and then eat it. So too, we say to Hashem, even right now we're in Galut and Your shade is not complete, we know that in the future Your shade will be complete; and Your fruit is sweet and it's worth waiting for. We're in this world waiting for Hashem, and we know that our reward will be in the world to come. That's the simple pshat of this pasuk. But the Gemara in Masechet Shabbat 88A says the Jewish people are compared to a Tapuach in that the fruit comes first and then the leaves, which is out of order. So too, the Jewish people said Na'aseh V'Nishma first we said we will do , then we will hear- so we are like the Tapuach ! But there are a few questions. Firstly, Rabbenu Tam and Tosafot say, That's not the way apple trees work , and says that this Tapuach refers to an Etrog . He cites a pasuk- וְרֵ֥יחַ אַפֵּ֖ךְ כַּתַּפּוּחִֽים You smell like the fragrance of Tapuachim which the Targum says is the smell of an Etrog , whose fruit comes before the leaves! The timing of this is unplanned and really unbelievable. First our Erev Succot lesson mentioned the Lulav , and now today we are up to the Etrog ! How Hashem works that out is beyond me! The Tosafot asks a bomb question, if anyone was paying attention, the Tapuach B'Etzeh Hayaar was initially compared to God. So how can we now say that the Jewish people are compared to Etrog tree? The Nefesh HaChaim gives an unbelievable answer. He says that there's a rule that the way Hashem acts is dependent on the way we act down- that here arouses the way God acts. And therefore, he says, since the Jewish people act like the apple tree, Hashem reciprocates and acts that way with us. So if Hashem is the Etrog tree, that means that we, the Jewish people, are also like the Etrog tree. As we know, the Etrog refers to the sadik , and the Arba Minim refer to the four different types of Jewish people. And yet it says that the Arba minim also refer to the four letters of God's name. There's a famous Bet Yosef that brings down the following: It's not clear in halacha that when you hold the Lulav and Etrog, you have to hold them together. He quotes the story of a great rabbi who had a dream of another rabbi writing on a piece of paper, a yud and a hay and a vav , then left a space and wrote a hay at the other side of the page. He wondered why that rabbi did that in his dream. The next day was Succot, so he watched the rabbi and saw that he wasn't holding his Lulav and Etrog together. So the rabbi who had the dream explained that the four species correspond to the four letters of God's name, and by separating the Lulav from the Etrog, he was separating three letters of God's name from the fourth. Again, we could say, Make up your mind- do the four minim correspond to God or to the Jewish people ? And the answer, again, is both . When the Jewish people act like the four species of the Lulav and Etrog and praise God, God reciprocates with us with the four letters of His name of mercy and brings us all the blessing. Have a wonderful day.
Welcome to Daily Bitachon. We're back to our series on Perek Shira / the Song of Creation , and we are up to the Date . תָּמָר אוֹמֵר צַדִּיק כַּתָּמָר יִפְרָח כְּאֶרֶז בַּלְּבָנוֹן יִשְׂגֶּה / The Sadik/righteous one blossoms like a date-palm tree, like a cedar tree in Lebanon blossoms The first thing that we see from this pasuk is that the Sadik has two qualities. He's palm tree-like and he's cedar tree-like . The Gemara in Taanit 25 A says that there are qualities that the palm tree has, that the cedar doesn't, and vice versa. The date-palm tree yields beautiful, wonderful, fruit, but it doesn't as good a root system, with the same endurance as the cedar tree. On the other hand, the cedar tree doesn't produce fruit. But the Sadik has both the positive qualities of the date palm tree and the positive qualities of the cedar tree. Firstly, the Ben Yehoyada in Pesachim 53A says that to pick the dates from the date-palm tree, one must go up very high. They're far from the hands of man, which symbolizes that when a person does good deeds, his reward is high up and protected. This is similar to what the Gemara tells us about King Munbaz in Bava Batra 10. When he gave much money for charity, the people said, " Your forefathers gathered money in their treasure houses and you're spending it?!" His answer was, " My forefathers created treasure houses down here. I'm creating treasure houses above." That's symbolized by the very tall date tree with the payload high up. So too, the Sadik should visualize that his reward is primarily in the future. That's one aspect. The Midrash Raba in Bamidbar 3,1 adds many other factors- Firstly, the palm tree offers shade, and so too, the sadik protects people. Additionally, the palm tree has many different varieties of dates. So too, the Jewish people include many different types of people. Furthermore, it says every part of the date-palm used is for positive things: We eat the dates, we use the Lulav from the palm tree to praise God and we use the other parts of the date-palm tree for our Scach , wonder of wonders! The timing of this lesson is a miracle, because today is Erev Succot-we stopped at the song of pomegranate for Rosh Hashanah- and here we are up to the the date, talking about the Lulav and scach ! So too, the Jewish people have nothing that goes to waste. All of them are used in the larger picture. The Midrash adds something very interesting. It says that the date tree has a certain mating interest, which we don't understand. We think trees have no feelings or no emotions. But we know everything has more depth than we can understand today. Science now knows that trees grow better when exposed to music. Plant output varies based on external stimuli, which science does not yet understand. But the Midrash, from way back when, tells us that there's a certain mating interest within a date tree. Rav Tanhuma tells of a certain date tree in one town and wouldn't produce any dates so they grafted it onto a different tree but that wasn't successful. Then, somehow, like Shlomo Hamelech was able to understand the talk of trees, Rav Tanhuma knew that there was a certain tree that this palm tree wanted to be grafted to. So they put it on that tree, and it produced! Again, we don't understand this scientifically, but we trust our midrashim . And so too, the Jewish people, deep down, have a desire for God. Whatever you try to graft onto it, it's not going to accept, it until it gets what it really wants. Because, deep down, the Jewish person wants to connect to Hashem . That's the symbolism of the date-palm tree, and that's also part of the reason we use a Lulav- it's tall and it's the indicator of the Sadik k'Tamar Yifrach. That's our wonderful song of the Date Palm Tree. Have a wonderful day and have a wonderful Sukkot.
Today we will study the song of the pomegranate. The Pomegranate says, כְּפֶלַח הָרִמּוֹן רַקָּתֵךְ מִבַּעַד לְצַמָּתֵךְ: (שיר השירים ד ג) Like a piece of a pomegranate are (what Rashi calls) your cheeks…. Shlomo Hamelech in Shir Hashirim is talking about physical features, saying that part of the face, the high part of the cheek, is pomegranate-like. We're going to focus on the word רקתך rakatech , which literally means cheek . The root of the word is / רק Reik - which means empty A famous Gemara tells us in Sanhedrin 37A Afilu, Reikim , shebachem/Even the empty ones of the Jewish people are full of Mitzvot like a Rimon That's what Rashi brings down from the Gemara in Sanhedrin . The obvious question is, if they're full of mitzvot, why are we calling them empty ? Why does it say , "The empty ones are full of mitzvot like Rimon ?" If they're empty, how can they be full of mitzvot? The Kli Yakar on Shemot 30,34 says that the rule is that when a person does teshuva , his sins turn into mitzvot , and the sin itself is like a korban , because the sin causes him to do teshuva and come closer to God. So, The people were empty doesn't mean that they are currently empty; but rather, through teshuva , they turned into full . That is one explanation. Based on this, a question is asked-Why do we say, in our Rosh Hashanah request, when we eat the Rimon , that we should be full of mitzvot k'Rimon/we should be full of mitzvot like a Rimon if we just saw a statement that all Jews, even the empty ones, are full of mitzvot like a Rimon? We can answer based on this Kli Yakar that, No, you're only full of mitzvot after you do teshuvah . The depth of the Yehi Ratzon of Rosh Hashanah is that we should be full of mitzvot like Rimon, meaning that all of our sins should turn to Zechuyot , and that way we'll be full of mitzvot; This is one of many explanations of the contradiction of how can one be empty and full at the same time. Interestingly, the Gemara in Berachot 57A says, If you dream of pomegranates, that is a sign that you will be successful in your religion. If you're a Talmid Chacham , you'll be successful in your learning, and if you're an unlearned person, you'll be successful with mitzvot . Why? Because the pomegranate is a symbol of being full of mitzvot. The Emek D'Avar has a different answer. He says, there are two kinds of mitzvot . There are mitzvot that we do between man and God and mitzvot that we do between man and his fellow. So when we're saying Even the ones that are empty, we mean even the Jew who is empty of mitzvot Ben Adam l'Makom - meaning he might not be the most religious person, but he's still full of mitzvot, because even the Jew who's empty is still involved in acts of Sedaka and Chesed . So he's full, due to his benevolence that comes from those deeds. The Siftei Hachamim, Masechet Megillah says something very interesting. He asks what it means to be Malei - He says when you do a mitzvah , you can be empty of emotions . Maleh , to be full means to be full of passion. So we are asking that we should be full , that our mitzvot should be done with passion . And he brings a proof, because the Gemara in Mesechet Pesachim 74A says that when they would roast the korban pesach , they would specifically use pomegranate wood for the pole of the rotisserie, and no other wood, because pomegranate wood is very, very dry. It doesn't have any moisture and therefore it's very good for cooking. So when we say we should be full of Mitzvot like a Rimon, we mean that we should be doing the mitzvot in a full way, like the firewood that's created from pomegranate wood. The Maharal Diskin, in his commentary on Tetzaveh , has a beautiful explanation of full of mitzvot like a Rimon. He says a Rimon is full of pits, but you don't see them. They're covered. So too, the rasha is full of mitzvot . That means he has a lot of potential, he's full of mitzvot, but he's like a Rimon -covered with a thick shell, and therefore we don't see them. We don't appreciate his mitzvot , because they're covered up with his sins or whatever else it may be. But deep down inside, he's full of mitzvot , like the Rimon . When you look at the Rimon from the outside, it doesn't look like anything. But even the empty people are really full with mitzvot , like the Rimon is full, although you don't see it. And as to our question Why, on Rosh Hashanah, do we say we should be filled with mitzvot, like a Rimon, if we said, it sounds like all Jews are empty that way? The Pri Hadash in Or HaChaim 683 answers that it means a person is full of mitzvot over a lifetime . We are requesting that this year, our mitzvot should increase in such a way. That's our song of the pomegranate, that sings the song of the beauty of the Jewish people.
We are now up to the 4 th pasuk in Ne'ilah , which is yet another proof that Hashem wants us to do teshuva and does not want us to die. Yechezkiel 18,23: הֶחָפֹ֤ץ אֶחְפֹּץ֙ מ֣וֹת רָשָׁ֔ע נְאֻ֖ם אֲדֹנָ֣י יֱהֹוִ֑ה הֲל֛וֹא בְּשׁוּב֥וֹ מִדְּרָכָ֖יו וְחָיָֽה Do I want the death of the wicked? And this is the word of Hashem, our God . Rather, when he returns and repents from his ways, and he lives It's interesting that every prayer in our Amida connects to pesukim . For quite a while, we've been focusing on the power of pesukim , and if anyone reads through the Rishonim they'll see exactly how the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah matched our prayers to pesukim, with the exact amount of words corresponding to certain pesukim . The Tur says that the pasuk of Zochrenu L'Chaim/ Remember us for life has 11 words: זָכְרֵֽנוּ לְחַיִּים מֶֽלֶךְ חָפֵץ בַּחַיִּים וְכָתְבֵֽנוּ בְּסֵֽפֶר הַחַיִּים לְמַעַנְךָ אֱלֹהִים חַיִּים , corresponding to the 11 words in this pasuk . And how do we know that everything needs to source? Because the Siddur is Torah Sh'B'al Peh/the Oral Law, and the Oral Law has to be rooted in the Written Law. So I know that God is a Melech Chafetz B'Chaim; that He wants life because it says in this pasuk, from Yehezkiel , " I don't want the death of the wicked. Rather, I want them to live. " And when we say Zocherenu L'Chaim, we're invoking this pasuk . We say it in Ne'ilah to remind ourselves that God wants our teshuva. The sefer Shem M'Shmuel Toldot in the year תרעז says that because God is the Ultimate Good and is the Ultimate Kind One, He wants to constantly bring us closer. Like we just said in this pasuk , God doesn't want the wicked person to die. So what does God do? God arouses us in teshuva. God sends messages to our heart to awaken us in teshuva . That's Hashem's will. It's not a coincidence that we sometimes suddenly feel something in our hearts. When we feel something in our hearts, it's because God, Who loves us so much and wants us to come closer to Him, is sending us messages. That's really what we're feeling at Ne'ilah - we're feeling Hashem saying to us, I don't want you to mess up. I'm deciding now, and I want you to live . And live doesn't just mean a physical life. God wants you to have a spiritual life. So feel that and understand it at the moment of Neilah . The sefer Or Torah tells us that the Midrash says that if a person sins a sin that is liable to get Mita Biydeh Shamayim /a death penalty from the heavens, if he used to learn one page of Gemarah, he should learn two. If he learned one chapter of Mishnayot , learn two. Increase your Torah learning-that is a way to have your sins forgiven. That's what this pasuk means. Hashem says, I don't want you to die. And not just that I don't want you to die Mitah Byedeh Shamayim, but I don't want you to kill yourself with all kinds of fasts and ways of pain that weaken your body so that you're almost dead. That's not what I want. I want you to learn Torah . Torah gives life, so the best way to do teshuva is not through killing yourself, but by doing something that will cause you to live, which is learning Torah. Put your efforts and your pain into learning as it says, השיבינו אבינו לתורתך Return us in Teshuva to Your Torah. Rabbenu Yona, in Shaare Teshuva (chapter 4) speaks about this at length, and says that when a person is liable for suffering, the best suffering is putting your suffering into learning . That means you toil and the pain that you have in your eyes, the pain that you have in your body, all those pains from feeling tired or you're hungry or whatever it is, because you're learning and you're toiling and you're putting your efforts in, that is the best possible suffering. And it's a mitzvah at the same time! Therefore, Yechezkiel is telling us, and we say in Ne'ilah, Hashem doesn't want us to suffer. He doesn't want us to be in pain . He wants us to live, and live a good life. We just have to come back to Him.
Our third pasuk of this special Yom Kippur Ne'ilah series starts with an introduction where we tell God: ואתה אלוה סליחות חנון ורחום ארך אפים ורב חסד ומרבה להטיב You are the God of forgiveness. You are a gracious and compassionate God. Long to anger, with tremendous amounts of kindness, abundantly good. And now for our main line… ורוצה אתה בתשובתן של רשעים ואין אתה חפץ במיתתן You want the wicked people to return. You don't want them to die. So we have a positive and a negative. You want them to return, and You don't want them to die. As proof, we quote Yehezkiel HaNavi (everything needs a pasuk) שנאמר: אמר אליהם חי אני נאם אדני ה׳ אם אחפץ במות הרשע כי אם בשוב רשע מדרכו וחיה God says, "Say to them, 'I swear By My Life' Do I want the death of the wicked? I want him to return from his ways and live, שובו שובו מדרכים הרעים ולמה תמותו בית ישראל Come back from your bad ways. And why should you die?" The Chafetz Chaim, in Shem Olam (helek ב chapter 3) says that there is a special Yetzer Hara that works on a person after he sins, and did bad sins. Instead of making sins seem small in his eyes (which is how he got him to sin in the first place- "Nah, it's no big deal") once he hs sinned, the Yetzer Hara is afraid you're going to make Teshuva, so he goes to the extreme, saying, "Do you know how bad this sin is?!" Hold on. I thought it wasn't so bad. That's why I did it! He says, "Do you know how bad it is?" And he tries to seduce you that there's no hope. It's like a doctor that tells a patient lo alenu, "You've only got two more months to live. Just go on a cruise." That's the Yetzer Hara here. And that's why the Navi says these words. People had said, before that, "We sinned. We're going to melt away from our sins! We're never going to survive!" But God says, "Wrong. Don't listen to that Yetzer Hara." And this pasuk is in Ne'ilah to tell us, Don't listen to that Yetzer Hara that says there's no hope for me. The Hovot Halevavot, in Shaar Teshuva (third chapter) says that one of the fundamentals of teshuva is to believe that you can be healed and to believe that teshuva is the way. He says, "Don't be mitya'esh/ Don't despair and give up hope from Hashem's mercy. And if a person doesn't believe that he can do teshuva… he quotes our pasuk, because that was the goal of the rabbis who put this pasuk in Ne'ilah. Rabbenu Yona, in his Yesod Hateshuva also quotes this pasuk, to those that are in panic over their sins, in order to give them strength to do Teshuva. Rav Yerucham Olshin recently spoke in the Yad Yosef Torah Center, and said something fascinating about Teshuva. In Parashat Netzavim it says that Teshuva is close to you. And he asks, Where do we see that God, for any one of the 613 Mitzvot, starts giving us motivational speeches? He says it's because God knows that people can fall into this mistake of thinking they can't do teshuva. But that's a mistake. God wants you to do teshuva. Every, single day, we say that Hashem is Rotzeh B'Teshuva/He wants Teshuva. And the Abudarham says that's based on our pasuk. God wants teshuva. The Rambam, in Yad Hahazaka, on the laws of murder (chapter 13), talks about the Halacha that if you see someone you hate loading his donkey, you are supposed to help him. Why do you hate him? Because he did a sin. So you have a right to hate him. It's legal to hate him. And now the Torah says to load his donkey? Why? Says the Rambam, Who knows? Maybe while loading his animal, something might happen to him. Maybe the load will fall and break his leg. Who knows what will happen to him? And the Torah says, We're concerned with every soul, whether they're wicked, or righteous. As they accompany God, they believe in the fundamentals of our religion. They might sin, but if they have the proper beliefs, I don't want that man to die. And he quotes our pasuk אם אחפץ במות הרשע This is such an important pasuk! Look at the love that God has for the rashaim! Rav Moshe Feinstein once said, "God's love for the biggest rasha is greater than the love that we have for the biggest sadik." Yeshaya HaNavi says (46,10), עֲצָתִ֣י תָק֔וּם וְכׇל־חֶפְצִ֖י אֶעֱשֶֽׂה׃ My ideas will come forth and whatever I want, I could do What does that mean? The Midrash Raba in Shemot (9,1) says that when God is saying Whatever I want, it means God wants the Jewish people to be righteous. That's why He gave us such a large Torah. That's what I want. And what I want will happen. And what I don't want, won't happen. What don't I want, says that Midrash, is that the wicked should die. That's not what I want. I want the wicked to do Teshuva. It will happen. I'll make it happen. There is a pasuk in Shir Hashirim (5,16)that says God is חִכּוֹ֙ מַֽמְתַקִּ֔ים His palate is sweet וְכֻלּ֖וֹ מַחֲמַדִּ֑ים and everything about Him is beloved. What does it mean that His palate is sweet? Says the Midrash Raba in Shir Hashirim 6,1, God says these words, I don't want the wicked to die. I want them to do teshuva and live. Is there a sweeter palate than that? Is anything sweeter than hearing that God doesn't want us to mess up? That God wants us to do teshuva? That God wants us to live?! These are the beautiful lessons that are supposed to be going through our minds during Ne'ilah, and that's why these pesukim were brought down.
Today we will begin another mini-series, in preparation for that great moment of Yom Kippur Ne'ilah . There are five pesukim in Ne'ilah that we will explain. The first pasuk starts off with a few introductory words. ואתה ברחמיך רבים רחם עלינו /God, in your great mercy have mercy on us. כי לא תחפץ בהשחתת עולם /You don't want the world to be destroyed. You created the world to continue. The Sefer Ikarim says the reason these ten days are so powerful is because it's when God created the world. And when God created the world, we tell God, God, You created the world. You know who we are, and You know that we need Teshuva to keep it going. That is why every year, when God wants to renew the world (and He has that same desire to have a world), with that comes a desire to cleanse us. If not, we couldn't have a world. We cite a pasuk as proof that God doesn't want the world to be destroyed. (Everything needs a pasuk. ) It's a pasuk that refers to these ten days ( Yeshaya 55,6) דִּרְשׁ֥וּ יְהֹוָ֖ה בְּהִמָּֽצְא֑וֹ קְרָאֻ֖הוּ בִּֽהְיוֹת֥וֹ קָרֽוֹב׃ Search for God when He is to be found, Call out to Him when He is close. That's our proof. If God has a time of the year that He's with us more than ever, and closer more than ever, then I know that He wants to keep the world going. Now, let's first understand these two terminologies: -Search for Him when He is to be found -Call to Him when He is close The Pachad Yitzhak, in his sefer on Yom Kippur (essay 1) quotes the Rambam's Hilchot Teshuva (chapter 2, Halacha 6), that says there are two things going on here. Number one is that during these ten days, the our teshuva is especially accepted. Additionally, our prayer is especially accepted. Dirshu Hashem B'Himatzo/Search for God when he is to be found is discussing Teshuva . Teshuva means return to God. 'I don't know where He is. I lost Him.' ' Now , You'll see Him.' And KeraUhu B'Yoto Karov/Call to Him when He's close, is for Prayer -. He's always close, but He's especially close during these days. So if God created a time that He's easily found and easily called upon, that means He doesn't want the world to be destroyed. Ne'ilah is from those last moments of this special time. There's a beautiful Mashal - a true story, a great Hasidic rabbi whose children were playing hide-and-go-seek. One of the children came in crying. The Rebbi asked this child, Why you crying? He answered, " We were playing hide-and-go-seek, and I found such a good hiding spot that everyone just gave up looking for me. I was just sitting there and they all stopped looking for me and left me there!" The Rebbi heard this and suddenly burst out crying. His students were shocked. It was only a game. Why the tears? He explained that he was not crying for his child. He was crying for Hashem . God created this world / Olam , ' He'Olam' - the root of the word Olam is Alam / hiding . God is hiding in the world. He's hiding in every apple, in every orange and every pear, and no one's looking for Him. That's why the Rebbe cried. Sometimes you play hide-and-go-seek and the kid has a good spot. But sometimes the kid is clumsy and his foot sticks out of the closet, so you can see him, and say, " Oh, there he is!" That's what Aseret Yeme Teshuva are. God is easily found and therefore, we have to take advantage of this time. The Or Yisrael, in Kochvei Or , letter five of Rav Itzele Peterberger says it's like somebody insulted someone, and the person who was insulted goes to the place where the person insulted him, and waits there, to give him the opportunity to apologize. " Oh, he's right there! I wasn't going to travel to find him, but he's right in front of my store. Let me go out there and say I'm sorry." That's what Hashem does during these days. And it's Aseret Yeme Teshuva. It's Yom Kippur. And the last moments is Ne'Ilah . The Pesikta d'Rav Kahana (letter7) says, It's like a king that is in the city where the people are upset with him. The king is about to leave the city to call the army. But one of the people sees the king leaving and tells everyone, " Get him before he leaves, catch him on his way out!" That's what we're supposed to be feeling at Ne'ilah . He's about to leave. Now's your last chance. So we quote this pasuk דִּרְשׁ֥וּ יְהֹוָ֖ה בְּהִמָּֽצְא֑וֹ קְרָאֻ֖הוּ בִּֽהְיוֹת֥וֹ קָרֽוֹב׃ Come back to Him right now when you can see Him, call out to Him, give your last prayers when He is close , Don't give up hope. You can do it. You can make it. This is a special responsibility in the final moments of Ne'ilah , and of course, throughout Aseret Yeme Teshuva, to return, to find him. B'Ezrat Hashem , with that, Hashem will bring a beautiful new year.
We are in the 7th pasuk of Shofarot , in the unit of the shofarot of the future . As we mentioned, Shofarot is broken into 3 sections- the shofar of Matan Torah at Har Sinai is what the first three Pesukim are about. The next three are about the shofar that we blow on Rosh Hashana, and the final three talk about the shofar of Mashiach's times. Here we quote a pasuk in Yeshaya 27,13 וְהָיָ֣ה ׀ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא יִתָּקַע֮ בְּשׁוֹפָ֣ר גָּדוֹל֒ וּבָ֗אוּ הָאֹֽבְדִים֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ אַשּׁ֔וּר וְהַנִּדָּחִ֖ים בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם וְהִשְׁתַּחֲו֧וּ לַֽיהֹוָ֛ה בְּהַ֥ר הַקֹּ֖דֶשׁ בִּירוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם It will be on that day, he will blow on a large shofar. And that shofar will cause all the people that are lost in distance to come back and to bow to Hashem on His holy mountain in Yerushalayim. What is this Shofar Gadol ? The Yalkut Shimoni tells us in Bereshit 22, that no part of the ram that Avraham Avinu slaughtered instead of Yitzhak went to waste. The right horn will be blown at Mashiach's time, and the left horn was blown at Har Sinai. The right horn is the larger of the two. So we have these three units of pesukim , that we blow our shofar down here, and it arouses the two shofarot of the ram of Abraham Avinu, one of them for the horn of Har Sinai, and one of them for the horn of Mashiach. And it's not a coincidence, the rabbis tell us, the Ramchal especially, that when we blow the shofar down here, it arouses the forces of those other Shofarot , the tremendous revelation of Har Sinai, of the past. And it brings in the great revelation of the future of Mashiach, where this shofar will cause the evil to be suppressed and the good to come out and to return us back to the situation of Adam HaRishon before he sinned. Rosh Hashanah is the day Adam HaRishon sinned, and eventually we're going to come back to the perfect world. We were almost there at Har Sinai, but we sinned the sin of the golden calf. And we will get there when Mashiach comes. And we get there through the shofar that we blow every year on Rosh Hashanah. When the shofar blows, we are suppressing the evil inside of us and strengthening the good inside of us. There is a famous Tosafot on the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah 16B, that when the Satan hears the shofar, he gets scared because he thinks it's the shofar of Mashiach's time. Of course everyone thinks, Come on, do you really mean that every year he falls for the same mistake? The answer is that we don't realize how real the shofar is and how when our shofar blows down here, he's not scared by our shofar that he hears, he's scared of the forces that are going on in the heavens, that are almost identical to what was going on at Har Sinai and will be going on at Mashiach. It's like someone who was in a war zone and has PTSD. When he hears a shot, he suddenly jumps because he thinks he's back at war, or like someone that went through some kind of other traumatic experience, and when he hears or smells something that reminds him of that trauma, he's back there. That's what happens to the Satan . He smells the smell of Har Sinai and he knows that's the smell of Mashiach, and it's real. And every year he gets scared because it is going to happen. He knows better than we do what's going to happen. Rav Yitzchak Hutner, in Sefer Pachad Yitzchak on Rosh Hashanah (essay 20) says something beautiful. He says, why is it called a large shofar ? It's not a new shofar. It's a bigger Shofar. Where does this big shofar come from? Sometimes you go to the Kotel and you see these very long shofarot that blow for the Bar mitzvahs. But what's this Big Shofar? He says that every year when we blow the shofar, we create a certain energy of holiness that goes up to the heavens and creates this big shofar. The shofar of Mashiach is going to be the cumulation of all of those blowings of the shofars of every year. Don't think that if Mashiach didn't come last year, that we wasted our time. No. Every single time that we blow the shofar, it's joining that shofar in Shamayim , and we're creating a bigger and bigger shofar. The Satan is scared on Rosh Hashanah because he sees the shofar growing. He sees the shofar getting bigger and bigger. Eventually it's going to reach the tipping point where it hits the size that it's supposed to be. We don't know what that size is, and he doesn't know what size is. But when that shofar becomes the shofar gadol , then we're ready for Mashiach. That's how close we are. Depending on how much teshuva we put in, that's how many inches the shofar grows each year. One year might grow a millimeter, one year a foot. We don't know. But we're bringing Mashiach closer every single time we hear the shofar and that is creating the Shofar Gadol. The Aruch LaNer says that this occurs especially when we read this pasuk , וְהָיָ֣ה ׀ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא יִתָּקַע֮ בְּשׁוֹפָ֣ר גָּדוֹל֒ וּבָ֗אוּ הָאֹֽבְדִים֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ אַשּׁ֔וּר וְהַנִּדָּחִ֖ים בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם וְהִשְׁתַּחֲו֧וּ לַֽיהֹוָ֛ה בְּהַ֥ר הַקֹּ֖דֶשׁ בִּירוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם When we say that and we pray for that, it gets the Satan scared, as we're praying for Mashiach. These are great kavanot to have when we say the 7th pasuk of, On that day, we will blow the shofar gadol. And the truth is, we say it every single day in our prayers. Teka BaShofar Gadol L'Cherutenu So every day of the year, we're talking about the shofar gadol , but especially on Rosh Hashanah.
We are now on our 6th pasuk of the pesukim of Shofarot . And it's talking about the shofar that we blow. It's from Tehilim 81,4 תִּקְע֣וּ בַחֹ֣דֶשׁ שׁוֹפָ֑ר בַּ֝כֵּ֗סֶה לְי֣וֹם חַגֵּֽנוּ׃ Blow in the month the Shofar, on the covering of the holiday. The midrash explains that this is one of the hints to blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. It's called the month ( where there's a holiday) when the moon is covered . On other holidays, like Sukkot and Pesach (that are on the 15 th of the month) the moon is very open; and on Shavuot, you see some of the moon. But on first day of the month, you don't see a moon at all. So bakeseh , when the moon is covered, b'chodesh refers to when the new moon is covered , that's when we blow the shofar. The midrash says on this pasuk that on Rosh Hashanah, it doesn't say Tiku shofar b'chodesh/blow the shofar in the month, but rather it says Tiku B'chodesh shofar. The words chodesh and shofar need to be explained in a midrashic approach. Chodesh means chiddush , and shofar means le'sha'per is to beautify. Shifra was the name of the midwife Yocheved because she was mishaperet / she beautified , she cleaned up. So there are two things that we need to do on Rosh Hashanah, Shifru and chidshu . What's the difference? Chidshu means there's certain things that you have to totally renew. This is teshuva . We have to totally renew our acts. We have to stop the bad things we're doing and renew our acts. Rav Wolbe says that's the segula of Rosh Hashanah. At the beginning of a new year, you have the chance to renew yourself and renew your deeds. That's one aspect of Rosh Hashanah. I'm a new person, I'm born again. Adam HaRishon was created,I'm created. And I could start fresh and new. The other aspect is the good things that I'm doing already, that I don't need to do new, but that I can make better . I can smooth them out. I can shine them up. What do these two activities of Chidshu and Shifru do? The midrash continues and says, if you do that, then shofar Teku bachodesh shofar, What does that mean? Just like the shofar is a tube that you blow into on one side and it comes out the other, So too, I am going to have all the complaints against the Jewish people go in through one side and out the other, like the famous saying, In one ear and out the other. The power of the shofar is that we do both these things, we renew and we beautify . That's why we're supposed to be thinking about Teshuva at the time when the shofar blows. This is an important lesson within our shofar pesukim . Rashi, in the sefer Pardes HaGadol, chapter 170 quotes from the Geonim that cite this pasuk as a source that we can't fast on Rosh Hashana, which is called Yom Chaggenu . It's our holiday. Why is it a holiday? We talked about this before, but we'll quote a Seforno in Vayikra 23, 24 that explains that it's a holiday because we're celebrating that He's our king, and when we celebrate that He is our king, He will tilt towards kindness and we will have a good judgment. And he quotes a pasuk in Yeshaya 33, 22 Ki Hashem Shoftenu/God is our judge/Hashem Mechokekenu/He gives us our rules . Hashem Malkenu/Hashem is our King, Hu Yoshienu/He will save us. And that is the holiday. It's a holiday because we're celebrating Hashem's Kingdom and therefore we're going to get a good judgment. He's going to save us. I once saw that there's a custom to sing, especially on Rosh Hashanah after Musaf, En Kelokenu , because on Rosh Hashanah, En Kadonenu/ There's no one like our boss, En Kamalkenu/ There's nobody like our King . En Kemoshi'eno/There's no one like our Savior. And that goes back to this pasuk Hashem Malkeno/ God is my king, Hu Yoshieno/He will save me. On Rosh Hashanah, God is saving us. We don't realize what's going on. On Rosh Hashanah. Its like you just got pulled out of a fiery furnace. You were saved from Gaza. It's feeling of those hostages. That's the feeling of Hu Yoshienu. God is saving us on Rosh Hashanah. We have to celebrate that. It's a great day. Miracles are happening on Rosh Hashanah. And that's a holiday. תִּקְע֣וּ בַחֹ֣דֶשׁ שׁוֹפָ֑ר בַּ֝כֵּ֗סֶה לְי֣וֹם חַגֵּֽנוּ But what makes this holiday happen? What empowers the shofar? Chidshu Shifru - Renew our deeds, beautify our deeds, and celebrate Hashem as our kingdom.
Welcome to the pesukim of Musaf, Rosh Hashanah. We're on our fifth pasuk of shofarot , which refers to, again, as we said, the shofar of our Rosh Hashanah. The pasuk is from Tehilim 98,6 בַּ֭חֲצֹ֣צְרוֹת וְק֣וֹל שׁוֹפָ֑ר הָ֝רִ֗יעוּ לִפְנֵ֤י ׀ הַמֶּ֬לֶךְ יְהֹוָֽה׃ Of the shofar, the voice of the shofar, we will blow in front of Hashem, our God, which refers to the shofar of Rosh Hashanah. The trumpets have to do with the Bet HaMikdash, so we're not discussing that now. Now the Meiri says in his sefer on Teshuva the following. He says, let's look at this full chapter. It starts off with hari ola shem kola aretz, let the whole land trumpet, pitzku, ranruz, ameru. All types of terms of songs. Zamrula, hashem, bechino, play with a harp, call zimra. And the sound is song. Then it says, which was, you say. It'S torment, rosh hashanah. I'll skip a pasuka too. And then it says, lef ne hashem kibalish bot haaretz. Because Hashem is coming to judge the land. So that pasuk of Kiba, Lishpot haaretz is clearly talking about Rosh Hashanah. And yet we mentioned happiness and song. What's going on? Says the mir. And he says that the fear of. Rosh Hashanah is a path to get us to Simcha, to get us to happiness. And he says that that's the reason why it's not accepted to fast on. Rosh Hashanah, because Rosh Hashanah still is. A yom tov, and we can't pass on that simcha of Yom Tov. And what are we happy about? We're happy about the messages that we got from the shofar. And he says, even though Hashem is holding on to the chair of justice, we still, it's befitting to be happy, because what the person received from that arousal, from that understanding that he got Volba used to always say, the pisukim, that we say right after the shofar is blown, our pisukim of happiness. Quote from Telim 80 916. We say, ashre aam yodei tiruah. Fortunately, the people that know the secret of the tiruah, which means they know the secret of the tiruah, which is to arouse yourself into Shuah Hashem beor Panekha Yale, we're gonna go in the light of your face, which is, again, a positive concept. B'shem chay yagilun KOlayom in your name. We're gonna bed delighted and elated all day. So this is clearly PiSukiM of happiness. It says, the Gona vilna's face was fiery with happiness as the shofar was blowing. And he says, what are we happy about? Says the MIri, that we realize that hashem controls the world and we understand that we are as nation and we are being supervised by him, and we pray to him and we have our supplications. And then he says, we walk out with reliance on the promises of the prophets. Rosh hashanah. When we start talking about Hashem revealing himself, we are looking forward and hoping to mashiach. That's a lot of the talk on Rosh Hashanah. And he says, lo she pol y ush bilvadenu. Not that we should despair in our hearts to give up hope because the exile has been so long. No. We walk out of Rosh hashanah enthused. We walk out of Rosh Hashanah inspired. We walk out of Rosh hashanah motivated. And I say, walk out of Roshanna. We walk out of the kiyat shofar. We hear the shofar blowing, and we get the lessons of the shofar. Malchioth. Hashem is King Zicheronoth. He remembers us. He's watching over us. Shofarot, the shofar of Har Sinai. And that arousal that we get, although we know we're being judged. And it's that the reason why we're taking this so seriously is because we're being judged. But with all that, we still are excited about the lessons that we got due to the judgment. It's like a person that's going for a therapy session, I mean, physical therapy session, that is. And he's being stretched and twisted and whatever it may be, and he walks out Charley horsed. But he knows that that's going to make him feel better in another day or two because he's all, he's now more flexible and more mobile. So when we walk, we know that the fear of Rosh Hashanah, that's what got us to where we are. If not for Elul and Rosh Hashanah. And our preparation, taking this seriously, because we know it's judgment Day, we wouldn't get here. So we need that backdrop of judgment day to get ourselves here. But the goal, says the Nirihood is, after all that, to be happy with that, to read to you an unbelievable rabbeini Ona in his commentary on the riffin Berachot, where he says that normally, by human beings, fear and happiness are a contradiction. If you're standing in front of someone in fear, you're moved back and worried by Hashem. It doesn't work that way. It says the opposite. When you start delving into his greatness and become afraid of him, you become happy with that fear. Why? Because that fear is going to get you to fulfill mitzvot. That fear aroused you, and now you're thrilled, he says. That's the concept, that you could be serve Hashem with fear and be happiness with that fear. That's what it means. All of the curses come because you didn't serve Hashem out of happiness. It means you should have gotten to a fear. And the fear doesn't leave you by fear. The fear brings you to happiness. The great Rov Haskel Evanstein, who was known for his tremendous fear on Rosh Hashanah, crying during the prayers. But his student Ravdan Segal said he once heard him during the break in his room, singing songs. What's going on? You're crying and you're singing. Yes, that's the power of Rosh Hashanah.
Welcome to our special Rosh Hashanah Musaf Pesukim series. We're up to the third pasuk of Shofarot- Shemot 20,15: וְכׇל־הָעָם֩ רֹאִ֨ים אֶת־הַקּוֹלֹ֜ת וְאֶת־הַלַּפִּידִ֗ם וְאֵת֙ ק֣וֹל הַשֹּׁפָ֔ר וְאֶת־הָהָ֖ר עָשֵׁ֑ן וַיַּ֤רְא הָעָם֙ וַיָּנֻ֔עוּ וַיַּֽעַמְד֖וּ מֵֽרָחֹֽק׃ Everyone saw the sounds and the lightning and the sound of the Shofar. And the mountain was smoky. And they saw, and they were moved . They shook and stood from afar. Rashi says firstly that Everyone saw means that no one was blind, and everyone was healed. Additionally, Rashi says they were able to see the sound, which is seemingly impossible. You hear sound and you see sights. You don't see sound. But kolot , says Rashi, was the word of God . So what exactly does that mean, that they saw the word of God? Rav Chaim Volozhin, in his sefer Nefesh HaChaim 3,11 explains that when Hashem created the world, He said, Yehi Or/ Let there be light, and those words , that emanated from God's mouth (God and His word are one of the same) continue to pump energy into the sun, to make there be light. For example, we say, L'Olam Devarecha Nitzav B'Shamayim/Forever Your word is in the heavens. What does that mean? Hashem said, Yehi Rakia / Let there be a firmament…Let there be a sky. We might think the sky was just created once, but that's wrong. God is the force and energy behind creation. If Hashem stops pumping energy into creation, it ceases to exist. The example I like to use is a bounce house or moonwalk that kids jump around in. A moonwalk constantly has air pumped in and the kids jump and bounce on it. But if that air stops pumping in, everything collapses. So too with the world. It doesn't have its own independent existence. But, he explains, we can't see that. When we look at an apple, we only see an apple. We don't see the word of God that's making the apple exist. Like it says through the mann , they realize, ki lo al lechem levado yechia Adam/Man does not live on bread alone... He lives from what emanates from the mouth of God. It's the energy of God in the food that keeps us alive. And in the future, Yeshaya says, we're going to see it. Everyone will see, Ki PI Hashem Di'ber / They'll see that Hashem spoke. It will be so clear to us that we'll be able to see, with our physical eyes, the emanation of God that's in every existence. That is what happened at Har Sinai. We saw the voice, which means we had the clarity, that God is the Source of all existence. Har Sinai is the biggest revelation. The shofar, Rav Wolbe says, is the concept of a Gilui / revelation of God. And that revelation happened when we saw the true existence behind everything. That is our first point on this pasuk. They saw . When say these Pesukim we are supposed to be conceptualizing this. Additionally, the Sror U'Mor asks why Everybody moved ? Many commentaries say that these words are the source, that when Jews learn, they move back and forth. They don't just sit stationery. And the Sror U'Mor in Shemot on this pasuk cites a Zohar that a heretic once asked Rabbi Shimon some questions. One of them was, Why do Jewish people move back and forth when they learn, more than other nations? He didn't answer the man, but they continued to discuss that they were already asked above (whatever that means) and the answer was, it shows the quality of the Jewish people that our soul comes from fire. Ner Elokim Nishmat Adam/The soul is like the fire of God. That's why we light a candle when someone passes away, and fire always flickers back and forth and upward. And since the Jewish people's souls come from that fire, when we learn Torah, we're reconnecting with that fire. Mishnah/ Nishama . When one learns Mishnayot , it's connected to their Neshama . We still have this from Matan Torah. Matan Torah wasn't a one time episode. The Haamek Davar , on this pasuk, is bothered. It starts off saying everyone saw the voices, they saw the sounds of Hashem, and then it says, Vayar HaAm / and they saw Vayanu / and they began to shake. Why does it say they saw twice? The Haamek Davar gives a beautiful answer. He says that when somebody lifts a weight that's heavier than he can handle, his hands start to shake because his muscles can't handle it. So too, when Hashem revealed the revelation, and they saw it, they were holding something that was above their grasp, so to speak. It was above their abilities to really comprehend, so they started to shake. That's why the second time, it says they couldn't hold on to this tremendous load of Kedusha . It was above their abilities. And that's why they shook at Har Sinai.
Welcome to our special Rosh Hashanah Pesukim of Musaf series. We are up to our second pasuk of Shofarot , taken from the Shofar of Har Sinai in Shemot 19,19 וַיְהִי֙ ק֣וֹל הַשֹּׁפָ֔ר הוֹלֵ֖ךְ וְחָזֵ֣ק מְאֹ֑ד מֹשֶׁ֣ה יְדַבֵּ֔ר וְהָאֱלֹהִ֖ים יַעֲנֶ֥נּוּ בְקֽוֹל׃ The sound of the shofar was getting stronger and stronger. Moshe would speak, וְהָאֱלֹהִ֖ים יַעֲנֶ֥נּוּ בְקֽוֹל׃ /and God would answer him with a voice. The commentaries point out that normally, when a human being blows a shofar, the sound gets weaker. But since the One blowing the shofar here was God, it got stronger and stronger. מֹשֶׁ֣ה יְדַבֵּ֔ר וְהָאֱלֹהִ֖ים יַעֲנֶ֥נּוּ בְקֽוֹל What does it mean that Hashem Ya'anenu? Rabbenu Bachye explains that this was a wonder. This was an enormously large camp, but nonetheless, Moshe Rabbenu was able to speak, and miraculously he was heard, b ecause God would help him. The word Yanenu could mean to help , and God caused Moshe Rabbenu's voice to project to the entire camp. That was one of the signs that God was behind Moshe's voice. This is Torah M'Sinai . We heard Moshe talking, but we knew it was God. The Chatam Sofer says that this is a hint, not just to Moshe, but for every generation. The Gadol HaDor is the Moshe over the generation. And he says that as a Talmid Chacham gets older, even though their strength gets weaker, they still have a certain power and energy, which is God energizing them, like he energized Moshe. The Kesef Mishneh in the laws of Talmud Torah, 4,3, as well as the Brisker Rav on parashat Shemot 19,19 explain this pasuk differently: Moshe Yidaber/Moshe spoke and God responded to him - the Jewish people saw a unique quality in Moshe Rabbenu- it wasn't because of any wonders or miracles that we believed in him, but rather, we believed in him because of Har Sinai, as the Rambam says. We heard with our eyes, with our ears, as Moshe Rabbenu walked up and God spoke to him. That's what this pasuk is saying, that the shofar blew, and we heard Moshe speaking to God. As we said, this is all about what was going on at Har Sinai. The shofar is obviously connected to Har Sinai. But what exactly does it mean to us, as we quote this pasuk ? There are two beautiful points. One is from the Chochmat Shlomo, Rav Shlomo Kluger. In his commentary on Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim , chapter 585, he discusses the connection between the Shofar and Rosh Hashanah, and he says, the shofar is a hint of Teshuva . When God wanted to give us the Torah, the Jewish people were scared. How are we going to keep the entire Torah? There's so much to keep. We're going to deviate and we'll get punished. But Hashem said, Don't worry, I have a way out of the punishment. He showed them that there's a Rosh Hashanah, there's a shofar that's going to rouse us in Teshuva , and we're going to become newly born when we hear that shofar. God blows the shofar into us like a new breath of life. And that was why God blew the shofar at Har Sinai; in order to say, Don't worry, it's going to be okay. We're going to have a Rosh Hashanah. Therefore, if you're afraid that Torah might have a greater loss than a gain, don't worry. There are more gains than losses, because even if you sin, don't worry, there's a Rosh Hashanah for you. Unbelievable . He adds that there are some opinions that the person blowing the shofar needs to have someone next to him, telling him the kolot such as Tekiya,Teruah etc..so he doesn't lose track. That was Moshe to Hashem. Moshe Yidaber . Moshe would say Tekiya and God would answer him and blow the shofar. So that was, so to say, a role modeling of the blowing of the shofar. What an unbelievable perush reminding us yet again that we shouldn't look at Rosh Hashanah as a big scary concept, but the opposite- Rosh Hashanah is what caused them to receive the Torah. Lastly, we have a beautiful Kedushat Levi from Rav Yitzhak Levi of Barditchev, who says there was once a king who was in danger, and some a simple man in farm clothing saved him. So the king put royal clothes on him and elevated him very high in his palace. This man sinned against the king, and the king was very upset with him. But he was a smart man. When he was due to be brought to judgment, he put on the clothing from the day that he saved the king. When the king saw that clothing, he said, I love this man. I can't do anything to him. So too, with the Jewish people. The world was ready to be destroyed, but for the fact the Jewish people accepted the Torah at Har Sinai, where the shofar was blown. So, on Rosh Hashanah, when God judges us, we put on those old clothes. We put on the shofar to remind God of that great day. That's why we blow the shofar, and it's why we mention the Shofar of Har Sinai. The Shofar was there at Har Sinai for whatever reason, and we now we blow the shofar today to remind God of that shofar so that He will be merciful on us, like the king was merciful on that man, and remembered the great day that he saved him. So too, God remembers the great day of Har Sinai when we accepted the Torah through the blowing of the shofar . These are two beautiful explanations of the connection between Shofar and Har Sinai 1-The shofar of Rosh Hashanah was blown on Har Sinai to tell about Rosh Hashanah. 2-The Shofar was blown on Har Sinai for whatever reason, and we now blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah to remind us of that shofar. Two different explanations, but both very beautiful.
Welcome to our special series of pesukim of Musaf Rosh Hashanah. We are up to the first pasuk of Shofarot . Shofarot talks about the shofar of Har Sinai in the first three pesukim, then the shofar of nowadays, and the last three pesukim are about the shofar of Mashiach . And now our first pasuk, וַיְהִי֩ בַיּ֨וֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֜י בִּֽהְיֹ֣ת הַבֹּ֗קֶר וַיְהִי֩ קֹלֹ֨ת וּבְרָקִ֜ים וְעָנָ֤ן כָּבֵד֙ עַל־הָהָ֔ר וְקֹ֥ל שֹׁפָ֖ר חָזָ֣ק מְאֹ֑ד וַיֶּחֱרַ֥ד כׇּל־הָעָ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר בַּֽמַּחֲנֶֽה On the third day, in the morning, there was Kolot U'Brakim/thunder and lightning, with a heavy cloud on the mountain, and the loud sound of the shofar, and everybody trembled. The Toldot Yitzhak says that these Kolot were the voices of the angels that praised Hashem every morning, and the B'rakim , the lightning was also angels that were fiery. So they had a revelation of the angels. But why the heavy cloud ? Because if the Jewish people would see the angels, they'd be panic stricken, so Hashem put up a cloud to protect them. This was a tremendous revelation. That's one understanding. The Midrash Shir Hashirim, 1,57 tells us something very interesting- that Hashem is compared to a king who says, I'm coming to the town on such-and-such date, but when he gets there, everybody's sleeping. He has to get trumpeters to wake them up, and the mayor of the town goes around to make sure everyone gets up to greet the king. So too, Hashem came, and everybody was sleeping, because it was a short night. They were tired, so they wanted to take advantage. As they were enjoying a good night's sleep, Hashem finds them sleeping. He wakes them up with the thunder and the lightning, and Moshe goes around to wake them up. It's very interesting, that this is our first pasuk of Shofarot , because the Rambam tells us the hint of the shofar is, Wake up, you sleepy ones. The first shofar that we blow, the shofar of Har Sinai, is Wake up, you sleepy ones . So there's a strong connection between our shofar and the shofar of Har Sinai- and the whole purpose of the Torah is to wake us up from our slumber and our sleep with the truth . That's why there was this symbolic sleep that the Jewish people were sleeping, and Hashem had to wake them up. So too, on Rosh Hashanah, we are, in a way, sleeping , as the Rambam says, because we're pulled in by the Havlei HaZman / vanities of the time, and we don't connect ourselves with the truth of the Torah. So this pasuk is, so to say, a wake-up call , that reminds us that we are in a state of sleep, and not seeing the world in its proper way. And Hashem comes to wake us up, A pasuk in Shir Hashirim 5,2 tells us, אֲנִ֥י יְשֵׁנָ֖ה וְלִבִּ֣י עֵ֑ר ק֣וֹל ׀ דּוֹדִ֣י דוֹפֵ֗ק פִּתְחִי־לִ֞י אֲחֹתִ֤י רַעְיָתִי֙ יוֹנָתִ֣י תַמָּתִ֔י שֶׁרֹּאשִׁי֙ נִמְלָא־טָ֔ל קְוֻצּוֹתַ֖י רְסִ֥יסֵי לָֽיְלָה׃ I am sleeping and my heart is up. Hashem is the Tzur Levavi/the Rock of my heart. And God bangs on the door. He sends us our prophets, to wake us up. Open up the door. Wake up. Don't stay in a sleepy state. And the first pasuk of Shofarot gives us that important message. Sepharadim say Selichot for the entire month of Elul , and we open with the words Ben Adam Ma Lecha Nirdam/Oh, man, why are you sleeping? Get up. There's a serious situation at hand right now. You can't be asleep. This was what the captain told Yonah, when Yonah was sleeping- Yonah, get up! You can't sleep now. The ship is going to capsize! Our lives are being decided now. It's not a time to sleep! The shofar is a reality check, the truth of the shofar . As the Rambam says, we might have spent our whole year chasing imaginary fantasies and thrills, but come Rosh Hashanah, it's time to wake up, and, as we say, smell the coffee . Smell the reality. That's the first shofar blowing, to wake up the sleepy people on the night of Matan Torah, and to wake up the sleepy people on the day of Rosh Hashanah.
Watch Rabbi David Sutton - A Path To A Meaningful , Positive, and Meaningful Elul & Yamim Noraim https://itorah.com/browse-lectures/all/rabbi-david-sutton/personal-growth-midot-/midot-perseverance/all-languages/all-dates Welcome to our special Rosh Hashanah series of Pesukim of Musaf Rosh Hashanah . We are up to our 10th and final pasuk of Zichronot, from Vayikrah , 26,45. After the Tochacha and all of the 49 curses of Parashat Buchukotai , Hashem says, וְזָכַרְתִּ֥י לָהֶ֖ם בְּרִ֣ית רִאשֹׁנִ֑ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר הוֹצֵֽאתִי־אֹתָם֩ מֵאֶ֨רֶץ מִצְרַ֜יִם לְעֵינֵ֣י הַגּוֹיִ֗ם לִהְי֥וֹת לָהֶ֛ם לֵאלֹהִ֖ים אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃ / I will remember the Brit Rishonim/covenant of the first ones/the early ones. I took them out of Eretz Mitzrayim, to the eyes of the goyim, to be for them a God, Ani Hashem. It says God will remember the covenant of the Rishonim . What is the Brit Rishonim ? Says Rashi, it's shel Shvatim/ it's the covenant of the Shvatim / tribes . That means (and this is a hiddush for many) that beside the Brit Avot, there is also a Brit of the Shvatim . It was the Brit that we had at Buchukotai . Those curses were the in deal that God made with the Shvatim . The Sifsei Sadik on Bechukotai says that even though there is a concept that sometimes the zechuyot of the Avot run ou t, we always have the zechut of the Shvatim . The Maharit, in his derasha on Shemot, tells us that the Gemara in Baba Batra 115b says, We have a tradition that a Shevet will never be wiped out. And that's why when we count Klal Yisrael in the desert, we're always counting the Shevatim and then the full number afterwards. Why? Because each tribe has a unique kedusha . Every tribe has a unique way of serving Hashem, and they will never be lost. The Pri Sadik, in Parashat Emor discusses that when Yaakov Ainu gave blessings to the Shevatim , it says he blessed each one of them. Each one of them had a special quality, each one had a blessing. We want to connect to those shvatim and never lose that derech /that approach in Avodat Hashem . One might think, Okay, the Jewish people won't be wiped out, but maybe we'll just be left with a little sliver. No, the full color and breadth of klal Yisrael will remain. That's why the Midrash Rabba in Shemot 44,9 tells us that when Hashem wanted to wipe out the Jewish people, and He told Moshe, I'll recreate them from you, Moshe's final claim (which was the accepted claim, says the midrash ) was, "I'm from Shevet Levi . What about the other shvatim ?" There's a concept called Brit Hashvatim , the covenant of the Shvatim . The Sefer Havatzelet Hasharon on Vayikra 26,42 points out that when it came time for Keriat Yam Suf, when God split the ocean into sections, Rashi says from the Midrash that were twelve tubes, one for each shevet . Every tribe had its own splitting, as if each tribe had their own Yetziat Mitzrayim . The Haamek Davar in Vayikra 26,45 says, what is this special Brit Rishonim referring to? It says it refers specifically to a special protection for Parnassa , because this Brit was there, that we would go into Eretz Yisrael. And this Brit not only kept us going in Eretz Yisrael, but the special hashgacha pratit continued with us, even in the lands of our enemies, even in Galut , because Hashem took us out in the eyes of all the goyim . And therefore, it would be a chillul Hashem if He didn't. The goyim know God took us out and that we're His nation. The sefer Akedat Yitzhak , in his 70th gate also says this, that when Hakadosh Baruch Hu took us out of Mitzrayim and wanted to wipe us out after the Chet HaEgel, what did Moshe Rabbeinu say? God took us out to destroy us. And that issue of c hillul Hashem was what kept us going. Therefore, even in Galut , we must still survive, because otherwise it's a chillul Hashem . Every day in our Amidah, wesay that God is going to bring Bnei Benehem It's something to remember for the rest of your life. It's not just Abraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov, like we say at the beginning of the Amidah. We say the children of their children . That's there to remind us of the Shvatim . We mention Avraham, Yitzhak Yaakov and the Shvatim , and the next words are.. Lamaan Shemo B'Ahava for the sake of His name. It's going to be Chillul Hashem. It's not just about Abraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov. The shevatim represent the Jewish people at large, and the world is going to see and say What's going on, You forgot about the Jewish people? So that Brit of the Shvatim is what saved us after the Chet HaEgel, and it will continue to save us in our Galut . That is what we're asking Hashem to remember in our prayers. Remember the Brit Rishonim , the Brit of the Shvatim , that special Brit that will keep us going and we will survive. The Gaon of Vilna says in his sefer Aderet Eliyahu on Havakuk , 3,2 on the words Berogez/ when God is angry, Rachem Tizkor . He tells us that in the midst of God's utmost anger, he always remembers a positive He thinks about us and saves us. And when was this pasuk וְזָכַרְתִּ֥י לָהֶ֖ם בְּרִ֣ית רִאשֹׁנִ֑ים said? It was right after the 49 curses. Similarly, another Pasuk Zacharti la Chesed , that we discussed a few days ago from the beginning of the Zichronot was said when God was about to destroy Yerushalayim. So even at a time of destruction, God is always remembering us for the good. And that's what we're trying to arouse- all of God's mercy for the good, and remembrance for the good, on the day of Rosh Hashanah.
We are now in our special Rosh Hashanah Musaf series. We up to our 9th pasuk of Zichronot , a pasuk that really stirs the heart- Yirmiyah 31,19, where Hashem says, הֲבֵן֩ יַקִּ֨יר לִ֜י אֶפְרַ֗יִם אִ֚ם יֶ֣לֶד שַׁעֲשֻׁעִ֔ים כִּֽי־מִדֵּ֤י דַבְּרִי֙ בּ֔וֹ זָכֹ֥ר אֶזְכְּרֶ֖נּוּ ע֑וֹד עַל־כֵּ֗ן הָמ֤וּ מֵעַי֙ ל֔וֹ רַחֵ֥ם אֲֽרַחֲמֶ֖נּוּ נְאֻם־יְהֹוָֽה׃ My dear son Efraim (referring to the Jewish people) He is a child of My delight. When I speak about him, I mention him again . Therefore, My insides are stirring. Mercy will have mercy upon him, Ne'um Hashem. The Midrash Tanhuma in Tetzaveh chapter one, tells us, When is a child dear to his father? In the days of old (and maybe for some, more recently) fathers did not really connect with their children while they were infants. Once they started to talk, they would start talking and connecting with them, at about 3-4 years old. So too, Hashem says, I look at this child like a father who has a son that he enjoys playing with and starts to connect to him. 'That's how I look at the Jewish people.' This refers to Hashem treating us as children throughout our history. The midrash in Batei Midrashot , a collection of midrashim , says that Hashem treated us like a child from the beginning. He took us on the clouds of glory, like the famous mashal of Rashi, of a father walking around with his son on his shoulders. Every step of the way, Hashem treated us like His only child. The Chida in sefer Rosh David in Parashat Behar says this pasuk of Ben Yakir Li Efraim, brings out the concept that we are children of Hashem. A child can never become a non-child. A marriage, heaven forbid, can end in a divorce, but the parent-child relationship is always there. A child can always come back. That is the special love that Hashem has for us. What does it mean, When I speak about them, I continue to mention them? The Chida in sefer Nachal Kedomim in Bamidbar 8,19 tells us there is a pasuk where Hashem mentions the Jewish people five times in one pasuk, to show how much He loves them. He mentions them the amount of times of Hamisha Humshei Torah (this is brought down in Rashi) and the Chida says that when someone dislikes somebody, he can't even mention their name. But when you like somebody, you keep saying their name. Just saying someone's name can be a term of endearment. There are people that are careful not to call another woman by their first name because that in itself is an endearment. There are offices where they're careful to say Mrs Cohen not , Hi, Shirley. There's something about mentioning someone's first name, that suggests a connection. So Hashem says, I'm talking about the Jewish people, I could just say ' them ,' but I don't want to say ' them .' I want to keep on saying Yisrael , Yisrael …I love them so much. I just love saying their name. The Chatam Sofer offers a very beautiful thought, another diyuk in this pasuk ( the more we understand the pasuk, the more we arouse ourselves and our prayers are better). He asks, Why the double terminology? מִדֵּ֤י דַבְּרִי֙ בּ֔וֹ זָכֹ֥ר אֶזְכְּרֶ֖נּוּ / Remember , I will remember him again, רַחֵ֥ם אֲֽרַחֲמֶ֖נּוּ I have mercy on him. I'll have mercy on him. Why the double Lashon ? The Chatam Sofer, in his sefer Torat Moshe on Rosh Hashanah, cites the Zohar that there are two days of Rosh Hashanah. The first day is a stricter judgment, which is really for the sadikim who can get by on their own. The second day is for the people that can't really get by their own. They're necessary as part of the larger picture. We could have a great Sadik but he needs 20 students. So the Sadik is judged on day one but the students are judged on day two because we need them there to create the class (this a simple mashal I'm using to make the point). When Hashem judges us, He looks at everyone on the first day, and says, I think that person would do better on the second day. That's what means zachor ezkerenu. Remember, I'll remember. It means I'll save him for tomorrow . And there's a double mercy because I'm having mercy on him on day one by deciding to judge him on day two when he can have more mercy. This shows how Hashem wants us to pass this test. Finally, the Chafetz Chaim, in his sefer Chomat HaDaat chapter eleven where he is bothered by the wording of the pasuk- Haben yakir li efraim/For him, he's my beloved one , Im Yeled Sha'ashu'im / If he a child of my delight Why does it say If ? What does that mean? To explain, thr Chafetz Chaim gives a mashal of a great rabbi who came to a a town. He's 80 years old, and he meets a young man, thats about 30. And he says, " Come pour some wine for this boy ." And they ask him, " You're a great rabbi, you're a gadol hador. Why are you getting so excited about this young man?" And he says, " This young man is my student. I see how great he became. I'm so excited with my student. I taught him so much. We learn together and I love him! The Chafetz Chaim says the same is true with us. Who is our teacher? We say every single day, Hamelamed Torah L'AmoYisrael . God taught us the Torah . Not only that, as we're learning Torah, God's talking with us. The Chafetz Chaim says, that is what it means that Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, " He's My beloved son. " When? Im Yeled Sha'ashu'im. If he's the son of My Torah. The Torah is called Sha'ashu'im . David Hamelech says it's a delight . It says the Torah is called God's plaything . God's delight . So when a person learns Torah, yes, he does other mitzvot, but God says, I am the One that taught him the Torah. I'm learning with him now, and when he learns , we have a special connection. The father and son connection is strengthened. That's why the Nefesh HaChaim says, when we say Hashivenu Avinu L'Torahtecha/ Return us God to your Torah , it says God, our Father/Hashivenu Avinu . It's the father's responsibility to teach his son Torah, and God is our Father. It's His responsibility to teach us Torah. Like a great Rosh Yeshiva that loves his students. He sees his students 20-30 years later and they still have a special bond- I learned with him. That is how Hashem feels for the person that is involved in His Torah. Of course, everyone is Banim atem Hashem, we are all Hashem's children . Yet we say in HaYom Harat Olam, Im Kibanim, Im Kavadim. Some are treated like sons and some are treated like servants. The more that we are connected to the Torah and the learning of the Torah, the more we have that concept of sons. This is such a wonderful, beautiful pasuk.
Watch Rabbi David Sutton - A Path To A Meaningful , Positive, and Meaningful Elul & Yamim Noraim https://itorah.com/browse-lectures/all/rabbi-david-sutton/personal-growth-midot-/midot-perseverance/all-languages/all-dates Welcome to our special Rosh Hashanah Pesukim of Musaf series. We're now in the 8th pasuk of Zichronot, a pasuk in Yehezkiel 16,60 וְזָכַרְתִּ֨י אֲנִ֧י אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֛י אוֹתָ֖ךְ בִּימֵ֣י נְעוּרָ֑יִךְ וַהֲקִימוֹתִ֥י לָ֖ךְ בְּרִ֥ית עוֹלָֽם׃ / I'll remember the covenant that I had with you in the days of your youth. And therefore, I will set up for you an everlasting covenant. What exactly are these two covenants ? The Radak explains that the days of our youth refers to the deal of Har Sinai . We made a deal with God and although we didn't really keep our side of the deal, God is going to reenact it in the future, in an everlasting Brit . The Malbim on this pasuk says that this everlasting Brit refers to a Brit in Yirmiyah 31,30: " Behold, there are days coming when I will make a deal with the Jewish people, a Brit Hadasha/new deal. Not like the deal that I made with your forefathers, when I took them out of Egypt, and they broke that deal. In this one, says Hashem , "The Torah will enter their being, And I'll write it on their hearts , and I will be a God and they will be My nation. And no longer will we have to teach people Torah. No one will have to say, "Know God," because everyone will know Me. That is the final covenant , where the words of the Torah will enter our hearts. Malbim says, due to the exiles and the difficulties we went through and the wonders that we're going to see, it's going to cause the Torah to be etched in our hearts. What does that mean? The Yetzer Hara will no longer control us, because we will no longer have any doubts about Hashem's supervision over us and His constant cleaving to us. We don't realize how connected to us God is. But once we have the Torah in our hearts and realize how close God is, there will be no place for sin at all. That's the deal of the future that we're hoping for. So we're asking God to remember the deal of the past and the deal of the future. The Sefer Pachad Yitzhak on Purim topic 7, says that the Torah is going to be the same Torah. Nothing change except the parchment. The parchment of the Torah now is cow skin. In the future, the Torah's parchment is going to be our heart itself. This future, says the Ramban, is referred to in Devarim 30,6, where Hashem says, God will circumcise your heart. And it refers to this future covenant that Yirmiyah mentions. That's the circumcision of our heart. And as we've mentioned many a time, א ת ל בבך ו את ל בב Your heart and the heart of your children spells אלול / Elul . During the month of Elul, our rabbis tell us there is a certain level (not the full level of the future, but a certain level) of the circumcision of our hearts. Which means that during the month of Elul, the words of Torah become etched in our hearts. What prevents the words of Torah entering our hearts is that we need a milah . We have an Orlat Hal ev/a foreskin on our heart that blocks the words of Torah from entering our hearts. This is what we call Timtum Halev . The clogging of the heart. And the Gemara in Masechet Shona 39a says תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל עבירה מטמטמת לבו של אדם שנאמר ולא תטמאו בהם ונטמתם בם אל תקרי ונטמאתם אלא ונטמטם / Where the Torah says, Do not contaminate yourselves with them, we should not read it as " contaminated," but rather, " you will become clogged ." On this, the Tanna Devei R. Yishmael says that sins cause our hearts to be clogged. What does that mean? It's like spiritually clogged arteries. Rashi says אוטמת וסותמת מכל חכמה: / It seals and it clogs from all wisdom. That means wisdom does not enter our hearts and this is caused by the foreskin of our hearts. But in the future, God is going to say, I'm going to do a BritMilah/ I'm going to remove the foreskin, and the words of Torah will enter your heart. The reason we sin is because the words of Torah are not in our hearts. That's why we broke the deal. God gave us the Torah, but it was on the parchment, not on our hearts. The Ramchal, in his sefer Derech Etz Chaim, writes that knowledge of truth strengthens our Nishama and distances us from the Yetzer Hara for sure. There is nothing that weakens the soul in front of the Yetzer more than a lack of knowledge. And he says, If the knowledge would be wide and would be on a person's heart, they would never sin . The Yetzer Hara wouldn't be close to them or control them, just like it does not control angels. The problem is that the wisdom doesn't enter us. This is the Brit Olam that we're waiting for; when God will take the Torah of Har Sinai from the parchment and put it in our hearts.
Watch Rabbi David Sutton - A Path To A Meaningful , Positive, and Meaningful Elul & Yamim Noraim https://itorah.com/browse-lectures/all/rabbi-david-sutton/personal-growth-midot-/midot-perseverance/all-languages/all-dates We are now in Pesukim of the Rosh Hashanah prayers. We're on our 7th pasuk of Zichronot/Remembrances , Yirmiah 2,2 הָלֹ֡ךְ וְֽקָרָ֩אתָ֩ בְאׇזְנֵ֨י יְרוּשָׁלַ֜͏ִם לֵאמֹ֗ר כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֔ה זָכַ֤רְתִּי לָךְ֙ חֶ֣סֶד נְעוּרַ֔יִךְ אַהֲבַ֖ת כְּלוּלֹתָ֑יִךְ לֶכְתֵּ֤ךְ אַֽחֲרַי֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר בְּאֶ֖רֶץ לֹ֥א זְרוּעָֽה / Go and call out in the ears of Jerusalem and tell them This is what God says, I remember the kindness of your youth, the love of your wedding. You followed Me in the desert, in the land that wasn't planted. Before we try to understand what was said (obviously, it's a very positive pasuk -God is remembering all the kindness and the love of our youth) we should understand when this was said. The Midrash Raba in Bamidbar 2,15 points out that this is in Yirmiyah chapter two, following chapter one, where God tells Yirmiyah, What do you see? And he says, 'I see an almond tree. He says, well, almond trees bloom fast-The punishment's coming fast. I see a bubbling pot coming from the north-The evil is going to come from the north.' And after that we have this beautiful pasuk ? To explain, the midrash gives the mashal of a man who says about his wife, ' There is no one more beautiful than her. There's no one more praise worthy than her, there's no one's the more collected than her!' Then his friend comes into his house and sees the house is a mess, the wife is unkempt, and the beds are not made. He tells her, " If only you heard what your husband says about you in the street!" The friend wonders, " If this is the way he talks about her when she looks like this, imagine what he'd say if she made herself up and tidied her house up! " That was the generation of Yirmiyah. They were sinning, and Yirmiyah says, If only the Jewish people would hear what God is saying about you. If this is the way God talks about us when we're sinning, imagine how God talks about us when we're on the program! This is obviously a great pasuk of remembrance, because we want Hashem to look back and remember all our good deeds. And Rashi says there, If you return to Me, I desire to have mercy on you. Just come back. I'll remember all the good days… The good days when we followed Hashem in the desert, in a land that was not developed, with no food. And we believed Him. We relied on Him. We ask God to remember all the way back. The Abudarham invokes this pasuk in two places in our prayers. In YaAleh Veyavo, we say Zichron Kol Amecha Bet Yisrael/Remember the whole nation. And in our morning prayers/ Shaharit , we say Let us understand Torah because of our forefathers. Who are our forefathers that relied on You? The generation of the desert when they followed Hashem. The Tomar Devorah , when discussing the 13 attributes, says Attribute 13 is MeYemei Kedem . God remembers the deeds of a long time ago, the ancient deeds. And this, says the Tomar Devorah , means that even when the merit of the Avot run out, when we aren't deserving, what does God say? . I'll go back to the early days, to the love of old. He remembers everything we did from the day we were born. Hashem looks all the way back and arouses all kinds of Middot . And that's why He has mercy. Of course, anytime we want Hashem to arouse a middah, we have to arouse that middah toward others. The Tomar Devorah says, Look at a person and say, There was a time he didn't sin; in the old days, he was kosher. Remember the good things he did when he was a little boy in third grade and fourth grade; Remember when he was a little nursing baby, how cute he was! There is nobody that is not befitting of you giving them good and praying for their success and having mercy on them . And this is ultimately the trait of God. This is how God looks at us. We're His little baby. That's how far back God goes, for the Jewish people at large, and for every individual, and that is what this beautiful pasuk says. And the next few words are, Anybody that destroys them will be consumed. God is telling us that even when we're punished, He still loves us and He's going to punish the ones that oppress us, because there's no punishment that's comes out of hate. Even when Hashem is seemingly upset with us, His love is deeper. And again, this is one of the extremely love-arousing pesukim . And when we see the tremendous love Hashem has for us, we can only feel a need to reciprocate.
Welcome to our special mini series of Pesukim of Musaf Rosh Hashana. We are up to our fourth pasuk (I went out of order yesterday- that was really the fifth pasuk) Tehilim 111,4 זֵ֣כֶר עָ֭שָׂה לְנִפְלְאוֹתָ֑יו חַנּ֖וּן וְרַח֣וּם יְהֹוָֽה׃ / God made a remembrance for His wonders, Hashem is gracious and kind. What does that mean? Rashi says Hashem made for us Shabbat, holidays and many mitzvot that have the concept of Zechira / remembrance , because Hashem is Hanun and Rachum/gracious and kind, and He wants to give us the opportunity to become righteous- by giving us these mitzvot. In this context, Zecher means something for us to remember . On this pasuk , the Chida, in his sefer Yosef Tehilot and Chomat Anach as well, quotes the Arizal that any miracle that happens to the Jewish people, whether it's for the public or the individual, through God's great kindness a tremendous light breaks through all the negative forces. That's what brings about the miracle. Every year that light repeats itself, and that's what happens all the holidays. And that's what זֵ֣כֶר עָ֭שָׂה לְנִפְלְאוֹתָ֑יו means. Every year, God gives us the opportunity to have a holiday and a way to recreate those same lights. Because Hashem's kindness is forever, He wants, every year, to give us those lights. Furthermore, when we remember them, that is what's going to save us. That's what's going to bring about the yeshua . So, because God wants to save us, He gave us the opportunities to remember the things of the past and bring us zechuyot . This is always important, but especially so on Rosh Hashanah. What are we doing on Rosh Hashanah? What are we remembering on Rosh Hashanah? It's Yom Hazikaron . We remember that Adam HaRishon was created. That was a great miracle. God came down to make a man that wasn't worthy of anything, that the angels said not to create him. But God created him anyway, and said, I have faith. God knew he would eat from the Etz Hadaat , and He created him anyway. That is, so to say, the miracle of Rosh Hashanah- that God didn't listen to the angels and created man- Naaseh Adam, We're going to make man. That repeats itself every year- for every individual. God will give us another year, even though we might not deserve it, He'll give us another chance. That's one aspect. Another aspect of Rosh Hashanah is that Adam HaRishon sinned and got out with mercy. He was supposed to die that day, but God turned that day into a thousand years (a day of God is a thousand years). He found mercy, a way to ameliorate the strict justice. And that also repeats itself. So that's an important concept of this זֵ֣כֶר עָ֭שָׂה לְנִפְלְאוֹתָ֑יו And that is why every single day, we say Zecher L'Yetziat Mitzrayim- to invoke every single day that power of Yetziat Mitzrayim. This not a simple concept. As we've said before, every single day we pray Gaal Yisrael , and then we pray the Amida. As the Yerushalmi says, you have to mention Yetziat Mitzrayim before you pray, because according to the Arizal, it doesn't only empower you in your Emunah in God, but it gives you the zechut to have the same miracles happen to you. So before Shaharit and before Arbit , we talk about Yetziat Mitzrayim in Keriat Shema in Emet Veyatziv and Emet V'Emuna. Because of זֵ֣כֶר עָ֭שָׂה לְנִפְלְאוֹתָ֑יו , the fact that God asked us to remember things, that's going to bring around Hanun V'Rachum Hashem. One last point, that the Midrash Tehilim tells us is that זכר עָ֭שָׂה לְנִפְלְאוֹתָ֑ז what God did is just a remembrance . It's just a souvenir, a token, says Midrash Tehilim. Everything we look at today is nothing . It's just a little bird feed. It's just the remembering . It's like Hashem is saying, Do you see the goodness that I have? Just wait until you see what I really have. This is the hors d'oeuvres. This is just a little taste of what is yet to come. But LaAtid Lavo, that's going to be forever and ever. This is just a little remembrance, a little token of what God can do. זֵ֣כֶר עָ֭שָׂה לְנִפְלְאוֹתָ֑יו These are two beautiful thoughts for us to have in mind when we're saying these pesukim.
Watch Rabbi David Sutton - A Path To A Meaningful , Positive, and Meaningful Elul & Yamim Noraim https://itorah.com/browse-lectures/all/rabbi-david-sutton/personal-growth-midot-/midot-perseverance/all-languages/all-dates Welcome to our special mini series of Pesukim of Musaf Rosh Hashanah . We now are up to our fourth pasuk of Zichronot (Tehilim 111) טרף נתן ליראיו יזכר לעולם ברי God gave food to those that fear Him He'll forever remember His covenant The word Zechira is used, and that's why it's in the section of Zichronot . What is David HaMelech referring to? The Radak says Teref Natan LiReAv,, the food (or sustenance) that God gave to those that fear Him, refers to Jewish people leaving Mitzrayim, as it says we got their money. Why? Because God remembers forever His covenant. After the Brit Ben Habetarim. God said, they'll go out with a great wealth. And so it happened. This is an important lesson that God makes promises, and sometimes it takes hundreds of years until they're fulfilled. We are in Zichronot and we're strengthening our emunah. And the Emunah and Hashkafa that we want to strengthen is that when Hashem says something, it will happen but it sometimes takes time. Metsudot David has a similar approach, but refers to the mann -again because Hashem promised Abraham Avinu at the Brit ben Habitarim. Even though they rebelled against Him, He continued to give them the mann . Like it says Even at the time of the Chet HaEgel, the mann was still coming down. Rabbenu Bachye in Kar HaLemach, in the discussion of Parnassa , says that one who relies on Hashem has to think about how Hashem takes care of everything- look at the birds in the air, the chick inside the egg where there's seemingly no place to get food- Hashem can do it, so surely He's going to take care of human beings whom He watches. He cites our pasuk, Teref Natan LiReAv, which means Hashem could take care of us in all situations , not just in a civilized place, even a desert like when Eliyahu HaNavi got food through the ravens. He uses this pasuk to strengthen our concept of Bitachon - Teref Natan LiReAv, Look to Hashem. He will take care of us. He took care of us. This is a strong Bitachon pasuk but Rav Yehezekiel Levenstein offers with beautiful midrashic approach to this pasuk . It's in Or Yehezkiel , in his sefer Darkeh Avoda, where he talks about withstanding tests and challenges. He says, let's look at Abraham Avinu. His life was fraught with constant tests. Akedat Yitzhak , we remember every single day, not just to remind us, he says, of Zechut Avot, but to remind us (this is brought down in the poskim ) that life is full of challenges and tests, even for the greatest people. And the goal of a Jewish person is to withstand these tests, not to be broken and to accept. Avraham Avinu had ten tests. Yitzchak Avinu's life was consistent with difficulties. Yaakov Avinu certainly endured many difficulties, as he says, Short and difficult lives I had , And why is all this? In his words, that is the way we get to what we get to. He quotes a Midrash Rabba in Bereshit 40,2. Teref Natan LiReAv/ God gave food. Don't read this as Teref , but Tiruf . Tiruf means confusion and being blended in a blender. God gave confusion. Why? Because that's how Hashem lifts us up. That's how we get great. So for the person that's going through life saying, What's going on? Has Hashem forgotten me? Why is life so difficult? The answer is, Did Hashem forget Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov? Of course not. He didn't forget them. So what's going on? Why is life so difficult? And the answer is, Tiruf Natan LiReAv/ sometimes God gives Tiruf He puts us in a blender . He mixes up our situation. Don't think He forgot about you. He's remembering you like he remembered Abraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov. Forever and ever. He is remembering us. He remembers Akedat Yitzhak. He remembers all of those situations. This is a great, great thought in the approach of what Zichronot means and what it means to be remembered and what it means to be forgotten. And that's our lesson for today.
Watch Rabbi David Sutton - A Path To A Meaningful , Positive, and Meaningful Elul & Yamim Noraim https://itorah.com/browse-lectures/all/rabbi-david-sutton/personal-growth-midot-/midot-perseverance/all-languages/all-dates Welcome back to our special mini series on Pisukim from the Musaf prayers. We are on our third pasuk of Zichronot - things that talk about Hashem remembering us. This also comes from Yitziat Mitzrayim, similar to yesterday's pasuk : וְגַ֣ם ׀ אֲנִ֣י שָׁמַ֗עְתִּי אֶֽת־נַאֲקַת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר מִצְרַ֖יִם מַעֲבִדִ֣ים אֹתָ֑ם וָאֶזְכֹּ֖ר אֶת־בְּרִיתִֽי׃ / I also heard the groans of the Jewish people, that the Egyptians are working them. That caused Me to remember the covenant. What is the v'gam / I also heard? Haamek Davar says this was said by Hashem to Moshe, It's not only you, I also heard their crying. which is an important rule, that what starts Hashem listening is when He sees that we also care. Moshe Rabbenu was the one that went out to his people and felt their pain and was, as we call Noseh B'Ohl, he carried the yoke, and that was why he became the redeemer. And by Moshe looking and opening his eyes, he aroused God to look down as well. Thats an important rule- if we want to arouse Hashem's mercy on the Jewish people, we also have to feel their pain. V'gam God comes after us- also, I heard. What does it mean V'ezkor Et Beriti/ I remembered the covenant? Which Brit are we talking about? Says Rashi, we're going back to the Brit ben Habetarim, where it says, God made a promise to Abraham, that That nation that works them, I will judge. Ben Yoma on Pirkei Avot (chapter one, Mishnah 15 ) says that there's a concept of, Say a little and do a lot. He says this is not just a trait that human beings are supposed to have. He calls it a heavenly trait , and we see that God taught it to us. How did God teach it to us? God promised us with two words, Dan Anochi/I will judge. Rav Sadya Gaon says that God said two words. And with these mere two words, how many miracles happened? How many wonders happened? He says, Now imagine the redemption of the future, that many books of prophets written about, all full of promises and comfort. Words by Yeshaya,Yirmiyah, Yecheskel, Tre Aasar , even more sohow wondrous they're going to be! And he says, Think about this and put it to your heart and constantly think to yourself, " What is it going to look like when Hashem comes and redeems us? " And he says, you get great reward from this because of the bitachon. You're relying on Hashem. So when we read this pasuk , we should be thinking that God remembers His covenant. He did it then, and he'll do it now, but in multiple ways. The Chida, in is sefer P'nai David on Va'era , comments on the word s, I heard their groans that the Egyptians are working them. He says the Egyptians went beyond the call of duty in their oppression. Yes, we deserved to go to for 400 years, which God brought down to 210. But we didn't deserve what they were doing to us. That was overdone. And especially from the Egyptians, whom we helped and guided and directed. Where's your gratitude? Where's your Hakarat Hatov? When God sees that corruption, that causes Him to remember us. This is also important today, when we look around and say, What is going on in the world ? Why are they treating us so badly? We're not so bad. The Israeli army is the most moral army in the world ! Look how we gave brain surgery to Sinwar, and this is how he treats us? How is God allowing this to happen? And the answer is, this is going to bring the Geula . Because the more corrupt our enemies are and the crueler they are, the faster it causes God to hear our groans and bring Mashiach, even if we don't necessarily deserve it. Our last explanation of V'gam / I also hear is from Sefer Hasidim in siman 757, which tells us that the angels above can sing songs. But our angels that are there to protect us cannot protect us until we arouse them down here. And that's what it means V'gam Ani Shamati/ I heard them , and I also heard their angels that were coming to defend them. But first, I have to hear you . I must hear your cries first . And after I hear your cries, then I can hear the angels that are there to protect you. And of course, we need our angel working for us. That's the rule. We arouse our angels. There is a famous Halacha brought down from the Yerushalmi, not to sleep on Rosh Hashanah, because whoever sleeps on Rosh Hashanah, his angel sleeps . Why? Can't I just leave it to my angel? No, you empower your angel, and therefore, the better you pray, the better your angel prays. And if you go to sleep, your angel goes to sleep. So that's another explanation of V'gam/Also , I hear you, and I hear your angel, but I hear you first. That is our third pasuk of Zichronot.
Watch Rabbi David Sutton - A Path To A Meaningful , Positive, and Meaningful Elul & Yamim Noraim https://itorah.com/browse-lectures/all/rabbi-david-sutton/personal-growth-midot-/midot-perseverance/all-languages/all-dates Welcome to our special mini series on Pesukim from the Musaf prayers. We are now on our second pasuk of Zichronot , where it says, וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־נַאֲקָתָ֑ם וַיִּזְכֹּ֤ר אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־בְּרִית֔וֹ אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֖ם אֶת־יִצְחָ֥ק וְאֶֽת־יַעֲקֹֽב Hashem heard their groaning and Hashem remembered his covenant with Abraham , Yitzchak and Yaakov. So of course, it includes the word Vayizkor / and He remembered, which is our key point. And let us now explain the pasuk: וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־נַאֲקָתָ֑ם /God heard their groaning. It's interesting that it doesn't say He heard their prayers . It doesn't even say He heard their calls . It says He heard their groanings. The Sifre tells us there are ten terms of prayer, and one of them is Na'aka / groaning , and the source is this pasuk, that Hashem heard, their groaning . Rabbi Pinchus, ztzl, in his sefer Sha'arim B'Tefila/Gates of Prayer, goes through the ten terms and talks about this concept of groaning . He points out that we don't see anything about prayer here. Groaning just means a person is calling out in pain. How is that prayer ? He explains that a person has the ability to take any groan in pain and focus it to Hashem, and that becomes prayer. Prayer does not have to be with words. A groan that's focused on God is a prayer. He tells a story about Rav Baruch Ber Lebowitz.When he was a child, he was punished one afternoon, and in those days, they believed in corporal punishment. He got a smack and he was crying (he was about seven or eight years old), and he took out a siddur and started to pray Minhah. His father asked him, Why are you praying now, when you're crying ? He answered, " I'm crying anyway. Let me at least turn the crying into prayer." This is a child thinking, Why should I waste a cry for nothing? And it's this concept that we could take any groan, any tear, and turn it into the right thing. I still remember the people of old- when child a was crying, they would say, Cry over the Bet Hamikdash. That was their way of looking at things, that if you're crying or groaning, focus it on something that you should cry about. This shows us how Hashem is so aware of our pain, He heard their groaning in the times of Mitzrayim, and it impacted. The Bet Yosef quotes the Shibolei HaLaket that explains that every prayer, every blessing we have in the Amida is based on a historical event. Magen Avraham was from when Abraham was saved from the fiery furnace. Mehayeh Hametim was from when Yitzhak Avinu was saved at the Akeda , and so on. Where did Shomeya Tefila come from? Says the Bet Yosef, in Or Hahayim siman 112, When the Jewish people groaned and Hashem heard their groaning, that is where Shomeya Tefillah comes from. This is fascinating. Shomeya Tefillah did not come from a prayer. It came from hearing the groans. We see another important point in this pasuk. It says God heard their groans, and He remembered the covenant. So which was it? Was it the covenant of Avraham Yitzhak and Yaakov or was it their groans? The answer is that really, the zechut Avot was what did it. But they still weren't befitting. The zechut Avot wasn't enough. In order to invoke and arouse, they had to groan . They had to cry, which is an important rule. This pasuk is brought down in our Haggadah as well, to prove this point. And we see in Ki Tavo that Hashem hears our prayers, and our prayers are sometimes necessary to arouse a previous covenant, a previous deal that Hashem had with us. So, our lesson is that it's not just prayers, but even a well focused groan can have that power to arouse our zechuyot .
Watch Rabbi David Sutton - A Path To A Meaningful , Positive, and Meaningful Elul & Yamim Noraim https://itorah.com/browse-lectures/all/rabbi-david-sutton/personal-growth-midot-/midot-perseverance/all-languages/all-dates Welcome to our special miniseries on pesukim of Musaf Rosh Hashana . We are now in Zichronot , the section of Hashem remembering us. As before, we have ten pesukim in this topic. Our first pasuk is: וַיִּזְכֹּ֤ר אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־נֹ֔חַ וְאֵ֤ת כׇּל־הַֽחַיָּה֙ וְאֶת־כׇּל־הַבְּהֵמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר אִתּ֖וֹ בַּתֵּבָ֑ה וַיַּעֲבֵ֨ר אֱלֹהִ֥ים ר֙וּחַ֙ עַל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וַיָּשֹׁ֖כּוּ הַמָּֽיִם׃ Vayizkor Elohim et Noach/Hashem remembered Noach ( when he was stuck on the Teva ) and all the wild and domestic animals that were with him on the Teva . And God passed His spirit over the earth, and the waters calmed down . Rashi says the the words Vayizkor Elokim indicate Midat Hadin. Did the Midat Hadin remembered him for the good? The answer is that the Din turned over into mercy . Through the prayers of the Sadikim , Hashem turns it over to the good. That's the beauty of this, and we read it on Rosh Hashanah because we want to show Hashem's justice turning into mercy. Every one of these pesukim is chosen and weighed to give a very important message. Chizkuni adds a beautiful point. What did He remember? The next words are Chaya and Behema , meaning that Hashem remembered that Noach took care of all the animals on the Teva; Noach did acts of kindness. And it says kindness is not just reserved for human beings, as we see from the story of Rabbenu HaKadosh, who was held accountable for not having mercy on a sheep that was going to slaughter. The judgment was later turned for the good when he had mercy on some cats that were in the barn. It says there, God has mercy on all creations . When you have mercy even on animals, that can arouse God's mercy. Another point on what it means that Hashem remembered Noach and what was with him on the Teva is from the Psikta D'Rav Kahana, one of the early midrashim. In psikta ט it says Hashem remembered Noach , and because He was saving Noach, he also saved those that were dependent on him, which is another important point, that Rabbi Dessler speaks about. Sometimes a person might not deserve to survive on his own, but because he's needed in the world of the Sadik or the righteous, he merits it that way. That's another way that Hashem's Middat Harachamim works- people around this person need to survive for him. That's a powerful message. Another important message is from the Zohar- (vol one, page 69 B): When there is justice in the world a person is not supposed to have his name remembered Above. You're not supposed to stand out, because if you stand out and your name is remembered Above, they focus on your sins and supervise you. The source for this is the famous Isha Shunamit, who Elisha went to on the day of Rosh Hashanah, when God is judging. Elisha told her ( Malachim 2,4). Do you have anything to say to the King (Hashem) Should I tell Him anything on your behalf? She answered, No , B'Toch Ami Ani Yoshevet/I'm amongst my people. I don't want to be singled out Anytime someone makes himself singled out, that's not good. We want to be part of the people. That is why she eventually merited having a child. That's what it means to be a part of your people. It means identifying with the Jewish people. It's not about me on Rosh Hashanah. The Zohar continues and says about Noach, that the world was in judgment. Where was Noach during the Mabul when the world was in judgment? He was in the Teva . He was undercover. He was hidden. Once the judgment passed and the waters subsided, then Vayizkor Noach. Now we remember his name, after everything calmed down. So we see that the rabbis who wrote the prayers put this pasuk in to remind us that we're supposed to stay undercover . We're not supposed to stand out. Undercover doesn't mean that you go incognito and sit in the back of the shul. Rather, it's a mindset of being amongst my people . Conversely it says the Satan remembered Iyov on Rosh Hashanah, because he wasn't keeping what we call a low profile. That low profile attitude is important on Rosh Hashanah. That's another lesson that we have in this pasuk. The pasuk says וַיַּעֲבֵ֨ר אֱלֹהִ֥ים ר֙וּחַ֙ עַל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וַיָּשֹׁ֖כּוּ הַמָּֽיִם׃ God brought us wind on the earth, and caused the waters to become subdued . The Alshech says something beautiful here. It says the word Elohim, meaning this wind came like a tornado wind. So seemingly, it was a bad thing, but since Hashem's justice turned into mercy, this tornado wind actually benefited them by causing the waters to subdue. So, when a person, through his tefillah , causes Hashem's justice to turn into mercy, the justice itself becomes beneficial.
We continue in our mini series on the pesukim of Musaf Rosh Hashanah and we are up to our 10th pasuk of Malchuyot, which is the culmination, Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad. It's interesting that our 10th Pasuk does not have the word melech in it because this is actually what we call Kabbalat Ohl Malchut Shamayim/accepting the yoke of God's kingdom by saying Hashem is Elokenu , Hashem is Echad . Obviously, if He is the God and He is the Boss and He is the only One, then He is the King. Rav Wolbe, in his sefer Aleh Shur, goes to the first pasuk of Keriat Shema and says it's a wonder that we could spend years to perfect saying this. He first explains the words Shema Yisrael based on the Gemara in Hulin 91B that says the Jewish people are dear, more dear than the angels. The angels, before they say Hashem's name, have to say three words, kadosh, kadosh, kadosh, whereas the Jewish people only say two words, Shema Yisrael . Obviously, it's not about the number of words said, but the amount of preparation or what you need to do to mention Hashem's name. The angel's three kadoshes, mean 1- in the heavens, 2- on the earth, and 3- for eternity . So God is Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, in heaven, on earth and for eternity. And then they can say Hashem's name. Whereas the Jewish people say Shema Yisrael, which means listen . Listen to the fact that you are a Yisrael . Listen well to what it means to be a Jew because that's all you need to connect to God. The Jewish people are naturally connected to God. When we say Keriat Shema , God, so to say, dwells on the person. Why? He says, because Hashem Elokenu is what the Gaon of Vilna calls a Shem Maleh/ God's complete name . That's the totality. Hashem Elokenu means Hashem brought everything into existence, He is, was, and will be, and He is supervising and controlling the world. That Shem Maleh can only dwell on an Olam Maleh/ a full world, like at creation the word Elokenu wasn't said until the world was complete. He says, the Jewish people in and of themselves are a complete world. In other words, we are a complete world . And therefore, in the Jewish people is hidden all the secrets that we need to be ready and prepared. So the first thing we have to do is connect ourselves to the Jewish people. Hashem Elokenu means He's not just the God of the world, but as we said, He's Elokeh Yisrael. He's the God of the Jewish people . He, of course, controls the whole world, but there's a special supervision on us. Hashem Echad, as we mentioned in the past, means Hashem, who currently is revealed as Elokenu, will, in the future, be known to the world as Hashem Echad. There's another explanation of Echad , which is the deep concept En Od Milevado, which means there's nothing else but God . This is a hard concept to fully appreciate, but there's nothing else but God in the world. Everything is His existence. He quotes the Gemara that says a concept called we gained from Him or we're living in Him. An additional point within Kriyat Shema , which is especially important for Rosh Hashanah, when we are accepting the yoke of God's kingdom on us for the whole year, is that you have to say it to the point of Mesirut Nefesh. You have to be ready to give up your life for the cause. Bechol Nafshecha/with all your life. It says you're supposed to imagine that you are being told to either bow to an idol or jump in the fiery furnace, and you have to imagine you did it. But Rav Wolbe explains that we can, so to say, fool ourselves. You may be ready to die Al Kiddush Hashem, he says, but when someone asks you something and you can't control yourself and you share some Lashon Hara, what happens? You are ready to die Al Kiddush Hashem , but you can't control yourself from whatever it may be? It could be anything-Eating what you shouldn't, looking where you shouldn't…What happened to dying for the cause if you can't even do this? Therefore, he says that the real, true Kabbalat Ohl Malchut Shamayim is to take something real, on your level instead. The example that he gave was, I can't sit for 4 hours and learn straight?! What happened to my dying for the cause? Can I do a half an hour? And for the first half hour, I'll learn without interfering. That's my Mesirut Nefesh. That is my giving up . So you have to find where you're holding, and that is the commitment. And then if you see you can do more, you add more. Your Kabbalat Ohl Malchut Shamayim on Rosh Hashana is not, " I'm never going to xyz." That's fake. Of course, you're dreaming for that. You hope for that. But your commitment has to be something that's real and attainable . There's a cute story they tell about a man that was accepting upon himself to join the communist party. They asked them questions: If you have two planes, what do you do? " One for me, one for Mother Russia." If you have two cars, what do you do? One for me, one for Mother Russia. If you have two cows, what do you do? One for me, one for mother Russia. If you have two shirts what do you do? He doesn't answer. Why aren't you answering? Because I actually have two shirts. Similarly , in theory , I'd jump into a fiery furnace. Why not? But it's not on the table right now. The real stuff, I'm not ready to talk about. That is what Kabbalat Ohl Malchut Shamayim is. Rav Wolbe says we have to use the month of Elul to prepare, so eventually we do it right when we get to this 10th pasuk on Rosh Hashanah.
Watch Rabbi David Sutton - A Path To A Meaningful , Positive, and Meaningful Elul & Yamim Noraim https://itorah.com/browse-lectures/all/all-speakers/personal-growth-midot-/midot-perseverance/all-languages/2024-09-08 Welcome to our special series of explaining Pesukim in our Rosh Hashanah Musaf prayers. We are up to the 9th pasuk in Malchuyot Zecharyah 14,9 וְהָיָ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה לְמֶ֖לֶךְ עַל־כׇּל־הָאָ֑רֶץ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא יִהְיֶ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה אֶחָ֖ד וּשְׁמ֥וֹ אֶחָֽד׃ Hashem will be King over whole land on that day. Hashem will be One. His name will be One. What does it mean that Hashem will be King? He is always King. We can go back to the Gaon of Vilna that we quoted at the beginning, that told us the difference between a Melech and a Moshel . On the Jewish people, God is King . King means we accepted His kingdom willingly whereas a moshel means a dictator . LaAtid Lavo , says the Gaon of Vilna, In the future, וְהָיָ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה לְמֶ֖לֶךְ עַל־כׇּל־הָאָ֑רֶץ / the whole world will accept Hashem as the King. Rashi tells us on the pasuk Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad/Hashem is our God. Hashem is One, that the simple explanation is Hashem is our God now (we recognize Him; we accept Him now) but in the future He will be the Hashem echad of everyone . As it says, בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא יִהְיֶ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה אֶחָ֖ד וּשְׁמ֥וֹ א ֶחָֽד׃ . Hashem's name will be One. He will be One . So, the lack of recognition of the goyim interferes with the וְהָיָ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה לְמֶ֖לֶךְ עַל־כׇּל־הָאָ֑רֶץ / Hashem will be King over whole land, because they send messages of other kings. Atheism, evolutionism and all the other heresies of the time are interfering with Hashem Melech. The Haamek Dvar says on Shemot 15,18 back on our first pasuk, Hashem Yimloch L'Olam Va'ed /Hashem should be king forever . that they prayed that Hashem's kingdom should become complete in the future. It hasn't happened yet. It's going to happen. Hashem Yimloch / In the future He will be King. The Aruch Hashulchan, in 56,2 says we pray every single day in kaddish that He should be King in His Kingdom. There is a lack of recognition of Hashem as King as long as the goyim are around interfering. So, we are praying for that great day וְהָיָ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה לְמֶ֖לֶךְ עַל־כׇּל־הָאָ֑רֶץ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא יִהְיֶ֧ה / O n that great day when the whole world recognize Him and יְהֹוָ֛ה אֶחָ֖ד וּשְׁמ֥וֹ אֶחָֽד׃ / Hashem Echad U'Shmo Echad. Hashem Echad means there will be no other god in that the goyim will leave their gods , so He'll be recognized as Echad . There will be no other forces but Him. It will be clear to the world. There is no competition, there's no voting. It's only God. U'shmo Eichad/ His name will be one, meaning only His name will be mentioned and nothing else. That is our first track in the lack of Oneness of God- meaning that the world doesn't recognize Him- He is not the Melech . The Radak quotes the Rambam to explain Hashem Echad U'Shmo Echad . He says we use all different names for God: Rachum , Hanun , and other names based on what God does. So it could look like there are multiple gods has v'shalom, because there are so many different things happening. And God has different names, so to say, to refer to Him. He's Hashem , He's Elohim . In the future, we are going to use the name י-ה-ו-ה which means Mehaveh Kol Havayot He makes everything exist. We can't even say that name. We pronounce it as אדני . We don't pronounce it as His name because it's not clear to us. We don't have that recognition of God's name. When we have the clarity of that One name, then all of the questions of having more than one God will not be there, because we will see that One force of God energizing everything, pumping life into everything, that there is only one force, and that's Hashem Echad. And once you realize that, Shmo Echad - we will only use one name. What a beautiful explanation on this pasuk that we say all the time. Lastly, the Gemara in Masechet Pesachim quotes this pasuk and asks, does this mean that God is not One now? He says, no, the difference is that today we when we view good things we say HaTov U'Metiv, and on bad things we say Baruch Dayan Emet, but in the future, it's only going to be HaTov U'Metiv It's only good . There won't be two ways of describing God (which is very similar to what the Rambam says). So, this Oneness of God means that everything will be recognized as good without any question.
We continue in our special mini series of Pesukim of Rosh Hashanah Musaf prayers. We're in Pasuk number eight ) Ovadia 1,21) וְעָל֤וּ מֽוֹשִׁעִים֙ בְּהַ֣ר צִיּ֔וֹן לִשְׁפֹּ֖ט אֶת־הַ֣ר עֵשָׂ֑ו וְהָיְתָ֥ה לַֽיהֹוָ֖ה הַמְּלוּכָֽה׃ / The saviors will go up to Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esav, And then there will be for Hashem the Kingdom. What does it mean that they're going to judge Esav ? The commentaries explain that Esav is the impediment right now of Mashiach coming. We are in what's called Galut Edom, as the Ramban tells us in Shemot 17,9. And when they become overtaken and weakened, then we will be redeemed forever. That's what the pasuk is saying. We're waiting for the destruction of Esav. Esav symbolizes western civilization, what we're all so proud of. But as time goes on, it becomes clear from the Ivy League colleges and the like, what Esav is really like, he shows his real face and we see what he's done to us over the generations. And when Esav falls, we will come to our full state. And that is V'Hiytah LHashem, Hameluchah / And then Hashem's kingdom will come about. Who are these Moshi'im / saviors that we'll bring about Hashem's kingdom? The Radak says, these are the seven shepherds and the eight princes as the pasuk in Micha 5,4 says, וַהֲקֵמֹ֤נוּ עָלָיו֙ שִׁבְעָ֣ה רֹעִ֔ים וּשְׁמֹנָ֖ה נְסִיכֵ֥י אָדָֽם / And I will set upon you, the seven shepherds and the eight princes. So it's a pasuk in Micha that there will be 15 men that will come at the time of Mashiach. Who are they? The Gemara in Masechet, Sukah, 52B, says the shepherds are David Hamelech in the middle, with Shet (Adam HaRishon's third son), Chanoch and Mitushelach on his right, and Abraham, Yaakov and Moshe on his left. Rashi says they knew this with tradition, but he doesn't know where they expounded it from. Besides them are eight princes: Yishai, Shaul, Shmuel, Amo, Sephaniah, Chizkiyah, Eliyahu HaNavi and Mashiach. These 15 men are called the Moshi'im / saviors because they're going to come (imagine seeing these great people!) and tell us a lot about history. The Bet Elohim in Shaar Yesodot , 59th perek , describes how these men are going to come -we're going to recognize them and they're going to recognize us-and they'll tell us the stories that they witnessed and our Emunah will become supercharged. That is what their purpose is. They're going to come and say, " Yes, that happened. I was there!" Shet will tell the story and they'll tell us all the things that we read about and say, " Yes, that's exactly what the Midrash said. That's exactly what happened." Our Emunah is going to become stronger through these seven shepherds, because that's the job of theor job. Shepherds cause the flock to follow in the proper direction, says the Shem Mi Shemuel on Parashat Miketz on Hanukah. He says they're called princes . Princes give a person a certain pride, a certain royalty. They're going to bring the royalty back to the jewish people. And that's וְהָיְתָ֥ה לַֽיהֹוָ֖ה הַמְּלוּכָֽה The kingdom is going to be the kingdom of God, and we are going to be the royalty. This is one of the Pesukim that we read of Hashem's kingdom. We're supposed to put this pasuk into our minds. וְעָל֤וּ מֽוֹשִׁעִים֙ בְּהַ֣ר צִיּ֔וֹן לִשְׁפֹּ֖ט אֶת־הַ֣ר עֵשָׂ֑ו וְהָיְתָ֥ה לַֽיהֹוָ֖ה הַמְּלוּכָֽה Interestingly, many of these Pesukim, are in our daily prayers. In Az Yashir, we say, Hashem Yimloch M'Olam Vaed .That was the first pasuk of the ten Pesukim . The revelation of God's kingdom at the splitting of the sea. And then we say, Ki va Sus Paroah . Then we say, Ki LHashem HaMelucha UMoshel BaGoyim:Hashem is the King, the Dictator of the goyim. Then we say, every single day, V'Alu Moshi'im B'Har Sion L'Shpot Et Har Esav V'Hiytah Hashem Hamelucha And we end with V'Hayah Hashem L'Melech Al Kol HaAretz BYom HaHu Hashem Echad U'Shmo Echad Hashem will be the King, Hashem will be One. His name will be One . So these pesukim are so important that not only do they show up once a year on Rosh Hashanah, but they're part of our daily prayers. The Marahal has a Sefer Netzach Yisrael , which means the Jewish people are forever. Netzach / we will last forever. The eternal Jewish people. He says that the goal of this book is that the Jewish people will last forever and we will survive these difficult exiles. Just like God is forever, we are forever. And that's the וְעָל֤וּ מֽוֹשִׁעִים֙ בְּהַ֣ר צִיּ֔וֹ In the end, we will be there at Har Sion, Mount Zion. We will judge the people of Esav. And in the end, וְהָיְתָ֥ה לַֽיהֹוָ֖ה הַמְּלוּכָֽה the Kingdom will be Hashem's This is our belief. We have to strengthen this belief in the future, in Mashiach and God's Kingdom every day, but especially on Rosh Hashanah.
Watch Rabbi David Sutton - A Path To A Meaningful , Positive, and Meaningful Elul & Yamim Noraim https://itorah.com/browse-lectures/all/all-speakers/personal-growth-midot-/midot-perseverance/all-languages/2024-09-08 We continue in our special mini-series of Pesukim of the Rosh Hashanah Musaf . We're up to the 7th pasuk in Malchuyot , which comes from Yeshaya 44,6 כֹּה־אָמַ֨ר יְהֹוָ֧ה מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל וְגֹאֲל֖וֹ יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֑וֹת אֲנִ֤י רִאשׁוֹן֙ וַאֲנִ֣י אַחֲר֔וֹן וּמִבַּלְעָדַ֖י אֵ֥ין אֱלֹהִֽים׃ So said Hashem, the King of Israel and its Redeemer, the God of the hosts. I am the first One, I am the last One. Besides Me, there is no god, there is no controller. Malbim tells us that this pasuk is coming to correct some ancient mistakes in the understanding of God. There was a mistaken belief called Olam Kadmon that the world always existed; that there wasn't anything there before, that matter or the mass of the world pre existed and God somehow just worked with it. On that, we say Ani Rishon/Hashem is first, nothing existed before Him, and nothing will exist after Him because He is the Source of all existence. And to one who might say that there is more than one force to do this, we say וּמִבַּלְעָדַ֖י אֵ֥ין אֱלֹהִֽים /There is nothing else but Hashem , which is really the concept of En Od Milevado / There's nothing else but God. He existed beforehand, He'll exist after, and even in the interim, there is nothing else but Him. The Yerushalmi, based on this pasuk, says the famous line that ' God's signature is Emet .' Emet means that Hu Elohim Chaim U'Melech Olam/He's a living God and He's an everlasting King . That is why, Resh Lakish tells us, אמת Emet has an א Aleph , which is at the beginning of the Aleph Bet, מ Mem which is in the middle, and ת Taf at the end of the Aleph Bet. It's a hint to this pasuk that Hashem is Emet , which means he's Aleph , he's the Rishon. He didn't receive anything from anybody. There's no one else but God. He has no partner, and in the end He's never going to hand it over to anybody else. That's the consistency and Emet of Hashem that's going through all times. Orchot Sadikim in Shaar Emet/Gate of Truth, discusses when God introduced Himself to Moshe Rabbenu. He said, My name is Ehiyeh Asher Ehiyeh/I will be that I will be. And he says, if you multiply the numerical value of that name, אהיה (21) times אהיה (21), it's same numerical value as אמת Emet, which is 441. God introduced Himself as I am, I was, and I always will be. And that's the concept of Emet , the constant. And that is this pasuk, that Hashem says, אֲנִ֤י רִאשׁוֹן֙ וַאֲנִ֣י אַחֲר֔וֹן וּמִבַּלְעָדַ֖י אֵ֥ין אֱלֹהִֽים׃ The Avudarham says that we actually hint to this pasuk every day in our prayers. After we say Keriat Shema, we say Emet Ata Hu Rishon V'ata Hu Aharon/The truth is You're the first and You're the last, which is based on our pasuk of Ani Rishon V'Ani Aharon. We say, Umibaladecha En Lanu Melech Goel U'Mashiach/And besides You, there is no King and Redeemer that will save us. That's based on the end of that pasuk וּמִבַּלְעָדַ֖י אֵ֥ין אֱלֹהִֽים׃ So we hint to this pasuk every day in our prayers after Keriat Shema. Rav Yehezkiel Levenstein, in his sefer on Emunah , says one of the difficult things of our Emunah is to understand that nothing happens in this world without the will of God, because all there is is the will of God. In the future it will be revealed, and we will see clearly that everything that happened in the world, even though it was decided by wicked people, was really guided by God. (We don't understand a person can have freedom of choice, and God knows what's going to happen and wants it to happen). Nothing happens to the world against His will because there's nothing else but Him. And even though it looks like things happen by the wicked, against God's will, and they think they're doing against His will and they're going to get punished because they think they're going against His will, ultimately, everything is turning the wheels towards where He wants to get to. The Rav gives an example of the Pi HaAretz/the mouth of the earth, which was created at the beginning of creation to swallow up Korach. That revelation had to happen, and it was going happen. And yet Korach decided to be the one to bring it about, and he was punished for it. Nothing that happens in the world is chaos, although it looks like it's out of control. That's a mistake. It can't be. It's impossible, because all that exists is God's will and there's nothing else here but Him. So everything that's happening is happening in the backdrop of His Oneness and bringing us to the ultimate redemption and end. It's hard to perceive, but on Rosh Hashanah, in the middle of our prayers, when we say this pasuk , that's what we're trying to envision.
We are now in a special miniseries of the 30 pesukim of our Musaf prayers. I went out of order yesterday. ש ְא֤וּ שְׁעָרִ֨ים is actually pasuk #6 Pasuk number five is יְהֹוָ֣ה מָלָךְ֮ גֵּא֢וּת לָ֫בֵ֥שׁ לָבֵ֣שׁ יְ֭הֹוָה עֹ֣ז הִתְאַזָּ֑ר אַף־תִּכּ֥וֹן תֵּ֝בֵ֗ל בַּל־תִּמּֽוֹט׃ (Tehilim 93,1) Hashem Malach Ga'ut Lavesh Hashem will have reigned,He donned or cloaked Himself in ge'ut/ grandeur (or literally arrogance ). Lavesh Hashem Oz Hitazar. Hashem will have girded Himself with might Af Tikon Tevel Bal Timot/He made the world firm that it should not falter. This is obviously a pasuk of Malchuyot (every pasuk of malchuyot / kingdom has the word melech in it except for the 10 th - Shema Israel). So, Hashem Malach/Hashem is King. We say this in our Shir shel Yom . There is a different song for each of the seven days of the week, and we say this song on Fridays because it was first said on a Friday, when Adam HaRishon opened his eyes and said, Hashem Malach. He opened his eyes on the first day and saw, Here I am, a creation in a world that was created by God, Who is the King. Rav Wolbe says, similarly on Rosh Hashanah, when we open our eyes, we should imagine that we just landed here for the first time. And when we look around, we should say, " What is this growing out of the ground? What's this hard, wood-like material? How is it growing? What is going on here ?" We should look at the world in that curious fashion, as if we just got here. And like Adam Harishon, we say, Hashem Malach Ge'ut Lavesh, God the King is wearing a coat of ge'ut , which sounds like arrogance - not a very good. Middah. Why are we calling God arrogant? The truth is, we say in Az Yashir, Ki Ga'oh Ga'ah /God was arrogant over the arrogant, and the explanation is that Arrogance means taking credit for what you did. The Mesilat Yesharim says, Machshiv et Atzmo/You are giving yourself importance, credibility, recognition for what you did. The only problem is you didn't do it. No one can take credit. It's arrogant to take credit for what you didn't do. Only God can take credit. The example that I like to give is a young child learning how to play baseball for the first time. His father lobs him these very easy pitches, and his brother stands behind the plate with the boy, holding the boy's hands around the bat. He gets this easy pitch lobbed to him by his father, and his brother swings the bat with the boy, and hits a line drive. The boy is thrilled. He hit a ball ! He bangs his chest with pride. Any bystander would say, Doesn't this kid get it? They lobbed him the ball. It was such an easy pitch to hit, and he didn't even hit it! His brother was holding his hands over the bat and the brother was the one that swung! That's really what goes on in our lives. I'm talking to myself. We have to constantly remind ourselves that we can't say, Kochi V'Otzem Yadi/My strength and My power caused me to be successful at war or anything else. No. It has nothing to do with you. God gives you the strength. And we know the famous Targum, God gives you the ideas. He gives you the ideas to amass wealth. So it's far, far from us doing anything. And therefore, only God has the right to take credit and, so to say, be arrogant because it's okay for God to be arrogant. There's nothing wrong with that. He is the One and the only one that can truly take credit for anything that happens. Hashem Oz Hitazar/ God girds Himself with Oz/strength Af Tikon Tevel Bal Timot/He made the world firm that it should not falter. This means that even when Hashem is using His power and His strength, at the same time He's making sure that the world continues to exist and run in a proper fashion. There's a beautiful Chida that quotes the Arizal that says the words Ge'ut lavesh גאות לבש rescrambled is go'el Shabbat גואל שבת God will redeem us in the merit of Shabbat. It's known that when Rosh Hashanah comes out on a Shabbat, it's either a great year or a very difficult year. This year was a year that Rosh Hashana came out on Shabbat. What is it about Shabbat that brings the Ge'ulah ? The Chida explains, in this pasuk, that when we keep Shabbat, we are being Modeh/admitting that Hashem created the world. He's king of the world, there's nothing else but Him and the world is all His. Well, if that's the case, and I really believe that, He can forgive any sin. That's why the merit of Shabbat, which is stating all those things, will bring the Geula . Shabbat strengthens that belief and all those beliefs in Hashem's Kingdom- and that causes our sins to be forgiven and that brings the Ge'ulah . The truth is, that's what every Rosh Hashanah is all about, and every Rosh Hashanah we proclaim, God is King, He's in charge , and He can do whatever He's like, and therefore we will be forgiven.
We are now in our special miniseries of pesukim of the Musaf prayers. We are up to pasuk number five, Tehilim 24 ,7-10. שְׂא֤וּ שְׁעָרִ֨ים ׀ רָֽאשֵׁיכֶ֗ם וְֽ֭הִנָּשְׂאוּ פִּתְחֵ֣י עוֹלָ֑ם וְ֝יָב֗וֹא מֶ֣לֶךְ הַכָּבֽוֹד Lift up your heads (open the gates) and let there be open the portals of the world (As if were asking the gates to) allow the Melech Hakavod to come in מִ֥י זֶה֮ מֶ֤לֶךְ הַכָּ֫ב֥וֹד יְ֭הֹוָה עִזּ֣וּז וְגִבּ֑וֹר יְ֝הֹוָ֗ה גִּבּ֥וֹר מִלְחָמָֽה Who is that King, who is mighty and powerful? Hashem is the mighty at war.. and the gates don't open.. שְׂא֤וּ שְׁעָרִ֨ים ׀ רָֽאשֵׁיכֶ֗ם וּ֭שְׂאוּ פִּתְחֵ֣י עוֹלָ֑ם וְ֝יָבֹ֗א מֶ֣לֶךְ הַכָּבֽוֹד Open up the portals… And again we have the same question… מִ֤י ה֣וּא זֶה֮ מֶ֤לֶךְ הַכָּ֫ב֥וֹד Who is the King? The answer is, יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָא֑וֹת ה֤וּא מֶ֖לֶךְ הַכָּב֣וֹד סֶֽלָה God of the hosts is the King, and with that, the gates open. What is this referring to? Rashi tells us in the times of Shlomo Hamelech, when he came to bring the Aron into the Holy of Holies, the gates locked themselves, until he mentioned David Hamelech. The Midrash adds that the gates didn't want to open. Shlomo Hamelech said Hashem is mighty and powerful, but it didn't work. It says that the gates were ready to crush Shlomo. They would have crashed down on him, and when he said Melech Hakavod, referring to God, that God is the King and the God of the hosts, then they opened up. And since he gave respect to Hashem, God said, Although I'm going to one day to destroy My house, these gates will never be destroyed , And that's why it says, in Eicha 2,8 The gates swallowed up . The Rabbis explain that part of the messaging of this pasuk is that when one accepts upon himself to glorify the Melech Hakavod, he will have a guaranteed existence. Of course, Rosh Hashanah is when we're trying to evoke our lasting survival, so therefore we want to invoke this concept. But what is this difference between first saying Gibbor Milchama, and then Hashem Seva'ot? The Chatam Sofer says that Hashem Sevaot refers to how God calls the Jewish people His army . When we realize that we are just privates in the army of Hashem, and that it's not about our own self-aggrandizement, we're not coming for our own glory, or our own fame, we're just soldiers in God's Army, and the honor is for Him, like a foot soldier who goes out there and is fighting for his country- that is what God wants. And that's what opens up the gates says, the Chatam Sofer. Furthermore, he says that in the beginning, it says Vehinasu/they should be open from the outside- when you finally realize this higher-level, the gates open up themselves. Rav Wolbe says the gates here also refer to the gates of our hearts. The gates of our hearts need to be open to allow God in. Just like there are gates of the Bet Hamikdash, there are gates of our hearts, because our heart is like a Bet Hamikdash. We have to give the magical password, the open sesame, if you may, to open up our heart and allow God in. The sefer Masat Hamelech has a very interesting explanation as to what this back-and-forth was. He says, of course, Shlomo Hamelech said to let in the Melech Hakavod, he didn't mean himself, or he would've said, "Let me, the king in." But God of the war could mean that God was showing, " through my success, I was successful at war. I was successful and therefore, that's the respect of God," but that's not clear enough. We want the glory of God to be exclusive to God. We don't want God's honor to come through people. God's honor is solely Gods honor, with no reflection of anybody's involvement. This is similar to the famous midrash that says each king ask for a different thing. One king said Let me catch and kill my enemy. Another king said, Let me chase my enemy. Another king said, Let me sing a song , and another king said, I'm just going to go to sleep. What does that mean? I'm just going to go to sleep m eans I'm not able to realize God's glory when I have any involvement in it. I want to make it clear that it's only God and that's what the sefer Masat Hamelech says; that we need to realize that everything that happens really, is without any human input at all. It's only God, all the glory goes to God. And when we realize that, it opens up our hearts. Our hearts are clogged with our own self, our own ego, that we've believe that we're doing something. Therefore, we have to open up the gates, remove all of those external barriers, and realize that God is the true God of Glory. This is all on the message of God's Kingdom as we going through the Musaf prayers
Welcome to our miniseries on the pesukim of our Musaf prayers. We're in the 4th Pasuk of Malchuyot , Tehilim 22,29. כִּ֣י לַ֭יהֹוָה הַמְּלוּכָ֑ה / To Hashem is the Kingdom וּ֝מֹשֵׁ֗ל בַּגּוֹיִֽם׃ Moshel/Dictator over the nations. The Gaon of Vilna, in Bereshit 37, 8, says there's a difference between a Melech and a Moshel . A melech is chosen willingly by the people. The root of the word melech is hamlacha , which means to advise with . There's a Rashi that says that Yitro tells Moshe Rabbenu, Himalech Bigvurah. Go and advise with Hashem. So melech means hamlachah -people advise with themselves and with their committees and they choose the king. Conversely, a Moshel is someone who rules with an iron hand; a despot, regardless of the people's opinion. Recently in Venezuela there was an election. Maduro lost, but he's still in power, because he doesn't care. He is a Moshel . He's not a Melech . Our modern day presidents are more like Melechs . They are chosen by the people. That's what it means, כִּ֣י לַ֭יהֹוָה הַמְּלוּכָ֑ה - the Jewish people accept Hashem's kingdom willingly . That's why we use the term God's kingdom . Because willingly , we accept it upon ourselves. That's the key point, it's not forced. The whole concept of Rosh Hashanah is that we willingly accept God as King. Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky famously asked, Why doesn't the Torah tell us that Rosh Hashana is the Day of Judgment? It's called Yom Teruah , which is the day that you blow the shofar. The shofar is the way you coronate the king and accept the king willingly. Why not call it the Day of Judgement ? It's like if you tell someone, " I'm putting a gun to your head, and if you don't accept me as king I'm going to kill you." That's not accepting the King willingly. That's under duress. But Hashem did not want the driving force of His coronation to be fear. We say B'Simcha Raba…who is like You? It has to be with happiness , not with fear or with a gun to your head. But regarding the goyim , it says, U'Moshel goyim, God is their ruler- even against their will. In Zechariah 14:9 it says, " In the future, Hashem will be King over the whole world," because then, everyone willingly accept God's kingdom. But today, Baruch Hashem, we Jewish people accept Him. The Avat Yonatan in the Haftara of Behar Bechukotai tells us the famous line that En melech v'lo Am/You can't be a king without a nation. Hashem created the world in order that the Jewish people should accept Him as King, because God is not a King without a nation. But does that mean God is not in control? I heard a very interesting explanation from Rav Wolbe, based on the famous prayer of Adon Olam- Adon Olam Asher Malach/God was the king. Beterem Kol Yetzir Nivrach/He was the King, the controller, before everything was created (which seems like a bit of a problem, if we say there's no king without a nation). L'Et Nasah Behefso kol / when He decided to create everything, Azai Melech Shemo Nikra / then He's called a king. That means God is inherently a King, because there's nothing about God that's dependent on the outside world. But to be called a King, He needs to have a people to be King over. Like we just said ,El Melech B'Olam. You need constituents . You cannot be the president of the shul with no congregants. You can't be a rabbi of a congregation without congregants. But, Acharei kichlot Hakol /when everything's wiped out, Levado Yimloch Nora/He still will alone be the king . We don't add or detract to God's kingdom, but rather, for Him to be called and recognized as a king, people are needed. That's what we do on Rosh Hashana, when we recognize God as King, and that is this pasuk of Ki L'Hashem HaMelucha. Over us now, God is the Melech, and on the goyim only a Moshel.
We continue in our mini series of the 30 pesukim of our Rosh Hashanah Musaf prayers. Pasuk number 3 of the Malchuyot is Devarim 33,5. וַיְהִ֥י בִישֻׁר֖וּן מֶ֑לֶךְ בְּהִתְאַסֵּף֙ רָ֣אשֵׁי עָ֔ם יַ֖חַד שִׁבְטֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ God is King amongst Yeshurun, (which refers to Jewish people). When the leaders gather together, Shivteh Israel. They all gathered together, says the Ramban, and accepted upon themselves the yoke of God's kingdom. The Rishonim say this happened at Har Sinai, when we gathered together at Matan Torah and it says, and the Shivteh Yisrael were all together, and they all accepted Hashem's Kingdom upon them. So this is one of the times that we accepted God's Kingdom, and therefore this is discussed in our Malchuyot . The first Pasuk, Hashem Yimloch L'Olam Va'ed, happened at the revelation at the splitting of the sea, where we accepted Hashem as our King- Ze Eli V'Anvehu this is my God, Hashem Yimloch L'Olam Va'ed the revelation of the splitting of the sea. And another time, which is today's topic, was the revelation at Har Sinai. As we should have said back in Hashem Yimloch L'Olam Va'ed , it's very helpful when saying the pasuk , to remember the context and realize the clarity that they had then at the splitting of the sea. When you say the pasuk, you should imagine the splitting of the sea, as the enemies were drowning and we are walking through and seeing God in full control and we say God is king . Similarly, here we have to focus on the revelation of Har Sinai. The Seforno says that it's a general rule (not just at Har Sinai) that anytime the Jewish people come together, it brings the Shechinah down. In Bamidbar 7,3, where it talks about how the twelve tribes gave six caravans, he asks why six caravans? Why didn't the twelve tribes give twelve caravans? The Seforno says it's because they wanted to show a sign that they had brotherhood and partnership and were deserving of the Shechinah to come upon them as they were building the mishkan. And he quotes our pasuk וַיְהִ֥י בִישֻׁר֖וּן מֶ֑לֶך When is God king? When we're together, and the opposite when they separate themselves. So when you're saying this pasuk, think that it's not enough to just say Hashem is King. In order for God's Shechinah to come down upon us, we need to be united. The Gaon of Vilna says here that there were different times that we accepted Hashem as King, as we discussed (one of them was at the sea, and our pasuk is discussing Har Sinai ) and that's why it says the word yahad When did this happen? In Shemot 19,7, where it says וַיַּעֲנ֨וּ כׇל־הָעָ֤ם יַחְדָּו֙ / Everyone answered together, and again in Shemot 24,3 כׇּל־הָעָ֜ם ק֤וֹל אֶחָד֙ / They all answered in one voice There it says, Moshe wrote this down. He built a Mizbe'ach with twelve altars, לִשְׁנֵ֥ים עָשָׂ֖ר שִׁבְטֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ . That's the Shivtei Yisrael , when we gather together. Yahad Shivtei Yisrael . So the time of the Shivteh Israel joined together was at that time, at Har Sinai, where it clearly says Shivteh Israel. And they answered with one voice. And that is the power of the Jewish people together. There's a Midrash that says that God's Kingdom is like a palace that's built on two boats. As long as the boats are together, the palace will stand. If the boats are separated, the palace will fall. That is, so to say, the power of the unity of the Jewish people when we come together in our Avodat Hashem. And that's the focus on Rosh Hashanah in general. It's all about the Jewish people joining together. That's a fundamental point in our Rosh Hashanah. There's a famous letter that the Elder of Kelm wrote and put on the front door of the Yeshiva during Elul- Just like in a physical army, there's only success when the troops are united, so too, we have to be united together as the troops in the army of Hashem in order to see success. Bezrat Hashem, we will get there.
We're now in the sub-series of the Pesukim of Musaf of Rosh Hashanah . We're up to pasuk 2 of 30, the second one of Malchuyot , proclaiming God as King. It comes from Bamidbar 23,21, and is actually a quote from Bilam HaRasha when Bilam said that God would not curse the Jewish people and would not change His mind because לֹֽא־הִבִּ֥יט אָ֙וֶן֙ בְּיַעֲקֹ֔ב וְלֹא־רָאָ֥ה עָמָ֖ל בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יְהֹוָ֤ה אֱלֹהָיו֙ עִמּ֔וֹ וּתְרוּעַ֥ת מֶ֖לֶךְ בּֽוֹ / God does not see iniquity in Yaakov and doesn't see sins in Yisrael. Hashem, his God is with him. The endearment and friendship of the Kingdom (referring to God) is with him. So God doesn't see anything bad in Klal Yisrael, Hashem is with them; Hashem has a friendship with them. The Or HaChaim HaKadosh points that it says Yaakov and Yisrael, because there are two levels of the Jewish people ( Yaakov is the lower level and Yisrael is the higher level) but regardless of their level, lower or higher, God does not see their sins. Rashi explains that of course, God sees everything, but it means that God is not exacting on them, to look at what they're doing wrong. Hashem Elokav Imo, Rashi says, even when they anger Him and rebel against Him, He is still with them. God still dwells with us . Rav Yosef Bekhor Shor, one of the Rishonim , explains that this is the reason that Hashem will never change. He's not going to change His approach of blessing on the Jewish people. Rosh Hashanah, is all about let the year and the blessings begin. We're quoting Bilam, who wanted to curse the Jewish people, but God demonstrated how He would not. The Chatam Sofer explains the secret of why it is that God doesn't see sin in us- He says it's not just that He's our friend, for no reason. It's really because Hashem Elokav Imo, because the Jewish person has God on his mind at all times. That's why God is not exacting with him. The fact that God is on his mind causes him to stay away from sin, so even when he does sin, God is not exacting. This is really the fundamental of our religion. It's at the end of Moreh Nevuchim , and quoted by the Rama at the beginning of Shulchan Aruch the rule of - Shiviti Hashem L' Negdi Tamid having God in front of you at all times, Hu Klal Gadol B'Torah/is a fundamental in the Torah . It's the level of Sadikim that are walking in front of God. Why? Because the way a person sits, his movements, his business, when he's alone in his house, is not the same as when he is sitting and moving and dealing in front of a great King. The way he speaks, the way he opens his mouth when he's with his family members is not the same as when he's in front of the great King God, realizing that the world is full of His honor and that He watching at all times. That is the Jewish person, and that attitude of Hashem is with us and with me is what protects us from sin and causes God not to delve into our sins. The Gaon of Vilna explains some of the nuances of the pasuk: לֹֽא־הִבִּ֥יט אָ֙וֶן֙ בְּיַעֲקֹ֔ב / God does not see Aven/iniquity in Yaakov - he says Aven refers to speech , and he cites a pasuk to prove it. וְלֹא־רָאָ֥ה עָמָ֖ל בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל / He doesn't see Amal/sin in Yisrael- he says Amal refers to action . So whether our speech or our action is not up to par, Hashem is not exacting. Hashem Elokav Imo/ Hashem, his God is with him. -because the Jewish people have the trait of Devekut , we're connected to Him, וּתְרוּעַ֥ת מֶ֖לֶךְ בּֽוֹ / Teruat Melech /The endearment of the King is with him. He says Teruat Melech , he says, refers to our learning of Torah. (The word Teruah תרועה is spelled תורה + ע 70-Meaning the Torah , which has 70 ways to learn it). So the secret to our success is our connection to God, which comes through Torah, and therefore, He's not exacting with our actions or our speech. The Sefer HaBrit in section two, on his discussion of loving one's fellow man (chapter 18) says that just like Hashem is not exacting with our sins and doesn't look into things, so too, that's how we have to act with our fellow man, because the way you act arouses God's traits towards you down here- that's always the rule. Finally, the Chafetz Chaim, in Shemirat Halashon, volume one, Shaar Hazechira ( chapter two) tells us that this explains the severity of Lashon Hara . God naturally doesn't look at what we do. He doesn't pay attention to it. He's like the principal who's walking in the hall and sees a kid do something wrong. He can choose to ignore it. But when a kid comes to report something to him, he cannot ignore it. That is the way Hashem works as well. When someone speaks Loshon Hara it causes Hashem to look when He really does not want to, and it's extremely severe.
We are starting a new sub-series- Pesukim of the Musaf of Rosh Hashanah . There are 30 pesukim that we say in Musaf , so doing a pasuk a day including Sundays, we will get 6 in a week, and we'll double up some to get them all in. Our Rosh Hashanah prayers include these 30 pesukim , and the Gemara tells us, in the name of God, to say the pesukim of Malchuyot, Zichronot and Shofarot, so understanding them is very important. We've given classes on in the past, but now that we've been following the format of a pasuk a day, we will use that for this series as well. Our first pasuk in Malchuyot , which means God is King, is the pasuk in Shemot 15,18: יְהֹוָ֥ה ׀ יִמְלֹ֖ךְ לְעֹלָ֥ם וָעֶֽד׃ Hashem Yimloch Leolam Vaed/God will be King forever. The Ramban explains that this was said after the splitting of the sea in Az Yashir ; they had just seen that God is King and in control over everything; they saw that God saved His servants and destroyed those that rebelled against Him, and they said Hashem Yimloch, in the future , it should be God's will to do this in every generation, to have His eyes, with His hashgacha pratit / His watching , specifically over the righteous and not seemingly ignore the wicked. That is the message of this pasuk . Obviously, it makes sense to say this on Rosh Hashanah. When we are coronating God as King, we are requesting that Hashem Yemloch Le'olam Vaed/God should forever be King and be recognized in the world . Rabbenu Bachye says the word ימלך /Yimloch is missing a vav to teach us a very important lesson: " God does not come with difficulty on His creations." He's not asking them the impossible or giving them backbreaking work. Everything that He says is doable . He quotes a pasuk in Micha 6,3. עַמִּ֛י מֶה־עָשִׂ֥יתִי לְךָ֖ וּמָ֣ה הֶלְאֵתִ֑יךָ עֲנֵ֥ה בִֽי / M y nation, what did I do to you? And what did I do that tarries you? Please respond. This is very important. When we accept the yoke of Hashem's kingdom, He's not asking us to do the impossible. The Yetzer Hara wants us to think that, like the original claim of the snake, "Did God tell you you can't eat anything ?" That is fake news. The pasuk in Shir HaShirim says צְאֶ֧נָה ׀ וּֽרְאֶ֛ינָה בְּנ֥וֹת צִיּ֖וֹן / Go out and see, the children of Sion.. בָּעֲטָרָ֗ה שֶׁעִטְּרָה־לּ֤וֹ אִמּוֹ֙ / In the crown that his mother crowns for him. The Midrash Zuta asks, What is this crown referring to? It answers the Imo / his mother is really His nation , like Amo , so it's the crown that the Jewish people put on the head of God. When did they crown God? At the sea, when they said Hashem Yimloch L'Olam Vaed- it's as if you tied a crown on My head. So this pasuk was said when we saw God's control, and we want that to continue. We want to accept God as King, which is doable, and when we do that, we are crowning God, which is the purpose of Rosh Hashana- the coronation of the King. How do we do that? The sefer Nachal Kidomim from the Chida on Shemot 20,17 tells us that the Ten Commandments have 620 letters, which is כתר / crown , and it corresponds to the 613 mitzvot plus 7 rabbinicals equaling 620. He quotes the Abudarham that says that יהוה מלך , יהוה מלך יהוה ימלך לעולם ועד has the numerical value of 620. He says that is why there are 620 letters in the Ten commandments- because how do you fulfill God is the King, was the King, and will be King ? By performing His 613 mitzvot and 7 rabbinicals. That's when we accept upon ourselves the yoke of God's kingdom. What does that mean? Committing myself to His Torah, is the way I crown Him. It's not enough just to say, Look how powerful God is . Like Rav Yisrael Salanter famously said, You can make God king over the 7 heavens and the 4 corners of the earth and forget about yourself. The HaKtav V'Hakabbalah has a slightly different twist on this pasuk . It's not just that Hashem Yimloch L'Olam Vaed/ God should be King in the future, but rather, this is a present constant, which means He was, is, and will be like Hashem Melech, Hashem Malach Hashem Yimloch… And we're saying that although it doesn't look like God is always king, because we see the wicked being successful and the righteous suffering, that's not because God is not watching or He left the world. That's not the case. In all situations, God is in control. We just don't see it. Finally, the Sror Umor says we first say the Bet HaMikdash that God made with His hands , and then we say Hashem Yimloch L'Olam Vaed because there were times when God was seen as King only when He had a Bet HaMikdash. But we want L'Olam Va'ed- that in all times the world should recognize God's kingdom. This was our first pasuk in Malchuyot . It might be a good idea to print out the series, and if we're not in Yerushalayim next Elul, maybe we can create a pamphlet out of this.
We are now in pesukim of Perek Shira . We're up to the song of the figs from Mishlei 27, 18 where Shlomo Hamelech tells us: נֹצֵר תְּאֵנָה יֹאכַל פִּרְיָהּ: (משלי כז יח) / One that guards the fig tree will eat its fruit, וְשֹׁמֵ֖ר אֲדֹנָ֣יו יְכֻבָּֽד׃ / and one who watches his master (or teacher) will be honored. What exactly is Shlomo Hamelech telling us in this analogy comparing a fig farmer to someone who is learning? All the commentaries say that a fig tree is interesting in the fact that the figs are not all plucked at one time. The figs ripen at different times, so you have to watch over it. And if a fig is left too long, it ends up getting rotten. The Malbim says the term used here, Nitzirah , is a higher level of watching than Shemira , because a fig tree must be watched very closely to make sure that they're plucked at the right time. So too, a student has to be beside his teacher constantly, because each day he acquires additional wisdom, and therefore becomes wise. In Bamidbar 27,16 Rashi says that when Moshe Rabbenu requested from Hashem that his leadership be handed over to his children, Just like the daughters of Tzofchad asked for land as they were entering Israel, I should ask for my children to take over my position. But Hashem said No, Yehoshua is going to take over because he was always there in the tent. What does that mean? Rashi continues with our pasuk - נֹצֵר תְּאֵנָה יֹאכַל פִּרְיָהּ: / One that guards the fig tree will eat its fruit, Yehoshua knew this rule that you have to consistently be by your teacher. You can't just come when you see fit. Just like you never know when that fig will become ripe, you never know when there will be a special pearl of wisdom that will come from your teacher. The Midrash Tanhuma in Nasso chapter 13 cites this concept and says the following rule: In anything that a person toils in and puts his soul into, Hashem rewards him, and he quotes our pasuk- נֹ צֵר תְּאֵנָה יֹאכַל פִּרְיָהּ: / the one that guards the fig tree will eat from its fruit. Shlomo Hamelech was the one that built the Bet Hamikdash, as it clearly says in Navi. Yet it's considered the house of David, as we say, Mizmor Shir Hanukat Habayit L'David . Why David ? Because although David Hamelech didn't actually build it, he fulfilled this concept of נֹ צֵר תְּאֵנָה יֹאכַל פִּרְיָהּ One that guards the fig tree will eat its fruit, Because he was diligent in setting up the plans and putting his heart and soul into it, it was called upon him. The Midrash Rabba in Bamidbar 21,15 has a different comparison of the fig tree. It doesn't mean you always have to be there to listen to every word, but rather, the way you gather the figs is one today, one tomorrow, and eventually you have a whole bundle. So too, with Torah, you're not going to learn it all in one day. It's a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow, and eventually you have a bundle of knowledge. These are the two comparisons-One is, Don't miss a moment, because you might miss that pearl of wisdom, like you might miss the ripening fig. The other is, it's a consistent, daily job to collect the figs, and it's a consistent daily job to gather learning. Rabbenu Bachye in Kad Hakemach , in the discussion of guests, says that the analogy is as follows: When a person works on a fig farm, he has two benefits. Number one is he gets to eat the luscious figs because they're always ready. With other crops, it might be the wrong time, it might be the wrong season, but since the figs are constantly ripening at different times, he's almost always guaranteed a snack. So, besides the salary that he gets, he also gets the snack as a bonus. And that's what Shlomo Hamelech meant here, that when it comes to Torah and mitzvot, not only do you get the final reward in Olam Haba, but you get to snack on the tree. He uses the term notzer in a different way than the Malbim, who says notzer is a higher level shemira . They're both true. But the word notzer , we see, is used when it comes to the Torah, like it says in Mishleh Nozra Ki Hi Hayecha/Keep it, it is your life, the lesson being that a person who learns Torah, not only does he get reward in the world to come, but he gets reward in this world. These are the many lessons of the fig tree as it relates to Torah and Mitzvot, and that is the song of the fig tree.
We continue going through the Pesukim of Perek Shira, and today is the song of the vine, the grapevine that produces wine. It's a pasuk in Yeshaya 65,8: כֹּ֣ה ׀ אָמַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֗ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר יִמָּצֵ֤א הַתִּירוֹשׁ֙ בָּֽאֶשְׁכּ֔וֹל וְאָמַר֙ אַל־תַּשְׁחִיתֵ֔הוּ כִּ֥י בְרָכָ֖ה בּ֑וֹ כֵּ֤ן אֶֽעֱשֶׂה֙ לְמַ֣עַן עֲבָדַ֔י לְבִלְתִּ֖י הַֽשְׁחִ֥ית /So said Hashem, Just like when you find that there's some wine in the grape cluster, you don't destroy the grapes, because there is blessing inside the grapes. So too, God says, I will do for my servants, and not to destroy them at all. This pasuk is using the grape with wine inside as a mashal for God watching over the Jewish people. The Targum Yonatan on this pasuk says it refers to Noach. Noach was in the Dor HaMabul/Generation of the Flood but God did not destroy him because of the wine that was inside of him, referring to the future generations that would come out of him. The Radak says that we are talking to the Bnei HaGalut/The children of exile. That's us. Don't give up hope. Don't despair from the redemption, because even though it's a long exile and we're suffering, we will get out and we will come back . This is compared to the grape and the wine inside of it, in that just like we don't want to destroy the grapes or the wine inside them, even though it might have some peels, pits that have no berachah , because we still have wine inside, so too, even though there might be sinners among the Jewish people, there are Sadikim , righteous people, and therefore they will be saved. The Yaavetz, in his commentary on Avot perek ה Mishna ב , talks about the ten generations from Adam until Noach and from Noach until Abraham, and says that the reason God left them wasn't because He forgot them or ignored their sins, but rather because Hashem has Erech Apayim/patience and He waits for the Resha'im . Firstly, because they may do teshuva, and secondly, because they might have righteous children that come out of them. That is why Hashem waited the ten generations from Adam until Noach- for Noach. And He waited ten generations from Noach till Abraham- for Abraham. That's what the Navi means in the story of the grapes- that Hashem, because He loves the wine, keeps the grapes around. God does not destroy the world because of the wicked. But he sees into the future what is going to come out of them. That is how Hashem works. This shows up as well in the case of Moshe Rabbenu. When it was time to kill the Mitzri, it says He saw there was no person , and Rashi explains that it doesn't mean there was nobody watching, but rather, no one would come out of him in the future. This is a Middah of Hashem- Erech Apayim-, which we can think of every time we eat a grape. We're not talking about the best grape. Imagine a soft grape, that's not the greatest tasting grape. We should think, " I can take this grape and make wine." So too, even the people that currently might look like they're wicked, wine be created from them, which means the future generation. To recap, there are two approaches to this pasuk - One is that the current world has a mixture of righteous and wicked people. And God doesn't destroy the world because of the righteous that are there- like the wine in the grape. The second approach is that we're looking at the individual. We see an individual that might seem like a mushy grape, but he has wine inside of him, referring to the future generations that are going to come from him. That's our pasuk of the grapevine- כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר יִמָּצֵ֤א הַתִּירוֹשׁ֙ בָּֽאֶשְׁכּ֔וֹל וְאָמַר֙ אַל־תַּשְׁחִיתֵ֔הוּ כִּ֥י בְרָכָ֖ה בּ֑וֹ כֵּ֤ן אֶֽעֱשֶׂה֙ לְמַ֣עַן עֲבָדַ֔י לְבִלְתִּ֖י הַֽשְׁחִ֥ית Just like we find wine in the grape and we say, Don't destroy it because there's blessing inside of it (which is the source that you can't destroy food that still has in it a beracha) כֵּ֤ן אֶֽעֱשֶׂה֙ לְמַ֣עַן עֲבָדַ֔י לְבִלְתִּ֖י הַֽשְׁחִ֥ית So too, I do for my servants, not to destroy them entirely.
We are now in pesukim of Perek Shira . Today's pasuk is the song of rain. It's from Tehilim 68,10 (סח י) גְּשָׁמִים אוֹמְרִים. גֶּשֶׁם נְדָבוֹת תָּנִיף אֱלֹהִים נַחֲלָתְךָ וְנִלְאָה אַתָּה כוֹנַנְתָּהּ The rains say, גֶּשֶׁם נְדָבוֹת / Rain of generosity ( nidava means gift , something you don't deserve). תָּנִיף אֱלֹהִים / God will wave נַחֲלָתְךָ וְנִלְאָה /your inheritance is thirsty ( or tired) אַ תָּה כוֹנַנְתָּהּ / You will establish In many texts, when we ask for rain it says we should be blessed B'Gshmei ratzon / rain of goodwill , beracha/blessing, U'nedava/ and generosity , and the Avudarham says that the source for the term Nedava comes from this pasuk - Geshem Nidavot / Rain of generosity . What does ' Rain of generosity' mean? The Radak tells us that in the previous pasuk it says " Eretz Rasha, the earth quaked and the heavens gave rain" - referring to a negative rain, falling on our enemies. Here, it says Geshem Nedavot , which means a rain of generosity, a positive rain. The Malbim says this refers not to the Jewish people at large, but to a specific event that occurred to David Hamelech when he was camping in the desert. They were extremely thirsty, and rain came down upon them. This was Geshem Nedavot , the rain of chesed, that came upon David Hamelech. The Emek Davar , in Vayikra 22,29 quotes this pasuk that uses the words rain of nidava and God should wave , and says that David Hamelech said (referring to when we had a Bet Hamikdash) that if we need rain, we should bring a Korban Nidava, which is a korban Toda/ a thank you offering that will bring rain. And when you wave it, that will also bring berachah . If we need dew, we'll wave it. So the activities that we did in the Bet Hamikdash is what brought the Beracha. Here the term Geshem Nedavot does not mean a rain that God is giving benevolently , but rather that the rain is coming to due to the benevolent acts of the Jewish people in bringing their korbanot. The Sefer Parashat Derachim , in his 21st derush offers an entirely different understanding of this term- rain of generosity. It says that every rain that comes to us is the rain of generosity. We shouldn't think that rain is something natural, that's just going to come upon us just like that. No. Every raindrop is an act of generosity on the part of God, that we don't necessarily deserve. It's not built into the system. We take it for granted, but rain is God's generosity to the world. Furthermore, he says the pasuk refers to נַחֲלָתְךָ /God's inheritance , and explains that when it comes to Nachlatcha , which is Eretz Yisrael, Attah / You God, give the rain that comes upon Eretz Yisrael . That means the rain that comes to other places comes through a Shaliach/ messenger , but when it comes to the rain of Eretz Yisrael , it comes directly from Hashem, and that's why it says, נַחֲלָתְךָ וְנִלְאָה אַתָּה כוֹנַנְתָּהּ / You establish it. As we said, rain is a general symbol for God's intervention/Hashgacha in the world. When Hashem becomes upset, as it says in Keriyat Shema, God stops the rain. But If you follow my statutes, the rain will come at the right time. This means that the Hashgacha that happens in Eretz Yisrael is handled directly by God. That's אַתָּה כוֹנַנְתָּהּ and its actually a pasuk in the Torah in Devarim יא,יב אֶ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ דֹּרֵ֣שׁ אֹתָ֑הּ תָּמִ֗יד עֵינֵ֨י יְהֹוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ בָּ֔הּ .. אַ חֲרִ֥ית שָׁנָֽהֶ A land that God is constantly checking on. The eyes of Hashem are on it. There is a special special Hashgacha Pratit , a special eye , so to say, that is given to Eretz Yisra'el. The song of the rain is that it understands the generosity of God and how God deals directly with Eretz Yisrael. That's the song of the rain.
We are now in Perek Shira and we are up to the song of the dew. It's a pasuk in Hoshea 14,10 הטל אומר: אֶהְיֶה כַטַּל לְיִשְׂרָאֵל יִפְרַח כַּשּׁוֹשַׁנָּה וְיַךְ שָׁרָשָׁיו כַּלְּבָנוֹן: (הושע יד ו) The Dew says, God says I will be like dew for the Jewish people, they will blossom like a rose and its roots will take root like a cedar tree in Lebanon. There's another pasuk in Hoshea ו where we tell God, " God should come down to us like rain," but the Gemara in Taanit 4A says this is one of the cases where the Jewish people asked something in the wrong way, and God answered them in the right way. They said, We want God to come down to us like rain, and God said, My daughter, you're asking for something that is sometimes wanted, and sometimes not wanted, sometimes there, sometimes not; I'm going to be for you like something that's always wanted and is always there . As it says," I will be like the dew. " The Midrash adds that the dew is constant whereas rain is not a constant. In Vayikra 26,12 the Tiferet Yonatan, by Yonatan Eibeshitz explains (and this is a fundamental in many works), that rain symbolizes something that needs an arousal from below. Rain comes from the ocean, goes up and then comes down from the heaven. So too, we, down here, need to cause God, through the rain, to come from above. We have to merit it. That's why in the Torah, whenever someone doesn't do anything right, the warning is always, I'll stop the rain, while dew is something that just comes, out of the goodness of God without us needing to merit it at all. In Shoftim ו , the prophet Gidon asks for a sign from God that he'll be successful in his war. He says, I'm going to put some wool on the floor in the granary. If I come in the morning and there's dew only on it and not on anything around it, then I'll know that God is going to save us. When he gets up in the morning and checks, the wool is soaked. they squeezed it out it and it filled up a bucket of water. The Malbim, in Shoftim ו says that the message is this concept, that God says, I'll be like dew, which means even if you're not deserving, even if you don't merit, I'll give it to you. Gidon was trying to say, Even if we might not merit it, God should still give it to us. The Radak explains that Bnei Yisrael is compared to a shoshana / rose because there is a beauty to a rose, but as beautiful as it is, it doesn't have strong roots. So we want the beauty of the rose, but with the strong roots of the trees of the Lebanon, that have very deep roots. The Ahavat Yonatan adds a beautiful point. He says that this pasuk, אֶהְיֶה כַטַּל לְיִשְׂרָאֵל is brought down in connection to Teshuva in the reading of Shabbat Shuva . He says that God says that He's going to force us to do Teshuva. The question, if it's against our will, what is it worth? And he explains with the famous Rambam that says when a Jewish person doesn't want to divorce his wife, we whip him until he says, I want , because deep down, he wants. He just needs the whipping to bring out his real desire and to get rid of the Yetzer Hara that's interfering. Once we get rid of the Yetzer Hara, his true self is revealed. He says, similarly, roses are sometimes tight, but when the dew comes down on them, they open up, revealing their true beauty. We can see what was always hidden there as well. That's what it mean when God says , I'm going to be like the dew. It means the dew will come down and reveal what is already inside of you. It just was hidden. Finally, the Ben Ish Chai in his sefer Ben Yehoyada on Taanit 4A explains that we have two Mitzvot- Tefillin , which is not a constant, and tzitzit , which we have every day. [It says, the reason why the the one who chopped (or gathered) wood on Shabbat sinned, was because there was no tefillin on Shabbat. And right after that, we bring in tzitzit, which is every single day.] He compares tefillin to rain , and tzitzit to dew , which is a constant. The zechut of the tzitzit , which is the constant remembering of God, brings down the Beracha of the dew. Furthermore, we have 39 wrappings of the tefilin, corresponding to the numerical value of Dew טל which is 39, and symbolized with the constant mitzvah of the tzitzit which brings the constant beracha of the dew down. So God says. I will be like dew to the jewish people. I will bring constant beracha, whether you're worthy or not . That is the song of the dew.
We're in Perek Shira, in the song of lightning. It's a pasuk in tehilim 135 בְּרָקִים אוֹמְרִים. בְּרָקִים לַמָּטָר עָשָׂה מוֹצֵא רוּחַ מֵאוֹצְרוֹתָיו: (תהילים קלה ז / God made lightning for the rain and He takes wind out from His house. The Radak says the wonder of lightning is that lightning is fire, and yet it comes down together with water, and the water and the fire work together. The Noam Elimelech, in Parashat Tazria , says that rain comes, but we have thunder and lightning beforehand because the thunder and lightning instill fear in our hearts. Once we have the fear in our hearts, then we are able to merit the blessing of the rain that comes afterwards. To give a little context to this pasuk , in Tehilim, David HaMelech says, כִּ֤י אֲנִ֣י יָ֭דַעְתִּי כִּֽי־גָד֣וֹל יְהֹוָ֑ה וַ֝אֲדֹנֵ֗ינוּ מִכׇּל־אֱלֹהִֽים׃ / I know God is great, our Master over other forces. כֹּ֤ל אֲשֶׁר־חָפֵ֥ץ יְהֹוָ֗ה עָ֫שָׂ֥ה בַּשָּׁמַ֥יִם וּבָאָ֑רֶץ בַּ֝יַּמִּ֗ים וְכׇל־תְּהֹמֽוֹת God does whatever He wants, in the heavens and on the earth, in the oceans, and in all the depths. What's the wonders ? The rain thunder, lightning and wind. מַעֲלֶ֣ה נְשִׂאִים֮ מִקְצֵ֢ה הָ֫אָ֥רֶץ בְּרָקִ֣ים לַמָּטָ֣ר עָשָׂ֑ה מֽוֹצֵא־ר֝֗וּחַ מֵאֽוֹצְרוֹתָֽיו׃ God brings the clouds from the one end of the earth , and He brings lightning. And then it says, שֶׁ֭הִכָּה בְּכוֹרֵ֣י מִצְרָ֑יִם מֵ֝אָדָ֗ם עַד־בְּהֵמָֽה׃ He hit the firstborns of Mitzrayim from man to animal. So, this is a wonder- David Hamelech is putting rain together with the wonders of Yitzyat Mitzrayim . Rav Yechezkel Levenstein, in his sefer on Emunah , says that we see from here how we have to constantly work on annulling the falseness of the way we look at things. Even after we see thunder and lightning and nature, we have to go further; we have to go to Yitziat Mitzrayim . And we have to go on, that their that idols are made of gold and silver. They don't see, they can't hear. We constantly have to work on reiterating our beliefs in the wonders of God. To this day, scientists are still figuring out the wonders of lightning. Why do we need lightning? What causes it? A thunder cloud consists of ice crystals and hail that bounce around and collide with each other, which leads the bottom of the cloud to have a negative charge, while the top of the cloud and the ground below both have a positive charge. The negative and positive charges build up so much that a huge spark of electricity, which is lightning, is released and it hits either other clouds nearby or something on the ground. This is why we brought the clouds into the picture, because it's the clouds and the rain working together to create lightning. The charge carried by a bolt of lightning is so intense; it has a temperature of 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit, five times hotter than the surface of the sun! So why do we need lightning? As we said before, lightning is frightening and dangerous, and that instills fear into us. But it's also beneficial. Our atmosphere is comprised of nitrogen, and lightning has the power to break apart the nitrogen molecules, turning them into nitrates, which helps fertilize the soil for grass and crops to grow. Additionally, nitrogen oxides react with oxygen to enhance the ozone atmosphere, which helps shield our planet from harmful UV rays from the sun. So lightning works to protect our planet. There are also all kinds of what they call greenhouse gases , which are not very good, such as methane. When lightning strikes, it causes other molecules to break apart look for a partner, and gets rid of these greenhouse gases. Finally, 15% of oxygen is created by the chemical reactions that are caused by lightning when we have a storm. This is all from the wonders of wonders that scientists are just trying to find out, beside the electricity that we have today that was inspired by lightning when Benjamin Franklin, in the 1700s, decided to fly a kite in a storm. That led to the invention of the lightning rod and the understanding of positive and negative charges. The connection between electricity and lightning was known, but not fully understood. All these great inventions that we have are all inspired by Hashem. He puts the wisdom into our minds, but even electricity existed way before we harnessed it, in the form of lightning. This is the song of lightning, and how it wonderfully impacts our universe.
We are now in Perek Shira, in an interesting pasuk in Iyov , that is the song of the Ananei HaKavod/ Clouds of Glory (There are actually two versions of the song of an Ananeh Hakavod, today w e're going to discuss this one (Iyov 37,11 ): עַנְנֵי כָּבוֹד אוֹמְרִים. אַף בְּרִי יַטְרִיחַ עָב יָפִיץ עֲנַן אוֹרוֹ The Clouds of Glory say,"Biri" causes the clouds to trouble themselves, they spread Anan/the cloud its light. What exactly is this cryptic pasuk saying and why is it the song of the Ananei Hakavod? The first glimpse we get comes from Rashi, who tells us the name the angel that is appointed to clouds is Biri . So this angel called Biri is in charge of the clouds- in this case, referring to the seven Clouds of Glory/the Ananei Hakavod, that surround Bnei Yisrael from four sides (it says in the Devarim , 32,10 Yisovevenu/they were surrounded) , with a fifth cloud on top to provide shade, a 6th one that brought them light (They didn't need any light from candles or anything else, they had the light of the cloud) and a 7th cloud that would go ahead of them and smooth everything out to make it easier for them to walk ( Baraita D'Melechet HaMishkan פרק . יד These are wonders of the clouds that were carrying the Jewish people, and this is the song on this miracle. Af Biri , this angel in charge of the clouds, Yatriach Av/would trouble the clouds, and make the clouds work hard. . They were carrying a few million people through the desert, like a mother carries its suckling child. And not only were they working hard carrying the Jewish people, Yaffitz Anan Oro/ they were also working hard bringing light upon the Jewish people. The sefer Pi Eliyahu points out that there are seven words in this pasuk , to correspond to the seven Clouds of Glory. The name of the angel is Biri . What does Biri mean? In Aramaic Bar is ben , my child. So the name of the angel in charge of the Ananei Hakavod , is My child, because the purpose of the Clouds of Glory is to make the Jewish people realize that they are children, being carried. Rashi brings down the famous, beautiful mashal by the episode with Amalek, where it says the Jewish people asked, Hayesh Hashem Bekirbenu im Ayin/ Is God with us, or is He nothing? Because they asked that question, God threw them down, and Amalek came to attack. Rashi there gives a mashal of a father who is carrying his son on his shoulders. Whatever the son asks for, he gives him. Then the boy asks somebody, Where's my father? The father says, You want to know where I am? and he throws the boy off his shoulders, and a dog bites him. So, the clouds that we're talking about here are these Clouds of Glory that are there for God's children. By the sin of the spies in Devarim א , when Moshe Rabbeinu describes the sin, he says, You don't believe in this , which the Or HaChaim HaKadosh explains as, You don't believe that God is your loving father, and you are His children, and He's carrying you through the desert on these clouds. That's the song of the Clouds of Glory. אַף בְּרִי יַטְרִיחַ עָב יָפִיץ עֲנַן אוֹרו / The angel in charge of My son causes the clouds to trouble themselves to carry the Jewish people and cause the cloud to light up the way. And lest one think that this cloud was only then, when Rav Yerucham Levovitz talks about the Ananei Hakavod , he cites a Sifri that says that, " Follow Hashem your God, Zeh HaAnan, " referred to the Clouds of Glory that led us in the desert, and adds that we still have clouds of glory leading us, and we still have a cloud that's lighting up the way. We don't see them openly, but these clouds are still there, and we still have to hear the song of the Clouds of Glory that are protecting us, carrying us and lighting up the way for us as Jewish people, the children of God.
