Transcript
Okay, good morning everyone. I want to thank our sponsors for this morning's פרשה Parsha class. יתרו Yisro 2019, תשע\"ט Tough Shin Ayin Tes, sponsored by Judy Rosen in memory of her beloved husband whom I knew well and remember well from growing up in Teaneck, Rabbi Marvin Rosen, הרב אלימלך ברוך בן בן ציון Harav Eli Melech Baruch ben Ben Zion, commemoration of his first יארצייט yahrzeit, his נשמה neshama should have an עליה aliyah. And also by Harriet Schneier in memory of her beloved husband חיים בן אבא Chaim ben Abba, his נשמה neshama should have an עליה aliyah as well.Before we begin just two quick notes. Number one, you know we've been running this campaign friends of BRS, those who are not members who don't live within walking distance of BRS, but who identify with our values and our vision and who benefit from our classes and our programs. To be a member of BRS, friends of BRS $180. Some of you have benefited with preferred seating, extra leg room, a free cocktail, early boarding, and so on.If you're listening online, someone suggested that I mention this for those who are listening online. If you're listening online and you'd like to join friends of BRS, you can go to our website, brsonline.org/friends with an S. brsonline.org/friends with an S and join, we greatly appreciate it. Also, a week from last night, less than a week away, where you're sitting right now is going to be transformed to an incredible evening, a חסידישע טיש Chasidisha tish with the great רבי Rebbe, ר' משה וויינבערגער Reb Moshe Weinberger who's coming. It's in celebration of our ד\"ר יצחק באליזון Dr. Yitzchak Balizon בית מדרש Beis Medrash of BRS. So, certainly you're invited to support the בית מדרש Beis Medrash, but whether you do or you don't, men and women are invited to an incredible evening. We have music, it'll be singing, an incredible evening inspiration, words by the one and only ר' משה וויינבערגער Reb Moshe Weinberger, food. It'll be a really, really tremendous evening. Men and women are invited, the flyers are on the seats and available in the lobby. We expect an enormous crowd because people from all over South Florida will be here, so come early and get a seat. With that we begin פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro. We are on the ארטסקרול סטון חומש Artscroll Stone Chumash, please turn your phones to vibrate or off. A reminder to turn your phones off. Page 394 in the ארטסקרול סטון חומש Artscroll Stone Chumash. One of my favorite favorite פרשיות parshios of the year. We're introduced to an incredible figure, יתרו Yisro. יתרו Yisro is a non-Jew, certainly when we're introduced to him he's a non-Jew, and yet, he merits one of the most seminal, if not the most seminal פרשה parsha in the entire תורה Torah is named for יתרו Yisro.And there's a series of questions at the very beginning of the פרשה parsha that you can't help but be bothered by. We know that there's a fundamental debate throughout תורה Torah, יש אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה yeish ein mukdam u'meuchar baTorah? Is the תורה Torah written chronologically or is the תורה Torah written thematically? Is the תורה Torah trying to record history and it communicates and it transmits it in the order in which it occurred? Or the תורה Torah is not a historical document. It's not communicating history at all. It's written thematically. It's a מוסר ספר musar sefer. It is a ספר sefer of values and vision for the Jewish people, not necessarily historically accurate or the chronology historically accurate, but trying to communicate ideas. There's a great debate. And according to the one opinion that it's not written in order, the truth is יתרו Yisro did not come until after מתן תורה Matan Torah. First the תורה Torah was given, יתרו Yisro heard about it. The גמרא Gemara in זבחים Zevachim has a debate exactly what stimulated יתרו Yisro to come. What did he hear that so moved him? Was it the war with עמלק Amalek, the splitting of the sea, the giving of the תורה Torah? What was it that moved him? But according to one opinion, it was he heard about the giving of the תורה Torah.Well if that's what moved him to come and he only came after the תורה Torah was given, why does the תורה Torah record his arrival first? In other words if it's written chronologically you never have to ask that question. תורה Torah is a historical document, it's written chronologically, it's written in order. But if it's out of order, every time it's out of order, one should be bothered enough to ask why did the ריבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam, why did the Almighty organize it out of order? What was he seeking to communicate? What are we meant to learn from it?So why was this placed out of order? Why was יתרו'ס Yisro's arrival extracted and put first before הר סיני Har Sinai? What is it about יתרו'ס Yisro's arrival and what lessons do we learn from him that needed to proceed our reading of מתן תורה Matan Torah because it informs and inspires our reading of מתן תורה Matan Torah. I'm not going to answer that question. I want you to think about it. I want you to think about it. It's an important question. I think it's the fundamental question of the entire פרשה parsha and I'll give you a hint. The hint is the opening word of the whole פרשה parsha. יתרו Yisro teaches us something that we needed to learn and something that we continue to need to learn, and that is the art of listening. וישמע יתרו Vayishma Yisro. יתרו Yisro excelled. He had the exceptional capacity to listen to people, to world events, to history. There's something about יתרו Yisro.But maybe we'll develop that more another time. So יתרו Yisro arrives. What's amazing is that יתרו Yisro arrives with tremendous fanfare. Right? יתרו Yisro hears everything השם Hashem had done, which itself is a separate question. Why is there a debate in the זבחים Zevachim what did יתרו Yisro hear? Look at the פסוק pasuk. כי הוציא ה' את ישראל ממצרים ki hotzi Hashem es Yisrael m'Mitzrayim. The very first פסוק pasuk of our פרשה parsha tells us exactly what he heard. It doesn't exactly leave room for a debate what did he hear? The תורה Torah gives away, spoiler alert. The first פסוק pasuk tells us what יתרו Yisro heard. כי הוציא ה' את ישראל ממצרים ki hotzi Hashem es Yisrael m'Mitzrayim. So commentators say, the question in the גמרא Gemara in זבחים Zevachim was entertaining is not what did יתרו Yisro hear. יתרו Yisro heard, the whole world opened the newspaper, saw the headlines, God took the Jewish people out of Egypt. Ten plagues, splitting of the sea, you couldn't miss it. Most missed it, did nothing. They they just sipped their coffee, ate the danish, turned to the next page and blamed Israel for something. But they didn't they weren't moved to change their life because of it. יתרו Yisro was. So we read it, מה שמועה שמע ma shmuah shama? רש\"י Rashi quotes this, it's the first רש\"י Rashi. מה שמועה שמע ובא Ma shmuah shama u'va? קריעת ים סוף Krias Yam Suf ו מלחמת עמלק milchames Amalek and so on. The question is not מה שמועה שמע ma shmuah shama. It's not what did יתרו Yisro hear? Everyone heard it. If you had an internet connection, if you were following the news, if you read the newspaper, if you were alive and breathing, everyone heard what had happened. The question wasn't what did he hear. It's not מה שמועה שמע ma shmuah shama. It's the last word. מה שמועה שמע ובא Ma shmuah shama u'va. What did he hear and how did he hear it in such a way that he didn't just hear it and click on the next page and scroll down to the next story and turn the newspaper. What did he hear ובא u'va, what moved him to come? So יתרו Yisro comes. יתרו Yisro comes.There's something that's even more troubling though. We hear about the impressive arrival of יתרו Yisro and משה Moshe does something frankly not only unusual, arguably against הלכה halacha. The גמרא Gemara tells us that a father, a mother are entitled to be מוחל mochel on their כבוד kavod. If one wants to, he can forgive honor. So my child says אבא Abba can I sit in your seat? I say sure, sit in my seat. No problem. You're allowed to be מוחל mochel on כבוד kavod. And a רבי Rebbe can be מוחל mochel on כבוד kavod. But a king, a מלך melech can't. And here משה Moshe had the status of a מלך melech, he was the king of the Jewish people and yet, משה Moshe doesn't sit back and wait for יתרו Yisro to come to greet to him before he greets him. משה Moshe goes out to greet his father-in-law. In seemingly in violation of the rule about a מלך melech not being מוחל mochel on his כבוד kavod. רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik in his חומש Chumash deals with this question. And he addresses it in his way. What does he say? ויצא משה לקראת חותנו וישתחו Vayetzah Moshe likras chosno vayishtachu. There's a rule a king doesn't have permission to compromise the honor due to him, גמרא Gemara סנהדרין Sanhedrin י\"ט yud-tes. משה Moshe was considered the king over Israel. גמרא Gemara in זבחים Zevachim כ\"ב kuf-beis and yet he bowed to his father-in-law. This can be understood based on the two aspects of the honor due a king. The first the honor due to his position cannot be compromised because otherwise the very institution would be in jeopardy. If the king is too casual, comfortable, accessible, if the king is too forgiving, he's buddy-buddy with his with his servants, with his subjects, thank you, then the whole institution of monarchy is compromised. And why do we care about that? Because how do we relate to השם Hashem as the מלך מלכי המלכים melech malchei hamlachim? How do we relate to and identify with God as the king of kings if the human