Transcript
Good morning. בוקר טוב Boker tov. Great to be back together and studying the פרשה parsha together. I want to thank our generous sponsor for the פרשה parsha series for the year, dear friends Becky and Avi Katz and family, in memory Becky's father David Grossman. Our learning should be לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנש leilui nishmas Dovid ben Menachem Monish. Also, this morning's particular class is co-sponsored by Mayor Berkowitz in commemoration of the יארצייט yahrzeit of his beloved mother, רחל לאה בת צבי Rochel Leah bas Tzvi, and by Rabbi Chaim and Evelyn Fierer to express their הכרת הטוב hakaras hatov to השם Hashem for his חסדיו chasadav and thank their friends and dedication and support throughout Evelyn's recovery from surgery. She'd have a continued and complete רפואה שלמה refuah shleima. We apologize for any confusion that happened in the weekly over this.Also, I want to thank before we begin. You may remember a couple weeks ago I mentioned I have a friend who when I mention a ספר sefer that I don't have, the next thing you know I get the ספר sefer in the mail. So we had quoted a דרשות הרא\"ן Drashos HaRan. He had just sent me that ספר sefer דרשות הרא\"ן Drashos HaRan. So you may recall I made a joke. I said, you know, I also don't have a Tesla in my driveway. So, before any of you get too excited, I did not get a Tesla in my driveway, but I did a few days later get an Amazon package in the mail. Curiously, I opened it up and it was a model Tesla. So I want to thank Shani Braun. Shani Braun who sent me my model Tesla. So I've been debating what to ask for for today. What don't we have that we would like for today? I don't know. We'll take a week off of putting the pressure on everybody.We have the privilege of studying together פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim, one of my favorite פרשיות parshiyos in the Torah. פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim, as you know, is replete with countless מצוות mitzvos, but not מצוות mitzvos and commandments that we think of usually, ordinarily, as in ritual law, religious law, spiritual law. פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim is packed with civil, tort, criminal law, all the boring, legal, encyclopedic, mundane, minutiae stuff that we don't really think feel so religious in nature. And so I want to open up with that thought and mention that I think last year, but I want to continue with it and bring you some further sources about it. Why it's so critically important, why משפטים mishpatim is what differentiates our religion and our people. And I want to offer a charge for our Jewish educational system, something that I think that we can really, really use. In some cases, some are excelling at, and others that we need a lot of work. So משפטים mishpatim begins with the letter ו' vav. ואלה המשפטים V'eileh hamishpatim. We are in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash page 469. That ו' vav, we all learned in school you don't begin a sentence with the word and. ואלה V'eileh, and these are the משפטים mishpatim. So the ו' vav is a ו' החיבור vav hachibur. It's a ו' vav that is uniting. The opening Rashi on the פרשה parsha already tells us that the ו' vav is connecting us to the פרשה parsha that comes before. How is it connecting us? Last week we read about, we heard about, we learned about, we re-experienced and we re-experience daily קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah, receiving the Torah. We revisit, we go back to סיני Sinai over and over and over again. That was the highest high, the most lofty, is unbelievable. We were on top of the mountain. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu spoke to us בכבודו ובעצמו b'kvodo u've'atzmo, unprecedented, unparalleled revelation. Our נשמה neshama was on fire. We weren't a body struggling to remember it had a soul, we were a soul that could barely tolerate that we had a body. Our נשמה neshama was on fire. And here we are one week later, וְאֵלֶּה הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים v'eileh hamishpatim. You're on fire at the נעילה Neilah, a קומזיץ kumzits, a miracle, a שלש סעודות shaloshudos, a שמחה simcha, a ניגון niggun, something that transforms you, something that elevates and elates you, something that, oh, and by the way, if you hit someone with your car, here's what you have to pay. And if they borrowed and they took the collateral, and if you find somebody's there, and if you work for six years and you want to stay, all of a sudden, ואלה המשפטים v'eileh hamishpatim. The ו' vav is connecting these two experiences to unite them and as if to describe that they are, that they are one.So the answer is yes. We spent last year, and again, I don't want to revisit it, you can listen online if you weren't here. But the notion that we already have, the last משנה mishna in בבא בתרא Bava Basra tells us that someone who wants to become a scholar, a חכם chacham, should learn civil monetary law, סדר נזיקין Seder Nezikin. If you want to become a חכם chacham, you learn סדר נזיקין Seder Nezikin. You learn all these details, civil, tort, criminal law, all of these, all of these countless details. Because what פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim is basically reminding us is that Judaism and spirituality are not lived in the clouds. A religious life is not about being inspired. It's not about meditating, and it's not about being moved, and it's not about the spirituality. It's in the here and now. It's in the mundane. It's a תורת חיים Toras Chaim. The Torah speaks to our everyday life. It talks about interpersonal relationships, and it talks about financial relationships. It talks about when they all go right, and it talks about when they go wrong. It paints a picture of a utopian society, and it gives us the tools to be able to navigate our way through an imperfect society, imperfect marriage, imperfect life, imperfect business situations, imperfect community crisis. This פרשה parsha reminds us the ו', ואלה vav, ve'eileh, that religious life, being godly, that the message and mandate of Torah and of יהדות Yadus are not only in the נעילה Neilah and the קומזיץ kumzits and the געשמאק שיר geshmak shir, they're also in the everyday. They're how we carry ourselves and how we interact and who we are and how we allow our lives to be informed and to be inspired. It's this framework of civil law. It's telling us how to build a society not based on our own intuition or instinct. It's telling us rules not based on our own בויך boych. It's telling us this is השם's Hashem's view and vision for his world. וְאֵלֶּה הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים V'eileh hamishpatim. Just as moved as you were by the religious experience of מתן תורה Matan Torah and קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah is when you leave that בית מדרש Beis Midrash on הר סיני Har Sinai, when you leave the שול shul of הר סיני Har Sinai and you go out into the workplace and out to the gym and in the supermarket and in life, and the rules that govern our morals and our ethics, our responsibilities and our obligations to this world, that ו' vav links the two. It is one and the same. But it's not only that I mentioned last year, וְאֵלֶּה הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים v'eileh hamishpatim. But it's much more than just that. It's also that when we study these things, right? That