Transcript
Okay, good morning. Thank you for braving the elements and joining us this morning. I want to thank our sponsors, Dr. Zilan and Juliana Rosenblatt, who sponsored the Parsha class again for a רפואה שלמה refuah shleima for ישראל מאיר בן דפנה ברוריה Yisrael Meir ben Dafna Bruria. Should have a speedy and complete רפואה שלמה refuah shleima. Also, next week, please God will be at AIPAC, so there will be no Parsha class. So please note, no Parsha class next week, we'll continue the week after. This week we have the privilege of reading and studying פרשת צו Parshas Tzav.פרשת צו Parshas Tzav. So we're going to do an overview of the whole פרשה parsha, and then we'll come back to look at the opening words of the פרשה parsha and for their very inspiring message not only for the time when there was a משכן Mishkan and the offering of קרבנות korbanos, but all the way through until until today. So פרשת צו Parshas Tzav deals specifically with the קרבנות korbanos, the sacrifices. We've given an introduction several times to the idea of the sacrifices. When a person offers a קרבן korban, an animal, it's not a barbaric act, it's not an antiquated, inaccessible, unrelatable act, but a person is offering the animal in them. We've several times we've spoken about. We're made up of two components simultaneously. We have an animal soul, the נפש nefesh, and we have the godly soul, the נשמה neshama. And the animal soul represents our יצר הרע yetzer hara, animal impulse, animal instinct, animal desire. And the godly soul represents discipline, the capacity to reign sovereign, to be in charge. And when we offer a קרבן korban, we're taking the animal in us and we're offering it, we're sacrificing it. We're telling God that we purge it so that we will exclusively be disciplined, elevated, holy souls, a נשמה neshama.So פרשת צו Parshas Tzav goes through these different קרבנות korbanos and spells them out. So the פרשה parsha begins: צו את אהרן ואת בניו לאמר זאת תורת העולה Tzav es Aharon v'es banav leimor zos toras ha'olah. It begins with the קרבן עולה korban olah. This is what we're going to come back and study specifically together. But the קרבן עולה korban olah is offered exclusively to Hashem. It's all on the fire through the night. It's consumed, it's burned until it produces a pile of ash. And so the פרשה parsha continues, ואש המזבח תוקד בו v'eish hamizbei'ach tukad bo. And the כהן kohen changes his clothing, והרים את הדשן v'heirim es hadeshen, and he removes the ash. We've studied this a few weeks ago as well, the notion of the תרומת הדשן trumas hadeshen, the removal of the ash. We spoke about the peculiarity the כהן גדול's kohen gadol's wearing priestly garments to take the garbage out. And he doesn't take the garbage directly out, puts the garbage next to the מזבח mizbei'ach, and only then takes it out. And we shared the insight of Rav Hirsch that before we offer today's sacrifice, we take a moment to respect and reflect and honor yesterday's sacrifice. That the sacrifices that are made today are predicated, they're built on the sacrifices of yesterday. The כהן kohen changes his clothing and he and he continues. The קרבן עולה korban olah, here in this context it tells us, ואש המזבח תוקד בו v'eish hamizbeiach tukad bo. So the the עולה olah, the קרבן עולה korban olah, the first sacrifice, which is brought by the way for מחשבות machshavos, a person who has thoughts, הרהורי עבירה hirhurei aveira, person who fantasizes about sin, which in some way the Torah holds us even more accountable than sin itself. A person who violates a mistake, eats something, says something, looks at something, goes somewhere, they're overcome by temptation in that moment. That doesn't mean that we don't have free will and we shouldn't have been more disciplined, but it means in that moment, the person submitted, they succumbed to their temptation. But a person who has הרהורי עבירה hirhurei aveira, the person who meditates, who fantasizes, who allows themselves to lose themselves in the in the thought of עבירה aveira, they've made the conscious choice to fantasize, to think. And therefore, in some ways, it's even stricter, in some ways it's even worse. And therefore, the קרבן עולה korban olah compensates for those for those מחשבות machshavos. And as well, when we studied it previously, last year we talked about it, that the קרבן עולה korban olah compensates for arrogance, for hubris. When a person thinks that they're all that, the קרבן עולה korban olah has to be utterly consumed. As we discussed, there are two character traits that both the Rambam and the Ramban say where one has to be extreme on. Normally, we go the middle of the road. Normally, the שביל הזהב shvil hazahav, the golden mean, normally the word מדות middos means measure. All character traits belong in the mix in some measure. But the two character traits that both the Ramban and the Rambam agree don't belong in any measure in the repertoire of our character is or are anger and humility. A person has to be extreme to be patient, not to get angry, and a person has to be exceedingly humble. Arrogance is self-destructive. Anger sabotages our own happiness and our own success. So there's no moderation in these two character traits. People in the pursuit of honor and glory and making a name sacrifice, sabotage their entire lives. And people who lose their cool and get angry, destroy their relationships and business opportunities. These character traits don't belong even in moderation. A person has to be extreme in not acting in either of those ways. So that's the קרבן עולה korban olah. It's burnt on the fire the entire night. It's entirely consumed to remind us that we have to entirely purge those character traits. We don't maintain them and we don't hold them even in moderation. We have to get rid of them all together. Now you might notice in the second פסוק pasuk. זאת תורת העולה היא העולה על מוקדה על המזבח כל הלילה עד הבקר Zos toras ha'olah hi ha'olah al mokda al hamizbei'ach kol halaila ad haboker. ואש המזבח תוקד בו V'eish hamizbei'ach tukad bo. The קרבן עולה korban olah stays on the flame of the altar all night until the morning and the fire remains lit on it all the time. The fire can never be allowed to go out. What is the significance of the symbolism of the fire can never be allowed, the fire can never be allowed to go out? So the חסידישע ספרים chassidishe sforim, all have the same חסידישע ווארט chassidishe vort on the ואש המזבח תוקד בו eish hamizbei'ach tukad bo. The פסוק pasuk could have said ואש המזבח תוקד v'eish hamizbei'ach tukad. The fire of the מזבח mizbei'ach should be lit. The fire on the top of the altar needs to remain lit. In fact, it was one of the miracles of the temple that even though the מזבח mizbei'ach was outside, there was no roof or covering over it, and there were days like today here in South Florida where the rain is pouring down, miraculously the fire was never extinguished. The fire remained lit consistently, constantly all all the time. It remained, it remained lit.But why is, you'll notice, the מ mem in the word מוקדה mokda on page 568 in the Artscroll סדור חומש Siddur Chumash, you'll notice the מ mem of the word מוקדה mokda is a מ זעירא mem ze'ira. It's a small מ mem. Last week we spoke about the א זעירא alef ze'ira of ויקרא Vayikra, the small א alef. This is a small מ mem. It's not that the scribe ran out of room, so he crammed in the מ mem, so it's smaller than the other letters. We have a מסורה mesora, this is part of our הלכה למשה מסיני halacha l'Moshe m'Sinai, it's part of our תורה שבעל פה Torah she'ba'al peh, is the tradition of how a ספר תורה Sefer Torah is written and how the letters appear. So this letter is intentionally by design small. Why is the מ mem small? And why does the word, why is the word בו bo? אש המזבח תוקד בו Eish hamizbei'ach tukad bo. The fire of the מזבח mizbei'ach remains lit בו bo, on it. What does the word בו bo add? It's extraneous. And where is the word בו bo, it's a pronoun, to whom is it referring? Is it the altar? So this is where it's quoted in many, many names. The חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim said, אש המזבח תוקד בו eish hamizbei'ach tukad bo, the כוונה kavana means not the altar, the כהן kohen. The כהן kohen who's standing offering the קרבנות korbanos, אש המזבח תוקד eish hamizbei'ach tukad, the fire of the מזבח mizbei'ach has to remain lit, בו bo, in him. It can't grow stale, it can't grow old, it should never become boring, rote, routine. It has to be fresh. אש תמיד תוקד בו Eish tamid tukad bo. It has to remain lit in him. The אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, you know I was going to quote an אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim. So the ויז'ניצר Vishnitzer says on this פסוק pasuk, quoting from the קאזשניצער מגיד Kozhnitzer Maggid. The פסוק pasuk elsewhere says כי יזיד איש על רעהו להרגו בערמה ki yazid ish al re'eihu lahargo b'arma. If a person's friend rises against him to kill them בערמה b'arma, to sneak up on him. And says the קאזשניצער מגיד Kozhnitzer Maggid, זהו היצר הרע zehu hayetzer hara, הרוצה להחטיא את האדם במחשבה ובערמומיות harotzeh l'hachti es ha'adam b'machshava uv'armumius. The יצר הרע yetzer hara, our alter ego, our id, whatever