Transcript
Okay, בוקר טוב וחודש טוב Boker tov v'chodesh tov. Good morning and a good חודש chodesh. Want to thank our sponsors this morning. This morning's class is sponsored by Irving and Bunny Cherson in commemoration of the yahrzeit of her beloved father, פנחס בן יוסף Pinchas ben Yosef, and his beloved mother, וליה בת שמואל Vulia bas Shmuel, and by Sandy and Sid Goldschmidt in commemoration of the yahrzeit of her beloved mother, צביה בת אברהם יצחק Tzivia bas Avraham Yitzchak, and his beloved father, החבר אפרים בן החבר משה יהודה Achaver Ephraim ben Achaver Moshe Yehuda. The נשמות neshamos should all have an עלייה aliyah through the תורה Torah learning we will do in their memory. We are in פרשת תרומה Parshas Terumah, page 444 in the ArtScroll Stone חומש Chumash.And now we have transitioned from פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro, which was the seminal event of Jewish history, the giving of the תורה Torah, the major kumbaya moment, the moment of unprecedented and unparalleled divine revelation, in which השם Hashem spoke directly to us, so much so that it actually created anxiety and fear and he had to stop. The rest of the תורה Torah was communicated through משה Moshe. We went from the top of the mountain, the spirituality, to last week, the ואלה המשפטים V'eileh hamishpatim. And we spoke last week about the opening letter, not even the opening word or the opening פסוק pasuk, just the opening letter, ואלה v'eileh, the ו' החיבור vav hachibur. Why does last week's parsha begin ו v, and? You don't begin a sentence with and. רש\"י Rashi told us last week, in order to create a continuation, a connection between פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim and פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro. That not only do we find God in the spiritual moments, we don't just find God in the sunset or the sunrise or the birth of a child or the Grand Canyon or the Swiss Alps or the קומזיץ kumsitz or the incredible שיעור shiur or the amazing נעילה neilah. Where do we find God? In the ואלה המשפטים V'eileh hamishpatim. Just as those were from סיני Sinai, just as when we stood at the base of the mountain we were overcome, we were transformed with a wave of spirituality, spirituality is ultimately rooted in the ואלה המשפטים V'eileh hamishpatim. In the criminal law, civil law, civic law, in all the many, many מצוות mitzvos of last week's פרשה parshah that mold and shape us not just into people who are observing תורה Torah, but תורה Torah personalities. We talked last week, the difference between a good American and a good Jew. Good American is just not stealing or raping or pillaging or cheating on taxes or murdering. You're not really good, you're just not bad. But the תורה Torah crafts us into being good, fine people. That we cannot be indifferent or passive to someone else's pain or suffering. We have a liability if someone has a health crisis in front of us and we don't intervene, and so on. So we went from יתרו Yisro, the moment of great spirituality, ואלה המשפטים V'eileh hamishpatim, the expression of that spirituality rooted in the mundane. When you go to work, when you go to the gym, when you go to the supermarket, when you live in your home, when you walk on the street, the הר סיני Har Sinai is lived and breathed not just in the religious institutions, but הר סיני Har Sinai finds its greatest expression as lived and breathed in the ואלה המשפטים V'eileh hamishpatim, out in life. So where do we go from there? יתרו Yisro to משפטים Mishpatim to, וידבר השם אל משה לאמר, דבר אל בני ישראל, ויקחו לי תרומה Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, daber el Bnei Yisrael, v'yikchu li trumah. What comes next?We have a relatively new member who moved in a year ago or so. And every time his parents visit, it happens to be, it just happens to be, they come for יום טוב yontif, there's יזכור Yizkor, they came for other reasons, and it just happens to be every time his parents visit, there was overlapping with an appeal in שול shul. You come for יום טוב yontif, there's always יזכור Yizkor, יזכור Yizkor has an appeal. So he made a joke. He came this last שבת shabbos, he said, what's the appeal this week? What's it gonna cost me this week? So what happens? You go from יתרו Yisro, the highest of the highs, spirituality, kumbaya, incredible, on fire, משפטים Mishpatim, bringing it, living it in the mundane, how we interact and our responsibility and compensations and damages. And we spoke last week with ורפא ירפא rapo y'rapeh, our obligation, responsibility to heal, to practice medicine, and as my friend's father would say, eventually the appeal is going to come. ויקחו לי תרומה V'yikchu li trumah, there it is. ויקחו לי תרומה V'yikchu li trumah. Everyone knows the famous joke, right? About the couple, the plane went down, they're stranded on the island. And he asks her, they're sitting there and they're despondent, they're hopeless, how would they possibly—you don't know this joke? This is only the oldest Jewish joke list. You don't know it? Okay. So it's on, they're sitting on the island and they're hopeless and helpless and what will happen? How will they be saved? Who will know them? So he says to her, tell me, did you email anyone? When's the last time you spoke to people? I'm about to butcher the joke because I wasn't prepared to share it. So, did you pay the electric bill, did you do this? And then he says, tell me, did you play the, the pledge to Federation? She says no. He says, oh, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, don't worry, they'll find us. So ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li trumah. ויקחו לי תרומה V'yikchu li trumah. The pledge, the appeal, it was only a matter of time till the appeal came. Isn't it an enormous letdown? From יתרו Yisro, spirituality, ואלה המשפטים v'eileh hamishpatim, the continuation, the expression, the fulfillment of הר סיני Har Sinai in the real world. And then all of a sudden it always comes down to money. Every week you come from the פרשה parshah class, you have to hear that spiel about friends of BRS. Enough already. גענוג שוין Genug shoyn. The same spiel from Matthew every week. Hundred eighty dollars, you enjoy the class, we gotta keep the lights and air conditioning on, if you're not a member, minimally be a member for $180. Which by the way, if you're not, you can still join. You'll be a raffle. If you're listening online and you benefit from the שיעורים shiurim produced through Boca Raton Synagogue, feel free to join also. $180, it's the minimum we could do. So isn't it, you came to learn תורה Torah. You came to climb the ladder of spirituality. You came to sit on top of the mountain and feel השראת השכינה hashra'as hashchina, the presence of השם Hashem. And we always have to ruin it by making it about the money. Why is it always about the money?Listen to this incredible insight. Listen to this incredible insight. So רב אברהם שמחה מברנוב Rav Avraham Simcha miBarnov, but it really comes down from the בעל שם Baal Shem. The בעל שם Baal Shem quotes a מדרש Medrash in תנא דבי אליהו רבה, פרק י\"ז Tanna d'vei Eliyahu Rabbah, Perek Yud Zayin. But the מדרש Medrash, כי אמרו ישראל נעשה ונשמע מיד אמר השם ויקחו לי תרומה Ki amru Yisrael naaseh v'nishma, miyad amar Hashem v'yikchu li trumah. כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael said, נעשה ונשמע Naaseh v'nishma, we're in. We believe in you. We're with you. We're devoted to you. Just tell us what to do, we'll do it. We're in love. This is a relationship. This is a connection. There's affection. We love you. נעשה ונשמע Naaseh v'nishma, we're in, whatever you need. So what does God say? Yeah, you love me? Yeah, anything? Yeah, you're really prepared? Okay, ויקחו לי תרומה yikchu li trumah. Let's see how much you love me. Are you willing to spend your money? יש לבאר Yesh liv'oer. So the בעל שם Baal Shem said, כי יש כמה בני אדם שיש להם חשקות על לימוד התורה והתפילה, אך כן בבואם למצות צדקה, אז מונעים את עצמם, וממונם חביב עליהם ki yesh kama bnei adam she'yesh lahem chashkas al limud baTorah v'ha'tefillah, ach kein b'vo'am l'mitzvas tzedakah, az monim es atzmam, u'mamonam chaviv aleihem. We have so many people when it comes to תורה Torah learning, I love תורה Torah. I'm transformed through תורה Torah. חקירה Chakirah, למדות lamdus, הלכה halacha, מחשבה machshava, חסידות chasidus, פנימיות התורה pnimiyus haTorah, I love learning תורה Torah. I heard the most amazing שיעור shiur. I listened to the most amazing class. I read the best ספר sefer. They love learning תורה Torah. When it comes to תפילה tefillah, they're the first to a מנין minyan and the last one to leave. And they don't talk, and they're a בעל תפילה baal tefillah and the ניגונים niggunim and they שאַקלען shuckle like nobody else. They love לימוד limud, they love תפילה tefillah. They even love חסד chesed, volunteer, they show up. But when it comes to צדקה tzedakah, then the wallet's very tight. צדקה Tzedakah, why do you have to always make it about the money? Why do you have to pay to play? Why is it all about the צדקה tzedakah? אם כן כי אמרו נעשה ונשמע אז אמר השם יתברך, ויקחו לי תרומה, שזה הניסיון העיקרי Im kein ki amru naaseh v'nishma az amar Hashem Yisborach, v'yikchu li trumah, she'zeh ha'nisayon ha'ikari. The core test of the proof of how devoted you are, how invested you are in God. By the way, God doesn't ask you for the money for him. You're not paying for him to get upgraded on his flight, upgraded in the meals, supersized on the Coke. You're not giving money to the רבונו של עולם Rebono Shel Olam. He's not driving a nicer car, living in a better house because you paid the money for him. For whom does השם Hashem want you to give the money? His other children. You're his child. He has other children who are indigent, impoverished, who are struggling. And he says, do me a favor. I'm your father. By the way, you come to earn any of the money without me. I'll tell you what. I'm the senior partner, you're the junior partner. You put in a lot of work, you put in the sweat equity, but the success of the project is all up to me. But I'll tell you what. Even though I'm the determinant of its success, I'm the senior partner, I'll tell you what. You keep 90% of the profit. Just do me a favor. 