king becomes so comfortable and casual, we'll bring that same attitude to השם Hashem and that won't be good. So the first thing is a king has to preserve the honor due to him because he represents not only himself, he represents the institution of monarchy and if we want השם Hashem, if we want to maintain that same awe and reverence of השם Hashem, then the king can't compromise. Second though is the honor due to a great individual as a result of his own accomplishments, an honor which can in fact be declined. Since משה Moshe was not appointed king in a formal sense and therefore did not represent the official position, he was allowed to bow down to יתרו Yisro. That was רב סולובייצ'יק'ס Rav Soloveitchik's insight.But others say משה Moshe is displaying here what is his hallmark characteristic: humility and what goes along with humility is a tremendous sense of gratitude. משה Moshe never forgot what יתרו Yisro did in providing hospitality to him when he was on the run, when he was fleeing for his life from Egypt and he came to מדין Midyan, it was יתרו Yisro who provided that hospitality and shelter and gave him a job watching his sheep and so on. And משה Moshe never forgot. And therefore he was moved by a deep sense of הכרת הטוב hakaras hatov, the recognition of gratitude was never ending. So much so that even now when יתרו Yisro is joining the people later, משה Moshe doesn't say, yeah then I was a poor guy on the run and he gave me shelter but now I'm the king, let him come to me and then I'll greet him here. No, משה Moshe still feels that sense of gratitude. It's the Jewish notion of gratitude. We quoted back in ספר בראשית Sefer Bereishis, רב ירוחם ליבוביץ Rav Yeruchem Levovitz, משגיח Mashgiach of the מיר Mir said that's what לאה Leah means when she says הפעם אודה את ה' hapaam odeh es Hashem, not she names her son יהודה Yehuda because I'll thank God this time. But it's a ביטוי bituy, it's a question, הפעם אודה את ה' hapaam odeh es Hashem? Why does she name him יהודה Yehuda and the גמרא Gemara says she was the first to really show gratitude. What do you mean she was the first? נח Noah brought קרבנות korbanos of gratitude, ישיבת שם ועבר Yeshivas Shem v'Ever, we have we have plenty of precedents of others showing gratitude. So he explains, לאה'ס Leah's gratitude was different than any other. Normally we see gratitude as you did something for me, I incurred a debt to you because of the kindness you showed me. In fact, what's the word that we use? We say I am indebted to you. I'm indebted to you. So the classic understanding of gratitude is how do I pay the debt? I say thank you. And when I say thank you and I give you that acknowledgment that you need, now we're even. You did something nice, I acknowledged it and say thank you, paid off my debt, call it a day, now we're even. You do a big thing for me, I gotta show you a lot of gratitude. The gratitude has to be commensurate or parallel with the act of kindness. But when I say thank you, I've paid off my debt. My debt is concluded. רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem explains that לאה Leah was the first to express a different type of gratitude. It was a gratitude that was never ending. It was a gratitude that said, I've never paid off the debt. I'm never done saying thank you. You've done something for me, certainly something that was life-changing and transformative, I'm never done. So לאה Leah names her son יהודה Yehuda, saying הפעם אודה את ה' hapaam odeh es Hashem. And we normally read it saying, this time I thank God. Why? Because she was expecting only a certain number of sons, she surpassed that number, she expressed gratitude. רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem says, no. Read it, הפעם אודה את ה' hapaam odeh es Hashem? What am I going to only thank God once? No, she names him יהודה Yehuda. Every time she called his name, she was saying, thank you God for this son. Like my parents do with my younger brother Judah, יהודה Yehuda. Every time they say his name, they say, thank God, this one, he's a doctor. Thank God. Thank God he gave us a doctor. So יהודה Yehuda, לאה Leah names him יהודה Yehuda, הפעם אודה את ה' hapaam odeh es Hashem? What am I going to only thank once? And she taught us that true gratitude is not paying off a debt and being done. It's not discharging an obligation and being finished. A true sense of gratitude is I forever carry with me the הכרה hakara, the recognition of the good you did. And while I'm mentioning this because משה Moshe was the paradigm of it. משה Moshe refuses to not refuses, משה Moshe is not asked to strike the ירדן Yarden that saved his life. Nor does he hit the sand. It too saved his life. And here he goes out to greet יתרו Yisro. Ay, he's the king, let the king come to him. The answer is משה'ס Moshe's never done showing gratitude. For the rest of his life, he remembers that he remembers that יתרו Yisro gave him hospitality and took care of him. I have a friend in New Jersey, a rabbi in New Jersey, who made a שידוך shidduch and every year on the anniversary of that couple, they send him as the שדכן shadchan a gift. They're concerned with giving each other a gift, but they also send him a gift. Because they say every year הפעם אודה את ה' hapaam odeh es Hashem? What now that we're ten years, 25 years married, now that we have grandchildren, we should forget the person who got this all started, who took a moment to remember us? Gratitude is not, yeah we gave him שדכנות shadchanus, what do I have to thank him again for? I gave him שדכנות shadchanus, I don't have to ever remember him again for the rest of my life. No, הפעם אודה את ה' hapaam odeh es Hashem? If you really feel gratitude, you've never fulfilled that debt, you continue to feel it. That's משה Moshe here and יתרו Yisro.But there's a question about יתרו Yisro. We're going to get past the first פסוק pasuk. I promise. I don't know how much further past, but we're going to get further past. Okay. So there's a a bigger puzzling question about יתרו Yisro. יתרו Yisro arrives with fanfare, pomp and circumstance. He's greeted משה Moshe, the king goes out, leaves the White House, leaves the Oval Office, and goes out to greet this seeming this visitor, this casual visitor. So we hear a lot about יתרו'ס Yisro's arrival. He abandoned all other religions, all other modes of worship. יתרו Yisro had experimented with comparative religion, and he joins the Jewish people and he joins them in the compromised place. They're in the desert. They're fighting to for their life. They're on a journey, unclear exactly when or where they're going to go. And יתרו Yisro joins them. And that's very, very impressive and he deserves the accolades and deserves the פרשה parsha to be named for him. But the פסוק pasuk tells us a little later in the פרשה parsha, וישלח משה את חותנו וילך לו אל ארצו v'shalach Moshe es chosno v'yelech lo el artzo. That יתרו Yisro was done, he paid his visit, and he sent off his father-in-law and he went to his land. And the question is where did יתרו Yisro go? Did יתרו Yisro convert, did he not convert? Where did he go? Did he go permanently or did he go to pack up his stuff and come back? Where did he go and what ultimately happens to יתרו Yisro? This is the פרשה parsha of יתרו Yisro. It is פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro, literally. He's part of every שבת Shabbos table, פרשה parsha questions, דברי תורה divrei Torah. All impressed, יתרו Yisro he heard, he listened, the art of listening. What happened to him? What ever happened to יתרו Yisro?So we do encounter him one more time, I'm sure you remember, later in ספר במדבר Sefer Bamidbar. יתרו Yisro reemerges among the nations of Israel, among the nation of Israel, and then again יתרו Yisro says, it's been a nice visit. It's time. I'm ready to go home. And this time, in what some would consider a striking departure from normal or normative behavior, יתרו Yisro turns to his father-in-law and says, I beg you, do not leave. You cannot go. You have to stay. He begs, he pleads, he implores his father-in-law, stay. Don't go. Don't go. והיית לנו, והטבנו לך כי ה' דיבר טוב על ישראל v'hayisa lanu, v'heitavnu loch ki Hashem dibeir tov al Yisroel. ויאמר לא אלך כי אם אל ארצי ואל מולדתי אלך Vayomer lo eilech, ki im el artzi v'el moladti eilech. משה Moshe says please don't go and יתרו Yisro says I gotta go, I gotta go home, I gotta go to my land. ויאמר אל נא תעזוב אותנו כי על כן ידעת חנותנו במדבר והיית לנו לעינים Vayomer al na taazov osanu, ki al kein yadta chanoseinu bamidbar, v'hayisa lanu l'einayim. והיה כי תלך עמנו והיה הטוב ההוא אשר ייטיב ה' עמנו והטבנו לך V'haya ki seilech imanu, v'haya hatov hahu asher yeitiv Hashem imanu, v'heitavnu loch. And the discussion ends abruptly. משה Moshe says you gotta come with us, you'll be our eyes. We'll see everything through you. And the discussion ends very abruptly and for a second time we're left not knowing what happened to יתרו Yisro. What happened to יתרו Yisro? Who here thinks that יתרו Yisro stayed with the Jewish people? Who thinks משה Moshe was persuasive and compelling and he convinced יתרו Yisro to stay with him? Okay, is the mic on? Is anyone here? Is anything going on? Anyone? Who here thinks he stayed? One person in the back, a courageous person. שכוח Shkoyach. Two. We are two. Who thinks יתרו Yisro left, was not moved by משה'ס Moshe's words? Three. Okay, that is a very small percentage of the people participating. Most people are hedging. So whichever answer you would have given, you would have been right. This just teaches you in the future to take the gamble because in תורה Torah usually there'll