We are in Perek Shira, studying the songs of creation, and today's song is the song of the wind , from Yeshaya 43,6: רוח אומר אֹמַ֤ר לַצָּפוֹן֙ תֵּ֔נִי וּלְתֵימָ֖ן אַל־תִּכְלָ֑אִי הָבִ֤יאִי בָנַי֙ מֵרָח֔וֹק וּבְנוֹתַ֖י מִקְצֵ֥ה הָאָֽרֶץ׃ T he wind says, God tells the Tzafon/northern wind, 'Give; and to the Teiman/southern wind, 'Do not stop; bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the other end of the world.'" Rashi says, this is talking about the in-gatherings of the exiles. To the northern wind, which is a weaker wind, it says give, and to the southern wind, which is a stronger wind, it simply says don't stop. We don't have to give it any extra motivation. Similarly, in Shir HaShirim , it says Uri Tzafon U'Voi Teman. The Tzafon / northern wind, we must arouse , and to the Teiman/ southern wind, we just say, come, for the same reason. That's the simple explanation- the wind is singing a song, and eventually it will be responsible for bringing the Jews from exile. But the Hida has a deeper explanation, which he cites three times: Once in his commentary on Perek Shira, another time in his commentary Chomat Anach , on our Pasuk in Yeshaya מג, ו , and also in his commentary on Shir HaShirim ד,טז in the pasuk Uri Tzafon . So the Hida is very excited with this explanation. He quotes a Yalkut Reuveni, page 114, that tells us that when we pray every day, our requests are immediately answered by God. God sends it down. The only problem is, customs is in the way. There's a Bet Din in the Tzafon/ north (the north symbolizes justice and challenges) , as it says in the pasuk, " The prophet says, from the Tzafon/north, evil will come" ( referring to the Babylonians that came from the north). So in the northern side there is a Bet Din. If you don't deserve it, you're not going to get it, and all of those goods are confiscated by customs. Imagine the new car you asked for- it's there , but it got stopped by customs, and it's sitting there for a very long time. Until when? Until the times of Mashiach. And then, we will tell the northern wind, " Give us the goods. Give us all those items that have been seized by customs. Release them now to the sadikim that will partake from them in the future. That's what it means to say to the northern wind, " Give ,"give your goods out. And in the sefer Chomat Anach, he says, that's what the Pasuk means, How much is the good that you have hidden for those that fear you? Tzafanta means hidden . But it can also be Tzafon / the north , because the northern side is where everything is tzafun / hidden . We want those hidden requests. This is a tremendous chidush in prayer. When they say, no prayer is lost , it's very true. The prayer was answered. The goods are there. They just got stopped by customs. Tzafun may sound familiar because on the night of the Seder, we have Tzafun , when we hide the Afikoman. One of the reasons we hide it is to hint to this concept of the hidden treasures/ Tzafun , that are waiting for us in the future. That's a slightly mystical explanation. The Midrashic explanation says that in Midrash Rabba in Esther 2,15, where it tells us that Achashverosh tried to make everybody happy. To which Hashem says, I, Kal V'yachol, have difficulty making everyone happy. And now you want to make everyone happy? For example, he says, two men want to marry the same lady but they can't. If two boats are traveling in different directions., how do I satisfy them both? If two people come to be judged, you can't make them both happy. That, he says, is in Olam Hazeh . You can't have a northern wind and a southern wind coexisting and working things out. But in the future, by Kibbutz Galuyot , , Hashem says, I'm going to bring a wind from two different directions. And that's what it means that, אֹמַ֤ר לַצָּפוֹן֙ תֵּ֔נִי וּלְתֵימָ֖ן אַל־תִּכְלָ֑אִי When I bring children back, I'm going to be able to do it in wondrous ways. But it sounds like even in Olam Hazeh, the Midrash says, God does the will of those that fear Him. That means even though there might be conflicting wills, God can make them both happy . When praying for the government. it says Hanoten Tishua L'Melachim / the One who gives salvation to the kings and gives control to the princes, His kingdom is forever (referring to God); Who saved David Hamelech from an evil sword? The One that creates a path in the sea, and in harsh waters, a path. He should bless our leader. The question is asked, What does creating a path in the ocean have to do with blessing the king ? It doesn't seem to be analogous. The answer is based on the story where a certain king asked Rav Yitzhak of Volozhin, " You Jews pray. But there are Jews in France, and there are Jews in Germany. If France and Germany are at war, and each one's praying for the success of their country, how does your God work that out?" He answered, "A t sea, when one person wants to go north and one person wants to go south, God is able to work it out." So too, Hashem could work it out so that both kings being happy. And that's what it means that just like God makes the two sailors get to where they have to go, He can get the two countries to work it out together. Which brings us back to our pasuk אומר אֹמַ֤ר לַצָּפוֹן֙ תֵּ֔נִי וּלְתֵימָ֖ן אַל־תִּכְלָ֑אִי God has the ability to work out seemingly contradictory requests. Everything will work out whether it's in this world, like we just said, or it's in the time to come. This is the song of the wind .
We are now in Perek Shira, the song of the clouds, which is Tehilim 18,12 יָ֤שֶׁת חֹ֨שֶׁךְ ׀ סִתְר֗וֹ סְבִֽיבוֹתָ֥יו סֻכָּת֑וֹ חֶשְׁכַת־מַ֝֗יִם עָבֵ֥י שְׁחָקִֽים׃ God uses darkness to be His hiding place. Around Him is a sukkah, the darkness, the waters, and the clouds from the Shahakim (There are seven different heavens, and one of them is called Shahakim .) Firstly, it says clouds are used to create darkness. Simply speaking, this means that clouds create darkness and clouds are responsible for the rain. Rain comes out of clouds. The Midrash Rabba in Bereshit 13,10 tells us about rain: Where does the land get its water from? Where does it drink from? Rebbe Eliezer says, from the oceans, as it says in the pasuk, " A cloud comes out from the ground," which is evaporation . Rabbi Yeshua asks, If that's the case, then we should have salty rainwater. Because if the source of rain is the oceans that are salty, then the o rain should be salty too. And his answer is, they become sweet in the clouds. So the song of the clouds is that they impact water. Additionally, it says Aveh Shehakim, which means to grind. Rav Shimon ben Lakesh says that the clouds grind the water just like in human beings, our stomachs cause the food to become smaller particles, so too the clouds grind the water and turn it into raindrops, which is another important function. So we have two functions here. One is that the clouds sweeten the water. Another is that it comes down in drops, rather than just being poured down in a gush like Niagara Falls. The clouds are impactful in that process. So, again, the song of the clouds, which they're singing to us, is the wonder of creation, and how they are involved in the water cycle, rain and eventually all of growth. How does this work? Firstly, we have to understand how the water goes up. As we know, when the sun heats the oceans, the water vapor that forms rises to cooler temperatures, because as we know, air rises and condenses as clouds. Air currents then circulate these clouds around the globe, and the water condenses. The clouds become heavy, and the precipitation is released. That's the water cycle. This is very important because only 2.5% of the earth's water is fresh water, and of that 2.5% most is frozen. Only 0.001% of the world's water is accessible for drinking. And therefore, without precipitation, there would be no rain, there would be no water, and the whole world would cease to exist! Clouds play a most important part in that process of getting the water up. And how does it turn into a drop? Way up high in the atmosphere, dust and smoke particles suspended in clouds create places where moisture can settle and form into drops. So they need to land on something. The drops sitting up there are like little globes of water, and they form into shape, stick together and eventually they come down. And all of this happens because of clouds . If the clouds didn't have those particles, we would have no place for the rain to attach and create raindrops. This is scientifically fascinating. But of course, it's not science , it's God , in His great wisdom, Who created these clouds. And the clouds, which know good and well what's going on, are singing this song- that's on the simple level. On a deeper level, the Rambam, in his perush Mishnayot on Avot 5,4 tells us that there were ten different miracles in the splitting of the sea. One of them was that when the water split, there were tunnels, and these tunnels were see-through, so that each tribe could see the other. And he quotes our pasuk, חֶשְׁכַת־מַ֝֗יִם עָבֵ֥י שְׁחָקִֽים which refers to the clouds that helped in this process. So the clouds also sing the song of their involvement in the splitting of the sea. Finally, the Torat HaMinha from Rav Yaakov Sakili, in derush 83 says, If you take the last letters of חֶשְׁכַ ת ־מַ֝֗י ִם עָבֵ֥ י שְׁחָקִֽי ם it spells תמים , which is a hint to Yaakov Avinu, who is called an איש תם , and whose face was etched on the Kiseh HaKavod, surrounded by the clouds. So there a lot of depth to this pasuk, from the simple meaning of the clouds singing the song of the water cycle to the clouds singing the songs of the splitting of the sea, and the clouds singing the song of being close to the picture of Yaakov Avinu and the Kiseh Hakavod .
We've been going through pesukim from Perek Shira and today's is the song of the stars . It's a pasuk in Nehemiah 9,6: אַתָּה־ה֣וּא יְהֹוָה֮ לְבַדֶּ֒ךָ֒ (את) [אַתָּ֣ה] עָשִׂ֡יתָ אֶֽת־הַשָּׁמַ֩יִם֩ שְׁמֵ֨י הַשָּׁמַ֜יִם וְכׇל־צְבָאָ֗ם הָאָ֜רֶץ וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁ֤ר עָלֶ֙יהָ֙ הַיַּמִּים֙ וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר בָּהֶ֔ם It's You, Hashem alone. You made the heavens and the heavens above the heavens and all the celestial beings; the earth and everything that's upon it (the animals and plants and whatever you see on earth) The oceans, the depths of the seas, with all the various creatures and species. The next four important words are the song of the angels. וְאַתָּ֖ה מְחַיֶּ֣ה אֶת־כֻּלָּ֑ם /And You give them all life. וּצְבָ֥א הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם לְךָ֥ מִשְׁתַּחֲוִֽים׃ / And the celestial beings bow down to You . This is the stars which are attributed to the Mazal and all the events that are going on. The stars are aware of what the Source of all life is, and they say, and You give life to all them. This is a very important principle, brought down by all the sefarim . The Bet Halevi on Bereshit , chapter two, pasuk 2, where he says, a person should not, heaven forbid, entertain the idea that after God created the world, the world just continues to run on its own, naturally. No, God is constantly pumping energy into it. W hen God wants to punish somebody, He doesn't need to do anything, He just needs to stop pumping the energy in, whereas when a human being wants to punish, he has to do something. God doesn't have to do anything new, He just has to stop the energy that He was pumping in. He says, this is the pasuk of the angels of V'Atah MeHayeh Et Kulam/You're pumping energy into all of them. The sefer Nefesh HaChaim ( Shaar 3,perek 1) says that's the reason God is called ' Makom .' We say, Baruch HaMakom Baruch Hu. God is the Makom because He is the true Place , He is the space, so to say, that everything lives in. And if God would, heaven forbid, remove His energy for just a moment, the entire world would cease to exist. He says this is the foundation of Jewish belief: Atah MeHayeh Et Kulam. In Shaar 3 Perek 10 , he says that this is why God is referred to as the Soul of all souls, and the Root and the Foundation of all existence- because nothing exists without God currently pumping energy into it. Rav Yehezkiel Levenstein, in his sefer on Emuna , when he talks about Yetziat Mitzrayim, says that this is a fundamental belief, not just in the way we view creation, but the way we view ourselves . We have no existence on our own. Our entire existence and all of our being is only due to God's will. When you realize that and it really overtakes you, then you realize that your whole existence is null and void, and all that exists is God will, not just God's will in what's going to happen to you, but God's will is your very existence. It's different than, If God wills it, I'll make money, if God wills it, I'll lose money; if God wills, I'll be healthy, or has v'shalom , the opposite . No, there is no me if God doesn't will it. Rav Yehezkiel Levenstein stresses this when he talks about Elul and he says that every little, tiny creature, a mosquito, an amoeba, everything is there because Ata Mechaye et kulam/ God gives it life. And all of the food and all of the nourishment, that's just a cover up, that's just a facade. We have to work hard and think hard to free ourselves from the physicality that we see with our eyes. It looks like we're doing things, like we're running things, like we're deciding things and like we're working hard for our parnasa , and like if we don't work, we're not going to get anything. But all of that is a mistake, because it's Ata Mechaye et Kulam. The whole concept of You're going to make money by the sweat of your brow was just a fine . It's just a decree . Our job on this earth is to appreciate the message of the stars, V'Ata Mechaye et Kulam, an extremely powerful, important message, that nothing is here because it's here, but because God currently wills it to exist and pumps the energy into it.
We are now in Perek Shira, pesukim that talk about the songs of Creation. Today's song is the song of the moon . The moon's song is a song from Tehilim 104,19 עָשָׂ֣ה יָ֭רֵחַ לְמוֹעֲדִ֑ים שֶׁ֝֗מֶשׁ יָדַ֥ע מְבוֹאֽוֹ׃ God created the moon for the holidays, and the sun knows its path. Rashi in Tehilim says God made the moon for the holidays means that's the way we figure out our holidays. If not for the lunar year, we would not know when Pesach is, or so on. In Bereshit Perek א , where it describes God making the luminaries ( פרק א, יד-טו ) it says וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים יְהִ֤י מְאֹרֹת֙ בִּרְקִ֣יעַ הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם לְהַבְדִּ֕יל בֵּ֥ין הַיּ֖וֹם וּבֵ֣ין הַלָּ֑יְלָה וְהָי֤וּ לְאֹתֹת֙ וּלְמ֣וֹעֲדִ֔ים וּלְיָמִ֖ים וְשָׁנִֽים׃ וְהָי֤וּ לִמְאוֹרֹת֙ בִּרְקִ֣יעַ הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם לְהָאִ֖יר עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃ And God said, let there be luminaries in the heavens in order to separate between day and night. They'll be for signs for holidays, and for days and years. And they will be for luminaries, to light the land. And it was so. Rashi says that, It should be for luminaries, means, Od Zot / The luminaries will also light up the world. That's odd. The Chafetz Chaim, in his Sichot Chafetz Chaim , vol two, page 44, letter 36 is bothered by this. He asks, There luminaries are there for the holiday season, and they're also there to give us light? Isn't their main purpose to give us light? He says No. The world was created for the Jewish people and for the Torah that they're going to keep, like we know, with Bereshit Bara Elokim /In the beginning God created…. Bereshit meams Bishvil Reshit/for the Torah that was created first , and that's the purpose of the moon. God first just looked at the Torah, and saw that there were going to be holidays, and based on that, He created the world. The pasuk says there should be luminaries. What is their job? Number one, to separate between day and night. I need to know day and night, because some Mitzvot happen by day and some mitzvot happened by night. That's why I need to have a day and night. How could we do Leil Seder or Netilat Lulav without day and night? Number two- Vehayu L'Otot/They'll also be for signs. What signs? When the luminaries are changed like during a solar or lunar eclipse, those are messages for the world. God is speaking to us and causing us to be aroused to Teshuvah. That's another purpose of the luminaries. Number three- U'Moadim/And they're there for holidays, Al Yamim, V'Shanim And they're there for days and for years. If we don't have a solar calendar, we don't have days or years. So, the whole purpose of the luminaries is just for us. Why is there a sun? Because how could you pray Netz if you don't have a sun? Why is there a moon? How are you going to say Birkat Levana without a moon? The moon is there for holidays. The moon is there for the Jewish people as a symbol. There is a famous story about a man who survived the Holocaust and was emerged as a religious, devout man. They asked him what his secret was. He said it was the moon . " We didn't have tefillin, a siddur, a talet. We didn't have any religious items. The one thing that the Germans couldn't take away from us was the moon. We kept track of the calendar with the moon and we said Birkat Halevana, which told us that just like the moon waxes and wanes, so too the Jewish people get bigger and smaller. And that gave us Hizuk- all month looking at the moon. So, what the moon is there for? The moon is there for the Jewish people and that is the song of the moon. Many people say Barechi Nafshi on Rosh Chodesh . And in Barechi Nafshi 104, is our pasuk, Asah Yare'ach L'Moadim. That's what you're supposed to focus on when you read Barechi Nafshi. Even if people don't read Perek Shira , at least once a month we sing the song of the moon. Asah Yare'ach L'Moadim. Have a wonderful day.
We are now doing Perek Shira. Today is the song of the sun from Habakuk, 3,11 שֶׁ֥מֶשׁ יָרֵ֖חַ עָ֣מַד זְבֻ֑לָה לְא֤וֹר חִצֶּ֙יךָ֙ יְהַלֵּ֔כוּ לְנֹ֖גַהּ בְּרַ֥ק חֲנִיתֶֽךָ The sun and the moon stood in the heaven Zevulah, the light of Your arrows they will go, to the shining that comes from the lightning, which is Your shield. Rashi quotes the Targum Yonatan which says that this refers to the war in Givon , when Yehoshua stopped the sun and moon from moving. The Radak adds that when we say they traveled to the light of your lightning, it refers to the Jewish people who were traveling at night when the Egyptians were chasing them. It says Barad/Hail came down while they were running, and with that hail came lightning which lit up the night. The Ibn Ezra says that the sun and the moon stopped because we don't need the sun, and we don't need the moon. We can use God's lightning to travel with. So according to this, the song of the sun is You don't need me. It looks like I'm giving light. It looks like you need me, but you don't. It's really God that lights up the world, and He could light it up as He likes. That's the simple explanation of this pasuk: the traveling refers to the people traveling. The people don't need the sun to travel. The people can travel by the light of the lightning. But the Midrash has different explanations. Midrash Raba in Vayikra 31,9 says that every morning the sun and the moon go to God to ask permission to light up the world. They can't just do it on their own, they have to ask permission. And when they go to God to ask permission, God's presence is so bright that their eyes become dim and they can't travel because they can't see. So what does God do? God sends lightning, which gives additional light to the sun and the moon, so that they'll be able to travel. Whatever this means, metaphorically, is not our issue. But the message is the same- we look at the sun and the moon and we think the sun and the moon are the luminaries; we think that the sun and the moon are the source for the light. But no, the sun and the moon themselves don't have light. They're blinded. They need God to light up the way for them to be able to travel, to give us light. This is really the song of the sun. People worship the sun, and but they miss the mark by thinking that the sun and the moon are their own independent sources of light. This is the sun's disclaimer, " If you were behind the scenes, you would see what's going on. I'm not the source of light. I can't even see myself ," says the sun and the moon. " I need to have God's lightning to direct me. " Another Midrash, the Yalkut Shimoni on Tehilim 19 Siman, 673, says that every morning the sun says, I don't want to leave. I'm embarrassed to leave because all of creation is bowing to me and getting You upset. I don't want to come out. So Hashem forces him with His arrows. This is a new way to read the pasuk, לְא֤וֹר חִצֶּ֙יךָ֙ יְהַלֵּ֔כוּ / God shoots arrows at them, which is the lightning , and that causes them to go against their will and give the light. Again, the sun's song is " Please, creation, don't be fooled. Don't attribute the light to me. I'm embarrassed that you're bowing to me as if I have my own source. God is the source of light." That is the true light. The sun is called shemesh , because, like shamosh , it's only a servant . It serves God. There is a famous Gemara that says, The bartender pours the drink, and the thank you goes the bartender, although the wine is really owned by the host . So too, we get all excited by the rain and the sun and the weather, without really going above it all and realizing that God is the source of all light.
We are now in Perek Shira. The song of the night is a pasuk from Tehilim 92,3 לְהַגִּ֣יד בַּבֹּ֣קֶר חַסְדֶּ֑ךָ וֶ֝אֱמ֥וּנָתְךָ֗ בַּלֵּילֽוֹת / In the morning, we speak of God's kindness and Your trustworthiness and loyalty in the night. Rashi says לְהַגִּ֣יד בַּבֹּ֣קֶר חַסְדֶּ֑ךָ / In the morning, we speak of God's kindness refers to the time of the Geula / redemption. When Mashiach comes we're going to talk all about Hashem's Hessed , but now we're in the difficulties of Galut / exile, we have to trust that He will keep His guarantee to us. That's what we're supposed to be doing. Tov L'Hodot L'Hashem/It's a good idea to thank Hashem. So the song of the night is the song of Galut . We're in a long, dark night, and we're singing the song of Emunah that we're going to get out of this one day. This is built into our prayers. The Gemara in Berachot 12A says, if you don't say Emet V'Yatziv in the morning and Emet Emuna at night, you do not fulfill your obligation, based on our pasuk לְהַגִּ֣יד בַּבֹּ֣קֶר חַסְדֶּ֑ך ָ… In the morning we say, Emet V'Yatziv/God is true and solid , or stationery . As the Gaon of Vilna says in his commentary Kol Eliyahu on the Gemara in Berachot , Yatziv refers to something that is steadfast , that happened already. In the morning, we talk about Yetziat Mitzrayim, which happened already. Emunah talks about the future, what we're hoping for, that God will keep his promise. That is the reason we use that terminology. Rabbenu Yonah on Berachot adds that we're not necessarily talking about Boker and Lilah in a metaphor of redemption and exile. Rather, every night we go to sleep and we trust God. B'Yadecha Afkid Ruchi/I put my soul into Your hands. I'm giving You my soul as a deposit, and I'm trusting You that I'm going to get it back in the morning. Moreover, the commentaries say we owe God a lot . When a person owes somebody money and then gives him a bracelet to watch, technically, the person can say, " You gave me your gold bracelet to watch, and since you owe me $10,000. I'll keep the gold bracelet." So too, God really could say, " You owe me a lot. You have a lot of sins. I gave you a lot of good things. You owe me. I'm not giving your soul back." But no. We trusted God and gave Him our soul to watch. But just like I trust the man to watch my gold bracelet, although legally he could keep it, it would be a lack of loyalty. It would be deceptive. And therefore, God gives our soul back. That's why every morning, when we say Modeh Ani, we end with the words, Rabba Emunatecha / You are very loyal and trustworthy. You gave me back my soul. And that's what it means לְהַגִּ֣יד בַּבֹּ֣קֶר חַסְדֶּ֑ךָ / in the morning, I speak of God's kindness . The kindness is that He he gave me back my soul. I trusted and He gave back my soul. So every single morning we have that constant reminder of God's kindness and loyalty. That's the song of the night. I trust Hashem. I'm going to give Him my soul. I know He's going to give it back to me. I have no doubts of God's loyalty . The pasuk in Eicha that Modeh Ani comes from says, חֲדָשִׁים֙ לַבְּקָרִ֔ים רַבָּ֖ה אֱמוּנָתֶֽךָ׃ We are refreshed anew in the morning, great is your trustworthiness. There are two aspects to this. The loyalty is, He gives me back my soul. But when I gave my soul in,it was tired. Back to our Mashal-I gave my gold bracelet to somebody to watch, and I owe him $10,000. The fact that he gave me the bracelet back, that's loyalty, that's trustworthiness. But what's more, imagine if the gold bracelet was all dingy and grimy when I gave it to him, and the man polished it and gave it back to me new. So too, Rabbenu Yonah says, When I go to sleep at night, I'm tired. I have no energy. But God gives me back my soul refreshed. That is the chesed . That's the song of the night. לְהַגִּ֣יד בַּבֹּ֣קֶר חַסְדֶּ֑ךָ וֶ֝אֱמ֥וּנָתְךָ֗ בַּלֵּילֽוֹת We have to understand and appreciate what happens every night as God rejuvenates our soul. We trust Him. We trust God in Galut . It's a song of loyalty and trustworthiness, the song of the night.
We are now in pesukim of Perek Shira ( Tehilim 19,2) י֣וֹם לְ֭יוֹם יַבִּ֣יעַֽ אֹ֑מֶר וְלַ֥יְלָה לְּ֝לַ֗יְלָה יְחַוֶּה־דָּֽעַת׃ / Day to day expresses statements, night to night expresses wisdom. This is the song of the day . The day sings a song. What does it mean? Rashi tells us that creation is renewed every day. Every day the sun sets, every day the sun rises, and from this change and renewal of day and night, creation expresses its praise to Hashem, to thank Him and glorify Him for the day. Sunrise, sunset-that's a miracle. The cycle of day and night causes us to sing a song. That's the song of the day. As we've discussed before, there is always the question of how to understand Perek Shira -is the day singing, or is the day causing us to sing? Here, Rashi tells us it's the cycle of day and night that causes us to constantly praise Hashem. According to Rashi, Yom l'yom means every day , and Lilah means every night . But the Radak says that day to day gives a statement means that today is going to tell me about tomorrow. The cycle is so exact and precise that I know-from today- what tomorrow is going to look like, and I know from tonight what the next night is going to look like. Because of the constant perfection and precision of the solar and the lunar cycles, each day tells about the next since the days don't change. These are the wonders of the solar system, Malbim asks, Why does it say Yom L'Yom Yabiya Omer /during the day we speak and the night Yehaveh Da'at/ expresses wisdom ? He explains that during the day, while you can see the wonders of creations, and you're watching them happen, that's when you speak about the praise that you're seeing. Things are constantly happening during the day. But when we get to the nighttime, we don't have the constant refreshing messages. We are at home at night. We're not watching and seeing creation. Then what's our job? Yehaveh Da'at- we have to think about it. We have to contemplate. At the end, we have to look back and say, " What wonders did I see today? What did I sing about today? " The song of the night, so to say, is the contemplation of what you saw during the day. The Hovot Halevavot has a whole unit, or Shaar / gate , dedicated to delving into Hashem and creation, called Shaar Bechina. In chapter 6, he says the job of a person is to constantly pay attention to these signs of the wisdom of God in creation, and never stop thinking and analyzing anything that comes to your senses or intellect. He says, a day should not go by that you don't see something new in creation. Unbelievable. Notice the leaves of the evergreen tree! Notice, notice, notice. Rabbi Miller style. And he cites our pasuk as his source: Yom L'Yom Yabia Omer. Every single day, He's not going with the first or second explanation, that every day and night give us their message. He is not saying the day tells us about the day, and the night tells about the night. Rather, he says, Every single day you should find something new, and every single night you should continue to contemplate . The next pasuk (which isn't in Perek Shira) says, En Omer V'En Devarim. Simply, this means, the sun and the moon sing their song without words, without speech, just from what they do . But the Chatam Sofer in Bereshit 37,1 and the Bina L'Ittim , in his Darush to Hol Hamoed Pesach , says, En Omer v'En Devarim means the sun and the moon sing their song, but nobody hears their message. We don't pay attention to it. Why not? Says the Bina L'Ittim , because Yom L'Yom/ because it happens every day and happens every night, we don't pay attention. We pay attention to things that are new and exceptional. We don't pay attention to the norm. That's another reason why the Hovot Halevavot says, we don't appreciate creation - because we're like that child who was raised from a young age by his parents, who takes everything for granted, because he's already used to and habituated to it. That's us. Everything is normal to us.. Of course , there's a sun and a moon. But imagine, he says, if somebody who was destitute was brought into a man's home at age 20. He's going to say thank you for every little thing because it's not taken for granted. The reason we don't hear the song of the day is because we're habituated to everything. Therefore, we must use our minds to analyze and overcome that habituation.
As we go through pesukim from Perek Shira, we are now in the pasuk that the wellsprings sing. A wellspring is an underground source of water, or well that gives forth water. It's nice and clean. And what do they say? מַעְיָנוֹת אוֹמְרִים. וְשָׁרִים כְּחֹלְלִים כָּל מַעְיָנַי בָּךְ: (תהילים פז ז) Those that sing and those that dance, all my wellsprings are to You. The Radak on Tehilim says, Kol Mayannai/all my wellsprings means the wellsprings of my heart- My heart will be like a wellspring that will give forth these songs. So we're comparing our hearts to a wellspring. A wellspring is deep underground, and it comes out and gives forth water. The Zohar tells us, quoted by the Sefer Shev Shematatta in his introduction, that a person is born into this world, and he is a Bor /a pit , an empty hole that you put water into from the outside. He receives from his teachers and his educators and his parents. Then he goes on to be a Be'er . A Be'er is a well, that you have to go down and draw water from. And finally, there is a Maayan a wellspring , which really shoots out the water. It's a different nature than just a plain old well. A wellspring gives forth water. It's never ending, and ever flowing. Like the Mishna in Pirkei Avot, when it describes the students of Rabbi Yochanan and Ben Zakai, it calls Rav Elazar ben Arach a Ma'ayan Hamitgaber, an overflowing wellspring, giving over his Torah, with tremendous hidushim, constantly coming up with new ideas. That's a Maayan . And his good trait is a Lev Tov/a good heart . Because our heart is like a wellspring. We have to turn our heart from a pit to a well , to wellspring which is just overflowing. That's Maayanei Libi/The wellsprings of my heart. My heart is a source of song and a source of all kinds of goodness coming out of my heart. The Midrash says on this pasuk in Midrash Tehilim ( perek 87,7) Rav Yehuda says, in the name of Rabi Meir, Just like the wellspring is constantly flowing new waters at all times, so too, we are going to sing new songs. This is referring to the future when the Jewish people will all turn into Ma'ayans . Rav Sadok Hakohen tells us in his sefer Resiseh Layla that just like Hashem has no boundaries, there is no end to what we could fathom in Him, and therefore, our knowledge of Him keeps on growing and growing to no end. Just that this world is limited, so there's a limit to our understanding. But in the future, we're going to have a never-ending understanding of God. And with the never ending understanding is going to come never-ending song, because the song comes from the excitement of the new understanding. We're going to constantly be singing new songs of new understandings, and it's going to forever be a Shir Hadash . That's the song of the wellsprings to tell us this concept of the never-ending songs. The wellsprings are telling us, Kol Maayanei Bach/All of my wellsprings should be on You. I should constantly be developing new understandings of God. And as the new understandings come, the new songs come. Az Yashir Moshe , which is Tehiyat HaMetim in the future, Bezrat Hashem.
We are studying the Pesukim of Perek Shira and we are now on the song of the rivers (Tehilim 98.8) נַהֲרוֹת אוֹמְרִים. נְהָרוֹת יִמְחֲאוּ כָף יַחַד הָרִים יְרַנֵּנוּ (תהילים צח ח) The rivers clap hands, together mountains rejoice. What is the message of this pasuk ? Clapping symbolizes happiness . Why are rivers happy ? Many explain based on the following theme, including Rav Chaim Kanievsky in his commentary to Perek Shira called Taama Dekra . He cites a Gemara in Mesechet Cholin , where it says that Rav Pinchas ben Yair was on his way to do Pidyon Shvuim/ redeem someone in captivity and needed to cross the river Gana'i , so he told the river to stop because he needed to cross. The river said, I am going to do the will of my Creator, and I know that I am going to be successful. I know what I am doing, but you don't know if you're going be successful. " We see from this that the flowing of the river symbolizes the constant fulfillment of the will of the Creator. Rivers don't stop. Rivers just keep on going. They come from the source and they go, and they come from the source and they go. That is the simcha of somebody who is serving his Creator consistently. That's the message of the river. While researching this pasuk, I noticed that the word har / mountain is the root of the word nahar / river , because the river gets its waters from the melting of the snow on the mountains. So, the river is constantly connected to its source, and that's why it keeps coming. The Source , in this case could be God. And the river is constantly connected to its Source and constantly flowing. Rav David Falk writes in one of his sefarim that he once approached Rav Chaim to add a point to this concept, based on a Gemara in Horayot 12A, where it says that Rav Masharshiya, one of the Amoraim , told his son, When you learn, learn by a river, because that way your learning will continue and flow, just like the river flows. We see from here that the river symbolizes consistency, and it can arouse you to learn consistently as well. Rav Chaim Kanievsky agreed to this explanation. So, another message of the song of the river is that of consistency . And with consistency comes happiness. But consistency is not enough. In the sefer Yismach Yehuda , Yehuda Jacobowitz writes that in order to be consistent, you can't be affected or moved by obstacles. There are things that get in your way and interfere. But a person has the ability to, so to say, ignore the obstacles, and that's what the song of the river symbolizes. Furthermore, in Mishnat Rav Aharon (vol 1, page 200), Rav Aaron Kotler quotes the pesukim in Tehilim , וּֽלְיִשְׁרֵי־לֵ֥ב שִׂמְחָֽה׃ (97,11) To those that are straight of heart there is happiness And ׃ פִּקּ֘וּדֵ֤י יְהֹוָ֣ה יְ֭שָׁרִים מְשַׂמְּחֵי־לֵ֑ב The commands of Hashem are straight (Tehilim 19,9) He adds that part of being consistent is not making extra cheshbonot and all kinds of calculations and trying to figure things out. As the pasuk in Kohelet 7,29 says, אֲשֶׁ֨ר עָשָׂ֧ה הָאֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָאָדָ֖ם יָשָׁ֑ר God made man straight. וְהֵ֥מָּה בִקְשׁ֖וּ חִשְּׁבֹנ֥וֹת רַבִּֽים׃ And they're looking for all kind of cheshbonot, They're trying all kinds of shenanigans and tactics But there's a trait of Yashrut / straightness . The river just goes straight . Yashrut is straight, with no nonsense. I do what I have to do. I don't get caught up in things that I don't have to do. As we say, Tamim Tihyeh/I'm complete. I'm simple with Hashem. I just keep doing my thing. That brings simcha. I remember during the Gulf War that most people were busy talking about the war, how to react, and all the things that go along with that. But one day Rav Wolbe came in and just gave a regular class on speaking the truth or some other topic. He explained that he noticed one day that there were workers out paving the roads. He asked himself, They're paving the roads? We're in the middle of a war! Why are they paving the road? Then he said, because government workers have their jobs and despite whatever is going on, 'I gotta pave my road .' He said, it's the same with Avodat Hashem. Yes, there are sometimes bumps in the road and sometimes there are interferences, but you have to stick to your job. You gotta pave the road. That's the message of the river? The river is Yashar . It's straight, it's consistent, and therefore it's constantly clapping.
We're now in Pesukim of Perek Shira , and we're up to the song of the oceans. The song of the oceans is in Tehilim 93,4 יָמִים אוֹמְרִים. מִקֹּלוֹת מַיִם רַבִּים אַדִּירִים מִשְׁבְּרֵי יָם אַדִּיר בַּמָּרוֹם יי: (תהילים צג ד) From the voices of the great/large groups of waters, Great powerful waters that break through the sea, God is the most powerful One, High and Above. Rashi tells us that David HaMelech is saying, Mikolot Mayim Rabim/ From the sounds of the waters, I realize that more powerful than the waters, more powerful than the waves, is Hashem Who controls them all. David Melech says, I look at the ocean and I hear the power of Hashem, Who's behind it. The roaring ocean is the power of God. Ibn Ezra adds that there is a pasuk in Yehezkiel that says, ke kol mayim rabim, the voice of the waters. He says deaf people don't hear the sound of these waters, just like blind people don't see the awesome acts of God. The Ibn Ezra is telling us that, of course, if you put your ear to the ocean, you are not going to hear any sound. Just like the blind man can't see the wonders of God. Here, blind does not necessarily mean physically blind, it means someone who is not paying attention. You can walk around and not see the wonders of the universe, just like you're not going to hear the voice of the ocean singing its songs. That's on a simple level. Rabbenu Bachye, in Vayikra 2,13, where it talks about the fact that you need to put salt on the Mizbeyach, cites a Midrash Rabba in Bereshit 5,4 that says when God split up the waters below and the waters above (into waters in the heavens and waters down here) the waters below started to cry, " Why are we distanced from our cousins upstairs? " They roared (which is the roaring waves) that they wanted to go up. Why can't we be close to our creator? So Hashem told them, " Since you're interested in My honor, the waters above can't sing their song until you give them permission." And that's what our pasuk means with the words, Mayim Rabim- First we have to go down to get permission. God also said that we're going to use the salt from the water on the Mizbeyach every day, and that we'll libate the water on Sukkot, so the water will be part of the services. The Midrash further says on the same pasuk (in Bereshit 5,1) that the sea was singing songs. (This was before man was created, when God split the waters.) But the water has no mouth. God said to Himself, If that's the song I'm getting from the water without a mouth, imagine what man is going to do! But in the end, man sinned. And that's why God brought a mabul and said, " Let's go back to the waters that sang the songs most beautifully before man came into the picture. " And that, says the sefer Sivtei Kohen on Vayikra 2,13, is why we put salt on the table- because we are supposed to remember the sea, and the songs of the sea and say, " If the sea that has no mouth is singing a song, we human beings with mouths should surely be singing the songs of God." That's the song of the sea. It's not necessarily a physical song that you can hear, but when you sit by the ocean and see the crashing waves, or sometimes even tidal waves and all kinds of hurricanes and floods, that's the power of the ocean. That is supposed to tell us, says Rashi, That's the power of God. On a deeper level, the waves are going high up because they want to come closer to God. They're crying. And the water is like salty, like tears, because the water is crying, " We want to come closer to God. " God hears the cries of the people who want to come closer to Him and that includes us too. We're supposed to learn the lessons of the sea, and that is why we have salt on our table. These are all beautiful thoughts on Perek Shira.
We continue to study the pesukim of Perek Shira .ֶ Today we will discuss the song of the Water. מַיִם אוֹמְרִים. לְקֹול תִּתֹּו הֲמֹון מַיִם בַּשָּׁמַיִם וַיַּעַל נְשִׂאִים מִקְצֵה אָרֶץ (ירמיה י,יג) To the voice (or the noise) when great amounts of waters come up in the skies, and Hashem brings clouds upon the earth. The first question is what noise are we talking about? What voice are we talking about? The Talmud Bavli 59A says this refers to the thunder . Another explanation, from the sefer Kehilat Yaakov, by one of the Mekubalim (in the letter starting with Mem) says the water is telling us a secret : You think, says the water, that rain comes down because of weather? Because of forecasts, because of anything natural? No. That's not the reason water comes down. Water comes down because people are learning Torah, and people are praying. I'm the water, and I'll tell you the truth. I see what's happening. I know what's going on. The water's song describes to us how the rain comes down. The water experienced it. The Abarbanel adds another interesting twist to the song of the water, which is that the water is telling us Lakol , the world is praying for rain . All of the people are praying to their idols that there should be rain, and there are even good indicators for rain, because naturally it seems like there's Mayim B'Shamayim, it looks like the water is ready to come down. But then Hashem decides, No, I don't think there should be rain., I'm not going to answer their prayers. Then Hashem brings clouds that blow it away and the rain doesn't come down. So, the water is tellig us, I see what's going on behind the scenes. I see how Hashem controls nature. Hashem controls the rain and Hashem's control of the rain is ultimately impacted by the Jewish people, not by anybody else. Another additional point on this pasuk is brought down in the Megila 15A, where Rav Chanina tells us that Hashem is different than human beings. Human beings first put a pot down, then put water in the pot and start cooking. But Hashem doesn't follow natural rules. Hashem can put the water first and then the pot. That's what this pasuk means. It says God puts the water and then it says He brings the clouds . It would seem that the right order would be first the clouds and then the water. But the water says, I want to show how the rain has nothing to do with what it looks like naturally. The water has nothing to do with the clouds. The water is there because Hashem wants the water to be there. Clouds, water, weather, formations, none of it is natural. It is not anything to do with anything. That's why, whenever Hashem talks about reward and punishment, it says, I'll stop the heavens and they will not give rain . Or, I'll bless you with rain. Why is rain always the focus of blessings and curses? Because weather is nature that's not nature. If you cut your finger, you're going to bleed. There are certain rules of nature that, changing them would be a miracle. But when a weather formation changes, it's not a miracle. There's something about the weather and rain that there is no exact science to it, even with all the predictions. That's the song of the water. The song of the water is to let you know that I have nothing to do with nature. I'm just the will of God. That's all. בַּשָּׁמַיִם וַיַּעַל נְשִׂאִים מִקְצֵה אָרֶ / The voices, the noises that are connected to the water in the heavens, in the clouds from one end of the earth to the other. Have a wonderful day.
We continue in Perek Shira and we are up to the song of the midbar /desert. מִדְבַּר אוֹמֵר The desert says, יְשֻׂשׂוּם מִדְבָּר וְצִיָּה וְתָגֵל עֲרָבָה וְתִפְרַח כַּחֲבַצָּלֶת: (ישעיהו לה א) The desert and the dried land will be happy in the future and the valleys will rejoice and will blossom like roses. The Mabit says that the desert is a place that's desolate; It's like a barren woman that did not give birth. There's no grass, there's no growth. And really there's no place for Shira , because what does the desert produce? But because of the promise that in future the deserts will be full of water and they will develop, that’s why the deserts sings the song- based on the future. It's interesting that the Midrash Raba in Bamidbar 23,4 talks about the Masei , the travels of the Jewish people in the desert, and how all these different places are listed. Why are we listing them? Says the Midrash, because the desert took care of the Jewish people during these years, it is going to turn into an oasis. Therefore the desert is going to be paid back. And that's the future guarantee of the desert. Although right now it looks as if it’s something empty. But based on what it did, it could rejoice on what's going happen in the future. The Midrash continues: If this is what happens to a desert that took in the Jewish people, someone that takes a Torah scholar into his house, even if right now he look like a desert, in the end he will rejoice. Midrash Raba in Shir Hashirim 2,2 tells us that the desert says, I am the most dear because all the wonders are hidden inside of me . As a pasuk in Yeshaya 41 says, God will put cedars in the desert. That means right now, they are hidden in the desert, and in the end, they will come out. And when that happens, the desert will sing a song. And it quotes our pasuk. He says, Do you know what else is hidden inside the ground of the desert? All of the people that were buried are inside of me, and they too will come to life. I'll bring them back, and I will turn them into fresh living people and the earth will sing a song for that event as well. So, the song of the Desert is really the song of the future. It's the ability to sing now, even though nothing has happened yet. 'cause we're counting on what will happen in the future. That's the song of the desert. And we all have that future hope, that future promise. We have greatness hidden inside of us. And although the desert looks like there's nothing going on, there are secrets hidden inside of the desert. We who live in the modern age know that in the desert there's much oil, there is much energy, there are many things hidden inside the desert. This is the song of the people that don't yet see their value or their worth, but there something special will be coming out of them. And that's the shira they sing today , for the wonders of the future.
We are now on Perek Shirah, on the pasuk that the fields say : שָׂדוֹת אוֹמְרִים. / Th e song of the fields (Mishleh 3,19) יי בְּחָכְמָה יָסַד אָרֶץ כּוֹנֵן שָׁמַיִם בִּתְבוּנָה: Hashem with wisdom has established the earth. He set up the heavens with understanding The Mabit, in his commentary on Perek Shira , says that simply, this means the wisdom of Hashem's creation of the earth, especially as it relates to fields, is a phenomenon. If we look around the world, every different species has a food that it eats. Let's take the panda bear for example. A panda bear's diet consists almost entirely of bamboo, and bamboo is exactly what needs to eat. Even though bamboo is mostly starch, it does consist of 32% protein. And even though bears are typically carnivorous and usually eat meat, these wonderful bamboo shoots suffice for the panda, who eats a tremendous amount of bamboo. That is יי בְּחָכְמָה יָסַד אָרֶץ Hashem made it so that it has what it needs growing out of the land that it lives in. These are not coincidences, or, has v’shalom, evolutionary developments. Hashem B’Chochma Yasad Aretz… people and animals have the food they need where they are. That's a revelation of Hashem’s chochma , and that's what the song of the fields is. As we’ve said before, it can mean the fields actually sing the song, or their ministering angels sing the song, or we, when we see the fields, should be singing these songs. The Rambam writes, Hashem B’Hochma Yasad Aretz is just to appreciate the concept, like we say, Mah Rabu Maasecha/ How great are the number of Your deeds, Kulam B’Chochma Asita/ there is never ending Chochma . When you look at creation, the Chochma doesn't end. There's no such thing as a simple being or a simple microbe. They used to think jellyfish were simple. Nothing is simple. Everything is complex because everything is b’chochma/ with wisdom. And wisdom is complex. Just like you look at a Gemara and it's a difficult, complex sugya , and there's nothing simple to it, so too, there's no simple creature. There are organisms, circulatory systems, cardiovascular systems…never ending systems. Systems are things that work together in harmony. The earth is complicated. It's not just a glob of dirt. There are minerals and who knows what, going on in the earth. That is Hashem B’Chochma Yaasu Haaretz , the song of the simplest things is, ‘ We’re not so simple. We're deep and we're complex .’ That's the song of the fields. And as we say, man is a miniature world. Asher Yatzar Et HaAdam B’Chochma Man is also complex. The entire Hovot Halevavot is based on Shaar Habechina/the gate of checking in on and looking into and seeing the wisdom of God’s creation. You become a believer when you delve into the wisdom of creation. That's the song of the fields . Look at the wisdom of the field, יי בְּחָכְמָה יָסַד אָרֶץ
We are now in Perek Shira . Today's pasuk is the song of Gehenom . It comes from a perek in Tehilim 107,9, where it says, כִּֽי־הִ֭שְׂבִּיעַ נֶ֣פֶשׁ שֹׁקֵקָ֑ה וְנֶ֥פֶשׁ רְ֝עֵבָ֗ה מִלֵּא־ טֽוֹב׃ / You satisfied a thirsty soul, and a hungry soul you filled with goodness. Simply speaking, this pasuk is in the chapter of Tehilim that talks about the four people that need to say HaGomel . It starts with words Hodu L’Hashem Ki Tov, Ki L’Olam Hasdo. The first of the four groups of people are those that are in the desert. They're hungry, they're thirsty, they cry out to God, Please save us , and God puts them on the right path and gets them to the Ir Moshav . Hodu L’Hashem Ki Tov, we say, and we praise Him for His kindness, and the wonders he does to people. And here we say, כִּֽי־הִ֭שְׂבִּיעַ נֶ֣פֶשׁ שֹׁקֵקָ֑ה וְנֶ֥פֶשׁ רְ֝עֵבָ֗ה מִלֵּא־ טֽוֹב because He took this thirsty, hungry soul and fulfilled it. That's the simple meaning. Alittle further on it talks about the people of Mitzrayim , because the four events that happened at Gomel happened to our forefathers as they left Mitzrayim . The sefer Bigdei Srad, in his commentary on the Haggadah shel Pesach, offers a deeper explanation. He says this refers to the lost souls that want to come closer to God, who have made mistakes and are crying out to God, ‘ Please purify us, put us in the right place. ’And these were the souls of the generation that left Mitzrayim, that they had reached the 49th level of Tumah , crying out to God. God took them out, put them on the right path, and got them to the final end goal of dwelling in the right place and getting to Olam Haba. That's why the sefarim say that this is the pasuk of Gehenom . The Chatam Sofer, in his Likutim , says that the pure soul is yearning for water. What water ? The spiritual waters from Above. It's yearning for Olam Haba but it has sinned, and now it needs to purify itself in Gehenom . Gehenom sings the song, “ I did my job. I took these souls that were yearning for God and I purified them and got them to their final destination .” So, although Gehenom is not something we like, it's an understanding. Gehenom is singing because it's a part of the cleansing process. We yearn to come closer to God and Gehenom is part of that. The sefer Sifsei Sadik , in Parashat Vaera , says similarly: Why wait until Gehenom? Cry tears in this world. Purify yourself here and understand that the world's challenges here are going to get us purified. There's a famous story where the Gaon Vilna was teaching his students from a tractate brought down in the sefer Reshit Chochma called the Masechet Gehenom, which describes all of the horrors of Gehenom . One of his students was so moved by it that he became depressed. He couldn't get out of bed. It got back to the Gaon of Vilna that the student was not learning, because he was so down and out from the descriptions of the horrors of Gehenom. So he went and told him, “ I left one thing out. I forgot to tell you that suffering in this world is a powerful cleanser that prevent you from all that.” That's the song of Gehenom- it’s the song of all suffering, to understand that ultimately, the goal of the suffering is really to give water and food to the starving soul, to get us to Olam Haba, to get us to those delicious foods that we're yearning and so thirsty for. The Mabit, in his commentary to Perek Shira takes a slightly different approach. The pasuk says the word Nefesh twice, and he says there are two souls. There's the Nefesh Shokekah , which he explains as the soul that was yearning and filled its yearnings up from the worldly pleasures. That's the השְבִּיעַ נֶ֣פֶשׁ שֹׁקֵקָ֑ה which refers to the wicked person that fulfilled all his desires in this world in a sinful matter. And there's also the וְנֶ֥פֶשׁ רְ֝עֵבָ֗ה , the Sadik is called the hungry soul because he did not fulfill his desires in this world. He held back, and because he held back in this world, he's going to end up in the next world. So Gehenom is singing the song of self-control. Those people that did not control themselves in this world have to purify themselves in the next world. And those that do control themselves in this world are eventually the וְנֶ֥פֶשׁ רְ֝עֵבָ֗ה , that hungry soul that did not partake of all the forbidden delicacies in this world, and will be filled with the delicious goodness and delicacies of the next world.
We continue in Perek Shira, and we are up to the song of Gan Eden גַּן עֵדֶן אוֹמֵר Gan Eden says . עוּרִי צָפוֹן וּבוֹאִי תֵימָן הָפִיחִי גַנִּי יִזְּלוּ בְשָׂמָיו יָבֹא דוֹדִי לְגַנּוֹ וְיֹאכַל פְּרִי מְגָדַיו: (שיר השירים ד טז) Awaken the northern wind and come, the southern wind; blow into my garden and let the fragrances flow, let my beloved one come into my garden and eat the delicious fruit. The term garden is mentioned here, and and that’s where Gan Eden comes in. And what are these winds ? There are a number of interesting midrashim about this. Midrash Rabba in Shemot 19,5 tells us that when Moshe Rabbenu gave the command to the Jewish people to do the Brit Milah, and then they could eat the Korban Pesach , many of them did not want to do a Brit Milah and so they would not be able to eat the Korban Pesach. They were willing to accept that consequence. But then Hashem caused the winds to go through Gan Eden, and the winds brought the smell of Gan Eden which connected itself to the Korban Pesach, as it says, עוּרִי צָפוֹן וּבוֹאִי תֵימָן They smelled the fragrance of Gan Eden and could not control themselves, and therefore did the Brit Milah in order to eat from the Korban Pesach because they couldn’t control themselves. So, we see here the concept of הָפִיחִי גַנִּי blow your wind. The wind should blow through Gan Eden and cause the people to smell the smell of Gan Eden. Furthermore, the Rabbenu Avigdor Cohen Sedek, in his commentary on Shir Hashirim tells us that in the future, the Sadikim will not need to have any fragrances on them, because the northern wind will bring the smell of Gan Eden, as our pasuk says, עוּרִי צָפוֹן And in the future, this northern wind will cloak the righteous with the smell of Gan Eden. Now, lest one say that this was in only the past by the Korban Pesach, or that this is in the future, when Mashiach comes, Rav Chaim Volozhin, in his sefer Ruach Chaim on Avot (chapter six, first Mishna) says, Whenever a person involves himself in a mitzvah down here, the Ruach of Gan Eden surrounds him right here. And he's protected by this spirit of Gan Eden. It’s just that we don't smell it here. And then it goes up and, and it becomes part of Gan Eden. So, there is a concept of the smell of Gan Eden, and this is what our pasuk is telling us, to realize and appreciate it. This is the song that Gan Eden sings and the song that we have to sing to appreciate that every mitzvah is beautiful and has a wonderful fragrance, only we can’t smell it. We have to believe in it. When Yaakov Avinu walked into his father, it says, the smell of Gan Eden came with him. There are two stories I’d like to share about the smell of Gan Eden and how real it is. Story number one: Many years ago in Europe they were digging up a Jewish graveyard in order to make room for a highway, and they found a body that was intact and buried in a priest’s clothing. This was very odd as it was almost hundred years after death, and also because it was buried in priestly clothing. The grave diggers did some research and found someone who had heard why: Many years prior, there was a man who was a Gabbai Sedaka- he collected charity for people. One Friday afternoon someone needed money. He had exhausted all of his usual sources and didn't know what to do, so he decided to try his luck with a wealthy man who was not religious at all, He knocked on the door. The man was drinking and partying with his friends, while the Gabbai made his appeal. The man answered in a drunken state, “ We're going to march through the city. If you lead our parade wearing a priest’s clothing, I will cover all the expenses that you need.” The man had no choice. He put on the priestly robes and marched through the town, bearing the insults as he passed through the town square. People were on their way to the Mikveh on Friday afternoon, and they saw this Gabbai with all these drunks, wearing a priest’s clothing. They yelled at him and insulted him, but he got the money. He gave it to the needy person, went home, took off the priest’s clothing, threw it in the attic and forgot about it. Years later, the Avnet Nezer, a great Sadik, came to town and said, I smell the smell of Gan Eden in this town . He followed his nose to this man's house, up to the attic, and found the priest's clothing. He asked him for the story. After hearing the story he said, “ Because of that great act that you did, L’Shem Shamayim, the smell of Gan Eden is on this clothing. When you pass away, make sure to be buried in those clothes. That will protect you and take you straight to Gan Eden.” The smell of Gan Eden is real. It's here, and people with a nose can smell it. And now, lest one say those stories only happened in Europe a hundred years ago, this second story happened in Jerusalem in the recent past. An older Ashkenaz man had a daughter married to a Sephardic fellow, whose brother was close to Hacham Ovadia Yosef. They brought this man, we'll call him Mr. Friedman, to Hacham Ovadia, who said, “ You seem to be a special man. Tell me your story.” Mr. Friedman replied, “ No, I'm not a special man. ” After going back and forth like this, Hacham Ovadia realized the man was obviously shy. He sent everybody out expect the man's son-in-law's brother, who was close to Hacham Ovadia, in order to translate. And he said, “ You have to tell me what you did in your life. It was something special. I smell the smell of Gam Eden coming out of you.” He told Hacham Ovadia that as we know, the wicked Germans made soap from Jewish bodies, and so that soap needed to be buried. He said that after the war, he went around buying up the soap from all the stores, with the little money that he had, and he buried the soap. One winter day, a man approached him and asked if he was the Jew that was purchasing soap, because he had a case of soap for sale. But Mr. Friedman didn’t have any money on him at the time. The gentile looked at Mr Friedman and noticed that he was wearing a pair of heavy, wool pants. He said, “ Well, I don't have wool pants. You give me your wool pants and I'll give you my thin pants and the soap.” So he switched his pants, and he buried the bars of soap. Hacham Ovadia told him, “ Because you were so selfless, all the holy souls who you brought to Jewish burial are walking with you and you therefore have the smell of Gan Eden on you now.” How Hacham Ovadia smelled it, I can't tell you, but this is the important lesson that Gan Eden is telling us, ע וּרִי צָפוֹן / winds awaken. Let the winds of Gan Eden come out and let us all be zoche to the future when all the Sadikim have the smell of Gan Eden on them.
We are studying Perek Shira and we are now up to our second creation that says Shira, and that is the Earth. We quote a pasuk that might not be so familiar, from Yeshaya 24,16 מִכְּנַ֨ף הָאָ֜רֶץ זְמִרֹ֤ת שָׁמַ֙עְנוּ֙ צְבִ֣י לַצַּדִּ֔יק From the wing of the earth we have heard songs, do the will of the Righteous one. What does it mean that we heard songs from the wing of the Earth? Normally, songs come from the mouth, not from the wing. The Or HaChaim HaKadosh on Bamidbar 16,30 tells us that when the Gemara tells us that when Kayin sinned, it says, “ You're more cursed than the ground that had opened up its mouth.” The earth was punished because it swallowed the blood of Hevel and as a result the Earth's mouth was sealed and it could no longer sing a song like all other creatures. That's why it says, “ מִכְּנַ֨ף הָאָ֜רֶץ זְמִרֹ֤ת שָׁמַ֙עְנוּ֙ / From the wing of the earth we heard songs,” as if it’s making noise in other ways, like a bird might make noise with its wings, but not with its mouth. When Moshe Rabbenu wanted to punish Korach, he said, “ If a creation will create. ” What does that mean? If h creation was once there, he will recreate. There once was a mouth there, but the mouth got closed. “Reopen it now and let this mouth swallow up Korach.” The Or HaChaim HaKadosh says this was a tikun . The earth made a tikun because the first time it swallowed the blood of Hevel, who was a Sadik , צְבִ֣י לַצַּדִּ֔יק and now he'll swallow up the rasha Korach and that fixed the earth. The earth made a tikun . Parenthetically, it says that Moshe Rabbenu was a gilgul of Hevel. It says Moshe was a shepherd , once upon a time –meaning in the times of Hevel. And Kayin came back as Korach, who was jealous. that's why it says, “ Hashem says, Im Tetiv/If you do good, Se’et/You will lift,” you'll carry the Aron. And if you don't fix yourself, your sin will be waiting by the mouth/the opening, and you’ll will be swallowed up by the earth. So here, on round two, the earth fixes its sin. Rather than swallowing up the blood of Hevel, he sticks up for Hevel and swallows up Korach, who is Kayin. Beautiful. What's our message? Again, in every one of these pesukim, there's a mussar as well. The mussar is that you can sin, and you can fix it. And we can once again sing to Hashem, even though we might have lost the ability to sing. That’s the first beautiful point on this pasuk. Beautiful point number two is that (again, the earth now is being used as praiser) it says that when Sanheriv’s army was wiped out, miraculously, Hizkiyah was supposed to be Mashiach. He was a devout sadik and a Baal bitachon . He went to sleep at night and God brought the miracle, and he was supposed to become Mashiach. But the Middat HaDin/Justice said, David Hamelech said so many songs and he wasn't Mashiach,and this king Hizkiyah had this miracle and didn't sing afterwards and You're going to make him Mashiach? Therefore, he did not become Mashiach. At that point, the Earth said, “I will replace his song, I'll sing instead of him, and please make him Mashiach. That's what it means, מִכְּנַ֨ף הָאָ֜רֶץ זְמִרֹ֤ת שָׁמַ֙עְנוּ֙ צְבִ֣י לַצַּדִּ֔יק Please make the Sadik Hizkiyah into Mashiach. But it didn't work. It was too late. But the earth did try to stick up for the Sadik and sing a song. We can, once again, reignite this Mashiach-like happening. The Tosafot in Sanhedrin brings down from the Teshuvot HaGeonim that the Bnei Yisrael only say Kedusha on Shabbat. Based on this Tosafot , we all have a different type of Kedusha in our Shabbat Amida, whatever community you come from. Why? Because the pasuk tells us that the angels have six wings, and every wing corresponds to a different day of the week where they sing a song with that wing. Come Shabbat, there's no wing. So, God says, I have another wing that will create song for me. That's the מִכְּנַ֨ף הָאָ֜רֶץ /the wing that's down here on earth. That's the seventh wing. And that's the day of Shabbat. זְמִרֹ֤ת שָׁמַ֙עְנוּ֙ when we’ll hear the songs from the Jewish people. That's the source that we sing songs on Shabbat, and on Shabbat we are elevated to be higher than the angels. The angels ran out of wings and we, the Jewish people, sing the songs of Shabbat. That's our opportunity to, so to say, bring a Messianic time. Shabbat is Me’en Olam Haba. On Shabbat, we evoke this force of the songs of the earth. Finally, one last beautiful piece: The Chida on his sefer Kikar LaAden ( siman ה ) has a commentary on Perek Shira, he brings there from Rav Shimshon Ostropoli, the following explanation. It says in Pirkei D’Rav Eliezer there that there are five letters that are called Sophiot – מנצפך - it spells Mansepach And it says, these are letters of Geula/redemption. You might have seen this concept when banging the Aravot five times according to the Sephardic custom. And it says, each time you bang, have one of these letters in mind. And we'll see in a moment why. It says Avraham Avinu said Lech Lecha, ל ך ל ך He had 2 ך s Yitzhak Avinu said ‘ כי עצמת מ מנו מ אד / You become much stronger than us, a phrase with two Mems Yaakov Avinu said, ה צלי נ י נ א /Save me, with two Nuns . And in Mitzrayim it says פ קד פ קדתי , with two Pehs . In the future we're going to have two Sadi’s because it says איש צ מח י צ מח /the man of Semah, which is the Mashiach, will grow- there's the two sadis . So that's what we say, מִכְּנַ֨ף הָאָ֜רֶץ זְמִרֹ֤ת שָׁמַ֙עְנוּ֙ /We already heard the songs of the Mem the Chaf , the Nun and Peh .. צְבִ֣י לַצַּדִּ֔יק /We're looking forward to Sadik . We're looking forward to hear the Sadik , the Sadi letter that's going to bring the final Geula-And the earth is going to sing that. So this pasuk refers to Geula, Geula comes from singing songs and it connects itself to Shabbat. Another beautiful thought on this pasuk. And once again, we are fulfilling that we're involving ourselves in in-depth learning of Perek Shira. Have a wonderful day.
We're now on our second pasuk of Perek Shira. We are going to discuss what the land sings, and there are actually two pesukim , which we'll discuss over two days. אֶרֶץ אוֹמֶרֶת. לַיי הָאָרֶץ וּמְלוֹאָהּ תֵּבֵל וְיֹשְׁבֵי בָּה: (תהילים כד א) The song of the Land is: To Hashem is the land, and everything that’s inside of it, the land, the earth and everyone who dwells inside of it. The Gemara in Masechet Berachot , 35A points out a contradiction. Here it says, L’Hashem HaAretz Umloah/To Hashem is the land and everything that fills it. But elsewhere, it says, HaShamayim, Shamayim L’Hashem V’HaAretz Natan L’Bnei Adam/God is the One that has the heavens and He gave us the land. So what does it mean that the land belongs to God? Didn’t He already gave it to us? The Gemara explains that it's not a contradiction, When it says that the land belongs to Hashem, that’s before we make the beracha . And when it says that the land, He gave to us, that’s after we make a blessing. So, this pasuk that the land is singing, is the land telling us I belong to God. If you are taking anything from me, you’re stealing. As the Gemara says in that same place, Whoever benefits from this world without a blessing is actually misappropriating holy funds . Just like taking something from the Bet Hamikdash is a special sin called Meilah , so too when you benefit from the holy land of God it’s Meilah . It's God’s, it's holy. Anything that belongs to God is holy. Until you make the Beracha , it's unredeemed and therefore, you're sinning a grave sin. So that's what the land's song is. The land is telling us, Don't benefit from me before you redeem me with your beracha, Interestingly, in the sefer of Gematriot from Yehuda HaHasid, in Parashat Bamidbar, he tells us that the numerical value of this pasuk, לַיי הָאָרֶץ וּמְלוֹאָהּ תֵּבֵל וְיֹשְׁבֵי בָּה is the same as לפני ברכה אסרם באכילה Before you make a Beracha, you're not allowed to eat it. So the land is telling us, I didn't come from nowhere. I have an owner. You can't just take me. That recognition is what we acknowledge when we make a beracha . We realize that the land is calling out and saying, please say a blessing on me before you eat me. The Midrash Raba on Bereshit 11,4 tells us the following: Rav Chiya Bar Abba says, “A man in the town of Ludkia once invited me to his house. He brought out a table that had 16 poles. The table was so heavy that there were four men at each corner with poles, lifting the table. On this table was everything that was created in the six days of creation (in other words there was an overflow of wonderful, delicious varieties of food). This man was very wealthy. There was young child with a good voice that would sit in the middle of the table and make the following announcement, ‘L’Hashem HaAretz Umloah/ ‘Everything here in the earth belongs to God’ ( our pasuk). Why did he do this? So that this man should not become arrogant and haughty from his wealth.” The Arizal says, and it’s a Sephardic custom, that on Rosh Hashana night, we say the mizmor that has these words, L’Hashem HaAretz Umloah/ ‘Everything here in the earth belongs to God.’ and it's a segula for parnasa . It's a good omen for parnasa. It’s not magic, but rather it's the recognition of the message of L’Hashem HaAretz Umloah . As we said previously, and this is a constant, we can either view this as the land is singing the song, or by my having the recognition, I am really singing the song. I'm looking at the land and appreciating its beauty. I'm blessing God, and I'm the one that's igniting the song of the land. My beracha is the song of the land. And as we said, the more song we have, the more energy we have. L’Hashem HaAretz Umloah / to Hashem belongs the land and everything that's inside of it . This is our song number two. And again, we have just fulfilled our obligation to be Osek/to involve ourselves in Perek Shira every day and with it, get all the blessings. B’Ezrat Hashem, I’m going to say this every single day, at the end of our lessons, to remind us of what we just did. We just ignited the song the land.
We are now in the first pasuk of Perek Shira, Shamayim Omrim / What do the Heavens say? They say a pasuk in Tehilim , 19,2: הַשָּׁמַיִם מְסַפְּרִים כְּבוֹד אֵל וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדָיו מַגִּיד הָרָקִיעַ: (תהילים יט ב) / The Heavens tell of the glory of God and the rest of God's handiwork is said over by the Rakia Rashi says that David Hamelech explains in a following pasuk , אֵֽין־אֹ֭מֶר וְאֵ֣ין דְּבָרִ֑ים / There are no words , meaning that when we say Hashamayim Misaprim/The Heavens tell -it’s speaking without words. This means that when we, the creation, see what's going on in the Heavens, we will speak about it. הַשָּׁמַיִם מְסַפְּר ִים כְּבוֹד /The wonders of the heavens will cause us, down here, to speak about the heavens. Rashi says every day we make the Beracha of Yotzer Hameorot/ God Who creates the luminaries. Rav Wolbe says that Rav Yerucham Levovitz once asked his students, If the sun is so great, why don't we make a Baracha on the sun ? Good question! And he explained that we do! Yotzer Hameorot- every morning, we make a blessing on the sun . That is the Shamayim Misaprim Kavod El / The heavens tell of the glory of God And וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדָיו מַגִּיד הָרָקִיעַ /the stars and the mazalot which are the handiwork of God are also going to speak and praise God. So, according to this simple approach, we, down here are praising God, and the song of the heavens is our song due to the heavens. But others explain based on a pasuk in Yehoshua 10,12, where it says, אָ֣ז יְדַבֵּ֤ר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ֙ לַֽיהֹוָ֔ה /Yehoshua spoke on that day when he won the war… שֶׁ֚ מֶשׁ ב ְּגִבְע֣וֹן דּ֔וֹם לה׳ / Let the sun in Givon ( be) Dom to Hashem ” Rashi says dom ,’ means simply to wait for Hashem. So basically, the sun stopped , but the word dom also means to be quiet like Vayidom Aharon - so it can also mean that Yehoshua told the sun to stop singing . And once the sun stopped singing, that caused it to stop moving. The Chida says on our pasuk that the sun and all the celestial beings can only move through the song that they sing, and the proof is from Yehoshua. This is actually a Midrash Tanhuma , quoted by the Reshit Chochma, which says, מִמִּזְרַח־שֶׁ֥מֶשׁ עַד־מְבוֹא֑וֹ מְ֝הֻלָּ֗ל שֵׁ֣ם יְהֹוָֽה׃ / from the East, where the sun rises as it goes. God's name is praised . The Midrash explains that from the time the sun rises, until the sun sets, the sun is singing songs. T hat is what it means that Yehoshua told the sun to be silent , because what charges the sun is its Shira . That's a mussar for us. The human being also is like the sun. The Midrash says, when it talks about man being an Olam Katan/A miniature world, that our two eyes are referred to as the sun, the light of our eyes. That means a person’s ability to shine comes from the songs that he sings, like the sun. There are two important lessons from this pasuk, based on the two ways to read it. One is that we, down here, must appreciate the songs of the sky. We have to look up into the heavens. It says in the pasuk, “ שְׂ אוּ־ מָ ר֨וֹם עֵ ינֵיכֶ֤ם / lift up to the heavens, your eyes…. and see Who created this .” The first letter of each word spells out Shema שמע And it says, when you say Shema you're supposed to first look into creation. Most people don't realize this, but every single morning, in our praise of Shaharit , we first talk about the sun and moon and the celestial beings, and then we say, Shema Yisrael. We have to make God King over all the heavens. But in order to do that, we first have to appreciate that there are heavens, that there is a sun, there is a moon, there are stars, and they are singing the songs of God, the precision of all those celestial beings. That's the הַשָּׁמַיִם מְסַפְּרִים כְּבוֹד אֵל וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדָיו מַגִּיד הָרָקִיעַ: This is the first of our daily dose of Perek Shira , and we have just fulfilled the concept of, Whoever involves themself in Perek Shira/ every day is zoche…to all kinds of wonderful things.
Welcome to Daily Bitachon. We should throw a little party, because we just finished the Pesukei Bitachon of the Maharal, after also going through the list of the Rabbi Yosef of Salant. We are now going to start a different list of Pesukim , Perek Shira , which, as we'll see shortly, is connected to our Pesukei Bitachon . Perek Shira is a compilation of Pesukim that are said by the animals and different creations of God, the songs they sing. There's an introduction to Perek Shira that says, in the name of the holy Rabbenu Hakadosh, that ‘ Whoever involves himself in Perek Shira in this world (and in some of the texts it says every day ) merits to learn, to teach, to keep the Mitzvot. It protects from the Yetzer Hara and from any bad occurrences, from punishment in the World to Come, and from the difficulties of the times of Mashiach (which we are currently in), he will live a long life, merit the days of Mashiach and Olam Haba. That's a mouthful of praise, but the sefer Eliya Rabbah , makes bit of a diyuk : it doesn't say whoever reads it, it says whoever involves himself in it. That means you have to delve into it to get the benefits of Perek Shira. The Eliya Rabbah says one benefit is learning the Mussar and the message of of these songs. The Eliya Rabbah also tells us ( Or HaChaim siman א ) that one does not have to finish Perek Shira every day. It doesn't say that. It says whoever involves themself in it. So, a snippet a day keeps all the bad things away. What exactly is Perek Shira ? The Arizal tells us, based on our rabbis, that every blade of grass (which really means every creature), has an angel that tells it to grow. That angel is in charge of the development and life of that creature. But he says the angel does not have the power to bestow life on this creature until it sings a song in front of God, and singing its song is what brings blessing down on this creation. Of course, grass doesn't sing, but rather, these are the songs of the representative angels of these creatures. Rav Chaim Volozhin says in Nefesh HaChaim (first gate, chapter 11), that when a man says Perek Shira down here, he is actually causing the whole world to be sustained, as he empowers the angels to sing these songs to God. The reason for this is that man includes all the forces in creation; man has inside of him a cow, a bear and a lion- every creation is inside of man. The Zohar says that when God said, Na’aseh Adam/ Let us make man Rashi says it means He was talking to the angels. But the Zohar says, Let us make man means God was talking to all of creation saying, Let's put a little bit of everybody into man. Therefore, man has all the creatures inside of him, and when he sings these songs, he gives the power to the ministering angels of all creations, so they can sing their songs and bring benevolence down into the world. The sefer Yad Mitzrayim, written by a student of the Gaon of Vilna, tells us that because man has all of creation inside of him, man was capable of naming every animal and every creature- because he was connected to it. He infused energy into creation. Furthermore, David Hamelech, who is a continuation of Adam HaRishon and came to fix what Adam HaRishon ruined, was the one that sang all the songs. So, because he brought life into creation, he was able to bring life into himself. David Hamelech was not supposed to live but his bringing life into the world caused him to have life as well. Thus, when David Hamelech says, Lo Amut/I will not die, Ki Ehyeh /I will live, it means, Even though I really do not have life naturally, I will live, because , as the pasuk continues, Asaper Ma’aseh Ya/ I will tell over the deeds of God, and that will give me life. Many commentaries say that after David wrote Tehilim , he wrote Perek Shira. And now that we’ve finished these many pesukim , primarily from Tehilim, which are mainly pesukei bitachon, of reliance on Hashem, we will go through Pirkei Shira, because that's what follows bitachon. As we once said, from Rav Chaim of Brisk, V’Ani B’Hasdecha Batachti/I rely on Your kindness. Yagel Libi B’Yeshuatecha/My heart will be rejoiced in Your salvation . Ashir LaHashem Ki Gamal Ali/ I will sing songs to Hashem because He's bestowed upon me. -So first there’s bitachon, relying on Hashem, -and being happy with the salvation before it actually happens because you’re a Baal bitachon. -And the ultimate is Ashira La Hashem/I will sing to Hashem. This is our introduction to Perek Shira. B’Ezrat Hashem , we will go through close to100 pesukim over the next few months, with Hashem's help.
Today's pasuk is the first of a new unit in the list from the Maharal called Pesukeh Chisayon/refuge. We finished the pesukei bitachon and we are now onto those that mention the word chisayon/refuge. Tehilim 18, 3 יְהֹוָ֤ה ׀ סַ֥לְעִ֥י וּמְצוּדָתִ֗י וּמְפַ֫לְטִ֥י אֵלִ֣י צ֭וּרִי אֶֽחֱסֶה־בּ֑וֹ מָֽגִנִּ֥י וְקֶֽרֶן־יִ֝שְׁעִ֗י מִשְׂגַּבִּֽי׃ Hashem is my Rock and my fortress, and my rescuer, my God, my rock in whom I take shelter. My shield, and the horn of my salvation; my stronghold. These are all words describing tremendous strength and fortitude. They aren’t necessarily describing that he clearly relies on Hashem, but that Hashem is a great protection for him. We invoke this pasuk every morning in our prayers where we say in Shaharit, in the Beracha of Yotzer , Eloheh Avraham /God of the world, in Your great mercy… and we go on to describe God, Adon Uzenu/the God of our strength, Sur/the rock Misgabenu/of our fortress , Magen Yishenu/the shield of our salvation . Misgav BAdenu/the One who is our fortress in protection , and the Avudarham says that this Tefila is based on this pasuk of David Hamelech. So, every day we mention how God has this special power over us. David Hamelech uses many terms, but we're just going focus on one of them, which is Suri . God is my rock . Sali , also means My rock. What is this about the rock that David Hamelech is mentioning? Simply, it's a metaphor. God is like a rock that He saved me . But Rashi tells us he's referring to a specific incident in the story in Shemuel א ,perek 23. David Hamelech was hiding behind a mountain and the people of Shaul were surrounding the mountain, getting closer and closer to him. He did not know where to go. Then, just at that moment, An angel came to Shaul . He looked like a human but he was actually an angel from God, say the commentaries, who said, ‘ Mahara/go fast. You have to move now. It's not time for a local dispute between you and David. It's not time for an internal issue. We have a massive Pelishtim attack at the border. You have to refocus your army.’ When Shaul heard that, he left, at the last moment and he went to the Pelishtim. They called that rock, Selah Hamachlekot/the Rock of the Argument. The Radak, quoting from the Targum, explains that there was an argument between Shaul and his men. They were passionate; they were so close to getting David. But Shaul, the king, said, “ No, our responsibility is to the country.” They therefore left, and David Hamelech was saved. That's why David Hamelech said, “ God is my Selah/my rock, referring to the rock where they had this argument. How is this relevant to us? It’s extremely important. If David Hamelech did not tell us this story, we would never have known about how this angel got involved in saving him. God is our protection . The word מחסי Machsi , Rashi says, we translate as refuge . The Chet and Chaf are interchangeable. It also means אכסה Echseh/ He's my cover. Kisoy is a cover . God covers me. He covers me up when I, or things about me, shouldn't be seen. God covers up for me. Something like this happened to someone I know recently. A man told me he was driving on the Verrazano Bridge one night, coming back from Deal, admittedly speeding. (He shouldn't speed. It was a mistake. He wasn't paying attention. It was late at night and the roads were open and he was going way over the speed limit. We're not condoning his actions.) The officer pulled him over and took his license. The man said, “ Hashem, I can't afford a ticket now. I can't afford points. En Od Milevado. I'll never do it again. You're in charge. I'm sorry I made a mistake. And Hashem, you can make anything happen.” Normally they take your license and registration for around 10 minutes. But literally seconds later, the cop came back to the car and said, “ You're a lucky man. I just got a call on my radio. There was a shooting (or robbery) not far from here. I have to leave. Don't speed again.” So, Hashem can send that angel. In this case, it wasn't an open angel, but there are situations that we’ll never know about. Of course, we try to be honest and do everything right, but they could check anyone's taxes and they'd get in trouble. Who knows if they were looking to audit somebody and then some angel of God came and asked the guy to get a cup of coffee and he went to the next file and skipped your file… we don't know. But we have to understand how Hashem is always protecting us. And that's this pasuk. Hashem Sali/He's my rock, David Hamelech used this to remind himself of the miracle of the rock. These are beautiful, beautiful messages and lessons hiding in these pesukim. יְהֹוָ֤ה ׀ סַ֥לְעִ֥י וּמְצוּדָתִ֗י וּמְפַ֫לְטִ֥י אֵלִ֣י צ֭וּרִי אֶֽחֱסֶה־בּ֑וֹ מָֽגִנִּ֥י וְקֶֽרֶן־יִ֝שְׁעִ֗י מִשְׂגַּבִּֽי׃ Hashem is my Rock and my fortress, and my rescuer, my God, my rock in whom I take shelter. My shield, and the horn of my salvation; my stronghold. The rabbis tell us the best time to remember these is in our prayers. Make a little mark on your siddur. I have a dear friend, who, anytime he hears a nice thought on the siddur, he puts it into his siddur and boosts his kavana . So tomorrow morning, remember- Sur Misgabenu/ God is my Rock , the rock of my protection. Magen Yishenu/ He's my shield. By remembering these concepts, we will earn Hashem's special protection.
We're in a pasuk in Tehilim 26,1 לְדָוִ֨ד ׀ שׇׁפְטֵ֤נִי יְהֹוָ֗ה כִּֽי־אֲ֭נִי בְּתֻמִּ֣י הָלַ֑כְתִּי וּבַיהֹוָ֥ה בָּ֝טַ֗חְתִּי לֹ֣א אֶמְעָֽד A song from David. Judge me God because I went in my perfection and I relied on Hashem I will not falter. What exactly is going on here? David Hamelech is asking to be judged? In another place, David Hamelech says, Don't come and judge me. So how can he now ask to be judged? Rav Shlomo Kluger explains in his sefer Tehilot Yisrae l that David Hamelech is saying, I'm doing my best. I'm trying to do as good as I can. Normally , when a person is trying to do their best, they're pretty confident in their status with God, in their future reward etc. However, David Hamelech is saying, “ Although I am doing my best, still I know that I need to rely on Hashem for anything that I get, because whatever I'm doing, it’s coming from God's benevolence,” and he quotes a pasuk from Iyov 41,3, where God says, מִ֣י הִ֭קְדִּימַנִי וַאֲשַׁלֵּ֑ם תַּ֖חַת כׇּל־הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם לִי־הֽוּא׃ / Who ever did , before I paid them? Who ever beat me to it? Did anybody ever do a Brit milah before I gave them a child? Did anyone ever put on a mezuza before I gave them a home? Did anyone ever check for shaatnez before I gave them a suit? Think about it. Here we are, all proud of our accomplishments. But did anyone ever give 10% before Hashem gave him the other 90%? If you keep thinking about it, you say, “ Wow, every mitzvah that I'm doing, I'm doing, after He gave me! What exactly does He owe me for what I'm doing? Hmmm . When you start thinking like that, you realize that you're not coming to Hashem with any demands or expectations. And that, says Rav Shlomo Kluger, is the secret to being judged by God and getting through it successfully. We need to be able to do the right thing, and at the same time realize it's not coming to me. He further quotes a Gemara in Masechet Berachot 55A that says, “ Delving into your prayer causes God to remember man’s sins.” This means that when a person prays and says, “ Wow, I prayed so good, Hashem is going to answer me…. ” that's a mistake. Don't think because I prayed good, I'm deserving. You prayed good? You still need Hashem’s mercy! You still need to rely on Hashem's kindness. It’s not because of anything that you did. That was Moshe Rabbenu’s secret of VaetHanan . Rashi says he prayed for a Matnat Hinam/ free gift and he would've been answered if not for the fact that Hashem stopped him from praying, which means I'm not relying on what I did . The Midrash tells us on the pasuk of VaetHanan , that Moshe Rabbenu was shown the different treasure houses in Shamayim , each for different set of people. Them he saw an enormous treasure house, bigger than any of the other treasure house. He asked who that was for. “ That's for the people who need a free gift. And that's never ending. ” Does that mean the guy that that doesn't do anything gets more? The sefer Neot Deshe on Parashat VaetHanan explains that the fellow who doesn't feel he's deserving of anything is the one that gets the biggest treasure house. This is what David Hamelech is telling us in this pasuk . Don't ever think, “ I don't need to rely on Hashem's kindness because this one, I have covered. Hashem owes me, so to say. I did good here.” Sometimes people make that mistake. They say, “ I did X, Y and Z. Why didn't I get answered? ” We don't work that way. Of course, we keep all the Mitzvot and do everything that we’re supposed to do, but after everything that we do, we realize מִ֣י הִ֭קְדִּימַנִי וַאֲשַׁלֵּ֑ם /who beat God to it? Who ever did before God paid? God is C.B.D, not C.O.D. He pays us Cash Before Delivery. We haven't given Him anything. He gives us before we give Him. And a person thinks, Hey, You owe me? No . I rely on Hashem because Hashem's kindness is unlimited. It has nothing to do with what I did. Of course, it becomes harder when you do good things. It's easy to say, I have nothing coming to me because I'm really a bum. Of course that’s easy. But David Hamelech says, “ כִּֽי־אֲ֭נִי בְּתֻמִּ֣י הָלַ֑כְתִּי I went in my perfection.” I'm pretty good. And with all that I've done, still וּבַיהֹוָ֥ה בָּ֝טַ֗חְתִּי / I rely on Hashem and that's why לֹ֣א אֶמְעָֽד / I won’t fall
We're in Tehilim 33,21 כִּי־ב֭וֹ יִשְׂמַ֣ח לִבֵּ֑נוּ כִּ֤י בְשֵׁ֖ם קׇדְשׁ֣וֹ בָטָֽחְנוּ׃ In Him our heart is happy, Because in His holy name, we rely This is a pasuk that we say in our Shabbat prayers, and for those of us that start from the beginning, it's found in Hodu every single day. As we once mentioned, the Bet Yosef says, the rabbis put pesukim of bitachon into our prayers, and this is one of them. It discusses an important rule: “ In Him, our heart will be happy because we relied on His holy name. ” The sefer Shomer Emunim , in his essay on Bitachon, chapter 16, says that we see from this that it's impossible to find true happiness without bitachon. Furthermore, the sefer Orchot Sadikim / Path of the Righteous ( one of the more famous Mussar books) has different gates or topics. His Gate of Bitachon , which he largely quotes, almost verbatim, from the Hovot Halevavot , is placed in the middle of Shaar HaSimcha/the Gate of Happiness. He says this is because the only way to reach happiness is through bitachon. Based on this, the sefer Sror HaMor in Devarim 5,5 tells us that when a person says Keriat Shema, he must be in a tremendous state of happiness and remove all sadness and worry from his heart, because he is saying Hashem Echad. You have to be happy when you mention His name. The Chafetz Chaim tells us that for any mitzvah that we do, especially Keriat Shema, we are standing in front of Hashem, involved in doing the work of God. Today, we don't have kings. But imagine a king or whatever celebrity would make you happy to be in his presence. And here we are, in front of God Almighty, Who can do anything! And , He's my Father taking care of me! How can I not be happy when I say Keriat Shema ? I have to be full of simcha, ecstatic. That's the full simcha , that we're supposed to feel when we realize Who we're connecting to and Who we can rely on. There's a story told in jest, of a rabbi that was asked by a certain man for the secret to success. The Rabbi said, I'll leave two keys with you. And those keys will be the keys to success. The man heard of putting the key in the challah, but he couldn’t imagine what these special keys would be that the rabbi would leave with him. He asked the rabbi where the keys were and the rabbi replied, “I was referring to the pasuk כִּי־ ב֭וֹ יִשְׂמַ֣ח לִבֵּ֑נוּ כִּ֤י בְשֵׁ֖ם קׇדְשׁ֣וֹ בָטָֽחְנוּ׃ Key Bo Yismach Libenu, Key B’Shem Kodsho Batachnu/Because in Him, my heart is happy/Because in His holy name I rely . The “ Key ” to happiness is realizing that you're involved with Hashem. You're involved in His presence, and He's there for you to rely on. He wants you to rely on Him. That is the source of happiness. The Sefer Yesod V’Shoresh Avoda, Shar HaElyon, 7th chapter, tells us that maybe when you're doing a mitzva, you might not be focusing on the simcha. But when you're saying this pasuk?! Similarly, on Shabbat, we say, “ Although we ate and drank, we did not forget Your Churban.” He says, you might not have thought of it in the middle of the meal, but while saying that line, at least then, have it in mind. This is important. Find it in your prayers, and whether you say it every single day or only on Shabbat in Ranenu Sadikim , pay attention. It's almost like Keriat Shema . It says that if you say Keriat Shema without tefilin on, you're saying false testimony, because how can you say, “ Put on Tefilin ,” while not wearing tefilin? So too, you're saying the pasuk , “ כִּי־ב֭וֹ יִשְׂמַ֣ח לִבֵּ֑נוּ Because in Him, my heart is happy.” That's an emotional , real happiness, כִּ֤י בְשֵׁ֖ם קׇדְשׁ֣וֹ בָטָֽחְנוּ׃ / because I rely on His holy nam e. We have to think about these important concepts, of what it means to do a mitzvah, and what it means to say Hashem Echad , and that should fill us with happiness.
Today we are studying a pasuk in Mishleh , 22,19 where Shlomo Hamelech tells us, לִֽהְי֣וֹת בַּ֭יהֹוָה מִבְטַחֶ֑ךָ הוֹדַעְתִּ֖יךָ הַיּ֣וֹם אַף־אָֽתָּה ׃ To be in Hashem your reliance, I told you today, you as well Rabbenu Yonah says that Shlomo Hamelech is telling us that his whole intention in teaching the mussar of Mishleh, which is full of his wisdom, is to reach bitachon, because all those good Middot are necessary to reach that level. In the ladder of Middot brought down by Rav Pinhas Ben Yair in Avoda Zara 20B, which is the basis for Mesilat Yesharim , it says that Purity brings to holiness and holiness brings to fear. And he says bitachon is the highest level of fear. So therefore, if the top of the ladder is fear, then the top of the ladder is bitachon , and that's the goal of the entire Mishleh. And what does, “ Af Atah/You also” mean? Rabbenu Yona says Shlomo Hamelech is saying, ‘ You can do it too. Just like I learned all that Mussar to get to bitachon, you can do that as well.’ The sefer Mei Shiloach , vol 2 on Parashat Tsav says, “You too,” means even if you sinned, even if you're a Baal Teshuva, don't despair, you can also reach the highest levels of bitachon.’ In the same sefer , in the commentary on Mishleh , it says, Af Atah/ You too, means , Whoever I'm talking to, whether the smallest of the small or the greatest, the great, you still need to work on your Middot Rashi has a different twist. He says it means, “ I'm telling you, rely on Hashem and be involved in Torah and don't say, ‘How can I possibly do anything? I'm too busy, I have to support my family.’ No. Use your bitachon and you'll be able to reach all the highest levels.” The Gaon of Vilna, in his commentary to Mishleh says something earth shattering. He says this pasuk is not just saying that Mishleh is there to teach you bitachon, but rather, “ The the main purpose in God giving the Torah to the Jewish people is that they'll put their reliance on Hashem and to tell your children these lessons as well.” God gave us the Torah to reach bitachon and share it with our children. Why ? He continues, “The most fundamental thing is the complete reliance on Hashem, and that is the all-inclusive rule of all the Mitzvot. He says this is also brought down in Tehilim 78 5, where it says, וַיָּ֤קֶם עֵד֨וּת ׀ בְּֽיַעֲקֹ֗ב וְתוֹרָה֮ שָׂ֤ם בְּיִשְׂרָ֫אֵ֥ל אֲשֶׁ֣ר צִ֭וָּה אֶת־אֲבוֹתֵ֑ינוּ לְ֝הוֹדִיעָ֗ם לִבְנֵיהֶֽם׃ Hashem established a testimony in Yaakov and sat down in Israel, that He commanded our fathers to let it be known to their sons. That means that the purpose of Torah is to share it with your children, לְמַ֤עַן יֵדְע֨וּ ׀ דּ֣וֹר אַ֭חֲ רוֹן / So the last generation may know that's us.. בָּנִ֣ים יִוָּלֵ֑דוּ יָ֝קֻ֗מוּ וִיסַפְּר֥וּ לִבְנֵיהֶֽם׃ Sons yet be born, they'll mature and tell their own sons. And what will that cause? וְיָשִׂ֥ימוּ בֵאלֹהִ֗ים כִּ֫סְלָ֥ם וְלֹ֣א יִ֭שְׁכְּחוּ מַ֥עַלְלֵי־אֵ֑ל וּמִצְוֺתָ֥יו יִנְצֹֽרוּ׃ They will place their trust in Hashem and not forget the works of Hashem. So clearly it says Hashem gave us the Torah, so we should tell our children. And the goal is that וְיָשִׂ֥ימוּ בֵאלֹהִ֗ים כִּ֫סְלָ֥ם /We should put our faith in Hashem. Another source for this concept is that Habakuk came and put the entire Torah on Sadik B’Emunato Tiheyeh/ The one pillar of the whole Torah is the Sadik lives with his Emunah. And the rabbis explain that in this context, Emunah and Bitachon are synonymous. So, this is a most powerful pasuk . The entire Torah is there for one goal and that is to get to bitachon. Of course, you have to perfect your Middot. And you have to work on it. Bitachon is not as easy as it sounds. There are lots of interferences and bad character traits interfere with your Bitachon. But the end goal is to perfect yourself and reach that level of bitachon.
We are going through Pesukei Bitachon and we are now in Yehezkiel 28,26, which describes what the future in Eretz Yisrael will be like. וְיָשְׁב֣וּ עָלֶ֘יהָ֮ לָבֶ֒טַח֒ וּבָנ֤וּ בָתִּים֙ וְנָטְע֣וּ כְרָמִ֔ים וְיָשְׁב֖וּ לָבֶ֑טַח בַּעֲשׂוֹתִ֣י שְׁפָטִ֗ים בְּכֹ֨ל הַשָּׁאטִ֤ים אֹתָם֙ מִסְּבִ֣יבוֹתָ֔ם וְיָ֣דְע֔וּ כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם We will dwell on it in tranquility (or in bitachon), and we will build houses, and we will plant vineyards, And we will dwell in tranquility, when I make judgements on all those around them that taunt them, and then the world will know that I am Hashem your God. All the commentaries are bothered by the seeming repetition of the pasuk, with a slight nuance. First it says, “ וְיָשְׁב֣וּ עָלֶ֘יהָ֮ לָבֶ֒טַח֒ /They'll dwell on it in bitachon and build houses and vineyards,” and then it says, “ וְיָשְׁב֖וּ לָבֶ֑טַח / They'll dwell in serenity (or peacefulness or bitachon)…. It says L’Betach , twice. The first time on it, and the second in it. The first time talks about making vineyards and building houses, whereas the second time talks about when God will make judgments against the people. This pasuk shows up in the Haftara of Parashat Vaera , because it talks about what will happen to Mitzrayim in the future, and there is a rich discussion by the commentaries bon it. The first commentary we’ll discuss is from Rav Shlomo Kluger, in his sefer Shema Shlomo, where he says there that the first reference, וְיָשְׁב֣וּ עָלֶ֘יהָ֮ לָבֶ֒טַח֒ /And they shall dwell on it, refers to the bitachon that we're going to have physically . We will no longer be afraid of the enemies around us, shooting rockets or missiles. We'll be able to build houses and plant vineyards and they won't interfere with our homes, our settlements or our vineyards. Rav Dovid Soloveitchik, in his commentary Al HaTorah adds a point. He says it's one thing to dwell on the land... and but to build houses and plant vineyards? He says, based on current events, where they don't like any settlements, it's one thing to own land, but settlements (or Hitnachaliot in Hebrew ) show control. It’s not just that you have the land annexed, but you're actually living there and making buildings and fields there- And we're going to be able to do that? L’Betach !! With bitachon! With no concern from the outside world! Secondly, וְיָשְׁב֖וּ לָבֶ֑טַח / you'll dwell in peace and you're not going to be worried about anyone interfering with your service of Hashem. Who are we worried about? All those people that are taunting us, around us. And what's going to cause us to be able to serve Hashem properly? When God takes judgment against all the nations around us. Then it'll become clear to the world that Hashem is our God and the goyim will also realize it, and we will be able to serve Hashem properly, without worry- neither physical and nor spiritual challenges. This is what's going on in Eretz Yisrael right now. We're worried about both physical and spiritual challenges. The Abarbanel says something similar in his commentary in Yehezkiel. He says, when we see what's going to happen to all the nations, the goyim around us, the destruction he says, of Sur and Sidon (which are in Lebanon, interestingly) and the other nations that are taunting us, when we see their destruction and we see that God is taking vengeance, then we will see how Hashem is our God. These are important pesukim to study and use to strengthen our bitachon, because while these things are going on, it's scary, but the prophet is telling us that the time will come. We have to strengthen our beliefs in these prophecies. These prophecies are there, the rabbis tell us, because in order to get the fulfillment of the prophecies, we have to believe them. That happened in Egypt as well. Moshe Rabbenu came in, said prophecies, and we had to believe in Moshe Rabbenu. These prophecies are there for us to believe in- that until the end of time, we're not going to have this fulfillment to not just live in Israel (of course we can be in Israel), but to be in it Labetach and not just one BeTach , two Betachs ! We could be there, physically and spiritually successfully. Furthermore, Rav Yonantan Eibeshitz writes in sefer Ahavat Yonatan that normally when a person becomes very successful, they lose their spirituality; they become overly in the physical world. But he says in the future, we will dwell on the land in security. We'll build houses, we'll plant vineyards, and we'll remain there, and we'll be guaranteed in our spirituality as well. We will stay focused. Why ? Because when we see the justice and the punishment that occurs, it will keep us in check. So, we’ll be able to be in the land of Israel in both positive ways.
We are now in Divrei HaYamim perek ה , pasuk כ which discusses one of the wars of the Jewish people, as they were entering Eretz Yisrael. וַיֵּעָזְר֣וּ עֲלֵיהֶ֔ם וַיִּנָּתְנ֤וּ בְיָדָם֙ הַהַגְרִיאִ֔ים וְכֹ֖ל שֶׁ֣עִמָּהֶ֑ם They were helped and the people from Hagar and all those with them were delivered into their hands. Why were they successful at war? כִּ֠י לֵאלֹהִ֤ים זָעֲקוּ֙ בַּמִּלְחָמָ֔ה וְנַעְתּ֥וֹר לָהֶ֖ם כִּי־בָ֥טְחוּ בֽוֹ׃ Because they cried out to God in battle, and He accepted their prayers because they trusted in Him . This is a pasuk of Bitachon that tells us a story. Hashem accepted their prayers because they trusted Him. The term used here, V’Naator is interesting. More common would be kabel , God accepts prayers What's this term V’Na’ator? The Tur and Or HaChaim, siman תקעט , tell us that on fast days, at the end of the Kaddish, we add the words TeAnu VTeAtru/ You should be answered, and your prayer should be accepted from the heavens .The Sephardic custom is to add this as well to our Kaddish on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Furthermore, the Radak, in his Sefer Shorashim , writes that the custom in his area on Motzei Yom Kippur was that when someone said Shalom to you, you’d answer, “ Te’Aneh V’Te’Ater which was a way of saying Your prayer should be accepted. So what is this word? The first time the word V’TeAter shows up in the Torah is when Yitzhak Avinu is praying for a child. It says in Bereshit 25,21 : וַיֶּעְתַּ֨ר יִצְחָ֤ק לַֽיהֹוָה֙ לְנֹ֣כַח אִשְׁתּ֔וֹ כִּ֥י עֲקָרָ֖ה הִ֑וא וַיֵּעָ֤תֶר לוֹ֙ יְהֹוָ֔ה וַתַּ֖הַר רִבְקָ֥ה אִשְׁתּֽוֹ ֶ VaYeAter Yitzhak / Yitzhak prayed because his wife was barren, VaYeAter Hashem/And Hashem accepted his prayers… The word VaYeAter is used both when Yitzhak prays and when Hashem responds to him. And Rashi says that the word VaYeAter means He pushed hard. He put a lot of effort into his prayers, and Hashem responded. He accepted that pushing, consistent prayer. Hashem was appeased, and, so to say, seduced into changing His mind. So VaYeAter is an intense prayer. The Gemara adds another interesting point. The word Atar means pitchfork , and the Gemara in Yevamot 64 A tells us that the prayers of Sadikim are compared to a pitchfork because just like a pitchfork flips the wheat from the top to the bottom, so too, the prayers of Sadikim flip God's attributes. God could be in the Middat Harogez , an attribute of anger, and the prayer of the Sadik turns it into Middat Rachamim How do you do that? The Meiri says, similar to Rashi, Never give up hope, never despair of prayer. The door is never locked. Keep on pushing and pushing and pushing. That's the concept of VaYeAtar , which is used for sadikim . But what can a regular person do? The sefer Shomer Amunim , in a derush on Bitachon, Perek 7, says something very interesting in the name of the Baal Shem Tov: Sometimes something happens to a person that doesn't look right. Of course, Gam zu L’Tova, it is good , but right then, it doesn't look right. Is it good or is it bad? He says this person was given a difficult challenge, which he says can bring to good. It's Gam zu letova. But in Shamayim they are waiting to see how this man will react, how strong his Bitachon and Emunah will be. If the person relies on Hashem and says For sure, Hashem is not sending anything bad, for sure, this is somehow going turn into good , it will turn into good. It just hasn't been revealed yet. If this happens, he says, You sweeten the judgment. This is another way to invoke the ability to flip it over. We see this all from our pasuk , which holds this important lesson. וַיִּנָּתְנ֤וּ בְיָדָם֙ הַהַגְרִיאִ֔ים וְכֹ֖ל שֶׁ֣עִמָּהֶ֑ם וַיֵּעָזְר֣וּ עֲלֵיהֶ֔ם /They were given into their hands. Why? כִּ֠י לֵאלֹהִ֤ים זָעֲקוּ֙ בַּמִּלְחָמָ֔ה וְנַעְתּ֥וֹר לָהֶ֖ם / They cried out to God, And God changed his mind. He flipped from judgment to mercy. Why? כִּי־בָ֥טְחוּ בֽו / Because they relied on Him. The pasuk is clearly teaching this lesson of the Baal Shem Tov, that there's a power that we have to turn over Hashem’s middot based on either consistent prayer or bitachon. It seems like they had both, because this pasuk mentions two things. It says they cried out to Him- which means they prayed , and also, they relied on Him.. Noam Megadim on Parashat Vayelech asks, if a person doesn't have either of these abilities; if he’s not holding at consistent prayer, and his bitachon is not holding there, how is he going to turn over God's Middat HaDin? He quotes the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah 17A, that Whoever is able to be easygoing and give in to other people's wishes, because he controls his anger, (so to say, the way he acts to people,) God acts to him that way . And that's yet another way to turn over the Middat HaDin, even if you're not holding on either of these levels. It’s interesting that are all things that we invoke during the high holiday season. One of the things that suggested is to be easygoing and not be makpid , because then Hashem won't be makpid with you. But this is always a good rule, not just for the high holidays. To recap-we have three pieces of advice of what one should do when there seems to be a judgment over him. 1- consistent prayer 2- bitachon 3- to be easygoing with other people.
We're in a pasuk in Tehilim 31,15 וַאֲנִ֤י ׀ עָלֶ֣יךָ בָטַ֣חְתִּי יְהֹוָ֑ה אָ֝מַ֗רְתִּי אֱלֹהַ֥י אָֽתָּה׃ /And I relied on You Hashem. I said, You are my God. What exactly is David Hamelech saying? I saw two different explanations that connect this to the next pasuk, which says בְּיָדְךָ֥ עִתֹּתָ֑י הַצִּ֘ילֵ֤נִי מִיַּד־א֝וֹיְבַ֗י וּמֵֽרֹדְפָֽי / in Your hands are my times. Save me from the hands of my enemies and those that chase me. The first is a commentary on Tehilim from the sefer Me’ir Tehilot ,written by Rav Meir Arama, the son of Rav Yitzhak Arama, who wrote Sefer Akeda . He says that in Your hand are my hours refers to people that are called Shomrim Hasha’ot. They look at the hours, they look into horoscopes, et cetera. That's why in the previous pasuk , David Hamelech says, “I hate those that look at the falsehoods. ” So, it’s talking about people that look into horoscopes and different hours that are the right hours, the wrong hours. They think that there are certain forces that are in control. But David Hamelech says, No, I rely on You. and my times are in Your hands. I'm not dependent on any type of horoscopes or signs or omens or the like. He adds that when David Hamelech says, Alecha Batachti/I rely on You he's invoking the concept of Rabbi Hanina Ben Dosa, of En Od Milevado. There's nothing else but Hashem, not even the forces of black magic. The Gemara in Hulin daf ז tells the famous story of a witch who tried to cast a spell on Rav Hanina ben Dosa, and he said, En Od Milevado/there's nothing else but God. David Hamelech is telling us that that is the source of his bitachon. This is an interesting way of reading into the pasuk, and it’s brought down in the later commentaries, explaining where the power of bitachon comes from How can I rely on Hashem and get what I want, so to say? They say it's based on the concept of En Od Milevado , which Rav Chaim Volozhin famously explains, that when a person focuses totally on Hashem in his mind, and annuls other forces of existence, then everything else, all the negative forces, disappear. That's what David Hamelech is teaching us here, according to the sefer Meir Tehilot . וַאֲנִ֤י ׀ עָלֶ֣יךָ בָטַ֣חְתִּי יְהֹוָ֑ה אָ֝מַ֗רְתִּי אֱלֹהַ֥י אָֽתָּה׃ I rely on You, The Radak says, with all those people out to get me, I still have You.. You are my Judge, not them. Not the police officer, not the doctor, not the lawyer, not the building department. They are not my judges. You are my judge . אֱלֹהַ֥י אָֽתָּה /I only have to deal with You. That is the source of David Hamelech’s bitachon, and the source for the next pasuk, the concept of, In Your hand, is my hours ֥ בְּיָדְךָ֥ עִתֹּתָ֑ י The second explanation comes from a Rabbi Shabtai Horowitz. (There were two Shabtai Horowitz's and they were first cousins. One is more famous, better known as the Shelah HaKadosh. His first cousin, (their fathers were brothers), wrote a sefer called Shefah Tal on Tehilim (printed in Prague in 1612). He lived from 1565 to 1619, a very early rabbi) He asks, what does it mean that עִתֹּתָ֑י בידך In Your hands are my seconds? He says, as is brought down in the sefer Tomar Devorah, that every second, Hashem is energizing a person; every second Hashem is pumping energy into a person. We don't have independent existence. If, for even a second, Hashem would stop supervising over a person, the person would cease to exist. Therefore, David Hamelech says, My seconds are in Your hand. Every second You're pumping energy into me and therefore I'm relying on You. This is another source for En Od Milevado , and relying on Hashem. Of course, Hashem could change anything in a second. How could He not? If Has v’Shalom there was a tumor, the tumor is not there because it was there before. The tumor is there because God wills to be there right now. All God has to do is, instead of saying Tumor, tumor, tumor, is say No tumor, no tumor . Therefore, Rabbi Horowitz explains, David Hamelech is saying, this is my source of bitachon. These are two very deep concepts that are actually intertwined, and it’s the source for En Od Milevado . Why can God make anything happen? Because every second God is pumping energy into creation. Why is that? I’m getting a little philosophical, but this is an important fundamental- one of the real fundamentals of our belief, that God did not create the world Yesh M’Yesh/something from something which is a concept called Olam Kadmon/ World was always here. God created the world Yesh M’Eyin/something from nothing . What's the difference? People might think, “ God is the Creator. Who cares if He took existing material or non-existing material? The Nefesh HaChaim tells us the difference between a creator and a former is that a creator creates the material as well, and therefore he can't leave. If he leaves, everything ceases to exist. If someone makes a table, they can walk away from the table because they formed the table from existing material. Even if it lwas a magnificent, magnificent tower, like the Eiffel Tower, or the leaning tower of Pisa... I don't need the man that made it to still be there, and therefore he's not watching and controlling it. But when it comes to Hashem, if He's not there, everything ceases to exist. Therefore, He needs to be constantly pumping energy. He is there, and that is the source for En Od Milevado. These two concepts hinge on each other because God created the world something from nothing. And because He’s constantly pumping energy in, He’s constantly supervising and watching what's going on- so, of course, I can rely on Him. And if you think, I'm too small for Him to pay attention to me. What do you mean? How could He not be aware? He is energizing you right now! This is such an important point and people don't understand this. It’s like man, who is a miniature world, and the soul, compared to God, is energizing that world. If your soul doesn't take care of the cell in your pinky, it's going to wither away. You need constant blood flow to every part of your body. Do you think your blood is not aware of where it's going? Of course it is. It knows exactly what's going on. So too, Hashem is in total awareness, because He is constantly pumping energy into creation. That’s the source for my bitachon in Him. Have a wonderful day.
Recently we mentioned the concept that when a Sadik is relied on by others, Hashem will respond, so as not to, so to say, embarrass the Sadik , which we quoted in the name of Rav Chaim Palagi and others. Thisnis acuLly an earlier source for this concept, in our next pasuk, Tehilim 25,3 which says, גַּ֣ם כׇּל־קֹ֭וֶיךָ לֹ֣א יֵבֹ֑שׁוּ יֵ֝בֹ֗שׁוּ הַבּוֹגְדִ֥ים רֵיקָֽם All those that rely should not be embarrassed… The Midrash Tehilim says David Hamelech is saying to Hashem, God, when I stand in prayer in front of You, my prayer should not be despised. Why? Because the eyes of the Jewish people are on me and my eyes are on You. And when you listen to my prayer, it's like You’re listening to their prayer. The Midrash adds that we find the same thing with the prayer of the Sibbur . The Shaliach Sibbur represents the people, the eyes of the people are on the Shaliach Sibbur , and his eyes are on Hashem. Therefore, Hashem listens, and it quotes our pasuk, גַּ֣ם כׇּל־קֹ֭וֶיךָ לֹ֣א יֵבֹ֑שׁוּ This is probably the source that on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, before the Baal Tokeah blows or before the Shaliach Sibbur represents the people, he says, this line. Now back to our pasuk - גַּ֣ם כׇּל־קֹ֭וֶיךָ לֹ֣א יֵבֹ֑שׁוּ יֵ֝בֹ֗שׁוּ הַבּוֹגְדִ֥ים רֵיקָֽם All those that hope to You should not be embarrassed. Only the rebels should be embarrassed. Gam means also , kol means every , it's a term of reboy , of addition . What are we referring to? How far does this hope go? Is it for everybody? The Midrash says on this pasuk that there was a traveling man who was grabbed by the police. He didn't have the right papers or the right identification. But he said, “ Please don't hit me. I am from the king's household.” So they spared him, and in the morning they brought him to the king, who looked at the prisoner and asked, “ My son, do you know me?” The man confessed that he did not. “ So why did you claim that you’re from my household? ” The man replied, “ The truth is, I'm not, but I relied on you because I knew if I didn't say that they'd hit me.” The king then instructed his officers, “ Because he relied on me, even with no merits and no previous knowledge of me, let him go.” David Hamelech is saying the same thing. This is the concept of Gam kol kovecha lo yeboshu .. it's going to be an embarrassment. I'm counting on the king. He'll come through for me. This is a very important pasuk, it’s the source for this concept called kivoy/hope . The sefer Shaare Chaim, written by Rav Chaim Sofer, of the descendants of Chatam Sofer, says that there's a difference between bitachon/reliance and kivoy/hope. This is also brought down by one of the Rishonim , Abraham ben Ramoch. Reliance is a guarantee . Ani mavtiach lecha/I guarantee you, and you are bote’ach/you rely on me with full confidence. That's one level. But what happens if I wasn't guaranteed? Or I don't feel guaranteed. There's a lower level of bitachon which is called kivoy , when don't have that full level . and this includes everybody, even the one that's not worthy. He's not worthy, but he hopes to Hashem, so he also will be answered. The Rambam’s son, in his sefer Maspik L’Ovdeh Hashem, in his chapter on Bitachon, goes through all the levels of bitachon. He says the first level is a person who hopes to Hashem. He's counting on Hashem's mercy. He's worried and concerned that he has sins. And this fellow is the Mekaveh/ the one who hopes. He says, David Hamelech’s pesukim are full of descriptions of this man, חִ֭זְקוּ וְיַאֲמֵ֣ץ לְבַבְכֶ֑ם כׇּל־הַ֝מְיַחֲלִ֗ים לַֽיהֹוָֽה those that are hoping Hashem, המיילים לחסדו / those that hope to Hashem’s kindness, גַּ֣ם כׇּל־קֹ֭וֶיךָ , קוה אל ה׳…. He says, these are the people of Tikva/hope but they also have Yirah/fear because they're afraid that they're not worthy. There is a beautiful pasuk that we've quoted in the past, Tehilim 147, 11 which says, רוֹצֶ֣ה יְ֭הֹוָה אֶת־יְרֵאָ֑יו אֶת־הַֽמְיַחֲלִ֥ים לְחַסְדּֽוֹ׃ Hashem wants those that fear Him, those that are hoping for His kindness. This is a new way of reading this. He’s afraid , but not a Yireh Hashem/God-fearing man. This man is afraid that he's not worthy, and therefore he's hoping for Hashem's kindness . This man, afraid that he's not worthy and hoping for Hashem, is at the base level of bitachon. That's Mekaveh . He might not be a Bote’ach , but he is also being told, Gam kol Kovecha/ all those that hope to You… he’s on baseline, and Lo Yeboshu/They're not gonna be embarrassed. But the fellow who's a rebel, יֵ֝בֹ֗שׁוּ הַבּוֹגְדִ֥ים רֵיקָֽם He Will be embarrassed. It’s interesting that the term used is boged / rebel or really, traitor . An important point brought down is that even if a person sins, as long as he is not a rebel or a malicious sinner (which is most of us or all of us) he is still in the category of bitachon. That's why David Hamelech says, “Who's the one that's going to be embarrassed? Who's the one that can't have kivoy? The fellow who's a boged. But as long as we're below that status of boged, we're good. This is brought down by the Chafetz Chaim in Shemirat Halashon (vol 2 chapter 19), where the spies try to tell the Jewish people that they’re not worthy to go into Eretz Yisrael. And that's why Kalev and Yehoshua say, “ Don't be rebels . ” The Chafetz Chaim says, as long as a person is not a rebel and doesn't intentionally want to uproot the Torah, in his words, “ You can hope for all good .” This is an important pasuk גַּ֣ם כׇּל־קֹ֭וֶיךָ לֹ֣א יֵבֹ֑שׁוּ יֵ֝בֹ֗שׁוּ הַבּוֹגְדִ֥ים רֵיקָֽם All those that hope- which includes me and you. Have a wonderful day.
We are in a pasuk in Tehilim 69,7 אַל־יֵ֘בֹ֤שׁוּ בִ֨י ׀ קֹוֶיךָ֮ אֲדֹנָ֥י יֱהֹוִ֗ה צְבָ֫א֥וֹת אַל־יִכָּ֣לְמֽוּ בִ֣י מְבַקְשֶׁ֑יךָ אֱ֝לֹהֵ֗י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ Do not be embarrassed in me, those that hope to You, God who is the Master of the legions, Don't be embarrassed or ashamed of me, by those that seek You out. Firstly, we say in our morning prayers, Lo Nevosh V’Lo Nikalem we should not be embarrassed, ashamed , or stumble forever, because we relied on Your great, powerful, and awesome name… which comes from this pasuk , so we actually invoke this pasuk every day in our prayers. And seemingly, we have a poetic doubling of language - Busha and Klima are two terms of shame, -Those that hope to You , and those that ask You. -God as the God of the hosts and all legions and the God of Israel. What are these double terms? The Malbim says there’s a difference between Busha and Klima . Busha is internal shame . Klima is embarrassment from the outside world. Tikva hope in the heart . So if your hope doesn't come to fruition, then you have inner shame. You hope to Hashem and you feel like you're not worthwhile, that you weren't answered. That’s Busha , inner shame. But Mevakshecha/when you ask , that an external request- you say it out loud, and everyone sees it, so if you're not answered then you get embarrassed in the outside world, so that’s not quite a double Lashon . Furthermore, there are two different ways to refer to God. The Radak and Ibn Ezra say that when we refer to God as God of legions , that's in the heavens. We are saying that God can make the Gezerot/decrees from high above in the heavens. That's the hidden aspect, where no one sees what's going on. It’s behind the scenes. Then there's God as the God of Israel , God's army down here. The Radak says God has hosts above and God has host down here. We're down here in exile, out in the open. It’s not the behind the scenes. We're hoping to God to do things upstairs, behind the scenes. But we're also asking that God remove us from the embarrassment that is going on down here, right now- with the antisemitism, college campuses and the like. We’re embarrassed. David Hamelech is saying, “ Please save me from the inner shame and save me from the outer embarrassment, when I hoped to You and I asked You. And if I'm not answered, it's just too much embarrassment and shame. The question is, what does it mean that They shouldn't be embarrassed, those that hope to You, what does me have to do with them ? Who's the me and who’s the them ? Rashi and the Radak both say that it means If You don't answer me when I'm hoping to You and asking you, all the other people that are hoping and asking will see me and say that if I was not answered, “ What is hoping and praying to God worth? If I'm not answered, if I'm let down, they'll feel let down. When the person counting on Hashem is a known Ba’al Bitachon, if he isn't answered, all the other people will lose hope. There's another explanation of this pasuk, which is said both by Rav Chaim Palaggi, in his sefer Hakatuv L’Chaim, and also by a Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda Teitelbaum, in his sefer Yitav Lev . He was the grandfather of the well-known Satmar Rebbi that came from Europe. They offer a similar explanation- that sometimes we go to a sadik to pray and we hope to them, that their prayers will be answered. So David Hamelech says, People are hoping and counting on me. The pasuk right before this says, God, You know my foolishness, You know my sins. They're not hidden from You , but the people are coming to me, and they don't know that. And, if You don't answer me, it's going to be embarrassing. Rav Chaim Palaggi says this is similar to Choni HamaAgel,who said, The Jewish people are counting on me. I'm a household member of Yours . We count on our Sadikim to be there to annul decrees. Rav Chaim Pilaggi says this applied is in his generation, and it applies in our generation as well. If Hashem doesn't come through for them, it's going to be embarrassing for that Sadik . This is yet another reason, and another angle for why going to a great Sadik to pray works- Because Hashem wants to protect this sadik from being embarrassed- that he's praying, and he's not being answered. These are two beautiful explanations for why David Hamelech doesn't want to be embarrassed: 1-Because if his own prayers, for his own needs, are not answered, people will give up hope and they won't rely on Hashem. He says, if You don't answer my needs, then people will say What is bitachon worth? 2-David Hemelech is also saying, When I pray for others, let me be answered so I won't be embarrassed that my prayers don't work for them.
We are now in Pesukim of Kivoy Tehilim 62,8 אַ֣ךְ אֶל־אֱ֭לֹהִים דּֽוּמִיָּ֣ה נַפְשִׁ֑י מִ֝מֶּ֗נּוּ יְשׁוּעָתִֽי׃ /My soul is yearning, from Him is my salvation. How does the word Dumiya mean yearn ? Rashi cites a pasuk in Tehilim 37 that says. Dom L’Hashem , which Rashi explains as Yearn to Hashem and hope to him. So Dom is a term in the context of that, of hope . Dom also means to be silent like VaYidom Aharon/And Aharon was silent . So אֶל־אֱ֭לֹהִים דּֽוּמִיָּ֣ה נַפְשִׁ֑י can also be read as, To Hashem My heart is silent. These are two important concepts of Bitachon and we can probably connect the two. My heart is silent, means I have nothing to say and I'm hoping for Hashem’s salvation. They're both true Dom is like Domem , something that doesn't move and Dumiya is to look forward. The sefer Chida connects the two. He says that when someone accepts yisurim b’ahava/accepts suffering in silence like Aharon, the term Elohim , refers to strict justice. But if I'm quiet and I accept it, and my soul is silent, l that will cause me to hope to Hashem’s Yeshua , because I know that everything Hashem does is for the good, and by accepting the difficult situations with love, it will turn everything around and I can hope for the Yeshua . What's interesting is that the term Dumiya is always connected to the Nefesh . As it says, I hope to Hashem, my soul hopes to you, and it says in Tehilim 131,2, אִם־לֹ֤א שִׁוִּ֨יתִי ׀ וְדוֹמַ֗מְתִּי נַ֫פְשִׁ֥י כְּ֭גָמֻל עֲלֵ֣י אִמּ֑וֹ כַּגָּמֻ֖ל עָלַ֣י נַפְשִֽׁי׃ Everything is equal, my soul is silent like a child weaned from his mother. My soul is like that child weaned from his mother . Again, we see the word Nafshi , my soul, alongside V’domamti . Why is the silence and the hope connected to the soul ? We've said in the past in a different forum, that a person is made up of a brain, a heart, and a liver, which are the intellect , emotions , and impulses or the gut reactions . Your brain is where your cognition is. Your heart is where your emotions are, and your liver is where your impulses are; these are deeper than emotions- we can call it the subconscious. These correspond to three souls. Nefesh is in the liver , Ruach is in the heart, and Neshama is in the brain . The basest level of the soul is called the Nefesh . Rabbenu Yonah says in Mishleh (chapter 3) that when David Hamelech says Kiviti Hashem KiAta Nafshi, he means that my hope to Hashem is something that's deep down in my subconscious. It's deep down in my impulsive state, almost my animalistic state. I once said, there is flight or fight which is how the animalistic impulsive side of us reacts. But there can also be a third level called rely on Hashem , when Kivoy becomes an impulse as well. Similarly, with the word Domem . There's a concept of having butterflies in your stomach. Why not say you have butterflies in your head or butterflies in your heart ? You have butterflies in your stomach, in your kishkas , when you're nervous, when your Nefesh is not silent. Your Nefesh is not still because you are worried and anxious. David Hamelech says, There are no butterflies in my stomach . I’m like a baby that was just weaned from its mother. As the Bet Halevi explains in his essay on Bitachon, the baby that was just weaned from its mother has no opinion. He doesn't know what he wants or doesn't want, he’s been having milk for the past year, he doesn't know anything about mashed peas. He's totally silent. He has no butterflies; he has no concern. He doesn't even know what he wants or what he needs. And he hopes to his mother to give him what he needs. And that's the essence of our pasuk, אַ֣ךְ אֶל־אֱ֭לֹהִים דּֽוּמִיָּ֣ה נַפְשִׁ֑י To Hashem, my soul yearns, my soul hopes. Or, to Hashem, my soul is silent and that brings about, מִ֝מֶּ֗נּוּ יְשׁוּעָתִֽי׃ /from Him, will be my salvation.
We were initially doing pesukei Bitachon , then we did pesukim of Chisayon, which is seeking refuge, seeking cover, and now we're going to do some pesukim of kivoy , pesukim that have the word hope in them. We start with a pasuk in Yeshaya, 33,2 which is one of the pesukim of the Korbanot that we say in the morning: יְהֹוָ֥ה חׇנֵּ֖נוּ / God, please grace us. (The word Honenu/grace us, comes from the root of the word Hinam , which means for free ) Why should you grace us? Because, לְךָ֣ קִוִּ֑ינוּ / We hope to You , which means because we hope to You, we get what we don't deserve. הֱיֵ֤ה זְרֹעָם לבקרים֙ / God, be their strength in the mornings אַף־יְשׁוּעָתֵ֖נוּ בְּעֵ֥ת צָרָֽה׃ / Also be our salvation at a time of difficulty . In his commentary on this pasuk, the Chida writes, based on the Yalkut Tehilim תשלו , that even if the Jewish people only have the merit of hope, they are deserving of being saved- in the merit of that hope. That's why we say name of Hashem which is Rahamim, Honen , which means give us something for free that we don't deserve. We don't have the merits, but what gives it to us? Kivinu/ we hoped. We ask Hashem's help in the mornings, L’Hagid BaBoker Hasdecha because the morning is a time of God's kindness. In the morning, we speak of God's kindness. This is an important rule-we can always hope because of Hashem's kindness and ability to give for free. But we have to realize that it's for free. The Midrash Raba in Devarim 2,4 us there were no greater prophets than Moshe and Yeshaya, and they both came to God with the request for a free gift, as we see Yeshaya says in our pasuk, and similarly, Moshe started off his 515 prayers with the word V’Ethanan , which Rashi tells us means Matnat Hinam/something for free. The Pesikta Rabati (Parasha 34) tells us that when a person hopes to God, that gives him power. But he explains L’Berakim differently. Not Boker , as a time of kindness , like the Chida said, but rather, he says L’Bekarim refers to people that are consistent and get up every single morning, constantly hoping for God's salvation . The consistency is what brings it. They’re at it L’Bekarim/every single morning, day after day, not giving up. Like yeshua kivinu kol hayom . We say that in the prayer of asking for God's redemption, and our reason that we should be redeemed is because our hope is constant. Kaveh El Hashem, hope to Hashem, Strengthen your heart, be courageous and again, kaveh el Hashem constant hoping to Hashem. So we need to not give up on our hope. And if it didn't happen today, we hope it will happen tomorrow. LaBekarim / every single morning. The Chatam Sofer says ( Devarim 28,10) that there is a rule that if you pray for somebody else and you need that thing as well, then you get answered first. And he says, what are we hoping for? We're hoping Lecha Kivinu/we're hoping for You, for Your salvation. And because we're hoping for Hashem’s salvation, then Ata Yeshuatenu/ God will save us when we need it, through us constantly yearning for the salvation of God. Because, as we say, God is also in galut , God's also in trouble. And if we're hoping for God's glory to be brought to the world, then we will also be saved from our problems. Finally, there’s another way to read l (we're always looking for different nuances) Heyeh Zeroam/He will be their strength. Sefer Torat HaMincha , 38th Derash (written by a student of the Rashba, a Rishon) cites a pasuk in Hoshea 7,15 that says, I gave you suffering . I gave you yisurim , I gave you difficulty . But that difficulty brought them strength. It's like when you lift weights. It hurts; you’re a little Charley horse, but that exertion strengthens your muscles. As the saying goes, No pain, no gain. Hashem is telling us, ‘ The only reason I am bringing these difficulties is to strengthen your muscles.’ He says that's what l Heyeh Zeroam L’Bekarim means . You’ll be strong in the morning. After you get through this difficult night, after you get through this challenge, you'll be stronger in the morning. It'll take some time. You're lifting heavy weights. You're hoping and hoping through these difficult times. But every time you hope, you're lifting a weight, and the consistency of doing this every single morning, again and again and again will strengthen your muscles and eventually, we will see the Yeshua . Have a wonderful day.
We're now in a pasuk in Tehilim 31,2, another pasuk of Chisayon , which is not really reliance, but seeking refuge and protection. בְּךָֽ־יְהֹוָ֣ה חָ֭סִיתִי אַל־אֵב֣וֹשָׁה לְעוֹלָ֑ם בְּצִדְקָתְךָ֥ פַלְּטֵֽנִי׃ In You Hashem, I seek refuge . I will not be embarrassed forever ( I might be embarrassed but not forever). In ( the merit of ) Your righteousness (not my righteousness) save me. David Hamelech uses the words Becha Hashem/ In You Hashem , and the Midrash Tehilim asks, What's this stress on In You? He says, the Jewish people gather in shuls and they say to God, Save us. God asks , Do you have righteous people amongst you? Do you have God-fearing people amongst you ? They respond, In the past we had Moshe, we had Aharon, we had Shaul, we had David, we had Shlomo, we had sadikim..But today, due to our sins, they've been taken from us. We don't have those great people anymore. We have nobody to rely on. Wherever we go, it's just darkness. To which God responds, “ Rely on Me because whoever relies on Me, I save them .” And it goes on and says, Chananya, Mishael and Azaria were thrown to the fiery furnace and Nebuchadnezzar said about them, “ Blessed is your God that saved you. He realized these men relied on God. So too, Daniel was saved from the pit with the lions. And therefore, David Hamelech is saying, if that's the case, if that's the power of reliance, if anyone that relies on You, You save, Becha Hashem Hasiti, In You I seek refuge. Even though I don't deserve it and I don't have any Sadikim around me, I’m still going to rely on You. The Ramchal, Rav Moshe Chaim Luzatto, better known for his sefer Mesilat Yesharim, says that It is well known that in the merit of our kivoy/our hope to God that we had in the time of the exile, we will be redeemed. He says the main redemption will be due to the fact that we keep the Torah. He quotes a Midrash in Tehilim on Mizmor 7 that בך Becha In You has a numerical value of 22, corresponding to letters of the Torah, which means we're relying on the Torah, and in the merit of the Torah that was given with the 22 letters, we’ll be saved. And what is the Busha of Al Evosha / we will not be embarrassed? The Busha/embarrassment is that if a person eats what's not his it’s called the bread of shame. We're sent down to this world for one reason. God could have sent us straight to Gan Eden. But if a person eats food that he didn't work for, he's in the free soup kitchen, and it’s called the bread of shame. You're getting free food and you don't feel good about yourself. A man that inherits a great amount of money and didn't work for it, doesn't feel as good as the man that worked for his money. Therefore, God put us, due to our sins, into Galut . He could have gotten us out without any difficulties, but then it would've been a redemption of shame because we weren't fit. But since we have so many difficulties and we accepted the difficulties with love and didn't kick, and we continue to rely on Hashem in these Tzarot , and we hope to Hashem, when the Geula comes, we're not going to be embarrassed. This is a huge concept to understand- that Hashem is giving us these challenges so that by not kicking (easier said than done) and accepting the difficulties, we are creating and amassing tremendous merits. We will not be embarrassed at all. Yes, we have our weaknesses and yes, we have our downfalls, but we have tremendous challenges and tremendous difficulties and we overcome them with our reliance in Hashem. That accrues for us tremendous merit. And that's בְּךָֽ־יְהֹוָ֣ה חָ֭סִיתִי אַל־אֵב֣וֹשָׁה לְעוֹלָ֑ם בְּצִדְקָתְךָ֥ פַלְּטֵֽנִי׃ I rely on You. And I know that these challenges that give me the opportunity to rely on You will cause me not to be embarrassed and I will eventually be redeemed – not because of my merits (I might have a lot of sins)-but because of my reliance on You, that's it. I don't have anything to rely on, but I rely on You and in order to facilitate that reliance, I need to have challenges. That's how David Hamelech looks at life, and that's the way we should look at our life. Every challenge is an opportunity to exercise our reliance on Hashem, accrue and amass merits, and merit the redemption. And we'll be able to be redeemed with pride, because we did it, we worked for it, we suffered through it. Have a wonderful day.
We are in pesukim that talk about the concept of Machseh , which means that God is a Protector , God is a Refuge. Today’s pasuk, Yirmiyah 17,17 is not a well-known pasuk. To give some background, Yirmiyah HaNavi was the prophet of doom. He was the one that described the Churban, and he lived through it and wrote the Eicha , the Lamentations on the Churban. He was not a very popular Navi, to put it lightly. People did not want to hear his negative prophecies. They were happier with the prophecies of the false prophets. And with all his negative prophecies, Yirmiyah cared about the people, and he was concerned that his prophecies would backfire. Therefore, he says, according to Radak, אַל־תִּֽהְיֵה־לִ֖י לִמְחִתָּ֑ה בְּי֥וֹם רָעָֽה It should not be a breaking for me. My prophecy should not cause me to be broken. Yirmiyah mean was thrown into jail? They were libels made up about him. And he says, why not? Because, מַחֲסִי־אַ֖תָּה בְּי֥וֹם רָעָֽה / on the days that they're planning evil against me, I know You are there to save me, and I know You're not going to break me. The Malbim gives an added nuance- that Yirmiyah, in concern for the people, was praying that his prophecy shouldn't come true. And when a prophet makes a prophecy that doesn't come true, he could be revealed as a false prophet. Therefore, Yirmiyah was praying that My good deeds shouldn't cause me to get into trouble. Why? Because I know You're there to protect me . This is important. Not always does a person know exactly what to rely on and what to protect himself from. It's like a principal who’s doing what's best for a child, but little does he know that the parents of the child are out to get him; or it's the rabbi that's trying to help a couple and little does he know that the couple is out to get him. Or a person tries to help somebody who is being hurt, by taking him into his home, but then the person that he takes in turns against him. There are many such cases. When a person hears these stories, he might think, “ Why should I be involved in this? What do I need this headache for? Why do I need to take care of this person? Why should I listen to this person, if in the end, it's not going to be the best thing for my name?” A lot of times you help people, and it backfires. As the story goes, one of the rabbis was walking in the street with his aid and someone started yelling and screaming at him. In jest, the rabbi tells the aid, I don't remember doing him any favors recently . Which means a lot of times when you try to help somebody, they end up, believe it or not, not liking you. Therefore, Yirmiyah says (and this is the prayer of any community servant) אַל־תִּֽהְיֵה־לִ֖י לִמְחִתָּ֑ה / My service (i.e .his prophecy ) shouldn't cause me to be broken. Any community servant knows that- people that are helping in any any capacity know the danger of trying to help people that don't appreciate your help. But it's not enough just to say the words; that prayer is a good prayer. But you need to add the Chisayon agreement. / מַחֲסִי־אַ֖תָּה I know Hashem, that You're protecting me. I know that You're my refuge. I know that You're watching over me. That's what will ultimately protect me . This is something that everyone needs to know. We can't tell who's going to come out to get us. There are rabbis that are sued because they're trying to help a lady get a divorce, and many such cases, and they never dreamt these things would happen. So, you have to always have in your head, Yes, I'm in a dangerous business . There is no community service, malpractice insurance, the prophecy business is a dangerous business. Why am I doing it? Because I care . What do I need the headache for? Because I care. But what's going to protect me? מַחֲסִי־אַ֖תָּה בְּי֥וֹם רָעָֽה You are my refuge on the difficult day That's Yirmiyah’s prayer and that's the prayer and the reliance of the community servant.
We're now in a pasuk in Tehilim 31, 7 where David Hamelech says, שָׂנֵ֗אתִי הַשֹּׁמְרִ֥ים הַבְלֵי־שָׁ֑וְא וַ֝אֲנִ֗י אֶל־יְהֹוָ֥ה בָּטָֽחְתִּי / I despise those who wait for worthless vanities, And as for me, I rely on Hashem Simply speaking, David Hamelech is saying, I hate those people who are Shomrim Havleh Shav. Rashi says this means people who are hoping for the for the salvation of idolatry or other forces that don't really help us. The word Shomer can mean to look forward, like Yaakov Avinu waiting and looking forward to Yosef’s dreams coming true. The Ibn Ezra says the ‘ Havleh Shav ’ that David Hamelech hates refers to people that use soothsayers and horoscopes etc. to find out the right time or the right thing to do. “I don't do that,” says David , “I rely on Hashem.” The Malbim says this refers to people who rely on human beings, whose promises are in vain because they don't necessarily come through. In all of these simple explanations, it's David Hamelech talking. However, the Midrash Raba on Shemot 7,4 says that this is actually a quote from Gan Eden. It says, in the future, Gan Eden will scream out and say, “ Please, I'm looking for Sadikim. I don't want Resha’im. As it says, ‘ שָׂנֵ֗אתִי הַשֹּׁמְרִ֥ים הַבְלֵי־שָׁ֑וְא /I hate those people that are waiting for falsehood. Who am I looking forward to? Those that relied on Your name, as it says V’Ani El Hashem Batachti.’ This is very interesting. Rav Bloch, in his sefer Iggeret Al HaBitachon (page 1), points out that it starts off saying, I want Sadikim and then switches to , I want those that rely on You, not the ones that are looking forward to nonsense. That means the determining factor between the Sadik and Rasha , as we see from this Midrash (and not just Sadik and Rasha for this world, but forever and ever in Gan Eden or the opposite) depends on whether you rely on Hashem or on all the other nonsense, whether it's idol worship, soothsayers or people. The Midrash continues, “ Gehinom is going to say, “I don’t want Sadikim. I want Reshaim. Who are they ? Those people that are looking forward to the Havlei Shav , those people looking forward to the nonsense. This is a fascinating pasuk - it’s not just David Hamelech talking- it's Gan Eden and Gehinom, our eternal life is asking for that. The Rambam’s son, in his sefer HaMaspik L’Ovdei Hashem ( in the chapter on Bitachon) describes something called the Kefira Nisteret / the hidden, underground heretic. He looks like he relies on Hashem externally , and he says ,‘ God is the one that takes care, God is the one that brings life and death, God is the one that heals,’ and the opposite. But in his heart, he's really relying on his actions, on his hishtadlut . When there's a disease, he only cares about the doctors and the medicine. When there's an enemy, he only cares about his strength. In his words, they are counting on things that are transient and for hope that will be dashed . He says , These people are abominable to the prophets and the righteous as David Hamelech says, שָׂנֵ֗אתִי הַשֹּׁמְרִ֥ים הַבְלֵי־שָׁ֑וְא וַ֝אֲנִ֗י אֶל־יְהֹוָ֥ה בָּטָֽחְתִּ I hate those people . It's a heavy term. He says this refers to the undercover heretics. Externally, with their lip service, they look great. But the Torah warns us, he says, Beware Lest you forget your God and you become arrogant, and you say, it was my strength and my force that made brought me the strength. Now of course, the Rambam’s son adds that this curse refers to a person that's solely relying on people. But regardless, there's an important lesson in our pasuk -the lesson we started with: Whatever we're relying on solely is going to decide our status. Are we righteous or the opposite? That will decide our eternal life. That's why this is an important pasuk- it reminds us of the importance and the centrality of bitachon in our religion, because that decides our eternity. Rav Bloch quotes Rabbenu Bachye in Parashat Pinha s that says it's well known that a person is only called a Sadik if he relies on Hashem. There’s a pasuk in Mishleh, 28,1 that says The righteous rely on God like a lion. That’s our message for today. Have a wonderful day.
We have been discussing a selection of pesukim that the Maharal refers to as Pesukei Hisayon/Pesukim of refuge. It seems that there's a certain mindset that the Maharal wants us to have, of refuge, as we will explain. אֹמַ֗ר לַ֭יהֹוָה מַחְסִ֣י וּמְצוּדָתִ֑י אֱ֝לֹהַ֗י אֶבְטַח־בּֽוֹ׃ You say to Hashem, you are my refuge. You are my fortress, my God that I rely on The Midrash Yalkut Shemoni says that in this chapter of Tehilim (91,2), David Hamelech says two things. -Number one, whenever a problem comes to me, I run to God's fortress , as it says, Nivla La B’Yad Hashem. It's ,like lo alenu , when there are bombs falling in Israel, and you run to a Miklat/shelter and that's your safe spot. David Hamelech uses this vivid example to teach us that for any problem that you have, there is a shelter. Another explanation of this pasuk is that there is this cell , or area , and whenever I have a problem or an enemy, I can put that problem or challenge in that cell and lock it up. Those are the two graphic explanations. The Rambam’s son, Rabbi Avraham, in his sefer Maspik L’Ovdei Hashem , in his chapter on bitachon, discusses two types of danger- one is health-related disease, and the other is what he calls Sakanot Mikreot/dangerous unexpected occurrences such as strong storms, mudslides, hurricanes, tornadoes earthquakes, war and all of what he calls Etaneh HaTeva / strong forces of nature. Those are the two basic categories of danger: sickness, and all kinds of natural disasters, floods and all the like. Where does bitachon come in? Rabi Avraham ben HaRambam says that you have to realize that everything is controlled by Hashem, of course. And he adds, Remember the guarantees of this pasuk. Remember the words of David Hamelech who says, אֹמַ֗ר לַ֭יהֹוָה מַחְסִ֣י וּמְצוּדָתִ֑י You are my refuge and You are my fortress. Rabbi Avraham says this is a pasuk to have on your mouth. When you're driving and there's a terrible storm and you can't see a foot ahead of you say, אֹמַ֗ר לַ֭יהֹוָה מַחְסִ֣י וּמְצוּדָתִ֑י אֱ֝לֹהַ֗י אֶבְטַח־בּֽוֹ׃ I say to God, You are my shelter. You are my fortress. My God that I rely on But it takes practice. Lehavdil , before the soldiers recently rescued the four hostages in their daring act in the middle of Rafah, they practiced, and went through many different dry runs until they were ready to do it. So too, we have to practice these lines. They aren’t that difficult: Omar L’Hashem/I say to God Machsi Umsudati/You are my refuge and my fortress, Elohai Evtach Bo/ my God that I rely on. The Shelah HaKadosh on Parashat Shekalim explains this chapter and makes a nuance. He says, it starts off saying אֹמַ֗ר לַ֭יהֹוָה מַחְסִ֣י / Omar L’Hashem Machsi using the name of Hashem that symbolizes mercy . So I tell Hashem, that in the name of mercy , Machsi Umsudati/You are my fortress and my refuge. But nothing has happened to me yet. I can still use Hashem's mercy to protect me, so that nothing should happen. That's the first level. But what happens when something does happen? We say Elohai (indicating Middat HaDin, God's judgment), Evtach Bo/ I'll rely on Him- even after the problem. I'm no longer at the level of refuge and protection. The problem is here, but I'll rely on Him to get me out of the problem. Even when it's justice , Elohai , He's my God , I know that He's doing it for me and that it’s what's best for me. And then I'll rely on Him to get me out of it. It might have been what I needed right now, but that doesn't mean it’s what I need in another minute from now. This is an important pasuk from the important chapter (91) of Yoshev B’Seter Elyon. . practice and practice. Practice makes perfect.
We're now on Tehilim 125,1: שִׁ֗יר הַֽמַּ֫עֲל֥וֹת (This is one of the songs of the steps that ascend to the Bet Hamikdash) הַבֹּטְחִ֥ים בַּיהֹוָ֑ה כְּֽהַר־צִיּ֥וֹן לֹא־יִ֝מּ֗וֹט לְעוֹלָ֥ם יֵשֵֽׁב׃ Those that rely on Hashem, they're like Mount Sion. They will not falter; They will last forever. Simply speaking, this is a mashal . Yerushalayim is surrounded by mountains, and we are like those protected cities that are surrounded by mountains, like the Swiss who were always neutral and protected because they had their Alps around them. But the next pasuk says יְֽרוּשָׁלַ֗͏ִם הָרִים֮ סָבִ֢יב לָ֥֫הּ /Yerushalayim has mountains around it, וַ֭יהֹוָה סָבִ֣יב לְעַמּ֑וֹ מֵ֝עַתָּ֗ה וְעַד־עוֹלָֽם׃ But Hashem surrounds His nation from now and forever. The sefer Ma’aseh Hashem ( Helek Ma’aseh Bereshit, chapter 10) quotes a pasuk from Devarim 4,4: וְאַתּ ֶם֙ הַדְּבֵקִ֔ים בַּיהֹוָ֖ה You are connected, Which we know from the Meshech Hochma (on U’Bo Tidbak )is the source for Bitachon. A person is connected to Hashem through bitachon. We also say in Shirat HaAzinu ‘ God surrounds us,’ which Rashi says refers to the Ananeh Hakavod/the clouds of glory, or the Succah, which surrounds us in Hashem's protection. Lastly, David Hamelech said וַ֭יהֹוָה סָבִ֣יב לְעַמּ֑וֹ מֵ֝עַתָּ֗ה וְעַד־עוֹלָֽם / But Hashem surrounds His nation from now and forever. T hat's the depth of this pasuk, says the Ma’aseh Hashem. The people that were in Yerushalayim were protected, but when they left Yerushalayim, they were no longer in that area. There are mountains around it, and the mountains don't move. But if you leave, then you're no longer under the protection. However, the one relies in Hashem, wherever he is, he's still within the boundaries, because Hashem is with His people. He adds that the man who relies on Hashem remains in His boundaries. He never left them, even though he's in galut, because his boundary is that he's surrounded by Hashem! This really compliments another beautiful thought, a famous D’var Torah , regarding the Jewish people in the desert, specifically within the Ananeh Hakavod: We learn the laws of Shabbat from the Mishkan. On Shabbat you cannot demolish a house, but there's an opinion in the Gemara that it's only a problem to demolish the house if you plan on rebuilding that house in that spot; if you don't plan on rebuilding in that spot, then the demolishing is just destructive. The question is, when they took down the Mishkan, they never put it back in the same spot because they were always traveling. So if I'm learning out the laws of Shabbat from the Mishkan, in which they destroyed without rebuilding in the same spot, why would that be allowed on Shabbat? The answer that's given by the Baalei Mussar (including Rav Naftali Trop and Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz) says that the Jewish people in the desert traveled with the Ananeh Hakavod, and therefore wherever they were, they took down the Mishkan and they put up the Mishkan in the same spot . It might not have been the same latitude and longitude, but the spot was always the same- They were encamped and surrounded by Hashem's clouds. A mashal they give that it’s like a child in his mother's arms, getting on an airplane and traveling. If you ask the child, Where are you? he’ll say, “ I’m in my mother's arms ,” at takeoff, “ In my mother's arms. ” during the flight, “ in my mother's arms,” and the same when they land. He never moved because his location was his mother's arms. That's how the Jewish people were in the desert. That's the concept called Yesovevenu / we are surrounded . One might have thought that this was only in the desert, but that would be a mistake. וַ֭יהֹוָה סָבִ֣יב לְעַמּ֑וֹ מֵ֝עַתָּ֗ה וְעַד־עוֹלָֽם Hashem surrounds his people. forever. We're forever in those clouds of glory. Anyone that has bitachon is surrounded by Hashem's clouds of glory. There is a pasuk in Devarim 13,5 אַחֲרֵ֨י יְהֹוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֛ם תֵּלֵ֖כוּ Follow Hashem your God . The Sifri says, this refers to the cloud. The Ramban, on that pasuk, says that this can apply today as well. Rav Yerucham Levovitz, in his sefer Da’at Torah on Shoftim page 240, says that even in our times we can fulfill this concept. There is a cloud that's directing us. There's a cloud that we follow. Every person in their own life can be directed by that cloud because with bitachon, we are surrounded. Rav Nosson Wachtfogel, the Mashgiach of Lakewood, said in the name of Rav Yerucham Levovitz that there's a cloud in every generation that Hashem directs us with. And he says, the difference is. in the generation of the desert, the cloud was revealed. We could see it. Today, we don't see it. The Shela HaKadosh on Parashat Baha’alotcha says on the pasuk, ‘W e should travel and encamp on the mouth of God,’ that there's a good way to remember this- In whatever you do, say ‘ Im Yirtzeh Hashem, with Hashem's help ,’ or ‘ B’Ezrat Hashem/with Hashem’s help’ … I'm going on this trip. I need Hashem's help . When I get there, I say, thank you Hashem, that I got here. In that way you're keeping Hashem on your mind and fulfilling this concept of following Hashem, even today, because the man that has bitachon is surrounded by Hashem's clouds of glory and is always protected, even more than Har Sion.
Hodu La'Hashem Ki Tob ! for iPhone users https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ itorah-watch-listen-stream/ id6472929090 for Android users https://play.google.com/store/ apps/details?id=com.itorah.app We are now discussing Pasuk in Tehilim 86,2, where David Hamelech is asking Hashem, שׇׁ ֥מְרָ֣ה נַפְשִׁי֮ כִּֽי־חָסִ֢יד אָ֥֫נִי הוֹשַׁ֣ע עַ֭בְדְּךָ אַתָּ֣ה אֱלֹהַ֑י הַבּוֹטֵ֥חַ אֵלֶֽיךָ׃ Protect my soul. I'm a pious man. Save your servant. You are my God, that I rely on You. The obvious question is, David Hamelech would not be arrogant enough to tell God, “ Protect me because I'm pious!” Who can say they're pious? Rashi, quoting a Midrash Tehilim, says that in this case, pious doesn't necessarily mean that he did any extra Mitzvot, but rather that ‘ I heard my insults. I was able to seek vengeance and I was quiet.’ The Midrash Tehilim says in the name of Rabbi Alexandri, that ‘Whoever hears his curses and is quiet (it doesn't talk about seeking vengeance, just the fact that someone curses you and you're quiet) is called the Hasid .’ The Midrash Tehilim in chapter 86 adds that, ‘ Whoever hears his curses and has the ability to respond or do something and doesn't, is a partner with God. Because God is constantly being disgraced and cursed by the nations of the world. He could destroy them in a second and doesn't.’ That's the hasidut that David Hamelech had. He was asking Hashem to protect him due to that hasidut . This is probably the source for a concept that many are familiar with- that if someone gets insulted or shamed, it's a good time to pray. It's a good time to reach out to Hashem. That's the first half of the pasuk-that David Hamelech is saying, ‘ Protect me because I'm pious. Protect me because of this Middah that people curse me and insult me, and I don't respond.’ But David Hamelech ends the pasuk talking about bitachon. How does that fit in? There are two ways to explain it: One explanation is that David Hamelech is saying, “ Now that I was quiet and now that I'm pious, I'm relying on You to help me and take care of me.” It's not enough that I'm quiet. I have to turn to You and rely on You. But because I was quiet, I have that extra power, and I can now super-charge my bitachon and rely on You. The other explanation is that what gives the person the ability to be insulted and not respond is their bitachon , because they realize that Hashem is watching over them and taking care of them. He will be the one to demand the vengeance. They don't need to get involved. Like the famous story of the sun and the moon. It says that the sun and moon were equal, but the moon complained so Hashem diminished the moon. Where was the sun in the discussion? The rabbis tell us the sun was quiet. The sun said, “ I'll leave it to God.” That's why it says in Masechet Shabbat 88B that if somebody hears their insults and doesn't respond, they're like the shining sun . What do they have to do with the shining sun? The commentaries ( Da’at Zekenim on Bereshit 116, Perush Harosh and others) say that it’s because the sun was quiet, and those who love Hashem, which means they hear their insults and don't respond, are like the shining sun. So what gives this man the power, just like the sun, is that, ‘ When I know Hashem is in charge, I don't have to respond, because Hashem will take care of it ,’ and in the end he will shine. That bitachon gives the person the ability to hold back. Up until now we're going with the explanation that David Hamelech is a Hasid because he is able to hear his insults and not respond, and we connect that to bitachon. Additionally, Haamek Davar in Bamidbar 33, 9 says that his hasidut was in his “ Temimut Hanifla’ah/ wondrous perfection to praise Hashem, in all of His just decisions, even though it might look bad. That ability came from David Hamelech’s tremendous bitachon in Hashem's trait of kindness. David Hamelch is saying, הוֹשַׁ֣ע עַ֭בְדְּךָ אַתָּ֣ה אֱלֹהַ֑י הַבּוֹטֵ֥חַ אֵלֶֽיךָ the very fact that I have this level of bitachon that is my Hasidut , and that's why I'm asking that You protect me; protect me because of the level of Hasidut I reached due to my bitachon.
The list of Pesukei Bitachon attributed to the Maharal is arranged in alphabetical order, and the first pasuk on that list is a pasuk in Tehilim , 84,13 יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָא֑וֹת אַֽשְׁרֵ֥י אָ֝דָ֗ם בֹּטֵ֥חַ בָּֽךְ Hashem’s is God of the Hosts, the God of celestial beings. Fortunate is the one who relies on Him. The Maharal says that he put this pasuk first because how could we list Pesukei Bitachon without mentioning Hashem's name first? The Yerushalmi in Berachot says there are two pesukim that should never your mouth. Ours is one and the other is Tehilim 46,8: יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֣וֹת עִמָּ֑נוּ מִשְׂגָּֽב־לָ֨נוּ אֱלֹהֵ֖י יַֽעֲקֹ֣ב סֶֽלָה׃ Hashem is the God of the Hosts. He is a fortress for us. The God of Yaakov is forever. There's obviously something special about these pesukim that refer to God as the God of the Hosts. יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֣וֹת God is the God of the hosts means God has countless galaxies and is in charge of billions and trillions of stars. But even with all of that, as it says in Tehilim 46,8 He is Misgav Lanu/ He is a fortress for us . He's down here taking care of us forever and that's an important lesson. Furthermore, as it says in Tehilim 48,13 יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָא֑וֹת אַֽשְׁרֵ֥י אָ֝דָ֗ם בֹּטֵ֥חַ בָּֽך God of the Hosts- There are so many celestial beings, and even with all that says the Alshech, אַֽשְׁרֵ֥י אָ֝דָ֗ם בֹּטֵ֥חַ בָּֽך / Fortunate is the one that relies on Him- even though God is a King with millions and billions of subjects, every individual counts. With all that God has under His control, every individual that relies on Him will be Me’Ushar/he will be fortunate. The Radak adds, that fortunate means you should not despair or give up hope from the challenges that you're in, whether global or individual. God is the God of the Hosts also means that there's a concept of mazalot ;there are celestial forces that cause things to happen, but we say En Mazal L’Yisrael, we're above the mazal. God controls everything; we rely on Him. Therefore, we don't care about what nature seems to indicate will happen. We don't care about statistics. We know that above all of those celestial beings and all of those horoscopes and modern-day scientific predictions, there is Hashem, above them all, and that's Who we rely on. He deals directly with every single individual. As we said, these pesukim are from the earliest list of Pesukei Bitachon , because it goes back to a Yerushalmi that says these are pesukim that should be quoted. In our prayers we add a third pasuk ( Tehilim 20,10) יְהֹוָ֥ה הוֹשִׁ֑יעָה הַ֝מֶּ֗לֶךְ יַעֲנֵ֥נוּ בְיוֹם־קׇרְאֵֽנוּ God will help us, the God that we cry out to on the day of our need . The sefer Yosef Tehilot quotes, in the name of the Ramak, Rav Moshe Cordevero, that these three pesukim were said by Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov. Abraham said יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֣וֹת עִמָּ֑נוּ מִשְׂגָּֽב־לָ֨נוּ אֱלֹהֵ֖י יַֽעֲקֹ֣ב סֶֽלָה׃ Hashem is the God of the Hosts. He is a fortress for us. The God of Yaakov is forever. Yitzhak Avinu said יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָא֑וֹת אַֽשְׁרֵ֥י אָ֝דָ֗ם בֹּטֵ֥חַ בךֽ And Yaakov Avinu said יְהֹוָ֥ה הוֹשִׁ֑יעָה הַ֝מֶּ֗לֶךְ יַעֲנֵ֥נוּ בְיוֹם־קׇרְאֵֽנוּ God will help us, the God that we cry out to on the day of our need . Avraham is Hessed/kindness, Yitzhak is Middat HaDin/justice and Yaakov Avinu symbolizes Torah. The pasuk of Yitzhak Avinu is the pasuk that we're dealing with today. יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָא֑וֹת אַֽשְׁרֵ֥י אָ֝דָ֗ם בֹּטֵ֥חַ בךֽ God of the Hosts, fortunate is one that relies on You Even though it's a time of Middat Hadin , a time of justice, if a person has Bitachon, he is above that justice challenge and gets a salvation. Many communities, primarily in the Sephardic world, say a mizmor , a prayer from Tehilim at the beginning of Mincha, which is chapter 84, which ends with יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָא֑וֹת אַֽשְׁרֵ֥י אָ֝דָ֗ם בֹּטֵ֥חַ בךֽ God of the Hosts, fortunate is the one that relies on You The sefer Yosef Tehilot says we chose this Mizmor because it ends with that pasuk, which is the pasuk of Yitzhak Avinu. As we know, the three daily prayers correspond to Avraham Yitzhak and Yaakov. Avraham is Shaharit , which symbolizes a time of positivity- the sun is coming out, the birds are chirping, and we have all the opportunities of the day. יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֣וֹת עִמָּ֑נוּ מִשְׂגָּֽב־לָ֨נוּ אֱלֹהֵ֖י יַֽעֲקֹ֣ב סֶֽלָה means God's protecting us. We're safe. That's Abraham's pasuk . Minha symbolizes God's justice. The sun is setting, things are beginning to look gloomy. And even then, we say, יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָא֑וֹת אַֽשְׁרֵ֥י אָ֝דָ֗ם בֹּטֵ֥חַ בךֽ God of the Hosts, fortunate is one that relies on You Arbit means we're in galut . The sun has set already, and we need יְהֹוָ֥ה הוֹשִׁ֑יעָה הַ֝מֶּ֗לֶךְ יַעֲנֵ֥נוּ בְיוֹם־קׇרְאֵֽנוּ God will help us, the God that we cry out to on the day of our need God has to save us. We need the Yeshua already. We're in trouble. Today we’re focusing on יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָא֑וֹת אַֽשְׁרֵ֥י אָ֝דָ֗ם בֹּטֵ֥חַ בךֽ God of the Hosts, fortunate is one that relies on You, a pasuk which specifically mentions bitachon. There are challenges out there, but with those challenges, אַֽשְׁרֵ֥י אָ֝דָ֗ם בֹּטֵ֥חַ בך Fortunate is the one that relies on Him יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָא֑וֹת The God of the Hosts, with all that He has going on in His control, אַֽשְׁרֵ֥י אָ֝דָ֗ם בֹּטֵ֥חַ בך every individual who relies on Him is fortunate. That's what we're going to try to do. As we said, this is one of the pesukim that we’re supposed to have on our lips and say all the time. יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָא֑וֹת אַֽשְׁרֵ֥י אָ֝דָ֗ם בֹּטֵ֥חַ בךֽ Adonai Sevaot Ashrei Adam Bote’ach Bach
We're now in Mishleh 28, 25 רְחַב־נֶ֭פֶשׁ יְגָרֶ֣ה מָד֑וֹן וּבֹטֵ֖חַ עַל־יְהֹוָ֣ה יְדֻשָּֽׁן׃ A Rechav Nefesh/greedy person stirs up strife. But one who relies on Hashem will have abundance. That's the simple Artscroll definition of the pasuk. And now for the commentaries… “Rechav Nefesh ” is a term used in Pirkei Avot , where Bilaam, is described as having a ‘ Nefesh Rechava ,’ which means he's a Baal Ta’ava, a man of desire. That's a Nefesh Rechava, Yigareh Madon/ stirs up strife.. Rashi says he brings upon himself Middat HaDin/God's justice. [When a person just indulges his own pleasures and is selfish, that arouses God's judgment on him. But a person who’s selfless is someone that's giving, which brings God's mercy upon him. It’s not really our topic, but it’s an important point.] וּבֹטֵ֖חַ עַל־יְהֹוָ֣ה The one who relies on Hashem is יְדֻשָּֽׁן Yedushan , which the Mesudat Sion says is a term of being anointed with oil, as it says in Tehilim 36 יִ֭רְוְיֻן מִדֶּ֣שֶׁן בֵּיתֶ֑ךָ That's the simple explanation. The Gaon of Vilna explains that a man of desire is someone who’s not happy with his lot. He's always angry because everything is too small or not enough, and therefore, he lives a miserable life. And since he's always angry, the smallest thing is going to tick him off, so he's going to get into arguments. But the one who relies on Hashem is the opposite. He is Sameach B’Helko/happy with his lot . He's happy with what he has, so he's in a state of tranquility because he's in a world of completeness. The Malbim says that this man is not only going to get into arguments with people because he's not in the right mood, he's going to start having complaints against God, because he looks at everything in the world as going wrong. He's constantly complaining. Conversely, the one who relies on Hashem, who is not being pushed by his desire, who is happy with what Hashem gives him is going to find what he needs. That's all on what we call the pshat level. The sefer Zera Yaakov, written in the 1700s by Rabbi Yaakov Ben Haim HaKohen, says Rechav Nefesh is referring to Zimri ben Salu, a man of desire who sinned with Kozbi. He caused arguments. He caused arguments with Moshe Rabbenu, and he caused 24,000 people to die. He caused arguments between God and the Jewish people. He says the Bote’ach al Hashem, the one that relied on Hashem, was Pinhas. Pinhas was zealous and killed them both, and he got wonderful blessings from Above. He says, Yodushan refers to the portion of the Mizbe’ach called the Terumat HaDeshen, where they put the pile of ashes. It says, all the blessings came to the Jewish people from the korbanot . So Pinhas, the one that relied on Hashem, merited to become a Kohen Gadol, and brought an abundance of blessings upon the Jewish people through the Korbanot . That's more of a Midrashic reading into our pasuk. There's a very interesting point in this pasuk, which goes back to the Hovot Halevavot in Shaar HaBechina where he discusses why it is that people don't see God creation. He also says, in Shaar Bitachon, that this interferes with our reliance on Hashem. If we don't see Hashem in creation and we don't see how He's taking care of us, we don't rely on Him. He says it comes because of our great desire for more. We're always looking at what we don't have and not at what we do have. We can't see God, because we only see what we don't have. As the famous question goes, Is the cup half empty or half full ? Half empty is the man of Ta’ava . He only sees what he doesn't have. Nothing satisfies him. On the other hand, the Baal bitachon is a man who’s able to slow down and see and appreciate what he has, and see how God has been taking care of him until now, in all the wonderful things that he has. He can truly feel like he's bathing in the goodness of God. This is a fundamental- we should not be looking for more, but rather, appreciating what we have. This is actually a prerequisite for bitachon because if a person is always complaining, bitachon doesn't do anything. They think, My life is miserable, but their life is not as miserable as they think it is. The cause is the Middah of desire , always looking for what you don't have, desiring more worrying about what the Joneses have, etc. This is a beautiful lesson. Mishleh is always about opposites. One would not simply say that the opposite of bitachon is a Nefesh Rechava, a greedy person that's chasing his desire . That's our pasuk for the day. רְחַב־נֶ֭פֶשׁ יְגָרֶ֣ה מָד֑וֹן וּבֹטֵ֖חַ עַל־יְהֹוָ֣ה יְדֻשָּֽׁן׃ The man who's greedy causes arguments. And one that relies on God will have abundance.
We are discussing Pesukei Bitachon and we are in Tehilim 32,10: רַבִּ֥ים מַכְאוֹבִ֗ים לָ֫רָשָׁ֥ע וְהַבּוֹטֵ֥חַ בַּֽיהֹוָ֑ה חֶ֝֗סֶד יְסוֹבְבֶֽנּוּ׃ The rasha has many pains. The one that relies on Hashem is surrounded by kindness Simply, we're contrasting two people, the rasha who suffers, and the one that relies on Hashem, who is surrounded by Hashem's kindness. The Midrashic explanation is that רַבִּ֥ים מַכְ אוֹבִ֗ים לָ֫רָשָׁ֥ע / the wicked man has many pains, וְהַבּוֹטֵ֥חַ בַּֽיהֹוָ֑ה חֶ֝֗סֶד יְסוֹבְבֶֽנּוּ׃ / but if the wicked man relies on God, even though he has his sins , he will be surrounded by kindness. And now for the hiddush , at least for me: The Ketav Sofer on Bereshit 47,29, says that the pasuk starts off with רַבִּ֥ים מַכְאוֹבִ֗י ם לָ֫רָשָׁ֥ע / Many pains for the wicked, so it should continue with and kindness surrounds the one that relies on Hashem, because just like when we spoke about the rasha , we first said the things that happened to the rasha , so too with the Sadik , we should also first say what happens to the Sadik , which is that חֶ֝֗סֶד יְסוֹבְבֶֽנּוּ kindness surrounds him Why does it say, Many pains to the wicked and the one who relies on Hashem, kindness surrounds him? He explains that it means, רַבִּ֥ים מַכְאוֹבִ֗ים לָ֫רָשָׁ֥ע /The rasha deserves to have many wicked things happen to him , but וְהַבּוֹטֵ֥חַ בַּֽיהֹוָ֑ה / because there is a sadik out there who's relying on Hashem, חֶ֝֗סֶד יְסוֹבְבֶֽנּוּ׃ his merits protect the rasha and the Hessed of the Sadik surrounds the rasha as well. As long as we have a Sadik with us, the Sadik protects us. This, for me, is a new and beautiful way of reading the pasuk , appreciating the power of the Baal Bitachon , and how he is actually taking care of the world with his bitachon. The Hovot Halevavot points this out in the introduction to Shaar Bitachon, where he writes that people should respect, and will respect, the Baal bitachon for just by being close and seeing the Baal Bitachon, people are blessed. Just by coming close to them, he causes benefit to his city, and pushes off all types of tragedies from his city. As the pasuk says, The sadik is the foundation of the world and he proves it from Lot, who was considered a Baal Bitachon compared to the people of Sedom, and Lot saved the city of Tso’ar. It’s important to understand and appreciate the Baal Bitachon’s impact on the whole world. Another famous example, and one of the greatest Baalei Bitachon of all time, was Rav Hanina ben Dosa. He is the one who says En Od Milevado/ there's nothing else but God (Masechet Chulin,7b) Nothing can affect me. No one can hurt me, no one can impact me. He’s also the one that said, The One that says that oil should light will say that vinegar should light. He's the one that when he put his foot into the snake hole, the snake bit him, and the snake died! Furthermore, about him it says (and it's no coincidence), that a heavenly echo goes out every day and says, “ The whole world is sustained because of My son Hanina, and all he needs is a pound of carob. ” He survives on almost nothing and yet brings beracha to the whole world. The rabbis explain that when it says, “ The whole world is being sustained because of My son Hanina,” the Hebrew word for because/Bishvil , can also mean a pathway , in that Rav Hanina ben Dosa is a pathway to God that brings down the parnasa for the entire world. And yet he survives on very little. He is the greatest Baal Sedaka in the world; his kindness surrounds the entire world. That's the power of the Baal Bitachon. He might not have much, but he's supporting the world. The Ben Ish Chai has a prayer for the night of Rosh Hashanah with many gates of blessings in the merit of different people, and he rhymes the gate of the blessing with the person's name. One of them is, Tiftach Lanu Shaar Parnasa/ Open for us the gates of sustenance B’Zchut Rabbi Hanina Ben Dosa/ In the merit of Rabbi Hanina Ben Dosa. The question is, Rav Hanina is not alive anymore, and further, the Gemara was written way after he died. And yet it says, “ Every day a heavenly echo goes out…” but the rabbis tell us that it was not just for then. Rav Hanina was an example of that person, but every generation has Baalei Bitachon who bring the beracha down to the entire world. This was a hiddush for me- רַבִּ֥ים מַכְאוֹבִ֗ים לָ֫רָשָׁ֥ע Many pains are deserved to the wicked, but because of the man that relies on Hashem, וְהַבּוֹטֵ֥חַ בַּֽיהֹוָ֑ה חֶ֝֗סֶד יְסוֹבְבֶֽנּוּ׃ He surrounds the entire world with kindness. How beautiful!