10%, can you give to your siblings? They need help, they're struggling, they're suffering. You love them, supposedly, they're your siblings, my other children. You keep 90%, enjoy, indulge, do what you want. 10% could you share? And when you look back at the רבונו של עולם Rebono Shel Olam and you say, no, no. Because I pay tuition, it's very expensive. You know what the cost of kosher meat is? You know what it is to be a Jew? No. What will be? I won't have enough to indulge, to live a life of luxury. So you say no, and you're stingy with your money, השם Hashem says, save your words. Save your proclamations of love. Save your declarations of נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma. Because when the proof is in the pudding, when the rubber meets the road, if you're not willing to help his other children, you're not willing to give צדקה tzedakah. And that's why the מדרש Medrash, incredible מדרש Medrash, תנא דבי אליהו Tanna d'vei Eliyahu, a terribly inconvenient מדרש Medrash, but the מדרש Medrash says, נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma, השם Hashem heard. I love you. He said, yeah? Take out your checkbook. You love me? Where's your credit card? You love me? Let's see how much you love me. Do you love me so much you're willing to share, not even with me, but with my other projects, with my other children, are you willing to give? That's what the גמרא, עירובין ס\"ה Gemara, Eruvin Samech Hei says, בשלושה דברים אדם ניכר, ואחד מהם בכיסו B'shlosha devarim adam nikar, v'echad mehem b'kiso. There are three ways you get to know a person. You want to know the truth about a person, not just the lip service, not just the big game that they talk, not just the religious, virtuous life they claim to live. It's easy to say ברוך השם, חסדי השם, אם ירצה השם Baruch Hashem, chasdei Hashem, im yirtzeh Hashem. And it's easy to שאַקלען shuckle, and it's easy to quote learning and love to go to שיעורים shiurim. Where is the proof? בכיסו B'kiso. What do you do with your money? How do you allocate, how do you allocate your, your money? עיקר מעלת הצדקה שיעשה לשם מצות הבורא ברוך הוא ולא מחמת רחמנות וטוב לבו Ikar ma'alas ha'tzedakah she'ya'aseh l'shem mitzvas ha'borei baruch hu v'lo machmas rachmanus v'tuv libo. So ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li trumah is telling us that השם Hashem says if you love me, show me. If you love me, show me. It's like my grandfather, I was his famous story about he had to come in and he called his son and asked him to pick him up at the airport. His son said, אבא abba, I love you so much. I just, I can't. I'm busy. I have a conflict. So he says, that's nice, but I need you to pick me up at the airport. אבא Abba, you're the greatest אבא abba. There's never been a better אבא abba, and I love you so much. He said, yeah, that's nice, but I need you, I need you to pick me up at the airport. אבא Abba, I wish I could. No son has ever loved an אבא abba like I love you, and I admire you, and you're the greatest ever. It's just that I can't. So he said to his son, do me a favor. Love me less and pick me up from the airport. And that's an amazing, amazing comment on all relationships. It's an insight to every relationship we have in life. Love me less and pick your laundry up off the floor. Love me less and listen to me children when I ask you to please do something. Love me less spouse, love me less children, friend, love me less and do what I'm asking. השם Hashem says נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma, that's a beautiful card. That's a box of chocolates. That's a bouquet of roses. That's lovely. It's so nice, נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma. It's so lovely. Now let's see, ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li trumah. Love me less and give 10% of the money I enabled you to earn and share it with my other projects, enterprises, institutions, and the people who need it. Says the רבונו של עולם Rebono Shel Olam, נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma, join friends of BRS. And if you don't join friends of BRS, the ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li trumah, you come and you hear my תורה Torah. This is exactly the לשון lashon of רב אברהם שמחה מברנוב Rav Avraham Simcha miBarnov of the בעל שם Baal Shem. It's exactly what he's saying. People, יש להם חשקה ללימוד התורה yesh lahem chashka l'limud baTorah. I go to the best שיעור shiur. I love it. There used to be coffee for everyone, now it's only for the people who pay, but it's an amazing שיעור shiur. There's coffee and it's nice and comfortable in the room, and the lights are on, and they provide the חומש chumash, and they announce the page, and it's a great שיעור shiur. חשק על לימוד התורה Chashka l'limud baTorah. I love learning. Okay. Can you contribute to everything that makes possible that learning? Ah, I give elsewhere, I can't, I don't know. I'm on a tight income, a fixed budget. I give my great great grandchildren. That's nice, but you love the לימוד התורה limud haTorah, ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li trumah, then you have to give, you have to give as well. That's what the בית הלוי Beis Halevi says at the beginning of the פרשה parshah. Why does it say ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li trumah? What should it say? ויתנו לי V'yitnu li. What is ויקחו v'yikchu? And he says, when you buy something material and you make a purchase, you appreciate may appreciate what you brought or it may have been a complete waste. And sometimes the money adds value to our life and sometimes you don't get anything for it. But what's true for when we spend money on ourselves is the opposite when we spend money on others. When we spend money on ourselves, maybe we got something out of it, maybe we didn't get something out of it. But when we spend something on others, not only did we not lose, we gained much more in, in return. And so it's ויקחו לי v'yikchu li, it's not ויתנו v'yitnu, you didn't give anything. ויקחו לי תרומה V'yikchu li trumah. You received by giving. You fulfilled the very purpose for which you have that money. True, money is called דמים damin, it took the blood, sweat, and tears to earn it. And that's why it's very hard to part with. It represents our effort and our investment, it represents our saving, it represents our budget. It's very difficult to part with it. But when we part with it for the right reason, and we enrich and enable someone else's life or some good cause, then not only have we not given up, it's not ויתנו v'yitnu, you didn't give, but וַיִּקְחוּ v'yikchu, in fact, you received. And he explained the פסוק pasuk in תהלים Tehillim this way. We say in a שבעה shiva home, the פרק perek of תהלים Tehillim, we say in a שבעה shiva home, פרק מ\"ט Perek Mem Tes, ends, כי לא במותו יקח הכל ki lo b'moso yikach hakol. It's also a very nice song. In death, you can't keep everything. לא במותו יקח הכל Lo b'moso yikach hakol. When you die, you can't keep everything. So the מלבי\"ם Malbim asks, what do you mean, לא במותו יקח הכל lo b'moso yikach hakol? You can't keep everything? But what? Can you keep some things? What can you take? Has anyone figured out a way to take anything with them? They say, you know, the תכריכים tachrichim don't have pockets. And you've never seen a U-Haul attached to the back of a hearse. Because you can't take anything with you. You all know the story of Rothschild and he left a צוואה tzavah, and in his צוואה tzavah, he had a second צוואה tzavah to be opened in 30 days, and the first צוואה tzavah he said, I want to be buried in my socks. Not just תכריכים tachrichim, I want to be buried in my socks. And they went to the חברה קדישא Chevra Kadisha. חברה קדישא Chevra Kadisha says it's not the מנהג minhag, we can't bury him in the socks. And he went to the רב rav, and the רב rav said, what can I do? There's nothing we can do. And they went to the גדול הדור gadol hador, and the גדול הדור gadol hador says, that's not the מנהג minhag. And as much as the children wanted to honor their father, this tremendous philanthropist's request, they couldn't honor it because it's not the מנהג