be a מחלוקת machlokes.The text is ambiguous and it leaves room for the commentators to debate, and that's exactly what they do. The רמב\"ן Ramban says משה'ס Moshe's argument were so compelling and convincing that יתרו Yisro yielded to the request and he stayed. ספורנו Sforno says יתרו'ס Yisro's earlier pattern played true again, he was out of there, he booked out, he went home. And the question is why wouldn't the תורה Torah tell us? His arrival in our פרשה parsha is with such fanfare and his departure is so ambiguous that it lends itself to debate, why is the תורה Torah ambiguous? Why didn't it tell us what happened? Why didn't it tell us? I think there's a very, very powerful lesson that we can understand from here. And that is that the תורה Torah may be is not really concerned ultimately what happened with יתרו Yisro. Did he stay, did he go, did he convert, did he move? What happened with יתרו Yisro? It's interesting, curious, but that's not the תורה'ס Torah's primary concern. How many children did he have? Where did he live? What מנין minyan did he דאַווען daven at? What kind of יארמלקע yamaka did he wear? The תורה Torah is not so concerned with יתרו Yisro. Did he retire Century Village Boca, Deerfield? The תורה Torah is not so concerned. The תורה Torah is most impressed and wants to impress upon us not whatever happened to יתרו Yisro, but יתרו'ס Yisro's journey, how he came to the Jewish people. Because יתרו Yisro did something unusual at a time. יתרו Yisro was not a spectator to his own life and יתרו Yisro was not a spectator to the world events that were unfolding around him. יתרו Yisro decided to get in the game. He wasn't watching from the sidelines. מה שמועה שמע ובא Ma shmuah shama u'va. He got up and he came. He didn't just read the newspaper or hear the headlines, but he was moved by the world events to the degree that it made him come. We say every day, שמעו עמים ירגזון shimu amim yirgazun. They all heard, the whole nations of the world, everybody heard, but יתרו Yisro got off the sideline and he wasn't a spectator to that reality. He got up and he came. You gotta, you have to get up and you have to make a difference. You got to make a difference.This is I think a challenge. We live in a world where people are spectators even to their own lives. I once visited kids at college campuses, Rabbi Brody and I went on a college tour, college road trip to visit our kids at different college campuses and I remember having a conversation with a kid, one of our students, one of our young men, about what classes he was taking and he told me he was taking a class on reality television. That's now considered an education. A class on reality television. Maybe a psychology or a sociology class would be good on reality television. He's saying a class on reality television. The whole genre of reality television bespeaks of a culture in which we are entertained by being spectators to other people's lives. We try to distract ourselves from our own lives. We don't want to have to make our own decisions or take our own responsibility or mold and shape our own reality or destiny. It's easier to sit back and be entertained by reality TV and watching other people's lives. There's nowhere where this is more expressed, the greatest spectator event of the year has now been determined. One of those evil teams made it back in. יאך Yuch. But I've convinced myself I'm happy because it'll be more painful for their fans when they lose in the Super Bowl. That's how I, that's how I comfort myself. Anyway, so, this is the way I was raised as a New Yorker. This is the proper way to, this is our מסורה mesorah. So the Super Bowl is now been set and when you think about the numbers, 161.3 million viewers tuned in to the last Super Bowl. Just think about that number, 161.3 million viewers tuned in to be spectators and watch and root and be fans of and sit on the sideline. And that's okay, there's nothing wrong with being entertained and there's nothing wrong with having some recreation, to recreate. There's nothing wrong with taking a break, but if it reflects a whole mind view and a life view, then it's a problem.We're going to read later in the פרשה parsha, ואשא אתכם על כנפי נשרים ואביא אתכם אלי v'esa eschem al kanfei nesharim v'avi eschem eilay. השם Hashem tells the Jewish people, I'm going to lift you on the wings of eagles and I'm going to bring you close to me. This is השם'ס Hashem's promise, lift you on the wings of eagles. We've had miraculous missions from Israel of bringing our fellow Jews to Israel, named for this פסוק pasuk. ואשא אתכם על כנפי נשרים V'esa eschem al kanfei nesharim. השם Hashem will lift us on the wings of eagles. Little did we know the miracle of being airlifted from countries where Jews were in danger as a fulfillment of this very prophecy of this very, of this very פסוק pasuk. A beautiful, magnificent song by my buddy שמחה ליינער Simcha Leiner on this, on these words. The first move is made by השם Hashem. ואשא אתכם על כנפי נשרים V'esa eschem al kanfei nesharim. I'll lift you up on the wings of eagles. But what's the very next פסוק pasuk? והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים V'heisim li segulah mikol ha'amim. You'll be more beloved than all the nations. השם Hashem makes the first move and we have to respond. Here's the amazing thing. רש\"י Rashi there quotes, why does השם Hashem put us on the, on the wing? רש\"י Rashi quotes, the eagle soars the highest and if the bird were to carry in the claws, its children in the claws below, then the archer could shoot below with an arrow, other birds that are predatory could attack those children, but when the eagle that soars the highest placed the children on the wings, now they are safe. Now they're safe. Now they're protected. But here's the thing. I forgot where I saw this. Here's the thing. The eagle has very short arms. So how do the children get on the wings? Has long wings, but the little legs, the little tiny legs that stick out. How do the, how do the children get on the wings of the eagles? What do they have to do? They have to climb on. You want to be protected, you've got to make the first move, you got to climb on. You can't be a spectator. You can't be watching, you can't be sitting on the sideline. You want redemption, you want גאולה geulah, we've talked about this throughout ספר שמות Sefer Shemos. ד' לשונות Dalet leshonos of גאולה geulah, ד' גאולות dalet geulos. We've talked about the notion of the Jewish people having to be partners with השם Hashem in killing the sheep and the blood and the doorpost, ברית מילה bris milah, בדמיך חיי b'damayich chayi, בדמיך b'damayich. The two have in common is the notion we don't sit on the sideline, we're not spectators, we don't sit back waiting for redemption. You're looking for the שידוך shidduch or the job or please God to be blessed with children of continuity, or whatever the reality that we seek to be changed in our lives. We דאַווען daven, we place our faith in השם Hashem, but we have to be willing to get up and take a שתדלנות shtadlus and take initiative and make a difference. השם Hashem says take the first step and I'll bring you the rest all the way, all the way there. השיבנו ה' אליך ונשובה Hashiveinu Hashem eilecha v'nashuva. There is a partnership, there is a cooperation that has to happen. We can't be spectators. So this was a long way of telling you that perhaps if we don't ever find out what happens with יתרו Yisro because it's not important. Where does יתרו Yisro ultimately reside? Where does יתרו Yisro settle down? It doesn't matter. Was he convinced by משה Moshe or not? That's not our concern. What we're most moved by and the reason the פרשה parsha is named for him is because he's not a spectator. He's not listening or watching what's happening in the world and then sitting still. He's moved by it to come.All right, way too much time has already passed. Let's fly through a little bit more of the פרשה parsha and then get to the פסוקים psukim I want to look at together. יתרו Yisro arrives, he's excited, ויחד יתרו vayichad Yisro, he gets goosebumps רש\"י Rashi says. By what's happening. When's the last time you've been so moved by spirituality you've had goosebumps? Come next Monday night with ר' משה וויינבערגער Reb Moshe Weinberger, you're going to get goosebumps. It's a goosebump evening of of spirituality, of nourishing and talking to your נשמה neshama. That's what we're missing in life. We're not moved, our lack of awe and anything. You've heard me say this also countless times, but the \"eh\" generation doesn't get goosebumps from anything. ויחד יתרו Vayichad Yisro, לשון חדוּדים loshon chadudim. It was sharp, goosebumps. You got to be so moved, so excited, so touched, so inspired, your נשמה neshama so lit on fire that you get goosebumps from something. When's the last time that happened and how can we make it happen again? יתרו Yisro comes and like a good שווער shver gives unsolicited advice to his son-in-law, and tells, I'm okay, I'm allowed to say that now because I'm on the father-in-law team. So I'm allowed to say that. So gives unsolicited advice to his son-in-law משה Moshe, everything he's doing wrong. You're amazing, you're fantastic, you're talented, but you're doing it all wrong. Right? You're trying to make yourself accessible to everyone and you can't possibly serve everyone and therefore you need to set up a system, a hierarchy where you share the responsibility so that everyone can be attended to and everyone's judicial cases can be heard. And then he goes through with משה Moshe very very instructive. What are they looking for? אנשי חיל, יראי