was the part of taking Torah to the outside world. But we also have to do a much better job of bringing השם Hashem into the בית מדרש Beis Midrash and into our study of Torah. If you go back to פרשת ויצא Parshas Vayeitzei, I saw an amazing idea back then. When יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu runs from his family's home and he lays his weary head to rest and he has this amazing dream from which he awakens. And the פסוק pasuk describes ויקץ משנתו Vayikatz mishnaso, ויקץ יעקב משנתו Vayikatz Yaakov mishnaso. יעקב Yaakov awakens from his sleep. ויאמר Vayomer and he said, אכן יש השם במקום הזה ואנכי לא ידעתי Achen yeish Hashem bamakom hazeh v'anochi lo yadati. Alas, there's a God here. I didn't know. I was just exhausted. I was overcome with sleep. I passed out. And he wakes up and he says, wow, I didn't realize how inspiring this place is. I didn't realize השם Hashem is here. And we discussed what that meant back in פרשת ויצא Parshas Vayeitzei, but I saw a beautiful חסידישע chasidisha insight. Several of the רבי'ס rebbes say ויקץ משנתו Vayikatz mishnaso. That word משנתו mishnaso, שינה sheina can mean sleep, but it's also the word that we use to describe reviewing Torah, study of Torah. Torah learning is לשנות lishnos, is to learn, is to review, is to repeat. ויקץ משנתו Vayikatz mishnaso. יעקב Yaakov woke up from learning בבא קמא Bava Kama, בבא מציעא Bava Metzia, בבא בתרא Bava Basra. ויאמר Vayomer and he said, אכן יש השם במקום הזה ואנכי לא ידעתי achen yeish Hashem bamakom hazeh v'anochi lo yadati. He graduated twelve years of Jewish education, and he could tell you every detail of the ל\"ט מלאכות lamed-tes melachos, and he could tell you the ד' אבות נזיקין daled avos nezikin, and he could tell you the ד' שומרים daled shomrim. And he went and plowed through all of ש\"ס Shas, and he said, wow, I went to the דף היומי Daf Yomi for seven and a half years. I didn't realize God was also at the דף היומי Daf Yomi. I thought that's where we had these intellectual gymnastics and rigorous debates. I thought where we analyzed and we unpacked and we plumbed the depths of curiosity. I thought that where we discussed these esoteric or criminal or civil. I thought, I didn't realize that השם Hashem is in במקום הזה ואנכי לא ידעתי b'makom hazeh v'anochi lo yadati.A big challenge we have are our children graduating where they can repeat ידיעות כלליות yedios klaliyos like an encyclopedia. You press play and they can rattle off information and knowledge and stuff. אבל יש השם במקום הזה Aval yeish Hashem b'makom hazeh? Is God in the information? Is God in the data? Is God in what can be repeated by memory from rote? אכן יש השם במקום הזה ואנכי לא ידעתי Achen yeish Hashem b'makom hazeh v'anochi lo yadati. So okay, if you're learning about יום כיפור Yom Kippur and שבת Shabbos and you're learning פנימיות התורה pnimiyus HaTorah and you're learning about התבודדות hisbodedus and you're learning אמונה ובטחון emunah u'bitachon, of course השם Hashem is במקום הזה b'makom hazeh. He is the topic of conversation. But what about when you walk out of the בית מדרש Beis Midrash and you just spent eight hours, twelve hours, fifteen hours, and you're talking about somebody, it's in our פרשה parsha, digs a hole in a public thoroughfare. One dug it nine טפחים tfachim and the other came and he finished it off the tenth טפח tefach. Who's liable if someone falls in? What if one dug it? Last week I had the privilege of being in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael and I went to learn with my son-in-law, which is among the greatest joys that there possibly could be in life. And we were learning, I was learning with him. He's learning in the מיר Mir, I went to שיר shiur with him one day, and they're learning בבא קמא Bava Kama. Many of the ישיבות yeshivos in ירושלים Yerushalayim they're learning בבא קמא Bava Kama. And that was the סוגיא sugya. And it's amazing. And his life, the passion, the enthusiasm, the שיר shiur, the sheer numbers of people learning, if you're not moved by it, it's a קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah, you're back at הר סיני Har Sinai, it's amazing. It's amazing. And it's not a criticism of him or them or anyone. It's a challenge that we all have is, at the end of that whole day, and you saw what תוספות Tosfos and the רי\"ף Rif and what רב חיים סאלאוויטשיק Reb Chaim Soloveitchik and ר' שמעון Reb Shimon say and what ר' נחום Reb Nochum say and what this one say and what that one say. And the different intellectual, how do you understand it? And is if someone dug it ten טפחים tfachim and someone else expanded it to twenty טפחים tfachim and someone fell in while the ten was enough for them to die, but the one who expanded it made it even more lethal. And is that similar to the person who throws the pitcher off the roof and someone else came and smacked it and broke it before it hit the ground? Did they break the pitcher or was the pitcher already broken because it was moving towards Mother Earth and it was going to already break? So it's as if it was broken and they broke a broken thing and therefore they're not liable? It's fun. It's fantastic. It's amazing. אכן יש השם במקום הזה ואנכי לא ידעתי Achen yeish Hashem bamakom hazeh v'anochi lo yadati. But you could go an entire זמן zman. You could go from after סוכות Sukkos until פסח Pesach and השם במקום הזה Hashem b'makom hazeh? What about השם Hashem?So, so why is it and what is it that we're doing? And they're succeeding at it and ברוך השם Baruch Hashem we're all succeeding at it and I have nothing negative to say. But I want to share with you an insight of רבי סאלאוויטשיק Rabbi Soloveitchik. He says later in the פרשה parsha, the פסוק pasuk of כי יגוף שור איש את שור רעהו ki yigof shor ish es shor rei'eihu. If one person's bull strikes another person's bull, if your car bangs into someone else's car, who's liable? In American law it's always the person behind, even if you stop short in front, whoever was behind was responsible to be, not always fair, but that's the, that's the law. So what is it in הלכה halacha? One person's bull damages another bull. Where's the חיוב שמירה chiyuv shmira come from? Again, if you haven't tasted, learned the געשמאק geshmak, the געשמאק geshmak, my son-in-law's רבי rebbe, I went to his שיר shiur with him on Thursday, he said a לשון lashon I loved. It stood with me all שבת Shabbos. And it came so naturally for him to say he's a חברא chabura of, of ר' רזניק Rav Reznik and he said, he gave over some beautiful למדות lamdus and then he said, I'm giving you געשמאק geshmak למדות lamdus. I want you to digest this is your own עונג שבת oneg Shabbos. This is your שבת Shabbos meal, this געשמאק geshmak למדות lamdus. This is great, the excitement, the joy, it's amazing. It's amazing. So the רב Rav writes, Martin Heidegger, one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century, taught ethics and spirituality at the University of Berlin in the early part of the 20th century. Yet when Hitler rose to power, he and a large coterie of his peers were among the first to embrace Nazism. The study of ethics alone cannot mold an ethical personality. The study of Torah on the other hand does accomplish this. גדולי ישראל Gedolei Yisrael represent spirituality, refinement of conduct, sensitivity, sympathy, compassion. Yet their primary focus is upon what's known as למדנות lamdanus, a formal and abstract discipline of the study of Torah. Strangely, study the