Today we'll discuss a pasuk from Yeshaya 42,17 which comes from the Haftara of Parashat Bereshit. נָסֹ֤גוּ אָחוֹר֙ יֵבֹ֣שׁוּ בֹ֔שֶׁת הַבֹּטְחִ֖ים בַּפָּ֑סֶל הָאֹמְרִ֥ים לְמַסֵּכָ֖ה אַתֶּ֥ם אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ׃ They went backwards. They'll be shamed in a shameful way, those that rely on a molten image, and say to the idol, “You are our god.” This pasuk refers to those who rely on the wrong things. They're going to be embarrassed and they're going to move backwards. The term יֵבֹ֣שׁוּ בֹ֔שֶׁת seems redundant. It’s like saying you ran a run. Of course, if you ran, you ran a run. Why the double wording? The Radak, on Tehilim 21,7 says that anytime we have double lashon , it conveys a stronger meaning. It strengthens it. They were embarrassed in embarrassment , it's the ultimate busha , the ultimate embarrassment . The pasuk is saying that in the future, when the truth is revealed, the ultimate embarrassment will be the embarrassment of living a life of relying on the wrong things; putting your faith and trust in the wrong things. That's the ultimate embarrassment. Furthermore, it says they were traveling backwards. It says in Zecharya 3, “I will place you as walkers among those that stand.” God is comparing the human being to an angel. The angel stays in one place, while human being's job is to walk and move and continue on. That's why we have two feet, and they don't have feet. The idol worshiper uses his two feet, but rather than move forward, he moves backwards. The whole purpose of creation is to walk forward but he’s going backwards. This pasuk is referring to two different groups, as the Malbim says. The first group knows that there's an ultimate cause. They know there's a God, but they look at this idol as an intermediary between them and God. They're called Botchim B’pessel/They rely on the pessel. They rely on this molten image. These are people that thought they would get what they needed through this intermediary, but they will see that it was all a waste of time. נָסֹ֤גוּ אָחוֹר֙ They're going to move backwards. The next group is the group of לְמַסֵּכָ֖ה אַתֶּ֥ם אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ They think that the idol has its own independent power. On them it says, יֵבֹ֣שׁוּ בֹ֔שֶׁת they will get ultimately embarrassed. Group number one is not going to be embarrassed, because they weren't off. They know there's a God. They just thought they needed an intermediary. So they're moving backwards. They're going to have to start again with the right approach. Those that actually attribute an inherent force will have the stricter of יֵבֹ֣שׁוּ בֹ֔שֶׁת What does this have to do with us? “We don't have physical idols, but we have a similar problem in that we attribute power and strength to other forces; we think the intermediary is necessary. We think we can't go directly to God. Rav Wolbe talks about this and he says, with the Chet HaEgel they thought they needed an intermediary. He points to people in our times that go to charlatan Mekubalim , who need to try what he calls backdoor approaches to God. That is נָסֹ֤גוּ אָחוֹר֙ I'm not here to knock anybody, but there are very strong movements today, with people seeking all kinds of backdoor approaches rather than dealing direct. I know a fellow that was going through a business problem and tried every possible segula that he could. I won’t mention any of them, I don’t want to cast any dispersions on anybody in their beliefs. But one day a rabbi told him, “ You're missing the point. You're going to all the different backdoor ways, deal, direct, have bitachon, rely on God.” That's the better of the two groups. Then we have the people today that actually attribute strength and power to other things My work, my business, my wisdom, my strength, my power…the government. They attribute actual strength to that force. And that's going to be the ultimate embarrassment. We are guilty of that too. We actually think certain things that we're doing actually have a power and a force. Rav Matityahu Salomon once saw a man who prayed very hard, with a lot of kavana , but he was a cutthroat in business. The Rabbi asked, “ What's going on? It looks like you have a lot of bitachon. You pray very hard and yet you don't seem to be living that bitachon life .” He answered, “I know that God runs the world, so I pray to Hashem, ‘Just don't interfere. I know what I'm doing. Please don't interfere.’” That type of belief is, Of course there's a God, but I can handle it on my own … And that's, יֵבֹ֣שׁוּ בֹ֔שֶׁת Have a wonderful day.
We are now in a pasuk in Tehilim 65, 6 נ֤וֹרָא֨וֹת ׀ בְּצֶ֣דֶק תַּ֭עֲנֵנוּ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׁעֵ֑נוּ מִבְטָ֥ח כׇּל־קַצְוֵי־אֶ֝֗רֶץ וְיָ֣ם רְחֹקִֽים׃ With awesome works of righteousness. You answer us, our God of salvation. The One Who even people on the farthest ends of earth and distant seas rely on. David Hamelech is saying that Hashem answers us in awesome ways and saves us, and He’s the one that the entire world relies on. The Radak explains that this pasuk is telling us that God acts with the Jewish people in awesome ways, in supernatural ways, in ways that cause people to be afraid of God. God is the reliance of the Jewish people, spread out to all ends of the earth in the most distant of islands, distant from Yerushalayim . All of the Jewish people, deep down, have hope and reliance on God that He will gather us in the end. So, this is a pasuk talking about the reliance of the Jewish people during exile and the Noraot , the awesomeness that God uses. This relates to the famous Gemara in Masechet Yevamot 69B, that says, The Men of the Great Assembly were so called because they returned the crown to its original state. What crown? God is referred to by Moshe Rabbenu as HaEl, HaGadol, HaGibor V’HaNorah But as time went on, Yirmiyah the great prophet said, How could it be that the goyim are in the Bet Hamikdash, taking it over? Where is the fear? I can't say Fear. Then Daniel said, The goyim are subjugating God's children. Where's His strength? I can't say strength . And the answer of the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah was No. God is a Gibor. As it says, Who's the great one? He who controls himself. Do you know how much control it takes for God, so to say, not to lash out on the wicked? And all of this time, God is controlling Himself because He wants to get to the end goal of Mashiach, but we need a little bit more time. At the same time that the goyim are doing what they're doing, God also has Noraotav . What is that? This is the fear of God says the Gemara. If not for the fear of God, how can one nation survive? We think, We’re fine, we’ll survive. We're here. But the fact that we're not stoned when we walk down the street is an expression of God's Norah /the fear that He instills in them. That's why we're able to walk the streets in peace. We see it when God decides to reveal a little bit of what would be going on. We see college demonstrations, worldwide antisemitism, these are just an expression of what could be happening without Noraotav, without God's fear. We find the Maaseh Avot Siman L’Banim in Bereshit 35,5 After Shimon and Levi killed out the people of Shechem, it says וַיִּסָּ֑עוּ וַיְהִ֣י ׀ חִתַּ֣ת אֱלֹהִ֗ים עַל־הֶֽעָרִים֙ אֲשֶׁר֙ סְבִיב֣וֹתֵיהֶ֔ם וְלֹ֣א רָֽדְפ֔וּ אַחֲרֵ֖י בְּנֵ֥י יַעֲקֹֽב׃ They traveled . That means the Jewish people moved out. And there was a fear of God on everyone that was around that area. And they didn't chase the Bnei Yaakov. The Malbim says that they realized that the fact that Shimon and Levi wiped out the town was something Godly and they were afraid to start up with God. This is something we continue to experience. We don't realize this, but there are goyim out there who realize that there's a God of the Jews and you don’t start up with the God of the Jews. I was speaking to a certain non-Jewish, South American fellow who shared with me that some leaders of South America who were very anti-Jewish died. There's a video of Chavez from Venezuela saying Israel should should be demolished and destroyed, and not long after that, he contracted cancer. He gave me a whole bunch of different examples of leaders like this, he said, “ We realize that you don't start up with the God of the Jews.” Then there’s the story of the fellow in the Turkish parliament who got up and blasted the Jews and then had a massive heart attack right there in their parliament. And of course, we had the Iranian president, whose helicopter crashed. Even the goyim see this and realize that there's a fear of the God of the Jews. On this pasuk , the Emek D’var says, God does not abandon us totally. He stands from afar and guards over us. נ֤וֹרָא֨וֹת ׀ בְּצֶ֣דֶק תַּ֭עֲנֵנוּ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׁעֵ֑נוּ מִבְטָ֥ח כׇּל־קַצְוֵי־אֶ֝֗רֶץ וְיָ֣ם רְחֹקִֽים With fear, God answers us . That means He answers us by doing things that instill fear. The God of our salvation. He's the reliance of Jewish people, to all the ends of the earth, and faraway islands that eventually we will come back.
We continue with part two of Yeshaya, 50, 10. מִ֤י בָכֶם֙ יְרֵ֣א יְהֹוָ֔ה שֹׁמֵ֖עַ בְּק֣וֹל עַבְדּ֑וֹ אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ הָלַ֣ךְ חֲשֵׁכִ֗ים וְאֵ֥ין נֹ֙גַהּ֙ ל֔וֹ יִבְטַח֙ בְּשֵׁ֣ם יְהֹוָ֔ה וְיִשָּׁעֵ֖ן בֵּאלֹהָֽיו׃ Who amongst you is fearful of God, that listens to the voice of his servant, that went in the darkness without any shining. Rely on the name of God and lean on your God . The Gemara in Berachot 6B explains this pasuk in a Midrashic way. Who are we talking about? We're talking about a man who usually comes to shul but didn't come one day. God takes attendance and says, Where's this fellow? What happened to him? מִ֤י בָכֶם֙ יְרֵ֣א יְהֹוָ֔ה / Where are you, oh God-fearing man שֹׁמ ֵ֖עַ בְּק֣וֹל עַבְדּ֑וֹ / You usually listen to the voice of the servant (referring to the Hazan. Just like the kohen is the servant of Hashem, so too, the hazan is like the kohen in the Bet Hamikdash, says the Maharsha). We're asking, What happened to you? Where are you? You missed a day. Why did you miss ? First of all, אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ הָלַ֣ךְ חֲשֵׁכִ֗ים /you're going in the dark. What does “going in the dark” mean ? According to this explanation, ‘going in the dark’ means you didn't go to shul. In sefer Chefetz Hashem , Rav Chaim Ben Atar, famous for his commentary Or HaChaim Hakadosh, tells us that whenever you go to shul, there's a light in shul. The Gaon of Vilna says this too, in his sefer Imrei Noam . When a person walks into shul, there's a light there, and you are surrounded by that light every time you go to shul. So, what happened to you? Why didn’t you come to shul? The Gemara continues, If you went to do another mitzvah, that’s ok. You’ll shine from that mitzvah. So if you were on a Hatzolah call or had some emergency that had to be taken care of, and that’s why you couldn't come to shul, that Mitzvah will give you the shine. So, we understand from this pasuk that God comes to shul in the morning and takes attendance. If you’re not there, He says, Where are you? You're in the dark because you didn't come to shul. But if it was because you did a mitzvah, you're shining. If you didn't do a mitzvah, וְאֵ֥ין נֹ֙גַהּ֙ ל֔ו /there's no shining . And if you say, “ I'll tell you what my mitzvah was. I went to work early to support my family. That's my mitzvah- that's my excuse for not being in shul. ” Hashem will say, “ No, that's not an excuse . יִבְטַח֙ בְּשֵׁ֣ם יְהֹוָ֔ה וְיִשָּׁעֵ֖ן בֵּאלֹהָֽיו You should have relied on God. You should have leaned on God. Why did you miss shul? You do not have the mitzva right now of parnasa. The Gaon of Vilna says, Yes, parnasa is mitzva. When you go to work after shul, you could say, Leshem Yichud, I'm now going to support my family. That’s a wonderful thing. But , he says, not during the time of prayer . Because during the time of prayer, what God wants you to do is pray for your parnasa. He told you, Go to work, but before you go to work, go pray. Work is a mitzvah after prayer, not before prayer. Why didn't you take off from work to pray? Obviously , says God, because you weren't relying on Me enough. You thought you had to get there earlier. That's a mistake. This a very, very important concept for us shul-goers. When you're in high school, the rabbi takes attendance. He gives out detention for missing Shaharit, and there’s a Hot Cocoa club if you come on time… But now you may think, I'm not in high school anymore. I'm free. But that’s a mistake. God takes attendance . God says, Where are you? You're missing in shul. That in itself is an honor. You're a shul-goer. Rashi says the way to read the pasuk is, מִ֤י בָכֶם֙ יְרֵ֣א יְהֹוָ֔ה / Who is that God-fearing man? The God-fearing man is the man that goes to shul. He goes to shul every day. This is a nice, positive twist. If you are a consistent shul goer, you're in God's roll book. You're a God-fearing man. But what happened to you? Where are you today? Why didn’t you come to shul? Some people like to feel missed and noticed. Hashem is asking about you. That’s also a beautiful concept, because you may think, So many people go to shul, does anyone miss me? Nobody called me. I was out for a few days. Sometimes people are missing for a few days, and you think they went on a trip, but really, they weren't feeling well, and no one even called for them. Or worse, no one even knew they were missing. Well, you should know that when you don't come to shul, God knows you're missing and He's checking on you. Where are you? Hopefully, you have a good excuse, that you were involved in a mitzvah. There are a lot of beautiful messages and concepts to take away from this pasuk- -When you walk into shul, you're basking in the light of God, and when you don't go to shul, you're missing that light. If you do another mitzva or you’re on a Hatzolah call, that's a different light. These are wonderful, wonderful lessons. We just don't see these things. I remember many years ago, Rabbi Ades got onto the Torah bus that went from Deal to the city one day when we were still in Deal, and he said, “ If you had eyes to see it, you'd see a shining light coming out of this bus. Here you are, 20-30 men going to and from the city, learning there and back. ” We don't see it, but there's a light coming out of shul. The shul is like the Bet Hamikdash. The Bet Hamikdash had windows that were made in a way that the light came out of them, not into them. A shul is a house of light. You get cloaked in light when you come to shul. And if you’re not there, God says, What happened to this man? He's missing ? Where's his light? There are many beautiful lessons here to appreciate. Have a great day.
We are now in Yeshaya 50,10: מִ֤י בָכֶם֙ יְרֵ֣א יְהֹוָ֔ה שֹׁמֵ֖עַ בְּק֣וֹל עַבְדּ֑וֹ אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ הָלַ֣ךְ חֲשֵׁכִ֗ים וְאֵ֥ין נֹ֙גַהּ֙ ל֔וֹ יִבְטַח֙ בְּשֵׁ֣ם יְהֹוָ֔ה וְיִשָּׁעֵ֖ן בֵּאלֹהָֽיו׃ Who amongst you is God-fearing, who listens to the voice of his servant, who's walking in darkness and there is no light, He should rely on Hashem and lean on his God. In his sefer Or Yechezkel , Rav Yechezkel Levenstein discusses the simple meaning of the pasuk when he talks about Avodat HaBitachon. He says this refers to a man who is in a situation of complete darkness, who doesn’t see any natural hope that can light up the way. He's in a dark tunnel. And with that, he's responsible to rely on Hashem as if the salvation is there already, because that is the essence of bitachon. He says. I'm not relying on the details but of how it's going to happen, because I don't see any way out. I'm relying on Hashem, the One that's able to do everything. I'm looking at the broader picture. Therefore, although my eyes see only darkness, that doesn't make a difference. That's how Rav Chaskel explains this pasuk . Walking in the dark means in the dangers of life. He says that is what bitachon is about. In another place in his book on Emuna, when he talks about the concept that man is born to toil, he says the toil of this world is the toil of Emuna. Again, he refers to a man who's walking in a totally dark situation. In the words of Rav Yehezkiel Levenstein, what's going on around him, has nothing to do with him. Rather, I'm solid in my reliance on Hashem as if I'm not even in a problem. You could talk the talk, but Rav Chatzkel Levenstein walked the walk. He was the one that led the Mir Yeshiva through the Trans-Siberian railroad to Kobe, Japan to Shanghai. They were in the middle of an inferno, and yet they were in an oasis. One of the students reported that when they were in Mir in Europe, they never had never seen oranges in their lives. All they basically had was potatoes. Yet on their escape, they had tourist visas, and because of this, when they got to Moscow, they were well treated. They were taken on tours, brought to a zoo and they were served oranges for the first time. The whole world was falling apart around them, and they were eating oranges! That's Rav Chatzkel Levenstein’s message. In his sefer Darkei Avodah / Ways to Work on Yourself, in an essay entitled, the Greater the Hope, the Greater the Merit, he gives an example of what it means to be in the darkness: It's Erev Shabbat. The sun is setting, and the man has no food for Shabbat, yet he doesn't despair. He has solid reliance. That's the definition of Emuna. I'm in the darkness . This is a pasuk in Micha 7,8: אַֽל־תִּשְׂמְחִ֤י אֹיַ֙בְתִּי֙ לִ֔י כִּ֥י נָפַ֖לְתִּי קָ֑מְתִּי כִּֽי־אֵשֵׁ֣ב בַּחֹ֔שֶׁךְ יְהֹוָ֖ה א֥וֹר לִֽי My enemy should not be happy because although I fell, I got up. Though I'm sitting in the darkness, God is my light. That, says Rav Chatzkel Levenstein, is the definition of bitachon, and that is our pasuk. מִ֤י בָכֶם֙ יְרֵ֣א יְהֹוָ֔ה שֹׁמֵ֖עַ בְּק֣וֹל עַבְדּ֑וֹ אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ הָלַ֣ךְ חֲשֵׁכִ֗ים וְאֵ֥ין נֹ֙גַהּ֙ ל֔וֹ יִבְטַח֙ בְּשֵׁ֣ם יְהֹוָ֔ה וְיִשָּׁעֵ֖ן בֵּאלֹהָֽיו / Who is a God-fearing man (as we said in the past, bitachon is a sign of fear of God) Who listens to the voice of his servant. He's walking in the darkness without light (not just darkness, darkness without a flashlight) Rely on the name of Hashem and lean on God. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will continue tomorrow with the Gemara’s explanation of this pasuk.
We're in Tehilim 112, 7: מִשְּׁמוּעָ֣ה רָ֭עָה לֹ֣א יִירָ֑א נָכ֥וֹן לִ֝בּ֗וֹ בָּטֻ֥חַ בַּיהֹוָֽה׃ / From bad news, he's not afraid. His heart is steadfast relying on Hashem. There are two ways to read this pasuk. Each describes a different level of bitachon, based on how to understand a Gemara in Masechet Berachot talks about Hillel. When walking toward his home, Hillel once heard a scream, and said, “ It's not from my house.” Why not? Based on our pasuk, he was not afraid of bad news. The higher level, explains the Gaon of Vilna, is that he was not afraid of bad news because he was so reliant on Hashem that he was convinced for sure that no evil could come upon him. Guaranteed . That's the higher level. The level for most of us is the second approach, brought down by the Shelah HaKadosh and others, which explains the pasuk as follows: מִשְּׁמוּעָ֣ה רָ֭עָה לֹ֣א יִירָ֑א / He's not afraid of bad news means he does hear bad news, but it doesn't scare him. These are the two ways to read this pasuk. Either, I'm not afraid of bad news because I'm not going to hear bad news- I'm only going to hear good news. Or, I'm not afraid of bad news because even when I hear bad news, it doesn't scare me. Both are true. They are two different levels. What does it mean that he hears bad news, and he is not afraid? Someone says, “There was a flood in your basement,” and he’s okay with that. I can handle that. My heart is good. I won’t get frazzled, I’ll rely on Hashem to handle it, whatever it may be. There was a stop order. Bad news? I'm not afraid. It could be a medical issue. Hmm, that doesn't seem right. I'm okay. I'm not scared. Hashem is in charge. I know it's good. I know it's going to work out. I'm not scared of bad news. He says, that's the pshat with Hillel. Hillel says, “ It can't be from my house because no one in my house would scream. We don't react that way to bad news.” This is an important rule from the Shelah Haladosh, in his sefer Asarah Maamarot/ 10 essays, essay 5. He says it's not proper for the Adam Hashalem to react with a scream or a yell. Rather, they should accept it. That's what it means, He's not afraid of bad news. Like Aharon HaKohen , who was silent. Vayidom Aharon. He also quotes a pasuk in Iyov, He sits alone and he's quiet. The Derashot Maharit, from Rav Yosef of Trani (third derush on Parashat Lech Lecha ) cites a Midrash Raba that applies this pasuk to Abraham Avinu. In Bereshit14,14 it says Abraham hears that his brother was captured. That's our pasuk מִשְּׁמוּעָ֣ה רָ֭עָה לֹ֣א יִירָ֑א He’s not afraid. As it says about Abraham in 22,12, “ You fear God. You don't fear anything else.” You're not afraid of bad news. Nachon Libo/His heart is steadfast. We say it every day (Nechemia 9,8) Avraham Avinu’s heart was steadfast. He's not afraid. Hashem tells Avraham (15,1) “ Don't be afraid, Avraham. And eventually he wins the war against the kings. What does that mean? The Maharit takes this same approach. It doesn't mean Avraham Avinu was not afraid of bad news. His nephew was captured. That's bad news. But he knows he'll handle it. He knows it's good . And he says that's what it means when God tells Avraham Avinu after the Akeda, “ Now I know you're a God-fearing man,” because now I know that even when I told you to slaughter your son, it didn't frazzle you. Avraham Avinu kept his cool. He wasn't afraid of that bad news. He rolled with the tide. And now I know that you fear God and you're not afraid of anything else. Nothing's bad to you. You're not afraid of anything. You know you're under the protection of God. And even though it might look bad, and it seems like bad news, he's not afraid. The fear of God picks him up above all of the fears. That's what it means about Avraham Avinu that, “ His heart was steadfast, his heart was loyal at all times.” Good and bad, light and dark, Avraham Avinu kept the same even keeled approach. This is the approachof the Maharit, based on the midrash “ Avraham Avinu was not relying that evil would not be upon him.” Rather, even though evil did come, his heart was steadfast. The Maharit and the Shelah HaKadosh explain this in the same way. Not that he won't hear bad news, but that he’s not afraid of bad news. Another beautiful pasuk in our pesukei bitachon. Have a wonderful day.
We're now in a pasuk in Alshech 16,20 מַשְׂכִּ֣יל עַל־דָּ֭בָר יִמְצָא־ט֑וֹב וּבוֹטֵ֖חַ בַּיהֹוָ֣ה אַשְׁרָֽיו׃ Someone who uses his intelligence on something will find good, And the one that relies on Hashem, he's fortunate. Rashi tells us this means that someone who is Maskil/pays attention and weighs his actions, will find good. That is, someone who weighs, Should I do it? Shouldn’t I do it ? Is it a Mitzvah? Is it a sin… He's on the right path. But there's a slight danger to this. If it’s a little cold outside, he might think, I'll catch a cold. I shouldn't go to shul. Or, If I stay in shul until the end, I might not make as much money, so I should leave early . This pasuk is teaching us that once you finally make the right decision, losses from the right decision might creep in. That’s when we have to add the second ingredient. After I use my intelligence and decide what the right thing is, וּבוֹטֵ֖חַ בַּיהֹוָ֣ה אַשְׁרָֽיו׃ I have to add the ingredient of bitachon, and then I will have the fortune of doing what I want to do, because I have the reliance on Hashem to allow me to do it. So again, מַשְׂכִּ֣יל עַל־דָּ֭בָר יִמְצָא־ט֑וֹב You might think- I think this girl's the right girl , but then doubt creeps in…. I always thought I’d marry a girl whose father would take me into his business and that would be my life. Now I found this wonderful girl with great qualities, but her father doesn't have business for me to take me into. Choose her anyway. And use your bitachon…. and so on in such kind of cases. Rabbenu Yonah says this is a general tool for life -before you make a decision, think it through. What makes sense? (This is not regarding a mitzvah vs sin) Once you decide what makes sense to do using your sechel, you then have to say Hashem, I'm relying on You that it should happen. He says, don't just think, I have Bitachon, everything's fine. No, first you have to think about it. You have to use your sechel , you have to use your intellect . Then, after you use your intellect and prepare everything according to your intellect, that’s when bitachon kicks in. Bitachon is not a recipe for carelessness or being haphazard or not having a plan. Bitachon comes in after Maskil Al Davar. First you use your sechel , then you use your bitachon . I'll give a personal example. I lived in Israel for over 10 years, and in those days we took buses. Sometimes you would have to run to catch the bus. Otherwise, you'd miss the bus and have to wait until the next bus came, and you didn't know when the bus next bus was coming. So I once asked Rav Wolbe, What is the right thing to do? Should I walk to the bus at a regular, slow pace and miss the bus or should I run for the bus and then get to the bus huffing and puffing in the street? Which one is Min Hashamayim? Do I use my bitachon to say that huffing and puffing is the hishtadlut , Or do I use my bitachon and say, “ So, I'll miss the bus and get there later? His answer was that we always use our sechel first and bitachon second. This might not be the accepted thing in our world today, but he said Sechel says you don't run in the street, you walk ( We're not talking about running for exercise, we're just talking about running to run). Sechel says you walk at a regular normal pace. Then, after you’ve used your sechel and said, I'm going to go at my regular, normal pace, but then you miss the bus, that's where the bitachon kicks in. This is an important rule- Always use your sechel first. And even when everything seems to be great with your sechel, you still need to have Hashem’s mercy and bitachon to bring the success. That is how Rabbenu Yona explains this Mishleh. There's a sefer written by Rabbi Yitzhak Kanpanton known as the Gaon of Castille. He lived from 1360 to 1463 and headed a Yeshiva in Zamora, in West Spain. He had many great students, such as Rav Yitzhak Abuhav, who the Shulchan Aruch refers to as a Gedoleh HaDor . He wrote a sefer called Darchei Gemara/The Ways of the Gemara , detailing the general principles of how to learn Gemara. When discussing learning, he says, Take this rule in your hand: Anything that you want to get, that you didn't get the first time, because there's something interfering, you have to work for it. Things don't just happen. So you try once, and you try again and keep pushing forward. Eventually you'll get there. That's rule number one. At the same time, however, he says, You also have to ask Hashem for mercy, because your work is not going do it alone. One without the other doesn't work. He quotes the Gemara in Masechet Nida, 70 B that tells us what a person should do to be wise- Learn a lot and limit your business dealings . The Gemara then asks, many people did it and weren't successful, to which the Gemara says, Pray to the One who has the wisdom. The Gemara says the same thing about business. What should you be successful in business? What should you become wealthy? Involve yourself in business, and be honest in business. Again, the Gemara asks, Many people did this and weren't successful? Rather pray to the One Who is the Source of all wealth, which is God. So this rabbi says that we see from here that it’s not enough just to pray, and it’s not enough just to work or just to learn. You have to put all your effort forth, and at the same time, you have to pray. Rav Wolbe once said that really, it’s the prayer and the bitachon that works, but on condition that you put forth hishtadlut , you have to work hard . That’s why the Gemara says, Work hard .. but many people worked hard and weren't successful. Okay..So pray . One might then think all they have to do is just pray. But just praying doesn't work either. You have to work hard and pray. You have learn hard and pray. Rabbi Yitzhak Konponton, this early Rabbi, quotes this pasuk- מַשְׂכִּ֣יל עַל־דָּ֭בָר יִמְצָא־ט֑וֹב וּבוֹטֵ֖חַ בַּיהֹוָ֣ה אַשְׁרָֽיו׃ We always need to have the two ingredients together.
We are up to an interesting pasuk , Devarim 33,12 which is the beracha Moshe Rabbenu gives to Binyamin לְבִנְיָמִ֣ן אָמַ֔ר יְדִ֣יד יְהֹוָ֔ה יִשְׁכֹּ֥ן לָבֶ֖טַח עָלָ֑יו חֹפֵ֤ף עָלָיו֙ כׇּל־הַיּ֔וֹם וּבֵ֥ין כְּתֵפָ֖יו שָׁכֵֽן Binyamin, called the Yedid/Dear one of Hashem. He dwells in serenity. The Shechina is always dwelling on him and dwelling between his shoulders. This refers to the fact that Binyamin was the one that merited the Bet Hamikdash to be built in his portion of land- where the Shechina always dwells. And he's called the Yedid/ dear one of Hashem. The Emek Davar says on this pasuk, “ טבע שבט בנימין וגדוליו להתהלך בדרך החסידות והפקרות למעלה מטבע אנושי בבטחון / The way, the nature of the tribe of Binyamin and their greats ֶ is to go on the way of the pious and to abandon themselves, more than nature, in the area of bitachon .״ The hiddush for me was that Binyamin was somebody that stood out in bitachon, of all the tribes. Where do we see this? One area, which he quotes from a midrash in the Yalkut Shemoni, is that before Nachshon ben Aminadav (from shevet Yehuda ) jumped into the Yam Suf, the one that actually caused him to jump in was someone from the tribe of Binyamin. A pasuk from Navi is cited to prove this point. This means that the splitting of the sea, which was a supernatural event, was actually triggered by Binyamin, something that's not well known. He goes on to the first two kings of Israel:The first king Shaul was from Binyamin, and David Hamelech was from Shevet Yehuda. In Shemuel 2, 1,17 when it talks about the lamentation that David Hamelech laments when Shaul died, he says, “ We're now going to have to teach the people of Yehuda bows and arrows.” What does this mean? Shaul died and suddenly we have to teach about bows and arrows? The Emek Davar says something fascinating: Now that Shaul is no longer alive and we no longer have the role model of bitachon, and Yehuda is taking over, we have to learn how to fight wars in a natural way. Binyamin stood out in the area of bitachon and therefore the Emek Davar says the tribe of Yehuda merited a kingdom. David Hamelech was a king, and kings fight wars. All the wars David Hamelech fought were natural wars. That was David Hamelech’s greatness. He fought wars in a natural way and relied on Hashem. But Binyamin was on a higher level. He therefore got the Bet Hamikdash , which was supernatural, with Hashem always dwelling on him, and total protection of the Bet Hamikdash. And he makes a very interesting poetic statement, based on a pasuk from Mishleh that says, כמים הפנים לפנים כן לב אדם Like the water has a face to a face ( when you look in the water, you see your face) so too is the heart of man. Meaning, people project onto others what is projected to them. But he puts a poetic twist on this, saying, כמים הפנים לפנים כך השגחת ה' על יראיו / Just like the face is reflected in the water, so too is Hashem’s Hashgacha on those that fear Him. Which means the more you direct yourself to Hashem, the more He dwells on you and protects you. So, because of his high level of bitachon, Binyamin received this special Bet Hamikdash - which was supernatural. There were miracles that happened every day in the Bet Hamikdash. There was protection, there were no flies, there was no decay, no one was bit by snakes in Yerushalayim… all of these wonderful miraculous events happened in the Bet Hamikdash because where the Shechina dwells, there is no negativity, there is no evil. Shechina brings beracha. Binyamin is that Yedid Hashem- and what makes him so dear? His constant bitachon. The more bitachon you have, the more the Shechina dwells on you and the more protected you are. This is not a commonly cited pasuk of Bitachon, but it’s on the Maharal’s list, and it conveys the message of the dear one, Binyamin, the Yedid Hashem that became that way due to his bitachon. Have a wonderful day.
We are now in Tehilim pasuk 16,9 לָכֵ֤ן שָׂמַ֣ח לִ֭בִּי וַיָּ֣גֶל כְּבוֹדִ֑י אַף־בְּ֝שָׂרִ֗י יִשְׁכֹּ֥ן לָבֶֽטַח Therefore, my heart was happy. My honor (which refers to the soul), was elated and my flesh will also dwell in serenity. What is this Therefore referring to? The pasuk before this says, שִׁוִּ֬יתִי יְהֹוָ֣ה לְנֶגְדִּ֣י תָמִ֑יד כִּ֥י מִֽ֝ימִינִ֗י בַּל־אֶמּֽוֹט I place Hashem opposite me at all times, He never leaves my right side. So David Hamelech is telling us the secret for his simcha and elation . What is it that makes him happy and elated ? It's the fact that he places Hashem opposite him at all times. There are a few nuances in this. The Malbim asks about the terms Samach/happiness and Gil/elation . He says the difference between simcha and Gil is that simcha/happiness is something that's constant. And Gil is something that comes from a surprise, like an unexpected gift or some something new that you didn't know about- that brings Gil . He says, Lachen Samach Libi/Therefore my heart was happy refers to physical needs. That's a constant happiness. David Hamelech says, Because I place Hashem opposite me, my physical needs are always taken care of and that brings me a constant happiness. Yagel Kevodi refers to spiritual accomplishments where there's an aspect of hiddush/newness . That's the meaning of Gil - there are constantly new spiritual highs that I reach due to my reliance on Hashem. The Chida explains that if a person doesn't have bitachon, it's very hard for him to focus on what he's doing. He's full of worries, he's full of concerns. But the pasuk says Shiviti Hashem, using God's name of mercy , showing that I know God's is going to have mercy on me. He's going to take care of me. Therefore, I'm focused on what I need to do. I'm consistent. I don't falter. And that brings me success both physically and spiritually. Samach Libi/ my heart is happy refers to my physical needs and desires which are fulfilled . And Yagel kevodi refers to my spiritual needs that are fulfilled as well . The question is, how do you place Hashem opposite you at all times? The Chida, in his sefer Homat Anak gives us a novel (and not simple) way of reading the pasuk . He says that David Hamelech is called, The one that established the yoke. At the time, 100 people were dying every day. When David Hamelech instituted one hundred daily blessings, that stopped the disease. And the word על , yoke has a numerical value of 100. That is the 100 blessings that David Hamelech instituted. He adds that the Rokeach tells us that there are 100 blessings we say every single day. Two of them are from the Torah, Birkat HaMazon and Birkat Hatorah . The other 98 are rabbinical. Those 98 blessings get rid of the 98 curses of the rebuke that comes in Parashat Kitavo (double 49 is is 98, 2 sets of seven times seven). David Hamelech is telling us that recognizing Hashem in our daily berachot 100 times will place Hashem opposite me. Every time I eat, Baruch Atah Hashem, every time I use the facilities, Baruch Atah Hashem. 100 Baruch Atah Hashems is how I place Hashem opposite me. And that's how I strengthen my bitachon. The Chida finds a hint for this in the word לכן Lachen/ Therefore , which has a numerical value if 100 ( ל lamed is 30, כ chaf is 20 and ן nun is 50). The 100 blessings I say every day is what puts Hashem opposite me at all times. Baruch Atah Hashem יה-וה . Every single day, every time I eat, I remind myself of Hashem’s mercy and kindness and therefore I rely on Him. I focus on what I need to do and I see success, both physically and spiritually. That's David Hamelech’s secret of Lachen Samach Libi. And not only that, but the pasuk says, even after I pass away the 100 berachot that I say every day, the constant recognition of Hashem, will bring me protection in the grave as well. So David Hamelech has given us the secret of Shiviti Hashem L’Negdi Talmid- I place Hashem before me always- it comes from our 100 blessings a day, which strengthen our bitachon, our reliance in Hashem. With that comes both physical and spiritual success.
We are in Tehilim 44, 7 where David Hamelech says, כי לא בקשתי אבטח ולרבי לא תושיעני I do not rely on my bow and my sword will not help me. The Gemara in Bava Batra 123A finds a connection between this and the words Yaakov Avinu tells Yosef, “ I'm going to give you an extra portion that I took from the Emori. I took it with my sword and my arrow. On this, the Gemara asks, “ Do Jewish people win wars with their swords and the arrows? As David Hamelech says, כי לא בקשתי אבטח ולרבי לא תושיעני /I do not rely on my bow, and my sword will not help me. Obviously, Yaakov Avinu is no different. So what is the sword of the Jewish people and what is the arrow of the Jewish people? חרבי The Yalkut Shemoni explains, in Yeshaya chapter 41, where Hashem tells the Jewish people referring to the end of time, Our sword refers to prayer , and קשתי refers to requests . אל תיראי תולעת יעקב Don't be afraid, the worm Yaakov. That's a strange term to use when you're giving someone words of comfort and inspiration. The Midrash says, Just like a worm is very small and easily crushed, and yet it could bring down cedar trees with its mouth, so too with the Jewish people, their strength is with their mouth, with prayer . It goes on to bring the example of our pasuk where David Hamelech says, I don't win my wars with my arrows or with my sword, rather with my prayer. David Hamelech goes back to his childhood, to his first major confrontation with Goliat. When he tells Goliat, אתה בא אלי בחרב ובחנית וגו / You come with your sword and your shield and I come in the name of Hashem,” And David Hamelech says again in Tehilim, אלה ברכב ואלה בסוסים / they fight with their chariots and their horses….Our bows and arrows, our swords are our prayer, and that's always the Jewish pride. The Brisker Rav, in his commentary on Bereshit 48, 22 on this pasuk where Yaakov Avinu says, I won the war with my sword and my arrow, brings the Targum Onkelus that translates חרב as צלותי and קשתי as בעותי , my prayer and my request. What’s the difference between a prayer and a request, and what is the difference between a sword and an arrow? The Brisker Rav explains that a sword is naturally sharp. It can cut and kill. But a bow and arrow do not have the power, in themselves, to cause harm just by touch. Rather, it's the force and energy that's put into the arrow that shoots from afar that pierces and punctures and damages. So there's a difference between the sword that has a slicing power, like a sharp knife that can cut somebody's finger, and the arrow, which needs force from behind. So too, he says, with prayer. There are two kinds of prayers. There are the prayers that the Rabbis of the Great Assembly enacted, called our Amida , and there are personal prayers. And there's a difference between them. For some prayers, we need to inject Kavanah. That's like the arrow, that's like the keshet . Then other prayers have inherent power to them-,the prayers of the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah. Men of the great assembly. The Amida they made for us, that's a sword. That has a power regardless of the person that prays, just like the sword is inherently powerful. If you pray the Amida with a Sibbur, regardless of who you are, you have that power called the Amida, and that's the Cherev/ the sword. U’B’Kashti , which means with my arrow, can also be read as U’Bakashati/My requests . Those are personal requests for the individual. Those personal requests are like an arrow that you have to inject your kavanah , your force into, in order for that prayer to be answered. The beauty of this is that we can see how exacting our spiritual ammunition is. We have spiritual ammunition that's like a sword, and we have spiritual ammunition that is like an arrow. I'm sure there are many more spiritual ammunitions. For example, the Hebrew word Tilim means missiles , and Tehilim is sometimes referred to as Tilim . The bottom line is, as David Hamelech says, we should appreciate that when we're talking about arms that we need for our wars and our fights, that's not what we really need. Of course, we need to do things Al Pi Teva/we have to act naturally . But when governments threaten that they're not going to send us arms, we have to understand that we deal with different arms . That's what David Hamelech is telling us. כי לא בקשתי אבטח ולרבי לא תושיעני It’s not about my sword, or about my bow. The Jewish people have different ammunition.
We're now in Tehilim 71,5, where David Hamelech says, כִּֽי־אַתָּ֥ה תִקְוָתִ֑י אֲדֹנָ֥י יֱ֝הֹוִ֗ה מִבְטַחִ֥י מִנְּעוּרָֽי׃ You are my hope, Hashem my God, my reliance from my youth. The Ibn Ezra says, ‘ You are my hope ,’ means there's no one else that I count on besides You, from the day I set foot on this earth, The Malbim says, ‘ Tikvati/hope’ means in the future and ‘Reliance from my youth’ means in the past, which means David Hamelech is saying, based on past performance, I know that Hashem is going to give me future success. That's contrary to the typical disclaimers following stock advertisements, such as, “ Past performance is not an indicator of future success.” When it comes to God, past performance is an indicator of future success. This is one of the fundamentals that Hovot Halevavot tells us. In Shaar Bitachon perek ב , the fifth of the seven fundamentals that are needed in order to rely on somebody is that this person is somebody who was exclusively taking care of you from the beginning of your existence throughout your development until your old age. Obviously, there are very few people who have such an intimate knowledge of you. When you find such a person, you can rely on him, based on what he did up until now, that he'll continue to do so. Obviously, this is God. That's what David Hamelech is telling us in this beautiful pasuk. Ki Atah Tikvati/You are my hope. Why? because מִבְטַחִ֥י מִנְּעוּרָֽי /I relied on You in the past and that past reliance gives me hope for the future. There's another pasuk that comes a little bit later in the same chapter where David Hamelech says, פִּי יְסַפ ֵּר צִדְקָתֶך ָ כָּל הַיּוֹם תְּ שׁוּעָתֶך ָ I will speak of your justice all day of how You saved me, כִּי לֹא יָדַעְת ִּי סְפֹרוֹ ת / There is no end. And then he says, אָבוֹא בִּ גְבֻרוֹת אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה אַזְכ ִּ ירצִדְקָתְך ָ לְבַד ֶּךָ: I'll come to my old age (my eighties) and will mention the righteousness that You did, alone . What does this mean? The Chatam Sofer, in his derashot , his sefer of sermons, Shabbat Shuva , when discussing this pasuk, says that anyone that understands Hashgacha Pratit realizes, “ The killing of Vashti was like the splitting of the sea, just nobody recognized it. That's what it means in this pasuk when David Hamelech says, “ When I get old, when I reach my eighties, I’ll look back and mention the righteousness that You did alone. That only you know, that I don't know.” He adds, “ It’s a mitzvah on every person, when he gets older (we'll say from 60 and) to go and look into all the things that happened from his youth until the point he's at now (source included below) and see how different causes brought things about, and tell your children . And they'll also realize the greatness of God in their lives. That's what David Hamelech is saying here. “ God, don't forsake me in my old age, I'm going to tell the future generations. I'll tell my children.” This is extremely important. I'll share a little personal anecdote. Not long ago, my granddaughter in 10 th grade called my wife. She said was given a homework assignment to interview her grandmother about how high school was in the olden days. I didn’t think that I was that old nor that was my wife was olden . But believe it or not, we’re a little older than we think. We have children, we have grandchildren, we have life experiences, and we can share it with them. My wife spoke about how much homework they had, and I jokingly added, “ Remember, it was very hard in those days because we only had quills. We didn't have pens in those days.” She actually took us seriously for a moment! But we're older than we think. We have more experience than we think. If we look back, we have enough stories to tell our children and grandchildren. And we can say this pasuk with confidence, Ki Atah Tikvati/ You are my hope. Why? מִבְטַחִ֥י מִנְּעוּרָֽי Because I've been relying on You from my youth. You have a track record. And past performance is an indicator of future s uccess. Have a wonderful day.
We're now in a pasuk that's familiar to all, that we say in Hallel 115, 8, כְּ֭מוֹהֶם יִהְי֣וּ עֹשֵׂיהֶ֑ם כֹּ֖ל אֲשֶׁר־בֹּטֵ֣חַ בָּהֶֽם׃ Those that make the idols should be like them, whoever relies on them. Those that rely on idols should be like idols. Idols have no energy, they have no ability to sense anything, etc. Now we'll flip to the positive side. The Midrash Rabba in Devarim discusses this in two places- 1:12, and 5:8. In the first, it makes a kal v’homer of sorts ( an example of a Kal V’Homer -If I can lift a 10 pound weight, then surely Arnold Schwarzenegger can lift a 10 pound weight. I'm the lightweight, he’s the heavyweight.) So says the midrash : If someone who worships idols becomes like the idol, then someone who worships God surely becomes like God. And that's what בָּר֣וּךְ הַגֶּ֔בֶר אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִבְטַ֖ח בַּיהֹוָ֑ה וְהָיָ֥ה יְהֹוָ֖ה מִבְטַחֽוֹ means: The one that relies on Hashem is like Hashem. The second midrash actually says, Whoever relies on Hashem becomes like Him. This is a powerful concept. The Chatam Sofer in Devarim 4:4 explains the pasuk: You that cleave to Hashem your God, are alive today and forever. And the Meshech Chochma tells us that the source for bitachon is U’Bo Tidbak/Cleave to Hashem So by cleaving to Hashem, you are relying on Hashem, and you are like Him, connected to Him, and alive forever, the opposite of those that connect to idols. The Elder of Kelm, in his sefer Or Rashaz on Bereshit , 74th essay, cites Yirmiyah 2 ,5 which tells us that God says about the people that went after the idols: They followed the hot air, they followed the vanity, and they themselves became hot air. Whatever you connect to, that's what you become like. If you connect to the fantasy world, you become a fantasy, and the opposite- If someone is connected to Hashem, connected to Torah, and connected to reality, he becomes reality. This is an unbelievable concept. This was said when the Jewish people said Hallel , when they left Egypt. The Sefer Bigdei Sarad on Hagaddah shel Pesach says that they saw what happened to the idols and what happened to the Egyptians. The idols were wiped out, and the Egyptians were wiped out. And the whole time that the Jews were enslaved, the Egyptians were asking, as they do today, “ Where's your God?” We know where our God is. He's high up and lofty and he is going to eventually save us and wipe them out. The S efer Shem Yishmor on Bo says something fascinating. He says the Jewish people were on the 49th level of Tumah . They were not ready for the Geula . So, what did Hashem do? He put them through difficult situations that forced them to have Emunah and Bitachon They slaughtered the Egyptian’s god and put the blood on the doorstep. They relied on Hashem, and he says that's what pulled them out of the contamination of Egypt . They became connected to Hashem, and If you're connected to purity, you are pure. He says that's what redeemed them and that's what took the Tumah off. Unbelievable! Bitachon creates a connection to God that rids one of sin. And just like when we got out of Mitzrayim, that's what Hashem is going to do at the end of time. We too will be put into situations that force our bitachon and that allow us to rejuvenate and renew ourselves and get a new life. That's why we go through challenges in life. It gives us the opportunity to connect to Hashem, to rely on Him- it’s a purifying experience. The sefer Seder HaYom at the end of his commentary on Minha , talks about Alenu Leshabe’ach, which we say at the end of our prayers, happy that we're connecting to Hashem. We say, “ They pray to hot air and emptiness and pray to a force that can't help them.” He says that at the end of our prayer, we're reminding ourselves of כְּ֭מוֹהֶם יִהְי֣וּ עֹשֵׂיהֶ֑ם they are connecting to hot air, to fantasy, to nonsense. And when you go after nonsense, you become nonsense. But we're praying to God, therefore we have hope. We know we'll be pulled out of this mess. That's a powerful concept. This is something that we have to really reiterate. This is a pasuk we have to sing כְּ֭מוֹהֶם יִהְי֣וּ עֹשֵׂיהֶ֑ם Simply, the problem is that this pasuk is seemingly negative. Why would a negative pasuk be on our list of pesukei bitachon ? The answer is that the lesson is not that those that follow the idols become empty and nonsense like the idols. The lesson is the kal v’homer. If that's what happens when you connect to nonsense, imagine what happens when we connect to purity and make positive connections, as we do when we connect to Hashem . Do not forget this powerful important pasuk כְּ֭מוֹהֶם יִהְי֣וּ עֹשֵׂיהֶ֑ם If you want to look it up, it’s in Midrash Raba in Devarim , 1,12 and 5,8, two places where this wonderful point is made. Have a wonderful day.
We are now in pasuk 78, 22 of Tehillim , which discusses the negative impact for those that don't have bitachon. Referring to Jewish people in the desert it says: כִּ֤י לֹ֣א הֶ֭אֱמִינוּ בֵּאלֹהִ֑ים וְלֹ֥א בָ֝טְח֗וּ בִּישֽׁוּעָתֽוֹ׃ Because they did not trust in Hashem and they did not rely on His salvation. They didn't have Emuna and they didn't have Bitachon . The Radak explains that ‘ they didn't believe in Hashem,’ means they didn't believe that He was able to give them meat in the desert and bring them into Eretz Yisrael . The fact that They didn't rely on His salvation is a separate point, which is that any time we had a salvation in the past, we're supposed to use that as an indicator for the future. That's one of the things the Hovot Halevavot tells us about Hashem’s reliance- He’s come through for you in the past. So that’s a complaint. People who have seen many salvations in their lives are supposed to have stronger bitachon. Those past experiences are supposed to mean, ‘ Hashem has been taking care of me until now, He will continue to take care of me. ’ The older we get, the more bitachon we should have. But I'd like to focus on a different point in this pasuk. It says, Ki/ Because they didn’t rely… which indicates that something happened because they didn't believe in Hashem. The next 2 pesukim say, וַיְצַ֣ו שְׁחָקִ֣ים מִמָּ֑עַל וְדַלְתֵ֖י שָׁמַ֣יִם פָּתָֽח׃ / God commanded the heavens from above. And He opened up the doors of the skies וַיַּמְטֵ֬ר עֲלֵיהֶ֣ם מָ֣ן לֶאֱכֹ֑ל And He brought manna upon them to eat . The obvious question is, You just finished telling me that they were questioning God, and that they didn't have Emunah and Bitachon. So why are they now getting manna? This question is asked by the sefer Hechal Beracha , written by Rabbi Yitzhak Safron, the Rebba of Komarna, in Parashiot Beshalach and Bahar . He asks what would've happened if they hadn’t complained, and says that if they didn’t complain, “ The food would've come right into their mouths, Milk and honey… But once you started to complain and think I can’t do it? Okay, I'll bring bread from the heavens. But that's still some level of an intermediary. He says this again in Parashat Bahar , in the famous discussion about Shemitta , where it says that they asked, “ What are we going to to eat?” God says, I'm going to command the blessing upon you and give you three years' worth of crops. And again, the question is, If they hadn’t asked the question, what would've happened? The answer is, If you wouldn't have asked the question, it would've come much easier. It would've come without all the hard work involved in processing the three years of produce. It would have come a different way, which is they would've only needed a small amount and they would've had blessing because of this. This is an extremely important point - we can't see the success of bitachon, or lack of it, because we don't know what's going on in anyone's home. We don't know whether the fellow works less, is happier with less, and just has a general better state of mind and quality of life, versus the man who is questioning, getting all the answers, but with a lot of hard work. The less you ask, the less you question, the less work and the easier it is. The fact that a person is busy working hard and filling up his time is not always the best thing. Maybe if he wouldn't have asked, he would have an had easier time. This is an extremely important lesson. The Rabbi makes an interesting diyuk . In the case of both the manna and Shemitta , the word Sivoi is used. God had to command . It says He commanded the heavens from above. And, I will command My blessing . That means if you wouldn't have asked the questions, it would've happened naturally . It would've been smoother. The fact that you asked the questions, in his words, clogged up the pipes . The pipes got clogged, and now we have call Roto-Rooter to clean out those pipes, making it a bit harder, so to say. In his words, “ We have to command and open the pipes. They were closed because of the lack of Emunah. And therefore, God had to command. Sometimes when you have to Roto-Rooter, you have to take a bypass and it's not the same as the original pipes. To recap, a person that doesn't have the right level of Emunah and Bitachon might end up getting what he's supposed to get, but not in the same easy way. That is what we learn from this pasuk , which, to me, was a tremendous hiddush . We always look at the manna as the highest level. But this Rabbi, the Hechal Beracha is telling us there is an even higher level than the manna, called Honey and milk directly into their mouths. A beautiful pshat and wonderful hiddush . Have a great day.
Welcome to daily. We're now in Tehilim 21,8 כִּֽי־הַ֭מֶּלֶךְ בֹּטֵ֣חַ בַּיהֹוָ֑ה וּבְחֶ֥סֶד עֶ֝לְי֗וֹן בַּל־יִמּֽוֹט׃ For the King trusts in Hashem and the kindness of the Most High, (referring to Hashem) that he will not falter. Rabbenu Bachye in Bamidbar 22, 2 discusses the concept of a Jewish king and says that originally Hashem did not want there to be a Jewish king because the people rely on the king and the king relies on the people. It's reciprocal. The king wants to have a large nation army and he's relying on them and they're ultimately relying on him. But we, the Jewish people are supposed to rely directly on Hashem. The Torah forbade reliance on human beings. Hashem wants each of us to individually rely on Hashem. When we have that, we shouldn't need to have any one man to rely on. Even more than that, every individual will be more guaranteed than the king. Since Hashem knew that in the future the people would become weak, he set up a system for a king, but it's really not ideal and that's why Hashem wasn't happy with it. David Hamelech is different though. As our pasuk says, this King trusts Hashem. This king, says the Radak is different than other kings. He does not rely on the masses of people. He relies on hesed Elyon/ the kindness of the One that's the highest. The system of bitachon is like a pyramid. The guy below relies on the guy above, and above and above and that's why the whole world relies on the king. The king has no one above him, so he has to rely on the people at large, who are above him in a way, because ultimately, they can overthrow the king. But David Hamelech realizes that there's something above him. That's why in this case we call it the Hesed Elyon , the kindness of the Highest One . Because the king has no one above him but David Hamelech looks even higher and sees Hashem, who is the One that can control everything, regardless of his abilities. That's why the pasuk ends off with Bal Yimot. David Hamelech knows he'll never falter because he's relying on the hesed of Hashem, which also never falls. The Chatam Sofer in Bamidbar 9 ,23 says that of course David Hamelech relied on Hashem when he was small, when he was taking on Goliat. The hiddush is that after he became king, he didn’t rely on his armies or his wealth, only on Hashem, unlike some people who only rely on Hashem when they’re down. The sefer Tiferet Shlomo, in his Likutim on Shmuel , adds a further point. He says, as we just mentioned, the poor man has no choice but rely on the wealthy to rely on Hashem and not on his wealth, because he has no wealth. The king that could rely on his wealth and still relies on Hashem is a great Sidkut , and that's David Hamelech, who had all the wealth in the world and yet relied on Hashem. He cites the Zohar, that quotes from Rav Hamnuna Saba who would pray before he ate, even though he had a full table of food. It's brought down that everyone should do that-pray for their food every single day. Now the question is, what do you mean pray for my food? The food's on the table, I'm about to eat the food. There are people who say, Mizmor L’David, Hashem Ro’ee Lo Echsar before they eat because in that we have the pasuk (23,5) תַּעֲרֹ֬ךְ לְפָנַ֨י ׀ שֻׁלְחָ֗ן Hashem sets my table… What does that mean? Don’t I set the table? That's exactly the point here- to realize that even when you have it, it’s Hesed Elyon- in a split second, it can disappear. This is really a big hiddush. When we have our health and our wealth and our happiness and our family and the shidduch, and we're sitting in our houses, the mortgages arepaid off, everything's fine, our family is around us, the Pesach bills have been paid…. And I say, I have to rely on Hashem for what I have this second because, as we say, Hashem is pumping energy into everything every single second. There's nothing that's just here, it's here because it's Hashem's want that we should have it right now. And that's what David Hamelech understands. That's the greatness of David Hamelech. He's the king. And he relies on Hesed Elyon. And that's the only reason why bal yimot/he won't falter . We don’t stress this enough. When I have the food, I have the car, I have the house, I have it all, what guarantees Bal Yimot ? What guarantees it will not falter ? That’s why I need bitachon, even when I have everything. Because I don't really have anything- I need the constant Hesed Elyon. There are so many important pesukim, and that's why we're trying to review them. For those of you that haven't been following us for the past few years, we started with the list of Pesukei Bitachon of Rav Yosef Zundel of Salant, who also lists this pasuk, but stressed a different point- El Elyon, Gomel Hasadim Tovim . If you want a refresher on that, you can take a look at the book Daily Dose of Bitachon of Pesukim of Bitachon. Now we're on the Maharal’s list. He also lists this pasuk , but with the Bal Yimot twist. There are endless beautiful thoughts to appreciate in any pasuk. The Melech, the king is Bote’ach b’Hessed Elyon. He's got it all, but he still knows I need Hesed Elyon. Otherwise I might falter. Finally, the word Elyon means above and the root of the word Yimot is Mat , which is go down. So we can either be above or below . We could be on the top or the bottom of the Ferris wheel, but even if you’re all the way up on the top, you could still hit the bottom. That's the nature of the Ferris wheel. But again, David Hamelech is Bote’ach B’Hashem. Have a wonderful day.
We are now in a famous pasuk , Yermiyah 17,5 כֹּ֣ה ׀ אָמַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֗ה אָר֤וּר הַגֶּ֙בֶר֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִבְטַ֣ח בָּאָדָ֔ם וְשָׂ֥ם בָּשָׂ֖ר זְרֹע֑וֹ וּמִן־יְהֹוָ֖ה יָס֥וּר לִבּֽוֹ׃ So says God, ‘Cursed is the man who relies on a person, and makes flesh into his strength, and from Hashem, he turns away his heart. This is a scary pasuk- someone who doesn't have bitachon is cursed! In his sefer HaMaspik L’Ovdeh Hashem, the Rambam’s son quotes his father as saying that without these last two words of, “ Yasur Libo / He removes his heart (from Hashem) ,” we would all be included in this curse, has v’shalom , because most, if not all people have some type of partnership- the son relies on his father, the lady relies on her husband, the partner, on his fellow partner etc. Most people don't focus their full bitachon only on Hashem. But this curse only applies if you remove your bitachon from Hashem completely . The term yasur means total involvement . If, in your heart, you rely on Hashem, but you’re helped by other people, that's fine. That's the norm. The sefer Derashot Maharit on Parashat Miketz says the same thing- doing regular hishtadlut through people is the way Hashem works. That's not what is cursed. The curse is on M’Hashem Yasur Libo / completely turning your heart away from Hashem. So these are encouraging words from both the Rambam and the Maharit. The Hovot Halevavot says something slightly different, that might be a bit of a stringency. In Shaar Bitachon (chapter three) he talks about the important prequesites you need to be successful at bitachon. One of them is “You make Hashem solely into the one that you're relying on without any partnerships,’ not rely on Hashem and on somebody else. He didn't say you can't do hishtadlut, but he is saying that your reliance has to be on Hashem. It can't on a partnership. Furthermore, he says, if you're relying on Hashem and somebody else, then that's lacking in bitachon. He references the great king Asa, who, pious as he was, relied on the doctors and was punished for that. He says that is what our pasuk is referring to when it says Cursed is the one who relies on man and takes Hashem away from his heart. He ends off with; “ It's well known that if you ask two or more people to do something, then you're appointing has really lost out. If you tell your three children to clear the table, no one clears the table. He says it’s the same thing with Bitachon. If you rely on Hashem and somebody else, then you're not really relying on Hashem. Relying on Hashem means I'm counting on You. I need You. I can't do it without You. If you say, “You know what, Hashem? I'm counting on you, but my father might bail me out or my uncle or someone else, “ This is the strongest cause (for Hashem) to hold back from him what he’s relying for, and he quotes our pasuk. People often say they had bitachon, but it didn't work. Hold on. Only Hashem knows what's going on in your heart. Can I say I was totally focused on Hashem and I didn't all rely on the doctor, the lawyer, et cetera? This is an important piece of information that the Hovot Halevavot is revealing to us. He says this is the biggest reason that people’s bitachon doesn't work. People always ask, If you have bitachon will you get what you want? Well, Did you really have bitachon? Of course, we know there’s Hashem, we're not questioning that. Of course you're relying on Hashem, but is there a partnership here? Is it 100% Hashem? We're not saying that if it’s not 100%, you won’t get anything. But to be guaranteed and get what you want, you need to have total reliance without any partnership. 100%, no dilutions, and that's easier said than done. It takes a lot of work. B’Ezrat Hashem with thought and focus, we can get there.
We're now in a pasuk in Yeshaya 26,3 יֵ֣צֶר סָמ֔וּךְ תִּצֹּ֖ר שָׁל֣וֹם ׀ שָׁל֑וֹם כִּ֥י בְךָ֖ בָּטֽוּחַ׃ The Yeser/creation that relied on You, You protect him with peace; Peace, for in You he relied. This creature, this person will be protected with peace because he relied on Hashem. That is the simple explanation of Rashi. There are other explanations as well. The Radak, in his sefer HaShorashim , talks about the word Yeser . The term Yeser HaRa is usually translated as evil inclination , as you incline or lean towards evil. But the Radak says the term Yeser HaRa refers to man's desires or pictures, that are created on two different sides. He says the word Yeser is creation because the heart creates these images, positive and negative, that you desire. That's what Yeser HaTov and Yeser HaRa are. He says our pasuk refers to the Yeser HaTov . ‘Yeser Samuch’ means the Sadik relies on his Yeser HaTov ; meaning he listens to and leans on his Yeser HaTov. That protects him from doing evil and God gives him peace Ki Becha Batuach/ because he relied on Hashem . So, this explanation is talking about the man that is using his Yeser HaTov . He's listening to those positive images. The Malbim offers a similar explanation- that somebody who relies on his Emunah, God will protect him. He will have true peace and he will be able to rely on Hashem and not fear evil. That is the approach of the Radak and the Malbim. The Midrash Raba in Bereshit 22,6 has a different explanation and says this Yeser refers to the Yeser Hara. Rav Chanina Bar Papa says, When the Yeser HaRa comes to challenge you, push him away with Divreh Torah. When you do that, I consider it that you are the one that created peace. One might ask, “ How can you control your Yeser HaRa?” Don't worry. You are guaranteed. It says Your Yeser HaRa is out to get you so rely on My guarantee that you can overcome Yeser Hara So the pasuk can be read as: יֵ֣צֶר סָמ֔וּךְ If the Yeser Hara is close to you (if he’s trying to get you) תִּצֹּ֖ר שָׁל֣וֹם Protect yourself with shalom. What does shalom refer to? Divreh Torah שָׁל֑וֹם כִּ֥י בְךָ֖ בָּטֽוּחַ׃ The Chida quotes this midrash in two places. In his sefer Kikar LeAdon, chapter four, he says that this concept is based in the Gemara in Kiddushin , where it says בָּרָאתִי יֵצֶר הָרָע וּבָרָאתִי לוֹ תּוֹרָה תַּבְלִין. / I created the evil inclination (or the source of evil thoughts) and I created the Torah as the antidote, so that you can't claim that you are not in control because the Torah is the antidote . And that's what this pasuk is talking about. In another sefer , Homat Anach on the sefer Yeshaya , he adds that there are certain things that annul or get rid of the Yeser HaRa . Yirat Hashem is one, humility is another. These things anull him. But if you want to turn the Yeser Hara to good; if you want to channel those negative thoughts and forces for the good, for that, you need Torah . That’s what it means, בָּרָאתִי יֵצֶר הָרָע וּבָרָ אתִי לוֹ תּוֹרָה תַּבְלִין. / I created the Yeser HaRa and I created Torah Tavlin . Tavlin means spice . The spice makes it better. So, our pasuk is saying, If you want to save yourself, you need shalom (which refers to the Torah) and that shalom will turn the Yeser HaRa into good. That's what it means that I consider that you created peace, because you made the Yeser HaRa , those negative forces and desires, into good. And you can rely on Hashem because He promised us this. This is important as summertime is when the Yeser HaRa gets us. Someone once approached Rabbi Miller at a parlor meeting and said, “ I have difficulty with the challenges of the summertime. And don't tell me to learn Torah because I'm learning Torah and it's not working.” Rabbi Miller’s response notwithstanding, based on this Chida, we can say that what might have been missing is Ki becha batuach/You have to rely on Hashem and say, Hashem promised me, He guaranteed me that learning Torah will help me, so I'm relying on Hashem that the Torah learning will help me. Based on this pasuk , it seems that Torah Tavlin is not enough. You have to have the added aspect of bitachon . In short, we have two ways to read this pasuk. One is referring to the Yeser HaTov and the other is referring to the Yeser Hara. Both of them end off with Ki becha Batuach/ I feel guaranteed by Hashem to help me- whether I'm following my Yeser HaTov, or to help me when I'm learning Torah to protect me. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will have that shalom , that inner peace , because as long as someone's battling his Yeser Hara , he's not at peace. And that is the guarantee that we have from Hashem. בָּרָאתִי יֵצֶר הָרָע וּבָרָאתִי לוֹ תּוֹרָה תַּבְלִין.
Today we will discuss a pasuk in Tehilim 56,4, י֥וֹם אִירָ֑א אֲ֝נִ֗י אֵלֶ֥יךָ אֶבְטָֽח׃ On the day, I fear I rely on You. The sefer Binah L’Ittim writes, in the second derush on Shabbat HaGadol , “ On the day that I fear, and I realize that I'm not in charge (that’s why I'm afraid), then I can rely on Hashem . Because the fact that I realized that I'm not in charge arouses Hashem’s supervision and His wonders and miracles upon me. This is an important rule that we've discussed in the past- bitachon does not just mean that a person is complacent, that we sit back as if there are no problems in the world. That's not what bitachon is. Bitachon means that I realize the severity of the situation. I realize there are dangers out there, and then I focus on Hashem Who will take care of me, because He is in charge of everything. The Brisker Rav explains that that’s why Rosh Hashanah is a day of fear, and at the same time, a day of reliance on Hashem. Because if we don't arouse fear in ourselves, then it's not real bitachon. Right now, as you read this, no one has bitachon that they won't be in a tidal wave or an earthquake or a mudslide. You're sitting comfortably wherever you are, and you don't even have a concern. It’s only where a concern exists that can we evoke our bitachon in that area. In the sefer Shaarim B’Tefila, by Rabbi Shimshon Pincus, on the topic of calling out to Hashem, he quotes the Brisker Rav, and says that the Brisker Rav would act on this. In times of danger, the Brisker Rav would arouse fear in the people and say, We're in trouble. When there's a potential for war, we shouldn’t brush it off and say, “ Nah, it’s okay.” When there is danger, we can't just walk around serene and peaceful and say it's going to be fine. We're in danger. In his sefer Tiferet Shimshon on Vayikra , he says, “ I heard from the Brisker Rav’s son that when there was danger, he would constantly remind his children of the danger. He would say, ‘They're coming to kill us!’” Because the second you forget the trouble, the second you weaken and say, “ It's gonna be okay ,” you're no longer relying on Hashem. When a person has a challenge in his business, he shouldn’t say, “ Everything will be okay.” No, it’s not going to be okay. It might be terrible! And once I recognize that, I rely on Hashem- that’s Bitachon. During the Gulf War there was fear of Iran sending scud missiles into Israel, and there was no Iron Dome back then. Missiles were shot, and missiles did land. Baruch Hashem , they generally missed their targets and landed in open fields. But before Iran sent their missiles out, there was fear of chemical warfare. I remember certain people said it would be okay, not to worry , but Rav Shach said that was wrong.. He said said that before World War II. ‘ Don't worry. Everything will be okay.’ Well , he said, “ We don't know if it's going to be okay. It might be terrible. Things could happen .” And people got scared. He obviously did it for this reason, because you have to realize that bad things can happen. And then, when you start getting nervous, then it's going be okay. But if you're complacent and you have no fear, that's a problem. Another point from this pasuk is that the pasuk literally says, י֥וֹם אִירָ֑א אֲ֝נִ֗י אֵלֶ֥יךָ אֶבְטָֽח׃ On a day of fear, I to You rely. It should really say, I rely on You. I don't rely to You. Many commentaries explain that it can be translated both ways. But the sefer Semach Sadik, from the first Vizhnitzer Rebbi, Mendel Hager, (1830 to 1884) asks a different question. Why does it say Yom Irah/On the day of fear, Ani/ I rely on You ? He explains that when a person feels afraid, he gets down. But he needs a little bit of what he calls Gadlut / a little bit of greatness . Therefore, it says “ Ani / I .” There's a bit of gaava , a bit of strength and arrogance because there's a concept that you have to be uplifted your heart in the ways of God. You can't just be down and depressed. So, Yom Irah, Ani Elecha Evtach/On the day of fear, I'm going rely to You. Ultimately, in all our successes, we want them in order to serve Hashem properly. Therefore, I go with courage knowing that I'm trying to do the will of God. Therefore, Elecha / to You I rely, because I'm going towards You. I am relying that You're going to help me, and pull me through this. So again, Yom Irah/it's that day of fear . I realize it's dangerous. Whether due to war, health, business, etc… Ani/I , pick myself up . I am a somebody but Elecha/I'm going towards You and that's going to bring my success.
We are now in Pesukei Bitachon, Tehilim 115,11 יִרְאֵ֣י יְ֭הֹוָה בִּטְח֣וּ בַיהֹוָ֑ה עֶזְרָ֖ם וּמָגִנָּ֣ם הֽוּא׃ Those that fear Hashem rely on Hashem. He is their help and their shield. What is the connection between those that fear Hashem and those that rely on Him? Rabbenu Bachye in Bamidbar 25,11 tells us it’s known that Fear of Hashem is a stepping stone to Bitachon. We have to start with fear of Hashem, which is the realization that Hashem is here. Fear of Hashem doesn’t mean that you walk around shivering all day. Fear of Hashem means you realize Hashem is here. Rav Wolbe, as well as others, says that יראה Yirah / fear has the same letters as ראה Ra’ah / to see , which means fear of Hashem means you're aware of Hashem and therefore you don’t want to sin because He's watching me . And ultimately, if I'm aware of Hashem and know He's here, then I rely on Him. That's why יִרְאֵ֣י יְ֭הֹוָה בִּטְח֣וּ בַיהֹוָ֑ה those that fear Hashem rely on Hashem. Rabbenu Yonah, in his Igeret HaTashuva , unit 70, says that the more fear of Hashem you have, the stronger your reliance on Hashem becomes, and he quotes our pasuk: יִרְאֵ֣י יְ֭הֹוָה בִּטְח֣וּ בַיהֹוָ֑ה Rabbenu Yonah, in Mishleh 18,10 asks why we single out that Yireh Hashem rely on Hashem, and he says it’s because the reliance of people that fear Hashem is a different level of reliance. Furthermore, the Chatam Sofer points out that the rule is that we always go up in the levels of holiness. The pesukim start off with Yisrael Betach B’Hashem . Yisrael is the base level. Just the fact that he identifies as a Jew is something, as we previously discussed. Then there's the Bet Aharon Bitchu B’Hashem , those are the Kohanim . That's the next level. But the highest level is Yireh Hashem , those that fear Hashem. One of the greats in our Torah is Pinhas, somebody who put his life on the line, someone that had Yirah and Bitachon . Rabbenu Bachye, in Bamidbar 25,11 says that Pinhas was a God-fearing man and also a Bote’ach B’Hashem and his reward for killing Kozbi and Zimri was (Malachi 2,5) בְּרִיתִ֣י ׀ הָיְתָ֣ה אִתּ֗וֹ הַֽחַיִּים֙ וְהַשָּׁל֔וֹם / My covenant was with him- Life and Shalom He got life. He lived forever, and he got peace. These are really connected. Living forever comes from the fact that your body is at peace with itself. His body and soul never separated. Rabbenu Bachye says he got these two rewards, peace and life, because he had the traits of Yirah and Bitachon . What is a greater reward than life and peace? Of course, we want to live but we know that without peace, what is life? We're learning that these two levels, fear of Hashem and reliance on Hashem, give us the two greatest gifts that we can ask for: HaChaim V’HaShalom. And it builds on itself, as we said. The the more fear of Hashem we have, the more reliance on Hashem we have. The Chatam Sofer says in Shemot 18,23 that Yirat Shamayim comes from learning Torah. This point was a bit of a hiddush to me. We talk a lot about relying on Hashem, but there's a process. You need to work on Yirat Shamayim/ Fear of Hashem in general. We learn this from Yosef HaSadik who controlled himself from sinning with his boss's wife. He had Yirat Hashem . He said, I don't want to sin to God . He is also the role model of bitachon/reliance on Hashem, because you can't just jump to relying on Hashem. You rely on Hashem if you're aware of His presence. And if you're aware of His presence, then you also follow His rules and regulations and don't sin, so Bitachon needs Yirat Shamayim. We shouldn’t fool ourselves. We know that bitachon is elusive, so we really have to say to ourselves, If we have real bitachon, it should come with real Yirat Shamayim as well. Have a wonderful day.
We are now in Tehilim 28,7. יְהֹוָ֤ה ׀ עֻזִּ֥י וּמָגִנִּי֮ בּ֤וֹ בָטַ֥ח לִבִּ֗י וְֽנֶ֫עֱזָ֥רְתִּי וַיַּעֲלֹ֥ז לִבִּ֑י וּֽמִשִּׁירִ֥י אֲהוֹדֶֽנּוּ׃ Hashem is my strength and my shield. And in my heart I trusted him and I was helped. And my heart exulted. And with my song I will praise Him. What exactly is David Hamelech telling us? What's the Hiddush ? The Ibn Ezra explains the phrase Bo Betach Libi, in my heart I relied ( in singular) and V’Ne’zarti I was helped. He explains, “ I relied on Him alone , but many people helped me because He commanded them.” This is an extremely important lesson that the Ibn Ezra teaches, with basically four words: Ki Hu Siva LaHem/because He commanded them. We see this phrase two times in connection to Eliyahu HaNavi. Once in Melachim א perek י״ז when Hashem tells him “ Go and hide in Nachal Krit (on the Jordan) drink from there, and the ravens , Siviti/I commanded them to take care of you and give you food. The Radak explains that this wasn’t a prophesy to the ravens but rather that God placed in the heart of the ravens to feed him. A bit later in that same chapter Hashem tells Eliyahu HaNavi, “ Leave that spot. Go to Sorfata (in Sidon) “ Siviti/I commanded a widow to take care of you .” This widow was not a prophetess. He went there and she offered him the last bit of food that she had. Again,we see the phrase Siviti/ I commanded. The Ibn Ezra is teaching us that when we rely on Hashem, Hashem commands the masses to help us. He's not going to appear to them in the middle of the night in a dream, but nonetheless, He's going to make it happen. The Chafetz Chaim quotes this concept in his sefer Shem Olam, section one, chapter three. He says that anytime someone does a favor for you, you have to realize it's all M’Et Hashem. Hashem put in their hearts to help you , and he cites this pasuk of Eliyahu HaNavi, that this widow was not a prophetess, and yet God put into her the desire to feed him. Therefore he says, if you ask someone to do something for you, to buy something, lend you money, give you a job, make a shidduch or benefit you in any way, and he doesn't do it, don't complain, because it just means that Hashem didn't whisper in his ear that he's the man to do it. He adds, “I heard in the name of a certain Gadol that it's comparable to someone who is looking for a certain man named Reuven. He asks people, “ Can you tell me where Reuven is? ” They tell him that Reuven is a certain place so the man goes there and he says, “ Are you Reuven?” “ No, I'm not Reuven, ” says a guy. Would the man start yelling and screaming at this person that he's not Reuven? No, because he's not Reuven! The Chafetz Chaim says it’s the same when you're looking for someone to give you a loan. That man was spoken to by God, so to say, and told to give you the loan. If this man doesn't give you the loan, that just means you found the wrong man, so you can't complain to him. He's the wrong man. Lest you ask, “ What does this have to do with me? I'm not Eliyahu HaNav i,” know that the Chafetz Chaim, who lived a hundred years ago, brought it down. Additionally, the Hovot Halevavot, in the introduction to Shaar Bitachon, when he talks about the advantages of the Baal Bitachon over Alchemist, says that the Alchemist needs to have certain materials and without them, he can't do what he needs to do. (The Alchemist is the man that was able to turn metal into copper, copper into silver, and silver into gold). But the one that relies on Hashem, his sustenance is guaranteed without any intermediaries. His source for this is Eliyahu HaNavi, so he's talking to me and you and using Eliyahu HaNavi as the example, because this concept of Siviti I commanded, is for everybody . That's what the Ibn Ezra is revealing to us in this pasuk. בּ֤וֹ בָטַ֥ח לִבִּ֗י I relied on Hashem וְֽנֶ֫עֱזָ֥רְתִּיּ and I was helped by the masses. Why? Ki Hu Siva LaHem/Because He commanded them. What a wonderful, beautiful thought.
Today's pasuk of bitachon is a famous one from Hallel . יִ֭שְׂרָאֵל בְּטַ֣ח בַּיהֹוָ֑ה עֶזְרָ֖ם וּמָגִנָּ֣ם הֽוּא׃ Jewish people rely on Hashem. He is their Savior, their Help and their Shield. The sefer Maaseh Hashem , on the topic of Maaseh Mitzrayim chapter 24, says that there are two ways that Hashem can save the Jewish people. One way is that He wipes out the enemy. The other wa is that He protects us in what we’ll call an almost miraculous way. He says the greater praise comes when Hashem is their Magen , their Protector , because when Hashem wipes out the enemy, it could be just because the enemy was deserving of punishment, like it says in Devarim 9,5, כִּ֞י בְּרִשְׁעַ֣ת הַגּוֹיִם / Due to the wickedness of these nations. When Hashem doesn’t wipe out the nation, but rather protects us, that publicizes Hashem's love for us, because He is doing it just to save us. That's the expression of love that Hashem had for Avraham Avinu in Bereshit 15,1 אנכי מגן לך I am your shield . That's why we say, every single day, Magen Abraham , because that publicizes God's love, when He saves us through protection. That actually is what happened when those 300 missiles from Iran came our way and Hashem protected us miraculously with His clouds of glory. Of course, it happened in a semi-natural way that could attributed to the Iron Dome or other technological advances. But those are 90% successful, not 99.9% successful. In any case, God was our Magen , and that's something that's supposed to give us tremendous hizuk . Who exactly merits this level of Magen , when Hashem shows His tremendous love for us in that way? The sefer Zekan Aharon , quoted in sefer Yisaschar Yisrael Parashat Yavashev says that quite often, people feel that they're not deserving of Hashem’s love and protection, because they might have sinned. He says that even if someone sinned in a great way and he has almost no holiness left to him, if all he has left to him is the title Yisrael , then He's a Jew . What does it mean that he's a Jew? There’s a pasuk in Yeshayah 44,5 that says that in the future, when Mashiach comes, there will be different levels of Jews, and one of them is וּבְשֵׁ֥ם יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל יְכַנֶּֽה / He's called the Jew . The Bet Halevi writes in a manuscript quoted in the sefer Kovetz Yerushun that this refers to a Jew who didn't put on tefilin , and never said a Kaddish. But you know what he still has going for him? He didn't assimilate. He's recognizable as a Jew. And he says that you can't imagine what the great zechut is, for somebody who did not assimilate, who identifies himself as part of the Jewish people . We can't underestimate what that power is. He's not that Rasha from the Hagaddah that took himself out of the group . He says, If all this fellow has going for him is that he identifies himself as Yisrael, that’s enough for him to rely on Hashem, to merit the level that ‘Hashem will be a Magen, a Protector for you.’ It says ‘ Magen Avraham , God protects Abraham ,’ meaning that every Jew who has that little bit of Avraham inside of him, is still protected like Avraham, as long as he identifies as a continuation of Avraham Avinu. And he says, that's why the pasuk starts in the singular form, because this fellow becomes part of the Jewish people. He identifies himself and unifies himself with the rest of the people. This concept is actually a Rashi in Chumash. When they went out to war ( Devarim 23), the Kohen told them, ‘ Shema Yisrael, Hear, Jewish people, you're going out to war. Don't be afraid, don't be broken .’ Why does it say ShemaYisrael ? Rashi says it’s because Even if all you have is the merit of saying ‘Shema Yisrael,’ that's enough to save you. And Rav Wolbe, in his sefer Alei Shor (volume 2, page 360), makes a beautiful diyuk . He says, “It doesn't say ‘ In the merit of saying Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad… ’ it’s just the first two words that warrant protection. That means Shema/Hear Yisrael/Listen that you're a Jew. Realize you’re part of the Jewish people , and that itself earns you the protection for you to go out to war and be successful. This is an unbelievable concept for those people that wonder Who am I? What am I? Are you a Yisrael? Do you identify yourself as a Jew? If so, regardless of what you're up to exactly, if the world recognizes you as a Jew, that is the great level of וּבְשֵׁ֥ם יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל יְכַנֶּֽה You have the title Jew , and that's enough to rely on Hashem. All the goyim out there, the Arabs, they don't like Jews. They don't care what they look like, they don't care what they keep. They just don't like that Jew, וּבְשֵׁ֥ם יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל יְכַנֶּֽה and if you have that, that's enough to rely on Hashem. You are part of the Jewish people, and you have that special protection.
We continue with Pesukei Bitachon starting with the letter ט . Weq are in Tehilim perek 118,9 ט֗וֹב לַחֲס֥וֹת בַּיהֹוָ֑ה מִ֝בְּטֹ֗חַ בִּנְדִיבִֽים׃ It's better to seek refuge in Hashem, than to rely on the generous ones. This is very similar to the previous pasuk, which says, ט֗וֹב לַחֲס֥וֹת בַּיהֹוָ֑ה מִ֝בְּטֹ֗חַ בָּאָדָֽם It’s better to seek refuge from Hashem than to rely on man. What is the meaning of this additional point of relying B’Nidivim/on generous ones? The commentaries say that relying on man comes with two basic problems: The first is that he may not necessarily have the resources. The second is that even if he has the resources and he guarantees you, he can change his mind. But what if he’s a Nadiv / generous man? If he has the money, and doesn't change his mind, why should I worry? Rav Giktlia, a Mekubal and Rishon who lived in Spain in 1248 wrote a sefer called Sefer HaMishalim/ Book of Parables . In parable number 69, he says, Relying on a human being is is like relying on a spring that comes from rainwater. He explains that reliance on a person, even if he's generous, will not necessarily come to fruition because it's possible that even though he wants to fulfill it, and even though he has the money right now, it might dry out. There are many stories of people who were very wealthy and successful but overnight something happened, because ultimately, their wealth is not from an independent source. That's why it's compared to a wellspring that comes from rainwater. When the rain stops, the spring that comes from it slows down and eventually stops flowing. It’s the same thing with relying on people- because ultimately, it’s only when Hashem wants them to be successful in their business deals that their springs flow. Once Hashem stops sending it, everything stops. That's what it means. ט֗וֹב לַחֲס֥וֹת בַּיהֹוָ֑ה מִ֝בְּטֹ֗חַ בִּנְדִיבִֽים׃ Better to rely on Hashem than on the generous. This is also a pasuk in Yirmiyah 2,13, which we read during the three weeks. Yirmiyah, in the name of God, bemoans the situation and says, כִּֽי־שְׁתַּ֥יִם רָע֖וֹת עָשָׂ֣ה עַמִּ֑י אֹתִ֨י עָזְב֜וּ מְק֣וֹר ׀ מַ֣יִם חַיִּ֗ים My nation did two things wrong. They left Me, the source of Mayim Chayim/ living waters. Living waters replenish on their own. They're independent wellsprings. Nothing is independent but God. But what did the people do? לַחְצֹ֤ב לָהֶם֙ בֹּאר֔וֹת בֹּארֹת֙ נִשְׁבָּרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־יָכִ֖לוּ הַמָּֽיִם׃ They dug for themselves pits, broken pits that don't hold water. That means anyone else but God that you’re relying on is what we call Kli Sheni . He is the second level. He's not the independent source. He filled up his well from somebody else. There’s dealing direct and dealing with a distributor. The mom-and-pop stores don't buy from General Mills, they buy from the distributor, the fellow that has the rights to sell to smaller store chains. That's the way we have to look at all people, says the pasuk in Yirmiyah. They're all what we call jobbers . They don't produce the goods. They are intermediaries because ultimately, God is the real supplier. That's the mistake of relying on Nedivim . What if the supply source is suddenly cut off? You're relying on this fellow to provide for you, but something happens with his supply chain. This is currently a real issue in America. There are broken supply chains. A car needs a certain chip, but they can't get the chip, so now everyone's in trouble. You're relying on your supplier, who gets it from somebody, that somebody has a problem and so on. The Ultimate Source for everything is Hashem. We have to really understand that. In business, we're always looking to get to the real supplier. We don't want to have to deal with intermediaries and middlemen. That is the message here. ט֗וֹב לַחֲס֥וֹת בַּיהֹוָ֑ה מִ֝בְּטֹ֗חַ בִּנְדִיבִֽים Go to the Ultimate Supplier.
We are now in Pesukim of Bitachon that start with the letter Tet . This one, Tehilim 118,8 is found in Hallel , so we can apply it this week. ט֗וֹב לַחֲס֥וֹת בַּיהֹוָ֑ה מִ֝בְּטֹ֗חַ בָּאָדָֽם׃ It's better to seek refuge in Hashem then rely on man . The obvious question is, Of course you're better off relying on God than relying on people! Rav Yosef Trani, in the Derashot Maharit on Parashat Vayishlach (second derush ), makes an important point in the difference between the words Bitachon and Hisayon. He says that bitachon works when you are relying on a person because you're deserving . It could be God that you’re deserving of, because of your great deeds, or it could be a person that you went out of your way for, who therefore owes you one. You think, “ This man is going to help me because he owes me…..How can I rely on Hashem if I don't really deserve it ? I'm better off relying on this person who owes me one. Based on nature, he'll come through, so I’ll rely on him rather than relying on Hashem because Hashem doesn't owe me. I'm actually a little behind in my responsibilities to Hashem .” So what happens when a person realizes, “ I don't have the deeds?” For that, we have this additional concept, which is, in his words, “ If you look up to Above and you subjugate your heart to your Father in heaven, ‘Even though I don't deserve it, He should save me,’ It's good. It will work.” That's what David Hamelech is saying, ט֗וֹב לַחֲס֥וֹת בַּיהֹוָ֑ה מִ֝בְּטֹ֗חַ בָּאָדָֽם It's better to seek refuge in Hashem even though you're not deserving of it, than to rely on a human being that owes you. He says this concept is extremely important because if we rely solely on our deeds, who can possibly say, “I deserve it! Hashem owes me. ” He says Hisayon is when the person doesn’t deserve to get anything. He's seeking refuge under God's wing, that He’ll have mercy on him. In his words, “ He looks above and subjugates his heart to his Father in heaven,” a term that comes from Masechet Rosh Hashana 3,8 where it talks about when the Jews went to fight against Amalek. When Moshe Rabbenu lifted his hands, they would win. The Mishna asks, ‘ Does Moshe’s hand make or break the war? Rather, it’s to tell us that when the Jewish people looked above and subjugated their hearts to their Father in heaven, they'd be successful.’ Similarly, when the snakes were biting us in the desert after we spoke Lashon Hara , we deserved to be bit, but Hashem told Moshe to make a copper snake, and everyone who looked at it would live. Again, the Mishna asks, ‘ Do snakes bring life? Do snakes bring death? Rather, when we look above, and we subjugate our hearts to our Father in heaven,’ they would be healed. In both of these cases, the Jewish people had sinned. We sinned in the case of Amalek, and we sinned in the case of the snakes that came to bite us, and yet the advice that’s given is You're not deserving but look up to your Father in heaven. Subjugate your heart to Him. Focus on Him and Him alone. In Nefesh HaChaim, Shaar 3, perek 12, Rav Chaim Volozhin brings down the famous concept of En Od Milevado /If you focus on God alone, all bad decrees are annulled. He cites this mishna about subjugating your heart to heaven. He asks, why do I have to look at the snake ? And he explains that when you look at the snake and see how evil and powerful it is, you should say to yourself, “ It's nothing ,” and annul it in your heart. Don't pay attention to it. Subjugate your heart to Hashem and realize that only He can do it. That's what makes everything turn around. ט֗וֹב לַחֲס֥וֹת בַּיהֹוָ֑ה מִ֝בְּטֹ֗חַ בָּאָדָֽם . The way the Maharit explains it is fascinating. It means that I have the right to look above, to subjugate my heart to my Father in heaven. I realize there’s nothing else but Him . That's the power of the ultimate bitachon, of going above everything, annulling everything in your heart. It's easier said than done, but that's the power of even if you're not deserving, and that's the secret of Hisayon . Have a wonderful day.
We’re now in Pesukeh Bitachon starting with the letter ח . Today’s pasuk is Mishleh 29,25 חֶרְדַּ֣ת אָ֭דָם יִתֵּ֣ן מוֹקֵ֑שׁ וּבוֹטֵ֖חַ בַּיהֹוָ֣ה יְשֻׂגָּֽב׃ Fear of a man will add a stumbling block, but one who trusts in Hashem will be encouraged. There are two approaches to this pasuk. In our previous work on Pesukeh Bitachon , we quoted from the approach the Bet Halevi and others that when a person is afraid, that fear creates a stumbling block that would not have been there, whereas someone who relies on Hashem will be saved from an existing problem. The Mesudat David gives a more practical explanation, which is that when a person is afraid of something that comes upon him, that causes an additional trap. Why? Because when a person is afraid, his heart is not with him. He's frazzled. He's in a state of panic, and that causes him to stumble on something small and trivial that he may not have stumbled on. We see that when a person is in a state of panic, he makes mistakes. On a practical level, the fear causes a stumbling block because the fear doesn’t let the person think correctly. You need to be calm. On a practical level, the one who relies on Hashem, besides the help that he gets from above, is calmer and therefore his decisions will be more correct. That's how the Mesudat David explains this pasuk , on a more practical level. The Malbim adds that the term חרדה herdah refers to, in his words, a sudden panic that causes a stumbling back. I'd like to just take out a moment to give a little science class on how panic works in our heads and why it shuts down our thinking and causes us to make mistakes. Hashem, in His great mercy, created something in our minds-we'll call it panic. If a person is walking across the street and they hear the noise of a bus screeching toward them, they’d run. We call that flight or fight . That's a state of panic. If you think there's a fire, you run. That's a state of panic. Panic is good for us because if a person, when he hears the screeching bus, starts making mental calculations, ‘ Should I run? Should I stay here? Should I jump,’ by the time he finishes making that decision, it’s too late. So Hashem put the amygdala in our brains. When it senses danger, it releases a chemical called cortisol , which is like an adrenaline of sorts, which suddenly gives us additional energy. That's why you can run and suddenly start breathing deeper and so on. The only caveat is that when this happens, the part of your brain that goes through thought processes, called the frontal cortex, shuts down. That's why you run when you hear the screeching sound of a bus. That's a good thing. If you see a tiger and run, that's a good thing. But what happens when a person is afraid of things that we shouldn't be afraid of- things that are not immediate dangers, which is what anxiety is really about. That state of unnecessary panic is going to cause stumbling blocks. It sometimes happens that people suddenly panic, and they run, slip and hurt themselves. It was an unnecessary fear. On the other hand, וּבוֹטֵ֖חַ בַּיהֹוָ֣ה יְשֻׂגָּֽב , the person that has bitachon has a calmer demeanor because he doesn't get into a state of panic when it's unnecessary. The example the Malbim brings down on this pasuk in Mishleh is the famous Hillel, who hears a scream coming from his house, and says, “ I'm sure it's not from my househol d,” and he quotes the pasuk. Hillel doesn’t panic when there's nothing to do about it. He's not panicking because he's at a loss. That’s what bitachon does for us. Bitachon helps us in situations where, quite often, there is nothing immediate to do. If one has to do CPR, of course do CPR immediately, but we're talking about when there's nothing to do immediately, and your mind is just playing tricks on you. That’s what a panic attack is, lo alenu . During a panic attack all of that adrenaline and cortisol is released, and because the person isn't running or fighting, but has that energy inside of him, his heart starts beating faster and his body is taken over. The panic is the unchanneled energy that would be expended running or fighting, but since there's nothing to run from or fight for, the person's heartbeat goes up and he starts breathing deeply due to all that extra energy inside of him. Sometimes he gets stomach aches because the blood that goes to the stomach is not necessary. That's a panic attack. And again, bitachon is helpful in preventing unnecessary panic which causes us to function improperly. This is a more practical approach to this pasuk of חֶרְדַּ֣ת אָ֭דָם יִתֵּ֣ן מוֹקֵ֑שׁ , aside from what we started off with, from the Bet Halevi and Rabbenu Bachye, that fear creates problems that weren't there and relying on Hashem gets rid of them. Of course, both of these explanations apply on a simple, practical level. On a practical level, the fear will cause a person to make mistakes and the calmness will cause a person to make the right decisions to get out of his problems.
We are now in Pesukeh Bitachon, Zephaniah 2,15 זֹ֞֠את הָעִ֤יר הָעַלִּיזָה֙ הַיּוֹשֶׁ֣בֶת לָבֶ֔טַח This is the joyous city, that sits in security with bitachon reliance There are many words for happiness in Hebrew and one of them is עליז Aliz . The Hebrew name, Aliza comes from this word and means to be happy . What exactly is the nuance of Aliza that connects to bitachon? The Malbim, in Habakuk 3,18 (and in other places) explains that the term עלז Alaz , is a happiness that shows up physically , to the point that one dances. That's his explanation of that nuance. It's a happiness that brings one to dancing, which means that an indication of real bitachon is that a person is actually dancing. He's so thrilled, he can't keep it inside. “ Let's just get up and dance. ” That expression of dancing, the ultimate physical expression of happiness, like you dance at a wedding, that’s the dancing of bitachon that Aliza refers to. The Gemara in the beginning of Masechet Megila tells us that when Rav Yonatan ben Uziel translated the Navi, the earth shook because he was giving out secrets. This is a very early commentary by the Tanaim, and Rav Yonatan ben Uziel gave over this translation. In more than 10 different places in Navi, he translates the word alaz as takif , which means strong, powerful . The word Takif is connected to the term in the Gemara, Matkif , an attack question . In modern Hebrew, an attack is called a hatkafa . So takif means very strong. It’s interesting that many times in Aramaic works, like the Zohar, the word takif is used in connection to bitachon . So, we're learning a new lesson with a new word. There's a level of bitachon where the person is so strong and confident in his bitachon that it brings him to a happiness, and not just a plain old happiness, but a happiness of confidence . That's what the term Aliza refers to. There's actually a pasuk in Yeshaya 3,13 that says, עַלִּיזֵ֖י גַּֽאֲוָתִֽי׃ which means simply means The happiness of my arrogance, but the Targum says it means, My strength and my confidence . So, there's a strength that person has when he's confident. That's what Ga’avah means- Confidence . There's another pasuk in Yeshaya , 23,7 that says, הֲזֹ֥את לָכֶ֖ם עַלִּיזָ֑ה מִֽימֵי־קֶ֤דֶם Is this to you, the Aliza/the happy one from the days of old ? Here the Targum explains it as the strong one, the rock. So he adds another word- it’s not just a strength, but a rock solid strength. Like we say, Tsuri, God is my rock . This person has a real strength, like a rock that doesn't break. The rock of Gibraltar is solid. This is probably the lesson that the Maharal wants us to get from this pasuk- That bitachon brings with it a happy confidence. I'm behind a rock. I'm protected. I'm solid, I'm strong. That is the feeling of bitachon- happy confidence. So one of the indicators of our bitachon is whether we have that happy confidence. Are we whistling in the street with happy confidence in whatever our needs are?
We are now in Pesukei Bitachon starting with a zayin . Tehilim 4,6: זִבְח֥וּ זִבְחֵי־צֶ֑דֶק וּ֝בִטְח֗וּ אֶל־יְהֹוָֽה׃ Slaughter offerings of righteousness, rely on Hashem . What does slaughtering offerings have to do with relying on Hashem? The Alshech says this refers to people who believe in learning Torah, but say, I can't learn Torah right now because I don't have the money. First I'll work, and when I have enough money, then I'll be able to set a time for learning… at whatever level of learning that is. To this, the Tehilim tells us, First make the sacrifice (that’s what the slaughter refers to) and then rely on Hashem and He'll come through. In the words of the Alshech, “ Start learning Torah under duress and trust Me, and I'll take care of you.” First do yours and then I will follow. This is a fundamental rule for everything- not only learning Torah. The Chida learns the pasuk as referring to Sedaka ( sedek and sedaka have the same root) which counts like a korban . And when you give Sedaka, you have to give first, then believe that Hashem will fill in. Towards the end of Shaar Bitachon , the Hovot Halevavot dedicates a full chapter to people that he calls Baalei Mishkonot/ people that want take a collateral from Hashem- like when you give person money on credit, but you don't really trust him, so you take a collateral. So too, this person wants to take a collateral from Hashem. He says, “ First give me and then I'll give You. ” The Hovot Halevavot goes through a few reasons why this doesn't make sense. One reason that you ask someone for a collateral is because you're afraid he won't be able to pay you back. He may lose his money. The second reason is, maybe he'll renege or change his mind He may leave the country, disappear or die. When it comes to Hashem, however, none of these concerns exist. Hashem will never run out of money. He'll never renege, He will never disappear. Like the Navi Hagai says, “ Mine is the silver and mine is the gold , so there's nothing to worry about. You can , so to say, lend God. I can take the risk and Hashem will come through for me. It's interesting that this happens quite often to people collecting money for organizations. They often have to give out the money before they get the money. One such organization is Lev Chana , which I am currently trying to raise money for. I gave out clothing cards to over 250 families before I got all the money. Why does it work that way? Because you start collecting after Purim, when people need to start shopping. You have to put your neck out and hope it happens. My father-in-law Rabbi Nosson Scherman draws a nice analogy from a relative of his; before she went on a diet, she would buy the dress that she wanted to fit into. That way she knew that she had to make it. Similarly, sometimes when a person commits to something, he just has to do it. You force yourself into the situation, because otherwise, you might not do it. I therefore remind everyone out there once again that if you still have any money to give out, Lev Chana is ready and able to receive your donation. You can send an email with your pledge, or a QuickPay to rabbisutton@gmail.com Or mail it to: 1059 East 10th St, Brooklyn NY 11230 The pasuk says, Betach B’Hashem V’Aseh Tov”/Rely on Hashem and do good. Why does it say rely on Hashem first and then do good? The Rambam says it’s because you can't say, “ I'll do good when I have everything set up… then I'll give.” No, you have to first rely on Hashem, and that will help you in doing the Mitzvot. Then you go ahead and do it. There are limitless examples of people who take that step. They don't have the funds; they don't have the money. When Rabbi Moshe Malka a’h from Bnei Brak first opened his yeshiva, he didn't know anything about money. He didn't have enough money to start. He had to buy mattresses and whatever it may be, and he overheard someone say, “check dachui, ” Hebrew for a post-dated check . He asked what that was and the person explained that you write the check for a later date, when you'll have money in the account. He said, “ Wow, that's an unbelievable invention.” And he went and bought everything he needed, all with postdated checks. But now what would happen? That’s where the bitachon comes in. Baruch Hashem, he filled it in. He started his Yeshiva with postdated checks. That's this concept of Betach B’Hashem V’Aseh Tov”/Rely on Hashem and do good and our pasuk, זִבְח֥וּ זִבְחֵי־צֶ֑דֶק וּ֝בִטְח֗וּ אֶל־יְהֹוָֽה׃ First, go ahead and sacrifice the sacrifice and rely on Hashem that He will fill in and the sacrifice. will be repaid. Don't be like those people that ask God for collateral. Have a wonderful day.
We are now in our last pasuk of bitachon that starts with a Vav- Devarim 33,8 וַיִּשְׁכֹּן֩ יִשְׂרָאֵ֨ל בֶּ֤טַח בָּדָד֙ עֵ֣ין יַֽעֲקֹ֔ב The Jewish people will dwell alone just like Yaakov When person is safe and secure, he doesn't need to have other people around אֶל־אֶ֖רֶץ דָּגָ֣ן וְתִיר֑וֹשׁ אַף־שָׁמָ֖יו יַ֥עַרְפוּ טָֽל׃ to a land of grain and wine, and the dew will come from heaven. This pasuk is describing beautiful tranquil life. How do you get there and what is the secret called BeTach Badad En Yaakov/The bitachon solitude of Yaakov Avinu? I'd like to share a very nice thought from the Bet Aharon, the original Stoliner Rebbe of Karlin, on Parashat Re’eh from his sefer Bet Aharon . He says that on one hand it says, ‘ Eineh Hashem el Sadikim / The eye s of Hashem are to the righteous .’ But then it says, ‘ En Hashem al Yereav/The Eye of Hashem is on those that fear Him .’ Regarding Yaakov it says One eye , and also, Bet Porat Yosef, Ben Porat Aleh Eyin Why one eye here, two eyes there? He answers that this world has good and bad, represented by the two eyes. You can look at it two ways. But really, everything comes from Above- from the good, from the right side, which represents the good. Each of the Avot had a Middah. Avraham Avinu’s is Hessed/kindness, where everything looks good. Then we have the Middat HaDin of justice , strict justice, which is Yitzhak Avinu’s Middah, and seems to look only bad. And then we have Yaakov Avinu who's in the middle. He puts it all together and sees everything in the proper, harmonious way. We can't only have good because only good really isn't good. We need the bad, or we can say, the justice to temper the good. Yaakov Avinu works everything out. That's what the eye of Yaakov means. It’s really like the Eyin Tova , the good way of looking at things . That's what Eineh Hashem Al Sadikim means. God gave us two eyes. He gave us the ability to look at things in two ways. But our goal is to turn everything around and see that everything is really coming from the right side. That's the bitachon outlook- to able to see and understand everything is ultimately for the good. That's what Yaakov Avinu did. That was his greatness. We say, “ The God of Yaakov should save us.” Because Yaakov Avinu was the one that went through the most trouble, and he was the one that saw everything for the good. He was the one that confessed at the end of his life, “ I made one mistake when I said, ‘Why did you do bad to me? Why did you tell Yosef about another brother to bring down to Mitzrayim? Why'd you do bad for me?’” The Midrash says that was the only thing Yaakov Avinu ever said that was out of place, in his life. God says, “ I'm preparing your son to be the leader in Mitzrayim, and you're saying, ‘Why did I do bad to you? Yaakov Avinu was held accountable on that level because he was able to see everything for the good. He understood that everything is good. He understood that when he wants one wife and it turns to four wives, it’s good. It brings him his 12 tribes. Yaakov Avinu is the power to be able to see everything the right way. It's interesting that what is said when you bring the Bikurim is the reading that we say on Pesach. We go back to Yaakov Avinu and say “ Arami Oved Ami, ” Lavan tried to destroy Yaakov, but Yaakov Avinu came out stronger- Four wives…12 children... wealth. We say that at the Bikurim reading because as the man is standing there with his basket, not everyone's so successful. Not everyone had a good year. And yet the Torah commands us, You have to be happy with all the good. That's why we bring in Yaakov Avinu- because he's the one that gave us the ability to look back and see everything was good. Rav Matityahu Salomon says that at the end of Yaakov Avinu’s life, he says, “ Elohim HaRoeh Oti/ God (of judgement) was my Shepherd. And the word רעה Ro’eh is written without a Vav, like רעה /evil, to indicate, “ God, that I thought was being just and evil with me, I see was only being my Shepherd at all times. ” We say Shema Yisrael , not Shema Avraham or Shema Yitzhak , because that ability to see there's only one eye, there's one good, that’s the Ein Yaakov , the one eye of Yaakov, that sees everything for the good, that flips everything around. The Zohar says something very powerful. There are two words that are ultimate opposites but have the same letters. Nega / נגע which is leprosy, the worst possible disease , and Oneg ענג which is the greatest possible delight . They have the same letters. The difference is that נגע Nega has the ע Eyin at the end and ענג has the ע Eyin at the beginning. And when the Torah is describing the, Tzara’at/leporosy, it says (Vayikra 13, 55) וְ֠הִנֵּ֠ה לֹֽא־הָפַ֨ךְ הַנֶּ֤גַע אֶת־עֵינוֹ֙ / The disease did not change the way it looks ,” but the Chiddushei Harim, quoted in his sefer Imre Shamai, reads it as The נגע nega didn't move its ע Eyin. If it would've taken the ע Eyin from the end of נגע Nega and put it the beginning, it would've spelled ענג Oneg . So you have to flip it and put the Eyin in the right place. That's what we're saying here. You could have Oneg and Nega total opposites, but if you have the right Eyin / eye , the right way to look at it, you could took take Nega / Leprosy, the worst disease and turn it into the greatest of pleasures. If you just look at it right. Nachum Ish Gamzu used to say Gam Zu LeTovah/This too is for the best, because he looked at it right . He turned it around. That's the En Yaakov/ the Eye of Yaakov. It’s the Eye of Bitachon. Yaakov symbolizes bitachon. Have a wonderful.
We continue with the Maharal’s alphabetic list of Pesukei Bitachon and we are in letter Vav. Devarim 12,10 says, וְהֵנִ֨יחַ לָכֶ֧ם מִכׇּל־אֹיְבֵיכֶ֛ם מִסָּבִ֖יב וִֽישַׁבְתֶּם־בֶּֽטַח׃ God will put aside all your enemies from around you. And you shall dwell in peace On the simple level, the Tiferet Yonatan is bothered-Isn't it obvious that if you have no enemies, you'll dwell in security? He answers that it's possible to have peace from your surroundings, but internally everyone doesn’t get along. That's why we need an additional blessing that not only will the enemies from around leave you alone, but you'll have internal peace, and achdut / unity amongst each other. This is related to bitachon because, as the Gaon of Vilna tells us, the source of all Sinat Hinam/baseless hatred is jealousy and hatred, which come from a lack of bitachon. If one truly relies on Hashem that He's in charge and controlling his life, he has no complaints against anybody. That’s the reading of the pasuk on a simple level-that the enemy is the physical enemy. However, the sefer Pri Sadik on Re’eh (letter 6) tells us that whenever the term enemy is used in the Torah, it can refer to the Yeser HaRa , as the Midrash in Bereshit Rabah chapter 54 tells us. On the pasuk ‘ His enemies will get along with him,’ the Midrash tells us this is the Yeser HaRa. The Hovot Halevavot tells us this as well, when he talks about the group of people that were coming back from a war (returning from Gaza after six months). They met up with somebody who said, “ You've left the small war, welcome to the big war.” What does that mean? What's the big war and what's the small war ? He says the small war is the war against the physical enemy, and the big war is the war against the Yeser HaRa. He's out to get you. He's out to destroy you worse than any other enemy. Other enemies sleep. He doesn't sleep. If you beat other enemies, they eventually give up, but the Yeser HaRa never gives up. The Yeser HaRa is the worst possible enemy. And that, says the Pri Sadik , is what the Torah referring to here. והֵנִ֨יחַ לָכֶ֧ם מִכׇּל־אֹיְבֵיכֶ֛ם מִסָּבִ֖יב וִֽישַׁבְתֶּם־בֶּֽטַח׃ We must remove from you all of your enemies . What are the main enemies? The three traits that take a man out of this world- Kinna/jealousy , Ta’ava/ desire and Kavod/honor. They take you out of the world. What does that mean? That eventually you're going to die from it. But the Ramban, in his commentary to Pirkeh Avot, says they take you out of the world, means they take you out of your Emunah. They take you out of your bitachon , your faith and reliance on God. This is an important point. The Ramban writes a bit about this in his Igeret HaRamban . He says certain middot/character traits are contrary to our beliefs. That means inherently, jealousy is anti-Emunah. Like the Ibn Ezra tells us when he asked the famous question, How can you tell someone not to covet his friend’s things? He answers that the farm boy does not have any interest in marrying the princess. It's not in his league. I'm not thinking now about going on a deep-sea scuba diving trip in my privately owned submarine. That's not even on my radar. That's for a different league. And it's that way with all the bad middot , namely jealousy, desire and honor. Taavah-desire: I want something. I'm deserving . I need to do….You don't need to do , you don't need to be deserving Hashem will give it to you. You're not deserving of anything. Kavod - I deserve honor . Why? What did you do? These three Middot are anti - Emunah and bitachon. It's not the simple way of reading it, but as we've said in the past from the Bat Eyin וִֽישַׁבְתֶּם־בֶּֽטַח means, not that you'll live securely, but that through this, you will live with bitachon. How? This is a big hiddush in how to read it. וְהֵנִ֨יחַ לָכֶ֧ם מִכׇּל־אֹיְבֵיכֶ֛ם מִסָּבִ֖יב / God will remove all of those enemies . Who are the enemies? Jealousy, desire, and honor. Then, when those are removed from you, וִֽישַׁבְתֶּם־בֶּֽטַח / you'll be able to have Bitachon. Because the biggest interference to bitachon is these Middot, because they take you out of your world. What's your world? Sadik B’Emunato Yihyeh/The Sadik lives in the world of Emunah . Desire, jealousy and honor send you off on a trip to Mars, they take out of this world. You're not in this world anymore. In order to get back into your world, back into your bubble of Emunah and bitachon, you need to remove the enemy- Desire, jealousy and honor. That’s a big hiddush in how to read this pasuk. B’Ezrat Hashem, the first thing we do on the holiday of Pesach is uproot Ga’avah and kavod with the matzah versus hametz . Have a wonderful day.
We are now in Pesukei Bitachon, starting with a Vav , Vayikra 25,18 וַעֲשִׂיתֶם֙ אֶת־חֻקֹּתַ֔י וְאֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַ֥י תִּשְׁמְר֖וּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֣ם אֹתָ֑ם וִֽישַׁבְתֶּ֥ם עַל־הָאָ֖רֶץ לָבֶֽטַח׃ You will keep My statutes. My laws you'll observe and do. And in reward for that, you will dwell in the land with security. Rashi says this is referring to keeping the laws of Shemittah . Keep My statutes and laws refers to the laws of the sabbatical year. Measure for measure, if you keep the laws of the sabbatical years, you’ll stay on the land and have success in the land. But if you don't keep the laws of the sabbatical years, you’ll get sent out. The commentaries ask a question about this: There is a rule that there is no reward in this world for Mitzvot. So how can we say that if you keep the statutes, then you'll end up getting all of these wonderful things, if there's no guaranteed reward in this world? On answer, based on the sefer Bat Ayin on Parashat Behar , says that the secret for success in the land is bitachon . That's why Hashem put us in Eretz Yisrael- so that we would stay there and keep the mitzvot. But it only works if you rely on Him. He has a novel way of reading the pasuk. He says, וִֽישַׁבְתֶּ֥ם עַל־הָאָ֖רֶץ לָבֶֽטַח ׃ Doesn't mean simply You will dwell on the land with security , but rather, ‘ When will you dwell the land? Labetach / when you have the Middah of Bitachon .’ Through the trait of relying on Hashem and having faith in Hashem, you realize that everything comes from His will, and that is what brings us success. He continues with another novel explanation of the well-known pasuk that we say three times a day in Ashrei , “ Pote’ach Et Yadecha U’Masbia L’Kol Chai Ratzon/You open your hands and You satiate every living thing with Your will,” which means His will is what causes us to be satiated. We don't do anything. It's our reliance on Hashem that opens up the gates of bounty, and it's His will, not our worthiness, but His will, that gives it to us. That attitude and approach brings us success in Eretz Yisrael. The sefer Ahavat Shalom on Parashat Behar shares a similar concept and he reads it into this pasuk- וִֽישַׁבְתֶּ֥ם עַל־הָאָ֖רֶץ לָבֶֽטַח׃ You'll dwell in the land with security עלידי הבטחון החזק והאמיתי ישבכוחי נו להמשיך חסד הטוב ממקורוהצפון והגנוז / Through strong, solid bitachon, we have the ability to bring down God's good and kindness from the upper hidden places. We have the ability to bring down God's bounty through our bitachon . That answers our original question. How could it say that if you do something in this world, you'll be guaranteed reward? The answer is, it's the bitachon that brings the reward of the success. As we’ve said in the past, the Hovot Halevavot says that one of the sources for bitachon, is Test Me with this, which talks about keeping the laws of Ma’aser . Test Me, God says. And the question is , I thought we're not allowed to test God . It says, Don’t test God. But one of the answers the rabbis give is that you don't get rewarded for Mitzvot.That's true. But you get rewarded in this world for bitachon because it’s not a payback. Hashem is reliable. If I rely on Him, He’s going to give me what I need, because He is reliable. So, I'm not getting it because I did mitzvot. When you keep Shemitta, for example, and you leave your land fallow for a year and let the poor take and do nothing, that's an expression of bitachon. The reward is not because you kept the Mitzvah of shemittah , but because you exercised your bitachon, and when you exercise your bitachon, all the wonderful things happen. That's what this pasuk is telling us. Keep My laws and keep My statutes - but with bitachon , and the bitachon that you exercise will bring down all of the bounty. This is another important bitachon pasuk to keep in mind always. As we keep Ma’aser or Shemitta or close our stores on Shabbat or do any one of the myriads of things that we are doing and exercising our bitachon on, the merit of the bitachon will open the bounties of Above and bring down all of that wonderful goodness upon us.
We continue in Pesukei Bitachon starting with the letter Vav , Melachim א 5,5 discussing the era of Shlomo Hamelech: וַיֵּ֩שֶׁב֩ יְהוּדָ֨ה וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל לָבֶ֗טַח אִ֣ישׁ תַּ֤חַת גַּפְנוֹ֙ וְתַ֣חַת תְּאֵנָת֔וֹ מִדָּ֖ן וְעַד־בְּאֵ֣ר שָׁ֑בַע כֹּ֖ל יְמֵ֥י שְׁלֹמֹֽה׃ (The Jewish people) Yehuda and Yisrael dwelled in security , a man under his grapevine and under his fig tree. We have previously discussed the other-worldly level of tranquility that comes to a person through bitachon. We said that you really need to be in Olam Haba / the world to come without interferences, evil, or death, in order to have that level of tranquility, which is Olam Haba on Gan Eden, and this is why we're always yearning for tranquility. God put that into us in order to endear to us the ultimate tranquility of the future. However, there were times in history that we reached that, such as the time of Shlomo Hamelech. That was the ultimate era of shalom , where even in this world, everyone reached that future level of each one sitting under their grapevine, or fig tree. This is the term used in the sefer Beer Mayim Chaim on Yitro (perek י״ח ) where he says, “In the time of Shlomo Hamelech, due to the building the Bet Hamikdash, everyone sat under his grapevine and fig tree, me’en Olam Haba. Shlomo Hamelech’s era was an era similar to Olam Haba. The Chida , in his sefer Chomach Anach, points out that it says, וַיֵּ֩שֶׁב֩ יְהוּדָ֨ה וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל when they dwelled Israel, in the singular form rather than plural. There are two parts of the Jewish people, Yehuda and Yisrael. But here it says vayeshev in the singular because there was peace among them. They were one and that's why they had this peace in serenity. We've been discussing peace a lot. The shalom of the future, the Brit shalom , the covenant of the future . And this comes about interestingly, through Shlomo Hamelech. The root of his name is shalom . Due to that shalom, the people got along. Where does that shalom come from? The Midrash Rabba in Shir Hashirim says in 1,69, that until the Bar Hamikdash was built, we were bouncing from place to place. Once the Bet Hamikdash was built, the Bet Hamikdash allowed us to sit in peace and therefore to have this security and tranquility. There are a few more nuances to, “Each man under his grapevine and under his fig tree. ” Rashi discusses this in Devarim , 33,28 where it says the Jewish people in the blessing of Moshe Rabbenu will be secure and alone. Normally, in order for people to feel secure, they need a lot of people together. They can't be alone because they need someone to protect them. But here it’s saying each man can sit alone under his grapevine and fig tree, because we don't need to gather together. We're not afraid of the enemy. What is so special that we single out the grapevine and the fig tree? אִ֣ישׁ תַּ֤חַת גַּפְנוֹ֙ וְתַ֣חַת תְּאֵנָת֔וֹ /Each man under his grape vine and fig tree. This is a famous term of security that shows up quite a few times in the Navi . The Arizal says, as we've mentioned the past, in order to have the perfect peace and tranquility, there has to be a situation where there's no Satan , there's no evil, like in Shlomo Hamelech’s times. He says, we use these two trees because the opinion in Chazal is that these were possibly the tree of the Etz HaDaat , where Adam and Chava sinned. Either the grape vine, because it says all woe comes to the world through wine, or the fig tree, because it says Adam and Chava covered themselves with fig leaves from the tree that they sinned with. And in that era, where the contamination left the world, we'll be able to go back to that Etz HaDaat in the proper way without any evil. We will have the ultimate Gan Eden from before Adam HaRishon. That's what we're trying to get to. And the truth is, as we’ve said, we can get to it in this world. We say to every chatan and kallah , “ These beloved friends should be happy like God made you happy in Gan Eden of old.” We bless every couple that they can create their own Mishkan , their own Bet Hamikdash in their home, which has in it peace and serenity, which is focused on the Torah ideals, which frees itself from the evil of the Satan of the Yetzer Hara; a home built on Bitachon, on realizing that I get exactly what I need and exactly what I want. That household of peace and shalom that is the goal of every Jewish household. We are trying to get that to the level of the וַיֵּ֩שֶׁב֩ יְהוּדָ֨ה וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל לָבֶ֗טַח This is, of course, the future in Olam Haba and it was in the time of the Bet Hamikdash of Shlomo Hamelech, that’s all true. But we have the ability to build that in our own home. The Maarit, in his Derashot in Parashat Beshalach of Shabbat HaGadol asks why it says, “ a man under his grapevine,” in singular. It should say a man under his grapevine s . He says it’s because they're going to get enough parnasa from that one grapevine. Again, this is the life of tranquility where I'm happy with less. It's me and my wife and our own little surroundings. I don't have to be like the Joneses. That is the ultimate level of peace and tranquility that comes through a Bet Hamikdash, whether it's the actual Bet Hamikdash or one that comes through a husband and wife that are able to use their Etz Hadaat properly, and eat it at the right time. Adam and Chava could have waited until Shabbat, and everything would've been fine, saving their delicacies and enjoyments for Shabbat. That's the perfect home that we can reach in our times אִ֣ישׁ תַּ֤חַת גַּפְנוֹ֙ וְתַ֣חַת תְּאֵנָת֔וֹ of man under his grapevine, under his fig tree.
We continue in Pesukei Bitachon starting with the letter Vav , Melachim א 5,5 discussing the era of Shlomo Hamelech: וַיֵּ֩שֶׁב֩ יְהוּדָ֨ה וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל לָבֶ֗טַח אִ֣ישׁ תַּ֤חַת גַּפְנוֹ֙ וְתַ֣חַת תְּאֵנָת֔וֹ מִדָּ֖ן וְעַד־בְּאֵ֣ר שָׁ֑בַע כֹּ֖ל יְמֵ֥י שְׁלֹמֹֽה׃ (The Jewish people) Yehuda and Yisrael dwelled in security , a man under his grapevine and under his fig tree. We have previously discussed the other-worldly level of tranquility that comes to a person through bitachon. We said that you really need to be in Olam Haba / the world to come without interferences, evil, or death, in order to have that level of tranquility, which is Olam Haba on Gan Eden, and this is why we're always yearning for tranquility. God put that into us in order to endear to us the ultimate tranquility of the future. However, there were times in history that we reached that, such as the time of Shlomo Hamelech. That was the ultimate era of shalom , where even in this world, everyone reached that future level of each one sitting under their grapevine, or fig tree. This is the term used in the sefer Beer Mayim Chaim on Yitro (perek י״ח ) where he says, “In the time of Shlomo Hamelech, due to the building the Bet Hamikdash, everyone sat under his grapevine and fig tree, me’en Olam Haba. Shlomo Hamelech’s era was an era similar to Olam Haba. The Chida , in his sefer Chomach Anach, points out that it says, וַיֵּ֩שֶׁב֩ יְהוּדָ֨ה וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל when they dwelled Israel, in the singular form rather than plural. There are two parts of the Jewish people, Yehuda and Yisrael. But here it says vayeshev in the singular because there was peace among them. They were one and that's why they had this peace in serenity. We've been discussing peace a lot. The shalom of the future, the Brit shalom , the covenant of the future . And this comes about interestingly, through Shlomo Hamelech. The root of his name is shalom . Due to that shalom, the people got along. Where does that shalom come from? The Midrash Rabba in Shir Hashirim says in 1,69, that until the Bar Hamikdash was built, we were bouncing from place to place. Once the Bet Hamikdash was built, the Bet Hamikdash allowed us to sit in peace and therefore to have this security and tranquility. There are a few more nuances to, “Each man under his grapevine and under his fig tree. ” Rashi discusses this in Devarim , 33,28 where it says the Jewish people in the blessing of Moshe Rabbenu will be secure and alone. Normally, in order for people to feel secure, they need a lot of people together. They can't be alone because they need someone to protect them. But here it’s saying each man can sit alone under his grapevine and fig tree, because we don't need to gather together. We're not afraid of the enemy. What is so special that we single out the grapevine and the fig tree? אִ֣ישׁ תַּ֤חַת גַּפְנוֹ֙ וְתַ֣חַת תְּאֵנָת֔וֹ /Each man under his grape vine and fig tree. This is a famous term of security that shows up quite a few times in the Navi . The Arizal says, as we've mentioned the past, in order to have the perfect peace and tranquility, there has to be a situation where there's no Satan , there's no evil, like in Shlomo Hamelech’s times. He says, we use these two trees because the opinion in Chazal is that these were possibly the tree of the Etz HaDaat , where Adam and Chava sinned. Either the grape vine, because it says all woe comes to the world through wine, or the fig tree, because it says Adam and Chava covered themselves with fig leaves from the tree that they sinned with. And in that era, where the contamination left the world, we'll be able to go back to that Etz HaDaat in the proper way without any evil. We will have the ultimate Gan Eden from before Adam HaRishon. That's what we're trying to get to. And the truth is, as we’ve said, we can get to it in this world. We say to every chatan and kallah , “ These beloved friends should be happy like God made you happy in Gan Eden of old.” We bless every couple that they can create their own Mishkan , their own Bet Hamikdash in their home, which has in it peace and serenity, which is focused on the Torah ideals, which frees itself from the evil of the Satan of the Yetzer Hara; a home built on Bitachon, on realizing that I get exactly what I need and exactly what I want. That household of peace and shalom that is the goal of every Jewish household. We are trying to get that to the level of the וַיֵּ֩שֶׁב֩ יְהוּדָ֨ה וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל לָבֶ֗טַח This is, of course, the future in Olam Haba and it was in the time of the Bet Hamikdash of Shlomo Hamelech, that’s all true. But we have the ability to build that in our own home. The Maarit, in his Derashot in Parashat Beshalach of Shabbat HaGadol asks why it says, “ a man under his grapevine,” in singular. It should say a man under his grapevine s . He says it’s because they're going to get enough parnasa from that one grapevine. Again, this is the life of tranquility where I'm happy with less. It's me and my wife and our own little surroundings. I don't have to be like the Joneses. That is the ultimate level of peace and tranquility that comes through a Bet Hamikdash, whether it's the actual Bet Hamikdash or one that comes through a husband and wife that are able to use their Etz Hadaat properly, and eat it at the right time. Adam and Chava could have waited until Shabbat, and everything would've been fine, saving their delicacies and enjoyments for Shabbat. That's the perfect home that we can reach in our times אִ֣ישׁ תַּ֤חַת גַּפְנוֹ֙ וְתַ֣חַת תְּאֵנָת֔וֹ of man under his grapevine, under his fig tree.
We continue in Pesukei Bitachon starting with the letter Vav , Yeshaya 32,18. We're talking about the future, and we have a very important lesson. וְיָשַׁ֥ב עַמִּ֖י בִּנְוֵ֣ה שָׁל֑וֹם וּֽבְמִשְׁכְּנוֹת֙ מִבְטַחִ֔ים וּבִמְנוּחֹ֖ת שַׁאֲנַנּֽוֹת׃ My Nation will dwell in the abode of peace (which the Abarbanel says refers to Yerushalayim) and in dwellings of reliance, peace of mind, serenity and calmness. On this description of the future, Rav Saadia Gaon, one of the Geonim , who came before the Rishonim , in his sefer Emunot V’Deot , 10th essay, letter 16, quotes our pasuk to tell us that Olam Haba is dwellings of reliance with peaceful serenity . That is Olam Haba -a picture of serenity, whatever serenity means to you, whether it's sitting in front of a Gemara or looking at a beautiful sunset. Whatever gives you the most calming, relaxing feeling, that is what Olam Haba will be. Rav Saadia Gaon asks what it is about the hustle and bustle of life that takes us out of ourselves, whereas calmness and serenity bring us Menuchat Nefesh . He explains that God made us this way, to remember the calm and serenity that Olam Haba will have and to become endeared by it. God made it so that we naturally feel good when we walk through a garden. When you walk through the Botanical Gardens, there's something about nature that suddenly calms you. You're supposed to think, “Ahh, I love nature. I'm looking forward to that future Garden of Eden. I love calm relaxation. That's dear to me. I'm looking forward to that in Olam Haba. The real, ultimate calm and serenity is Olam Haba. We use the term rest in peace based on pesukim . There's rest and calm. The Hovot Halevavot, in his first chapter of Shaar Bitachon, says the essence of bitachon is Menuchat Nefesh, which is translated as peace of mind, but it means, menucha/serenity , calm to the nefesh . The essence of Bitachon is feeling calm and relaxed, whatever that picture is for you, whether sitting on the beach with a perfect breeze, watching the sunset, being in the mountains in a waterfall…or whatever it may be. That is what bitachon is supposed to get you to. And what that means is that bitachon is only possible in Olam Haba. Olam Haba is just me and Hashem, without any interference or disturbance- just calm relaxation. So, what we're really asking with bitachon, is to be have an Olam Haba lifestyle in this world. That's why it's almost impossible to have full bitachon here- because of all the interferences. That's why the ultimate bitachon, the rabbis tell us, is rooted in the concept of En Od Milevado/There is nothing else but God, which is really Olam Haba , which is the Garden of Eden before the snake comes in. The snake destroys our bitachon. He's anti- bitachon. He tells you, “ You could be a creator. Eat from the tree.” The ultimate, perfect world is the world of Adam and Chava without the snake, in the Garden of Eden. That’s what we're trying to get to with bitachon in this world. Bitachon is other-earthly. The sefer Batei Midrashot , citing a Midrash called Otiot Rabbi Akiva, quotes our pasuk, וְיָשַׁ֥ב עַמִּ֖י בִּנְוֵ֣ה שָׁל֑וֹם / My nation will dwell in an abode of peace, and it explains every step of the way. It says, וּֽבְמִשְׁכְּנוֹת֙ מִבְטַחִ֔ים /dwellings of reliance means there's no Satan, וּבִמְנוּחֹ֖ת שַׁאֲנַנּֽוֹת / in serene peace of mind means no angel of death or Yetzer Hara. What allows us to be in that perfect bitachon status is a world without anything but Hashem. It’s unbelievable to think about the pasuk, to read and study it וְיָשַׁ֥ב עַמִּ֖י בִּנְוֵ֣ה שָׁל֑וֹם וּֽבְמִשְׁכְּנוֹת֙ מִבְטַחִ֔ים וּבִמְנוּחֹ֖ת שַׁאֲנַנּֽוֹת My nation is going to be Yerushalayim, which will be known as the abode of peace . Part of the word Yerushalayim is shalem , which is shalom . Peace is really shelemut / perfection . So, I will be in Yerushalayim, the dwelling of peace; I will be in a dwelling of reliance and serenity and peace . That's what I'm trying to get to down here in this world. I'm trying to get to Olam Haba in Olam Hazeh . That's why Shabbat is also about bitachon - because Shabbat is Me’en Olam Haba. What an unbelievable thought that Rav Saadia Gaon is telling us. For all the people going on vacation, every time you’re in a relaxing situation, sitting in total relaxation and calm, think to yourself, ‘ This is just a mashal. This is just an example of Menucha of Olam Haba, ’ and that menucha comes through bitachon . Have a wonderful day.
We continue in Pesukei Bitachon starting with a Vav . We're now in Yeshaya 32, וְהָיָ֛ה מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה הַצְּדָקָ֖ה שָׁל֑וֹם וַֽעֲבֹדַת֙ הַצְּדָקָ֔ה הַשְׁקֵ֥ט וָבֶ֖טַח עַד־עוֹלָֽם / The activity of charity brings peace, and the work of Sedaka brings serenity and reliance and security forever . This pasuk talks about Sedaka and mentions the word bitachon . The first point is that there are two kinds of charity. One, the Malbim says, is the Ma’aseh/ the action and, the other, Avodat Hasedaka means harder work . The simple action of charity brings shalom , and when it takes a little bit more effort, which requires bitachon on your part, it brings with it serenity and bitachon. One has to believe when you give Sedaka. The Rambam, in Yad Hazaka , in the laws of charity, chapter 10, says, No one ever gets poor from charity, and nothing bad can come from Sedaka, and he quotes our pasuk . This doesn’t only apply to giving, but the Rambam quotes, based on the Gemara, that making others give Sedaka is even bigger than you yourself giving Sedaka! That's what Ma’aseh me ans- you cause others to give. We have to understand that when it comes to giving Sedaka, you have to believe . The Ramban says that one of the Lo Ta’asehs is that when a person gives charity, he shouldn't feel bad about giving charity and he shouldn't think he’s going to lose out. He should look at it like he's making an investment, and making money on his investment. Because God is going to pay him back multiple times, and that's what it means- Give charity, and don't feel bad when you do it, for God will bless you in all your actions. Regarding the need for bitachon when it comes to charity, the Hovot Halevavot (chapter seven), says something fascinating. He says that the reason people don't rely on Hashem is that they don't know that Hashem commanded them to rely on Him. Where did Hashem command us to rely on him in the Torah? The first source he cites is the Navi Malachi, 3,10 where he says, “ Give charity, and test Me. ” We know that you can't test God when it comes to other Mitzvot, but when it comes to giving charity, Ma’aser , we can test God. and the Hovot Halevavot learns that this “Test Me,” means rely on Me, and believe that when you give Sedaka you're going to see success. Therefore, the beracha that comes from the charity, according to the Hovot Halevavot, comes from the bitachon of relying on Hashem, and believing that the charity is going to bring you beracha. This is especially true, says Rav Chaim Pilaggi in the introduction to his sefer Me’od L’Kol Chai , when it comes to holiday times. There's an extra inyan to give charity to the poor at holiday times. He quotes the Rashi in Chumash that says “ Be happy in the holiday, you, your son, your servant, and your maid servant.” That's four. And he lists another four- the Levi (which is the clergy today) the convert , the orphan , and the widow . And God says, My four correspond to your four. If you make My four happy, I'll make your four happy.” Rav Chaim Pilaggi says this is a segula that a person is happy in the holiday season. When he gives to and makes other people happy, his children will be happy. He says, that's what our pasuk means. וְהָיָ֛ה מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה הַצְּ דָקָ֖ה שָׁל֑וֹ ם / Sedaka brings shalom. That means shalom in your own household. Shalom bayit. You're going to get along with each other. There won’t be fights or arguments in your household. Rav Pilaggi says, “I witnessed many successful people that had houses full of everything and had a miserable holiday.” And he said, “I showed them this Rashi, I showed them that in order to be blessed, you have to make sure that you make other people happy.” That's what it means וְהָיָ֛ה מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה הַצְּדָקָ֖ה שָׁל֑וֹם But it takes bitachon. You have to believe it. I believe it. I've seen it work. Therefore, every holiday season I make my Lev Chana appeal, because I believe that not only does the one that gives get beracha , but the one who asks others to give gets blessed as well. So I believe and rely that it’s going to bring peace, and that no one will get upset at me for asking a second time. Not everyone has responded yet. I am trying to reach my budget to be able to clothe many families in our community. Before the holiday season, we give clothing cards to many families. We have a list of 60 widows with many orphans under them, lo alenu, besides another 200 families. So, we are asking you to please give generously. You can- -click this link, https://www.rayze.it/levchana/ -Send an email to rabbisutton@gmail.com and request to be billed, -QuickPay or Zelle to rabbisutton@gmail.com -mail a check to: 1059 East 10th Street, Brooklyn, New York, 11230. Please give generously and believe that it will bring peace to your home.
Today’s pasuk of Bitachon comes from Yehezkiel 34,29 וְלֹא־יִהְי֨וּ ע֥וֹד בַּז֙ לַגּוֹיִ֔ם וְחַיַּ֥ת הָאָ֖רֶץ לֹ֣א תֹאכְלֵ֑ם וְיָשְׁב֥וּ לָבֶ֖טַח You will no longer be plundered by the nations of the world. The animals of the field will not eat your bodies. You will sit and dwell in tranquility, וְאֵ֥ין מַחֲרִֽ יד there will be no fear. Those last two words, V’En Machrid/there will be no fear , are seemingly superfluous. I'm sitting with with reliance. All is well, so what is there to tremble about? It's interesting that the words, V’En Machrid show up both in the positive, in the blessings in Vayikrah 26,6 and in the negative, in the curses in Devarim 28, 26. When it comes to the blessings, it says, I will put peace in the land and you will rest, lie down with no trembling, no fear. That's the ultimate blessing. When it comes to the curse, is says, Your carcasses will be the food of the birds and the animals and no animal will be afraid ( of eating Jewish bodies). That's how far it will go. In Yehezkiel, in the positive, it says, there will not be eating and there'll be no fear. So it seems that there is something about V’En Machrid that’s obviously a high point in the future. But as long as we're in this world, in the current status, we're in a status called Machrid . There are always fears. There's always something to tremble about. There's always something to be concerned about. Rav Wolbe, in his essay on psychiatry and religion, on page 65, quotes secular psychologist Martin Heidegger, who says that fear is the most fundamental feeling that exists in the human being. Rav Wolbe says, notwithstanding how much psychoanalysis and psychiatry focuses on fears and phobias, fear is possibly the stigma of our generation. What's the cause? A lack of reliance and confidence in the economy, and the development of nuclear weapons. But he says, without a doubt, the lack of Emuna is also a strong cause for the underlying fears that we have. Our job, he says, is to create an existential feeling of calm, without fear, with this feeling of I'm amongst a Yedid/beloved one, God is my beloved One, I am in this beloved world. I'm in a safe world. Modern psychology says that a lot of the unwanted and obtrusive thoughts that people have comes from an underlying feeling of not being in a safe world. This may be a bitachon class, but as we always say, there's a crossover between psychology and religion. We need to feel like we live in a safe world, and ultimately, we need bitachon to get there. But even with all the bitachon that we have, the world that we live in doesn't feel safe. That's why the pasuk in Yehezkiel, when talking about the beauty of the end of time, uses the words En Machrid/ without fear, which is our pasuk ,. וְיָשְׁב֥וּ לָבֶ֖טַח וְאֵ֥ין מַחֲרִֽ יד We have to look forward to the times when we will live in that perfect world where there are no fears, not of disease (that’s a big one), nor of financial collapse or familial collapse. There is a expression waiting for the next shoe to drop, which basically means something negative and inevitable is going to occur soon. The origin of this phrase dates back to when people lived in tenements where the insulation was poor. When you heard the first shoe come down, you’d be waiting for the next shoe to drop. It means that something is going to happen eventually, that you're really not looking forward to. That is constant dread. That's really what the word Harada is-a dread (although in modern Hebrew, Google translates it as anxiety) . We're looking forward to that perfect world of En Machrid. That's our pasuk of the day.
We continue in Pesukei Bitachon from the Maharal . We're now in pesukim that start with a Vav. This one, not as familiar as many others, is from Zachariah 14,11: וְיָ֣שְׁבוּ בָ֔הּ וְחֵ֖רֶם לֹ֣א יִֽהְיֶה־ע֑וֹד וְיָשְׁבָ֥ה יְרוּשָׁלַ֖͏ִם לָבֶֽטַח׃ They will dwell in it ( Yerushalayim ) There will no longer be any herem (which refers to destruction) Jerusalem will sit in security, in reliance. This is a haftara that we read on Succot and it's talking about the final war of Gog U’Magog. It’s a Day of God. It describes the destruction and the obliteration of all those enemies of the Jews. In pasuk 9 it says וְהָיָ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה לְמֶ֖לֶךְ עַל־כׇּל־הָאָ֑רֶץ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא יִהְיֶ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה אֶחָ֖ד וּשְׁמ֥וֹ אֶחָֽד׃ And Hashem will be King over the whole world. On that day Hashem will be One and His name will be One, which means today His name is not One with Himself. The Gemara in Pesachim explains that we don't always react the same way to events. For good events, we say HaTov U’Metiv/ God is good and let Him continue bestowing good upon us, but when a bad thing happens. We say Dayan HaEmet/God is a just Judge , because it's hard to accept it. However, in the future, everything will become clear. It continues to describe how all around Yerushalayim , the land will be flat. The Abarbanel, in his sefer Mayaneh Yeshu a (literally the Wellsprings of Salvation ) section 11,8 explains that even though we say Yerushalayim Harim Saviv la/ Yerushalayim is secure normally in the fact it has mountains around it, in the future it will be totally flat, and Yerushalayim will be totally out in the open. And with all that, וְיָשְׁבָ֥ה יְרוּשָׁלַ֖͏ִם לָבֶֽטַח׃ we will sit in peace and tranquility because Hashem Echad UShmo Echad/Hashem is One and His name is One. That is the blessing that we're waiting for. Even though we might be living in Yerushalayim now, we do not have that final beracha of וְיָשְׁבָ֥ה יְרוּשָׁלַ֖͏ִם לָבֶֽטַח׃ This is one of the Pesukeh Bitachon for the fact that it arouses in us the belief in that guarantee of the Geula . The time will come, against all odds. With what's going on today, who would ever believe that there will be a time when Yerushalayim will sit securely, just relying on Hashem Echad U’Shmo Echad. No terrorists, no enemies, no United Nations. That's the ultimate beracha that we're waiting for. That's the final beracha of Sim Shalom. We're waiting for that blessing of shalom/peace. And now all we can do is rely on it. One of the reasons we read these pesukim from Navi is because we need to believe that those prophecies and promises will come true. Just like in the time of Mitzrayim, when we had difficulties. The commentaries explaini that the goal of those difficulties is to arouse in us and give us, the opportunity to have bitachon. So too today. we have to walk around with this pasuk and be confident in the fact that the time will come when וְיָשְׁבָ֥ה יְרוּשָׁלַ֖͏ִם לָבֶֽטַח׃ And it will not happen through any of our devices or through any of our ideas. The only way for Yerushalayim to be secure is that, like it says in pasuk 9 וְהָיָ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה לְמֶ֖לֶךְ עַל־כׇּל־הָאָ֑רֶץ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא יִהְיֶ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה אֶחָ֖ד וּשְׁמ֥וֹ אֶחָֽד׃ And Hashem will be king over the whole world. On that day Hashem will be One and His name will be One, That's what we're waiting for. Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad. Rashi says there that we know that now, but it's not apparent to the world. The nations do not realize that. Rashi says the same on the pasuk in Zechariah as well. All the goyim will recognize and say Hashem is One . This is an important concept because a lot of times when people work on bitachon, or pesukeh bitachon, they're working on their own personal problems. But we have to realize the ultimate bitachon is for the all-inclusive redemption. And we have to have that in mind as well, especially in these times when it doesn't look like we have any natural way to get there. We have to believe, וְיָ֣שְׁבוּ בָ֔הּ וְחֵ֖רֶם לֹ֣א יִֽהְיֶה־ע֑וֹד וְיָשְׁבָ֥ה יְרוּשָׁלַ֖͏ִם לָבֶֽטַח׃ They will dwell in it, There will no longer be any destruction and Jerusalem will sit in security.
We continue with Pesukeh Bitachon that start with a Vav . Todays pasuk is Tehilim 40,4 וַיִּתֵּ֬ן בְּפִ֨י ׀ שִׁ֥יר חָדָשׁ֮ תְּהִלָּ֢ה לֵאלֹ֫הֵ֥ינוּ יִרְא֣וּ רַבִּ֣ים וְיִירָ֑אוּ וְ֝יִבְטְח֗וּ בַּיהֹוָֽה Hashem put into my mouth a new song, Praise to our God. Many people will see this and become fearful of Hashem and will rely on Hashem. What is this new song that God puts in my mouth, and why does it say Praise to our God? It should say Praise to my God . Additionally, what does it mean that many people will see this and fear Hashem and rely on Him? The Radak explains simply that when God saves me from a challenge, by doing this kindness to me, which I have a responsibility to thank Him for, it's like He put a song into my mouth. God didn't put the song in my mouth, but God saved me, and that puts the responsibility upon me to sing a new song to Him. So, whenever something out of the ordinary happens, we have to, so to say, create a song. What is meant by a new song? The Radak says, Man has a responsibility to sing a new song for every miracle that happens. It's not enough to say thank you. A whole new presentation has to be done, like a hit single from the new album. We have to do that every time something extraordinary happens. That's why people make a Seudat Hodaah . But it's not enough just to make the party. You have to sing the song. Why does it say our God? Because it's not enough just to be on your own and say thank you. People must be present to praise our God. We have to praise Hashem to a crowd. And then that crowd will say, “ Wow! Look how He saved you! Look how He took care of you!” And they will also come to rely on Hashem. That's our responsibility, whenever something happens-we have to sing a song. Rav Sadok says, what are these new miracles? The miracles that happen to us every single day. Every day, miracles happen. There's a famous explanation that the food of the Korban Todah/Thank you Korban had to be eaten in just one day whereas other Korbanot could be eaten for two days. Two reasons are given, both of which connect to our pasuk. Reason number one is that there were 40 loaves of bread in this Korban . How can you possibly finish 40 loaves of bread in one day? The answer is that you have to invite other people so that we should thank God with the masses. That is lesson #1 The second reason it needs to be eaten in one day is that- How could I eat this offering for two days? It’s for today's miracle. Tomorrow is for tomorrow's miracle. Every day needs a new song, for every day has new miracles. That's the concept of Shira Hadasha: New Song. Furthermore, our rabbis tell us, Shira Hadasha is used in the following context. When nature goes on automatic pilot, so to say, and the sun rises and sets, that’s not called a Shir Hadash . That's called a Shir Yashan because it’s just the same old, same old. Hashem wants a Shir Hadash when we see something happen in our life that is extraordinary. That deserves a Shir Hadash . Every day we say Shira Hadasha, a new song, those that will redeem, will sing. That is Az Yashir, and it refers to when Mashiach comes. Where do we get this term, the new song ? The Avudarham says it’s from Tehilim 40,4. וַיִּתֵּ֬ן בְּפִ֨י ׀ שִׁ֥יר חָדָשׁ֮ Hashem put into my mouth a new song It’s not an old song. Yes, there are golden oldies. But we also need those new hit singles, for the fresh new miracles that just happened to us. Have a wonderful day.
We continue with the Maharal’s list of Pesukei Bitachon, letter Vav, Tehilim13,6: וַאֲנִ֤י ׀ בְּחַסְדְּךָ֣ בָטַחְתִּי֮ יָ֤גֵ֥ל לִבִּ֗י בִּֽישׁוּעָ֫תֶ֥ךָ אָשִׁ֥ירָה לַֽיהֹוָ֑ה כִּ֖י גָמַ֣ל עָלָֽי I rely on Your kindness. My heart rejoices in Your salvation. I will sing to Hashem because He has bestowed upon me kindness. The Avudarham, who finds sources for our prayers in Scripture, says that this pasuk is the source the Beracha , הגומל לחייבים טובות שגמלני כל טוב God is the Gomel, the One that gives to those that don’t deserve it . It was chosen because of its theme, similar to that of HaGomel , which is that I don't deserve it. That's why after a person gets off a plane, is healed from an illness or safely competes desert or boat travel, he makes this beracha which is saying, I don't deserve it; I didn't deserve it. Rather, וַא ֲנִ֤י ׀ בְּחַסְדְּךָ֣ בָטַחְ תִּי֮ /I relied your kindness. Rabbenu Yonah, in Mishleh 3,26 tells us that in order to have Bitachon, we have to rely on Hashem's mercy, which is abundant, and His kindness, which is tremendous, and strengthen our hearts in that belief in Hashem's kindness. And that's our pasuk, וַא ֲנִ֤י ׀ בְּחַסְדְּךָ֣ בָטַחְתִּי֮ / I relied your kindness. The Rambam’s son, Rabbenu Abraham, in his sefer Maspik L’Ovdeh Hashem , talks about a higher level of bitachon , which is when a person believes, בוודאות ובלי ספקות … guaranteed, without a doubt, I will get that. That's a high level. Not everyone's holding there. Rav Elya Weintraub explains that this comes from the belief in En Od Milevado /There's nothing else but Hashem, so I'm convinced He can do it and He will do it, and I have no doubt it will happen because there's nothing that can stop Him. That certainty of reliance undoes all evil and puts a person in a certain zone of God’s protection and benevolence. The role model of En Od Milevado was Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa. When a witch was trying to cast a spell on him ( Mesechet Chulin) he said leave your witchcraft, It's not going to affect me. En Od Milevado/ there is nothing else but God, even your witchcraft. I always understood that Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa’s main power was his belief in the Oneness of God and nothing else but God. But it’s interesting to note that when Rabbenu Abraham talks about Vada’ut/certainty of reliance , and cites the story of Chanina ben Dosa which shows his belief in En Od Milevado , he adds the following: ועם היות שבעלי המעלה הזאת בטוחים בהשגת מבוקשם, אין זה מפאת בטחונם בצדקתם וזכויותיהם אלא מפאת בטחונם בחסדיו יתעלה, כמו שאמר דויד (תהלים י"ג ו') "ואני בחסדך בטחתי" וכו': / Even though the people on this level are guaranteed in getting what they want, it's not because they rely on their righteousness and merits, but because they rely on Hashem’s kindness, as it says בחסדך בטחתי …. This is a big hiddush . In order to achieve the level of Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, he says we need two things: - We need to believe in Hashem's all-inclusive powers, but that's not enough. -We also have to believe in Hashem's kindness, and that His kindness is abundantly That is extremely important. The Hovot Halevavot says that one of the reasons why people don't have bitachon is because they don't understand how great Hashem's kindness is. We have to learn that constantly, but the truth is, it's not that difficult. Just look outside. Look at how much food there is, not just for us, but for the animal kingdom. Look how much abundance there is of everything. Hashem's kindness and mercy is unfathomable. Even as people are sinning, He continues to give them life- and not just sinners, but murderers, terrorists, and the like. Hashem has unfathomable kindness. And when we rely on Him, that knowledge is also important- the knowledge of Hashem's kindness. And that's why David Hamelech says, ַאֲנִ֤י ׀ בְּחַסְדְּךָ֣ בָטַחְתִּי֮ “ As for me, I rely on Your kindness .” Y The next time you say Hagomel , realize the important words, HaGomel L’chayavim Tovot… I’m chayav, and yet Hashem gave me kindness. Ki Gamal Alai. Have a wonderful day.
We are are now in Tehilim 119,42, וְאֶעֱנֶ֣ה חֹרְפִ֣י דָבָ֑ר כִּֽי־בָ֝טַ֗חְתִּי בִּדְבָרֶֽךָ I will respond to those who disgrace me and insult me because I rely on Your word. The Midrash Tehilim on this pasuk asks, What do they say? The answer if found in another pasuk of tehilim 42,4 where David Hamelech says, הָיְתָה־לִּ֬י דִמְעָתִ֣י לֶ֭חֶם יוֹמָ֣ם וָלָ֑יְלָה בֶּאֱמֹ֥ר אֵלַ֥י כׇּל־הַ֝יּ֗וֹם אַיֵּ֥ה אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃ My tears were my bread (that means) I was crying day and night. Why was I crying? Because they were taunting me. They tell me all day, Where's your God? “Come on David Hamelech, where's your God? You talk about relying on God all day and I don't see anything.” Hashem’s response is, “ Oh you're insulting David because of Me? Because he relies on Me? Don't worry. I will remove the disgrace.” This is an important principle. If you are relying on Hashem, flaunting it, and that causes people to disgrace you, Hashem says, it's My obligation to remove your disgrace . This is not just on a personal level, but on the global level as well, especially when Klal Yisrael is suffering through difficult times. The Midrash continues and beautifully says, “In the future (Yeshaya, 25,8) בִּלַּ֤ע הַמָּ֙וֶת֙ לָנֶ֔צַח וּמָחָ֨ה אֲדֹנָ֧י יֱהֹוִ֛ה דִּמְעָ֖ה מֵעַ֣ל כׇּל־פָּנִ֑ים Death will be swallowed up forever. (We say this at funerals) This is something that will happen in the future) And God will erase the tears. What tears? Simply it means the tears of death. But this Midrash explains it as the tears that David Hamelech had day and night because people were saying, ‘Where's your God?’ וְחֶרְפַּ֣ת עַמּ֗וֹ יָסִיר֙ מֵעַ֣ל כׇּל־הָאָ֔רֶץ And God will remove the disgrace of His nation . What disgrace? The disgrace of David Hamelech that our pasuk discusses when it says, I will answer those that disgrace me. כִּ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה דִּבֵּֽר I will answer them . Don't worry. I'm going to have a lot of answers, when the time comes. What will I answer them? It’s the next pasuk in Yeshaya , which is another famous pasuk. I never realized they were back to back: וְאָמַר֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֔וּא הִנֵּ֨ה אֱלֹהֵ֥ינוּ זה It will be said on that day, that we, the Jewish people will say on that day, you see, that's our God . At the end of Masechet Taanit 31A the Gemara tells us that in the future, Hashem is going to make a circle of Sadikim around Him in Gan Eden . He is going to sit in the middle and everyone's going to point and say, הִנֵּ֨ה אֱלֹהֵ֥ינו זהּ This is my God. קִוִּ֥ינוּ ל֖וֹ קִוִּ֥ינוּ ל֖וֹ וְיוֹשִׁיעֵ֑נוּ זֶ֤ה יְהֹוָה֙ קִוִּ֣ינוּ ל֔וֹ נָגִ֥ילָה וְנִשְׂמְחָ֖ה בִּישׁוּעָתֽוֹ׃ I hoped to Him and He brought salvation. This is Hashem that I hoped for. We're going to rejoice and be happy in His salvation. The Midrash asks, Who are we talking to when we say, “ This is our God?” To those wicked people who taunted us day and night saying Where is your God? To them, we will say, Here is our God. He's right here. Our rabbis tell us that we are going to go around and around in a circle and say the words Nagila V’Nismecha BYeshuatecha which is very similar to the words. Nagila V’Nismecha Bach/Bo which we say both in Tehilim and Shir Hashirim, and the Gaon of Vilna says that according to the Midrash, this refers to Simchat Torah , the ultimate happiness. We go around in a circle around God, point to Him and we say, “ See, that's my God. I hoped to Him. And He brought salvation. The pasuk initially says, Hineh Elohenu Zeh/This is my God , using the word Elohim, which is the God of judgment . Then it says, Zeh Hashem , This is Hashem , the God of mercy . In the future, We're going to realize that the God of judgment was the God of mercy. I hoped to Him and He brought me salvation. I hope to Him and He brought me simha. The tragedies in Eretz Yisrael happened on Simha Torah, the very day that causes the people to ask, Where is your God? We cry and we say Ayeh Elohecha , but we have to know that we're going to have an answer to those people that taunt us. Soon, in the future, we going to say, “ That's my God. I hoped to Him and He saved me.” That goes for the Jewish people at large and the individual as well. Have a wonderful day.
We continue in Pesukeh Tehilim- letter Vav . Todays pasuk, Tehilim 9,11, is familiar to many because it's part of our prayers. וְיִבְטְח֣וּ בְ֭ךָ יוֹדְעֵ֣י שְׁמֶ֑ךָ כִּ֤י לֹֽא־עָזַ֖בְתָּ דֹרְשֶׁ֣יךָ יְהֹוָֽה They rely on You, those that know Your name, because You have not forsaken those that seek You. Orchot Sadikim , in the section on Simha , tells us, based on this pasuk, that the building block of bitachon is Emunah. Without Emuna, you cannot have bitachon. As our pasuk says, וְיִבְטְח֣וּ בְ֭ךָ יוֹדְעֵ֣י שְׁמֶ֑ךָ / Those who rely on You know your name. They know Your name means they recognize Your greatness and Your strength and believe in You with all their hearts. With that belief, they can rely on You. Reliance is higher than belief. Belief is, so to say, a potential state. I know what He can do. Relying on Him is a maximum - we rely on Him to do. That's an important distinction that many are not familiar with. Our main lesson from this pasuk is from the Elder of Kelm. In his essay 9,95 on Bereshit , he discusses the pasuk where Hashem tells Abraham, ‘I know him, ’ which Rashi says means I love him , and one of the signs of love is that you want to be intimately involved in that person's life. Why do I love him? Because I know he's going to continue teaching his son the proper ways, the Derech Hashem. The Elder of Kelm adds the following important principle: He says the main success of man is knowledge of Hashem. Not because you're going to get a reward, but just the nature of knowing God brings with it success. It's not a secondary outcome. Rather, knowledge of God is an immediate success. He explains that knowledge of God, to know God, means to know He's good and that He's constantly doing good. As the Pasuk in Tehilim 89,3 says, Olam Hesed Yibaneh/God built the world of kindness and His kindness and goodness fills the world. Every creature has what it needs. And not just the basic needs, but additional luxuries in an overwhelming way. It’s not just food and water but healing and all kind of delicacies. And the whole goal of creation, with all of those creatures, is just for man. God doesn’t need man. It's all just to be good to man. When you know all of that, you realize, by looking into the world, how kind God is. And once you know God, God knows you. That's the system, as it says regarding Abraham Avinu, I know him . I know him because he knows Me. And he says, that's already a success, because, if you know God, then immediately you're going to understand. If I know God, I'm already in a situation of success because God knows me. What is better than being under the intimate watch of God? Like the pasuk says, God knows the ways of the righteous. It’s not what's going to be, it’s what is right now. If I know Him, He knows me. What better place to be? And he says, that is our pasuk וְיִבְטְח֣וּ בְ֭ךָ יוֹדְעֵ֣י שְׁמֶ֑ךָ Once you know Hashem, and you know Hashem knows you, He's right on top of you. He's right there to rely on. And you know, ָ כִּ֤י לֹֽא־עָזַ֖בְתָּ דֹרְשֶׁ֣יךָ יְהֹוָֽה God doesn't forsake those people that aren't Dorshei Hashem in search for Hashem. Like it says throughout Tehilim, such as in 105,4 דִּרְשׁ֣וּ יְהֹוָ֣ה וְעֻזּ֑וֹ בַּקְּשׁ֖וּ פָנָ֣יו תָּמִֽיד׃ Search, Hashem in His strength, constantly look for His face. It's interesting that the word Doresh means to search for . It doesn't mean you found anything. Just the fact that you're searching is already something. God doesn't forsake those that search for Him. There's a famous mashal , about a great Hasidic Rebbi whose daughter was playing hide and go seek. She came to her father crying and explained that they were playing hide and go seek. “ And I picked a hiding spot that was so good, nobody found me. They just have up and forgot about me.” The Rebbi heard that and burst out crying. His Hasidim were surprised. Why was the Rebbi crying? It was only a game. The Rebbi explained, I'm not crying over her game. I'm crying because Hashem hides Himself and we're supposed to play hide and go seek, but He hid Himself so well that we gave up on the game. This is the concept that Hashem doesn’t only take care of those that found Him or those that know God. God doesn't forsake those that are searching for Him. There are times where it's easier to find Him, like the Aseret Yeme Teshuva , when we say, “ Search for God when He is found,” but God can always be searched for. Our job is know Hashem. And if we haven't gotten to that level yet, at least we can search for Him. Have a wonderful day.
We're now in Pesukeh Tehilim that start with a Vav , Tehilim in 52,10, where Dacid Hamelech says,1 וַאֲנִ֤י ׀ כְּזַ֣יִת רַ֭עֲנָן בְּבֵ֣ית אֱלֹהִ֑ים בָּטַ֥חְתִּי בְחֶסֶד־אֱ֝לֹהִ֗ים עוֹלָ֥ם וָעֶֽד I am like an evergreen olive in the house of Hashem. I trust in the kindness of Hashem forever and ever. The Chida, in his commentary on Tehilim, says this evergreen olive in the house of Hashem refers to a time in history (Melachim 2, 11,1-2) where the wicked queen Atalia slaughtered the entire royal family with the exception of an infant, Yoash, who was hidden in the attic above the Holy of Holies in the temple. David Hamelech saw prophetically that there was a danger to his offspring so he prayed that his offspring would flourish like an evergreen olive in the house of Hashem. The house of Hashem refers to the attic of the Holy of Holies, where the last remnant of his seed would be replanted. David Hamelech ends with, “ I trust in the kindness of Hashem forever and ever.” that his progeny will never be completely destroyed. The Ben Yoyada, the Ben Ish Chai’s commentary on the Shas (Sanhedrin 5A) tells a fascinating story that also shows David Hamelech’s progeny in danger and how it was God's hesed that protected this final sapling. He says it happened during the era of the Persian kings. One of them decided to wipe out the seed of David Hamelech – and all that was left was one lady who was pregnant. Her husband was killed, and this embryo was the last of the Davidian line. The Persian king thought that maybe there was a pregnant woman out there, so he tried to find this lady and destroy her as well. But then he had a dream that he was standing in his garden filled with all kinds of beautiful trees. In his anger, he took an ax and started chopping all the trees down. As he was looking to see if there was anything else left to chop down, he sees a little sprout coming out of the garden and he takes his ax to chop it down. But then an old man, all red, with beautiful eyes, starts screaming at him, takes the ax out of the king's hand and hits the king on the forehead with the axe. The king was close to death. He fell the begging and pleading, “ What did I do to you? Why'd you hit me with the ax?” He cries and begs and the old man ends up healing him. He didn't know what was going on, but before he got up, the promised that he would take care of this last sapling- water it and develop and rebuild the garden. When he woke up in the morning he saw blood on his bed, and he was very concerned. He called in all of his dream interpreters, just like Paroah, but they told him he’d need a Jew to interpret this. They found one of the Chachamim to interpret the Dream and he explained that this reddish fellow was David Hamelech, and that he was upset with you that you're trying to wipe out his progeny and there's only one little sapling left and you're looking for that also. And he's going to kill you. You promised him you'd take care of the final sapling. The man agreed with the interpretation and swore that he would take care of of the woman. And he did. He made a special room for her, to take care of her. And when the baby was born, they named Bustanay , which means garden in that language. Bustanay was raised by the king. This man, he says, became the first of the Rosh Galiot , the head of the exile and his children continued to be the Roshei Galiot for generations to come. He adds, that's what Yaakov Avinu meant when he said Lo Yaasur Shevet M’Yehuda that there would always be a little sprout left. And from there, David Hamelech would continue. So once again, we see that David Hamelech’s bitachon lasts for generations, counting on Hashem’s Hessed. It's an important to point out that the Malbim says that this only happens when you rely on Hashem’s hessed (which is never ending) and connect yourself to Hashem, which is never ending. He has a never ending protection, even generations after him, based on this reliance on Hashem that he will take care of his seed and eventually Mashiach w ill come from it. Have a wonderful day.