psychological language or label you want to give it. The יצר הרע yetzer hara is not some little devil with a pitchfork who sits on one shoulder and the little angel on the other shoulder. That's our immature understanding of the יצר הרע yetzer hara. Our more sophisticated appreciation of the יצר הרע yetzer hara means, you know the voice that says, eat the potato, eat the potato chips, eat the chocolate cake, you deserve it, you skipped dinner seven weeks ago, you catch up now. Oh it's תענית אסתר Taanis Esther. Oh it's almost תענית אסתר Taanis Esther. You're going to fast, so have a little extra dessert. תענית אסתר Taanis Esther you're not going to eat anyway. And besides, פורים Purim you're going to let go, so you're going to let go, you might as well let go now, a week before פורים Purim, you eat a little bit now. So that voice, that's the יצר הרע yetzer hara. That's the יצר הרע yetzer hara. It's not a little devil on your on your shoulder. It's the voice inside you. It's that that alter ego. So how does that alter ego function? במחשבה ובערמומיות B'machshava uv'armumius. It works hard to come up with that creativity, to come up with to persuade you with those arguments why it's okay and why it's justified and why it's not so bad and you're still better than the next person. And all the complicated calculations that has to maintain. And בערמומיות b'armumius it sneaks up on you. And we have a tradition from the אריז\"ל Arizal, the אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim quotes the ויז'ניצר Vishnitzer, עצה מן האר\"י הקדוש eitza min ha'Ari hakadosh סגולה לזה לומר הפסוק segula l'zeh lomar ha'pasuk אש תמיד תוקד על המזבח לא תכבה eish tamid tukad al hamizbei'ach lo sichbeh. That when a person feels the יצר הרע yetzer hara sneaking up on them, when they feel that they're not living their best self, they're not eating right, exercising right, they're not דאווענען davening with כוונה kavana, they're not careful with לשון הרע lashon hara, they're not patient or slow to anger, when a person feels they're not living their best life, that the יצר הרע yetzer hara continuously is sabotaging them. The end of every day they say, this wasn't my best day. Tomorrow's going to be a better day. So the אריז\"ל Arizal had a סגולה segula, in order to make tomorrow a better day, you recite the פסוק pasuk, אש תמיד תוקד על המזבח לא תכבה Eish tamid tukad al hamizbei'ach lo sichbeh. A fire should continuously be lit on the מזבח mizbei'ach, לא תכבה lo sichbeh, it should never be extinguished. וזהו מועיל למזבחי u'zehu mo'il l'mizbachi, על ידי הפסוק אש תמיד תוקד על המזבח al yedei ha'pasuk eish tamid tukad al hamizbei'ach, מזה תכהנו למות לבד היצר הרע mizeh t'kahenu l'mos levad hayetzer hara, עד כאן ad kaan. So the אריז\"ל's Arizal's tradition was, how do you slaughter the יצר הרע yetzer hara? By keeping the fire lit on the מזבח mizbei'ach the whole time. How do you consume the יצר הרע yetzer hara? How do you obliterate, how do you destroy the יצר הרע yetzer hara? By keeping the fire lit all the time. וזה רמז כי תמיד מרמז על ענין שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד V'zeh remez ki tamid meramez al inyan shivisi Hashem l'negdi samid. That word תמיד tamid, תמיד על המזבח tamid al hamizbei'ach, that it should be continuously lit, that word תמיד tamid, consistent or constant, is a reminder, it should elicit the פסוק pasuk שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד shivisi Hashem l'negdi samid, that Hashem is before me, תמיד tamid, always. שעל ידי שויתי מטהר המחשבה She'al yedei shivisi metaher hamachshava. When a person has a has a practices mindfulness, when a person is living in a mindful way, when a person is conscious and conscientious all the time, I'm never alone. Hashem is always, he's in the room with me. Whatever I'm about to watch, he's watching with me. Whatever I'm about to say, he's overhearing. Whatever I'm about to do, he's going to see and record. Not from the perspective of punishment, he's gonna get me, lightning's gonna strike, this is gonna be terrible. If I want to get נחת nachas from my children and I wanna not lose my money in the stock market, I have to behave because he's here, he's watching, Big Brother's watching. From the perspective of, there's someone I love and admire and they're right next to me. And I don't want to disappoint them. If I were to watch that or say that or listen to this or go there or act in that way, I would terribly disappoint somebody that I admire, someone I love, someone I'm in awe of. So שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד shivisi Hashem l'negdi samid, a person has to live with a sense that Hashem is always with me. The שער הציון Shaar HaTziyun on the on the שלחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch writes, some had the tradition, we mentioned this in סדור siddur snippets a few weeks ago, to write the words שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד shivisi Hashem l'negdi samid on a piece of paper and to put it in their סדור siddur. That when you begin דאווענען davening and maybe it sits on the שטנדר shtender, it sits on the table, it sits on the טלית tallis bag, it sits wherever you're דאווענען davening, that when your mind wanders and you forget what you're saying and to whom you're saying it, you see the little פתק petek, you see the little note, and you remember, תמיד tamid, שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד shivisi Hashem l'negdi samid, you have to always remember that Hashem is with you. And I like to say it's like other relationships in life. I don't have to be reminded I'm married. It's תמיד tamid. From the moment I stood under the חופה chuppah, I remember. It doesn't matter where you go, or who you meet, or what opportunities you have, or what business trip you're on, you don't you're not tempted to do a sin and then, oh wait, one second, I've totally forgot, I'm married. I can't do that. You can't do that. You can't do that. A person knows all the time. You know, a parent, a parent, particularly of a young child, but I would argue parents of children of all ages, now that I'm in the in-law club, I have a married child who lives far away, so you're no less worried about them. And what it means to be a parent means that you're going about your normal day. And those who have an empty nest mean that it's not on a daily basis that you're changing a diaper or doing homework or giving a bath or putting to bed, or giving antibiotic to a sick child. It's not every day that you're doing that. But even if all of your children are grown up and have graduated your home and they're married and living elsewhere, your identity as their parent and your care and concern, it's forever in the background of your mind, forever. Where are they? What's going on? How are they doing? Why haven't they called? I need to call them. Why haven't they returned my call to them? Whatever is going on in your mind, so whether it's marriage, whether it's parenthood, these identities are are ones that they not may not be actively at the forefront of our mind all the time, but they represent the background of our mind all the time. And that's what the שער הציון Shaar HaTziyun was quoting this tradition. That's the tradition that we have. שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד Shivisi Hashem l'negdi samid. That a person should live life and say, oh, it's not that I was religious in שול shul, but by the time I got to work, I forgot, I'm supposed to be religious. I was at the gym, I was at the supermarket, I was having coffee with a friend, and I had some really juicy, delicious לשון הרע lashon hara to share. Or I really wanted to watch that thing, or I really wanted to cut that corner, I really wanted to to pay in cash and and save on taxes. I really wanted to do whatever, cut corners. שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד Shivisi Hashem l'negdi samid. He's with me all the time. I never, ever forget that status as being an עבד השם eved Hashem. Whether my children are with me or not, I know I'm a parent. If my spouse is with me or not, I remember I'm married. And whether I'm in שול shul with a סדור siddur or not, I remember שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד shivisi Hashem l'negdi samid. So how do you combat the יצר הרע yetzer hara? By invoking that תמיד tamid. When we invoke that mindfulness, that presence, that conscientiousness that Hashem is always with me. And this was the tradition of the אריז\"ל Arizal.In other words, understand the יצר הרע yetzer hara works. The אמרי חיים's Imrei Chaim's interpretation of the ארי Ari is exactly how it works in marriage. Right? So a person who's tempted, a person who has an opportunity, a person who's being who's being solicited by somebody else, so בערמומיות b'armumius, they're they're coming on to them and a person might might give in to a יצר הרע yetzer hara. But if they remember תמיד tamid I'm married all the time, it's not even a starter, there's nothing to talk about. This is a permanent part of who I am. It's not debatable, it's not negotiable, then they won't be vulnerable to that influence of the יצר הרע yetzer hara. So just as it's true in the context of marriage, if שויתי השם shivisi Hashem, if I'm married