rules of the ox that gores or the egg that's laid on יום טוב Yom Tov somehow enhances the human ethical personality, elevating both the mind and the heart. How does such study affect morality? How is it that you walk out of a בית מדרש Beis Midrash where for 10 hours you debated who's liable for the pitcher that fell and was broken or the hole that was dug or the, how is it that you will become a better person? A better husband, better father, more ethical, more moral, better community member? How does it do it? How does it do it? So writes the רב Rav, there's only one answer. Torah is מן השמים min hashamayim. It's the word of השם Hashem. It ennobles one's character, redeeming a person from frivolity, vulgarity, and cruelty. It elevates him providing meaning to his life. Torah is מן השמים min hashamayim. It's השם's Hashem's blueprint for creation. So when we sit, it's an amazing thing. Those who learn the דף Daf recently saw the תפילה tefillah that you say, a prayer before you learn and a prayer you say after you learn and the experience of learning should transform. And we sing and we dance and we hold up the books. And you don't see this paralleled in any other legal system in the world. There's no law, I mean, anyone here not a lawyer who's ever recently opened a law book? Read it? Poured over it, analyzed it, created mnemonics and סימנים simanim to try to remember it? Nobody on the planet. Lawyers could barely read the law books. They just do it to be able to graduate, go become lawyers, which is why they got into it. And yet we are a people that so highly endorses and supports and embraces and promotes and celebrates and applauds and lauds the people who pour over those books. And when we finish one of those books, we sing and we dance and we hold it, and we make a party for it. And then we go back and we start again. We don't say I'm done with the series, I put it up on the shelf now it collects dust. But now I go start again. Because the Torah is the word of השם Hashem. It's his vision for this world. The חזון איש Chazon Ish writes in his ספר אמונה ובטחון Sefer Emunah u'Bitachon, which most of us only know from that one chapter on אמונה ובטחון Emunah u'Bitachon, but it's a longer volume. The חזון איש Chazon Ish writes so beautifully that when we sit and we study and we learn these details, all of פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim, this is השם's Hashem's blueprint for the world. This is his vision. This is his רצון ratzon. It's what he wants. When two people are having a debate, when two people are having a dispute. I went on Friday in גאולה Geulah, there's a great store that sells dips. My daughter sent me to, and I was eager to go back because the last time I was in Israel, I went to that store. Even more delicious than the dips that they sold is they have a whiteboard in the back of the store and there's a דבר תורה dvar Torah written on the whiteboard. In fact, the owner, when I gave him a יישר כח yasher koach for the דבר תורה dvar Torah, told me there are people who can't afford to come in, they can't afford to buy food. They come because everyone has access for free to the דברי תורה divrei Torah. The nourishment for the soul everyone has. So he's so proud. Anyway, I went to go buy the dips. The dips they still have, but there was nothing on the whiteboard. So I told him at the cash, at the... So where's the דבר תורה dvar Torah? He said, I'll give you a דבר תורה dvar Torah. And this was the דבר תורה dvar Torah that he said. The פסוק pasuk in last week's פרשה parsha, I wasn't here last week for the פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro, so we'll make up for it now with one וורט vort. The פסוק pasuk in last week's פרשה parsha when משה Moshe is telling his father-in-law יתרו Yisro, that's why I had to go last week because it's the father-in-law's פרשה parsha. They didn't beg me to stay but... Anyway, I'm joking. They did. They begged me to stay. It was beautiful. It was great. Fine. Anyway, so משה Moshe is telling his father-in-law about the system of which he's going to hear the cases and the conflicts and adjudicate. And that's when יתרו Yisro, an uncircumcised, non-Jewish, non-Jew, an enemy, a good father-in-law, is giving his unsolicited advice and this unusual refreshing case. משה Moshe accepts it and follows it. So יתרו Yisro, משה Moshe tells him that the people, when there'll be a conflict, בא אלי bo elai, they come to me. So the חדושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim wonders, why does it say בא אלי bo elai in the singular? It should say באים אלי bo'im elai, they in the plural come to me. Why does it say it in the singular? Why is it in the singular? So listen to this amazing חדושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim by the owner of the, I think it's called מעדני זהב Ma'adanei Zahav. Might as well promote him, nobody has to ship me dips from מעדני זהב Ma'adanei Zahav next week in the mail. But he said the following חדושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim. חדושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim says that we know this was הר סיני Har Sinai and הר סיני Har Sinai is characterized, the slogan of our שול shul, ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר כאיש אחד בלב אחד Vayichan sham Yisrael neged hahar k'ish echad b'lev echad. It should have said ויחנו vayachanu in the plural, they in the plural encamped. It says ויחן vayichan in the one and singular. Why? They were with one heart. They were one people. כאיש אחד בלב אחד k'ish echad b'lev echad. As opposed to the Egyptians who were בלב אחד כאיש אחד b'lev echad k'ish echad, who had one similar goal, but they had nothing else connecting them. We were connected interpersonally, we were a young, one organic whole, we were one unit, one family, one nation, one people, aside from the shared agenda that we had, but we felt so connected. So the חדושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim says, you know, when you are disparate, when you are separate, when you are a conglomerate of people but really individuals and apart, when you have a financial dispute or a conflict, it's an adversarial relationship. I claim I paid you, you say I never paid you back. I claim you owe me for the damages, you say it's my fault. My ox is the one who goaded. So if there's an adversarial relationship, then we're going to come in with a great sense of conflict. But when we come in, ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר vayichan sham Yisrael neged hahar, כאיש אחד בלב אחד k'ish echad b'lev echad, so there's no adversarial relationship. We simply have a שאלה shaila. And the same way, if a person goes to ask a שאלה shaila, I found the מילכיג milchig fork in the פליישיג fleishig dishwasher, what's the הלכה halacha? What's the הלכה halacha on the כשרות kashrus? What's the הלכה halacha on the שבת Shabbos? You just go and you ask a שאלה shaila. What משה Moshe was saying is the people feel so close and so connected and so united and so unified, באו bo, they come as one to just find out what's the, what's the answer. Why? Because if you are going to a secular court, if you're going to a civil court and you're having a fight, you think the judge was unfair and the jury didn't really hear you and your arguments were more persuasive, is more compelling. But when you go to a Jewish court, when you hear the Jewish פסק psak, when you employ פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim, this is not just individuals, human, finite, fallible people who've come up with the best they can for a social contract and a moral and social society. This is the word and the will of השם Hashem, the Creator of the universe, the infinite and omnipotent. He's told us, here are the rules, here's how to navigate, here's how to get to the truth, here's how to get to what is the most just and the most accurate and the most correct. So therefore, said משה Moshe to יתרו Yisro, when they come, they don't come as adversaries. They come as brothers. They come as one family asking a פסק psak, what is השם's Hashem's will? What is his vision when it comes in such a situation, when it comes to such a conflict?So we have to, we have to remember that. אכן יש השם במקום הזה Achen yeish Hashem bamakom hazeh. When we're learning בבא קמא, בבא מציעא, בבא בתרא Bava Kama, Bava Metzia, Bava Basra, when we're memorizing the ל\"ט מלאכות lamed-tes melachos, when we're memorizing the names of the פרשיות parshiyos, when we're making our way through all the names and places of תנ\"ך Tanach, when we're testing our children and memorizing or pouring countless hours in a בית מדרש Beis Midrash, we have to remember that what we're doing is a window into the will of השם Hashem. We are understanding his רצון ratzon for how the world should work. This is the אמת emes. The גמרא Gemara beginning of סנהדרין Sanhedrin talks about הדן דין אמת לאמיתו hadon din emes le'amito, that a judge's responsibility is to be דן דין אמת don din emes לאמיתו le'amito, is to not only come to the correct conclusion, but come to the correct conclusion for the correct reason. That a person shouldn't just conclude that because it makes sense to them. Because you know what happens in a society where a society of relativism and subjectivism, where judges and lawmakers and legislators can legislate law based on what makes sense to them? You can get a Nazi Germany which was democratically elected. Hitler was democratically elected. A corrupt, morally depraved society can come to morally corrupt conclusions, if one thinks that laws are, are arrived at democratically. Now, of course, we embrace our democratic system and it's brilliant and it's the best in history and we love it and we live by it and our lives are better for it here in America. But religiously what the Torah is teaching us is the Torah's laws are not democratically elected. These are the will of השם Hashem and וְאֵלֶּה הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים v'eileh hamishpatim, what's connecting us back to הר סיני Har Sinai into civil, tort, criminal law, laws of damages and financial disputes is that they too are the will of השם Hashem, essentially they too are a religious experience in the way that we live and the way that we go out.Okay. Let's go. With that introduction to פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim. We have many of the laws. We all know the law of the עבד עברי eved ivri. The עבד עברי eved ivri is a fascinating law. The עבד עברי eved ivri is a fascinating law. You know, today we have in in our secular society, we have police blotters. We have police frequencies. We have people who somehow get some sort of a disturbed געשמאק geshmak by everyday going on the internet to look who was arrested in their zip code the day before, maybe it'll be someone they know and then they'll have great information and they can be the first to tell someone else and text and tweet and post and humiliate the person whose mug shot appears on a police blotter. I know as the rabbi because I always get the emails from such wonderful virtuous people who say, rabbi, I thought you probably should know so-and-so was arrested last night. יישר כח Yasher koach, thank you so much. Noble, noble responsibility, indeed. The Torah, Rebbe Volbe points out, is exactly the opposite. The Torah tells that a person who stole from another, pay back. Pay back, make them whole, do תשובה teshuva and nobody needs to know. We're not going to hang your name in the post office, your face. We're not sending out a mass email. We're not posting it online. Pay back, compensate the person from whom you stole, do תשובה teshuva, rebuild it yourself, and we all move on. And it's only when that person can't, that's when they're sold as an עבד עברי eved ivri. That's when the only way that they can arrive at the funds to be able to compensate is by selling themselves as a slave. But if they can afford it, we enable them to do תשובה teshuva, to repair the damage they had done, without seeking to publicly humiliate. Because our system is not punitive in nature, it's rehabilitative. It's the goal of to make a person better, to help them recover and to help them come back. What happens when the person says they want to stay? So we know that we give them a earring, on the ear. We put a hole in their, we put a hole in their ear. So in this context, the פסוק pasuk says the following: והגישו אדניו אל האלהים והגישו אל הדלת או אל המזוזה ורצע אדניו את אזנו במרצע ועבדו לעולם V'higisho adonav el ha'elohim, v'higisho el hadelet o el hamizuzah v'ratza adonav es ozno bamartze'a v'avado l'olam. We bring him to court, to אלהים Elohim, we bring him to the judges, and we put him next to the door, next to the doorpost, and we put a hole right in his ear, ועבדו לעולם v'avado l'olam, and now he is, now he is enslaved for, now he is enslaved for good. Now he's enslaved for good. So... Rebbe Volbe says the following, if you look at רש\"י Rashi, רש\"י Rashi of course tells us, why don't we put a tattoo on his forehead? Thief, robber, lowlife, אויס ווארף ois vorf. We wouldn't know how to spell אויס ווארף ois vorf. That's why we don't, that's why we don't tattoo it. Instead we give an earring. We pierce his ear. We pierce his ear. Why is the ear chosen? Everybody knows רש\"י Rashi. רש\"י Rashi tells us, יהיו שתי אזנים כשירות למצווה או לאו hayu shtei oznayim ksheiros l'mitzva o lo, I'm on page 418, פרק כ\"א פסוק ו perek kaf aleph pasuk vav. הימנית Hayemanis his right ear. או אינו אלא השמאלית o eino ela hasmalis? תלמוד לומר אזן אזן לגזרה שוה Talmud lomar ozen ozen l'gzeira shava. נאמר כאן ורצע אדניו את אזנו Ne'emar kan v'ratza adonav es ozno, ונאמר אצל מצורע v'ne'emar eitzel metzora. So we have a גזרה שוה gzeira shava from the case of מצורע metzora. אמר רבי יוחנן בן זכאי Amar Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, אוזן זו ששמעה על הר סיני לא תגנוב Ozen zo she'shama b'Har Sinai lo signov, this ear that heard at Har Sinai, don't steal, והלך וגנב v'halach v'ganav. You're at הר סיני Har Sinai, God himself spoke. Unparalleled revelation and God said, don't steal. And what do you go and do? You steal. So what happens? That same ear that heard and wasn't listening, תירצע ti'ratza, we pierce the ear. We pierce the ear.I saw... Rebbe Volbe says the following. If you look at רש\"י Rashi, רש\"י Rashi is quoting the גמרא Gemara in קידושין Kiddushin that says this. So the חדושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim, the גערער רבי Gerer Rebbe says, but which part of the ear do we, do we pierce? We pierce the earlobe. What function does the earlobe have? גורנישט gornisht. It dangles there so that you could hang jewelry off of it. It dangles. You have something to play with when you're bored in class. It dangles there, who knows? If you really want to send a message that the ear that you have that should have heard the