We are now in Tehilim 55, 24: וְאַתָּ֤ה אֱלֹהִ֨ים ׀ תּוֹרִדֵ֬ם ׀ לִבְאֵ֬ר שַׁ֗חַת אַנְשֵׁ֤י דָמִ֣ים וּ֭מִרְמָה לֹא־יֶחֱצ֣וּ יְמֵיהֶ֑ם וַ֝אֲנִ֗י אֶבְטַח־בָּֽךְ But You Hashem blow them into the well of destruction, men of bloodshed and deceit. They will not live out half their days. But as for me, I will rely on You . The obvious question is, what is the connection of the first half of the pasuk, with David Hamelech praying for the destruction of these men of bloodshed and conceit, to him then saying, and I rely You ? The Ibn Ezra says, I rely on You means he relies on Hashem to live out a full life. They are men of bloodshed. They shouldn't live half their days, yet I shall live a full life, and I rely on You for that. David Hamelech did live a full 70 years. The Mishna in Pirkei Avot discusses the students of Bilam versus the students of Avraham Avinu. Avraham has a good eye, a humble spirit, and a humble soul. On the other hand, the students of Bilam the Rasha have an evil eye, they are haughty and they chase desire. The Gemara says, concerning the students of Bilam the Rasha, “ Hashem you should take them down to the wells of destruction …” and quotes our pasuk. The commentary Tiferet Yisrael discusses this contrast of וַ֝אֲנִ֗י אֶבְטַח־בָּֽךְ I rely on You: Sometimes the students of Bilam the Rasha, despite chasing desires and honor, seem to live a good life, while the Sadik doesn't seem to have those things, in his humble approach. To this, David Hamelech says, וַ֝אֲנִ֗י אֶבְטַח־בָּֽךְ I rely on You. You are my ultimate Benefactor and everything I have from You, I appreciate, even if I don't live that flamboyant life. The Magen Avot says, וַ֝אֲנִ֗י אֶבְטַח־בָּֽךְ I rely on You means that Through my bitachon I'll be saved from Gehinom. Those wicked people go down to Beer Shachat, which refers to Gehinom, but I rely on You. Due to my reliance, I will be saved from Gehinom and end up in Gan Eden. The Midrash Shmuel on Pirkei Avot quotes from the sefer Lev Avot that says, “This doesn't mean that they're not going to live out their lives. It means that, from all their days, they don't give half of it to You. There's a concept of half for God and half for you . They don't give a part of their time to You, God, they don't give any of their time to You. But David Hamelech contrasts that, וַ֝אֲנִ֗י אֶבְ טַח־בָּֽךְ I rely on You ( and this is an important few words), “Consistently, without a moment of interruption.” David Hamelech says of himself, My bitachon is a constant. It's not that I rely on You when I have a problem or I rely on You when I have a challenge . No- I don't just give part of my life. It's a constant reliance. That's what's going to get me to Gan Eden. That's going to give me all of my benefits. וַ֝אֲנִ֗י אֶבְטַח־בָּֽךְ Our final explanation is from the Chatam Sofer that says, How do I protect myself from committing sins like these people? What's going to guarantee that I'm going to stay on the right path and not stumble? The answer is, for the one who wants to purify himself, the angels of Hashem will help you out. They will give you extra help to get you to the proper place. As it says, God will send His help from the holy places. That's what it means, וַ֝אֲנִ֗י אֶבְטַח־בָּֽךְ says the Chatam Sofer ( Devarim 12,5), I rely on You that You're going to help me stay on the path. You're going to help me remain dedicated to You. So, we have many beautiful explanations of what David Hamelech’s bitachon is, vis-a-vis the wicked people of his time, Doeg and Achitofel. Number one , I rely on You that I will live out a full life. Number two, I rely on You that You're my benefactor, even though I don't have the seemingly wonderful life of the wicked. Number three, I rely on You to save me from Gehinom. I rely on You constantly and I rely on You, and I know I will remain on the proper path. Have a wonderful day.
We are now in Tehilim 78, 53: וַיַּנְחֵ֣ם לָ֭בֶטַח וְלֹ֣א פָחָ֑דוּ וְאֶת־א֝וֹיְבֵיהֶ֗ם כִּסָּ֥ה הַיָּֽם God guided them in security, and they were not afraid. And their enemies were covered by the ocean. David Hamelech is talking about the Keriat Yam Suf. I saw two different approaches to explain this pasuk. One is that God directed them towards bitachon and they weren't afraid. At Keriat Yam Suf, the Jewish people were told not to pray. Hashem said, “ Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Jewish people to travel into the ocean.” They traveled into the ocean, the water came up to their noses and then the sea split. The Or HaChaim HaKadosh explains, as many others do, that this is the source for a concept that there are times where prayer does not work and Bitachon does. וַיַּנְחֵ֣ם לָ֭בֶטַח That's what it means that God guided them towards bitachon. They weren't afraid, and therefore the sea split. How exactly is it that Bitachon works when Tefila doesn't? One answer is that bitachon, at the deepest level, reaches what we call En Od Milevado/There's nothing else but Hashem, and that cancels out all judgements and prosecutions. Rav Chaim Volozhin famously discusses this power in his sefer Nefesh HaChaim. Tefila works within the framework of reward and punishment. Of course, prayer can arouse merit, but at the end of the day, we're in the world of reward and punishment. However, the power of bitachon goes above that. Even if we say, Why should He split the sea? They're both idol worshipers etc , Bitachon is able to overcome that. Therefore, God put them in a situation that forced them into Bitachon so that they would have the merit for the sea to split. That's what וַיַּנְחֵ֣ם לָ֭בֶטַח means, God directed them towards bitachon. A simpler explanation is that God directed them in a secure fashion. God put them in a situation where there was no fear. The Radak explains that even though it says, ‘ They were very scared and they cried out to God,’ that fear was for just a moment, because immediately thereafter, the sea was split and the enemies were covered. The fear did not last. This is an important concept that connects to what we started off with, that the fear that a person has, if it does the job arousing bitachon, will last for just a second. That fear is beneficial. The Gemara in Masechet Berachot 55A tells us, “ A bad dream, the pain is heals. ” That means when a person has a bad dream, this is an accomplishment, because he was scared. So the fear that came about through the bad dream caused that there was no bad in the end. It protected the person from the bad of the dream. The Steipler applies this in one of his letters. Sometimes people have a test scheduled, and they get all scared because of the test. And sometimes there’s a mistake. Someone recently told me that they went to a doctor for an EKG, and somehow the machine was upside down and the doctor read it wrong, and they thought he was having a heart attack. They wanted to send him to an emergency room. He called his cardiologist and it turned out that it was just a scare. So, this is an important way of looking at scares in life, that they're just there to be scares. And that's this concept that Hashem guides us. וַיַּנְחֵ֣ם לָ֭בֶטַח He guides us towards getting out of our problem by getting us scared, and from on in, as it says at Keriat Yam Suf, וְלֹ֣א פָחָ֑דוּ they were not afraid.
Welcome to, we are now in a pasuk in Iyov, 11,18: וּֽ֭בָטַחְתָּ כִּֽי־יֵ֣שׁ תִּקְוָ֑ה וְ֝חָפַרְתָּ֗ לָבֶ֥טַח תִּשְׁכָּֽב׃ You should be confident (or reliant) for there will be hope. You shall lie down, entrenched in security . What bitachon is this pasuk talking about? וּֽ֭בָטַחְתָּ כִּֽי־יֵ֣שׁ תִּקְוָ֑ה The commentaries, amongst them, the Gaon of Vilna, in his sefer Aderet Eliyahu explain that this is talking about the hope for Olam Haba . The sefer Yesodei HaIkarim , a commentary on the Torah in Parashat Pekudei from a Rabbi Yitzhak Danzig, printed in the early 1900s, quotes a Midrash Raba in Bereshit 62,2: When Rav Abahu passed away, he saw a vision of 13 rivers of balsam oil, a certain type of perfume. And he said, “These are all mine? And I thought I toiled for naught!” The Midrash says on that , “When a Sadik leaves this world, God shows them their reward.” Furthermore, it quotes different rabbis, who, on their deathbeds, had visions and said pesukim . One of the rabbis said a pasuk, “ In Him, my heart will delight because I relied on His great name. ” Another rabbi said, “ All those that seek refuge in You will be happy. ״ So it’s interesting that there's a connection between the person’s Bitachon and their final happiness. ‘You'll laugh on the final day ,’ means on the day that a person passes away, he will laugh because he will see the great reward that is waiting for him. But what does this have to do with bitachon? Why are these rabbis mentioning bitachon specifically? And similarly, our pasuk says, there is hope and you'll lie down, entrenched in security , which means when you pass away, you'll be secure. In order to explain, we have to understand what Rav Abahu meant when he said, “ All l this is for me? I thought I worked for nothing!” We say, “ We shouldn't work for nothing. ” I heard an explanation from my cardiologist, Dr. Arthur Schwartzbard, quoting from sefer Otzrot HaTorah, and quoting from a patient that heard it in the name of Rav Ephraim Shapiro: A lot of times in life we work on projects and put forth effort and nothing comes from it. How many shidduchim did we attempt to set up? How many patients did we try to heal? How many people did we try to bring close to religion? In any area that you work, quite often you put forth effort and but it doesn't seem that you see success. Rav Abahu thought the same. I wasn't successful in so much that I did. But then, in the final day, he saw that he was being rewarded for all his hard work, even though he didn't actually get there. But there's a catch. The person has to do the act with Bitachon. I'm relying on Hashem. I'm hoping to You for success and even when it doesn't work out, I'll still get rewarded. But a big chunk of that reward comes from the reliance that you brought out through the challenges and through the situation. That's this important lesson. וּֽ֭בָטַחְתָּ כִּֽי־יֵ֣שׁ תִּקְוָ֑ה / If you rely on Hashem, there is hope. You don't know what's waiting for you. . וְ֝חָפַרְתָּ֗ לָבֶ֥טַח תִּשְׁכָּֽב׃ / You shall lie down, entrenched in security means in the world to come. This is one of our fundamental beliefs- the belief in Olam Haba, the world to come. That's our whole life. Mesilat Yesharim says that is everything; everything surrounds our Olam Haba, and that needs bitachon as well. So B’Ezrat Hashem, Ki YeshTikva/ there is hope. Have a wonderful day.
We're now in a pasuk in Yirmiyah, 32,37 הִנְנִ֤י מְקַבְּצָם֙ מִכׇּל־הָ֣אֲרָצ֔וֹת אֲשֶׁ֨ר הִדַּחְתִּ֥ים שָׁ֛ם בְּאַפִּ֥י וּבַחֲמָתִ֖י וּבְקֶ֣צֶף גָּד֑וֹל וַהֲשִֽׁבֹתִים֙ אֶל־הַמָּק֣וֹם הַזֶּ֔ה וְהֹשַׁבְתִּ֖ים לָבֶֽטַח׃ Behold, I shall gather them back from all the lands to which I've dispersed them in My anger, in My wrath, and in great fury. I will return them to this place, and I will cause them to dwell in security. They will sit there in a secure bitachon atmosphere. This pasuk has a very interesting background, and a very important lesson. At the beginning of this perek, the enemy is surrounding Bnei Yisrael, even using battering rams to get in. But Hashem tells Yirmiyah to buy a field; to make a contract, seal it, sign it and put it in an earthenware vessel so that it will last for a long time. God is saying, ‘ Real estate is going to be good in this land. ’ Yirmiyah says, I don't get it. In pasuk כד he says, “ Behold the rams, they have come to the city to capture it. And the city is being delivered to the hands of the Kasdim who are attacking, due to the sword, the famine of the pestilence. What you declared has happened and You see. Yet You say to me, ‘Buy a field for yourself with money and designate witnesses,’ while the city is handed over to the Kasdim?” Yirmiyah is scratching his head, What's going on here? You promised You would destroy the city, and it’s happening. And I'm supposed to buy a field? Hashem replies, “ Can anything be hidden from Me? Hashem tells him that in the end (and this is our pasuk), Don't worry Yirmiyah, I'm going bring them all back- הִנְנִ֤י מְקַבְּצָם֙ מִכׇּל־הָ֣אֲרָצ֔וֹת It might look bleak now, but it will turn around. Although this land caused Me anger, I'm going to bring everything back. So buy real estate now. It's going to go up. We will return. That's a very powerful bitachon lesson- when the world seems to be crashing down around you, God can do anything. He can turn things around. That's what Hashem was telling Yirmiyah. What's the Halacha L’Maaseh from this story? Legend has it that when Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, known as the Ponovezher Rav, escaped from Nazi Europe, his city of Ponovezh was destroyed (That's where he got the name.) He came to Eretz Yisrael , and stood on the sand dunes of Bnei Brak. The Nazis were threatening to invade Yerushalayim and the Ponovezher Rav was buying land. They asked him, “ The Nazis are getting close. What are you doing? Why are you buying land?” He quoted this story from Yirmiyah and said, “ Jews buy real estate when the enemy is surrounding. We know Hashem's promise will come true. We will come back.” With that Emuna and Bitachon, he bought the land for the Ponevezh Yeshiva. It’s been said that for many years thereafter, Ponovezh Yeshiva was self-sufficient based on the land that the Ponovezher Rav bought when real estate was down. *We can't mention the Ponevezher Rav without quoting his famous line. When people asked him about this real estate purchase in the middle of a war, he said, “ I might be dreaming but I'm not sleeping.” Which means it's not enough to have a dream, like the famous, ‘I have a dream,’ speech. He didn't just dream, he acted on it. He believed in what he was doing, and he did it.
We're now in Pesukeh Bitachon, Tehilim, 49,7. הַבֹּטְחִ֥ים עַל־חֵילָ֑ם וּבְרֹ֥ב עׇ֝שְׁרָ֗ם יִתְהַלָּֽלוּ׃ Those who trust in their riches with their great wealth, they boast. This is the pasuk the Maharal quotes, but for our understanding, we will quote the next two pesukim as well: אָ֗ח לֹא־פָדֹ֣ה יִפְדֶּ֣ה אִ֑ישׁ לֹא־יִתֵּ֖ן לֵאלֹהִ֣ים כׇּפְרֽוֹ׃ But a brother, he cannot redeem nor give to Hashem his ransom, יֵקַר פִּדְי֥וֹן נַפְשָׁ֗ם וְחָדַ֥ל לְעוֹלָֽם׃ Their redemption is too precious (or too expensive) and unattainable forever. What exactly is the message? One of the early Aharonim , Maram Al Mashnino, beautifully explains the progression of these pesukim. This progression is hinted at in the previous pasuk: לָ֣מָּה אִ֭ירָא בִּ֣ימֵי רָ֑ע עֲוֺ֖ן עֲקֵבַ֣י יְסוּבֵּֽנִי W hy be afraid in times of evil; the sins that I trample on with my heels will surround me. That's the famous Rashi at the beginnings of Parashat Ekev: Pay attention to the small things, because the small things will get bigger and bigger and eventually lead to a person’s downfall. The hiddush is that the first step is that the person doesn't think it's a sin to rely on his wealth. That's sin number one. It’s seemingly a small thing. A person sees success and he relies on his wealth. I have money, I can handle it. The next step is that he as becomes wealthier, וּבְרֹ֥ב עׇ֝שְׁרָ֗ם יִתְהַלָּֽלוּ Now he’s praising himself. That's a little worse. First they just relied on their money, they weren't praising it. But as they become wealthier, it’s the beginning of the kefira that they start taking credit for their wealth, as if they made it. Then when they become wealthier. אָ֗ח לֹא־פָדֹ֣ה יִפְדֶּ֣ה אִ֑ישׁ And their brother comes to them for some money, and they feel like their cousins and relatives are all surrounding them for their money. I'm not going to help. I'm not redeeming my brother and taking him out of bankruptcy or out of foreclosure. Then it gets even worse. It’s not that he won’t redeem his brother. לֹא־יִתֵּ֖ן לֵאלֹהִ֣ים כׇּפְרֽוֹ׃ He's not even going to atone for own sins. And it goes from bad to worse. But the hiddush here is the first step. Where did it all start from? It all started because he relied on his wealth. He did not rely on Hashem. We have to pay attention to that and beware not to let the snowball start rolling, which begins from that lack of bitachon. The Midrash Bamindar Rabba 18,15 gives Korach as an example of a man who trusted his wealth. Korach found the treasures of gold and silver, which were hidden away by Yosef, who had amassed so much wealth, and he now relied on his wealth and was using his wealth against Moshe and Aharon. Korach was the man who exemplifies people who trust in their wealth. We don't usually stress that aspect as much, although we talk a lot about Korach, but what was driving Korach was that he relied on his wealth. That gave him the confidence to take on Moshe and Aharon. One last point in this pasuk is from the Rambam’s son, Rabi Abraham, in his sefer Maspik L’Ovdeh Hashem. In the chapter on bitachon it says, “ Beware-Don't become totally submerged- your head and most of your body (that’s a way to show that a person is totally involved in something. To be in a Succah, your head and most of your body must be inside, you can't just stick your head in a little bit.) He's using that term to indicate that your whole being shouldn't be engulfed in your work and your worries about parnasa, because then you fall into the category of people, he says, that don't rely on Hashem. They get involved in the intermediaries and the external causes and they forget who's really turning the wheels. He says that's who the pasuk is referring to: הַבֹּטְחִ֥ים עַל־חֵילָ֑ם וּבְרֹ֥ב עׇ֝שְׁרָ֗ם יִתְהַלָּֽלוּ How do you know if somebody is reliant on his wealth and is is not connected to Hashem? That's this man whose head and whole body is engulfed in his hishtadlut , and he forgets Who is the real cause. Have a wonderful day.
Our next pasuk of Bitachon is from from Iyov 39,11: הֲֽתִבְטַח־בּ֭וֹ כִּֽי־רַ֣ב כֹּח֑וֹ וְתַעֲזֹ֖ב אֵלָ֣יו יְגִיעֶֽךָ׃ Can you rely on it with all of its strength and give all your toil over to it Iyov is going through different animals, and now he talks about an animal called the Re’em . The Re’em is the largest of animals, mentioned in the Gemara in Masechet Avodah Zara 3B. When discussing parnassa, it says, Hashem gives parnassa to whole world, from the horns of the Re’em, to the smallest of creatures. So the Re’em is the example of the largest of creatures. Additionally, the Gemara in Masechet Zevachim 113B mentions the Re’em when it questions how the Re’em got on the Teva . Some say they put just his head or nose in. Regardless, this is a huge animal, and it symbolizes tremendous strength in creation, and tremendous force. Iyov is saying, “ Are you going to rely on forces and energy that you think you’ll somehow be able to harness, to take your load or your work off of you?” That’s the simple explanation of the pasuk, which we can apply in more modern-day terms. The world is full of energy. For years, Niagara Falls was an unharnessed energy. It's an energy in the world, but we needed Hashem to give us the ability to harness it. One day, someone came up with the understanding of how to harness that energy, using water mills or whatever, to harness that energy. Electricity was an energy in the world from day one, but never harnessed until recently. So Iyov is saying, don't think that you're just going to rely on the forces of energy in the world to take off your load and your work. It doesn't work that way. Let’s apply this to technology. We think that the more technology we harness in the world, the better off we're going to be. But we see that people only get weaker with technology. We're not getting stronger. We’re becoming weaker people. Everybody knows what technology is doing to our mental health, what it's doing to an array of systems that are not getting better, they're getting worse. People rely on eventually finding the cure for aging. But as human beings, we can’t rely on the hidden forces of nature to reveal things and think that's going to solve our problems. We can't possibly solve any of our problems, regardless of what force of nature we harness, because ultimately the One to rely on is Hashem. Don't think you can solve your problems by harnessing these forces of nature. That was the message of Iyov, using the Re’em, the most extreme powerful force of his time. It’s interesting that God didn’t allow the Re’em , and similarly the Levyatan , to cohabitate, because they would destroy the world. We think that we'll rely on these great forces. But these great forces, if let loose, will only destroy the world. In my analogy, the technology of today is the Karnei Reemim , let loose, that we think we're going to harness and save the world, but actually, we are better off leaving it sterile rather than destroying the world. It says that God slaughtered one Levyatan and left the other one alive. And there’s a fascinating Midrash brought down by Chida, in his sefer Midbar Kedemot ( ק , 12), that says that Re’emim are a kosher animal. One is in the east and one is in the west, and once in every 70 years they cohabitate. After the female becomes pregnant, she kills the male. She gives birth to twins- one male, one female- and then she dies. Then the two separate, one to the east, one to the west. In that way, there are only two in existence at any given time. The Chida says he found this on an ancient manuscript. Although its an unknown Midrash, the point is that God did not want these tremendous forces to be harnessed and used. It would destroy the world. That's what Hashem is telling Iyov. It's a fascinating concept: Don't rely on those forces. הֲֽתִבְטַח־בּ֭וֹ כִּֽי־רַ֣ב כֹּח֑וֹ וְתַעֲזֹ֖ב אֵלָ֣יו יְגִיעֶֽךָ׃ Do you think you're going to rely on it, because of it's great strength, and remove all your hard work? Truly, this is technology. I'll rely on it to care of all my hard work. I'll be okay. I can just sit back and relax and live a better life. No Iyov. You made a mistake, and so did the world, with technology. Have a wonderful day.
We are now in Tehilim 52,9 הִנֵּ֤ה הַגֶּ֗בֶר לֹ֤א יָשִׂ֥ים אֱלֹהִ֗ים מָ֫עוּזּ֥וֹ וַ֭יִּבְטַח בְּרֹ֣ב עׇשְׁר֑וֹ יָ֝עֹ֗ז בְּהַוָּתֽוֹ Behold the man who does not put his strength in God. He relies on the tremendous amount of wealth, he relies on what he has. Rav Saadia Gaon says, he relies on what he has. He takes his strength, not in God, but in his possessions, in what he has. I saw an interesting commentary that the root of the word Havato is Hoveh which means the present . He takes his strength in the present. When person doesn't rely on God, he’s great as long as everything stays the same; when the present remains the present, when there's no change in the situation. Once change comes, he loses everything, because he was relying on his wealth. That was the constant. He was relying on his fame and fortune. That was the constant. When the constant changes, he's lost. I once heard from Rav Moshe Shapiro, the great mashpia in Yerushalayim, that the Jewish people count to the moon, and the goyim count by the sun. What's the difference? He says that the sun is constant. Every day it comes up and goes down and comes up and goes down and never changes. The word Shana from Shoneh / Sheni , it just keeps on repeating itself. He says, if we were to wake up one morning and see that the sun wasn't there, it's over. If the sun's not there, it’s not coming back. It's a constant. And when that constant goes away, it's not coming back again. It's gone. And you fall never to rise again. Whereas the moon comes and goes and comes and goes. It's not a constant. It has its ups and downs. The Jewish people don't count to the sun. We're not relying on one external constant factor in our nature. We're relying on Hashem. He's our constant. It's not a natural constant. Therefore, there will be ups and there will be downs, but we will still remain. The one that relies on his wealth, on the constant, is the one that is going to be in trouble when things change. There’s a great story about a Baal bitachon who wasn't flustered by something that changed. It was told to me by the man himself. But we need a little background on how certain companies run first. Many apparel manufacturers manufacture products that they create for somebody else. They buy a license, or a label and produce goods with that label. For example, Disney sells the Disney license and people make pajamas that say Disney on it. They're not Disney, they're a pajama maker. You're buying it because it says Disney on it. Of course, Disney wants to make sure these people know how to make pajamas so that their name will remain good, but Disney does not manufacture pajamas or jewelry or any of the like. They just own their brand that they license out to others. That's the key to some businesses. Their success is due to the successful licenses they have. There are more successful licenses, like Nike, and there are cheaper licenses, like Buster Brown, or Betty Crocker. This man had a Disney license and he had been selling very well to Walmart. Then one day he had an appointment at Walmart to present to them, when lo and behold, it was time to to renew his contract with Disney and they said, “ Sorry, we sold our contract to somebody else .” What would he do now? He had an appointment with Walmart and nothing to sell. Normally, someone that has a change like that doesn't know what to do. But this man was a Baal Bitachon , so he called his rabbi, who advised him to go ahead, and keep the appointment But he had nothing to sell! It would be pretty embarrassing to go there with nothing to sell. On the plane on the way there, he saw somebody that he knew. He sat down and talked to him, and asked him about business and what he was doing. The man said, “ Oh, I just got a new license.” “ That's nice. What'd you get? ” He said, “ I got Dr. Seuss, the Cat in the Hat. America loves reading.” Okay, great. So he asked, “ Do you have anything that you could share with me?” “ Only a notepad that has a picture of the Cat and the Hat.” “ Okay ,” he said. “ Give me a piece of paper from the notepad.” So, he tore off a piece of paper and he took that into his business meeting with everyone sitting around. “ Okay, let's hear about this year's Disney. ” They told him. “ Oh, you know what? I decided not to go with Disney this year. I got something even better than that. I have the Cat in the Hat. America loves reading.” He went on to tell them about how this would be a major thing. *He never even reached out to the Dr Seuss company to buy their license for clothing. The other fellow had the license for shoes, but he was going forward. They were so excited. They called the whole team in, and eventually they even had the man that opens the door at Walmart dressed like the Cat in the Hat ! It was an unbelievable story that came from someone that has bitachon and doesn't falter when things change.
The third unit that we're talking about is called the Shofarot . The Shofar of Rosh Hashanah has a very special power that we have to appreciate. The Bet Yosef (in siman תפקא ) says, “ From the sound of the shofar, man is aroused to Teshuva,” and he brings a pasuk the Tur brings, “ Is it possible for shofar to blow and the people won't have a fear?” The Hebrew term Harada is used, but that’s not the regular term for fear. Harada is used when Yitzhak Avinu trembled when Esav walked in. The rabbis explain that Harada was a feeling of realizing that he had lived his life with a huge mistake. He thought Esav was something that he wasn't, and he had acted with him in a way that was not befitting Esav’s true character. That sudden realization of, wow, I lived my life with a misconception is the term of Harada. And that's the arousal that happens when the shofar is blown. It arouses us to come to Teshuva. That Teshuva is a necessary ingredient for the sound of the shofar to go up and make an impact. The Pele Yoetz says that the shofar needs teshuva. The shofar, without teshuva, is lacking. So when the shofar is blown, it arouses us to Teshuva, and then that Teshuva goes up with the shofar. This causes a Harada . Everyone's familiar with the Tosafot quote from the Midrash that when the Satan hears the shofar blowing every year, he suddenly gets confused. Everyone asks the age-old question, How could that be? He's hearing it every single year. And the answer is that he heard a shofar at Har Sinai. The Shofarot portion of Musaf is broken into three units, the shofar of Har Sinai, the shofar Rosh Hashanah, and the shofar of the future, when God will blow on a great show fire. When the b first shofar that was blown, that caused the Satan to become knocked out. And if not for the sin of the golden calf, he would've been knocked out for good. But he had one last shot, and he got himself back in. In the future, when the shofar blows, it will do the same thing. But why does he get confused every single year? I came up with a new mashal. If a soldier from Vietnam is walking in a grocery store and a can of vegetables falls on the floor, he'll dive for cover. Why? What happened? It’s PTSD- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, when someone has a previous trauma and that noise triggers him to recall or relive that trauma. That's what's going on here. We don't understand this, but the Satan was traumatized from Har Sinai, and he knows that another one is coming soon, when Mashiach comes. When the shofar blows, we don't hear it, but he understands that shofar. When the sound of the shofar goes up with our Teshuva, it's a very powerful moment. As Rav Wolbe says, it's like the enemy's down for the moment and now's the time to grab a little bit. So when the shofar is blowing, we have to realize that we're capable of coming to a certain clarity. The Pele Yoetz says, at that time, we should come to a certain commitment in religion. So we have to focus on listening to the shofar, of course to fulfill our positive command, but also to take advantage of that special time when the enemy is, so to say, down. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will hear the shofar and come to that level of Harada , that clarity of I was living my life in an improper perspective. We're not yet talking about fixing anything, but just, “ Whoa, I didn't realize that!” Have a wonderful day.
This class has been dedicated for the successful surgery and refuah shelemah of Yehuda Binyamin ben Tova Chaya B’toch Shaar Choleh Yisrael Today we will discuss a bit about the unit called Zichronot , which means to remember. God remembers us. Another name for the holiday is Yom Hazicharon, the Day of Remembering, and we end off the Zichronot unit with the words, “ Zocher HaBerit/God remembers the covenant .” So, simply the holiday is called Yom haZicharon, because, as we said, God remembers. But Rav Moshe Feinstein has two problems with this. Number one is that God never forgets. Like we say in the Zichronot prayer, V’en Shikcha Lifneh Kiseh Kevodecha/ there is no forgetting in front of You. So what does it mean that God remembers ? Furthermore, the holidays are usually referred to based on what we , the Jewish people, do. Hag Hamatzot -we bake Matzot, Hag HaPesach-we slaughter the Korban Pesach, Shavuot-we count the seven weeks, Succot-we build the Succah …Even Yom Kippur Hashem Titharu, We have to do an action to become pure. But Yom Hazicharon , simply, is only on God… However, Rav Moshe Feinstein says Yom Hazicharon refers to us . It's the day that we have to remember God - that's how we get our success. Based on this, it works out beautifully that the introduction to Zichronot (each section has an introduction, Malchuyot’s in Alenu LeShabe’ach) goes through all the things that God knows, and then it says, Ashrei Ish SheLo Yishkachecha/Fortunate is the person that doesn't forget You, Uben Adam YitAmetz Ba/And so too a person that holds on tight . So in the Zichronot prayers, we talk not only about God remembering, but that we remember God. That’s the secret to our success. Ashrei is a term that refers to every possible success. David Hamelech used that word when he started specific chapters that were important. Tehilim starts that word Ashrei- Ashrei Ish/ how is a man fortunate ? How do you have all the blessings? The secret is Sheloh Yishkachech: you don't forget about God , Uben Adam YitAmetz Ba And you keep on pushing forward. Rav Wolbe said the term YitAmetz comes from Rut. It says, Naomi saw that Rut was MitAmetzet , she was persistent , she wasn't giving up. She kept pushing. As many times as Naomi tried to discourage Rut from following her, she didn't give in. It is our job on Rosh Hashanah, as much as possible, to have a Hashem on our minds. Of course, it goes without saying during prayer , but also for the entire day we're supposed to have Hashem on our minds- so much so, that the Meiri explains a custom we have called Simanam Milta, which means we eat certain foods The Sephardic custom is to eat Lubia or Rubia , which is Black-Eyed Peas. Some people just have the black-eyed peas plain, but other people make them part of a dish. They'll have a roast or a stew with black-eyed pea in it, and so on. With the other different Simanim , people make things out of them. They'll make patties out of the Leek or the Swiss chard. What's the reason for that? The Meiri says that the reason we eat these foods is that we want to have the prayers and request on our minds.. So instead of just chewing a piece of chicken, I want to chew a piece of chicken with a vegetable that will remind me that I need to feel God's presence, and that I need God's grace, on these two special days. We try, as much as possible, to have Hashem on our minds in a way that we might not all year long. Some people finish Tehilim once or even twice. Tehilim is a way to have Hashem on your mind. It’s also customary to learn Mishnayot on Rosh Hashanah, at the four meals, one chapter per meal, which is something that we wouldn't normally do, but Rosh Hashanah is a day that we want to have Hashem on our minds, because the more He's on our mind for the good, the more we’re on His mind for the good. That’s what Bitachon is all about. We can look back to the Musaf prayers, where it says, Ki Dorshecha/those that search you out, LeOlam Lo Yikashehu/they won't stumble forever. They might stumble, but they'll get up again. Velo Tachlim LaNetzach/They won't be embarrassed forever. Kol HaHosim Ba/those that seek refuge in You. They might be embarrassed, but it's temporary embarrassment. If you stick to it and don't forget about Hashem, and He's always on your mind, that will pick you up when you fall, bring you to respect and end any embarrassment. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will fulfill this important concept of having Hashem on our minds, in every little detail, throughout the day. Have a wonderful day.
I 'd like to share a beautiful thought on the first Pasuk of Malchuyot in our Rosh Hashanah Musaf prayers, which is Hashem Yimloch LeOlam Vaed/Hashem is King Forever and controls everything. When we say this, it’s important to picture what was happening at that moment in time. The Jewish people had just been in a very dire situation. The Egyptians were behind them, the sea was in front of them and they had no way out. There were different ideas. Should we fight? Should we scream, should we pray? The last idea that anybody had was, Hey, I have a great idea. Why don't we jump into the sea? The sea is going to split. We'll go through, the Egyptians will come running after us, and then the sea will come crashing down and kill them! That would be a ludicrous idea to suggest, but that's exactly what Hashem did. And when He did that, the Jewish people sang the song Hashem Yimloch LeOlam Vaed, which means that Hashem is in full control . Since He's the King, He can change anything and make anything happen. That was the clarity that they had at the splitting of the sea, and that's the clarity that we're supposed to have on Rosh Hashanah. It's interesting, our rabbis tell us that there are two other things that are as difficult as the splitting of the sea (Sotah 2A)- parnasa, our livelihood, and Shidduchim/getting married. One of the things that happened on Rosh Hashana was that Yosef got out of jail. As we say in our prayers before the shofar, and in our daily prayers once a week, עדות יוסף שמו בצאתו על ארץ מצרים Yosef went out into Egypt… He heard and understood all languages. That happened on Rosh Hashanah Day, and it brought about both his Parnasa (because he became the Viceroy of Egypt) and his shidduch (because he found Osnat bat Potiphera, who became his wife). So, with Yosef, we see this concept of Hashem coming up with ideas that no one would ever think of. If you asked the average person how Yosef got out of jail, he would tell you, the Butler mentioned his name to Paroah. But let's go further back. How did the Butler meet Yosef? He met him in jail . Why did the Butler go to jail? Because a fly flew into the drink that he was giving to Paroah. So, let’s imagine Hashem and the angels planning… How are we going to get Yosef out of jail…Maybe we'll get him a pardon from Paroah… But Hashem says, No I have a great idea. We'll use a fly. The fly will land in Paroah’s cup and the Butler will go to jail. He'll meet Yosef… I'll plant a dream in his mind, Yosef will interpret that dream. Then Paroah will have a dream, Yosef will interpret that, and then he'll become Viceroy of Egypt!! Again, Ludicrous ! And how does Yosef meet his wife? Okay, I have a great idea. She's Osnat bat Potiphera. She is a child of Dina, an illegitimate child, but a child of Dina nonetheless. So here we have the only Jewish boy in Mitzrayim, the only Jewish girl in Mitzrayim. How can we get them together? Yosef is paraded through the streets of Mitzrayim and all the girls are throwing their jewelry down. What does Osnat have? Only the amulet around her neck that identifies her as Osnat, the daughter of Dina, the daughter of Yaakov. So she throws that, Yosef sees it, sees the Hebrew writing and tracks her down. She was the only Jewish girl in his Mitzrayim, his niece, and he marries her. Wonder of wonders! Look how Hashem brings about a shidduch, and how Hashem brings about parnasa, in ways that no one would ever think of! That's the concept of Hashem Yimloch L’Olam Vaed. Hashem is King forever and controls everything . And that's the first thought we have to have as we start the Malchuyot prayers, because that's what brings us a good year- when we realize this important concept that Hashem rules and can make anything happen as He'd like . We go back to Yaakov Avinu who said, MeAyin Yavoh Ezri/where's my help going to come from? We think, where's it going to happen from? What's the idea? What's the plan? And the answer is Ezri M’Im Hashem, Oseh Shamayim VaAretz, my help comes from Hashem that makes the heavens and earth and therefore there are no rules and regulations. God can do whatever He wants. That is principle number one. And B’Ezrat Hashem, we will have that clarity on Rosh Hashanah.
We continue with sources that a fundamental of Rosh Hashanah is humility , which is a topic we have been working on. The Rambam, in his commentary to Mishnayot on Rosh Hashanah chapter four, explains the mishna that there is no Hallel sung on Rosh Hashanah. Why not? He says, because Rosh Hashanah is a day of servitude, humility and fear, and these three concepts do not match with the levity of singing Hallel. When you sing Hallel, you’re in a lightheaded mood, which is not the mood of Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is not a day of Hallel. It’s a day of of humility and service . The Ben Ish Chai writes in Parashat Netzavim that the reason it's customary to fast on Erev Rosh Hashanah, as brought down in Shulchan Aruch, is so that one goes into Rosh Hashanah with humility, because fasting makes a man humble. So we see quite clearly the greatest of rabbis stressing the need for humility on Rosh Hashanah. There's an interesting, Taz, one of the great Halachic Poskim, brought down by the Mishna Berurah, the Kaf HaChaim and many others, that says that on Rosh Hashanah, we are reliant on God, that He’s going to give us a good judgment, and therefore we dress up in (what we'll call) Shabbat or holiday clothing. But even so, he says, On Rosh Hashanah , one should not wear embroidered or silk clothing, like on other holidays. It should not be the most Hashub of suits. Why is that? One of the reasons is to remind us that Rosh Hashanah is a different day. On Rosh Hashanah we don’t say, Moadim L’Simcha/times of happiness, like we say on the three holidays Pesach, Shavuot and Succot, because it's a day of judgment. It's not that light mood. The bottom line is, it's a day of humility, and therefore, as we said, our clothing is not the fanciest, to remind us that it's a day of judgment. I'd like to add a concept from Shaare Teshuva, that besides humility in the brain, there's humility in action. What's humility in action? The first example he gives is to speak with a low tone. That's an indication of humility. Also, he says, don't get involved with beautiful clothing . He cites pesukim to that point. Those are indicators of humility. So its possible that this is one of the reasons brought down not to wear your fanciest clothing, because when a person wears fancy clothing, it’s human nature to feel a certain arrogance. You put on a fancy suit and you feel all sharp. That's not the feeling of Rosh Hashanah. Of course we’re not mourning , we're not sad , and we're not fasting on Rosh Hashanah. The key word is humble . Be humble in front of your Creator . We’ve been working on this topic for quite a while, trying to motivate everyone to the importance and need of this trait. This is the deciding factor. The Gemara says, any year that's poor in its beginnings, will become wealthy in its end. What does, ‘ poor in its beginnings’ mean ? That we make ourselves humble. Rashi quotes a pasuk, ‘ Tahanunim yedaber Rash,’ the poor person speaks words of supplication, the opposite of the wealthy man speaks with arrogance . This is Rabbenu Yona’s source for a soft, low tone. A person has to be humble. Humble people speak softly. That's what Rosh Hashanah is about. And the source is the Pasuk says, that says, “ מרשית השנה Mereshit Hashanah, from the beginning of the year -the word רשית Reshit is spelled with without an א alef, as if to say רשית Rashit , which means humble . So again, we cannot stress enough the importance of humility on Rosh Hashanah. Have a wonderful day.
We have been discussing how humility and arrogance impact our Rosh Hashanah. I'd like to share something I heard more than once from Rav Wolbe, in the name of Rav Dessler (I don't think it's in print in Rav Dessler’s writings): When a man is arrogant, what he's basically saying (of course, without a verbal statement), is that God should get off His throne; I want to sit down. That's a very extreme and heavy statement. But as we've said, Adam and Eve's first sin, on day one of their creation, was eating from the forbidden fruit because the snake told them that if you want to be a creator, this is the way to becoming a creator. That means man's basic sin is I want to be a creator. I don't want someone else telling me what to do. Basically, that's saying, I want to sit down in that chair and I want to run the world. You might say, “Come on, that's a little ridiculous. Who really believes that?” But let me share a story with you, which might feel little closer to home. There was once a great Hasidic rabbi (I did some research but couldn't find out who it was. If anyone has a good source, you can please send it to me?) who was once asked, “ If you were to run the world, what would you do differently?” Now if anyone asked me, I would say, let's solve the Shidduch crisis. That's a terrible thing. There are so many ladies out there that are waiting to get married and don't have the right person yet. And cure all those people that are sick with dreaded diseases. Also, bring back to religion, all those teenagers that went off. What a terrible, horrible tragedy for themselves and their families…. Heal people with mental illnesses…Take care of all those people that are suffering from addictions. Feed the hungry…. All those hildless couples, give them children right now. That's a big one. I'm not sure what I left out on the list of big needs, but think that's basically it. Health, wealth, children….like the acronym GEFEN stands for, which in Yiddish is for Gezunt/Health, Parnasa and Nachat/happiness from your children . So that's everything. So if you'd ask me, that's what I would fix. But when they asked this great Rebbe, his answer was, I wouldn't change a thing, because God has been controlling the world until now and He knows exactly what he's doing. Of course, we have a right to rely on Hashem and ask Hashem to change things. But that wasn't the question. The question was, if you were running the world, what would you do differently? The answer is supposed to be , “I would do absolutely nothing.” Of course, I can ask God to change things, but ultimately, God's agreeing to change something because He feels that's what's needed now. So, the next question is, how can we pray for somebody to get better from their sickness if you just told me that God knows what He’s doing? Rav Ades answers that the reason why that person is sick is 1-for you to realize you're not in control. And, 2- for you to realize that you need God. That's why we have any challenge- for us to realize we need God's help. And when you finally reach that level of humility and ask God for change and rely on God for change, then you know what? You don't need the problem anymore. The problem can go away. So, it's never that God changed His mind, rather, you changed , and therefore God changed. God knows exactly what He's doing at all times. That's the surrendering that we're supposed to do to Hashem on Rosh Hashana. I surrender to You. Of course I'd like to change things in the future, but again, to change those things, I have to change myself. Everything that happened until now is exactly what needed to happen. And everything that will happen will be exactly what needs to happen. It's not about my opinion. I have no opinion. Like we said once about Yaakov Avinu,, the highest level of is Bitachon, was after he said, MeAyin Yavo Ezri/where's my help going to come from? I have to have a plan, a plot, an idea, a track. And the he said, Ezri M’Im Hashem/my help will come from God. I surrender to God's will. I don't have an opinion. That's the highest level. That's the level that David Hamelech says is K’gamul Aleh Imo like a child that's weaned from his mother. So, we must be humble, as we said, in order to get ready for that great moment of Yom HaDin. Have a wonderful day. And again, if anyone has the source of the conversation with that great rabbi, please let me know.
B’Ezrat Hashem, in the two weeks we have until Rosh Hashanah, we will discuss topics that are related to this important day. As we know, one of the most important parts of Rosh Hashanah is our prayers. Within the prayers is the Musaf prayer, which has three units, one of them being Malchuyot , which discusses Hashem is King . One of the ten pesukim in this section starts with the words ‘ Hashem Malach/God is king Ge’ut Lavesh/He wears arrogance. ’ As we’ve said many times in the past, arrogance is a bad Middah, so why refer to God as wearing arrogance ? The Ramban, in his letter to his son, writes, “ Anybody who is arrogant is rebelling against God.” There’s a concept that Hashem’s Kingdom works like a kingdom down here. So for dramatic effect, we will quote Vladimir Putin. After Yevgeny Prigozhin (a confidant turned traitor) went down in a plane crash, Putin said that he mourned the crash victims and all Wagner fighters who had died in Ukraine. But he said of Prigozhin, “ You could forgive mistakes and even cowardice, but never betrayal.” You don't forgive traitors. And since this man was a traitor, he deserved to die. With that being said, we have a scary statement here. The pasuk says, “ Kol HaMitga’eh/If you are arrogant, you are rebelling against God. ” And if Rosh Hashanah is the day of God's Kingdom, you don't want to be a rebel. This is a heavy statement. We can't turn into humble people overnight. The Elder of Kelm used to say, Any Kabbalah you commit to, if you don't commit to learning mussar on the topic, your resolution is almost meaningless, because you can't change in a minute. So, what are we going to do? This is one of the reasons we're trying to work on humility before the holiday. The pasuk that the Ramban quotes to bring out this point, that whoever is arrogant is a rebel, is this pasuk , Hashem Malach Ga’ut Lavesh/God is King and He wears arrogance . And therefore, he says one who is arrogant is wearing the king's garment. Imagine walking in to see the king. He has a certain cape, and you sneak the cape off the king and wear it. And now you come to the king with the cape? Off with your head! And what happens if you’re saying this pasuk while that’s happening? That's even worse! So, it’s very important to appreciate the meaning of this pasuk . What does it mean that God is arrogant? Every day in Az Yashir we say, Ki Ga’oh Ga’ah. The explanation is, as we've said many times, that arrogance is really not a bad trait. Arrogance means you're taking credit for what you did. It's only bad when you didn't do it….and we didn't do it ! That is how Rav Wolbe explains it in Alei Shor, “ A creation can never be arrogant because whatever he has, he received. He has nothing from himself.” Rav Wolbe says that this is the matter that all sin comes from: Arrogance . (we have discussed this concept in the past and will review again in a future class- that every thing comes from one basic matter, which the Greek call Hilo ). Man wants to forget, or deny, his being a creation. And once a person forgets that he's a creation, whether he starts feeling ‘ I'm an independent existence,’ or he starts thinking he does things on his own, at that moment, he turns himself into an idol. As the Gemara in Masechet Sotah , says, “ Anyone that has arrogance, should be chopped down like a worshiped tree,” because he himself becomes like a worshipped item. He made himself into an idol, and we pray that all idols should be wiped out. That's a little scary if you put two and two together. So, he says arrogance is forgetting about God and therefore we have to work on the belief that we are not in control of our deeds. If that's the case, we can understand the importance of what we're doing now- we need to have the proper mindset of God's control, not to bring us to arrogance, which is a litmus test. Are you putting your money where your mouth is and really believing you're not in control, or not? B’Ezrat Hashem, we will get to Rosh Hashanah, at least on some level, as humble people, and not rebels against God's kingdom. Have a wonderful day.
Today we will share a Bitachon thought related to Parashat Ki Tavo, and of course we'll bring it back to humility. The Midrash Tanhuma, in the beginning of Ki Tavo quotes a pasuk in Tehilim 95,6 with three different terms for bowing בֹּ֭אוּ נִשְׁתַּחֲוֶ֣ה וְנִכְרָ֑עָה נִ֝בְרְכָ֗ה ה׳ עֹשֵֽׂנוּ Let us come, let us bow down and kneel , bend the knee before the Hashem our Creator The Midrash asks, Aren’t they all all included? They’re all the same types. They answer that Moshe Rabbenu saw that the Bet Hamikdash would be destroyed and the Bikurim would stop, so he instituted praying three times a day. It’s quite clear from the Midrash that the three prayers are hinted to in this pasuk, which says to bow three different times, with each bow corresponding to a different prayer. Our bowing in the prayer is there to replace Bikurim. We have to understand the significance of Bikurim, which, as we know, is all about gratitude. It comes at the end of the crop season, and we come to thank Hashem for what we have. It’s no coincidence that we always read this at the end of the year, because we have to look back at the end of the year and thank Hashem for what we received this year. Even if it’s just with a small reed basket of very tiny fruit, we still have to thank Hashem, and be happy with what we have. Before we go and ask for another year, we have to bow to Hashem. if we were successful and realize all the success came from Him. So Bikurim is about Hakarat HaTov, and it says in Devarim 26,10, After you put the fruits down, וְהִֽשְׁתַּחֲוִ֔יתָ לִפְנֵ֖י ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ Bow down before Hashem your God Bowing is a sign of humility, as we’ve said many times. The last words of the the previous Parasha talk about Amalek . Amalek is arrogant. The numerical value of Amalek is 240 Ram, רם which means arrogant is also 240. Amalek is arrogant. Amalek doesn't bow. Amalek will be utterly destroyed. There's another creature that will be utterly destroyed in the future- that's the snake who also did not want to bow. That’s why he lost his legs and he's flat on the ground. He's forever bowing, because he didn't want to bow and humble himself to God. The Gemara in Bava Kama tells us in 17B, “ One who does not bow in Modim, his spine turns into a snake after he passes away. ” Why is that the punishment? Because one that doesn't bow at Modim is being snake-like. He's not humbling himself. He's not having Hakarat HaTov, which was the original sin of man. Man listened to the snake because he wanted to be a creator. He didn't want to humble himself. And that is what we try to fix on Rosh Hashanah, which is the day that Adam sinned. Furthermore, we start off our high holiday Malchuyot prayers with Alenu LeShabe’ach where we say Ananchu Mishtahavim, we bow in front of God. We bow and we humble ourselves. This is an important thing to prepare ourselves for. That bow in the middle of Musaf is an important bow. It’s a bowing of gratitude.It’s a bowing of humbling ourselves to God on Rosh Hashanah. The shofar, too is bent on Rosh Hashanah, to symbol to us that we should bend ourselves. This all takes preparation. You can't just fall right into Rosh Hashanah. We have to prepare beforehand and insert this in our prayers for the next few weeks. A piece of advice-take out a moment when you bow by Alenu LeShabe’ach to have intention when you're bowing that, “ I'm standing in front of God now and I'm bowing. ” That bowing of our prayers is there to replace the thank you of Bikurim. And it says, the Bikurim brought blessings. God, a heavenly echo would come out and say, “ You brought Bikurim in this year, you should come back and bring it again next year.” Rabbi Moshe Wolfson adds something a little bit Kabalistic. The human being corresponds to the seven Ushpizin . Now the right arm is Abraham giving. The left arm is Yitzhak which is taking , Yaakob Avinu is the middle of the two. The two legs refer to Moshe and Aharon, called Netzach and Hod What do Moshe and Aharon say about themselves? “ What are we?” That's the ultimate level of humility. It’s even less than David Hamelech who said he is a worm. He says that's why Moshe and Aharon are the legs that bow down to Hashem; that's the highest level. Moshe Rabbenu, the most humble of men, brought the Torah down and he's the one that introduced to us a way to replace Bikurim- our three prayers a day. We can take those three prayers and turn them into outbursts of gratitude. We like to do small things. I still remember what Rav Wolbe said many, many years ago, “ Even people that are not ready to really work on being humble, the least they can do is be cognizant at the beginning of the Amida when they bow down, ‘I'm standing in front of God. I'm nullifying myself to Him. I'm holding my hands and feet locked. Not just to look like angel, but also to show I can't do anything. I'm shackled. God makes everything happen. I humble myself to Him.’” That is Bikurim, that is the secret for blessing. And that we do every year, two weeks before the end of the year. And let us all do it. Let's sit around the table and let us try to have Hakarat HaTov for the year. Appreciate the year God gave us, and we will, B’Ezrat Hashem, get another beautiful year.
We’ve been trying to impress upon everybody the importance of humility when it comes to the high holidays. There's a Gemara in Masechet Berachot (and Masechet Yoma) that quote prayers of different rabbis of the Amoraim . Rava would say a prayer every day. Rav Hamnuna would say a prayer on Yom Kippur, which we will quote. אֱלֹהַי, עַד שֶׁלֹּא נוֹצַרְתִּי אֵינִי כְּדַאי, וְעַכְשָׁיו שֶׁנּוֹצַרְתִּי כְּאִלּוּ לֹא נוֹצַרְתִּי. עָפָר אֲנִי בְּחַיַּי, קַל וָחוֹמֶר בְּמִיתָתִי, הֲרֵי אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ כִּכְלִי מָלֵא בּוּשָׁה וּכְלִימָּה. יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ ה׳ אֱלֹהַי, שֶׁלֹּא אֶחֱטָא עוֹד, וּמַה שֶּׁחָטָאתִי לְפָנֶיךָ מָרֵק בְּרַחֲמֶיךָ הָרַבִּים, אֲבָל לֹא עַל יְדֵי יִסּוּרִין וָחֳלָאִים רָעִים״. אלוקי עד שלא נוצרתי איני כדאי Before I was conceived, I was not worthy. ועכשיו שנוצרתי כאילו לא נוצרתי Now that I was conceived it's as if I wasn't conceived. עפר אני בחיי ק"ו במיתתי I am dirt during my lifetime and even more so in my death. הרי אני מלפניך שלא אחטא עוד וכו' והיינו וידוי דר' המנונא זוטי I stand in front of you, God, like a vessel full of shame and embarrassment, It should be Your will that I not sin in the future, whatever I have sinned in the past, please erase in Your mercy . This is the Vidduy of Rav Hamnuna that we have instituted in our prayers. You can see the stress on the humility. When a person stands in front of God on Yom Kippur and says Vidduy , he has to be humble and realize his value. The Gaon of Vilna, on his commentary on Berachot 17a, explains that saying” I am dirt,” has a certain saving grace. What does that mean? We tell God in Tehilim 103,14 כִּי־ה֭וּא יָדַ֣ע יִצְרֵ֑נוּ זָ֝כ֗וּר כִּי־עָפָ֥ר אֲנָֽחְנוּ God knows our Yetzer Hara , Remember that we are dirt. When a person realizes , “I have a Yetzer Hara I'm not showing off. I'm not bragging. I know I'm weak. I'm a human being with my faults, I am humble because I know my makeup, then God remembers, says, “ Oh yes, you have the Yetzer Hara. I understand that and therefore I will look at you forgivingly.” But if a person looks at himself as “ Wow, I'm great, and doesn’t realize that he is of dirt and he is made of the Yetzer Hara , then what is his saving grace to excuse him from his sin? He’s saying, “ God, remember I'm afar/dirt, ” but he doesn't seem to be acting in a humble way that's recognizing his weaknesses and vulnerability. The Sefer Rashbetz on Pirkei Avot, where it says “God just judged the world with goodness, with mercy.” God says to this person, “ I understand. I created you with the Yetzer Hara, ” like it says, “ the sin is waiting by the door.” So God knows good and well that we're made of dirt, but we have to remember it, and that's where humility comes in. Besides being a perek of tehilim, it's also part of our services for Avinu Malkenu services for the Aseret Yeme Teshuva : Avinu Malkenu Zachor Ki Afar Anachnu Our father our King,remember that we are dirt that's a reason for us to be forgiven, The Chida , in his sefer Devash L’Fi , on the topic of afar/dirt , says we're actually asking God to remember that we're humble. How does that help? He explains that the Arizal says that the Satan, the prosecutor, does not have the ability to prosecute against a humble person. Therefore we say, remember that we're humble and that should cause the prosecutor to be quiet. So, we have definitely pushed the need to continue to work on humility as one of the secrets to success in the high holiday season. Have a wonderful day.
We’ve been discussing incentives to be humble and not be arrogant. There’s a pasuk in Mishleh that says someone who is humble has charm. It’s supernatural. God puts charm on humble people. This is extremely important as we approach the high holidays. On Rosh Hashanah, we talk about God remembering us for the good. One of the Pesukim that we read is that God remembered Noah for the good. Noah was in a generation of evil people and it says that Noah himself was not befitting to survive. So why did he survive? Because ‘ Noah Matzah Chen.’ He found favor. We say that every Moetzei Shabbat, and we want that we should also find Chen . What is the secret? Humility . It says that Noah was a humble person. God made him work on the Teva for 12 months, taking care of the animals, to keep him humble. That was Noah’s greatness, his humility . So, we see that humility has a wonderful charm; we can almost say it's like a nice perfume. It's enticing. On the other hand, the Bet Halevi quotes from the Avot D’Rebbi Natan (perek (יא where Rabbi Akiva says that whoever makes himself haughty on the Torah (he learns Torah but it gets to his head) is compared to a dead carcass. When people walk by, they put their hand over their nose. The Bet Halevi says that this applies to someone who truly is a Torah scholar but becomes arrogant. SO surely someone who's not a Torah scholar but makes believe he's a Torah scholar has the odor of a carcass! Is this real or is it just a nice description? In answer, the Sefer Kav HaYashar (chapter 7) brings down the following Midrash: There was a pious man that was out walking with Eliyahu HaNavi and there was a dead carcass on the street with a terrible odor. It was decaying. This pious man put his fingers on his nose. He couldn't bear the smell. But Eliyanu HaNavi walked right by; it didn't bother him. He doesn't smell physical odors. Then, as they continued walking, a man was approaching them from afar, walking in an arrogant fashion, priding himself. This time, Eliyahu HaNavi put his fingers on his nose. The pious man asked, “ Why'd you put your fingers on your nose now, and not when you passed by the carcass?” Eliyahu HaNavi answered, “ This man's odor is worse than that of a carcass. A dead carcass only has a one-day Tumah/contamination. The contamination of arrogance is much more severe.” So we see that Eliyahu HaNavi is sensitive to smell. But what kind of smell? The odor of sin. The odor of bad Middot . It’s brought down that when someone goes to a Brit Milah, their sins are forgiven. Someone once asked Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach if it’s that easy. Is it better than Yom Kippur? No teshuva? Just go to Brit Milah and your sins are forgiven? And he explained that the reason why your sins are forgiven is because Eliyahu HaNavi comes to a Brit Milah, and Eliyahu HaNavi is a kinah/zealot. He can't stand sin. Therefore, when you go to a Brit Milah, God takes away the odor of your sins temporarily, so as not to disturb Eliyahu HaNavi while he’s there . So we see how severe arrogance is, that it really has an odor. An earlier source for this is Midrash Raba Vayikrah 1,15) that says that Moshe spent all his time building the Mishkan; he put his heart and soul into it. But finally, when it's built, he doesn't walk in. He waits until he's called in. Why? Because it would be an act of arrogance, to think that because he built it, he could just walk in whenever he wanted. No, you can't. What does the Midrash say on this story? That any Torah scholar that does not have Da’at (or Derech Eretz) , a dead carcass is better than him. Rabbi Kronglas, in Sichot Musar, says it's because of this concept. Because it would be a sign of arrogance and brazenness, “ Oh, you built the Mishkan…so you think it's yours?!” We see from here how severe arrogance is, and the opposite, how beautiful and fragrant smelling is humility. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will continue to work on our humility as we get closer to the high holidays.
This week we are talking about humility as it connects to Bitachon and why it's necessary for our high holidays. The Gemara in Masechet Sotah says that ‘ A man's prayers are not heard, unless he places himself like flesh.” What does that mean-‘ Like flesh ?’ Rashi explains that flesh is soft, not tough or hard like a rock. The humble person is soft. A pasuk is quoted to prove this point, where it says, “ Every month and every week, all flesh will come bowing down. ” Bowing is a sign of humility, and it only comes if you’re like flesh . And if you’re like flesh, then your prayers are answered. As Rashi explains, “ like flesh ,” means you’re soft, but the Maharal explains that the fundamental of prayer is a person realizing that he is what he calls an Alul , and God is the Elah . God is the cause . And you are what came about through the cause. You're directly connected like a mother and a child. The mother's the cause for the child, and the child reciprocates to the mother as such. That is the source for God responding to us- Like a mother responds to her child. She's the cause for the child, the child looks at her as the cause, and therefore there's a reciprocal relationship. When a person looks at God like He is the cause , and I am not a cause for anything, which has to do with our bitachon that we get everything from Hashem rely on Him, that's what ‘ I'm like a piece of meat,’ means. I'm not even developed yet. I don't have any of my own input. I'm not a self-made man. I'm a slab of meat. I'm not Machshiv myself to anything. Hashem sees that and He fills in my lackings. That's where prayer comes in. This is extremely important. As we start off the prayer season of the high holidays, we need to have this important fundamental of understanding that we are just a slab of meat. We are not developed at all. The Gemara in Sotah continues and says that when talks about a person who has Tzara’at, it mentions Adam , a man that has on his flesh, over and over…a man , a man , a man . But when it talks about being healed, it says, U’Basar ….A flesh that has shchin on it, will be healed . The Gemara says that when the term Adam is used, it means that you're a man , you're a somebody , and then there's room for Tzara’at , because it says Tzara’at/leprosy comes to people who are arrogant. But the person who's basar / flesh , who is humble , he is healed from his problems. Rashi explains that the person who's soft and humble is easily healed from sufferings and problems because he's soft. The person realizes he made a mistake. When something goes wrong, it gets fixed. But when someone is tough and hard, in Rashi’s words, ‘ There's no healings for his disease.’ So as a new year comes along, we want to be healed from any problems that we're having. How do we heal ourselves? We heal ourselves with U’Basar. If we feel like flesh , if we feel soft , that's the way that we heal ourselves. This is an important principle, being soft and easygoing. Yesterday we spoke about the rabbi whose wife upset him on Erev stodgy Hashanah. He worked on himself and he got blessing. When a person comes up with a challenge and a situation where someone is bothering him or, or insulting him or whatever it may be, it's an opportunity for blessing. It's an opportunity to be humble and bring the beracha. It's not uncommon that on the last day of the year, people go through all kinds of upsetting situations, in order to give them the opportunity to overcome them. Similarly, it says that Erev Shabbat is a time where there's all kind of confusions and situations that cause people to get upset on Erev Shabbat. It says that the Satan comes Erev Shabbat to get people into arguments and get them upset. Simply, we could say it's a short day. But even when it's a long day, people have to use the shower, and there’s a rush, or time limits, and people get upset. But that's all a coverup. It's really the Yetzer Hara trying to get you upset. Why? Because Shabbat is a time of beracha. Hashem wants to bring us the beracha, so He gives us opportunities to have situations when we might be tough, but rather than become tough, we are soft. When you're soft and easygoing, that's what brings the beracha . God listens to our prayers and our suffering ends. Have a wonderful day.
We have been talking about the topic of humility, and we're going to see how important humility is, specifically for Rosh Hashanah, which should give us all a bit of incentive to get back into the topic. The Gemara in Berachot tells the story of a pious man who gave a large denomination of dinar to a poor man on Erev Rosh Hashanah during a year of famine. When he came home, his wife asked him where the money was. He told her he gave it to a poor person. The Gemara then tells us, והקניות אשתו / His wife upset him, ” and he went to sleep in the cemetery. At the cemetery he overheard two spirits saying, “ Let's go and listen to what's going to be happening, in the next world.” One of them came back and said, “ I heard that whoever plants in the first planting…there's going to be a hailstorm.” The pious man heard this and was able to save his seeds (as it was a famine season, there was a shortage of seeds) for the second planting. The whole world’s crops got wiped out, but his didn’t , and he became a very wealthy man. There are many lessons to learn from this story. The first lesson is that this man was supposed to be blessed. How do we see that? Because he got blessed, obviously. And he gave charity- so wonderful- we see that you give charity and you get blessed. But that wasn't enough. He had to add a little bit more. His wife upset him, and he ended up sleeping in the cemetery. That package deal brought him success. So, if you want a segula for success: Give charity on Erev Rosh Hashanah, sleep in a cemetery on the night of Rosh Hashanah and make sure your wife gets you upset. (Obviously, that is said in jest). So, what is the lesson here? In the sefer Or Yisrael Rav Yisrael Salanter explains that the term והקניות אשתו means that his wife upset him. He was bothered, by what his his wife said, in his heart. He says that this emotion, whether it was a little anger or upsetness , was a lack in the trait of humility. People that are humble do not get upset by things like this. He proves it from other Gemarot. Hillel is called the Great Anav, and they prove it from the fact that he did not get upset on Erev Shabbat when people tried to get him upset while he was taking a shower. We're not going to go into details of that story, but he proved from that Gemara that a sign of humility is that someone is not upset or frazzled by outside people. Now, this pious man did get upset by his wife, and therefore he was lacking in the Middah of Anava/Humilty. And this is our point: What's most necessary for success on Rosh Hashanah is to be humble. That's the most important trait you can have (we will elaborate on this in a future lesson). So here we have this pious man who just got upset. How is he going to go into Yom HaDin with this upset feeling in his heart? It has to be uprooted. And, how do you get Anava ? The Mishna in Pirkei Avot says a person should be extremely humble, because in the end, everyone is going to be in the grave. That causes a person to become humble, because it causes you to realize that you're not here for forever. This pious man didn’t have weeks or months to work on his Middot Rosh Hashana was the next morning. He needed to have an immediate “ defibrillator ” to snap him out of it. He had to do something drastic, so he decided to spend the night in a cemetery and get the lesson banged into him. The next morning, he’d wake up in a state of humility and be ready for Rosh Hashanah. This is extremely important. We all want success. This is the secret to success: humility . The Chida, one of the greatest of the greats, writes in Morah B’Esba (chapter nine, letter 501) where he talks about mussaf (we've discussed in the past how important this musaf prayer is) that, “When you pray, you have to make yourself like you're nothing.” And he says in very strong terms that the Gemara says that if previous generations were like angels, we’re like humans, and if they're like humans, we're like donkeys. And he says, if that's the case, if they're like donkeys, ( this was 200 years ago), we are like mosquitoes . He adds that to be called a mosquito is already a level. You could be an amoeba; you could be even smaller than that. You could be an electron or a neutron, not even a full atom. Our level of existence is so small. On one hand we're great because of the generation that we live in, and everything we have to overcome. But at the same time, what are we , what are we deserving of? We're coming to God as if He owes us, but He doesn't owe us anything! That humility is the secret to success. We have three weeks. It's not Erev Rosh Hashanah, and nobody got us angry. We have time to work on humility, which we've been doing, and B’Ezrat Hashem, will continue to do. Some people think that Bitachon is the secret to success but we’re going to see that the secret to success, at least at this time of year, is humility . Have a wonderful day.
I recently picked up a pamphlet called Netivot Yosher, which has thoughts on the Parasha from Rabbi Abraham Yosef Rosenblum, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Shaare Yosher in Boro Park. He's also known to us as Rabbi Diamond's brother-in-law. He has definitely benefited our Syrian community at large, so I want to share something from this pamphlet. Every Gadol has their way of looking at things, and he brought out something very beautiful. As we know, when the Jewish nation went out to war there were three groups of men that were exempt: - A man that just got married didn’t go to war in the first year in order to make his wife happy and start off his new marriage on the right foot. -Someone who just built a new house, -Someone who planted a new vineyard. Of course, they didn't plan these things with the intention of being a draft dodger. Rather, they built a house, they got married, or they planted a vineyard, and then war broke out, so they go home. Why is that? He says that we see from here the tremendous mercy that Hashem has on the Jewish people. He knows what human nature is. A man who just got married wants to spend time with his new wife. He doesn’t want to be at war thinking, “W ill I ever go home? Will I ever be able to start my life?” When a person builds a new house, he’s thinking, “ Will someone else move into my house? Will I ever be able to live there?” And when he plants a vineyard and is called to war, he thinks, “ It's my new field…” It's heartbreaking. Therefore, Hashem says, “You built a house, you got married, you just planted a vineyard, enjoy it. We don't need you.” Because (and this is the bitachon concept), we don't win wars because of soldiers. We're doing the will of Hashem. Hashem says to go to war, so we have help. During the enlightenment movement as they called it, the forebears of the reform and conservative movements would make plays and comedies making fun of religious people. They once made a play about the Jewish people going to war. On the stage, there were a few hundred people when the kohen got up and made an announcement, “ Whoever just built a new house, go home.” A bunch of people got off the stage. Then he announced, “ Whoever just got married, go home .” A bunch more people got off the stage. Then, “ Whoever just planted a new vineyard go home…” and more people got off the stage. There were left with 40- 50 people left, and then he said “ Whoever did any sins, go home.” Another bunch got off…” Whoever is scared go home...” Ultimately, they were left with two people and they each had a sign on them. One was Rambam and the other was the Bet Yosef. Those were the only two people left; two old men. The curtains closed. That was the end of the scene and everyone laughed. So, religious Jews went and told the Chafetz Chaim,” Look at this terrible thing! They're mocking us! ” But the Chafetz Chaim said, “ There's nothing wrong with what they described. That's exactly what happens. They just left out one piece of information: The two old rabbis won the war, so we're fine. We can send them home.” But he adds another beautiful thought, Look at the beauty of the Jewish people. Look at the level of Ahavat Yisrael and the level of Bitachon . He says, Imagine what might be going through a man's mind, who was married for 10 years and has a bunch of kids. He’s lived in his house for a while. His vineyard's old. He should say, “ What’s going on here? I have 10 children to support. I have my mortgage bills to pay. Why am I going out to war and risking my life? That young kid should be going out here!” In our times, there would be protests in the street. But, he says, that's not what happened. The Jewish people accepted it, because they understood God's mercy for their fellow man. They understood the ways of God and they understood how Jewish people win wars. This is a lesson, not only in Bitachon, but in Ahavat Yisrael and in the hashkafa /understanding of how the Jewish people live their lives. This seems like a foreign way to run a country, but that's the way the Jewish people conducted themselves. That's our greatness. Mi K’Amcha Yisrael/Who is like the Jewish people? That is the final scene, where we are successful and we do see success, because of our belief. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.
Yesterday we mentioned the concept of appreciating the important things and not getting stuck with the smaller things. We promised a beautiful thought from Rabbi Ades on this concept. Rabbi Ades said he was once on an airplane and not long after takeoff, he looked outside the window and he saw that all the cars and all the houses had shrunk. What was going on? Who shrunk the houses? Who shrunk the cars? Of course, this was just said in jest. The cars did not shrink, nor did the houses shrink, but rather the airplane was high up. And when you're very high up, things that used to be big are small. Rabbi Ades used that as a mashal for life. As long as a person is low down and has not yet matured and grown, and hasn’t become greater and higher, all the little things look big. But once you get on the plane and take off and are much higher, all those things that seemed to be very big become small. How do you become higher? The pasuk in Devarim 32,2 says כִּשְׂעִירִ֣ם עֲלֵי־דֶ֔שֶׁא Like wind upon the grass, and Rashi says, just like the wind strengthens the grass, so too the words of Torah lift up and make great, those that learn them . Learning Torah, which is what we are doing now, causes us to become uplifted, above the small, mundane things. Rav Yerucham Levovitz uses a beautiful mashal that also illustrates this point. When children are young, little girls play with dolls. Some boys play with dolls as well, such as GI Joe, as some people will remember. A boy can be hooked on GI Joe, but he doesn't need to go to therapy to stop. Why not? The same question can be asked about a baby’s blanket. A baby may have a blanket that he's connected to. Why doesn’t he need therapy to stop using it? The answer is, he just grows up. No one has to struggle with discontinuing their play in the sandbox or playing Lego. You just grow up, and with growing up, these little things become meaningless. That's what learning Emuna and Bitachon does for us. We realize that we're not here forever, that there's an everlasting life and there is reward and punishment. We'd rather get the negative here than in the future world. And we’d rather have the positive in the future than get it here. With those proper Torah values, we're able to look at things differently. That is the concept of lifting yourself up. Like Rabbi Ades said, look out the window, and suddenly everything becomes small. The things that used to get you upset no longer do. The things that got you down no longer get you down. You wonder, Where'd that come from? How'd that happen? The answer is, You're growing up. You're maturing in your outlook on life, based on the Torah that you are learning . That's our job-to lift ourselves up. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will continue to lift ourselves up to even greater heights.
We've been talking about chapter 100 of Tehilim, Mizmor L’Todah, which we say every single day. And we said from the Sfat Emet that this chapter has a hint of Elul in it, which is the Lo spelled both לא and לו . The opening of the chapter is, מזמור לתודה הריעו לה׳ כל הארץ The entire world should come and rejoice in front of God עבדו את ה׳ בשמחה Serve God with happiness באו לפניו לרננה C ome in front of Him with rejoicing. In this chapter, David Hamelech is teaching us the importance of serving Hashem with happiness. Rav Yehezkiel Levenshtein says people don't realize this concept. They think that the main thing is the service of Hashem. They don't realize that our attitude is equally important. (brought down from sefer Or Yehezkiel, Darcheh Avodah page 381). So it's not enough to serve Hashem, but עבדו את ה׳ בשמחה to serve Him with happiness. But what's the secret for this? How do we serve Hashem with happiness? The pasuk continues, דעו You should know ) as we mentioned yesterday, this is a command. You have to know this), כי ה הוא אלקים That Hashem is our God הוא עשנו ולא / לו אנחנו He made us and not ourselves, or He made us, we belong to Him ( which we said yesterday means He’s constantly pumping energy into creation and supervising us) עמו וצאן מרעתו We are His nation, and His sheep that He shepherds. This is an important point, There are three fundamental attitudes of Emunah that we work on on Rosh Hashanah: 1-Hashem is King, 2-Hashem remembers us, 3- God gave us the Torah from the Shamayim. That Hashem remembers us means He watches over us. He hasn't forgotten about us. That's the concept that God is our Shepherd. This is an important concept to believe in, and it relates to reward and punishment, and it’s one of the reasons why we're going to be happy. I would like to share with you two parables from the Chafetz Chaim. 1-There was a poor man that lived in an old rickety hut, with no running water, a mud floor, a leaky roof, and windows that didn't keep the wind out. You can imagine what it felt like living there. Obviously, there was not that much privacy either. People could hear what was going on. One day, his neighbor heard singing, dancing and rejoicing going on in the house. He could not imagine what could be so exciting for this poor family, so he knocked on the door and asked, “ What’s going on here? What is all the happiness about? I didn't hear of any engagement, or any babies born. What's going on?” The poor man answered, “ I won the lottery. I won the mega million.” He was dancing. “ I have the winning ticket.” And the neighbor foolishly said, “ But how could you rejoice? You're living in this hut. You're living in this, this decrepit shack.” To which the poor man responded, “ But I am a millionaire now. I have the winning ticket. I haven't cashed it in yet, but I'm a millionaire now. ” The Chafetz Chaim says we all have to feel like that. עבדו את ה׳ בשמחה If we really believed in God's reward and punishment, we would be so thrilled with every individual mitzvah that we do. 2- The Chafetz Chaim himself was staying in someone's home during his refugee period, during World War I, when the whole world was in turmoil. The host’s daughter, a little girl of about three years, lost her rag doll and she was crying. The mother searched and searched but as much as she tried, she couldn’t find it. The young lady was miserable that they didn’t find it. The Chafetz Chaim said, imagine if, 20 years later, the mother found the rag doll and returned it to her. She's married with children already. Is it even going to make a difference? Of course not. It's silliness, it's nonsense. The Chafetz Chaim says so too, so many things that bring us down in this world are just silly rag dolls. And if we realized that, we would serve Hashem with happiness, as the pasuk says, because we’d realize that what's really important in life is not the things that quite often bring us down. So how do we have the proper focus to ensure that what's supposed to be small remains small? I once heard a beautiful mashal from Rabbi Ades , but I will save it for tomorrow. Have a wonderful day.
Yesterday we spoke about the concept that the word Elul comes from Tehilim 100,3, דְּע֗וּ כִּֽי־יְהֹוָה֮ ה֤וּא אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים הֽוּא־עָ֭שָׂנוּ (ולא) [וְל֣וֹ] אֲנַ֑חְנוּ עַ֝מּ֗וֹ וְצֹ֣אן מַרְעִיתֽוֹ We say, Hu Asanu God made us, V’Lo Anachnu. We discussed that the word Lo can be spelled either לא or לו and if you take those four letters, לא and לו , and scramble them, it spells Elul אלול . Then, while teaching a daily lesson for a different series ( you can sign up @ hachzek.com ), I saw a Rabbenu Yona on Pirkei Avot 4,22 where he gives an explanation of this pasuk from Tehilim, You should know Hashem is our God, Hu Asanu/he made us V’Lo Anachnu/ And we didn't make ourselves… He explains that the Mishna in Pirkei Avot describes God as the Yotzer and the Boreh , where Yotzer refers to the beginnings of a deed, (like man is created and conceived from the womb) whereas Boreh refers to the finishing touches. And he says that God is different than any other type of craftsman (this is a famous concept, but I never knew it connected to the pasuk that we're about to quote). He says, it's not like making a vessel. If a glass blower blows a glass pitcher and then the glass blower dies, the pitcher continues to exist. It doesn't need the glass blower anymore. It's a separate entity. He just took material and formed it. On the other hand, God doesn't just form material. God created the material itself, something from nothing. Therefore, we need God to constantly breathe life and existence into creation and into every body for that matter. And therefore, in his words, “I need God at every moment and every second,” and he quotes David Hamelech in our pasuk, דְּע֗וּ כִּֽי־יְהֹוָה֮ ה֤וּא אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים הֽוּא־עָ֭שָׂנוּ (ולא) [וְל֣וֹ] אֲנַ֑חְנוּ עַ֝מּ֗וֹ וְצֹ֣אן מַרְעִיתֽוֹ׃ D’ooh/You should know Hashem is Elokim- there is only One Creator, Who is good. Goodness and badness comes from the same source. Hu Asanu/ He made us, V’Lo Anachnu/we belong to Him, ( or He made us and we didn't make ourselves). Amo/We are His nation. V’Son Maritoh/We are the sheep that He grazes. This means that we need Him at every second, every moment. And the mishna before it tells us some very important principles, which one of them is God is Yotzer and Boreh. It says three words לֵידַע לְהוֹדִיעַ וּלְהִוָּדַע Le’dah /a person needs to know from others That's the first step. Others teach you. L’Hode’ah /Your job is to teach others in this world and eventually, without being taught, U’Lehevadah , which Rabbenu Yona says, means in Olam Haba you'll realize this without a teacher because the clarity will such that I won’t need other people to teach me “ D’ooh Et Hashem/Know Hashem is your God,” because everyone will realize God. But right now, as long as we're in Olam Hazeh, our job is two out of these three important words: Le’dah/ we have to know from others. And once we are taught by others, L’hode’ah/we have to teach others. What do we have to teach them? It's a command from a Mishna in Pirkei Avot, that God is the אל El, which means He is strong. He's all powerful, Hu HaYotzer , Hu HaBoreh, which means we need Him every second. This is very applicable to the month that we're in now, to realize these important concepts. The Tanna of this mishna in Pirkei Avot, Rav Eliezer Hakapar, is telling us these important principles: הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר , הַיִּלּוֹדִים לָמוּת , וְהַמֵּתִים לְהֵחָיוֹת , וְהַחַיִּים לִדּוֹן . לֵידַע לְהוֹדִיעַ וּלְהִוָּדַע שֶׁהוּא אֵל , הוּא הַיּוֹצֵר , הוּא הַבּוֹרֵא , הוּא הַמֵּבִין , הוּא הַדַּיָּן , הוּא עֵד , הוּא בַעַל דִּין , וְהוּא עָתִיד לָדוּן . בָּרוּךְ הוּא , שֶׁאֵין לְפָנָיו לֹא עַוְלָה , וְלֹא שִׁכְחָה , וְלֹא מַשּׂוֹא פָנִים , וְלֹא מִקַּח שֹׁחַד , שֶׁהַכֹּל שֶׁלּוֹ . וְדַע שֶׁהַכֹּל לְפִי הַחֶשְׁבּוֹן . וְאַל יַבְטִיחֲךָ יִצְרְךָ שֶׁהַשְּׁאוֹל בֵּית מָנוֹס לְךָ , שֶׁעַל כָּרְחֲךָ אַתָּה נוֹצָר , וְעַל כָּרְחֲךָ אַתָּה נוֹלָד , וְעַל כָּרְחֲךָ אַתָּה חַי , וְעַל כָּרְחֲךָ אַתָּה מֵת , וְעַל כָּרְחֲךָ אַתָּה עָתִיד לִתֵּן דִּין וְחֶשְׁבּוֹן לִפְנֵי מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא : It's our responsibility to know and to teach that He's strong, He created us, and He’s constantly with us, He understands our deeds, He’s the judge (only He can judge because only He understands), He’s the witness, He is the one that demands the justice, He's going to judge us. And when He judges us, there's no iniquity, there's no forgetting. He doesn't play favorites (I don't care who you are. I don't care how pious you are, there's no favorites) and there's no bribing. You can't say, “Well, I did great mitzvot. I want to bribe God.” No, doesn't work that way. This pasuk, Hu Asanu V’Lo Anachnu, one of the sources for Elul, also contains this important lesson in Emunah and Bitachon, from Rabbenu Yona, which is that God is constantly pumping energy into creation and we need Him every second. So how could you even think that God is not supervising you? He's standing there pumping the energy into you. People have this idea that God leaves the world to be on its own. That’s impossible. He has to care and know about every fly. Is it beneath His dignity? Well, if He didn't want the fly to exist, it wouldn't exist. Everything needs God's constant will for it to be . Every year, on Rosh Hashanah, we reiterate that, and God has to will another year. I was extremely excited by the Tanna telling us that this is a responsibility. You have to know it and you have to teach it to others. Please do yourself a favor. Take out the Pirkei Avot, look at it inside, and appreciate it. Have a wonderful day.
We are now in the month of Elul so we will bring down Elul-related thoughts that connect to Emunah and Bitachon. It's incumbent upon us during the days of Elul, to at least be aware that it's Elul, and not forget, so hopefully this will help with that. The most well-known acronym for Elul is the pasuk in Shir Hashirim, Ani Ledodi V’Dodi Li/I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me . This tells us that we're supposed to look at our relationship with God like the loving relationship of a husband and wife. Shir Hashirim is called the Holy of Holies because it describes God and the Jewish people in the example of a husband and a wife. That means it's a relationship. Although we're being judged on Rosh Hashanah, God doesn't want us to walk around all day petrified . We're supposed to have a relationship. Of course, we're going to be judged. Of course, God is a King and of course He rewards and punishes. But our general feeling during the month of Elul should be a feeling of endearment. And Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li, is a two-way street. We have to act to God in a certain way and God reciprocates. And it starts from us. Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li, We are like the bride and God is like the chatan . I saw a beautiful explanation for this. The Daf Yomi finished Masechet Gittin last week, and the last page talks about grounds for divorce. We're not going to get into the details, but one of them is, in the words of the Gemara, “ She burns his food. ” That seems a little strange. Is it really grounds for divorce, that she burns his food? Many explanations are given, but I heard a beautiful one that goes as follows: This is only in the case where there's a pot of (let’s say ( chicken soup that she leaves on the fire for too long and gets burnt. There's still some left. The middle part is still edible. If she takes a spoon and scoops it out, she has enough for one portion. So what does she do? She scoops out the middle and that’s her portion. She puts it on her plate and she gives the burnt section to her husband and says, “ Here, your portion got burned.” That's what it means, that his food got burned. Rather than saying, ‘ Our food got burned,’ she says, ‘Your portion got burned. And mine is just fine.’ What's the nimshal , the lesson for us? Let’s say a person has a business, makes $200,000 one year, and gives $20,000 to charity. Then, the next year he only makes $180,000. Now he says, “ God, You lost Your 20,000. I'll go on the trip like I always do. I'll lease the car like I always do .” The $20,000 that got lost, was God's $20,000. That's called ‘ His portion got burned,’ and that is grounds for divorce. A person is supposed to have an understanding of this. I'll give another mashal . A person gets home every day at seven o'clock, and has dinner with his family until eight. Then he learns from eight to nine and exercises from nine to ten. One day, he gets stuck in traffic or whatever it may be, so instead of getting home at seven, he gets home at eight. He has to spend an hour with his wife and kids and he has to go exercise. But he lost an hour of time. So he skips his class. That’s like saying, ‘God, Your hour got burned, not mine.’ That's the wrong attitude. Our attitude toward Hashem has to be like that of a loving husband and wife, like, ‘ We’re in it together.” like the famous line of of Rav Aryeh Levine. He went to the doctor with his wife and said, “ Our leg hurts.” This is a partnership. His wife's leg was hurting, so his leg was hurting, ‘ Our leg hurts.’ That's what our religion is about, that we and God are in a partnership together. In everything that we do, Hashem is in it with us equally. That's one of the keys to success. I read recently of a man who was very successful, and besides being very successful, he gave people Berachot that were successful as well. A certain rabbi wanted to see what this man's secret was, so he was watching him, but he seemed like a regular man. He finally went over and asked, “ What's your secret ?” The man said, “ My secret is that I had to go into business and I needed a partner. I looked around, but I had no one to be my partner. So I told God, ‘God, You're my partner. Everything that I make is half mine, half Yours.’ And from then I started to see success in my business and people came to me for blessings. And my blessings were successful as well. ” When the rabbi heard that, he was not surprised. A man that lives in such a simple way, that he and God are going through life together and in everything that's happening, he's living with God, that is an Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li attitude, and that brings success. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will have that understanding and realize that there's no such thing as my portion or God's portion. There are certain things we don't give up on. That's one of the benefits of having a daily lesson, whatever the topic. As Rabbi Frand famously said, “It's not about the daf , it's about the yomi . It's not about the page , it's about the daily . So, when you lose your time, don't let it out on the Torah class. Have a wonderful day.
It is now Rosh Hodesh Elul . There are many hints to Elul found in the different commentaries. One of them that connects to Anavah and Bitachon as follows: We say, every, single day, in Mizmor L’Todah (Tehilim perek 100) Hu Asanu /He made us, V’ Lo* Anachnu The Hebrew word Lo can be spelled two ways. If spelled Lamed Aleph, it’s לא /Not, and if spelled with a Vav it’s לו and it means to him, There are a lot of words in the Torah that can be written one way but read another way, and this is one of those cases, so it’s as if it says both things: 1- Hu Asano V’ Lo Anachnu/ He made us and we didn't make ourselves, 2- Hu Asano V’Lo Anachnu/He made us and we belong to Him Both are correct, and if we take the two versions, לא and לו and scramble the letters, it spells אלול / Elul , because Elul is all about this concept; realizing Lo Anachnu, and therefore Lo Anachnu . First we have to say to ourselves, Hu Asanu/ He made us , and Lo Anachnu we didn’t make ourselves. Everyone has a little Paroah inside, that’s the Yetzer Hara. Paroah said ‘ Li Hayaor/The Nile belongs to me.. And I made myself, I made the Nile. I'm the source of myself,’ as we say, a self-made man. So, the first step is to say, Hu Asanu/ He made us V’ Lo Anachnu/And we didn't make ourselves. Once you get to that step and annul yourself to God, and say, “ I don’t do anything,” then comes the other V’ Lo Anachnu/We belong to Him . When you realize that you didn't make yourself, then you belong to God. That's extremely important, because when we belong to God, we're connected to Him. We're protected by Him. But when we don't belong to God, we are, so to say, left to the other forces of nature. So step number one is V’Lo Anachnu We have to understand that we didn't make ourselves, and therefore we belong to Him. Another hint to אלול Elul is the famous א ני ל דודי ו דודי ל י / I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me. How do we become to Him? Only when we realize Hu Asanu V’Lo Anachnu . When we realize that we didn't make ourselves, then we belong to Him. Ani L’ Dodi, I'm to my beloved. I'm focused on Him. I realize how much He does for me. And then God reciprocates V’Dodi Li/and My beloved is to me. These are important words. We have to understand that we are preparing for the high holidays where God is the King. Yes, He’s our father, but He's also the king, and we have to act like we're in the King's presence. Even though we are His children, there are still rules and regulations. We have a system that we can't bypass. Yes, our Father will cover for us, so to say, but we still have to deal with Him as a King. That being said, God doesn't want us to forget that He is our Father and He loves us. Therefore, the entire month of Elul focuses on Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li, which is a love between God and the Jewish people. That's the focus of this month- to realize how much God does for us, how much He has done for us, how much He will do for us, and that we are connected to Him. We love Him and He loves us. Those are the thoughts to have during the month Elul, and again, Anava and Bitachon are exactly what we're focusing on. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom
This week’s parasha, Re’eh, has a beautiful pasuk, “ בנים אתם לה׳ אלקים You are children to Hashem your God. ” This is an important pasuk to always remember, that we have a Father in heaven Who's all powerful and loves us tremendously, like a father loves a son. His love for us never ends. בנים אתם לה׳ אלקים You are children, to Hashem your God . It’s a Mishna in Pirkei Avot, that beloved are the Jewish people that are called Hashem’s children. This special love was told to them. God lets us know that we are His children. That's what we read about in this week's parasha. There's a machloket in Masechet Kiddushin 36a, between Rabi Meir and Rabi Yehuda, Rabi Yehuda says, they're called Banim/sons , if they act like sons, otherwise you're not considered Hashem’s children. But Rabi Meir says regardless of what we do, we never lose the status of His sons. The Rashba says that the Halacha is like Rabi Meir in this case, even though normally Halacha is like Rabi Yehuda, when against Rabi Meir. Why is that so? The Gemara in Masechet Eruvim, 13B says that really, Halacha should be like Rabi Meir. He was the greatest of all. So why wasn’t it like him? Because they did not understand him. He was so deep.. But God Himself understands the true depth of Rabi Meir so according to God, Halacha is like Rabi Meir. And based on this, the Satmar Rebbi, Rav Yoel explains, that's why we say Elaha D’Meir Aneni/Let the God of Rabi Meir answer me. We're trying to say God, You know, Halacha is like Rabi Meir, You know we’re Your children, and therefore, look down upon us like children. There's a beautiful pasuk (all pesukim are beautiful but these are pesukim that stir our emotions) that we say on Rosh Hashana, it's one of the 10 Zichronot, Haben Yakir Li Ephraim/My beloved son Ephraim/ (the Jewish people are called Ephraim), Im Yeled Sha’ashu’im He’s my child that I play with Ki Medeh Dabri Bo just talking about him Zachor Ezkerenu Od I remember him, My innards move for him etc. The Or HaChaim HaKadosh, as quoted by one of his students, Rabi Shlomo Franco ( if there are any Shlomo Francos out there, maybe he's your great-great-grandfather), a rabbi in Chevron. He quotes the Or HaChaim HaKadosh that when there's a bad odor coming out of some place, or child, people move away. But he says if it’s a child, his father or mother come pick him up, clean him and get him back to the way he's supposed to be. That’s what it means that we are Hashem's children. Even if we sinned, we're still beloved, and Hashem Himself comes to clean us. The Tomar Devorah goes through God's 13 attributes. The third one is Ovel Pesha. He says that this is a tremendous trait of God, because forgiveness does not come through a messenger. God Himself forgives us, like it says Ki Imcha Selicha. Selicha means God cleans off the sin. He quotes a pasuk, If God will clean off the dung, the excrement of the daughters of Sion, referring to the Jewish people. So God Himself, so to say, cleans up our mess. That is an indication of Hashem’s tremendous love for us. This is something that a father does for a child and the Jewish people, regardless of what we do, are still considered banim . In our Rosh Hashanah prayers, we say Im K’Banim, Im K’Avadim. want God to look at us like sons . The Tomar Devora’s whole thesis is that God acts to us the way we treat our fellow man. So if we treat our fellow man like he's our child, he’s beloved to us, then that arouses God's love for us as well. B’Ezrat Hashem’s we will arouse our love for others and God will look down upon us as Banim/ children and בנים אתם לה׳ אלקים You are children, to Hashem your God. Have a Shabbat Shalom!
We're all familiar with the pasuk in Devarim וְאָכַלְתָּ֖ וְשָׂבָ֑עְתָּ וּבֵֽרַכְתָּ֙ ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ עַל־הָאָ֥רֶץ הַטֹּבָ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָֽתַן־לָֽךְ׃ You will eat and you'll be satiated on the good land He has given you, which is the source for Torah blessing of Birkat Hamazon. Eat, be satiated and bless . What most people are not familiar with is the next four pesukim, which say, הִשָּׁ֣מֶר לְךָ֔ פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּ֖ח אֶת־יה אֱלֹהֶקיךָ Be aware lest you forget Hashem your God… פֶּן־תֹּאכַ֖ל וְשָׂבָ֑עְתָּ וּבָתִּ֥ים טֹבִ֛ים תִּבְנֶ֖ה וְיָשָֽׁבְתָּ Lest you eat and you are satiated and beautiful houses, you'll build וּבְקָֽרְךָ֤ וְצֹֽאנְךָ֙ יִרְבְּיֻ֔ן וְכֶ֥סֶף וְזָהָ֖ב יִרְבֶּה־לָּ֑ךְ וְכֹ֥ל אֲשֶׁר־לְךָ֖ יִרְבֶּֽה And your cattle on your sheep will multiply. And your silver and your gold will multiply. And everything you have will prosper. And then what happens? וְרָ֖ם לְבָבֶ֑ךָ וְשָֽׁכַחְתָּ֙ את ה אֱלֹקיךָ הַמּוֹצִיאֲךָ֛ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם מִבֵּ֥ית עֲבָדִֽים׃ You're going to become arrogant and forget Hashem you God, Who took you out of Egypt. It’s interesting that the, ‘ Beware lest you forget Hashem,’ comes because you ate and you were satiated. And what's the one word that's missing? U’Barachta/You didn't bless Hashem after the eating. That means satiation is dangerous. The Elder of Kelm says it doesn’t say, ‘ Lest your heart become arrogant .’ It says V’Ram /and it will become arrogant. This is an automatic action and reaction. If you eat and feel satisfied, you will become arrogant. Therefore, after every V’Savata / satiation , there needs to come an Uberachta . Every time you are satiated , you must bless . This blessing actually shows up very day in Keriat Shema , when we say, “ I'm going to give you grass in your fields for your animals. And you're going to eat and be satiated. Beware lest your heart becomes seduced and you veer and end up worshiping other gods and bow to them and God will get angry. ” And we say this in a low tone because this is disastrous. Where did it come from? Rashi says in Devarim 11,16 ‘ You're eating and you're drinking. Beware, that man does not rebel against God because he satiated. ’ Whenever the word satiated shows up, beware. So what's the antidote? U’Berachta/Bless Hashem This is an important rule. The U’Berachta is not only after you ate. As we saw in the pasuk above , it says you build nice houses and your cattle and sheep multiply and your money multiplies . Anytime there's satiation, there's danger, so it's a time to look back and bless God. Otherwise, arrogance will set in. The Gemara in Masechet Berachot explains the words used in the beginning of Devarim. It says V’Dezahav , but there's no such town, and it's referring to the Egel Hazahav/the Golden Calf. Moshe said to God, “ The gold and silver that you gave the Jewish people, that they said enough about, that caused the sin of the golden calf. ” And they quote a saying from Rabi Yanai, “A lion does not roar when it has a box of wheat and straw. It roars when it has a box of meat.” And he says, if you have a weak thin cow, it doesn't kick its owner. Feed it some beans and it kicks its owner. And it goes on to say the sin of the golden calf was compared to a man that had a son. He washed him, he bathed him, he did everything, he gave him money. But he put him in an improper place. And the line is, “ What could the boy do and not sin ? And the Gemara continues on with a pasuk (Hoshea,13) “ They were satiated, and their heart became arrogant .” Rav Nachman Bar Yitzhak says, “ I have a pasuk from the Torah.. V’ram Lebabecha, they become arrogant and forget God.” Yet another pasuk says, “ You will eat and be satisfied and become full and you'll turn away .” And another says, “ Yeshurun/ the Jewish people became fat and they kicked.” So that's the rule. How do you avoid kicking? How do you avoid rebelling? We want to have the best of both worlds. We want to have the gold and silver and still we want to not kick. The answer is Uberachta . When you make you berachot, literally, but also when you look back and say Hashem, thank you for all that you've given to me , that is the secret to avoiding arrogance. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will continue to bless Hashem and God will continue to bless us, because we will stay humble and realize it's all coming from Him.
We are going to bring out a lesson from one of the stories in the Agada, which we learn on Tisha Bav. The famous story, that everyone knows is about Kamsa and Bar Kamsa. A man was thrown out of the party, etc, and that was a cause of destruction of Jerusalem. But the Gemara actually tells over three stories of why the Bet Hamikdash was destroyed. One of the lesser known stories says that over a chicken and a rooster, the town of Tur Malka, which had hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, was destroyed.. The custom was that when a couple got married, they would designate a chicken and a rooster, and they would serve it at the wedding to the bride and the groom as a symbol that they should multiply and be fruitful like a chicken and a rooster. Chickens lay an egg a day. One day, as they were preparing for a wedding, they had the chicken and the rooster outside. But some Roman soldiers were hungry and took the chicken and the rooster. The Jews reacted by getting into a fight with the Roman soldiers and killing them. Word got back to the Caesar, who said the Jews rebelled, and he was ready to go to war. *Let's just pause for a moment to discuss the significance of the chicken and the rooster, and why they went to war. The Maharal says the chicken and the rooster symbolize numbers, great numbers. The chicken and the rooster were segulot . But they made two mistakes: -Mistake number one was that God doesn't need a lot of people in order to be successful. You don't need a lot of people to take on the Romans. -Mistake number two was that they thought the segula is what makes things happen. You think if you don't have your chickens and your roosters, you can't have a lot of people? These were two lackings in bitachon. Hashem wanted to teach them that lesson. It says that just at that point, a super-strong man came from the south. This super-strong man was so powerful that he could jump a Mil (which is almost a mile) and kill out many Romans. At one time, the Caesar was upset that he'd lose his army to this one, lone Jew. So he took his crown off and said, “ God, please don't embarrass me that my kingdom should be given over to this one lone Jew.” The Iyun Yaakov, a a commentary on the En Yaakov says that God was trying to tell them, “ You don't need large numbers. This one strong man can win the war, if you understand that I am behind you.” But because they didn't take the lesson, it says, the strong man had a slip of the tongue and he made prayer before he went out to war and said, “ God leave us alone, and don't go with us in war. ” That was a strange comment for this strong man to say. Interestingly, the midrash says that Bar Kochba, who was a great man, had a similar prayer. He said, “ God, don't help me but don't embarrass me.” What exactly does that mean? What is the bitachon lesson? (This reminds me of a beautiful story that I've said in the past, from Rav Matityahu Salomon:There was a man that used to pray a very, very long amida, but he was a cutthroat in business. Rav Salomon asked him, “What's going on? If you believe in God, that you pray so long, why are you such a cutthroat in business? And if you're such a cutthroat in business and seemingly think you know what you're doing, why are you praying so long?” And the man answered, I know what I'm doing. I'm a good businessman. But of course, I know God runs the world. And if he wants, he could make my ship sink. He could bring a fire in the factory. He could cause interest rates to go up. He could do anything. So of course, God can interfere. But I ask God, ‘God, I know what I'm doing. Please don't interfere.’) This strong man man felt that he could do it alone. Of course, God can interfere, but I basically know what I'm doing. That’s not the right attitude. The attitude has to be that we really don't know what we're doing, like we say, “ God gives us the power to amass wealth,” which the Targum says means God gives us the ideas. That means even my ideas are not mine. So it’s not like, “ I have good ideas and God could foil my plans.” No, I don't even have the ideas. Everything comes from Hashem. So this strong soldier got bitten by a snake and died. The Ben Ish Chai says, it's a hint to us of the mistake of the original snake, that told Adam to eat from the tree to also become a creator. We want to have a part. We want to have some control. It's hard for human beings to admit and realize that we really have no control. So the Caesar saw a miracle happen. The strong man died. So the Caesar decided to go back to Rome and not wipe out the Jews. But the Jews made a big party celebrating. The Maharsha says they thought the Caesar was afraid of their numbers and that’s why he went back. So they partied. But the Caesar said, “ Oh, the Jews are taunting me?!” And he went back and he ended up wiping out the town. They should have praised Hashem, says the Maharsha, but instead they celebrated their numbers. And this is a continuation from yesterday's class of Rabim HaGoyim/ thr goyim are many. We have many numbers, we have power and force. But no, God could send one man from the south. We have to understand that. And that one man from the South has to understand that it's not his strength. It's not, God don't interfere. God is constantly giving us the strength and the energy for any success. These are lessons we have to constantly reiterate, especially, post Tisha B’Av when the Bet Hamikdash has not been rebuilt, which means we still need to work out these lessons. Have a wonderful day.
Yesterday we spoke about a pasuk in Parashat Ekev that says, “ If you say in your heart, Rabim Goyim HaEleh Mimeni/These Goyim are more numerous than us,” simply speaking, this is a problem. That's how Rav Moshe Feinstein explains it, because, and this is the point we're going to discuss at length, for Hashem, there is no difference between a lot and a little when it comes to saving us in a time of problem. That's a fundamental line that he says we have to work on ourselves to understand. That’s why, right after that, it says, “ Don't be afraid. Remember what happened in Mitzrayim,” and realize Hashem doesn't need numbers. The source for this in the Navi, is when Shaul and the Jewish people were at war. Yonatan was with his lad and said, “ Why should we wait for everyone else to fight? We'll do it on our own.” Why? Because, “ There's nothing that holds Hashem back from saving, with a lot or a little.” God doesn’t need a lot. If He can do it with a hundred thousand, He can do it with two. And if you can't do it with two, you can't do it with a hundred thousand either, because it's not about numbers. When Yonatan tells his lad this, he adds, “Let's look for a sign, if it's the right thing to do. We're going to show ourselves out from the hiding, and if the people that see us say, ‘Va’alinu/ Come up,’ then we know we should go up, because God put us in their hands; that will be a sign.” This word Va’alinu/Come up only shows up one other time, says the Baal HaTurim , right after the sin of the spies, when the Jewish people changed their minds. They said, “ We're going.” They got up and they say, “ We're going to go up. Va’alinu..” And Moshe says, “ Don't go up. You're going against the word of Hashem. It won’t be successful. God's not with you. You're going to be wiped out.” And they were. The Baal HaTurim says that the reason the word Va’alinu was used by Yonatan was to tell us that 600,000 people would not be successful, and two people would. Because when God wants it to happen, it will happen with two, and when Hashem doesn't want it to happen, it won't happen, even with 600,000. The commentaries cite another story in the Navi, Shoftim (perek ז )when Gidon decides to go to war. There were tens of thousands of people and Hashem told Gidon, “ Too many people ,” Why was that a problem? The Jewish people would become proud and say, it was our hand. We did it .” God then told him to make the famous announcement that whoever was afraid should leave. 22,000 people went home and there were 10,000 left. Hashem then told Gidon to make a test- to go to a stream and have them bend down for water to see how they drank the water (Did they bend on their knees, did they lick it) The people that licked it like a dog licks the water would be only the ones that would go. Only 300 out of 10,000 people did it that way. Hashem then said, “ Now we're ready to go, with these 300.” Why? So that they wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that they needed a lot of people. When I was researching this topic, God guided me to a Midrash Raba on Esther ( (ח,ז that describes how Esther was praying. It says she was scared. She took off her royal clothing and wore sackcloth, she put ashes on her head and she fasted and prayed. She starts off saying, “ Hashem, You were the King from the beginning of the time. You're the Creator. Help Your maid servant. I'm a yitoma/orphan with no father or mother, I'm begging You.” She continues, “ Save Your sheep from the enemy.” While another person might say, ‘ I’m only one lady, what can I do?’ she uses the same words that Yonatan used when he won the war. She tells Hashem, “ There’s nothing that holds Hashem back from saving…Please help me, give me mercy.” In the end, of course, she finds favor in the eyes of Ahashverosh. It’s part of the lesson of Purim that God works in hiding, and we have to understand this principle, that it doesn't make a difference if there's there a lot or a little. Have a wonderful day.
Today we will share some thoughts left over from Parashat Ekev . In the beginning of the Parasha says, כִּ֤י תֹאמַר֙ בִּלְבָ֣בְךָ֔ רַבִּ֛ים הַגּוֹיִ֥ם הָאֵ֖לֶּה מִמֶּ֑נִּי אֵיכָ֥ה אוּכַ֖ל לְהוֹרִישָֽׁם If you say in your heart, ‘There are too many goyim (referring to their soldiers) How will I be able to send them out?’ (i.e. how will I able to win the war?)’ לֹ֥א תִירָ֖א מֵהֶ֑ם Lo Tirah M’Hem Don't be afraid of them. I always understood, from Rabbenu Yonah as well as the Rambam, that this is a command- Thou shalt not be afraid of them . The Rambam says it’s specifically when at war, and Rabbenu Yonah says it's in all situations of challenge. But the Sefer Maaseh Hashem has a different interpretation. He says that when a person says, “ How am I going to be able to do this, ” that’s a good thing. If you said in your heart “ They're small…it's no problem, ” then you should be afraid. When you think you can do it on your own, then Hashem will hide His countenance. But if you start off and say, “I can't win them in a natural war,” and you realize you can't do it on your own, then, Lo Tirah M’hem/you have nothing to fear. So, according to this, Lo Tirah M’Hem is really a promise. And contrary to the way many learn, that it’s a negative question, because we're doubting our abilities-No, that's a good thing. You're supposed to realize that you can't do it on your own. When you realize you can't do it on your own, then Hashem helps. This sefer, Maaseh Hashem was written by a Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi, who was born in Italy in 1513 and passed away in 1586. He lived at the same time as the Bet Yosef and was a son-in-law of a famous rabbi called the Maharik. He he was a giant in learning, and had beautiful thoughts. He has a more famous sefer called the Yosef Lekach , on Megillat Esther, which the Gaon of Vilna used. So he has this innovative way of learning Lo Tirah M’Hem/Don’t be afraid of them, as a positive comment. Don't be afraid of them. ‘Theres nothing to fear because you realize they're more than you and you can't handle on your own.’ And he reads into a perek in Tehilim (chapter 30), that we say it every single day. “ וַ֭אֲנִי אָמַ֣רְתִּי בְשַׁלְוִ֑י בַּל־אֶמּ֥וֹט לְעוֹלָֽם׃ I said, in my serenity, I'll never falter. הִסְתַּ֥רְתָּ פָנֶ֗יךָ הָיִ֥יתִי נִבְהָֽל׃ You hid Your face and I was panic stricken. And he explains that because David Hamelech said, “ Oh, I'm serene. I'm doing fine. ” (You think you have nothing to worry about?) Then Hashem will be Hester Panim. He'll hide His face , and then you will have something to worry about. You'll be not just worried; you'll be panic stricken. So that is an important lesson, that when a person realizes the challenge or problem, he is in a better position because he not relying on himself. Of course, there's a place for bitachon, but it starts with realizing your own inabilities. Because, he says, David Hamelech was relying on the serenity and relying on his power, and that creates the problem. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will realize, רַבִּ֛ים הַגּוֹיִ֥ם הָאֵ֖לֶּה מִמֶּ֑נִּי the situation is beyond my abilities, And once you realize that, Lo Tirah M’Hem You have nothing to fear. Have a wonderful day.
Friday's Daily Bitachon This week's Parasha says, “ הִשָּׁ֣מֶר לְךָ֔ פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּ֖ח אֶת־ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ Be careful lest you forget Hashem your God.” And then it says, וְרָ֖ם לְבָבֶ֑ךָ וְשָֽׁכַחְתָּ֙ אֶת־ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ You're going to become arrogant and forget God.” It says pretty clearly that arrogance is a direct cause of forgetting God, which means that Ga’avah/arrogance is an immediate detriment to our bitachon. The Steipler Gaon says , in his sefer Chayei Olam (section one, chapter 27), that it's clear in the sefarim that all of our doubts and our questions in Emuna and Bitachon only come when we have Ga’avah in our heart. Why is that? Because , as we said in the past, someone who's arrogant causes the light of God's Divine presence to leave him; as God says , “I can dwell amongst an arrogant person. ” Furthermore, it says an arrogant person is like an idol worshiper, and he quotes the above pasuk. So, it's impossible for arrogance and Emuna to coexist, and therefore, all of our questions and lack of understanding are rooted in Ga’avah. Ga’avah is what grows all of the doubts. And therefore, he says, the best way to get all doubts and questions of faith out of our heads is by working on humility. It's not a philosophical discussion; it's not a philosophical problem, it's an arrogance-Middah problem. The heretic is an arrogant man, not a person who lacks philosophical tools. Therefore, he says, we have to work on the trait of humility, which means, in his words, to literally feel like you don't have any great qualities. Of course, as we know, we get rewarded for our efforts, etc, but the inherent qualities, my wisdom, my beauty, my talents, my acquisitions… are all gifts of God. And they're given to me not even as gifts- they’re all on loan, because they're not going be with me forever. He compares it to an impoverished man that borrows the clothing of a wealthy man to go to a wedding. He's not going to say, “ Wow, look at me!” You don't feel arrogant when you borrow someone else's fancy car to pull up at a wedding. You know it's not your car. You know you have to give it back to its owner. If anything, you might feel humbled by the fact that you are in someone else's car. He says, once you start feeling like that, and you start realizing, “ Whoa, my wisdom isn't mine. My beauty isn't mine, my talent isn't mine, ” in his words, “ Immediately, a spirit of purity will dwell on him, as well as faith in God and Yirat Hashem.” Therefore, he says, the biggest advice for people who have doubts is to work on humility , to read books that arouse humility. And, as much as possible, realize that we are not the source of any greatness that we have, whether it's our talents, our success or our accomplishments. Of course, you can be proud of the efforts you put into knowledge of God. That, you did. That, you can be proud of. But everything else is from God. So therefore, when one takes credit and is arrogant, that is a direct contradiction to Emunah and Bitachon. Baruch Hashem we are working on our Emuna and Bitachon, and B’Ezrat Hashem , we will see the fruits of our labor. As we work on our humility, B’Ezrat Hashem, we will, as the Steipler says, immediately get an infusion of purity, and Emunah. We wish that for everybody. Have a Shabbat Shalom.
I'd like to share a beautiful thought from the Ramchal, in his essay on the topic of kivoy/hoping to God , which is a level of bitachon. He makes a very important distinction between prayer and bitachon/reliance on Hashem. He says that when a Sadik , or anyone for that matter, prays, the prayers go up to the King's ears. As it says, Because they prayed to Hashem, and cried out to Hashem, the prayers go up. That's all very nice, but there's a time, he says, when there are prosecutors that interfere with the prayers going up. He quotes a pasuk in Eicha 3,44 which is an important pasuk to know about in the times that we live in, which says, “ זכותה בענן לך מעבור תפלה You cover with the cloud, blocking the prayers from coming up.” That's a real concept. There’s a blockage. There's another pasuk in that same perek (3,8) גם כי אזיק .. שתם תפלתי “Even when I cry out and I pray, my prayers have been clogged.” This second pasuk is the source for a well-known Gemara in Masechet Berachot 32B, where Rav Elazar said, from the time when Bet Hamikdash was destroyed the gates of prayer are closed, as it says, “ שתם תפלתי My prayers have been clogged or blocked. But the Gemara continues “ ואף על פי ששערי תפלה ננעל Even though the gates of prayer have been closed, שערי דמעה לא ננעלו the gates of tears have not been closed.” The gates of prayer , at times , are closed. So what do we do now? Our goal is to get our prayers to the ear of the King, namely God. But there's a blockage there. And here comes the hiddush of bitachon- says the Ramchal, when people are hoping, they make a path and a crack through the clouds, and God , as if to say, comes down to hear the prayers of the one that hopes to God. And that's what the pasuk means. “ I hoped to God and God leaned down towards me, and heard my prayers.” This is an unbelievable hiddush. The Ramchal is telling us that prayers go up but Bitachon doesn't have to go up, because for Bitachon, God comes down, so there are no interferences between God and the one who is relying on Him. That's a very important hiddush. This is the first time I realized this. This also relates to humility, because as we've quoted in the past, there are two things that God can do. God can lift somebody up when they're down, or God can go down to the person. And the Gemara says, just as God didn’t make Har Sinai tall, but rather, God came down to Har Sinai, that's exactly what happens when a person's humble. When a person's humble, God comes down to him. That's where Bitachon comes from- the person knows that he's not able to do anything. He does not rely on himself, he relies on God. The arrogant one who is proud of his strength, of his wealth and his wisdom relies on himself. The Hovot Halevavot Shaar Bitachon talks about people that rely on themselves and their wisdom wealth, and strength. But when a person is humble, he does not rely on himself. He relies on God . And when that person has that Bitachon and that humility, even in a situation where prayers are not going to work, because the prayers are blocked, bitachon works. There are other ways to go break through the blockage, such as crying. B’Ezrat Hashem, starting next week over the next few classes, we'll discuss some other techniques to get through blockages. *Technique number one, the hiddush of the Ramchal, is Bitachon. Whereas prayer goes up, when it comes to bitachon, God comes down. Have a wonderful day.
Today is the 15th of Av. It may not be a well known day to all, but the Gemara tells us in Masechet Baba Batra: לא היו ימים טובים לישראל כחמשה עשר באב וכיום הכפורים There were no happier days for Jewish people than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippurim. The rabbis ask: We understand why Yom Kippur is such a happy day. It’s a day of forgiveness. But what’s so great about the 15th of Av? There are multiple reasons given in the Gemarah. The one we will explore today is the following: יום שכלו בא מתי המדבר It was the day that the people stopped dying in the desert. A little background: We know that the 9th of Av was the day that Bnei Yisrael cried from the report of the spies. It was then that G-d decreed that 600,000 people would die over the next 40 years in the desert, which averaged to about 15,000 per year. So every year in the desert, on the 9th of Av, they dug their own graves. The 600,000 people would lie down in graves, and in the morning 600,000 less 15,000 (those that were 60 years old) would get up. The 15,000 people that didn’t get up were then buried. One of the reasons they did it this way was that it was slightly more positive, because at least they could see how many more people had gotten up, vs the ones that hadn’t. In the 40th year in the desert, they did the same. What they didn’t realize though, was that in Hashem’s mercy, He had started counting the 40 years from the sin of golden calf. They had been 38 years in the desert, so they didn’t realize the decree was over. That final year, when they got into the graves, all the people got up. Initially, they assumed this was a mistake in their calculations of the date. In those days, and up until the times of the Bet HaMikdash, there were no calendars. They based the dates on the lunar cycle; on witnesses reporting the new moon. So when everyone got up the next morning, they assumed they had the dates wrong. The next few nights, they repeated this act of getting into the graves. On the 15th of Av, though, when it was obviously a full moon, it became clear to them that G-d had rescinded the decree, and in His mercy and compassion, worked it out that they had a shorter term of punishment. When they realized this, in Rambam’s words, הרגישו בא רצון הבורא they felt G-d’s closeness, and realized He was no longer angry. Therefore they turned the 15th of Av into a day of משתה וששון, a day of celebration. In reality, nothing new had happened that day, on G-d’s part- the decree had been made 38 years earlier. They just stopped dying before the time was up. But they realized G-d’s love for them and felt the rekindling of their relationship with Hashem, and that was cause for celebration. The Ridva tells us something less known, but very interesting, in Masechet Taanit. We know that the Shabbat following Tisha B’Av is celebrated. One reason for that is because we read Nachamu- which means comfort. However, the Ridva says that we celebrate and have an extra special Shabbat meal in celebration of the fact that they stopped dying. This is an important concept. As we have mentioned in the past, the Three-Week season prepares us, as we approach the high holidays, to get closer to G-d. The rabbis tell us that just like Tu B’Shevat comes 6 weeks before Pesach, and the sap starts running up the trees in preparation for Pesach and the fruits of Nissan, the 15th of Av comes six weeks before the high holidays. From the 15 of Av and on, we start to feel G-d’s closeness, and we get ready for the high holiday season. The month of Av, in Hebrew, is spelled אב The א is for ארור - curse, and the ב is for ברכה -blessing. These are opposites. The month of Av has a spilt personality. The first 15 days aren’t the most positive, but the next 15 days are the opposite. The Ben Ish Hai says the turning point is the 15th. We aren’t supposed to set court dates for the month of Av, but the 15th is the turn around. That’s what we’ll celebrate tomorrow and on Shabbat. We should understand and have the right attitude towards the fifteenth of Av.
Yesterday we spoke about the concept that one who is arrogant is like a worshiped tree and is chopped down. The Ben Ish Hai, in his commentary on Sotah 5A says something fascinating. It’s little deep so we'll call it extra credit, but I just could not control myself because it's so beautiful. He starts by with telling us that the word ישראל Yisrael/ the Jewish people, starts with a Yud , the smallest letter of the alphabet, and ends with a ל lamed , which is the tallest and highest letter of the alphabet , to symbolize that in the end of time, the Jewish people will be above all the nations of the earth (just like the Lamed is the highest of all letters) whereas now we are a simple, small little Yud ( A Jew is called Yehudi , based on the letter Yud). Then Ben Ish Chai says something fascinating. If we were to make a Lamed ל out of three toothpicks, we’d have an upside down L for the bottom, and the top piece. The Ben Ish Chai says that when a person becomes arrogant, it’s like he says, “ Ooh, I'm the tall lamed, and, as we’ve learned, God puts down those that are high. So He takes the ל lamed and cracks off the top (picture the top toothpick removed). Now it’s an upside down L, which looks like a little ד daled , and the piece that was cracked off the top of the Lamed gets put on the bottom so the Lamed ל becomes a ה Now, instead of having the letters Yisrael ישראל , we have a Yud , a Sin , a Resh , an Alef and a Heh (instead of the Lamed). Rescramble that and it spells Ashera, אשרה , which is the worshiped tree that we spoke about yesterday, meaning that when somebody is a Yisrael, a Jewish person , he's uplifted from the small little letter Yud until he becomes the big tall Lamed . But if he is arrogant, then God pushes him down. He adds that the numerical value of the Lamed is 30. But God says, Ani Et Daka/ I dwell with the דכא Daka / humble person.” (You could be a Lamed and still be a humble person). The numerical value of the word דכה Daka/humility is 25 (Daled-4, alef-1,and kaf-20. That's 25). So if you take daka , humility, which is 25, and subtract it from the Lamed/30, you're left with a Heh . That's why this man, who lost his humility when he was uplifted as a Lamed, now comes down to a ה Heh , and he spells the word אשרה Ashera . This is a fascinating glimpse into the letters of the Hebrew language- there's so much depth and so much beauty. The word, Yisrael tells us, “ Start off small. Yisrael means Sar/a great one , a minister , Sarita / someone that won over the struggle with the angels. It’s the highest level of Yisrael . But with all that you reach, you have to always keep the humility. If your lamed starts getting a little too arrogant, he gets chopped down and turned into that worshiped tree. It's fascinating to see how these beautiful lessons are hiding in the Hebrew language! That's our mystical, kabbalistic message for today, from the Ben Ish Chai. One of the rabbis tell us that there's nothing more humbling than seeing the depth of the Torah and how great our greats are. They remain humble with all their great, beautiful Divrei Torah . Have a wonderful day.
We've been going through concepts of humility as they relate to the bitachon, and I have unbelievable thought to share with you today. The Gemara in Sotah says, “ Anyone that has arrogance, it’s befitting to chop him down like an Ashera,” which is a worshiped tree. There is a rule in the Gemara that when the same word shows up in two places, that causes us to link the two together. It says, “ the ones that are high of stature are chopped down, and it also says, “ The worshiped trees should be chopped down.” The same term, ‘ chopped down’ is used both for arrogant people and for worshiped trees. What exactly is the connection between the two? Why are we comparing an arrogant person to a worshiped tree? Why not compare him to a worshiped house or anything else that's worshiped. Why are we comparing him to a worshiped tree ? One explanation, from the Maharal is that it’s because there's a pasuk that says man is compared to a tree. But there's an additional, beautiful point. The Gemara in Masechet Avoda Zara page 45, tells us that normally, if something is worshiped it is forbidden to derive benefit from that object. So if you have an idol that’s been worshiped, you can't benefit from it. There's a question about how can people sell trinkets of certain type of items, which are related to idol worship. And the answer is that it's just a trinket. It's not really worshiped. Only something that's truly worshiped is forbidden to derive benefit from. Yet there's an exception. If someone bows down to a mountain or the sun or anything that's part of nature , we'll call it, it cannot be forbidden to derive benefit from those, because simply, how that would be the case? For example, we wouldn't be able to benefit from the sun, which is worshiped. So, the question is, why is there a concept called the worshiped tree ? A tree is also an item of nature. The answer, as the Gemara says, is that “ A tree has the clutches of man in i t.” Man planted the tree. There is a discussion about a trees that grew on its own, that man later did something to, but a tree is something that although is Godly, it is impacted by man, and therefore can become an Avoda Zara which the forces of contamination can dwell on. The sefer Siach Yitzhak says that likewise, a human being should not be capable of being worshiped, because he is a creation of God. But when a person becomes a Baal Ga’avah , he considers himself like he made himself, like Paroah who said, “ The Nile is mine, and I made myself.” A person who doesn't give credit to God for his creation, disconnects himself from God and is c onsidered like a human being is involved in his being, hence the term, self-made man , as in someone who believes he made himself. He now disconnects himself from his Creator and the forces of Tumah can dwell on him. On the other hand, the humble person realizes that every moment, he's under the control of God, that he can't do anything and that God is in total control of him, like Avraham Avinu who said, “I am dust and ash,” and Moshe Rabbeu and Aharon, who said, “ What are we?” He considers himself subjugated to God, and so in that way, he is not at all a human creation. There’s nothing to him but Godliness , and therefore, like God says, “ Wherever My name is mentioned, I will come to you, and I will bless you.” This person becomes a receptacle for God. Conversely, when something disconnects from God, and believes it has its own power, like the idol, a force of negativity, of Tumah , dwells on it. It's real. We don't understand what this means, but there's a real negative force. If someone has a bottle of wine and it's libated, you can't drink it. It's forbidden to benefit from it because there's a contamination that comes on it. What is that contamination? The contamination is a disconnect from God, and that's a negative force. But the opposite is also true-the one who's connected to God brings a spirit of holiness upon him, and a spirit of blessing. Therefore, the man who is arrogant becomes like that worshiped tree- Although the tree is inherently God's creation, and grew from the ground, man took an active role in that tree, and now the tree can become forbidden. So too, the human being, although he’s an act of God, can make himself into a worshiped item, by taking credit for his existence. We’ll end with an interesting little point, for the month of Elul, which is coming upon us. The rabbis tell us, the pasuk says, “ Hu Asanu/He made us, V’Lo Anachnu- which can mean either: We didn't make ourselves or We belong to Him . And the rabbis say both are true. If we say, “ He made us and we didn't make ourselves, ” then we belong to Him, and then we have all the blessings. And if we say that no, we made ourselves , then we don't belong to Him, and we get the opposite. So again, the humble person connects himself to God, realizes that he's not in control and is a source of all blessing. Have a wonderful day.
It’s the day after Tisha B’Av, so we will share a bitachon thought related to the stage we now move into, the stage of Nechama/comfort. In Masechet Gittin, the Gemara tells us about the horrible destruction of the city of Beitar. Literally, millions of people were killed. And the Gemara tells us, in another place, that not only were they killed, but they were not allowed to be buried. Beitar was cordoned off for seven years and no one was allowed to bury the bodies. After those seven years, the original Caesar died and the new emperor allowed for their burial. So there they were, going into Beitar, after seven years of no one going near the bodies. You would assume they’d need hazmat suits, that there would be terrible decay and odor. But miraculously, all the bodies remained just as they were on the day they died. None of them decayed, none of them rotted. And they got their proper burial. And on that day, the rabbis of Yavneh, the yeshiva of the day, enacted a Takana , to institute a new blessing into Birkat Hamazon, the fourth blessing, HaTov UMetiv. The first blessing is from Moshe Rabbenu when the manna came down in the desert. The second one was made by Yehoshua, the third one by David and Shlomo. This fourth one was made by the people of Yavneh. Rav Yitzhak Isaac Scher, son-in-law of the Alter of Slobodka asks a question. He says, there are a lot of miracles that happened to the Jewish people. What made the miracle of the bodies not rotting so significant that we have to remember it for eternity? (I don't know how many people think of the dead bodies of Beitar when they say HaTov UMetiv , but maybe now we will). And he explains as follows: This was a low point in Jewish history. Bar Kochba’s last stand was Beitar. They thought maybe they'd have some chance of overturning the Roman Empire, but they were wiped out. And at this low point, they saw a miracle. Seemingly, God had forsaken them, and yet here God made a miracle, watching over these dead bodies. At that point, they realized that even when God punishes you, He’s still taking care of you at the same time. That, the rabbis decided, was something to remember forever. In Birkat Hamazon , we say, V’Tivneh Yerushalayim Irach, Bimhera Beyamenu/ We want Yerushalayim build soon, but it's not being built, and we're still here. So what do we have to keep us going? That's the blessing of HaTov UMetiv. We start off the blessing with HaEl Avinu . El means powerful , strong One that gives us parnasa . El , is a term of strength, but strength for giving parnasa and goodness. Avinu/ God's our Father, Malkenu/ our King (We use that same term, Avinu Malkenu on the high holidays) Adirenu/the strong One. Borenu/Our Creator Goalenu/Our Redeemer Kedoshenu, Kedosh Yaakov, He's the holy One and Yaakov was holy too. (See below) Ro’Enu, Ro’eh Yisrael He’s our shepherd, shepherd of Yisrael (Yaakov had two names. Yaakov and Yisrael). What exactly does that mean, and what is the significance of shepherding, specifically in HaTov UMetiv? The Midrash tells us, Yaakov Avinu never said a word in vain, except the one time when the brothers wanted to go back to Egypt for the second time and take Binyamin along. Shimon was still there, and Yehuda was trying to convince Yaakov Avinu that he should send Binyamin. The pasuk says, “ Vayomer Yisrael/Yisrael says, ‘ Why did you do bad for me?’” Why'd you tell this Viceroy that you have another brother? Why'd you do bad for me? And that was the one word that Yaakov said improperly. And God said, “ I'm trying to make his son the king and he's complaining?!” It’s not fathomable to us. He had the bloodstained coat. How was he supposed to think that Yosef was still alive? But regardless, on Yaakov’s Avinu’s level, that was a complaint. Yet, Rav Matityahu Salomon says, that Yaakov Avinu fixed it on the last day of his life, when blessing his children. He said to Yosef’s children, “God who's my shepherd.. etc” and he blessed him. He used the term God, who's my Shepherd, and the word shepherd , Ro’eh here is written without a Vav. It could be read as Ra’ah /God's justice, Who seemingly does evil to me. Yaakov Avinu makes this declaration that what seems to be Ra’ah / evil is really Roeh/it's God shepherding me . And that's what we're saying in this blessing: Remember the lesson of Roenu Ro’eh Yisrael. Even when it seems to be Ra’ah/bad, it's really the Ro’eh. Hamelech/ the King HaTov/He does good, VHametiv Lakol, as it says Tov Hashem Lakol. Sh’Bechol Yom V ‘Yom/Every single day, Hu Hetiv Lanu/ He did good for us in the past, Hu Metiv Lanu/He does good for us presently Hu Yetiv Lanu/He will do good in the future Hu Gemalanu, Hu Gomelenu, Hu Yigmelenu… La’ad And then we end with the words Chen, Chessed, V’Rachamim/Grace Kindness, Mercy, Revach/ a lot Hatzolah Vchol Tov… These words are almost identical to the beginning of when we start with the words H aEl Hazan Otanu… VChen VChesed VRevach Vrahami m Rabim .. These were said by Moshe Rabbenu when the manna was coming down, when the wellspring was giving them water, when the cloud was ahead of them. And yet we use the same terminology when we're staring at millions of bodies that have been lying around for seven years. Because we realize it's the same Hatov Umetiv. That's the takeaway from Tisha B’Av. That's the Nechama/comfort. And that's why we have this fourth beracha of HaTov Umetiv. Let's focus on it and take the lesson. (Yaakov symbolized Torah, which is called Torah Kedosha. Additionally, the first three blessings of the Amida correspond to the Avot. Magen Abraham corresponds to Avraham Avinu, Mehayeh Metim corresponds to Yitzhak who's soul left and came back by the Akeda which represents the resurrection of the dead. And finally, Yaakov is the one of Kedusha, and therefore he gets V’Atah Kadosh)
It's Erev Tisha B’Av, so we will share a Tisha B’Av- bitachon thought. In our Amida , we say Matzmiach Keren Yeshua / God grows the salvation , and Et Semach David/the growth of David. Why is worded like that? Our rabbis explain that sometimes a situation seems to be getting worse and worse from day to day, but actually it's comparable to a seed. When you plant a seed, first it rots and then it grows. Only from the rotting of the decay can we have the new growth. The Sefer Imrei Pinhas says that is why we have Tisha B’Av before the Yamim Nora’im. It's just like that seed that's being put in the ground. First we, so to say, decay. We sit on the floor on Tisha B’Av, we're on the ground. And then we start rejuvenating, growing out of that into Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The seed of our high holidays is developing during Tisha B’Av. The Sefer Imrei Pinhas adds that when you sit on the ground, it's an Et Ratzon Gadol/ It's a great time of to pray to God. You can make great impacts. And in the beracha of Et Semach David , it’s brought down that one has to be hoping for the Yeshua . One of the questions they're going to ask us after 120 years is, Did you look forward to God's salvation? The Sefer Mitzvot Katan asks, Where does it say that I'm supposed to look forward to God's salvation, that I can be held responsible for that? And the answer is, it's in the first commandment we heard from God, which is, “ Anochi Hashem Elokecha.., I am Hashem your God, that took you out of Egypt.” In other words, Just like I took you out of Egypt, I will take you out in the future, and once again, redeem you. We're supposed to strengthen our belief, our yearning and our hoping for Mashiach. The Rambam writes that if you don't believe in Mashiach and you don't wait for his coming, you are considered a heretic. It's not enough just to believe he's going to come. You have to be waiting. Any second, he'll be here. I'm waiting for him to come. He's going to be here in a minute or two or three, but he's going to be here. The Chafetz Chaim says that when the famous Bet Halevi lived in the town of Warsaw, the committee of Brisk came to offer him the position as the Rabbi of Brisk. But theBet Halevi didn't want to accept their offer. So, they sent another group and told him, “ 30,000 Jews are waiting for you.” When he heard that, he took the job. The Chafetz Chaim said that the Bet Halevi felt that because 30,000 people were waiting for him, he had to go. It wouldn’t be right to let them down. He added, If 30,000 people were really looking forward to Mashiach coming, he would have to come as well. His middot are no less than the Bet Halevi! The answer is, we're really not looking forward enough. In the famous Piyut of Yigdal Elokim Chai, based on the 13 Principles of Faith (some even say the Rambam wrote it) it says, “ ישלח לקץ ימים משיחנו God should send, at the end of times, Mashiach, לפדות מחכי קץ ישועתי To redeem those that are waiting for the end of time, and He'll give us salvation. It's a key point in the story, to arouse our yearning . Tisha B’Av is not just about mourning, it's about arousing our yearning. As we’ve mentioned before, the Bet Yosef discusses an ancient custom that ladies would wash their hair on Tisha B’Av in the afternoon. This custom was established by the elder rabbis, on purpose, even though it's really incorrect. He says it’s because on Tisha B’Av, we have to make a remembrance for the redeemer and we should not despair from the Geula. The ladies at that time were not literate or learned, and were weak in their Emuna so therefore they needed added hizuk. Of course, the Bet Yosef says, we don't have this custom anymore. But in theory, we all agree on the same point- Tisha B’Av is supposed to be a time not to create despair , but a time to create hope . B’Ezrat Hashem we will create that hope and Mashiach will see thousands of people waiting for him, and he will come. Have a meaningful fast and Tizku Lirot Menechamat Sion/ May you merit to see in the comforting of Sion .
We’ve been discussing the connection between humility and bitachon. There is a Gemara in Masechet Sotah (daf ה ) that says, ‘ Any man that has arrogance, he's going to become diminished .’ And they quote a pasuk from Iyov: “ It's going to be plucked like the head of the kernel (of wheat) .” There are two explanations for this. One says that a wheat-stalk has a little hair-like piece on top, that falls off first because it’s extra. Anything extra is unnecessary and gets blown off. The Maharal explains this concept of the extras getting removed in his sefer Netivot HaOlam (in the chapter on Anava) , with a very interesting analogy. He says, when it comes to the laws of Terefot (certain types of defects that render an animal unkosher because it won’t live out the year), the most common one is a hole in the lungs, and that's why we have to check the lungs. If an animal is missing a liver or gallbladder, it's a terefah . The Gemara has a hiddush. But when an animal has two livers or four kidneys, that’s also a terefah , due to the principle that anything that's extra, it’s as if it’s been removed . The Maharal says this concept is true not only for our physical makeup, but for our spiritual and our emotional makeup as well. A person who is arrogant is really adding on to his emotional self, to his psyche, parts of his personality that don't belong. He is making himself bigger than he really is. We can even borrow the term grandiose . He's adding to what he really is, and that addition actually causes him to to be lacking. We can apply this concept to something called hero syndrome, also known as hero complex or savior complex . It's a psychological disorder, which is basically a need to help somebody, to such an extent that the person starts seeking heroism or recognition by creating harmful situations for objects or people, which they can then resolve. This happens quite often to people who were once true heroes. A man did something great and was on the news for a day or two, but now he has an exaggerated sense of self-worth. That extra is now causing him to be lacking . He has that need for recognition and heroism, and now he's lacking that. So his yeter/his extra, i s actually causing him to lack . This is based on the first explanation that a Baal Ga’ava is like the hair on top of the wheat. Another explanation is that it's talking about a tall stalk of wheat. The Gemara says it's comparable to when a man walks into his field. Which piece of wheat does he pluck first? The highest piece. And again, we quote from the Maharal, in his sefer Netivot HaOlam , where discusses humility, and says a fascinating concept: When a person considers himself elite or greater-than, that separates him from everybody else and therefore, he's plucked first. That means that when it comes to God's judgment, being arrogant separates a person from everybody else. This is an important point, that you may have heard in the past about the high holiday season: a person shouldn't separate himself from the group. Like the famous Shunamite woman who was asked on Rosh Hashanah, by Eliyahu HaNavi, “ What can I do for you? ” Her answer was, “I want to be with everybody else, a part of my people, I don't want to stand out .” Standing out is not a good thing. We could call it Ayin Hara, but the Maharal explains it slightly differently. He says it's about the person becoming arrogant . When he becomes arrogant, that in itself separates him from everybody else, and he becomes zeroed-in on and focused on, because he's lifting himself up as if he's better-than. That better-than arouses God's judgment. Our takeaway from all these things is that the opposite is true. When a person is humble, he's part of the group, he's part of the tzibbur , he has the proper equilibrium, he has a reality check. He knows who he is. He's not adding and he's not grandiose. These are the qualities necessary to be an emotionally healthy human being, and also to be someone that God brings blessing upon. Have a wonderful day.
We are in the week of Tisha B’Av, and sometimes we have Emuna questions. It's hard to understand why we sometimes see people that are, or have been, oppressors of the Jews over the generations- and yet they seem to be enjoying great status in the world, anti-Semites, terrorists and the like. How are we to understand this? The Bet Halevi tells us, in his essay on Ga’avah, that we should be mitbonen / we should ponder the following principle, which is that Arrogance is the doorway and the gateway to the downfall of a person , as the pasuk in Mishleh 16,18 says, /לפ ני שבר גאון Before a downfall is arrogance. ולפני כשלון גבה רוח And before a stumbling comes an uplifted spirit, which means simply that a person is lifted up before they fall. The Chatam Sofer gives two examples of this from history. The first is Yaakov Avinu. Why did Yaakov send all of those gifts and presents and honors to Esav? To answer, he quotes Iyov 12: God causes the goyim to be uplifted, and He destroys them. God lifts them up with the purpose of destroying them. The honor and greatness bestowed on them is only there to hasten their downfall. He says that a nation and an individual, have a certain Mazal for how long they will last. They have to reach a certain height, and the more honor they get, the faster they reach that height. The second example he uses is Esther and Haman. Why did Esther invite Haman to the party? Because she knew this principle of לפ ני שבר גאון /before a downfall is arrogance. The Or HaChaim HaKadosh says that's why Moshe Rabbenu showed Datan and Aviram respect- because of this principle, that a person’s haughtiness will bring his downfall. That's on the negative side, and it can help us understand why we see our oppressors rising up. But on a more individual level, there are two similar pesukim in Mishleh that say the opposite ( 15,33, and 18,12) ולפני כבוד, עונה And before honor comes, there is humility. The sefer Shomer Amunim, in his derush on Bitachon, says that when a person suffers a loss, whether monetary or physical, there are two options: he can either accept with a full heart that it’s going to bring him greatness- and then he can grow from it, or the opposite- he can complain. He quotes the Sefer Chasidim (siman 13), that says, Sometimes somebody is supposed to receive a wonderful gift (whether spiritual or physical), but he's not worthy of it yet. So God causes something to happen to him that humbles him, and then he'll be ready to receive the gift and the greatness. He has to believe, he says, that for sure something great is going to grow from it. There are two sides of the coin: 1-When a person reaches a high level, that's a cause for his downfall/ Lifneh Shever Geon, 2-When God wants to gift somebody with something and give him kavod , it has to be preceded by humility. Humility brings uplift and arrogance brings downfall. Therefore, before God brings someone to his downfall, He gives him arrogance, and the opposite: When God wants to bestow kavod on somebody, He gives him cause to be humble. We sometimes suffer difficulties, but the goal is to make us humble, to give us a gift. That’s the way we are supposed to view Tisha B’Av. On the one hand, we look on the outside and see that as God is bestowing them with greatness, it’s ultimately for their downfall. And when we're sitting on the floor and humbling ourselves as Tisha B’Av is coming, that's a source for our eventual greatness. Have a wonderful day.
Today we will share a bitachon thought related to humility and related to Tisha B’Av. The Yalkut Shimoni tells us (Shemuel 1, perek 2), that Hashem is not like human beings. If a human sees somebody who's handsome and wealthy, you’re there for him if he needs you. You're his friend. You'll go to his parties; you'll do things with him. But if you see someone downtrodden, who’s falling, people try to stay away. They're not interested. Hashem does not work that way. If He sees a person that's arrogant, He causes him to fall down. He quotes a pasuk: גַּאֲוַ֣ת אָ֭דָם תַּשְׁפִּילֶ֑נּוּ Man's arrogance causes him to fall. But if God sees someones that fell to the depths, He picks him up. As we say in Hallel, / מקימי מעפר דל God lifts up people that fell down. And he quotes a pasuk to that effect: שחה לעפר נפשנו Our souls have hit the dust, The next pasuk says, ק֭וּמָֽה עֶזְרָ֣תָה לָּ֑נוּ God, stand up, help us out. That means when a person feels arrogant like I'm in charge, then help is not there. If anything, the person is broken. But when a person realizes I'm down and out, I can't do it on my own, I need you, Hashem , then Hashem picks us up. And the Rabbis bring this down in relation to Tisha B’Av . When we sit on the floor, what are we saying? We're saying, “Hashem, we're on the floor. We hit rock bottom. We're in exile, we're in Galut . There are so many problems. There are terror attacks in Israel. There are financial issues, there are medical issues, there are mental health issues. There are many things going on. We hit rock bottom.” And once we realize we hit rock bottom, Hashem says, “ You need Me? I'll pick you up off the ground.” On Tisha B’Av,we get up off the ground after Hatzot , which is, to say, the low point, really. That was when the Bet Hamikdash was starting to be burnt, as the end of the day came. That's when we hit rock bottom, so that's when Hashem lifts us up. The Midrash continues in Yeshaya (perek 2) with almost the same words and adds.. ואף לאה שנואת הבית Leah was hated. And, because of that, she had children. Rav Shach says something fascinating about that- Look at Rachel. She was the chosen one. Rachel was the one that was designated to marry Yaakov Avinu, the prince of the generation. She had no reason to cry. Leah, on the other hand was designated for Esav, the wicked man of the generation, and she cried bitter tears. And because of those bitter tears, because she hit rock bottom, God said, “I'm going to lift you up.” And she had six tribes. Rachel, on the other hand, didn't have that. We can’t say that she wasn't humble, but she didn't have that crying. She didn't have that feeling of being broken, and therefore feel like she hit rock bottom to have God pick her up. And therefore, Rav Shach adds, רחל מבכה על בניה Rachel Mevakeh Al Baneha Rachel, who wasn’t at rock bottom early on, because she had no reason to cry then, has been crying for her children for the past 2000 years, That is how Hashem worked it out. When we cry and hit rock bottom, that's when Hashem lifts us up, and that's the humility-bitachon connection that we've been talking about. When a person is humbled, he says, “I can't do it. I hit rock bottom Hashem, I need your help.” When a person is arrogant, he feels he's fine. He doesn't need any help from Above. In the three weeks, we are supposed to have the feeling that we’ve hit rock bottom, and then Hashem picks us up and we go on to better days. Have a wonderful day.
As we mentioned yesterday, one of the best ways to learn humility is by learning it from our greats. Rav Dovid Feinstein, the son of Rav Moshe, Feinstein, was a giant in Torah and a giant and humility. I'd like to read you a story from the book, Reb Dovid, put out by Art Scroll (page 133). He was in an out of town community for a midweek family Brit Mila, and he greeted one of his nephews after prayers with a kiss. One of the locals pointed out that it is forbidden to kiss another person in shul. (This man obviously did not know who Rav Dovid was) Rav Dovid smiled gently and said , “I'm not sure it’s as simple as that.” The other man was unimpressed by the answer from this unfamiliar visitor with the short beard and short jacket, and was persistent. “ Well, Rav Moshe rules stringently,” he responded. “ Are you sure? ” asked Rav Dovid, “I think he might be lenient if it is after prayers, especially when it's not your son, no?” The man shook his head and walked off, mumbling about the guest who didn't know the halacha. And still Rav Dovid said nothing. Now, that is ultimate humility, because as we mentioned in the past, the Navi says there are three areas where people want to be proud: their wisdom, their wealth, and their strength. These are areas that are hard for people to hold back in. Rav Dovid Feinstein could have very easily told the man, “ Maybe you should look in Igrot Moshe, ” told him the siman , and he'd find out. But no, he just humbly let the man continue on his way without embarrassing him. Before we try apply this to ourselves. There’s another Gadol story, I want to share, that I witnessed myself. Rav Yaakov Kaminetzsky, also one of the Gadolei HaDor, was staying at his son's house for Sukkot in Flatbush many years ago, in the 1980s. His wife was in the hospital. My father, who was a doctor and was close to the Kaminetzskys, went to visit the Rebbitzen in the hospital and then came back to Rav Yaakov to report. There were many people in the Succah, and my father wanted to get a little closer to Rav Yaakov to have a little privacy, so he waited for the crowd to thin out. I was there at the time, and we waited about half an hour or so. Over that time, different shifts of people came in and came out. One person told a cute joke about a Succah to Rav Yaakov and he laughed. A few minutes later, another man told the same joke and Rav Yaakov laughed like he hadn't heard it before. Then a third man came in and told the same joke and Rav Yaakov laughed again! Now, this is something that can easily apply to us- you don't have to be Rav David Feinstein or Rav Yaakov Kaminetzsky. It happens quite often that people tell us something, a bit of news, or just some interesting tidbit, and you’ve heard it already. You could easily tell the person, “I know, I heard already, ” which is driven by a touch of arrogance. ‘ I want to shine. I know it too. I'm also in the know. I have the latest knowledge, I have the latest news .’ But when you control yourself and you don't do that, that's humility. Because, as we keep reiterating, it's rooted in Bitachon. My knowledge, my capacity to amass information, to hold information, my memory…I didn't create that, that was given to me. The fact that I know something that someone else doesn't know, or that I know more or know it faster doesn't show anything great about me. Those are God given talents. That's not the area that is for me to show off. Rav Dovid obviously felt that way. It's not for me. I don't have to show off my knowledge and what I know…I can be quiet. That's our lesson for the day. Have a wonderful day.
As we continue on the topic of humility, I would like to share a story about one our Gedolim, because although the best way to learn something is by seeing it in action, we can't always see it live. So we like to use true stories, as they help gives us a better understanding and appreciation. Rabbi Abraham Genachowsky was a Rosh Yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael, who passed away a few years ago. Although he wasn’t that well known in America, he was very active in the areas of Hessed, and very involved in helping parents and children specifically. And, as anyone who is involved in education (or in any community work) knows, sometimes when you try to help somebody, they actually come back at you. For example, sometimes teachers call a meeting with parents, to try and help their child, because the child is acting out or has a particular challenge. But the parents actually attack the school administration for even suggesting an issue. That's just the way it is. This rabbi, who, as I said, was very active, experienced this quite often. He would try to help people, but the very people he'd try to help would react unpleasantly. He gave a beautiful mashal/ analogy (I’ll call it a reframe) to explain how he was able to continue this work, which shows where Emuna and Bitachon come in, to help with our humility. He said: Imagine a king who has a beautiful garden, with special gardeners hired to work in his garden. There is one gardener, an extremely dedicated, hard worker, who is working his best around a certain orange tree that isn’t growing properly. He gets down on the ground and his hands are muddy, as he does whatever he can to help the tree grow. Then, he gives a little push against the tree. His face is on the floor, his hands are all muddy, and an orange comes down, hits the ground and splashes him in his face! Now his face has orange juice all over it (Or imagine it’s a coconut tree, if you want to get more dramatic, and a coconut falls and hits him on the head)! This gardener, of course, continues working on the orange tree, even after orange splattered all over him. A man walks by and says, “I don't understand. How can you continue working on that tree if the tree has no respect? The tree has no recognition! After all the hard work you put into the tree, it drops the fruit on you and gets you all dirty?!” The gardener responds. “ The tree obviously is not in control of itself. And even if it was, I'm not working for the tree, I'm working for the king . The tree is part of the king's garden. And I, as a loyal servant to the king, want to do my best to make sure his garden develops as good as possible.” That's the mashal . The nimshal is that when we're helping people, yes, it’s because we're good people with good hearts, but it's more than that. We say, V’Ahavta L’Re’echa Kamocha/love your friend like you loveyourself, Ani Hashem/ I am God , which means the reason why we're loving our friends and taking care of our friends and helping our friends is ultimately because they're part of the King's garden. God told us to care for our friends needs and tend to them as well as we can. So if the person who's the recipient of our kindness is not interested in receiving our kindness, that doesn't mean we're going to stop; That doesn't mean that we're going give up, because we're not doing it for them . We're doing it for the greater good. We're doing it for our Boss, our King, our God, Who told us to tend to this person's needs. And therefore, when they insult us, or when they bother us, we continue. To me, that's the ultimate humility and it’s the ultimate humility based on the ultimate Emunah and Bitachon. This story gives us a little glimpse into the ways a great man works, and what gives him the ability to continue in his holy work. It inspired me, and I hope it will inspire you. Have a wonderful day.
This week's Parasha talks about the Bene Gad and Bene Reuven who had a lot of sheep and wanted to take land on the other side of the Jordan, and not go into Eretz Yisrael, which connects to the pasuk that we’ve been talking about, which we read on Tisha B’Av ( Yirmiyah 9,22) אַל־יִתְהַלֵּ֤ל חָכָם֙ בְּחׇכְמָת֔וֹ וְאַל־יִתְהַלֵּ֥ל הַגִּבּ֖וֹר בִּגְבֽוּרָת֑וֹ אַל־יִתְהַלֵּ֥ל עָשִׁ֖יר בְּעׇשְׁרֽוֹ The wise, the wealthy, and the strong shouldn't be proud of their wisdom, wealth, and strength… Rather be proud of your knowledge of God. Regarding this, the Midrash Tanchuma says, There are three gifts that God created in this world: Wisdom, strength, and wealth. If you have them, you have everything. But, there’s a caveat, “ When they’re gifts of God, it’s God strength, not man's wealth, wisdom and strength.” That means there are two kinds of wealth, two kinds of wisdom, and two kinds of strength: God’s and man’s. God’s means I attribute it to God. Man’s means I think it's mine. I got it on my own. It’s only a gift when you realize it's God’s. And he brings two pesukim, one in Kohelet, 9/11: שַׁ֜בְתִּי וְרָאֹ֣ה תַֽחַת־הַשֶּׁ֗מֶשׁ כִּ֣י לֹא֩ לַקַּלִּ֨ים הַמֵּר֜וֹץ וְלֹ֧א לַגִּבּוֹרִ֣ים הַמִּלְחָמָ֗ה וְ֠גַ֠ם לֹ֣א לַחֲכָמִ֥ים לֶ֙חֶם֙ וְגַ֨ם לֹ֤א לַנְּבֹנִים֙ עֹ֔שֶׁר וְגַ֛ם לֹ֥א לַיֹּדְעִ֖ים חֵ֑ן I sat and I saw… that the light footed don't always win the race, the strong don't always win the war, the wise people don’t always have bread. Not always do the understanding people have wealth and not always do the knowledgeable people have charm. So, you can have all the qualities but not get what your supposed to get- That’s when it’s not a gift of God. And when they're not gifts of God, when (in the term the Mishna uses), you grab them , then they bring destruction. The Midrash then goes on through history, referencing two people for each quality, one from the Jews, one from the goyim, and shows what their end was because they didn't attribute it to God. One of the wisest men in the world, the Jew Achitofel, was the advisor. He was called the Yoetz . He ended up killing himself when his advice wasn't accepted. Bilam was the wisest among the goyim, and he also had a tragic ending. Of the two strong men, both the Jew Shimshon (on his level, he ended up not using his strength properly) and the goy, Goliat, lost this world. The two wealthy men, Korach and Haman, one a Jew, one a goy, both ended up losing. This was because, in the words of the Midrash, it wasn't a gift from God…they grabbed them (figuratively speaking). When we don't attribute our talents to God, it's like we're grabbing them, like grabbing gifts. Grabbing gifts doesn’t bring success. We have to attribute our gifts to God. Shabbat Shalom
Many of these daily lessons come from longer classes that I give at different times during the week. When I was giving this class on a Shabbat in Deal Shul, Rav Reuven Feinstein shlita came into the class, on behalf of Torah U’Mesorah, and so we gave him the floor. When I introduced him, since I was talking about humility, I told the following story, one of my favorites about Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Reuven’s father. Rav Meir Zlotowitz, the founder of Artscroll, was one of the great men of our generation and a great spreader of Torah. He was divorced from his first wife, and he took care of their three children, which was sometimes difficult. (This was published in a book about him and was said at his second wife’s levaya ). On one wintery night, the children were giving him a bit of a hard time being put to sleep, which he mentioned while on the phone with Rav Moshe. After his call, he went back to whatever he had to do, giving them supper and putting them to sleep etc. And then he heard a knock at the door. He opened it, and there was Rav Moshe Feinstein! At the time, Rav Moshe was in his early seventies, and was already one of the Gadolei HaDor. And yet, he right came in. When Rav Zlotowitz asked what he was doing there, Rav Feinstein said he came to help. He read the children bedtime stories and did whatever else goes along with putting children to bed. That's the hallmark of all our Gedolim. They all have humility. After I told that story to introduce Rav Reuven Feinstein, he added two thoughts about humility from his father, that I’d like to share. The first is that Rav Moshe would always say “Humility doesn't mean that you think you're a nobody, because then you'd never be able to get anywhere in life. Humility means, Of course, I'm a somebody. I have great talents, but these talents were given to me by God. My wealth, my wisdom, my strength are all gifts of God, and therefore I have to use them for Him. So , of course, when someone asks, Who's smart? I raise my hand. Who's wealthy? I raise my hand. Who's strong? I raise my hand. But that doesn't mean it’s arrogance . I raised my hand, as in I lift up my heart in the service of God . I'm ready to go.” That was point number one. Point number two, which was really a beautiful point, is about a famous Gemara in which a rabbi’s son has a near- death experience. Afterwards, the rabbi asked him, “ What did you see?” And he said, “Elyonim L’Mata / I saw that those that were high in this world are down low there. And Tachtonim L’Mala/those that are low in this world are high in the next world.” And Rav Moshe asked, “ What exactly is the Chiddush? Didn't he know that we're living in a false world? That's not a chiddush. He answered that the term is used Elyonim L’Mata/the high ones are below. Why doesn’t it just just say they’re below? Why are they still called Elyonim ? Because they're still the high people and they're below. And the tachtonim/low people are still called the low people, and they're above. What does that mean? He says the Elyonim , are the people that had a lot of talents. They're wise, they're strong, they're wealthy, they're Elyonim , but they didn't use their gifts properly. They used them for themselves. They were proud of them. They didn't attribute them to God. And therefore, those Elyonim walk around with a badge. Elyonim . They could have done so much more. And so they’re below. Then you have the group of people that are Tachtonim /lowly ones-they weren't the smartest, they weren't the wealthiest. They weren't the strongest, but they used their abilities to the maximum. So, they get the stamp Tachtonim . They were not from the top of the class, they didn’t graduate in the top 10 percentile. They graduated in the bottom 10 percentile, but they used their efforts, abilities and talents to the maximum, and therefore they're high up there. They're still Tachtonim . That's their badge of greatness. You're tachtonim , but you're L’mala / up. And the opposite, the badge of shame goes to the Elyonim , the high and lofty, because they didn't use their talents and they didn't attribute it to God. They're L’Mata . They come down to the bottom. These are important concepts to think about and appreciate. We could be walking around thinking, “I'm from the Elyonim Club.” But that doesn't guarantee that we’re L’Mala. You’re only L’Mala when you take those talents, use them properly and attribute them to God. Have a wonderful day.
Yesterday, we spoke about the need to work on humility specifically in the three weeks. I'm going share a concept that I learned from spending many years by Rav Wolbe, which is that when you want to work on something, the way to do it is not with great, lofty deeds, but rather with small, under the radar, almost microscopic activities. One of his proofs for this was that when we put medicine on something, we don't use large doses. For example, as I've mentioned many times, my father practiced dermatology for many years. The medicine of choice to stop many rashes was cortisone. If you look at the tube, there’s only 0.01% of the active ingredient. That means you're not putting on a lot of cortisone (which is actually a steroid, which stops inflammation). It's a small amount, but that small amount, slowly but surely makes an impact, like dripping water makes a hole in the rock. So, if you want to become humble, it's good to start with something very small. I once heard from Rav Wolbe that when you bow at start the Amidah, which is something that's automatic for us, pause for a while and think, “ I'm bowing in front of God. Why am I bowing in front of God? Because He is the most powerful of beings. He's the One that decides everything that's going to happen… I can't do anything. ” And as we’ve said before from Rav Wolbe, the greatest impediment to kavana/concentration, intent) in our prayer is arrogance . The reason we don't have kavana is not due to an inability to focus or lack of attentiveness. It's because the act of praying is an act of humility, and our arrogance interferes with our humility. That's why thoughts crop up in our minds- we start thinking about what we have to do today, and of all the different things going on. I gave a mashal for this a few weeks ago, which I think is a nice one. It happened to me once- You're praying Mincha in an airport, for whatever reason (flight delay etc) and just as you start to pray Mincha, they’re about to board. You’re up to Shema Kolenu when they announce that they're boarding section A. You paid extra money to be in section A, so you start speeding up your Amida. You don't ask for everything you normally do in Shema Kolenu. You start getting all frazzled.. Stop! Who's flying that plane? Who's deciding whether it’s going to take off on time or be delayed for another 10 hours? And you’re thinking about ending your prayers early to get on the plane? I'm always nervous that I'm not going to be able to get my carry-on on, and therefore I want to get on the plane earlier, especially when they’ve already announced that it's a full flight and they’ll be taking away carry-ons. So you're go speed up your Amida, as if that's going to help!? You are going to decide? That's our arrogance creeping up. So how do we fight off the arrogance? Rav Wolbe says, start off with bow. And I'd like to suggest another bow. It's important to know that there are 22 days in the three weeks. From the 17 th of Tamuz to Tisha B’Av is 22 days. Those 22 days correspond to the 22 days from Rosh Hashana to Shemini Aseret. We're building our high holiday season during the three weeks. That's why, in Parashat Pinhas, which we read last week, we read all the Korbanot/holiday offerings, because we're preparing for the holiday season now . The holiday season is all about God's blessing and bounty, and it all comes from God's presence in this world. It's the exact opposite of destruction. We're rebuilding . We always speak, during the high holiday season, about God's glory and greatness. Where is that all delineated? It's in our Musaf prayers of Rosh Hashanah. How do we start our Musaf prayers of Rosh Hashanah? Alenu L’Shabe’ach. What do we say there? V’Anachnu Mishtahavim/And we bow… So I suggest that from now until Rosh Hashanah, we should have a little bit more kavana when we say V’Anachnu Mishtahavim/we bow in front of God. And what do we say? Hu Elohenu V’en Od Acher.. Emet Malkenu True is our God- it doesn't say Hu Elohim: He is God, Emet Hamelech/The king is true, but Hu Elohenu/ He's our God . Emet Malkenu/ our God is true and absolute, He’s our God. Hem Mishtahavim/ they bow versus we bow. How lucky we are! How proud we are, to be bowing and humbling ourselves to the King of the world, our God. That's going to prepare our hearts and prepare ourselves , because that's the way we undo the destruction. That's the way we make our heart fit to receive God, and eventually fit to receive all the blessings that are being prepared for us during these three weeks. These Three weeks are three weeks of preparation for God's blessings. But it comes through humility . And as an aside, why rush out of the synagogue when we're saying Alenu L’Shabe’ach, take it slow. Take it in, savor that God is the King of the world deciding everything for us, and our machinations have nothing to do with it. Have a wonderful day.
We’ve been discussing humility and bitachon, which is very relevant now in the three weeks, in that humility is extremely connected to the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash. The pasuk in Yirmiyah (9,20), which we read on Tisha B’Av, talks about the horrific happenings in the time of the Churban Bet Hamikdash: כִּי־עָ֤לָֽה מָ֙וֶת֙ בְּחַלּוֹנֵ֔ינוּ בָּ֖א בְּאַרְמְנוֹתֵ֑ינוּ Death came through the window. It had entered our palaces.. The rabbis explain that normally, when guests enter, they come through the front door. They knock on the door, and you open the door for them. That's the normal way to greet a guest. If has v’shalom man passes away, after 120, on his bed with his family around him, after a full life, that’s called ‘ death came through the front door.’ But when death comes through the window , it’s like a thief who comes in, hiding. And now it even entered the palace, the most fortified of places. And what's happening? Lo Alenu, לְהַכְרִ֤ית עוֹלָל֙ מִח֔וּץ בַּֽחוּרִ֖ים מֵרְחֹבֽוֹת He's taking down children and teenagers. And it goes on to talk about many other negative occurrences. Then comes the famous words, with which we end the Haftarah: כֹּ֣ה ׀ אָמַ֣ר ה׳ אַל־יִתְהַלֵּ֤ל חָכָם֙ בְּחׇכְמָת֔וֹ וְאַל־יִתְהַלֵּ֥ל הַגִּבּ֖וֹר בִּגְבֽוּרָת֑וֹ אַל־יִתְהַלֵּ֥ל עָשִׁ֖יר בְּעׇשְׁרֽוֹ So says God, the wise man should not be proud of his wisdom, the strong man should not be proud of his strength, and the wealthy man should not be proud of his wealth. כִּ֣י אִם־בְּזֹ֞את יִתְהַלֵּ֣ל הַמִּתְהַלֵּ֗ל הַשְׂכֵּל֮ וְיָדֹ֣עַ אוֹתִי֒ כִּ֚י אֲנִ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה ה חֶ֛סֶד מִשְׁפָּ֥ט וּצְדָקָ֖ה בָּאָ֑רֶץ כִּֽי־בְאֵ֥לֶּה חָפַ֖צְתִּי נְאֻם־יְהֹוָֽה What should you be proud of? Knowledge of God, for I am Hashem, I do kindness, justice and charity in the land. This is what I want, says Hashem. What a nice, happy ending- but does it have to do with the Churban that was mentioned right before it? Rav Dovid Soloveichik, in his Shiurim Al HaTorah, explains that this is telling us the cause for the Churban. The cause of the Churban was that people were priding themselves in their wisdom, in their wealth and in their strength, and not priding themselves in knowledge of God. What exactly does that mean? The Ramban Al HaTorah (Devarim ) says the pasuk (17,20) that says, about a king, לְבִלְתִּ֤י רוּם־לְבָבוֹ֙ מֵֽאֶחָ֔יו That he should not be arrogant over his brothers, is the source for the sin of arrogance. We mentioned at the beginning of this series, that it's not clear where it says in the Torah that you can't be arrogant. The Ramban says this is his source, because if the king, with all his greatness, shouldn't be arrogant, then it’s surely true for regular people. And the reason for this is because arrogance (or greatness) is to God , and Hashem is the One that's deserving of praise. Man becomes praiseworthy through knowledge of God, as the pasuk says, this is what he should be proud of. So the Ramban is quoting this pasuk to explain what was wrong with the pride of the wise, the wealthy, and the strong- because that pride rooted in arrogance . Rabbenu Yona, in Shaare Teshuva (third gate, 34th letter), cites this same pasuk as the source for arrogance, and he also brings down the pesukim quoted above from Yirmiyhu, that the wise man shouldn’t be proud of his wisdom etc… He says, what should you be proud? Serving God, fear of God, reliance on God, love of God, and cleaving to God. This is how he explains what Yirmiyah means by Knowledge of God. What does it mean to know God? It means to serve Him, to fear Him, to rely on Him, to love Him, and to cleave to Him. And the Churban HaBayit came because they didn't have that. The arrogance brought about the Churban HaBayit. That's why, as we’ve said before, this, more than any other time of the year, is the time to focus on fixing our arrogance- because that's the way we bring about the building of the Bet Hamikdash. B’Ezrat Hashem, tomorrow, we will explain some practical steps to work on humility.