minhag, it's not the custom, it's not what we do. So they buried him without the socks. And 30 days later when they opened the second צוואה tzavah, what did it say inside? By now, my precious children, you know that I couldn't be buried even in my socks. That with all that I had and all that I accumulated and all that I amassed, you can't even take your socks with you. It's not the מנהג minhag, it's not the custom, it's not who we are. The only thing that we really ever have is what we've given. You don't have what you have. We've lived through market turns and economic cycles and we've seen crashes and we know whatever you think you have and whatever you think is super protected, you don't have anything that you have. Paradoxically, the only thing that you have is what you gave away. The only thing that no one could ever take away from you is what you gave away. What you have and try to hold on to, that's vulnerable. That could disappear. What you gave away. So the מלבי\"ם Malbim says, כי לא במותו יקח הכל ki lo b'moso yikach hakol. You can't take everything. Okay, so now what can you take? And the מלבי\"ם Malbim says there is something you can take. You know what you could take? What you gave to others. You have a little פנקס pinkas, you have a little notebook that goes with you to שמים shamayim. And it doesn't say in it the stocks and the mutual funds and the CDs and the real estate holdings. It doesn't show your assets and your portfolio and your investments. That's not what the רבונו של עולם Rebono Shel Olam cares about. That doesn't come with you. No matter how secure, no matter how much you put it in your name and your wife's name and the other person's name and LLC, you can't take that with you. The only thing you can take with you, paradoxically, is what you chose to give away. After you're gone, it will be given away. After you're gone, it will be given away. I don't know if anyone remembers, but many years ago, unfortunately, we read, let a series of rallies. There was a man, a child psychiatrist, who refused to give his wife a גט get. The wife didn't live here, she lived in Israel. The chief rabbi in Israel reached out, and said, can we do rallies? We engaged him, we did rallies. Nothing helped. Nothing helped. I'm not going to take you through the entire story right now, but this has been a interesting last few days even for me, because I had several interactions and led countless rallies. He died this week. He died. He never gave the גט get. She's finally free, because there are two ways that a woman goes free, and we couldn't expedite this one, but it came. And there's mixed feelings because, you know, this is a man, he had four brothers. His daughter now came to town. His daughter, he was estranged from for 25 years, never met her child, his grandchild. He had four brothers, hasn't spoken to them in 35 years. So here's a man, she came to town to figure out what's going to happen. He was a, he was a successful child psychiatrist. He has a home and car and money, and there's no will and no one can figure out, and she's now come to town and it's falls on her to figure out, she has to get a court order to be able to get into his house, to look through his papers, to figure anything out. I'm struggling, it's a separate topic, but do you feel pity for such a person? So sick, so, so disturbed that we should be filled with pity and with רחמנות rachmanus that a man could be alienated from his siblings, from his daughter, never meet his grandson, be so cruel to not give a גט get, just to hurt someone. Or do you say, no, he's a רשע מרושע rasha merusha and he should burn in גיהנום Gehennom, and there are people who the choices they make in life, they were a רשע מרושע rasha merusha. I don't know. I'm struggling with that myself. I'm struggling. But whatever he tried to accumulate in his life, he took none of that with him, and frankly, wherever he's going right now, he has tremendous regret because he took nothing with him. There's no kindness, there's no goodness, there are no relationships, there's no memories. He is empty-handed. So that's ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li trumah says the בית הלוי Beis Halevi. Not ויתנו v'yitnu, but ויקחו v'yikchu. When you give away, it's the greatest security you could have. The greatest asset you could have is not what you hold on to, but דוקא dafka what you've given away. So ויקחו v'yikchu, not ויתנו v'yitnu. And that's why לא יקח הכל lo yikach hakol. They can't take everything. Ay, what can you take says the מלבי\"ם Malbim? Not what you're trying to hold on to, the only thing you can take is in fact what you have, what you have given away. Only what you've given away. Okay. So far we covered the opening word of the, of the פרשה parshah. Let's see if we can get any further today. רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik notes that there's a fundamental difference between this form of צדקה tzedakah and other forms of. Are we really 20 minutes into this שיעור shiur? My goodness. So רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik notes there's a fundamental difference between this gift and the other forms of giving. Normally when it comes to צדקה tzedakah, the רמב\"ם Rambam in the מורה נבוכים Moreh Nevuchim we've shared this before says צדקה tzedakah is the wrong word. It should be called חסד chesed. I went to hard, I earned the money, and you're asking me to share it with others, a distribution of my wealth? Why is that צדקה tzedakah? That's not צדק tzedek. That's not righteous. That's unrighteous. That's not just. It's, it's, it's a lack of justice that I have to take what I earned and give it to someone else. It's not a political commentary, it's an observation, economic observation. And yet the תורה Torah calls it צדקה tzedakah, says the רמב\"ם Rambam, because it's absolutely צדק tzedek. The הלכה halacha is that בית דין Beis Din, we don't enforce this today, sadly, the closest we come are the announcements that you hear before this שיעור shiur, but the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch still codifies, we don't practice this, כופין kofin, you can force a person to give the צדקה tzedakah they have to give. By the way, they have to give 10%. What did I read about several months ago? There's a country, a Scandinavian country, I forgot, that one day a year publicizes everybody's tax bracket. They make very public everybody's income and tax bracket. Could you imagine? And then we would see whether people are really contributing to their capacity. The person in the community who makes $20,000 a year and gives $300 to צדקה tzedakah, whatever it is, an example, is is hurting more than the person who's making $2 million a year and is celebrated because they gave $5,000. They think that they deserve to be uh honored every Monday and Thursday. It's a ratio, it's a proportion, it's a percentage of what, of what we make. Of what we make is our responsibility to give. So the הלכה halacha, the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch says that in fact shul dues and school tuition should not be based on one standard flat fee, but rather it should be a direct proportion of your income, of what you make. We have a responsibility, 10% מַעֲשֵׂר maaser, we have a responsibility at a ratio of what we make. I'm not telling you what the percentage should be. I'll leave to the politicians to debate brackets and percentages and so on and so forth. But the notion that it's, it's tiered and staggered based on income is not just a nice concept, it's a הלכה halachic concept. As is the idea that כופין kofin, that you're allowed to force. In the time of בית דין Beis Din, we could actually go into your property and take it away. There'd be a lien on your car. We'd say, look, we got a hold of your income. We know what you make and you're barely giving anything. Ay, you gave a relatively large number, but relative to your income, you gave barely anything. So guess what, we've impounded your car. Or a several of your cars. We've taken away your Rolex. בית דין Beis Din had the right כופין kofin to be able to force the צדקה tzedakah to be given. Why? Why is that a righteous thing? So why is it called צדקה tzedakah, it should be called חסד chesed, it's not צדק tzedek? And where's the righteousness in בית דין Beis Din's capacity, their license to go into your property and impound or place a lien on what you own until you give צדקה tzedakah? And so רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik explained, the רמב\"ם Rambam based on what the רמב\"ם Rambam writes there in מורה נבוכים Moreh Nevuchim, it's called צדקה tzedakah and צדק tzedek because really it all belongs to השם Hashem. We are stewards of whatever we have. It belongs to the רבונו של עולם Rebono Shel Olam. And he gave it to us telling us how to allocate. And when we don't allocate properly, when we abuse the allocation, we've abused the right to have it. So when בית דין Beis Din comes and says we're taking 10% of what you have, they're not robbing you, they're not stealing from you, and they're not asking you, they're not forcing you to to perform a kindness. They're simply doing what's righteous, what's just. That 