message, that ear wasn't listening. You know what we should do? I don't know, I'll make a loud sonic boom in your ear and make you lose your hearing in that ear. We should stick something into the ear, clog up the ear canal, because you didn't listen, you don't deserve to listen. Something about the ear. Why do we do the earlobes? So the חדושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim says, what happened between when we were at הר סיני Har Sinai and we heard at הר סיני Har Sinai, don't steal. And yet, then he went and he stole anyway. What happened in between? I'm sure standing at הר סיני Har Sinai, everyone said, I'll steal? For me? Of course not, terrible, חס ושלום chas v'shalom, never. And then between hearing don't steal and making a personal commitment that we'd never steal, and then he stole, what happened in between? So the חדושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim says, you know what happened in between? You hung out with a bunch of ליצנים leitzanim and ריקנים reikanim. You hang out with a bunch of cynics and scoffers and doubters and you hang out with materialistic, money-hungry, grubby people, greedy people. All they talked about was money. And the society that you surrounded yourself with and the conversations at the שבת Shabbos table that you attended, put this incredible pressure on you. You got to drive that car and make that wedding and wear these gowns and have this outfit and do the thing and go on that vacation and go to that, and all of a sudden you had this enormous pressure to keep up with everyone around you and to do whatever it takes in order to be able to provide and do that. And you started cutting corners. And now you filled out your taxes dishonestly and maybe in your business partnership, you cut corners and you didn't report everything that needed to be reported. So what happened is we were all at הר סיני Har Sinai and we heard לא תגנוב lo signov, don't steal, and we all said steal, of course not, never, not me. But then we listened to things. We listened to messages and values. We listened and absorbed a culture whose priorities were skewed. And then what happened low and behold, the person stole in order to keep up. Says the חדושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim, what should have you have done instead? So he references a גמרא Gemara. The גמרא Gemara in כתובות דף ה Kesubos Daf Hey tells us, why טאקע taka is the earlobe there? Why do we have an earlobe? The גמרא Gemara there in כתובות Kesubos wonders. The whole ear is hard, is made out of cartilage. The ear is made out of cartilage. And all of a sudden you have the earlobe, nice and soft. What's it doing there? The גמרא Gemara in כתובות Kesubos says, you know what it's doing there? It's there for you to fold up and put in your ear when you are around someone who's saying the wrong thing, לשון הרע lashon hara, materialism, skewed priorities. This is not like a cute וורט vort that your kindergartner came home with for the פרשה parsha. I'm telling you a גמרא Gemara in כתובות דף ה Kesubos Daf Hey. This is a מאמר חז\"ל ma'amar Chazal. The גמרא Gemara in כתובות דף ה Kesubos Daf Hey says, why is the bottom of the ear soft? So that you can fold it over and put it in your ear to not hear and to not absorb the wrong values, the wrong messages. And that's what this עבד eved should have done. It's a great insight by the חדושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim. So essentially the חדושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim says, what happened in between הר סיני Har Sinai, don't steal. I'm sorry, of course, I swore, don't steal. And then he went and stole. You know what happened? He heard the wrong things, he listened to the wrong things, he found himself in the wrong places. He found himself following and listening to the wrong values and the wrong priorities when you should have turned your ear up, whether literally or figuratively, you should have clogged your ears to not hear the wrong, to not hear the wrong messages. But Rebbe Volbe focuses on a different, the גמרא Gemara gives a second. On the one hand it says the ear that heard at הר סיני Har Sinai, don't steal and went and stole, that's the גערער רבי Gerer Rebbe. Rebbe Volbe focuses on the other statement of the גמרא Gemara. The ear that heard at הר סיני Har Sinai, what? Heard at מצרים Mitzrayim, עבדי הם ולא עבדים לעבדים avdei heim v'lo avadim la'avadim. God says, you're עבדים avadim to me. The only one you serve is me. The only master to whom you owe your time, your resources, your energy, your productivity, is me. עבדי הם ולא עבדים לעבדים Avdei heim v'lo avadim la'avadim. And he goes out and does what? Makes himself a permanent עבד eved to a human being? So God says we pierce, we pierce the ear.Says Rebbe Volbe, the essence of Torah is freedom. It sounds counterintuitive because our lives are so highly regulated and legislated that you'd say freedom? Freedom is I could eat whatever I want. Freedom is I could spend שבת Shabbos however I want. Freedom is I can go and say and do and watch and listen to whatever I want. Instead, from when I woke up in the morning, I was told how to wash my hands, the first words out to be on my lips, the order to tie my shoes. And that before I started my day, I have no freedom. I can't even decide what order to put my own shoes on. And you're telling me the Torah provides freedom? And the answer is yes. The Torah is the essence of freedom. Because when we have the omnipotent, infinite, one and only רבונו של עולם Rebono shel Olam, and we have the God, the Master of the universe, the Creator of this world, the Creator of all of us in it who knows what provides the most meaning and satisfaction and fulfillment, which gives us the greatest and most lasting joy and happiness. When we follow his prescription for our life, it frees us. It liberates us. It gives us the courage and the strength to not be enslaved to anything or anyone else around us. Rebbe Volbe writes, and when Rebbe Volbe would make the ברכה bracha in the morning, שלא עשני עבד shelo asani eved, that God did not make me an עבד eved, you know what he'd have in mind? I'm so grateful that I'm not a person who's obsessed with what others think of me, that I don't conform my life to what the fashion magazines or pop culture or society or my neighbor make me need to conform to be. שלא עשני עבד Shelo asani eved. Rebbe Volbe's כוונה kavanah, and I'm offering you, this is a post-siddur snippet on שלא עשני עבד shelo asani eved where… but שלא עשני עבד shelo asani eved. Rav Volbe's כוונה kavanah was, thank God, it's not that I didn't grow up on a plantation and thank God I wasn't enslaved in the Warsaw Ghetto. His imagery of שלא עשני עבד shelo asani eved that he made that ברכה bracha every single morning was not, thank you for not making me a physical slave, in physical bondage and servitude, but שלא עשני עבד shelo asani eved. Thank you for not making me enslaved to what society says I have to dress and listen to, where I have to go, how I have to be, how I have to think. Thank you for giving me a system of Torah. Thank you for empowering me with a divine plan for how to think and be and say and dress and where to go and what to be.That's what it means. That's what it means, שלא עשני עבד shelo asani eved. And that's why the עבד eved says, עבדי הם ולא עבדים לעבדים Avadai hem v'lo avadim l'avadim. Hashem says, if you can fully submit to be an עבד eved to