We've been talking about arrogance and humility and how it relates to Bitachon. There's a Gemara in Sotah 5A that says, כׇּ ל אָדָם שֶׁיֵּשׁ בּוֹ גַּסּוּת הָרוּחַ, אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא: אֵין אֲנִי וָהוּא יְכוֹלִין לָדוּר בָּעוֹלָם “Anyone who is arrogant, God says there's no room for Me and him in the same world…” The Gemara quotes pasuk from Tehilim, where God says about the arrogant man, אֹתוֹ לֹא אוּכָל I can't stand him. I can't handle him. I can't be in the room with him. How are we to understand this? The sefer Zichru Torah Moshe , from the author of the Chayeh Adam, a famous book of old, explains the phrase, ‘ There's no room for God in this world.’ He says that the truth is, God really, seemingly, philosophically, doesn't belong in this world. As the pasuk says, God is high and lofty for th e goyim . The claim of the idol worshipers of old was that God doesn't deal with such small things like little people, like us down here . It’s true that we are very little people down here, to the extent that Rav Chaim Volozhin says that when we say Shema, Yisrael, Hashem Elokenu, Hashem Echad, God is our King , it’s the equivalent of a man who walks onto a mosquito farm and a bunch of mosquitoes start singing his praises. That's what it is to God. God doesn't need us. So why does God deal with us? Why is God listening to us? Why is God priding Himself in us? The answer is one word: Humility . God is the most humble. God is humble in dealing with us, and that's something that the goyim of old could not understand. God is tremendously kind and tremendously humble, and He goes down to the lowest of people . But, the arrogant man’s philosophy is, “ I only hang with the rich and famous. I only hang with the high and lofty. I don't spend time with simple people. ” And so, according to his philosophy, there really is no room for God in this world. Therefore, the arrogant man really is saying, “ God, You don't belong here. Because, based on my belief, there's no room for You here .” So, Middah k’neged Middah , He's sending God away because according to his opinion, why would God be down here? But the humble man, who acknowledges that we're low and simple and is not arrogant, and himself deals with people that are lower than him, he allows for opening the place for God to come and deal with him as well, measure for measure. The sefer Pardes Yosef cites a story from a Hasidic Rebbi called Rav Heschel of Epta. He once came to a certain city, and there were two people that wanted to host him. Both of them were wealthy men with beautiful homes. One of them was a Torah scholar, but he was arrogant. The other one was an ignorant man that wasn't so careful with all the mitzvot, and the Rebbi chose to stay in the home of the ignorant man who wasn't careful of all the mitzvot. When his hasidim asked him why, he said, “I want to follow God. And what does God say? God says about a sinner, “ I can dwell amongst them even though they're contaminated.” God dwells amongst the sinners. But what does God say about arrogant people? “ I can't dwell with an arrogant person,” so therefore, this Rebbe said, “I want to act like God. I will bring myself amongst people that are contaminated, but a person that's arrogant, I can't dwell with him.” That’s how severe this concept of arrogance is. It’s concept that we have to constantly remind ourselves of, and work on. Have a wonderful day.
Today we will share a Bitachon thought related to Parashat Pinhas. One of my favorite lessons from Parashat Pinhas is that we don't realize how Hashem is always setting up situations that are in our best interests. We'll never understand them because, as it says, Hashem's thoughts are way above our thoughts. When we learn Torah, however, we get a glimpse into what's going on behind the scenes. As we know, Zimri was a Jewish man who was sinning with a Gentile woman. Pinhas did a zealous act and killed him, and God said, I'm going to reward him with the Briti Shalom , which is understood by many to mean that Pinhas became a kohen at that time. The question is, Wasn’t Pinhas already a kohen ? His father Elazar was a kohen . The Gemara explains that Pinhas was already born when God had Aharon anointed as a kohen, along with Elazar and Itamar. So although Pinhas was born, he was underage, so he wasn't anointed, and therefore, he wasn't a kohen. His other cousins, who were born later, were born in the kehuna . So here is Pinhas- his last name is Cohen , but he is not a kohl. It was a sad situation, and although he seemingly didn’t do anything wrong, it went on for many, many years- his relatives were serving in the Mishan and he was not. Then, when he killed Zimri, he became a kohen. He also became Eliyahu HaNavi and lives forever. But look what would've happened if he would have been anointed initially- if he was old enough, or if he was born into the Kenuna, and then would've killed Zimri ? The law is that a kohen that kills someone, that has blood on his fingers, even though it's rightfully so, is disqualified from serving in the Bet Hamikdash. The Bet Hamikdash is there to bring peace, and therefore, someone who killed someone cannot serve. (Similarly, David Hamelech couldn't build the Bet Hamikdash, it says, because his hands were bloody from war, although they were wars he was supposed to be fighting.) Hashem set it all up in such a wonderful way, that Pinhas was not a kohen, and then became a kohen through killing Zimri. So he was not disqualified because he wasn't yet a kohen when he killed him. So not only does he become a kohen, but he becomes a Kohen Gadol, eventually becomes Eliyahu HaNavi and lives forever. Look how this seemingly distressing situation was really setting up Pinhas for eternity. Unbelievable. We never know how Hashem is setting things up. Another interesting story is about Aharon HaKohen, Moshe Rabbenu’s older brother. Moshe did not want to be become the Navi/prophet because he didn’t want to hurt his older brother's feelings. Hashem finally convinced him not to worry, that Aharon wouldn’t feel bad. “ He will see and he will be happy in his heart.” The Gemara, in Masechet Shabbat, says that because Aharon was happy in his heart, he merited to have the Urim V’Tumim on his heart. He merited that specific ornament, which was on his chest, on his heart, because his heart was happy for his brother. The Derashot HaRan says, Look at this unbelievable Middah K’Neged Middah. Because he was Mevater to his brother, and was happy for his brother's success, Aharon got rewarded with the Urim V’Tumim . What was his brother's success? He became a Navi/prophet. Moshe Rabbenu’s children did not continue as prophets. But Aharon Hakohen forever gets the Urim V’Tumim , and it’s a prophetic utensil. You would look at the letters and the letters would pop up and give answers to questions, as a messenger of God. So no, Aharon did not become a one-time Navi, but he inherited, for his family forever, the Urim V’Tumim, which is a prophecy of sorts. So, he gave up for his brother but he didn't lose out. Because he was happy for his brother and Mevater , that happiness created the Urim V’Tumim , which was equal to prophecy, but more and longer. So we see that Hashem sets up systems for us that we don't understand, only to give us opportunities for greatness. It's nice to hear the stories, but it's much hard live it when it's in your own life. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will take advantage of the situations given to us, to reach our full potential. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.
Today we will share a Bitachon thought related to today's fast, the 17 th of Tamuz, which is the start of the three weeks. The Nefesh Hachaim, written by Rav Chaim Volozhin, explains that when Hashem told us to build the Bet Hamikdash and Mishkan, the goal was not that God should dwell and have His presence residing in the sticks and stones of the temple building. Rather, as the rabbis explain, the pasuk says, וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃ Make for Me a temple, And I dwell in them, It doesn’t say dwell in it - it says dwell in them , the Jewish people). That means we are supposed to use the Mishkan as a model for how we have to be, in order for God to dwell in our lives. The Rambam explains that the different parts of the Mishkan correspond to the human body. The heart is the Holy of Holies. The lungs, on top of the heart, symbolize the wings of the angels that are above the Holy Ark. Everything about us is a replica of the temple, and we're supposed to learn from the temple how to be. That is fundamental number one. Based on this, Rav Yehezkiel Levenstein explains that the Holy of Holies was a place where nothing else existed but God. There was a Holy Ark, which is the Torah, as it says God and His Torah are one, הוא ורצונו אחד He and His will are won. So all that exists in the Holy of Holies is God. Or, in other words, the Holy of Holies represents En Od Milevado/ There's nothing else but God . Thus, Rav Yehezkiel says that in order for God to dwell in a person , his heart, too has to be a heart that has nothing else but God in it. He explains that a heart that has arrogance in it, a heart that believes that, ‘ I can do,’ ‘I control,’ ‘I accomplish’ and ‘I create,’ is a heart that doesn't have room for God. It's a heart that is not like the Holy of Holies. In order to rebuild the Bet Hamikdash in the world, it’s our job to rebuild the Bet Hamikdash in our hearts first . That is our job, and it’s one of the things to work on during the three weeks. We’ve been talking about humility and how it relates to Bitachon; that there's nothing else but God. It’s clear that humility and Bitachon go hand in hand, and it's important, during these three weeks, to work on this. Furthermore, during these three weeks, we are actually preparing for the high holidays. We call it the ‘three weeks,’ but it's really three weeks and a day, as the first fast on the 17th and Tamuz is on a Thursday, and the fast of Tisha B’Av is also on a Thursday- that's 22 days (like a baby boy is born on Monday and the Brit Milah is on Monday- that’s 8 days). Those 22 days correspond to the 22 days from Rosh Hashanah until Shemini Aseret. That means that all the blessing that comes from bringing God into our lives during the high holiday season is created during these three weeks, when we turn our hearts into receptacles, to take God into our hearts. As we said, the way we do that is through humility; through humbling ourselves and realizing that our hearts have to be devoid of any clutter . The Hiddush here is that we might think, and it's also true, that what contaminates our heart and makes it unfit for God's presence might be sins. While it’s true that sins and improper thoughts are things that don't allow God into our heart, there's something else that doesn't allow God into our heart- thinking that there are forces other than God. When we say forces other than God , it doesn't necessarily mean idols. Forces other than God means that we think there are natural forces down here. We think that we control things. Therefore, the first step toward purifying your heart to allow God to dwell in it is humility. That's why the Gemara in Masechet Sotah says that about someone who's arrogant, God says, “I cannot reside in the same world as him.” This doesn't mean he sends God out of the whole world, but that he sends God out of his own world, out of his own heart, because by being arrogant, he's not allowing God into his heart. That's what we should be thinking about on the 17 th of Tamuz. We should be thinking about these important lessons of humility, because it’s only way to really know that your bitachon is not just lip service. Real Bitachon shows up in humility. Have a wonderful day.
We continue discussing the topic of arrogance and humility. The Gemara in Masechet Sotah makes a very powerful statement, “ Anyone that has arrogance, Hashem says, ‘I cannot live with him in the same world.’ ” The Gemara then quotes a pasuk that says, “ Someone who has haughty eyes and a wide heart, I can't handle him.” I can't stand him, so to say, and therefore God says, “I cannot be in his presence .” It's a very, very heavy statement. The Shevet Musar , in chapter 52, says that Ga’avah was one of the causes of the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash. Firstly, because it's the source of all sin, and furthermore, because, as we said, the whole concept of the Bet Hamikdash is for God to dwell amongst us, as it says “ Make a Bet Hamikdash for Me and I will dwell in them.” It doesn't say ‘ dwell in it’ but ‘ in them,’ meaning the Jewish people. Hashem first has to dwell in the Jewish people, and only then is there a place for Him in the mishkan. But if the people are arrogant and there's no room for God in them, that's going to cause the Bet Hamikdash’s destruction. Therefore, he says, we have to correct the sin of arrogance in order to have the Bet Hamikdash be rebuilt. And with this, we're going to answer the question of the Chatam Sofer that was asked yesterday. The Chatam Sofer asks why the ladder, which seemingly is going high up, is a symbol of Har Sinai (Sinai has the same numerical value as Sulam/ladder). Har Sinai symbolizes humility, but the ladder seemingly symbolizes arrogance. He answers that a ladder is a sign of humility. How so? He says, if you take a ladder and you stand it straight up, you can't walk up that ladder. You will fall off. What do you have to do in order to be successful on a ladder? You have to put the ladder on a tilt , which means you humble the ladder, and then you're able to walk up. He says it’sthe same thing with the talents God gives us. Talents are like a ladder. If we take them and stand them up erectly, and we're in an arrogant stance, then that talent is going to cause us to fall. Rather, we are supposed to humble ourselves and bend the talent, so to say, like a ladder, and then you'll be able to go up the ladder without causing any damage. The Shevet Musar further says about humility, that if a person is standing all day, eventually he's going to collapse. You can't stand all day. You’ll have no energy. You have to sit or lie down, and then you'll have the energy to continue. And he says, it’s the same thing in life. If you're always in that arrogant pose, always standing up, and you don't lower yourself, you're not going to be able to survive. Furthermore, he says, if you're walking in the street and you see a jewel on the floor, you can’t get the jewel unless you bend down to pick it up. He says, in life, in order to get talents , sometimes you have to bend yourself down, humble yourself, and then you're able to acquire the talent. These are interesting little tidbits on the concept of a ladder not being a symbol of greatness , but rather, a symbol of humility . Bend your ladder and then you'll be able to climb up the rungs. There was a story with the Ben Ish Chai, that relates to another reason a ladder is a symbol of humility. There was a king whose servant had a dream that there was a ladder with a hundred rungs, and the king was on the ladder, on rung number 97. The king was all excited and he rewarded the servant with a great treasure. There was another man who was a charlatan, who decided to try the same. He said, “I had a dream that the king was on rung number 100 .” But the king said, “ Off with your head, you're a liar. You never had such a dream, because no one's at the top of the ladder. You're always going up. ” That's why the ladder of Yaakov Avinu’s dream was going up and going down- to symbolize humility, because no one's at the top of the ladder. We're always moving up the ladder. As high as you are, there are more rungs to climb. These are the different symbolisms we have of the ladder. And one last cute one from the Sefer Gematria of Yehuda HaHassid. He says the words, “ A ladder with its feet on the ground, ” has the same gematria as, “ A wheel that turns in the world.” What does that mean? The Gemara says that poverty and wealth are like a wheel that turn in the world. They don’t stay in one place. Someone could be at the top of the Ferris wheel, or at the bottom of the Ferris wheel, and with just one push the button, you flip around. That's life, and that's another reason not to be arrogant. Realize that if we push the button, the guy on the top is now all the way on the bottom. There are techniques to remain humble, even at the top. Shlomo Hamelech wore a ring with three letters, Gimmel, Zayin, Yud- that stood for Gam Zeh Ya’avor/this tool will pass. When he was at the top of his wealth, he said, “ This too will pass. ” And when at his lowest poverty, he said, “ This too will pass.” That's the ladder. We're going up, we're going down. We never have one set spot. And that should cause us to be humble. Have a wonderful day.
For those who have been listening, we've been discussing the topic of Anava/humility as it relates to Bitachon. In Parashat Vayetzeh, where it discusses Yaakov Avinu’s dream, the pasuk says, וְהִנֵּ֤ה סֻלָּם֙ מֻצָּ֣ב אַ֔רְצָה there was a ladder that was in the ground The Hebrew word for ladder, sulam when written without the Vav , has a numerical value of 60+30+ 40=130 which is the same numerical value as Sinai סיני 60 + 10+ 50 +10= 130. This has same numerical value, the Midrash Raba says, because this ladder is hinting to Har Sinai. And it goes on to say that the angels going up and down refer to Moshe Rabbenu, who went up and came down. The Chatam Sofer asks an obvious question. He says that Har Sinai hints to humility, as it says in the Gemara in Masechet Sotah- that God came down on Har Sinai because it was the the lowest of mountains. So how could it be that we're hinting to humility using a ladder whose head is going up all the way to the heavens? He explains, based on a discussion in the Gemara, Masechet Sotah, which asks Does God lift up the humble person or does He come down to the humble person? It's an argument there. Some say God lifts up the humble and some said God comes down to the humble. The Chatam Sofer says that they’re both true. When a person is humble, God lifts the person up. But after He lifts him up, He tests him. Does he become arrogant now that Hashem lifted him up? He was humble and Hashem gave him a lot of money. And now He's testing him. Is he going to stay humble with the money that he has? In the words of the Chatam Sofer, “ He tests the person, and after He lifts him up high, will he stick to his humility or not?” If you stick to your humility, then God will continue to shower you with benevolence. But if you don't, then you will lose it. The Baal HaTurim says the word סולם Sulam/ladder (spelled with a Vav ) has the same numerical value as ממון mamon/money, and עני Oni/povert y, which means that one can go up and one could go down on the ladder of financial success. Wihat does it depend on? The Chatam Sofer says it depends on whether you are humble after you're lifted up high. That's the secret of why, Lo Alenu, sometimes people are very successful and then they lose it. The secret is humility. And I'd like to suggest the following; I was recently talking to somebody who told me the Covid years were the best years in his industry; now times are getting a little tough. And I've said this in the past, but this further strengthens the point. God brought Corona, Corona humbled us. Where would we get our money from? We were locked up. What would be with with our businesses? If you humble yourself, God brings a bounty upon you. But then, when everything's going well, we sometimes begin to take some of the credit and think it's us that's making it, and then we get into trouble and then we start, lo alenu, going down the ladder. But there's hope. The angels are going up and the angels are going down. You can go back up the ladder. How do you do it? Very simple. The secret is humility. And again, that has to do with Bitachon. Because when you're relying on Hashem, you know you can't do it on your own. That is the fundamental of prayer. The Mishna in Pirkei Avot says that when a person prays, his prayer should be that of begging and supplication. Rabbenu Yona adds, Don't pray like it’s for something that you don't need. It shouldn’t be like asking your friend to borrow his car, when you already have a car. That’s not begging. He says prayer is supposed to be like a poor man that's begging for his life . That's what prayer is, because we don't have anything without Hashem. It goes hand in hand; the more humble you are, the more you realize that you didn't do it, the more you'll rely on Hashem. Then, even if you're on the way down, Hashem will pick you back up. Have a wonderful day.
There is an interesting story in this week’s Parasha that many might not be aware of. After Aharon Hakohen passed away, it says, VaYishma HaCanaani/ The Canaani hears.. What did he hear, and who was he? Rashi says that it was that Aharon died. And actually, he saw it because the clouds of glory went away. And who was this Canaani ? The one that lives in the south. Rashi says this is Amalek. So why do we call them a Canaani ? Rashi explains that they spoke the language of Canaan, but they dressed like Amalek, so the Jewish people were confused. They wondered who these people were. And the reason Amalek did this was so that the Jews wouldn’t be able to pray properly (when praying to be successful at war with them). Imagine two different businesses in competition with each other, at a trade show together. One wants to ruin the other’s booth. He might steal his props or do something underhanded, but imagine if he went to the front desk and canceled the wake-up calls for the other business man! He knows his competition likes to pray Netz/early. So if he cancels the wake up call, his competitor will sleep late, and miss Netz . And the one who thought up this plan will go pray Netz instead, and he will get the order. This man really believes in the power of prayer, and he knows that the way to jam up his competition is by ruining his prayer. That is what Amalek was doing. Amalek knows God and works against Him. So Amalek is a believer, to a certain extent. He believes in the power of prayer, and he’s still trying to jam it up. In the end, the Jewish people just prayed regular, saying, “God give us this nation …” pointing to the nation. As, when a person is praying and they don’t know the right name to use, they can just say, “this person .” Additionally, when Moshe prayed for Miriam, he didn’t have to say her name, because when a person is in front of you, you don’t have to say their name. So since the Amalek people were there, the Jewish people were able to point and say, “Save me from this nation.” And sure enough, they were successful. But why was Amalek coming here? Because Amalek always comes to interfere when we are on our way into Eretz Yisrael; when we are on our way to success. For example, Amalek came right after we left Mitzrayim, and right before David Hamelech wanted to build the Bet Hamikdash. Amalek also came as Haman when we wanted to build the second Bet Hamikdash… Amalek is always there to interfere and bring us down. When Amalek comes, it affects us. Although the Jewish people won the war, they started complaining after that. Even just meeting up with Amalek has a negative impact on us. There is a beautiful thought from Rav Yehezkiel Abramsky, about the original fight against Amalek (page 609 of his Sefer). When we fight against Amalek, God swears and says, “ The hand is on the throne of God. ” Simply, this means that God swears that He will have an everlasting war against Amalek. But Rav Abramsky explains it a little deeper. He says that the Jewish people believe, with a full belief, in something called Hashgacha Pratit, God’s supervision over every little detail. As it says in Masechet Chullin 7b, a man does not bang his finger below unless they announce it above. We believe that every little detail happens from God. Amalek is the opposite. Amalek believes everything comes from my strength and my power. We attribute what happens to our hand, to God’s throne . We know that every little detail that happens to even our smallest finger is coming directly from God’s throne. That’s what the war against Amalek is about, and that belief is the biggest way to fight Amalek. He further says, from a pasuk in Tehilim (105,3) which we say every morning in Hodu , יִ֝שְׂמַ֗ח לֵ֤ב ׀ מְבַקְשֵׁ֬י ה׳ Happy in the heart are the people that search God. What does it mean to search God? These are the people that look for God in everything that happens in their life. They are always looking for God’s hashgacha. Their eyes are open, looking at every detail, and asking, “ Where do I see Hashem in this act?” They realize that Hashem is the God and Controller. He did, He is doing, and He will do. Every thing is happening from Him. This is what Amalek comes to interfere with, and the way we fight back is by strengthening our Emuna. This week’s parasha is yet another example of Amalek coming to interfere and try to jam up our ability to pray, and our overcoming it. Everyone should have a Shabbat Shalom.
We continue with our discussion of humility as it connects to Bitachon, using the Bet Halevi’s essay on humility. He starts off by saying that arrogance is a terrible sin, although he doesn't tell us what the sin is. This is similar to the beginning of his essay on Bitachon, where he writes that bitachon is a great mitzvah, but he doesn't tell us where it shows up in the Torah. Some of the opinions, such as Ramban and Rabbenu Yona, say the sin shows up in the pasuk לבלתי רם לבבו מאחיו where we are told that the king is not supposed to have many wives, great amounts of money, or many horses, because all of these things will cause him to become arrogant, and if a king can't become arrogant, it surely applies to simple people as well. The Rambam discusses this transgression of the king and the laws of kings (chapter 2, halacha 6) and adds some beautiful hiddushim. He says: The Torah commands him (a king) that his heart should be humbled and empty from arrogance. Like David Hamelech, who was tremendously humble, humble, said about himself, “My heart is empty (meaning I have no arrogance). He can't act in an arrogant way over the Jewish people . He quotes the pasuk mentioned above. What should he do? He has to be Chonen/ compassionate and merciful, to those big and small. His going in and going out is just about their needs. He's here for them. This is what a Jewish leader is. He should be concerned with the respect of the smallest of the small and when he speaks to the to the kahal, he should always speak softly, with soft words. He quotes a pasuk from Divrei HaYamim 1, chapter 28, pasuk 2, when David Hamelech wanted to get the people involved in building the Bet Hamikdash, he said, “ Listen, my brothers, my nation, I want to build a house...” Look how David Hamelech speaks in a humble way. Furthermore, when the elders gave advice to Rachavam they said, “If you want to be successful, you have to serve them. Serve them, be humble to them and speak to them good words. That's the advice of the elders ( in the end he didn’t listen to them, he followed the advice of his young friends, which was contrary to the elders). Act to them with extreme humility, he adds. The Rambam is of the opinion, which is brought down in the Gemara, that Moshe Rabbenu was actually called the king, as we see from Korach, who said, “ You became a king and your brother became the Kohen Gadol.” So Moshe Rabbenu was a king, and Rambam says, “ There's no one greater than him. And yet he says, “What are we?” Your complaints are not against us, it's against Hashem. You have to carry their load, and they're difficult. They're complaining, they get you angry… Like the nursing mother carries her baby. That is the description he gives of a Jewish leader- that love, compassion concern for a baby that you're holding, that is the humility of the Jewish leader . He's called the shepherd, as it says in the pasuk in Tehilim (chapter 78, pasuk 71) where it says, מֵאַחַ֥ר עָל֗וֹת הֱ֫בִיא֥וֹ לִ֭רְעוֹת בְּיַֽעֲקֹ֣ב עַמּ֑וֹ וּ֝בְיִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל נַחֲלָתֽוֹ׃ God chose David and took him out from from the sheep to to be the shepherd of Yaakov's nation and the Jewish people, God's inheritance and David Hamelech shepherded with a pure heart. He continues, Like a shepherd that gathers the sheep with his arms and carries them in his chest. All of this refers to a king, a powerful king. He's supposed to be concerned with the smallest of the small, talk to them softly, care about their needs, and treat them like a shepherd. From this we say, “If that's the way a king has to act, imagine how someone who's not a king, how a regular person has to act and how humble he has to be, to all people?! “ That is our beautiful Torah, describing to us the way a Jewish person needs to act. Have a wonderful day.
We continue talking about arrogance vis-a-vis Bitachon, based on the Bet Halevi’s writing. The Bet Halevi says that the Gemara in Berachot tells us “ Whoever walks upright, even four amot (which is six feet), it’s as if he’s pushing the feet of God's presence, He's pushing God out of this world. As it says Melo Kol HaAretz Kevodo/the world is full of God's honor, and you're pushing God out. What exactly is it about standing upright? The Gemara in Masechet Bava Kama 16B says, A man's spine, after seven years (of being buried) turns into a snake . But not everybody. It’s only the one that does not bow by Modim . If one does not bow by Modim , his spinal cord turns to a snake. Tosafot brings down on that spot that there's a Midrash that says that there's a certain bone in the spinal cord, which we call the Luz bone, from which man will be recreated and reconstructed at Techiyat HaMetim , and this bone will turn into a snake and cause him not to get up in the future. And Tosafot is bothered by this. He says, how could there be such a severe punishment for a seemingly light sin? Doesn’t it say Kol Yisrael/all of Bnei Yisrael, Yesh helek B’Olam Haba /has a part in Olam Haba. The Chida brings down that actually the Zohar does say that. So what exactly is the understanding behind this man who doesn't bow by Modim ; this man who stands upright? The Torat Chaim says that the purpose of bowing is to show our humility to God. God gives us everything and therefore, we humble ourselves by bowing down. That's why we bow at Modim . Bowing at is an acknowledgment that we receive everything from God and we give thanks. He says, God gives us constantly and we don't even realize what's happening, every second of the day. We don't realize every foot, every movement, every breath is coming from God. Like the pasuk says, “ Hamechin Misader Gaver/Every step of man is controlled by God.” We say that every morning. And Kol HaNeshama( or Neshima)for every breath, we have to thank God. Really, we should be standing every second of the day and blessing Hashem for every breath in and every breath out. But that would be impossible. That is why Hazal said that three times a day, we should say Modim and bow down to Hashem. So what does it mean that this man who stands upright is called a Kofer ? The snake came to seduce Chava, and it says the snake came to deny God and therefore, he was punished that his legs were cut off and he's now flat on his stomach. And that's what it means, “ One that does not bow Modim turns into a snake.” Because he’s like the snake. He's standing upright. He denies God's existence. He takes credit for everything he does, and he can't say thank you. And that's the source of all heresy of today. It comes from that inability to bow to God and thank Hashem for what He gives him. It's that Ga’avah that doesn't allow him to say thank you. And that's why we have Modim three times a day. Modim has a numerical value of 100, and the commentaries say that this 100 refers to the 100 blessings that we're supposed to say every single day. 100 blessings are 100 thank yous ( from the Da’at Zekanim on Baalei Tosafot) Devarim 10,12 tells us that 100 blessings a day is what God asked from us, and that's the numerical value of Modim . Every time we get any benefit, we're supposed to say Thank You to Hashem, because that is the antidote for the Ga’avah. How do we fix the arrogance? Arrogance, as we’ve said, comes from saying, “I did it. I made my money, I made my business. I made, I made, I made.” And how do you fix that? By bowing down and saying, “ I didn't do anything. I humble myself to God.” And the one who doesn't do that, that's the snake, that wanted to be in charge and sold Adam and Chava by saying, “ God doesn't want you eat you from that tree because that tree made Him into a God and He doesn't want you to become a God as well. ” And it’s man's arrogance that said, “ I don't want someone bossing me around. I want to be the God.” Like we said before from Rav Dessler, arrogance means that I want to take God off his throne and I want to sit there. So I want be the God, I want to be in charge. This is our litmus test for whether our bitachon is really there: How arrogant are we? How do we bow by Modim ? These are the litmus tests for if our bitachon is real or or if we're just talking the talk but not walking the walk. Have a wonderful day.
Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, in his sefer, Tiferet Shemuel (coming out soon), asks the question, Why is it that Rashi tells us that Korach and his team started up with Moshe Rabbenu by wearing a Talet that was all blue, and asking him if a Talet is all blue, does it require Tzitzit or not ? Then, when Moshe said it was required, they started to make a joke. If one single string is enough to absolve one from the techelet, surely if the entire garment is blue, it shouldn't need to have a blue string, they said. He also asked, as it says in the Midrash, that if a house was full of sefarim, why would it need a Mezuzah. Why was that important? Their main claim against Moshe Rabbenu was that he wanted to be the boss over them. And if that was their claim, what does it have to do with these D’var Torah questions? A while back, we explained that when a person is humble, doesn't hold himself high, and is not full of himself, that makes him a better receptacle to receive Torah. And therefore, Moshe Rabbenu, who was the most humble person, was also the greatest man of Torah. And Rav Shmuel Berenbaum says it actually works the other way as well. The more Torah you have, the more humble you become. He quotes a Mishna in Pirkei Avot (chapter 6, Mishna 1) that says, “ Rabi Meir says, anyone who involves himself in Torah for the sake of Torah merits many things.” And one of the things he merits is, “ it cloaks him in humility and fear of God. ” When Moshe Rabbenu said, “What does God want from you? Just to fear Him ,” the Gemara asks, “That’s all Hashem wants?” Yes. For Moshe Rabbenu that wasn't a big deal, because Moshe Rabbenu had so much Torah, that humility and fear of God were no big deal. Rabbenu Yonah says that the word Yirah/fear of God is interchangeable with Bitachon, because it's one in the same: If you fear God and God's on your mind, you're relying on Him. Fear of God means I'm not afraid of people, I'm only afraid of God. Rabbenu Bachye says this as well. When we say, “D on't fear others, and fear God,” it means rely on Him . Torah connects you to God, and if you're connected to God, you're humble and you rely on Hashem. Therefore, Rav Shmuel Berenbaum says, if a person is totally engrossed in proper Torah and he knows how to learn, that will bring him to humility and to bitachon. So how could Korach say that Moshe Rabbenu was arrogant and that he was trying to boss them around if Moshe Rabbenu was great in Torah? Their ploy was that they’d poke holes in Moshe Rabbenu’s Torah learning and show that they knew how to learn better than him, and thus he was not as humble as he claimed. Because if he was humble, then his Torah would not have these mistakes. Of course, we know it was the exact opposite. When Hashem offered Moshe Rabbenu the job, he told Hashem (Shemot 4,12), “ Send who you usually send, send Aharon, you have many messengers, give it to somebody else. I'm not worthy, I'm not Chashuv to speak to Paraoh, ” and so on. And he brings down that throughout history, people who are not religious (or we could use the word anti-religious), don't appreciate the humility and the greatness of our Gedolim. He brings down a story that the Maskim/ the conservative, reform people made a joke out of the then- leader of the generation, Rav Chaim, Ozer Grodzenski. They made a picture of his Chief-Rabbi chair, empty with a noose around it, saying that whoever wants to sit in his chair will be hung. Meaning, all he wants is his own honor, his own kavod. Little did they know, how humble that great rabbi was. And all our great leaders, as we have said in the past, were and are extremely humble. That is their shining grace - their humility. That comes from learning Torah. So this is an important point. There are certain things, we'll call them almost magical powers, that Torah has that you can't explain. How do you become humble? How does Torah make you humble? On a simple level, when you learn, you realize how limited you are. You start to learn and you see how difficult it is to understand and that brings humility. But there's also a magical power. The Torah has holiness and it cleanses a person. Where was En Od Milevado first said in the Torah? At Matan Tora h, in Devarim 4, 35, and we say it every single time we open the say Torah, אַתָּה֙ הׇרְאֵ֣תָ לָדַ֔עַת כִּ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה ה֣וּא הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ין ע֖וֹד מִלְּבַדּֽוֹ׃ You showed to know, that Hashem is the God. En Od Milevado/ There is none else. God showed us, at Har Sinai. Rashi says in that place that when Hashem gave the Torah, He opened up the seven heavens, teared open everything and showed them that He’s the only one. The Rabbi says, every single time you sit down to a Gemara, or for any Torah that you learn in depth, you are back at Har Sinai. And you get that Emuna, Bitachon and humility that came from Har Sinai. Therefore, the more we dedicate ourselves to Torah, the more humility, Emunah and Bitachon it will bring upon us and the more we will see God's Oneness. That's the power of Torah. When someone is so steeped in Torah, it's almost ridiculous to make the accusation that he's not humble and not connected. And that's why Korach, Datan and Aviram had to poke a hole in Moshe Rabbenu’s Torah, before they made the claim that Moshe Rabbenu was arrogant. What a beautiful, beautiful thought from Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, the late beloved Rosh Yeshiva of the Mirrer Yeshiva on the corner of Ocean Parkway and Avenue R. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.
We are now quoting from the Bet Halevi on his essay on Ga’avah/arrogance . He says, “ From all this, we see that one who is arrogant rebels against the Kingdom of God.” So, we have two counterforces, God's kingdom and man's arrogance. This is a heavy statement- Rav Wolbe says in the name of Rav Dessler that the definition of arrogance is, ‘ I want to sit on God's throne.’ I want to control the world. I don't want God to control the world. I'm in charge. The Bet Halevi goes on to explain that Ga’avah is the clothing of a free man, of a boss. How can a servant stand in front of his boss, with his boss watching and supervising him, seeing his lackings, and still be arrogant? It’s as if he's saying, “ You're not my boss.” That's what goes on when we are arrogant, because our Boss is God. He's watching us. He sees what we're doing. We know we're not up to par, and yet we act like the boss instead of a servant. These words of the Bet Halevi actually echo the famous words of the Ramban, in his letter to his son, where he says, “ And now my son, you should know and see that anyone who is arrogant over people is rebelling against the kingdom of God. Why? Because he is priding himself in the clothing of the kingdom of God, as the pasuk says, in Tehilim 93,1 ה׳ מָלָךְ֮ גֵּא֢וּת לָ֫בֵ֥שׁ God is King and He wears arrogance. What does that mean? God is arrogant. We say in Az Yashir that God is arrogant Ki Ga’oh Ga’ah/ arrogant above those that are arrogant . That doesn't sound like a complimentary term to refer to God with. God is arrogant? How can we use such words? But the commentaries explain that arrogance is only bad because arrogance means I'm taking credit for what I did . That's not good for a human being, who can't take credit for what he did, because he didn't do it. God did it. So arrogance is not good for a human being. But for God? That's fine. God can take credit. He really did it. I like to use the mashal of a child learning how to play baseball for the first time. His father and his uncle are teaching him how to play. His uncle stands on the pitcher’s mound and pitches him an easy pitch. The child holds the bat, while the father holds the child's hands and the bat. When the easy pitch comes in, the father swings and hits a home run. The child throws the bat on the ground and starts beating his chest about how great he is. That's pretty foolish though, because the kid had nothing to do with it. It was an easy pitch, and his father really hit the ball. He made him feel good. Very nice parenting, but don't let it get to your head. That's what happens when a person becomes arrogant. He's taking credit for something that he didn't do. And as the Rambam continues, “ What should cause man's heart to become arrogant? Your wealth? God's the one that makes people poor and makes them wealthy. Your honor? God's in charge of honor as well. Therefore, how can you take credit? Your wisdom? Are you proud of your wisdom ? The pasuk says God could take away man's wisdom . The smartest of men make mistakes and say things they shouldn't say and do things they shouldn't do. And therefore, he says, everyone's equal in front of God. There's no room for arrogance. In God's wrath, He humbles the arrogant and in God's will, He uplifts the humble. And therefore, he says, humble yourself, and God will lift you up. That's our lesson today on Ga’avah. Have a wonderful day.
We continue our discussion on arrogance, usually as it relates to bitachon, but today we will take a slightly different twist. We spoke yesterday about the man who plays with his hair and plays with his clothing, and the Yetzer Hara says, “ He's my boy. ” The Mesilat Yesharim explains i that this is due to the Ga’avah . The man that's going after his externals is playing the Ga’avah card. There's a very interesting pasuk in Yeshaya that is also discussed in the Gemara (Masechet Shabbat 62B), where it talks about the source of the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash. At that time, there were a lot of things going wrong, idolatry, adultery, and murder. And of course, the Torah looks for the source of where it started. Where does adultery, or, to go a little deeper, where does immodest dress come from? We know this is something that ladies struggle with mightily. It's not an easy struggle. The Gaon of Vilna says that a man's battle to learn Torah is like a lady's battle for her modesty. What Torah learning does for a man, modesty does for a lady. So obviously, the Yetzer Hara is going to really work on that. Just as he doesn't want a man to learn Torah in depth, he doesn't want a lady to dress modestly. So, what exactly is the source of immodesty? People wonder, “ How can someone dress like that? What's going on? What are they thinking?” Where's it coming from?” The Torah knows how to look into the depths of the soul, and gives us the answer. In Yeshaya 3,16 it says, וַיֹּ֣אמֶר ה׳ יַ֚עַן כִּ֤י גָֽבְהוּ֙ בְּנ֣וֹת צִיּ֔וֹן “Hashem’s said, ‘Because the daughters of Zion have become arrogant.’” This is God talking. You can't get truer than that. The pasuk then goes on to describe how they're walking with their heads up high, and they're wearing a lot of makeup and a lot of perfume. But it doesn't say the girls are promiscuous , it says these girls were arrogant . When I first saw this, it was a very big hiddush to me, because it lends understanding to something- Sometimes you might see a very good person, an extremely good person, that is struggling with proper dress. But what they're really struggling with is (as we discussed when we talked about arrogance) is self-esteem . In the world we live in, what we call body image has a tremendous impact on a person's self-image. The person substitutes self-image with body image, and self-image is extremely important, as is self-esteem. But what is your self ? How do you identify your self ? Ga’avah is a need to feel good about yourself. But when a person fills himself with more substantial, meaningful things, his Ga’avah dissipates, because he has his self-esteem. When people cover themselves properly, they're basically saying, “ My body is not me. I'm not showing off my body because that's not me . Me is something that's much more internal. Me is something that doesn't get shared all over the place.” Once that self-esteem comes about, the other things go away. Similarly, we often see men driving fancy sports cars, especially in the summertime. People like their toys. And we're not coming to talk against anybody. I'll talk to myself. I like gadgets. If I could afford it, I'd be driving a fancy car too. It's just something that makes you feel good, for some reason. We spoke about this from Rav Wolbe, who said that in Eretz Yisrael, the Yeshiva boys don't go into the army and they have certain restrictions. They can't go to work until they're 30 , or whatever the restrictions are, and they accept it. One day the government wanted to say that they can't have driver's licenses, and the Yeshiva boys protested vehemently. Rav Wolbe said, “What is it about a driver's license? It’s that a car makes you feel bigger. A car is an expression of you. As if you don't have a car, you're not a person. It’s just a bigger you. That vroom in the engine, that's your vroom . That's just the way it works. A car makes you feel more important. If you drive a jalopy, you don't feel very good. When you're pulling up at a fancy wedding and there's valet parking and you're driving a banged-up jalopy-I'll talk for myself- You don't feel great. Now, we're not going to say that person's a horrific person. We understand it. Everyone's pulling up with a fancy car, and you're driving a jalopy. It’s hard. Unless, of course, you're a great rabbi totally steeped in the Gemara and there's nothing else that's important to you. I still remember once when I first came to Deal, I had to pick up a Rabbi’s daughter to take her someplace- maybe for a play date with my daughter, I don't remember the exact details. I asked the rabbi what kind of car he drove, so I could find it in the parking lot. And he said, “ I'm not sure…a brown car.” I could not believe that. ‘ A brown car!’ That's greatness! But getting back to our story, we're not going to look down at that man. He's just a little uncomfortable. Well, that’s the hiddush here. For a lady, her car , so to speak (sorry to use the term), is the way she looks. Her appearance is her car. And therefore, it's a battle and a struggle not to be able to pull up to the wedding like everybody else. It's not a promiscuity issue, it's an arrogance issue. Again, arrogance is something we have to deal with. Arrogance comes from a lack of self-esteem. We have to fill our self-esteem. We can go on forever on this topic, and it’s not just for ladies, it's for men too. Today we have big eating-disorder issues- anorexia, bulimia and all the other sorts, that come from poor body image, which is a result of social media, of comparisons and the like. This is a huge topic, but what it really is saying is, deep down, if a person is happy with themselves and they have a different expression of who they are, they're in a better place. There was a great actor, named Christopher Reeves, who played Superman in Hollywood. Then, one day, he was thrown off his horse. He snapped his neck and became paralyzed for life. He was very depressed. He did not go out in public for a year. When he finally showed up, it was for a few moments, with his wife at his side, and he had a breathing machine. They asked him, “ How'd you pull yourself out of depression? ” And he said these words, and I'll never forget them, “ It took me one year of therapy to realize I am not my body.” That's a huge statement. ‘ I'm not my body .’ And, I'm not my car. If I am my body, and I am my car, then I'm going to drive a fancy car and I'm going to make sure that I look the best. But if I am my soul and not my body, that's a whole different story. And that's really the true depths of Ga’avah. We need Kavod . It says Kavod should sing to you forever. Kavod is your Neshama . Your Neshama needs Kavod . It's whole essence is Kavod . But what’s kavod ? En Kavod Elah Torah Kavod is religion. Kavod is serving God. And that fills your need for real meaning, not for the external substitutes. Have a wonderful day.
We continue with the concept of how arrogance brings the Yetzer Hara upon a person, and causes him to be controlled by his Yetzer Hara, as opposed to the humble man that is controlled by God. The Mesilat Yesharim, in chapter 13, points out that there are no real laws concerning clothing and jewelry in Torah, regarding how beautiful they can be or how they're made; only that they can’t have any wool and linen mixed together, and for a man to have Tzizit on a four-cornered garment. Otherwise, it’s all kosher (the laws of modesty notwithstanding). But he says, ‘ Who does not know that wearing clothing that is beautiful and embroidered is going to drag with it arrogance?’ He quotes a Midrash Raba in Bereshit 22 that says, “ When the Yetzer Hara sees a man walking with arrogant steps, one who starts feeling his clothing (we’re not saying don't dress properly and respectfully), wanting it to only be from the finest of fabrics (He doesn't just buy any old suit, he has to pick out the fabric first.) And he starts playing with his hair , he sees this man as arrogant, and the Yetzer Hara says, “ Ze Sheli/ This guy is mine.” I have him under my control, I have him wrapped around my finger. That's a powerful line. The Yetzer Hara knows the rules. Once a man starts getting arrogant and thinking he's in control, he starts becoming distanced from God, and then the Yetzer Hara comes and preys on him. Another interesting Zohar, in volume one, page 190b says, “ What's the way of the Yetzer Hara? He says, ‘ He grabs him by his coat.’ That term is used when Potiphar’s wife grabbed onto Yosef’s clothing. When the Yetzer Hara sees someone getting overly involved in their clothing, the Yetzer Hara grabs him and says, “ You are my guy. Stay with me.” That is a powerful concept. It starts out so small. Rav Yerucham Levovitz talks about this. We don't realize that when we give the Yetzer Hara a finger, he takes a hand. We start playing into his game and we start getting arrogant and feeling we're important. Again, we're not talking about a person dressing properly and we’re not talking about a person fitting in, in the accepted style. We're talking about someone that's doing something that's over the top, because he feels, ‘ I'm an important person and the world has to know about it. ’ Dr. Frank Leifer was a doctor who lived on the bottom of Hilltop Place, in Monsey, where I was raised. He was Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky's doctor, and our family has heard a few stories from him about Rav Yaakov. Over 50 years ago, Dr. Leifer was about to be the first person in the Orthodox Monsey community to buy himself a Jaguar, which, at that time, was not a common car. A Cadillac was a fancy car that people drove back then. I don't remember any Mercedes-Benz or BMWs growing up, because these were Holocaust survivors. So, he was going to get an English car, the Jaguar. But he was concerned that maybe it would be considered a little too ostentatious, so he asked Rav Yaakov Kaminetzsky if it was okay to buy a Jaguar. Rav Yaakov said, “ You're a doctor and you have to, so to say, socialize in your in your group. What you have to measure is not what stands out in your local synagogue parking lot, but what stands out in the doctor's parking lot. If, in the doctor's parking lot, Jaguars are accepted, then go ahead.” In his humor, Rav Yaakov then added, “ But on one condition… you give me the first ride. ” That was Rav Yaakov’s wisdom, and humor, at the same time. And that's our point. We're talking about somebody that gets a little bit too into his looks and the way he's perceived. That Ga’avah is the beginning. It's not a problem yet, it’s the seed of the problem.. Nothing happened yet, but like Rabbenu Yona writes, it's the breeding ground of the eventual problem. And therefore, we have to be careful. The problem lies in how arrogance distances you from God. Because if God's on your mind, you are humble. Have a wonderful day.
We continue in our discussion on humility and arrogance as it relates to Bitacho, based on the work of the Bet Halevi. The Bet Halevi quotes the Zohar, on Parashat Vayeshev , commenting on a pasuk in Mishleh 12, 9, ט֣וֹב נִ֭קְלֶה וְעֶ֣בֶד ל֑וֹ מִ֝מִּתְכַּבֵּ֗ד וַחֲסַר־לָֽחֶם ׃ Tov Nikleh/It's better to be light (i.e. lowly, or the opposite of honorable) and be a servant than be Mitkabed/honorable and Hasar Lechem/lack bread. What does that mean? Rashi says that simply, it means, It’s better to be lowly in your eyes and be a servant to yourself and get a job, than to be someone that's honorable in his own eyes that says, ‘It's beneath me to take a menial job. I'm too respectable.’ In the end, he is going to be lacking bread . He's not going to have food to feed his family, because of his arrogance. This is an important point- on a simple level, people's arrogance can sometimes interfere with their hishtadlut/ their efforts. You need to put time in, you need to work, and sometimes, that might mean doing something that's beneath your dignity. But your Ga’avah stops you from doing your hishtadlut, and therefore the person lacks bread. You might say, what about Bitachon? But that's not what's stopping you here. It's really that you're supposed to do the hishtadlut . Your bitachon requires that, but your Ga’avah is interfering, and that Ga’avah is going to cause you to be lacking. That's the simple explanation. The Zohar offers a very interesting explanation- It’s talking about the light person that's a slave to himself, versus the honorable one lacking bread. The Zohar explains that the honorable one, the Mitkabed, is an arrogant man. The Zohar says, this is a man that starts out making himself look good externally, stressing the way he looks, stressing the way he dresses, everything is about his external. He becomes an arrogant person, showing off, and that causes him to end up in trouble with sin. What would we rather have? Tov Nikleh -Better is the person that is humble, and in the end, when you're humble, Eved Lo/Your Yetzer Har will become a servant to you. He can't control you, as the pasuk says in Bereshit 4 regarding Kayin, ‘ And you will control him.’ You will control your Yetzer Hara, as God told Kayin, the jealous one who wanted respect, “ Don’t worry about it. You can control your Yetzer Hara if you are humble.” But the Mitkabed , this fellow looking for honor, this arrogant one, he's Hasar Lechem/lacking bread The Zohar explains that on a deeper level, it doesn't just mean lacking bread. It means he’s lacking Emunah, as it says, Lechem Eliyah/the bread of God . This man, the Baal Ga’avah, who's trying to show off and wants to be externally noted, is a man of lacking Emunah. So once again, we see from this Bet Halevi’s quote from the Zohar, how connected Ga’avah and Emunah are, The Zohar says it’s the Yetzer Hara that brings the person to do these external acts, that brings him to become arrogant, and to eventually be controlled by the Yetzer Hara. The arrogant man is controlled by the Yetzer Hara, whereas the humble man is controlled by Hashem, and controls his Yetzer Hara. So again, we see how impactful the middah of Ga’avah is in our lives. WB’Ezrat Hashem, we will continue tomorrow with some interesting points related to Ga’avah
This week's Parasha, Shelah , as we know, is about the spies. It’s a heavily bitachon- related parasha, as the spies were held accountable for not relying on Hashem and becoming scared of the enemy. But Rav Shmuel Berenbaum finds another aspect of bitachon here, which deals with the famous question of: What was the problem with the spies checking out the land to see what was going on. What was wrong with that? He explains that Hashem told us, “ Eretz Zevat Halav U’Devash/This is a land of milk and honey. ” So why go now and check הטובה היא אם רעה / if it’s good or bad, fat or thin? And why take fruit from the ground to show it? What's going on over here? If Hashem said it's good, you have to have such belief in the word of Hashem that it's a reality. If God said it's good, it's as if you saw it yourself. You saw it's good. Why do you have to go now and check if it's good or not? He says that was the mistake of the spies. On their level, just the word of God should have been strong enough to make it a reality. He says that this is not just for the spies. This is a fundamental for all Jewish life. God told us about the Torah. “ I gave you a wonderful gift, My Torah.” Hashem promised us, in the Torah, “ The Torah is good for us, all the days of our life.” And therefore, we have to believe the word of God. Torah is good. You might have to work on it, and you're going to have to toil on it, but eventually, you're going to appreciate it. The Or HaChaim HaKadosh says in Parashat Ki Tavo, “ If people would feel the sweetness and delicious flavor of the Torah, they would get crazy over it and nothing would be important in the world- not all the gold or silver, because the Torah,” in his words , “has all the good inside of it.” The problem is, we don't taste it; we don't feel it. We have to believe it. That is a principle in everything- to really believe the word of Hashem. But the problems come when you start questioning the word of Hashem. The Meraglim said, “ Let me just check. ” Oh, you want to check? Then, as the Torah says, Hashem gave them a place to make a mistake. Oh, you'll see funerals, and you'll see giants and you'll have an area to make a mistake. He says the same thing is true with us. If we don't really believe, we'll start seeing things. We'll see the wicked blossoming, we’ll see successful people and we'll start making mistakes about how important Torah life is. He brings out this point on how much we have to just believe, based on Hashem's promise without checking into it or having proofs for it. He says, in the days of old, there was something called a Dybbuk . The Chazon Ish says, we are not no longer worthy of seeing these supernatural forces in our lives. But this dybbuk is some kind of demon, a previous soul, from a previous life, that enters someone else's body and takes them over and starts talking and saying things. It has to be exorcised. Near the Yeshiva Mir, there was once a dybbuk saying things about Olam Haba and reward and punishment. Some boys that went to see this dybbuk, and when they came back to the yeshiva, Rav a Yerucham gave an entire speech about it. He said. “ What do you have to look at it for? Do you need to hear from the dybbuk? What did the dybbuk say? That in Shamayim, they consider the Chafetz Chaim important? Do I need him to say that? Do I need him to say how important Yeshiva boys are? We already know that. We already have this inside of us. Why do I need the dybbuk to tell to me? Is the word of Hashem less than a dybbuk?” What Rav Yerucham was demanding from these people was this feeling of reality based on what Hashem said. There's a famous story in the Gemara of a rabbi, Rav Yochanan, I think, who gave a derasha on the pasuk that the gates of Yerushalayim would be etched in a large sapphire stone. A student couldn't believe it. How are you going to find such a large stone? He wondered. Then, when he was at sea,he looked into the ocean and saw angels chiseling away at a large sapphire stone. He asked them what it was for and they said, it was for the Bet Hamikdash. He came to Rav Yochanan and said, “ Wow! You were right. ” Rav Yochanan said, “ And if you didn't see it, you wouldn't believe it?” Our level of belief in the derasha of Chazal, or anything Chazal have to say, has to be solid, like reality. That was the claim on the spies. We have to work on ourselves that if Hashem says something, it's real. If He promises us something, it’s real. We don't feel it right now. We don't taste it right now. We have to go with our belief. Shabbat is Olam Haba. That's real. All these concepts are real. We might not feel it. Come Shabbat, we might say, “ It's a long summer afternoon. I have nothing to do.” We have to believe that Hashem tells us what Shabbat is, what Mitzvot are, what Torah is. These are the lessons that Rav Shmuel Berenbaum brings out of the story of the spies. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.
We’ve been talking about the advantages of humility. The Gemara in Masechet Eruvin talks at length about the arguments between Bet Hillel and Bet Shammai. As we know, the Halacha follows Bet Hillel. The Gemara is bothered. Why did Hillel merit that the Halacha follows them? The Gemara gives a very interesting answer: because Hillel was more humble than Shammai, more easygoing. That's a very strange answer. It would seem that if you know the law, the law's follows you, and if you don't know the law, the law's not doesn’t follow you. What does your humility have anything to do with if the Halacha is goig to follow you or not? The Chida, in his sefer Petach Enayim, gives multiple reasons. -Reason number one is based on nature. Someone who is humble doubts himself. He's not sure, so therefore he's always looking in, reviewing and checking whether he's correct or not. It's interesting, I've noticed when dealing with doctors, that sometimes the greater the doctor, the more they say they don't know. I wonder if that's connected. If they're humble and curious, they're more likely to look into things more and end up with the correct diagnosis. A doctor that says, “ Oh, I've seen this a thousand times! I know the answer,” is not going to get to the right answer. -His second answer is that a humble person has a broken heart, and therefore his heart is a vessel to accept wisdom. Wisdom needs a vessel, and the vessel is a broken heart. -In a similar vein, he says that someone who's humble has the Shechina with him, and once the Shechina is with him, the Halacha follows him. He even points out that Anava has the same numerical value as Sinai , as in Har Sinai, to hint to us that the humble person's Torah is true like it was given at Har Sinai, which alludes to the famous explanation Moshe kibel Torah M’Sinai. Simply, this means he received the Torah at Har Sinai, but it says M’Sinai , which means ‘ from Sinai,’ meaning that he learned the lesson from Sinai, the humble mountain. -He adds another, somewhat kabbalistic reason- that all mistakes and all lack of understanding really come from the negative forces, but someone who is humble is not affected by those negative forces. We mentioned, at the beginning of the week, that Bilaam, who was an arrogant man, was the source for all negative forces. He was the source of kishuf and black magic. Those those negative forces impact our ability to understand. A person who's humble does not have those negative forces impacting him and therefore, he’s able to understand. This is similar to the concept that he is vessel for God to dwell in. It goes to back Har Sanai. God came down to Har Sinai, He didn't lift up Har Sina, which the Gemara uses as a proof that rather than God lifting up the humble to heights, God comes down to them. These are yet more wonderful benefits of humility. And again, this is very strongly related to Bitachon. As we’ve said previously, the Meshech Chochma tells us that the source of bitachon is Bo Tidbak/Cleave to God. B itachon is all about connecting to God, and you can't connect to God if you're an arrogant person. Thus humility is a necessary factor in our work on Bitachon. Have a wonderful day.
We continue with the topic of humility. There was a great rabbi who was killed in the Holocaust, Rav Aryeh Tzvi Frumer, who was also known as the great Rabbi of Kozoglov. He was very close to the Rav Meir Shapiro, who started the Daf Yomi. When Rabbi Shapiro passed away, Rabbi Frumer was very distraught. Weeks and months went by and he was still mourning his loss. One night, Rabbi Shapiro came to him in a dream, and Rav Frumer asked him, “ Please tell me something from the Olam HaEmet.” Rabbi Shapiro said, “ Our rabbis tell us in Pirkei Avot to be extremely humble. You should know, in the upper worlds, even if a person is great and did great things, they are judged by the measuring stick of being extremely humble .” That's the way people's deeds are measured. “ If a person is successful and does great things, but suddenly becomes a somewhat arrogant person, and he doesn't relate with everybody equally, and to speak to him, they have (what they call, in Hebrew) Proteczia- and people need special connections to talk to him- everything that he reached now shrinks. But if a person, even with all the levels that he reached, still keeps himself humble, then his deeds are considered great.” This is an unbelievable concept. Now you might say that we don't base our religion on dreams, but there's a well known, unbelievable Gemara in Bava Batra (10b): There was a great rabbi in the time of the Gemara, Rav Yosef, the son of Rav Yehoshua, who got sick and had what we call a near-death experience. When he came back, his father asked, what he saw, and he said, “ I saw an upside down world. The great people are below and the lower people are above.” And he said, “ That's the real world.” So, what does, “ The great people ” mean? Rashi explains that great people refers to social status. Tosafot quotes Rabbenu Chananel, one of the Geomim, who says that he heard from the earlier Geomim that they have a kabala/ tradition going back to this story, that what he saw was the great Rabbi Shemuel of the Gemara sitting in class in the Yeshiva Shel Maala/ the upper Yeshiva, hearing the class given by his student Rav Yehuda. Why? Because, as it says in the Gemara Shabbat, there was a lady that came to Rav Shemuel for a judgment on a case, and, in the words of the Gemara, “she was calling out to see him,” because of her court case, and he didn't take care of it. He didn't talk to her. In response to this, Rav Yehuda told his teacher that the pasuk says, “ Someone who corks his ears from the cry of the poor, he will also call out and won't be answered.” So here we see how the greatest of the greats are being measured on how they treat simple people. This is a scary point, because again, this is the measuring stick of the Gedolim. Sometimes our Gedolim are hard to get to, but it’s not because of them, it’s because their children or grandchildren set up barriers around them. But they inherently let people in. And if they hear a tumult or commotion, they'll let people in. I was raised in Monsey, New York, and we lived in the same town as Rav Yaakov Kaminetzsky. When I was about 14 or 15, a friend from high school came to my house for Shabbat, and he said “ Why don't we go see if we can get in to Rav Yaakov Kamonetzsky?” So we went around the time of Seuda Shelishit, knocked on his door, and who answered? Rav Yaakov Kaminetzsky. We said we came for a Beracha and he invited us in to eat. So we had Seuda Sheloshit with Rav Yaakov Kaminetzsky, his wife, myself and my friend. There were no airs, no bodyguards, no better than… that's the measuring stick of a person's actions and deeds. And, as we keep saying, it all goes back to your level of Emuna and Bitachon, and the realization that you didn't make yourself what you are, God made everybody equal. But when someone looks down on people, because he thinks he made it, that's a big problem. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will overcome that, and we will be people who treat everyone equally, and let anyone speak to us, regardless of what their social status is. Have a wonderful day.
We continue with the theme of humility. Yesterday, we spoke about the humility of Moshe Rabbenu, which was the source of all his blessings. All of his Torah, and everything that he had came from his humility. The same is true for us. The more humble we are, the more of a receptacle we are for Hashem’s beracha. But what, exactly, does it mean to be humble? What does it mean that Moshe was humble? Does it mean that he didn't know his greatness? Rashi says on the spot that it means shafal/ he held himself low. He wasn't a showoff, and he was savlan/ he tolerated others. All of the great Gedolim of our times and of yesteryear had that trait of Savlanut/tolerating others. They didn’t just involve themselves with the ‘rich and famous,’ they were involved down to the simplest of men and even children. The following story is told of Rav Moshe Feinstein: He was once walking into the lobby in MTJ, Metivta Tiferet Yerushalayim, which was his yeshiva for decades. In the yeshiva was also an elementary school. He once noticed a little boy that was crying, so he approached the boy and asked him what was wrong. The boy said that he had made a play date with one of his friends, and he wanted to contact his mother, but he didn't have any money for the payphone. Rav Moshe said, “No problem. I'll go look for a dime” (or whatever the denomination was back then). It took a few minutes for Rav Moshe to get a dime, and by the time he came back, the boy, whom we’ll call David, said, it was too late. He told Rav Moshe that his friend had gone to play with another boy. David was devastated. Rav Moshe said, “No problem, we'll find him. Call your mother, tell her you have a play date, and we'll go find him.” Rav Moshe then went from one park to a second park, where they found the boy, whom we’ll call Joe. Rav Moshe went over to Joe and said, “Joe, would you like to play with David? Joe said, “I wanted to, but I was waiting for him and he didn't come back, so I’m with another friend now.” Rav Moshe said, “You shouldn't take it out on him. He actually asked me for the dime, but I'm an old man, so I move a little slowly. By the time I got him the dime, you'd already left. So don't take it out on him. Let him into your game. You can play three children together instead of one-on-one.” And the boy agreed. That is a savlan. He tolerates children's needs; he tolerates anyone's needs. There are many stories like that about Rav Moshe Feinstein. Another story is told about when a man was walking with his son- his son was on the other side of a car when Rav Moshe was walking by. Not seeing Rav Moshe, a boy yelled to the man’s son on the other side of the car, “Moshe, come here!” Not only did the little Moshe walk over, but Rav Moshe Feinstein walked over, too! There was no question about where his title was, or why anyone shouldn’t just call him Moshe. That was his name. Without even thinking, his reaction was, “I shouldn't be called Moshe?” These are indications of true humility. Humility is something that shows up in real life. And again, our point is that if humility doesn't show up, it's ultimately a lack of Bitachon, because if we really relied on Hashem and realized that everything that we have is a gift from Him, there's no way we would become arrogant people. Have a wonderful day.
We’ve been talking about the connection between Emunah, Bitachon, arrogance and humility. And if I really believed, I would believe that I'm not preparing any of these classes, that it’s all coming directly from Hashem. Sometimes you can see it more clearly. This week, two different Divrei Torah that I gave in the Torah Center, one, Friday night and another from a class that I give on En Yaakov, came together to provide a beautiful thought. The first one was based on this week's Parasha. Moshe Rabbenu was spoken about by his sister Miriam, to his brother Aharon, about how Moshe separated from his wife. Yes, he was a prophet, “ But we’re also prophets,” she said. “ And if we can be married, why can't he be married? ” That was their claim. What they didn't know was that Moshe Rabbenu was on a higher level of prophecy than they were. When the Torah tells us this story, it happens to throw in that, “ Moshe was the most humble of men. ” Why is that necessary to the story? There are four reasons that we won’t discuss today (maybe for tomorrow's class). But Rav Chaim Feinstein explains, based on Rav Chaim of Volozhin’s sefer Ruach Chaim ( on Pirkei Avot), that the reason Moshe Rabbenu reached such a high level of prophecy was only because he was the most humble of men. Because Moshe Rabbenu was so humble, he was the perfect conduit for God's voice to speak out of his mouth. It says the Shechina spoke out of his throat. There was no separation, because Moshe was so humble. God spoke directly through him, in the highest level of prophecy. Other prophets have some of themselves mixed into the prophecy. Only Moshe Rabbenu was able to say, Ko Amar Hashem/ this is exactly what Hashem said, and that only came because of his humility. So, the highest level of prophecy, and the purest level of prophecy, comes from humility. That is what we learned in our Friday night class. Then, Shabbat morning, in the En Yaakov class, lo and behold, the Gemara in Masechet Shabbat says that when the arrogant ones will cease, the forces of Kishuf/, the forces of black magic will cease. And the commentaries in the En Yaakov tell us that the power of the contamination of black magic comes from arrogance . That's what feeds black magic. An arrogant man is a good black-magician. Who was the greatest Mechashef of all times? Bilaam. The Mishna in Pirkei Avot says of Bilaam, that he was the most arrogant of men. He was the man with the Ruach Gevoha. What an unbelievable concept. We have two great prophets. One, the prophet of the Jews, one the prophet of the Goyim, and each one is the exact antithesis of the other. Moshe was the humblest of men and the greatest pure prophet, while Bilaam was the most arrogant of men and the greatest Mechashef/ the greatest man of black magic. That on its own is interesting point, but I want to go a little further and connect it to Bitachon. The Gemara, in Masechet Chulin, says there was a great rabbi, Rav Chanina Ben Dosa, and a witch, using black magic, was trying to impact him. But Rav Chanina Ben Dosa told her, “Don’t even try. En Od Milevado/There is no one else but God.” Rav Chaim Volozhin, in his sefer Nefesh HaChaim, explains that the force against black magic is the belief in, There’s nothing else but Him. And now, let's connect the pieces: When a person says, “En Od Milevado/There's nothing else but God,” it doesn’t just mean there's nothing else in creation but God, it means that everything happens because of God . En Od Milevado is a statement of total subservience to God's will and God's existence; we don't exist at all. Tohat's why it’s the power that annuls all negative decrees. There is no black magic. What is black magic? Black magic is the forces of super nature that, as if to say, go against God. That Gemara in Chulin 7b says that the word Kishuf is a the is a contraction of the words, “They contradict God's decisions,” because in as much as person doesn't have full faith in God, there's room for other forces. Of course, God decides everything. But as the Hovot Halevavot says, the more you believe, the more you give your life over to God's control. The less you believe, the more you give the control over to others. So, En Od Milevado means there's nothing else but God. But it also says, “I'm humble because I don't do anything.” Who is the One that revealed En Od Milevado to the world? Moshe Rabbenu. To recap, a man who is arrogant is feeding the negative forces, the forces of Tum’ah, of black magic, forces in the world other than God. And when a person has humility, he's feeding the forces of En Od Milevado/There's nothing else but God. That's why Moshe Rabbenu, who was the most humble of men, makes all the miracles. He split the sea, he has all those forces. That's the power of humility, that's the power of En Od Milevado. That's why they go hand in hand. And that's why we keep on stressing that if you want to know if you're a real Baal Bitachon, see whether you are a real Anav . You can say En Od Milevado/there's nothing else but Him , but the way you know that it has really permeated your being is if it shows up as humility. And even the greatest can make a mistake and think they are so humble. Miriam and Aharon thought they were as humble as Moshe. But the Nefesh HaChaim says o that was their mistake. They didn't realize they weren't quite on his level. So, we all have work to do, inculcating into ourselves these important lessons of Bitachon and Anava . Have a wonderful day.
There are two very beautiful thoughts on bitachon in this week's Parasha. The first one is based on the pasuk describing the manna. It says, שָׁ֩טוּ֩ הָעָ֨ם וְלָֽקְט֜וּ וְטָחֲנ֣וּ בָרֵחַ֗יִם א֤וֹ דָכוּ֙ בַּמְּדֹכָ֔ה וּבִשְּׁלוּ֙ בַּפָּר֔וּר וְעָשׂ֥וּ אֹת֖וֹ עֻג֑וֹת וְהָיָ֣ה טַעְמ֔וֹ כְּטַ֖עַם לְשַׁ֥ד הַשָּֽׁמֶן׃ The people spread out and gathered, grounded it in the mill. They pounded it, and it tasted like Shad Hashemen (a certain sweet delicacy). The Zohar questions the meaning of the words Shatu Ha’Am / They spread out. But the word shatu has the same root as the word Shtut/foolishness. They acted in a foolish way . They didn't have enough Emunah. They were grinding and pounding… Why? If their Emunah was enough, they would not have had to go through all that effort. It would've come to them without the effort that they put in. They could have eaten it as is, and it would have had the taste that they thought of. It says they were foolish because they ended up putting more effort in than was necessary. Furthermore, the Zohar says that the manna had the smell of Gan Eden . When it came from Shamayim it passed by Gan Eden. .and therefore, whatever good flavor you wanted to taste, you would taste. But that was only for the people that didn't go through the extra, added trouble. Those people that grounded and went through all the added trouble, only tasted the taste of the sweet delicacy of the Shad Hashemen. So a person's worry and lack of Emunah causes him to lose. That is the first lesson that we learn from the manna in the Parasha. The second lesson is another famous one. Al Pi Hashem Yachanu, V’Al Pi Hashem Yisav/ The people camped on the word of God and traveled on the word of God. There's a question on this week's Parasha- which is that we learn all the halalachot of Shabbat from the manna. That means whatever they did to build the Mishkan was forbidden on Shabbat. They wrote in the Mishkan, so we’re not allowed to write. They dyed in the Mishkan, so we can't dye on Shabbat, and the same with all 39 forbidden activities of Shabbat- they come from the Mishkan.. The question is asked, Where do we learn that you're not allowed to take down a building? We learn from the Mishkan that they took the Mishkan down, and put it up later. The question is that you're only responsible on Shabbat if you take apart of building with the intention to rebuild it in the same spot- like if you knock a house down and you plan on building on that lot. But if you take down a house and you plan on using that wood someplace else, then that's not considered destroying. It has to be that you’re destroying to build on that spot. But in the case of the Mishkan, you took it down and moved it to another spot. So how can we learn out and compare to the Mishkan? And the answer is given that the Jewish people in the desert camped and traveled Al Pi Hashem, so it was as if they were in Hashem's hands all the time. Just like when a lady is traveling with a baby, and if the baby could talk, and you were to ask the baby, “ Where are you?” The baby would not give the latitude and longitude. The baby would say,” I'm in my mother's arms.” And so too, the Jewish people throughout their travels, never really moved. They were always in the same spot. They were in their mother's arms . And that's our lesson. These lessons of the desert, says the Bet Halevi, are not just lessons of the past. The lesson of the manna is a lesson of today. Those that put in too much hishtadlut and too much effort will not get more of anything. If anything, they'll get less. That’s lesson number one. Lesson number two is that everyone has their own travels in life, like they had in the desert. We have to realize that we never really change places. We're always in the same spot. We're in Hashem’s arms. We're always in the same calm, relaxed spot on the clouds of glory, taking us through our lives. Manna and clouds of glory. The only thing we're missing is the Be’er of Miriam. We will save that for a different day. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.
Yesterday, we discussed the concept that one has arrogance is like an idol worshiper. The Bet Halevi says that's a problem, because the rule is God doesn't punish for thoughts, only for actions – with the exception being Avodah Zara. And we used the Bet Halevi’s explanation that arrogance is like idol worship, and therefore has the severity of being punished for the thought. There's another exception to this rule, that the Gemara in Kedushin 39B discusses- for something that is Na’aseh Lo K’Heter/something a person always does. Using our example from yesterday, that means, that if a person is on his way to an unkosher restaurant and he gets a flat tire, he doesn't get punished. Why not? Because he didn't end up going. He’s innocent until proven guilty. But what happens if this man has been going to an unkosher restaurant every Thursday night for the past 10 years? Now it's already Na’aseh lo K’Heter/It became permissible to him. He doesn't even flinch. It's normal for him. The reason he didn't go was because of the flat tire. He's on automatic pilot. He's going, and therefore in that case, even when he doesn’t end up going, he still gets punished. Rabbenu Yona talks about this in Shaare Teshuva, and explains that this is the severity of any type of sin that becomes like it's permissible. It’s a huge difference from a person that sins and groans afterwards, because the groan shows that it still bothers him. People might think, “Os he groaned- big deal. ” But no- that groan is huge. It's a huge, huge difference. One of the great Baalei Musar, Rav Itzele Blazer wrote that when a person sins, in Shamayim they write down whether he sinned with a groan or without a groan. It's a huge difference. Now, back to our story- Says the Panim Yafot in Devarim 8,14, When a person is arrogant, that's the kind of sin that becomes Na’aseh Lo K’Heter. It's like it’s permissible to him. He doesn't think there is anything wrong with it. He thinks, “ I take credit from my deeds. What's wrong with saying I'm a great salesman? What's wrong with saying I'm a great basketball player? What's wrong with saying I did great on my regents? What's wrong with all that? I’m just taking credit where credit's due.” That's a huge mistake. You're not allowed to do that. Arrogance is a sin- That's a shocker for most people. “ Arrogance is a sin?! I understand it might not be nice to show off, but in my head I tell myself, wow, You did a beautiful job! That was a great party I planned. That was a beautiful cake that I made, that was the most magnificent X, Y, and Z.” “ Yeah, I did, did a pretty good job.” That's called arrogance. That's called taking credit for something. Of course, you do your hishtadlut, and we'll reward you for that. But if God didn't want it to happen, it wouldn't happen. When thoughts of arrogance are, in our minds, permissible, that takes it to a whole different level. That's why just reading these lessons is helpful. You start to think to yourself, “ Hey, I didn't realize that there was something wrong with being arrogant. I'm far, far from being perfect. But at least I realize it's a problem.” That's a huge, huge accomplishment. That's why the Chafetz Chaim wrote his sefer on Lashon Hara. Because even if you don't stop talking Lashon Hara, at least you know that it's not okay. That’s an important point in learning about any topic. It's not okay. Arrogance is not okay. Arrogance is the antithesis of Emuna and bitachon. It's not okay. That realization, in itself, is an accomplishment. Have a wonderful day.
We continue to discuss the Bet Halevi on humility and arrogance, as it relates to Bitachon. The Gemara tells us in Masechet Kiddushin that God does not apply your thoughts to an action. Meaning, if a person plans to go to an unkosher restaurant but gets a flat tire, he doesn't get punished. But when a person decides to go to shul, and gets a flat tire, he gets the reward- because God does not punish for thoughts that don't come to fruition. The exception is Avodah Zara. The Gemara quotes a pasuk, “ I'm going to get the Jewish people for what they did in their hearts .” The Bet Halevi brings up that arrogance is also in the heart. He says that normally the sin of eating unkosher is the eating of the unkosher food, and therefore the plan to eat unkosher is not punishable. But when it comes to Avodah Zara, if a person's on the way to bow down to an idol, and he didn't do the action yet, why should he be punished? Just because he planned to do Avodah Zara ? The answer is that for Avodah Zara, the main sin is that he's accepting upon himself this idol as a God. That's a sin of the heart, and therefore, even if he doesn't do the action, he is culpable because it's not about the action, it's about his thought . He says that's why arrogance is compared to Avodah Zara. Because the sin of Ga’avah is an improper thought process. It's not just a bad character trait where your arrogant and haughty. It stems from an improper cognition. It stems from an improper way of thinking, which is the thinking that you are controlling things, that you are in charge. That brings about Ga’avah, and therefore the heart , the thought, is what's causing the problem. As we’ve discussed, the Bet Halevi speaks about Bitachon as a mitzvah of the heart. So too, the Hovot Halevavot, when he talks about Bitachon, says it's a mitzvah of the heart. Mitzvot of the heart are difficult mitzvot. It's not about an action, it's not something that we can measure. It's in our hearts. It's an improper thought. It's a heresy. These are very important concepts to be careful of. Like Shlomo Hamelech says in Mishleh 4,23 מִֽכׇּל־מִ֭שְׁמָר נְצֹ֣ר לִבֶּ֑ךָ כִּֽי־מִ֝מֶּ֗נּוּ תּוֹצְא֥וֹת חַיִּֽים From all watchings, watch your heart . because from there comes our life. The Gaon of Vilna says, “Guard your heart like you guard precious jewels,” because the heart is the source of everything. If the heart is off, everything is off. The Malbim says that although deeds are sometimes bad, sometimes you have to do something wrong for the right reason (we won’t get into when or why ) meaning that the thought is everything. External actions are not the measuring stick. It’s what's going on in your heart. And that's why Ga’avah and Bitachon are two opposites in the heart. Bitachon is is all about connecting to God. Bo Tidbak. Ga’avah is the exact opposite. Ga’avah is a disconnect. It's Avodah Zara. It's Richuk/distancing. That's why they are polar opposites. We have to constantly work and guard our hearts, because everything that's going to come out eventually comes to the heart. Since the heart pumps blood throughout the body, if you have something wrong with the heart, it's going pump it throughout, and everything's going to become corrupted and tainted. That's why we have to be so careful of what goes on in our heart. מִֽכׇּל־מִ֭שְׁמָר נְצֹ֣ר לִבֶּ֑ךָ כִּֽי־מִ֝מֶּ֗נּוּ תּוֹצְא֥וֹת חַיִּֽים From all watchings, watch your heart . Guard your heart , more than anything else. From what? From Ga’avah. Have a wonderful day.
We continue in the Bet Halevi, with his discussion of humility and arrogance. He quotes the Gemara that tells us, “ Anyone that has (in him) arrogance, it’s as if he is worshipping idols. ” Where do we see that? There's a concept in the Torah called the Gezera Shava , which is when we compare two words, and through that comparison, we learn something. For example, we put our Tefilin, “ ben Enecha/ between your eyes.” Now, ‘ between your eyes’ doesn't mean literally between your eyes. How do we know that? Because, in lather place, it says, “ Don’t tear hair out on your head between your eyes.” Most people do not have a lot of hair between their eyes, and it wasn't the custom to pull out hair (over the dead) in between one's eyes anyway. It was on the spot on the scalp, in the middle of the eyes. So just like the word Ben Enecha , regarding pulling your hair out, means o n the spot of the scalp, so too for the words Ben Enecha/ between your eyes regarding the Tefilin- that's called a Gezera Shava. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai says the Torah says, “ It’s an abomination of God, whoever has arrogance, ” and concerning idolatry, it says “Do not bring an abomination into your house.” So we see the word abomination refers to idol s, and we see that arrogance is called an abomination . So that means arrogance is like an abomination . The Chatam Sofer says that sometimes we see generations being punished in a way that doesn't seem to make sense. What did they do that was so terrible? He answers that it's these kind of small sins that are like big sins that we suffer from. Rav Yochanan goes a little further and says, it's not just idolatry. Idolaters believed in God, but they added a partner, to partner God up with something else. So the first rabbi saying, it's like you're in idolatry you're partnering somebody else. Who's the somebody else? The Shelah explains that somebody else is yourself . You are taking credit and therefore you're worshiping God and yourself . So those are the two partners. Rav Yachanan says even more than that. He says, “You're denying God's existence totally,” as the pasuk says, “ You're going to become arrogant and forget Hashem. ” And the Bet Halevi, in his commentary on the Torah ( Shemuel 32, 4), explains that denial of God comes from arrogance. As we've said in the past, when one is arrogant, he says, “ It was my strength and my power that made this money.” That means arrogance is worse than ideology. Because it’s not, “Me and God.” There comes a point where the person doesn't even acknowledge God! He doesn't even recognize God in the picture. There's a story that Rav Matityahu Sallomon tells, of a man that he knew in England before he came to America. This man used to pray a very, very long Amida . But this man was a cutthroat in business and it always bothered the Rabbi. The man looked like he was such a religious devout man. He believed in God… what was he praying so long for? The Rabbi finally got the courage up to ask him, “ What are you praying so long for? ” And his answer was, “I know, of course there’s a God. I'm very smart in my business. I know what I'm doing. But of course, there’s a God. So I pray to God, ‘God just please don't interfere. Let me run my business. I know You can mess things up. Just don't interfere.’” That's a kofer . He really believes that he's doing it. Another story that I saw was brought down by Rav Shmuel Berenbaum: There was a very wealthy man who lived in the times of the Rabbi of Lida. The man told this Rabbi, “I serve God out of love, not out of fear.” The Rabbi asked what he meant. He answered, “I have tremendous amount of wealth. I have insurance…. I'm diversified. There's really nothing that could happen to cause me to lose my wealth, and therefore I serve God out of love.” A few months after that statement, a Russian minister was walking on a bridge that this man owned. The bridge collapsed and the Russian minister drowned. They accused this wealthy man of treason, of being a spy for the Poles and killing a Russian minister. He had to flee the country, penniless. He met this rabbi years later on and he shared the continuation of the story with him- that we need Hashem. Obviously Hashem can do anything. This man who spoke to Rabbi Salomon knew that lesson. ‘ Of course, Hashem could do anything, but if He just doesn't interfere, I'll do fine on my own.’ That is heresy! To believe that we could do fine on our own, just God, don't interfere is full fledged, My strength, my power. That's arrogance and that's what we're trying to dispel. And again, the only way to do that is by working on Emunah and Bitachon. That's why we're going back and forth on this topic- because they're two extremely related concepts. . Have a wonderful day.
I would like to share two thoughts on Parashat Naso, both of which relate to Ga’avah/arrogance, which, s we’ve been discussing, relates to Bitachon. The Parasha starts off with the words: נָשֹׂ֗א אֶת־רֹ֛אשׁ בְּנֵ֥י גֵרְשׁ֖וֹן גַּם־הֵ֑ם לְבֵ֥ית אֲבֹתָ֖ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָֽם׃ Lift up the heads of the children of Gershon, also them, to their households, to their families. Simply, this means Levi had three children, Gershon, Kehat and Merari, and Merari is counted second. So we say, “ Lift up Gershon, also them.” Also them means not just Kehat but Bnei Gershon as well. But the sefer Binah Leltim has a novel way of reading this, which is that ‘ You want to lift up the Bnei Gershon because of their family and their lineage, but Gam Hem/ they have to lift themselves up as well.’ It's not enough to say, “I come from a special family and therefore I can rest on the laurels of my family without doing anything myself. ” It’s really a Ga’avah issue. He says that one of the reasons for Ga’avah is that a person says, “ No one's more important than I am. Look who my family is. Look how hashuv/important I am.” That's a mistake, because ultimately, it's up to you to do your work. Yechus/lineage is a Ga’avah pill. It’s really nothing to be proud of, because what did you do? It’s one thing if you accomplish on your own- you can maybe look at that as if you did something, but your family? Did you choose your family, that now you're so important? Because of who your grandfather is, that makes you important? As if the other guy chose a simpleton for his grandfather and your grandfather is someone special … That's one lesson we can take from this Parasha-Don’t bloat yourself based on your lineage. You have to lift yourself up as well. The second lesson is from the Nazir. He commits to abstain from wine, haircuts and contamination from the dead for 30 days. But in middle of his 30 days, suddenly, without his planning, he mistakenly becomes contaminated from the dead. Now he has to start again, and he has to bring a Korban Hatat/a sin offering . Why does he have to bring a sin offering? Because he pained himself for being a Nazir. The question asked is, he pained himself for being a Nazir whether he became contaminated or not. Every Nazir inherently pains himself. So why is this man called the sinner? The Emek Davar answers that the fact that he became contaminated means he took upon himself a level that he wasn't fit for. He went too far, and that's why God contaminated him. It’s like Hashem was saying, “ You know what? You're not ready to be a Nazir. You must bring a sin offering. ” This is another important principle related to Ga’avah- people sometimes take on levels that are above them. The Gemara uses the term Nechsi KiyuHara /sometimes it looks like you're showing off. Sometimes you do things that are not befitting. For example, you're in a synagogue and you decide to put on two pairs of tefilin- but no one else is doing that. That might be something you have to ask the rabbi of the shul about; Is it befitting? If the rabbi's not doing it and you are, it might look a bit arrogant. It's when people do things that are not on their level, even though they're good things to do. The Hovot Halevavot in Shaar Ahavat Hashem (chapter 7) says that when a person makes any growth, it has to be slow. Don't go to extremes too fast. He uses an interesting analogy. He says, too much oil in the candelabra causes the light to go out. Too much oil is no good. It’s the same with serving Hashem. The Gaon of Vilna says, in his sefer Even Shlomo , that sometimes a person accepts something upon himself and then he backtracks because it’s too hard. BThen he blames God, thinking, “ Why didn’t You help me? I was trying to be good.” And the answer is, it's not God's fault, it's your fault because you tried to jump without walking first. Rav Chaim Volozhin says, in his sefer Ruach Chaim, that when a king asks his servant to walk up a flight of stairs, he doesn't expect him to jump 10 steps at a time. He expects him to walk one step at a time. What's pushing him to do more than he's supposed to do? Sometimes he’s driven by arrogance. So that's our second lesson. To review- 1-Arrogance can cause you to rest on your laurels and do nothing, Or 2-Arrogance can cause you to say, “ I’m deserving to do more,” and you do too much. The Mesilat Yesharim says that what's interesting about arrogance is that it is manifested in different ways. One way that arrogance can manifest itself in person sitting in the last row of the synagogue saying, “ I'm so humble .” He could be acting humble as a sign of arrogance! So arrogance is something that we have to be careful of. It can show up in doing too much, or it can show up in doing too little. It’s a life's work to constantly realize that you are not doing things, Hashem is doing things, and put the arrogance on the side. Have a wonderful day.
The Gemara in Avoda Zara 18A talks about one of the ten martyrs, Rabbi Chanina Ben Tradyon- the one that taught Torah publicly. What the Gemara holds them responsible for is beyond our understanding. As we said, he was from the ten martyrs, which were coming to replace the Shevatim . The Gemara says he was to be burnt, his wife was to be killed, and his daughter was made to sit in a home of ill repute. When they were brought out to be punished each one of them said a different pasuk. He said, הצור תמים פעלו God is a rock. His actions are perfect. כי כל דרכיו משפט Everything that He does is just. His wife said, אֵל אֱמוּנָה וְאֵין עָוֶל צַדִּיק וְיָשָׁר הוּא. God is a loyal God, a trusted God. There is no inequity. He is righteous, He’s upright. And his daughter said, גְּדֹל֙ הָֽעֵצָ֔ה וְרַ֖ב הָעֲלִֽילִיָּ֑ה אֲשֶׁר־עֵינֶ֣יךָ פְקֻח֗וֹת עַל־כׇּל־דַּרְכֵי֙ בְּנֵ֣י אָדָ֔ם Great is the advice, and many are His deeds, that You look at the ways of every individual , which, as we discussed yesterday, is about the tremendous Hashgacha/supervision that Hashem has on people. Says Rabi, How great are these three Sadikim, that these pesukim just came to them? All three of them came up with one of three fundamental pesukim which are called Siduk HaDin, which means that we accept God's judgment and we say it's righteous . According to some opinions, it’s one of the 613 Mitzvot- to accept God's judgment as righteous. The Ben Ish Chai says something fascinating. If we look at the first letters of each one of these pesukim- Gedol HaEitzah starts with ג Gimmel, El Emunah starts with an א Alef, and HaTzur Tamim starts with a ה Heh, it spells גאה Ge’eh, arrogant The arrogant one is the one that doesn't understand these three principles. And this is very important. We keep seeing the connection between arrogance and Emunah and Bitachon. Rav Yehezkiel Levestein discusses this at length and says that questioning God comes from arrogance. He says to imagine a very simple person that goes to a shiur/ class of a great Kabbalist. Is it possible for him to argue and question the great Kabbalist? If he does, it's coming from arrogance. Who do you think you are? Do you have any understanding, any grasp of the topic at hand, that you're going to give your opinion? If there were three brain surgeons deciding on a difficult brain surgery, would you pipe in and give your opinion? Where does that come from? That is arrogance. It’s audacity. That's chutzpah. Who do you think you are? And that's really what interferes with A) our Emunah in God's righteousness, and B)our Emunah that God is controlling the world to make everything happen. Like we said, God is the one that gives the advice. So there is a fundamental, underlying arrogance, which is a lacking that causes us not to be able to see straight, nor appreciate what we don't understand. There's a story of a man that went to the Chazon Ish and said, “I don't understand the Holocaust. I don't understand what's going on.” The Chazon Ish took out a certain Gemara that was very difficult, and started learning with him. The man didn't understand the Gemara. So the Chazon Ish said to him, “ You expect to understand the Holocaust? The Holocaust is like a Gemara without Rashi, and without Tosafot. It’s like the Gemara without explanation. We don't have the ability to understand it. And if you think you're going to understand it, that is coming from arrogance.” There are two factors to this arrogance: Number one is thinking that you're going to understand what God does. And number two is taking credit for what happens. As we said yesterday, God is the one that's responsible for all Eitzot/advice, and the Avudarham says, that's why, in Arbit, we say in, “ Please set us up with good advice.” We have to understand and believe that all of our ideas are nothing more than God's good advice; because all of our ideas are meaningless without His advice. As the pasuk in Tehilim 33,11 says, עֲצַ֣ת ה׳ לְעוֹלָ֣ם תַּעֲמֹ֑ד The ideas of God last forever. The reason we make this prayer at night, he says, is because when a person lies in his bed tossing and turning, he’s thinking, and that's when he gets his ideas sometimes. So we're asking Hashem, “Please put good ideas in my mind.” Like it says, “ רַבּ֣וֹת מַחֲשָׁב֣וֹת בְּלֶב־אִ֑ישׁ וַעֲצַ֥ת יְ֝הֹוָ֗ה הִ֣יא תָקֽוּם׃ Man has many thoughts,” but we're looking for Eitzat Hashem that that's inside of it. To recap- we have to see and understand our limitations specifically in these two areas- 1- Our limitations in understanding what God does, which leads to what's called Siduk HaDin, accepting the justice, accepting why it is that good people sometimes suffer. 2- Understanding that we don't make things happen because God is ultimately the power. Our Ga’avah/arrogance doesn't want to accept the fact that we didn't do it. Have a wonderful day.
As we've been mentioning, one of the mizvot in the Torah (as we said from the Samag) and one of the greatest fundamentals of all the Torah is הִשָּׁ֣מֶר לְךָ֔ פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּ֖ח אֶת ה׳ אֲשֶׁ֧ר הוֹצִֽיאֲךָ֛ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם מִבֵּ֥ית עֲבָדִֽים Beware, Lest you forget God…. At any given moment, one is commanded with the negative commandment- Do not forget God for a moment . Furthermore, in a positive sense, it says, וְזָֽכַרְתָּ֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ כִּ֣י ה֗וּא הַנֹּתֵ֥ן לְךָ֛ כֹּ֖חַ לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת חָ֑יִל Remember Hashem your God, He gives you the strength (or the ideas) to make wealth. Sefer Haredim (chapter 12) brings this down and gives us advice for how we can do this… He says that the Midrash says, a lot of times when it says Zachor/ Remember, it means remember the heart. So it would’ve been only the heart, but when it says Lo Tishkach/Don’t Forget , then Zachor/remember means we have to enunciate it. So anytime it says it doubly, Zachor and Al Tishkach, that means enunciate it. He says a big hiddush - that a person therefore should arouse himself and say pesukim that cause us to remember our God and the fear we have of Him. This isn’t just advice. He's saying this is part of the Mitzvah. He gives examples of pesukim- מלא כל הארץ כבודו MLo Kol HaAretz Kevodo (there’s a song, with those words) and he quotes his rabbi, the Hasid, Rav Yosef Sagis, who used to sing the song from Musaf Rosh Hashanah Ashrei Ish She’Lo Yishkachecha/Fortunate is the man who doesn't forget You, and the one who holds onto You tightly and courageously and doesn't give up. Another pasuk he quotes, which might not be familiar to all, is said, lo alenu, at a funeral (Yirmiya 32,19) גְּדֹל֙ הָֽעֵצָ֔ה וְרַ֖ב הָעֲלִֽילִיָּ֑ה אֲשֶׁר־עֵינֶ֣יךָ פְקֻח֗וֹת עַל־כׇּל־דַּרְכֵי֙ בְּנֵ֣י אָדָ֔ם לָתֵ֤ת לְאִישׁ֙ כִּדְרָכָ֔יו וְכִפְרִ֖י מַעֲלָלָֽיו׃ God Is called the One who is great in council (God gives us all the advice) and mighty in deed, Your eyes are cognizant to all the ways of mankind . (Hashem is watching at all times). To grant each man according to his ways and the consequence of his deeds. Why is Yirmiyah saying this? If you look at the context of the chapter, he's warning the people as the Churban comes close. Rav Yaakov Sakili, in his sefer Torat HaMincha explains that the generation was lacking. And he says, This is the fundamental. God's Hashgacha is the foundation of our Torah, the fundamental of our service to Him, and the pillar of our faith: To believe that God is supervising and watching and cognizant of every deed we do, and He rewards and punishes. And only then is your service to God complete. If a person doesn't believe that, he just lives a free life. He says, “This lack of Emuna was why the Bet Hamikdash was destroyed. Because they forgot this principle. They ate and they were satisfied and they forgot God Who was saving them. And that's the pasuk- Lest you ואכלת ושבעת Eat and be satiated and become arrogant, and forget God. Himsel f He repeated it…. וישמן ישורון וינבעט Yeshurun became fat and kicked … and so on and so forth. We get intoxicated with our success and we forget about God, and that’s what causes all the downfall … I recently met Mr/ Rabbi Michael Safdieh, a great Mashpia in our community and worldwide, and he told me that people are thirsty to hear this. He says people like it when he tells them, “ You never made a dollar in your life, because you didn't make a dollar in your life. You think you made a dollar in your life. You think you're smart, you think you're great. ” That's the beginning of the downfall. Therefore, we have this advice to take a pasuk or a saying that you're familiar with, and hum it all day, to knock into your head this important principle. He says that when Yirmiyah saw this lacking, he drilled this pasuk in… Enecha- God has His two eyes on you. He's watching you. His eyes are not taken off of you. Good is watching us. And not like today, lehavdil , how we scroll down our iPhones and flying through pictures at record speed. No, it's God's looking at you like someone looks at a new sugya on the Gemara. He stares at every individual person. He's staring at you, on every single thing that He does. This is the most important thing to have on your mind at all times. . He says that before we do anything, God is, so to say, whispering in our ears. He's the advisor. We make fun of Biden that he has a teleprompter, or an earpiece. But you know what? We all have teleprompters. Do you think you are coming up with great ideas? We all have teleprompters, and we have to remind ourselves of that constantly, because otherwise, it gets to our heads. Have a wonderful day.
We’ve been talking about humility and it’s connection to Bitachon. The week before Shavuot, we talked about Bitachon as a way to receive the Torah. There’s a comment that relates to this from Rav Chaim Volozhin, in his sefer Ruach Chaim on Pirkei Avot (chapter 1, mishna 1) which is a mind boggling hiddush. He says, “T hrough humility, a person merits everything. Humility is a source for all the blessings in the world . And he says regarding Moshe Rabbenu, the greatest prophet and father of all wise men, that his ultimate praise was that Moshe Rabbenu was the most humble of men. Everything he merited to was because of his humility. That's an unbelievable statement, and it’s bitachon-related, because when somebody realizes that they don't do anything, and they rely on Hashem, that comes, ultimately, from humility. A person who's arrogant doesn't rely on Hashem, he relies on himself. He continues, “ If there was someone today that was as humble as Moshe, he would definitely merit the Torah B’Shlemut/ Torah in its completion. ” That’s mind-boggling!! That means the only reason we're not on the level of Moshe Rabbenu in Torah is because we're not as humble as Moshe. So, just like we discussed last week, that Bitachon is a source for Torah, so too, Anavah / humility is a source for Torah. And he quotes a Gemara in Masechet Taanit (7a) that asks why the Torah is compared to water, as Hashem says, “ My words should be like rain, they should be like dew. ” The Torah is compared to water by God Himself. Why? What's the correlation? The Gemara answers that just like water naturally flows downwards from high to low, so too, the words of Torah will only go on to somebody who is humble. He continues and gives a mashal of two cups that are the same circumference and the same height. The difference is that one of the cups is a stone pot with a very thick wall, and the other is an ultra-thin plastic pot. They are the same circumference from the outside and the same height from the outside , but the plastic one that's thinner will hold more. So too, he says, with Torah. The more humble a person is, the less he holds of himself, the bigger the receptacle he is for wisdom and blessing. There's simply more room. However, when we become arrogant, we forget God because, he says, you’ve filled yourself up. There's no room in your vessel anymore. He ends with a pasuk from Yeshaya that says, “ In the times of the Mashiach the world will be filled with the wisdom of God, like the water covers the ocean.” What does that mean? On the surface, the ocean looks all the same. What makes one part of the ocean deeper than the other? It’s only that there's a deeper space in that part of the ocean. The ground is carved out more, and therefore there's more room for water. That's why, in the times of Mashiach, there will be more wisdom- because we're going to make ourselves into deeper vessels. What is the deciding factor in becoming a larger or smaller vessel? Humility versus arrogance. When a person is arrogant, he's full of himself. The more full of yourself you are, the less room there is for God, His Torah and His blessings. Conversely, the less full of yourself you are, the more room you have in you to receive God's wisdom and God's blessings. Unbelievable! We just need to make ourselves into that vessel to receive the blessing. And Moshe Rabbenu was only Moshe Rabbenu because of his humility. If you think about it, it's astounding. Have a wonderful day.
For the past three days we’ve discussed why bitachon is a prerequisite for accepting the Torah. Today we'll talk about the Torah brings to bitachon, how the goal of Torah is to bring to bitachon The Gaon of Vilna, in his commentary on Mishleh 22,19 quotes from tehilim 78: וַיָּקֶם עֵדוּת בְּיַעֲקֹב וְתוֹרָה שָׂם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה אֶת אֲבוֹתֵינוּ לְהוֹדִיעָם לִבְנֵיהֶם:(ו) לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דּוֹר אַחֲרוֹן בָּנִים יִוָּלֵדוּ יָקֻמוּ וִיסַפְּרוּ לִבְנֵיהֶם:(ז ) וְיָשִׂימוּ בֵאלֹהִים כִּסְלָם וְלֹא יִשְׁכְּחוּ מַעַלְלֵי אֵל וּמִצְוֹתָיו יִנְצֹרוּ: God gave us the Torah, and commanded our forefathers to teach the final generation- the children that are born, and they'll get up and tell their children, and they'll place their reliance on God, Etc. This, says the Gaon of Vilna, is the main purpose of giving the Torah to the Jewish people- so that they place their reliance on Hashem. And when it says, ‘ Tell your children …’ it means ‘ Tell your children that the main foundation is complete bitachon. This is the general rule for all the Mitzvot.’ It’s why we received the Torah, and we have to tell that to our children. In a another place, the Gaon of Vilna, says something very heavy- “The main thing is bitachon, and if a person has bitachon, he might have sinned severe sins, but he is better off than the one that doesn't have bitachon because bitachon is the ikar / main thing .” How are we to understand this? Bitachon means I'm connected to God . Bitachon means I realize He’s in charge. Bitachon means Anochi Hashem Elokecha. That's the most important thing. Of course, a person has a Yetzer Hara and he can fall, but that's the most important fundamental. And Torah brings us to that. There's something magical about Torah learning that brings a person to Bitachon. He explains as follows: Every day, we say in our prayers, “ Hashivenu Avinu LToratecha/ bring us close our Father, to Your Torah V’Karbenu Malkenu L’Avodatecha/ and our King, bring us to Your service.” God is Avinu . He's our Father . Malkenu/He's our King. When we serve Him, that's an expression of Him being our King. We serve a king. But when we learn Torah, that's an expression of Him being our Father . It says that a father teaches his son Torah. And we say about God, “ Hamelamed Torah Amo Yisrael” - He teaches us Torah.. So when you sit down and learn, God is teaching you. He's your Father teaching you Torah. It’s a father's responsibility to teach his son Torah. God fulfills that responsibility. So when we're learning Torah, we feel that father son relationship. There’s an interesting (supposedly true) story that the rabbis use to differentiate between Emunah , which we call faith or belief , and Bitachon/reliance: There was a tightrope walker who’d walk back and forth over a deep, deep valley without a net. He’d ask the people watching, “ Do you believe that I can attach a wheelbarrow to myself and go back and forth?” They’d all roar and say Yes . So he did that, going back and forth. Then he said, “ Is anybody willing to get into the wheelbarrow as I go back and forth? ” There was no answer from the crowd, except for one little boy who said he would. The man took the boy back and forth in the wheelbarrow, to the cheers of the crowd. When little boy got out, they asked him how he’d had the courage to do that… He said, “ He’s my father. The tightrope master is my father.” The rabbis use that mashal to show the difference between Emunah and Bitachon. Emunah is, “I believe that the tight rope walker can go back and forth. Bitachon is, “I rely on Him and actually sit in the wheelbarrow.” That's something a child does. A child relies on his father. So, the more we connect ourselves to learning Torah, the more we feel that we are the children and God is our Father. The more we rely on Him, the less that we worry. The pasuk says Lo Alenu, when someone passes away, we tear our clothing, but we’re not allowed to tear our skin. The pasuk says, “ Don't pull out hair and don't cut yourselves.” Why? The pasuk says, “ You are children of God. Whatever happens, you can't mourn so much because you know that whatever's going on is coming from a loving Father.” And that specifically comes with learning Torah. This is our final Bitachon /Torah connection. The more we learn, whether we learn Torah or even learn about Bitachon, the more connected we will feel. The more rely on God, the calmer we will be, the more peace of mind we'll have. It's a cyclical, snowball effect. When you have bitachon, you learn. When you learn, you get more bitachon. And it gets stronger and stronger B’Ezrat Hashem. Have a wonderful day and a Hag Sameach.
We continue with our Na’aseh V’Nishma Bitachon/Shavuot connection. The Mishna in Pirkei Avot tells us that whoever has more wisdom than actions is compared to a tree that has a lot of branches but not a lot of roots. If you have a lot of branches and not a lot of roots, then, when a wind comes, you get blown over. On the other hand, someone that has more deeds than he has wisdom is like a tree that has strong roots and not a lot of branches and all the winds in the world won't blow him over. The first question we have to ask ourselves is, How can you have more deeds than knowledge? If I don't know the laws of Shabbat, how can I possibly do them? If I don't know the laws of Succah, how can I possibly do them? Furthermore, the Avot D’Rebbi Natan, chapter 22, says that when it says someone who has more knowledge than he has deeds it’s referring to the Jewish people, who said Na’aseh V’Nishma. How does Na’aseh V’Nishma give you more deeds than knowledge? Rabbenu Yona, in Shaare Teshuva (second gate, 10th letter) explains that when a person commits himself to the Torah and says, “ Whatever I learn I'm going to do,” even before he learned it, at that moment he gets the reward of all the Mitzvot, before he did them, because he's ready to go. He just needs to learn about it, he needs to know about it, and therefore he has the reward right away. And that's what happened at Na’aseh V’Nishma. When they said Na’aseh V’Nishma, they already had more deeds than they knew. And that's the meaning of our Mishna. A person who has more knowledge than he has deeds means he learns and then he does, so he always has more knowledge than deeds. That person's weak. He's not rooted. You know how you root yourself? You root yourself with that commitment, you root yourself with the bitachon commitment. I'm relying on God that I can do what He gives me. So I'm in. I'm going to learn about it, and I'll read the contract, but I'm in. To prove this point that it's Bitachon, there’s a beautiful hiddush. The Tanna wants to prove the point that you're well rooted when you commit, and the pasuk that he uses to prove It is from Yirmiyah, “ So says God, Cursed is the man that relies on a human and puts his strength in his own arm and removes himself from God . (And who is this guy?) He's like a cactus in the desert. He's in salty land; he's not rooted. The fellow who commits himself first and then does, on him we say, “Blessed is the man that relies on God. He's like a tree that's strongly rooted by the waters. He's not worried about anything.” So, the Tanna brings down a pasuk that talks about a strongly rooted tree, referring to the man that has bitachon, and he is the man that has more deeds than knowledge. So again, we see clearly that the more we commit ourselves, it really is an indication of the bitachon that we have. If I'm fully committed, that means I know this is good for me. We have to reiterate this every single year, because the purpose of accepting of the Torah was to fix Adam HaRishon’s sin of listening to the snake, which was the cause of mankind’s decline. What did the snake tell him? The snake said, “ Eat from that tree because that tree is good for you. God doesn't want you to eat from it because He’s afraid that you're going to eat from it and get the wisdom that He had to create the world. I want what's good for you,” said the snake. “ God doesn't.” Man bought into that lie. And we still buy into that lie. We think that the outside world is offering us all these great things. The teenagers think the bad guy is the guy who comes to school to install filters on the phones. He's the bad guy. Who's the good guy? The guy that helps me remove my filter so I can enjoy technology. That’s what they think, but it’s the opposite. The guy that wants to install the filters is trying to save your life. It’s like a drug dealer. Who's the good guy? The drug dealer that's giving you free drugs? He wants to kill you. Your parents, who are telling you, Stay away- they're the good guys. We have to believe that Torah, mitzvot and religion, with their challenges and difficulties, is the best thing for us-everyone on their own level. For some people it's a challenge to eat kosher, they think it’s a hindrance. For other people, the challenge is modesty. But whatever our challenge is, we have to believe that it's the best possible thing for us. And that's what our bitachon is. Our bitachon is to rely and believe, This Torah system works, and it's the only thing that works. I'm happy and delighted to commit to it, even though I don't understand it necessarily, so I'm relying on God. I'm relying on God that this is good for me. Na’aseh V’Nishma. Have a wonderful day.
We continue to discuss the connection between Bitachon and the upcoming holiday of Shavuot. Yesterday we discussed that you need to rely on Hashem in order to dedicate yourself to Torah and Mitzvot, to have a clear mind and not worry about how you are making money or doing anything else. But there's another, slightly deeper explanation. The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat tells us about the Jewish people's great deed of accepting the Torah with the following two words: Na’aseh V’Nishma/ We will do and then we will listen, and we will soon see what this means… There was a certain heretic that saw Rava learning. When Rava learned, he put a tremendous amount of effort into his understanding, with intense concentration. He was sitting on his thumb and in his concentration, he caused himself to bleed. So this heretic told him, “ You dedicated, religious Jewish people are an impetuous people because your mouths went before your ears, and you're still impetuous. You should have first listened and seen how difficult Torah is before you accepted it. Look- you're bleeding from it!” Rava answered, “ No, we are complete in our faith in God.” And he quoted a pasuk. Rashi asks, “What does that mean that We're complete in our faith in God?” He explains that it means We are in love with God. And we rely on Him that he He wouldn't command us something that we couldn't handle. So that means, in order to commit yourself to Torah, you need bitachon for another reason. Because, who says you can handle it? We have to rely on Hashem. Amd this is not just something from a thousand years ago. This comes up every single year, because every year on Shavuot, we recommit ourselves and we have to again say those same words of Na’aseh V’Nishma. We have to believe that we can do it and that it's good for us. The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat further says that when the Jewish people said Na’aseh/ we will do , before they said Nishma , a heavenly echo came out and said, Who revealed to My children this secret that the angels use? In tehilim 103, it says בָּרְכ֥וּ ה׳ מַלְאָ֫כָ֥יו גִּבֹּ֣רֵי כֹ֭חַ The angels bless God ( and the angels are called) Gibborei Koach/ the strong men. What do they do? עֹשֵׂ֣י דְבָר֑וֹ לִ֝שְׁמֹ֗עַ בְּק֣וֹל דְּבָרֽוֹ They do God's word, then they listen. First they do, then they listen. That's Na’aseh V’Nishma. The angel’s are in the Ready-to-do mode, just waiting for Hashem to tell them what to do, but they’ll do anything. That's how the Jewish people were at Har Sinai. To prove that we need bitachon here, the Midrash Raba in Vayikra quotes the same pasuk of Gibborei Koach Oseh D’varo/ The Strong men do God’s word, referring to the people that keep the Shemitta. People that keep Shemitta are committing themselves to leaving their fields open for a year. Anyone can walk in and walk out, and they're relying on God that God will take care of them. So we see that this same pasuk about the strong men is used, and the strong men here are the men of Shemitta who have reliance on God. The strong man is every Jewish person. Because when we say Na’aseh V’Nishma (and as I said, we say it every year when we recommit ourselves), we're saying, Hashem, we believe in You. We will sign on the dotted line without reading the contract. When you rent or lease a car, there are a whole bunch of papers to sign. Some people just sign at the x, sign at the x. Other people say, “ Wait a sec- Let me see what it says here. What am I signing? ” because they don't necessarily trust the guy. I don’t want to get into people's private lives, but when a husband brings his wife the tax documents to sign, does she just sign them or does she want to read it first? Does she trust her husband? Maybe she thinks they’re really divorce papers. So the the concept of trusting someone to commit to something without reading the fine print is a sign of love. “I know this person loves me. I love them. And we trust each other. We know that we're only out for each other's good.” That is what happens every year when we say Na’aseh V’Nishma . We are saying, “I believe that the Torah way of life is a lifestyle that's good for me. And although it might look like I'm sacrificing, I have bitachon. I rely on Hashem that this package is a good package.” That's another twist of why I need bitachon in order to accept the Torah. That's our second Bitachon-Shavuot connection. Have a wonderful day.
Over the next four days we'll prepare for Shavuot by connecting Shavuot to the trait of Bitachon. Every single day in our Shaharit prayers, before Keriat Shema, we say Ahavat Olam, where we talk about God's tremendous love and compassion for us. We pray that He should grant us Torah, וּבַעֲבוּר אֲבוֹתֵינוּ שֶׁבָּטְחוּ בָךְ B’Avur Avotenu/in the merit of our forefathers, SheBat’chu Ba/ that relied on You. We continue and ask God to enlighten our eyes in Torah, to have our hearts cleave to His Mitzvot, to unify our hearts, to love and fear Him. And then we say, Why should we get all this? כִּי בְשֵׁם קָדְשְׁךָ הַגָּדוֹל הַגִּבּוֹר וְהַנּוֹרָא בָטָחְנוּ Because in Your holy great name, awesome and fearful , we relied . So, every single day, we ask from Hashem that in the merit of our reliance on Him, we should receive the Torah. We see, clearly from this, that a person needs to have the trait of bitachon/reliance on God in order to receive the Torah. Over the next few days, we’ll delve into why this is so. What exactly is the connection? The most simple explanation, offered by Rav Aharon Kotler in his sefer Mishnat Aharon (Vol 1 page 18) explains that the Midrash Tanhuma in Beshalach, 20 says, לא נתנה התורה לדרוש אלא לאוכלי המן The Torah is only properly understood by those that ate the manna. Rav Aharon asks, Does this mean that we can't learn Torah because we don't have the manna? He explains that the manna, the bread that came from heaven, symbolizes constant reliance on God. When you have no food in your cabinet, and you can't store anything, and the next day is a new day, you rely on God for that day's sustenance. So this means that only people who have the ultimate reliance on God are capable of learning properly. He says the simple reason for this is because through bitachon, your mind is clear and you can learn with Menuchat HaNefesh . You can only learn Torah and serve God properly if you have Menuchat HaNefesh. When the Hovot Halevavot talks about the advantages of Bitachon, he says that when one relies on God, he's able to empty his heart from worldly matters, to focus his heart on serving God. So we need to have bitachon in order to have a clear mind to serve God. This is actually fairly clear in the pasuk in Shemot 16,4, when the Torah talks about Why we were given the manna. It says, " למען אנסנו הילך בתורתי אם לא" I want to test them There, the Kli Yakar explains that the test of whether you’ll be able to learn Torah, is whether you're able to pass the manna test. You're able to pass the bitachon test, if you're not hoarding or going to collect on Shabbat, and if you realize that regardless the amount of hishtadlut you do, when you come home, you’ll have the exact same amount of manna. Once you’ve passed that manna test, which means you’ve passed the bitachon test, you're ready to commit yourself to a life of Torah and Mitzvot, because without bitachon, how are you closing your store on Shabbat? How are you taking time out of your busy schedule to learn? A person needs to have bitachon in order to serve properly. We’ll end with one more point, to help explain a little bit of our siddur, to help us properly pray. We quoted above, in the tefilah of Ahavat Olam, that it says, Ba’Avur Avotenu In the merit of our forefathers… Who are these forefathers ? Normally, when we say forefathers , our first thought is Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov, but that’s not always the case. In this case, the Avudarham., one of the Rishonim (in his commentary on the siddur) says that it's referring to the generation of the desert- as referenced when discussing the manna. What was their original bitachon? In Yirmiyah 2,2 it says that Hashem says, זכרתי לך חסד נעוריך אהבת כלולותיך לכתך אחרי במדבר בארץ לא זרועה I always remember the kindness of your youth, the love of our wedding canopy ( when ) you followed Me in the desert to a land that was never planted. The fact the Jewish people went into the desert without enough provisions to last them for such a period of time- that reliance was the reliance of our forefathers. The Shem Mishemuel, on Parashat Miketz, explains that it refers to Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov- their greatness was their reliance on God in all situations. To recap, Bitachon-lesson one for Shavuot is that we need bitachon in order to have a clear mind, in order to dedicate ourselves to Torah and Mitzvot. The 40 years in the desert got us ready to receive the Torah then, and we need it today as well. Have a wonderful day.
Today we will share a bitachon thought related to Parashat Bamidbar, as well as to the upcoming holiday of Shavuot, which is this week. In Bamidbar it says to count the Jewish people. Rashi says that due to the endearment of the Jewish people, God counts them at all times. When a person has an item that’s dear to him, like a stamp collection, he's always looking through it. There’s a concept explained in the Sefarim, of a Halacha called Davar She’b’Minyan/something that's counted. For example, if something unkosher falls into a pot of kosher 60 times the amount of the unkosher, the unkosher part is batel/ nullified. Some things are sold in bulk, but certain things, Ike eggs are sold by the number. They are sold as a dozen, not by the pound. Something that is b’minyan, counted, is not batel . And so too with God, since God wants to turn the Jewish people into something special, so He counts us constantly. Furthermore, our rabbis tell us the word Yisrael ישראל is an acronym for: Yesh There are יש Shishim Riboi ששים רבוי 600,000 Otiyot letters אותיות L’Torah לתורה There are 600,000 letters in the Torah, and every letter is separate. They can’t be touching, corresponding to each Jew who has his own individual mission. This should give a person an sense of importance, to realize we all have a mission and purpose in this world. The Malbim explains in Tehilim that it says “ God counts the stars, every star has a name,” just like the Jewish people. It says to the number, their names. Every star has a name means that every star is doing something. From down here on earth, a star seems like a very small entity, but we know how large stars are. Stars are bigger than the sun. Each one has a mission and each one does something that impacts the world below. That's why the sefarim say that the Jewish people are compared to stars. When you look at a star from afar, you don't see anything, but when you get closer, you see it's a whole world. So too, with the Jewish people. That's why when we count the Jewish people, we say Se’u Et Rosh/ lift them up. So that they should realize the importance of every single Jew. Rav Moshe Feinstein says, that's why we always read Parashat Bamidbar before the holiday of Shavuot. Because people sometimes feel like, “ What's the difference? Whether I learn or I don't, I'm not going to become great anyway.” So we want to lift every individual up, to show his importance, and show that his learning and his service to God make a difference. It says that we needed each of the 600,000 people in order for the Torah to be given. That was the necessary amount for the Torah. Every person was necessary. So too today. Every person is necessary for the larger picture. The Sefer Bamidbar is called the Humash HaPekudim/ the Humash of the counting. But Pakid means officer , showing that everyone is an officer . Everyone is recognized by God. Rav Wolbe says the the entire Bamidbar has this theme. For example, the Nazir is one man that decides to abstain from wine and cutting his hair and he gets to the level of a Kohen Gadol. The Sotah is one lady who deviates, and God makes a miracle in order to have her removed from the Jewish people, because one person committing a sin has an impact on the whole people. One Nazir has an impact to the whole people. The Torah is about individuals, about Yechidim . And that's what we want to reiterate as we get to the holiday of Shavuot. Have a Shabbat Shalom.
We are talking about humility and arrogance as it connects to Bitachon. The prophet Yirmiyah says in 9,22 (we read this on Tisha B’Av), כֹּ֣ה ׀ אָמַ֣ר ה׳ אַל־יִתְהַלֵּ֤ל חָכָם֙ בְּחׇכְמָת֔וֹ וְאַל־יִתְהַלֵּ֥ל הַגִּבּ֖וֹר בִּגְבֽוּרָת֑וֹ אַל־יִתְהַלֵּ֥ל עָשִׁ֖יר בְּעׇשְׁרֽוֹ “ So said God. The wise man should not be proud of his wisdom. The strong man should not be proud of his strength. And the wealthy man should not pride himself on his wealth. כִּ֣י אִם־בְּזֹ֞את יִתְהַלֵּ֣ל הַמִּתְהַלֵּ֗ל הַשְׂכֵּל֮ וְיָדֹ֣עַ אוֹתִי֒ כִּ֚י אֲנִ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה עֹ֥שֶׂה חֶ֛סֶד מִשְׁפָּ֥ט וּצְדָקָ֖ה בָּאָ֑רֶץ כִּֽי־בְאֵ֥לֶּה חָפַ֖צְתִּי נְאֻם־יְהֹוָֽה What should the one who's praising himself praise himself about? Having knowledge of Me.” That's what you should be proud of. Be proud of your knowledge of God. The pasuk is telling us not to take credit for any of our deeds. When the Rishonim talk about arrogance, they cite this pasuk. Devarim 17,20, says that a king is not allowed to get arrogant, and the Ramban uses that as the source for the sin of arrogance for all people. The king is just an example, he says. If a king, can’t be arrogant, than it’s surely so for everybody else. The king is used as an example because he has reason to be arrogant. Only God is deserving of honor and greatness, and he quotes the above pasuk. Similarly, Rabbenu Yona, in Shaare Teshuva, (third shaar, letter 34), cites the same pasuk about the king, and brings this pasuk down. He asks, What should you be proud of ? Quoting this pasuk, he says, Be proud of serving Hashem. Be proud of fear of Hashem. Be proud of Bitachon, relying on Hashem. Be proud of your love of Hashem and you're connection to Him. These are the things be proud of. Why? Because that's what we do. The Bet Halevi once asked somebody, “ What are you doing?” The man thought he meant business, so he said he owned a sugar factory. But the Bet Halevi said, “ I asked what you are doing.” Again, the man said, “I have a sugar factory.” Once again, the Bet Halevi reiterated his question, “ What are you doing?” The man thought the Bet HaLevi lost his mind. Finally, the Bet Halevi clarified, “ I didn't ask what God's doing with you. Your sugar factory is what's God doing with you? What are you doing means What is your Avodat Hashem? What are you working on in your service of God? Because that's what we truly do.” This is a Bitachon principle. We don't take credit for our strength, our wisdom, or our wealth, because all these things come from God. Rav David Soloveichik points out something very interesting in chapter nine of Yirmiyah. He was the prophet of doom. He's the one that wrote Echa, and he prophesied, warning the Jewish people about the impending doom. And he writes (9,20) כִּי־עָ֤לָֽה מָ֙וֶת֙ בְּחַלּוֹנֵ֔ינוּ בָּ֖א בְּאַרְמְנוֹתֵ֑ינוּ לְהַכְרִ֤ית עוֹלָל֙ מִח֔וּץ בַּֽחוּרִ֖ים מֵרְחֹבֽוֹת The death has come through our window has entered our palaces. It's killing people in the streets. And then he goes on to talk about the horrible things that are happening. And then it says, The wise man should not be proud of his wisdom . His question is, “ What do all these horrible pesukim have to do with the man not being proud of his wisdom ?” He explains that this is the source of all the problems- the problems came because they were proud of their wisdom, proud of their strength, proud of their wealth… When we start taking credit for what we do, and we don’t use what we have for the sake of Hashem, that's when we get into trouble. The Gaon of Vilna says about the pasuk כִּ֣י אִם־בְּזֹ֞את יִתְהַלֵּ֣ל הַמִּתְהַלֵּ֗ל that it doesn't mean you can't be proud of your wisdom, your strength or your wealth. When you use it properly and you realize it's a gift from Hashem, and it's Leshem Shamayim, then everything's fine. The problem is when you think you made it. When you think it's yours and you think it's for your own usage, that’s when everything goes off the rails. So we need the bitachon mindset of understanding where everything comes from, and what the purpose of the gifts of God are. That is what keeps us in check and protects us from sin. But when a person starts disconnecting and taking credit for what he does and starts taking pride in himself, it’s trouble. This is the litmus test of whether we have real bitachon. Are we proud of our accomplishments or are we proud of our efforts ? Efforts, you're allowed to be proud of. But your accomplishments? You didn't accomplish anything. You worked hard? Good. Be proud. You tried hard? Be proud. You finally got it? That's not about you. That's a gift of God. Have a wonderful day.
The Chida, in his Sefer Homat Anach (8,14) is bothered that according to many Rishonim, forgetting about Hashem is a negative commandment. It says Zacharta Et Hashem Elokecha/You have to remember Hashem . He says there’s a machlolet about whether Forgetting Hashem is considered negligence or an accident. To illustrate, if I have to watch something and I forget, is that forgetting considered negligence? Maybe it's just an accident-It's not your fault, you forgot. How do we view forgetting? Sometimes people forget where they put their keys. Is that considered negligence or an accident? How do we view it? It's an argument, he says, but sometimes there is negligence from the outset which causes the forgetting, as is discussed about Sefirat HaOmer. You forgot to count, but you should have put a sign up. You should have done something. Sometimes you're responsible for the forgetting and so you are considered to be negligent. With that, he answers the question. The pasuk doesn't say, Don't forget Hashem. It says You’ll become arrogant and forget Hashem. Therefore, he says, forgetting Hashem comes from arrogance , and that arrogance is in your control. For this reason, you are responsible for forgetting Hashem, because your arrogance caused it. But hold on- where does the arrogance come from? Is that in my control? And the answer is yes. The arrogance is in your control because of your Bitachon and Emunah. All Middot are in our control. It's up to us to program our brains a certain way and constantly bombard ourselves. As we’ve said, there are causes for arrogance but it's in our hands to remove those causes- such as by making a beracha every single day, as we’ve discussed previously. Every time we make a beracha, that reminds us of Hashem. I once heard a mashal of a man speeding, going over a hundred miles an hour. A cop pulled him over and gave him a big ticket. He was going to lose his license. When he was called in front of the judge, the judge asked, “ What do you have to say on your behalf?” The man said, “It's not my fault. I was drunk.” Is that an excuse? No. Getting drunk was in your control. That was up to you. And now that you’re drunk, of course, you're going to drive a hundred miles an hour . It’s the same thing with arrogance and forgetting Hashem. We get into trouble because we're at a point of no return, but it starts earlier in the game. That’s what we're trying to do, to work constantly on Emunah and bitachon.. And if we work constantly Emunah and Bitachon, we won't become arrogant. And if we don’t become arrogant, we won’t forget God. There's an interesting Bet Halevi, on his commentary on Bereshit, 27,9. He is bothered by the famous question, Why is it that Yitzhak Avinu was going to give Esav this wonderful blessing of Olam Hazeh, and leave Yaakov out? When he heard Hakol Kol Yaakov/ the voice of Yaakov , he thought it didn’t sound like the right son, and he didn’t want to bless Yaakov. But why not? The Bet Halevi says something that may shock some people. He says that Yitzhak Avinu knew Yaakov was involved in learning Torah, and he was setting him up to be a true Eved Hashem. The Bet Halevi says that Yitzhak Avinu understood that getting involved in worldly pleasures might cause Yaakov Avinu to become arrogant and forget God, so he didn't want give Yaakov the luxuries and extras. He wanted Yaakov to keep it simple, to live a life of simplicity, in order not to become arrogant. For us, that's shocking. Who doesn't want to become wealthy? Isn't becoming wealthy a great thing? But the Mesilat Yesharim says,regarding wealth, that life is a test. He quotes Mishleh 30,9 where Shlomo Hamelech says, שָׁ֤וְא ׀ וּֽדְבַר־כָּזָ֡ב הַרְחֵ֬ק מִמֶּ֗נִּי רֵ֣אשׁ וָ֭עֹשֶׁר אַל־תִּֽתֶּן־לִ֑י הַ֝טְרִיפֵ֗נִי לֶ֣חֶם חֻקִּֽי׃ פֶּ֥ן אֶשְׂבַּ֨ע ׀ וְכִחַשְׁתִּי֮ וְאָמַ֗רְתִּי מִ֥י יְ֫הֹוָ֥ה וּפֶֽן־אִוָּרֵ֥שׁ וְגָנַ֑בְתִּי וְ֝תָפַ֗שְׂתִּי שֵׁ֣ם אֱלֹהָֽי׃ “I don't want poverty, and keep wealth away from me. Give me my daily portion. What am I afraid of? If I become satiated I will deny God and say, Who is God? And Lest I I become poor, and I steal.” And the rabbis in Musar ask, What's worse? Forgetting God or stealing? The poor man steals, but the wealthy man forgets God. Thus, the shocking explanation of the Bet Halevi, which is really a clear pasuk in Mishleh. There's a fear of wealth, because one will come to say, Mi Hashem/Who is God? Rashi says in Mishleh, “ Become satiated from the wealth and from the tremendous arrogance, I will deny God and I'll say, Who is God? There's no God.” Scary! Our job is to fight against the lures of wealth and constantly remind ourselves, Mi Hashem.
We've been talking about how humility impacts bitachon. Yesterday, we quoted from the Rambam in his sefer Morah Nevuchim/Guide to the Perplexed that the Mitzvah of Succot is there to teach us Anava/humility . His son, Rabbenu Avraham Ben Rambam, in his sefer Hamaspik L’Ovdeh Hashem, on the chapter of humility, goes through many Mitzvot of the Torah explaining to us that the goal is to bring us to humility. We will list a few: -He asks why we have to remember Yetziat Mitzrayim ? He says that beside that it's a cause for us to keep the Torah in the opening of the 10 Commandments, it’s because it brings us to humility. -Additionally, we just read Parashat Behar, which talks about Shemittah. There, it says you can’t sell the lands (of Eretz Yisrael) forever. Every 50 years is Yovel/the jubilee year when all land sales in Israel revert to the original owner. Why? Because this brings one to humility, to realize that you don't really have more than anybody else. Once we hit the reset button, everybody's equal. -Next, there’s the Mitzvah of Bikkurim , which is there to remind us Who we got the land from. He points out that everybody has to bring the Bikkurim . The Mishnah in Bikkurim says that even a king has to put the basket on his shoulder until he gets to the Bet Hamikdash, and give it to the kohen. Look how much humility is hidden there, he says. Furthermore, there's a special recitation that we have to say when giving the Bikkurim . We go through the Arami Oved Avi, which describes how it’s Hashem’s kindness that brought us here. We have to bow to Hashem….. All this is done because we're afraid to become arrogant.. Like the pasuk says, “ Eat and become satisfied, and have good houses that you build and you dwell there. And your gold and silver and all your assets are growing and developing. You're going to become arrogant and forget Hashem.” That's a danger. The Rishonim quote this, but it wasn’t just for back then. It's for now too. Hashem does not want that to happen. -Another thing we do for humility, we do every single day. It's a nice exercise. After the Amida , we say Viddui - we confess our sins. Ashamnu, Bagadnu… Why did God tell us to express our sins? Because it brings one to humility. As the pasuk in Vayikra 26,40 says (and we read in our Tochacha), וְהִתְוַדּ֤וּ אֶת־עֲוֺנָם֙ וְאֶת־עֲוֺ֣ן אֲבֹתָ֔ם Confess your sins and the sin s of your forefathers. and the pasuk continues אָ֣ז יִכָּנַ֗ע לְבָבָם֙ הֶֽעָרֵ֔ל T hen their foreskin's heart will become humbled. That means when we confess our sins and we realize we're not perfect, and yet God still showers us with kindness, that brings us to humility. As a reminder of this, in your siddur, next to the viddui, you can write, “ Time to focus on humility .” -Additionally, in the times of the Bet Hamikdash, when people became Tameh , they would be thrown out of the camp. That meant God was choosing a specific person and humbling him by telling him he had to go out of the camp. He was not allowed in. This was especially true for the Metzorah who had to walk around and announce to the world that he was tameh . That took a tremendous amount of humility. Rabbenu Abraham is showing us how many Mitzvot are linked with humility. It’s almost as if it’s the whole goal of the Torah. -When someone over 70 years old walks into the room, we stand up. Why? He's an older man. Stand up for him. That also shows humility. -Another thing we say every day in our prayers is that one cannot put sourdough or honey on the mizbe’ach . Why not? Because sourdough rises; it gets puffy, and that's a sign of bloating. And honey, which also has a certain bubbling to it, is a symbol of Ga’avah . God says, I don't want any Ga’avah in my Bet Hamikdash. Rabbenu Avraham goes on and says that the focus of our religion, and what we're doing when we're learning the Torah and Mitzvot, o is to distance ourselves from arrogance and bring us closer to humility. -A king is told to learn Torah at all times, because constantly learning and having a Torah with him is supposed to keep him away from arrogance. He says, Look at how great Hashem’s kindness is, that He directs us, through His Torah, to get to all the proper Middot. The goal is Anavah. He quotes Tehilim perek 25,9 יַדְרֵ֣ךְ עֲ֭נָוִים בַּמִּשְׁפָּ֑ט וִילַמֵּ֖ד עֲנָוִ֣ים דַּרְכּֽוֹ׃ God directs the humble, He teaches the humble His path. So, the focus of the Torah is to get us to humility. Then again, it says Sadik B’Emunato Yihyeh/The Sadik lived by his Emunah. So what’s the focus? Emunah or Humility? And the answer is, it's all the same. If you have humility, you have Emunah, and the opposite. Have a wonderful day.
We continue to explore the topic of arrogance and anavah/humility as it connects to Bitachon.. Many of our Mitzvot interweave bitachon and humility. One example is the holiday of Succot. If you ask a person that knows a little bit to name one of the reasons we sit in the Succah, they might say the Succah has a message of Bitachon. The Succah reminds us of the clouds of glory, as we sat in the clouds of glory in the desert. God took us through as if on an ocean streamliner, beautifully air conditioned; with perfect weather. There were no bumps in the road; everything was smooth. And we sit in the Succah to remind us of those clouds of glory. It’s called, “The shade of God’s Emunah; the shade of trust and reliance.” We sleep outside without any protection. Through the cracks in the schach, we are able to look up to God. We look up to the skies and see Hashem protecting us. That is the bitachon message of the Succah. It’s interesting that built into the Succah is another message. The Rashbam, in Vayikra (23,43) says that we go into the Succah specifically during the gathering season, when we gather our grains, wheat and wine and our houses are full of all kinds of good things, because Hashem wants us to remember the Succot we were in in the desert, for 40 years without any inheritance, so that will thank Hashem Who gave us the houses that we're in now, and we won't say, Kohi V’Otsem Yadi Asah Li et HaChayil Hazeh/With power and strength I made my wealth… He says, God chose the time of gathering for Succot so that we shouldn't become arrogant with the success of the previous year of gathering. So as not to say, “I did it. I made it. It's my success.” And the Rashbam says this is not just about the Mitzvah of Succot. There's a pasuk that says, “You have to remember the 40 years, and you have to remember the manna,” and the back of most Siddurim, there are Eser Zechirot/10 things to remember every day. One of them is the manna, but the Rashbam quotes that pasuk that it means more than just the manna, it's the 40 years in the desert. Why do you have to remember those 40 years in the desert? Because when you get out of the desert, you should not become arrogant and think you did it. God was guarding you the whole time. So it's really a daily remembrance. And actually, in the list of the 10 things to remember, another one is that God gives you the strength to amass wealth. So God put in the remembrances of Yetziat Mitzrayim, remembrances of the 40 years in the desert- so that we shouldn't end up arrogant. So too, with the mitzvah of Succot. It has both the Mitzvah of Bitachon and of not being arrogant. As we’ve said, they're linked. When a person has arrogance, it automatically indicates that their bitachon level is down. When one is relying on God, there's no room for arrogance. In Moreh Nevuchim, the Rambam (section 3, chapter 43) talks about the different Middot that a person learns from the holiday of Succot, and he says one of them is that one should remember the bad days when things are good. Think back. If you're an immigrant and you have a history of how you got to this country, you or your parents, think about where you used to be, how you used to live. Remember those bad days. Why? “Because that way, you'll increase your thanks to God and learn to be humble. You’ll learn to be a little bit low key.” We see that Succah is not just once a year. Succah is a Middah, says the Rambam, for every day of your life. For every day that’s good, remember what it used to be like. Remember, you didn’t make this money. It's all God. You have no secret to success. Take the lesson of Succot every day of our lives. What's this lesson? The Bitachon/Anavah connection. Have a wonderful day.
This week's Parasha talks about the Tochacha and the curses that come due to certain averot/sins. The Torah says clearly that the reason for the 70 years of Galut is because we didn't keep 70 years of Shemitta. The obvious question is, why such a severe punishment? Why were we sent into exile for not giving the land it's sabbatical? Why is that the punishment? Another question is that when the Torah describes Shemittah, it says the land will take a sabbatical for Hashem. Rashi this sabbatical is iShabbat, just like the Shabbat of Bereshit. The seventh year of Shemitta is like the seventh day of the week. Aside from the fact that they are both seven, what’s the connection? Rav Shmuel Berenbaum explains that the essence of Shabbat is to testify that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. So when we keep Shabbat, we are making a statement ( a non-verbal statement) that God controls the world. Rav Baruch Ber Liebowitz was once in America and saw a store that was closed on Shabbat. He went over to the lock on the door of the store and kissed the lock, explaining that the lock was testifying that God is the Boss. The owner of the store is not the owner of the store. God is the Boss. That’s what we say on Shabbat, and similarly in Shemitta. The reason we rest in the seventh year is because we're making a statement. It says, “ You can’t the sell the land forever, Ki Li Haaretz/because, God says, the land is mine. You're only sojourners, you're only tenants . God is the landlord. We are the tenant. That's what Shemitta says. So when someone doesn't keep Shemitta, what they’re saying is, “ I am the landlord.” Therefore, as he explains beautifully, if you didn't keep Shemitta, it’s like you said, “ I am the landlord. I'm not a tenant.” And how do I know If you're a landlord or a tenant? if you get thrown out of the apartment, then you're a tenant. And that's what happens when we don't keep Shemitta. That's why the 70 years of Galut are connected to Shemitta, and not Shaatnez or tefillin . There's something about not keeping Shemitta that brings upon the exile. Why is the punishment so severe- Worse than for all Mitzvot? We could ask the same question about Shabbat. Why is the punishment for not keeping Shabbat so severe? It says someone that is Mechalel Shabbat ( publicly, without any regard) is like a goy . If he touches the wine, the wine becomes yayin nesek and you have to spill it out. Why is Shabbat so severe? Why is Shemitta so severe? The answer is the same for both: Because the most important lesson of Creation is that we are not the boss. We have a Boss. That's the purpose of all Torah and all Mitzvot. And when you don't keep Shemitta or Shabbat, you’re saying that you’re the boss. Conversely, when we do keep Shabbat and we do keep Shemitta, we're announcing that we believe Hashem is the Boss. And when we say that Hashem is the Boss, then there's no need for the landlord to show us who's boss. He doesn't have to come and throw you out of the apartment because you yourself know who is in charge. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will strengthen our Shemirat Shabbat, and we will strengthen these messages of understanding who is the Boss, who is the Landlord, and who is the tenant. Have a Shabbat Shalom.
We're discussing the relationship between humility, arrogance and bitachon, using the Bet Halevi on Humility as our basis. He quotes from the Gemara in Masechet Sota, that cites the source in the Torah that you're not allowed to have arrogance, and Rav Nachman says the pasuk says ( Devarim 8,14) וְרָ֖ם לְבָבֶ֑ךָ וְשָֽׁכַחְתָּ֙ ה׳ Your heart will become arrogant and forget Hashem. But first, Hashem tells us ( Devarim 8,10) וְאָכַלְתָּ֖ וְשָׂבָ֑עְתָּ וּבֵֽרַכְתָּ֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ You will and you will be satiated, and you will bless Hashem your God. And then it says, הִשָּׁ֣מֶר לְךָ֔ פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּ֖ח ה אֱלֹהיךָ Be careful, beware, lest you forget Hashem your God. Why is that right next to eating and being satiated? The next pasuk says, “ פֶּן־תֹּאכַ֖ל וְשָׂבָ֑עְתָּ וּבָתִּ֥ים טֹבִ֛ים תִּבְנֶ֖ה וְיָשָֽׁבְתָּ You're going to eat and become satiated and build nice houses and your cattle and your sheep will become increased, and gold and silver will become increased. And then, וְרָ֖ם לְבָבֶ֑ךָ וְשָֽׁכַחְתָּ֙ ה׳ Your heart will become arrogant and forget Hashem, who took you out of Mitzrayim. And you'll say, “ Kochi V’Otsem Yadi/My own power and strength got me this wealth.” Then it says, וְהָיָ֗ ה אִם־שָׁכֹ֤חַ תִּשְׁכַּח֙ If you forget… You're going to start worshiping idols … and then it's all over. And the Seforno says, “ What's going to cause this forgetting? When you attribute your success to your strength, and you forget to make blessings.” And this is a very important point. Rabbenu Bachye says that the reason that we have berachot is so that we should remember Hashem when we're eating. Because eating and drinking bring a person to arrogance. That's human nature. He brings pesukim to that effect. Therefore, Hashem said, I want you to focus on Berachot, because by focusing on Berachot, your desire will go from your food to God We always have to work on things at times of challenge. Eating is a time of challenge. The Zohar says “ The time of eating is a time of war .” It's a time of challenge. The Ben Ish Chai, in Taanit 21A quotes the Arizal in connection to this, that when you say Birkat Hamazon, you must have a lot of kavana , because the negative forces are there. You just ate. You're full. You're going to start becoming arrogant. So slow down. If you just ate a $200 steak, slow down, and think- Who is the One that gave it to you? That food came from Hashem. That's going to combat the challenge of parrogance that comes through eating, because it causes you to forget. Bitachon always slides in when we talk about arrogance. Rabbenu Bachye points out that Yom Kippur is the day of purification and it's the day we connect to Hashem. It’s the day of humility. So what does the Torah say? No eating, no drinking, in order to get us to a point of humility and a point of humbling outselves, which is a fundamental of teshuva. So you can't eat because the eating will take away from that. The Meiri, in his Hibur on Teshuva (first Maamar chapter five) brings a pasuk from Hoshea, “ They were grazing and satiating, they became arrogant. They forgotten Me.” The wealth, the eating and the satiation caused them to forget God. He says that there's no way to do teshuva if you are in that mindset. He says, the only way to get to teshuva is to uproot the arrogance. And that can only happen when you realize that all the wealth and all the prosperity comes from God. This is a constant theme, so we want to be Baalei Bitachon, we have to work on our Ga’avah . And, as we just said from Rabbenu Bachye, it’s really clear in the Torah, when you eat, drink, and you're satisfied, make a Beracha, because if you eat, drink, and feel satisfied without a beracha, we run into the dangers of arrogance and forgetting God. Have a wonderful day.
We are discussing the correlations between Bitachon and humility (and the lack of bitachon and arrogance). The Mesilat Yesharim (chapter 11) discusses ifferent Middot and talks about arrogance. In a beautiful, succinct way, he defines arrogance as when person feels within himself that he's important and that he is deserving of praise. He says it’s really a blindness, because you don't see your faults and your lackings. There are challenges that you have. In chapter 22, when he talks about humility, he gives a definition that is the exact opposite. What is Anava ? When a person does not give himself importance . As he says, it's the polar opposite of arrogance. He says that if a person delves into it, he'll realize that there's no place for arrogance . He goes on to discuss the different areas of arrogance. The biggest source of arrogance, he says, is your intellect. That's why doctors, lawyers and professors are sometimes very arrogant people. They're smart, they know more than you do. He says, when a person is smart and intellectual, he's just doing what comes to him naturally. He didn't create his brain. It's no different, he says, than a bird that flies because that's his nature, or a cow that pulls a yoke. A person who is wise, of course, has studied, but the fellow that's not able to achieve that, even with all the studying the world, can’t get there. And who knows, maybe the fellow that's lower than him on the intellectual totem pole is putting more effort in. Maybe he did more work than the wise man. He quotes a Mishna in Pirkei Avot: If you learned a lot of Torah, don’t give yourself a pat on the back. That's what you were created for. What happens if you're wealthy? What happens if you're strong? Well, you were given your wealth and your strength to help other people. It's nothing to be proud of. He says it's comparable to a king's house. He gives one man the job of opening and closing the doors and another man has the job of cleaning the floors. Each man has a job. There's no room for the door opener to be arrogant and say, “ Wow! I'm the one that opens the doors!” It's a job. Wealth is a job, power is a job. We have to realize that there is a bitachon/arrogance correlation, and our attitudes about ourselves are inherent indicators of our level of bitachon. We have to understand what our talents are. The Pele Yoetz writes about this when talking about Middot. He says, sometimes you look at somebody, you say, “Wow, this guy just doesn't understand the basics. He's doesn't have an understanding of how to act…” and you have a list of the person’s imperfections. But the Pele Yoetz says, “ Well, did you work on yourself to make yourself get it? Certain people get it and certain people don't. And rather than look at this fellow and all of his imperfections, maybe you should say to yourself, ‘Wow, thank you Hashem for allowing me to get it.’ That judgment and better-than is all a sign that this person thinks that he's responsible for his qualities. Just like you didn't decide how tall you'd be, or your eye color or your hair color or the speed of your metabolism (That's an important one- Some people are very hard towards those who are overweight, while they’re all proud of their thin physiques. Sorry bud. You have a faster metabolism. That was a gift of God that you just burn up food faster and he burns up food slower. Most overweight people are trying hard to lose weight. It just doesn't come easy. There are so many things in life that we take credit for, that we had nothing to do with. We didn't choose our gene pool; we didn't choose how our kidneys work or the level of plaque in our hearts or all those other types of challenges. Look at mental illness. There are personality disorders out there. Nobody chooses that. We are just blessed, Thank Hashem, that we don't have those problems. And when we start taking credit for our personalities and our height and our physique and our wisdom, that all comes from a lack of understanding- Who gives us our talents? Some people can't dribble a ball. They can't jump rope. They're just not coordinated. They lack coordination and mobility. They just can't do it. And you can dribble a ball and shoot from half court. Okay, you practice, but you had talent, and you didn't create those talents. Have a wonderful day.
Welcome to Daily Bitachon, as we go on our journey of working on arrogance. The Bet Halevi, in his essay on arrogance, starts off with the words, “ Arrogance is from the most severe sins in the Torah.” That's a heavy statement, because we don't even look at arrogance as a sin. One might ask, Where does it say, ‘Thou shall not be arrogant?’ Arrogance is a sin. And it's interesting that in all three essays, the Bet Halevi starts with the same point. Bitachon is a Mitzvah, Ahavat Yisrael is a Mitzvah, and Ga’avah/Arrogance is an Averah/a sin. The Bet Halevi took Mitzvot and Averot every seriously, and if Ga’avah is a serious sin, then it's something to work on, because someone could be transgressing this sin constantly. How exactly is it a sin? We have different lists of the 613 Mitzvot. The Rambam had a list. The Ramban had a list and many rabbis have their lists. One of them is the Sefer Mitzvot Hagadol from the Rabbi of Kusi, who writes, “ Originally, I did not plan on putting arrogance and humility on the list of the 613.” (And neither did the Rambam) But he says, “ When I was in the middle of my work, I had 4 word dream. “Hineh Shachachta Et HaIkar/You forgot the most fundamental mitzvah. What is that? Beware not to forget Hashem your God. This means one of the 613 is a warning Don't forget God. And he said, “I tried to figure out what that meant. When I looked in the Gemara Sotah 5A, it says, “ What is the warning against being arrogant?” The pasuk says, “ You’re going to become arrogant and forget God . And since you’re not allowed to forget God, A equals B. If I tell you that you're not allowed to forget God, and arrogance causes you to forget God, you're not allowed to be arrogant. What does it mean not to be arrogant? The Sefer Mitzvot HaGadol says, “ When God showers us with goodness, we should not say, ‘It was my hard work that brought this about,’ and take the credit.” That's what we're talking about. He quotes from the pasuk in Devarim (6,11) that says, “ You're going to come into Eretz Yisrael and there will be houses full of good things. You're going to eat and become satisfied. Beware that you shouldn't forget God, And don't become arrogant and say in your heart, “Kohi V’Otzem Yadi/My strength, my power amassed my wealth.” “We see from here ,”he says, “ that if a person is arrogant with anything that God has graced him with, whether it's his money, his beauty or his wisdom, he has transgressed this sin.” Therefore, it’s quite serious. And although the Rambam does not count it in his list of the 613 Mitzvot , in his sefer Yad HaHazaka , on the laws Hilchot De’ot (chapter 2, Halacha 3), he says there are certain Middot that you have to go to the extreme for, and one of them is arrogance. He says that's why Moshe Rabbenu was praised, that he was Anav Meod/extremely humble, not just humble , but extremely humble. And he says, “Whoever is arrogant denies God's existence , and he quotes our pasuk, וְרָ֖ם לְבָבֶ֑ךָ וְשָֽׁכַחְתָּ֙ אֶת־ה׳ You’re forgetting God. The Pele Yoetz, on the topic of arrogance, says that people say, “ I'm not arrogant. Arrogance means you walk with your head up high, waving your hands back and forth, barking at people .” He says, the truth is, it's hard to figure out if the person's arrogant or not, but, How do I know that there's a father around? If I see a child . You can't have a kid without a father and a mother. So, what are the children of Ga’avah? Anger and Hakpadah , which means that being exacting with people. If someone sits in your seat, you get upset. You don’t necessarily even get outwardly upset, it may just bother you in your heart. These are indicators, says the Pele Yoetz, that the person has Ga’avah . Therefore, it's something to talk about, and something to work on. The Hovot Halevavot, in his sixth gate, the Gate of Humility (chapter 1), says that Humility also has ‘children’ that show up on the limbs: being soft spoken, using a low tone, not getting angry, not taking revenge. These are all indicators of the positive or negative traits of arrogance and humility. And therefore, it's our responsibility to be cognizant of this and work on it. As we said, it's from the most serious of sins. And obviously if it causes one to forget God, it's quite serious. Have a wonderful day.
Introduction to the Bet Halevi on Humility As we prepare to start a new sub-series, we will give a little background on our Daily Bitachon class. It started a few years ago as a small class on the Bet Halevi. From those classes, B’Ezrat Hashem and with the help of Artscroll and many others, we eventually came out with a book called The Bet Halevi on Bitachon, which, with Hashem’s help, was very successful and helped a lot of people. Then, on another one of these platforms, we went through the Bet Halevi’s essay on Ahavat Yisrael , which revelry brought about another book from Artscroll, The Bet Halevi on Ahavat Yisrael. ( It’s a nice book, available on Artscroll.com) Another book that evolved from our daily Bitachon lessons is a book called The Daily Dose of Bitachon, based on the Hovot Halevavot classes that we gave here. Why am I saying this? Well, one reason is, I'd like to sell some books, but that's not really the main point. There's two points. Point number one is that Rav Wolbe says in the beginning of one of his sefarim that it was written B’Siyata D’Shmaya, with the help of God. We all know that. Everything is with the help of God. But he adds another two words, which are important-“ B’zechut HaRabim in the merit of the masses .” What does that mean? That means that when anybody gives a class, the class is coming out because there are listeners. Those listeners cause the giver of the class to be the conduit of the information that the listeners need to hear. Therefore, those books all came out through the merit of the people that are reading this. We're now going to start on a new venture, under the umbrella of Daily Bitachon. The Bet Halevi wrote three essays. These essays, as we've mentioned the past, miraculously survived Communist Russia, crossed through many borders and many difficulties until they ended up sitting in a suitcase in America, for quite a few decades, until 1985, when they were printed in the Hebrew version. There were three essays. The more popular one is the one on Bitachon, the second was the Ahavat Yisrael, and the third essay was on humility and arrogance. The Bet Halevi, this great sage, chose to write these three essays, which, in my opinion, are interrelated. The first one talks about Bitachon,which is a cause for for Ahavat Yisrae l. The Bet Halevi himself writes that one who totally relies on Hashem realizes that Hashem is in control and therefore, when people do things that might slight him, disturb him or upset him, he realizes it’s inot the person's doings, but rather, it’s traced back to God. And if anything, the man himself is responsible, because due to his deeds, these things came about. The third essay, which is on humility , is also strongly related to Bitachon. The Rambam, in his letter to his son, talks about the detriments of arrogance, and speaks to the fact that only Hashem has the right to show pride, and (if you may), arrogance, as it says, “ Hashem Malach, Ge’ut Lavesh/God is king, He cloaks Himself in pride and arrogance ,” because God is the only One who can be proud and arrogant, because He's the only one that does anything. The mashal that I like to use is to imagine a child learning how to play baseball for the first time with his father. As the child clutches the bat, the father wraps his hands around his son's little hands. When the pitcher pitches the simple pitch, the father swings the bat, over his son's hands, and hits a home run. The son is jumping for joy that he hit a home run, but the son didn't hit a home run. The son has no right to take any credit. It’s the father that hit the home run. That's what's going on down here. We're not hitting any home runs. Hashem Malach. And therefore, arrogance is an indicator you don't have Bitachon. And now for another hiddush: The Chatam Sofer writes, in last week's Parashat Emor, that there are different avenues to get to something. It can start from either the front end or the back end. He explains that the Hovot Halevavot writes that one of the reasons that we don't have appreciation for all the wonderful things that God gives us, ‘ Tov Hashem LaKol/God is good to everybody ,’ is due to the fact that we're always wanting more. We want the next trip, we want the next car, we want the next house, we want the next whatever . And therefore, we don't appreciate we have now. We're always looking onto the next. That constant desire for more interferes with our appreciation. But the hiddush of the Chatam Sofer is that it works the other way around as well. If you strengthen your Hakarat HaTov , if you strengthen your gratitude, that will cause you to want less, because you'll be happy with what you have. You'll appreciate what you have ; you'll focus on what you have. So it works both ways. The desire for more weakens your gratitude, but strengthening your gratitude weakens your desire for more. It comes from both ends. This is also the case regarding the humility/ arrogance correlation. Arrogance causes a lack of bitachon, because you take credit, and humility causes bitachon because you realize it wasn't you. And it works the other way around as well. The more Bitachon you have, the more humble you'll be, the less arrogant you'll be. So you can get to humility or arrogance through Bitachon or the lack of it, and you can get to Bitachon (or the lack of it) through humility (or arrogance). They're interrelated and correlated. With that being said, we are going to be discussing humility and arrogance in our next sub-series. We'll call it Daily Bitachon, A Work on humility, based on the Bet Halevi’s essay on humility, and B’Ezrat Hashem, we will all reap the benefits of being humble. Have a wonderful day.
This week's Parashat Emor has the mitzva of Korban HaOmer , the bringing of an Omer’s worth of barley. The Maharal explains that the goal of the Omer at the beginning of the grain season is to show us that everything that grows is really coming from Birkat Hashem . After a person did all his work, and now everything's growing, he might think that he’s in charge and in control, but he has to realize that Hashem is the One that brings the wind and the rain and commands the earth to give forth its fruit. He quotes the Gemara in Masechet Megila that when Haman came to take Mordechai away, that’s what he was learning. It was the night of the Seder, and it was the day before the law of the cutting of the Omer, so Mordechai was learning the laws of the Omer. Haman asked him what he was learning, and Mordechai said that when the Bet Hamikdash was around, they’d bring this Korban HaOmer. Haman answered, “ Your Korban Omer pushed off all of my silver.” The Maharal asks, how did Haman know that something about the Omer did it? And he says, (and maybe Mordechai explained to Haman), that when we bring the Korban HaOmer, we are accepting upon ourselves that Hashem controls the natural world and that He the boss over nature. When the Jewish people realize there is no nature in the world, and realize everything is controlled by Hashem, that causes the gezerot/ decrees to be annulled. That is actually what happened in the time of Purim. There's a beautiful Sfat Emet in Parashat Vayechi that explains the Gemara in Pesachim that when Yaakov Avinu called his children together, he said, “ Gather together. I want to reveal to you what's going to happen at the end of time.” Yaakov wanted to reveal what would happen at the end of time, but the Shechina left him. Why did Shechina leave him? He says, because Yaakov wanted to show the Jewish people that even in Galut , Hashem is there, and everything comes from His forces, it's just hidden. But if we would truly fathom that in its fullest sense, then the Galut would be annulled.. Because if you see Hashem all over, it's not Galut . It’s not Galut when there is nothing hidden. That's why the Shechina left him- because Hashem wanted us to be in Galut . Therefore, we can’t have that revelation of God's presence in Galut. But the Sfat Emet adds that When we believe the Shechina (because we can’t see or feel it) and we believe that there's no force other than Hashem , although it's all hidden, even though we don't see with our eyes, with Emunah, we can see the truth. There's a story brought down about a great Gerrer Mashgiach named Rav Gad Eisner. He wrote the Sefer Moreshet Gad, a five volume sefer on Humash, with beautiful thoughts. He was once asked how he survived the death camps, how he kept his sanity and his Emunah. At the time, there was a bottle of wine on the table with a cork. Rav Gad pulled out the cork, put it in his hand and said, “ Do you see the cork?” They replied that they couldn’t see it. “Do you know where it is?” He asked. “ Yes, I saw you put it in your hand.” Rav Gad continued, “ If someone walks in now and looks for the cork, will they see it? Of course not. But if you told him that the cork was in my hand, would he continue to look for it? Of course not. That's how I survived the camps. I knew for sure that Hashem was there. I knew, like you know that the cork is in my hand. As the pasuk says, “ You are a God that's hidden,’ And I knew that Hashem was there at all times. And because I knew that Hashem was there at all times, just hidden, I wasn't looking for Him. I knew He was here.” That's rock-solid Emuna. And that's our job. There are beautiful words about this concept, that were made into a song: ואפילו בהסתרה שבתוך ההסתרה בוודאי גם שם נמצא השם יתברך . גם מאחורי הדברים הקשים העוברים עליך , אני עומד . Even in the most concealed of concealed places, certainly He of the blessed name is also found there. I stand with You, even through the hard times that befall you. That is what happened in the times of Purim. The name Esther has the same root as the words “I will hide Myself. ” Hashem hid Himself, and Mordechai, through the message of the Korban Omer, came to realize that it was Hashem. He was still there. That's the message of the Korban HaOmer, and that's what we're supposed to be remembering throughout the Sefirat HaOmer. We're counting down from the Omer and we're reminding ourselves that even in the most hidden the places, such as where you make your Parnassa, Hashem can be found. We don't see Hashem in the factory, or the warehouse, but even there, Hashem is to be found. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.
We are winding down on our Az Yashir classes and the last pasuk (seemingly) is, ה׳ ימלוך לעולם ועד Hashem Yimloch L’Olam VaEd Hashem should be King forever. In the siddur, we repeat this pasuk a second time, and we translate with the Targum (the Aramaic translation) as God’s kingdom is standing forever , forever and ever. This pasuk shows up in the introduction to the Amida prayers of Shaharit, before we start our main prayers. We make the Beracha of Geula in Shaharit, and say, שִׁירָה חֲדָשָׁה שִׁבְּחוּ גְאוּלִים לְשִׁמְךָ גדול עַל שפַת הַיָּם. יַחַד כֻּלָּם הודוּ וְהִמְלִיכוּ וְאְָמְרוּ: ה' יִמְלךְ לְעולָם וָעֶד: A new song was sung by those that were redeemed- to Your great name together. They all said thank You and they made You king and said, Hashem Yimloch L’Olam VaEd… גאל חשראל So, as we start our Amida , we're supposed to repeat the pasuk, “ Hashem Yimloch L’Olam V’Ed,” because with those words, we coronated God for the first time. And in Baruch SheAmar tefilah , we praise Hashem with praises and song and will make You great…, “ V’Namlichach/ and we will coronate You” Where does that V’ Namlichach come from? Where do we coronate Hashem? It’s from Az Yashir, when we said, Hashem Yimloch LOlam VaEd . In Arbit too,, we say, “ Your kingdom, Hashem our God, they saw Your kingdom …” And those of us that are sticklers are bothered by something- why is the introduction to Arbit different than the introduction to Shaharit? At night, we say, “ We saw Your kingdom, ” whereas in the morning, we say, “ We sang a song to Your great name on Sefat Hayam ,” but we don't mention anything about seeing Your kingdom. (These are nuances. Another nuance, which I once saw, is that in the morning we say, “The God of the host is our Savior. But at night, we say, “God redeemed..” Why is it that we quote two different pesukim before the words Ga’al Yisrael im Arbit and Shaharit? I once did a lot of research on this question but did not find a satisfactory answer. So if anyone out there, has an answer, you're welcome to send it in to Rabbisutton@gmail.com) Getting back to our story, there's yet another important time of the year where we quote this pasuk Hashem Yimloch L’Olam VaEd- in our Rosh Hashana Malchuyot prayers, when we say ten pesukim of kingdom, and the first of those ten Pesukim is Hashem Yimloch L’Olam VaEd, because the splitting of the sea caused us to see God's kingdom. At that time, we said Hashem Yimloch...Hashem will in the future. But our rabbis explain that there's something called the present constant , it can mean, “He is, was and will be,” and that's why we say, every morning at the beginning of our Pesukei D’Zimra, Hashem Melech, Hashem Malach, Hashem Yimloch, God is king. Hashem was king.Hashem will be king.. L’Olam VaEd. These are three different pesukim, but our rabbis say they’re all found in our pasuk, and that realization that came at Keriat Yam Suf – we saw how God is the King, and God is the boss. So, every single day when we say Az Yaahir, it's supposed to bring us to a feeling of V’Namlichach , that we're going to make Hashem king over us. We say it at night and in the morning, but not at Mincha time, because Ga’al Yisrael is really a continuation from the remembering of Yetziat Mitzrayim that we do in Keriat Shema, which we say in the morning and at night (but not in the afternoon). All of this is to say that this is an extremely important pasuk, and we're supposed to pause and contemplate Hashem's power and kingdom, accept upon ourselves His kingdom, and realize that He’s in charge. That's the ultimate message of Az Yashir- walking away with that feeling of Hashem’s Malchut /Kingdom. Have a wonderful day.