10% never belonged to you. You were just watching it, you were a steward on top of it. It was an escrow fund. And you know when you intermingle escrow funds is when lawyers and financial advisors get into a lot of trouble. A lot of trouble. For two years I sat on the Florida Bar grievance committee. I was the assistant rabbi, and one of the lawyers in the community thought I would enjoy that exercise. I was on a bar grievance committee. It was a fascinating two years. Hearing bar grievance complaints and being part of the committee that made recommendations of exactly what should happen. The majority of the cases that we heard, there were some really fascinating ones, but the majority of the cases that we heard were mingling escrow accounts, mingling escrow funds. The lawyer just borrowed from the escrow fund because they had bills to pay and they knew they were going to get a cash flow and they'd return it, and it turned out they didn't, and they mingled escrow funds. So when we don't give our 10%, we're mingling our escrow fund. The רבונו של עולם Rebono Shel Olam, that 10% doesn't belong to us. It's not חסד chesed that we give 10% to others. It's צדק tzedek, it's צדקה tzedakah, it's what's righteous. And therefore בית דין Beis Din can come in and say you've done something illegal. You're mingling the escrow fund, that 10% with your other funds, that's illegal. We're putting a lien on your house, on your Rolex, we're putting a lien on your property until you settle the escrow fund, give the 10% that you have to give. That's the הלכה halacha normally with צדקה tzedakah. And yet, here, when it comes to the משכן Mishkan, רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik points out, what is the פסוק pasuk? מאת כל אשר ידבנו לבו Me'eis kol asher yidvenu libo. Nobody's forcing you to do anything. Nobody's emotionally manipulative. Nobody's extorting the money. And nobody's putting a lien on your property. All they're asking you is מאת כל אשר ידבנו לבו me'eis kol asher yidvenu libo. From the generosity of your heart, from the goodness and the graciousness of your spirit, would you like to make a donation to the משכן Mishkan? Why the difference? Why normally with צדקה tzedakah do we say it is a strict rule, it's called צדק tzedek, צדקה tzedakah, not חסד chesed, and בית דין Beis Din can go in and take it? And when it came to this appeal, this solicitation, nobody could force you to do anything. It was only for those who did it with a full heart. If you didn't do it with a full heart, don't do it. What's the difference between the normal צדקה tzedakah and this appeal for the משכן Mishkan? And what the רב Rav says, what רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik answers, really is the theme of our entire פרשה parshah, it's the theme of the rest of ספר שמות Sefer Shemos, it's the theme of our lives. What's his answer? צדקה Tzedakah is a strict financial responsibility to tax, it's an obligation. It's an escrow fund. The money doesn't belong to you. You mingle it, you've done something illegal. בית דין Beis Din can go and retrieve it. This isn't about a financial obligation or a financial tax or a financial responsibility. What is this about? This is about moving in together. It's about building a home. This is about a relationship. So the husband and the wife says to the other, if you don't want to live here, I'm not forcing you. I'm not going to get shackles or handcuffs and force you to live in my house. Only be in this relationship if you're in it with two feet. Only be in it if you want to be here. If you don't want to be here, you know, you love the girl, but she doesn't love you. So you're going to hire two thugs to go, tie up her hands, put her in handcuffs, bring her under the חופה chuppah, and make her marry you? What kind of a marriage is that? That has happened, not with thugs and not with handcuffs, but with manipulation and with extortion, and so on. It's terribly tragic when it happens. What kind of a marriage is that when you force a person to stand under the חופה chuppah and you force them to come home with you? That's a marriage, that's a relationship? The רבונו של עולם Rebono Shel Olam says, this is different than my other צדקה tzedakah projects. Giving to תומכי שבת Tomchei Shabbos and giving to the scholarship fund and giving to the בית מדרש Beis Medrash and providing for the שול shul and the school and the עירוב eruv and the כשרות kashrus, that if you don't give, you've stolen, because I had escrow. You have 10% of your income should be in escrow to support those causes, and when they don't, you've stolen. And בית דין Beis Din's going to come in and they're going to take it, they're going to put a lien on your property. But when it comes to your love and your relationship and your being with me in my home, don't be there unless you want to be there. Don't come unless you want to come. It has to be from the generosity and the graciousness of your soul. Listen to the words of the רב Rav. Man is basically a homeless being. No matter how large and opulent his home is, he is exposed. He's subject to the vicissitudes of life, subject to nature, which at best is indifferent to man, at worst is hostile, and subject to an inscrutable future. There is only one home where man gains security. השם Hashem is called מעונה me'onah in abode in דברים, פרק ל\"ג Devarim, Perek Lamed Gimmel. The only home where man can find security is in the רבונו של עולם Rebono Shel Olam. השם Hashem told Moshe not to collect the money for the משכן Mishkan by using force because the משכן Mishkan was to be built only if the nation felt the need to build a home for השם Hashem on their own. For השם Hashem to descend from infinity into a משכן Mishkan built by man, is כביכול k'viyachol a sacrificial act on his part. This act of self-contraction was a sacrifice. He's willing to make it, but only if the people themselves wanted a משכן Mishkan and were willing to contribute to build it. So says רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik, a great insight. He says, you know, you're worried about a hurricane or a tsunami, you're worried about the negative 7,000 degrees elsewhere in the country. How are you going to sustain? How are you going to be comfortable? Someone told me I was just talking to someone who lives in the Midwest, said they have to run the water regularly because if you don't, your pipes freeze over. These are ברוך השם Baruch Hashem considerations that we don't have. Make sure you turn the faucet, all the faucets on every now and then, keep the water flowing, otherwise you're finished. These are not our considerations. Having enough sunscreen, that's our problem, but the running the pipes is not the problem. So how do you know your pipes are going to freeze? Your roof's going to cave in from the snow, your house is going to blow away, your windows are going to implode from the hurricane. So you try to fortify your home. You do everything you can to build it to code and you do everything to try to be protected. You know, with that, you're never protected. There's nothing with all the money in the world you can do to build a home in which you can rest comfortably. I'm not trying to scare anxious and neurotic people right now, but there's nothing you can do with all the money in the world to build a fortified home that is so strong that there's nothing to worry about. Someone could fly a plane into your house. I don't care how strong you built it. Someone could plant a... your home does nothing. There's only one home, the רבונו של עולם Rebono Shel Olam is given the name in ספר דברים Sefer Devarim. He's called our home, מעונה me'onah, our abode. Why? Because so to say we live in him. We invest in him, we find refuge in him, under his shadow, under his cloak, under his wing. The only security we have is when we trust in him. So how do we express that trust? How do we enter this home virtually, spiritually, metaphysically? How do we enter השם's Hashem's home? How do we live under his shelter? Only when we want to be there. If you're being forced to be there, you're not under his wing, you're not in his shelter, you're not living with his home. The רבונו של עולם Rebono Shel Olam says, I came down here to be with you and you don't even want to be here? I came to move in with you and you don't even want to be living with me? I'm out of here. It's much better where I was. I sacrificed, I was מצמצם mitzamtzeim myself just to get here. So what did I do that for if you don't even want to be here? And that's why רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik points out, this is different than every other form of צדקה tzedakah. Other forms of צדקה tzedakah are legalistic, they are legislated, there is your obligation. If you don't give, בית דין Beis Din can come and take. But this is not about being a legal responsibility, this is about the generosity of your heart, of your soul. It's a question of have, do you really want to? Do you really want to be there? And the question of do you really want to be there, where is the there that you really want to be? So the פרשה parsha of course continues with the obligation and responsibility to build the משכן Mishkan. ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם V'asu li Mikdash v'shachanti b'socham. Build me a מקדש Mikdash and live where? In them. If there were a top five list, I don't know, my my friend and cousin Dov Bechefkin, if he puts together a top five list of most cliché דברי תורה divrei Torah on the planet, this has to be up there. Why is it in the singular, ועשו לי מקדש V'asu li Mikdash, make me a sanctuary, ושכנתי בתוכם v'shachanti b'socham, and I will dwell where? In them. Why the shift from the singular to the plural? So everyone knows that the Torah is not talking about specifically the bricks and mortar, it's not talking about the physical vessels that are going to be described in the rest of this פרשה parsha and ספר שמות Sefer Shmos, but where is the ושכנתי בתוכם v'shachanti b'socham? Where's the בתוכם b'socham? In you, in all of us. You see this in fact from a מחלוקת machlokes רש\"י Rashi and רמב\"ן Ramban. The גמרא Gemara in סנהדרין Sanhedrin דף טז daf tet zayin says, if you look at our פסוק pasuk, ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם, ככל אשר אני מראה אותך את תבנית המשכן ואת תבנית כל כליו וכן תעשו v'asu li Mikdash v'shachanti b'socham, k'chol asher ani mareh oscha es tavnis haMishkan v'es tavnis kol keilav v'chein ta'asu.Build me a sanctuary, I'll dwell in them. I'm on the bottom of page 444, turning the page to 446. Build me a sanctuary, I'll dwell in them. And what does that sanctuary look like? How do I know what to build? ככל אשר אני מראה אותך K'chol asher ani mareh oscha, everything I will show you, תבנית המשכן ואת תבנית כל כליו וכן תעשו tavnis haMishkan v'es tavnis kol keilav v'chein ta'asu. I'm going to show you all the details. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu is very detail oriented. In fact, the משכן Mishkan is a microcosm for how our homes are supposed to be. I just bought a ספר sefer last week when I was in Israel, bought a bunch of volumes of this author. I don't know who the author is. Not because I don't know, nobody knows. It's a series of ספרים sfarim that are called חובת האדם בעולמו Chovas Ha'adam B'olamo. I think he's up to 13 or 14 volumes now. רב Rav Moshe Weinberg recommended it to me last week when he was here, and it's very hard to get. We don't know, the author does not list his name. If you talk about an act of, so many people write books because of their own ego. They're proud, they write a book, they put their name on it, they tell everybody, they give it out, they sign it for you. When someone produces 13 volumes and stays hidden, concealed, is there any more evidence of just how genuine they are in the message they want to get across? The only reason they're producing it is to try to inspire and enrich others. So he has an entire volume on חובת האדם בעולמו Chovas Ha'adam B'olamo called סדר Seder. Why it matters in Judaism to be organized. To be organized, clean, and on time. I'd like to buy several copies and distribute them to certain people. Some who I happen to live under the same roof with. But it's an incredible ספר sefer. In fact, I thought maybe maybe it's a שבת שובה Shabbos Shuva topic. סדר Seder, where do we see in Judaism the notion of being orderly and time? And as I started to look through the ספר sefer that I just got, I thought that's exactly what these פרשיות parshios are about. השם HaShem says, ככל אשר אני מראה אותך את תבנית המשכן k'chol asher ani mareh oscha es tavnis haMishkan. I'm about to show you, I'm going to model for you. This is what a home should look like. And the details matter, the dimensions, where you place it, is it organized, is it clean? Is it timely? This קרבן korban could be offered only from this time, that קרבן korban could be offered from that time. Here's the way it should appear, here are the activities, here's the schedule, and everything has to be exact and organized. And השם HaShem says this is a model for a Jewish home. So our פרשה תרומה parsha Terumah, so I'm getting ahead of myself. The end of this פסוק pasuk says וכן תעשו v'chein ta'asu. So shall you do. And it writes it in the plural. Everyone, the cliché דבר תורה dvar Torah is on the ועשו לי מקדש v'asu li Mikdash and ושכנתי בתוכם v'shachanti b'socham. That's the cliché one. Less cliché it is, why does it say וכן תעשו v'chein ta'asu here? So shall you do in the plural. When in the plural? Isn't it just now? It should be in the singular. So shall you, the Jewish people, here and now, in the desert, at this moment in time, this is what you build. Here are the diagrams, here's the architectural drawings, the engineering plans, you got it all. Do it now, you, in the singular, you as a unit, as a group right now, do it. Why וכן תעשו v'chein ta'asu in the plural? So רש\"י Rashi says, you know why it's in the plural? This isn't the only house of השם HaShem that's going to be built. The משכן Mishkan is a temporary dwelling. What's going to follow? The בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash. So the instructions we find in our פרשה parsha are not just for the precursor, the early edition, version one, but they're for 2.0 and 3.0, the משכן Mishkan, first בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash, the second בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash, and the third בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash במהרה בימינו bimheira v'yameinu.The problem the רמב\"ן Ramban says with רש\"י Rashi is, if you open up ספר מלכים Sefer Melachim, דברי הימים Divrei Hayamim, and you look about שלמה המלך Shlomo HaMelech, does he follow the details of our פרשה parsha? Absolutely not. שלמה המלך Shlomo HaMelech does not build it according to the dimensions and according to the plans of our פרשה parsha. So coming back, says the רמב\"ן Ramban, what is וכן תעשו v'chein ta'asu? To whom is השם HaShem speaking, thus shall you do in the plural, thus shall all of you do forever. What do you mean all of you do forever? How many more times, and is it going to happen, and so on and so forth. And the רמב\"ן Ramban explains, and this is expanded on famously by the נפש החיים Nefesh HaChaim, רבי חיים מוולוז'ין Reb Chaim Volozhin, the great student of the גאון Gra, who says these פרשיות parshios are not just written הוראת שעה hora'as sha'ah, they're not just for then, then. In every dimension, in every building material, in every functionality, in every component of these פרשיות parshios is an eternal message that continues to be relevant and continues to speak to us. And that's ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם v'asu li Mikdash v'shachanti b'socham. השם HaShem says here are the details for the physical plant. But what's true for the physical specs is equally or even more importantly true in your life, in our lives. We're supposed to welcome השם HaShem into our lives through the symbolism, the metaphor, and the meaning that we're going to find in all of this משכן Mishkan and all of its כלים keilim. It's a magnificent song, the 16th century Kabbalist, רבי אלעזר אזכרי Reb Elazar Azkari. בלבבי משכן אבנה להדר כבודו Bilvavi mishkan evneh l'hadar k'vodo. In my heart, I will build a משכן Mishkan. It's based on this פסוק pasuk, ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם v'asu li Mikdash v'shachanti b'socham. So if God really says I want to find expression through you, so then בלבבי משכן אבנה bilvavi mishkan evneh, in my heart I have to build him a משכן Mishkan. How do I build השם HaShem a משכן Mishkan in my heart? The dimensions, the building materials, the plans, the layout for the actual floor plan of the משכן Mishkan, that's easy. How do we do it in our heart? How do we do it in our lives? How do we give השם HaShem expression in the way בלבבי משכן אבנה bilvavi mishkan evneh? So the answer is in the word מקדש Mikdash. What's the root of the word מקדש Mikdash? קדוש Kadosh or קודש kodesh, holiness. When we live holy lives, we're giving השם HaShem expression in this world. We're building him a home. We're giving him what the Kabbalists called דירה בתחתונים dira b'tachtonim. He's dwelling here in the lower world. We're giving him expression. When we behave the right way that we behave. Now I was in a I was in a ספרים sfarim store, I told you I bought that ספר sefer. In that ספרים sfarim store, I was with took several members of the family, we went ספרים sfarim shopping, and one of the members of the family, I'm not just telling this story to save myself the embarrassment, it actually was not me, it was another member of the family, desperately had to go to the bathroom. And there was a woman sitting behind the cash register in the store. It was in קריית ספר Kiryat Sefer, מודיעין עילית Modiin Illit. And she saw that this member of the family needed a bathroom very badly, and the store did not have a bathroom. You know what she did? She said, I live a few blocks from here. Do you want my address, the key, go use the bathroom in my apartment. Is that an unbelievable act of חסד chesed? You see someone else in pain and fear and anxious, and you selflessly, you don't even know the person. My apartment, do you need the bathroom? Please go and use it. בלבבי משכן אבנה Bilvavi mishkan evneh. When we act that way towards one another, when we behave in that