me, you'll never have to think you're an עבד eved to anyone else. To anyone else. Your boss is mistreating you? You feel threatened? You have a conflict between what your boss is telling you what's morally correct? If you're an עבד eved to Hashem, you have no conflict. It doesn't mean it'll be easy going, but it means you never have a dilemma. You don't have a conflict. It's the ultimate liberation. Hashem is the ultimate liberator, because by our submitting to him, it's like the Rav's insight in על התשובה Al HaTeshuvah, the conversation with the psychologist who said, why do we daven to be afraid? And the Rav said, fear is good. He said, what do you mean? I make a whole living by trying to help people conquer their fears. And the Rav said, yes, there's one great fear that if you can live with that one great fear, you will have no lesser fear ever. If we can live with the יראת שמים yiras shamayim of Hashem, then you never have to be afraid of heights, and an illness, afraid of financial collapse, afraid of public speaking, afraid of, you never have anything to fear. Work on the one big fear, יראת שמים yiras shamayim. You never have to have any other small fear. Work on being an עבד השם eved Hashem, on an עבדא דקודשא בריך הוא avda d'kudsha brich hu, Hashem, I'm an עבד eved just to you, in every circumstance and in every moment, whether you're shopping for clothing, choosing where to go on vacation, choosing how to conduct your business, choosing what to look at next on the internet. Ask yourself, I'm an עבד eved to Hashem. What does my אדון adon, what does my master want? And if that's the consideration I have, it's the only consideration I need. What's ethical, what's moral, what's just, what's right, what will give him נחת רוח nachas ruach, what will make him proud. עבדי הם ולא עבדים לעבדים Avadai hem v'lo avadim l'avadim. If we can submit ourselves as עבדים avadim just to him, we never have to worry that anyone else can ever be a master over us. And we saw that in extraordinary ways, whether it's those in the Holocaust who were physically in bondage and imprisoned, but nevertheless remained עבדים avadim only to Hashem, therefore, no one else could own them, even as limited as they were. We saw it in the heroes of the Soviet Jewry movement, who were enslaved, but maintained and preserved their own identity as עבדים avadim to Hashem. And in that way, were able to triumph and survive and transcend whatever servitude that others were seeking to impose on them. It's an amazing, amazing insight.So this notion with David Every, we have the חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim, who told us about the ear. Clog your ear. Don't listen to the things, because even though we start with the best intentions, we were all at הר סיני Har Sinai. And there we pledged and promised to do everything right and to be perfect, and we could never imagine struggling and doing it wrong. And then we expose ourselves to ideas and thoughts and people and influences. And all of a sudden we find ourselves after the fact, having violated things that we never, ever dreamt we were capable of doing. And the way to stop ourselves in between, that's the message of the עבד eved, of the piercing of the ear, is be careful. The ear is the entranceway. Be careful, that'll mold and shape who we are, and the insight of of Rav Volbe. Let's move on. פרק כ\"א, פסוק י' Perek kaf-aleph, pasuk yud. Torah tells us the following, the דין din of the אמה העבריה amah ha'ivriya, of the female slave. And the הלכות halachos that govern how she's treated and with whom she's matched. ולבנו ייעדנה כמשפט הבנות יעשה לה V'livno yi'adenah k'mishpat habanos ya'aseh lah. If he's designated her for his son, it's quite a שדכן shidduch, he should deal with her according to the rights of young women. אם אחרת יקח לו Im acheres yikach lo, but if he shall take another in addition to her, שארה כסותה ועונתה לא יגרע she'erah k'susah v'onasah lo yigra. He should not diminish, he should not deprive her. This is the הלכתית halachic source for the marital rights that a woman has. This is what's included in the כתובה kesubah. The כתובה kesubah is a one-way document. For anyone who feels that Judaism is somehow misogynistic or biased religion against women, the man does not get a document. The מסדר קידושין mesader kiddushin does not get to go to the שמארג smorg. He's stuck at the חתן'ס טיש chosson's tish, where they have some like bad rice and whatever else, few little things, the the the hard pound cake and the fake diet coke and clear pitchers and whatever else they're serving at the חתן'ס טיש chosson's tish, while everyone else is feasting at the limitless sushi and whatever other delicacies, the the מסדר קידושין mesader kiddushin, he's stuck at the חתן'ס טיש chosson's tish. He doesn't get to go to the קבלת פנים kabbalas panim to visit the כלה kallah, to make a קנין סודר kinyan sudar with her, that she says some document that she's going to pledge that she's going to her responsibilities. Anyone who thinks it's a biased or misogyny and bias, it is true. It's 100% biased, it's just in the other direction. So the כתובה kesubah contains the responsibility. Now, I'm joking, half joking. But why, why was it done that way? So there's a big מחלוקת machlokes, is the כתובה kesubah דאורייתא d'oraysa or דרבנן d'rabbanan? We assume it's דרבנן d'rabbanan, it's Rabbinic in nature. And what was the כתובה kesubah instituted? It was instituted nearly 2,000 years ago. And I promise you that in Babylonia 2,000 years ago, there was no feminist movement that was pushing the rabbis to come up with a document to protect women, to preserve their dignity, and to protect their income and their lifestyle. It was not done in response, and it's not a form of apologetics. It's because our religion has always, has always concerned itself with the dignity of women, of wives, of mothers, of responsibility for how we treat and take care, and to protect them, and that's what the כתובה kesubah did. You have to understand that before the כתובה kesubah, biblically a man could be married to more than one woman, if he could survive that. So he'd be married to more than one woman. The Rambam said, I've been up since 4:00. I have jetlag. So I'm not responsible for anything I say. So, so, um, the Rambam writes, you can only be married to more than one woman, even biblically speaking, and even who did not accept the חרם דרבינו גרשום cheirem d'Rabbeinu Gershom, could only be married to more than one woman biblically if he can treat each woman as if they were his own wife, meaning he could provide שארה כסותה ועונתה she'er k'sus v'onah to each wife. If being married to many would deplete his resources, his time, his energy, his love, then he was forbidden, biblically forbidden to be married to more than one. The prerequisite to be married to more than one was to be able to provide that for each one. So in that society, what happened? A man would get in a fight with one wife and he'd say, eh, I'm moving on. You're not the way you picture in the resume. It was clearly Photoshopped, that's not who you are. And I don't like this fight, and the food is not as good as your mother's, even though you told me you were as good a cook as your mother. And therefore I'm out of here. So what would he do? He had eight other wives to go to. And now what did she do? What did she do? Who was, who was providing for her? In antiquity, women did not have