to Hashem, and I have a certain fidelity and loyalty to Hashem and to his expectations of me, then even when the יצר הרע yetzer hara is working בערמומיות b'armumius, במחשבה b'machshava, it's trying to to make me compromise, I remember תמיד tamid. So how do I do that? That's the point, is אש על המזבח eish al hamizbei'ach. When the fire is burning inside me all the time. When I'm on fire. I'm on fire. I'm going to שיעורים shiurim, I'm learning, I'm דאווענען davening, I'm growing, I'm volunteering, I'm giving, I'm doing. When I live with a sense of fire, when I'm on fire, so there's no room for the יצר הרע yetzer hara to come in. If the fire goes out, if it's extinguished, if the flame is lowered, then then I'm vulnerable. Then I'm vulnerable. תמיד מרמז על ענין שיויתי השם לנגדי תמיד Tamid meramez al inyan shivisi Hashem l'negdi samid. שעל ידי שיויתי מטהר המחשבה She'al yedei shivisi metaher hamachshava. וזהו אש תמיד u'zehu eish tamid, את שלהבת של שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד es shalheves shel shivisi Hashem l'negdi samid, תוקד על ידה ובעזרתה תוכל להרוג את היצר הרע לקדש ולקדש המחשבה tukad al yadah uv'ezrasah tuchal l'harog es hayetzer hara l'kadosh u'l'kadesh hamachshava. How do we defeat the יצר הרע yetzer hara and how do we sanctify our thoughts? By keeping that fire burning all the time. So it's a חסידישע ווארט chassidishe vort. The אש המזבח תוקד בו eish hamizbei'ach tukad bo, the בו bo, on it, the it is not the altar, it's not the מזבח mizbei'ach, the it, said the חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim, is the ייד Yid, a Jew. That we should always be on fire. We have to maintain and we have to preserve that fire inside us to always be on fire. This is now it's ערב פורים Erev Purim. We're in between פרשת זכור Parshas Zachor and פורים Purim, and this was exactly the mission and the strategy of עמלק Amalek. The strategy and the mission of עמלק Amalek was to put out the fire. כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael walked away from הר סיני Har Sinai and אין פייער גרעסער פון דעם ein feier gresser fun dem, nobody was ever more on fire. There was never a greater שיעור shiur or מוסר שמועס mussar shmuess or קומזיץ kumzitz or נעילה Ne'ilah than than הר סיני Har Sinai combined. It was the most magnificent, elevating moment. It was the moment, the greatest moment of revelation in history. And people walked away on fire, on fire. I'll never forget walking home from נעילה Ne'ilah many years ago with one of one of our daughters, who at the time was not particularly religiously she wasn't a bad child, but she wasn't particularly religiously on fire or motivated, but נעילה Ne'ilah, the experience of נעילה Ne'ilah she said, 'You know, I'm not in such a rush to eat. I don't think I ever need to eat again. I can't imagine not feeling so inspired amazing again.' Okay, by the time the bagel, the cream cheese was smeared on the bagel, it was already gone. But that's the nature of of the fire. But walking home was like, wow, that נעילה Ne'ilah was unbelievable. Time didn't matter. And a growling stomach didn't matter. But being lost in song and ניגונים nigunim and part of a ציבור tzibbur, a hundreds of people, and the walls reverberating with sound, we were on fire. So we walked away from הר סיני Har Sinai, we were on fire. אשר קרך בדרך Asher karcha baderech. עמלק Amalek came up and Rashi says קרך karcha from the לשון lashon of קור kor, they took cold water and they put out our fire. That's what the עמלק Amalek represents and stands for. The enemy of עמלק Amalek are those when we are תוקד בו tukad bo. We're fighting to preserve the fire inside us. We're listening to שיעורים shiurim and we're reading the kind of books and we're surrounding ourselves with the right people and we're going to שול shul and we're trying to stay on fire because we want our fire to spread. This is the only kind of fire you want it to spread. You want others to catch on fire. The beauty of fire, that's why a נשמה neshama is likened to a candle, because a fire can light something else without diminishing itself. The whole notion that a נשמה neshama is like you, נר ה' נשמת אדם ner Hashem nishmas adam, a human being is likened to a candle. You can inspire someone else without, if I give you some of my money, I have less. If I give you some of my food, I have less. Every other resource that I share, if I share it with you, I have less for me. But if I'm on fire and I light you on fire, I'm still on fire. I haven't diminished, my flame hasn't gone down whatsoever. And I could light fire after fire after fire after fire. When we light a יארצייט yahrzeit candle, what we're saying to the person who's lost is, you lit my fire. You ignited my fire. You lit my flame. I was an empty, dry, cold wick and you lit my flame. I wouldn't be here without you. So the flame represents the person who's no longer here, but it also represents that they as a flame lit us on fire. אש המזבח תוקד בו Eish hamizbei'ach tukad bo. So עמלק Amalek comes along, אשר קרך בדרך asher karcha baderech, and they just, they poured cold water. They doused our flame, they extinguished our fire. And that's the עמלק Amalek inside all of us. This is the ווארט vort. And I know we says for פרשת זכור Parshas Zachor next year. But we say in פרשת זכור Parshas Zachor on on שבת זכור Shabbos Zachor, we say a total סטירה stira, an absolute contradiction. On the one hand we say זכור zachor, we have to remember. And then we say מחה תמחה macho simcheh, you have to erase. So the fastest way to erase is to stop remembering. You know? The fact that we keep reminding ourselves and we have a מצוה mitzva, the only biblical commandment to remember, פרשת זכור Parshas Zachor. So if you're really so interested in erasing someone's memory, stop saying their name. If you keep invoking their name, it's the greatest way to keep their memory alive. So which is it? Are we trying to remember עמלק Amalek or are we trying to erase עמלק Amalek? Because there's a very counterproductive way to erase by gathering everyone together and remembering.So what's the answer? The many, many answers. The most famous answer is, is it's both. It's both. What we are remembering is the עמלק Amalek inside us. עמלק Amalek is not just a genetic nation. It's not a people. We don't have עמלק Amalek anymore. Rav Soloveitchik famously said that those who want to exterminate, those who want to destroy the Jewish people, עמלק Amalek was never a genetic people. עמלק Amalek was an attitude towards life. And Hitler was עמלק Amalek. Others, Hamas, Hezbollah, perhaps certain members of Congress. עמלק Amalek can be somebody, I'm not saying that in a joking way. Somebody who wants to exterminate and eliminate a people and who bears anti-Semitic views is is carrying on the spiritual legacy, is a spiritual heir of עמלק Amalek. So עמלק Amalek is not necessarily a genetic people, it's a way of thinking, it's a way of life. But, but the main reason we're invoking and remembering עמלק Amalek in the story of פורים Purim is to remember that עמלק Amalek is not only the external enemy, it's the עמלק Amalek inside us. That voice of putting out the fire, you don't think it exists in us? Anytime we're tempted to be caught on fire, we stop ourselves and say, it's not gonna last, it never lasts, why bother? Why bother taking on this new commitment? Why bother starting to say תהילים Tehillim or going to the שיעור shiur or or elevating our observance and our level of practice? Why bother? It's not gonna last and it's not really real. And absolutely, anyway, I know people who say תהילים Tehillim and they speak לשון הרע lashon hara and they're terrible people and they cheat in business. So why bother? We have that עמלק Amalek voice in us that tries to pour cold water on the fire in us. So what is זכור zachor? Remember, remember that there's an עמלק Amalek in us, and now erase it, erase that voice inside you. It's not a contradiction, they're both true. Remember means be mindful that there's that we're vulnerable to the עמלק Amalek inside us that's trying to minimize and diminish and dismiss and undermine and be sarcastic and cynical about everything. Erase it. Remember it's there and now go erase it and allow yourself to be lit to be lit on fire. אש המזבח תוקד בו Eish hamizbei'ach tukad bo. So why is the מ mem a small מ mem? Remember I said we're going to do the overview of the פרשה parsha and then we're going to come back to the beginning. So we're we're doing our overview. So why is the מ mem a small מ mem? So the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe, רבי מנחם מענדל פון קאצק Reb Menachem Mendel of Kotsk says, this is a small מ mem. But if you look in the word תמים תהיה עם ה' אלקיך tamim tihiyeh im Hashem Elokecha, that word תמים tamim is not a small מ mem, it's a big מ mem. It's a מ רבתי mem rabbasi. It's a full, robust, big מ mem. So why is the מ mem of תמים תהיה tamim tihiyeh big and the מ mem of מוקדה mokda is small? So said the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe, it's there to teach us that when it comes to being תמים tamim, to be simple, to be pure, to be honest, to have integrity, to be a מענטש mentch, to be ערליך ehrlich, that's a big מ mem. That the world should see. But the מ mem of that you're on fire, that's private. That's with humility. You're not on fire because you're impressing anyone. You're not on fire so you're superior to anyone. You're not on fire so you could sit in judgment of anyone. Being on fire is a private, internal experience. רבונו של עולם Ribbono shel Olam, I'm on fire in my passionate, romantic love affair with you. I can't get enough of you, Hashem. I can't wait to דאווען daven and talk to you. I can't wait to sit and listen to you talking to me. I can't wait to learn more of your Torah. I can't wait to practice more of your blueprint for life. But all of that, that's private. We don't throw that in anyone's face, we don't use it to judge others, we don't use it to feel superior or holier than thou. It's a small מ mem. Being on fire is something that's private, it's internal. The מ mem of תמים תהיה tamim tihiyeh, but the fact that we are honest and have integrity and we're ערליך ehrlich and we're whole and we're complete, that מ mem, that's a big מ mem. Let everyone see how honest we are, how righteous and religious we are, that's for me privately. The world doesn't need to see that, says the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe, that part is something which is which is very private. Very, very beautiful insight by the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe.Okay. Going further in the in the פרשה parsha. That's all about being on on fire. תוקד בו Tukad bo. Being on fire. Okay. Then we have the three fires that were in the in the משכן Mishkan, in the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash. And then we get, זאת תורת המנחה zos toras hamincha. The קרבן מנחה korban mincha. קרבן מנחה Korban mincha was actually considered to be the holiest קרבן korban. Last week's פרשה parsha, Rashi says the word נפש nefesh only appears when a נפש nefesh brings a מנחה mincha. Why is נפש nefesh connected to מנחה mincha? So Rashi there says, because who brought a קרבן מנחה korban mincha? The poor person. The person who couldn't afford an animal. An animal, if you think a piece of an animal, like a rib steak is expensive, imagine what the whole animal costs. So when you had to bring a קרבן korban, you had to take a loan. When you had to bring a קרבן korban, you took a mortgage. It was expensive. The person who couldn't afford it brought a מנחה mincha, which is a flower offering. Some flower. What's flower? Flower is among the cheapest among the cheapest products there are. So the poor person brought the קרבן korban. So הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu was more impressed, נפש nefesh, Hashem was more impressed, it's more beloved. When a rich person, even brings an animal, it doesn't represent self-sacrifice. When the poor person even has to give מנחה mincha, then that's something which comes, it's מסירות נפש mesirus nefesh, it comes with a tremendous amount of effort. The other פשט pshat that's brought is, the word מנחה mincha means, what does the word מנחה mincha mean? It means a gift. It means a gift. A מנחה mincha is a gift. When a נפש nefesh, when we give our soul to Hashem, it's the greatest gift we can give Hashem. And the greatest gift that we feel we've received is the fact that we have a soul in our body, that we're animated and that we're alive, and that we're interacting with the world. The גמרא Gemara says that מנחה Mincha of all the three תפילות tefillos, מנחה Mincha is the most beloved and the most accepted to Hashem. Because שחרית Shacharis, the beginning of the day, we've got countless מנינים minyanim in the BRS, I think we're up to seven מנינים minyanim every morning. So you figure out which one works for you, before you start your day, you get it in before you go to work, not that hard. מעריב Maariv, we're up to three מעריבs Maarivs a night at BRS, oh sorry, at the ספרדים Sefardim, four, four מעריבs Maarivs a night at BRS. So you're sneaking your מעריב Maariv at the end of your day. And if you didn't get the first one, you get the 8:30, you didn't get that, you get the 9:45, you didn't get, you're getting your מעריב Maariv. But מנחה Mincha, just ask my wife, מנחה Mincha is never, ever at a convenient time. Ever. So when the clock changes and she says, 'Ugh, מנחה Mincha is now at the worst time.' I say, 'But yesterday you said מנחה Mincha was at the worst time, before the clock changed. How could this be the worst time?' I don't know. So, מנחה Mincha is always at the worst time. מנחה Mincha is never at a good time. It's bath time, it's dinner time, it's in the middle of work, and you're right in the middle of negotiating a big deal, poof, the sun's about to go down. If you're in New York, it's 3:00 in the afternoon, it's about to be שקיעה shkiah, and you're in the middle of work, and you got to דאווען מנחה daven Mincha. You're a doctor, seeing patients, doing surgery, and you got to דאווען מנחה daven Mincha. So the fact that we interrupt our day and find a way to connect with Hashem at the most inconvenient time, that's a מנחה mincha. It's the greatest מתנה matana, it's the greatest gift, it's the most selfless act that we give Hashem. When we do the things that are convenient for us and conform with our schedule, it's nice, it's good, it's impressive, but it's not as impressive as when we do what we're willing to do when it's inconvenient. When I spoke at our Zionist other dinner last week, and I say it every year at the Zionist other dinner, when I hon when we honor and recognize the members of the חברא קדישא chevra kadisha, doing a טהרה tahara never comes at a convenient time. You never get a phone call and say, you know, it's perfect, I left tonight open two hours to go to a funeral home and sit with the cadaver and bathe it and prepare it. Never. It never comes at a convenient time, ever. That's part of the חסד של אמת chesed shel emes. Other חסדים chasadim are, no problem, in three weeks on Tuesday at 9:00 AM, I can deliver a תומך שבת tomech Shabbos or set up for the wedding or pack the food for משלוח מנות mishloach manos. I've scheduled it. But a טהרה tahara, חברא קדישא chevra kadisha work is never at a by definition, it's never at a convenient time, not for the member of the חברא קדישא chevra kadisha, nor for their spouse or children who they're leaving behind. And that's where they great deserve the greatest honor. That's why it's called the חסד של אמת chesed shel emes. So מנחה mincha is a מנחה mincha, the greatest expression of our gift to הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, is not the beginning of our day when we have a whole day ahead of us and we we want to דאווען שחרית daven Shacharis. Hashem, I need your help. Let's go through my day, and I need your help with this, I need your help with that, I need your help with the other thing. Nor is it מעריב Maariv. It's the end of my day. רבונו של עולם Ribbono shel Olam, thank you, what a great day, I want to thank you for this, and thank you for that, that could have been a little different, maybe tomorrow we could do better with it. But מעריב Maariv at the end of the day. מנחה Mincha is inconvenient, that's why it's called a gift. We have the קרבן מנחה korban mincha.Then we have, then we have the קרבן חטאת korban chatas, page 572. The קרבן חטאת korban chatas. קרבן חטאת Korban chatas is if a person does an עבירה בשוגג aveira b'shogeg, does something by accident, they bring a קרבן חטאת korban chatas, they bring a sin offering. And then the Torah interjects here the laws of כשר-ing kashering. All of a sudden. What happens if you the a קרבן korban wasn't brought properly, there was a defect, a problem with the קרבן korban, and then it remains too long in the in the vessels and it absorbs the negative taste, טעם כעיקר דאורייתא taam k'ikar d'oraisa, we learned in the דף daf, you appreciate, טעם כעיקר taam k'ikar, the fact that the taste remains in the vessel and how do you purge it and how do you cleanse it. Rav Soloveitchik points out that the גמרא Gemara records, we always read צו Tzav before פסח Pesach. This is a leap year, so we're off a month. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem. It's not even yet פורים Purim. We're off a month, but צו Tzav is normally associated with, we have במדבר Bamidbar before שבועות Shavuos and צו Tzav before פסח Pesach. And the גמרא Gemara records a tradition, which פרשה parsha we read when, and part of the reason the Rav pointed out is because here you have the laws of כשר-ing kashering. So even now, even though it's not yet פורים Purim, it's convenient for us to start thinking about the laws of כשר-ing kashering. And then we have the קרבן אשם korban asham. What's a קרבן אשם korban asham brought for? It's a guilt offering when you are not sure, when you're בספק b'safek. You're not entirely sure if you did the wrong thing or not. You bring a קרבן אשם korban asham. So listen to this great חסידישע ווארט chassidishe vort. זאת תורת האשם קדש קדשים הוא Zos toras ha'asham kodesh kodoshim hu. The laws of the guilt offering, it's קדש קדשים kodesh kodoshim, it's the most holy. Said the קאזשניצער רבי Kozhnitzer Rebbe, the קאזשניצער מגיד Kozhnitzer Maggid. זאת תורת האשם קדש קדשים היא Zos toras ha'asham kodesh kodoshim hi, זהו המקור של כל האשמה zehu hamakor shel kol ha'ashama, אם האדם חושב בלבו im ha'adam chosheiv b'libo קדש קדשים הוא kodesh kodoshim hu. You know what the source of all guilt is, you know what the problem what leads you to make all the mistakes you make? זאת תורת האשם Zos toras ha'asham. What's the Torah that brings an אשם asham? What is the driver that's leading you to making mistakes? קדש קדשים הוא Kodesh kodoshim hu. When you think you're קדש קדשים kodesh kodoshim. When you think you're God's gift, literally, you're the you think you're the Holy of Holies. You think you're all that. You think the world revolves around you. When you think you're above the law, when you start to live life with an attitude and mentality of קדש קדשים הוא kodesh kodoshim hu, you think you're all that, זהו תורת האשם zehu toras ha'asham. That's the beginning of the end for you. You think you're above the law, you think the law doesn't apply to you, you think the world has to revolve around you. That's the beginning of the end. זאת תורת האשם Zos toras ha'asham, that is the source of of sin offering.Then we have miscellaneous gifts that go to the כהן kohein, different parts of. Each of these קרבנות karbanos had different rules. Last year or two years ago, we went through, no, maybe four or five years ago, we went through the שלמים shlamim. We did a beautiful piece by the נציב Netziv of Volozhin on the שלמים shlamim. The שלמים shlamim is considered among the holiest קרבנות karbanos. The שלמים shlamim is the קרבן karban that brings peace between the Jewish people, the כהנים kohanim, the מזבח mizbeiach, and השם Hashem. How does it bring peace? What does that even mean? So all the other קרבנות karbanos are divided differently. The קרבן עולה karban olah is entirely consumed. השם Hashem is happy. We'll see in a moment, the כהנים kohanim are not so happy, and the ישראל yisrael who had to spend all the money is not so happy. The חטאות chatos, parts go here, part the שלמים shlamim, the one who bought the the animal gets to eat most of the meat. The קרבן שלמים karban shlamim go to the בעלים be'alim. Parts are gifts to the to the to the כהן kohein, parts are consumed on the altar, but the majority, and this is the exception, the majority goes to the owner, the one on whose behalf the קרבן karban was offered. And therefore it brings שלום shalom to everybody and there's a whole what does that mean and the the source of the שלמים shlamim, what the שלמים shlamim is all about. Again, we've discussed it several years ago, you could look there. So here we have the שלמים shlamim. פיגול Pigul, if a person has the wrong thought. I got those learning the דף daf, know more about פיגול pigul than they ever thought they'd know. That if a person had the wrong thought, חוץ לזמנו, חוץ למקומו chutz lizmano, chutz limkomo, what are the wrong thoughts that you could have which would disqualify the קרבן karban while you're bringing it? It's a very important powerful message. The כהן kohein is going through all the entirely right motions. Externally, everything he's doing is right and to a T. Do I care when the pharmacist is mixing my medicine what he's thinking about? What do I care? Take this powder and this water, or take these pills and count them out and put it in that bottle. At the end of the day, if I got my bottle, it's got the right pills, it's got the right powder. What do I care if he's thinking about the stock market, if he's thinking about his in-laws, if he's thinking about פסח Pesach, if he's thinking about... What do I care? All good, wonderful thoughts. What do I care? What do I care what he's thinking about? It's the end result that I care about. פיגול Pigul is a very powerful message to us again about mindfulness and mindfulness and consciousness. And Judaism is about מחשבה machshava. It's not just what we do, our external actions, it's what we're thinking. The כהן kohein does everything correct externally, but he's having the wrong thought, that wrong thought invalidates and disqualifies the קרבן karban, because being mindful, being present, having the right thoughts is entirely, is entirely about what the קרבנות karbanos are about. Can't eat the קרבנות karbanos in a state of contamination. The different חלב ודם cheilev v'dam, how they're offered, where they're offered. וכל דם לא תאכלו בכל מושבותיכם V'chol dam lo sochlu b'chol moshvoseichem. You can't eat blood. It's currently part of the דף daf. You can't eat blood anywhere. It's not just the law of the קרבן karban and the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash, but you're not allowed to eat blood, not that you're tempted to. כל נפש אשר תאכל כל דם ונכרתה הנפש ההיא מעמיה Kol nefesh asher tochal kol dam v'nichresa hanefesh hahi mei'ameha. It's a very severe punishment because דם הוא הנפש dam hu hanefesh, the blood represents the life force. It is it is life itself. Then the פרשה parsha goes through the different parts of the animal, and then we get to the end of the פרשה parsha, which is the consecration of the כהנים kohanim, which is for seven days they prepared. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu wore the priestly garments and he went through a dry run of how the of how the משכן Mishkan was going to function, and they needed to be anointed and they needed to be brought in, and only then was it ready for opening day at the at the משכן Mishkan. And the very end of the פרשה parsha, the very end of the פרשה parsha, ומפתח אהל מועד לא תצאו שבעת ימים עד יום מלאת ימי מלואיכם Umipesach ohel moed lo seitzu shivas yamim ad yom milos yemei milueichem. You can't leave the entrance of the אוהל מועד ohel moed for seven days until the day of the completion of your investiture days. Right? So they weren't allowed to leave from the entrance of the אוהל מועד ohel moed until for the seven days, until the end of the investiture, until the ends of the of the inauguration. This was the rule. The רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya points out it doesn't mean literally they remain at the אוהל מועד ohel moed uninterrupted for seven days. A person has to eat, go to the bathroom, has other needs, but it means that they have to remain as long as there are קרבנות karbanos being done during the hours that קרבנות karbanos were being done, they had to remain there at that time. Why? The בית הלוי Beis HaLevi wonders why.So he writes the following. Proper preparation is a necessary condition for any encounter with holiness. For example, in the prelude to receiving the Torah, משה Moshe warned the nation, be ready for three days. Don't go near a woman. Similarly, אהרן Aharon had to submit to a seven-day preparation period prior to the dedication of the משכן Mishkan. And every כהן גדול kohein gadol subsequently went through a similar sequester prior to יום כיפור Yom Kippur. All involved an encounter with holiness. Anytime there's an encounter with holiness, it demands what? Preparation. The prohibition of מוקצה muktzeh is centered on the need for preparation. Among the prohibitions of מוקצה muktzeh is food that was not prepared prior to שבת Shabbos. One does not merit, nor is one worthy of celebrating שבת Shabbos unless one prepares for it. The רמב\"ם Rambam writes, it's a מצוה mitzvah to wash one's face, hands, and feet in hot water ערב שבת erev Shabbos, due to the honor of שבת Shabbos. One wraps himself in a טלית tallis, sits with his head covered, anxiously awaiting the reception of שבת Shabbos, as if he were going to greet a king. The מצוה mitzvah of ספירת העומר Sefiras Ha'omer involves preparation for receiving the Torah. One similarly counts the years before שמיטה shmita and יובל yovel's preparation. Holiness does not arrive suddenly. It comes only by the invitation inherent in the act of preparation. אין קדושה בלי הכנה Ein kedusha bli hachana. There can be no holiness without preparation. We don't stumble upon holiness. It's once a book stumbling upon happiness. Maybe you stumble on happiness, but you don't stumble on holiness. Holiness comes only with preparation, with effort, with getting ready. אין קדושה בלי הכנה Ein kedusha bli hachana. A person who prepares for שבת Shabbos has what to eat on שבת Shabbos. But you can't have anything to eat on שבת Shabbos if you haven't prepared. So all these examples, including this end of the פרשה parsha and the the notion that the seven-day preparation is in order to encounter holiness. How do you keep the fire lit? Preparation, preparation. So it occurs to me that just like the כהן גדול kohein gadol had to be sequestered for seven days prior to יום כיפור Yom Kippur, before he could walk into יום כיפור Yom Kippur, he had to purify himself, he had to be prepared. You couldn't have the elevating holy experience, the transformative experience of a יום כיפור Yom Kippur, if you didn't prepare in advance. Well, we have a holiday. It's coming up tomorrow night. And יום כיפור Yom Kippur pales in comparison to it. It is only יום הכיפורים Yom HaKippurim. But really, פורים Purim is the great. I gave a talk at Century Village last week about פורים Purim and יום כיפורים Yom Kippurim, two sides of the same coin. רב חוטנר Rav Hutner's פחד יצחק Pachad Yitzchak, several pieces in רב חוטנר Rav Hutner, based on the גרא Gra, on the two sides of the same coin. What does that mean that יום כיפור Yom Kippur pales in