manner, when we're acting godly and we are an angel for someone else, בלבבי bilvavi we we've built a משכן Mishkan for השם HaShem in our heart, and we have given him expression in this world. בלבבי משכן אבנה Bilvavi mishkan evneh. And it comes back to what we said that ואלה המשפטים v'eileh ha'mishpatim. הר סיני Har Sinai is not in שול shul. Yes, we explored the notion that the בימה bima represents the recreation of הר סיני Har Sinai and the גבאים gabbaim are יהושע Yehoshua and חור Chur, and we went through the whole notion that when we get together every שבת Shabbos, Monday, and Thursday, we ascend the בימה bima, it's a recreation, a dramatic recreation of הר סיני Har Sinai. It's true. It's true. But the real fulfillment of הר סיני Har Sinai is not even in the שול shul. It's in the ואלה המשפטים v'eileh ha'mishpatim. It's the ועשו לי מקדש v'asu li Mikdash, it's the בלבבי משכן אבנה bilvavi mishkan evneh. When I go to work, when I go to gym, when I'm in the ספרים sfarim store, when I interact with other people, how I behave, בלבבי משכן אבנה Bilvavi mishkan evneh. It's an unbelievable responsibility and incredible charge and incredible mission, and it informs the way that we read the rest of our entire פרשה parsha. So let's get going. Ready? That was all an introduction. Now the פרשה parsha class begins.So we go through the the כלים keilim of the of the משכן Mishkan. ועשו ארון v'asu aron, the first is the ארון Aron, made of עצי שיטים atzei shittim wood. אמתים וחצי ארכו ואמה וחצי רחבו ואמה וחצי קומתו Amosayim v'chetzi orko v'amah v'chetzi rochbo v'amah v'chetzi komaso. What you'll find is the following. And the number one פירוש peirush I recommend on פרשת תרומה parshas Terumah is the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. The כלי יקר Kli Yakar's פירוש peirush on פרשת תרומה parshas Terumah is out of this world. It's off the charts. It's incredible. The כלי יקר Kli Yakar says, finds the symbolism, the meaning, the deeper. He notes that sometimes the dimensions are provided in in whole numbers and sometimes in integers. Sometimes it's a fraction. Is it two and a half or is it three? Is it one, is it one and a half? And he finds a message. I'm just giving you some hints right now because I want to get to the part that I want to look at together. But I'm giving you some hints. As you go through this פרשה parsha, note when do you see a whole number, when do you see a fraction? What might the message be of when something is only a half versus what it's trying to communicate when you see that it's a whole. The ארון Aron is made out of עצי שיטים atzei shittim wood. What is עצי שיטים atzei shittim wood? We're going to come back to that. Everything about the ארון Aron. The ארון Aron is made out of wood, and yet on the outside it's layered with gold. Now, we understand that because even though very few people saw the ארון Aron, only the כהן גדול Kohen Gadol, it was behind the פרוכת paroches, hidden, concealed, protected in the privacy of the Holy of Holies, but it was gold. Why? Because our most precious vessel that houses our most sacred לוחות luchos, what was inside the ארון Aron? The לוחות luchos, the tablets Moshe came down with. What else? The שברי לוחות shivrei luchos, the broken לוחות luchos. Interesting, its own lesson. We did not sweep them up and throw them in the garbage. We didn't even put them in the recycle. We kept them. We kept the broken pieces. What's the message? What I'm trying to communicate to you is that don't read תרומה Terumah and go, oh boy, we're up to that part of the Torah which is so boring and irrelevant and inaccessible to me. We're up to the part of the Torah that's the most exciting. It's the most informing, it's the most inspiring. Every symbol, every dimension, everything about these פרשיות parshios, especially when you learn it with the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, is on fire. Totally inspires your life. So why were the broken pieces held onto? Powerful lesson. We don't throw away the broken pieces. The broken moments, the broken relationships, the broken experiences, the broken people, they're also held and housed in the ארון הברית Aron HaBris because they're also part of who we are. They're also part of our journey, they're also part of our destiny. We don't discard the broken. We don't discard the broken pieces.I once had to speak at the hardest funeral, second hardest funeral I ever did, was for a woman I never met, her daughter I knew, and as we walked into the funeral, as we were preparing and walking into the funeral, the daughter said to me, I don't want you to say anything nice about my mother, she was a terrible person, she mistreated me, she was a horrible human being, don't say one nice thing about her. I said is there, is there nothing virtuous to say? Is there nothing? She said, there is or there might be, but I don't want you to say it. Because of how abusive she was to me and what she did to me in my life. Okay, Rabbi, please take the שטינדער shtender, begin. What do you do? I've always wanted to teach a a rabbinic session at a rabbinical school with, you know, these real-life examples. That was I said the second hardest, you're probably curious now what was the hardest funeral if that was the second hardest funeral. At least that funeral, I knew who the deceased I was supposed to be speaking about. I once went to the cemetery to do a funeral and the funeral director who was there, I knew people were gathered around the grave, and he kept going, called me over. I came over and he put the שטינדער shtender in front of me, he said, I have no rabbi to do this funeral, this is a poor person who has no family, I need you to do it. And he put the שטינדער shtender in front of me, and I did not know whether in the coffin was a man or a woman, young person or an old person, I had no idea what to do. Those are difficult moments. Anyway, that was the hardest funeral. The second hardest funeral with the mother, I spoke about this גמרא Gemara: לוחות ושברי לוחות מונחין בארון luchos v'shivrei luchos munachin b'aron. That sometimes even the broken pieces are held on to. Even the broken pieces have redeeming value. What can you find in them? And what role do they have? And why do we hold on and cherish not just the whole, but even that which is shattered, even that which is, even that which is broken? The ארון Aron is layered on the outside with gold. And that makes sense because if the ארון Aron is our most precious vessel, it should it should appear precious, it should look beautiful. Here's the unusual thing. The ארון Aron also had gold where? On the inside. Now, why did it need gold on the inside? It's made out of wood, the body of it is wood, even though it was gold, it's known as wood. And yet it had gold on the outside, that I understand for appearances. Why did it need gold on the inside? חז\"ל Chazal learn an incredibly powerful lesson. כל תלמיד חכם שאין תוכו כבורו Kol talmid chacham she'ein tocho k'voro because if you present yourself as a scholar, you present yourself as a righteous person, but you are inconsistent, you are duplicitous, you're not thorough all the way through. So you're gold on the outside. You wear your ציצית tzitzis out and you שאַקל shuckle and you're פרום frum and religious on the outside, but on the inside you're corrupt and you're miserable and you're envious and angry and resentful and unfaithful in private. Snippets, we're up to, לעולם יהא אדם ירא שמים בסתר ובגלוי l'olam yehei adam yarei shamayim b'seiser uv'galui. A person should always be... the snippets that we send out every day, six minutes a day. לעולם l'olam, the rabbis must say לעולם l'olam, יהא אדם yehei adam. Number one, לעולם יהא אדם l'olam yehei adam. Even before you get to ירא שמים yarei shamayim, לעולם יהא אדם l'olam yehei adam, because back to our סדר דבר תורה seder dvar Torah, the חובת האדם בעולמו Chovas Ha'adam B'olamo. Have סדר seder, be an אדם adam. לעולם יהא אדם l'olam yehei adam. Be a מענטש mensch. Be a מענטש mensch. לעולם יהא אדם l'olam yehei adam. שוין Shoin. It's enough. לעולם יהא אדם l'olam yehei adam. Forever, always, יהא אדם yehei adam. Be a מענטש mensch, be a person. And then it continues, be a ירא שמים yarei shamayim. Have יראת שמים yiras shamayim. And where should you have יראת שמים yiras shamayim? בסתר ובגלוי b'seiser uv'galui. Because it's easy בגלוי b'galui. On the outside when everyone sees, but בסתר b'seiser, be a מענטש mensch even בסתר b'seiser when no one's around. This is what רב מנחם מענדל זאקס Rav Menachem Mendel Zaks says in his מנחם ציון Menachem Tzion, he says that's what it means the משנה Mishnah, במקום שאין אנשים השתדל להיות איש b'makom she'ein anashim hishtadel l'hiyos ish. To be an איש ish in a מקום שיש אנשים makom she'yesh anashim, to be the guy who שאַקלס shuckles, to be the woman with the long sleeves and hair covering, to give and have your name in lights in public where everyone sees, that's easy. But במקום שאין אנשים b'makom she'ein anashim, where nobody's watching and no one can see and no one can observe, במקום שאין אנשים b'makom she'ein anashim, השתדל להיות איש hishtadel l'hiyos ish, that's where we really have to, that's where we really have to show who we are. So תוכו כבורו