We continue with Az Yashir, winding down last few pesukim. תְּבִאֵ֗מוֹ וְתִטָּעֵ֙מוֹ֙ בְּהַ֣ר נַחֲלָֽתְךָ֔ / You shall bring them and you shall plant them on the mountain of your heritage (the mountain of the Bet Hamikdash). מָכ֧וֹן לְשִׁבְתְּךָ֛ פָּעַ֖לְתָּ ה׳ / You created a foundation for Your dwelling place. מִקְּדָ֕שׁ אֲדֹנָ֖י כּוֹנְנ֥וּ יָדֶֽיך׃ /the Bet Hamikdash that Your hands established. So Hashem made Bet Hamikdash down here, which corresponds to the Bet Hamikdash in Shamayim. So what they were saying is that we're not just going to be brought into the land, but planted in the land. Furthermore, that God made a Bet Hamikdash down here to correspond to the Bet Hamikdash upstairs. That means when you walked into the Bet Hamikdash, you felt that the spot of connection. When you were in the Bet Hamikdash, you felt that this world was only temporary. You felt a connection to the next world. That's why the Mishna (Masechet Avot) says that when the heretics stopped believing in the next world, a Beracha in Bet Hamikdash was slightly tweaked to include the words, “ Min HaOlam V’Ad HaOlam/ from this world to the next world. ” Because the job of the Bet Hamikdash was that when they walked in, they felt that they were in the embassy of God. They felt the spirituality that corresponds to the Bet Hamikdash above. Why was this something they sang at the splitting of the sea? One explanation is, as we said previously (when we discussed Zeh Eli VAnvehu ), that the Jewish people wanted to keep this connection. But furthermore, Rav Wolbe explains that the main point of Az Yashir is that the Jewish people realized that (in his words) Ruchaniut is a Metziut/spirituality is a reality. That's a nice rhyme. Spirituality is a reality. People tend to think that spirituality is some metaphysical, heebie-jeebie intangible. But Rav Wolbe says that compared to spirituality, physicality is less real. Spirituality is real . Spirituality lasts forever. A table and chairs are not as real as an angel is. We just can’t see it. At the splitting of the sea, they saw, /נשפץ ברוחך You blew with the breath of You nostrils, they saw God's spirit split the sea. God's spirit took down the enemy. That's why they sang this. A Jewish person's job on this world is to realize that Ruchaniut is a reality. God’s spirituality is the only thing that really lasts. Rav Wolbe once said that when we look at a table, we say, “ Wow, a table is solid. ” But what is the table made out of? It's made out of atoms. What are the atoms made out of? Electrons, protons, neurons. And they're all in an orbit around the gaseous space that's in the middle. So everything is really gas. Gas is spiritual. So everything, really deep down, is a spiritual creation. And although we look at spirituality as some fleeting, intangible reality, it's the most real. And when we walked into the Bet Hamikdash, we had that sense of how real it is to be connected to Ruchaniut . And that, as we said,is our job on earth. We are here in a Prosdor/corridor . We're in a temporary existence in this world, trying to get to the next world. The next world is the real world. That's the world that we don't see. That's the world that we don't sense with our bodies. It's the world where the soul alone is going to enjoy. It's something that we can't fathom in this world, but it’s something that the Jewish people experienced at Keriat Yam Suf and it’s something that they experience when they walked in the Bet Hamikdash. They realized that the Bet Hamikdash down here is connected to the Bet Hamikdash above. This world is a Prosdor/ corridor t o get to the main banquet hall, which is the next world and the future. That's important in our overall outlook on life. This world, as real and as solid as it looks, is really a temporary, transient world. The real everlasting world is the world to come. This is something that we speak about, every single day, in our Az Yashir prayers. Have a wonderful day.
We continue with our pesukim in Az Yashir. Pasuk 16 says, תִּפֹּ֨ל עֲלֵיהֶ֤ם אֵימָ֙תָה֙ וָפַ֔חַד It should fall upon them, the nations, fear and dread Rashi explains that Emata/Fear is on the ones that are far and Pachad/dread is on the ones that are close בִּגְדֹ֥ל זְרוֹעֲךָ֖ יִדְּמ֣וּ כָּאָ֑בֶן עַד־יַעֲבֹ֤ר עַמְּךָ֙ יְהֹוָ֔ה עַֽד־יַעֲבֹ֖ר עַם־ז֥וּ קָנִֽיתָ׃ With Your great strength, they'll be silent until this nation passes, until they pass. But they already passed. And why does it say “ until they pass, twice ? Targum Onkelus says there are an additional two passings of miraculous situations. One passing is of the Nachalei Arnon and another is the passing of the Jordan river. Az Yashir was the first, and in Az Yashir we mention that there will be another two. Nachal Arnon was when the Jewish people were in the desert and the enemies planned an ambush. There were two mountains that were very close to each other. They stood on both sides of the mountains, and planned that when the Jews would walk through the valley, they would throw large rocks down upon the Jews and kill them. But God made a miracle. He brought the two mountains together and killed all of them. We didn't know about this, until God brought a well with all the dead bodies, and the Jewish people saw the miracle and they sang another Az Yashir (in Parashat Hukat) on this wellspring for the miracle of Nachal Arnon . So it says Az Yashir twice in the Torah- once referring to the open miracle of Keriat Yam Suf, and the second time referring to the hidden miracle of Nachal Arnon. The third passing refers to the Jordan River. On the 10th of Nissan, in their final year in the desert, they went through the Jordan River and God made a miracle. The Jordan River split and they crossed through the Jordan River. They stopped in middle of the river, they wrote down the Torah, they put rocks underground… the Navi describes the whole story. Now, what's very interesting is that in Hallel, we say: הַיָּ֣ם רָ֭אָה וַיָּנֹ֑ס הַ֝יַּרְדֵּ֗ן יִסֹּ֥ב לְאָחֽוֹר The sea saw and split, the Jordan went backwards because the Jordan River didn't split, it just started flowing backwards. It was going straight. And then it just, at a certain point it started flowing backwards. הֶ֭הָרִים רָקְד֣וּ כְאֵילִ֑ים גְּ֝בָע֗וֹת כִּבְנֵי־צֹֽאן׃ The mountains danced like rams and the hills like sheep. What exactly is that referring to? Rashi says that at the time of Matan Torah , the mountains they danced. That's the simple explanation. But I once saw an explanation that it’s referring to these mountains of Nachalei Arnon. The mountains danced when the Jewish people crossed through the valley and God made a miracle that the two mountains came together. So according to that, the three different miracles that we mention in Az Yashir, we also mention in Hallel: the splitting of the sea, the splitting of the Jordan and the miracle of the mountains of Nachalei Arnon, where the two mountains came together. And our rabbis tell us the story the of the mountains that came together is a lesson in hidden miracles. The Jewish people did not know about it and would not have known about it, if not for the fact that God brought the well to tell them about it. The Gemara says that when someone does a favor, they’re supposed to let the person know about it, because the goal of the favor is to show the love and endearment. God loves us, but it’s not just that He loves us, He also wants us to know that He loves us. So while we don't know about all the hidden miracles, from time to time, God does let us know. That's a lesson for the future, that hidden miracles are always happening, and God always loves us. And those are the three miracles to think about by Az Yashir. Have a wonderful day.
Today's class is dedicated in honor of the birthday of Mrs Jean Shiloach by her daughters. We are now up to the 13 th pasuk of Az Yashir נָחִ֥יתָ בְחַסְדְּךָ֖ עַם־ז֣וּ גָּאָ֑לְתָּ נֵהַ֥לְתָּ בְעׇזְּךָ֖ אֶל־נְוֵ֥ה קׇדְשֶֽׁךָ׃ Nachita B’Hasdecha.. You guided with Your kindness, this nation that You redeem. You also guided (or directed) with Your strength, to the dwelling place of Your holiness ( which refers to the Bet Hamikdash) The rabbis and the midrash explain that this pasuk is telling us the secret of the Jewish people, and what causes us to have a special connection with Hashem. The Mishna in Pirkei Avot says the world stands on three things, Torah, Avodah/Serving Hashem and Gemilut Hasadim/good deeds, and these three concepts are hinted at in this pasuk: Firstly, נָחִ֥יתָ בְחַסְדְּךָ֖ You guided us with Hessed refers to the trait of Gemilut Hasadim עַם־ז֣וּ גָּאָ֑לְתָּ This nation that You redeemed This is to say that although all the nations of the world do kindness, there's something special about our kindness. Number two, נֵהַ֥לְתָּ בְעׇזְּךָ֖ You directed with Your strength. The word strength refers to the Torah , as it says, God gave us strength. That strength is Torah And finally, אֶל־נְוֵ֥ה קׇדְשֶֽׁךָ׃ To Your holy dwelling place, refers to the Bet Hamikdash, where we serve God with korbanot , which is Avodah . So, Torah , Avodah and Gemilut Hasadim are hinted at in this Pasuk. Furthermore, the Zohar says that these three concepts also refer to Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov, נָחִ֥יתָ בְחַסְדְּךָ֖ You guided us with Hessed represents Avraham, who symbolizes Hessed, נֵהַ֥לְתָּ בְעׇזְּךָ֖ You directed with Your strength refers to Yitzhak Avinu who is called Gevurah/strength, And ־נְוֵ֥ה קׇ דְשֶֽׁךָ You holy dwelling place refers to Yaakov’s Avinu, who is called Kadosh . And in the zechut of the Avot,the sea was split. So whether it's the three pillars that the world stands on, or the three Avot, that is what gives us our special connection. One last point on this pasuk: How did God guide us with His kindness? With the clouds of glory, which were called the clouds of kindness that led us throughout through the desert. The Baal HaTurim says there's another pasuk in Tanach that uses the word Nachita/You guided us- i n Tehilim where it says, Nachita K’tzon Amecha Just like the shepherd grazes his sheep and gives each sheep what he needs, so too, the clouds would deal with each individual as he needed. They went at different speeds based on the person's need, which shows a tremendous level of God’s supervision. As we mentioned previously, we're supposed to be realizing that these concepts apply today as well. There's a hidden cloud today that leads us through our challenges, even though we don't see it, and we also need these three merits in order for us to see miracles today. Pasuk 14: שָֽׁמְע֥וּ עַמִּ֖ים יִרְגָּז֑וּן חִ֣יל אָחַ֔ז יֹשְׁבֵ֖י פְּלָֽשֶׁת The nations will hear and be scared and the Pelashet/Philistines will tremble The next pasuk says אָ֤ז נִבְהֲלוּ֙ אַלּוּפֵ֣י אֱד֔וֹם אֵילֵ֣י מוֹאָ֔ב יֹֽאחֲזֵ֖מוֹ רָ֑עַד נָמֹ֕גוּ כֹּ֖ל יֹשְׁבֵ֥י כְנָֽעַן The chieftains of Edom were confounded, the strong ones of Moav were trembling in fear. They melted, Yoshvei Canaan One nation (the Pelashet) were specifically more scared, as Rashi tells us that there was a group of Jews that tried to leave early and the Philistines killed them. Rabbenu Bachye tells us the four nations mentioned, Pelashet, Edom, Moav and Yoshve Canaan refer to the four corners of the earth. That means the splitting of the sea was something that was heard about in all four corners of the earth. Everyone was aware that the sea had split and saw God's power over nature. The Emek D’var explains that this shows us that a general fear is instilled in the nations around us. And again, this is true as well today. The Gemara says one sheep is dwelling among 70 wolves. How does that sheep survive? And the answer, is the Shepherd is great . That's why these pasukim about the other nations are preceded by Nachita B’Hasdecha , Nachita reminds us that God is that Shepherd. How are we surviving? The clouds take us through the snakes and scorpions…but what about those 70 wolves? Pesukim 13-16 (we will do 16 tomorrow) all refer to the fear that's instilled by God, miraculously . We don't realize how it is that we're surviving. How could there be so many millions of Arabs around the small Eretz Yisrael and yet we survive? This is all from this concept of Nachita B’Hasdecha. And again, every day, we're supposed to say Az Yashir like we were there, because we are there. Sh’Bechol Dor V’Dor… In every generation, they want destroy us, and Hashem saves us from their hands. Have a wonderful day.
We are pleased to announce the release of a new book Bet HaLevi on Ahavat Yisrael. To order directly from Artscroll and get a 10% discount, click the link below https://www.artscroll.com/Books/BHAYH.html This week's parasha, Kedoshim contains one of the more famous Mitzvot, V’Ahavta L’Re’echa Kamocha Ani Hashem/Love your friend like you love yourself, I am Hashem. A question is asked: What does, “ I am Hashem,” have to do with, “Love your friend like you love yourself?” Additionally, the Mitzvah begins with Lo Tikom V’Lo Titor/Don't take vengeance and Don't bear a grudge. What does that all have to do with Ani Hashem? The commentaries explain, based on the Sefer Chinuch (which is a must read, at least once a year when we get to this Mitzvah), that “ Man should know ( cerebrally, in the brain ) and place it on your heart ( That's a hard job- to feel it emotionally and put it on your heart ) that anything that happens to you from good to bad, is only a sibba/a cause ( it's an intermediary It's not the source. The source is God). And from your fellow, no one can do anything to you. This is an important source. People sometimes get confused, thinking that people have bechira/ free will . Well, they may have bechira on what they do to you, but not what to happens to you. They can shoot the gun, but the bullet can miss. Therefore, he says, “ When another man pains you or hurts you, you should know that it was God that decided this.” Don't start focusing on the fellow that did it to you, because he's not the cause. You are the cause. Like David Hamelech famously said, when Shimi Ben Gera cursed him, “ God said he should curse. ” It was not Shimi, it was God. So, this Mitzvah of loving your friend like you love yourself , and not bearing a grudge or taking vengeance all comes from your Emunah. With this understanding, the pasuk makes a lot of sense: “ Don't bear a grudge, don't take vengeance. Love you friend like yourself.” Why? Because, “ Ani Hashem/ I am God, ” I made this happen. It had nothing to do with him. That's why that Ani Hashem is fundamental to our story. And there is a Bitachon/V’Ahavta LeRe’echa Komacha connection. The Kli Yakar poses a very interesting question. On one hand Rabbi Akiva says, V’Ahavta LeRe’echa Komacha, ze klal Gadol B’Torah/ Love your friend like you love yourself, this is a great principle in the Torah. But there’s another rule, from Habakuk, who put the whole Torah on one fundamental: Sadik bEmunato Tiheh-A Sadik lives by his Emunah. So which is the main fundamental? Is it Emunah or is it love like your friend like you love yourself? The Kli Yakar answers that it’s one and the same. If you don't have Emunah, you can't love your friend like you love yourself, because you start focusing on what he's doing right and what he's doing wrong. This is an extremely important connection, between these two mitzvot, and we always read about this Mitzvah during Sefirat HaOmer, because this is the time to work on V’Ahavta LeRe’echa Komacha. I have two interesting Hashgacha Pratit stories to share, related to this. Firstly, I was working on a sefer called The Bet Halevi on Ahavat Yisrael, and after two years of work, it was supposed to come out before Pesach. But the publisher decided it would be better to hold off until after Pesach, as Pre-Pesach is busy with all kinds of Hagaddot flooding the market. I agreed, but only begrudgingly, because I don't like to wait for things to happen (when they seemingly should happen). So book went to print after Pesach, and sure enough, the Hebrew date was ד אייר . ( The 4 th of Iyar) which is the Bet Halevi’s yarzheit (which was this week)! So, on his yarzheit, the book went to print. That's interesting point number one. Interesting point number two is that HaChaim BenSion Abba Shaul, quoted by his son, Hacham Eliyahu z’l, asked why we learn Pirkei Avot after Pesach. His answer is based on the Gemara that says the Jewish people were redeemed in Nissan in the past, and they will be redeemed in Nissan in the future. Since Nissan has passed, and we weren't redeemed, we have to ask ourselves why not. And the answer is, because of Sinat Hinam/baseless hatred . So therefore, we have to perfect ourselves, we have to perfect our Middot, and we have work on this, at this time of the year. So this is the time of the year to work on Ahavat Yisrael, and here we have a book that just came out, on Ahavat Yisrael. See the link below, for this wonderful book or go to artscroll.com to order Bet Halevi on Ahavat Yisrael. https://www.artscroll.com/Books/BHAYH.html
We continue with Az Yashir, which is full of lessons, and pasuk יב is no different than the rest. נָטִ֙יתָ֙ יְמִ֣ינְךָ֔ תִּבְלָעֵ֖מוֹ אָֽרֶץ׃ You tilted Your right hand and the earth swallowed them up. Says Rashi, when God tilts His hand, the wicked fall and are destroyed- because everything is in God's hands, and it falls with a tilt. He brings a pasuk in Yashaya, and a mashal from Mechilta to prove the point- When a waiter carries a tray with glasses, if he tilts his hand just a bit, the glasses come crashing down. If the Israeli army wants to chase down one of the wicked terrorists, they need the IDF, the Mossad and different agencies to work together to find him and wipe him out. But Hashem doesn't work like that. He doesn't have to find anybody. He has the person hanging on a string. All He has to do is let go, which is an important principle. God is pumping life into everybody at all times. He does not have to extend His hand to catch anyone, He just has to tilt His hand for them to come crashing down. We are in God's hands at all times, and it doesn't take anything for Him to let go. Every second, He's pumping life and energy into creation. תִּבְלָעֵ֖מוֹ אָֽרֶץ׃ The land swallowed them up- Rashi says this means they merited to be buried . Why? Because Paroah said, on behalf of the people, Hashem HaSadik. This might explain why it says He tilted the right hand. The right hand always represents kindness. This is another one of the wonders of Hashem, that He's able to both punish and reward at the same time. God does not do anything in vicious, reactive ways. Everything is measured exactly, and everything is just. As it says, “God is a God of trust and loyalty, and there is no iniquity.” There is a famous commentary that says when a human judge decides a case, he can't take into consideration the impact or repercussions on the wife and family. If the man is a killer, he’s going to die, and his children are raised as orphans. We can't control that. But God doesn't work that way. Everything is measured. Even when God is punishing somebody, it’s measured- what they deserve and what they don't deserve. We see this from the story of the Sotah . It says that she's not the best of ladies, because her husband told her not to be alone with somebody, and she was. It’s undeniable. There were witnesses to that fact. What happened behind closed doors, we don't know. That's what the Sotah waters are there to clarify. And it says that if she didn't sin, she merits to have children. The obvious question is, this lady is a sinner. Why is she getting rewarded with children? One explanation is, their Shalom Bayit was ruined, and there’s nothing like a child to bring some shalom bayit in, so they can rebuild the marriage. That’s the goal of the whole process to begin with. But Rav Elya Lopian says there's a different lesson. The lesson is that, yes, this lady did something wrong, but at the end of the day, she also did something right. She was alone with another man and she didn’t sin. So God is able (and it’s almost not humanly possible) to see both the good and bad in the same act. Yes, it was a horrible thing to do, to be an alone in a room with another man. But she could have sinned, and she didn’t, so she is rewarded for the self-control that she exercised, that she didn't sin. That’s the way God works. As He was drowning the Egyptians, He was also considering whether they deserved burial. That's how exact God's judgment is. In Parashat Tazria , when it talks about the Tzara’at that goes on the house, it says, before condemning the house, have the vessels removed, because certain vessels get contaminated after being broken, and why ruin those vessels? What's going on? We're about to destroy this man's $3 million house, and we’re saving some vessels? The answer is, he might deserve to to lose $3 million, but he doesn't deserve to also lose that 35-cent jug that's in the house. That's how exact in God is in His judgment. And again, that's what we saw at the revelation of Az Yashir. Have a wonderful day.
We are now in pasuk י נָשַׁ֥פְתָּ בְרוּחֲךָ֖ כִּסָּ֣מוֹ יָ֑ם צָֽלְלוּ֙ כַּֽעוֹפֶ֔רֶת בְּמַ֖יִם אַדִּירִֽים׃ You Blew with Your wind (with Your breath) and the ocean covered them up. They went down like lead in the waters- the strong ones. מִֽי־כָמֹ֤כָה בָּֽאֵלִם֙ ה׳ מִ֥י כָּמֹ֖כָה נֶאְדָּ֣ר בַּקֹּ֑דֶשׁ נוֹרָ֥א תְהִלֹּ֖ת עֹ֥שֵׂה פֶֽלֶא׃ Who is like You among the strong ones (Rashi says El means strong)? Who is like You, strong among the holy? Fearful to praise the One Who does wonders. ‘ Fearful to praise, ’means, as Rashi explains, that we're afraid to praise God because we might not do the right job. There’s a famous Gemara where a rabbi heard a certain Hazan praying, and besides saying Gadol, Gibor V’Norah, the hazan added a list of additional praises of Hashem, after which, the rabbi asked, “ That's all? There’s nothing else to say?” Similarly, if a man is a multi-billionaire and you call him a multi-millionaire, that's insulting. If he's number one on the Forbes list and you put him as number 10, that's an insult. So, whatever we say about God is ultimately insulting, because we really don't know what's going on. נוֹרָ֥א תְהִלֹּ֖ת עֹ֥שֵׂה פֶֽלֶא׃ Norah Tehilot, Oseh Feleh/ God does some things in a hidden way , like we say, L’Oseh Nifla’ot Levado Ki LeOlam Hasdo/the One that does wonders in hidden, His kindness is forever. We have no idea. Despite any Thank Yous that we may say, we don't know what's happening. The word פלא Feleh , or Nifla’ot means something that's hidden . So, even if we were possibly able to thank God for everything that we see (which is also impossible, like we say in Nishmat), we're scared. God is so powerful and does so much. Anything we might say is too little. They realized this at Az Yashir . They saw God's tremendous strength and what He could do; they realized His unlimited powers, realized there's no way we can ever sufficiently praise Him. So we're scared to praise Him. The beginning of this pasuk says, “ Mi Kamocha Ba’Elim- the word אלים Elim can also be read as Elaim / who is like you, of mutes ? What does that mean? A mute is someone who's quiet, who controls himself. All those years in Egypt, we thought God just couldn’t do it. When a bully is picking on someone in the schoolyard the kid that's being picked on thinks his friend can't help him, because he's allowing this to happen. But then one day, he sees the friend give the bully a karate kick, and he says,“ Wow. He was able to do it. He was just holding himself back. He was controlling himself.” So too, the Jewish people realized that at Keriat Yam Suf. They thought, all those years in Egypt when God wasn't doing anything, that He was just not able to. But then they realized, no, God is able to, but He was holding back. And who is like God, that has the ability to hold back even when He is able to do something, for His ultimate Master Plan? We know that sometimes, it's hard to hold back. Regarding Yosef and the brothers, it says Yosef couldn't hold back. He had to reveal himself to his brothers. But it says that he revealed himself a little too early, and that's why not everything was fixed. God has the ability to hold Himself back. And when Mashiach comes and we see what God does, we're going to say, “ Wow! He could have stopped the Holocaust in the middle if He wanted to. He could stop all the terror in Israel if He wanted to. But He's holding it back. He's working on the פלא Feleh program, the hidden program.” We don't see what's going on. We don't see why it's good. We don't know why it's good. We don't know what's happening. These are the understandings that the Jewish people had at Az Yashir, and the goal is that when we sing Az Yashir , we too should arouse these feelings. Have a wonderful day.
We continue with pasuk ט of Az Yashir: אָמַ֥ר אוֹיֵ֛ב אֶרְדֹּ֥ף אַשִּׂ֖יג אֲחַלֵּ֣ק שָׁלָ֑ל תִּמְלָאֵ֣מוֹ נַפְשִׁ֔י אָרִ֣יק חַרְבִּ֔י תּוֹרִישֵׁ֖מוֹ יָדִֽי The enemy (referring to Paroah) said (to his nation), “I will chase. I will capture. We will split up the booty. I will fill my soul (or, as Rashi says, my will), which is to catch up with them and destroy them. I will empty my sword. and my hand will impoverish them ( which means they’d take all the money). Rashi explains that Paroah was trying to convince the people to go for the chase. This is an important part of the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim, that we didn't explain beforehand. When it was time to leave, God told Moshe to tell the people to borrow the gold and silver from the Egyptians. But the Jewish people didn't want to, because they knew they weren't coming back. They reasoned, “W hy should we say we're borrowing it, which means we're going to return it, when we don't plan on returning it? It's just going to cause problems. When we don't turn back, they're going to chase us.” And that is what happened. Hashem set up something that the Jewish people didn't understand at the time. We kept on plaguing Paroah to just let us go for three days, and we would come back. If you read the narrative, Moshe never tells Paroah that they weren’t ever coming back. He just said they were going to slaughter their sheep in the desert. That's why they needed to take the sheep. When Paroah asked why they needed to bring their kids, Moshe replied that the kids also had to go to the party. The whole time, the story was that they were going to slaughter in the desert and were planning to come back. Of course, that was not their plan. And then, on top of that, they borrowed all that money, which added insult to injury. If they wouldn't have taken the money, there’s a good chance the Mitzrim would have just let them go. The Jews caused so many problems for them, but now, since they also had their money, it was incentive to go for the chase. That's exactly what is being pointed out in Az Yashir- Paroah convinced them to chase for the money. They would impoverish the Jews from all the money they took, split the booty, and return with it. That's what caused them to go for the chase. In essence, this was all God's plan. God wanted them to willingly go for a chase and, Middah K’Neged Middah , He would drown them in the water. The money was what made them go for the chase. And God made it even more tempting by having the Jewish people travel backwards, and encamp by an idol called Baal Safon, which was their guard of the treasures, as if to say, “ The guard of the treasures is demanding justice because the Jewish people are stealing our treasures.” It was a all a set up. God was setting up Paroah, playing with his will and playing with the will of the Egyptian people. This is something that became clear at Az Yashir , and it’s one of the reasons we say that marriages are as difficult as splitting the sea- because when it comes to marriages, God also has to do that-He also has to set people up and He sometimes uses money. Very often, somebody marries a person because there's some kind of advantage or incentive. But it's just God setting them up. He needs to make this marriage happen and He’s not going play with your freedom of choice, so He uses these ‘external stimuli,’ to make the make the deal. That's what happened here with Paroah. And that's why this is an important piece. Pasuk 9 maybe not be fully appreciated. It’s the pasuk of Paroah really playing into the plan, exactly as set out by God. They would chase the money and end up really running into their downfall. Have a wonderful day.
We committed to going through Az Yashir with Rashi, to keep the flavor of Pesach in our mouths. We continue with pasuk ז וּבְרֹ֥ב גְּאוֹנְךָ֖ תַּהֲרֹ֣ס קָמֶ֑יךָ תְּשַׁלַּח֙ חֲרֹ֣נְךָ֔ יֹאכְלֵ֖מוֹ כַּקַּֽשׁ׃ In Your great arrogance (or pride), You crush those that have come up against You. You send out Your anger, You eat them ( or destroy them) like fire destroys straw. Rashi explains that those that come up against You are those that come up against Klal Yisrael. The Jewish people realized this important point at Keriat Yam Suf. They l had a tremendous revelation that those who are against the Jewish people are really against God. They let out their anger towards God on God's representatives on earth-the Jewish people. We should be flattered by this. Every antisemitic act is really, in essence, a compliment. It’s their way of saying they’re too lazy to build a tower (like the Tower of Babel in the Dor Hapalaga ) and fight against God. They don't want to build towers, so they look for God's representative here on earth, which is the Jewish people. This pasuk is teaching is that all anti-Semitism is really anti-God. We should wear that as a badge of pride. Many years ago, an incident occurred where a committee member in a synagogue slapped the son of the rabbi on the face, because the child was making a little trouble om Simchat Torah. The boy came crying to his father that this committee member slapped him. The father said, “ Don't feel bad. He really wants to slap me (the rabbi), but he can't, so he slapped you instead.” That is what's going on here. We keep reading about antisemitism in the news; one of the reasons for all anti-Semitism is that they’re really anti-God. The Nazis wanted to get rid of the Jews because they wanted to get rid of God. We are God's representatives on earth. We are His children. And that's why when it talks about Keriat Yam Suf, it says, “ Ra’u Banim Et Gevurato/The children (meaning the Jewish people) saw God's strength.” So part of the revelation of Keriat Yam Suf was that we saw that we were God's children. We also realized that why we have enemies- because they're really the enemies of God. The next pasuk, ח says, וּבְר֤וּחַ אַפֶּ֙יךָ֙ נֶ֣עֶרְמוּ מַ֔יִם With the wind of Your nostrils the waters became smart (Onkelus explains Ne’ermu as cunning). The waters became smart. They, on their own, did what they had to do. Rashi says, Ne’ermu means piled . So it can also mean, The waters piled up . נִצְּב֥וּ כְמוֹ־נֵ֖ד נֹזְלִ֑ים קָֽפְא֥וּ תְהֹמֹ֖ת בְּלֶב־יָֽם׃ They stood like a wall. The waters piled up like a wall. Waters that were flowing became like a wall. The depths congealed and they became like rocks. And the Egyptians were thrown against the hard waters and crushed against them, like someone being thrown against a rock. That's our story for today. Have a wonderful day.
Parashat Tazria talks about Tzara’at , and there's a beautiful Midrash found in the Parasha, that connects it a pasuk in Iyov (38,25): מִֽי־פִלַּ֣ג לַשֶּׁ֣טֶף תְּעָלָ֑ה וְ֝דֶ֗רֶךְ לַחֲזִ֥יז קֹלֽוֹת Mi Pilag LaS hetef T’Alah… Who created a channel for a torrent of rain, or a path for thunder clouds? The midrash says that in Arabic, they call a hair a Shitfah , so the pasuk can also be translated as, “ Who fashioned the channel for the hair? ” meaning that for every hair on a person, Hashem made its own follicle. Earlier, Iyov had complained (9,17) אֲשֶׁר־בִּשְׂעָרָ֥ה יְשׁוּפֵ֑נִי וְהִרְבָּ֖ה פְצָעַ֣י חִנָּֽם׃ Asher B’Se’arah Yeshifeni… “ He shattered (or stepped on) me with a tornado ,and multiplied my wounds without a cause.” (Se’arah here, is translated as tornado, but in other contexts it means Hair) Iyov was saying that his Yisurim were for nothing, and Elihu, one of the people that spoke to him, replied that everything Hashem does is Middah k’neged middah. And since Iyov started off with the word Se’ar / hair , God said to Iyov, “ Even for the hair, I created its own follicle.” The Gemara says, Iyov cursed by using the term hair, and God responded in a Ruach SeArah, and said to him, “I have not confused one hair from the other. I made so many hairs on the head, and every hair has its own channel, its own follicle. Do you think I confused Iyov and Iyov ? There is a constant thread of Iyov denying God's Hashgacha and involvement. He said, “ There's no way that God can watch everything and see everything. ” So God chose to demonstrate, through myriads and unfathomable amounts of creations, how He is in control of everything- even the hairs on one's head, and every follicle of every hair! The Midrash continues, discussing a certain kohen who determined whether someone had Tzara’at (we'll call it leprosy for lack of a better term) or not. At one point, he needed some extra money so he decided to leave the town. He told his wife that people would still come, and that she should charge them something. Since a woman could not determine if someone had Tzara’at or not, he gave her some tips and told her to send the people to somebody else to decide. He told her that when looking at the different types of Tzara’at (which has to do with hairs), every single hair has its own follicle, and if the follicle dries up, the hair won't grow properly. His wife then said to him, “ You're going to leave to look for parnasa? If God created a follicle for every hair on the head, do you think that God can't create parnasa for you here, without having to travel?” So he stayed. Additionally, regarding. Tzara’at , the Ben Ish Chai says that we shave the head of the Metzorah (as discussed in the second Parasha of this week), in order to purify the person. Why? Because when you shave someone's head, you can see the bumps from all the follicles. We want to show this man the follicles, he says, because one of the reasons people speak Lashon Hara is because they think that someone's going to take away from them, so they feel a need to put others down. We want to show this man that very hair has a follicle, and we don't need to put anyone down. We don't have to worry about anyone taking away our parnasa. As it says, everyone can do his own thing. There are enough pieces of the pie for everybody. That’s the Midrashic lesson from this week's Parasha- the l essons of Iyov, hair, and of Hashem watching over our lives. Have a Shabbat Shalom.
We continue with our pasuk by pasuk simple explanation of Az Yashir , a daily prayer that we should be saying. The more we understand it, the more kavana we have and the more kavana we have, the more connected we feel. We're supposed to say it every day like we were there. מַרְכְּבֹ֥ת פַּרְעֹ֛ה וְחֵיל֖וֹ יָרָ֣ה בַיָּ֑ם וּמִבְחַ֥ר שָֽׁלִשָׁ֖יו טֻבְּע֥וּ בְיַם־סֽוּף׃ The chariots of Paroah, and his armies, God threw into the sea, and the most choice of his men drowned in the Yam Suf. Rashi tells us the word Tube’u means drowned in mud (and he brings a pasuk from Tehilim and Yirmiyah as proof). This teaches us that the bottom of the ocean turned into mud and they drowned in mud. Why’d they drown in mud? Because part of Az Shir was showing them Middah k’negged middah/ measure for measure. Rashi makes the important point that because the Mitzrim made the Jews do backbreaking work with mud, they would drown in mud. תְּהֹמֹ֖ת יְכַסְיֻ֑מוּ יָרְד֥וּ בִמְצוֹלֹ֖ת כְּמוֹ־אָֽבֶן׃ The depths covered them, They went to the depths like a rock. There is a famous Rashi that points out that one time it says they went out down like rocks, another time it says they went down like lead, and it also says says they went like straw. Rashi says the most wicked were like straw. They went up and down, they didn't immediately drown. The ones that were in the middle went down like rocks, which means they went down, but they went down slowly. The kosher ones went down like lead. So depending on how each one treated the Jews is how they died. Why is this important? Later on, in Parashat Yitro, Yitro gets all excited about Hashem, and the words that used to describe his excitement are, עַתָּ֣ה יָדַ֔עְתִּי כִּֽי־גָד֥וֹל יְהֹוָ֖ה מִכׇּל־הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים l Now I know that God is greater in all gods. (Yitro tried them all) כִּ֣י בַדָּבָ֔ר אֲשֶׁ֥ר זָד֖וּ עֲלֵיהֶֽם׃ Targum says the word Zadu means They planned, so it means: On what they planned on doing, they were judged. They were judged as they planned. Simply this means, they wanted to drown the Jewish babies in water so they were drowned in water. But the Brisker Rav says that Yitro had a deeper insight. Yitro was one of Paroah’s advisors. He knew all about the different plans that they had, even the ones that never came to fruition. But when God punished the Egyptians, He didn't just punish them based on what they did, He punished them based on what they thought about, based on what they planned on doing. That's what most impressed Yitro. The Jews saw what happened to the all different Egyptians and they said, “ Oh, this guy, we thought he was a nice guy!” But little did they know what he planned to do. Only Yitro knew the plans. And when Yitro shared the plans, they were extremely impressed with how Hashem punished them based on what they wanted to do. Like it says, “ Amari Oved Avi/ Lavan the Arami destroyed my father.” He didn't destroy my father, he wanted to destroy my father. But God knew what he wanted to do. So these past two pesukim show how the Jewish people realized the Divine Providence of Hashem, His knowledge of what they were planning on doing, and the exact punishment Middah knegged Middah. That’s one of the main takeaways and lessons of Emunah- reward and punishment; God rewards and punishes. Our last pasuk of the day says, יְמִֽינְךָ֣ ה׳ נֶאְדָּרִ֖י בַּכֹּ֑חַ יְמִֽינְךָ֥ ה׳ תִּרְעַ֥ץ אוֹיֵֽב׃ Your right hand is great and strength , your right hand ֶ will crush the enemy. The obvious question is, God doesn't have two right hands. It should say both right and left. But Rashi explains that right and left often indicate a positive mercy versus justice. The right hand gives, the left hand takes back. Rashi explains that when the Jewish people do the will of God, the left hand turns into the right hand, which means God only has mercy for the Jews. And that's what happened at Keriat Yam Suf. God had two right hands- to only benefit, and do good for us. Have a wonderful day.
We're continuing with the simple explanation of Az Yashir . Yesterday we explained how important it is, every day of our lives, to say and appreciate Az Yashir. We left off yesterday with pasuk ב זֶ֤ה אֵלִי֙ Zeh Eli Now this is my God. And the pasuk continues- וְאַנְוֵ֔הוּ V’AnVehu What does V’AnVehu mean? Rashi says, based on the Targum, that the word Anvehu comes from the root of Neveh, dwelling place. So we said, “ This is my God and I will build a dwelling place for Him.” I'll build a Bet Hamikdash for Him. The question is asked: We just finished crossing the sea., why are we talking about building a Bet Hamikdash? The answer is, although they were on a spiritual high, spiritual highs don't last. Eventually it dissipates. We feel that during the high holiday season, or Passover season; we get on a high and then it dissipates. The Jewish people knew that rule and they said, Zeh Eli/ This is my God. They had it so clear they could point to it. So they committed themselves right then, at the side of the sea, far away from Israel, that when they got there, they’d build the Bet Hamikdash. And then, when they’d walk into the Bet Hamikdash, they’d be able to feel Hashem’s Shechina like they felt at the splitting of the sea. When you make a commitment, that commitment brings with it the feeling and the height that you had at that time. We say in Shir Hashirim, “Behold this ,” referring to the Shechina (which we we can point to with our finger) is behind the Kote l (referring to the Western Wall), and this quote is the Midrash’s source that Hashem’s Shechina never left the Kotel. Its interesting- that same Zeh of Zeh Eli continued on after the Bet Hamikdash, because it was the continuation of that high. That was the commitment that they made. And with the commitment, the high remains. The Elder of Kelm says the same is true on Yom Kippur. When you make a Yom Kippur commitment at Neila, and now it's the middle of January, and you keep to that, you have a little bit of the holiness of Yom Kippur with you in the middle of the year, because that act came from that spiritual high. This is a beautiful thought, and we learn this from this pasuk Zeh Alei V’Anvehu. And again, it doesn't only mean the Bet Hamikdash Anytime a person sees God's hands, or something great happened in their life, we can say, “ You know what? I'm going to start doing X or Y,” or “ I'm going to stop doing A or B.” And with that, we can keep that spiritual high alive. The pasuk continues, אֱלֹהֵ֥י אָבִ֖י וַאֲרֹמְמֶֽנְהוּ׃ the God of my father, and I will lift Him up. Rashi says this means, “I'm not the beginning of this relationship, this connection.” This holiness has been established and standing for generations, back from Abraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov. And again, it’s not just Abraham Yitzhak and Yaakov. It’s all of us, we have generations upon generations of holiness and connection with Hashem. We are merely arousing and awakening the holiness that has been there before. Abraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov saw it in an open way. Our last pasuk for the day: ה׳ אִ֣ישׁ מִלְחָמָ֑ה Hashem Ish Milchama God is a Man of war. But he's different than other warriors. ה׳ שְׁמֽוֹ׃ Hashem’s fights with His name . Other wars happen with different types of weapons. David Hamelech comes to fight with God's name. He tells Goliat, “ I'm coming to you with Hashem’s name.” Everyday we say, אלא ברכב ואלה בסוסים Some come with their chariots and some come with our horses, And how do we fight? ואנחנו בשם ה' אלקינו נזכיר: With the name of God That's how we fight our wars. The name of God is the realization that Hashem controls the world. That is our strength. This goes back to the concept that God is the only One that takes credit. Only God makes things happen. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will continue with the third pasuk tomorrow.
As promised, we will continue to delve into the simple understanding of Az Yashir, because it's our daily job to sing songs to Hashem. The Zohar finds a hint to this in Az Yashir: It starts off, אָ֣ז יָשִֽׁיר־מֹשֶׁה֩ וּבְנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל אֶת־הַשִּׁירָ֤ה הַזֹּאת֙ לה׳ וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ לֵאמֹ֑ר Then Moshe and Bnei Yisrael sang this song, to Hashem , and they said, לֵאמֹ֑ר /to say : Why does it say, “ and they said, to say?” The added word לאמר to say , means that we should say it too. Every day of our lives, we are supposed to say the Shira as if we stood by the sea and saw the miracle (although we didn't). This brings many benefits to the soul, amongst them is the fact that, as the Zohar says, one’s sins are cleansed when one sings this song. So great things happen. The first words are: אָשִׁ֤ירָה לה׳ I will sing to Hashem, כִּֽי־גָאֹ֣ה גָּאָ֔ה Ki Ga’Oh GaAh, (Which literally means), “Arrogant, He is arrogant,” The Targum explains, “ He’s arrogant above the arrogant, and arrogance belongs to Him.” This is hard to understand, because, as we've said in the past, the term arrogance is usually understood as a negative term. So why do we call God, in our opening words of song, arrogant ? We also see this term when David Hamelech says in Tehilim (and actually this is attributed originally to Adam HaRishon), “ Hashem Malach Ge’ut Lavesh/God is king, He wears ( a cloak of) arrogance. ” The commentaries explain that arrogance means taking credit for what happens, so for any being, other than God, to take credit is a negative term, because you didn't do it. When we say that God is arrogant , it means God is the one who has a right to take credit for what happened, because He really did it! At the splitting of the sea, they realized God's total control over nature, and therefore they said only God can be the one proud of anything that happens, because only He makes things happen. What does He do? ס֥וּס וְרֹכְב֖וֹ רָמָ֥ה בַיָּֽם׃ He throws the horse and the rider together into the sea Rashi says He threw them into the sea while they were connected, something that a human being cannot do, making them go up and down together in the sea. So basically, this first pasuk is a revelation that the Jewish people had, that we're supposed to have every single day, that God is in total control. God is the only one that does anything. And everything that happens should be accredited back to Him. So the next time you sing Az Yashir, think of anything that you’ve done or accomplished, whether it's in your work, your cooking or baking, learning- whatever your pursuits are, think, “Ashir L’Hashem/I'm going to sing a song to God because He’s the One that takes credit for it. He does the impossible.” That's pasuk א Pasuk ב says, עׇזִּ֤י וְזִמְרָת֙ יָ֔הּ Ozi V’Zimrat Ya. Vayehi Li Lishua The word Oz means strength . And most people this that the word Zimrat means song , like Mizmor , but that's not how Rashi learns. Usually, a Yud at the end of a word means my , like Beti ביתי means “ my house,” but Rashi argues on that as well, and brings proofs from other words that the Yud doesn’t always indicate possession (such as in the phrase HaYoshvi B’Shamayim). Sometimes the Yud at the end of the word does not change it from just being a verb. So Ozi is like it says,Oz/ the strength, and V’Zimrat, means (like it says in Vayikra 25,4 Lo Tizmor - don't cut the branches during the seventh year) cutting. So Rashi explains, עזי וְזִמְרָת֙ יָ֔הּ Ozi V’Zimrat Ya/ Strength and cutting power is to God, which means God's strength and vengeance is what saved us. Ozi V’Zimrat Ya/ The strength and cutting power of God (not my strength). וַֽיְהִי־לִ֖י לִֽישׁוּעָ֑ה That's what brought my salvation. (And now for the powerful words J זֶ֤ה אֵלִי֙ Zeh Eli/ This is my God The Jewish people had such clarity, that they could point with their finger, This is my God. One a might ask, do we still have that today? Yes we do. Once a month, when we make Birkat Halevana/ the blessing on the moon, and because it's like receiving God’s Shechina, we have to say it standing. Our rabbis say that the words HaHodesh Hazeh/this month is for you, refers to the new moon. When the moon big or small, that's a revelation of God. It's not the splitting of the sea, it's the revelation of God in nature, that the moon has a cycle and therefore, by pondering the moon getting bigger and getting smaller, we can receive God. Zeh Eli. This is my God. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will continue tomorrow.
Welcome back to our Daily Bitachon, after the Pesach Hiatus. Although Pesach is over, it's actually not , because we continue to count to Shavuot, and as the Ramban says, the time between Pesach and Shavuot is like one long Hol Hamoed . At the end of Parashat Shelach, the topic of Tzizit are discussed, and it’s placed next to Shabbat because it says Tzitzit weighs in like all the mitzvot. But there are a few Rashis there which contain an important lesson, that many people don't know. The purpose of Tzitzit is to remind us of Yetziat Mitzrayim. Firstly, we know that Tzizit are referred to as Al Kanfeh Bigdehem , which means the corners of the clothing , but the word Knaf can also mean wing , and Rashi says this corresponds to the concept of how God took us out of Egypt- וָאֶשָּׂ֤א אֶתְכֶם֙ עַל־כַּנְפֵ֣י נְשָׁרִ֔ים When God took us out of Egypt, it was on the wings of eagles . So when we gather our Tzitzit , our four corners together, we think of God putting us on the clouds of glory. Next, it's a four -cornered garment, and the number four is prominent in Yetziat Mitzrayim. There are four terms of redemption: I will take you out, I will save you, I will redeem you and I will take you to Me as a nation . Furthermore, the dark blue Techelet of Tzizit refers to Makat Bechorot/destruction of the firstborn, because the word Shikul (which is to a lady lose her child) is Tichlah in Aramaic, which means to destroy. This is hinting to the plague of Makat Bechorot , which took place at night when the sky was dark blue. And finally, our punchline: Why are there eight strings (four folded over) on each corner? “Because it was eight days from when they left Mitzrayim until they sang the song at the sea.” This answer is an obvious difficulty, because we know that they sang Az Yashir on Shevi’i shel Pesach- the seventh day, not the eighth. So what does this mean? The most common answer is that they were really considered freed when they slaughtered the Korban Pesach on Erev Pesach, so therefore, counting from Erev Pesach, it was the eighth day. But this year, I saw a fascinating explanation from Rabbi Wolfson, the Mashgiach of Torah Vadaas. He says that the great Shira, Az Yashir , is not the one that they said at the sea on the seventh day, because of course, when you see a miracle, you sing a song. He says that the great song was the one that they said on the eighth day, the day after the Shirah . When everything is going on in a normal fashion, do you then realize that Hashem is in charge? Do you sing a song, when you get up in the morning, that you're able to breathe? That's the Az Yashir that we’re supposed to remember throughout the year. Therefore, I think it's important and appropriate to continue talking about the messages of Pesach, and specifically Az Yashir , as it continues. We see form a pasuk in Devarim that it’s a responsibility of ours to take our Pesach experience of Emunah Bitachon and stretch it throughout the year. The Torah, when talking about the holiday of Pesach in Devarim 16,3 says, לֹא־תֹאכַ֤ל עָלָיו֙ חָמֵ֔ץ שִׁבְעַ֥ת יָמִ֛ים תֹּֽאכַל־עָלָ֥יו מַצּ֖וֹת לֶ֣חֶם עֹ֑נִי כִּ֣י בְחִפָּז֗וֹן יָצָ֙אתָ֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם לְמַ֣עַן תִּזְכֹּ֗ר אֶת־י֤וֹם צֵֽאתְךָ֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם כֹּ֖ל יְמֵ֥י חַיֶּֽיךָ Don't eat Hametz, Seven days eat matzot, Lechem Oni, because you went out of Egypt in a rush… so that you should remember the day that you left Egypt, all the days of your lives. As we know from the Hagaddah shel Pesach, the word כל kol comes to include not only days but night as well. In the simple reading of the pasuk, God says, ‘ Do you know why I told you eat matzot for seven days? Not just for seven days, but L’ma’an/ so that you should remember Yetziat Mitzrayim your entire life , every day, every night, in Keriat Shema . So the goal of Pesach to supercharge our daily remembrance of Yetziat Mitzrayim. It's not just for seven days. Its Kol Yeme Hayecha- All the days of your life. It’s not like a seven day holiday, and then, that's it- it’s over. No, it has to keep going. Kol Yeme Hayecha The Hagaddah shel Pesach quotes that Mishnah, but it’s really talking about Keriat Shema, so why mention it at the Seder? To let us know that the purpose of the Seder is to keep it going.. Hashem didn't make a Seder just for seven days. It's supposed to stay with us, for our entire lives , twice a day, and thus stay fresh in our mouths. It's the eighth day of Pesach. It's the day after. How do you look on the day after? Isru Hag, the term for the day after the holiday (which was this past Friday) means Tie the Holiday . We are supposed to tie the holiday with ropes , to keep it with us. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will do that by analyzing Az Yashir over the next few days so that we can understand it better. Have a wonderful day.
This is our final class before Pesach. I'd like to share a beautiful commentary from one of the Rishonim, Rabbenu Manoach, in his commentary on the Rambam (chapter seven) in the laws of Hametz and Matzah. He says the purpose of the night of the Seder is to arouse in us a belief in Hashem and to remember the redemption of Mitzrayim that was open to everybody, which showed us that only Hashem is in charge. He says that we say, B’Chol Dor V’Dor/In every generation you have to view yourself or act out as if you got out, in order to - cause us to have fear of God, to realize Hashem's supervision of the Jewish people and that Hashem never forsakes us. And even if we have a difficult time, a very difficult time, we have to rely on Hashem, Who is the hope of the Jewish people Who’s going save us in times of sorrow. And here's the punchline: Just like He saved us from difficulty in the exile of Egypt, and that difficulty was the cause for things to turn around and get us to a better place, so too all the exiles will be the source of our ultimate redemption. This is an important point. The night of the Seder is there to give us hizuk. The Shiboleh Haleket says the same thing- that Hashem showed Avraham Avinu all the exiles and gave him a promise that we’d get out of all of them- Mitzrayim, Bavel, Madai, Yavan and Edom. We say,“ Sh’Lo Echad Milevad Alenu/Not only one generation, which means that not only not only once did they try to destroy us, but in every generation, they're trying to wipe us out. We continue to survive because of God's promise, and eventually we'll get get out. The Midrash says that the four cups of wine are a bitachon message for us- that just like we got out of Mitzrayim, we're going to get out of the all four exiles- Bavel/Babylon, Madia/Medea, Yavan/the Greeks, and eventually Edom , which is the exile we're in today. Just like we got out of those, we'll get out in the future. That’s the message for us- that we will survive and we will get out. But there's an important caveat- we can't get lost amongst the goyim. The simple explanation of V’Hi SheAmdah , is that it refers to the promise that God made at the Brit ben HaBetarim. But there’s another explanation, that V’Hi SheAmdah refers to the glass of wine. The fact that we have a law that we're not allowed to drink the wine of goyim , that we're separate from goyim, that's what keeps us alive. That's our secret to survival- that we are a proud Jewish people separate from the goyim . The Hida says something unbelievable down, in the name of a rabbi called the Zerah Berach, from the sefer Magaleh Amukot: If you look at your hand, you have four fingers, and your thumb is separate. The thumb is not part of the four fingers. He says the four fingers represent the four exiles and the thumb represents the Jewish people. What keeps us alive and surviving through the four exiles is the fact that we don't mix with them. It says that we were a Goy Gadol/a great nation in Mitzrayim- which teaches us that they were Metzuyanim/They were outstanding. We stood out. We did not mix with the goyim. We did not mingle with them. We were proud of our heritage, proud of being the sons of Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov. And that's what we need to keep in mind today. Even the poorest person in Jewish people must lean, to remind us that even though we are currently in exile, we are free. The Sefer Rokeach gives a beautiful mashal: He says that there was a prince who was taken into exile and then later freed by his father, the king, who told his son, “ Every year, on day you were taken out, I want you to put a crown on your head to remember that you are a prince and not a slave.” That's what the Jewish people are supposed to remember every single year. We are princes, we're the sons of God. He will redeem us. He will take us out of this problem now, just like He took us out then. But, that is provided that we remember that we're kings, remember that we’re princes. That's why we lean, that's why we drink the wine, and that's why we perform all the activities of freedom. Because we are, and will always be, free people connected to Hashem. That's the message of the night: We will get out of this exile, but we have to rely on Him and believe that just like He did it then, He will do it again. Anochi Hashem Elokecha Asher Hotzeticha M’Eretz Mitzrayim/I am Hashem’s your God that out of Egypt…. The Smak says it means “J ust like I took you out of Egypt, I'll take you out of this exile as well. ” That's the source for Sipita L’Yeshua/ Look forward to God's salvation, and it’s one of the points that we have to strengthen ourselves in, on the night of the Seder . We have to remember that when the first Seder took place in Mitzrayim, they weren’t out yet. They were making a Seder, hoping to get out, and that's our Seder as well. Have a Hag Kasher V’Sameach.
Today's class is dedicated memory of Ovadia Ben Adel, Uncle Barry Shiloach ah, by his nephew, Eli Kairey. There’s an important lesson that we learn from the night of the Seder. We ask the four questions of the Mah Nishtana, Why do we eat Matzah? Why do we eat Marror? Why do we dip twice? Why do we lean? Simply speaking, the answer is Avadim Hayinu/ we were slaves. But this doesn't really answer each question. One of our rabbis says (and of course, this is not the simple explanation) that the reason for this is to teach the child a lesson in Emunah- that we don't always have the answers. Sometimes you come up with a question and there really is no good answer for it. And that's the answer- to know that we don't always have the answers. We can learn this from the Hovot Halevavot in Shaar Bitachon (chapter three), where he asks this question. He says that the reason we have to go through our efforts in making our livelihood is in order to keep us busy and out of trouble, and therefore it should follow that righteous people that can dedicate their time to learning and don't need to be working, shouldn't be working. Furthermore, people that are going to end up sinning should be busy with work. But sometimes we see the opposite. There are Sadikim that are busy working and there are wicked people living lives of serenity and peace- and that doesn't match with this principle. He then explains that this is an age-old question that the prophets asked. Yirmiyah asked, מדוע דרך רשעים צלחה, Why is the way of the wicked successful?” Habakkuk asked the question, David Hamelech asked the question… so what is the answer? He says that all these prophets that asked the question didn't give an answer, because there really is no one right answer . We don't know why. And he says, that's why God tells us in Devarim 29,28, הנסתרות לה' אלהינו there are things that are hidden to God. Moshe Rabbenu says, הצור תמים פעלו כי כל דרכיו משפט God our rock, everything He does is perfect. We don't understand. We just know that God is just and that we don't have an answer. Where was God in the Holocaust? I don't have a good answer. That's the answer. Now, of course, the Hovot Halevavot goes on to give us some suggestions, and lists four or five reasons why the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. But if he's going to give an answer, why does he start off with the principle that there is no answer? It's because he wants to teach us this fundamental: That we might sometimes find answers, but the answer to all questions really is, I don't necessarily have the answer or have to have the answer. This principle is brought down by the Rambam in a letter that he wrote to his son, Rebbi Abraham. He says, “I want to tell you an important fundamental, תועלת רב בלמוד לחזק האמת ולישב הדעת ולהסיר המבוכה Which has benefit in learning, to strengthen truth, to cause a tranquility in your thought process, and remove confusion: He says, כאשר תמצאו כתוב עמוק ומאמר נבוך בתורה או בנביאים או בספרי החכמים אשר לא תבינוהו ולא תדעו מסתרו ונראה כסותר פנות התורה או דברי הבאי When you find a deep concept in the Torah Neviim or in the words of our rabbis that you don't understand, and it seems like you just found a Midrash, a Ramban or some Rishon that seemingly contradicts our principles of faith and Emunah that we’ve been teaching all the time, “ Rely on God, He’ll come through for you,” and you find something that sounds like it doesn't work that way. He says, אל תזוזו מאמונתכם ואל יתבלבל שכלכם, עמדו בחזקתכם והפחיתות ההוא חשבוהו בכם כי לא דבר רק הוא מכם Do not budge from your Emunah and Don't get yourself confused, stay strong and realize that לא דבר רק There's not there's nothing empty in the Torah. If it's empty, it's from you, meaning: you don't understand it. הניחוהו בקרן זוית Put it on the side. Don't destroy your faith because of one thing you don't understand . God understands it. You don't have to understand it. I learned this principle in the Mirrer Yeshiva High School. Our rabbis, from Europe taught us an old Yiddish saying which meant, “ From a question, you don't die.” When you have a question on the Gemara, don't just stop there and get stuck. You can have a question and still move on. Lehavdil , They taught us this when we were when taking the Regents exams- Don't get stuck on one question. You don't have to answer that question. Move on. It’s the same principle here. We all have questions that we don't have answers for. Don't get stuck on the question. That's why we start the HaGaddah with the Mah Nishtana, and we don't give the child the answer right away. The simple explanation is that the answers to these questions comes later in the Haggadah, with Pesach, Matzah and Marror . We don't give the answer right away, to teach them that the main thing is not the answer. You don't always need to have an answer. Have a wonderful day.
As we get ready for the night of the Seder, we have to put ourselves in the proper mindset. I was once zoche to hear Hacham Ben Sion Abba Shaul give a class on the Seder, and he said, “ How can a person speak nonsense and light- talk at the Seder, if God Himself is there listening to our Haggadah?” and he started to cry. That's how emotional he became when thinking of the concept that Hashem is there at the Seder . We don't have another opportunity to get as close to Hashem as we do on the night of the Seder. Just like it says that” Mora’im Gedolim/The great fear (or visions) ” refers to Gilui Shechina , Rav Wolbe says there is a revelation of God’s Shechina every year at the Seder. It’s our opportunity to meet up with the King. The Chafetz Chaim, in his sefer Shem Olam (Vol 2 Chapter 11) says, Imagine meeting up with some human great …. He is referring to a king, but we can imagine sitting down next to some great sports player or famous star, and getting their autograph. You’d get excited and you’d forget about your whatever problems you were dealing with for the moment. Let’s say you just got a signature from Babe Ruth. How would you react?… He says that, If that's the way we react to a flesh and blood person who’s only here for a a minute, how much more so for Hashem - a million times more, he says, because Hashem is here forever. When we do one of his Mitzvot, we say “ Baruch Atah,” and talk to Him directly. We're learning His Torah and Hashem’s kavod is there. Our deeds are announced in front of millions of angels and we’re going to have everlasting honor over that In the Chafetz Chaim’s words, which we can try to fulfill, B’Ezrat Hashem, “ Tell me my brother, and look into yourself- Do you think like that once a week, or once month? Does happen once a year, to be so happy for a mitzvah like this man that met up with such a person (e.g. Babe Ruth)?” This is what we have to do, he says. And we should aim for that once a year, on the night of the Seder. We should say “ Wow! What a merit I have! I'm sitting here with the King of the world. I should be jumping up and down!” The Chafetz Chaim adds that we know the rarer something is, the more expensive it is. And as great as Olam Haba is, in Olam Hazeh we have the opportunity to do Mitzvot , but we can only do them for a fixed amount of time, 120 years. We’re messengers of God, doing His will like one of the angels. We have to appreciate how great that is. It should fill us up with happiness beyond! As we get ready for that great Seder night, we have to make it our jobs to appreciate where we are on the Seder night. The Sefer Tiferet Shlomo explains, in his Derush on Shabbat HaGadol, that the pasuk Matzot Tochal B’Makom Kadosh/ Eat Matzot in a holy place… refers to the Kohanim. But he says that this also refers to every Pesach, when a person eats the Matzot. It’s as if he’s in the Bet Hamikdash. He proves it with the pasuk, “ וָאֶשָּׂ֤א אֶתְכֶם֙ עַל־כַּנְפֵ֣י נְשָׁרִ֔ים I will carry you on the wings of eagles. The Targum says that Hashem took the Jewish people out of Egypt, brought them to Eretz Yisrael, they ate the Korban Pesach and then He brought them back. And he says, Today also, If you eat Matzah with the right kavana and do it properly, Eretz Yisrael is under you, and your spot is holy, like it says in the above quoted pasuk. Furthermore, in Parashat Bo, it says, “ When Hashem brings you into the land, and then you do this service of Pesach…” Is Pesach only in Eretz Yisrael? His answer is yes . When we say the Haggadah, it’s like we're in Israel. We have to appreciate what's going on on the night of the Seder. We have to appreciate the tremendous Kedusha. As we’ve said in the past, the Matzah is called the Bread of Emunah. When you say Divreh Torah, and you say the Hagaddah, you infuse the Matzot Lechem Oni- Lechem SheOnim Alav Devarim Harbeh- you say words on the Matzot, your Emunah goes into the Matzah and you ingest it. It becomes part of you. So this is a great opportunity to lift up our Emunah and Bitachon. It comes from the night of the Seder. We have to appreciate what it means to serve in front of Him and so on. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will use the Seder night to its fullest.
This week is Shabbat HaGadol. I'm sure everybody will hear nice thoughts on Shabbat HaGadol in shul, but we don't want Parashat Sav to get lost. There's a beautiful bitachon thought hidden in Parashat Sav. One of the 613 Mitzvot is that leftovers from a certain korban (on the third day) is burned in the fire. There’s a concept called Notar - Whenever the deadline of a korban comes, you can't save it. It has to be burned. The Korban Pesach has similar laws. The Sefer Chinuch, in Mitzvah 143, says This is a hint to Bitachon/reliance on God. A person shouldn't choke himself on his food today and hide it for tomorrow. That's the message of Notar -that God is saying. Once the time is over, destroy it. Don't benefit from it. That is a hint to bitachon. Bitachon means I have what I need for today and I don't need to save it for tomorrow. Baruch Hashem Yom Yom Hashem blesses us day by day . The Gemara in Sotah 48B tells us that when the Bet Hamikdash was destroyed, with it ended the Anshei Emunah/the people of faith. What does that mean? The Gemara says it’s the people that believe in God. They quote Rav Elazar HaGadol that says, “ Whoever has bread in his basket today and says, what am I going to eat tomorrow is called Mikteh Amanah/people that are limited in their Emunah .” That's why the manna came every single day. The job of Yetziat Mitzrayim was to learn Emunah and bitachon and we had a 40 year training course. We had the manna to establish, in the heart of every individual, the Middah of bitachon. Day by day . As it says, D’var Yom B’Yomo, Day by day, Rabbi Elazar Hamodai says, “ Whoever created the day created the parnasa that comes with it. ” Rashi says, what does it mean that these people believe in Hashem? It means they're willing to spend their money on Mitzvot- Sedaka and expenses for Shabbat and Yom Tov. And this is important as the Pesach season is upon us. The expenses are through the roof but we have to believe, with Emunah Shelemah, as the Gemara says in Betza 15b, that all of our expenses are decided between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, except for Shabbat, Yom Tov and the money we spend on our children's learning. Therefore, all the money we spend on the holiday comes out of the slush account. The Zohar says that when someone eats and drinks on Shabbat or Yom Tov, it’s on Hashem’s account. Why is that? Because it's Hashem's meal. It's like Hashem is the Host and you're at His table. This is especially so on the holiday of Pesach, where it says, we're considered to be sitting at God's table more than at any other holiday. I'd like to share with you a beautiful story about the Brisker Rav. At the beginning of World War II, the Brisker Rav was in Warsaw. Each day, he would eat the food he had for that day; he would save nothing for the following day, fully relying that Hashem would provide for him then (as the Gemara in Sotah 48b says). Two days before Yom Kippur, although he had his regular amount of bread, he ate only some of it, saving some for Erev Yom Kippur, when there is a mitzvah to eat. “ One cannot rely on bitachon to fulfill a mitzvah” he reasoned. On the morning of Erev Yom Kippur, a Warsaw baker knocked on the Rav’s door. He was concerned that Rav would not have what to eat before the fast, so he specially baked several rolls and cooked a pot of fish as well as compote for him. However, the baker apologetically explained, as he rushed to bring these to the Rav, it all fell down and got ruined. The Rav commented to his son that he now saw that he was mistaken in saving food from the day before. “ Had I not saved the small piece of bread ,” he said, “ the baker would not have dropped the food, and we would have had plenty of bread and much more!” Obviously, this is a very high level of bitachon. But it’s important to know that there were people who lived this way, in times close to ours. The Brisker Rav’s daughter once turned to him when there was a grave shortage of food in Eretz Yisrael. She asked, “ What are we going to do? The price of food keeps rising!” The Brisker Rav explained that the Gemara says Not that our income is determined on Rosh Hashanah, but rather “mezonotav/ the amount we have to eat” is determined on Rosh Hashanah. Hashem assures how much we’ll have to eat, no matter what the price is. This is what we learn from the example of the manna. Even if a person collected twenty portions for his family of six, the extra fourteen portions somehow “disappeared,” and they were left with precisely the amount they were supposed to have. No matter how much a person works and earns, the amount he enjoys — his mezonot — is determined by Hashem, and is not affected by his efforts one way or the other. That is the important lesson of Bitachon, and we learn it from this week's Parasha, Notar , no leftovers.
We've been discussing the concept Hakarat HaTov as a practice and introduction for Pesach. As we said, the night of the Seder is all about Hakarat HaTov/ recognition and gratitude to Hashem, for all He has done for us. Everything that we need to know, we learn from our Torah and the way the rabbis set up our prayers and the Haggadah shel Pesach. There's a famous part of the Haggadah that many people sing: Dayenu : Dayenu means it's enough . Of course it doesn't mean it's enough . We go through the 15 things, such as “ It's enough if we would have gotten out of Mitzrayim and not received the Torah.” But that is not enough . So what does Dayenu mean? The answer is, it's enough to say Thank You . Each one of these things, on its own, would be enough to make a party, to have a celebration, to show gratitude. And then, after we go through each one of the 15 things, we say, “ And even more so doubled and quadrupled,” and then we list all 15 together. And the purpose of all of this is to teach us an important lesson in Hakarat HaTov. There was a young man, newly married,who came to Rabbi Yehuda Ades complaining that his mother in law was impossible. “ She demands recognition for everything.” Rabbi Ades asked for an example, and he said, “ If she makes a salad, she makes a big deal about it. Like if I don't say thank you about the salad, I get a comment of something” So Rabbi Ades said, “ Okay, let's figure out what it is to make a salad.” He went with the boy to the vegetable market and they picked out the ripest tomatoes, and cucumbers and lettuce. Then they discussed that they’d have to check the lettuce for bugs and dice it. Then they had to decide which salad dressing to make, squeeze the lemons, add the olive oil etc. They discussed the whole process needed to make the salad. And Rabbi Ades said, “ You see, salad is not as simple as you think it is. And that's just the salad. Think about the roast and on and on. Each dish, on its own, would be enough to say thank you. And she put that all together to make the meal!” And this is important to consider, foremost with Hashem but with people as well. Because, as it says, Whoever denies the goodness of others will eventually deny the goodness of God. That's human nature. Either we recognize and delve and be grateful, or we're entitled and we take everything for granted, whether it's God or people. We can apply this to our own bodies. We can say, “ If I was able to see, that would be enough to say thank you. If I was able to hear, that would be enough to say thank you... If I were able to smell, that would be able enough to say thank you. If I were able to taste, that would be enough to say thank you… To walk, that enough needs a thank you. If you're able to think…” Think of each one of these on its own, and then put it all together. Wow! And again, we take it to people. It's an opportunity. Ladies work hard for Pesach. Go through, separately, everything they've done… the cooking, the cleaning, the baking, et cetera. And that's for one meal. Think of two, three and four and five and six and seven and eight. And a man works hard too, bringing home the parnasa to pay for everything. It's all about this principle of Hakara, to recognize. When you start to recognize, you begin to recognize every detail. That's why the writer of the Haggadah trained us in this important technique called “ Dayenu/It would be enough.” We can't stress this enough. The Gemara discusses this, regarding Shalom Bayit. There was a rabbi who had a wife that was very difficult. Whatever he asked for, she would give him the opposite. If he asked for cold cereal for breakfast, he’d get hot. If he asked for hot, he’d get cold. She was obviously a difficult woman. Yet, when he went to a wedding or a party, he could always be seen wrapping up a dessert, something that she would like, to bring home for her (which is a good practice). Somebody asked him what was going on, and his answer was this magical word, Dayenu . “ It's enough that she saves me from sin and she takes care and raises my children .” That's enough. That's enough for me to be indebted to her. Everything else after that is a luxury . It's added to the basic model. That's the principle of Dayenu . What exactly are we entitled to? Even within a relationship like marriage, what's extra? Recognize each Dayenu on its own. That's a great technique. Dayenu . If my wife shops for my children, Dayenu . If she keeps the house clean, Dayenu . If she arranges the trip, Dayenu , and so on and so on and so on. And again, husbands as well. That is our job. The job of Dayenu in Hakarat HaTov.
The Hovot Halevavot tells us that one of the fundamentals of Emunah and Bitachon is that Hashem has past performance, which is an indicator of future success. We have been taken care of by Hashem for years, from even before we were born, when we were in our mother's womb. And if He did that until now, He will continue to do that. That is an important principle, and it's logical. I recently saw the following beautiful story from a book called Look Up and Dream , that illustrated this concept: In 1948, Rabbi Smith, a resident of Chicago, traveled to what was then known as Palestine by boat. On the boat he met a lady whose name was Mrs. Shoshana Sokol. She was a woman of the age of 91, and he learned that she, too, was from Chicago. He asked her about her destination and she replied, “ I'm on the way to Eretz Yisrael.” He asked her, where in Eretz Yisrael, and she replied that she didn’t really know. “ I'm going to Eretz Yisrael,” she said. Rabbi Smith cautioned her that she'd better think of a destination in Palestine or the British might send her back. Mrs. Sokol told him that she had a nephew, Chaim, living in Eretz Yisrael, but she didn't know where he lived. Rabbi Smith asked her if her nephew was aware that she was coming. She answered that she had never met her nephew before. Rabbi Smith looked at her in wonder, “ But how will you find him? ” Her answer was, “I have faith in Hashem.” “ But ,” he said, “ The British are tough on immigrants. If you're not expected and there's no one to meet you, they might send you back to a camp in Cyprus.” And this is the key line that I want to share with you… “ Listen, young man, I'm 91 years of age, and the good Lord has never failed me yet. He’ll look after me now as well.” Rabbi Smith held his peace, because you can't argue with what we call Emunah Peshutah/Simple, honest faith . Once the ship docked, a group of soldiers came on board and everyone was ordered to have their papers ready. One at a time, their names were called out. When Rabbi Smith's name was called, he made his way down the gang plank. Concerned for Mrs Sokol, he glanced back, but the soldier prodded him on. Once on land, a young man approached him. “ Rabbi Smith, I heard your name called. I'm a newspaper reporter and my boss sent me here to interview you.” “ Not here, young man, with a gun towards my back. Give me your phone number, and I'll call you when I get to my hotel.” The reporter then handed Rabbi Smith a paper. On the paper it said the name Sokol . Rabbi Smith asked, “ Is your name Chaim by any chance ?” The reporter answered, “ Yes. How'd you know?” Rabbi Smith continued, “ Do you have an aunt living in Chicago?” “I think so, but she's quite old. I don't even know if she's still alive,” Chaim replied. To which Rabbi Smith said, “S he's alive and well. In fact, she'll be following me down this gang plank any minute now.” At that moment, the loud speaker announced the name of the next passenger. And, aided by a helpful soldier, Mrs. Shoshana Sokol stepped off the boat right in front of her astonished nephew, Chaim Sokol. Looking in the direction of Rabbi Smith, Shoshana Sokol smiled called out, “I told you He wouldn't fail me.” What a beautiful, beautiful story. It touched me because, as we know, they say the Emunah of our simple grandmothers was greater than that of some of the greatest rabbis of today. And that's because their Emunah was just plain and simple, without any complications. As one of the rabbis say, “ If you want to knock a nail into the wall, you have to make sure you have a straight nail and a straight wall. Otherwise, things come out crooked.” In the old days, they were just plain and simple. As Mrs. Sokol said, the “ The Boss has not let me down for 91 years. He's not going to let me down now.” That’s real simple. And it works. We could tell stories and stories, but that's not the point. Our point is just a living example of that beautiful message. And this is relevant to Pesach as well, because as we sit at the Pesach Seder, we have to remember that it’s not just the past performance of Hashem for us individually, but the past performance of Hashem for the Jewish people at large. Think of this when you say V’He SheAmda … Not only has one tyrant or dictator has come to destroy us. In every generation, they’re out to destroy us - enemies from without, and enemies from within, and Hashem saves us. That is past performance and that's an indicator of Hashem's future success. We just have to rely on Him and believe in Him to invoke it, and have it applied to us. Have a wonderful day.
We spoke yesterday about the fact that Hakarat HaTov/Gratitude is not for the recipient of the thank you, gratitude is for the giver of the thank you. When you show gratitude, you become a happier person. You become a more appreciating person. You'll go to the doctor less. It's for you . The proof is the famous thought that Moshe Rabbenu did not bring a plague upon the Nile River, and he did not bring a plague upon the sand, because they protected and helped him. These are inanimate objects. They have no feelings. Similarly, the Gemara says that if you drank from a pit, you shouldn't do anything negative to the pit. There are many stories about this, some to extreme levels. There’s a story of a great rabbi that was asked to make a judgment on a bathhouse. But there was a question of destroying the bathhouse, and this rabbi had gone to the bathhouse for many years. So he said, “ How can I be involved in a decision on destroying the bathhouse if I used it for many years? ” What does the bathhouse know? What does the bathhouse care? It’s not about that. It's about me and my training in Hakarat HaTov. So how does it work? The Kuzari, in Maamar 3, letter 17, says that when a person -prepares for a pleasure, -discerns the pleasure, and -thinks about would be if he didn’t have it (before he gets the pleasure), His pleasure is doubled. That's one of the benefits, he says, of making blessings before we eat. When we make blessings before we eat, we are contemplating and appreciating what it is to have, or not have, that item. Additonally, Berachot slow us down. When you sit down to eat a banana, what should you be thinking? First of all, you’re supposed to be thinking about, and discerning the banana. You’re supposed to pause and look at that banana and think about it. Don't just stuff it in, slowly prepare yourself for the pleasure of eating that banana, go through your Rabbi Miller exercises and then think, “ Imagine if I didn’t have a banana.” This is an important rule. Anytime you have something and you take it for granted, say to yourself, “ Imagine if I wouldn't have it.” Imagine if I wouldn't have it. It works for anybody or anything. If you have a personal relationship that you don't like, think about what would be if they wouldn't be here. How would life be then? If you imagine you didn't have it, and now you have it, you’ll really appreciate it. The next time you have a bottle of water, imagine that you’re thirsty and you don’t have it. Imagine that you’re breaking your fast after 24 hours. Of course you're going to be thrilled. But this isn’t just about pleasures. What about your existence? You are here. Don't take that for granted. Whenever we say Shehechiyanu V’Keyemanu, V’Higiyanu L’zman Hazeh, a year has gone by. On the night of the Seder, when we make Shehechiyanu , we are supposed to contemplate what it would be like not to be here. Not everybody's here. We have to look at life as a gift, as a merit, as a pleasure. A person should realize, he says, that by nature, not being here is more befitting than being here. That means if God doesn't positively will you to be here, you are not going to be here. By nature, we're dirt. By nature, nothing’s there. Every second, God is willing us to live. And every second deserves another Thank You. He says, if a person lives that way, what's the test? The test is what happens when you don't have something. What happens if, has v’shalom , you lose something. Do you say the famous line,“ God gave and God took?” He says that a person that lives his life like this, constantly imagining, “ I'm not deserving and now I'm getting a gift, ” is living a life of constant pleasure. And he says, if you didn't accept upon yourself this approach to life, the pleasures that you have are not human pleasures. They’re animalistic pleasures. An animal eats grass and we have our bowl of salad. Same thing. The animal is just eating the grass. He's not thinking about anything. And we could be doing the same. He compares this to the pleasure of a drunk. When someone is drunk, they don’t really enjoy life, they’re just going through the motions. A person can go through life as if he’s drunk , if he's not thinking about life, if he's just focusing what he doesn't have. That's the job of the holiday of Pesach- to really be thinking about everything. Bchol Dor V’Dor, Omdim Alenu L’chalotenu… We shouldn't be here. Our existence is a miracle. Thinking like that gives us a life of constant pleasure. It’s a job. It takes work. But, B’Ezrat Hashem, we will get there.
As we are prepare for Pesach, we continue to discuss the topic of Hakarat HaTov. The Ramban, at the end of Parashat Bo, says that the purpose of all the mitzvot that we do is to believe in God (that alone is not enough) and thank Him for creating us. That's why God created the world. There's no other reason that God created the world, other than having people in the world recognize Him. That's why we pray in shuls together. That's why we pray out loud. Shuls are just a place to gather and say two magic words: Briotecha Anachnu/We are Your creations. Rav Wolbe says that Hashem doesn't need this. As the pasuk in Iyov says, “ If you became righteous what did you give Him?” Or , “What did He take from your hands?” It’s for our benefit, our perfection, our wealth, when we thank Him. The more we thank Hashem, the more we become internally wealthy. And Rav Wolbe says that we're doing it anyway. The Jewish religion is all about Hakarat HaTov; but are we really paying attention to it? Therefore, he says, we say Modim three times a day. Three times a day, we bow and thank Hashem. He says, when you bow and thank Hashem, think a little bit, and put a little bit more effort into really thanking Hashem every single day. Again, as Rav Wolbe says, it's for us . Even secular sources show how the world recognizes that it's for us, not for Him. A study was done by two psychologists at the University of Miami. They studied three groups of people. One group wrote about things they were grateful for, that had occurred during the week. A second group wrote about daily irritations or things that displeased them. A third group wrote about events that had affected them, with no emphasis on positive or negative. After ten weeks, those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. They also had less visits to the doctor than the ones that focused on aggravation. So it's quite clear that gratitude is good for us. Another point that Rav Wolbe makes that is the theme of Jewish life is thank you. The first words that come out of our mouth in the morning are Modeh Ani. In Nishmat , and in Yishtabach, which we say every day, we say, “ Above and beyond all of the songs of David…” He says this that means that David Hamelech’s tehilim is for everybody. But every individual has to go beyond that, and create his own Tehilim. As it says in Nishmat , “ If my mouth was full of song like the ocean… ” we would not have enough to thank Hashem for even one of the millions of goodnesses that He does for us, and so on. We end the Seder with Nishmat because that is the goal of the night of the Seder. All our Emunah and bitachon hizuk , is not enough. We have to walk out with Hakarat HaTov. We have to walk out with feelings of gratitude, as if we got out of Egypt. The question is asked, Why do ladies say Hallel on the night of the Seder, if ladies normally don't have time-bound Mitzvot. One of the answers is that a lady is obligated to say Hallel when a miracle happens to her. If a miracle happens to one of the Jewish people, there is responsibility to say Hallel. And the miracle on the night of the Seder is happening to us, right then and there. We have to walk out with the thrill of someone that was taken out of jail, or the thrill of a man that was healed…of all those four people that have to say thank you. That is the feeling of the night of the Seder. Have a wonderful day.
We are starting sefer Vayikra. As we know, the aleph in the word Vayikra is small. Why is it small? There are many explanations. An interesting one, from sefer Divrei Yisrael says that at the end the last week’s Parasha, Pekudei , it says, “ To the eyes of all the Jewish people, in all their travels.” This is to tell us that all the travels of the Jewish people, and everything that happens is all with Hashem’s Hashgacha. It's all guided by Hashem’s Divine Providence. As our rabbis tell us, even a piece of straw blows in the wind from one spot to the other for a reason. And this is true for a person's travels as well. Everything is measured exactly. Some people think only the big things are in Hashem's control. That is why, the very next word, Vayikra , has a small aleph - to hint the fact that even the small things that happen in life are all guided by Hashem. Someone recently told my wife about an interesting small event, which illustrates this point. This lady was not always aware of her Hebrew birthday. Many people celebrate their English birthdays, which means the English date that they were born on, according to the Gregorian calendar, but they don't necessarily celebrate or even know their Hebrew birth date, which is the Hebrew calendar date that they were born. A few weeks ago, this lady’s son looked up her birthday on one of the calendars (which is a nice thing to do) and he told her when her Hebrew birthday would come out. She happened to be reading a book called The Daily Dose of Bitachon (a highly suggested book to read, available for purchase on Artscroll.com), and on the day that she found out was her Hebrew birthday, she opened up the book read her daily dose, and the name of that lesson was Happy Birthday. It was as if Hashem was saying, “ I'm watching you, I'm on top of you. I know exactly when your birthday is.” Those are the little things that Hashem is watching over at all times, that we don't even realize. The Rabbis further explain that the aleph of Vayikra is is small because Moshe Rabbenu was humble. Regarding Bilaam it says, Vayikar , which is a term of Tum’ah/impurity contamination. Moshe Rabbenu didn't want to accentuate that he was on a level of endearment indicated by the term Vayikra/that God called out to him, so he made the aleph small. But the rabbis explain that what turns Viyikar into a Vayikra is the aleph . And the aleph refers to Hashem. God is called Alupho shel Olam. God is considered the Chieftain of the world. This shows us that although Hashem is hidden, if you pay attention to God's involvement in your life, you can turn your life from Vayikar , a term of, mikreh /happenstance, a term of Amalek, which is contaminated, into Vayikra , which is a term of calling in endearment . You just have to add the little aleph , which is Hashem hiding. That's what turns life around from hiding, cold contamination to ‘calling,’ a term of endearment. There was a Hasidic Rebbe whose daughter came to him crying. When he asked her what was wrong, she said they were playing a game of Hide and Go Seek, and she went to hide. But she found such a good spot that everyone stopped looking for her. When the Rebbe heard this, he started to cry. His Hasidim were astounded. It was only a child’s game. What was the Rebbe crying about? He explained that it reminded him of Hashem, Who is in hiding. Hashem is in hiding, and our job is to find Him. We shouldn't be like the people in the game that stop looking. Hashem is that small aleph in our lives. He’s there. You just have to open your eyes to those little hints. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will turn Vayikar into Vayikra . Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom
Rav Wolbe writes in Alei Shur that being religious is something natural, because it's part of our human psyche that we want to serve a higher being or greater force. Where does that come from? He says, it probably comes from a basis of Hakarat HaTov . God put good middot into us, and so naturally we have Hakarat HaTov. When you open your eyes and see a beautiful world, there's something that drives us to wonder, “ Who did this for me?” And if you don't have a religious manual, you'll just find other ways to thank some greater being, because it’s natural. And he deduces from Rav Yerucham’s Haggadah shel Pesach, that it’s our job. At the end of the Seder night, we say, “ Lefichach/Therefore, Anachnu Chayavim LeHodot, LeHalel, L’Shabeach/We have to thank and praise…etc.. to the One that did for our forefathers, Whoever gave our forefathers and us all these miracles. Why don't we say, “ We have to praise and thank God?” Why do we say, “ To the One , ” without a name- Why the anonymous donor? He says, because Hakarat HaTov doesn't ask who . Hakarat HaTov just says, “I owe somebody.” That is the natural Hakarat HaTov. I drive on a street with street lights and traffic lights. Who put them there? I walk into a shul and there's electricity. Who's paying for electricity? There are chairs. Who's paying for the chairs? I'm just a taker? Very nice. I pay my $400 dues, but that doesn't cover the expenses and all the costs. Someone's paying for all this. I'd like to share with you one of my favorite stories, as I like stories that are about real people with real emotions. Mr. Ralph Tawil a’h, was one of the pillars of the Syrian community. That term is sometimes used lightly, but in this case, it’s not. He was a real leader, a forward thinker on charity and many great things. He was once honored at a dinner for Yeshivat Shaare Torah. When he got up to speak, he told the following story: He was an orphan. His mother passed away when his young, and his father lived in Mexico. He couldn't handle the children, so they were raised in the Brooklyn orphanage home. In his mid twenties, once he had already become a very successful businessman, he thought to himself, “I lived in an orphanage…who paid for my food? Who paid for my bed? Who paid for everything? I owe somebody, but I don't even know who these people are. I definitely don't know the donors. I don't even know what the institution is. ” He went on to look up the institution and discovered that it had since been absorbed by a larger institution, the famous Ohel that is still functioning today, and doing a great job for the community. So he went to the president or the chairman of Ohel and said, “ I'd like you to make a dinner. I'll be the guest of honor. I'll invite all my friends and I'll have them make dedications. I will raise money for your organization.” And that’s what he did, because he had that innate feeling of , “I owe somebody,” and put his money where his mouth was Recently I heard a story from Rabbi Hillel Haber, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Shaare Torah. He said that a man had gone through the school for 14 years, from Pre-K to 12th grade, on tuition assistance the whole time. He never paid a dollar of tuition, because his parents couldn't afford it. He was taken care of by outsiders. One day, he woke up and thought, “ Who paid my tuition?” He asked Rabbi Haber to calculate the price of his tuition from Pre-K through 12th grade, and he wrote one check to cover all those years of schooling. That's a beautiful Middah. It’s the feeling of, ‘I don't even see the person, but I'm receiving, and I know I have to thank somebody. It didn't come from nowhere.’ That’s the feeling of the Haggadah shel Pesach. At the end of the night, we are supposed to say, “ Who gave me this? My family's sitting around my table. Look at what I have!” Again, it's not easy, because there are forces fighting against us. Yes, there's a natural Hakarat HaTov factor, but there's also a Gaavah/ an arrogance and entitlement that is trying to fight this. Our job, by the end of the Seder, is to really feel that Anachnu Chayavim/we are obligated, we're beholden to thank and to praise Somebody , because , ‘Wow! Am I on the receiving end!!’ Have a wonderful day.
We continue on the topic of Bitachon and Hakarat HaTov as it relates to the upcoming holiday of Pesach. The Gemara in Berachot (9 th perek) talks about the concept of HaGomel- four different people have to say the beracha that God is the one that gave me greatness , even though I don't deserve this, I don't deserve to get on the plane and go over the ocean. I don’t deserve to go to the desert… . The Gemara says there are four people that have to say thank you. People who go into the ocean, people who go in the desert, someone who was sick and recovered, and someone who was in jail and got out. And it's all learned from Tehilim, perek 107, which says, הֹד֣וּ לַיהֹוָ֣ה כִּי־ט֑וֹב כִּ֖י לְעוֹלָ֣ם חַסְדּֽוֹ׃ יֹ֭אמְרוּ גְּאוּלֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר גְּ֝אָלָ֗ם מִיַּד־צָֽר׃ Thank Hashem because He is good. His kindness is forever. This will be said by the ones that were redeemed by God…. And it goes through the four people: תעו במדבר- They’re lost in the desert יֹ֭שְׁבֵי חֹ֣שֶׁךְ וְצַלְמָ֑וֶת They're sitting in the darkness. אֲסִירֵ֖י עֳנִ֣י וּבַרְזֶֽל׃ They're shackled. They're in jail. כׇּל־אֹ֭כֶל תְּתַעֵ֣ב נַפְשָׁ֑ם וַ֝יַּגִּ֗יעוּ עַד־שַׁ֥עֲרֵי מָֽוֶת They’re dying, they're sick. יוֹרְדֵ֣י הַ֭יָּם בׇּאֳנִיּ֑וֹת The people that are going into the ocean. Its customary, at least in the Sephardic communities, to say this chapter on Pesach, because on Pesach, we all went through these four different scenarios. We went through the ocean when the sea was split, we were sickly in Mitzrayim; we went through the desert, and we were in jail in Mitzrayim. The rabbis say that one of the reasons why the number four is so prominent in the Haggadah (the four sons, the four questions the four Cups) is because we're alluding to these four areas of thank you, that the HaGomel people have to say. And again, that's the job of Lechem Oni. Oni means poor . We have to eat the bread of affliction. And it has in it, two messages: Number one is simple food , which goes back to the beginning of this concept: I'm not entitled to anything. In order to have Hakarat HaTov, you have to say, I'm not entitled to anything. Shehechiyanu Vekiyemanu LaZeman Hazeh/Thank you that I lived another year. I don't deserve it. I don't deserve to get off the plane. I don't deserve to get off the boat. I don't deserve to get better. I don’t deserve to get out of jail. It's all God's kindness. HaGomel L’Hayavim . There’s anquestion of whether a minor, a boy under 13, or a girl under 12, recites HaGomel, because they're not Hayav for Mitzvot yet; they're not responsible. Their parents are responsible. And it would not be respectful to say that their parents are Hayav . It's not respectful to say your parents are guilty , but that's the whole theme of Passover. Hakarat HaTov, Lechem Oni/The bread of affliction, the Bread of poverty . Oni is also humble . I'm humbled, and I'm poor . Lo Magiah Li/I'm not entitled . I'm not chasing. These are the messages and lessons of the night of the Seder. They are very, very Bitachon Emunah related. As we said, Hakarat HaTov i s the antidote to entitlement , Entitlement is big problem. People go through a lot of heartache because they feel they're entitled to more than they are. The Elder of Kelm says that a lot of times, we see that people are sick and then get better, but rather than getting stronger in religion, they might get worse. Or we see people that get out of jail and all these good things happen to them. The answer, he says, goes back to our original point: Because since they have such a tremendous debt of gratitude, they can't handle it, so they just totally check out. As we said, we see this in relationships. A lot of times, when children don't get along with parents, it’s because deep down, they just can't handle that tremendous debt that they owe, and therefore they just check out. They become irreligious or sever their relationships. And again, at the root of everything is our ego, our inability to humble ourselves, our inability to subjugate ourselves, our inability to be beholden. So rather than look at all the people that are not beholden to us and not appreciating us , let’s look into ourselves and see if we are appreciating what Hashem does for us, what our family, what our spouses, what our children do for us. That's our job at this time of the year.
Yesterday, we discussed two reasons why people don't have gratitude, both of which are hardwired into our psyche. One of them is that Everything that we have is expected, because we grew up that way. We have it, we always had it. It's not a question. As the saying goes, yesterday's luxuries are today's necessities . So, of course it's expected. Furthermore, My ego says that the world was created for me . There's another reason, which Rav Wolbe says is that When I receive something from somebody and I recognize the good, I become Mechuyav/ beholden. I owe him;. I'm subjugated to him. I have to say thank you. It's hard to say thank you. There's a humility involved. Our Gaavah / arrogance , gets involved. He gave me, I owe him. That sense of obligation, that humility, is difficult. Even little children shy away from saying thank you.They’d rather just grab the candy and run. That uncomfortable feeling of being meshubad stops our Hakarat HaTov. That's why the term, in Hebrew, for ingrate is kefiat tova or kafoy tova, which literally means to cover up the good. Like when you take a jar or a bowl and cover something up. Or it's called Kofer BTova/To deny the goodness . As we've said in the past, Rav Hutner says the word Modeh , which means thank you, comes from the same root as Hoda’ah , which means admission . When someone says,”You owe me money ,” you say, “ I'm modeh/I admit.” It's the same word because, he says, every time you say thank you there is a certain admission occurring, where you’re admitting that, “ I'm beholden to you .” That's an uncomfortable feeling, so we’d rather deny it. My mind wants to deny it because I don't want to be beholden to you. That's why, quite often, when people do a lot of favors for someone, the recipient of the favors starts to fault in the giver. It comes from this inability to be beholden to somebody else. Of course, this is even more so when it comes to God. It’s also part of the night of the Seder, to realize this lacking, and to become meshubad/subservient to Hashem. That's why we were in Mitzrayim ; because we were meshubad to Paroah. We were slaves, and we're just replacing one subjugation with another. But we have to be comfortable with this concept, that Yes , I receive, I owe God. And really, deep down, for atheists, it's not a problem with their intellect. They might be very intellectual people. The problem with the atheist is that he doesn't want to say Thank You to God, and therefore, he denies God's existence. Forget about denying the good. He's smarter than that. I'm not going to deny the good- the world is a wonderful place. Let me deny the Benefactor. He doesn't exist. So they have the Big Bang. That's genius. Genius Kefoy Tova, as in Kofer B’Tova. That's what we call them. Kofrim . They're deniers . They're denying God. But really, they're just denying because they don't want to feel beholden. The high point of the Seder is discussing the four pesukim that they used to say when they brought the Bikurim/ first fruits , to the Kohen. We say, Arami Oved Avi, referring to Lavan, who wanted to destroy Yaakov Avinu, and so on. Bikurim is all about is Hakarat Hatov/gratitude . We bring the basket of fruit and we thank Hashem. And it says that we should say it out loud, because it’s not sufficient to just mumble a thank you with marbles in your mouth. It has to be a loud and clear Thank You. And it's interesting that the Or Someach and other rabbis tell us that the source that you read Bikurim is because there's VaAnita/ say it out loud and the Matzah is called the Lechem Oni, which some say is not only bread of poverty , but Oni , coming from the root Oneh/to say. We say things out loud. The whole Haggadah is one lesson in saying out loud, “I owe God. I am beholden. ” That's Lechem Oni. That’s Bikurim . And at the end of all that, it says, VeSamacha/Be happy . If you made the money but you're not as good as everybody else, you're going to be sad. But if you have your Emunah glasses on and realize that Hashem gave you this, and this is what you need, V’Samachta B’kol HaTov- at the end of the season, you have to be happy with all the goodness that you got from Hashem. These are the important lessons that God teaches us,of Hakarat HaTov, that we will be stressing throughout the Seder night, and in our preparations for the Seder.
One of the advantages of Bitachon is that it brings gratitude. If a person believes and understands that everything that he has is because Hashem gave it to him out of His goodness, and not because I worked on it, not because I deserve it, but out of the kindness of God, then he starts to appreciate what he has. And the opposite of appreciation is what we call entitlement . Rav Wolbe explains that one of the reasons that people don't have Hakarat Hatov/gratitude is due to a fundamental belief, which is that it's axiomatic that everything in this world is supposed to be that way. I'm supposed to have kidneys that work. I'm supposed to have a heart that beats. I'm supposed to have a house, I'm supposed to have a family, and so on. In his words, “ Hakol Magia Li/ everything is coming to me.” Magia Li- These are the Hebrew words for entitlement . “ I'm entitled to it, I should get it.” Therefore, I don't recognize anything . This belief comes from the fact that we are raised, as the Hovot Halevavot says, with all the wonderful things in the world, and therefore everything's just obvious. Another reason people feel entitled is because a person has an ego and sees himself as the center of the world, so everything is there for him . So, of course, I'm entitled. And of course, there's no place to recognize any goodness because it's supposed to be this way, because I am the center of the world. It takes a lot of work to undo that thinking. Rav Wolbe quotes from a Rashi in Bereshit, 11,5 where it says that God came down to see the city and the tower that was built by the Bnei HaAdam, which usually translated as human beings , but the term used for people is usually Anashim. Bnei HaAdam means, “the sons of Adam.” Who else would they be, asks Rashi. Are they sons of donkeys or camels? Rashi explains that it means, “ Sons of the original man, who was Kafoi Tova.” He was an ingrate. He told Hashem, “ That wife that You gave me, she caused the problems!” And so too, the Dor HaMabul also were ingrates. Adam HaRishon’s original sin also came from a lack of gratitude. How so? When the snake comes to Adam and Chava he says, “is it true that you can't eat anything in the garden? Adam and Chava felt like they deserved everything . If they were missing one thing, it was like they didn’t have anything. The words- “ Hamin HaEtz / Did you eat from the tree,” is an allusion to Haman , as Hamin /from is the same words as Haman . Haman was similar to Adam in that Haman had everything in the world. It lists his children, his bank accounts, his honor. And yet, he admits, “ It's all worthless as long as Mordechai isn’t bowing down. ” He thought he was entitled to everything. That was the original sin of Adam and Chava. Because of that, the curses they received were B’Itzavon / with difficulty ( which can also be translated as with sadness , Tochlena/ you’re going to eat, Kol Yeme chayecha/all the days of your life ). That was the curse of that sin. You're going to be sad. Why? Because you're going to continue with that same mistake of thinking that everything's coming to you. So how do we fix that underlying depression of man, that comes from his original sin? The Sfat Emet says there's another time that it says, Kol Yeme Chayecha, referring to Yetziat Mitzrayim. We say, ” All the days of your life,” because Yetziat Mitzrayim reminds us that we don't deserve anything . We were slaves. We were taken out of servitude. Going through the process of the Seder and the Pesach experience is supposed to bring us to the understanding that “ I don't deserve anything, and everything I get is a gift of God.” That is the beginning of happiness . Sadness comes when you're not happy. Why aren't you happy? Because you think everything's coming to you. We can fix that by realizing that everything is a gift . That's the job of the seder . We will expound on this important tool of gratitude versus the negative approach of entitleme nt .
One of the important things that we have to believe in is that with the Mitzvot that we do, following the rules exactly brings God’s Shechina, brings His divine presence upon us, and brings His Hashgacha Pratit upon us. Everything that we do is in order to bring Hashem's Presence into our lives. But it has nothing to do with just good intentions. One must do the Mitzvot as they are properly prescribed. The Kuzari wrote an entire safer to explain that it's not enough just to say , “I want to come close to God and I'll do whatever I think is right. ” There's an exact science. It is doesn't work based on logic. Just like he says, Logically , you put a seed in the ground and it grows? It's not logic. It's God that set into motion a certain nature, that when you put water in the proper ingredients, the seed grows. If you lack those ingredients, the seed won't grow. He says the same is true of spirituality. People often say they’re spiritual - a term used often today. They say, “ I'm a spiritual person .” But the difference between being spiritual and religious is that religion comes with certain rules and regulations. Spirituality lacks that. And that's the Kuzari’s point. You can't just be spiritual, you have to be religious . That was the mistake of the Golden Calf. They decided to take religion into their own hands. They made a Golden Calf, even though God said not to, because they felt that was the way to get close to Hashem without Moshe Rabbenu. This even goes back to Adam HaRishon. Adam thought, “If I eat from the Eitz HaDaat, and I have some desire, and then I I overcome my desire, it'll bring a greater honor for God's name.” And again , Adam took religion into his own hands. Our job is to humble ourselves and realize that we're just going through the motions and setting up a receptacle to bring God down into our lives. That is why, in this week's Parasha, Vayakhel/Pekudei, is all about building the Mishkan, it says 18 times, “ Ka’asher Tziva Hashem Et Moshe/Exactly as God prescribed. ” The Bet Halevi says the whole sin of the Golden Calf was not following those exact rules. And so, to fix it, we must follow the rules exactly . That brings the Shechina down. We don't have a Mishkan today. We don't have a Bet Hamikdash. But Vayakhel/ Peludei also talks about Shabbat. Shabbat is also a sanctuary, a sanctuary of time. Shabbat is also a day of the Shechina, a day of spirituality. But spirituality alone does not work. You need religion . Shabbat must be followed exactly . It's not up to us to decide this is the way I feel. No, there are rules and regulations; things that might seem very mundane or very practical and not at all spiritual. “ Does God care,” people will say, “how I separate my peas from my carrots?” “ Does God care how I make my tea, or my coffee? ” That's like saying, “ Does God care if I leave my roses out in the summertime without watering them?” It's not about God caring. There’s a nature; just like there's a nature in the physical world, there's a nature in the spiritual world. And the only one that knows how that nature works is the Creator, and that's God. And that's our whole religion. It's important when it comes to the holiday of Pesach, which we're approaching. Rav Yerucham Levovitz discussed this, as well as a student of Rov Wolbe- there are lot of activities that come with the holidays.You have to eat the Matzah, but you can't just eat any old Matzah. There are certain rules and regulations… you have to lean on your left side. If you lean on your right side, you have to eat it again. ‘ Come on. What's the difference?’ Well, that’s like saying, “ What's the difference if the intravenous goes into the vein or it goes into the muscle?” It's all the difference in the world! The intravenous has to get into your system. Matzah is intravenous. It's called the bread of healing. It's the bread of Emunah, but you have to eat it the right way in order for it to work. This important lesson must be part of our belief system- a believe in the rules and regulations that bring down God's Presence. It doesn't just happen arbitrarily. I remember, in the old days, people used to build their own transistor radios. There was a board with holes in it, and you put in the different pieces and soldered them in, and then, lo and behold, it became an am/fm radio and you'd get all excited. But if you were one off, and you soldered something a little off, the radio wouldn’t play. What's the difference where that transistor is placed or how you soldered it? Well, if it's not done right, it's not going to pick up the radio waves. So too, if your Tefilin are not in the middle of your head, or if they're hanging down on your forehead, the radio waves don't come down. This is important. You can't just be spiritual, you have to be religious. You have to follow the rules and regulations. And that's the important message in this week's Parasha. I hope this message is clear.
Today we are going to give our final push for the week, for Lev Chana. And if you’re wondering why am I pushing so hard, well, of course, I have a responsibility. I am committed to close to 250 families. Cards go out before I have the money. So that's one reason. But what does that have to do with you? There is an important principle that Rav Chaim Pilaggi discusses, that reiterate every year. He writes that throughout his years as the Chief Rabbi of Turkey, he saw many people who were extremely wealthy, who went into the holiday season with everything that one could possibly want or need or have. And yet these families were bickering. The mother-in-law wasn't getting along with her daughter-in-law, the brother wasn't getting along with his father, and so on. People can go off to all kind of exotic places and yet come back sad and upset. Mental health therapists share that there's a spike in referrals after the holiday season. Why is it that people put so much into being happy and fulfilling the Mitzvah of V’Samachta B’Chagecha, and yet they're not necessarily happy? Rav Chaim Pilaggi would send a messenger with a Chumash and Rashi to share the reason, wherein the Chumash delineates eight different people that are supposed to be happy on the holiday: Rashi says the name of God, “ My four correspond to your four. If you make Mine happy, I’ll make yours happy.” “ Mine” refers to God's children, the widow, the orphan, the clergy, and the convert. If you make those happy, then God will make yours happy- your son, your daughter, your male servants, your female servants… We all want our families and our children to be happy. Rav Chaim, Pilaggi adds that when people had unhappy holidays, it came from this. Sometimes people ask, “What do you mean? I gave charity, I made people happy, and I'm still not happy.” Well, first of all, the more money you have, the more responsibility you have to give. But let's say you gave and still it didn't work. We can answer based on a story with Rav Yisrael Salantar. He went to visit a man on Motzei Shabbat one Saturday night, but the wife of the man said he was not feeling well. He had a high temperature, and he was ill in bed. Rav Yisrael said he only needed to speak to him for a moment, and asked the man, “ Do you believe that every single word that it says in the Gemara and Midrashim is 100% true? That you could take it to the bank?” The man hesitated and said, “ I believe….but I can't say I believe a hundred percent.” Rav Salantar then spent the next while convincing the man of the authenticity and the fidelity of every word that's brought down in our Torah sh’B’al Peh, and then he opened a Masechet Shabbat says that Hamin (which some people say is a hot drink and others say is a hot shower) on Motzei Shabbat is healing. The Kaf HaChaim says there's a hint to it in the words, מחבש לעצבותם Mehabesh L’Atzebotam which means a Healing for their sadness. If you scramble the letters of the word M a H a B e Sh מחבש it’s an acronym for H amim B’M otzei Sh abbat/ Hamim after Shabbat takes away sadness. Once the man was completely convinced of the authenticity and reliability of the words of Chazal, Rav Yisrael Salantar told the man's wife to make him a cup of hot tea. He drank the tea and slowly started to get better. That's our story. So, as I like to say, I'm selling happiness insurance, for those that want to be happy on the holiday. There are all kinds of warranties. People take out warranties on their refrigerators, on their cars, and who knows what else…Well, this is happiness warranty. And who's behind it? Hashem Himself. If you really believe it, and say, “ I'm going to put a smile on an orphan or widow's face. I'm going to put a smile on an underprivileged person’s face..” do you know what that's worth? Every year I get cards and thank-you notes from people that say, “ You made my holiday. My children are able to feel comfortable with everybody else in shul. They also have a new dress, they also have new shoes…” Make other people happy . That's our job. And that's what I'm doing. I'm selling and pushing happiness insurance. So, please, buy some. It's very simple. The easiest way is to click this link, https://www.rayze.it/levchana/ Or, to avoid any fees, Zelle, or email to be billed at Rabbisutton@gmail.com I see the email and I know who you are. So to those people who said, “ Rabbi, did you get my QuickPay?” Yes I did. Thank you very much Tizke Lemitzvot. Or you can mail a check to: Lev Chana c/o Rabbi Sutton 1059 East 10 th St Brooklyn NY 11230 Have a wonderful day, and Tizku Lemitzvot
As we said, this week we're dedicating ourselves to appreciating the power of Sedaka and the great Mitzva charity. My father-in-law Rabbi Nosson Scherman told a beautiful story that he heard not long ago. And as he said before he told the story, he reads a lot of stories (as editor of the Artscroll series). But he said this one really hit him strong. The story goes as follows: There is a yeshiva, called Chevron Yeshiva, that the Elder of Slobodka decided to open, in the old town of Chevron in the 1920s. Soon after, there was a terrible, terrible massacre perpetrated by the Arabs, who literally butchered close to 60 of the townspeople of Chevron. Many of them were Yeshiva boys, some of them were Americans. It was horrible. The Chevron Yeshiva had to relocate to Yerushalayim proper, and they needed a building. There were not wealthy people in Yerushalayim at that time, so the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna, decided, like many other great rabbis, to travel to far away America to raise funds for his new building. He needed $20,000, which, in our times, would be millions. He didn't have the time to go around collecting, so he decided go to one person, borrow a large sum and then collect over the years to repay that sum. There were no mortgages in Israel back then and there were no lines of credit. He found a man who was a wealthy, well-known fellow, and said, “I would like to borrow $20,000.” The man laughed and wondered how the Rosh Yeshiva would be able to pay him back, but he said, “I trust you,” and agreed to the loan. He was probably thinking that he'd never get the money back, and in his mind, like it says, when you’re in such a situation, you should think it's going to be a gift. And that's what he did. Years passed. Rav Yechezkel Sarna collected dollar by dollar and finally had the $20,000 that he needed to repay. He just had to find the man. He went back to the old town, to his house, but the man was no longer there. He did some research and found out tragic news. This man was hit hard by the depression and lost everything. He lost his business, his wife lost interest in him, and his family left him. He was basically sleeping in local synagogues. He was practically homeless. Now Rabbi Sarna was on a mission to find this man. When he finally found him, (we'll call him Jack), the Rabbi approached him and said, “ Jack, do you recognize me?” He said, “ Of course! You're Rav Sarna, I know who you are. I remember you.” The Rabbi said, “ I'm here to pay you back the $20,000 that I borrowed from you. I heard that you’ve come on hard times and now's your opportunity. $20,000 is a lot of money. You can rebuild your fortune; you can get back everything.” He gave him some inspiring words. But Jack said, “ Absolutely not. I won't take it.” Rav Sarna asked, “ Why not? This is the hand of God. Here's your money. You gave it to the Yeshiva and we're paying you back just in the nick of time.” But the man said, “ You know my story. I lost my business. I lost my money. I lost my position in my community. I lost my wife. I lost my family. After 120 years, I'm going to go up to the heavens and they're going to say, ‘ What did you do? What did you accomplish? ’ And I'll be able to say, ‘ I gave the money for the Chevron Yeshiva.’ I'm not going to let anyone take that away from me. I will not take the money.” And he didn't. Why did he lose his money? He didn't lose the money because he gave charity. He lost the money for whatever reason he was supposed to lose the money. But Hashem gave him the opportunity, when he had the money, to use it, and he knew and appreciated what the merit of giving Sedaka is. We should never come to such tests, but we can walk away with this important lesson: to appreciate that the Sedaka you give is something that lasts forever. It's something that no one can take away from you. The Gemara in Bava Batra talks about Munbaz Hamelech. When he was giving out the monies and fortunes of his treasure houses, the people said, “ Your forefathers raised so much money and you're giving it out?!” He answered, “ They hid their money in a place that the human hand can reach. They hid their money in a place that's not eternal. I'm putting my money in a place that's eternal and lasts forever.” If you need a place to invest your money, we are collecting money for Lev Chana , an organization that helps families in need during the holiday season. We give out clothing cards that work in local clothing stores. To donate: Click this link, https://www.rayze.it/levchana/ Zelle, or email to be billed at Rabbisutton@gmail.com Or mail a check to Lev Chana c/o Rabbi Sutton 1059 East 10 th St Brooklyn NY 11230 Thank you very much.
The Mishna in Pirkei Avot (chapter 5, mishna 13) tells us that there are four kinds of people that give charity. The first one wants to give, but he doesn't want others to give. This man says, “Wow, this is such an opportunity! I don't want to share it. I want to take it just for myself.” That's not good, because if you really believe in the power of Sedaka , you want to share with everybody. Rav Sholom Schwadron tells a story about Rav Yonatan Eybeschutz, that occurred a few hundred years ago. Rav Eybeschutz had a havruta who was a little bit of a zealot. This man was upset that the church was displaying their cross right in front of their shul, so he decided to knock the cross down late one night. Unfortunately, he got caught and was put in jail. They were planning to burn him at the stake for this terrible act (which of course, we don't condone). The church guard took the responsibility of guarding this man, and, as there is corruption everywhere, he went to Rav Yonatan Eybeschutz, who was the rabbi of the town, and made an offer. “For a fee of $$$$, I will deliver this man back to you.” And that's what he did. He left the door open for the man to escape. Where did Rav Eybeschutz get the money? When the congregants heard that this man was locked up, they took up a collection, but Rav Yonatan had money saved up for his daughter's wedding and he used that money instead. The people came to him afterwards and said, “ We want to pay, we want to be part of it .” But he said, “ Sorry, I took care of already.” The next day, the guard came to Rabbi Yonatan Eybeschutz and said that the people he worked for realized that he had purposely left the door open. “ I trust you. I see how you were willing to save your fellow Jew, so I'm going to give you back the money you gave me, and my assets. I'm running away. But if I return, I want to come back and get it back from you.” The next day, this guard was found dead. He was drowned in a river. Rabbi Yonatan’s wife was elated. They had laid out the money, and, like we said yesterday, v’Natenu, you give the money, it comes back to you. It came back to them! She was elated, but her husband was very, very upset. He wondered how and why they had gotten all the money back so fast. The same money they that they gave, they got back, and more?! He felt that something was wrong. It didn’t sound like they want his mitzvah. He fasted for three consecutive days, and did a Taanit Halom, where he put a question under his pillow. In the morning, he received his answer. “ You're correct. Your mitzvah was rejected from a reward in the world to come. You received all your award in this world. And the reason was because you were not willing to share the mitzvah with your congregation. They wanted a portion of this special mitzvah of Pidyon Shvuyim; they raised the money as well, and you should have let them have part of the mitzvah. You rejected them, so your mitzvah was rejected.” Unbelievable! It's great to believe in the power of a mitzvah, and it’s wonderful to believe in Sedaka, but you can't just be in it for yourself. You have to share it with other people as well. There's a joke like this, about a man who was bragging on Purim about how he had this unbelievable Ani/poor person who was poverty stricken…. with no money, no food. His friend, wanting to help out, asked, “ Who is he?” But the man answered, “ I'm not going to share him with you! I want to save him for myself. I want to give it to him!” Of course, it's a joke, but we're not in it for ourselves. And not only are we in it for the people that need the money, but we want to have mercy on everyone around us and give them the opportunity as well. And then our mitzvah is accepted. So, getting back to our Sedaka appeal this week for Lev Chana: If one person were to come up and give me $150,000, which is the area of what I need, that would be nice. But it wouldn't be right. We want everyone to have a portion in the Mitzvah. So, if there are about a thousand or so people receiving this, and each person would give a $100 or $150, we could cover it. We have to give everyone a chance, to give everyone a zechut . Of course, if you want to give more, you can give more. But don't take the whole thing for yourself. Share the Mitzvah. Believe that the power of Sedaka is great, but at the same time, have Ahavat Yisrael and share it with others. Have a wonderful day. To donate: Click this link, https://www.rayze.it/levchana/ Zelle or email Rabbisutton@gmail.com Or mail a check to Lev Chana 1059 East 10 th St Brooklyn NY 11230
At the beginning of Parashat Ki Tisa, the Baal HaTurim mentions an interesting palindrome (a word, a phrase or sequence that reads the same backward or forward, such as madam, civic or kayak) with a message. He says the word ונתנו V’Natenu /And you (should) give you, is the same when read backwards “ And you give, ” meaning that it’s not just a one time thing- “ And you give and you give and you give…” and it comes back to you. “ This tells me,” he writes, “that whatever man gives to charity comes back to him, and he doesn't lose anything out from this.” There is a Gemara that tells us that our expenses for holidays, Shabbat and tuition are not part of our regular expense accounts. Furthermore, the Ritva says this doesn't only apply to those common expenses. Rather, he says, all religious activities come from our ‘slush fund.’ Of course, you have to believe that, and that's where Bitachon comes in. You have to rely on God, that He will take care of you, and believe it. In the introduction to Shaar Bitachon, the Hovot Halevavot writes that one of the great benefits of Bitachon in the area of religion is that “ One who relies is quick to fulfill his responsibilities to God, and to people from his money, with a lot of desire and a spirit of generosity .” So, Bitachon allows us to spend our money and give it, because we realize we're not losing, we're gaining. It comes back to us. It grows. It's a great investment. It's putting it in a safe place. And with that introduction, I will give everyone the opportunity to get back and gain from your investment. B’Ezrat Hashem, this week will be dedicated to inspiring us to give Sedaka and to realizing its importance. This is the time of year of Kimcha D’Pischa, which means we have to give to the poor to make it easier for them to make Pesach. Otherwise, how will they do it? It's our responsibility to help. And so, every year, at this time, I collect for an organization called Lev Chana. We give out clothing cards to families in need. This year, I have a list of 63 widows and orphans, and B’Ezrat Hashem we will give out these clothing cards to close to 200 families. This costs money. You're going to have the opportunity to partner up with us in giving out the funds. It’s very easy: -Just click on this link https://www.rayze.it/levchana/ -You can also Zelle Rabbisutton@gmail.com - send an email to rabbisutton@gmail.com and we'll bill you, - or mail a check to: 1059 East 10th St Brooklyn, New York, 11230 made out to Lev Chana. As I said, this week, we will discuss the the topic of giving Sedaka . You don't have to only give it to this charity. It's not the only charity, it’s just the one that I'm trying to raise for. It was started in memory of my mother-in-law, Mrs. Chana Scherman, a’h. Every year, I do my hishtadlut , and Baruch Hashem, in previous years, people out there have been helpful. And remember, this lesson doesn’t just apply to Sedaka - it’s for all the Pesach expenses. Meat is expensive, chicken is expensive and Matzot are expensive. But you have to realize and believe from the bottom of your heart, that there is separate account for this. Tell yourself that there's a separate account. The money is going to come in to cover that. You have to rely on Hashem that He’s going to do that. He says when it comes to Shabbat and Yom Tov, “ Borrow and I'll pay you back.” So this is a great opportunity, not just for Sedaka. The rabbis tell us that it’s one of the great opportunities to practice bitachon, because we have something specifically guaranteed. Of course, the Hovot Halevavot discusses at length that we always have a guarantee from God, but when it comes to the holidays, it's especially apropos. God is telling us, “ Go out there, spend the money and I will cover it.” How? It'll come in from somewhere. Hashem has His ways. People are always telling me stories about how they did this and suddenly something came from here or they got money back from there… Hashem has His ways. But, and there's a big but- you must rely on Him. You must rely on Him . And if you rely on Him , as always, He comes through. So remember Lev Chana and please, do your best. Click on the link https://www.rayze.it/levchana/ Zelle, mail, whatever you'd like. Have a wonderful day, and Tizku Lemitzvot.
This week’s Parashat Ki Tisa is sandwiched between the discussions of Shabbat and the Mishkan, and it talks about the sin of the Golden Calf, which is in the middle. But the commentaries explain that the Sun of the Golden Calf is not as simple as it seems. Just a few days after getting out of Egypt, and seeing the sea split, they're not going to forget about God. What happened was that they felt that they needed an intermediary. Moshe Rabbenu was gone (or so they thought), and they didn't feel that they were able to deal with God directly. That was a mistake. We don't need a middleman. We deal directly with God. Rav Wolbe says that this mistake is prevalent today as well. He writes about this in his introduction to Rabi Yaakov Hillel’s sefer Tamim Tihyeh, which means Be Pure in your Faith. It's also an English book called Faith and Folly. Rabbi Yaakov Hillel wrote this sefer about 30 years ago, discussing various mekubalim , whether real or not, that people were falling into. In the introduction, Rav Wolbe wrote that rather than dealing directly with Hashem, people were using a back door to get to God. But we don't have to walk through the back door. We can walk in through the front door, with our heads up high, because we are the children of the King. Rav Wolbe gives a mashal of a man whose child needs something. Imagine if one day in shul, this man’s friend approaches him and says, “ Your son came to me and asked me to ask you for some money for the new car that he needs to buy.” The father would be shocked. He’d say, “ Why'd he come to you? Why didn’t he come to me? He's my son! Doesn't he know that he can talk to me? Doesn’t he know that I care about him?” It happens sometimes when collecting for causes, that you ask someone else to approach a person. Sometimes the people say, “ You don't know me well enough? You have to send an intermediary? You can't talk to me directly?” It's insulting. The same is true with Hashem. We are His children! We should already have learned, from Yetziat Mitzrayim that we are His children. Hashem calls us, “ My firstborn child, the Jewish people ,” and therefore, we don't need a middleman. Our rabbis tell us that we see from the fact that Shabbat is put before and after the sin of the Golden Calf, that Shabbat is a cure for the sin. It says that even if someone worshiped idols, his sins are atoned through Shemirat Shabbat. Of course, you have to do teshuva and repent, but Shabbat will fix the mistake. How so? The Gemara tells us that a non-Jew who keeps Shabbat is deserving of the death penalty. Shabbat is only for the Jewish people. When someone wants to convert, they can't fully keep Shabbat. They have to turn the lights on or something, because until a person is a Jew, they can't keep Shabbat. The Midrash compares it to a king and queen. If they’re alone in a room and a stranger, who doesn’t belong, comes into the room, he’ll get the death penalty for interfering with the intimate time of the king and queen. So too, Shabbat is the time when God and the Jewish people are alone, so to say. That's why, as we read through the prayers of Shabbat, we have different levels- Friday night, Shabbat and Shabbat mincha. The night is like the Kiddushin of marriage, putting the ring on the finger. Then we have Yismach Moshe , which is like the wedding canopy. Atah Echad V’Shimcha - Mincha time, is like when the couple is alone. So, the whole Shabbat process is showing the special, individual connection between God and the Jewish people. And if a person keeps Shabbat properly, he’s forgiven for the sin of Avodah Zara. That means those improper thoughts will be purged and purified through the Kedusha of Shabbat. On Shabbat, we actually feel that special connection. It says that during the week, we're like servants to God, but on Shabbat were like God's children. That is the special Shabbat feeling, and that is supposed to cure the mistake of the sin of the Golden Calf. Deal direct. Feel the connection of Shabbat, and realize that we don't need a middleman. Have a Shabbat Shalom.
Today we will share one more, little Purim takeaway, as it’s Shushan Purim, and we still have the flavor of Purim in our mouths. The Bet Halevi tells us that when one has Bitachon, he’s not afraid to do for others, he’s not afraid he’s going to lose out by being Mevater . It takes Bitachon to give into other people's needs and wishes. The Alshech shares a very great lesson: Sometimes a person thinks that if he takes care of another person, he’s losing out himself. But he says that we don't understand. If you take care of your friend, and your friend takes care of you, Hashem takes care of both of you. However, if you’re taking care of yourself, and your friend is taking care of himself, Hashem says, “ I don't need to take care of you guys. ” When each of you are take care of the other one, then Hashem comes in and says, “ I'll take care of you both. ” That is a fundamental of Bitachon, and that's why we say V’Ahavta LeRe’echa Kamocha, Ani Hashem . We need the Ani Hashem - we need the Bitachon. How do we learn this lesson from the story of the Megillah? Both Mordechai and Esther were involved in saving the the life of Achashverosh. Mordechai was the one that found out, and if he was only out for himself, he would have said, “ Let me tell the king, and I'll get the credit.” But no, he tells Esther, because he wants her to find grace in the eyes of the king. So to let Esther get the credit, she tells it over. Now, she could have just told it over in her name. But no, Esther says it over in the name of Mordechai. Each one was looking out for the other one's benefit. In the end, God said, “ I'm going to benefit you both .” And that is where the miracle happened. The miracle happened because of the element of surprise. Esther said, “ There is someone who wants to wipe out my nation.” “Who's your nation?” The Jewish people. And there was Mordechai, who saved the king, there was Haman, who was trying to kill Esther. All the pieces fell into place. But everything started that night when Achashverosh couldn't sleep. He went through the book, found that Mordechai was not rewarded…and the rest is history. That would not have happened if Mordechi was just out for himself, or if Esther would've gone on her own. Instead, each one of them was out for the other one's credit. And that VeAhavta LeRe’echa Kamocha invoked the Ani Hashem. That is yet another of the important lessons of Megillat Esther. It’s not only the Emunah and Hashgacha Pratit/the belief in God's Divine Providence in doing things in miraculous, hidden ways, but it’s this big takeaway: We see from the Mishloach Manot and Matanot La’Evyonim, that Ahavat Yisrael factor, that comes out of Purim. And these two, Ahavat Yisrael, and Bitachon, are linked. We see this connection in one of the laws of Purim. The Gemara discusses what happens if a man does not have enough money for Mishloach Manot, and it tells a story of two rabbis that didn't have money. They planned that one would give Mishloach Manot to the other, who, in turn, would give it back, showing that , “I care about you, you care about me.” So, built into the Mitzvah of Mishloach Manot is the ability of each one of us to take care of the other. It’s this important lesson, in Ahavat Yisrael and Bitachon, that we take away from Purim. Have a wonderful day and a Shushan Purim Sameach.
As we mentioned, one of the purposes of Purim is to realize that Hashem never despises the Jewish people. Even in a situation where it looks like He's disgusted with us, His love is there. Eicha ends with the pasuk, “ If You would be totally disgusted with us, You would get extremely angry at us.” Since that last pasuk is seemingly not a happy ending, we repeat the second-to-last pasuk , “ Bring us back and we'll return. Renew our days like that of old.” In reality, the last pasuk is not a negative pasuk . It’s just that people might misunderstand it, so we don't end with that. The pasuk says, “If You were really disgusted with us, You would've gotten very angry and totally destroyed us.” But You didn't. This concept, that God does not get totally disgusted with us, is brought up in a discussion between God and the Jewish people, at the time of the destruction of the Temple. The Midrash Raba in Shemot 31,10 brings a pasuk in Yirmiyah 6 that says, “ Disgusted silver, they called them, ” at the time of the destruction of the Temple. The goyim had the Jewish people in shackles and chains, and they said, “ God is disgusted with You,” and they quoted this pasuk. When Yirmiyah heard this, he went to God and said, “ God, did You really get disgusted from them? ” As it says in Yirmiyah 14, “ Are You disgusted with them?” He continued, “ If You were really disgusted with, us You’d totally wipe us out.” And God said, “ Absolutely not. I'm never disgusted with the Jewish people .” As it says in the Torah, “ I'm not disgusted with them.” The Chatam Sofer asks, What is the greatest miracle of Purim? Is it the fact that Haman comes in and gives that great description of how Mordechai should be paraded through the streets, or the fact that Achashverosh couldn’t sleep that night, or the fact that Esther becomes the queen? He answers that all of that is understandable. The biggest miracle, he says, is that after 186 days, Achashverosh calls for Vashti in an embarrassing fashion and ends up killing her, because that is what prepared the entire miracle. That put Esther in the palace, and everything happened because of that. And when did that happen? While we were committing the very sin that caused the decree to happen to begin with- we were enjoying the party of Achashverosh! At the very party that caused us to get the decree, God has mercy on us and prepares the way for the great miracle. That, says the Chatam Sofer, is the most outstanding point in Megillat Esther, because it shows this concept, that God is never disgusted with the Jewish people, neither the global Jewish people, nor the individual. We can always turn everything around. Another example of this comes as something of a juxtaposition. The reading for this past week was Amalek, but we also read the story of Shaul Hamelech, when he does not listen to the word of God and he doesn't wipe out Amalek. And what does it say? Shemuel told Shaul, “ You despise the word of God. God is disgusted with you and you're not going to be the king.” End of Shaul. But then, 500 years later, Shaul has these two descendants, Mordechai and Esther, who fix the sin and become the shining stars. They wipe out Haman, whom Shaul left alive. They fixed it. That’s the way Hashem works. Even if someone does something wrong, Hashem will wait 500 years to fix it or to turn it around, because God is never disgusted with the Jewish people. He'll take lemons and make them into lemonade. Mordechai and Esther fixed the problem. As Mordechai told Esther, “ Who knows if this is not the time that you came to the palace for… If you don't do it, the Jewish people will be saved, and you and your father's house will be destroyed.” What did he mean that ‘ she and her father's house would be destroyed? ‘ “ This is our opportunity, ” she said, “ to fix the sin of our great-great-grandfather Shaul; to turn it around so that God will no longer be disgusted with us, but, rather, be happy with us.” This is the important takeaway from the story of Purim- the turnaround. The turnaround is that it looks like God's disgusted with us, but He’s not. In the beautiful words of the Rambam, in the laws of Teshuva chapter seven, when discussing how Teshuva brings us close, it says, “ Yesterday before Teshuva, this man was disgusted. He was hated, he was distanced, he was abominable. And today, after Teshuva, he's loved, he's coveted, he's close, and he's beloved.” And he goes to say that the same words that God uses to distance, He uses to bring close. Then, again, in the next chapter, he writes, “ Yesterday, he was distanced from God and he cried out and wasn't answered. And they tore up his prayers in front of him, as if yo say, “We don't want you.” And today, after Teshuva, you're connected to Hashem. You cry out and you’re answered immediately. As if to say, “We love the Mitzvot that you do. We're desire the connection.” That's the turnaround. We're never despised, Hashem always loves us. It's up to us to flip it all around with Teshuva. Have a wonderful day.
We are in Taanit Esther, and getting ready for Purim. Every year I share the Rambam, from his Hakdama to Mishneh Torah , which says that the purpose of reading Megillat Esther is to mention the praise of Hashem for the salvation He did to us, and that He was close to our cries. In that way, we will bless Him and praise Him. It’s also to let future generations know that what the Torah guaranteed us is true. What's that guarantee ? That -Mi Goy Gadol/Who is a great nation , Asher Lo Elokim Kerovim Elav/ that God is close to. So there are two important takeaways from Megillat Esther. After hearing both the night and day readings, you should walk away with knowing 1-That I have something to praise God for. 2-The power of prayer. That's why, in Megillat Esther, it talks not only about the miracle, but it also talks a lot about how they got there- through fasting, through praying, through Teshuva: ‘ the words of the fast and their cries’ The Gemara, in Masechet Megillah 4A, cites two sources for the fact that we must read the Megillah both at night and by day. It's interesting to see where the sources are cloaked: The first is in chapter 22 of Tehilim, Lamnaseach Al Ayelet HaShachar, It's the song for the darkest point of the night, called Ayelet HaShachar, as the story of Esther occurred at the darkest point of history. It’s brought down in the Sefarim to read chapter 22 on Taanit Esther and Purim (and it’s in many siddurim), because it’s the mizmor that Esther said. In it, we find the following words: אֱֽלֹהַ֗י אֶקְרָ֣א י֭וֹמָם וְלֹ֣א תַעֲנֶ֑ה וְ֝לַ֗יְלָה וְֽלֹא־דֻֽמִיָּ֥ה לִיֽ My God, I called out by day and You didn't answer, And at night, there was no silence to me . So the pasuk talks about crying out to God at night and crying out to God by day. That, says Rav Yeshua Ben Levi, is the source that we read Megillat Esther both night and day. So we read the Megillat Esther both night and day, because they prayed at night and day, thus showing quite clearly that the goal of reading Megillat Esther is to remember the prayers of night and day. That's aspect number one. Aspect number two comes from another source, where the Gemara asks how we know we have to read the Megillat both at nigh and during the day, and says it’s because the pasuk says, לְמַעַן יְזַמֶּרְךָ כָבוֹד וְלֹא יִדֹּם ה׳ אֱלֹהַי לְעוֹלָם אוֹדֶךָּ My neshama will sing to you and will not stop, Hashem, my God, I will give praise forever. The double language of song and praise refers to reading the Megillah at night and by day. Furthermore, Rashi brings down from the Midrash that this entire mizmor is also used to explain the story of Mordechai and Esther. For example, it says, “ You took off my sack cloth ,” which was Mordechai talking. And Haman is the one that says, “ I thought I would never drop .” According to the midrash, the whole mizmor is discussing the story of Purim. But again, what is the pasuk that is used to give us the message of reading Megilat Esther by night and by day? לְמַעַן יְזַמֶּרְךָ כָבוֹד וְלֹא יִדֹּם יי אֱלֹהַי לְעוֹלָם אוֹדֶךָּ That I should sing zemirot to You and I'll forever praise You. So, both of the takeaways of the Megillah, namely the power of prayer and the need to praise, are sources for reading the Megillah at night, and by day. That means we read the Megillah at night and day to praise God at night and day, because the miracle happened both at night and by day. Achashverosh was not able to sleep at night, and the parties happened at the day. So we cry out to God at night and day; He answers our prayers at night and day, and therefore we read the Megillah at night and day. And when we read the Megillah at night and day, we’re reminded of the power of prayer at night and day, and we're reminded to praise God for the miracles that happened by night and by day. That's the takeaway of the Megillah. Sometimes you go to a class, you say it was nice, but when people ask what you learned, you don’t know. With Megillat Esther, you have to know the takeaway- something clear that you learned from this class- When you walk out of a restaurant, what's in your leftovers? What do you have from it? We have two important lessons we need to walk away from the Megillah with, both night and day. So remember these two important takeaways: 1-The power of prayer. That’s why we use both Purim and Taanit Esther as times to pray. Taanit Esther is not a fast of sadness. It's not a fast that we are avoid. It's a happy fast. It's brought down that on some fast- days, you shouldn't take a shower. Even though it's not Tisha B’Av, some say on Shiva Asar B’Tamuz, or Asara B’Tevet, avoid extra pleasures. But it doesn’t say that about Taanit Esther. Taanit Esther is a happy fast, because we walk away with these happy lessons: the power of prayer to turn over a decree, and the need to praise God when we are saved. B’Ezrat Hashem, we should pray to God, have our prayers answered, and praise Him for all the wonderful things He’s going to bring upon us. Have a Purim Sameach.
Today we will share an Emunah- Bitachon thought related to the reading of Amalek that we're going to do this week, as we always do before Purim. The Midrash Tanhuma asks, what exactly did Amalek accomplish? Amalek attacked the Jewish people and Amalek got burnt, so what did they accomplish? The Midrash Tanhuma compares it to a bubbling hot bath that everyone is afraid to go into. Then one man jumps in, and cools it off for everybody else, even though he gets burnt. What exactly is that mashal telling us? The Baalei Mussar explain that there are different levels of Emuna. A person can believe in his head . If he’s very intellectual, and cerebral, he believes in God based on proofs and philosophy. Another person might believe in God through his heart , and his emotions bring him to recognize God. He's moved by a beautiful scene, and he's emotionally a believer. Then there's a level called Emunah Hushit/ Emunah in the senses , when a person can feel and touch God as a reality. That is the highest level. It's not something cerebral or emotional. And just like you wouldn't put your finger in fire because instinctively, you pull it out, that was the level of Emuna and clarity that the world had regarding the power of God and the superiority of the Jewish people. It was like a bubbling hot bath to them. It wasn't a question of intellect. It wasn't a question of emotion. They knew not to put their finger in, because they’d get burnt. That's what Amalek cooled off. That's why it says Asher Karacha Baderech, he cooled us off. What did he cool exactly? The Elder of Kelm explains beautifully that Amalek wanted to cool the Jewish people off from their own greatness. From, in his words, “ The greatness of their heart and the greatness of their souls. ” Everything that happened through Yetziat Mitzrayim lifted up the Jewish people to a higher level, and they, in turn, understood their connection to God. They understood they were the Am HaNivchar / The Chosen Nation . They had no question. It was obvious- just like a prince doesn't play in the sandbox with beggars because he just doesn’t belong there. That was the power of the Jewish people, and that’s what Amalek tried to take away- our sense of greatness. Haman tried to do this to Mordechai as well. He tried to break Mordechai. But about Mordechai it says, “ We Jewish people don't bend. We don't bow .” We're not broken. And we don't become humbled in front of all of the attackers. So not only did Haman not break Mordechai, but the opposite happened. Haman ended up parading him through the streets on the horse. This is what happens in our generation as well. There are always people that try to make Jews feel secondary and unimportant. According to the Gaon of Vilna and many others, Germans are descendants of Amalek, and their whole job was to make the Jews feel like they weren’t even human. Forget about that being the chosen people, they wanted us to feel subhuman. They tattooed numbers into our arms as if we had no identity. As if we weren’t a people. But we have to lift ourselves up and realize that we are the Am HaNivchar. W e're not going to be affected by the outside chatter of social media, by all the “ Hitler was right,” comments and all the antisemitism. It’s all there to break us. But the job of Purim is to lift us up. We have to realize how special we are. We are that bubbling bath. We are the untouchables. On Purim, Nahapochu - everything turns around , and we can be uplifted. Rav Wolbe used to say that Purim is the time where we see the true greatness of the Jewish people. Look how we act when we're drunk! No one is killing each other, everyone's just blessing each other. Everyone is happy and everyone's dancing. Mishloach Manot, Matanot L’Evyonim….it's a beautiful day. It's a beautiful time, and we're supposed to walk out of it on fire , realizing the unique qualities and the special traits of the Jewish people. Have a Shabbat Shalom.
Over the past three classes, we have spoken about focusing during prayer. We brought quoted a Mishna in Berachot, chapter five, that discusses the pious men of old who spent an hour before they prayed, contemplating, in order to clear their mind from the clutter. There are a few words in that Mishna, before it talks about the pious men of old. It says, אֵין עוֹמְדִין לְהִתְפַּלֵּל אֶלָּא מִתּוֹךְ כֹּבֶד רֹאשׁ You have to start praying with a Koved Rosh/seriousness . But Rashi translates Koved Rosh as humility . Why is humility so important for prayer? In Alei Shor (vol 1 page 113), regarding how to empty your mind from the clutter before you pray, Rav Wolbe asks how you can just suddenly stop all that business you were involved in just a moment ago, that you were totally engrossed in? How do we just forget about all that? He says the only way to do it is to realize that all that business needs prayer for success. Only through praying will we have the proper outlook on the business that we do. We should realize it's not my strength and my power that makes it happen. When you start to pray, suddenly you start thinking, “ I have to do this. I have to do that ,” whether in your business, or your busy day…the cake you have to bake, the children you have to pick up from school... why do all those things pop into your mind when you start to pray? Why is it so difficult to focus? Why do all these thoughts come to mind? He says, it’s a sign that we don't really believe that we need prayer for our success. And therefore, he says, the biggest interference to our praying with kavana is not our ADHD, or our fast-paced life. Of course, that is part of it, but the main problem is our arrogance . What turns on those thoughts that flood our mind? What's the little machine that's producing all those thoughts? It’s our arrogance. Behind all of those thoughts is the fundamental belief that I'm in charge of my life and I make the things happen. If I don't think about them, and I don't take care of them, they're not going to be taken care of. We must realize the fundamental mistake in that arrogant outlook. The only way to fix it is by annulling yourself to God. That's the whole purpose of prayer. We start our prayers with bowing, and we pray with our feet and hands locked, to symbolize that we can't do anything. In the words of Rav Wolbe, “ Prayer and arrogance are an oxymoron.” They don't work together. The whole essence of prayer is humility, and with that humility, you get the proper outlook on life. Therefore, we have to put time in to focus on these important points. That means you have to have a little inner discussion with yourself. When you start praying, and those thoughts come to your mind, you have to stop yourself and say, “ Hmm, there you go again. You think you're in charge. You think you're making things happen. You don't make things happen. God can slow everything down.” You're thinking about, “ How am I going to make the sale?” But Who's going to make sure the boat comes in on time? Who's going to make sure they pay?” You're not in charge. There's a cute story Rav Matityahu Salomon told over once. He said, there was a man in England, where he used to live, who was a cutthroat in business. He was very, very tough. But he prayed a very, very long Amidah. Somebody (perhaps Rav Matityahu) once asked him, “ Why are you praying for so long? You look like you really know how to take care of your business. You're in control.” He answered , “I pray to Hashem that I know what I'm doing in my business, but I know You can ruin everything. So please, leave me. Let me do my thing.” That's what some people feel like. “ I can really handle it. Just, Hashem, don't mess anything up. Don't ruin anything .” But that's a totally warped way of looking at things. There is no success with without Hashem . If, while our eyes are closed, praying to Hashem, we're not able to focus on Him, and we're only thinking about our tactics and our hishtadlut and our activities, that's an indicator that deep down, we think we're making everything happen. And therefore, it means you have to rethink your approach to Who's really making things happen. That's the work of Kavana, and that's the work of prayer. Have a wonderful day.
Over the past two days, we have spoken about the importance of contemplating before prayer. This year, I saw a fascinating commentary from Maran Bet Yosef, Rav Yosef Caro, in his commentary on Chumash. (Most people know the Bet Yosef for his Halachic works, but he also has a commentary on Chumash) In Shemot chapter 10, he offers a fascinating approach to Ashrei. He links Ashrei to the concept of waiting before you pray, as did the pious men of old. Furthermore, he says that it’s really a short introduction of the following important thoughts, that you're supposed to have every day before you pray: 1-The first thing one must do is to organize Hashem's praise like Moshe Rabbenu. When he prayed V’Etchanan, he started off by praising Hashem. 2-Then, after you praise Hashem in general, you must mention His ability, His power, His strength to do whatever He needs to do, and whatever we want Him to do for us. 3-Then we have to mention His kindness. If we're only counting on what we deserve , then most of us can't pray at all. So we have to arouse in ourselves the belief in Hashem’s kindness. 4-Then we have to talk about the greatness of His kingdom and 5- how the Shechina will eventually return and the world will know about God. Once we know about God's great abilities and His kindness and His kingdom, we may wonder what His kingdom has to do with me and my needs, 6 -So next, we have to give a little speech on Hashgacha Pratit, and that Hashem is is involved in our lives. 7-We also have to talk about how the world is not a free-for-all. There's reward and punishment for what we do. Although we're counting on Hashem's kindness, there is justice in the world. 8- Finally, we have to thank Hashem for everything that happens to us. We can see how these concepts actually fit into the praise of Ashrei: The first four pesukim (after the introductory pasuk, Ashrei Yoshvei Betecha, found in perek 84) organize the praise of God. תְּהִלָּ֗ה לְדָ֫וִ֥ד אֲרוֹמִמְךָ֣ אֱלוֹהַ֣י הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ וַאֲבָרְכָ֥ה שִׁ֝מְךָ֗ לְעוֹלָ֥ם וָעֶֽד׃ בְּכׇל־י֥וֹם אֲבָֽרְכֶ֑ךָּ וַאֲהַֽלְלָ֥ה שִׁ֝מְךָ֗ לְעוֹלָ֥ם וָעֶֽד׃ גָּ֘ד֤וֹל יְהֹוָ֣ה וּמְהֻלָּ֣ל מְאֹ֑ד וְ֝לִגְדֻלָּת֗וֹ אֵ֣ין חֵֽקֶר׃ ד֣וֹר לְ֭דוֹר יְשַׁבַּ֣ח מַעֲשֶׂ֑יךָ וּגְב֖וּרֹתֶ֣יךָ יַגִּֽידוּ׃ Lift up God, bless Him. Every day I'm going to bless Him and Praise Him. God is great, and very praiseworthy, there is no end to his greatness. From generation to generation, we'll speak of God's great deeds. The next two pesukim, 5 and 6, talk about Hashem's ability, His wonders and His awesome strength. הֲ֭דַר כְּב֣וֹד הוֹדֶ֑ךָ וְדִבְרֵ֖י נִפְלְאֹתֶ֣יךָ אָשִֽׂיחָה׃ וֶעֱז֣וּז נֽוֹרְאֹתֶ֣יךָ יֹאמֵ֑רוּ ( וגדלותיך ) [ וּגְדֻלָּתְךָ֥ ] אֲסַפְּרֶֽנָּה׃ Now, lest someone think that he’s not deserving, we talk about His goodness , in Pesukim 7, 8, 9, and 10. זֵ֣כֶר רַב־טוּבְךָ֣ יַבִּ֑יעוּ וְצִדְקָתְךָ֥ יְרַנֵּֽנוּ׃ חַנּ֣וּן וְרַח֣וּם יְהֹוָ֑ה אֶ֥רֶךְ אַ֝פַּ֗יִם וּגְדׇל־חָֽסֶד׃ טוֹב־יְהֹוָ֥ה לַכֹּ֑ל וְ֝רַחֲמָ֗יו עַל־כׇּל־מַעֲשָֽׂיו׃ יודוּךָ יְ֭הֹוָה כׇּל־מַעֲשֶׂ֑יךָ וַ֝חֲסִידֶ֗יךָ יְבָרְכֽוּכָה׃ God is kind and gracious. He has patience and unlimited kindness. God is good to all, and has mercy on all creatures. Then we talk about the greatness of God’s kingdom כְּב֣וֹד מַלְכוּתְךָ֣ יֹאמֵ֑רוּ וּגְבוּרָתְךָ֥ יְדַבֵּֽרוּ׃ להוֹדִ֤יעַ ׀ לִבְנֵ֣י הָ֭אָדָם גְּבוּרֹתָ֑יו וּ֝כְב֗וֹד הֲדַ֣ר מַלְכוּתֽוֹ׃ We talk about the honor of His kingdom, His strength to tell the people of His strength and the honor and glory of His kingdom in this kingdom. And although we don't see it now, pasuk 13 tells us, מַֽלְכוּתְךָ֗ מַלְכ֥וּת כׇּל־עֹלָמִ֑ים וּ֝מֶֽמְשַׁלְתְּךָ֗ בְּכׇל־דּ֥וֹר וָדֹֽר׃ It’s here throughout generations dominion in every single generation and will return. Pesukim 14-18 mainly talk about how Hashem deals with us directly. סוֹמֵ֣ךְ יְ֭הֹוָה לְכׇל־הַנֹּפְלִ֑ים וְ֝זוֹקֵ֗ף לְכׇל־הַכְּפוּפִֽים׃ עֵֽינֵי־כֹ֭ל אֵלֶ֣יךָ יְשַׂבֵּ֑רוּ וְאַתָּ֤ה נֽוֹתֵן־לָהֶ֖ם אֶת־אׇכְלָ֣ם בְּעִתּֽוֹ׃ פּוֹתֵ֥חַ אֶת־יָדֶ֑ךָ וּמַשְׂבִּ֖יעַ לְכׇל־חַ֣י רָצֽוֹן׃ צַדִּ֣יק יְ֭הֹוָה בְּכׇל־דְּרָכָ֑יו וְ֝חָסִ֗יד בְּכׇל־מַעֲשָֽׂיו׃ קָר֣וֹב יְ֭הֹוָה לְכׇל־קֹרְאָ֑יו לְכֹ֤ל אֲשֶׁ֖ר יִקְרָאֻ֣הוּ בֶֽאֱמֶֽת׃ Hashem deals with me directly. When people fall, God picks them up. People are hunched and God stands them up. All our eyes are on God hoping to Him. He gives us our bread in the right time. We open our hands and God satiates our every need. God is righteous, and He’s close to all that call out to Him In pesukim 19 and 20, רְצוֹן־יְרֵאָ֥יו יַעֲשֶׂ֑ה וְֽאֶת־שַׁוְעָתָ֥ם יִ֝שְׁמַ֗ע וְיוֹשִׁיעֵֽם׃ שׁוֹמֵ֣ר יְ֭הֹוָה אֶת־כׇּל־אֹהֲבָ֑יו וְאֵ֖ת כׇּל־הָרְשָׁעִ֣ים יַשְׁמִֽיד׃ God does the will of those that fear Him. (This is reward and punishment.) God watches over those that love Him and eradicates the wicked. And finally, we have the last principle in pasuk 21 תְּהִלַּ֥ת יְהֹוָ֗ה יְֽדַבֶּ֫ר־פִּ֥י וִיבָרֵ֣ךְ כׇּל־בָּ֭שָׂר שֵׁ֥ם קׇדְשׁ֗וֹ לְעוֹלָ֥ם וָעֶֽד׃ {פ} I praise God. I thank God. These are the eight important points that Ashrei tells us. So, therefore, before our prayers, we say Ashrei- in order to put us in the right frame of mind, to fulfill these concepts. That is our beautiful lesson, from the Bet Yosef. You can print the chart below and keep it in your siddur. Have a wonderful day. To organize Hashem’s praise ספר תהילים פרק קמה: (א) תְּהִלָּה לְדָוִד אֲרוֹמִמְךָ אֱלוֹהַי הַמֶּלֶךְ וַאֲבָרְכָה שִׁמְךָ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד: (ב) בְּכָל יוֹם אֲבָרְכֶךָּ וַאֲהַלְלָה שִׁמְךָ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד: (ג) גָּדוֹל יְהֹוָה וּמְהֻלָּל מְאֹד וְלִגְדֻלָּתוֹ אֵין חֵקֶר: (ד) דּוֹר לְדוֹר יְשַׁבַּח מַעֲשֶׂיךָ וּגְבוּרֹתֶיךָ יַגִּידוּ: To mention His ability (ה) הֲדַר כְּבוֹד הוֹדֶךָ וְדִבְרֵי נִפְלְאֹתֶיךָ אָשִׂיחָה: (ו) וֶעֱזוּז נוֹרְאֹתֶיךָ יֹאמֵרוּ וּגְדֻלָּתְךָ אֲסַפְּרֶנָּה: To mention His kindness (ז) זֵכֶר רַב טוּבְךָ יַבִּיעוּ וְצִדְקָתְךָ יְרַנֵּנוּ: (ח) חַנּוּן וְרַחוּם יְהֹוָה אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וּגְדָל חָסֶד: (ט) טוֹב יְהֹוָה לַכֹּל וְרַחֲמָיו עַל כָּל מַעֲשָׂיו: (י) יוֹדוּךָ יְהֹוָה כָּל מַעֲשֶׂיךָ וַחֲסִידֶיךָ יְבָרְכוּכָה: To mention the greatness of His kingdom (יא) כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתְךָ יֹאמֵרוּ וּגְבוּרָתְךָ יְדַבֵּרוּ: (יב) לְהוֹדִיעַ לִבְנֵי הָאָדָם גְּבוּרֹתָיו וּכְבוֹד הֲדַר מַלְכוּתוֹ: To mention the kingdom of the Shechina (יג) מַלְכוּתְךָ מַלְכוּת כָּל עֹלָמִים וּמֶמְשַׁלְתְּךָ בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדֹר: To mention His divine providence (יד) סוֹמֵךְ יְהֹוָה לְכָל הַנֹּפְלִים וְזוֹקֵף לְכָל הַכְּפוּפִים: (טו) עֵינֵי כֹל אֵלֶיךָ יְשַׂבֵּרוּ וְאַתָּה נוֹתֵן לָהֶם אֶת אָכְלָם בְּעִתּוֹ: (טז) פּוֹתֵחַ אֶת יָדֶךָ וּמַשְׂבִּיעַ לְכָל חַי רָצוֹן: (יז) צַדִּיק יְהֹוָה בְּכָל דְּרָכָיו וְחָסִיד בְּכָל מַעֲשָׂיו: (יח) קָרוֹב יְהֹוָה לְכָל קֹרְאָיו לְכֹל אֲשֶׁר יִקְרָאֻהוּ בֶאֱמֶת: To mention reward and punishment (יט) רְצוֹן יְרֵאָיו יַעֲשֶׂה וְאֶת שַׁוְעָתָם יִשְׁמַע וְיוֹשִׁיעֵם: (כ) שׁוֹמֵר יְהֹוָה אֶת כָּל אֹהֲבָיו וְאֵת כָּל הָרְשָׁעִים יַשְׁמִיד: To thank at the end (כא) תְּהִלַּת יְהֹוָה יְדַבֶּר פִּי וִיבָרֵךְ כָּל בָּשָׂר שֵׁם קָדְשׁוֹ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד:
We continue with insights into the famous chapter that we say three times a day, Ashrei Yoshvei Betecha. The first part of Ashrei, אַ֭שְׁרֵי יוֹשְׁבֵ֣י בֵיתֶ֑ךָ ע֝֗וֹד יְֽהַלְל֥וּךָ סֶּֽלָה׃ is found in Tehilim chapter 84,5. The Chida, his commentary Yosef Tehilot, quotes from the Rama M’Pano, who asks the following question: The proper Hebrew for this verse אַ֭שְׁרֵי יוֹשְׁבֵ֣י בֵיתֶ֑ךָ Ashrei Yoshvei Betecha, which means, “ Fortunate are the ones who sit in Your house,” should be אשרי יושבי ב ביתך Ashrei Yoshvei B’ Betecha Fortunate are the ones who sit in your house. What does “ Fortunate are the ones that sit your house ,” mean? He explains that it really means is, “Fortunate are the people, who, they themselves, become the house..the chair, the dwelling place of God Himself.” So we read it as Ashrei Yoshvei Betecha, Those that sit and become Your house. They're Your hous e. They're God's house. That's the job of every Jew, as we say, “Zeh Eli V’Anvehu/This is God, and I will build a dwelling place for Him.” The dwelling place for Him isn’t just an external building like the Bet Hamikdash or the Mishkan, but rather the person himself . This concept shows up in the Alshech, who explains, the pasuk where Hashem says V’Asu Li Mikdash/Make for Me a Mikdash, and I’ll dwell in them . It doesn't say dwell in it ( meaning the Mishkan). “ I’ll dwell in them , means the Jewish people. Today, we don't have a Mishkan or Mikdash. But we have our prayer. And when we pray, God dwells in us . We talk to God when we pray, because He’s there. When we pray, He comes down, to the extent that there is a Halacha that one is not allowed to walk in front of someone while they're praying. The simple reason is because it's going to distract them. But the deeper reason is because when they're praying, the space around them becomes holy, like a Bet Mikdash, so you can't enter that holy zone that's surrounding a person when they're praying. And that explains, going back to we discussed yesterday, how the pious men of old, would contemplate for an hour before they prayed. As we said, the source was Ashrei Yoshvei Betecha/ Fortunate are those who (simply) sit and wait. But now we have a deeper explanation: Fortunate are those that become God's home . How do we become God's home? What brings the Shechina down? It comes down only through thought and contemplation. And the Shulchan Aruch brings down that these pious men of old would reach such high levels of connection that it was almost like a prophecy. God dwelled on them because they spent the time to contemplate and bring Him down. And we too must spend time contemplating, as we mentioned yesterday, because if one does not spend time before praying, then, while he's praying, he's not really present. Hacham BenSion gave a mashal for this: Imagine that you have a very important business meeting, and all the important buyers are sitting around the table. Then you walk into the meeting, put a picture of yourself down, say, “ Here’s my picture,” and walk out. You're not present. When a person prays and they're not focused, it's like they put their picture down, but they're not really there. The Rambam talks about this in Moreh Nevuchim , section three, chapter 51, where he says, “It's possible that a person can pray with the movement of his lips, with his face against the wall, but he's thinking about his own personal needs and what he has to do,” which is what most people do. When you close your eyes, suddenly your mind becomes flooded with all of the things that you need to do. And he says, on that person, we say a very, powerful or negative verse, קָר֤וֹב אַתָּה֙ בְּפִיהֶ֔ם וְרָח֖וֹק מִכִּלְיוֹתֵיהֶֽם You're close to God with your mouths and you’re far , (literally) from your kidne ys (which refers to your inner thoughts). Your inner thoughts are not really connected to Hashem. This is the difficulty of prayer. Prayer is called Avodah/ service. What is the service of God? I always thought the service of God is that while you're praying, you're serving God. But the Avudarham, in his commentary on prayer, quotes Rav Abraham, the son of Rabi Yitzhak, the Av Bet Din , and one of the Rishonim . He says that prayer is called service , and the work of that service is 1-to remove the thoughts from your mind that are causing you to become preoccupied in worldly matters, and 2-to subjugate your thoughts to your prayer. So the real job of prayer is not necessarily when you're praying, it's the pre-game show that you have to put your efforts into. And if you put the proper efforts in beforehand, then your prayer goes smoothly. To recap, we’ve discussed two explanations of Ashrei Yoshvei Betecha. 1- As we discussed yesterday, it means Fortunate are those that wait in God's home. 2- Fortunate are those that become God's home. AAnd they are accomplished the same way: by weighing, contemplating and thinking before you pray. Have a wonderful day.
We're going to spend some time discussing the mizmor of Ashrei that we say three times a day. Much is said about Ashrei. In fact, who says it three times a day is guaranteed Olam Haba. The Mishna in Masechet Berachot (fifth chapter) describes how the Hasidim HaRishonim /pious men of old would take an hour before they prayed, in order to have proper kavana . The Gemara in Berachot 32B says the source for this is, Ashrei Yoshvei Betecha/fortunate are the ones that sit in Your house. But how? Where do we see, from the words “ Fortunate are the ones that sit in Your house,” that one is supposed to contemplate before prayer? One of the explanations is that “ Fortunate are the ones that sit in Your house, ”means that you don't have to say anything. Just sitting in your house accomplishes something. That's important, and it’s brought down in all of the poskim and commentators. The importance of waiting before you pray is brought down l’halacha in the Rambam. It says that a person must spend some time before he prays, to clear his mind of all the clutter in order to be able to focus on the fact that he's standing in front of God in prayer. Our minds are so busy and so preoccupied that we need to take out that time. Rav Wolbe, in his sefer Alei Shor (vol 2, pg 359), says that the Hasidim HaRishonim waited an hour. We have to wait something . What does ‘ something’ mean? He says that five minutes might be too much, so try one minute on the clock. Sit for one minute, in your spot, and say nothing. Just realize that you're about to stand in front of Hashem and clear out the clutter of your mind. He says that we are constantly rushed, in our modern lifestyles. We're always moving at that fast pace, and we need to slow down before we pray. So he suggests sitting for one minute. And that's our Ashrei Yoshveh Betecha. This fortune comes through sitting , waiting and preparing, whether in shul or at home, before you pray. This concept did not first show up with the Hasidim HaRishonim. According to the Seforno’s understanding, it’s actually a command from God Himself. In Bereshit 35,1, Hashem tells Yaakov Avinu, וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֔ב ק֛וּם עֲלֵ֥ה בֵֽית־אֵ֖ל “ Go and get up and go to Bet El and dwell there .” וְשֶׁב־שָׁ֑ם וַעֲשֵׂה־שָׁ֣ם מִזְבֵּ֔חַ And Sit there And make an altar there. The Seforno asks, what are we adding with those two words- ‘( And) sit there ?’ The Seforno answers that Hashem was telling Yaakov Avinu this principle of the pious men of old, as he was about to build an altar, and that’s what our prayer is today; it’s a substitute for the sacrifices or offerings on the altar. Hashem was teaching that you can't just dive into that offering. You have to sit and contemplate. So this is an ancient concept. People today look to Eastern cultures for meditation and mindfulness. But everything that's good is found in our Torah. That's this concept of Ashrei Yoshvei Betecha. You don't have to sit there with your legs crossed and a turban on. You can sit with your legs straight with your tefilin on. The point is the same: Focus . Clear your mind of the clutter before you pray. Another source for this concept is found in the Yalkut Shemoni, Shemuel ב It says that David Hamelech says, “I would not pray to God until I stood still and calmed down. And then I would pray.” As it says in Shemuel ב (7,18) וַיָּבֹא֙ הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ דָּוִ֔ד וַיֵּ֖שֶׁב לִפְנֵ֣י ה׳ “ King David came, and he sat in front of God,” He sat , and after he sat and had kavana , and then he started to pray. So this is something we see in the greats of our past: Yaakov Avinu, David Hamelech… they are teaching us this important concept of Ashrei Yoshvei Betecha/ Fortunate are the ones that just sit and contemplate before they pray and clear their minds of the clutter. And again, this is brought down in Shulchan Aruch ( Or HaChaim chapter 98) This is not just for Hasidim HaRishonim. He says, this is probably the most difficult thing for people, “ Remove all the thoughts that are preoccupying you, until your thoughts and your kavana are pure.” And then you can start praying. That's for the regular person. The Hasidim HaRishonim would spend an hour , and they would reach high levels. We're just asking for a few moments of Ashrei Yoshvei Betecha. Have a wonderful day.
This week’s Parasha , Teruma talks about the donations to the Mishkan . It says there, “ Tell the Jewish people, ‘Let them take for Me a donation.” The question all the commentaries ask is, Shouldn’t it have said, “ You should give Me a donation?” You don't take a donation. The Bet Halevi explains that the main money that a person possesses is actually the money that he gives to Sedaka. Any money that he uses for his own personal enjoyment, he didn't really take ; it’s not really his . He enjoyed it, but it's not his. It's wasted. But the money that you give to Sedaka is yours . He says this is actually found in a Gemara in Masechet Bava Batra 11a, where or discusses the great king Mumbaz, who, in a time of famine, gave away his treasure houses to charity. His relatives said, “ Your forefathers amassed wealth and you're giving it away?!” And his answer was, “ My forefathers put away the wealth for others, and I put it away for myself.” Because the Sedaka that you give is for yourself. The Gemara in Eruvin 54a says If you have money, do good for yourself. Most people understand it to mean, If you have money, enjoy yourself. But the Bet Halevi says that's a misunderstanding . If you have money, take care of yourself means give Sedaka, because that's the way you're taking care of yourself. There's a famous story about the Chafetz Chaim and a man who wrote a will. The man left his money to all his children, his grandchildren, his nephews, nieces his old teacher and even his dog. And he wanted to know if the Chafetz Chaim agreed with the will. The Chafetz Chaim said, “ You left one person out of your will.” The man asked, “ Who'd I leave out? I covered everyone.” The Chafetz Chaim told him that he’d left himself out, because the only money that you have is the money that you give away. And therefore, the pasuk says, “ Vayikhu Li Teruma/ Take for Me. The Bet Halevi gives mashal that’s a little morbid. He says, Imagine a glass box. In the box there's a large sugar cube and a fly flying around. The fly is all excited with the sugar cube that he has. But he doesn't realize that he doesn't have it. He's locked in the box with the sugar cube and it's not really his. So too, the money that a person owns is not the money that's locked down here with him. The money that he owns is the money that he sends ahead. Furthermore, within Sedaka, there are different levels of giving. The Rosh says that in the Parasha that talks about what to give, it says gold, silver and brass (or copper). He says this refers to different levels of Sedaka. When a person is healthy and wealthy, and everything's going well and he gives Sedaka, not because he's scared, or because he needs something, then it's gold . He’s giving Sedaka to give Sedaka. When a person is sick or has some challenge, it's also good, but it drops to silver. And when a person is really in dire straits and he's dying, and he gives it away, then it drops to copper. They're all good, but there are different levels. Rav Yissachar Dov of Belz had a close student, who was extremely wealthy, and said he was planning to leave all his money for after he dies. Similar to the story of the will, he said he’d give everything to all the Mosdot after this death, because, as he said, “ As long as I'm here, I don't want to be on the giver list.” The Rebbe replied with a mashal: There was a man who borrowed a large sum of money, let’s say $100,000, from his friend. He was supposed to give it back at a certain time, but the time passed, and he kept pushing it off. Then, one day the man that owed the money was traveling with the man that he borrowed the money from, and suddenly a group of thieves surrounded them and held them up for the money. At that moment, the man that owed the money told his friend , “I decided to pay you back now.” Of course! Because you’re going to lose the money anyway, so I might as well pay you back now when the thieves are here saying, ‘Your money, or your life.’ The Rebbe said told him it was the same thing when a person waits until he is almost dying to give away his money. Well, very nice. It's your money, or your life. It's going to be separated from you anyway. The time to give money is when the person has no pressure and just gives it to give. That's the highest level, that's the level that's called zahav/gold . We are now in the giving season, Purim is coming, with Matanot L’Evyonim , Mahasit HaShekel, Maot Hittim , and all the wonderful causes that are coming our way. Let us take advantage and give in the golden way, and let us realize that the money that we give is really the money that we take. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.