אלקים, אנשי אמת, שונאי בצע Anshei Chayil, yirei Elokim, anshei emes, sonei batza. Those are the criteria, those are the qualifications for Jewish leadership. That's what we are looking for. Why those qualities? For another time. וישמע משה לקול חותנו Vayishma Moshe l'kol chosno. יתרו Yisro, משה Moshe hears, giving you a hint to the question I shared at the beginning. But notice a word that repeats itself throughout our פרשה parsha. וישמע משה לקול חותנו Vayishma Moshe l'kol chosno. What did משה Moshe learn from יתרו Yisro? וישמע Vayishma, he hears. I hear what you're saying. I hear what you're saying. ויעש כל אשר אמר Vayaas kol asher amar and he does everything his father-in-law told him. He chose such men. וישלח משה את חותנו וילך לו אל ארצו Vayishalach Moshe es chosno v'yelech lo el artzo. And משה Moshe sends his father-in-law off, which as we saw was fascinating, it's a contrast later with במדבר Bamidbar. Later when יתרו Yisro wants to leave משה Moshe says no, you can't go, you have to stay. Whereas here משה Moshe says what time is your plane leaving, I'm happy to drop you off at the airport. You need a ride? Let me carry your bags. What time are you going? So the contrast between the two is is something which is is fascinating. בחודש השלישי לצאת בני ישראל מארץ מצרים BaChodesh hashlishi l'tzeis Bnei Yisrael m'eretz Mitzrayim, it's now the third month. רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik points out, the word חודש chodesh is derived from the word חדש chadash, new, referencing the new moon. Up to this point בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael underwent two experiences of renewal. The first was the experience of judicial and political freedom. They acquired themselves from slavery. Second was psychological, the transformation of a slave personality to a free personality. And now חודש השלישי chodesh hashlishi. Such a great insight, so so the רב Rav. המלצה Hameletical. But חודש השלישי chodesh hashlishi is חדש השלישי chadash hashlishi. This is the third renewal. And what's the so the first renewal was the experience of political freedom. You were enslaved, in servitude, oppressed, persecuted and now you were liberated. That's political freedom. Number two was psychological freedom. You saw your oppressors drowned in the sea. As we said last week, not only מיד מצרים miyad Mitzrim, מיד מצרים miyad Mitzrayim. Not only were the Jews taken out of Egypt, Egypt was now taken out of the Jews, the psychological freedom. And חודש השלישי chodesh hashlishi is the חדש השלישי chadash hashlishi, what is the third renewal? The freedom to surrender oneself to a higher authority, accepting a commitment to become subservient to God of one's own free will.We don't normally think of that as a freedom. We think of that too many people are turned off to religion because they think of that not as a freedom, but they think of that as a form of slavery. Too many people think we just exchanged one taskmaster for another. We were serving Pharaoh, now we got to serve השם Hashem. Before Pharaoh owned our time, now God owns our time. So did we really gain freedom? Were we really liberated or emancipated? All we did is exchange taskmasters, too many people think. We know, we have a tradition that's exactly the opposite. אל תקרא Al tikra, אל תקרא חרות אלא חירות al tikra charus ela cheirus. That one can only attain true freedom through תורה Torah. That's deserving of of exploration another time which we don't have time for now. But I'll pose that to you as a second question. And and we don't know how to answer that question, by the way, good luck convincing the future generations to stay true to תורה Torah. Because now they have real freedom. You know what real freedom they define as? I have unlimited data. That's real freedom. No seriously, real freedom is that I can go, eat, do whatever I want. When the Jews lived in the ghetto and the non-Jews every time we tried to leave the ghetto and assimilate, put us back in the ghetto and discriminated. So the Jew lacked freedom, whether it was by choice or by force, but today our children and grandchildren have, so to say, the luxury and freedom of living in this blessed country to be asking that question. Why should I do it if it doesn't do anything for me? I've had that conversation with countless young people. Put תפילין tefillin on. Why? It doesn't do anything for me. They measure everything through that. Doesn't make me happy, doesn't bring me pleasure, it doesn't do it. Did our grandparents ever ask if things did something for them? They were trying to stay alive. They were trying to fight to live to the end of the day, survive the pogrom, put food on the table, and felt the privilege, felt the privilege of being able to observe Torah and mitzvos. But our young people today are saying, why should I do that if it doesn't do anything for me? It doesn't do anything for me.So Rabbi Soloveitchik is saying בחדש השלישי bachodesh hashlishi, בחדש השלישי bachadash hashlishi, the third renewal, the third expression of freedom was, and this is a hint to maybe the beginning of a formulation of an answer, the third hint of freedom was the freedom to choose who I am. If I if the world, if I could do anything, there's actually research that talk about when we have too many choices, that's what enslaves us. I gave a drasha once about this and I described the experience of trying to buy salad dressing in the supermarket today. The aisle of salad dressing. We would prefer that there were three salad dressings. A שטיקל shtickel of half, a piece of a shelf with three dressings, I choose, I rotate which one I buy, I go home, I enjoy my salad. Now, it's like a debilitating trip to the supermarket. where you stand in the aisle, especially if you suffer from FOMO, what if what if the other one's better? What if the other 3,000 are better? How am I going to try all of them? Which one do I know? Too many choices can be torture. Sometimes limiting choices gives you actually the greatest level of freedom. Sometimes having a life that's dictated to us, that's predetermined for us, that's told to us, a blueprint of how to live life to the best, is actually the greatest form of freedom. It's part of an answer. Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning is also part of the answer, is that we're not talking about physical bondage or suffering. We're talking about spiritual, existential. How do I identify what shapes my existence? Who am I? How do I find meaning? How do I make those choices? I'm not giving you a lot of answers today, but I'm posing a lot of important questions. And they're really, really important questions. How do we teach our children and grandchildren the בחדש השלישי chodesh hashlishi? The renewal, the חדש chadash, the joy, the ecstasy, the גשמק geshmak of being so enslaved to השם Hashem. Why is that so fantastic and so categorically different than all the other forms of of slavery for another time?So now we get to הר סיני Har Sinai. יתרו Yisro leaves, whether chronologically it happened in this order or just thematically it's given to us in this order, we are ready for הר סיני Har Sinai. We arrive at הר סיני Har Sinai. כה תאמר לבית יעקב ותגיד לבני ישראל Ko somar l'veis Yaakov v'sageid livnei Yisrael. The Torah Moshe says, so shall you say to the house of Yaakov and tell the sons of ישראל Yisrael. The Torah named it after the girls' school system. כה תאמר לבית יעקב Ko somar l'veis Yaakov. Just joking, the opposite. כה תאמר לבית יעקב Ko somar l'veis Yaakov, why is it named that way? Because Rashi tells us, the בית יעקב Beis Yaakov, כה תאמר לבית יעקב Ko somar l'veis Yaakov, בלשון הזה כסדר הזה. לבית יעקב אלו הנשים. תאמר להן בלשון רכה. ותגיד לבני ישראל עונשין ודקדוקין, פרש לזכרים דברים הקשים כגידין. B'lashon hazeh k'seder hazeh. L'veis Yaakov eilu hanashim. Tomar lahen b'lashon racha. V'sageid livnei Yisrael onshin v'dikdukin, peiresh l'zcharim dvarim hakashim k'gidin. How do you inspire women by telling, you know, Yamima Mizrachi, why is she such a powerful? She doesn't say, if you don't keep this, lightning's going to strike, you're going to die, you're going to break out in boils, you're going to be miserable, your life's going to be terrible. She attracts women by saying about the beauty and the majesty and the meaning and the גשמק geshmak and the inspiration. And she's got a lot of people. And the men need to be told, listen here, you lazy good-for-nothing bums, this is what's expected of you. And I don't care whether you're moved or inspired to do it or not. Here's what you have to do, and if you don't do it, here are the consequences. So there's different languages to communicate with different people. It's true with genders, it's true on a whole lot of breakdowns you could divide differently, but the Torah is clearly giving us a pedagogic, a very, very important pedagogic insight, which is that we don't communicate everything. There's not one size fits all. Not everything is taught or transmitted with one lesson plan. This is a very, very important lesson for parents, for teachers, for rabbis, for educators of any form. There's not one lesson plan that's appropriate for every group. כה תאמר לבית יעקב ותגיד לבני ישראל Ko somar l'veis Yaakov v'sageid livnei Yisrael, you have to know your audience, and you have to speak into your audience in a way, it has to be captured, communicated, transmitted in a way which will speak to them, which will inspire them. Rabbi Soloveitchik has famous words here in the eulogy he gave, the tribute to the Rebbetzin of Tolna, the Tolna Rebbetzin, he spoke about כה תאמר לבית יעקב ותגיד לבני ישראל Ko