tocho k'voro. You can't just have gold on the outside. You got to be all the way through. The ark was not made out of costume jewelry. It was not trying to impress people with what you saw on the outside. Gold on the outside, but תוכו כבורו tocho k'voro matching it with gold on the inside. We did the ארון Aron in the past, the ארון Aron had poles in it. Every other כלי kli, the poles that were used to transport it were removed. The ארון Aron was the only one that the poles did what? The poles remained. Why did the poles remain? So commentaries all talk about what was different about the ארון Aron. I think it's רב הירש Rav Hirsch who has what I find the most beautiful פשט pshat. He says because the ארון Aron contains the Torah, the לוחות luchos and the first ספר תורה Sefer Torah that Moshe wrote and the מן mon, but the ארון Aron represented stands for Torah. Torah travels. Torah journeys. Torah is not set for one location. I can't just learn Torah in the בית מדרש Beis Medrash or at שול shul, Torah goes with me wherever I go. It's not just Torah כי מציון תצא תורה ki mi'Tzion teitzei Torah, not only Torah in ציון Tzion in Israel, but Torah keeps the pole, Torah has the capacity always to be able to travel. We have the cover, the כפורת kapores that has the כרובים kruvim, these two angelic childlike figurines. One time in the Torah described as facing each other, another time in the Torah described as facing away from each other. חז\"ל Chazal tell us it all depends. These were miraculous, they were rotating cherubs. Except there was no device to control them, there was no app. The רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam miraculously controlled them. When we were finding favor in his eyes, when we behaved properly, they appeared as if they were looking at each other. And when we weren't, they were looking away. I once gave a דרשה drasha, I won't review now, but Dr. John Gottman, as you know, one of my favorite experts, he just came out with a brand new book on marriage, by the way. Seems to be fantastic. But the world's expert on marriage, Dr. John Gottman who spoke here last year. So he talks about the notion of turning away and turning towards when a person makes a bid for connection from another, and you can either turn towards or you could turn away, and the ratio that you need of turning towards versus turning away in order to have a good marriage. So I once connected that to these כרובים kruvim. The imagery of turning towards and the imagery of turning away and what it means to have a good relationship, what it means to have a good marriage, but that's for another time. Then you have the שולחן shulchan. The next is the שולחן shulchan, which is the table. The table was very interesting. And here the כלי יקר Kli Yakar again is just out of this world. The table had a crown around it. Why did the table have a crown around it? The border, the border of the table was made from a crown. I don't know, does your table have a crown of a border? How would you eat if it has a border? The message says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar is very simple, that our eating needs to have boundaries. There have to be limits to the quantity, to the quality, to the variety, to the expense of what we eat. It has to have a boundary. And in fact, you are royalty not when you can eat endlessly. What makes you royalty? When you have the discipline and self-control to stop. Royalty is not when you can gorge. Royalty is when you can stop. That's what it means to be royalty. And again, the כלי יקר Kli Yakar very very beautifully talks about the boundaries and the border and the שולחן shulchan represents the חסד chesed. This is a recipe. This all informs what our homes should look like. תורה, עבודה וגמילות חסדים Torah, avodah u'gemilus chasadim are the מנורה Menorah, the מזבח Mizbeach, the ארון Aron. These are תורה, עבודה וגמילות חסדים Torah, avodah u'gemilus chasadim, רב אשר וייס Rav Asher Weiss writes. And that's why the Jewish home has to be modeled with the same blueprint as the משכן Mishkan. These are the core definitions of, these are the furnishings of a Jewish home and we turn to them in the same way. We then have the מנורה Menorah. I think last year we talked about the מנורה Menorah if you want to listen online. Did the מנורה Menorah have three legs? Was it a solid base? We see there's a difference between the way the Torah tells us here and look at the way it appears on the Arch of Titus. If Titus commemorated it accurately, it's different than the way it appears in the Torah. Why is that? And how is that? We talked about some of the scholarship on that last week. The cover of the Tabernacle. And that brings us up to the walls of the Tabernacle which is what I want to study with you on page 454. That's what we're at.The Torah says, ועשית את הקרשים למשכן עצי שיטים עמדים v'asisa es hakrashim la'Mishkan atzei shittim omdim. Make the planks of the Tabernacle acacia wood standing straight up. Standing up straight. רש\"י Rashi tells us, עשית את הקרשים Asisa es ha'krashim. So the walls of the Tabernacle were made from acacia wood, a type of wood, and the planks had to be standing upright, standing the same direction that they grew. They stood side by side, on the bottom of each plank, two nodules were carved out and they slipped into a silver socket on the floor, and that's how they were held up by the two nodules, I don't even know if that's the right word, that protruded and they went into the silver socket that held it upright. Even then it would be flimsy, we're talking about heavy wooden planks. So there were also two poles that were run through the planks were side by side and then there were poles on the top and the bottom running in order to further hold them into place and that created the structure that was the perimeter of the of the משכן Mishkan. Anyone have a question? Anyone curious about something? Where in the world, where where are they right now when they're being commanded and charged to build the משכן Mishkan? They're in the desert. Where exactly are they getting this wood? It's a fair amount of wood to build the משכן Mishkan itself and to build the vessels in it. Where there's no Home Depot, there's no Lowe's, Bernie Marcus didn't exist yet. Where are they getting this wood? So says רש\"י Rashi, ועשית את הקרשים v'asisa es ha'krashim, הקרשים ha'krashim, ועשית את הקרשים v'asisa es ha'krashim. כמשמעו לכל דור ודור k'mashmao l'chol dor v'dor. It should say build the planks. What do you mean the הקרשים ha'krashim? The letter ה hey is the ה הידיעה hey ha'yediah, the planks. Don't just build planks, build the planks. Where are they getting this what's the ה הידיעה hey ha'yediah? מהו הקרשים? mahu ha'krashim? מה שהן עומדים מיוחדים לכך me'hem shehen omdim meyuchadim l'kach. You're going to build it from that which was designated, standing and ready for it. יעקב אבינו נטע ארזים במצרים וכשמת ציוה לבניו להעלותן עמהם כשיצאו ממצרים Yaakov Avinu nota arazim b'Mitzrayim v'kashemes tziva l'banav l'haalosam imam k'sheyeitzu mi'Mitzrayim. יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu had great foresight and great insight, and he planted cedarwood in Egypt. And he commanded his children, I want you to communicate, I want you to transmit this message. And the message is, whenever you get out of here, whoever gets out of here, the last to leave Egypt, turn out the light and grab the cedar tree. Why? אמר להם שעתיד הקדוש ברוך הוא לצוות אתכם לעשות משכן במדבר מעצי שיטים Amar lahem she'asid HaKadosh Baruch Hu l'tzavos eschem la'asos Mishkan ba'midbar mei'atzei shittim. השם is going to ultimately command you to construct a משכן Mishkan out of עצי שיטים atzei shittim. ראו שיהיו מזומנים בידכם re'u she'yihyu mezumanim b'yedchem. In order to ensure that it's prepared and ready for you in your hand. הוא שייסד הפייטן בפיוט שלו hu she'yisad ha'paitan b'piyut shelo. And this is what we have in the beginning of יוצר ליום ראשון של פסח Yotzer l'Yom Rishon shel Pesach. Which if you're all looking at me with a blank stare, it's for a good reason. Nobody says this stuff. Some people do, very few, and we try to avoid going to those שולס shuls. טעם מתן זורזים קורות בתינו ארזים שנדרזו להיות מוכנים בידם מקדם לכן Taam matan zorazim koros bateinu arazim she'nidrazu l'hiyos muchanim b'yadam mikodem l'chein. So there's a big lesson also by the way if the משכן Mishkan represents this microcosm of how to live our lives with exactitude, timeliness, punctuality, cleanliness and סדר seder, then what enables living with סדר seder? Preparation, being prepared. יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu is anticipating a need and he's preparing for it. If you wake up on שבת Shabbos and you say, אוי oy, we have nothing to eat today for lunch. Why is that? Because on Thursday you didn't go shopping, on Friday you didn't cook. And אין קודש בלא הכנה ein kodesh b'lo hachanah. If you don't prepare on ערב שבת Erev Shabbos, you can't eat on שבת Shabbos. So they woke up in the משכן Mishkan in the מדבר midbar and said, what are we going to build? Oh, השם HaShem gave us this great gift, these architectural plans for a משכן Mishkan, how are we going to build it? יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu, part of סדר seder, part of the formula for living a life of סדר seder is living a life of anticipation, of preparation and so on. Now these עצי שיטים atzei shittim are interesting. The פסוק pasuk tells us עצי שיטים עומדים atzei shittim omdim. They were standing up. What does it mean that they were standing up? So the ספורנו Sforno points out, how else would I think that they could be placed? Horizontally. And why would I think that? How do you put bricks in a wall? Horizontally or vertically? Horizontally. So the ספורנו Sforno writes לא שוכבים זה על זה כשורות הבנין lo shochvim zeh al zeh k'shuros ha'binyan. Don't take the wood and lay it flat on top of one another, don't think that you should build it, the walls of the משכן Mishkan, like you would build walls using bricks. That's not the design. The design instead is עומדים omdim, standing up. And why is that? Is that an architectural detail? Is it something more? The רשב\"ם Rashbam writes, עצי שיטים עומדים, זקופים ולא שוכבים atzei shittim omdim, zekufim v'lo shochvim. Standing upright, not lying down. Why? So רש\"י Rashi quotes, the הלכה halacha was because it has to be דרך גידולו derech gidulo, it has to be the way that it grows. That was the הלכה halacha. The Rav Soloveitchik expands, he says, the פסוק pasuk is utilized to teach the rule the planks of the משכן Mishkan must be cut from the acacia tree parallel to the direction of the tree's original growth and laid so the lower part of the board corresponds to the lower part of the original acacia tree. דרך גידולו Derech gidulo. If the board were to be turned upside down with the upper part of the tree corresponding to the lower part of the board, it would be invalid for building the משכן Mishkan. Deriving from this rule regarding acacia planks, the גמרא Gemara in סוכה דף מה Sukkah daf mem hey generalizes any מצוה mitzvah that includes a component of plant life has the same criteria that it has to be דרך גידולו derech gidulo. So לולב, הדסים, וערבות lulav, hadasim, and aravos have to be דרך גידולו derech gidulo. They have to be held in the direction of the original growth orientation. So if you want to be יוצא yotzei the לולב lulav by pointing it down, you're not יוצא yotzei. You're only יוצא yotzei דרך גידולו derech gidulo. It's a condition for properly observing the מצוה mitzvah if it's not דרך גידולו derech gidulo. The object, the חפצא cheftza itself is invalid. An acacia plank erected in the wrong configuration is not considered an acacia plank at all. A לולב lulav held upside down is not considered a לולב lulav. The Rav's חידוש chiddush is, is that a דין din in the גברא gavra or the חפצא cheftza? We don't have time for this now, but the Rav's חידוש chiddush is that דרך גידולו derech gidulo is not a דין din in the גברא gavra, it's not just how you hold it or how you build it, but it's a דין din in the חפצא cheftza. An upside-down לולב lulav is נישט קיין nishken לולב lulav, it's not a לולב lulav. An upside-down הדסים hadasim and ערבות aravos, they're not upside-down הדסים hadasim and ערבות aravos, they're not הדסים hadasim and ערבות aravos. They're an upside-down myrtle branch and willow. So it's not a הדסים hadasim and ערבות aravos. It's a דין din in the חפצא cheftza, not a דין din in the in the גברא gavra. Although the סכך schach that covers the סוכה sukkah also derives from plant life, it does not require דרך גידולו derech gidulo because it can be derived from any number of sources. Only when a specific species is stipulated for fulfillment of a מצוה mitzvah does the חפצא cheftza become invalid through improper orientation. So the Rav is noting the הלכה halacha and the fact that we extrapolate the הלכה halacha from this פסוק pasuk עומדים omdim, not just the acacia wood, but anything. The question though that remains is why? Why does it have to be דרך גידולו derech gidulo? Why can't I lay it sideways? Why can't I hold it upside down? Why must it be דרך גידולו derech gidulo in order for it to qualify as the חפצא של מצוה cheftza shel mitzvah, to meet that standard? Why does it have to be דרך גידולו derech gidulo? So the אור החיים הקדוש Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh gives an answer here. And I wish we had time to read it inside, but I'll tell it to you outside. And the אור החיים Ohr HaChaim says the following. He says, you know why? Because what's the purpose of doing the מצוה mitzvah? The reason we do a מצוה mitzvah is to reach for the heavens. It's to try to grow religiously and spiritually. We're doing the מצוה mitzvah to elevate ourselves. So therefore, we're stretching and we're reaching for the heights, for the heights. דרך גידולו Derech gidulo. The whole purpose we do a מצוה mitzvah is גידולו gidulo, is to grow. Is to grow as human beings, is to grow closer to השם HaShem, is to grow to be the best version of ourselves. To do it upside down is to be drawn in which direction? Back towards earth. We're not material beings, we're heavenly beings. We're not drawn towards earth, we're drawn towards the heaven. I repeated this recently, but it bears repeating. I think it's רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya who says an animal walks on four legs. The מהר\"ל Maharal writes, an animal walks on four legs and its head faces the ground. Why? For the animal, the physical world, the material world is all that there is. They're drawn to the physical world, they're drawn to the material world. That's life. The מהר\"ל Maharal says בהמה beheima is בא מה ba mah. What you see is what you get. Nobody ever comes home from parent-teacher conferences to sit with the dog or cat and say, you're underachieving, you have such potential, you could get into Ivy League, do you know who you could be? בא מה Ba mah, what you see is what you get. בהמה Beheima, it faces the ground, it's what it's drawn to the ground, it's where it will end up in the ground. We human beings, our name is אדם Adam comes from אדמה Adamah. I know I said this recently, I'm repeating it. אדם Adam comes from אדמה Adamah. אדמה Adamah is defined as rich with potential to grow. The earth is fertile for growth. Our name, in the etymology of our name is our mission and mandate to not be complacent and not be satisfied and never think we've arrived, but to always be growing. So while the animal walks on all fours and faces the ground, the human being, first of all, the human being starts on all fours. Because we begin like the animal, self-centered, selfish, need my diaper changed, I need to nurse, I want to eat, I want, I want, I want, I need, I could care less about your sleep or your needs. So we crawl on all fours like the animal, and then we, and then we, and then we stand up. Even in that, רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya says something amazing. He says that too is part of the difference between a human being and an animal. This I did not say recently. I remember thinking about this when we went to uh, Kor Berman's father's farm. We talked about this because you could witness the birth of a calf. Anyone witness the birth of a calf? You have. Why would you have? You have. Unless you know someone who owns a farm in the middle of Florida, you probably haven't. It's an incredible sight to see. Do you know something amazing about that calf when it comes out? It's done. It's ready. It starts walking, it stands, it's ready to go. שוין Shoin. בהמה Beheima, בא מה ba mah. Comes out fully formed, ready to go. A human being, a little baby comes out, and it's only several months later when it starts to crawl. I don't know, how old are babies when they crawl? Six? Six, seven months, eight months depends how precocious they are. So it starts to crawl and you get your videotape and you take the picture and you're so proud. Oh, they take crawl. And then it took a first step and it's wobbly and they fall down. And it's only later that they start to walk. Why? Even in that is symbolic. of the mission of man is to always be growth oriented. We start low to the ground, we're like the animal, we're facing the ground, and then we stand and we reach for the heavens. We go from the animal to the human being. We're on this chart, this plan of growth. The animal's במה, בהמה *bamah, behemah*, it is what you, it is. So דרך גידולה *derech gidula*, when we do מצוות *mitzvos*, they have to be used דרך גידולה *derech gidula*. In the direction that they grew to remind us it's in the direction we're growing, that we're not done, we haven't arrived. So your לולב *lulav*, your אתרוג *esrog*, your הדסים *hadassim*, your ערבות *aravos*, the קרשים *krashim* of the משכן *Mishkan*, עומדים *omdim*. We are עומדים *omdim*. We're not walking on all four, we're not facing the ground, we're not a בהמה *behemah* who's במה *bamah*, we're עומדים *omdim*. We stand upright and we stretch and we reach for the heavens. And we are אדמה *adamah*, אדם *adam*, we are continuing to want to always grow. כלי יקר *Kli Yakar* also has a comment here that we don't have time for, and I had more I wanted to say about these קרשים *krashim*, there's an amazing מדרש *medrash* about the קרשים *krashim*, but I think we're going to start with that, בעזרת השם *b'ezras Hashem*, next year.