comparison to פורים Purim? פורים Purim's a רבנן rabbinic holiday. יום כיפור Yom Kippur's a biblical holiday. יום כיפור Yom Kippur, I I'm angelic. I'm fasting. I need no worldly pleasures. I'm completely entirely immersed in a in a holy environment. I'm דאווענען davening the whole day. And פורים Purim? I'm running around dressed up like a weirdo, drinking and making לחיים lechaims, delivering and receiving משלוח מנות mishloach manos, and that's a holier day than my קיטל kittel and my טלית tallis and my white shoes and יום כיפור Yom Kippur? פורים Purim's a holier day? The answer is yeah, פורים Purim's a much, much holier day. And if you want to know how, what רב חוטנר Rav Hutner's thinking was, you could listen to that online. But my point now is, that's why the פורים סעודה Purim seudah coincides with and is eaten at the same time as what? נעילה Neilah. פורים סעודה Purim seudah is the נעילה Neilah of פורים Purim. Yeah, the פורים חגיגה Purim chagigah, פורים Purim night is wonderful. The מגילה megillah at night and in the morning is a מצוה mitzvah. And delivering משלוח מנות mishloach manos and distributing them, מתנות לאביונים matanos l'evyonim, they're all גישמאק geshmak, they're wonderful. But you sit down to that פורים סעודה Purim seudah, and that's our נעילה Neilah of פורים Purim. What my daughter experienced walking around from נעילה Neilah is what we should experience walking away, not stumbling away, but walking away from the פורים סעודה Purim seudah. אשם מבעיר תוקד בו Eisham m'va'ir tukad bo, we should be on fire, should be on fire. So if יום כיפור Yom Kippur requires preparation, and the כהן גדול kohein gadol had to spend a week before he could have a יום כיפור Yom Kippur, and יום כיפור Yom Kippur only pales in comparison to פורים Purim, it means you can't stumble into פורים Purim. Now you can't stumble into פורים Purim where all of a sudden you have no משלוח מנות mishloach manos, so you feel like a fool, you keep answering the door, people are giving you and you have nothing to give them back. Obviously in a very practical way, פורים Purim requires preparation. You have to be ready to reciprocate. You have to plan your סעודה seudah, you have to cook, you have things that have to do. But often we get very consumed and distracted by the physical preparations for פורים Purim, we fail to spiritually prepare. And just like you get out of יום כיפור Yom Kippur what you put into it, and נעילה Neilah will have its lasting impact only based on how much you prepared for it, the same is true with פורים Purim. You have to prepare for פורים Purim. You have to get your head in the right פורים Purim space. You have to learn the right תורה Torah that's going to inspire and elevate a person for פורים Purim. Okay, we've actually finished the overview. We're going to go back to look at the beginning of the פרשה parsha.Unbelievable. Look how we're growing. Okay. Let's go back to the very beginning. צו Tzav. צו Tzav. וידבר השם אל משה לאמר צו את אהרן ואת בניו לאמר זאת תורת העולה היא העולה על מוקדה על המזבח Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe leimor tzav es Aharon v'es banav leimor zos toras ha'olah hi ha'olah al mokda al hamizbeiach. So we discussed this. The קרבן עולה karban olah is entirely consumed, it sits on the fire the whole night. The בוא bo, the fire has to be lit. Light that fire inside you. זאת דעת רש\"י Zos da'as Rashi. צו את אהרן Tzav es Aharon, what does it mean? This is an unusual word, not צו tzav, usually you say אמור, דבר emor, daber, we have other words. Here the word צו tzav is used. Why is the word צו tzav used here? Says רש\"י Rashi, לשון זרוז מיד ולדורות lashon ziruz miyad ul'doros. צו Tzav has three meanings. It means זריזות zerizus, means do it with alacrity, with zeal, with enthusiasm, with a fire lit in your belly. The way you run to the all you could eat שמורג shmorg. Whatever excites you, whatever gets you going, whatever you run to. זריזות Zrizus. מיד Miyad, immediately. Don't wait, don't delay, don't hesitate, don't procrastinate. ולדורות Ul'doros, and for generations to come, not just for now. So the word צו tzav means those three things. Means those three things. The בית הלוי Beis HaLevi says, the Torah often uses a variant of the word צו tzav in discussing service specifically in the משכן Mishkan. ואתה תצוה V'ata tetzaveh. רש\"י Rashi in the פסוק pasuk provides the following background. The word צו tzav is meant to express urgency. The רב rav is describing or defining זריזות zrizus as urgency. We define it as alacrity, zeal, run, enthusiasm and fire. But the רב rav is defining זריזות zrizus as urgency, for both the immediate moment and for future generations. The Torah must, and רש\"י Rashi gives us the reason, this is what we're going to look at more closely in a moment, that the Torah has to express urgency in a situation where there's a loss of money. Many מצוות mitzvos can involve monetary loss. Why is the word צו tzav used specifically in the context of the sacrifices? You know what else costs a lot of money? An אתרוג esrog. It doesn't say צו tzav when it says take the ד' מינים daled minim. You know what else costs a lot of money? Jewish education. It doesn't say צו tzav when it talks about ושננתם לבניך v'shinantam l'vanecha. So why צו tzav here? There's a lot of parts. Every part of being an observant Jew costs a lot of money. Why here? The loss of money is intrinsic to certain מצוות mitzvos, such as the מצוה mitzvah of giving charity. Thus the פסוק pasuk says צו את בני ישראל tzav es Bnei Yisrael give to the לוים Leviim from their hereditary possession cities in which to dwell. The word צו tzav is used when a loss of assets is intrinsic to the מצוה mitzvah. Offering a sacrifice similarly involves such a loss of assets. רש\"י Rashi used the term זריזות zrizus in describing how the מצוה mitzvah is to be fulfilled. An urgent, an urgency associated with מצוות mitzvos that involve monetary loss. So the רב rav says it's true, other מצוות mitzvos cost money, but they don't have to. If you have an אתרוג esrog tree in your backyard and you can grow an אתרוג esrog, it doesn't have to cost you a lot of money. If you choose to homeschool your child, it doesn't have to cost you a lot of money. But then we have certain מצוות mitzvos that intrinsically and by definition cost you money. What is the meaning of לדורות l'doros, wonders the רב rav, in this context? The מצוות mitzvos of מזוזה, תפילין, and שבת mezuzah, tefillin, and Shabbos are clearly לדורות l'doros. Thousands of years have gone by and these מצוות mitzvos are observed as they had been when they were originally given. But in what way are the מצוות mitzvos of the משכן Mishkan practiced today? There has been no קרבן תמיד karban tamid for almost 2,000 years. In what sense does the מצוה mitzvah of offering קרבנות karbanos continue? How is it לדורות l'doros, the מצוה mitzvah of קרבנות karbanos? The גמרא Gemara in מגילה דף ל\"א Megillah daf lamed aleph recounts the conversation between השם Hashem and אברהם Avraham in the context of the ברית בין הבתרים Bris bein habesarim. אברהם Avraham asked how he was to know that God would not forsake the Jewish people if they sinned. השם Hashem answered in the merit of the קרבנות karbanos. אברהם Avraham insisted that this merit is fine when the קרבנות karbanos are in existence, but what is to happen after the destruction of the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash? So השם Hashem replied that if the בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael learn the law surrounding the sacrifices, he would consider their study as virtual sacrificial offering. When we cannot offer sacrifices, we recite the הלכות halachos pertaining to them as a substitute. There is a מקדש Mikdash in our days as well, not physically, but through הלכה halachic study. This is the מסורה mesora of תורה שבעל פה Torah sheba'al peh. We read פרשת שקלים Parshas Shekalim as if the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash was still standing. It is לדורות l'doros. פרשת פרה Parshas Parah reminds us to be ritually pure so we can bring the קרבן פסח karban Pesach. Although we no longer offer a קרבן פסח karban Pesach, we read פרשת פרה Parshas Parah as if the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash still exists. So when we learn the הלכות halachos of קרבנות karbanos, when we read these sections, when we recite קרבנות karbanos as part of our דאווענען davening in the morning, then it is לדורות l'doros. We are keeping this alive. It's not over, it's not ancient. When we long for a return of a בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, it is not something which is over, but it's something which is part of our collective consciousness permanently and and forever.So what is this word צו tzav? Let's go back to the word צו tzav. צו Tzav, זריזות, מיד, ולדורות zrizus, miyad, ul'doros, with alacrity, with zeal, immediately, and for generations to come. רש\"י Rashi notes the harsh and unusual unusual language, that the כהנים kohanim had to be recruited. Other מצוות mitzvos, you could say דבר, אמור daber, emor. Tell them about this nice מצוה mitzvah and they're going to want to do it. In this, it's צו tzav. It's harsh, command, demand, tell them what they have to do because