opportunities in the workplace and to draw their own income. So what was she supposed to do in order to keep a roof over her head or food on her table? He didn't give her a גט get, which would, he'd have responsibilities through the get. He would just move on. He'd leave her there, suspended. So the Torah instituted this, this כתובה kesubah when he gives the גט get, in the event of his demise or the dissolution of the marriage, he has financial obligations and responsibilities. This was not a form of apologetics, it was not responding to any any ism in society. This was the Torah לכתחילה lechatchila, *a priori*, concerning itself, our rabbis have always, and still always, and will always, concern themselves, trying to implement what they think is the רצון השם ratzon Hashem, Hashem's view and vision for how to set up the world. Anyway, so this is our pasuk, שארה כסותה ועונתה she'er k'susah v'onasah, what are these three things? He should not diminish her food or clothing or intimacy, the responsibility of a marital relationship, and these are the components that are contained within the, within the כתובה kesubah. And I just want to make this point quickly because I really want to move on to the, the main part what I want to share with you in פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim this morning, Rav Soloveitchik, in his חומש Chumash, he talks about, he doesn't use this word because there wasn't a hashtag movement in his time, but he talks about the importance of consent. And how the Torah really ahead of its time was very concerned that in a relationship of intimacy, in physical affection, that there has to be respect and there has to be consent. And he writes, Judaism does not overlook or underestimate the physical aspects of marriage. On the contrary, once the sacrificial withdrawal from the sinful erotic paradise of change and variety is completed, the natural element of marriage comes to the fore. The two partners owe each other not only fidelity, but they also owe each other full gratification of their needs. Refusal or failure by one of the partners to satisfy this conjugal right of the other is sufficient reason for divorce. Each one must observe these laws with regard to the other. The marriage must not be converted into an exclusively spiritual fellowship. Marriage without carnal enjoyment and love is contrary to human nature and is to be dissolved. The ethic of marriage is hedonistic, not monastic. It's fascinating. It's a fascinating insight. What what the Rav is saying is that the ultimate, the ultimate description of marriage is not one in which either of the partners can say to the other, what do you want that physical affection and connection for? What are you an animal? What are you a pig? I heard about you, it said on your resume that you love Torah, that you זאג תהילים zog tehilim and say it all day, that you're sitting in the בית מדרש beis medrash all night, that you're volunteering and doing חסד chesed. And now you crave this animalistic experience? It's a מקח טעות mekach ta'us. What kind of lowlife animal pig are you? Said the Rav, the person who takes that attitude, who comes with that perspective, they're the one who's wrong. They're the one who's wrong. The party who comes recognizing and respecting their own human, natural internal need and seeking to have an outlet for it in a holy context, namely with a person at a time, in a place, in a way, in a manner that's elevating, is transforming the animal instinct, which is natural with anyone, everyone, and elevating it to be able to be holy. You know, the Rav doesn't say this here, but the pasuk later in the parsha says, אנשי קדש תהיון לי Anshei kodesh tihyun li. Hashem says, be men of sanctity, of holiness. Not men, generic, be people, אנשי קדש anshei kodesh, be holy people. And the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe, זכותו יגן עלינו zechuso yagen aleinu, says, it doesn't say מלאכי קדש תהיון לי malachei kodesh tihyun li. It doesn't say be holy angels for me. Be holy angels, you should strive to be angelic. There are other religions who depict holiness as abstinence. How do you become holy? A vow of celibacy, a vow of silence, a vow of fasting, by withdrawing from the physical world is the only way that you can achieve holiness. And we come and say, no, the Torah doesn't say מלאכי קדש תהיון לי malachei kodesh tihyun li. It doesn't say try to be angelic. You know what happens when you try to be angelic? You have scandals and lawsuits and, when you deny your own human need and craving and pretend that you can suppress it indefinitely, you get scandals and lawsuits and challenges. Not everybody, but a lot of it, and no one should be surprised. Torah says, the קאצקער *Kotsker* says, אנשי קדש תהיון לי anshei kodesh tihyun li. You're human beings, and Hashem says, nobody knows you better than me. I designed you, I programmed you, I built you. And despite being אנשי anshei, despite being people with human needs and cravings and failures and imperfections, despite being אנשים anashim on, אנשי קדש anshei kodesh, you're still capable of holiness. And that is שארה כסותה ועונתה she'erah k'sutah v'onatah. When one of the parties craves physical intimacy, connection, affection, they're not the one who is in the worst position. What happened? Did you not have a good year in Israel? You weren't inspired? You didn't flip out? You didn't realize that that's for the pigs and the animals and the movie stars and the secular culture and the non-Jews? That we should... No, we're not מלאכים malachim. That is for us. It's who we're meant to be and how we're meant to behave, and it's part of the marital contract. And whichever partner in the marriage tries to deny and deprive the other partner of that very basic human need, they lose out. The Torah dissolves such a marriage. The Torah dissolves such a marriage, and that person loses out. The rights which are mentioned in the Torah have to be complied with by every husband in accordance with his physical capacity and occupation. The wife, the wife may prevent the husband from taking extended business trips which interfere with his responsibility to be at home. He may leave town only if she permits him to do so. She may also even ask him for changing trades, should the change result in less frequent, withholding of these rights is forbidden. Forbidden. שארה כסותה ועונתה She'erah k'sutah v'onatah. Not only material things, the כתובה kesubah actually spells out that the husband is obligated to provide for his wife according to the manner in which she is used to and which she was raised. So, more than the picture on the resume, look for the zip code on the resume. שארה כסותה ועונתה She'erah k'sutah v'onatah. עונתה onatah, that word עונה onah which we use to describe cohabitation, really means time. It's about giving time and being fully present in that time, being fully present in that time. Withholding these rights is forbidden. In case of illness or incapacitation, a waiting period of six months is granted. After the conclusion of the period, if the condition of the husband does not improve, he must either obtain her consent or divorce her and pay her the value of the כתובה kesubah. If he's not able to comply with time or physically, and he can't provide that need, that very legitimate, basic human need, then he is obligated to divorce her and must pay the כתובה kesubah. And there's another interesting law in the