somar l'veis Yaakov v'sageid livnei Yisrael. Why do we have two different תורות Toros? Is this suggesting that we have two different תורות Toros? And he talked about the two שרשרת הקבלה sharsheros hakabbalah, the מסורה mesorah community of the father, and the מסורה mesorah of the mother. And that's what it says, שמע בני מוסר אביך ואל תטוש תורת אמך Shma bni musar avicha v'al titosh toras imecha. מוסר אביך Musar avicha and תורת אמך toras imecha. First of all, I would have thought it's the opposite. I would have thought my mother gives me מוסר musar, my father teaches תורה Torah. Why is it considered ואל תטוש v'al titosh, what does it say? שמע בני מוסר אביך ואל תטוש תורת אמך Shma bni musar avicha, v'al titosh toras imecha. What's the difference between מוסר אביך musar avicha and תורת אמך toras imecha? And listen to the words of the רב Rav. We've shared this many times before. We're going to move on. We just can't get through this without sharing this. One learns much from the father, how to read a text, the Bible, the Talmud, how to comprehend, how to analyze, how to conceptualize, how to classify, how to infer, how to apply. One also learns from father what to do and what not to do, what is morally right, what is morally wrong. Father teaches the son the discipline of thought as well as the discipline of action. Father's traditions, tradition is an intellectual moral one. That is why it is identified with מוסר musar, which is the Torah term for discipline. What is תורת אמך toras imecha? What Torah does the mother pass on? Permit me to draw upon my own experiences, said the Rav. I used to watch my mother arranging the house in honor of a holiday. I used to see her recite prayers. I used to watch her recite the Sidrah every Friday night, and I still remember the nostalgic tune. I learned from her very much. Most of all, I learned that Judaism expresses itself not only in formal compliance with the law, but also in a living experience. She taught me there's a flavor, a scent, a warmth to מצוות mitzvos. I learned from her the most important thing in life, to feel the presence of the Almighty and the gentle pressure of his hand resting upon my frail shoulders. Without her teachings, which quite often were transmitted to me in silence, I would have grown up a soulless being, dry and insensitive. Can you imagine those words what the Rav was saying? By the way, who was the Rav's major teacher? Who was his רבי מובהק Rebbe muvhak? His father. He sat and he learned only by his father. From the day his father realized that the רבי בחסלביץ' ובחיידר rebbe b'Chaslavitch u'b'cheider was only teaching him תניא Tanya, he plucked him out of cheider and put him in his own lap. And the and the Rav Moshe Soloveitchik, the Rav's father was his teacher. And yet, he doesn't say I've been inspired to be a a Jew, authentic Jew from my father. He says without her teachings, quite often were transmitted to me in silence, I would have grown up a soulless being, dry and insensitive. The laws of Shabbos for instance were passed on to me by my father, they're part of מוסר אביך musar avicha. Shabbos as a living entity though, as a queen was revealed to me by my mother. It's part of תורת אמך toras imecha. The fathers knew much about Shabbos, the mothers lived Shabbos. They experienced her presence and perceived her beauty and splendor. The fathers taught generations how to observe Shabbos, mothers taught generations how to greet Shabbos, how to enjoy her 24-hour presence. And I'll only say this editorial comment on it. In today's day and age when our women thank God are much more educated and many of our women are in a position to teach their children also the laws and analyze and conceptualize, and I'm okay with that. It's beautiful, it's wonderful, we should celebrate our educated women who can like the fathers be teaching the laws. Here's my only point. If the mothers and fathers are both teaching the laws, who's giving the flavor and the scent and the feeling? It's okay for both mothers and fathers to now be consumed, to be to be positioned and to be educated and to be to have the capacity to teach the laws, but someone's got to delegate, someone's got to take the responsibility for the flavor and the scent. And maybe in our pursuit of equating this equality that everybody can teach the laws, we can't neglect or dismiss the importance, because in the end of the day when the Rav described who he was as an authentic Jew, it wasn't from having all the laws. It was from what he learned from his mother. That was what was critical to help him not be a soulless being dry and insensitive. So as much as we are pursuing appropriately, beautifully, empowering everyone to be in a position to teach the laws, we have to make sure that we're also preserving homes where there is the sight and the flavor and the scent and the warmth of the mitzvos that Rabbi Soloveitchik so beautifully describes. The Torah then goes on, right before the Torah is given, we're going to get to our פסוקים psukim momentarily.Here's the good news. Rabbi Moskowitz is not teaching today. So we can go on until מנחה mincha. I don't know if you have any plans, but I'm good.Okay, everyone relax. That was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. They come to Har Sinai before they're ready to receive the Torah. They have to do something, another art which is lost on us today. What do they do before they're ready to receive the Torah? ויקדשתם v'kidashtam. They do something, קידשתם kidashtam in this context is translated as where am I? I'm on פרק י\"ט Perek Yud Tes, פסוק י' Pasuk Yud. פרק י\"ט פסוק י' Perek Yud Tes Pasuk Yud, page 402.ויאמר ה' אל משה לך אל העם וקידשתם היום ומחר וכיבסו שמלותם Vayomer Hashem el Moshe lech el ha'am v'kidashtam hayom u'machar v'kibsu simlosam. Hashem tells Moshe, go to the people, וקדשתם היום ומחר v'kidashtam hayom u'machar. Artscroll translates וקדשתם v'kidashtam as sanctify them. The רב חומש Rav Chumash, the OU חומש Chumash translates וקדשתם v'kidashtam as prepare them. Why is the Rav Chumash translating the word וקדשתם v'kidashtam differently? What's the root of the word וקדשתם v'kidashtam? קדוש Kuf, daled, shin. Kodesh means holy. So why is the Rabbi Soloveitchik חומש Chumash, did they not speak Hebrew as well as the Artscroll? Why is they describing it separately? Look at אונקלוס Onkelos. זאגט דער הייליגע אונקלוס Zogt der heiliger Onkelos, ויאמר ה' אל משה איזל לות עמא ותזמנינון יומא Vayomer Hashem el Moshe, izal l'vas ama u't'zaminun yoma. What does תזמנינון t'zaminun, what does that mean? להזמין L'hazmin. What does להזמין l'hazmin mean? It means to invite, but loosely we're translating instead of invite means to prepare. For example when it comes to מצוות mitzvos, if you designate an object to be used in a mitzvah, that סוגיא sugya, what's that סוגיא sugya called? הזמנה מילתא או לאו מילתא Hazmana milsa o lav milsa. If you designate an object to be used in a mitzvah, if you prepare an object for a mitzvah, does it take on the status of holiness even before it's used for the mitzvah? Does it take on that status or not? הזמנה מילתא או לאו מילתא Hazmana milsa o lav milsa. So לזמן, זימון, הזמנה l'zamen, zimun, hazmana means to prepare. So yes, וקדשתם v'kidashtam means holy. And the Artscroll is not wrong. It's not wrong, it's describing, make yourselves holy, sanctify yourselves before you walk in and gain from this experience. But Rabbi Soloveitchik is translating or his חומש Chumash is translating it differently because it's based on אונקלוס Onkelos. It means to prepare. And why is that? Listen to these critically important words by the רב Rav. Holiness means preparation. Holiness is not a transcendental phenomenon which arrives against man's will. Man does not bear the yoke of holiness if he doesn't want it. Man must choose it, wait for it, yearn for it. Only then does holiness descend slowly and cleave to us. In this three-day prelude to receiving the Torah, Moshe warned the nation, get ready for three days. Similarly Aaron had to submit to a seven-day preparation prior to the dedication of the Mishkan. Every כהן גדול kohen gadol subsequently went through a similar sequester prior to יום כיפור Yom Kippur. What is the analogy between Aaron's preparation before the Mishkan dedication and every כהן גדול kohen gadol who the משניות in יומא Mishnayos in Yoma describe was sequestered for seven days before Yom Kippur, and here three days before Har Sinai. The common denominator of all, any encounter with holiness doesn't arrive suddenly. It only comes with preparation. It's not really a מימרא חז\"ל maamar Chazal, we quote it as such, but there is a statement that says אין קדושה בלי הכנה ein kedusha bli hachana. There is no holiness without preparation. In this instant gratification, instant and on-demand world, we need to learn that to experience holiness, it doesn't come on demand. Holiness can't be ordered up on demand or downloaded on demand. It doesn't happen in real time. Holiness requires preparation. You have to be in the right mindset, you have to go through the right effort, you have to take the right initiative. It requires our partnership. אין קדושה בלי הכנה Ein kedusha bli hachana. And we learn that from here. Jewish people don't stumble into Har Sinai and next thing you know the Torah is given. Three days they're told to prepare. And we have the שלושת ימי הגבלה Shloshes Yemei Hagbalah. We have that each year before שבועות Shavuos, where we recreate and we relive that sense of preparation. You don't just walk into shul and you're moved by דאווענען davening. You came late, you're throwing on your תפילין tallis v'tefillin. I