they're going to hesitate. They might be a little bit reluctant. Why would they be reluctant? Why do they need this firm encouragement? Why would they hesitate? What would be their hesitation? We find later, by the way, also that they have a hesitation. If you open to פרק ח' פסוק ב' perek ches, pasuk beis, which is on page 580, the פסוק pasuk says, קח את אהרן ואת בניו אתו ואת הבגדים ואת שמן המשחה ואת פר החטאת ואת שני האילים ואת סל המצות Kach es Aharon v'es banav ito v'es habegadim v'es shemen hamishcha v'es par hachatas v'es shnei ha'eilim v'es sal hamatzos. קח Kach is a pretty harsh word, too. קח Kach. I say to one of my children, take your little brother, take your little sister. I don't know that משה Moshe should be told קח את אהרן kach es Aharon, take your older brother. קח Kach, take? It's a little bit of a harsh word to describe a relationship between משה Moshe and אהרן Aharon. He's not grabbing him by the hand. He's not cradling him in his arms or putting him on his shoulders. What does קח kach mean? Says רש\"י Rashi, קחנו בדברים ומשכהו kachhu bidvarim umoshcheihu. Use your words to take him and to drag him. Means, again, אהרן's Aharon's hesitating, and משה Moshe has to appeal to him, has to persuade him. קח Kach means not with a leash, not with your arm, don't hold him by the hand. קח Kach means use your words, persuade him with your words to come. So again, what was אהרן's Aharon's hesitation? אהרן ובניו Aharon u'vanav, אהרן Aharon and his sons had enough of a hesitation that משה Moshe had to be קח kach. He had to try to persuade him with his words. What was he reluctant? What were they reluctant about? Why did they need to be persuaded and why did they need to be persuaded particularly about about this מצוה mitzvah? So let's go back to רש\"י Rashi. רש\"י Rashi says at the beginning of the פרשה parsha, אמר רבי שמעון amar Rabbi Shimon, it's according to the גמרא Gemara in קידושין Kiddushin. אמר רבי שמעון ביותר צריך הכתוב לזרז במקום שיש בו חסרון כיס Amar Rabbi Shimon b'yoser tzarich hakasuv le'zareiz b'makom sheyesh bo chesron kis. You know why they need a little extra encouragement? Because מצוות mitzvos that don't cost you any money, מצוות mitzvos where you don't take a financial hit, when you don't have to lose, so you're happy to do them, you run to do them. But the מצוות mitzvos that cost a lot, maybe you hesitate. Maybe there's a pause. You need a little bit of encouragement in order to get going. What does this mean that there's a חסרון כיס chesron kis? What does it mean that there's a חסרון כיס chesron kis, that there's a loss of money? So there's a lot of different interpretations exactly what this means, several different interpretations what this means. The אור החיים הקדוש Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh says, אמר רז\"ל amar razal... he quotes רב שמעון Rav Shimon... It's the night shift. The עולה olah's got to burn on the מזבח mizbeiach overnight. Someone's got to take the night shift. So it takes a little bit more encouragement to ask somebody to take the overnight shift. It means that you had to not do other work. You had to sacrifice another job. Right? You could have been, speak to every מחנך mechanech or רב rabbi, I could have been the best lawyer, the best doctor, I could have been making a killing. I'm underpaid, I'm underappreciated, I could have been making a lot more. So כהנים kohanim felt the same way. כהנים Kohanim said, you know if I wasn't serving in the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash and getting a measly portion of what everyone else is eating, then I could have been out there the best farmer here. I would have had the best crop. I could have been wealthy. So the חסרון כיס chesron kis is, according to the אור החיים הקדוש Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh, possibly the חסרון כיס chesron kis is, could have had another job. יש אומרים חסרון כיס לישראל Yeish omrim chesron kis l'Yisrael. Some say the חסרון כיס chesron kis is not a loss incurred by the כהנים kohanim, it's a loss that's incurred by the rest of the Jewish people. because the one who's bringing the קרבן karban, in other קרבנות karbanos gets at least to get some of the meat. You go home with some barbecue, some dinner. Here, you have to bring a קרבן עולה karban olah, you get nothing. So the כלל ישראל klal Yisrael were the חסרון כיס chesron kis is the owner, the one who's bringing the sacrifice. יש אומרים חסרון כיס לכהן Yeish omrim chesron kis la'kohein. The אור החיים Ohr HaChaim then quotes maybe it's the כהן kohein who's incurring the חסרון כיס chesron kis. Not because he had to do the night shift, not because he gave up having another job, but because other קרבנות karbanos he gets a piece of the קרבן karban too. And this קרבן karban, the עולה olah, is entirely consumed on the fire, the only thing he gets is a leather jacket, a new briefcase, a pair of shoes, a belt, he gets the leather, but that's all he gets, none of the meat. And the אור החיים Ohr HaChaim says all four or five of those suggestions, I reject them all. They're רחוקים בעיני rechokim b'einai, they're very distant in my eyes. Maybe it's not talking about the קרבן karban, maybe it's about the fuel, the fire, the the wood. there were three fires. One of the fires actually never had anything on it, it just was in fulfillment of having a נר תמיד ner tamid, of having an אש תמיד eish tamid, of having a fire there all the time. So what's the חסרון כיס chesron kis? When you feel that you're paying for collecting, gathering, cutting down, schlepping trees to keep a fire going, and the fire is doing nothing. It's not being used for its warmth, it's not being used for its light, and it's not being used to barbecue or to consume the meat. So a person might feel, what a waste, what a חסרון כיס chesron kis. The קרבן תמיד karban tamid, we make a very big deal out of the קרבן תמיד karban tamid. The קרבן תמיד karban tamid is very significant, is very holy. So maybe the קרבן תמיד karban tamid, which is not limited to the כהנים kohanim, but is offered on behalf of everybody, so the morning תמיד tamid is the key offering, no other offering of the whole day can be brought until the morning קרבן karban is is offered. And maybe that's the חסרון כיס chesron kis that they had to contribute to it. The אור החיים Ohr HaChaim has a long discussion of what the חסרון chesron of what the חסרון כיס chesron kis is. What does it mean it costs the כהנים kohanim money?So I saw a very interesting insight or interpretation from a ספר sefer called שער בת רבים Shaar Bas Rabim. It's the name of the ספר sefer, שער בת רבים Shaar Bas Rabim. And he says the following. במקום שיש חסרון כיס יש חסרון בדעת B'makom sheyesh chesron kis, yesh chesron b'daas. You know what happens when it costs you money? It's hard to concentrate. It's hard to feel good about what you're doing. When something costs you money, it also costs you peace of mind. Because if you rely on money, and we all do, money is our life source, money sustains us, money enables us to function, it protects us, it nourishes us. So a person who fears that if I'm spending... So again, if you have unlimited money, so there's no חסרון chesron... Well, you're paying for this, it doesn't bother you. But if, you know, paying the shul dues or giving מעשר maaser or giving out מתנות לאביונים matanos l'evyonim or buying food for פסח Pesach makes you worry about how you're going to pay your other bills, and you're trying to triage how you're going to pay your bills, so חסרון כיס chesron kis is חסרון דעת chesron daas. כמו שאמרו חז\"ל, אם אין קמח אין תורה K'mo she'amru Chazal, im ein kemach ein Torah. Right? What does it mean אם אין קמח אין תורה im ein kemach ein Torah? So אם אין קמח אין תורה im ein kemach ein Torah, normally we use to mean that if there's no one supporting Torah, there's no Torah. If there's no one to pay the bills for the כולל kollel or the ישיבה yeshiva, the בית מדרש beis medrash, the seminary, the adult ed, then there's no one to keep the AC on, the lights on, pay the רבנן rabbeim, אין קמח אין תורה ein kemach ein Torah. He's understanding it differently. אין קמח אין תורה Ein kemach ein Torah means, אין קמח ein kemach, if you don't have food to eat, אין תורה ein Torah, you can't concentrate on learning Torah. אין חסרון כיס Ein chesron kis... יש חסרון כיס יש חסרון דעת Yesh chesron kis, yesh chesron daas. אין קמח אין דעת Ein kemach, ein daas. אין תורה Ein Torah. Says in the ירושלמי Yerushalmi, מעשה ברבי יוחנן maaseh b'Rabbi Yochanan, lost his wallet. his students asked him, רבי יוחנן Rabbi Yochanan, we have a קשיא kasha, we have a שאלה shaila, they asked him a question in learning, he couldn't answer. they they said to him, אבד דעתך avad da'atcha? You lost your wallet, now you can't think? רבי Rebbe, you're רבי יוחנן Rabbi Yochanan. you lost your wallet, okay, so you know, you'll call and cancel the credit cards, you'll have to figure out how much cash was in there, you have to renew your driver's license. It's annoying, it's a pain. So during בין הסדרים bein hasdarim, right at lunch, you'll go home and you'll order new credit cards. But רבי Rebbe, we're right now we're learning. You can't concentrate on learning because you lost your wallet? So, רבי יוחנן Rabbi Yochanan