We continue with Bitachon related thoughts from Rav Chaim Kanievsky’s commentary on Tehilim. In chapter 148, which we say every single day, David Hamelech is looking into the creations of the heavens and the earth to praise Hashem. He starts off with הַ֥לְלוּ־יָ֨הּ ׀ הַֽלְל֣וּ אֶת־יְ֭הֹוָה מִן־הַשָּׁמַ֑יִם הַֽ֝לְל֗וּהוּ בַּמְּרוֹמִֽים׃ Praise Hashem from the heavens, from high above all the angels, all the hosts, the sun, the moon, all the celestial beings, The heavens high above, the water above the heavens… And what is their praise? יְֽ֭הַלְלוּ אֶת־שֵׁ֣ם ה׳ כִּ֤י ה֖וּא צִוָּ֣ה וְנִבְרָֽאוּ׃ וַיַּעֲמִידֵ֣ם לָעַ֣ד לְעוֹלָ֑ם חׇק־נָ֝תַ֗ן וְלֹ֣א יַעֲבֽוֹר׃ That God commanded and created them, and He put them up there forever. He made a set rule, that shall never change. That's what we comment once a month on the moon, that there's the cycle of the sun, the cycle of the moon. Everything that's in the heavens is basically static . Then he goes on to praise Hashem on the earth. Let's praise Hashem from the deaths, the fire, the hail, the snow, the smoke, the winds, the mountains and the valleys, the trees, the animals, the crawling creatures, the birds, the kings, the ministers, young boys and young girls, old men and lads. And then it says, יְהַלְל֤וּ ׀ אֶת־שֵׁ֬ם ה׳ כִּֽי־נִשְׂגָּ֣ב שְׁמ֣וֹ לְבַדּ֑וֹ ה֝וֹד֗וֹ עַל־אֶ֥רֶץ וְשָׁמָֽיִם His name is above alone, His glory is on the heavens and the earth. Rav Chaim points out that there’s a difference in how we talk about the heavens and earth. Regarding the heavens, it says, God commanded and created them, but regarding the earth, it says His name is exalted forever… Why the difference? He says it’s because the creation of the heavens was a one time creation. The sun is created once, the moon is created once. Of course, it says that God continues to pump energy into creation, and that He makes (not made ) the great luminaries, but in our eyes, they're static. They don't change. On the other hand, what is down on the earth is constantly renewed and refreshed. There are new horses, new bears, new bees…things are constantly changing. Each of the items in the heaven was created with a certain purpose and a finite amount, but on the earth things are constantly being recreated and rejuvenated, because this is where everything happens. As amazed as we may be at the sun and the moon and the celestial beings, they're just as is . Of course, as we said, they're being rejuvenated, but there's no change. The constant change in God's will is expressed down here, on earth. The perek ends off with, וַיָּ֤רֶם קֶ֨רֶן ׀ לְעַמּ֡וֹ תְּהִלָּ֤ה לְֽכׇל־חֲסִידָ֗יו לִבְנֵ֣י יִ֭שְׂרָאֵל עַ֥ם קְרֹב֗וֹ הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ׃ God lifts up the horn of His nation, the Jewish people. This praise to His pious ones, the Jewish people, this nation that's close to Him. And on that we say a special Hallelu-yah. This means there are levels of action, so to say, levels of moving and happenings. We start with the sun and the moon- They're constant. The world is also constantly changing, and God's name is revealed, but where is it really happening? It's happening with Am Kerovo/ His nation that's close to Him. We are the place where everything's really happening. As it says, everything happens through the Jewish people. All the changes and all the upheavals- it’s all happening ultimately, to get the Jewish people and the world at large, to its final goal. We’re referred to as Am Kerovo/The nation that is close to Him , which has more than one explanation. One simple explanation is that we're close, as in distance, that He’s not far away from us, He's right near us. But the deeper explanation is that Am Kerovo means we're related to Him. We’re the nation that God views as His relatives. We’re His children, we’re His family. Ultimately, a person's work is for his family. His emphasis, and his focus in everything he does is for his wife and children. In the whole world, with everything that's happening around us, who is the family of God , who is He focusing on? He's focusing on us , and we have to appreciate that with part of that big Jewish family of God. Yes, the father goes for meetings, and flies to California and China and takes people out for dinner and all kind of things - but what’s it really all happening for? In order for him to come home and have a meal together with his family, and that's the world at large. There are the things that are always there, and there are things that are changing. And then there's the real focus, which is the Jewish people. And we have to realize we're part of that special group of people. He's watching us, He’s close to us, and when we call out, He helps us. Have a wonderful day.
Every day in Ashrei, we say, פּוֹתֵ֥חַ אֶת־יָדֶ֑ךָ וּמַשְׂבִּ֖יעַ לְכׇל־חַ֣י רָצֽוֹן׃ God opens up His hands and satiates to everybody, what his wills are. Asks Rav Chaim Kanievsky, What does this mean? Many people want things and don't get them. How can we say “Lchol Chai/ everybody, without an exception?” He answers based on the Gemara in Arachin , 16B that says an example of yissurim is if you put your hand in your pocket to get a nickel and you take out a dime instead. He says we see from this that anything that doesn't go according to a person's will is called yissurim and brings kapara , and therefore, he answers, Everybody really gets their Ratzon/will, but it’s gathered in for the debts that they owe. What does that mean? He compares it to a king who made an announcement on the day of his party, that everyone would get 10 gold coins. Then someone walked into the party, who happened to owe the king 10 gold coins. So the king said, “ Just take it off his debt .” Can we say he didn't get anything? Of course he got something! It’s just that he got it and immediately paid it off. Similarly here. Let's say that every day a hundred dollars comes down from the heavens for someone. But one day, he says, “ I only got $10!” “Yes, you only got $10, because, due to your sins, needed a kapara, so we took away $90, and used it towards what you owe.” In his Sefer Ahavat Hessed (section 2, chapter 13) the Chafetz Chaim brings this out beautifully from a famous Gemara in Bava Batra 10B, where it says, “ Just like a person's mezonot/ the amount of money they're going to make is decided every single year, so too, the amount of money they're going to lose is decided every single year.” And if you merit, the money that you lose will go towards sedaka. The story of the nephews of Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai is told -He saw in a dream that they were going to lose 700 coins that year. So he kept on pushing them to give charity, but was a little short of 700 coins. Right before Yom Kippur, they were 17 coins short of the 700. Then the King's officers came and took 17 coins from them. They went to Rav Yochanan to him, and and he said, “I knew it was going to happen ,” and told them about the dream. They asked him why he didn’t tell them, and he explained that he wanted them to give the Sedaka lishma . The Chafetz Chaim says that from this story, we see that, as the Gemara says, a person’s lackings are decided every year. But why should I lack anything? If I made $90,000 last year, does that mean I was supposed to make a $100,000 and I lost $10,000 or was I just supposed to make $90,000? What does it mean that my losses are decided? The Chafetz Chaim explains beautifully that it's decided not just that you're going to make $90,000, because then you get no kapara . So it was decided that you were going to make $100,000, and then the market dropped and you lost $10,000 and you ended up with $90,000. What's the difference? The difference is, as we now see, this way, you get the kapara . You get the atonement for the money that you lost. You really never got it, but God, in His mercy makes it counts for Kapara . But, says the Chafetz Chaim, there is even a higher level- Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai’s nephews gave the money to Sedaka. So not only can you end up that you were supposed to make $100,000 dollars, but you lost $10,000. But if you take that $10,000, give it to charity, it counts as a loss, but it's not a loss, because it turns into a tremendous, tremendous zechut. That's how Hashem runs the world, in this way of mercy. Just remember, when we say, פּוֹתֵ֥חַ אֶת־יָדֶ֑ךָ וּמַשְׂבִּ֖יעַ לְכׇל־חַ֣י רָצֽוֹן׃ God opens up His hands and satiates to everybody, what his wills are. Hashem, open Your hands and please give me all that bounty,” don’t say, “ Hey, it's not working, it's not coming in.” It is working , you're getting it, but they're taking it away from you, in order to give you a kapara before you get it. So don't think those prayers were wasted. It's bringing you all types of atonements. What you could have gotten, and should have gotten, was taken away from you. The Pele Yoetz, in the topic of Daagah/worry, discusses this as well. He used the mashal of a king that tells a debtor that it's impossible for someone to owe money to the king and not pay him. “ So I'm going to slide some money through your door, and you can pay me back with that. I'll even leave you some leftovers as well. I'll give you a little bit more than you need. ” That's what Hashem does. He gives us, and then He makes us lose, and that is how He gives us the kapara . That's how He pays us off. The Pele Yoetz cites a midrash that says, Hodu L’Hashem Ki Tov, Praise Hashem, for He is good What's the ki Tov/good ? That Hashem collects the debts in the best possible way for a person. Your wine bottle breaks, your rooster dies, you stub your toe. God's mercy is abundant in how He looks for ways for us to pay back, in the most painless of ways. Another mashal is given of a king that said whoever committed a certain would have a large boulder dropped on him, and that boulder would kill the person. But it turned out that the king’s son committed the crime. So the king took the boulder and broke it into small little pebbles and had the pebbles thrown at his son, one at a time. פּוֹתֵ֥חַ אֶת־יָדֶ֑ךָ וּמַשְׂבִּ֖יעַ לְכׇל־חַ֣י רָצֽוֹן׃ God opens up His hands and satiates to everybody, what his wills are. When it looks like you didn’t get what you wanted, you did- but it was taken away from you before you got it, in a way that would cause you to get a kapara . Have a wonderful day.
As we mentioned, many of the creatures of creation sing songs that are found in Tehilim, and Perek Shira is the place where they are listed. It tells us that the scorpion says, Tov Hashem LKol God is good to all V’Rachamav Al Kol Maasav And has mercy on all His creations Why does the scorpion sing that? What’s the connection? Rav Chaim Kanievsky explains that the scorpion is a terrible mazik / destroyer, capable of inflicting death with a single bite. And therefore, when you see a scorpion, you crush it and kill it. You are even allowed to kill a scorpion on Shabbat, due to the danger. Furthermore, if a scorpion is coming to bite you, you run away, at any point in prayer. Because of this, God did a kindness with the scorpion, which is hunted by all. It gives birth to many, many offspring one time (the Yerushalmi says it gives birth to 70 at a time). And they don't come out off eggs. They are born live, in one single brood with many, many babies. This is because Hashem doesn't want the species to be wiped out. So even on something as destructive as a scorpion, God has mercy. In another quote from Ashrei , which is taken from the animal kingdom, it says, סוֹמֵ֣ךְ ה׳ לְכׇל־הַנֹּפְלִ֑ים וְ֝זוֹקֵ֗ף לְכׇל־הַכְּפוּפִֽים God takes care of those that fall, and picks up those and that are hunched over. That song was sung by the snake. The snake was cursed. He was the biggest Nofel . His legs were chopped off. About the snake, it says, “ You shall go on your stomach.” But even so, God did a kindness to the snake, that because of his curse, which was that dirt was would be his food, wherever he goes, his sustenance is there. So even on the snake, God has mercy. These are messages for us . The Gemara asks, what's the purpose in God creating all types of rodents and creatures that don't really add to creation? The Midrash answers that sometimes Hashem looks down at the world and says, “The world has no reason to exist.” And God says to Himself, “ If I am keeping the world going for creatures that don't have any real purpose, like all those insects and rodents, there's no difference for everything else.” God creates certain things to so to say, legalize or find loopholes, for His kindness. And so too, when we need food or parnasa. There's a story in the Gemara where a certain rabbi wanted food in a time of famine. But he was not a person that deserved the food. So he told the benefactor, “ Give me food like Noah gave the raven, and like Noah gave the dog.” The dog and the raven were the only animals that did not follow the rules of the Tevah. They did not separate from their mates as all the other creatures did. But even though they broke the rules, Noah continued to feed them. That was this man's claim. So when we read these pesukim about God keeping the snakes going, and God keeping the scorpions going, what we are really saying is, “ Hashem, as low as we go, we're not snakes and we're not scorpions. Give us life. Have mercy on us. Pick us up.” And of course, we have to use this on other people as well. This isn’t an Ahavat Yisrael class, but it's an important rule nonetheless- the way you act to others is the way Hashem acts to you. This even applies to the animal kingdom, as the famous story of Rabbenu HaKadosh teaches us. He was suffering yissurim , and it says the reason was because there was a calf going to be slaughtered and Rabbenu HaKadosh told the calf, “ What are you whimpering about? What are you crying about? Go! That's why you were created! ” His suffering went on until he showed mercy on some cats that were born in the barn, and kept them going. Then, Hashem had mercy on him. As it says, V’Rachamav Al Kol Maasav/Have mercy on all creations. When we read these pesukim of סוֹמֵ֣ךְ ה׳ לְכׇל־הַנֹּפְלִ֑ים God takes care of those that fall and טוב ה׳ לכל ורחמיו על כל מעשיו God is good and has mercy on all His creation s, think of the snake, think of the scorpion, think how God takes care of them, and how God takes care of us, we'll take care of others as well. Have a wonderful day.
One of the most famous Mizmoreh Tehilim that we say is (chapter 130) שִׁ֥יר הַֽמַּעֲל֑וֹת מִמַּעֲמַקִּ֖ים קְרָאתִ֣יךָ ה ׳ A song of the Ascents, From the depths I call out to you Hashem There is a famous Chazal called Perek Shira, which goes through all the different songs that each creation sings. Everything in the world sings a song of praise to God, and we can learn a lot by figuring out why each creation sings what it sings. In chapter three of Perek Shira, the song of the wheat kernel is described. The wheat kernel sings this mizmor , שִׁ֥יר הַֽמַּעֲל֑וֹת מִמַּעֲמַקִּ֖ים קְרָאתִ֣יךָ ה ׳ A song of the Ascents, From the depths I call out to you Hashem Why does the wheat kernel sing this song? Rav Chaim Kanievsky, in his commentary on Tehilim, explains that wheat is an example of something that, once planted, begins rotting, but then, out of the rotting comes something that's more powerful than what you put in. You put in one grain and you get out a whole payload. What's the message? That even in the depths of the earth, which symbolize the depths of one's difficulties, if someone calls out to God, He will take him out of his problems. He'll bring him success. The wheat symbolizes that, because the wheat kernel produces bread, which is man's staple. Rav Kanievsky adds that the Yerushalmi ( in Masechet Avodah Zara) tells us that the average the average plant grows 3 hand- fists under the ground, but wheat grows 50 cubits underground, which is much, much deeper than the average growth. That is why wheat, out of all the vegetation, is chosen to say “ from the depths,” and that's why when we speak about our berachot , there's a difference between Hamotzi Lechem Min Haaretz and Boreh Peri HaAdamah . He says the term HaAretz refers to the depths whereas Adamah is the higher, more superficial layer. So the other vegetables come from Adamah and the Lechem comes Min Haaretz . The message is that out of the depths, from the rotting and seeming deterioration is where the growth comes. That's why we say Et Semach David/ the growth of David Hamelech . We talk about the development of Mashiach Ben David as a growth. We talk about Boneh Yerushalayim as a building , but we also talk about growth . The symbolism of growth is that it comes when things are deteriorating. Growth comes when it looks like things are just being ruined, and we don't see any development. That's the way growth comes about- only through deterioration. And that's why we sing this song of Shir Hamaalot/A song from the depths, to realize that that's where growth comes from. The commentaries say that we sit on the floor we sit on the floor on Tisha B’Av- to symbolize that we're going down. But then, in the middle of the day, at Hatzot, we get up- because as we know, it says Mashiach is being developed on Hatzot of Tisha B’Av. Just at the point where we're going down and seemingly rotting and deteriorating, that's where Hashem is preparing the future growth. That's the message of the wheat kernel, and that's the psalm of Shir HaMaalot Karaticha/from the depths I call to You Have a wonderful day.
Earlier this week, we discussed the pasuk in Tehilim (34,19) that says, קרוב ה׳ למשברי לב God is close to the brokenhearted. I happened to see a thought in this week’s Parasha, Mishpatim , that also brings this out. The pasuk says, מְלֵאָתְךָ֥ וְדִמְעֲךָ֖ לֹ֣א תְאַחֵ֑ר Maletcha V’Dimacha Lo T’Acher Simply, this means that one should not withhold tithes and terumot. But the Shelah HaKadosh explains in a way of Remez/hint that Melatcha means full , So it can mean: When your heart is full of sorrow and pain, V’Dimacha, and your tears are there as well , when you pray, Lo T’Acher/ those prayers will not be held back because the gates of prayer are not closed. In Tehilim 6,9 David Hamelech says, ס֣וּרוּ מִ֭מֶּנִּי כׇּל־פֹּ֣עֲלֵי אָ֑וֶן כִּֽי־שָׁמַ֥ע יְ֝הֹוָ֗ה ק֣וֹל בִּכְיִֽי Get away from me, all you wicked-doers For God has heard my cries. How does David Hamelech know this? Rav Chaim Kanievsky says it’s because the Gemara in Berachot 32B says, “ The gates of tears aren’t closed.” David Hamelech know he was answered because he cried. And that's really this pasuk is saying, “ Dimacha/When there are tears, the prayer will not be delayed.” We see something similar in the Ramban in Mishpatim 22,20 where it talks about not starting up with a widow or an orphan. The Ramban says, “ Because I see the tears of the oppressed and I save anybody from his oppressor.” Why? “Because they don't rely on themselves.” Widows and orphans don't rely on themselves. “ They rely on Me, and therefore when they cry to Me, I’m going hear them. Since they know there's no one else but Me to cry out to, I have to save them.” The Hovot Halevavot says this is one of the reasons why our Bitachon may not work. He says, if you are relying on more than one person, each one thinks someone else will take care of it. Cadre D’Bshutvi is a concept in the Gemara which means a a pot that has many cooks. Too many chefs spoil the broth. Everyone thinks someone else will take care of it. And it’s the same with bitachon. If you are relying on 10 different people, everyone thinks someone else will help you out. But if you only have one person, they're going to come through. That's how it is with the widow and the orphan. They have nobody else. Rabbenu Bachye adds to this pasuk of the widow and the orphan, that they're weak. They have no one to help them. Therefore, they rely only Hashem, who's the Ozer U’Mashiach U’Magen , as we say every day in the Amida . He says this pasuk is telling us that they're helped more than anybody else because they have a broken heart. We also find this in Mishpatim 22, 26, where it talks about someone who takes away a person’s collateral- he doesn't return the borrower’s pajamas at night. Hashem says, “ That borrower is going to cry out to me and I'm going to hear him because Hanun Ani/ I am gracious.” “ I'm gracious and I hear the supplications of anybody,” says the Ramban, “ Even if he is not befitting, if he cries out to me, I'm there for him. ” The Ramban says we should not think this only applies to someone that's righteous. Hashem says, “ Hanun Ani, I hear the cries of anyone that calls out to Me.” Tosafot in Rosh Hashana 17B explains that this concept of Hanun is even if the person is not worthy. Why? As we discussed before Yom Kippur, if somebody borrows a hundred dollars and gives his only pair of pajamas as collateral, later that night, the fellow will come back to get his pajamas. And if the lender doesn’t want to give him back the pajamas because he needs a collateral, the borrower will offer his coat, which he doesn’t need at night. So every day the guy that lends the money has to go back and forth switching the coat for the pajamas. It’s ridiculous. And the lender doesn’t have to do it. But he should bear in mind that the borrower is crying out. Even if he has no claim, it doesn't make a difference, because God says, “ If someone cries out to Me , I listen.” The theme is the same throughout. When a person feels he has no one else to count on but Hashem, that is the most powerful prayer, whether he's worthy or not. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.
We continue with hiddushim of Bitachon from Rav Chaim Kanievsky on Tehilim. In chapter 66, pasuk 3, David Hamelech says, אִמְר֣וּ לֵ֭אלֹהִים מַה־נּוֹרָ֣א מַעֲשֶׂ֑יךָ בְּרֹ֥ב עֻ֝זְּךָ֗ יְֽכַחֲשׁ֖וּ לְךָ֣ אֹיְבֶֽיךָ׃ We're going to say to God, ‘How awesome are Your acts and Your great strength. Your enemies will deny that they ever sinned against You.’ They will realize how strong You are and they’ll deny everything when they’re put on trial. They'll try to deny everything because they'll realize they're going to be punished. That's the simple explanation. Rav Chaim Kanievsky brings quotes a Midrash Raba in Esther, 10,15 where it says that ‘ How awesome is God,’ means “ How awesome are Your tactics that You do to humble the enemies in a most wondrous way ? Those that are supposed to be killed will cause the others to be killed. Those who are supposed to be hung will cause their hangers to be hung. Those who were pushed in the sea will end up causing those that pushed them to go in the sea. Those that were burnt will cause the others to be burnt. And those who be thrown for lions, they cause the others to be thrown into the lions.” What does that mean? Rav Chaim Kanievsky explains that in history, we see that when the enemies of the Jews try to destroy them, the very area that they tried to destroy them with bounces back on them. -One of the first cases of this was Moshe Rabbenu. It says that he called his son Eliezer to remind himself that God saved him from the sword of Paroah. What does that mean?They wanted to kill Moshe because it was reported to Paroah that he killed an Egyptian taskmaster, but when the executioner hit Moshe Rabbenu’s neck with his sword, God made a miracle that turned Moshe’s neck into marble, and the knife bounced back and killed the executioner. -An example of The ones that want to hang will be hung, is Haman. He prepared the large pole to hang Mordechai on, but instead, he was hung on it. - Those that are drowning people in the ocean refers to the Egyptians that started off by drowning the Jewish children. In the end, they drowned in the sea. - Those that are being burnt refers to Hanania, Mishael and Azaria. Nevuchadnezzar made a very large furnace and they were thrown inside. When the executioners saw that they were still walking around inside, they leaned over to see what was going on, the fire jumped out and they were burnt. Similarly, when the lions did not eat Daniel, they said, “ Oh, maybe they're not hungry. ” So they threw the executioners in, and the lions, showing that they really were hungry, and ate the executioners. This is what Ma Norah Ma’asecha/How awesome are God's actions means. And the perek continues, in pasuk ה and says, לְכ֣וּ וּ֭רְאוּ מִפְעֲל֣וֹת אֱלֹהִ֑ים נוֹרָ֥א עֲ֝לִילָ֗ה עַל־בְּנֵ֥י אָדָֽם׃ Go and see the works of God, Norah/awesome are His causes. Again, the word Norah/awesome is used. As we've said many times, these two words, Norah Alilah are the source for the Ibn Ezra’s piyut , which Sephardic communities say in Ne’Ilah - “ El Norah Alilah, God Who is awesome in His causes,” which means that one of the most wondrous things about Hashem’s actions is that we don't see them happening in a direct fashion. Hashem makes things happen in an indirect way, which is Norah Alilah. The pesukim continue describing how throughout the Galut , Hashem used this system of His Norah . David Hamelech is telling us this, says the Seforno, so that we, who are currently in the exile, should realize how Hashem works. There will come a time when whatever our enemies are doing or have done to us will bounce back. We might not see it immediately, like when the sword hit Moshe Rabbenu’s neck and bounced back, but similar to Mitzrayim, where it took many years until those that drowned the Jewish babies were drowned themselves, eventually we will all say, מַה־נּוֹרָ֣א מַעֲשֶׂ֑יךָ How awesome are Your deeds? נורא עלילה על בני אדם For sure, we see how God makes things happen in roundabout ways, and eventually whatever His decree is comes to be. Have a wonderful day.
We continue with some Bitachon thoughts from Rav Chaim Kanievsky’s commentary on Tehilim. In chapter 37, pasuk 21, David Hamelech says, לֹוֶ֣ה רָ֭שָׁע וְלֹ֣א יְשַׁלֵּ֑ם The wicked person borrows and doesn't pay back . That doesn't mean that if a person borrows money and for some reason can't pay it back, he’s wicked. Rav Yehezkiel Levenstein explains it means that the person, at the time of borrowing the loan, had no way to pay it back. This doesn't mean that he borrowed with a plan, and it didn't work out because of some unexpected expense such as if someone got sick, or lost his job. This is referring to a person that borrowed the money with no plan to repay it at the time of borrowing. It’s a Halacha that you can't borrow money if you don't know how you're going to pay it back. Rav Kanievsky writes that someone once asked the Chazon Ish, “ Can you borrow money without any plan, relying on Bitachon- Counting on Hashem that I'll get the money when I need it?” There are many stories like that with great rabbis, like the Ponovezher Rav and others, who borrowed money with no plan and then somehow, miraculously, somebody showed up and gave them money, just in time. So are you allowed to do that? The Chazon Ish gave an unbelievable answer. He says, “ Yes, but only if you're willing to lend somebody money on the concept of bitachon.” You can't use bitachon selectively, and say, “ I'll use bitachon to borrow money, but I won't use bitachon to lend money.” It has to be real. We’ve said before that there's a concept called Bitachon Mezuyaf/Counterfeit Bitachon , which is fake bitachon. You are using it as a tool. It's not real. You're not really relying on God. Sometimes you're just lazy and use bitachon as a coverup. So how do we know when bitachon is real? The Chazon Ish has a whole piece on this. There are people that, of course sing the bitachon song when everything's going right, but then suddenly, someone opens a store across the street from theirs, and all their bitachon goes out the window. It wasn't real. The Chazon Ish is saying you know if it’s real when someone knocks at your door and says, “ I don't really have a plan but please lend me money.” Are you now able to invoke that Bitachon that that you're going to get the money back after this man borrows the money from you? You have to be consistent in your Bitachon. It can't be something that is there conveniently for your purposes and for your use. It’s important to understand that people can misuse Bitachon. I know a fellow that wanted to go out with a girl that someone else was dating. He was going to use all kinds of techniques to cause them to breakup. I still remember his line, “ Well if it's Nasib (the Arabic way of saying Bashert), we'll end up marrying the right people. But you can’t do all kind of ruthless things and then say it was meant to be. Meant to be means you do everything right and it's meant to be. People often use the ‘ meant to be card’ to cover up their own misdeeds. I can’t shoot you and say, “ Well, obviously you died, so it was meant to be. ” That's misused Bitachon. We have to be very careful of that. And this is what the Chazon Ish is pointing out-don't deceive yourself. If your Bitachon is real, it will work both ways. You'll borrow based on it, but you'll lend based on it as well. And if you won’t lend based on it, something's wrong. Another time that you're not supposed to use Bitachon is when someone comes to you for money (for a wedding, for example). That is not the time to say, “ You should be having bitachon now.” Furthermore, anytime someone comes to you with a problem or they have some need that they want your help with, it’s not the time to start selling them Bitachon. Bitachon is not an excuse or a way out of you fulfilling your responsibilities. The Hovot Halevavot has a whole piece on that, when he talks about Mitzvot. You can't say, “ I'm going to go sleep without an alarm and use bitachon that I'll get to shul. ” It doesn't work that way. There are certain times that you have to be doing things, and you can't use bitachon. It’s a complex topic, because it can be misused, and therefore you have to be aware of the mishaps. As the Hovot Halevavot writes, “ Every good quality has something that can ruin it, built in. Just like every fruit has a worm that can ruin it, every good quality has a worm that can ruin it.” If you're not careful and you don't know what can cause good qualities to be messed up, you could end up falling into a trap. Beware of those bitachon mishaps, such as the one we started with: don't borrow money based on bitachon if you wouldn't lend money based on bitachon.
We continue with some nice Bitachon thoughts from the commentary of Rav Chaim Kanievsky in Tehilim . In chapter 34, pasuk 19, David Hamelech says, קָר֣וֹב ה׳ לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי־לֵ֑ב God is close to the broken hearts. 1. He quotes from a Midrash called Otiot Rebi Akiva (letter 8), that says, “ Whoever's heart is broken and whose spirit is low, the Shechina walks with him all day. It’s as if a Mizbe’ach is built in this man’s heart and he is bringing Korbanot on it, because the brokenhearted are dearer to God than the angels that He has in the heavens.” And then he quotes another Midrash, in Vayikra Raba chapter 7, that says, “ God's utensils are broken utensils.” Normally, we like to use utensils that are complete. But God is different than human beings. He uses broken utensils. Like it says, קָר֣וֹב ה׳ לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי־לֵ֑ב God is close to the people who are broken hearted. It says, “ The sacrifices of God is a broken heart.” The Gemara points out that it say” sacrifices ,” in plural, because a person who has a broken heart is like a walking Bet Hamikdash , bringing offerings to God, and so God dwells there. That's why when a person is in that state, he is closest to God, and closest to being answered. קָר֣וֹב ה׳ לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי־לֵ֑ב Those that have humble spirits, He will save. רַ֭בּוֹת רָע֣וֹת צַדִּ֑יק וּ֝מִכֻּלָּ֗ם יַצִּילֶ֥נּוּ ה׳׃ The problems of the righteous are many and Hashem will save them. Rav Chaim Kanievsky explains that specifically at the point of Rabbot Ra’ot/ so many problems, when the sword is on his neck, and it doesn't seem that there's any way to get out of the situation, that's when the miracle happens. That's similar to what happened at Keriat Yam Suf/the splitting of the sea. When a person is at the point that he doesn't see a way out, this causes him to be brokenhearted, and he is going to see the yeshua . Sometimes Hashem pushes a person to a point where he really doesn't see any way out. I'm sure we have all experienced this. Sometimes, when something happens that's just so difficult, you just cry out to Hashem, and that’s when the Yeshua happens. Why is that? Because when the person realizes that he's not in control, he's humble. And that's where God dwells. As all children are taught at a young age: Of all the mountains, God came down on Har Sinai. The same is true of Moshe Rabbenu and the burning bush. God is there when a person is humble. So when you feel down and broken, realize how close you are to Hashem, and realize that now's your chance to cry out to God. Don't become depressed or despair when you're broken. Become invigorated and realize that now you have the clarity, now you have the understanding, and now you're close to Hashem. As we said, that was the story of the Yam Suf. The splitting of the sea happened when the water came to their necks, when they could no longer breathe. And I've said before, it says the sea split at many different spots, it split for every person, separately. The people passed at different spots, at different times, in a U shape. So the smaller U was, faster, there were larger, U was later. What exactly was going on? —- said that the sea split when the water was up to the nose. If the person was humble and walked with his head down, the water hit his nose earlier. But of a person walked with his head up high like an arrogant person, his nose was higher, and it took more time for the water to get there. That's a cute way of explaining it. You had to know Rav Yehuda Moalem to know to really appreciate it, because he was really from those humble people. But our point is that the sea split when they realized they were not in charge. For some people, that took some time. But once you reach that point of Nishbere Lev/Your heart is broken , then Karov Hashem/God is close. Have a wonderful day.
With Hashem's help, I recently stumbled on a commentary on Tehilim written by Rav Chaim Kanievsky z’l. To understand Tehilim, it's important to know the background and historical context of the chapter that David Hamelech is writing about. What exactly was going on in his in life when he wrote it? Sometimes he tells us exactly what’s going on in the heading, whether he’s running away, being chased, etc. But sometimes he doesn't. And sometimes, it seems like he's telling us what's going on, but we really don't get it. Rav Chaim Kanievsky, with his tremendous knowledge of Torah, finds a Midrash that helps us understand one such chapter. Chapter 30 is called Mizmor Shir, Hanukat HaBayit L’David/a song for the dedication of the House, referring to the Bet Hamikdash, by David. There are two problems with this. Number one is that David Hamelech was not at the Hanukat HaBayit- he died before that. As we’ve discussed in the past, Rashi explains that he wrote it to be said at the Hanukat Habayit. The second problem is that there's no discussion of the Hanukat HaBayit in this Mizmor. It says, אֲרוֹמִמְךָ֣ ה׳ כִּ֣י דִלִּיתָ֑נִי God lifted me up… שִׁוַּ֥עְתִּי אֵ֝לֶ֗יךָ וַתִּרְפָּאֵֽנִי I called out to You and You healed me. You lift me from the depths, and so on. What does that have to do with the Hanukat Habayit? Further into the perek, it says, הֲיוֹדְךָ֥ עָפָ֑ר הֲיַגִּ֥יד אֲמִתֶּֽךָ׃ Will dirt praise You and say over Your truth? לְמַ֤עַן ׀ יְזַמֶּרְךָ֣ כָ֭בוֹד וְלֹ֣א יִדֹּ֑ם יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱ֝לֹהַ֗י לְעוֹלָ֥ם אוֹדֶֽךָּ So that my soul will sing to You forever.. So, again, what's going on? Rav Chaim cites a Midrash that David Hamelech was sick for 13 years, as he says in a different perek, יָגַ֤עְתִּי ׀ בְּֽאַנְחָתִ֗י אַשְׂחֶ֣ה בְכׇל־לַ֭יְלָה מִטָּתִ֑י בְּ֝דִמְעָתִ֗י עַרְשִׂ֥י אַמְסֶֽה Every night I'm crying in my bed . So he suffered for 13 years, and during this time his enemies hoping he’d die. David Hamelech was obviously praying to get out of this situation. What got him out of it? He finally came up with the following prayer, “ Please save me so that I'll have the strength to plan the Bet Hamikdash,” and t hat's when he got out of his bed and wrote what’s called the Megilat Binyan Bet Hamikdash/ the architectural plans for the Bet a HaMikdash, and God heard his prayer. David Hamelech got out of his bed and was totally healthy when he gave over and worked on that architecture. Rav Chaim Kanievsky adds that David Hamelech said this Mizmor when he handed over the scroll with the architectural plans. It was his Thank You for getting out of his sickness. With that context, we are able to understand why it's called Mizmor Shir Hanukat HaBayit L’David . He wrote it for them to sing at the actual Hanukat Habayit, which he wasn't going to make it to. But he spoke about his sickness because what got him out was the fact that he wanted to do this. Furthermore, a pasuk in this chapter says, זמרו לה׳ חסידיו /Sing to Hashem, the pious ones, והודו לזכר קדשו and thank Him. First sing, then thank Him. Most time it's thank first and then sing, like it says, ט֗וֹב לְהֹד֥וֹת לה׳ וּלְזַמֵּ֖ר לְשִׁמְךָ֣ עֶלְיֽוֹן׃ “It's good to thank You, and then you sing a song.” As it says, Shiru Lo, Zamru Lo/sing songs. Normally, first you thank Hashem for what happened and then you sing the song. But here he says the pious ones, they sing the song even before it happens. David Hamelech was already singing the songs of his salvation, before it happened. And he gives various reasons to get out of his sickness. “ Can I thank you when I'm just dust? (which means, Can I thank You when I'm dead?) ” Then he says, “ Can I say over Your truth?” These reasons refers to the two things that a person is here in the world for: to thank Hashem and to state His Oneness. David was using these as a reason to pull him out of his sickness. This is important. When someone is in trouble, a person can honestly and sincerely say, “ Hashem, get me out of trouble because I still have a mission to complete. I still have something to accomplish. Get me out of this. I need to praise You. I need to fulfill my mission.” This was David Hamelech’s secret of Mizmor Shir Hanukat Habayit L’David. Again, we can only understand this with Rav Chaim Kanievsky’s background and context (based on an unknown Midrash, which I searched for. It seems to be in an obscure Midrash, and not in the regular Midrashim). Have a wonderful day.
This week’s Parashat Yitro is known for the Aseret HaDibrot/Ten Commandments , and the opening words are Anochi Hashem Elokecha, Asher Hotzeticha Me’Eretz Mitzrayim I am Hashem, your God, that took you out of Mitzrayim , which means that the first words that we heard from God as a nation were the Mitzvah of Emunah That’s what Anochi Hashem Elokecha tells us. That's the commandment- there's nothing to do , it's about the belief. Because if you don't have Emunah, then you don't believe in Hashem, and there is nothing. Many times, we’ve discussed the famous question asked by the Rishonim: Why doesn't it say “ I am the God that created the world? ” Why does it say “ I am the God that took you out of Egypt? ” There are different answers. The Hovot Halevavot’s whole approach is that we build our religion on gratitude, Hakarat Hatov, our relationship with God is based on what He gave us . If He would've said, Anochi Hashem that I created the world, one could say, “But He created the world for everybody.” What did God do extra for us , that requires more reciprocation and more gratitude? It’s the fact He took us out of Mitzrayim. That's the Hovot Halevavot’s answer. The answer of the Kuzari is that we have to look at God through the lens of Yetziat Mitzrayim . It's not enough to just believe that He created the world and then technically left . Rather, God created the world and is still involved in the world. And the Rosh adds that not only is He involved in the world, but there is Hashgacha Pratit- individual supervision. That's the fundamental belief of the Jewish people. And, as the Rosh says, if you don't believe in that, then you don't have that special Jewish belief. In his words, “If you don't believe that I took you out of Egypt then you don't believe in God, because that's not our God.” That is what he calls Yechud HaShalem- Hashem Echad is believing that He’s supervising the world. That is the fundamental of the whole entire Torah. It’s the reason for the famous explanation for why the Torah starts with the letter ב Bet - Bereshit Bara- Because creation still has room for two, (the Bet is two), but Matan Torah starts with an Alef , Anochi Hashem Elokecha , because the goal of the Torah is to bring us the Emunah of Hashem Echad The Gaon of Vilna says, in his perush in Mishleh 22,19 “ The main reason that God gave us the Torah, is so that we put our reliance on God.” And the Gemara in Masechet Shabbat tells us that the word אנכי Anochi is an acronym for God saying, אֲ נָא נַ פְשִׁי כְּ תַבִית יְ הַבִית. I, My soul wrote down and gave you, God, so to say, put His soul into the Torah. So when a person learns Torah, he gets that Emunah. He gets that feeling of Hashem Echad. There's no better way to get Emunah than Limud Torah . In the words of Rav Yerucham Levovitz, When you open up a Torah, it's like God took thunder and lightening of Har Sinai and put it into a thermos. When you start to learn, that fire comes out. There is an argument between the Rambam and the Ramban about whether or not we have to remember Matan Torah every single day. The Rambam does not list Har Sinai as one of the 613, and the Ramban does. But Har Sinai is one of the Ten Remembrances we say at the end of the tefilah every day, so why doesn't the Rambam say we have to remember it? One of the answers given is because you only have to remember things of the past. When you're sitting down and learning, the thunder and lightening is right there with you. You have Matan Torah right now. And that's why learning Torah is one of the best ways to strengthen our Emunah The Ramban, in his derasha Torah Temima, says we can find this lesson in Tehilim, chapter 19, the lesson that we get our Emunah from Torah learning itself. David Hamelech says, הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם מְֽסַפְּרִ֥ים כְּבֽוֹד־אֵ֑ל The heavens describe the honor of God. It describes how the sun comes out every day, and other statements of creation. Then it says, תּ֘וֹרַ֤ת ה׳ תְּ֭מִימָה מְשִׁ֣יבַת נָ֑פֶשׁ Hashem’s Torah is complete, it returns our soul. עֵד֥וּת יְהֹוָ֥ה נֶ֝אֱמָנָ֗ה מַחְכִּ֥ימַת פֶּֽתִי׃ The testimony of God is loyal. It gives wisdom to the fools. And it goes on to describe the Torah's messages. The Ramban says that as clear as you can get Emunah from creation, you look at the Swiss Alps, or any wonders of creation, it's even clearer when you focus on the Torah. This is the week of Matan Torah , and B’Ezrat Hashem, we will use the Torah to strengthen our Emunah.
Today we will share two beautiful Hashgacha Pratit stories about bringing back someone who was about to be lost. In the first story, a boy writes a Thank You letter to his parents on the day of his wedding, as is customary for many people. “ If you remember, ” he wrote, “ there was a time when I was in high school, when I wasn't learning very well, and I was falling out. Dad came and gave me a speech, and in a week or so, I turned around. You thought that's what caused me to turn around. But let me tell you the real story: I was really dropping low. I was hanging around with not the best of friends. We had actually bought tickets to go on a trip, and we were just going to have some fun. So what caused me to change my mind? Back when I was in sixth grade or seventh grade, we were making a siyum on a perek in Gemara called Hamafkid, and all the children were supposed to bring something for the siyum.” He reminded his parents how on that day, his mother was making a cake for a Sheva Berachot, and since she was baking anyway, she decided to make something nice for the siyum. So she made two cakes. One beautiful, seven layer cake, which was intended for the Sheva Berachot, and a more simple cake, which was for the siyum. But when her son opened the fridge that morning and saw the beautiful cake, he couldn’t believe what his mother had made for his siyum, and he took it to school. When his mother realized what happened, she considered going to the school to switch it. But when she thought about how excited her son was, she decided to leave it. Her son came home that day and said, “ Wow! All the other kids bought licorice and minor things, and I bought this unbelievable cake!” And he was so proud of himself. He wrote that the morning that he was about to go on this trip, he went into a bakery and he saw a seven layer cake in the window. And it hit him, how strongly his mother felt about his learning and how special it was. He just couldn't bring himself to do it, so he told his friend he was not going on the trip with him. And everything turned around. What an unbelievable story! Look how Hashem orchestrated that, through a mistake, the seven layer cake ended up going to the siyum, and then the boy saw a cake like that on the day of his trip and turned around. Of course, he needed a zechut for something that like that to happen, but I'm sure the parents prayed hard. In story number two, there was a girl from Crackow who was Holocaust survivor. When she realized that her whole family was lost, she went off the Derech and moved to Paris. There, she met a nice man who went through the same story. He was devastated by the Holocaust, and gave up everything. They got married and lived their life in Paris, but after a few years, she decided she wanted to go back to her hometown of Crackow to see what it looked like. So they went. When she got to the marketplace, she was walking around and suddenly she looked stunned. Her husband asked what was going on. She said, “ Don't you see, there's a Shas over there, and it's holding up the table? How can we let that Shas be like that?” So the lady told the man behind the table that she wanted to buy that Shas. He said the Shas was not for sale, because he sold little toys, not books. She persisted and said she wanted the books. He told her if she wanted, she could buy the entire table. So she bought the entire table, as her husband stared at her asking, “ What are you doing? !” She answered, “ That Shas is my father's Shas. Every day, when my father came home from work, he would sit down for 15, 20 minutes and learn with a tremendous delight. How can I see it sitting there on the floor? I have to buy it.” So she took the Shas, cleaned it off, and they brought it back to Paris. She started thinking and thinking. And then she told her husband, “ You know, my life is empty now. I want to go back to the original, religious life that I lived before the war. I want to turn around. I know when we got married, we didn't have this plan. So it's up to you. You can decide to go with me or not ” In the end, he joined her and they moved to Eretz Yisrael, where they built a beautiful family. Another beautiful Hashgacha story, showing how Hashem can take an item like a seven layer cake or Shas, and use it to bring somebody back, when they're about to be lost forever. What unbelievable Hashgacha! And again, obviously these people had to have the zechut make these things happen. Have a wonderful day.
People are always looking for different ways to strengthen their Bitachon, and the Chafetz Chaim gives us advice on how to do so. He says that it’s our job is to strengthen our Bitachon. As the pasuk in Mishleh says, קַוֵּ֥ה לה׳ וְיֹ֣שַֽׁע לָֽךְ׃ Kaveh L’Hashem V’Yoshah Lach/ Put your hope in Hashem has He will deliver you His advice for strengthening Bitachon as follows: Go back on your life and constantly contemplate: How many years have you lived until now? How many decades have gone by? And with God's kindness, there wasn't a day that went by (I hope for everyone reading this) that you didn't have food to eat, water to drink, clothing, and a place to live . Baruch Hashem, we're not homeless. That's something to contemplate. Contemplate the Hessed of Hashem. Hashem tells us that we're supposed to remember the years that we spent in the Midbar , and Rabbenu Yonah says this is not just about the years that we spent in the Midbar . It’s also about the years that we spend in this world, going through life's challenges, and all the scary things that happen. Everyone has their scares, whether medical, financial, or family-related. We’ve all had them, and Baruch Hashem, we've gotten through them. We're still here, and we're still alive. So, based on my past, why am I worried about tomorrow? We don't know how many more years we're going to live, and we can assume that if He helped us until now, He’ll continue helping us. We've mentioned before, from the Chatam Sofer, that from time to time a person should look back at his life. As you get older, you begin to see more connections. More things start making sense when you look back on things that, many years ago, looked terrible. As an example from my own life, I learned in a Yeshiva called Be’er Yaakov, under Rav Wolbe, but within a year of my arrival, Rav Wolbe decided to leave the yeshiva. I was a young boy of 18, and I had I finally met my mentor. It was devastating. I literally cried bitter tears that this Yeshiva, that I loved, was going to come to an end. At the time, I didn't understand it. Rav Wolbe sent us to a Yeshiva that was under the guidance of a Rabbi Abba Berman. They were old friends from the Mirrer Yeshiva in Europe, and so Rav Wolbe sent us there to hear Rav Abba’s shiurim . Because of that, two unbelievable things happened in my life, that I never could have planned. Number one is, the alleyway of this Yeshiva was literally less than six feet from Hacham Ben Sion’s shul, Ohel Rachel . Because of this, I developed a tremendous kesher/connection to Hacham Ben Sion, whom I consider one of my Rabbis. I spent so much time with him- 10 years, because of that move from Be’er Yaakov to Yerushalayim. That's point number one. Point number two is that my chavruta in Rav Abba Berman was a rabbi named Rav Moshe Wolpin (currently a Rosh Yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael). When I was 21, I came back to America around Pesach time, looking to get married. Rav Wolpin was also in America, visiting his family. One day he was standing in his father's kitchen, and his father, Rabbi Nisson Wolpin (who was a friend of my father-in-law, Rabbi Nosson Scherman ) asked, “ Do you have anyone for Rabbi Nosson Scherman's daughter ?” He replied that he knew somebody, and he mentioned me. And I married this wonderful young lady, only because I met this man that I never knew before, all because I changed Yeshivot . That's just a little dot of an event, that, to me, was devastating, but changed my life for the good. And I did continue my connection with Rav Wolbe, when he moved to Yerushalayim, for another 10 years, as well. That's what the Chafetz Chaim says we have to do. We have to look back and say, “ Well, He took care of me until now, so probably He'll continue taking care of me.” Have a wonderful day.
To understand today’s class, we need some background information: ELAL 402 was an international passenger flight from London to Tel Aviv via Vienna and Istanbul. On July 26th, 1955, the flight strayed into Bulgarian airspace and was attacked by two Bulgarian MIG15 jet fighters. All seven crew members and 51 passengers on board the airliner were killed. Horrible story. What is the relevance to our class? About ten years later, there was an article in a secular newspaper in Israel entitled, I Wish I Was Religious . The writer of the article described that as a businessman, he’d fly all over Europe on business. Flights back then were not that frequent – maybe only once a week. He was once sitting in a plane with his seatbelt on, when the manager of the flight got on and made an announcement: There were two ladies, a mother and a daughter, begging to get on that flight. They had a family wedding that they had to attend, and if they didn't get on this plane, they’d miss the wedding, as the next flight was not until a week later. There was only one empty seat, so these two women were asking if someone would volunteer to get off the flight as a favor. Everyone was quiet, and then this man (the author of the article) got up. He said he didn't really care, as there was nothing really forcing him to come home. And he felt bad for these two ladies. So he took took his luggage and gave them his seat. “I then went to the city, found a hotel, sat down and turned on the radio. I started to tremble when I heard that the flight that I was supposed to be on was shot down. And I survived because of the kindness that I did.” He was the only one that survived. “ That night, I went to sleep and in my dream ( and for many nights thereafter), these two ladies were pointing their fingers at me, saying, ‘You killed us! If you wouldn't have given us your seat, we would be alive today.’ I couldn't fall asleep that night, nor for many nights afterwards, and I still feel the guilt that I caused this to happen. I eventually quit my regular job and became a journalist. I just can't focus. I've been suffering with this trauma for the past 10 years.” “I go back to the title of the article,” the writer says. “ I Wish I was Religious ,” because if I was religious, then I would've had something to respond to these ladies with in my dream. I would've said, ‘I didn't kill you. There's a Creator of the world, that runs the world, and He is sitting in the heavens deciding that I should have lived, and you should not. I don't know why He decided that, but I have to thank Him that I was saved. He decided that that's for me. He chose you to be the messengers to save me. I'm not responsible.’” He ends the article with, “ But it's a shame. I'm not religious, and therefore I don't have that comfort.” Rav Wolbe commented on this, that even though this man was not religious, Hashem would reward him for sharing that wonderful thought with the world, that people who are religious have a certain comfort when things that they don't understand happen, because they know that there's Someone big up there that's making the decisions. There's a story that happened many (about 60) years ago. A young rabbi (who eventually became Rav Michel Yehuda Leftkowitz) was learning in Kollel. On one Friday night, he was moving a large kettle full of hot water in his kitchen. He somehow he slipped near his young daughter, and the boiling, hot water spilled on her. She eventually passed away from her injuries. He was obviously terribly distraught because he seemingly killed his own daughter. He could not be comforted until the Chazon Ish told him the following: Imagine you were walking and an angel took the pot out of your hands and spilled it. You wouldn't feel responsible, because you didn't do it. The angel did it. ” And he explained that that was what happened. “ You didn't do anything. The angel did it, and therefore you are not responsible.” And this is why, as we always say, religion and Emunah cognitions help us deal with life's challenges, whether it's feeling guilt for what we did, taking responsibility for what we did, or even understanding what other people did. As we have quoted in the past, the Ben Ish Chai says that when a child, or whomever, causes some mishap on Friday afternoon, we can't blame the child, because the Satan is using him as his messenger, to cause disturbances and wreak havoc in a house on Erev Shabbat. Again, these are all Emunah cognitions that help us, and we have to be thankful for that. And we don't have to say, I wish I was religious, because, Baruch Hashem, we are religious.
Rav Chaim Palagi writes in his sefer , Moed L’Kol Chai (Ch. 30, Letter 2), that the entire month of Shevat is infused with the middah of Hod, glory — the principle trait of Aharon HaKohen. Therefore, he says, in this month, our spiritual mission is to focus on emulating Aharon HaKohen by loving and pursuing peace, which includes seeking to foster peace between people who have grievances against each other, and between spouses who are not living in harmony. While these are praiseworthy pursuits always, during Shevat they take on added importance. The name Shevat, says Rav Pilagi, contains a hint to this concept. It is spelled shin-beis-tes . The shin stands for shalom, peace ; this brings bet , for berachah, blessing; and tes, for tovah, goodness. As we know, Hashem has said that He has no vessel that is better for holding blessing other than peace. No blessing we have — health, wealth, success, family, friends — can be appreciated if our life is churning with machlokes and anger. Because Tu B’Shvat is the 15th of the month, when the moon is at its fullest, it is the fullest expression of peace between man and his fellow. This is further alluded to as follows: The word Shevat can also be understood as shevet, tribe; and tu — tes vav — is the numerical equivalent of 15, which is likewise the sum of Hashem's Name of Yud and Hei . That is why ( Tehillim 122:4), the Shevatim are called Shivteh Kah — the tribes of God . Rashi explains ( Bamidbar 26:5), that we are called “the tribes of God” because when God counted the Jewish people, He added His Name to ours. For example, He said, “ Mishpachas H achanoch i ” — the family of Chanoch — placing a hei in front of the family name and a yud at the end of it. In doing so, His message was, “I am imprinting upon the Jewish people My name of Yud and Hei to testify to the purity of their families.” The Maharsha ( Kiddushin 70B) explains that when a husband and wife have peace between them, God's Name of Yud and Hei dwells with them. Man — ish — is spelled alef - yud-shin. A woman is an ishah — alef-shin-hei. Both words consist of the letters alef and shin, which together spell aish, fire. However, when they bring Hashem into their life, the man has the Yud from God's Name, and his wife has the Hei from God's Name; thus, the fire is mitigated. The Yud and Hei represent Hashem’s Name of Shalom ; hence the term shalom bayis. Tu B’Shvat, the fifteenth of the month, symbolizes this concept of peace. In his sefer, the Ben Ish Chai ( Parashas Nasso ), offers further insights on the number 15 and its connection to shalom : · It is the number of words in Birkas Kohanim, which culminates in a blessing of shalom . · Additionally, he explains, a hand has fourteen joints, three on each of the four fingers and two on the thumb. For the hand to represent shalom, it needs one more component. Therefore, Chazal instructed us that when we make a berachah on a cup of wine, we should hold the cup in the palm of the hand; in this position, it is called the Kos shel Berachah, the cup of blessing. The palm becomes the hand’s fifteenth component, thus symbolizing shalom . · He connects this idea to the Chazal ( Berachos 64a) “Talmidei chachamim marbim shalom, Torah scholars increase peace.” This is because the rabbis have increased the occasions for employing a kos shel berachah. These include Kiddush on Shabbos and Yom Tov, Havdalah , Birkas HaMazon , weddings, bris milah, and the night of Pesach. These are all times in which we place the kos in our palm, calling into service the fifteenth component of our hand, thus symbolizing the Name of Shalom . · During the six weekdays, we wash for bread twice a day, twelve times in all. On Shabbos, we have three meals, which brings the week’s total to fifteen. Shabbos is a day of peace because of the fifteenth meal, Seudas Shelishis, which brings shalom . Furthermore, the Ben Ish Chai teaches that Tu b’Shevat is the most opportune time to pray for Arba Minim, the Four Species we bless during Succos. As we learned in our discussion on Succos, the four species symbolize unity among the four types of Jewish people. Why do we pray regarding these four species on Tu b’Shevat? The rabbis explain that if we look at the trees on Tu B’Shvat, we see that they are bare. Tu b’Shevat marks the day on which, according to the Gemara , the sap starts running within the tree. Then, on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, we can begin making Birkas Ilanos, the blessing we say upon seeing the tree’s buds start to blossom. The seasons progress until finally, we arrive at Succos, when we harvest the fruit. Thus, the progression toward Succos begins on Tu b’Shevat, when we pray for the necessary shalom of the Shivtei Kah, which finally expresses itself on the festival of Succos with the Arba Minim. Shevat is the month, and Tu b’Shevat the day, uniquely primed for our efforts to foster the middah of shalom and ahavas Yisrael.
In this week's Parasha we have Az Yashir, which has the words about Hashem, “ Oseh Pheleh/ God makes wonders .” The Mechilta says this not only Asah Imanu Peleh/ He did (in the past), but Oseh Imanu Bechol Dor V’Dor/ In every generation God is doing wonders for us . As it says in Tehilim 46, “ You've done a lot, Your wonders and Your thoughts are on us. ” In Bereshit Raba, the Midrash 29 says, just like we have parnasa every day, we have Geula/redemption every day. And the commentary explains that this Geula every day is the hidden miracles that are happening, that are redeeming us every day from the goyim. As the pasuk says, One sheep among 70 wolves. What a great shepherd you need to protect that one sheep. Those are the wonders that happen every day. We get surprised and shocked when, heaven forbid, there's some kind of terrorist attack against Jews any place in the world. But the bigger wonder is all the attacks that aren't happening, and the fact that we're surviving amongst them, all these generations. Rav Yaakov Emden, in his siddur, says the following: How can a kofer/ heretic , not be embarrassed when looking at the tremendous supervision God has over the Jewish people? Look at us. We're one sheep and we don't even have one locale. We're spread all over the world. We've had challenges for thousands of years. There's no nation that is chased after like us. Look how many enemies we have! And all of those great powerful enemies, the Romans, the Babylonians, the Persians, all those ancient nations are lost. There might be Greeks, but they aren’t the ancient Greeks. There might be Egyptians, but they aren’t the ancient Egyptians. We might have Romans, but not the ancient Romans. But we are still here and vibrant, connected to God, like we were from the beginning of time. We have not lost not one letter of our Torah Sh’Bchtav in all those years. And all the words of the Hachamim are solid. Nothing changed. We're keeping mukseh , we're keeping every last detail. What would a great philosopher answer to this, he wonders. Is it just a coincidence? He says, “I swear, when I analyze these wonders, it’s greater to me than all the wonders and the miracles that God did for our forefathers in Egypt, in the Midbar, and in Eretz Yisrael. This is a bigger miracle.” He says that the longer we're in galut , the bigger the miracle is, the more powerful God's strength is. Everything that the prophets said occurred, and here we are, still surviving. People sometimes say, If only I had miracles like Yetziat Mitzrayim today, then I would believe. But Rav Emden says we have those miracles today. The fact that we're surviving, the fact that we're flourishing after all these years, that is the miracle. B’Ezrat Hashem, we should contemplate these great miracles, and appreciate these great miracles. And the more we appreciate the miracles, the more miracles we get to see. Have a Shabbat Shalom !
There is a beautiful Midrash Raba in Vayikra (parasha כה letter 5) that says, Rav Levi says that when a chicken’s chicks are young, the chicken gathers the little chicks, sits on top of them, warms them up and brings the worms to them. But when they get older and they come close to the mother, she says, “ Go and peck from your own area. Find your own.” What's the nimshal ? For 40 years in the desert, the manna came down, the Be’er/well brought them water, the quail was available and they were surrounded by the clouds of glory. But once they came into Eretz Yisrael, Moshe Rabbenu said that everyone would go plant their own trees and do their own thing. So what exactly does that mean? Are we young chicks or older chicks? The Vilna Gaon, in his commentary on Bava Kama (92B) says that when a person is still young or new (like in his 20s), and he doesn’t yet feels so independent, Bote’ach Al Boreh Meod/he relies on Hashem a lot . And when you're on that level, God directs you in a tremendously specific supervision. When you get older and start counting on yourself, then, so too, the supervision gets less. When the Jewish people were by the sea, and needed it to split, we had tremendous fear, and we were relying on Hashem tremendously. But then as time went on, their bitachon became less, and so the supervision became less. And he says, that's why in the Bet Hamikdash, there were keruvim resembling children on the holy ark. Because the children indicate that you still feel dependent and you're relying on Hashem. And then, he says, the Shechina comes down. The Shechina is God's supervision. This is a tremendous point, which is specific to our parshiot. Why did the sea split? Because we felt dependent, because we felt we couldn't do it on our own, because we panicked and we relied on Hashem. And as I’ve said before, right after Corona, which should have been a horrible economic time, for many people it was a tremendous economic time. There was all this government funding, and people bought houses and did all kinds of things they didn't do before. How? In my humble opinion, when Corona came along, we suddenly became ketanim again. We became babies again. Our businesses were closed. We couldn’t get goods, we couldn’t do anything, so we were really relying on God. And when you’re really relying on God, then God comes and sits on top of you and warms you up and puts the worm in your mouth. But then suddenly things start getting better and you start feeling confident, that you can do it on your own… and then recessions come along. Of course, you can explain it all naturally, and say the government put out too much money, and because there was too much money, it became a recession. You can explain everything naturally, but that was yesterday's class. Those are just sibbot/ causes. If we look at it with the bitachon lens, this Midrash and this Gain of Vilna are enlightening. This is an important, constant lesson. The more dependent and weak you feel, the more the Shechina dwells on you. If you're a baby chick, the mother chick puts the worm in your mouth. If you think you're a big chick, then you're on your own. Let us be baby chicks. Have a wonderful day.
We continue with Bitachon-related thoughts from Yetziat Mitzrayim, which is the topic that we're reading about now in the weekly readings. In the beginning of Parashat Bo , Hashem tells Moshe that one of the reasons for Yetziat Mitzrayim is that you should tell your children and grandchildren that I was HitAlalti Of course, we go to Rashi first any time we want know the simple explanation of a pasuk, and Rashi says, it means Sichachti/ I made fun of, I made a laughing stock of, and he quotes other pesukim that used this root-word, to prove that it means I taunted them, or made a laughing stock of them . That is the simple explanation. However, Rabbenu Bachye, another Rishon, says that it’s possible to offer another explanation-that the root of the word HitAlalti is Illah , which means a cause, as we say every day in Hodu , when we say Hodiu B’Amim Alilotav, (Tehilim 105,1). In Shemuel א, chapter two, it says, He sets up the Alilot/causes. In Tehilim 65, 5 it says, Norah Alilah Al benei Adam/God is awesome in His causes . He says that God is called that, because He is the Sibat kol HaSibot/ Cause of all causes, which God showed us at Yetziat Mitzrayim, so that we could understand this concept, that God deals in the approach of causes and causes and causes and steps upon steps. This is really an important principle, that the Hovot Halevavot says in his Shaar Bitachon , which is this concept of Sibot / causes . He says, everything in this world comes about through two stages: First is God's gezera , and the next is the intermediary causes that bring it about. He gives the famous mashal of an ox that's pulling a rope that's connected to a pulley, that's connected to a pail, that's connected to a well. And a man is leading it all. As the ox walks, the pail comes up out of the well with water. The man that's leading it all is far away. We don't see him. The most visible impact is the pail, which actually has the least impact, but it's the most immediate and direct cause. And all of these causes are ultimately driven by the man. Rabbenu Bachye discussed this as well, in his sefer Kad HaKemach, on the topic of Pesach, where he gives a beautiful mashal of what our world is like. He says our world is compared to a young boy who is raised solely his house- he never leaves. It’s his whole world. The house has everything that he’d need in it. The only issue is that there's no one in the house beside him. He walks around in it and there's no other person there. At a certain point in time, he's going realize that there's has to be a Baal HaBayit - somebody that set everything up, even though he couldn’t see him. He’d wonder, Who is he? and Where is he? The was what Avraham Avinu did. As we say in Birkat Hamazon, Shulchano Aruch LaKol/ His table is set for everybody. We just don't see Him. He's the missing Baal HaBayit. The job of Yetziat Mitzrayim is for us to realize that although there are many, many steps, it's Hashem that's making it happen. The Sephardic custom is that at the beginning of the Ne’Ilah prayers, there is a piyut with the words El Norah Alilah/ God, who's awesome in His causes. Ne’Ilah is when web realize that God is making that final decision. He's the cause for everything. And he can make things happen in the most complex ways. Not to beat a dead horse, but the coronavirus, a microscopic virus, wreaked havoc on the world. You can hardly see it. As the saying goes, every bullet has its address, and every coronavirus has its address. And all of it comes from El Nora Alilah. That's what we were supposed to see at Yetziat Mitzrayim. The Baal HaBayit/ the homeowner, so to say, came down and waved His hand and the little child saw the owner. That's what happened at Yetziat Mitzrayim. And we're supposed to remember this, twice a day, to keep that message alive for us today.
Today we continue with lessons from Parashat Bo, because Yetziat Mitzrayim is the source of all our Emunah and Bitachon. Rabbenu Yona, in Mishleh (3,26), says that part of Bitachon is realizing the concept in Pirkei Avot that your Boss is reliable and trustworthy and He will pay you for your work. You have to realize that. He cites a pasuk from Yeshaya 40, 10. הִנֵּ֤ה שְׂכָרוֹ֙ אִתּ֔וֹ וּפְעֻלָּת֖וֹ לְפָנָֽיו׃ His payment is there. God pays well. We have to believe and know that. Rabbenu Yona, in Pirkei Avot on that Mishna, says Hashem is not like a boss that you come to, who says, “I don't have money now. I'm a little cash-short, I can't pay you.” God is in charge of this world, God is in charge of the next world, and He has unlimited funding. You have a good boss with good pay. Where do we see this in Yetziat Mitzrayim? In Parashat Bo, Hashem tells the Jewish people about the Korban Pesach , and all the good news, it says of the Jewish people, “ V’yelchu V’Yaasu/ they went and did like Hashem commanded..” Rashi explains that They went and they did means the Torah counted the going as well. There was a separate reward for going , and a separate award for doing . Rav Yaakov Chaim Sofer, one of the grandchildren of the Kaf HaHaim and Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Kaf HaChaim, says in one of his weekly pamphlets that We see here a tremendous fundamental, that God pays for the preparation. He quotes a Tosefta in Masechet Pe’ah 4,17, that if a person says, “ I'm going to give Sedaka,” and then he gives Sedaka, God rewards him because he said he was going to give Sedaka. He cites a Midrash from Kohelet (7,9) that when a person goes to make a Hatan and Kallah happy, or he goes to visit the sick, not only does he get rewarded for the actual mitzvah, but he gets rewarded for every step of the way. He quotes the Pele Yoetz the topic of Halicha , that says that for every step a person takes to do an act of Hessed, he creates a separate angel. That is called Schar Pesi’ot/ the reward for walking, for taking a step. This applies to all Mitzvot. When the Pele Yoetz talks about preparing for Shabbat, he says that when a person goes to buy things for Shabbat, for every step that he takes walking up and down the aisles, there's a reward. So we don’t just get a reward for doing the mitzvah, there's a reward for the steps that we take in preparation for the mitzvah. Furthermore, in the topic of Cheshek and Chiba/doing a mitzvah with e njoyment and a thrill, the Pele Yoetz says, ” Take a look at the wicked king Nevuchadnezzar, who he took a few steps for God's respect… “ (There was a letter being sent out that said, “ Peace be unto the king and to your God,” and Nevuchadnezzar chased after the messenger and told him to switch it, to mention God first, then the king.) Because of the few steps that he took, he became the world ruler. The Pele Yoetz says, you should make a Kal V’Homer. You should say, “If I do this, then what's waiting for me when I do the Mitzvah?” And again, it’s just for the steps of going to do a mitzvah. This, as the Pele Yoetz says, should cause us to be excited and thrilled with every Mitzvah that we do. It's like, lehavdil , the pinball machine I used to play when I was a kid, with the levers that you hit, that swung back and forth (This was before video games. I don't even know if they have these machines anymore- maybe just in museums). Sometimes you’d get lucky and hit something and it would go, Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, and the points would go flying. What a thrill it was! Those are the feelings that a Jewish person is supposed to have when you get stuck in traffic. You're not wasting your time. If you're going for a mitzvah, then you're getting rewarded. You're getting paid for what you're doing now. It's not a waste of time. With this attitude of V’yelchu V’Yaasu , you get rewarded for going . These are the lessons of Yetziat Mitzrayim that we're supposed to take with us for eternity. To appreciate the schar of a Mitzvah, and rely on Hashem that He's going to pay us. He's Ne’eman , He's loyal . I have a huge salary coming to me. Have a wonderful day.
I'd like to share a beautiful lesson from Parashat Bo , which we can actually apply to every day of our lives. At the end of Parashat Bo , the Ramban talks about how many of our Mitzvot are there to remind us of Yetziat Mitzrayim. He says, One who purchases a mezuza for a single zuz and affixes it to his entrance, and has its message in mind, has already acknowledged the creation of the world, the knowledge of Hashem and His Providence, prophecy, and his belief in all aspects of the Torah. This is beside the fact that God's kindness is great to those that fulfill His will, and He brought us from the state of slavery to freedom. It’s interesting (and possibly difficult to understand), that the Ramban includes Yetziat Mitzrayim as one of the beliefs which are expressed through Mezuzah , given that the mezuzah makes no mention whatsoever of Yetziat Mitzrayim. Furthermore, the Rambam does not mention Yetziat Mitzrayim when he talks about the Mezuzah. Nonetheless, many years ago I saw a Mehilta that says that because they put the blood of the Korban Pesach on the doorposts and lintels when they left Mitzrayim, we put the mezuzah on our doors- to remind us of that blood. So therefore the Mezuzah does remind us of Yetziat Mitzrayim. When you walk out of your home and you kiss the Mezuzah, you should be thinking of the protective power that the blood had. And the Mehilta adds that if the blood, which was only a temporary mitzvah, protected the homes so that the Destroyer would not enter, surely the Mezuzah, which has God's name on it and is a mitzvah forever, will protect us. So let us focus on the protective power of the blood: Rabbenu’s Bachye says, on Shemot 12,13 that the blood does not prevent a plague. Rather, it teaches us that one who believes in Hashem, with a total belief, and relies on Him, and is not afraid of Paroah and his decrees, and is ready to publicly slaughter their idol (which was a sheep), and not only slaughter it, but put the blood on the doorposts, that person becomes a Sadik through his Bitachon, and therefore he's worthy of being protected from the plague. So that is the the power of the of the mezuzah. The mezuzah goes back to the blood, which goes back to bitachon. When we kiss the mezuzah, we remind ourselves that Hashem is in charge, and we rely on Him, and that protects us. As we’ve said before, the Bet Yosef had a magid/a type of an angel that came to a night and told him hiddushim. The Bet Yosef asked this magid a question: What do I need this blood for? God knows what's going on. Furthermore , blood is a sign of death. There's a story in the Gemara about people who were going to be saved- they had a certain ink spot on their forehead, and the people that were supposed to die had a blood spot on their forehead. So blood is a symbol of death. Why would you put a symbol of death on the door? And he says this is the secret: God wants us to rely on Him, and therefore God said, put the blood on the doorpost. And, the blood was on the inside, not on the outside. So when you looked at the blood, you might think, Blood is scary. It's a bad sign, it's a bad omen. But instead we say, “ No. I don't care about bad signs and bad omens- just the opposite. I'm going to rely on my Creator and He's going to save me.” And the merit of that Bitachon saved them. They were able to look beyond blood as a bad sign with bad predictions. They didn’t care about signs or predictions. And when God sees that, that is the merit that's going to save us. Specifically the negative. This is a tremendous Bitachon takeaway- that even in a situation where it's extremely bleak, when I do the will of God and I rely on Him, I will be protected. That is what we're supposed to be thinking when we kiss our Mezuza. And I could say the same thing about the Mezuza- it might not be a good thing. It's a way for the goyim to pick out Jews, when they see mezuzah on the door. So, if anything, it's showing who we are. But we rely on Hashem, and He is going to protect us. Have a wonderful day.
Yesterday, we explained the approach of the Nefesh HaChaim as to how to make miracles occur. Today we'll quote from the Bet Halevi, who takes a slightly different approach. He says that God created the world in a way that we always have to have freedom of choice, and room for doubt. God doesn't want to take away our freedom of choice because that’s what we are here in the world for. If God were to make miracles for us, it would take away our freedom of choice. But, he says, if a person works on himself very much and reaches the level that he doesn't have a doubt in that area, then there's no reason God shouldn't make a miracle for him, because that miracle is not going to give him any added hizuk. He too, uses Rav Chanina Ben Dosa as source. When Rav Chanina saw the vinegar light, he didn't say, “ Oh my gosh! I can't believe it. The vinegar lit!” He was like, “ Okay, so vinegar lit. ” In the words of the Bet Halevi, “ This miracle didn't add hizuk to him.” It didn't add any extra strength to his belief, because whatever strength that he would've gotten from this miracle, he already worked up to, on his own. For example, imagine a fellow who studied very, very well for the Regents and he knows all the answers. When the teacher tests him before the exam, he knows all the answers. And the whole reason why you take the Regents is to make sure you know the answer. He knows the answers. But then, in the middle of the test, his arm gets weak, and he doesn't have the energy to finish. So the teacher fills in the rest of the test for him. That didn't take away the challenge for him. He knew all the answers. So too, God doesn't want to take away life's tests from us.That's why we have the challenges that we have at times, because life is a test. But if you already, so to say, had that clarity before God does the miracle, you’ve reached the clarity anyway. So why not be shown something by God? He's not giving away the answers. He’s not helping you cheat on your test. Somebody once asked me, why it is that when people start working on Bitachon a lot, they start seeing God's Hashgacha Pratit-they start seeing God's hand. So, I used to think it was because the person was looking out for it. Of course, if you're learning a lot about Bitachon, and you keep on talking about relying God, you're going to see God's hand in your life more. Of course, if you’re relying on God, you're going to see things happen. But even if you weren't necessarily relying on Him- you weren't asking for the parking spot, but there it was. You didn't ask for that certain thing that you wanted, but wow, you just see things falling into place. You just happen to be at the right place at the right time. And things are just happening in the right way. But based on this Bet Halevi, I think the answer is that if you work on Bitachon, and you really have clarity about God's hand in your life, then God has no problem ‘ giving away the answers.’ Because you didn't say, “ Oh my gosh!” You said, “ Of course, I should be in the right place at the right time. Hashem’s running the world anyway, it's not something that's dazzling to Him.” So based on this Bet Halevi, the more we work on Bitachon, the more clarity we have, and the more we will see things happen in a more open way. Because the events happening in an open way are not going to take away our freedom of choice, and they aren’t going to take away the test. So we have two approaches. Yesterday, we talked about the Nefesh HaChaim, who says that your belief itself will bring about the miracles, because for you, there's no difference. In your mind, there's nothing else but God, and therefore your belief is going to, so to say, empower God to bring about the miracles. The second approach is similar but different. The Bet Halevi’s approach is that if the miracle, or the open hand of God, will not take away your freedom of choice, then God will do it because it's not taking away your test and challenge. Have a wonderful day.
One of the questions people often ask is, Why don't we see miracles today like the miracles they saw in yester year. The Nefesh HaChaim ( Shaar ג chapter 12 ( explains why it is that Rav Chanina Ben Dosa was a miracle worker, and it’s no coincidence that he was also known for his belief in En Od Milevado, which means there's nothing else but God. Once when there was a very dangerous snake in the town, Rav Chanina put his foot into the snake hole and the snake bit him. He then walked into Bet Midrash with this dangerous snake hanging around his neck saying, “ Snakes don't kill, sins kill.” The obvious question is, how could he put himself in danger? We aren’t allowed to put ourselves in danger, and we don’t rely on miracles. So why was Rav Chanina Ben Dosa allowed to rely on a miracle? Another time, when his daughter didn't have any oil to light, he told her,” The One that says that oil will light says that vinegar will light,” and the vinegar lit. How was he doing these miracles? The Nefesh HaChaim explains that for the one that believes that there's nothing else but God…in his words, “ Just like when he's in trouble, he subjugates himself and connects himself totally to God, he always has same attitude (He uses the same words). He subjugates himself and connects his pure faith with his steadfast heart, only to God. And he realizes that as far as God's concerned, it's totally equal, whether God performs things in a miraculous way or in a natural way.” The Chazon Ish says the only difference between a miracle and nature is that miracles happen occasionally, while nature is a constant miracle. Babies being born is a miracle. But it's a constant miracle, so we don't make a big deal out of it. Another well-known example of this concept is that when the Jewish people lived in the desert, they said, “ Hamotzi Lechem Min Hashamayim,” when they ate the manna . For them, after 40 years, manna was normal. Rain comes from heaven, so why shouldn't bread come from heaven? The first generation that actually witnessed wheat grow after they put wheat kernels in the ground, said, “ Wow, that's unbelievable!” How is it that if you put a wheat kernel in the ground, it deteriorates and rots and out comes a whole new stalk with hundreds of kernels?! That's a miracle! Not for us. For us, manna would be a miracle. We say Hamotzi Lechem Min HaAretz, and for us, that's normal. The only difference is that we are used one way, because it’s constant. There's really no reason why oil lights. Of course, you can explain chemically why oil lights, but vinegar could just as well light. There's no difference. Rav Chanina Ben Dosa didn't say, “ Oh my gosh, look what just happened!” He said, in a very casual way,“ What's the difference? Oil lights, vinegar, lights, it's all the same.” When a person really believes that, then there is no difference, and God will allow miracles to happen for that person. So, in a way, we are the ones that stop the miracles. Our limited belief, so to say, confines God's abilities. The more we believe that there really is no difference, the less impressed we are by miracles and the more impressed we are by ‘plain old nature,’ the more miracles will happen. That's a secret as to what is necessary to see miracles. Miracles happen when the person really doesn't see a difference between miracles and nature. The more we strengthen our belief, the more we will see miracles. We might not see the splitting of the sea, but in a certain way, we will see that miracle of a salvation that we need. We can say to ourselves, “ The God that says that says a healthy person can live, can also say a person that's weak can also live.” There's a story like this with one of the Gedolim who was very weak by nature. Before his wedding, the other side was concerned, so they went to the Chafetz Chaim to ask about it. The Chafetz Chaim told them, “ Some people are healthy and robust and live a long life, and some people are sickly and live a long life. There's no difference.” And the Gadol lived a long life. The more we believe in God's abilities and don't restrict God, the more we will see extraordinary things happen. Have a wonderful day.
Yesterday, we mentioned the Or HaChaim HaKadosh that talks about the power of Bitachon versus Tefila , and how Bitachon works in a supernatural way that doesn't follow the regular systems. We explained the concept of a father-son relationship versus a king-servant relationship. This is beautifully illustrated in a Gemara in Masechet Taanit , 19A, which tells the famous story of Honi HaMa’agel and how he prayed to bring rain. Now what's interesting is he didn't just tell the people to pray , we can see that it wasn't a regular prayer. It was a prayer with a tremendous reliance . The Gemara tells us that, “Before he went into pray, he said, ‘ Everybody bring in the ovens (that they used to cook the Pesach with) .” The ovens were made out of earthenware and a lot of rain would make them melt, and therefore he was warning them. This is not a regular prayer. This is similar to another famous story, of Rabbi Galante from Sfat. When there was a drought, an the Arab Sheik said, “ You Jews know how to bring rain.” So Rabbi Galante told the people, “ Let's go pray.” But he told everybody to go out with their raincoats and boots on, because if they were to go out without raincoats and boots, it would mean they didn’t really believe it would rain. If you really believe it's going to rain, you take your raincoat and boots. That too, was not regular Tefila. That was, I'm relying on You, because it has to happen. And that's how Honi prayed. It was more than just Tefila. There was conviction. What did he do? He drew a circle on the ground, stood in it and said, “ Hashem, Your children put their eyes on Me. Why ? I am like someone that lives in Your house. I swear in Your great name, I'm not leaving this spot until You have mercy on Your children.” I'm not budging, I'm not leaving. It has to rain. That's relying, that's really coming with a conviction that's it going to happen. “Bring in the ovens,” he said. And then the rain started coming down in drips. Honi said, “ That's not what I asked for. I didn't ask for drips, I asked for rain to fill up the pits.” So, it came down in a torrential downpour. He said again, “That's not what I asked for. I want I want Gishmeh Ratzon/ rain of will and blessing and graciousness. And then the rain came down properly. Eventually, he said, “ Just like I prayed that it should come down. I'm praying that it should stop.” This might seem a little bit like hutzpah or audacity, to talk to God that way, saying, “ This is not what I asked for… That's what I asked for.” And actually, Shimon Ben Shetach, a great Tanna of the time, sent him a message, “ If not for the fact that you were Honi, I would get upset at you. But you pray to God like a son begs his father, and that's why He gives you.” So, we see this concept of a connection between Bitachon and the father- son relationship. The Gemara adds, “And on him it said, ‘ Your father is happy with you. Your mother, that gave birth to you, is rejoicing’.” Normally, Tefila is called Avoda Sh’b’Lev/ Prayer is a service with all your heart. We are servants. Like it says, the servants have their eyes on their masters, so too, we look towards You. That's one approach. But the Sefer Pri Sadik (Parashat Ki Tavo, letter six) written by a great Chassidic Rebbe, says that Honi Hama’agal had a different approach. Honi’s approach was that of a father/ child relationship. And that's what Bitachon is. And it's like the child whom the mother or father has a special spot in their hearts for. He says, “I want an ice cream, I wanted this, I want that .” It's a whole different approach, a whole different relationship. And that B’Ezrat Hashem, is what a person has, when he is focusing on Hashem with a bitachon outlook. Have a wonderful day.
This past week in the Yad Yosef Torah Center, Rabbi Yaakov Hillel spoke. He said that we're in the parshiot of Yetziat Mitzrayim, which discusses getting out of Egypt. He said Hashem told Avraham Avinu that they’d-go out with Rechush Gadol/ a great wealth. But we know that the great wealth doesn't literally mean money, gold and silver. That's not what we went to Mitzrayim for. The great wealth, he explained, was the Emunah and Bitachon takeaways that we came out with. We’ve mentioned, in the past, the story of the Brisker Rav. When he got married, his wealthy father-in-law gave him a large amount of real estate in Warsaw. Then World War I broke out and somehow in the middle of it all, the properties were taken out of his name. When he got back to Warsaw, the titles to his properties were no longer in his name, and he lost all the land. He didn't know what to do. So he took out a Hovot Halevavot Shaar Bitachon and reviewed it many, many times. And then he said, “I always thought someone that was wealthy was somebody that had a block of real estate in Warsaw. And then I realized that someone wealthy is someone who knows Hovot Halevavot and lives by it.” That's the true wealth. Rabbi Hillel went on to what should be a well-known Or HaChaim HaKadosh regarding when Hashem told Moshe, “Ma Titzak Elai? The Egyptians were behind them, the sea was in front of them and Hashem said to Moshe Rabbenu, “Why are you crying out to me?” The obvious question is, What do you mean? When else do you cry out? This is the time to cry out, when we're in trouble. As David Hamelech says, Min Hametza Karati Ya, and if those prayers aren’t enough, pray even more. Moshe Rabbenu knew how to pray 515 prayers, so why not continue praying? And he answers that at that time, the Jewish people were under tremendous Midat Hadin/ tremendous strict judgment, and the trait of mercy was not enough to get them out. Hashem was telling Moshe, “If you're going to pray, it's not going to help. I want to do it, but They are not fit.” There's something called Midat Hadin, which means that even when a person prays, we have to see if he deserves it or not. Does he merit it or not? Therefore, Hashem said, “I'm going to give you an Eitza/advice that's going to take care of everything: Strengthen yourselves in Emunah with all your heart. Go into the sea before it splits, based on your reliance on God (that He’d do a miracle for them) and that will cause a huge surge of mercy. And as we know, that’s what ended up happening. Rav Bloch, in his sefer Igeret Al HaBitachon, asks a question: If we need more zechuyot, isn’t prayer also a zechut? And he explains that there's a difference between prayer and bitachon. Prayer works within the confines of this world's justice system. More prayer=more merits, and more prayer=even more merits. But there's a time when the judgments are so strong, and the demerits are so much, that prayer is not going to tip the scale. And as long as you're staying within the confines of this world, using prayer in the regular justice system, is not going to work, because prayer arouses mercy, but sometimes we have too much justice on the other side. Bitachon is a whole different approach. On Bitachon, it says, “Even if sharp knife is on your neck, don't give up on Hashem’s mercy.” Bitachon does not work with the regular systems. Bitachon is above the regular workings. Bitachon breaks all rules and is above nature. It’s not limited to confines of the regular system. Like we said, there's a concept of God as our Father and God as our King. The King works within the regular justice system. You can go to the king with all the good lawyers and all the good claims you have, but you're going to lose the case. But if you said, “Hey, you're my father,” that's a whole different story. That's a whole different level. That’s Hessed Hinam/for free, and it has nothing to do with the world of merits. That's just, I'm counting on Hashem and He’ll come through. Tehilim Perek 56,4 says, ה׳ י֥וֹם אִירָ֑א אֲ֝נִ֗י אֵלֶ֥יךָ אֶבְטָח Hashem, on a day that I fear, I will count on You. And the Malbim says, what does it mean, “On a day that I fear?” A day that I fear means that there's a tremendous amount of justice in the world. And even with all that justice, on that Yom Irah/on that fateful, fearful day, I know that there's something that's going to work above all of that- Bitachon. And Bitachon will help me. Why? To quote the Malbim, “Because I rely on Him, it’s befitting that He should save me, because He saves all those that seek refuge in Him.” That's the difference between Bitachon and Tefila, and that's what they needed when it came to the splitting of the sea. It’s interesting that the Gemara says that getting married and parnasa are as difficult as the splitting of the sea, which means that we don't merit it, so prayer might not be the way to go. So what do we need to break all rules, to split the sea, get that deal and get that marriage? That's where Bitachon comes in. Have a wonderful day.
In Parasha Vaera, the 10 plagues start. Hashem says that the purpose of this is so, “ You should know that I am Hashem who took you out of Mitzrayim, and Mitzrayim will know that I am Hashem.” And again, I'm doing this to let everyone know there's nothing like Me in the in the entire land.. The Rishonim explain that the purpose of the Makkot wasn't just to get us out of Egypt. God could have just taken us out. The purpose of the Makkot was that everyone realize Hashem’s supervision and Hashgacha. As we said yesterday, this is not just a history book. This is here for every day of our lives. Remembering Yetziat Mitzrayim is every single day of our life, twice a day. The night of Pesach is the time that we supercharge our belief, but this is a constant belief. Every Mitzvah has within it a certain Segula , a certain power. The Mitzvah of Tzizit is there to cause us that we shouldn't stray after our eyes and our heart. Every Mitzvah does something. What does Yetziat Mitzrayim do? Yetziat Mitzrayim, and talking about Yetziat Mitzrayim, has the power of Emunah. The more we talk about it, the more we think about it. This is true every day of the year, but especially when we start the parshiot of Yetziat Mitzrayim. We have to delve into them. The whole reason God took us out, and why we went through it all is in order, like it says, that we should tell our children. We should share this with the future generations. And again, thinking is not enough. We know the line is, “ Know in your head, and place it on your heart. ” Our rabbis (possibly the Arizal) say if we take the word פרעה Paroah and re scramble it, it spells הערף Haoref/the nape. The nape is the spot at the top of your spine that separates your head from the rest of your body, as it goes down the spinal cord. If someone has an injury there, they become a paraplegic, lo alenu , because the messages from the brain can’t get to the rest of the body. Paroah/the nape symbolizes the ability to have a lot of knowledge in your head, but not allow it to filter down the rest of your body. And every day, when we put on our tefilin, we put the knot on our nape, like an Emunah patch, to work against Paroah and allow those messages to come down from our brain and enter our hearts. And that's why it's a lifelong long project- Speaking with our mouths is not enough. It has to enter our hearts. And it enters our hearts by talking about it, by thinking about it, by learning the topic of Yetziat Mitzrayim in depth, by reading the commentaries, by reading the Rashis. And to take it really seriously. A story is told that someone was once sitting nearby when the Chafetz Chaim was doing Shnayim Mikra V’Echad Targum on Parashat Vaera , and the Chafetz Chaim started belly laughing, like someone just told him a joke. They asked what was going on, and he said, “ I'm reading about how one big frog comes, and they hit it, and starts turning into smaller frogs. ” He was laughing at what was going on. That means he wasn't just reading this as a story book, he was living Yetziat Mitzrayim as he read, as it was happening. Similarly, when he read that the Egyptian magicians got boils all over their bodies, he was laughing. He was imagining how they looked when they walked in and had boils covering themselves. Yetziat Mitzrayim was, so to say, our schooling on Emuna and Bitachon. The Ran asks a question, “Moshe Rabbenu didn't think that he should become the leader because of his inability to speak, but Hashem made it happen that he took the Jewish people out. Why didn’t Hashem just heal him?” Why did Hashem say, I’ll be with your mouth?” He says it’s because Hashem wanted to show that it wasn’t Moshe taking us out, it was Hashem taking us out. And therefore, He worked it out from the beginning that Moshe Rabbenu would put his hand into the coals and then a Malach would put it on his lips and make it happen that he couldn’t speak- to show that it wasn’t Moshe Rabbenu’s masterful speaking abilities, or his ability to rile up the crowd. No. It was Hashem taking us out of Mitzrayim. Everything that happens is directly from Hashem. The lessons are there. The Elder of Kelm tells us the lesson of the first Makkah of blood. When the Jew put his straw in, it was water, but when the Mitzri put his straw in, it was blood. The same glass of water could be two different things for two different people. And the same is true in life today. Two people can have the same experience, but for one, it means one thing, and for another it means another. I heard from Rav Wolbe once, that we think there are 8 billion people are in the world. But he says, No, there aren't 8 billion people in the world. There are 8 billion worlds and all 8 billion worlds are superimposed on the same spot. My world is my world, and your world is your world. They just share the same place. And that's what was revealed at Yetziat Mitzrayim. These are the Emunah lessons that we have to constantly be working on. And now we have to again, to get a little jumpstart as we go through the parshiot of Yetziat Mitzrayim.
As we know, everything that's written in the Torah and Nevi’im is there to teach us lessons for the future. Great people live with those lessons- not just as though reading fairy tales and legends. The great Rav Haskel Levenstein lived with Yetziat Mitzrayim every day of his life, as if he got out of Egypt with all the miracles and all the lessons. The Chafetz Chaim had a sefer called Mahane Yisrael/the Camp of the Jewish People , which was written specifically for Jewish soldiers that were in the Russian Army, where he writes, Regardless of your religiosity, you have to look into your deeds, feel bad for your sins, and accept to do Teshuva . Once you’ve done that, then rely on Hashem that He'll for sure save you at war. As it says in the Torah (the Chafetz Chaim reads pesukim as if they're talking to him), “ When you're in trouble, search out Hashem with your all your heart and your soul. And when all the difficulties come upon you, don't worry. Hashem is merciful. He won't let you go. ” And he says, “ We see from there that even in the most serious of times, that are very difficult, if you search out God with your heart and soul, God is there for you.” And he adds, Look throughout the Neviim and you'll see stories of how there were great wars with many more enemies than we were, and we were successful based on our reliance. The example that he gives is Yonatan, the son of Shaul and his caddie who carried his weapons. In Shmuel א perek יד , the Pelishtim were on one side, and there was a separation between them and the rest of the the camp. And Yonatan tells the lad, “ Let’s go into the enemy camp, let's see what God can do. There's nothing stopping God from saving us. What's the difference between two people and 2000 people? ” And the lad says, “ Okay, I'm with you.” So they go in for a fight and surprise the enemy. These two people took on the enemy, killed 20 soldiers, instilled fear, and eventually the Jewish army chased them away and won the war. What's going on here? How did Yonatan have the courage to do this? His answer was, he relied on Hashem. The Chafetz Chaim tells this to soldiers of today, in the 1900s in Russia. And he says, we see the same thing with David Hamelech, who also went alone, and fought a great war. But before he went out, it says, “ David strengthened himself with Hashem his God.” The Chafetz Chaim ends with the following statement: “ And according to the level of your alliance on God, that will measure the amount of success that you see.” In the letters of the Elder of Kelm and his students, they quote from Rav Reuven Dov of Kelm, who comments on this war of Yonantan and Shaul, and he says, “ How could someone be so careless and haphazard, going into such a situation which is totally against all norms?” It says the Pelishtim were like the sand of the ocean. And the answer is, as we said, one that goes in with Bitachon has no worries, no fear. He says this is what is demanded of us- to reach these higher levels of Bitachon. We have to work on ourselves. These stories, as we said, are not just stories. These are lessons . And as we've said in the past, the Hovot Halevavot quotes how the ravens brought Eliyahu HaNavi food, and cites the manna in the desert. One might ask, “ What does that have to do with me?” And the answer is, Bitachon has not changed. Bitachon is the same today as it was then. We have to use our reliance on Hashem, and realize that He tells us to count on Him, that He wants us to count on Him. It's not How dare you . As we’ve quoted many a times from the Hovot Halevavot, one of the big reasons people don't have Bitachon is they don't realize it's a Mitzvah. It's not optional. It’s not, Do you want or do you not? It's not up to you, it's a commandment . When you're in trouble, Rely on Me, that's what He wants from us and when we really do it, Hashem comes through. Have a wonderful day.
The Gemara, in Masechet Sotah 49B, describes how the world is going to look in the time called Ikveta D’Mashicha which means the time of the Heels of Mashiach, or the Footsteps of Mashiach. It describes how the worlds social levels will slowly fall apart, there will be wars, there'll be hypocrisy, there'll be a lack of respect, there'll be disgrace for religion... it gives a whole description of a downward spiral of humanity in general. And after each problem, the Gemara states the same line, “ Who can we rely on? Our Father in heaven.” Rav Yerucham Levovitz explains that as the time of Mashiach comes closer, and God is going to reveal that there's nothing else but Him, Hashem prepares us by showing the lackings of all the other things that we used to rely on. Everything we relied on until now will cease to be anything that is reliable. Rav Elchonon Wasserman, in his sefer Ikveta Meshicha/ Footsteps of Mashiach, writes that we find this concept explicitly in the Torah in Haazinu ( Devarim 32, 36 through 39), where it says that God is going to judge His people and there will be nothing to help us. And He'll say, Where are the gods that you relied on? Let them get up and help you. And then He will say, רְא֣וּ ׀ עַתָּ֗ה כִּ֣י אֲנִ֤י אֲנִי֙ ה֔וּא See now, I am the One that's been running everything until now…. and then no one can save them from Me.” He says that in the end of time there will be many different types of Avodah Zara, and one by one they will fall, until eventually they’ll realize the truth of En Od Milevado/ There's nothing else but God. He explains that Avodah Zara doesn't necessarily mean bowing to a Buddha or other type of idol. Avodah Zara is any type of ideal that we think can help us without God, that has its own independent power. All the isms , communism , socialism , even wonderful democracy, that we think we can rely on. We think these are all reliable systems. We're living in the United States of America, where we think everything is fair and just. We think Russia is a horrible place, but we have democracy. There's nothing like democracy, we think. But as time goes on, we start to see the holes in democracy, and all those forces or parties that we relied on, we start to see how weak they are, how illegitimate they are. That's our Avodah during these times. During these times of the Ikveta D’Meshicha . More than ever, we have to work on Bitachon. People always ask me about this sudden surge of Emunah and Bitachon , all the classes and books. People say, “ When I was younger, they didn't talk like this.” And the answer is, it’s because we are in the era of the footsteps of Mashiach, when all that will be left is Avinu ShebaShamayim/Our Father in Heaven to rely on. The Chafetz Chaim discusses this is his sefer Zechor L’Miriam chapter 20, where he talks about chapter 115 in Tehilim, that we say in Hallel, Lo Lanu Hashem Lo Lanu/Not for us. The Gemara in Pesachim says this is talking about the wars of Gog U’MaGog, or Hevleh Mashiach, the wars at the end of time. And there it says, יִ֭שְׂרָאֵל בְּטַ֣ח ה׳ עֶזְרָ֖ם וּמָגִנָּ֣ם הֽוּא׃ בֵּ֣ית אַ֭הֲרֹן בִּטְח֣וּ בה׳ עֶזְרָ֖ם וּמָגִנָּ֣ם הֽוּא יִרְאֵ֣י ה׳ בִּטְח֣וּ בה׳ עֶזְרָ֖ם וּמָגִנָּ֣ם הֽוּא Jewish people rely on God The House of Aharon rely on God, The ones that fear Hashem rely on God The Chafetz Chaim says there are three levels: There's Bet Yisrael, the Jewish people at large, the Bet Aharon, which we'll call the rabbis and the teachers because Aharon was the tribe of the clergy, And the Yireh Hashem, the God-fearing people- and during this time of Mashiach, as good as you are, there are going to be challenges and difficulties. And that's why the only thing to do, whatever group you're in, is, Bitchu B’Hashem, Rely on Hashem, Rely on Hashem, in the merit of our Bitachon, in realizing the lackings and fallacies in all of those idols of yester year. When that happens, Mashiach will come. Have a wonderful day.
In his commentary on Mishleh (25,15) the Gaon of Vilna says there are two approaches when a person asks for something from Hashem. One is that he's asking because of Hashem’s mercy and kindness, for example, in Nishmat , we describe all the kindness that Hashem done until now, and based on that, we ask to continue to get more kindness from Him. We see many examples of this within the Torah, as it says וְהֶאֱמִ֖ן בַּֽה׳ וַיַּחְשְׁבֶ֥הָ לּ֖וֹ צְדָקָֽה Avraham Avinu believed in Hashem- Why? Because he looked at everything that God had given him as Sedaka . This is one way of reading this pasuk- that Abraham considered what he had gotten from God until then as charity, and if God gave him charity until now, He'd continue giving him charity. Another example of this concept is in Yeshaya, where it says, הנה אל ישועתי El, which is God's kindness, is my salvation, אבטח ולא אפחד I can rely and I'm not afraid. Simply this means that I'm not afraid of the enemy . But another explanation is that I'm not afraid that my sins will cause me not to deserve what I'm relying on Hashem for. We can see another approach from Yaakov Avinu- In the Torah it says that even though Hashem promised Yaakov Avinu that everything would be good, he was afraid of Esav, because he was afraid that maybe a sin would cause it not to happen. Why was he afraid of sin? Because Yaakov Avinu’s approach was not asking for Hessed. Yaakov Avinu wanted to make it based on his merits alone. And if you want to make it on your merits alone, then you have to worry about diminished merits. We're not on that level (or we shouldn’t be), where we go to God thinking in our heads that it’s because we deserve. We don't deserve anything. One of the fundamentals of our Bitachon is that we're not relying on Hashem because we deserve . If that was the case, then, yes -when you do something wrong or get up late one day, you say, “ Hey, how can I rely on Hashem? I messed up.” But that’s assuming you're going with your merits, and you deserve it. But once you're on the charity program, then you don't have to worry about that. And Rav Bloch says that really, part of our difficulty in having reliance on Hashem is we don't want to be charity cases. We like to think, “ I'm a good guy. I don't need charity. I'm doing okay.” He gives a beautiful mashal to illustrate: There was a wealthy man who was traveling on the road when he saw what looked like a pile of rags. Curious, he went over to see what it was. He discovered that it was actually a person who was sick and weak, with all kinds of lice and vermin on him. So the wealthy man had mercy on him, picked him up and put him in his chariot. He immediately took him to the nearest hospital and paid for his healing. And after a lot of work and therapy, the poor man finally is rehabilitated. The wealthy man gets him new clothing, puts him in his business, and works him up into the heights of his business. He then marries him off and gets him a place to live. And at the end of the sheva berachot he asks this fellow, “ Would you like a cup of tea?And the Hatan says, “ No thank you.” The wealthy man says, “I know you for years. You always have a cup of tea at the end of the meal.” And the young man replies, “ I don't want to feel obligated to you.” The wealthy man is astounded. “ You don't want to be obligated to me?! If you lived thousands of years, you couldn't possibly pay me back for all I've done to you. And now for this one cup of tea, you don't want to be obligated to me?!! That must mean that you look back at everything until now and think it’s all nothing!” That's the mashal . The nimshal is that the amount of goodness that Hashem has done, from the beginning of time until now (as the Hovot Halevavot describes), with the humanity at large, and with the Jewish people, being taken out of Egypt, splitting the sea, the clouds of glory, Har Sinai, the Torah… It's unbelievable, what we have received from Hashem. That is an important lesson. Nishmat , when we list all the kindnesses that Hashem did for us, is there to let us know that we are here on charity, and therefore we shouldn’t feel like we don't want to ask, that we don't want to owe, or that we’re uncomfortable asking Hashem for more. We are totally indebted to God. And therefore, that attitude of I don't deserve it is really misplaced humility. Have a wonderful day.
Today's class is dedicated memory of Dina Bat Sara, Diane Azrak a’h, by her family. She was a lady that was a great Ma’amin/great believer, and she merited that the first book of the Living in Emunah series, by Rabbi David Ashear was dedicated by her family only a few days after her passing, and it became a bestseller in Emunah. Only someone that has Emunah has the merit to have anything put out for them, on the topic of Emunah. There was a great Mekubal , known as The Leshem , for his sefer Leshem Shvo V’Achlama. He was the grandfather of the famous Rabbi Elyashiv, and he's bothered by a question: Why do we see so many great people that suffered a lot? They definitely had Bitachon. And if we believe, as we've been talking until now, that if someone really has Bitachon, he's guaranteed to be saved, Why weren't they saved? He gives three answers: Number one is that they were Mekabel Yisurim B’Ahava There are certain people (this is not for us), that accept suffering out of love for God. They don't want anything other than what God wants for them. The example is Rabbi Akiva, who said, as the Romans were peeling off his skin, “ All my days, I was waiting to die Al Kiddush Hashem and now's my chance to do it. ” And he brings other such cases, of great rabbis that wanted to be Moser Nefesh and therefore didn't use their bitachon. His second answer, which is a little bit difficult to understand, is that they didn't want to bother God. That's hard to understand, because nothing is hard for God. But Rav Bloch gives the explanation that since they really believe that nothing is bad, and that everything is good, and in the future, they'll see how good it was, then anything they're asking from God is really unnecessary, because it's good right now. Again, this is above our level of understanding. His third answer is very important, because it shows us the power of bitachon and answers this question of why great people died. There were great Rabbis that died in the Holocaust- it’s beyond our conception, how great they were. I'm sure they had bitachon, and yet they died. What's going on? And he says it’s a very hidden reason. He says that sometimes God wants to something to happen. We don't know why. God has deep reasons, and you can't beat the system. So yes, if you use Bitachon you'll get out of it, but God wants it to happen. So what does God do? In his words, “ He takes away someone's freedom of choice and puts fear in their hearts and makes it impossible for the person to use his Bitachon.” That means bitachon is so strong that, his words,” Nothing stops bitachon.” But what does that mean? Does that mean I can beat the system? If God wants something to happen, I can beat it with bitachon? No. Since God is above everything, He will take away my bitachon. That’s a tremendous hiddush. Why? Because God has rules for how He runs the world, and one of the rules is that He doesn't take away people's freedom of choice, with rare exceptions. Rambam wrote a whole thesis on how it could be that Paroah’s freedom of choice was taken away, and he has to explain that it was a punishment. But God doesn't take away our freedom of choice. Why is God taking away this great man's freedom of choice and not allowing him to have bitachon? And the answer is, because God has a choice. He could either break the rule that if you really rely on Him, He comes through, or He could break the rule of taking away your ability to rely on Him. He would rather break the rule of taking away your freedom of choice than break the rule that if you rely on Him, He comes through. A possible reason for this goes back to what we discussed at the beginning of the series- that Bitachon is built on the fact that God does not commit iniquity. If you rely on Him, He comes through. That's basic common decency. You're waiting for the ride, so He's going to pick you up. He's not going let you down. So, what is He supposed to do now when He can't pick you up? The plane is landing and you’re relying on Him. How can He let you down? What will he do? He'll make it that you can't rely on Him. And if you can't rely on Him, then He didn't let you down, because you didn't rely on Him. This is a very deep concept. God would rather play with your freedom of choice than break His rule of bitachon, because bitachon works. What a powerful, powerful lesson. Have a wonderful day.
One of my favorite explanations in this week’s Parasha is the part where it says that a new King got up that didn't know about Yosef, And he said to his people, let's outsmart God. Let's come up with a plan. What does it mean that He didn't know Yosef ? Simply, it means either that he made it like he didn't know Yosef or that he actually didn't know Yosef. But the Kli Yakar says it means that he didn't he didn't learn the lesson of Yosef What's the lesson of Yosef? The brothers were concerned that Yosef would take over and become the king. So, what did they decide to do? “ You know what? We'll sell him as a slave to Egypt and we'll stop the plan.” What ended up happening? They actually made the plan come to be. They made Yosef into a king, by sending him down to Mitzrayim. They didn't realize the lesson that you can never outsmart God, because whatever you try to do will backfire. It will cause it to happen. Paroah himself is the very example of this. Paroah didn't know Yosef’s lesson. By making the decree to throw the Jewish baby boys into the Nile (and with his own daughter taking Moshe out of the Nile), Paroah himself raised the leader! He raised the one Jew without a slave mentality, who would become the leader. Unbelievable! Paroah himself! But his decree backfired, and he raised the leader in his own home. And this lesson repeats itself constantly. The Ben Ish Chai, in his sefer Ben Yoyada, on Masechet Shabbat, tells the famous story of Yosef Mokir Shabbat/Yosef who respected Shabbat . He would always buy the most expensive things for Shabbat. His gentile neighbor was told by the astrologers that all his wealth would end up with Yosef. Now, he didn't want that to happen. So, what did he do? He came up with a plan to, so to say, outsmart his future. He sold off all of his wealth and bought a jewel. He put the jewel in his turban, and that way, he'd be guaranteed that there was no way it would end up in Yosef’s hands. One day, he was walking over a bridge when a strong wind blew, and his hat blew off with the jewel. He lost his entire fortune! He consoled himself that at least it hadn’t gone to Yosef. Then a fish swallowed the jewel. It was a large fish, and it was brought to the port right before Shabbat. They wondered what they’d do with it. (They didn't have refrigeration) Who would buy it now, at this hour, and spend so much money? They decided to take it to Yosef. Of course, he bought it, in honor of Shabbat. And sure enough, when they opened it up, there was the jewel, and Yosef got all the money. So again, his plan to prevent Yosef from getting all the wealth backfired, and he actually played into it. Another example of this concept is Haman. He wanted to make a pole to hang Mordechai on. Not only didn’t he hang Mordechai on it, he himself got hung on it. But more than that, part of the story was that Haman had wanted to increase his happiness at the second party, by seeing Mordechai hanging from the gallows. He built the very high gallows, so that he’d be able to see Mordechai hanging, though the window, as he was eating this meal. Hence, the pole was visible through Ahashverosh’s window, and that’s why they were able to say to Ahashverosh, “ And look, there's the pole!” That further cemented the Haman-conspiracy plan that Haman had been trying to kill Ahashverosh’s first wife, then his second wife, and now his wife's relative. And again, Haman's plan backfired. Another example, in the Gemara, says that Shlomo Hamelech saw that the Malach Hamavet was sad. He asked why, and the Malach Hamavet answered, “ Because there are these two servants of yours, that I need to kill but I’m having difficulty getting them .” Shlomo Hamelech knew that there was a certain town called Kushta , where people lived a very long time, they didn't die at all. So he decided to send them there, so that they’d be protected. But little did Shlomo Hamelech know that every person has a time to die and a place to die, and their place to die was right on the outskirts of that city. Shlomo Hamelech sent them to this city in order to save their lives, but it backfired and ended up causing them to be taken by the Satan. The examples are endless, because this is the way God works. Loked Hachamim B’Urmam/ He catches the wise in their cunning . Their cunning plans backfired. And that is our lesson from the Parasha. So , what then , do you do, asks the Ralbag, when you have a problem, if all your plans are going to backfire? You have to connect yourself to Hashem, you have to rely on Him, and you have to do Teshuva. And then things will turn around. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.
There's a well-known Gemara, in Masechet Beitza 16A, that says that Shammai and Hillel had two different approaches to how to prepare for Shabbat. Shammai would find a nice animal on Sunday and say, “ This is for Shabbat. ” Then, if on Monday he found a nicer one, he'd take the one from Sunday, use it on Monday and save the newer one for Shabbat, and so on. Hillel had a different approach. It says about Hillel that all his deeds were L’Shem Shamayim , /for the sake of God. He waited for Erev Shabbat to prepare, and that was it. Rashi says he relied on Hashem that he'd get a nice one for Shabbat without any extra effort. The Ben Ish Chai, in his sefer Ben Yoyada, explains this Gemara as follows: He says Hillel had a level of Bitachon called Bitachon B’Derech Pele/ Bitachon in a wondrous way, which he later states is the highest level of Bitachon. As we've mentioned in the past, everything in our religion is about levels. ] For example, Hacham Ben Sion once said that someone who shaves with a razor should shave with a shaver , and someone who shaves the shaver shouldn't shave; meaning there are levels upon levels. Some people hold that a shaver is not good enough. But you can't say a shaver's not good, because there are people using razors. So, if you are going to use a razor, it’s better to use a shaver. But if you're going to use a shaver, move up a little bit to not shaving at all. [ The same is true in Bitachon. He says this high level is contrary to someone that has bitachon but is not willing to announce his bitachon. He doesn’t say, “ Oh, I'm going to win the lottery, ” because he's afraid it's not going come through, and he'll look like.l a faker. But, he says, there are people that have Bitachon which he calls B’Derech Pele/ in the wondrous way, where it's so clear to that person that he's not embarrassed to announce it, because he has it already. He has conviction and fortitude and he's convinced it's going to be. The Ben Ish Chai explains the pasuk in Tehilim 22 5, which says, בְּ֭ךָ בָּטְח֣וּ אֲבֹתֵ֑ינוּ בָּ֝טְח֗וּ וַֽתְּפַלְּטֵֽמוֹ Our forefathers relied on You, They relied and they were saved. אֵלֶ֣יךָ זָעֲק֣וּ וְנִמְלָ֑טוּ בְּךָ֖ בָטְח֣וּ וְלֹא־בֽוֹשׁו They called out to You and they were saved. They relied on You and they weren't embarrassed. What does it mean that ‘They relied on You and weren’t embarrassed ?’ It means that they were like Hillel. They were able to announce it beforehand. They weren't afraid that they'd be found out; that it wouldn't happen, because in their minds, it happened already. That's how guaranteed they were. Another example of Hillel’s bitachon is found in Gemara Masechet Berachot 60A, which says Hillel was coming into the city and he heard a scream. Some one cried out, (as if an ambulance was coming down the street) and he said, “ I'm guaranteed that it's not coming from my house .” How could he make such a statement? What if he was wrong? And the answer is, Hillel was so convinced, he was ready to announce it. He wasn't afraid that in a few moments from then, he'd be turned into a fool. That's the super high level of bitachon. Some might ask why Hillel shared this with people. Wouldn’t it look like he was showing off? Well, that’s why the Gemara says that everything he did was L’Shem Shamayim. He wanted to show people that there is such a bitachon. Let them learn that it exists. I don't know why, but there are people who are afraid to share this level of bitachon. Maybe because people will misunderstand it? Maybe people will use it as a cop out and won't do their proper Hishtadlut? I don’t know, but for whatever reasons, they're concerned. However, it seems that the Ben Ish Chai was not concerned, and neither was Hillel, to share their understanding of this super high level called Bitachon B’Derech Pele. That's what it means when the Gemara says that Hillel HaZaken was on a different level. He had a different approach to Bitachon. It’s interesting that the Mishna Berurah (siman רנ ) says that Hillel did this (Referring to his manner of shopping for Shabbat) in order to strengthen his Bitachon; which means that this is one of the ways that a person can strengthen his own Bitachon- by preparing for Shabbat, by looking out for things and relying on Hashem that you’re going to find those things for Shabbat. There may be an extra zechut for Shabbat, possibly, but this is the higher level of Bitachon called Vada’ut , when a person is certain . Of course, every level of Bitachon is wonderful. Rav Chaim Vital writes, in his sefer Shaar Kedusha (section 2,4 th gate), about the praise of Bitachon, realizing that Hashem is watching and can do whatever He wants, and he's guaranteed that he'll get everything that he needs. But he adds one thing: “ On the condition that it has to be in truth, with all his heart, without any doubts.” If you have 70% bitachon, you're not guaranteed. Of course, you're going to get rewarded, and things will happen. But to have that level of Bitachon is a separate category.
Today I want to share a beautiful story that teaches us a lesson in bitachon shows how Hashem controls the world. Consider it part two of a story that we started last year, as you may recall. This past Lag Ba’Omer, we were in Eretz Yisrael and went to Yeshivat Birkat Ephraim, where Rabbi Mayer Veisman is a Maggid Shiur. He had come late that evening, and when he arrived, he explained that he had been at a Sefer Torah dedication that he felt he had to go to. His brother, also Rabbi Veisman, is the Rosh Yeshiva of a Yeshiva with a few Sephardic hundred boys, in Yesodot. In that town, there's a very wealthy importer, the largest importer of appliances in Israel. He had recently built a huge warehouse, and had not yet started using it. This wealthy man’s father had passed away not long before this, and although he was not yet a religious man in any regard, like many Sephardim who feel connected regardless of their religious level, he wanted to dedicate a Sefer Torah in his father's memory. He asked a religious worker of his to please find a suitable place to donate the Sefer Torah. This worker thought of the Sephardi yeshiva in Yesodot, and suggested that would be a nice thing to do. So the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Veisman’s brother, met with this wealthy young man, and they worked everything out. There would be a procession to the Yeshiva where the writing of the letters would take place, and they'd have a small meal there. After that, they’d proceed to the warehouse, which, after putting in a few hundred thousand dollars, would be converted in to a veritable wedding hall, set up to a ccommodate a festivity for 500 invited guests. Wonderful. They sent out the invitations and 500 people rsvped . The agenda of the night was described, step by step, on the invitations. First the procession, then the completion of the letters, and then on to the warehouse. However, unbeknownst to the Rosh Yeshiva, a very popular Israeli singer, who was not known for his morals and ethics (to put it lightly) was invited to sing at the warehouse celebration. The Rosh Yeshiva was in a bind. He could not have this singer affiliated in any way with his Sefer Torah dedication, especially with his Yeshiva’s logo on the top! He had no choice. He went to the man and said they had a problem. They tried to come up with some compromises, “ We'll do this, we'll do that. We'll send out 2 invitations.” But the rabbi said they’d have to totally disconnect it. “ You can do your thing, but can't connect it. We can't go from one to the other. It’s just not a match.” The man thought about and said, “Let me get back to you.” And ultimately, he decided. “ You know what, ” he said, “ I'm doing this for memory of my father. I want it to be kosher on the best possible level. We have everything at the highest standard of Kashrut. I want everything to be acceptable to the Yeshiva.” And he canceled the singer. Now, this singer had a down payment of $80,000. (These numbers are hard to believe, but this is the story.) The man lost his deposit, and that was that. They had a beautiful Hachnasat Sefer Torah, and that was the Sefer Torah dedication that Rabbi Veisman couldn’t miss. End of story? This week, Rabbi Veisman was in my house, and he said there was a continuation to the story. Rabbi Veisman’s niece writes for a religious magazine in Israel, and she wrote up this whole story. The story got back to the man who had dedicated the Sefer Torah, and he was quite touched that he had brought so much inspiration to people by making the right choice, and that it became a news article, and that he was now, so to say, famous, in the Yeshiva world. So he called up Rabbi Veisman and asked if there was anything he could do for the Rabbi. The Rabbi said, “ Well, there is something, but it's a lot of money. I don't want to ask you this.” (The Rabbi is a humble man, and had never, ever asked him for any money.) “ We have a minibus, a large sprinter, that takes the married men from their homes to the Yeshiva, and it recently broke down. We need about a hundred thousand shekel” ( Or something like that. I don’t recall the exact amount, it was told to me in shekels, and taxes are high in Israel) “ But I don't want you to pay for it alone. Let’s get a few people together, and if you want to, you can be the one behind the initiative, and that would wonderful.” And the man said, “ Absolutely not. I'm doing the whole thing.” Within a few minutes, the money was wired over. The Rabbi happens to be in America now, collecting. He thought he was going to collect for the van, but now he's able to collect for other expenses. And the story is still not over. The man called Rabbi Veisman again, this time to say he wanted to start putting on Talet and Tefillin every day. He never, in his entire life, ever put on Talet and Tefillin before. That's how distanced he was. · But look how Hashem can run things. He can turn around the seeming catastrophe of the uncomfortable situation of canceling the singer. Imagine if the rabbi thought he should just give in. What if he said, “You know, it's two different venues, who cares? ” But instead, the man ended up happier with his decision than he would have been if he hadn’t canceled the singer. It turned him into a celebrity in the yeshiva world, got him so excited that he wanted to give money to the Yeshiva, and in those zechuyot , he is now putting on Talet and Tefillin. It’s unbelievable how Hashem pulls strings and makes wonderful things happen!
We have very a important reframe, as we get ready for the holiday of Succot, and sit out in our Succahs. The Pesikta D’Rav Kahana, one of the early Midrashim asks a famous question, What is the reason that we sit in the Succah after Yom Kippur? If sitting in the Succah is to remember Yetziat Mitzrayim, then why do it at this time of the year? Yetziat Mitzrayim occurred in Nissan, in the spring. So why are we sitting now? The famous answer is that we want do it in a way that will be recognizable, that we're doing it for the purpose of the Mitzvah - If we were sitting in the Succah when everyone else goes outside in the summertime, it wouldn't be recognizable. So therefore, we do it at this time of the year, when it's quite clear that it's for the purpose of the mitzva. But the Pesikta D’Rav Kahana gives another reason we want do it after Yom Kippur. Because it says that Galut is Mehaper . Sometimes a person has a sin, and the way for him to get Kapara is by going into exile. The earliest source of this is Kayin. He was sent into exile. The Rambam says Galut causes one to become humble, and humility is a cause of forgiving one’s sins. So here we are. And for all we know, it was decreed that we would be thrown out of our homes. Sometimes when people hear that, they think it sounds farfetched. But those that live in Fort Myers, Florida were shown that reality. Beautiful homes were totally destroyed. They were literally thrown out of their homes. So things like that, has v’shalom, could happen. Of course, although it’s a tremendous kapara , we aren’t wishing it upon anybody. But God, in His love and His mercy for the Jewish people gives us a Galut of sorts. There's a concept called Miksat Nefesh K’kol Nefesh/ a little bit of the soul is like the whole soul. A little bit of Galut is like the entire Galut. When leave our homes for our Succah, that's an exile. We're not in our homes anymore, we're not on the porch, we don't have our regular luxuries and comforts of home. And that's why it says one is supposed to make his Succah into his Keva/his main thing, and his regular home Arai/temporary , because we're really doing ourselves a favor by going out to the Succah. It's a cleansing process. That's our reframe. Don't look at the Succah as a difficulty, as something that's hard. Look at it as a cleansing process. Look at as a wonderful opportunity to get forgiven for our sins, by sitting out in the Succah. It's Galut. No one wants to be have real Galut. Again, people that lived in Ukraine, experienced real Galut lo Alenu. They were taken out their homes and had to go on to new places and new horizons. We don't want that either. So therefore, look at the Succah as a wonderful opportunity to get an easy kapara . But again, as the Rambam tells us, the main point of Galut is the aspect of humility, that you are humbling yourself. In the days of old, great rabbis such as the Gaon of Vilna, the Chida, the Or HaChaim HaKadosh would go into self- imposed exile. There were no publicized photos in those days, so they weren’t easily recognized. They wanted to escape the honor and respect they received in their own towns, so they traveled to new towns where they might be treated like beggars. That was their way of getting atonement. Once, when he was in his thirties, one of Rabbi Ades’ friends came to him in the summer Ben Hazmanim, asking if he wanted to go into Galut . At the time, Rabbi Ades and his friend both had young children at home. Rabbi Ades told him, “ You're not looking for Galut, you're looking for a picnic. You just want to escape from your wife and children. ” Galut can be in your own home, because it's all is about humbling yourself. We all need this very important reframe technique, understanding situations that are hard, and reframing them. And one last reframe: Many years ago, we went on our first Torah Center trip to Eretz Yisrael. It was a very memorable event. We went to Meron, to the Arizal’s mikveh, and to Sfat on Lag B’Omer day, ..and we went to Rabbi Ades’ house straight from Sfat. We got there just as a sun was setting. He asked us what we had done that day, and as we went through our day, he commented a lot of the things that we did. He said, “When a person goes to the Arizal’s mikveh, it's very cold. How do you handle it? The answer, he said, is that it says there's a promise from the Arizal that you do teshuva before you die, so you brace yourself and you jump in.” Rabbi Ades said, “ Every time you walk into your house, you should think you're walking into the Arizal’s Mikveh. You walk into your house, with the challenges of the children..after a long day. But if you imagine that you're walking into the Arizal’s mikveh, it might be cold and icy, but you know, it brings kapara.” And that's the reframe you have to have. So Succot has a wonderful reframe, walking into your house has a wonderful reframe, and the bottom line of all them is to humble yourself to the people around you. And that brings Kapara . Have a wonderful day.
We are now in our last class before Yom Kippur. One of the highlights of Yom Kippur is reading Maftir Yonah. In the Sephardic world, people pay a lot of money for the honor of reading Maftir Yonah, and it's supposedly a segulla for parnassa . What is the message of Yonah? There are different explanations. The simplest one is that Yonah was coming to Ninveh, and told them on Rosh Hodesh Elul (says the Gaon of Vilna) that in another 40 days Ninveh will be overturned. In the end, they weren't overturned. But the Rosh explains that they were overturned. The Gezera was overturned and they turned over a new leaf. So there can be a different meaning in reading into what it means that Ninveh will be overturned . And that's a message for us to do Teshuva. We can turn everything around with our Teshuva. Another explanation from the Chafetz Chaim says that Yonah tried to run away from Hashem, but in the end it didn’t work. Yonah went onto a ship, jumped off, the fish swallowed him up and spit him out….and he went through the whole process because you can't escape God's will. The Chafetz Chaim says that this concept also refers to us. We have to realize that we can't escape from what God wants from us. We have a mission in life and it's going to happen. He goes even further, saying that if it doesn't happen in this Gilgul, it’s going to happen in another one. So just do it willingly. Get to where Hashem wants you to get, because you're not going to escape. That is the second explanation. There’s a third one, based on the Bet Halevi, in his commentary on his Essay on Bitachon. He says that a person has to rely on Hashem, even if it is against nature, even if you have a sword on your neck, don't give up hope . And he brings the following: that Hashem could bring someone down to the depths, literally, and bring him out…. V’yizkor HaAdam Maaseh Yonah HaNavi/And remember the story of Yonah.” This is a lesson for us, at any time. Unbelievable. We might say, “ But I’m not Yonah HaNavi” But just as the Hovot Halevavot says, “ Remember the story about Eliyahu HaNavi,” and we aren’t Eliyahu HaNavi, we see from this that the rabbis believe that all these points are here as a lesson to us. Yonah is a beautiful sefer to learn, and read about his powerful prayer when he was in the depths of the fish, what he was thinking and what he was saying. One of the things that we say in the Sephardic communities is, “ The One that answered Yonah in the belly of the fish should answer us.” This means that it’s talking to us. We're talking to us. We have that ability to be stuck in a problem that has no natural solution- Even in the belly of the fish (according to Rabbeu Bachye, it was a dead fish that miraculously stayed beneath the ocean instead of coming to the top- it’s a fascinating concept… if anyone has the time within the next few hours, it's definitely a sefer worth learning.) So Yonah HaNavi shows us this lesson that you might have committed a sin and wandered from your Father in heaven, as Yonah tried to run away. And you get punished. But even in that situation, if you rely on Him, Hashem’s going to pull you out. That is possibly the reason for reading the story of Yonah on Yom Kippur. Because it teaches us that Hashem is the only source of refuge. And even on Yom Kippur, when a person fears judgment, he has to realize that Hashem could pull him out of the most serious situations. So we read the story of Yonah to tell us that the One that answered Yonah should answer us. The Yerushalmi, in Berachot (chapter 9), notes that a human protector can try to get his relative released from arrest, and he can try to defend him in court. But once the person has been thrown into a belly of a fish, there's nothing more that a human protector could do. But Yonah was in the belly of the fish and Hashem took him out. And this is an important lesson, says the Yerushalmi: Man is limited, there's only so much he can do, but Hashem is limitless and He can save a person from any situation. So as we read Maftir Yonah, this is one of the things to have in mind on Yom Kippur, and this is an important bitachon lesson. And the more you learn Yonah, the more you appreciate it, especially the section where he prays. There are beautiful lessons in his prayers that we should look into. If you have the time, take out a Hebrew/ English Yonah ( Artscroll has a great one) and learn a little bit about Yonah. And appreciate this ability of Hashem to pull us out the most difficult situations and strengthen your bitachon. That's what the Bet Halevi is telling us: Yonah is a source of inspiration on Bitachon and that's why we read it on Yom Kippur. Wonderful thought. Have a wonderful Yom Kippur. Tizku L’Shanim Rabot.
As we know, part of Teshuva is working on our bitachon, as we mentioned in the haftara of Shabbat Shuva, Hoshea chapter 14, where it says (14,4) אַשּׁ֣וּר לֹ֣א יוֹשִׁיעֵ֗נוּ עַל־סוּס֙ לֹ֣א נִרְכָּ֔ב וְלֹא־נֹ֥אמַר ע֛וֹד Assyria won't save us. We are not going to ride on horses, and we will no longer say, אֱלֹקינוּ לְמַעֲשֵׂ֣ה יָדֵ֑ינוּ ‘Elohenu/Our God, ׳ to our handiwork. Firstly, the simple explanation: Maaseh Yadenu/our handiwork means an idol (which was was made by hand). It can also mean our business, what we do with our our hands , So “ we won't say to that handi work- ‘Elohenu’” Meaning, we're not going to point at that idol and say, “You are my God.” So simply, we will no longer say the three words - “Elohenu” leMaaseh yadenu/to these handiworks. But there is a different way of reading the pasuk, which is not the simple way. V’Lo Nomar/we're not going to say Od Elohenu/ also our God leMaaseh yadenu /to our handwork. Which means we aren’t going to say that ‘ God will be helping me also,’ to our handiwork. What's wrong with saying ‘ God Also?’ ‘God Also’ means ‘ I'm basically doing it. I just need a little help.’ But of course, that is not the way it happens. What really happens is God's doing it totally. And if anything, I'm just covering it up with my actions; I'm not doing anything. To say God is helping is really not a proper description. And in fact, when I was working on the sefer Bet HaLevi , in the commentary section we quoted from a source that said It's not the best thing to say, “B’Ezrat Hashem”/with Hashem’s help because it sounds like Hashem is only helping . It’s better to say “ Im Yirtza Hashem/God willing, ” If God wills it. But the editor of the project, my esteemed father in law, Rabbi Nosson Scherman took that line out. He said, “ The Jewish people say ‘B’Ezrat Hashem,’ you can't now say it's the wrong thing to say. ” Not everything that you say, do you print. So it's not in the book, but nonetheless, we can explain what it means a bit more. And after I mentioned this, someone said, “ What do you mean? Every day in the Amida,we say “Melech Ozer U’Mashia U’Magen/ King, Helper, Deliverer and Shield.” So how can we say that God helps, if we're not supposed to say that? The Gaon of Vilna says that these three terms, Ozer, Mashia and Magen are three different levels of bitachon. Magen is the level where God shields you, referring to Magen Avraham . He jumped into the fiery furnace and God shielded him. He actively did something that was detrimental and God saved him, and there was no question in the world that God saved Avraham from Ur Kasdim . He was saved from the fiery furnace– that was not something that Avraham did. That's actually a lower level of bitachon because it's quite clear that God did it all. The next level's called Moshia , which refers to it Yitzhak Avinu, where it says in the second beracha Rav L’ Hoshea- Hoshea means You saved me Yitzhak Avinu didn’t put himself into trouble. At the Akeda , Avraham put the knife to Yitzhak’s neck, and God saved him. This is not as clear (as the fiery furnace) that it was Hashem, but it's fairly clear that God said, “ Stop Avraham.” So again, we know God was involved. The highest level is level of Ozer, where we say Ezri M’Im Hashem/ my help is from God , which is what Yaakov Avinu said when he was working in the house of Lavan. Yaakov was doing all the work. He was cutting up the the sticks for working with the sheep, and doing all kind of tactics and all different types of Hishtadlut / effort in order to outsmart Lavan. And God helped him. That's the highest level- to actually do it with your own hands, but realize you're not doing it. As was revealed to Yaakov in the dream, the angels were coming in the middle of the night and switching the sheep. It had nothing to do with his handiwork. He was just covering up the miracle. God was doing everything . Could putting spots on sticks actually make sheep give birth to spotted sheep? That doesn't happen in a science lab. That was just a way to cover it up. Hashem did everything and Yaakov realized that. That's the highest level- to say Ozer and really understand what it means and that's what it means. So don't say ‘ B’Ezrat Hashem,’ thinking Hashem’s going to help - understand what it really means. Hashem is doing it all. There is another famous explanation in the Midrash about four kings: David Hamelech said, “ I'm going to chase the enemy down and catch him.” Yehoshaphat said, “ I'm not going to catch them. I can't do that. I’ll just chase them.” The next king said, “ I don't need to chase them. I'm just going to sing songs of praise.” And the final king said, “ No, I'm just going to go to sleep.” Whose is the highest level? They say the highest level was David Hamelech, because he was able to chase the enemy, catch him and kill him and still realize it was God. The other kings knew that if they had put in that much effort, they would take the credit. So they did less and less and less. Of course, we're going the other way around. When we do our efforts, it's not because we're on a higher level, like David Hamelech. It's because, as it goes, we work and realize it's Bitachon, then we do less and less and less. But then we’re at the point where we can't even do less, because we don't think it's going happen with less, so we do more and more…. But still, we think we’re doing it. So don't think we're holding at David Hamelech’s level. We have to realize, at the time that when we're doing our efforts, that God's doing it. There are all kinds of levels of what B’Ezrat Hashem really means. Does B’Ezrat Hashem mean I'm doing it and God's helping a little bit ? Or does B’Ezrat Hashem mean God's doing everything and I'm only covering it up? B’Ezrat Hashem , we will reach that highest level of understanding what it means when we say B’Ezrat Hashem. And according to one way of reading the Haftara, this is an important part of our teshuva process, to realize Hashem is doing everything , and He’s not just helping us out. Have a wonderful day.
In this week’s perasha, it says, ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ ה֚וּא הַהֹלֵ֣ךְ עִמָּ֔ךְ לֹ֥א יַרְפְּךָ֖ וְלֹ֥א יַעַזְבֶֽךָּ God is going with you. He will not weaken His hold. And He won't forsake you. Rav Wolbe explains, based on Rashi, that it doesn't say that God is always holding your hand. It says, God doesn't loosen His hand or forsake you. You could run out of His hold, but God's doesn't let go of you. It's like the parent that's walking with the child. the child might run out of the mother’s grip, but the mother is not going to let go on her own. What exactly are we talking about with this grip, and this being forsaken? (I thank Rabbi Ebstein for some of these Maamrei Mekomot) It says God goes with you. What does it mean? He goes with you means that God's way of acting depends on how much you are relying on Him. Like the famous pasuk that God is like your shadow … If you put a finger to the shadow, you get a finger back, if you put your whole body to the shadow, you get your whole body back. Our job is to keep ourselves in God's grip. God is holding on. We can't leave Him. The Rambam writes in Moreh Nevuchim (vol 3, chap 51) that God's level of Hashgacha/supervision depends on how connected you are. In very powerful words, he says, “ It seems to me that if any evil that came to the prophets or extremely pious people- How could a bad thing happen to them? That evil only happened the at the time that he did not have God on his mind. Literally, if he forgot God. Depending on the level of of disconnection, that's what's going happen. And the proof of this Rambam is clearly stated in the Gemara, which says that David Hamelech knew he would die on a Shabbat, and therefore he spent all Shabbat learning. As long as he was learning, the angel of death couldn't come near him. But you can’t outsmart God. So what did the angel of death do? He made a tree break, and David Hamelech stopped learning for a second and got disconnected- and that's when he died. Rav Yerucham Levovitz says connection doesn't only mean thinking about Hashem literally, as in Ein Od Milevado/ There is nothing else but God. David Hamelech wasn't saying En Od Milevado all day on Shabbat. He was sitting down with the Gemara, learning. And that's probably the main way to connect to God. When a person is totally engrossed in learning, he’s connected to God, because Torah is the will of God. But regardless of how you connect yourself to God, the point is that when a person is connected, things won't happen to him. He's under a special Hashgacha. The obvious question you might ask is, What do you mean? I thought God is watching everything- always. So what is this higher level of Hashgacha? Rav Yehezkel Levenstein, in his Sefer Or Yehezkel ( Emuna,Page 123) explains that there are two kinds of “supervision.” One is the general supervision: God knows exactly what's going on. If you stubbed your toe, you were supposed to stub your toe. Then there's a higher level, which he calls a level of Shmira /protection, which means maybe you were supposed to stub your toe, but if you are connected to God (for example, a lady walking with her Tehilim, or a man walking and saying his Mishnayot by heart or whatever way the person is connecting to Hashem), even though you are supposed to stub his toe, there's a special protection and you won't stub your toe then, because of the special protection that comes when a person is connected to Hashem. This is the wondrous, well known concept of En Od Milevado/ There is nothing else but God. When a person has that on his mind, bad things can't happen to him. There are many stories to prove this point. Rav Matisyahu Salomon says this is especially important during Aseret Yeme Teshuva, and Yom Kippur, because we're being judged. On Yom Kippur we don't eat, we don't drink, we don't do anything but pray and stay connected to God. And as long as we're connected to God, no evil decree can come upon us. We have a special Shmira, special protection . That’s the message that we have in the Perasha- God is with you. He's with you, depending on how much you’re with Him. He’s not letting go. Our job is not to pull away. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.
Today we're going to discuss how Bitachon is connected to Teshuva, but it's a different kind of Bitachon. Normally, when we talk about relying on Hashem, we Talk about how we want to get money, health, success with our children… We're relying on Hashem to receive physical benefits. But there's also a Bitachon when it comes to relying on Hashem for coming close to Him. There's pasuk in Kohelet (9,4) , that says. כִּי־מִי֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר (יבחר) [יְחֻבַּ֔ר] אֶ֥ל כׇּל־הַחַיִּ֖ים יֵ֣שׁ בִּטָּח֑וֹן כִּֽי־לְכֶ֤לֶב חַי֙ ה֣וּא ט֔וֹב מִן־הָאַרְיֵ֖ה הַמֵּֽת׃ Anyone that's connected to life has bitachon, he has reliance. Because a live dog is better than a dead lion . What does that mean? The Yalkut Shemoni says that if a person is connected to life ( which means as long as a person is alive), he has bitachon and tikva , he has reliance and hope to do Teshuva. A person has to feel guaranteed in the concept of Teshuva. That's one thing that's a for sure. God told us that His hand is open to accept us in Teshuva, and we have to rely on Him for that to help us in Teshuva. Once a person is dead, his hope of Teshuva is lost. That's the bitachon that we have, as long as we're alive. Rabbenu Yonah, in Shaare Teshuva (second gate, 24th letter), quotes this Pasuk and says, That's what the benefit of this world is. As long as we're alive, we can do Teshuva. And that's the Bitachon that we have when we're alive. Rav Yisrael Salantar adds an important point: What does it mean that you have to be alive ? Simply, alive means you are alive; You're in this world, you're breathing. But in his 30th letter, he says that It’s hard for us to do Teshuva. We're busy. We have a lot of challenges… how are we going to fix all of the things we have to work on - Especially in the area of Ben Adam L’Havero/from man to his fellow… jealousy, hatred, Lashon Hara, embarrassing people, dishonesty in business…. We have so many challenges in our character traits, how we're going to fix these things? He says, “ There’s one thing to do, and it's very easy and it doesn't need to take a lot of time. And you don't have to have the greatest amount of focus. Review words of Mussar every day. Take a certain statement of Mussar and review it- but don’t just read it superficially. Read it … עד אשר תתעורר התפעלות בנפשו לשעתה, Until it has aroused an emotion in your heart or your soul for the moment.” This is the main point, which Rav Yisrael Salantar says is called Hitpa’alut. You have to be moved by it. You have to be impressed by it. You have to read something and say Wow . You read about LaShon Hara or about jealousy and say, Wow. It hits you, like this is something serious. Even if you're not going to see any change in yourself, what just happened is that you became alive. You’re feeling, and that's what life means. Life means to feel . And if you're connected to life, then you still have hope, and you're considered a Baal Teshuva. This is very, very important, especially during this time of the year. If you want to become a Baal Teshuva, you need to be connected to life. And the Pele Yoetz says that when we say in our prayers, Zochrenu LeChaim/remember us for life, it doesn't just mean to live- of course we want to live. But it means to be alive, to feel things that when you hear something, it talks to you, you feel it. And that happens from Mussar, that happens from listening to any daily class, whether it's bitachon or any topic you're working on. Rav Yisrael Salantar says that sometimes you can just listen to something with a half an ear. But if you sit down with a sefer, whatever the book is, don't just read it once. Review it, say the same line 10 times, until it talks to you and you feel it. You're no longer, so to say, dead to the topic. It's not like the dead skin on the bottom of the foot. It says the Ekev/heel has dead skin. And it says, we're in the generation of Ikveta D’Meshicha , the heels of the Mashiach. Simply, this means we hear the footsteps of Messiah. But others say that the Jewish people are like a body. The first generation was like the head of the body, and as time goes by, we get to the bottom of the body. We're the Ekev , the heel, we're the final generation. What's special about the heel is that it has thick skin. You don't feel things. And that's what we're at. We're at a point that we don't feel anymore. Our job is to feel again; that's how you become live skin. And once you're alive, then you have hope and you're a Baal Teshuva. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will become alive in our religion, and we have that Bitachon, that guarantee from God that we will be able to do teshuva. Have a wonderful day.
We are now in Aseret Yeme Teshuva, and it's important to realize that part of the Teshuva process is strengthening our Bitachon. The sefer Keren Ora, in Mesechet Taanit 15 B explains the Gemara that talks about different prayers they would make when they fasted for rain. They would add the following beracha , that started with chapter 121 in Tehilim: אֶשָּׂ֣א עֵ֭ינַי אֶל־הֶהָרִ֑ים I lift my eyes to the mountains מֵ֝אַ֗יִן יָבֹ֥א עֶזְרִֽי Where is my help going to come from ‘ עֶ֭זְרִי מֵעִ֣ם ה My help is going to come from God… אַל־יִתֵּ֣ן לַמּ֣וֹט רַגְלֶ֑ךָ ….Don't let your legs falter. And then it ended off with, “ The One that answered Eliyahu HaNavi should answer us ,” which is something that we mention in our Selichot. What is exactly the connection between this chapter in Tehilim and Eliyahu HaNavi? And he says, Go back to the story of Eliyahu HaNavi, when the people were fluctuating back and forth between idol worship and God. Eliyahu HaNavi tells the people in Melachim א ( 18,21 ) עַד־מָתַ֞י אַתֶּ֣ם פֹּסְחִים֮ עַל־שְׁתֵּ֣י הַסְּעִפִּים֒ אִם־יְהֹוָ֤ה הָאֱלֹהִים֙ לְכ֣וּ אַחֲרָ֔יו וְאִם־הַבַּ֖עַל לְכ֣וּ אַחֲרָ֑יו וְלֹא־עָנ֥וּ הָעָ֛ם אֹת֖וֹ דָּבָֽר׃ How much longer are you going to be jumping back and forth? You're jumping from one to the other, you're prancing ( or as they say, you're dancing at two weddings) . If God is the God, follow Him. If Avoda Zara is the god follow him And he explains that the main attack of the Yetzer Hara, especially in the end of times, is when Esav attacked Yaakov's legs . It says Yaakov Avinu was limping. What does that mean? He says that legs refers to the support that we give. We support Torah institutions, or other causes, and that's where the Yetzer Hara comes to attack- trying to convince us not to support what we're supposed to support…. Because maybe we can't give the money out… maybe we need it for ourselves…etc. But if a person has Emuna and Bitachon, he's not going to falter. He's not going to waver back and forth. He's going to stand strong. Bitachon is what causes his legs to be able to stand strong and not limp, so he'll be able to support what he needs to support. Furthermore, he says that that is what it means in the Tehilim when we saying that we look up to God . If we look up to God, God is not going let our legs falter. We'll be able to stand strong. We'll be on solid footing and solid ground, realizing that Hashem is in charge and He’s the only one that we need to count on. And he says, in beautiful words: “The main Teshuva is to annul any false refuge and any false reliance, and to realize that from God alone our helps comes, and only to Him do we pray and thank.” We don't have idol worship today, but we say in our Shabbat Shuva reading, ” V’Lo Nomar Elohenu … We won't say “God” to our handiwork.” In other words, we won't call our business our God. That's how the commentaries explain that statement. We won't call our business our God. That means sometimes we think our own handiwork is what's bringing our blessing, and we don't realize Who's really bringing the blessing. That's why sometimes, people might cut corners, or do things they shouldn't be doing, because they don't realize or fully appreciate Emuna and Bitachon. Therefore, working on our Emuna and Bitachon is one of the fundamentals of Teshuva. That's why, in many, if not all, communities, we end off our Yom Kippur prayers with the words, Hashem Hu HaElokim Hashem Hu HaElokim Hashem is the God. Hashem is the God. And throughout our Selichot, at least in the Sephardic communities, every single day for 40 days, we say Hashem Hu HaElokim Hashem Hu HaElokim Hashem is the God. Hashem is the God. Who said that? The people at Har Carmel thought the false gods could bring the the fire, and the fire didn't come down. Then Eliyahu HaNavi poured buckets of water all over the Mizbe’ach , to make it clear that there were no shenanigans going on, and that it would be a miracle of God. Then the fire came down from heaven and everyone screamed, “ Hashem Hu HaElokim Hashem Hu HaElokim Hashem is the God. Hashem is the God.” Hashem is the only One in charge. T hat was their Teshuva, and that's our Teshuva, to realize that Hashem Hu HaElokim. That's part of the Teshuva process, and therefore the more we work on Emuna and Bitachon, the more we are working on our Teshuva. Have a wonderful day.
This is (perhaps) our final class before Rosh Hashana, with a message based on the Parasha, and a general lesson about Rosh Hashana. How does Bitachon fit in with Rosh Hashana? On one hand, there are signs that Rosh Hashana is not a regular holiday. We don't say Moadim L’Simcha/ Times of happiness . We don't say Hallel because the books of the living and the dead are open…so it's not your regular happy holiday. On the other hand, it says that we're not supposed to fast; We have to eat and drink like a regular Yom Tom, and there are other indicators of happiness. So are we supposed to be afraid or are we supposed to be happy? One of the approaches is that you're supposed to be afraid, but then you're supposed to rely on Hashem and be happy. So there's a struggle, so to say. It starts off with concern and ends with happiness. So, you might ask, why do we have to go through the process? Why can't we just go straight to happy? The answer is based on a story about the great Brisker Rav and Rav Shach. Rav Shach went to visit the Brisker Rav on the final Erev Rosh Hashana of his life. The Brisker Rav was quite sick, and he looked very concerned and nervous. Rav Shach asked, “ Why is the Rabbi so nervous and concerned? It says that on Rosh Hashana we are supposed to rely on Hashem to make miracles for us.” That's why we take haircuts and we make ourselves clean and get prepared, whereas normally, when a person's going for a severe judgment, they're not concerned with how they look. And it says, it’s because we’re relying on God that He’s going to make a miracle for us. Rav Shach was telling the Rabbi to cheer up, and the Brisker Rav answered with the following important Bitachon principle: Wherever you are at this moment, you don't have Bitachon that there is not going be an earthquake, or that there isn’t going to be a volcano. On the other hand, if you were sitting next to the edge of a volcano that has erupted in the past, you might be having bitachon that it won't erupt. But in Brooklyn, New York, there's no thought of ever having a volcano erupt, so therefore there's no bitachon for that. By definition, Bitachon means you're aware of the severity situation, and with all the facts on the table, you are relying on Hashem to save you. But if you have no concern at all and you're totally indifferent, that's not called bitachon. That's called ignorance is bliss. That's not relying on God. Hence the Brisker Rav’s reply, “ I'm not concerned enough, and therefore, I don't have bitachon yet.” Of course, he was saying that in his humility, but this is the important point: We have to be concerned before we go into Rosh Hashana. And we read this lesson in Nisavim. Last week, we read the curses, “Let the year and the curses end.” And it says, Atem Nisavim/ You’re standing tall. Why do you have to be standing tall? Rashi says that the Jewish people's faces turned green after they heard all the curses. Then Moshe Rabbenu said, “ Don't worry. You've been through a lot. And you're still standing. You'll make it, have no fear.” So what are we doing? Why are we getting scared but then saying there’s nothing to worry about? Is it a tease? And the rabbis explain that after you become scared, then there's nothing to worry about, because then you can rely on God because you realize what's going on. But if you're not concerned at all, then you have a problem. That's the biggest problem. There is a saying, “ There's nothing to fear but fear itself,” but here we say, “ There's nothing to fear but the lack of fear itself.” It actually comes up again in our Perasha, where it discusses the man who hears the curses and blesses himself in his heart saying, “ I'll be fine.” What happens to that guy? The next pasuk says, “ God is not going to forgive that man ,” and we won’t continue with the horrible things it says about him. But where does this man start from? I saw a beautiful thought from Rabbi Wolfson. It says, “ Lest you have in yourself, a root that’s growing two bitter herbs. ” That means inside the man, there's a bad root, and from that root, improper thoughts grow. If you take the first letter of each of the words in that pasuk, and scramble them, it spells, “ Shofar .” The power of the shofar is such that when you hear the shofar and you become scared and concerned, that will uproot that bitter root. Once you're scared and concerned, then you have hope. That's our job. But to go in scared doesn't mean being petrified and shaking. Scared means you know what's going on. This is serious. Rosh Hashana is a serious day. Of course, we're going to have a meal, and we'll be happy that God is King and that we are coronating Him. But it's a day of judgment. It's a serious day. We must first be aware of the day, in order to rely on Hashem, and then, B’Ezrat Hashem, we will see miracles. Tizku L’Shanim Rabot, Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova.
With Hashem's help, I stumbled on a very interesting Arizal, in his introduction to Shaar Mitzvot. He says that when a person prays to Hashem for whatever he needs, for example, food, wealth children, or the like, he shouldn't pray because he wants what he wants. He should pray because God commanded us to pray to Him when we're in trouble. Part of this is that we need to have kavana; we need to have intention when we do Mitzvot. But he says it’s more than that. If we're praying just because we have a problem, that's nice. But if we realize that God asked us to pray when we have a problem, we have to ask ourselves why He asked us to pray. We're not just praying, because it’s a good thing to do. He told us to pray for a reason. The Arizal says it’s to show that, -Number one, He is our God. -Number two, we are His nation and His servants, and our eyes are on Him, like the eyes of the servant to their master. The words he uses are, “ Our eyes are dependent like servants look to their master.” This is the same term we use in our Rosh Hashana Musaf prayers. We say, “ God is judging us, Im K’Banim, Im K’ Avadim He's judging us like sons or like servants. Im K’Banim/If God's judging us like son, have mercy like a father has on his sons . And if we're servants, our eyes are dependent on You until You have mercy on us and give us a good judgment. These are the two approaches: I can look at God as my Father- Avinu , as we say Avinu Malkenu. If He's a father, I'm asking for mercy. But if I'm a slave, who says a slave deserves mercy? So there's another concept called, “ Our eyes are dependent on You.” These words actually are sourced by David Hamelech in Tehilim 123 הִנֵּ֨ה כְעֵינֵ֪י עֲבָדִ֡ים אֶל־יַ֤ד אֲֽדוֹנֵיהֶ֗ם כְּעֵינֵ֣י שִׁפְחָה֮ אֶל־יַ֢ד גְּבִ֫רְתָּ֥הּ כֵּ֣ן עֵ֭ינֵינוּ אֶל־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ עַ֝֗ד שֶׁיְּחׇנֵּֽנוּ׃ “Like the eyes of the servants on the hand of their masters, Like the eyes of the maid-servant to her mistress. So our eyes are to God, until He has Hanun,” which means when He looks at us and wants to give us a free gift. חׇ נֵּ֣נוּ ה׳ חׇנֵּ֑נוּ כִּי־רַ֝֗ב שָׂבַ֥עְנוּ בֽוּז׃ Have mercy on us, Hashem, Have mercy on us, Because we have satiated a lot of disgrace. This is David Hamelech’s terminology of the servants dependence on the master. His eyes are to his master. Rabbenu Yonah, in Mishleh (3,26) says that when a problem comes and you know everything is from the hand of God, and that He can save you as well, you are focusing on God. And he quotes our pasuk, “ Like the eyes of the slave are to his master, ” and I'm not afraid of the one who's hitting me because I know it's all coming from Hashem. My eyes are on Him. This is true every day of the year when we pray: We pray to realize He's our God, We're His nation, We're His servants, And to Him, our eyes are counting like the servant's eyes are to the hand of his master. The Radak asks Why the “ hand ” of his master? Because even when he's getting hit, he knows there's no one else that can help him but his master. The Arizal continues, “ No one else could help us but Him.” This is why we pray every single day- our prayers are there to show us something; to teach us something. Prayer is a lesson in Emuna. This is extremely important. We pray every day, but we might not realize that actions speak louder than words. When we pray, we're making a nonverbal statement. We’re praying to God. What does that mean? He's Elokenu, which means He's the one that's in charge. We're His nation. We're His servants. Our eyes are to Him, like a servant’s eyes to the hands of his master, and there's no one else that's going to help us but Him. He ends with, “ And all our reliances is on Him.” That is for every day's prayers, and surely for the prayers of Rosh Hashana. Let us review these concepts as necessary, so that we can focus on this when we pray. Have a wonderful day.
The Arizal, in the introduction to his sefer Shaar Mitzvot, brings up a question: We see many promises from our rabbis in the Gemara: If you do such and such Mitzvah, you’ll have it good, you’ll have a long life, etc. And yet we see people that do these Mitzvot, and it doesn't seem to come true. It’s as if, heaven forbid, the promise of the Gemara is not true. He answers that in order for these promises to work, when a person does the mitzvah, the mitzvah cannot be like a load that he's trying to remove from himself. Rather, he should imagine, while doing the Mitzvah, that he is profiting millions of gold coins. He should be happy when he does the mitzvah, with a happiness that has no end; with a heart and soul that's full of enthusiasm. It should be, as if, in his words, not just imagination, but with the feeling that they’re actually giving you million gold coins. What is a gold coin worth? I have no idea. Let’s just say that today, it’s worth $20. So that’s $20 million for one mitzvah- not for a whole day's mizvot. So when you put on your Tefilin, you're happy as if you actually got $20 million in your hands. And he says, that's the meaning behind the pasuk in last week’s Parashat Ki Tavo, that says the curses came because you didn't serve God with happiness and gladness of heart. He says that was the secret behind the great rabbi in the Gemara, Rav Bruna who prayed Netz, and did not stop smiling the entire day. What does this have to do with the topic of bitachon? The following words from the Arizal hit me. What does that smile show? The Arizal says, היות אמונת בטחונו בבורא יתברך בתכלית האחרון יותר משאם היה השכר מזומן לפניו בפועל His faith and reliance in God is such, to the nth degree, more than if money was set in front of him in actuality . That means, and this is, to me, the real bitachon takeaway: I am so convinced in God's reward and I rely on Him so much that his word is true. His guarantees are true. That's what bitachon really means, I feel guaranteed. I am so convinced in that guarantee, that I feel as if it literally is there. This is not a just a mashal . It’s so clear that I have it in my hand. More than if it was real. We have to imagine what it feels like to have $20 million in hand. And again, not for the years of Mitzvot but for one individual mitzvah , for a pair of tefilin. When you feel like that, then all the promises of the Mitzvah are there. This is a very, very important lesson, and it shows us how necessary our Emunah and Bitachon is, for our Mitzvot to get the most bang for our buck. And he says, “ The more real simcha and inner happiness you have, if you keep that up, I have no doubt, that you’ll have with Ruach Hakodesh.” I have no doubt that God's Divine spirit will come upon you. And he says this applies to every Mitzvah we do. When you learn Torah or do other Mitzvot, it must be with tremendous enthusiasm, with passion, as if you're standing in front of the king and serving him and trying to find favor in his eyes, because you know you're going get something very special. To be on this level every day of the year is almost impossible, but on Rosh Hashana it's easier, because the whole point of Rosh Hashana is that you're standing in front of the King. And that's what we have to visualize the whole Rosh Hashana, I'm standing in front of the king. I'm serving Him. I'm happy. I'm full of joy. Hopefully, we will be able to internalize this lesson and be full of happiness that we merited to serve the great King. Have a wonderful day.
We spoke last week about the concept that we can learn about God's Kingdom from the kingdoms of this world. We used the example of airborne propaganda- in the wars of the world down here, they drop propaganda from airplanes and that affects the war. We spoke about how we can drop Emunah and Bitachon related propaganda, so that we can fight the war against Amalek. I'd like to use another concept that we can learn from this world's wars. In seventh grade, I did two book reports, one on Harry Houdini (we'll talk about him another time) and one about Lucky Luciano, who got the name “ Lucky ,” because he was once riding in a car in a parade when someone tried to shoot him, and he got away. He was a mobster who killed a lot of people, but there is a lesson here for us. He was imprisoned for his crimes. Then, during World War II, believe it or not, the mafia, who ran the docks, helped the US government find Nazi spies who were at the docks. Lucky and his family were very helpful in the war effort, so in appreciation of that, the American government let him out of jail and sent him back to his hometown of Sicily, where spent the rest of his life. What lesson do we learned from this? The lesson is that you might be a mobster, you might have killed many people, but if the government needs you, they will keep you going, and they will appreciate what you do for them. Of course, crime doesn't pay and ideally you shouldn't do this, but after the fact, that's the way the government works. And similarly with God- a person may have done things wrong, but if we need him for the war effort, he will continue surviving (Of course, this is a mashal for us). Last week, when we spoke about the airborne propaganda, we spoke about people that helped sponsor Bet Halevis books, Daily Dose of Bitachon, lessons on USBs, and all kinds of airborne propaganda. I needed to raise $25,000 and I was a little short, so I called my dear friend, Michael Safdie, who has a wonderful Bitachon chat with 12,000 people on it. I asked him if he’d mind sharing this message with his listeners, because they are great people; they love the Bet Halevi and they love Bitachon. Michael said, “No problem,” and within about 24 hours, we raised $15,000 from his chats. I called him and said, “ Michael, I might be supplying the bombs, but you are the pilot who’s dropping them, and they're reaching worldwide.” Michael is a worldwide bomber. I even got a call from South Africa, where a man asked for some USBs. I told him it would cost too much in postage to mail them, but that we’d email him the files, and he could buy the USBs in South Africa. And that's what he's doing. So Michael is an expert pilot and he's dropping a lot of bombs. Hashem should bless him. But it's not just Michael. Anyone can do it. Everyone is capable of spreading propaganda. As another example, some of us have a little booklet called a Hashgacha Pratit journal . We spoke in the past, about how Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky and Rav Feinstein wrote a letter in 1984, discussing the importance of documenting stories of Hashgacha Pratit that happened to you. The Sultan family, in memory of Charlie Sultan, printed up the booklet and gave out thousands of them. Not everyone can get a hard copy, so attached below is the file for the booklet, that you can send to your local copy center. https://www.learntorah.com/contentlibrary/guides/Hashaga%20Pratit%20Diary_2018%20(2).pdf There's a great copy center in Brooklyn, Advanced Copy Center @ 989 East 12 th Street But if you live in South Africa, California, Chicago, or any of the places where people responded, you can take this file and print it out there. Or you can could print Machzorim and give them out….You can do whatever you want. There are endless opportunities. Just keep your eyes open and keep dropping the bombs. Have a wonderful day.
Today's class is dedicated in memory of Mrs. Adele Setton ah, Adel bat Bahieh, by her family. As we approach Rosh Hashana, I'd like to discuss the general topic of Malchuyot /God is king, Zichronot / God remembers us, and Shofarot , which refers to the blowing of the shofar at Har Sinai. As we have said in the past, these are the three fundamentals of our belief. Although the Rambam has 13 principles, the Sefer Ikarim puts it under the umbrella of three: 1-God exists and created the world 2-God is watching us and He rewards and punishes, which we call Hashgacha Pratit/Schar V’Onesh 3- God connects to the Jewish people and He gave us the Torah. (which is the third part of Musaf, Shofarot, referring to the shofar of Har Sinai) These are the main themes of our long Musaf prayers, because God wants us to have the proper Hashkafa/the proper outlook, the proper mindsets on Rosh Hashana, when we're judged. Rabbenu Bachyeh, in his Sefer Kar HaKemach , on the topic of Tefilin, says that in order for the proper mindsets to be inculcated in man, it's not enough to believe it; you have to actually act on it, and do something with your hands, that will cause that mindset to be set steadfast in your heart. He goes through these three principles and discusses the three corresponding Mitzvot that we do. Number one is belief in the concept that God created the world, something from nothing; that God is the Creator, which is the Mitzvah of Shabbat. By keeping Shabbat, we're testifying that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. So we're acting out that mindset. Next is belief in God's Hashgacha Pratit/ Divine supervision over human beings, specifically the Jewish people. That comes from the Mitzvah of Mezuzah, which signifies that God protects a person and that the world is not a free-for-all. The Mezuzah is on our door, with Keriat Shema inside it, which also reminds us of the blood on the doorposts when the plague of the killing of the first born occurred, where the Egyptians died and the Jews were saved. It’s clear that God was supervising and differentiating between the Jewish homes and the Egyptian homes. That is our second principle, and every time we walk in or out of our homes and kiss the Mezuza, we remind ourselves of God's Hashgacha. This is what the famous acronym, Shadai (God's name, which is on the Mezuzah), stands for: Shin/ Shomer, Protecting Daled/Daltot/ the Doors of Yud/ Yisrael , God protects the doors of the Jewish people- that's God's Hashgacha. And lastly, God’s Shechina cleaves to the Jewish people, which is symbolized by the Mitzvah Tefilin. Tefilin is all about connection. Our tefilin says in it, Hashem Echad/ whereas God's Tefilin, as if to say, says, Mi El Kamocha/ who's like the Jewish people, Goy Echad. Furthermore, Rabbi Bachyeh says that Tefilin have a ש shin on them, as God told Moshe at Sinai. He says that Shin stands for Shechina , because God's Shechina dwells on the Jewish people; God connects to the Jewish people, as we said, through the Torah. That's why we read, every day, the Parasha of Tefilin, which signifies the importance of learning Torah. The importance of these three Mitzvot: Shabbat, Mezuza and Tefilin , is that they are the way that we strengthen our Emuna in these three areas. And since, as we always say, we're supposed to be doing things before Rosh Hashana to prepare ourselves, for the next few days, as we enter the last week of the year (this is the last Monday of the year) let’s try to focus on these three Mitzvot and strengthen these three important beliefs, that are going to take us through Rosh Hashana. To recap: Number one is Shabbat, (and we can do this not just on Shabbat, but every day; when we say the Shir Shel Yom, we are counting down the week according to Shabbat. It's not Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, but Yom Rishon .. Yom Sheni... So every day of the week, you think about Shabbat. You're preparing, you're buying you're shopping for Shabbat. That is a way to remember this important concept, that God created the world. God is the king. God is the boss- Malchuyot . Number two: Every time we walk in and out of our houses and kiss the Mezuzot, we should be thinking about Hashem’s Hashgacha. Number three- when a man puts Tefilin, he is supposed to be thinking of the Shechina that connects itself to the Jewish people. B’Ezrat Hashem, we will think of these important principles as we prepare ourselves for Rosh Hashana. Have a wonderful day.