struggle with this. I admit I'm working on it. אין קדושה בלי הכנה Ein kedusha bli hachana. You're only going to get out as much out of something as the time and the preparation that you put into it. And then the opposite or the other side of the same coin is, the Torah then continues, והיו נכונים ליום השלישי V'hayu nechonim l'yom hashlishi. Be ready for the third day. אין קדושה בלי הכנה Ein kedusha bli hachana, you can't experience holiness or happiness or meaning or joy or purpose without preparation. You have to put in the effort, you have to prepare. But on the other hand, you have to always be ready. God's rendezvous with man occurs at an appointed time. Be ready. It's the command of Judaism. Each moment of conscious existence is a divine gift out of which the summons, the service of Hashem emerges. Judaism believes that each person has a fixed place in creation. If I find myself thrust in here and now, it's because Hashem thinks I can act here and now efficiently. In other words, והיו נכונים v'hayu nechonim. A Jew has to be ready at all times. My mission might be right now. This is why I'm here, this is what I'm meant to do. I might experience Hashem in the most unexpected places. So if I'm not ready for it, I'll never experience it. But if I'm constantly ready for it and והיו נכונים v'hayu nechonim, if I'm ready and prepared to see and to feel השם Hashem, then I'll be ready. Before the Torah is given, the Torah describes ויחרד כל העם אשר במחנה Vayecherad kol ha'am asher bamachaneh. The entire nation shuddered. The גמרא in ברכות on דף כ\"ח Gemara in Brachos on Daf Chaf Beis tells us that just as at הר חורב Har Chorev, there was dread, there was awe, there was trembling, there was fear, באמה ברתת בזיע b'eima b'reses b'zia, so too over every time we sit down to study תורה Torah, you don't study תורה Torah in your גאַטקעס gatkes, you don't study תורה Torah in a recliner. You don't study Torah sipping a piña colada. תורה Torah requires an environment and attitude. The same way that we stood at הר סיני Har Sinai, it has to be done with a sense of awe, with trembling, with fear. And when do we re-experience this? When do we re-experience this? Every Monday, Thursday, and Shabbos. The whole notion of קריאת התורה Krias HaTorah is a recreation of what we experienced at הר סיני Har Sinai. The fact that you have two גבאים gabbaim on either side and the עולה oleh stands there, it's exactly the same as you had the setup at הר סיני Har Sinai. We are at the base, it's read from a בימה bimah, on top of the בימה bimah, all of the people are at the base of the בימה bimah, surrounding the בימה bimah, the גבאים gabbaim on each side, the whole experience of קריאת התורה Krias HaTorah is a dramatic recreation of מעמד הר סיני Ma'amad Har Sinai, going through it all over again. Which explains why some have the custom to stand for קריאת התורה Krias HaTorah. It's based on a גמרא in סוטה Gemara in Sotah. The גמרא in סוטה, דף ל\"ט Gemara in Sotah, Daf Lamed Tes says, אמר רב ברה דרב הונא, כיון שנפתח ספר תורה, אסור לספר, אפילו בדבר הלכה Amar Rav bar Rav Huna, keivan sheniftach sefer Torah, assur l'saper, afilu b'davar halacha. When the Torah is open, you're not allowed to talk, even if you're having a הלכה halachic conversation. שנאמר she'ne'emar, he quotes a pasuk in נחמיה Nechemiah, כפתחו עמדו כל העם, ואין עמידה אלא שתיקה k'fischo amdu kol ha'am, v'ein amidah ela shtikah. It says they stood. Standing is silent, is a reference to being silent, to stand silently, and therefore says the גמרא Gemara from when the תורה Torah is open, שאַ שטיל sha shtil, there's no talking. You have to be quiet. The מרדכי Mordechai on the back of the גמרא שבת, סימן תכ\"ב Gemara Shabbos, Siman Taf Kaf Beis quotes the מהר\"ם מרוטנבורג Maharam M'Rotenburg, the great מהר\"ם מרוטנבורג Maharam M'Rotenburg had a custom based on this גמרא Gemara, says מהר\"ם מרוטנבורג היה עומד בשעת קריאת התורה ובשעה שמולין התינוק, והביא ראיה מן הפסוק ויעמוד כל העם בברית, וראיה נתן דאמר פרק רבי אליעזר דמילה, המל והמברך אומרים עומדים על ידם, וכה\"ש כשנכנס לברית וכו׳ Maharam M'Rotenburg haya omed b'shas Krias HaTorah u'b'sha'ah she'molin ha'tinok, v'heivi ra'aya min ha'pasuk vay'amod kol ha'am ba'bris, v'ra'aya nasan d'amar Perek Rebbe Eliezer D'milah, ha'mal v'ha'mevarech omrim omdim al yadam, v'ch\"sh k'she'nichnas la'bris v'choo. The מהר\"ם מרוטנבורג Maharam M'Rotenburg had two customs. He would stand at a ברית bris, and he would stand during קריאת התורה Krias HaTorah. Why was he standing during קריאת התורה Krias HaTorah? This is the origin of the custom. שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch doesn't quote it. One is not obligated הלכה'דיק halachically, the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch strictly, one is not obligated to stand during קריאת התורה Krias HaTorah. But but there is this positive, virtuous custom based on the מהר\"ם מרוטנבורג Maharam M'Rotenburg, the last of the בעלי התוספות Baalei HaTosfos. And the ב\"ח, the בית חדש Bach, the Bayis Chadash quotes why, why did he stand? So the ב\"ח Bach writes, כיון דתקנו חכמים דכל אדם לעלות על דעתו כששומע קורין בתורה כאילו קיבלה באותה שעה מהר סיני. וכן כתב בספר הזהר מביאו בבית יוסף ובהר סיני היו כל ישראל עומדים, דכתיב ואנכי עומד בין ה' וביניכם. לכך נהגו ורשות עומדים בשעה שקורין בספר תורה. ובין גברא לגברא פשיטא דאין צריך עמידה. Keivan d'tiknu Chachamim d'kol adam l'alos al da'ato k'sheshema korin baTorah k'ilu kibla b'osa sha'ah meHar Sinai. V'chein kasav b'sefer haZohar miviyo b'Beis Yosef, u'veHar Sinai hayu kol Yisrael omdim, d'chsiv anochi omed bein Hashem u'veineichem. L'chach nahagu v'rashus omdim b'sha'ah she'korin b'sefer Torah. U'vein gavra l'gavra pshita d'ein tzorech amidah. You could sit down in between עליות aliyos, but since קריאת התורה Krias HaTorah is a recreation, a dramatic recreation of הר סיני Har Sinai, that's why the מהר\"ם מרוטנבורג Maharam M'Rotenburg had this custom. And the רמ\"א Rama quotes that there is a positive notion that those who want to have a custom of standing for קריאת התורה Krias HaTorah are standing. Why are we standing? According to others, you're standing so that you're not distracted. The Taz brings down a different reason. He says the reason you stand is to be quiet. So you're more likely to be quiet when you're standing than when you're sitting. You're giving awe, reverence, you're showing greater respect. So you're more likely to focus and to follow. There's barely a minyan following קריאת התורה Krias HaTorah these days. Everybody's reading a book or the פרשה parsha printouts or the handouts or the, they've found better reading than the word of God. We got to go back to listening to the קריאת התורה Krias HaTorah. שנים מקרא ואחד תרגום Shnayim mikra v'echad targum, but also listening to the קריאת התורה Krias HaTorah. But we're listening to קריאת התורה Krias HaTorah not just as an act of study, that's the point. קריאת התורה Krias HaTorah on שבת Shabbos morning is not an act of communal study, although it has a component of that. It's much more. It is a historical reenactment of הר סיני Har Sinai. Literally, once a week, we get together and we recreate what was the most seminal moment in human history. And that's done dramatically by the very layout and by the whole experience. And one of the characters, minor characters is you, as one of the people of of the nation who were there and who are listening. We we stand. That was the custom of the מהר\"ם מרוטנבורג Maharam M'Rotenburg.ויחרד כל העם אשר במחנה Vayecherad kol ha'am asher bamachaneh. So I'll I'll give you a little preview to tonight's סידור סניפעט Siddur Snippet. Every every night we send out a six-minute, it's supposed to be six minutes. Every night a six-minute insight into the Siddur. We're still we're finishing ברכות השחר Birkos Hashachar. So at the end of המעביר שינה Ha'maavir sheina, ויהי רצון v'hi ratzon, we ask Hashem ותרגילנו בתורתך v'sargileinu b'sorasecha. Make us a custom, give us the habit of living with your Torah. We'll talk tonight more about what exactly that means to develop such a habit. But the Ger Rebbe asks, what do you mean give me a habit? I want it to be second nature that I live life looking through the prism of Torah, that my life is guided by Torah values, that I am a בן תורה ben Torah, we are a family of תורה Torah, a תורה Torah family. That should be second nature, it should be our custom or our habit. Asks the Ger Rebbe, what happened to שיהיו חיוביום בעיניך כחדשים she'yihyu choviyom b'einecha k'chadashim. What happened to our פרשה parsha? What happened to the idea that the Torah should be felt anew every day as if I received the Torah right now. Isn't ותרגילנו בתורתך v'sargileinu b'sorasecha, I ask השם Hashem, isn't habit the opposite of freshness and newness? How do I reconcile the two? Should I give you the answer or make you listen? So the Ger Rebbe says, we as Jews can appreciate this. He says, we have a natural habit to have an appetite to eat. You don't have to mark your calendar. Your Google calendar doesn't have to remind you to have lunch. Your stomach does an excellent job of that. Right? We all know innately, instinctively, we have a natural appetite, desire to eat. That doesn't take away from the fact that when we eat, it's delicious. And it's like we've eaten that for the first time. So just like in the world of eating, you could have a natural inclination to eat, but at the same time, crave delicious food and eat it, stuff it in your face as if it's the first time you ever ate it. So so too with Torah, it's not a contradiction to say ותרגילנו בתורתך v'sargileinu b'sorasecha. I can have a habit and a natural inclination by