answered, הדעת בלב תלוי והלב בארנק תלוי hadaas b'leiv talui v'haleiv b'arnak talui. The דעת daas depends on the heart, and the heart depends on the wallet. רומז שכיש חסרון כיס יש חסרון בדעת Romez she'kiyesh chesron kis, yesh chesron b'daas. You see from the story, from this ירושלמי Yerushalmi, that when a person is worried about their financial stability and well-being, when they're worried about how they're going to pay the bills, when they're worried about the cost of something... I don't mean a stingy person who could afford it, but you know, every dollar drives them crazy. I mean a person who's genuinely concerned about how they'll pay their bills and how they'll take care of themselves, that that worry precludes or prevents a person from having דעת daas, you have no peace of mind. The קרבן עולה karban olah where they had to sacrifice everything, they didn't go home with any dinner, they didn't go home with any lunch, also meant they didn't go home with any peace of mind. So that's what they needed צו tzav, they hesitated because they would lack a piece of mind. They needed a little push. So this beautiful ספר sefer that was quoting this insight says the same is true when it comes to our children. Very interesting insight. The רמב\"ם Rambam writes in הלכות יום טוב hilchos Yom Tov that when we want to inspire our children to learn, we give them prizes. That when a person has a prize, when they feel that there's a reward associated with what they're doing, they do it with alacrity and zeal, they're more inclined to do it. When there's no reward associated with what they're doing, צו tzav, then the only thing you can get to get them going is to command, is to demand it of them. But if it's exciting for them because there's an internal payout, they believe there's a reward associated with what they're doing, they're going to be inclined to do it. So the רמב\"ם Rambam describes that if you want to motivate children, we have עושה בנים, ושננתם oseh banim, v'shinantam, we have raffles and prizes and candies, and if you want to motivate children, you give it out. So the ספר sefer learns from here that the best way to inspire is not to threaten, but is to reward. You can give negative consequences, you can give positive. You can you can condition negatively or positively. So the best way you see from here is to condition positively, not to not to condition negatively. That is his that is his insight. I also saw a couple other very interesting ideas. רב השל\"ה Rav HaShlah of Cracow says why do you need more זריזות zrizus here? So he writes the following. Because it's צו tzav, that's why you need זריזות zrizus. מכיוון שבשעה שהקדוש ברוך הוא מצוה על האדם לקיים, מיד היצר הרע מאיים שלא לקיים Mikeivan she'b'sha'ah she'HaKadosh Baruch Hu metzaveh al ha'adam l'kayeim, miyad ha'yetzer hara me'ayeim shelo l'kayeim. When you are internally motivated to do something, so your יצר הרע yetzer hara doesn't try to sabotage it. But when someone tells you you have to do something, now the יצר הרע yetzer hara kicks in and tells you that you don't. And that's why he quotes the חז\"ל, הגמרא בקידושין דף ל\"א Chazal, the Gemara in Kiddushin daf lamed aleph, גדול מצווה ועושה ממי שאינו מצווה ועושה gadol metzuveh v'oseh m'mi she'eino metzuveh v'oseh. You know the גמרא Gemara says that a person who is commanded to do something gets more of a reward than the person not commanded. And we never understood that. What do you mean? The person volunteering is showing a greater initiative. So the one volunteering should get the greater reward. Why is it that the one who is commanded gets gets the greater reward? So he says, because the one who is volunteering doesn't have to combat a יצר הרע yetzer hara. The one who's volunteering is so driven and so excited, they get the internal reward of doing something that they were inspired to volunteer to do. But the one who really doesn't want to do it and is just being commanded has to combat the יצר הרע yetzer hara, and therefore the reward is greater. I remember a רבי rebbe as a child explaining it to us that if your parents are not home and you want to surprise them, so you're going to clean your room or you're going to clean the kitchen, you're going to put away dinner. And they didn't ask you to and they don't expect you to, but you're so excited to do it on your own and to volunteer to do it, that's one thing. But if they tell you you have to and you really don't want to, so who deserves the greater reward? True, the one who is volunteering is volunteering, but they get the reward by knowing that they volunteered and the positive feedback they'll get from having volunteered. A person who doesn't want to do it, but has to fight through to do it anyway, they're the one who deserves the greater reward. So said רב השל\"ה Rav HaShlah of of Cracow, that's the פשט pshat. Because it's צו tzav, because it's צו tzav, now it needs לשון זריזות lashon zrizus. Because it was commanded, now now the יצר הרע yetzer hara is going to arise and now you have to and now you have to find it, now you have to you have to combat it.So coming back, what was the hesitation? חסרון כיס Chesron kis, because it would cost them money? Do we think so lowly of the כהנים kohanim, because it would cost them money then they wouldn't want to be doing it, they wouldn't have an interest in doing it? And קח את אהרן ואת בניו kach es Aharon v'es banav. משה Moshe had to appeal, he had to persuade. קחנו בדברים Kachhu bidvarim, he had to use his words to try to drag אהרן Aharon and his sons to come and to do this. We find it also later in פרשת קרח Parshas Korach, when the choice of the כהנים kohanim was later contested in פרשת קרח Parshas Korach, we find it, the מדרש Midrash suggests אהרן Aharon himself hesitated because of his humility. The פסוק pasuk says קח את אהרן kach es Aharon. אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא, פתהו בדברים Amar lo HaKadosh Baruch Hu, pataihu bidvarim. Persuade him with words. לפי שהוא בורח מן השררה L'fi shehu borei'ach min has'rara. אהרן Aharon is running away from leadership. He doesn't want a position of leadership. He doesn't want a title. אין קח אלא לשון פיתוי Ein kach ela lashon pitui. קח Kach means not physically, it means to persuade with words. So, אהרן Aharon was showing the proper attitude of running away from honor. The משנה Mishna... says, person who chases honor, honor runs away from them. Person who runs away from honor, honor runs after them. So אהרן Aharon was showing the right was showing the right attitude. But what did משה Moshe say? What were his words? So what's the צו tzav? What was the hesitation that you needed צו tzav? And what was the hesitation that you needed קח kach? Go take and use words. So my friend, Rabbi Kenny Schiowitz, has a little דברי תורה divrei Torah pamphlet he wrote on ספר ויקרא Sefer Vayikra and here in פרשת צו Parshas Tzav, this is his insight, and he suggests the answer we could find later in פרשת במדבר Parshas Bamidbar. We end with this. Later in פרשת במדבר Parshas Bamidbar, we find קח kach again. Not between משה Moshe and אהרן Aharon, now it's between משה Moshe and who's משה's Moshe's successor? יהושע Yehoshua. ויאמר השם אל משה קח לך את יהושע בן נון איש אשר רוח בו וסמכת את ידך עליו Vayomer Hashem el Moshe kach lecha es Yehoshua bin Nun ish asher ruach bo v'samachta es yadcha alav. Take יהושע Yehoshua and put your hands on him. And here again, רש\"י Rashi says take doesn't mean pick up יהושע Yehoshua like he's a little child. קח לך Kach lecha means קחנו בדברים kachnu bidvarim, take him with words. But here רש\"י Rashi elaborates more. What were the words that משה Moshe told יהושע Yehoshua in order to persuade him? משה Moshe told him, אשריך שזכית להנהיג בניו של מקום ashrecha shezachisa l'hanhig banav shel makom. Wow, how lucky, how fortunate, how blessed you are to have the opportunity to lead the children of השם Hashem. The words that משה Moshe used were, אהרן Aharon, this is not a job. You're right, חסרון כיס chesron kis. If you're in it for the money, it's a חסרון כיס chesron kis. If you're in it for the money, you'll make more as a lawyer, a doctor, a businessman, a stockbroker, you can make a lot more money doing something else. But to have the privilege, אשריך ashrecha. If it's a calling, if it's what you see as your mission in life, then you're not worried about the חסרון כיס chesron kis. You're not worried about how much you're paid or what you've incurred as a financial loss. But says משה Moshe to יהושע Yehoshua, קח kach, what words that he used to persuade him? And Rabbi Schiowitz is suggesting, these are also the words perhaps that he used to persuade his own brother אהרן Aharon. The words were, don't focus on the חסרון כיס chesron kis. Don't look at what you're giving up in גשמיות gashmiyus, physically. Don't look at the sacrifice monetarily. Look at the privilege that you have to devote and to live your life as if it's a calling, that what you're doing in life is a calling. It's not just a job. If it's a job, you could be resentful, you're not paid as much as other jobs. But if it's a calling, then you'll feel privileged and honor that what you're doing is a calling. Have a good שבת Shabbos, a פרייליכן פורים freilichen Purim, and a good יאר yahr.