This week, we've been talking about Kabbalat Ol Malchut Shamayim/ Accepting upon ourselves, the yoke of God's kingdom. There is a very interesting Rambam in the laws of Shabbat, where it talks about what an animal is allowed to wear on Shabbat. Believe it or not, animals are not allowed to carry either; they are only allowed to wear items that are normal for them. And the Rambam (chapter 20) says that a young calf is allowed to go out with a small yoke that they put on his neck. This seems odd, because young calves don't pull loads; therefore a yoke would not be considered something normal. The reason it’s permitted is כדי שיכנע ויהיה נוח לחרישה so that he’ll become humble, and to make it easier to plow when he gets older . We see, from this, an important concept: when it comes to yokes, it's important to put on the yoke even before you're ready to do any work, because wearing a yoke at a young age conditions you to carrying loads. This is a mashal about an animal, but the application is for human beings as well, and it’s important for us. That's why the first thing you train your child to do is say Shema Yisrael, because it's important to carry the yoke from a young age. There is a pasuk in Eicha (3,27), that says, ט֣וֹב לַגֶּ֔בֶר כִּֽי־יִשָּׂ֥א עֹ֖ל בִּנְעוּרָֽי ו It's good for a man to carry a yoke when he's young. What yoke? The Midrash Rabba in Eicha (chapter 3) says it’s three different yokes: 1-The yoke of Torah, because it's easier to become dedicated to Torah when you're younger, 2-The yoke of marriage, because the younger a person is when he gets married, the easier it is. Marriage is a yoke, and it's harder to adapt when you get older. 3 -The yoke of work. If you work when you're young, you're able to be dedicated because you have a work ethic. These are the yokes that we must take on when we're young. And it connects to this week’s Parasha, which includes the concept of the yoke as well. How so? There's a pasuk in this week's Parasha (Devarim 27,26) that lists the curses at the end of the year, and one of them is, אָר֗וּר אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹא־יָקִ֛ים אֶת־דִּבְרֵ֥י הַתּוֹרָֽה־הַזֹּ֖את לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת אוֹתָ֑ם “ Cursed is the one that does not establish this Torah, to do them . Who is this referring to, and what is the curse? It's not a specific sin. Rabbenu Yonah, in Shaare Teshuva (first gate, sixth letter), says that if a person is not careful from a specific sin and does not accept upon himself to be careful (for example not counting Shaatnez on your list) even if it's a light sin, he says, and even though he is careful from everything else, he's called a Mumar L’Davar Echad, which means he's a rebel, so to say, in one area. And he says, “ Don't take it lightly, because if a servant tells his master, “ I'll do everything, but one thing ,” he broke the yoke of his master, and that's a problem. It's one thing if you fall and stumble, but to willingly say, “ That's not for me,” is called breaking the yoke, and that's this severe issue. And this is what Rosh Hashanah is all about. We have to commit ourselves to the yoke. If we can’t hold up for some reason, that's a different story, but you have to put your neck under the yoke. You have to commit yourself to the Torah. That's why we read this Parasha at this point of the year- to realize the importance of Kabbalat Ol Malchut Shamayim, that affects our whole year. ט֣וֹב לַגֶּ֔בֶר כִּֽי־יִשָּׂ֥א עֹ֖ל בִּנְעוּרָֽי ו It's good to take on the yoke at the beginning - meaning the beginning of the year. We have to accept the yoke. We've been talking about this for some time. It’s not a five minute class. It's takes work, thought, introspection and inner struggle, to truly dedicate and accept upon ourselves the yoke of God's kingdom. Have a Shabbat Shalom!
We continue with our series on Keriat Shem a, quoting from Rav Wolbe’s sefer Alei Shur , (vol 2, page 362). He continues the discussion of what happens when we decide to accept the yoke of God's kingdom in Keriat Shema , on all of our senses and forces, but we feel that part of us doesn't want to. In the Sephardic Selichot, in the introduction to the confession, we say, “ The rest of my limbs, do the evil in your eyes, they whisper day and night, constantly. They are not silent. ” These means that our limbs, so to say, have an opinion of their own. They're constantly whispering. What does that mean? If you pay attention, you see that you have desires and wants that are contrary to your goals. For example, you may accept upon yourself not speak Lashon Hara, but there’s one part of you that says, “ What do you mean that you’re not going to speak Lashon Hara. I want to speak Lashon Hara. I'm not going cooperate. ” And another part of you says, “ What do you mean? Of course I am!” So what do you do then? Rav Wolbe says someone that really knows what's going on inside of himself feels what's going on, and realizes that a lot of him doesn't agree to this yoke. If you are someone who works on yourself, you don't ignore, squelch or suppress these feelings. Rather, you start dealing with it. He says that it's not enough to read Keriat Shema, tightly close your eyes and ignore what's going on inside of you, saying Keriat Shema aloud as you imagine yourself jumping into the fiery furnace. What do you do? You have to talk back to that voice inside of you and say, “ What do you mean you want to speak Lashon Hara? There's a God. He created you. He's in charge of everything about you. We are responsible for our deeds.” You have to continue to talk with yourself and have an inner dialogue. There's an inner voice inside of you. These are psychological terms, but all these terms were originally recognized by our Torah. Rabbenu Yonah, quoted by Rav Wolbe says, “ Cut off the rebellious thoughts from your thinkings.” That means there are rebellious thoughts inside of us, and we have to deal with them. We must have that inner dialogue when we say Keriat Shema . He says that one of the reasons why the Rambam says that saying Keriat Shema is so difficult is not just because it's difficult to juggle all the intentions that you're supposed to have, but because it's difficult to sincerely accept upon yourself the yoke of God's kingdom. A quote from Wikipedia will help us further understand this concept on a psychological level: “ Interpersonal communication is the process by which an individual communicates within themselves, acting as both sender and receiver of messages. It encompasses the use of unspoken words to consciously engage in self-talk and inner speech. It's also referred to as internal monologue , self-talk , or inner speech . It's all about a person's inner voice , which provides a running monologue of thoughts while they are conscious.” Science doesn't exactly understand where this comes from, but we understand, because the Torah is the source of everything. There's something called the Yetzer HaTov and the Yetzer HaRa . We have two sides inside of us, that talk to us. When we say Keriat Shema , our job is to deal with the different forces inside of us, and to truly get every part of us on board. It’s almost like a classroom. Your intellect is the teacher, and there are a bunch of unruly kids in your classroom. You need classroom control, so you have to quiet everyone in the classroom. When do you notice this? When you start to pray the Amida , and suddenly all your thoughts come out. That's all those unruly children in the class. One of them's name is Arrogance . He wants to get involved. The other one's name is Desire . He also wants to get involved. Another one's name is Impatience , and he, too, wants to get involved. All of our forces, character traits, Middot, or however you want to refer to them, have a mind of their own, and an opinion of their own. Our job is to control them all. It says the man is considered an Olam Katan/ a mini world. Just like world peace means getting every country under control, there's a thing called inner peace, and there's a lot to get in under control in there. There is more to this very deep concept, but the main point is that when you say Keriat Shema , in order to do it for real, and really accept the yoke of God's kingdom, you need to have an internal dialogue to deal with your inner voices. This is especially important on Rosh Hashana, because we're accepting upon ourselves the yoke of God's kingdom for the entire year, and recommitting ourselves to religion. You have a lot inside of you that says, “ I'm not in for it. I do not want sign on this document,” and you have to convince everyone in your “ classroom,” to sign that document. Have a wonderful day.
We've been talking about the Mitzva of saying Keriat Shema daily, which includes something referred to as Kabalat Ol Malchuyot Shamayim/the acceptance of the yoke of God's kingdom upon oneself. This is a responsibility every single day of the year, but an added responsibly comes on Rosh Hashana, , when we have to accept God's kingdom upon ourselves for the entire year- that is the essence of the day. As we said from Rav Wolbe a person might so to say, fool himself and accept the yoke of God's kingdom upon himself, but it might not be 100% authentic. He might be willing to jump into the fiery furnace, but he is not willing to control his petty desires or whatever else needs to be controlled. He believes in God, without question; He believes in the yoke, but he is not ready to put his neck fully under that yoke. It's like the joke they tell of a man who is being sworn into the communist party. They say, “If you have two boats, what do you do with them?” He answers,” One for myself and one for Mother Russia.” They ask, “If you have two homes, what do you do with them?” “ One for myself, one for Mother Russia.” If you have two cars, what do you do with them? “ One for myself, one for Mother Russia.” If you have two coats, what do you do? He doesn't respond. “If you have two coats, what do you do?” They ask again And again he doesn't respond. “Why aren't you answering?” They ask. He says, “ Because I have two coats.” Meaning, we're able to give up everything in theory, but not when it's real or practical. Mesirut Nefesh? “ Sure, I'll jump into the fiery furnace,” we say, and maybe we really would jump into the fiery furnace when the situation arises. But that doesn't mean that we are accepting the yoke of God's kingdom in our day to day life. Therefore, in Rav Wolbe’s example t of the man that couldn't commit himself to learn for four hours straight, the man says, “ Okay, so I'll commit myself for an hour, or for a half an hour.” You have to know where you are holding. The yoke has to fit your neck. So exactly what size is your neck, so to say, to fit the yoke? Using a common example, perhaps a person that wants to control himself and speak less Lashon Hara. That's a challenge that everyone has to deal with. But to say that you're never going to speak Lashon Hara again is not practical. To say, “I'm never going to get upset again,” is not practical. All of those Nevers are impractical. Of course, the truth is, I am never allowed to speak Lashon Hara. But who am I fooling? I'm a human being and I have struggles. So where I'm holding right now, there is a spot that I have to accept the yoke of God's kingdom upon me . And it's very personal. It might sound a little strange, but Kabalat Ol Malchuyot Shamayim is personal. This is not say that Torah is changing. Of course you can never speak Lashon Hara, but right now, you have to know who and where you are. Using an exercise mashal, to just expect a person to do 100 pushups would be impossible. And if I said, “You have to do a hundred pushups.” “ Very nice, but I can't.. I can't do 100 pushups. Whether it's my fault or not, where I am right now, I can't do 100 pushups. Even if I pledge allegiance to do 100 pushups, it's never going to happen.I'm not doing it.” So we say, “Okay, what can you do?” “I can't even do one pushup. My shoulder hurts. ” Okay. Let's massage your shoulder. Let's stretch you…. And eventually we'll get you to one, and then two, and then three. The good trainer doesn't say, “Let's do 20,” he starts with just one good pushup. Or half a pushup, against the desk- not on the floor. Where are you holding? Wherever you're holding, start from there. But it has to be at a point where it's a struggle. It can’t be extremely easy. As someone once told me about exercise, what does the job is that when it starts to hurt a little bit, add another two. That's the place where Mesirut Nefesh happens. It’s those two more. You can't know what Mesirut Nefesh is until you know what you're up to in life and what you're able to do. It’s a job, honestly, do Kabalat Ol Malchut Shamayim . You have to figure out where you are holding. It’s important, not only for accepting the Yoke of God's kingdom, but also when it comes to Teshuva, when we have to determine what we are accepting as a Kabala for the future, whether not to do a certain sin or to do a specific positive mitzva. There are people that just grab something, like saying Birkat Hamazon from the siddur. But is that exactly what you need? Does that fit you? Does that match your needs? You have to know where you're holding, so that you're able to say, “ What is my neck size, what yoke fits my neck?” It takes introspection and it takes work, but B’Ezrat Hashem, we are thinking people and we'll try to figure out exactly where our point of struggle and resistance is, and that's where have to put in the effort. Have a wonderful day.
This past week, we went through the meaning of the pasuk Shema Yisrael in preparation for our high holiday prayers. We're going to need to say this pasuk when coronating God as King in our Musaf prayers. Shulchan Aruch (61,6) tells us that when we say Keriat Shema , we must elongate the ח Chet of Echad to allow enough time to make God King over the heaven and earth. So we slightly stretch it out, because in our minds, we have to think, not just that Hashem is One, but that we are accepting Him as King over you. When you say the daled sound, it to be extended a drop (which is one of the sources for the Yemenite pronunciation of the daled ) and when you say it, you have to have in mind that God rules over the four corners of the earth (A daled is a four). The added kavana that you have to when you say the daled is that you're coronating God as King over the world. In the famous addition from Rav Yisrael Salantar, he says it's not enough to make God King over the whole world; You also have to make king over yourself. That means, as Rav Wolbe explains in Alei Shur (vol 2, page 362), we have to make God King over our senses, our thoughts, our eyes, our ears, our heart, our arms, our legs… And more than that, we have to totally subjugate ourselves to the point of Mesirut Nefesh. You have to think that you're willing to die Al Kiddush Hashem , when you say the word Echad . If someone put a gun to your head, you have to be ready to die for the cause, if it's one of the cardinal sins. To the point that it says that when you say this word of Echad which means God is One, He's the One and Only, you have to think there's nothing more important than Him, and therefore my life is meaningless . That's what B’Chol Nafshecha ( which we say later on) means- Love God with all your soul, But the thought of giving up your soul is not only when you say the words, “ with all your soul.” It should also be thought when you say “ God is One ,” because He is so important that I'm willing to die for the cause. Great. Maybe you’ve had that thought once in the past, as they're taking you and throwing you into the fiery furnace, rather than agree to something that you shouldn't agree to, like our great forefather Abraham Avinu, who gave every Jew the power to do so, or Rabbi Akiva. As he died Al Kiddush Hashem and was saying Shema, he said, “ My whole life, I was preparing for this, and I shouldn't do it now?” So that's what every Jew is supposed to be thinking when they say Shema Yisrael. I heard Rav Wolbe tell the following story that happened to him: He was learning in the Mirrer Yeshiva in Europe, and he had a thought, when he was saying Keriat Shema, that he was ready to jump into the fiery furnace. And then, while learning the first Seder (the first four hour unit of time where you learn Gemara intensely), and after an hour of intense learning, he took a break- Maybe to talk, maybe to have a cup of coffee. He wasn’t able to do it. And then he said to himself, “ Hold on, I'm ready to die in the fiery furnace, and I can't learn for the time allotted?” So too… “I can't not speak Lashon Hara…? I can't not look at what I shouldn't, I can't eat what I shouldn't…. ?“ We have to be true to ourselves when we say Keriat Shama . It's not just about thinking it, it's about being real. So if it's not real? Come on, who are we fooling? We're ready to die Al Kiddush Hashem, but we're not ready to live Al Kiddush Hashem. So what do you do next? What do you do when you start getting real with yourself? We will continue tomorrow… But first let's understand what the goal is. The goal is to say Hashem Echad , to accept God as King over ourselves, and to be in control of ourselves, to the point that we're ready to give our lives up, rather than go against God's will. Have a wonderful day.
We are in middle of explaining the first pasuk of Keriat Shema . Shema Yisrael are the first two words, which is the introduction. Then comes Hashem , which is one of God's names, and means is, was, and will be, and brings everything into existence. The next name, Elokenu is the name of Supervision . God is the Source of all power and God is the one that controls everything. And then we say, Hashem Echad, which we will discuss today. What does it mean? Rashi says in V’EtHanan , that Hashem is now our God , (like we just said in Hashem Elokenu), and not the God of the nations of the world (because they don't recognize Him as the full controller), but in the future He will be Hashem Echad- in the future, the whole world will recognize that Hashem is in control, as it says, B’Yom Hanu, Yihyeh Hashem Echad UShmo Echad/ On that day, in the future, there will be a revelation of Hashem Echad. That means right now, the concept of God being the One and Only is confused with the evil that goes on in the world. And only when, as we say in the prayers of Rosh Hashana, the evil will be wiped away in a cloud and the evil dominion will be removed from the earth , only then will Hashem be the King in a revealed way. Currently, it doesn't look like that in the outside world. But the Jewish people, even today, recognize Hashem Elokenu, even in the world of confusion, where evil and good are blurred, That’s the concept En Od Milevado, there's nothing else but Hashem. Everything that we see, and everything that exists is only coming from God's existence. There is nothing else but God. It’s beyond our abilities to fully appreciate what that means. That is why Rav Chaim Volozhin says it’s something that you can think of for just a moment. It’s not something you can live your life with. He says, Just think of it in order to arouse your kavana when you're praying, but too much delving into it is dangerous, too dangerous. When you keep thinking ..There is this nothing else but God, so I'm not really here… .you can get crazy from that. So just think it every once in a while, when you’re in trouble. Like Rav Hanina Ben Dosa, who said, “ The snake doesn’t kill, the sin kills,” and then put his foot into a snake hole. The snake bit him, but the snake died, not him, because Rav Hanina Ben Dosa knew, “ En Od Milevado/ there's nothing else but God .” He was able to fully focus, for that moment, that the snake really didn’t exist, and it was only there as the will of God. He was able to use that to protect himself. This is the famous Segula that when a person is in trouble, they should focus on this concept of En Od Milevado. This is what we are supposed to be thinking for those moments when we say Hashem Echad- there's nothing else, but Hashem. He is the One and Only, there's nothing else but Him. We're supposed to appreciate that concept, for the moment. As we said, this is a protective force and power. When a person fully focuses on this, nothing can harm him at that moment, says the Nefesh Hachaim. And that's why, when Jewish people are in dangerous situations, whether in a foxhole or whatever the situation, they scream out “ Shema Yisrael!” Why? What is the secret of Shema Yisrael? The secret of Shema Yisrael is that when a person really realizes Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad , that's a protective force. And that's one of the reasons why the sefarim say we focus so much on Hashem’s kingdom on Rosh Hashana, and we focus on this concept of Hashem’s Oneness; because Rosh Hashana is a dangerous day. Our whole life is being decided. So what do you do when you're in danger? You strengthen yourself in the belief of Hashem Echad , which is the focus of the day. So this Shema Yisrael, this powerful pasuk, is what we're going use to give us a good year. And that's why, in order to do this properly, as Rav Wolbe says, “ This training could take many weeks, or even many months, until you get used to saying Keriat Shema properly.” It's not an easy job. It’s worthwhile to take notes, read, review, and practice until we get to the Musaf of Rosh Hashana, so we can say our Shema Yisrael properly, with Hashem’s help. Have a wonderful day.
Today we will share a bitachon thought related to Parashat Ki Tese that also connects with Rosh Hashanah, as the lessons in the parshiot before Rosh Hashana are there to help us to prepare for the high holidays. In this week’s parasha, we talk about Amalek. “Remember what Amalek did, Asher Karacha B’Derech/ that happened on the way.” The word Karacha can also be understood as “ cooled down . ” Rashi us that the world was a bubbling, hot bath after the Jewish people had just got out of Mitzrayim. No one would jump in and start up with the Jewish people. Then came Amalek, who jumped into bubbling, hot bath. And as a result, he cooled it off. Up until that point, no one would start up with Bnei Yisrael. It was like, you don't jump off a building. It’s not even an option. But after Amalek, it wasn’t so clear anymore in what we call Bechush/ our senses. For example, your senses won't let you jump off a roof, but your senses will let you eat something unkosher. It's not that clear, even though it might be clear in your head. Amalek cooled off that clarity that you don't start up with God and God's control. And the second aspect of what Amalek did comes from that same root, Kar , as in Mikreh . How does he cool things off ? It’s connected. He cools things off by saying it's only a coincidence, and not to believe in God controlling the world. The way they fought against Amalek back when they left Mitzrayim is by weakening him. How? Masechet Rosh Hashana 29a says, on the pasuk when Moshe lifted his hands the Jewish people won- the Mishna asks, “ Did Moshe’s hands bring success and make or break the war? Rather, when we looked up to heaven and we subjugated our hearts to our Father in heaven, we would become successful. If not, we would fall.” Rav Sadok says that any lesson that shows up in a certain Masechet/tractate is not by coincidence. Masechet Rosh Hashana talks about how we decide the new year. And only by tangent, we might say, doors it talk about Amalek. The Gemara talks about intention , paying attention , having in mind for the shofar…. and then we switch to, “Your heart with Amalek..” It seems like a tangent, but it's not, because that is what Rosh Hashana is all about. It's all about Hashem controlling the world, and Amalek comes to cool us off. Rav Yerucham Levovitz, in his Sefer M’Amorei HaMashgiach (pg 123) says, “ Rosh Hashanah itself is a bubbling bath.” That means, come Rosh Hashana we are supposed to be afraid. We know everything is decided on Rosh Hashana. So what causes us not to be afraid? It’s a certain Amalek, that causes us to cool down. Amalek is all about Lo Yareh He’s not afraid . But when Rosh Hashana comes, we are supposed to be concerned. So how do we escape that? Rav Yerucham says, “ Open a Mussar Sefer. ” Learn a little bit, and that will make an impact on you. We should all do that before the high holiday season. We should take out a Mussar sefer , one that talks about character perfection, fixing yourself, making yourself better. That's what we need to do to fight that Amalek force that says, “ I'm not afraid.” In upcoming parshiot , we will discuss the man that says Shalom Yiyeh Li, Everything's going to be fine; I've gone through so many Rosh Hashanas. I have nothing to worry about. No. Every year we're judged. And, B’Ezrat Hashem we will have a good judgment, but to have that good judgment, you have to feel concern, and not get sucked in by the Amalek that tries to cool down any feelings of inspiration or change we might have. Rav Yerucham further points out that regarding the fellow that says Shalom Yihyeh Li/ everything's going to be fine, and has no regard for the curses we say at he end of the year… It says in Devarim (29, 17-19) וּמָחָ֤ה ה׳ אֶת־שְׁמ֔וֹ מִתַּ֖חַת הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ Hashem will erase his name from under the heavens. Rav Yerucham points out that the same term is used for Amalek. It says, “ We're going to erase Amalek.” When somebody totally ignores what's going on around him, and ignores Rosh Hashana, that is the worst thing a person can do. The Gemara in Rosh Hashana says there are three books, and the book of the wicked that are erased comes from this pasuk . So there's a concept of erasing the wicked, but B’Ezrat Hashem, we will not be on that list. We are working on ourselves, uplifting ourselves, learning and getting ready for Rosh Hashana. The phrase that used in the pasuk quoted above is, “ Subjugate your heart to your Father in heaven, and then you are successful in your war against Amalek.” We use the words, your Father in heaven because this is what Amalek comes to deny. There’s a famous Rashi that says that Amalek comes when the Jewish people say, “ Is God with us or not?” And he gives the beautiful mashal of a father carrying his son on his shoulders, and whatever the son wants, the father gives him. “ I'm always here, to give you whatever you need,” he says. Then they come across a man, whom the boy asks, “Do you know where my father is?” But he's still on his father's shoulder. So the father says, “ I'm carrying you on my shoulders and you want to where I am? I'll put you down for a second and see what's happens.” Then a dog comes, which is Amalek. We have to realize, especially at the end of the year, that our Father in heaven has been with us the entire year, taking care of everything that we need. We should never fall into the Amalek trap of saying, “ Is God with us or not?” Of course God is with us. And at the times when you don't see Him there, He’s really carrying you. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.
We’ve been going through the first pasuk of Keriat Shema. “ Shema Yisrael” is the introduction, and the first word of faith is Hashem . The second word of faith is Elokenu . What is the difference between the words Hashem and Elokim ? Hashem , as we said, means that God is the source of all life. Like we say every day in our prayers V’ Atah Mehayeh et Kulam / God gives life to everything . Elokim refers to God's supervision. This is another important fundamental. God supervises and watches over everything. He's the Mashgiach / Supervisor . We don't say Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokim Hashem Echad . We say Hashem Elokenu because Hashem is our God. There's a concept called Hashgacha Klalit, which means general supervision. There's also a concept called Hashgacha Pratit/ individual supervision. Of course, God knows what's going on with everything; nothing happens without God willing it to be. God wills everything to be, every second. That means that a heart is only pumping because God wills it to pump. Every heart, whether it's the heart of a lion, a tiger or a bear is pumping because God wants it to pump, but that is in general, meaning that God has no relationship with every lion, tiger and bear. The lion, tiger or bear’s heart is not beating based on what that animal did or didn't do, because the animal has no freedom of choice. Among the general lion species, God decides, for whatever reason, how many will live and how many will die. Whether each animal lives or dies is not based on what it did or didn't do. That is what Hashgacha Klalit/general supervision is, and that is what applies to Gentile world. God doesn't necessarily deal with everyone with a personal relationship. On the other hand, Hashgacha Pratit means that if, right now, I need a parking spot, God is going to give me that parking spot based on my reliance on Him, based on my merits (or He might not, if it's a situation where I wasn't relying on Him, because reliance trumps all). This is another important fundamental Elokenu / He's our God. It’s the fundamental of Hashgacha Pratit. These are all fundamentals that we must believe in; This is our faith. People may misunderstand and think that Hashgacha Klalit means God is not in control and not in charge. We're not going into the depths of the nuances of Hashgacha Klalit vs Hashgacha Pratit, but there's something called Hashgacha Pratit, that we have. We believe in Hashgacha Pratit. Anochi Hashem Elokecha… I am Hashem your God that took you out of Egypt The Orchot Chaim L’Rosh says this is what separates us from the rest of the world. Because God took us out of Egypt and showed how He deals with us on an individual basis. We put a straw in the cup and for us it was water, and for the Gentile it was blood. That is a fundamental of our belief. God taught us at Yetziat Mitzrayim how He would take care of us on a very individual basis. That’s Hashgacha Pratit . And when we say the word Elokenu we have to have that in mind. These are all very important principles, that we have to pack into just milliseconds. That's why it takes a lot of practice. "Hashem Elokenu .” The Gaon of Vilna says that these words, together, are called the Shem Maleh/ God’s full name. When you put together the two concepts that God pumps energy into life and He’s supervising every detail of our life, that is God's full description. Shem Maleh. The Gaon of Villa continues, with the following words, which Rav Wolbe quotes in his sefer Alei Shur , “ A full name only dwells in a full world. What is the full world? “Shema Yisrael.” When the Jewish people unite in thought , they are considered a full world, a full receptacle for God's name to dwell upon. Rav Wolbe says there are two tremendous hiddushim here. One is that Jewish people are a world on their own. That's why we say Shema Yisrael first. Secondly, when saying Keriat Shema, there is actually a dwelling on top of the person, at the words Hashem Elokenu When I say Shema Yisrael , I’m connecting myself to the Jewish people, and then, hovering on top of me, is this existence and connection to God. “ In the Jewish people is hidden all the levels, and all the understanding.” That is how I get ready for my daily Keriat Shema ; I connect myself to the world that is called the Jewish people , the Olam . The Maharam, one of the commentaries on the Gemara often uses the expression, “ Makshiv HaOlam: The World asks..” Olam is the world of the Jewish people, the learning world, the Jewish people out there learning, across the world. They're asking a question. We are the world. There's a world called the Jewish people. Everything else is scenery. It's necessary, but who are the stars of the show? The Jewish people. No question about it. I don't mean to be Elitist. Rashi says that we go through the generations of Adam and Noach quickly, and also Essav.. but when we get to the generation of Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov, it’s almost the whole Torah. The first two Parshiot, Bereshit and Noach, focus on 1,948 years, but the the rest of the Torah is on the Jewish people. We are the stars of the show. No question about it. And Hashem Elokenu dwells on this world of Yisrael, like a little halo around every Jew, when he says the words Hashem Elokenu , provided that he connects himself to the Jewish people. Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokenu- that is our statement of faith. We will continue with Hashem Echad next week, B’Ezrat Hashem.
We continue with our explanation of the first pasuk of Keriat Shema. After we say Shema Yisrael, we go on to the next two words Hashem Elokenu, words which need a lot of explanation. This is one of the parts of prayer, where our kavana/intention is vital. We have to know what we're saying. We have to have it not just in our brains, but in our hearts, when we say it. So what exactly does it mean? The first word, Hashem , is spelled yud , heh , vav and heh . Normally, we don't have that in mind. Normally, we just read it as A-donai. When we look at the word, it's spelled with a yud , heh , vav and heh . We aren’t supposed to say it out loud, but the pronunciation is like the J-word of “J-‘s witnesses,” which we pronounce as A-donai , which means the Boss . But when it comes to Keriat Shema , we're supposed to have in mind, both what's written and how we pronounce it. So first we'll discuss how it's written. The root of the word yud , heh , vav and heh is Mahaveh/ Brings into existence , Kol Havayot/ all existence. That is what God does. God is the Source- We call it Yesh M’eyin/something from nothing. Everything that’s in the world today only exists because God created the matter. It’s not like a carpenter who uses wood to make a table. He did not make the wood. Therefore, if he walks away, the table will remain standing. It has its own independent existence. But nothing in this world has independent existence. God renews, in His goodness, Kol Yom/everyday, Constantly Maaseh Bereshit. We can use what I call the Moonwalk Mashal , which the Torah Center people know very well. There is a type of amusement activity, a bounce house, that children climb into and bounce around in. A machine blows air into it, so the kids can bounce on it. But if the machine stops blowing the air, then everything collapses. Similarly, the world is such a machine, but the mashal doesn't quite capture it, because if the air stops, at least you have the plastic, there is something there. But there's nothing that exists at all without God pumping existence, and therefore nothing can happen without Him. There's nothing that He’s not aware of, because there's nothing here, that He’s not willing to be. Another root of the word is Hayah, Hoveh, V’Yihyeh- Is, was, and will be. He was here before the world and will continue after the world. And currently, He’s the only real existence. We also have to look at the way we pronounce it. A-donai , the root is Adon - He’s the Boss . He has total control. There is a lot to think about it when we say this word, which is why, as Rav Wolbe quotes from the Rambam, it takes years of practice to get the six words of Keriat Shema right. -Before you start the statement, you have to have in mind, “ I'm fulfilling a positive commandment to say Keriat Shema.” -You also have to have in mind, “ I'm accepting upon myself the yoke of God's Kingdom. ” It’s not enough to just say the words. You have to put the yoke on your neck of all that He wants. -You have to understand every word. As we mentioned yesterday, Shema Yisrael means I'm part of the Jewish people , And then come the heavy words, that we just discussed- the word of Hashem spelled Yud Heh Vav and Heh , which we put a lot into: 1-He brought everything to existence. 2- He is , was, and will be. 3- He's the Boss. Today just focused on that word. As we go through these classes each day, we’ll go over a small amount of information, so we can slowly practice. The goal is that when it comes to our Rosh Hashana Musaf prayers, we will be able to juggle all these thoughts together at one time. To recap, today's lesson was understanding the meaning of God's name. The name always captures the essence of the thing. But when it comes to God, we can't capture His essence. It's just a way to refer to Him. This word, Yud, Heh Vav and Heh, which is the classic reference to God, has these three important concepts in it, that are fundamental of our faith. It's not enough to just say these words. We have to believe in our heart that: -There's nothing else, but Him -He is, was, and will be - He is in charge There are six words, but this is the first of the four words of faith. To be continued tomorrow….
Today’s class is dedicated in memory of my maternal grandmother, Frida Riva bat Hannah. She obviously had a great impact on my life. I don't even have to mention her name to bring us a zechut to her neshama . One story about her sticks in my mind, a story of Emuna and Bitachon. But before I share the story, I want to share an important lesson: The son of Rav Yerucham Levovitz, Rav Simcha Zissel Levovitz, lived in Monsey, and my family knew him. Someone once asked him what his father, the great Mashgiach of the Mir, said about a certain topic on God’s Hashgacha/ supervision over the world . His answer was a lesson in itself. He said, “ Let's put aside what my father said; my mother told me, God runs the world.” There are certain things that you get from your mother or your grandmother, without delving into the deep esoterica of God's supervision. My mother taught me that God runs the world . That's an important lesson- it may not the main topic of today’s lesson, but it’s an important lesson on its own, because we talk about Emuna and we talk about the Jewish people, and we get a lot of our Emuna from our families, from our ancestors. The first time Shema Yisrael was said, Yisrael was Yaakov Avinu. He was the one that we were speaking to. In all languages, in all countries, our grandmothers expressed their connection to God, that God Above helps, whether in Arabic, Yiddish, or any other language. It’s something that is part of our DNA; it’s not in our brains, it’s in our hearts and our emotions. And now for the story: When my grandmother was older and ill with a dreaded disease she once fell down in front of the shul. But when someone reached down to pick her up, her response was, “ Someach Hashem l’kol Noflim/God picks up those that fall. I'll get up myself” That is inborn Emunah and Bitachon, and that’s the way the Jewish people are raised. And now we will discuss our topic of the day- Shema Yisrael Shema Yisrael are the opening words of Keriat Shema. We don't start with Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad/Hashem is our God. We start with the words Shema Yisrael. We are discussing Shema Yisrael because it’s necessary for our high holiday preparation, and we’ll be saying that pasuk in our Rosh Hashana prayers. How do we know that the words Shema Yisrael are truly important? There are two sources. The first is from the Gemara in Hulin 91 B, where it says, “ Fortunate are the Jewish people that mention God’s name after two words- Shema Yisrael, whereas the angels only mentioned God's name after three words, kadosh, kadosh, kadosh.” Rav Wolbe is bothered by this. Is there something significant about how words you use? He answers that it’s not about the words, it's about what we need to get there. The angels have to go through contemplating God's holiness in the heavens, on the earth, forever and ever. But the Jewish people just have to contemplate what it means to be part of the Jewish people. All of our Emuna is hiding inside of us, as it says, Elohei Avi/the God of my father.. This is not something that I came to on my own, this is something that's part of us. There used to be a bumper sticker that said, “I found it ,” about some religion. And the response from the Jewish people was, “ We never lost it. We always have it. We've had a constant line back to Avraham Avinu.” That is Shema Yisrael, a part of which is also our responsibility to the Jewish people; to make sure that they also realize that Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad . There are many ways to do this, to let people know about Hashem. You can share a Torah link or email with someone, and have them sign up. There are wonderful emails out there. There are also great books to give people. Rabbi Ashear has a great series, Living Emuna , that has sold close to 200,000 books for volumes one through six, in many languages, and topics. There is also a very nice book, The Bet Halevi on Bitachon, from Artscroll. Recently, I’ve been working on reprinting a few thousand copies of this book, in a smaller size with a soft cover, to give out to schools, shuls and camps because not everyone sees them or gets them. I'm going to print them in China, which will take a few months, but we'll get a discounted price. I needed $25,000 for this initiative, and Baruch Hashem, I'm halfway there. So now I’m turning to my friends in Bitachon cyberspace, whom I don't really know, hoping that someone will say, “ Yes, I'd like to do that. ” We're thinking big now, so if somebody wants to give $5,000, you can text me directly @ 9176742358, and I’ll explain what it's all about. You'll get a large amount of books if you'd like, to give out yourself. But we need to reach $25,000 in order to get this large printing done. In case you are the type that doesn’t like to donate money for books (As someone recently said, “ I'm not a book guy, I don't like giving money towards books. ”), as the fellow that approached this man on my behalf answered, “ This is not a book project. This is a Hessed project, because there's no bigger Hessed than giving somebody Emuna.” So if you're ‘ not into books,’ but you are into Hessed, giving out a book can change somebody's life. We are looking for a large number, if you're able to, but of course, everything counts and we'll take small donations as well. You can QuickPay me at 9176742358, Or send a check to: Yad Yosef 1036 Ocean Parkway Brooklyn, New York 11230 (Write Bet Halevi Project on it), Thank you, and Tizke Lemitzvot
We are going through the prayer of L’Olam Yehe Adam in the Korbanot section , and the next part we say is Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad, ( we will discuss it’s meaning next week ) . The next part, after Shema, is quoted by the Yalkut Shemoni (as we said, everything has a source) It refers to the time each morning, when the world wakes up ; that is the time of day that God gets angry . (Bilam knew that moment and tried to curse the Jewish people at that time ) Why does God get angry at th is early - morning part of the day ? The Gemara says that it’s because th is is when the world gets up and bo ws to the sun , and doesn't recognize God . They eat, they drink , and they enjoy the new day without recognizing God . As such, God wants to destroy the world , if not for the fact that the Jewish people are saying Shema Yisrael . We cause the world not to be destroyed when we say Keriat Shema every single day. That's a powerful statement. The Midrash, in Devarim ( chapter 6 , pasuk 8 3 6) says that when Hashem looks at the world and he sees the theaters and the circuse s, and they're sitting there being entertained, being calm , complacent and serene , while God's Bet Hamikdash is destroyed , God wants to wipe the world out. Then we come to the Bet HaKeneset and Bet Midrash and say Keriat Shema , and the angels gather around God and they sa y (and this is what we say in Korbanot following Shema Yisrael), אַתָּה הוּא אֶחָד קוֹדֵם שֶׁבָּרָאתָ הָעוֹלָם, וְאַתָּה הוּא אֶחָד לְאַחַר שֶׁבָּרָאתָ הָעוֹלָם, אַתָּה הוּא אֵל בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה, וְאַתָּה הוּא אֵל בָּעוֹלָם הַבָּא, וְאַתָּה־ה֑וּא וּ֝שְׁנוֹתֶ֗יךָ לֹ֣א יִתָּֽמּוּ׃ Y ou're the God b efore the world was created. You are the God after the world was created . You’re God in this world and Y ou' re God in the next world. Y our years will never end. M ake Your name holy in your world , on the nation. God , use the Jewish people as a way to bring a sanctification to your name. T hat is what we say everyday after Keriat Shema . And we end with the beracha of Baruch Makadesh Shemo B’Rabim And it says then , מיד נוחה דעתו של הקב"ה ואינו מחריב עולמו Mi yad/ immediately , when God hears the angel s say that , God calms down , so to say , and doesn't destroy the world . T hat's what Atah Kadosh means. God is holy, Yoshev Teholit Yisrael- simpl y, this means He dwells in our prayers ; W hen we pray , God is here. But the Midrash says Yoshev could also mean Yishuv Hada’at, which means to calm someone down . God is holy , and He gets calmed down by the Jewish prayer s . So we have to appreciate what we do every single morning. Every morning , we are causing the world not to be destroyed. We get th e credit for keeping the world safe , because we're saying Keriat Shema . W e're recognizing God's O neness. And , if I may add , similar things happens every single year . God looks at the world on Rosh Hashanah, the day of creation. And it says th at the angels ask, “ W hat is man? What are You doing , God? Wh y are you keeping this world going? Look how bad they are! Look what they're doing. ” And every year it only gets worse. So what's the answer ? God’s answer is that “ T here are Jewish people that are saying, Shema Yisrael and accepting Me as King.” This is true every day, but especially on Rosh Hashanah. We have to get read y and really prepare for this great, awesome day of Rosh Hashanah , by appreciating what happens every day , when we say these powerful worlds of Hashem Echad, realizing that God is One before the world, and God is One after the world. What does that mean? Rabbi Ades gave a great mashal . He tells the true story of a man we’ll call Jack , who asked his friend Abe to take his son into his business . A be s ays, No problem , and spends the entire day with Jac k’s son , showing him everything in the business… the warehouse, the production line .. the whole day. U nbelievable. Then Jack calls up Abe and says, “ I really want to thank you for spending so much time with my son. ” And Abe says, “ No , I didn’t just do that with your son. I go through that process with everyone that comes to work for me, because I want to show them that I had a production line , I had a warehouse, and I had a design team before they came. The company was here before he came , and the company with continue after he leaves .” Rabbi Ades says it’s the same thing with this world. We think, “ O h, God needs me. ” But God says , “ I was doing fine before you came and w ill continue fine after yo u. Y ou're her e? Roll up your sleeves and work. Don't think the world needs you. ” God is here throughout. It’s like when young children look at their parents' wedding album and ask , “ W here was I? ” And the parents say, “ You weren't here. ” What do you mean? “ You just weren't here. ” That's true for all of us. Look at your parents' wedding album. You weren't t here. Where were you? God created you Yesh M’ayin/ something from nothing. That's a sobering pill. But that is what we're supposed to be thinking about as we get ready for the high holidays . We have to appreciate what God is doing for us , and B’Ezrat Hashem will continue doing for us . Have a wonderful day.
We have been talking about humility this past week, and the need to not take credit for our deeds. One of the sources for humility is in this week's Parasha (chapter 17) where we tell the king to become a haughty above his brethren . לבלתי רום לבבו מאחיו The Ramban says this is a source for the sin of arrogance, in that if we're telling the king (who, so to say, has a right to be arrogant because he's the leader) not to be arrogant, surely other people should not be arrogant. He goes on to say that Only God deserves greatness and uplifting , and only He should be praised. Rabbenu Yonah, in Shaar Teshuva (third gate, letter 34) also brings this pasuk down and says that it's a warning To remove the trait of arrogance. And someone who's great should not be arrogant with someone that's smaller, even the king . He says this is from the worst of traits. As it says, Ga’avah/arrogance is abomination of God. He goes on to say that what we should be proud of is only, as we said this week, serving God, fearing God, relying on God, loving Him and cleaving to Him. Those are the things we can be proud of. As the pasuk says, “ This is what man should be proud of- knowing Me.” In his list of Knowledge of God, serving God, fearing God, loving God, cleaving to God and relying on Him are all included. Those are the fundamentals of our religion to be proud of. Otherwise, in all other areas of wealth and power and strength, as we said, “ We didn't do it. God did it.” And therefore, only God is worthy of praise. But there's another source for arrogance in this Parasha (chapter 8, 11- 14), where it says, “ הִשָּׁ֣מֶר לְךָ֔ פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּ֖ח.. Be careful lest you forget Hashem your God and become arrogant So if it says you're not allowed to be arrogant here, where there's a clear pasuk referring to arrogance in general, why base the mitzvah on the rule with the king? The Sfat Emet in Parashat Ekev answers that the the first pasuk is saying, “ Don't be arrogant in front of God. Don't forget about God.” So fine. That's one thing. I'm not going to be arrogant in front of God. I realize God's in charge. I'll humble myself. I'll bow in the Amida . I'll give Him the credit.” But there is another type of arrogance- an arrogance over people, and that's a whole separate story. I might humble myself to God, but that doesn't mean I'm going to humble myself to people . There's a story told by the Sfat Emet, (possibly in jest), about a rabbi who was saying Vidui- Ashamnu, Bagadnu etc” and crying. The Mesader sees him and thinks, “ Wow, I thought this rabbi was a holy rabbi. Look how he's bawling when he says that he laughed and made fun of people. Look at how he's bawling at all these things... I thought he was a good guy.” And the Mesader decides not to give the rabbi Aliyat Shish i that week, or the next week. Eventually the rabbi starts to wonder what's what's going on, and asks the Mesader about it. The Mesader answers, “ Well, I saw the way you were crying and bawling in Vidui, and realized that you're not so good after all .” The rabbi says,” No, I was crying and bawling to God. When it comes to God, I'm a nobody. But as far as the rest of the congregation, I deserve Shishi, I'm better than them!” Of course, whether this really happened or not, the message is that sometimes we can humble ourselves in front of God, but we don't humble ourselves in front of people. We want to be humble both in the eyes of God and the eyes of people . Therefore we need two separate pesukim , to realize that when I look at somebody else, and think of my success (and maybe his lack of success), or that I'm smarter than him, I'm wealthier than him, or whatever it may be, like the Ramban says, if anything, we should think the opposite. If you're smarter than him, and you know more, then you're more guilty than he is, because when he makes a sin, it's by mistake. When you do it, it's on purpose. And that's why there is a this double warning on arrogance, not to God, and not to people. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.
This week, we've been working on a prayer from the siddur entitled L’Olam Yehe Adam, in the Korbanot section. Each paragraph is truly a gold mine of information and inspiration. The entire prayer was an introduction to saying Shema during the times when the Jews were oppressed by the Romans and could not pray publicly. They were in hiding during times of deep oppression and Eliyahu Hanavi was actually the one that introduced part of this prayer (Tanna Devi Eliyahu chapter 21) for the people suffering. And we say the following, in the introduction to Keriat Shema, (Shema is not only said before the Amida, but also in Korbanot section. Some say it was inserted into Korbanot because the goyim were checking to see if they were saying Shema, so they had to put it in a different spot.) Regardless, in this portion, we are trying to pump ourselves up. We started off a little downbeat with, “ What are we? Who are we? People of name and fame are nothing. Who's important? We are the children Avraham Yitzhak and Yaakov. What's important? Your soul is important. And now that we have a soul, and we are the children of Avraham Yitzhak and Yaakov, we need to say- לְפִיכָךְ אֲנַֽחְנוּ חַיָּבִים לְהוֹדוֹת לְךָ וּלְשַׁבֵּחֲךָ וּלְפָאֶרְךָ וּלְבָרֵךְ וּלְקַדֵּשׁ וְלִתֵּן שֶֽׁבַח וְהוֹדָיָה לִשְׁמֶֽךָ: Lefichach, Anachnu/ We are chayav/ obligated to thank You, praise You, glorify You, or to uplift You, to give song and praise and thanks to Your great name. There are seven things listed, which the rabbis correspond to the seven negatives of What are we? What's my life etc. We can take those seven negatives of this fleeting world, and turn it all around when we say and realize, Hashem Echad That's what lasts. The Rambam writes that that when you kiss mezuza, you are supposed to remember that there is nothing everlasting but the knowledge of God. Everything else is hot air and vanity. Everything else does not last. Nothing lasts. The meal you ate doesn't last. Oh, but you said Birkat Hamazon? That lasts forever . Recognition of God lasts forever. Therefore, every day, consistently, and constantly, we're singing. What are we singing? אַשְׁרֵֽינוּ מַה טּוֹב חֶלְקֵֽנוּ וּמַה נָּעִים גּוֹרָלֵֽנוּ וּמַה יָּפָה יְרֻשָּׁתֵֽנוּ: אַשְׁרֵֽינוּ כְּשֶׁאָֽנוּ מַשְׁכִּימִים וּמַעֲרִיבִים בְּבָתֵּי כְנֵסִיּוֹת וּבְבָתֵּי מִדְרָשׁוֹת וּמְיַחֲדִים שִׁמְךָ בְּכָל־יוֹם תָּמִיד וְאוֹמְ֒רִים פַּעֲמַֽיִם בְּאַהֲבָה: Ashrenu/ Fortunate are we, how great is our portion ? How sweet is our lot? My inheritance is great. Oh what an inheritance I got! What’d you get? Millions of dollars? A house and car? No. Do you know what my inheritance is? That my parents taught me Hashem Echad! That's my inheritance. Oh, is that good! Oh, is that sweet! Oh, is that great! Ashrenu ! Fortunate are we ( we say it was a second time), that we get there (to shul) early and come back late. And constantly ( because this is one of the six constant Mitzvot), all day, we make God's name One and realize He’s the only thing that counts. We say it twice. But we don't just say it, we say it with love. Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad… What an introduction . This daily introduction is to appreciate what Keriat Shema is. This is all about the month of Elul, to get us ready for the high holidays. Because as we know, and as we've gone through in the past, the most important prayer of Rosh Hashanah is the Musaf prayer, which has three additional inserts, Malchuyot, God's kingdom. Zichronot, God remember us for the good, and Shofarot, the blowing of the shofar. And it all starts with it all starts with Malchuyot . We have to accept Hashem as King. The 10th highlight Pasuk of that section is, Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad… We say that in Musaf, and it’s what's going to give us a good year- Realizing Hashem Echad . There is nothing else but God. He's in charge of everything. That's the secret to a good year. Rav Wolbe writes that over the entire month of Elul, as many times as a person says Keriat Shema (depending how many times you say it as a man or a lady), he should say it as a preparation for Rosh Hashanah, and say it right. (Tomorrow we will discuss what the words Shema Yisrael mean). Say it right. Say it with kavana/focus. Say it slowly. The Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim ( as quoted by Rav Wolbe) says that it’s a lifetime’s work. It takes years to say Keriat Shema properly; to say every word properly, to have the proper thoughts, the proper intention, the proper feeling. It’s the fundamental of our religion, Whether we're in good times, saying Shema at a Brit Milah or if it’s the last word on person's lips. Shema Yisrael. That is the Jewish cry. We should say it at the top of our lungs with kavana, and appreciate how lucky we are to say Keriat Shema twice a day. Have a wonderful day.
We continue going through the Korbanot prayer of our morning Shaharit . It starts with the title L’Olam. Yesterday, we spoke about how we say, What are we? What's our life? What's our kindness? And that section, it continues, הֲלֹא כָּל הַגִּבּוֹרִים כְּאַֽיִן לְפָנֶֽיךָ וְאַנְשֵׁי הַשֵּׁם כְּלֹא הָיוּ וַחֲכָמִים כִּבְלִי מַדָּע All strong man are like nothing. The strongest of men, God just blows over. Men of fame and wealth, men of power, they're like they didn't exist. The wise men, like they know nothing. After the seven What, what, whats that we discussed yesterday, we now discuss these three categories. Our siddur is based on Navi, and the rabbis tell us that this portion is based on a pasuk in Yirmiyah that says: A wise men should not pride himself in his wisdom, the strong man should not pride himself in his strength, and the wealthy man should not pride himself in his wealth. Rather, what someone should pride themselves in is knowing Me. That means pride yourself in your religious progress, (which is really the next words of the paragraph… “ except for the neshama” ) What we do that's praiseworthy and pride-worthy , is our religious accomplishments, because we make choices in that area. This is our humility pill every morning. הַגִּבּוֹרִים כְּאַֽיִן לְפָנֶֽיךָ Strong men are like nothing before You. There was a great Gibbor/Strong man. His name was Christopher Reeves. He played the part of Superman, he was muscular… and yet, as he was riding on a horse one day, he fell off the horse, cracked his neck and, lo Alenu, became a paraplegic for the rest of his life. He became a depressed man. He didn't go out into public for a year. When he finally came out, still a paraplegic, with difficulty talking, all made up for the short interview he gave, they asked him, “ What pulled you out of your depression?” And he said, “ When I realized I am not my body. I attributed myself to my body and my strength. And that's not me.” He realized Levad Haneshama . Even a goy has a soul. And he realized his strength was nothing. Anshei Hashem, men of great names, it’s like they don’t exist. Many years ago, there was a Centennial celebration of the creation of the Deal charter in New Jersey, and they had a book for sale in one of the local stores. As I flipped through it, I saw that there was a great man, whose name was Mr . Hathaway . There is a street named after him, called Hathaway Avenue . Nobody knows who Mr. Hathaway is today. There was a Mr. Darlington too, and another street was named after him. But nobody knows who he is either. All these great people, who built huge mansions, nobody knows who they are. No one even knows Mr. Hathaway's first name. These were Anshei Hashem, men of name, and we don't even know their names. They were so powerful and famous. Wise men , like Dr. Fauci, a very wise man, he has no knowledge … And that is the morning humility pill. As we said yesterday, the goal of the 40 days of the high holiday season is to get to the statement of What am I ? Our goal is to realize that we really don't do anything. We have no power. We have no wisdom. We have no wealth. It's all in the hands of God. What do we have? We have our Neshama Tehora, that pure soul that eventually is going to go up to God. And that soul ( in this prayer) is contrasted with the soul of the rest of the world) אֲבָל אֲנַֽחְנוּ עַמְּ֒ךָ בְּנֵי בְרִיתֶֽךָ, בְּנֵי אַבְרָהָם אֹהַבְךָ שֶׁנִּשְׁבַּֽעְתָּ לּוֹ בְּהַר הַמֹּרִיָּה, זֶֽרַע יִצְחָק יְחִידוֹ שֶׁנֶּעֱקַד עַל גַּבֵּי הַמִּזְבֵּֽחַ, עֲדַת יַעֲקֹב בִּנְךָ בְּכוֹרֶֽךָ שֶׁמֵּאַהֲבָתְ֒ךָ שֶׁאָהַֽבְתָּ אוֹתוֹ וּמִשִּׂמְחָתְ֒ךָ שֶׁשָּׂמַֽחְתָּ בּוֹ קָרָֽאתָ אֶת שְׁמוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל וִישֻׁרוּן: We, the Jewish people, we are Your nation, the sons of your covenant. The sons of Abraham that You love, that You promised at Har HaMoria, a son, that seed Yitzhak, that was bound in front of You on the Mizbe’ach, the Eidah/congregation of Yaakov, Your firstborn son, who You loved so much and enjoyed so much and gave him the name Yisrael, and Yeshurun. So who ar e we ? We're nobody on our own merits and our own acts. But do You know who my father is? That's an important line. Do You know who my father is ? That's what you're supposed to be thinking all the time. Wealthy kids sometimes say that when they get pulled over. I heard a story like that once. But the cop said, “I really don't care who your father is,” In our case, however, it makes a big difference. We start off every prayers with Elohei Avraham, Elohei Yitzhak, Elohei Yaakov. Do you know who my Father is? Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov. That's something. These are the important principles that we start our prayers with. And, as we said, they’re important every day, but especially during the month of Elul, as we get ready for the high holidays. We have to appreciate these important principles that our rabbis put into the siddur for us. Have a wonderful day.
We continue to discuss a part of our morning prayers, in the section of Korbanot/ sacrifices entitled LeOlam/ Forever, a man should be God-fearing. Yesterday we discussed the first unit, where a person says to God, before he prays, “I am not appealing to you due to my righteousness..” The next paragraph is actually like a copy and paste from the prayer of Neila . On Yom Kippur, after the 30 days of Elul and the Aseret Yeme Teshuva, we get to the pinnacle of Yom Kippur Neila- the ultimate, ultimate, pinnacle of the entire work that we go through. The Gemara in Masechet Yoma (87B, in the tractate that discusses the service of Yom Kippur) asks the question, What is Neila? Anything that we know, we get from the Mishna or the Gemara, and in the Gemara there is an argument between Rav and Shemuel. Rav says that we add another prayer for Neila, which is what we do. But Shemuel, the great Amora , says that's not necessary, because the main point of Neila (and we actually insert this line into our prayers), is the following line- מָה אָֽנחנוּ מֶה חַיֵּֽינוּ מֶה חַסְדֵּֽנוּ, מַה צִּדְקוֹתֵֽינוּ, מַה יְּשׁוּעָתֵֽנוּ, מַה כֹּחֵֽנוּ מַה גְּבוּרָתֵֽנוּ, מַה נֹּאמַר לְפָנֶֽיך ָ ה׳ אלוקינו אלקי אבותינו What are we? What is our life? What is our kindness? What is our righteousness? What is our strength? What is our power? What can I say in front of you Hashem, our God and the God of our forefathers? הֲלֹא כָּל הַגִּבּוֹרִים כְּאַֽיִן לְפָנֶֽיךָ וְאַנְשֵׁי הַשֵּׁם כְּלֹא הָיוּ וַחֲכָמִים כִּבְלִי מַדָּע וּנְבוֹנִים כִּבְלִי הַשְׂכֵּל כִּי כל מַעֲשֵׂיהנו תֹּֽהוּ וִימֵי חַיֵּינו הֶֽבֶל לְפָנֶֽיךָ, All the strong men, like the nobody in front of you. And the man of shame?Like they never existed the name. Wisemen have no knowledge, Understanding people with no intellect. All our acts are really empty They may have the days of our life are just hot air in front of You As the pasuk in Kohelet says, וּמוֹתַר הָאָדָם מִן הַבְּ֒הֵמָה אָֽיִן כִּי הַכֹּל הָֽבֶל The advantage of the man over an animal is nothing, because everything is empty. Tomorrow we will put a happy spin on this, but for now let’s just focus on these few lines that, according to Shemuel, is the whole Neila. It’s the whole story. After 40 days we have to get to the point of saying, “ What are we, what is our life? What is our kindness? What are we really doing here? It's all just hot air. It's not lasting. It's empty. And there is no real advantage of man over animal ( except for our holy soul, but we will save that for tomorrow's class). The point of it is really humility. Again. Humility is the beginning and end of everything. It’s what bitachon is all about, because if you really realize that everything comes from Hashem, then you don't take credit for anything. Everything we have comes from Hashem, so don't stand there, beating your chest with pride. Our rabbis tell us (specifically the commentary Etz Yosef on the siddur) that the word Ma/What shows up in this portion seven times, because this was inspired by Shlomo Hamelech who says in Kohelet, Havel Havalim, Hakol Havel. Havel Havalim It’s all hot air. The first Havel is singular, so that’s 1, Havalim is 2 because it’s plural. Then he says Hakol Havel (1) and Havel (1) and Havalim (2) again, which is adds up to 7, and represents the seven units of life. Man lives for 70 years- seven units of life. But it’s all hot air . It doesn't last. As good as you are, it doesn't last. The only thing that's going to last is our neshama . Hevel means hot air; and it doesn't last. It looks like something for a moment; like when you blow hot air on a cold day. You see some air coming out of your mouth, but it’s just the droplets of water that go from a gas into liquid, and then back into a gas again and disappear. That's how fleeting life is. The only thing that really lasts is our neshama . So we come, in every prayer, saying that whatever we're asking for in this world is really temporary. Our goal is the next world (which we'll get to tomorrow). The main point is humility . What are we? What are we really ? What's our power. Where is it coming from? It's all coming from Hashem. This is really the job of the month of Elul- humility . In Mizmor Letodah, the Prayer of Thanks ( which we say every day, right after Baruch She’Amar ), we say the words Hu Assano VLo Anachnu/He made us and not ourselves. The word of the VLo can can be spelled either לו Lamed Vav, meaning Him or לא Lamed Alef , meaning Not It's actually both. It can written one way but read a different way. So it can mean that He made us, not ourselves (i.e we didn't make ourselves, although we might feel that way) And it also be read as He made us and we belong to Him . The rabbis say that it's a two-step process. First, you have to realize that He made us and we didn't make ourselves. And once we’ve done that, we belong to Him. And if you take those letters, לו Lamed Vav and לא Lamed Alef, it spells אלול Elul. The job of Elul is to realize Lo Anachnu/ It's not u s…. Every day saying we start our prayers with מה Ma / What seven times. What exactly are we? What's our strength? We can fall to our knees from a little virus. We can fall to our knees from a change in the economy. What are we? That's the humility that we need to start our prayers with every day, but the end goal of 40 days of Elul is to realize that. And we say it in Neila, to bring us a final kapara . Have a one wonderful day.
A week or two ago, we discussed that one of the 613 Mitzvot (according to some opinions) is Lo B’Sidkatcha/, Not on your righteousness …. which means that when a person has something good happen to him, he shouldn't attribute it to the fact that he's good. He might be good, but that alone is not deserving. Rather, it's due to God's promise to our forefathers and His love for the Jewish people. Rav Wolbe has a rule: Any important principle can be found in the siddur. After giving that class, I noticed that it actually is in our siddur. It's an a part of the siddur called Korbanot , and it starts with the words, L’Olam/ Forever Yehe Adam Yerei Shamayim/A person should be God-fearing Ba’Seter K’Ba’Galui/Whether in hiding or out in the open. This was originally said when the Jewish people had to conceal their religious acts from the Romans, because open acts of religion were forbidden. Therefore, we say that one should be God-fearing when in hiding, just like when in the open. It continues.. U’ Modeh Al HaEmet/ You should be able to admit the truth, which is hard.. V’Dover Emet BilVavo And not only admit the truth externally, but the truth should be set in the heart. What should this truth be? And this is the statement— Ribon HaOlamim/Master of the worlds, VAdonei Adonaim and Boss of all bosses…. And now a pasuk from Daniel (chapter nine, verse 18) is quoted לא על צדקותנו אנחנו מפילים תחנונינו לפניך Lo Al Sidkotenu Anachnu Mapilim Tahanunenu Lefanecha It is not in our righteousness that we are supplicating in front of You. Rather, it's Your great mercy. This line shows up in our prayers on Mondays and Thursdays, and in our Selihot. There’s even a song sung by famous singer with these words ( Riboin by Beri Weber) It’s especially important to say this entire prayer throughout the month of Elul, so we’re going to spend some time on it. And if you want to take on a commitment for the month Elul, maybe say this prayer with kavana. It’s in the introduction of the siddur section called Korbanot, in our daily Shaharit prayers. So let’s understand exactly what this prayer means, and what the impact of this statement is. Simply, it means that I'm not coming to God because He owes me anything. It's not because He owes me anything. I'm coming Tahanumim , which means for a free gift . I need a free gift, and it's God's mercy. What is the impact of this? Number one, says Rabbenu Yonah in Mishleh ( 3,26), Even when a person has great trouble coming close, he's going to start hoping for God's salvation. Why? Because he knows that even though his sins are great and awesome, he hopes to God's mercy. If he was relying on his own good deeds, then when he has a big problem, he doesn't know if his deeds are enough to handle it. But that's not the source of his Bitachon. His reliance on God is not because of his righteousness, but rather because of God's great mercy, and Rabbenu Yonah quotes this pasuk. This pasuk is a source for this principle that we're not relying on God, because of our merits. Furthermore, the Sefer Ikarim , by Rabbi Elbaum (fourth treatise, chapter 16) says that when a person prays, he has to believe that, “ This goodness that comes is coming only because of God's kindness and mercy . God has mercy and kindness on all creations; absolute kindness It’s not that God gives us because He owes us. No, God only gives us out of mercy . And he quotes our pasuk. He says, I'll prove it to you . From a pasuk in Iyov, chapter 41. God says whoever beat Me to it and did something for Me before I paid him? Really? What do you mean? I do a lot of good deeds. The Gemara explains…Did a person ever put a mezuza up before he had a house? Did he ever put up a fence around a roof before he had a house? Did he ever put sisit on before he had a garment… and so on and so forth. So it starts off that God gave us already. How can we possibly say that God owes us anything . If I'm praying, it's with the mouth He gave me. If I’m doing kindness, it’s with the hand that He gave me. If I'm learning, it's with the brain that He gave me. Everything that I do comes from what He gave me. So He doesn't owe us anything . And yet we come to pray. Why? Lo Al Sidkotenu/ Not on our righteousness. And that's a fundamental every day, especially as we start our Selichot season. Have a wonderful day. https://www.dropbox.com/s/lreypsa8tq4zvhf/Beri.m4a?dl=0
In this week’s Parasha, Re’eh , the pasuk says, בָּנִ֣ים אַתֶּ֔ם לַה׳ אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֑ם לֹ֣א תִתְגֹּֽדְד֗וּ וְלֹֽא־תָשִׂ֧ימוּ קׇרְחָ֛ה בֵּ֥ין עֵינֵיכֶ֖ם לָמֵֽת You are sons of Hashem, your God, Don't scratch yourselves and don't make bald spots between your eyes, over someone that dies. In the days of old, and even today, there are certain countries where mourning is demonstrated by causing themselves to bleed and pulling out their hair. We shouldn't do that, says the Torah (it’s one of the 613), because we're children of Hashem, your God. Why is that a reason? Rashi says that we are children of Hashem your God, and therefore, we have to look proper, and it's not proper to be bruised and blemished The Ibn Ezra gives another reason: Banim Atem, since you know that you're God's children , and He loves you more than a father loves his son, don't do these extreme acts of mourning, because what makes a person do extreme acts of mourning? When terrible thing happen. But, he says, when a father does something, the child knows it's good even though he doesn't understand it. Little children don't understand what their father does. Father's always right, as the saying used to go. They trust and rely on him. And, he says, so too the Jewish people. We know that God is our loving God and therefore, it's not befitting for us to go to such extreme acts of mourning, because that would indicate that we really don't agree with what our Father in heaven did. Others say that You are children of Hashem your God , and therefore, if a parent, has v’Shalom , passes away, you have to realize that the person is not an orphan, because, in his words, “ You still have an Av Gadol/a great father. He still has a great father, which is God. But when a goy’s father dies, he has no one there to help him. His Avodah Zara is not going to help him. As it says, “ They say to a wood, “You’re my father,” and to a rock, “You gave birth to me.” And therefore they should tear their hair out, and bang their heads, because they really did lose their only father. But we, the Jewish people, still have a Father that is great and strong up. there in the Heaven. Avinu B’Shamayim. On the phrase, Lo Titgogedo Do not scratch yourself, another explanation is that it means, Don’t make different groups of people. And again, they connect that to Banim Atem L’Hashem… The Sefer Paneah Raza , from one of the Rishonim says, “ You are children of Hashem. You all have one God. Don't make yourselves into separate groups, because you all have one Father.” Another explanation is from the Or Hachaim HaKadosh, who says that since you are children of God, the deceased is not to be worried about. Because when you are children of God, what happens to deceased? He's not lost. It’s not another one bites the dust. He's going back to his Father upstairs. And he says, this is comparable to a man that sent his son overseas on business. And now the father asks his son come back home. The son is not missing. He's going back where he belongs. He's still around. His new friends in China are going to miss him, but he's going back home. And it's better for the son to go back home. And therefore, we Jewish people do not over-mourn. On the other hand, the Goyim have what to mourn about, because when the person dies, it's a everlasting death. The Chida adds to the Or Hachaim HaKadosh about the end of the pasuk where it says, “ Don’t put a bald spot between your eyes ,” it can be La’met for the dead, but it also can be read as a Lo met/ he did not die; It looks like he died, but he didn't really die. And because he didn't really die, we don't over-mourn. Finally, the sefer Panim Yafot says, You’re children of Hashem your God don't over-mourn because the Gemara in Masechet Sanhedrin says that when a Jewish person is in pain, God is in pain. So God says, “ You're my children. And I'm in pain when I see you in pain. So please don't over mourn. Don't show so much sorrow because it hurts Me to see you in so much pain.” These are all uplifting explanations that show us what it means to have a Father in heaven, and how many different angles we can gain from having that outlook of Hashem being our Father in heaven. Have a wonderful day.
In our daily prayers, there's a section called Korbanot , which discusses many of the offerings. It also has different introductory paragraphs to our daily Tefillah. One unit starts with the words, L’Olam - לְעוֹלָם יְהֵא אָדָם יְרֵא שָׁמַיִם בַּסֵּתֶר כְּבַגָּלוּי, וּמוֹדֶה עַל הָאֱמֶת, וְדוֹבֵר אֱמֶת בִּלְבָבוֹ, וְיַשְׁכִּים וְיֹאמַר Man should always be God-fearing, in hiding like he is in the open, and admit the truth, and speak the truth in his heart as well, and get up in the morning and say…. Etc The commentaries explain that sometimes you make a proclamation, but the proclamation might not really be something that's truly in your heart. You might be just saying it. This happens quite often. We speak and we say things, and it's easy to give a speech. But the question is, do you really feel it in your heart? Are you really holding there? I had a personal experience related to this concept that I'd like to share: About three weeks ago, we came out with a new book called Daily Dose of Bitachon , based on Hovot Halevavot’s Shaar Bitachon. It’s all about Bitachon. So I got up in the Deal Shul one morning in order to push sales. I had remembered that people were having problems with containers, being stuck in the ports, so I said, “ If you want a segula to get the containers out of the ports and get your goods here, all it's going to cost you is $25 to buy yourself a book on Bitachon.” But s omeone came over after the prayers and said, “ Rabbi, you got it wrong. We don't need to get the containers. We need to get rid of the inventory. We have too much inventory.” So the next time I got up, my new sales pitch was, “ Do you want to solve your inventory problems? For $25, you can solve inventory problems..” It was a cute line, and a nice way to sell books, but was I really sympathetic and empathetic to the people's problems that they have too much inventory? Not really. I was just trying to come up with a cute line to sell some books. Then, a little later, I got an order from a Yeshiva that was having an alumni gathering, and they wanted to give out Daily Dose of Bitachon. I asked how many they wanted and they said they’d figure it out. They later sent me an email ordering 350 books! I was excited. 350 books is a very nice order. I get a little royalty and I was very happy. So had the books shipped there. The next day I called and asked the rabbi in charge how the books went. He answered that it was a little strange. “I thought they took books, but I have a lot left over. Maybe they thought that we were selling them, because they it was next to the credit card machine?” He then sent me a check, but the check did not cover the number of books I sent him. So I called him up and told him I thought there was a mistake. He said, “ What do you mean? I ordered 150. ” So I checked the email and sure enough, he ordered 350.He had made a mistake. He apologized and asked me if I would take them back. I said okay, but I felt bad that the Yeshiva would have to pay for shipping , so I offered to come by and pick them up. Because I didn't want to leave the books in my car until I got back to Brooklyn, I took them out and I put them in my house in Lakewood. And now there are seven boxes of books in the entrance to my house. Every time I walk in or out, I see the seven boxes of books. I say, “ Here's my inventory. I have to get rid of the inventory.” It was a little uncomfortable to look at my inventory. Would I return it? Wouldn't I return it. Would I sell it? Wouldn’t I sell it? Then it hit me. Here I was, the guy with the the grand ideas about the segula to get rid of your inventory. Just buy a book for $25 !! Easier said than done. It's very nice when you’re talking about other people's inventory, but when it becomes your own inventory, it's a whole different story. It was an important lesson for me, that you always have to be honest and true with what you say. As we've quoted in the past, Things that go out of the heart, enter the heart. It’s one thing to just say something, and another thing to say it from your heart, and that's important. When it comes to Bitachon, when it comes to telling other people things, it can’t just be something that you’re speaking , it really has to be in your heart. Have a wonderful day, and please order some books J
As we've mentioned many times, there is no exact count for the 613 Mitzvot, and there many questions about what does or doesn't go on the list. In Parashat Ekev (8,5) the pasuk says, וְיָדַעְתָּ֖ עִם־לְבָבֶ֑ךָ כִּ֗י כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר יְיַסֵּ֥ר אִישׁ֙ אֶת־בְּנ֔וֹ יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ מְיַסְּרֶֽךָּ׃ You should know in your heart, like a man chastises his son, Hashem Your God gives you yesurim/suffering. The Sefer Haredim , written by an early Mekubal from Sfat, says from here we learn about the mitzvah of Siduk HaDin, which means accepting the righteousness of God's judgment. Whether with his or his child’s body, or with his money, a person has to be steadfast in his heart, accept Hashem’s judgment, and understand that it's not a coincidence. This comes under the category of VeAhavta Et Hashem Elokecha/ Love Hashem your God , even if we don't count it as one of the 613. Where do we see that? Because it says Bechol Meodecha/W ith all your Meod . What does Meod mean? The Gemara in Berachot 54A says, Meod comes from the root Middah . Whatever measure God gives us, we must love Him. Whether it's for good or it's suffering, we have to accept it with happiness. This an important principle, and as we have said, some, such as the Smok (Sefer Mitzvot Katan) and the Smog (Sefer Mitzvot Gadol), count it as one of the 613. Rabbenu Yonah, in Shaar Teshuva (4,13), adds that it doesn't just say, Know that the suffering comes from God and accept that. It’s more than that. You have to know that it's being done for your own good, like a father that gives Musar to his son out of love for him. A person has to believe that it's coming from a loving God. Derashot HaRan , from Rabbenu Nissim, one of the Rishonim adds that “ Like a father to a son,” means that when a father disciplines his son, it's not the full measure of what he deserves. The father always gives a step down from what the child fully deserves, because it's hard for a father to discipline his son. As the famous saying goes, This hurts me more than it hurts you, and that's also part of it. So every nuance of a father/ son relationship in discipline is the way we're supposed to view God's discipline upon us. Rabbenu Yonah, in Shaare Teshuva, (3,17) talks about different Mitzvot Aseh , and one of them ( listed in last week's Parashat Ekev) is Zichron Hasadav/Remember God's kindnesses and delve into them. He quotes a pasuk in Devarim (8,2) “ Remember the road that God took us through in, in the desert, when we left Egypt,” and then continues with our pasuk of, “ You should know in your heart that God chastises you like a father chastises a son.” He adds that David Hamelech tells us (Tehilim, 107,43) , “ ויתבננו חסדי ה׳ Delve into the kindness of God,” and (26,3) כִּֽי־חַ֭סְדְּךָ לְנֶ֣גֶד עֵינָ֑י Your kindness is opposite of my eyes. So Rabbenu Yonah puts this pasuk of remembering God's discipline together with the general mitzvah of remembering His kindness . That means that when we look at the kindness of God, dealing with us in the desert, included in that is also the times when God disciplined us in the desert. He puts both under the umbrella of kindness. The Sefer Haredim also says that if we have to remember the kindness of way back when in the desert, and the discipline of then, even more so, a person has to remember the individual kindnesses that happens with the Jewish people at large, which is that we're still here today after thousands of years in exile. And we also have to remember every kindness that God has dealt to us as individuals, from the time we were born. It goes so far that the Ibn Ezra says in Kohelet (5, 1), A person has to thank Hashem every second, because God's kindness is with us every second that we're alive, and that we're enjoying just being alive and here. But, he says, since we're busy with worldly matters- we have to eat and drink and go work- God gave us three times a day to pray to Him and thank Him. But really, it should be every second of the day. These are Torah principles - they're not just positive thinking, like in the outside world.These are positive commandments, and when it's a commandment, it has extra power. It’s not just a nice thought. It has the power of a mitzvah to impact you. Asher Kiddishanu B’Mitzvotav Vesivanu/ God made us holy with His Mitzvot and commanded us. But Mitzvot need kavana . You need to know what you're doing. So every time you appreciate God's discipline, when you say kapara when something doesn't go right, and every time you appreciate God's kindness- when you have a nice hot cup of coffee, you are fulfilling positive commandments. And these commandments will help us live a life with Hashem, which is our goal and mission.
A term that we've used many times in our lessons is Reframing , which means to look at things in a different way; to put a new frame around the picture and give it a different look. Some people use the term put on another pair of glasses, with a different tinge or color to what you see. Rabbi Bension Kay, Rabbi Diamond’s son in law, who we mentioned on Friday, called me to share his family’s reframing story, after reading the new book Daily Dose of Bitachon, which speaks about reframing, at his Friday night table. His great- grandparents had moved from Lithuania to South Africa, but when they got off the boat, all religion was dropped, and Rabbi Kay’s grandparents were raised without any religion- to the point that he said they ate on Yom Kippur. His paternal grandfather would take his paycheck and go to the bar and drink. And his grandmother would save a few dollars from that for the family. They were, in his terms, as poor as church mice. That was the way they lived until tragedy struck the family. His grandmother was diagnosed with a dreaded disease at age 36 and she realized that her time was short. There was a Jewish hostel that actually served kosher food, and for whatever reason, she decided to introduce a little kashrut to the family. So she moved into that hostel with her husband and children. And then she passed away. Her husband was a drunk and the older brother and older sister moved out. And Rabbi Bension’s father, whose name was Eric, was left as an orphan, at age 12, in this hostel. The man that ran the hostel was an Orthodox Rabbi who had come from Europe and had learned in the Telz Yeshiva. One day, he asked the young orphan, “ Why don't you come to a class ?” He joined a Gemara class and he was intrigued. He was a smart boy and he really felt challenged by it. This Rabbi offered to send him to America, to the Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland. With nothing else really going for him, he decided to go. This young boy, 13 years old, joined this prestigious Yeshiva run by Rabbi Bloch and Rabbi Katz, both survivors of the Telz Yeshiva in Europe. He spent the next seven years there, developing, and then going on to Eretz Yisrael, learning in Chevron. He then went back to South Africa and married Rabbi Bension’s mother. They had three wonderful children. One lives in Eretz Yisrael, another lives in Lakewood, and of course, Rabbi Bension who lives in Deal, New Jersey and runs Rabbi Diamond’s Yeshiva. So three brothers survived from this family. Rabbi Bension said his father's older brother never had any children, and his father’s sister had one daughter who married out of the faith. So all that is left of his family is he and his two brothers. That's the whole family. And then he added the reframe, using the following words: What would have happened if, has v’Shalom/ Heaven forbid, my grandmother would not have gotten sick? What if she would have lived to a ripe old age with my grandfather? My entire family be wiped off the face of the Jewish map . We are only religious because my grandfather was an orphan. He was sent to Cleveland.. he went to Eretz Yisrael….he eventually went back to South Africa, married his wife, became a rabbi and raised a wonderful family . That's a powerful way of looking back. Of course, hindsight is 20/20. We can all look back and see things, and, as the saying goes, connect the dots backwards. But to me, this is a very powerful reframe. He looked back and saw that a difficult tragedy really was necessary to keep his family's lineage alive. As we said, reframing is a very basic concept in our religion. Rabbi Akiva said the statement, Kol d’Avid Rahmana Letav Avid Whatever God does is for the good, And the question is asked, why do we say this in Aramaic? It's an Aramaic statement, Whatever the merciful One does, for good , He does. Why is it Aramaic and not in Hebrew, which is actually Gam Zu LeTova translated. One of the commentaries, (perhaps the Ben Ish Chai) says that we say Kaddish in Aramaic, because the angels would be jealous if we said it in Hebrew, because it’s such a powerful praise, that the Jewish people have. Similarly, if the angels heard us saying that everything is for the good, they'd be jealous as well, of the power of the Jew, to reframe every situation. So therefore, in order that the angels shouldn't be jealous of us, we say it Aramaic, which the angels don’t understand. Kol d’Avid Rahmana Whatever God does, Letav Avid Is for the good. Rabbi Bension’s story is just one of those many cases. Have a wonderful day.
Parashat Ekev ( perek 9, pesukim 4-6) says, after Hashem tells us how powerful the enemy is, and how God is going to crush them in front of us, “ אַל־תֹּאמַ֣ר בִּלְבָבְךָ֗ Don't say in your heart, when God destroys them, בְּצִדְקָתִי֙ הֱבִיאַ֣נִי It was my righteousness…..” No. לֹ֣א בְצִדְקָתְךָ֗ It wasn't your righteousness. Rather, it was their wickedness, and in order to fulfill the promise that God made to Avraham and Yitzhak and Yaakov. And then God reiterates, וְיָדַעְתָּ֗ כִּ֠י לֹ֤א בְצִדְקָֽתְךָ֙ You should know, that was not your righteousness.” There's an argument among the Rishonim , our great rabbis of old, about whom this message is referring to. The Ramban says that this was not aimed at every future generation, because if anything, it says God loves you . So, he argues, how can you say it's happening because of your forefathers, and that you're no good? He says that this is specifically directed to that generation, that had sinned, and therefore weren't worthy. The Or Hachaim HaKadosh adds that even if they weren't worthy, that doesn't mean they were wicked, because it says about them, “ You are cleaving to Hashem, your God .” He says that it means that their merits were not enough to give them the land , but they weren't wicked people. That pasuk says it wasn’t because of your righteousness, meaning they were righteous, but their righteousness wouldn't have earned them that success. He as well says that this pasuk is talking to that generation only. Rabbenu Yonah, on the other hand, says in Shaare Teshuva that No, this is speaking to every generation, and furthermore, it's one of the 613 Mitzvot. This is a powerful hiddush . That means one of the 613 Mitzvot is to have the mindset that you shouldn't think that your success is due your righteousness and your straightness of heart. You might be righteous, and you might have a straight heart, but do not believe that's why the success is happening. Don’t say, “ Oh, I did a lot of charity..I did a lot of Hessed, I get up and pray Netz every morning. That's why I had such a good year .” Do not think that. We believe and we know, in our hearts, that our success comes from Hessed HaElyon V’ Rav Tuvo , (four very important words to remember) Kindness from the One Above and His abundance of goodness . That means everything that happens to me is not due my righteousness. Of course, this doesn't mean that you're not righteous, and it doesn't mean that you're righteousness didn't give it to you. We're not saying that there is no reward and punishment. Your righteousness might've given it to you, but that doesn't mean that you deserve it for your righteousness. If a child takes out the garbage and he gets a new bicycle, his father could say, “ It wasn't your righteousness that gave you this bicycle. It was the fact that I love your grandfather , not because of what you did.” That's the way we have to look at things. Everything that we get is H essed Elyon V’Rav Tuvo. He further proves it from Yaakov Avinu, who was the choice of the forefathers. Yaakov said, “ I became small from all of God's kindnesses. ” Yaakov was a great man- the most choice of the forefathers. And he got a lot and he worked hard, but Yaakov Avinu himself says, I don't deserve this . God gave me so much kindness. As Rabbenu Bachye says, in Vayikra (26, 21), Zu Derech HaTorah/ This is the Torah approach. When you are successful and things go well, you have to look inside your heart and say, It‘s Hessed Hashem, not my merits, not my deeds . Hessed Hashem . This is a very powerful point on how to look at life. When we marry off our children… buy a new house… buy a second house..we have health… for all the good things that we have… what we call Hatzlacha/success, don't go and say, “ It was me.” The same is true when it comes to prayer. The Gemara says that you're not supposed to say, “ I prayed so well, now I'm going to get answered. ” Of course, prayer works and we get answered for our prayers, but don't think , “I prayed so good. So now, because I prayed so well, I deserve it. ” Even after you prayed so well, it's still God's greatness. When you have Bitachon, one of the seven principles, says the Hovot Halevavot, is that you rely on God's kindness. You don't need to deserve it.. that's really the key. When you realize you don't deserve it, that’s when Hashem gives you. But don't think,” I'm so good and I deserve it .” We don't deserve it. We're good and we try hard, but all that doesn't give it to us. Why do we get things? Hessed Elyon V’Rav Tuvo. There's a wonderful rabbi, Rabbi Bension Kay, son in law of Rabbi Diamond. He runs a beautiful Yeshiva. Whenever you talk to him the conversation never goes by without him saying, Hashem’s Hesse d. In his jolly way, with his beautiful South African accent, he always says, Hashem’s Hessed. He was trained that way from a young boy. Hashem’s Hessed. I asked him about it once and he said his father always used to say it. That's the way we should train ourselves, and our children Hashem’s Hessed. That's how we got it, and no, we don't deserve it. It’s Hashem’s Hessed. Every time you say that and think like that, according to Rabbenu Yonah, you are fulfilling one of the 613 mitzvot, no different than putting on Tefilin or shaking a lulav and etrog . And the opposite is a negative commandment. But whether we count it as a mitzvah or not, it's still, as Rabbeu Bachye says, Derech HaTorah/The Torah way. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.
Rav Shmuel Auerbach, one of the great Roshei Yeshivot of Yerushalayim, who passed away not long ago, was the son of the great of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, one of the great poskim of the generation. In describing his father, in his Sefer MiRosh MiKedem (page 212), Rav Shmuel writes that throughout his father's life, people would come to him, asking him for things to do for a zechut when there was a problem. One of the things that he would often say was to work on being careful with simple Berachot such as Shehakol , Adamah , HaEtz, etc. One line in particular was very powerful to me: “ Whenever you make a beracha, focus and feel that you're blessing Somebody, and you received from Somebody.” As simple as this may sound it’s very, very profound. Some people are careful to read Asher Yatzar from a card because they don't want to say it very fast. Or they look inside when they say Birkat Hamazon.. and so on.. You can be very careful with what you're saying, and say it slowly. And you might say that when it comes to prayers, “ The main thing is to focus on the words. ” Yes. That's all very good. But do you actually feel that you're talking to somebody? Do you actually feel like you received something from somebody? When we make a shehakol on a cup of coffee, do we feel that? Its not enough to just read Shehakol , Asher Yatzar or Amida . We have to feel like we are talking to Somebody; like we just received something from Somebody, and we are thanking that Somebody. It sounds very simple, but it's truly profound, because that's what it means to have, in the words of Rav Wolbe, a living relationship with God . God is a reality. I don't see Him, but I get things from Him, And I thank Him for what He gave me. This is very deep. A person can go through his whole life praying and not really feeling that I’m talking to Somebody.. We can say a beracha without really feeling like, “ I just received that.” You should feel like the waiter came to your table and served you, so you say, Thank you. You should feel the way you do when you get something from somebody; like when you go to somebody's house and they give you an expensive bottle of wine, a drink, or whatever it may be. You just received something from Somebody. Did you really feel that way when you made the beracha? When we have a piece of watermelon, do we think, “ I just received something from Somebody and I'm thanking Him for that thing.” This is an Avoda , but these simple things are what make great people great. It’s something to think about and work on. As the Ramchal tells us, One of the most difficult things about praying is realizing that God is here. Because our senses don't help us with this. We are physical people. We see, we smell, we hear, we taste, we feel, and none of those senses help us in our relationship with God. That's why it's so difficult. And that's why it's so profound to truly be able to feel that you're receiving something from Somebody and thanking that Somebody for that something. Think about it. It’s not so simple. And it’s something to work on. Have a wonderful day.
I would like to share a beautiful Rabbenu Yonah in Mishleh , ( perek י , pasuk כח ) This will give hizuk to people waiting for something, which sometimes takes a while. They are hoping and waiting, and really working on their Bitachon, but it seems very drawn out. So get ready for this pasuk in Mishleh . תּוֹחֶ֣לֶת צַדִּיקִ֣ים שִׂמְחָ֑ה The hope of the righteous brings happiness Rabbenu Yonah quotes another pasuk in Mishleh , ( perek י״ג , pasuk יב ) תּוֹחֶ֣לֶת מְ֭מֻשָּׁכָה מַחֲלָה־לֵ֑ב A drawn-out hope causes heartache If you keep hoping for something, and wanting, and you don’t get it, it just breaks your heart. So what does it mean that the “ hope of the righteous brings simcha/happiness? ” It does not bring heartache, but the opposite ששון ושמחה ימצא בה Joy and happiness will be found there, he says. The reason is, they aren’t hoping and trying for their own success, they aren’t hoping on their own strength, power or wisdom. They are hoping to Hashem’s mercy. Therefore, they aren’t disturbed by the drawn-out waiting. They get happiness from it. Why? Rabbenu Yonah says, כל מה שנמשכה ומתאחרת תוחלתם הם מתענגים על העבודה אשר יעבדון את האלהים The longer their hopes get drawn out, they become delighted because they know they are serving G-d with their Bitachon. This is a tremendous Hiddush . We are supposed to know that what makes us happy is serving Hashem. That is the one thing that lasts forever. No one can take that away from us. That is sheer accomplishment. The Gemara in Masechet Berachot tells the following story, which I recently quoted in the Torah Center, when we happened to pray Netz one morning. (Netz was 7:17am and we started at 6:55am) I heard this from Rabbi Ades: The Gemarah, in Berachot, refers to Rabbi Bruna as an Adom Gadol - a great man . Why? Because on a day that he prayed Netz , he smiled all day. He knew it was a great accomplishment. Similarly, the Rambam quotes a pious man who was asked what the happiest day of his life was. As the Pele Yoetz explains, the man said that he couldn’t answer without an introduction- that he didn’t know what was good or bad in his day-to-day physical life. It’s possible that his happiest day was actually the saddest, or vice versa. The only way he could answer, he told them, was to name the day of his greatest spiritual accomplishment. That is the way Sadikim think. So therefore, says Rabbenu Yonah, regarding a Sadik ( not an easy level), if it’s taking a long time, he says, hold on. Tell yourself, “ I am serving Hashem with my hope and Bitachon. I am counting on Him, and every time I count on Him, I’m serving Him. It’s a beautiful and dear service to G-d, because Avodat HaBitachon is a service no different than bringing a korban on the Mizbe’ach , wearing Tefilin or lighting the Menorah in the Bet HaMikdash. We are serving G-d with our Bitachon. Furthermore, Rabbenu Yonah tells us another big Hiddush : ואם לא יגיע הענין שמיחלים עליו Maybe the person didn’t have the maximum super-duper Bitachon that guarantees that they’ll get what they’re supposed to get. תהיה צדקת התוחלת But the righteousness of that hope, סבה לתועלת ולחסדים רבים ונכבדים Will cause kindnesses that are even greater and more honorable. מן הענין אשר בקשה נפשם Than what they want right now. This is a big Hiddush Your bitachon reward goes in your Bitachon-reward bank! It’s not wasted. No Bitachon is wasted. It will open showers of greatness later on. Like the story of Miriam, who took care of her brother and got paid back eighty years later. We don’t know what’s happening with the Bitachon that we put in our Bitachon bank. Rabbenu’s Yonah then contrasts this with a pasuk in tehilim that says ותקות רשעים תאבד The hope of the wicked is wasted. Because when they don’t get what they want, the hope didn’t do anything. But hope to Hashem, Bitachon- that is not wasted. That goes in the bitachon bank forever. These are two gorgeous Hiddushim, from Rabbenu Yonah in Mishleh, for the person who is waiting and hoping not to get down. Hiddush #1 is that you are serving Hashem with your waiting. Hiddush #2 is that the waiting is creating tremendous bounty that gets sorted away forever and ever, to be used by G-d at the right time, for your children, your grandchildren or for who knows what. We don’t know what it’s doing. But it is all an opportunity from Hashem, to give us kindness in the future, if maybe not for right now. Have a wonderful day.
As we have said in the past, sometimes Hash e m shows us His Hash g a ch a in a very open way. Yesterday I travel ed to Brooklyn from Deal NJ, along with my father and his brother , in order to pay respects to my cousin , Mr. Leon Sutton , who passed away last week at the age of 96 . He was known as the father of Rabbi Shemuel Sutton, the Menahel of Yeshivat Ateret Torah Boys HS, and he was my father’s first cousin. When we got there, my father and his brother began reminiscing with the family about their interactions with their cousin. I added that my first interaction with my cousin was when I was in the M irr e r Y eshiva high school over forty years ago. Mr. Sutton lived nearby on Quentin Road, and sometimes I would go there, along with my brother at times, to have dinner. He was always very warm and welcoming, and I recall that he was very proud to share that he had put out a sefer called Morah B’Esbah from the Chida, the great Sephardic rabbi, with a commentary from Rabbi Yehoshua Meir HaKohen from Volozhin. The book was printed in 1906 and it came with approbations from the great Ashkenazi Rabbi Raphael Shapiro of Volozhin, as well as Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, of the Gedolei Hador. The sefer had been in my great grandfather’s library, and on the front of the book, it said in Hebrew Abraham David Sithon. He was a great man who opened a synagogue called K’nis Sithon in Bensonhurst. He passed away in 1938. He had a huge library and Mr Leon Sutton, his grandson, had this book from the library. When he got the book, my cousin contacted Rabbi Yaakov Hillel and introduced him to the sefer. Rabbi Hillel was so excited by the sefer that he went on to add his commentary on it , and Mr. Leon Sutton sponsored the publication. As we were speaking about the sefer, Rabbi Shemuel Sutton pulled out the actual original sefer that his father had sent to Rabbi Hillel in 1980! He had been excited by it and that’s why he showed it to Rabbi Hillel. When I opened it, I saw a letter dated September 23, 1980 from Rabbi Hillel’s Yeshiva thanking Mr Leon Sutton, and telling him there were 480 books on the boat, and 20 books being shipped. There were details about the book and how excited they were about the project. Rabbi Shemuel Sutton told me how the sefer originated from my great grandfather’s library and found its way to Rabbi Hillel, who went on to add a commentary, but Rabbi Hillel would not do so without permission from one of the descendants of the author, Rabbi Yehoshua Meir HaKohen, who had passed away in the early 1900s somewhere in Europe. Rabbi Hillel was able to track down one of the author’s descendants, an ir religious man who was living on a Kibbutz (as was common in those days, many peopl e from religious backgrounds came to Israel and lost their religion). Rabbi Hillel asked his permission and showed him the sefer . The man read the introduction to the sefer, which says, “ The merit of the gre at Gaon, the genius , the holy Chida should stand for me, that I should merit to sit in the four cubits of Halacha learning, with peace of mind, and I should merit to see children and grandchildren involved in Torah and Mitzv ot . When this ir religious man on the kibbutz saw the introduction that his grandfather wrote, that he had not been aware of, he was so inspired that he went on to research his religion and became a full-fledged Baal Teshuva! Look at this unbelievable hashgacha ! This obviously great man had the zechut that his s efer found its way into the hands of his descendent, and was able to pull him back in Teshuva. And this book, from my great grandfather’s library , ended up in the hands of my cousin, Leon Sutton who brought it to Rabbi H illel , who tracked the grandson dow n. What was more fascinating to me was that I heard about this sefer in my very first interaction with my cousin, and it was the one thing that I said at the Shiva house … I had been excited that my first introduction to him was when he showed me this book . He gave me a copy of the sefer . And right there in front of us, was the original s efer, sitting on the table ! I have no knowledge of why. That was the first interaction of Rabbi Yaakov Hillel and our community. The first home that Rabbi Hillel stayed in, in our community, was actually that of Mr. Leon Sutton ! Sometimes Hashem reveals His hand , and we were able to see the tremendous H ashgac ha . Have a wonderful day .
I would like to continue with the message that we discussed on Friday, from the holy Ramchal , based on the pasuk, כִּֽי־אֵשֵׁ֣ב בַּחֹ֔שֶׁךְ ה׳ א֥וֹר לִֽי When I sit in the darkness, God is light for me . He explains that when times are dark in a person ’s life, there is actually a light, but that light is being hidden , and will come back later. Imagine that every person is born with his God-given light for each day. For example , imagine that each person has a gallon of light per day. T hen , when dark times come in to your life, when things aren’t going the way you would like them to , those are dark days without light. But the Ramchal is telling us that the light really is there. It’s just being stored someplace else where you can’t see it. Imagine a “ light bank,“ where God is investing your light , storing it for the future. Right now, it looks like it’s dark and there is no light , but it’s not that there is no light . R ather , you just don’t see the light The light is being put someplace else, and saved for later. This is actually a pasuk, “ Or Zarua LSadik/ light is planted for the righteous .” Just like seeds are planted for a tree that will grow later, and th at tree will bear fruit, God plants light. He takes the light that you were supposed to have now in the darkest of times and plan ts that light for the future. That future might be in your lifetime , or it might be when M ashiach comes. But the light is never lost. The light is growing and developing. So never think that you don’t have the light. You have the light, you just don’t see it. It’s like you’re saving your l ight for the future. God knows how to force us, so to say, to save our money, or our light , for the future. This is similar to Y osef HaSadik, who saved up in the seven years of plenty, for the seven years of famine. So too, the light is rationed, and save d for when it will be necessary. And God is our financial planner, Who knows how to plan for the future. We see this concept when Miriam waited for her brother Moshe for about 15 minutes, when she was 6 years old. Then, 80 years later, the entire Jewish people waited a week for her. This was compounded interest for the 80 year investment. S he got it when she needed it. S ometimes we see it , like when a H olocaust survivor stand s up at age 80, at the Sheva Berachot of his last grandchild . In a room full of 200 descendants , he stands up and talks about how he was starving and didn’t think he would live another day, and yet here he is with his wife, successful, happy , and full of nachat . Yes , he had those hard, dark years . But now he sits back and smiles at the light that appreciated in value over those years. It’s important keep this principle constantly on our minds. God is our light. We mention this concept every Friday night, in Lecha Dodi, when we say “ L eave from under the rubble, you’re sitting so long in the depths ….. …W ake up, wake up, because your light has come. Get up, my light. “ This refers to the future, when the light will come out. Ra v Shlomo A lkabetz, the author of Lecha Dodi, like many others, based what he wrote on Pesukim, and this a pasuk in Yeshaya, perek ס ק֥וּמִי א֖וֹרִי כִּ֣י בָ֣א אוֹרֵ֑ךְ וּכְב֥וֹד ה עָלַ֥יִךְ זָרָֽח׃ Get up my light, your light has come, and the honor of God, is going to shine upon you. “ As we have mentioned previously, we are now in the seven weeks of Nechama. Nechama is literally translated as comfort , but Rashi tells us (in Bereshit) that it means that this is the time that we should have a new outlook . “ Get up because your light has come,” is the Haftara of Parashat Ki Tavo. We always read this two weeks before Rosh Hashanah, when we say, “ Let the year and the curses end.” Get up because your light has come, is the realization of what will happen in the time of the G eula . The Chida says on that pasuk, in his Sefer Chomat Anach, “ It is well known that the Geula will be on a good day, when the mercy will be revealed, and there will be great lights that come from above.“ That light has been hidden for all of the se years , and it will finally come out then. This isn’t j ust on the level of the Jewish people at large, but it’s actually for every individual who has their own personal Geula . As it says in Le cha Dodi , “ Come close to my soul and I will be redeemed.“ Every individual can have his personal redemption, and in his personal redemption, he will see those lights come out. This is also a pasuk in T ehilim ,69,19, where David Hamelech says, ק ׇרְבָ֣ה אֶל־נַפְשִׁ֣י גְאָלָ֑הּ לְמַ֖עַן אֹיְבַ֣י פְּדֵֽנִי׃ Come close to my soul , and will bring redemption. So every person can have their own personal redemption, and when that personal redemption comes, all those lights that have been invested will come out in their fullest.
In Shaare Teshuva, Rabbenu Yona tells us (shaar 2, letter 5), ” One who relies on Hashem, to hope from his deepest of difficulties, that your darkness will actually be the cause of your light.” It’s not in spite of the darkness, that there will be light, but because of the darkness, there will be light. He brings a p asuk in Michah ( 7,8) אַֽל־תִּשְׂמְחִ֤י אֹיַ֙בְתִּי֙ לִ֔י כִּ֥י נָפַ֖לְתִּי קָ֑מְתִּי כִּֽי־אֵשֵׁ֣ב בַּחֹ֔שֶׁךְ יְהֹוָ֖ה א֥וֹר לִֽי Do not be happy, my enemies, because I fell, I’ll get up I’m sitting in the darkness, Hashem will be my light. The M idrash Tehilim (chapter 22) sa ys it’s not just that I fell and I will get up , but if I didn’t fall, I never would have gotten up . If I hadn’t sat in the darkness, it wouldn’t be ligh t. This is an important principle, especially as we start the seven weeks . If you’re scratching your head wondering what the seven weeks are, we ha d three weeks of Haftaras that were negative, which are followed by seven weeks of Haftaras that are comforting. We tend to forget about the seven weeks that come out of the three weeks. Ra v W olbe says that there is an extra d ose of comfort , more than double the dose of comfort than of suffering. For the individual as well as the general people, t he end goal is all t hat comes out of the suffering . The Ramchal, known for his Sefer Mesilat Yesharim, writes in a Maamar HaGeula that this pasuk tells us the secret of the Jewish Bitachon and hope that we will be redeemed. The redemption has many preparations, and many a ffects beforehand. He says that in the end, when it comes about, people will realize, “ When the Jewish people thought that God hi d His face and for sook them , it was the opposite- Then God prepared for them huge treasure houses ; t here is no end to the ir width or to the ir greatness . He says, in these treasure houses, there will be such beautiful treasures that the mouth cannot e nnunciate what the treasure house will look like, and the e ar cannot hear. Then the time will come that we will be allowed into these treasure houses, with all kinds of delicacies for the Jewish people that worked hard. That is the meaning of the pasuk in Tehilim (90,9) that we say, “ שמחנו כימות עניתנו make us happy like the days we were in pain.” All those days when they were in exile when there was no light on them, that light was not lost. Rather, God is putting that light away and saving it for us, for the future. He says that when that light is finally opened up, “ It will all come out at one time. “ It will be super saturated, super condensed , super concentrated light. He says that there will be a happiness like there never was. The world will be a world of peace and tranquility. Without any sorrow afterwards. This is a very heavy statement, and a very heavy concept , to realize that even in the most difficult times (the H olocaust the C rusade s, and all the l ike ) all the light that should have been there is being deposited into one account and it becomes concentrated together, and will be released. Think about the nicest party or the nicest wedding or the nicest vacation, whatever you can imagine. All of that doesn’t compare , because as it says , in the future , “ N o eye ever saw what is awaiting us. “ Imagine Queen Elizabeth jewels, millions of dollars worth of jewelr y… it doesn’t even compare to the treasure houses that are waiting for us. When times are difficult we have to think about those things. And that is what we are supposed to be doing now during the seven weeks of Nechama. As we get ready for the high holidays, we want to re-commit ourselves to Hashem our loving F ather, our lo ving K ing, and do His w ill . Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.
The following thought comes from Rabbi Yaakov Sakili, a student of the Rashba who lived in the 1400s. He learned in Spain and eventually moved to the Middle East. Many of his manuscripts were found in Syria, indicating that his works were learned in the Syria n community. There is a pasuk in Yirmiyah describing the reason for the Churban as a lack of Emunah that Hashem controls the world. Yirmiyah says, (32,19) גְּדֹל֙ הָֽעֵצָ֔ה וְרַ֖ב הָעֲלִֽילִיָּ֑ה אֲשֶׁר־עֵינֶ֣יךָ פְקֻח֗וֹת עַל־כׇּל־דַּרְכֵי֙ בְּנֵ֣י אָדָ֔ם לָתֵ֤ת לְאִישׁ֙ כִּדְרָכָ֔יו וְכִפְרִ֖י מַעֲלָלָֽיו God is Gadol HaEtzah the One with great advice and the One that has many causes for things to happen. His eyes are open, l ooking wisely at the ways of every individual, to give man according to his ways , and with the fruit of his actions. This pasuk is the source tha t God knows what is going on in our lives and rewards us and punishes , as the Rambam lists in his 13 Principles. What is the point of Gadol HaEtzah/God is great in advice? The Rabbi explains an unbelievable concept, a Targum Onkelus that he expounds upon. Targum Onkelus says that the Mitzvah of God gives us His strength to amass wealth (which is one of the 613) refers to the ideas to acquire wealth. When a person has a good idea to acquire something, and becomes wealthy, that was not his idea. It was God’s idea. Believing in th is is a positive commandment. And the concept that God gives us good advice is a pasuk in Tehilim 16,7: David Hamelech says, אֲ בָרֵ֗ךְ אֶת־יְ֭הֹוָה אֲשֶׁ֣ר יְעָצָ֑נִי I bless God, that gave me good advice. What does this mean? Is David Hamelech the only one that gets advice from God, with Ruach Hakodesh? Rabbi S akili explains the rest of the pasuk, אַף־לֵ֝יל֗וֹת יִסְּר֥וּנִי כִלְיוֹתָֽי In the evening, my kidneys give me mussar. What does that mean? He says that when a person has thoughts come into his mind, especially at night, wh ile on your bed tossing and turning with ideas, or sometimes with guilt or anguish over what you did during the day, where are these thoughts coming from? These are all advice from God. Of course, not all thoughts or advice from God. As we once said from Rav Wolbe, רבות מחשבות בלב איש There are many thoughts in man’s heart . ועצת ה׳ היא תקום and the advice of God comes to the top You have to listen for the advice of God, and hear through the false advice. But it’s not so simple to do that. Rabbi Sakilli makes two points. One is the advice for Teshuva. Any time a person thinks about going to a class or doing Mitzvah, that is all God giving advice. That’s what it means that God is Gadol HaEtzah How far does this go ? The Sefer Avudarham (which has a commentary on siddur) says, based on the pasuk of Gadol Etzah, that every night in Arbit , when we say, “ Set me up, my king , with a good advice ,” ot means that when we go to sleep at night and ideas come to our heads, we are asking Hashem, “ P lease, give me good advice. ” We are praying to Hashem for advice. As it says in Tehilim 3 3,11, עֲצַ֣ת ה לְעוֹלָ֣ם תַּעֲמֹ֑ד The advice of God lasts forever Therefore , he says that when a person is on his bed, and there is nothing going on, and he starts thinking thoughts, we ask God to give us good advice ( in Arbit) . This is an unbelievable concept. We think that the lightbulb goes off in our brains. But who is turning on that lightbulb? Who gives us those great ideas? They say that most great ideas were by accident. But all ideas are by accident. Only there are no accidents. Accidents are controlled by Hashem. Those accidents are God’s advice . We have to believe that God is constantly advising us , giving us direction, and telling us what to do. It says that Hashem is, “directing the sinners on the road.” The M idrash says that if He directs the sinners , surely He directs the Sadikim. We are constantly getting direction, signs on the road that tell us to turn right or left. We have to believe in that. This is a fundamental that Yirmiyah HaNavi was telling the people at the time of the destruction, when they didn’t believe in that. We have to believe in Gadol HaEtzah/ God is the ultimate great A dvice giver. Have a wonderful day .
An important lesson in Emunah and Bitachon is that we don’t always see how Hashem is taking care of us. But e very once in a while, we merit to have the veil removed and we do get to see how Hashem is watching and taken care of us. Someone recently told me the following story, which illustrates this point: A rabbi had his meat stored in a freezer in his basement over the summer , and they didn’t realize that the freezer had shut off. T wo racks of meat ended up spoiled and they had to throw it all out. As we say, Kaparat Avonot. What does Hashem want? We don’t know. The rabbi ’s wife called an organization that distributes meat during holiday time, and asked if they happen ed to have any meat available for purchase , because this would be a little cheaper than buying from a store . The man replied that they actually had six roasts available for her to come pick up ! Wonderful . When the r abbi went to pick up the meat , the man explain ed that they usually didn’t have any meat to distribute at this time of year , but they had just made a big order because someone called asking to donate a lot of meat for Yetomim and Almanot/orphans and widows . They just happened to end up with six extra roasts, which he was able sell to this rabbi at a discount. It clicked in this r abbi‘s head that three days prior to this, a congregant of his said that he had a certain challenge in his life , and he wanted a merit, so he decided to give out meat to widows and orphans. He asked the rabbi if he had any ideas about how to go about doing so. Th e r abbi, (whose freezer went bad ) , told his congregant that he actually did know someone who had an organization that takes care of widows and orphans , and the rabbi advised his congregant to call the woman in charge , because she could probably help him with his endeavor of supplying meat to widows and orphans. And that is what the man did. That woman then called this man, the meat distributor who gives out meat to widows and orphans , in the hope that he would be able to arrange something for the congregant. And she did. Ultimately, when this rabbi, g ave the congregant the name of the lady to help with the charitable act of giving out meat, he unknowingly was actually preparing the six roasts that he needed , because his freezer defrosted. God open ed his eyes and showed him that, yes for some reason he lost the meat in his freezer, “ But d on’t worry , because I will just as quickly replace it. ” His eyes were opened. The rabbi ’s wife said, “ S ometimes we see God’s involvement when things go wrong , and we wonder what we’re going to do , and we wonder know why it happen ed . But we don’t always get to see the things going right, behind the scenes, that fix things. ” This shows us a general rule, that God is always watching and taking care of us. Th ere is always something going on behind the scenes , and sometimes we merit to see it. When we do see it, we should apply the lesson to the times that we don’t see it, because God is always watching and taking care of us b ehind the scenes. And s ometimes He lifts that veil. Because really, as the midrash says on the pasuk in Tehilim, “ Oseh Niflaot Lvado/ God makes miracles alone , Ki L’Olam Hasdo. What does alone mean? The Midrash says it means that even the man who the miracle happened to doesn’t recognize the miracle . That is why we say, Al Nisecha Shebechol Yom Imanu/ The miracles that happen every single day. This little story is a miracle. The meat went bad, but it got replaced at a discounted price, with an order that doesn’t normally occur. These are hidden miracles that we have to notice, at least once in a while, to remind ourselves of what is happening every single day, that we don’t know about. Have a wonderful day.
We are two days past Tisha B’Av , and the lesson s should still be on our minds. This year , I saw an astounding lesson in the story of Kamsa and Bar Kamsa, an important lesson in Emunah and Bitachon . Why was it necessary for this story to be brought down? While this was the catalyst for the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash , that’s not why it was destroyed. There was much more Sinat Hinam behind it. But t here is one part, at the end of the story , which is important for u s: When the host th rew Bar Kamsa out of the party, the rabbis didn’t say anything. Of course, we know that Bar Kamsa was not the best of people. He ended up snitching to the government and caus ed the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash with his treacherous plan. But the rabbis didn’t say anything, and by doing so , they were basically agreeing that Bar Kamsa should be thrown out of the party. Why is this important? Our rabbis te ach an important lesson in Emunah and Bitachon, which is that anything that happens to us because of our deeds, we are really in agreement with . We might not be able to admit it, or see straight, but anything that happens to us, we really decided that it should happen to us. We see this from the famous story of David Hamelech and Batsheva. David Hamelech didn’t really do anything wrong , as the Gemara says, W hoever says that David Hamelech sinned is mistaken . Nonetheless, he was giv en a masha l of a man who had many sheep. When a guest came to visi t, there was a poor man who owed him money. So i nstead of slaughtering one of his own sheep for the guest, he took the poor man’s only sheep and slaughter ed it . The prophet then asked David Hamelech , “ W hat should be with t he wealthy man that takes the poor man’s last sheep? “ And David Hamelech answered , “ He deserves a horrible punishment .“ He didn’t really do anything terribly wron g. He had a right to take the sheep. He was owed the sheep. But, come on, you have more sh eep for yourself ! In essence, David Hamelech was deciding that when he took Batsheva, although it might have been legal, he had other wives and he did not need to do that. He was deciding his own court case, so to say. The rabbis tell us that in our lives, the same thing happens. You might be sitting at a table, having a discussion about somebody or some thing, and you might say, “ T hat is so horrible! How dare they they speak lashon hara like that! ” But the truth is, you speak lashon hara as well. You are actually deciding your own destiny. And so, what happens to you, believe it or not, you agreed with! You were the one that said it should happen. Of course, when it happens, you ask, H ow could God do this ? But deep down, you agreed. It was fair. That is what happen ed in th is story. When the rabbis decided that the host had a right to throw Bar Kamsa out of the party because of what he did, they were , in essence , saying that the Jewish people had a right to be thrown out of Eretz Yisrael, because of what they did. They decided that it was all right for the host to throw the unruly guest out of the party. So too, God is the H ost and we were the unruly guest. And the rabbis decided that that was what was supposed to happen. When you think about it, this is an amazing concept. Anything that happens to us, we ourselves agree that it ’s just. It says that after 120 years, we will all say, “ God’s judgment is just. ” Whatever God does is righteous and just. We don’t always see it that way, especially not in this world. We don’t have all the facts, and we don’t have all the details. But we have to know that if we were asked, we would say , God is just, and God is righteous. That is one of the lessons of the Bet Hamikdash ‘s destruction: We agree d that this is exactly what should have happened. It’s a heavy lesson . Sometimes we look at life and its events as unfair and unjust. But we decided that that is exactly what should happen. B’Ezrat Hashem , only good things for everybody . Have a wonderful day.
There is a famous story brought down in the Gemara in Masechet Gittin that we learn on Tisha B’Av, that talks about Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai, who was smuggled out of the siege of Jerusalem to meet up with the general who eventually became the Ceasar, Vespasian . When Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai came to greet him, he said, “ Peace be upon you the Ceasar, peace be upon you the Ceasar.” In truth, at that point , Vespasian was no more than a Roman general. In the end , Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai said, “No, You are the Ce asar.” He had extrapolated on a pasuk where it said that the Bet HaMikdash would fall into the hands of a king , And therefore , if Vespasian was the one that was taking over, then must have been the king. S ure enough, a few moments later, a m essenger came from Rome with the news that Vespasian was now the king . But the E lder of N ovordok says that this was Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai’s only hope of saving the people from dying of starvation. He was coming to negotiate. Surely he chose his words for this critical encounter carefully . Why would Rabbi Yohanan jeopardize his mission, and his life, by addressing the general as king in his very first sentence? Granted, he might be able to demonstrate, from a biblical source, that he was indeed the king, but what if Vespasian had not ac cepted that? Why take the risk? The Elder of Novordok answers that Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai possessed an u nwavering conviction that the Torah’s reality was the only reality. And if the Torah said that he was the king, then he was the king ! Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai didn’t follow what his physical eyes told him. He saw reality through the Torah. There are times when the T orah’s p ers pective might contradict what seems to be the path to worldly success. It is not enough for us to feel that we must bow our heads in submission and forgo that success for the sake of the Torah. Rather, we must have the conviction that the Torah’s perspective is the reality, and any apparent contradiction to that reality is an i llusion. Therefore, it’s not that Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai was willing to endanger himself to promote the Torah’s perspective . Rather, he called Vespasian the king because he realized that he really was the king. He didn’t even feel the danger , because the Torah‘s perspective is the reality (This is a message from the Medregat HaAdam, in Cheshbon HaSedek, chapter 9) Rav Yehezkiel Abramsky would e motionally relate how , in his youth, he heard this from the E lder of N ovordok himself . He said, “ You will only be able to go through life according to Hashem’s w i ll, if you know that only what is said in the Torah is real.” Rav Abramsky said that this was indeed how the Elder of Novordok lived his life. Only what was in the Torah was real (brought down in the Artscroll Tisha B’Av edition of En Yaakov, on the Aggadah of Gittin,page 18). This is a tremendous lesson in life. We can only look at things through the Torah’s ga ze . The Chafetz Chaim would often asked, “ H ow do I know that the sun will come up tomorrow? Because it says in Bereshit that the day and night will not cease.” Everything that we look at has to be through the eyes of the Torah. This is a fundamental in our Bitachon . Our reliance on Hashem has to be clear, without a doubt, that Hashem’s Will will come true, that He is in charge, and that He is in power. That is why we are calm and relaxed. The story of Nakdimon Ben Gurion is mentioned in the sugya of the Churban. He had enough money to supply wood for the entire Jewish people for 21 years . At one point during a drought, he borrowed from a wealthy goy, and agreed that he would pay him back during by a certain time. When the time came to pay back the loan, he did not have the money to cover it , but in the end H ashem made a miracle for him. He was completely unworried. He was calm and relaxed . He waited till the very last day , and he said, “ Hashem, show that You have people that You love.“ He was convinced ; he was solid. He had no questions , because he looked at th ings through the Torah’s eyes . That is what we have to do. The more that we learn about Emunah and Bitachon, the stronger our reality will be. Take a reality check that you have the Torah’s way of looking at things.
Devarim talks about the words of rebuke that Moshe Rabbenu gave towards the end of his life. T he entire Sefer is dedicated to words of rebuke . But before Moshe Rabbenu started to give them rebuke, he spoke of Hashem’s mercy on the Jewish people. In the Ramban’s words, “ As many times as they rebelled against H im, even so, Hash e m acted with Midot HaRachamim . Firstly, because Hashem wanted to say His kindness and secondly, because He wanted to strengthen their hearts. Because sometimes when a person gets rebuked, he says, “ There is no hope for me. I’m just going to go back to s inn ing. ” Therefore the Ramban says, “ God will forever act towards us with the trait of mercy. .” A person should not say, “ How can we inherit the land? We’re going to sin, and if we sin God‘s justice will come down against us and we will be wiped out.“ Therefore , Moshe Rabbenu wanted to tell us, “ God is merciful. He is full of mercy. God forgives and God atones. ” God does that to help people out . If you would only focus on what you did wrong, you would never move forward. So you have to remember that God forgives. As it says in Tehilim 130,4 “ F orgiveness is with you, so that we should fear Him.” What does this mean? It means God knows that if we don’t believe in forgiveness, we will never fear Him, because we will give up and throw in the towel. It is no coincidence that we read about this in Devarim , on the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av, b ecause after all of the three weeks and Tisha B’Av, a person could just walk out and throw in the towel. Therefore , Hashem wants to tell us that with everything, His M idd at Hadin/ trait of justice is not the overpowering trait. God ’s trait is the trait of mercy. This is a fundamental in Bitachon and relying on Hashem. One has to realize and know ( and this is one of the fundamentals that the Hovot Halevavot tells us ) , that we don’t understand how much Hessed Hashem has , we don’t understand His k indnes s. The Hovot Halevavot, in Shaar Bitachon (chapter 7) says that one of the reasons that people don’t rely on Hashem is because of their foolishness in understanding God’s good traits. “ One who does not understand God‘s mercy on his creations, and His protection and guarding over them, and His supervision and His control over them, and that they are totally tied in His shackles (i.e. no one can do anything to him without God’s say so ) , can’t have a heart that is calm and he can’t rely on Him . So in order to rely on Hashem, you have to really understand God‘s mercy. This is something that we don’t fully understand, because we see the Middat Hadin , and we don’t understand that , as we say, Hashem Echad/ Hashem is O ne. There is only one God. And when Hashem acts with justice , that is not God’s essence. God is called Rachum V’Hanum, in the thirteen attributes of mercy. God is not called HaDayan/ The Judge. That is not the attribute that He is known as. Of course, He will use justice, but that is not God’s essence. God essence is all goodness and mercy. The Gaon of Vilna wants to contrast Avraham Avinu with Yaakov Avinu. It says on Avraham, “ A fter God promised him , he trusted in Hashem. And he considered a righteousness. ” But is not a clear who m the “ he ,” is referring to. The Gaon o f Vilna understands it as, “ And Avraham considered to Him /to God , a righteousness.” This means that Hashem sometimes comes with Midat HaDin . Yaakov Avinu was very afraid , in case the sin would cause the promise not to come through. Yaakov Avinu, for various reasons, was going with Hashem ’s trait of justice. He said , “ If God’s justice is with me.” But the Gaon of Vilna says that Avraham Avinu, on the other hand, was relying on Hashem’s Sedaka, His charity- and not because of justice, he wasn’t afraid of the sin. Because God’s kindness is forever. Even if he sins. That is what it means, “ Hineh El Yeshuati, ” El is the name of God that is Middat HaHessed. God ’s kindness will save me - Not because of my deeds. Rather , because of God’s kindness . Therefore, I am not afraid that my sins will cause God’s promises not to come through. Because I’m not relying on my deeds, I’m not going with God’s trade of Justice, I am relying on God’s kindness . This this is the introduction to Dev arim . With all the mussar, and all the rebuke, the Ra mban says that Moshe wanted to tell us, in the name of God, not to forget that His mercy is forever. God is merciful, and full of mercy. Even on a Tisha b’Av. Because with God is forgiveness, and God has that trait of forgiveness. That is why, in Sephardic communities, in the Minhal of Tisha b’Av , we have a custom to read the beginning of the Selic hot , to remind us that after all the justice, we are ready for Selic hot , for the high holiday season to be forgiven. Have a wonderful day, A Shabbat Shalom and a meaningful Tisha BAv .
There is a Gemara in Masechet Yoma (9b) that tells us that the first Bet Hamikdash was destroyed because of the three cardinal sins, whereas the second Bet Hamikdash didn’t have any of that. They had Torah and they had Gemilut Hasadim, and yet it was destroyed because of Sinat Hinam/ Baseless Hatred. The Gemara tells us that Sinat Hinam weighs in more than the three cardinal sins, and ends off with, “They were wicked in the time of the first Bet Hamikdash, but they relied on Hashem.“ From this Gemara, the Gaon of Vilna proves (in his Sefer Even Shlomo chapter 3) that the main thing is Bitachon. If you are lacking Bitachon, your Torah does not last. He says that a person who is strong in Bitachon, even though he might transgress sins, is better than one who lacks Bitachon. Because the one who lacks Bitachon comes to jealousy and hatred. Even though he is involved in Torah and Hessed, he’s only doing it to get a good name. It is not being done with sincerity. If he really believed, he would not feel hatred and he would not feel jealousy. So obviously, the Mitzvot that he’s doing are being done out of rote. This is an important concept. A person who really believes doesn’t have any hatred or jealousy. As the Sefer Chinuch writes ( in mitzvah 241), When a person realizes that everything that happens is from Hashem directly, and there’s nothing that your friend can do to you, In his words, “From a man or his brother, nothing can happen unless it’s the Will of God.” Therefore, “When a person pains or hurts him, he has to know in his heart that it is his sins that caused it. God decreed it, and “That is why there is no room for hate or jealousy..” Hate and jealousy are indicators that, deep down, full belief is lacking. The Gaon of Vilna reiterates this when he says, “During the time of the first Bet Hamikdash, their hearts were very good.” And Hashem wants our hearts. From the Gaon of Vilna, we see that a healthy heart is a heart full of Bitachon. In the times of the second Bet Hamikdash, they didn’t have bitachon, and that is what caused the Sinat Hinam. He says clearly that the lack of V’Ahavta L’Reecha was a lack of reliance on Hashem, and all hatred and jealousy comes from there. That is all on the negative side. On the positive side, the power of Bitachon, can bring the redemption, as the Yalkut Shemoni says in Tehilim (remez 736) “In the future, we will say on that day, This is our God, and we will point to Him. We hoped to Him, and He saved us.” On that, the Midrash says, “All we need to have is hope to God, that (reward of hoping to Him) is enough. As we say every day, “To you’re salvation we hoped everyday.” The Yalkut Shemoni says in another place, on Eicha (remez 1096), “A generation that is looking forward to God’s kingdom, immediately they’ll be saved, as it says, “There is a hope to your end.” It’s the hope that brings it about. The Midrash Raba on Bereshit (Parasha 98) says, “Rabbi Yitzhak says, Everything comes out through hope.“ On that, the Etz Yosef says, “It’s as if to say that even though a person is not worthy, he can merit to all the gifts of God, in the merit of his hoping to Hashem,” which means, in the zechut of his Emunah and Bitachon. We might not be worthy of redemption, except for in the merit of our hope and reliance on Hashem. The Ben Ish Chai, in his Sefer Ben YoYada, regarding the Gemara in Masechet Yoma quoted above, that they were wicked but they relied on Hashem, says, “Why is it that God didn’t destroy them? We all know that God had mercy and he let out his wrath on the wood and stones. It was because of their reliance on Hashem.“ And the Maharsha says that they should have been wiped out totally, but their Bitachon saved them. In essence, he says, it should have been like Sedom v’Amora, if not for their Bitachon. How far does this go- that Bitachon saves a person? In the three days of darkness in Mitzrayim, the wicked Jews died out. But the Rosh, in his commentary on the Torah (Parashat Bo) asks that if that was the case, why did Datan and Aviram survive? They were Resha’im/wicked. He answers that they were Resha’im, but they didn’t despair from the redemption. They were extremely wicked, but they still relied on Hashem for the geula, and that is why they were saved. How unbelievable are the negative forces of a lack of Bitachon, and the positive effects of having Bitachon. B’Ezrat Hashem, we are working on this midah, and we should be zoche to the Geula, Bimhera.
Today we have more thoughts from Rav Yehezkiel Abramsky on the concept of being healed by a doctor. There is a Halacha in Shulchan Aruch that says that when a person takes medicine, he’s supposed to say, “ May it be your will that this medicine should be a refuah for me.” We must realize that while we are taking an aspirin, ultimately it is Hash e m that will get rid of the headache. Rav Abramsky added the following mashal : Sometimes we go to a doctor and sometimes we go to a PA, a physicians assistant. The PA hasn’t gone through medical school and therefore, is not as qualified as the doctor, but it’s good enough for a lot of issues. And it’s becoming very popular today to go to a PA rather than to a doctor. Sometimes people will go to a Hatzala member, with the understanding that they have some knowledge on the matter. But if the Hatzala member or the PA get stuck because it’s a little too complicated, they’ll say that we should really ask the doctor. Rav Abramsky says that in every medical matter, all the doctors are only PAs. The real doctor is Hashem. That has to be our attitude as we walk into the doctor ’s office. He is only the PA. He is not the doctor. We have to think, “ God heals me, and I will be healed.“ The reason we say th is Yehi Ratzon is because we are talking to the real D octor. After we speak to the PA , we want to get the opinion of the real D octor. And when the real D octor says it will be OK, it will be OK. That’s why in the Amida we say, “ You are our praise. ” We don’t say that in any other B eracha, b ecause medicine is an area where it is very easy to be confused and think, “ W ow. The doctor did it. What a great surgeon! What a great diagnostician. He gave me the shot and boom, I got better. Unbelievable. Look how fast it worked. Look how smart he is! ” We give a direct connection to the doctor , and that is why in the Beracha of Refaenu , we say, “ You are our prayers.“ Don’t make the mistake of thinking that it is anyone else but Hashem that is healing us. Rav Abramsky was once walking in the street with a student when he met his doctor. He started to ask a doctor about some medication that he was taking. Then, as they said th eir goodbyes, the student asked R av Abramsky , “ Was that your doctor? “ And R av Abramsky answered, “ No . That is not my doctor. He is just the messenger. My doctor is Hash e m.“ Rav Wolbe discusses this concept in his sefer Alei Shur, where he calls it, “ A living relationship with God. ” It’s not enough to just liv e our lives and ask God when we need something. Rav Abramsky spoke in a way that showed that he constantly had Hashem on his lips. A student from America once came to hi m when his wife was in labor. R av Ab romsk y said, “ D on’t worry, she is in good hands.” The student assumed that his R av knew who the doctor was. But what he meant was that the key to childbirth was in the hands of Hashem. Another example of how he lived with Hashem occurred when he went to Kineret at a time when the Arabs were just above the Golan Heights, and it was Syrian domain. A student told him, “ Do you see the air above the mountain? That is under Syrian control and at any moment they can just bomb us, has v’halila. Rav Abramsky replied, “ Absolutely, but He doesn’t let them. ” Whenever he said the word He without any additional title , it referred to Hashem. That was his lexicon. Because he lived with Hashem. When someone asked whether he would be going to Bnei Brak his answer was, “ If He lets me.“ When he was going to get a sefer off the shelf, or when he was looking for a page, he would say , “If He helps me find it, I will find it.“ That is living with Hashem, and realizing that in anything I do, there is a bigger He that is there. And the real doctor is Hash e m. Have a wonderful day .
In the Sefer about the life of Rav Yehezkiel Abramsky (page 617) there is beautiful thought on how to get to Emunah. He brings down from the Rambam that there are two different tracks to recognize in God. One of them is, in the words of the Rambam (in the laws of Yesodei HaTorah chapter 2), “ When a person delves into the handiwork of God and His wondrous creations, immediately he loves H im and wants to know H im.” When you see a beautiful ocean, or the A lps, or the Grand Canyon, you are just in awe of God’s creation. That is one approach to recogniz ing God. The second approach is found in the Rambam’s Sefer Mitzvot (mitzva ג ) where it says that every day in Keriat Shema we say that, “ VeHayu Hadevarim HaEleh/ These words (i.e. words of Torah)… should be on your heart, ” and that brings you to love God, Torah is God’s w ill , and by learning the Torah, you are connecting to God and recogniz ing God. Those are the two approaches , and they are both important, but which of the two is the more guaranteed approach? To answer, Rav Abramsky quotes from chapter 93 of Tehilim: ה ׳ מָלָךְ֮ גֵּא֢וּת לָ֫בֵ֥שׁ God is king, He is the One that wears arrogance. In other words, He is the only One that can be proud of anything, because He created everything. Human beings cannot be proud of anything because there is nothing that we really do. We m ight choose to do things, but ultimately God makes everything happen. This perek was written by Adam HaRishon on Day 1, when he opened his eyes. It was a Friday, and that’s why we say, on Fridays, that God became King when He created the world. In the last two pesukim it says, מִקֹּל֨וֹת ׀ מַ֤יִם רַבִּ֗ים אַדִּירִ֣ים מִשְׁבְּרֵי־יָ֑ם With the sound of great waters, that come crashing down… What is the power of these waves, or of nature? אַדִּ֖יר בַּמָּר֣וֹם ה׳ God is powerful, high up. That is the message of creation: God is powerful. God is high and lofty. The next pasuk says , עֵֽדֹתֶ֨יךָ ׀ נֶאֶמְנ֬וּ מְאֹ֗ד לְבֵיתְךָ֥ Your testimonies (which refers to the Torah) are very loyal, They will bring us to God’s hous e. This means that the more guaranteed way to Emunah comes from learning Torah. That is why, as he says, quite often we see secular people who have seen miracles , and scientists know more about creation than most of us, and yet they don’t become believers. Because seeing wonders is not the guaranteed approach . It’s a good approach, but you can look at the oceans and valleys and still not be turned around. Torah has the power to bring Emunah. The Ramban, in his derasha called Torat Hashem’s Temima brings a similar point from a mizmor that we say on Shabbat. הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם מְֽסַפְּרִ֥ים כְּבֽוֹד־אֵ֑ל וּֽמַעֲשֵׂ֥ה יָ֝דָ֗יו מַגִּ֥יד הָרָקִֽיעַ׃ The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky proclaims His handiwork The heavens talk about God’s honor, and it goes through all the different points … But it ends with, תּ֘וֹרַ֤ת ה׳ תְּ֭מִימָה מַחְכִּ֥ימַת פֶּֽתִי The Torah is perfect…. It makes the fools smart Which means it removes all doubts. The person that might not see God in the sun and the moon will see God in the Torah. Torat Hashem is Temimah If a person just talks about Emunah and Bitachon, but he doesn’t really have the light of Torah in him, the Emunah is lacking. You need the light of Torah to open your eyes to see things. Torah is called Torah Or/Light. You can look at the wonders and not see Hashem, b ecause you’re not looking for it. Torah is where God revealed H imself. As we have mentioned in the past, there are 10 statements of creation. It says the word Va yomer ten times. And there are 10 makot/ plagues. When God created the world , He was not revealed in creation. He was hidden . It was only after the 10 plagues of Yetziat Mitzrayim that God become revealed , and then it turn ed into the 10 Commandments, where God says Anochi Hashem, I am Hashem your God. It is only through the Torah that we really get to Emunah. That is why it’s important, not just to talk about Emunah and Bitac hon, but to have a commitment to learn Torah , because that is necessary to enlighten our eyes to see Hashem. Have a wonderful day .
We are now in the nine days, and this is the time to talk about the Emunah that we need to have during times of Churban/ destruction. One of the great Rabbis that guided the Jewish people during the Holocaust was Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, also known as the Ponevezher Rav. He was the Rabbi of the town of Ponevezh, which was wiped out. After the destruction, he went on to rebuild the Ponovezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, which is one of the largest Yeshivot in the world. He constantly instilled hope in people. He explains the following: Twice in the Torah, there is something called a tochacha/ rebuke. We read one before Shavuot in Behar/Behukotay, and one before Rosh Hashana in Parashat Ki Tavo. There is one glaring difference between the rebukes, which is brought down by the Or Hachaim HaKadosh. Parashat Ki Tavo ends without any words of comfort. It comes to an abrupt stop, saying, “You will go back to Egypt, and you will be sold to your enemies as slaves and maid servants, and no one will buy you.“ Whereas in Vayikra, it ends on the positive, “Even though all these things happened, you were not disgusting, I did not spit you out to destroy you… “ It goes on to say, “I will remember the covenant of Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov.” So why is that one ends with some level of positivity, whereas the other one does not? At the end of Ki Tavo (28,47), the Or Hachaim points out that the rebuke in Behar and Behukotay is said in the lashon rabim/plural form. When something is said in plural form, it refers to the Jewish people at large. The Jewish people at large have a promise that regardless of what is going on, regardless of the worst possible decrees against the Jewish people, those may apply to individuals, or large amounts of people, maybe even tens of thousands of people, but the Jewish people, as a whole, will never be wiped out. As it says, “The eternity of the Jewish people will never be falsified.” We are going to last forever, and therefore, the public rebuke ends off with the positive. On the other hand, individuals along the way might fall off, so the individual rebuke doesn’t necessarily end with a positive. There have been many individual decrees that ended negatively, such as with the tochacha of Ki Tavo. The Or Hachaim shows us how most of the pesukim are either singular or plural, based on which rebuke it is, but he gets stuck with a few pesukim that actually show up as plural, within the singular rebuke. One of them is actually the end of this rebuke where it says, “And you will be sold ( in plural) and no one will buy you.” The Or Hachaim has an answer, but the Ponovezher Rav says, quoting the Zohar Hadash in Ki Tavo, “Even these words that You will be sold and no one will buy you is also a positive endings, the the Jewish people will last forever.” How so? No one will want to buy you. That means that you’ll remain Avadim/ slaves to Hashem. You will remain servants of God forever. No one will want to take you in. He says that this is why the loshon is switched to plural. Yes, there will be individuals who will have been sold, or who have, so to say, sold their souls to the devil, and are no longer on the Jewish program. But otherwise, this is a positive ending for the Jewish people at large, at the end of Ki Tavo. The Jewish people at large will never be bought out. Our company will never be bought out. God will keep us, and never sell us. This was the Ponovezher Rav’s approach, throughout all of the difficult times, in order to infuse a level of hope in the people. Yes, there might be individuals who won’t make it, as they did not in the Holocaust. But the Jewish people will survive. This is what we have to think about, even during these nine days, when we discuss the tragedies of the Bet Hamikdash. We always have to remember that we, the Jewish people, will survive forever. Have a wonderful day.
As we’ve mentioned in the past, o ne of the fundamentals of Bitachon is to rely on Hashem to reward us for our Mitzvot , as the Hovot Halevavot tells us. This week ’s parasha t ells us that someone who murders by mistak e is supposed to go to the Ir Miklat/C ity of R efuge . It says in Bamidbar (35 , 26–27 ), וְאִם־יָצֹ֥א יֵצֵ֖א הָרֹצֵ֑חַ אֶת־גְּבוּל֙ עִ֣יר מִקְלָט֔ו . If the murderer leaves the city of refuge… וּמָצָ֤א אֹתוֹ֙ גֹּאֵ֣ל הַדָּ֔ם And the closest of kin (to the victim) finds him… וְרָצַ֞ח גֹּאֵ֤ל הַדָּם֙ אֶת־הָ֣רֹצֵ֔חַ אֵ֥ין ל֖וֹ דָּֽם The closest of kin may kill the murderer ( who accidentally killed his relative) The Sifre, one of the early Midrashim, says that God’s measure of punishment is small ( i.e. the amount of reward is 500 times the amount of punishment) . So if, for the one step that he took out of the Ir Miklat , he gets the death penalty, surely , how much more so for God’s good measure, that a man will merit for himself and his future generations, for one good s tep . It’s important to understand th is concept of what one step can do for us. The Pel e Yoetz talks about this in many areas . On the topic of Halicha , he says that, For every step that you take, walking to shul , or doing any mitzvah, you create an angel, a positive powerful angel for every step. On the topic of Hachana , he speaks about Rabbi Avraham Halevi , who lived at the time of the Arizal. He was very well known for his efforts on behalf of Shabbat, and used to take the longer route, because the more steps you take, the more Mitzvot and reward you get. On the topic of Heshek V’Hiba, he quotes the story of Nebuchadnezzar , who, at the time, was a scribe for the king of B avel . The king wanted to send a letter to King Hizkiyah after he was healed, and he wrote, “ P eace onto King Hizkiyah , peace to the city of Jerusalem, and peace to the great G od.” Nebuchadnezzar , the scribe , was not there when this letter was written, and when he came back and saw what they wrote , he asked why they placed “the great God “ l ast . He thought they should mention God first, then Jerusalem, and then the king . He ran for steps afterwards, and in the merit of those four steps he became a world leader. Yirmiyah the Navi was amazed at that, and God told him , “ I paid for those four steps that he ran for My honor, and you are amazed at what is going on? Wait until I reward the Avot who ran in front of M e. How much more so will people be amazed and stunned at the reward that they are going to get.“ He writes that we don’t see the greatness and beauty of Mitzvot . We should be able to look and say to ourselves, “ L ook at the reward that Nebuchadnezzar got for such a small mitzvah. Imagine what is waiting for us in the future!“ On the topic of Shmiah/listening , the Pele Yoetz adds to this concept. He says that the Gemara tells us that one w hiff of Olam Haba is greater than all of this world. What does this mean? We are living the life of Nebuchadnezzar. He got a kingdom as a reward for four steps. And not only that, but it says he r uled over the animals of the field as well. The Gemara tells us that he rode on a lion , tied by a snake. And the Jewish people, even the empty ones of us, are full of Mitzvot like a pomegranate. How much more so will our reward be in Olam Haba ? This is an important concept that we should never forget. We are relying on Hashem, not just for this world . U ltimately, the Big B oss will pay us in the next world, so much more. Have a Shabbat Shalom .
We recently quoted some nice thoughts from the sefer about the life of Rav Yehezkiel Abramsky. At one point, he was going through a certain challenge and somebody asked him how it was that he was able to remain upbeat. He answered with a quote from a pasuk from Tehilim, 119, 30: דֶּֽרֶךְ־אֱמוּנָ֥ה בָחָ֑רְתִּי מִשְׁפָּטֶ֥יךָ שִׁוִּֽיתִי I chose the path of Emunah, and Your mishpatim/ judgments are equal . This means that when a person chooses the Emuna path as his guiding light, all of God‘s judgments are equal in his eyes. Whether it comes from justice or mercy, he realizes that everything is coming from Hashem. That was Rav Abramsky’s secre t to withstanding his challenge. What does דֶּֽרֶךְ־אֱמוּנָ֥ה בָחָ֑רְתִּי I chose the path of Emunah mean ? It refers to people that live a life of Emunah, and we can learn about this concept from Rav Abramsky. Rav Abramsky was once walking in Bayit Vegan with another rabbi when they saw a beautiful bird. The rabbi explained to Rav Abramsky that it was a certain bird that was mentioned in the Gemara, but at that time that bird was not that common in Eretz Yisrael and had only started to show up there more recently . When Rav Abramsky heard this, he responded, “ Baruch Hashem, In Yirmiyah 9,9, it says, מֵע֤וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ וְעַד־בְּהֵמָ֔ה נָדְד֖וּ הָלָֽכוּ׃ From the birds of the heaven, until the animals, they went into exile and left. Which means that at the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash, all the animals also left. And as we know, Israel was desolate for many years. No one lived there except the Bedouins. It was only when the Jewish people started to come back and the land became more inhabited that the fields developed. When Rav Abramsky saw that the birds were coming back, he said it was the fulfillment of a prophecy, and that things were turning around. Surely, the Jewish people would come back as well. Somebody living a life of Emunah can notice a bird, and that can be enough to give him hizuk in his Emunah. We are now in the three weeks, where there is a concept of looking for signs that Mashiach is coming. Rav Abramsky says that after 120 years, they ask the question of Sipita L’Yeshua/ Did you look forward to the salvation. He points out that word used Sipita , isn’t translated as “ hope .” Sipita comes from the root Sofeh , which means to look from afar (like Har Sofim/Mount Scopus, in Israel), like a look-out man watching for the enemy. It means standing back and looking from afar, for something to happen. You know it will happen. On the other hand Tikva i s just a hope . S ipita means that you are looking for something that is actually coming your way . And that is what they will ask after 120 years. Not just whether we hoped, but did we look ? One year , before Pesach, Rav Abramsky was seen speaking to a Kohen . He explained that it was because he wanted to make sure that the Kohen would be available to slaughter the korban Pesach, which would be coming up in a few weeks. That’s how convinced he was , if the possibility that M ashiach w ould be coming that year. One year, on Erev Pesach, he wasn’t feeling well, and he wasn’t able to go to the Mikveh. He was concerned that if Mashiach came the next day, he would be Tameh for the korban Pesach. What would he do? But then he thought for a minute and realized that because it was such a short amount of time, most people would not have time to become Tahor , and so halachically, if most people aren’t Tahor , they can still bring a korban. Since most of the sibbur would be tameh , he’d be able to bring it as well. These stories show how people from the days of old lived with constant Emunah, constantly looking forward, and waiting, for Mashiach. That is what דֶּֽרֶךְ־אֱמוּנָ֥ה בָחָ֑רְתִּי means I chose the path of Emunah We should all be zoche to choose the path of Emunah. Have a wonderful day.
We continue with another quote from the Pele Yoetz’s sefer Orot Elim, where he quotes from the Midrash Raba in Beresheet , “ Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai saw a hunter hunting birds, when he heard, from the heavens, an echo come out and say it should be captured, and it was captured. And if it was said that he should be saved, then he was saved.“ Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai was able to hear the heavenly echoes, and he noticed that it was no coincidence that sometimes the hunter caught his prey and sometimes his prey escaped , and it was due to the echo that said , this one should be caught and that one should not be caught. He said, “ A b ird cannot be c aptu red without God deciding. Surely, the soul of a human person won’t be caught without it being decided.” We learn two lessons from this. One is Hashem ’s hashgacha on every individual . No one can do anything to any body without God decreeing it. But even more so, it shows us that even when it comes to animals, God is making the decisions. Some people think there is a question of whether animals have Hashem’s hashgacha, but of course , God is Mashgiach on everything- Nothing can happen without God willing it to be. The Pele Yoetz continues and says , “ How many great levels does a man reach, that this Emunah is steadfast in his heart ? If you have th is Emunah steadfast in your heart, that everything is happening because it was decreed from above, you will reach great levels. We mentioned not long ago , from Rabbi Ades, that every time something goes wrong , you should imagine that there was a heavenly echo directing the action. And when something happened to me, Rabbi Ades used this concept. I was in a hotel in Israel . We were leaving to the airport , and the taxi was coming, so I made sure to check out and pay all the incidental charges. But it turn ed out that without my knowledge, somebody charge d something to my room. I was getting into a discussion with the lady behind the desk, and it took me 15 minutes to clarify the situation . I was getting frustrated , so I use d this mashal to share with Rabbi Ades. He said, “ Imagine if an angel had c ome and whispered into the lad y’s ear, “ Cause this man a hassle ,” would i t still bother you ? Of course not. It was decreed from heaven. If we could live our lives like that , we would reach tremendous levels of Emunah, and many good qualities would come out of it. The Orot Elim continues, “ But people that believe have been cut off.” Meaning that we don’t have people like that anymore . God , in His mercy , should plant, in our hearts, this Emunah. So even two hundred years ago, the Pele Yoetz was complaining that this level of Emunah is no longer there. In his Sefer Pele Yoetz, on the topic of Emunah, he writes a similar concept. He says that there is an Emunah from which many great levels come out. That is to believe in God’s hashgacha on every single little detail. You don’t bang your finger unless it was decr eed from above . Whether it comes from God or people - p eople are only messengers from God, and God is the one that makes things happen. He says, If this is your attitude, you will not get upset, you’ll be calm, you will not hate people, you will not flatter people, you won’t have vengeance, you won’t bear a grudge you won’t ove r- tax yourself when it comes to getting things that you want, because you believe that everything is coming from Hashem. God is righteous and just. T here are no inequities. Everything He does is for our own good. When you ac cept everything that God does with happiness , you won’t get upset about the way He brings us things.. A nd all of these wonderful qualities come out of this Emuna. He says belie f in God‘s hashgacha is from the 613 Mitzvah and it’s one of the constant Mitzv ot that we fulfill every single second of the day - just by thinking , but even more so , you should say it with your mouth , “ I believe that every detail of my life is being controlled by God, and nothing happens on its own. Everything is happening from Hashem. ” One of these things that happen from Hashem in my life happened recently . I was zoche to be involved in a book called Daily Dose of Bitachon . It is based on the classes that were given on this very platform. We started a few years ago with Hovot Halevavot’s Shaar Bitachon, someone transcribed them, they were further worked on by Artscroll, edited by the esteemed editor and my father in law Rabbi Nosson Scherman. Out came this wonderful book, sponsored by dear friends of mine, the Azrak family, in memory of their mother Diane a’h, and in honor of their father Marvin y’lt. And the book just came out! I didn’t do anything! Somehow Hashem made it all happen. We really have to believe that. We don’t do anything. Hashem does everything. As Rav Wolbe writes in the beginning of his Sefer, “ This was done with God’s help, in the merit of the masses.“ He used to say his words only came out because people were listening, And their merit, Has hem sent it to him. So all the people receiving this lesson have a portion in this book , and you have the opportunity to buy it at a special discount. Click on th is link, https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422632154.html or go to artscroll.com and type in the words SIMHA to get a 15% discount. (The new book Living Shabbat for Children, volume 2 , written by the great author Mrs Goldie Golding, is also available using the same discount code.) Enjoy! And Have a wonderful day.
We continue with comments from Rav Eliezer Papo, in his Sefer Orot Elim. In the Gemara in Masechet Sotah (2A), it says, “ Yehuda said, in the name of Rav, ‘Forty days before conception, a heavenly echo announces, “Bat Ploni L’Ploni/The daugher of so-and-so will marry so-and-so, Sedeh Ploni L’Ploni/the field of so-and-so will go to so-and-so.” He continues and says , “ Our books tell u s i t’s not just when it comes to fields, but even when it comes to movable objects, everything that a person is supposed to get is decided. W hen you pay attention to this , you won’t get upset a t someone that refused to take your daughter. This is a common area of insult. When it comes to sh idduchim , if someone is not interested in going out with your son or daughter, people get all insulted. But he says that if a person really realizes that Bat Ploni L’Ploni, Hashem decided, then he won’t get upset at this person who is refusing a sh idduch with his family. We can a lso learn apply this to when a person is trying to buy a house , a car or any other movable item. When someone outbids him, he starts getting upset at the person for stealing the deal from him, but it’s just like Bat Ploni L’Ploni …etc this is all decided by Hashem. He continues and says, “ You won’t chase anything with tremendous strength and power.” Of course you do your hishtadlut , but you don’t chase it because if it’s not supposed to come to you, it won’t. If it was decided in Shamayim, it will come to you with song. This means you don’t have to kill yourself over things. If it’s supposed to come to you, go through the normal processes and it will come. In the the sefer Pele Yoetz, on the topic of Mechira , he writes that when a person has to sell his property (For example, lo Alenu , a lady has to sell her ring or a man has to sell his car, because they are strapped for cash), he may feel dejected. But he says that a person has to think that everything is decided from the heavens ; it says, Bayit Ploni L’Ploni, This person’s house should go to so-and- so. This person once owned the house, and now he has to sell it . S ometimes even it says that Malbush Ploni L’Ploni clothing should go from one person to another . He says that these are the wonders of God . Only God knows why these things happen. Why do people have to sell the ir silver or jewelry jewelry? But he says that normally a person ’s silver goes to somebody else when has v’ shalom , they pass away. And their property goes to somebody else as an inheritance. Therefore, a person should th ank God and be happy that he is alive, and that it was decided that his house should go to somebody , but at least it was while he’s alive . He should realize that it is all for his benefit and his good to bring ka para . And he should realize that he had a faultering , it’s just for a moment. Hashem c an turn everything else around …. As simple and well-known as all of these things are, it takes constant work. He says, Lo Yakpid/ It should be that it doesn’t bother you in your heart at all. That is hard. Baruch Hashem’s I am married quite a while, but I still remember that when I was in Israel learning, my parents were working on as sh idduch for me. I was all excited about it, but when I got home and ask ed them about it . they said the other side didn’t want. It was a little insulting. Ba ruch Hashem , I met my wife and I’m much better off than the first girl they suggested. But I still remember that somebody said no to me. Looking back, I can’t even remember the girl ’s name of the family’s name , and I’m sure I’m doing much better. But it shouldn’t take us 30 years to figure it out. We should feel it at the time. A great rabbi once lost money (perhaps an expensive vase fell and broke). His wife was very upset , but he wasn’t. He told h er , “ I magine if it was 30 years later. How would you feel about it?“ She said that s he wouldn’t really care. So he told her that his mind worked a little faster he rs, and he was already holding 30 years later. That is the point. If anyone gets insulted now, about a shidduch or anything , fast forward 30 years - you’ll be happily married with grandchildren. You won’t even remember their names. But the challenge is to be able to feel that way at the time. Lo Yakpid/ It should not bother you at all. Because Bat Ploni, Sedeh Ploni….etc, it is all decided by Hashem, all for our own good. Have a wonderful day.
As I have mentioned in the past, one of my favorite authors is R av Eliezer Papo , famously known for his sefer Pe le Yoetz. He has another Sefer, among others, called Orot Elim, where he goes through different Gemarot , and adds a line or two of his own musar . The Gemara in Masechet Succah (53a) says, “ Man’s feet are his co-signers. They are responsible for him . T he place that he has to go, they take him.” That means that your feet get you where are you have to go . That’s where Hashem sends him. To this, the Pele Yoetz adds, “ T herefore, if someone sends you on a mission, and something goes wrong on the way ( for example, imagine i f someone sen t you in an errand and you g ot into a little fender bender,) don’t get upset at the man that sent you. Because man’s steps come from God. And (by) God, are set up all the causes .” These words may seem simple, but as simple as they are, it is not so simple to live by them. On the topic of eating , the Pele Yoetz says that a person has to be careful not to get upset at his family members on anything, including food. It may happen sometimes that the food is over cooked or under cooked . Don’t get upset at your wife or the people in the kitchen. Firstly because it was decided by God, as we have just said. And secondly, he adds another factor which is that Iyov said , אִם־אֶמְאַ֗ס מִשְׁפַּ֣ט עַ֭בְדִּי וַאֲמָתִ֑י בְּ֝רִבָ֗ם עִמָּדִֽי וּמָ֣ה אֶ֭עֱשֶׂה כִּֽי־יָק֣וּם אֵ֑ל וְכִי־יִ֝פְקֹ֗ד מָ֣ה אֲשִׁיבֶֽנּוּ׃ If I have an argument with my maid servant or slave, what will happen when God gets up to judge me ? And when He checks on me, what will I respond? He says th at basically, God deals with you the way you deal with others. We are God‘s servants. What will God say when we mess up with some one ? In the words of the Pel e Yoetz , “ D elve deeply into this concept, and that will cause you to be easy-going and let things go. Because more than your family and your servants are responsible to respect you, you have to respect, and are responsible to serve your Creator.“ So before we start getting upset and fuming at our secretaries, employees, or anybody that works under us, we have to ask ourselves this question. As we mentioned in the past, when the Ben Ish Chai discusses how things go wrong in the household in Erev Shabbat, he brings a Gemara in Mesechet Gittin that says that the Yetzer Hara interferes on Erev Shabbat to get people upset. Imagine that it’s a few minutes before Shabbat, and you ask your child to put the flowers on the table . T he child slips and the glass vase shatters, with glass, water and flowers all over the place. Before you yell at the child, imagine that an angel stuck his foot out, causing the child to trip. What do you want from the child? It wasn’t his fault. It was supposed to happen . Th at is how we are supposed to think when things go wrong . Man’s feet take them where they are supposed to go. Hashem gets you to where you are supposed to go. D on’t blame anybody else. To recap, the Pel e Yoetz is teaching us two important lessons : 1- It is supposed to happen anyway . 2- You’re getting upset at them ? At the way they treated you? Imagine how Hashem c ould react to the way that we treat H im ! Have a wonderful day .
Last week’s Parasha ended off with the children of Israel following after the daughters of Moav, and sinning. Zimri, the head of a tribe, was sinning with a Moavite girl named Kuzbi. Our hero, Pinhas came and killed them both. This week’s Parasha starts off with G-d’s reward for Pinhas. The pasuk calls him פִּינְחָס בֶּן אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן Pinhas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aharon the Kohen. Rashi says he is traced back to Aharon, who was a man of peace, because although it looked like Pinhas committed an act of aggression, it was actually an act of peace because, as the pasuk continues , הֵשִׁיב אֶת חֲמָתִי מֵעַל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל He removed My (G-d’s ) anger from the Jewish people בְּקַנְאוֹ אֶת קִנְאָתִי When he was a zealot for My zealousness בְּתוֹכָם וְלֹא כִלִּיתִי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּקִנְאָתִי : And (because of him) I didn’t wipe out the whole Jewish people It was 24,000 people that died but it would have been many more. So Pinhas was a man of peace because he brought peace between G-d and the Jewish people. Therefore G-d says, לָכֵן אֱמֹר הִנְנִי נֹתֵן לוֹ אֶת בְּרִיתִי שָׁלוֹם : He is going to get the “peace award.” Like the Nobel Peace Prize וְהָיְתָה לּוֹ וּלְזַרְעוֹ אַחֲרָיו בְּרִית כְּהֻנַּת עוֹלָם תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר קִנֵּא לֵאלֹהָיו וַיְכַפֵּר עַל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל : He and his children afterwards will have the covenant of Kehuna, and not just the Kohanim, but it says that the Kohanim Gedolim will come from Pinhas as well. And as we know, eventually Pinhas lived on to become Eliyahu HaNavi, so he’s literally - - בְּרִית כְּהֻנַּת עוֹלָם an everlasting Kohen , one that lives on forever, Eliyahu HaNavi. All this, תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר קִנֵּא לֵאלֹהָיו וַיְכַפֵּר עַל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל : Because of his act of zealousness, which was a kaparah for Bnei Yisrael. It’s a beautiful story. Rashi is bothered by a question. As we said, Pinhas is the son of Elazar, the son of Aharon HaKohen. So, if a man’s father and grandfather are kohanim, he’s also a Kohen. So why does Pinhas need the new gift of Kehuna if, in essence, he was already a Kohen? It’s an interesting question and a nice riddle. Rashi explains that Aharon became a Kohen when he was anointed as a Kohen. His four children were also all anointed. But the grandchildren that were underage, (below the age of 13), were not anointed. Nadav and Avihu didn’t have children. Elazar’s oldest son was Pinhas, who was already born, but underage so he was not anointed when everyone else was. His future brothers and cousins were born after their fathers became kohanim, so they were automatically kohanim. But here Pinhas was, stuck in the middle. He was already born, but too young to be anointed on his own. Therefore, Pinhas was not destined to be a Kohen. The only reason Pinhas became a Kohen was because he killed Zimri. The act of killing Zimri made him into a Kohen, and gave him the gift of Kehuna. Prior to that, he wasn’t a Kohen, for all those years in the desert, he must’ve watched his younger cousins serving in the Mishkan, while he wasn’t involved, because he wasn’t a Kohen. But G-d gave him the opportunity to rise to greatness. Pinhas, on his own, merited the honor of being a Kohen. Why did G-d work it out this way? We can never know the ways of G-d, but it’s interesting. Pinhas was left on the sidelines, and only later in his life, was given the opportunity to become a Kohen through killing Zimri. The commentaries say, based on a Gemara in Masechet Sanhedrin, that כהן שהרג את הנפש לא ישא את כפיו : A Kohen who kills someone can not perform the services, because a Kohen is supposed to be a man of peace. So, if Pinhas had been born a Kohen, and then later put into this situation (where he killed Zimri), which was his life’s mission, he would have no longer been able to remain a Kohen. That would have been a shame. So, look how G-d worked this all out! He worked it out that Pinhas was not yet a Kohen, and therefore the fact that he killed Zimri didn’t disqualify him from being a Kohen. Only afterwards did G-d make him a Kohen. That is a beautiful Emunah and Bitachon lesson. In life, G-d sets up situations perfectly for what our jobs and our missions are. We might be scratching our heads, looking around, not understanding what’s going on, but it’s all planned perfectly, to bring out our greatness. And Pinhas was no exception; he was actually the rule. Pinhas is teaching us this lesson, that he reached greatness. What’s more, we can add a little Kabbalistic touch to see that it wasn’t just simple greatness: The Zohar says that Pinhas was called Ben Elazar, Ben Aharon HaKohen (son of Elazar, the son of Aharon). The Zohar asks isn’t it obvious that he was the grandson of Aharon, because Elazar was the son of Aharon. The simple explanation, is as we mentioned, to trace him back to the peace-loving attributes of Aharon HaKohen. But the Zohar says that Pinhas was Ben Elazar , meaning his physical father was Elazar, but spiritually he Ben Aharon HaKohen as well. How so? Nadav and Avihu, his uncles, died. It says that when Pinhas killed Zimri, the souls of Nadav and Avihu entered into him. Why? Because Nadav and Avihu wanted to come close to G-d, and they came close, but without getting permission. They were, so to say, zealous without permission. They brought a fire without permission because they wanted to come close to G-d. So, their souls left them, in an act of holiness. Pinhas had zealousness, but he asked Moshe Rabbenu first. He told Moshe, “You taught us that when something like this happens, they’re supposed to be killed.” And Moshe told him that if that’s the case, and he remembered it, he should do it. Rashi asks how Moshe could have forgotten this law? And Rashi says that G-d made Moshe Rabbenu forget, in order to give Pinhas the opportunity to reach greatness. In doing so, Pinhas corrected the sin of Nadav and Avihu. He was zealous, but he asked first. And therefore the souls of Nadav and Avihu went into Pinhas and that’s how Pinhas became a Kohen. He didn’t break the rules. He became a Kohen because the souls of his two deceased uncles entered him. We have no idea how Hashem is setting things up for us! One final tidbit- as we said, Pinhas became Eliyahu. Our rabbis tell us that when we say the words אנא ה׳ הושיעה נא אנא ה׳ הצליחה נא Hashem should save us, Hashem shouldn’t bring us protection, The word אנא stands for א ליהו נ דב א ביהוא Which are the three souls that joined together in Pinhas. In the merit of Pinhas, Eliyahu HaNavi, Nadav and Avihu, we should be saved and see success Have a Shabbat shalom.
We continue to discuss messages from the story of Bilaam, which we are supposed to remember every single day. One of the reasons we are supposed to remember the story of Bilaam is because we never would have known the story. Everything in the Torah was witnessed by at least one person. Noah witnessed the Mabul , Abraham and Yitzhak were at Akedat Yitzhak. Three million Jews were at Matan Torah. But nobody was there at the story with Balak and Bilaam. And every day, we are supposed to remember those stories that we wouldn’t have known. It’s brought down by the Kabbalists that Bilaam was a reincarnation of Lavan. One of the connections between the two is, as the Daat Zekenim says, when Lavan and Yaakov parted, they made a Gal Ed, with a pile of rocks and a sword, in order to bear witness that they would never go against each other. When Bilaam was on his way to curse the Jewish people, it says his leg got crushed against a fence. That fence was made of those Gal Ed stones. And when he was killed, it says he fell down and landed on that sword. Bilaam was a Gilgul of Lavan, and just like Lavan tried to destroy the Jewish people, so too Bilaam as welll. Lavan tried to destroy the Jewish people in a way that was unknown by all, if not for the fact that the Torah tells us. God came to him in a dream and told him not to harm Yaakov. His plan was to kill Yaakov, as we say in our Haggadah shel Pesach, in V’Hisheamdah , “In every generation, they come to destroy us… let’s learn the lesson from Lavan HaArami.” Why does it say to learn the lesson from Lavan? Why not learn it from Esav, who wanted to destroy us? The answer is because L avan was the one we did not know about. And that’s what we want to stress. In every generation , s omeone wants to destroy us, and we prove it from Lavan- the seemingly loving father-in-law was out to kill us. That is why we remember the story of Bilaam . One of my favorite mashals from the Chafetz Chaim, expresses this concept: When he was a young boy of about seven or eight, the Chafetz Chaim and his friends had an idea. They would play a practical joke on the milkman. Unbeknownst to the milkman, they filled his jugs with water and left them out in the frozen winter night. The n, the milkman would have to chop away at the ice when he woke up in the morning. Their plan was to wake up and watch with glee as the milkman had to chisel away. But even at a young age, the Chafetz Chaim had Yirat Shamayim , so, w ithout telling his friends, he went out in the middle of the night and poured out all of the water. In the morning, he got up with his friends, and they watched in astonishment as the milkman got up, went into the barn, and took his jugs as usual, without any idea that the plan was averted by the Chafetz Chaim. The nimshal is that Hashem is like the Chafetz Chaim in the story , saving the Jewish people from immanent danger. The goyim trying to destroy us are the mischievous children. And we , the Jewish people, are the milkman who has no clue what is going on. This is the explanation that we say in H a llel, where it say s, “ The nations will praise God. ” What is that praise? Ki Gavar Alenu Hasdo / That God’s kindness is great upon us. The rabbis explain that this means that when Mashiach comes , everyone will praise God , even the Goyim. And when they are given the microphone , the goyim will reveal all of the plots that they had planned on doing, that were averted by God. That’s their song - Ki Gavar Alenu Hasdo. As it says, God who does wonders in hiding, Ki L’Olam Hasdo. These are the wonders we don’t know about. The Gemara in Masechet Nidah (31a) actually brings down a story on this pasuk. Two people were going out on a business trip. One g ot a thorn in his foot and start ed cursing. Then he found out the boat sank, and he started to thank God. That is what it means, Oseh Niflaot Levado, the one that the miracle happens to doesn’t even know there is a miracle. That is why the Yarot Dvash says that e very day when we say Modim , we are supposed to have in mind these constant miracles , the miracles that happen to us every day, that we are not aware of. May we all be zoche to see God’s miracles. Have a wonderful day .