rote to love Torah, but still consume it in a way which it is incredibly delicious. Okay, let's get to our פסוקים psukim. Bear with me for a few more minutes, we'll get through some really important פסוקים psukim over here. We have the Ten Commandments, אנכי ה' אלקיך Anochi Hashem Elokecha, the last one, לא תחמוד lo sachmod is the hardest. How do you understand לא תחמוד lo sachmod? It's really kind of anticlimactic after all these very significant עשרת הדברות Aseres Hadibros. Don't be jealous of what your friend has. Can you really be commanded an emotion, be told don't be envious, don't be jealous? But they have a nicer car, they have better behaved children, they have a more beautiful spouse who's more doting on them. How can you really control yourself from from לא תחמוד lo sachmod? אשת רעך, עבדו, אמתו, שורו וחמורו Eishes rei'echa, avdo, amaso, shoro, v'chamoro. Literally, spouse, some children, his donkey, his car, his Lexus, his Mercedes. How do you control your emotion? How do you control your emotion? The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra has a lot of different answers to it for another time. So, then the very end of the פרשה parsha. This is what we're going to study. Page 412 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. Page 412 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. פרק כ', פסוק ט\"ו Perek Chaf, Pasuk Tes Vov. Chapter 20, verse 15. Why are we picking up over here? Because right after the Torah is given, literally, right after עשרת הדברות Aseres Hadibros, the Torah tells us a description of what it was like. וכל העם רואים את הקולות ואת הלפידים ואת קול השופר ואת ההר עשן, וירא העם וינועו ויעמדו מרחוק V'chol ha'am ro'im es hakolos v'es halapidim v'es kol hashofar v'es hahar ashen, vayar ha'am v'yanuu v'yamdu mei'rachok. All the people saw the thunder and the flames, the sound of the shofar, the smoking mountain, and and they trembled and they stood afar. We also learn from here this notion, they trembled. That's what the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim in our pasuk describes. זאגט דער בעל הטורים וירא העם וינועו, על כן מתנוענעין בשעת לימוד התורה Zogt der Baal HaTurim vayar ha'am v'yanuu, al kein misno'anin b'shas limud haTorah. This is the source of שאַקעלען shuckeling when you're studying תורה Torah. When you're studying תורה Torah, you שאַקעלען shuckel back and forth, whether you're sitting, you're standing up at a שטענדער shtender, you're שאַקעלען shuckeling, וינועו v'yanuu. Just as they were trembling, just as they were shaking, just as they were so nervous at that moment, the greatest revelation of all time, of all history, we recreate that also through לימוד התורה limud haTorah, learning. Davening is us talking to God, Torah learning is God talking to us. Every time we open Torah and we learn it, we're back at Har Sinai. And just as at Har Sinai, it was done with a sense of awe and reverence and significance, it was done with a sense of sobriety, of seriousness. So too when we study Torah, וינועו v'yanuu, we שאַקעלען shuckel, and the whole attitude should be with a sense of of great seriousness.ויאמרו אל משה דבר אתה עמנו ונשמעה ואל ידבר עמנו אלקים פן נמות Vayomru el Moshe, daber ata imanu v'nishmaa, v'al yedaber imanu Elokim pen namus. People said, whoa, whoa, we can't take this. God speaking to us, this revelation, it's nice and all, but it's overwhelming, it's scary. Make him stop. Moshe, you speak to us and we'll listen. And let him not speak to us anymore or else we'll die. ויאמר משה אל העם אל תיראו כי לבעבור נסות אתכם בא האלקים ובעבור תהיה יראתו על פניכם לבלתי תחטאו Vayomer Moshe el ha'am al tirau, ki l'va'avur nasos eschem ba ha'Elokim, u'va'avur tihyeh yiraso al pneichem l'vilti sechetau. Moshe says, relax, don't worry. Why is he speaking to you directly? לנסות אתכם L'nasos eschem. What does that word לנסות l'nasos mean? We'll see in a moment, unclear. ובעבור תהיה יראתו על פניכם לבלתי תחטאו U'va'avur tihyeh yiraso al pneichem l'vilti sechetau. And the reason he's doing it is so that awe will be on your faces and you will not תחטאו techetau, you will not make mistakes. ויעמד העם מרחוק Vay'amod ha'am mei'rachok. And so the people recoiled, they stood back. ומשה נגש אל הערפל אשר שם האלקים U'Moshe nigash el ha'arafel asher sham ha'Elokim. And Moshe approached the thick cloud where God was. Okay, those are very modest. That's our ambition to cover these פסוקים psukim. So bear with me a few more minutes as we analyze and look through these פסוקים psukim just a little bit. וכל העם רואים V'chol ha'am ro'im, all the people saw את הקולות es hakolos. All the people saw the sounds. Rashi says, מלמד שלא היה בהם אחד סומא... ומנין שלא היה בהם אלם? תלמוד לומר, ויענו כל העם. ומנין שלא היה בהם חרש? תלמוד לומר, נעשה ונשמע. Melamed she'lo haya bahem echad suma... U'minayin she'lo haya bahem ilem? Talmud lomar, v'ya'anu kol ha'am. U'minayin she'lo haya bahem cheresh? Talmud lomar, naaseh v'nishma. Rashi quoting really the מדרש Medrash that this description of הר סיני Har Sinai was so incredible. The Egyptians had so mistreated and abused the Jewish people that they had left the Jewish people a crippled people. We were wandering through the desert, lame and missing limbs, blind, deaf, mute. Some had become depressed, others overwhelmed by anxiety and worry. And yet at that special moment, Rashi describes what happened at Har Sinai? There was a miraculous moment of complete healing. Complete healing. Rashi's quoting the מדרש רבה Medrash Rabbah and אליהו רבה Eliyahu Rabbah, לא יפה שישראל... שכשעמדו כולן לפני הר סיני לקבל את התורה, מגיד שלא היה בהם סומין... Lo yafeh she'Yisrael... she'k'she'amdu kulan lifnei Har Sinai l'kabel es haTorah, magid she'lo haya bahem sumin... At the moment we stood at Har Sinai, there was no one among us, there were no blind, there were no deaf, there were no mute. לא חגרים... ומנין שלא היה בהם טיפשים? עד תראה לדעת... lo chigrim... u'minayin she'lo haya bahem tipshim? Ad hareisa lada'as... Nobody was learning impaired or learning disabled. Any disability was healed. The ילקוט שמעוני Yalkut Shimoni quotes השם Hashem as saying 'אינו דין שאתן את תורתי לבעלי מומין' Eino din she'eten es Torasi l'baalei mumin. It wouldn't be right for me to give the Torah to people who are afflicted with disabilities. And so miraculously at Har Sinai the blind began to see, the mute began to speak, and the deaf began to hear. What does it mean אין דין eino din? The ילקוט Yalkut's quoting God. God says, it wouldn't be right. It's a really big moment. It wouldn't be right for anyone here to have any limitation, any disability, any handicap we used to say in the old days. It wouldn't be right. What does it mean אין דין eino din, it wouldn't be right? What does it mean it wouldn't be right?So there's two lessons in this very powerful מדרש medrash. Rav Nachman suggests that we need not take the מדרש medrash literally, that these maladies and deficiencies were healed and removed. But he says when we spend our lives emphasizing our גוף guf, our physical needs and sustenance and pleasure and satisfaction, we remain acutely aware of each physical pain and ache and full-fledged disability. But the Torah empowers us to remember that we're not just a body, and our existence is not only defined by the ache and the pain and the limitation and the disability of the body. But Torah nourishes and Torah sustains the soul. And our soul, the center of moral thinking and cumulative memory and decision-making and emotional feeling and rational thought, that's what defines us. And no matter what is happening with the body, if we nurture the soul, we are whole, we are intact, we are healthy. So when we enhance the Torah component of our lives, we are healed. It doesn't mean you don't still need the knee replacement and the hip replacement and the whatever other replacement we're going through. You may still need the doctors and the medicines and the replacements and the therapy to heal the body. But if we nourish our soul with Torah, we are healed in the sense that we've overcome that limiting self-definition of only seeing ourselves as a body. We have the capacity to transcend our limitations and to nourish our souls when we see ourselves as a soul with nothing at all holding us back. And there are incredible stories of people who've had severe disabilities and yet they see themselves as a soul and therefore they're whole and complete. Rav Yitzy Hurwitz out in California, who I've written and spoken about, who suffers from ALS, who the only movement he has is in his entire body from head to toe are his eyes. And with his eyes, I think today or yesterday was his anniversary, I saw he posted online about his wife, a happy anniversary. You ask him if anything's holding him back, does he have any disability, he'd say, I don't know what you're talking about. He's lying in bed paralyzed from head to toe, the only thing he could move with is his eyes, and he uses his eyes to write a weekly blog, דברי תורה divrei Torah online with such incredible אמונה emunah, you've never seen anything like it. So, some people stub their toe and they say, \"Woe is me, where is השם Hashem? I'm so disabled, my toe hurts.\" And he lies there paralyzed head to toe and he says, \"I'm so blessed by השם Hashem and here I want to acknowledge all the blessings in my life, and I am complete, I am whole, I am healthy because I have a soul and it has a capacity to express Torah.\" The second critical lesson is that when Hashem gave the Torah, he allowed the deaf to hear, the blind to see, the lame to walk, he allowed everyone to see and hear and learn clearly, and it's a model of how Torah is supposed to be transmitted, that it's accessible to all. That our Torah and our Torah school systems and our communities should be set up in such a way that nobody is excluded. That everyone has a right, everyone is entitled, everyone should have access to Torah. And we need to be very, very sensitive and very careful to design our school systems, our communities, that everyone can feel that they have access to Torah. I know that's not always so simple and it can get complicated, but everyone deserves access to Torah. Okay, so let's I want to finish up with a couple more points. וכל העם רואים את הקולות V'chol ha'am ro'im es hakolos, the whole nation saw the sounds. And of course, the question that everybody asks on that פסוק pasuk is, what does it mean the whole nation saw the sounds? We hear sounds and we see sights. So did the Torah get mixed up over here? What in the world happened over here that we were seeing sounds and hearing sights? There is actually a condition, what's the name of the condition? Synesthesia where people confuse, they see color. Their their senses are hooked together and they don't only hear sounds, they can hear sounds as sights and it is a condition. So is that what's going on here? The Jewish people collectively were struck with this condition? What exactly is happening over here? So let's look at some of the Meforshim fairly quickly. Rashi says רואים את הקולות, רואים את הנשמע שהיה אפשר לראות במקום אחר ro'im es hakolos, ro'im es ha'nishma she'haya efshar lir'os b'makom acher. This was a unique event in history, it never happened again. They saw sounds, something that never else happened. את הקולות יוצאים מפי הגבורה es hakolos yotzim mipi ha'gevurah. When God speaks, his speech is very different than man's speech. He speaks in such a way that you can see the sounds that he was speaking and that's what it means that they saw. That was so unusual, it was so unfamiliar, that ויעמדו מרחוק v'yamdu mei'rachok, היו נסוגים לאחריהם שנים עשר מיל כארך מחניהם Hayu nisogim l'achareihem shneim asar mil k'orech machanehem. They recoiled as if they were thrown back because to see sounds was so unfamiliar to them. They had never experienced it before, so much so that it sent them recoiling and flying and flying back. The רשב\"ם Rashbam says רואים את הקולות, הברד והאבנים, כדכתיב קולות אלקים וברד ro'im es hakolos, ha'barad v'ha'avanim, k'dichsiv kolos Elokim u'varad. They saw there were there were things to see that went along with this sight and sound and light show. So it's not so unusual. The Rashbam sees it more literally. The ספורנו Sforno also weighs in, רואים את הקולות, כמו לבי ראה. התבוננו בענין הקולות שלא יכלו לסבלם, כאמרם להוסיף ולשמוע את קול ה', איזה גדולה שלא ראה אוזן ולא אמוז. ro'im es hakolos, k'mo libi ra'ah. Hisbonenu b'inyan hakolos she'lo yachlu lisbolam, k'omram l'hosif v'lishmoa es kol Hashem, eizeh gedulah she'lo ra'ah ozen v'lo amoz. Everybody's weighing in here, everybody's bothered by this exact same question. The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra... The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra... who writes, what does it mean that they all saw the sounds? The אבן עזרא Even Ezra says the expression to see the sounds is metaphoric. We know that many places in תנ\"ך Tanach we use that expression for something intangible or conceptual. For example, later in ספר דברים Sefer Dvarim we're going to say, ראה אנכי נותן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה Re'eh anochi notein lifneichem hayom bracha u'klalah. Look, give a look, give a look. See, I'm placing in front of you today ברכה וקללה bracha u'klalah. Could they see the ברכה bracha and קללה klalah? He didn't actually have two monitors, two displays, two flat screens. Here's the ברכה וקללה bracha v'klalah. So the אבן עזרא Even Ezra says it's an expression that we use. Look, do you see what I'm saying? You see what I'm saying? So you see what I'm saying. I don't see what you're saying. What are you talking about? We use it in our vernacular. Do you see what I'm saying? So the אבן עזרא Even Ezra expresses, אבן עזרא Even Ezra explains, that's what the תורה Torah is saying. That do you see what I'm saying, or I see your perspective. I see where you're coming from. What do you mean you see where I'm coming from? So, we use this expression, אבן עזרא Even Ezra says that's what's going on over here. The כלי יקר Kli Yakar has a different interpretation. If we had more time I'd read the כלי יקר Kli Yakar inside. You should read the כלי יקר Kli Yakar inside. Don't get off the hook with me just telling you. But the כלי יקר Kli Yakar says they didn't see the sounds as colors, they visualized השם's Hashem's commandments. This was unbelievable. Before there were projectors and before there were flat screens and monitors, השם Hashem achieved, להבדיל אלף אלפי הבדלות l'havdil elef alfei havdalos, at the Super Bowl, you'll be in the stadium and when you didn't see the play on the ground, you could watch on the monitor. There's a huge monitor, so you can hear the roar of the crowd and you can see what's going on on the monitor. So the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, להבדיל l'havdil, says that as השם Hashem vocalized the words, they appeared in the air. So they not only were hearing, but it was using many of their senses simultaneously. They heard and simultaneously they saw. So they were listening, but you could see the teleprompter at the same time. They were able to read the words even as they were listening to them being recited.So רש\"י Rashi, כלי יקר Kli Yakar, the אבן עזרא Even Ezra all are saying different creative explanations to understand exactly what they saw. But I want to share with you another interpretation. And that is that some speakers are so incredibly talented. Some speakers are so talented when they communicate ideas, they're so vivid, they're so descriptive that it makes them come so alive that you're not only listening to the words they're saying, as you hear them, it's painting a portrait, it's creating an image of what they are describing. You're listening to words but you're also picturing the picture of what they're telling you. And I'm not just saying I'm describing to you, you know, I was once in Montana, and the and the park there was magnificent. I want to describe to you. And I'm going to use every adjective in my tool belt to describe to you the scene that I saw. And because I'm so effective at describing it to you, now you're picturing the incredible mountain, the river. And yeah, I'll have to go, you should all see it. It's absolutely incredible. Rustic elegance. You should sign up and go this summer. There are several trips. But it's not just describing a natural scene. Perhaps what the תורה Torah is telling us here is describing something so different. וכל העם רואים את הקולות V'chol ha'am ro'im es hakolos means that as the תורה Torah was being given, we didn't just hear, you know what? השם Hashem says, I'm giving you something called שבת Shabbos. You know what we saw? The שבת Shabbos table. כל העם רואים את הקולות Kol ha'am ro'im es hakolos. As שבת Shabbos was being given, they smelled the קוגל kugel and the chicken soup. and they tasted the חלה challah and they heard the זמירות zmiros. What רב Rav Soloveitchik describes as the תורת אמך Toras Immecha, what he got from his mother is the רואים את הקולות ro'im es hakolos. To be listening to a talk, to be listening to a דבר תורה dvar Torah, a speech, to be learning in such a way that we're not just absorbing or downloading the words or the information, we're actually painting a portrait, creating an image and a picture of what we aspire to attain. I'm learning about שבת Shabbos, not just to learn about the laws of שבת Shabbos, I'm learning about שבת Shabbos because it's painting a picture for me of an ideal שבת Shabbos table. וכל העם רואים את הקולות V'chol ha'am ro'im es hakolos, that law is not just dry and sterile and uninspiring. It's not unexciting or monotonous. But כל העם רואים את הקולות kol ha'am ro'im es hakolos, the experience of our Sinai, and ever since then, the experience of transmitting תורה Torah should be done in such a way, וכל העם רואים את הקולות v'chol ha'am ro'im es hakolos to envision the message and to absorb the sound in a way that one can picture the ideal of what we're trying to create. And I think that's also part of the תורת אמך Toras Immecha, just to come back to what we saw earlier, is that, yeah, we need the מוסר אביך mussar avicha. Here is the ל\"ט מלאכות lamed tes melachos. My son and I are making a סיום siyum on the beautiful ל\"ט מלאכות lamed tes melachos book of Rabbi Cheifetz. My father helped us with it too. So אבות ובנים avos u'banim. So ל\"ט מלאכות lamed tes melachos, the dos and the don'ts. You can, you can't. Here are the rules, the rules, the rules, the rules. That's great. But you know, as we talked about transmitting to the future generations, it can't just be about the rules. It can't be dry and sterile. It can't just be the קולות kolos, here's my voice of all the rules, dos and don'ts. It's got to be וכל העם רואים v'chol ha'am ro'im. You have to see the vibrancy, the געשמאק gishmak, the joy, the happiness, the pleasure. You've got to see why it's meaningful and ideal and enriching. And it's up to us to paint that picture. It's up to us to recreate that experience of וכל העם רואים את הקולות v'chol ha'am ro'im es hakolos. It's a lot more to say about all of this, but we are out of time. Wishing you a fantastic day. Don't forget next Monday night with Moshe Weinberger. Join the friends of BRS, brsonline.org/backslash.