other direction, which is, what if a woman refuses to participate or provide for that basic human need? The Torah has a name for her. She's called a מורדת moredes. A מורדת moredes means a rebellious wife. And בית דין beis din ask her, why are you מורדת moredes? Why are you being rebellious? Your husband says that you're never intimate, you're never affectionate. Why? So if she says, I don't like him, and it's impossible for me. There's no attraction, and in fact, I'm repulsed by him. So בית דין beis din forces him to divorce her. Why? This is the language of the Rambam. For a wife is not a prisoner that she must consort with a person whom she despises. A wife is not a prisoner that we make her cohabit with someone she despises. There has to be consent. That there is a responsibility in both, in both directions, in both directions, which is fascinating. That means the physical component of a couple being together has a spiritual result which is much more than just its pragmatic or practical conclusion. The whole issue in הלכה halacha of, of birth control is a complicated area of birth control. But these הלכות halachos remain in force even when birth control is not relevant. This הלכתית halachic responsibility of a husband to a wife, and a wife to a husband, to not be a מורדת moredes, are true in a case that cannot result in reproduction, in conception. If a woman is pregnant, and if a woman is on birth control, and if a woman is postmenopausal, in all these circumstances, where it's not just the practical or pragmatic result that one is seeking, but it is the process, it is the relationship, it's the union, which the Torah is endorsing as well. So in this short section, in this one pasuk, אם אחרת יקח לו שארה כסותה ועונתה im acheres yikach lo, she'er k'sus v'ona, there is really the ethic of marriage, a Jewish attitude towards physical intimacy, towards marriage, towards relationships, the importance of consent, the mutual relationship in both directions, the Torah absolutely rejecting any notion that one can coerce the other, that there has to be a foundation of love and of consent, and and so on. Okay, let's go on. פרק כ\"ב פסוק ו' Perek kaf-beis, pasuk vav. And I want to look for a Rashi and Ramban inside, because I promised to get back to looking at מפרשים mefarshim inside. So I'm, if we're going to do that today. Torah goes on, there's a long list, we're not going to review them right now. Manslaughter, killing a slave, bodily injury, what you owe the person, רק שבתו יתן ורפא ירפא rak shivto yitein v'rapo yerapei. Where is that pasuk? The five things that you owe a person. פסוק י\"ט Pasuk yud-tes. רק שבתו יתן ורפא ירפא rak shivto yitein v'rapo yerapei. I had to tell you one, one, um, אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim. I have to tell you one אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim. So he says the following, the Vizhnitzer. What is, what does the Vizhnitzer? How does he interpret every pasuk? What do I always tell you? For many of the חסידישע רבי'ס Chasidishe Rebbes, everything comes back to Shabbos. So he says, ורפא ירפא v'rapo yerapei, you know how, רפא ירפא rapo yerapei? שבתו יתן shivto yitein. Now the pasuk here is not talking about Shabbos. שבתו יתן shivto yitein is שבת sheves. What is שבת sheves? From the same word as Shabbos, it means he's rest, he's still. He can't go to work. So you got to pay workman's comp. You damaged him, you incapacitated him, he's debilitated, he can't go to work, he can't earn an income. How's he supposed to live? שבתו יתן Shivto yitein. You have to pay to cover the cost of lost wages. That's what the pasuk literally means. But the Vizhnitzer says, no, ורפא ירפא v'rapo yerapei, you know how any one of us heal? We're injured in life. We're injured by people, we're injured by circumstances, we're injured by life. And ורפא ירפא v'rapo yerapei, you know how you heal? You know how we find the strength to heal in life? שבתו יתן Shivto yitein, Shabbos, שבתו shivto, our Shabbos. We need our Shabbos. We need our Shabbos. If one week ran into the next week into the next week, and we never had Shabbos, Shabbos to eat and sing זמירות zmiros and exchange דברי תורה divrei Torah, Shabbos to host and be hosted, Shabbos to שלאָף shluff and to sleep, Shabbos to come to shul, Shabbos to disconnect from the universe. If we didn't have Shabbos, we could never רפא ירפא rapo yerapei. So the Vizhnitzer says, רק שבתו יתן rak shivto yitein, give me my Shabbos, ורפא ירפא v'rapo yerapei, and then I can bear anything. Then I can come back from anything, then I can heal anything. Beautiful Vizhnitzer. Okay. Death caused by an animal, these are the ארבעה אבות נזיקין arba'a avos nezikin, you can't dig the pit, property that damages, payment of theft, פרק כ\"ב פסוק ו' Perek kaf-beis, pasuk vav. Pasuk says the following: כי יתן איש אל רעהו כסף או כלים לשמר וגונב מבית האיש, אם ימצא הגנב ישלם שנים Ki yitein ish el rei'eihu kesef o keilim lishmor, v'gunav mibeis ha'ish, im yimatzei haganav, yeshaleim shnayim. A person steals from someone else and you find the thief, they have to pay back, how much do they have to pay back? Twice as much. They have to pay back כפל keifel. They have to pay back כפל keifel. So, says the Rav, very interesting here. This is the right pasuk? Sorry, sorry, one second. Yeah, no, sorry, that's the pasuk. Yeah, yeah. Same pasuk. They didn't switch it. You can, you could exhale. כי יתן איש אל רעהו כסף או כלים לשמר Ki yitein ish el rei'eihu kesef o keilim lishmor. You gave someone something לשמר lishmor, to watch over. These are the source, the rule, the ד' שומרים daled shomrim, we have four types of people who guard, stewards for someone else's property, and the level of responsibility and accountability you have is directly proportional to the compensation or reward you get. So for example, the highest level is a שומר שכר shomer sachar, someone who's getting paid to watch. If I'm paying you to watch it, then you're going to have the highest level of responsibility. I don't care if, excuse me, I don't care if something, I don't care if someone stole it, I don't care if something... Then you have שומר חנם shomer chinam, somebody who watches something for free. Then you have a שואל sho'el, if someone who borrows something, and a, and a שוכר socher, somebody who rents something. Right, so you have the four different types of of שומרים shomrim. So Rav Soloveitchik here points out the following. Oh. All of man's talents and endowments and qualities, his very personality, are owned by God. Man's activities must therefore be in conformity with the will of Hashem. Man's body and soul are governed by the general law articulated with respect to deposited personal property. All of one's activities must therefore conform with the directness of the depositor. What the Torah here says, כי יתן איש אל רעהו ki yitein ish el rei'eihu, you give to someone to watch, they have responsibility. Hashem gives us us to watch. He gives us our body to watch, he gives us ourselves to watch. On Yom Kippur, man finds himself in a situation analogous to that described in the next pasuk. וקרב בעל הבית אל האלהים אם לא שלח ידו במלאכת רעהו V'nikrav ba'al habayis el ha'elohim im lo shalach yado b'mleches rei'eihu. A man must convince God that he has not misappropriated the deposit. Right? Because here you have in the very next pasuk, Torah says, what happens? אם לא ימצא הגנב וקרב בעל הבית אל האלהים Im lo yimatzei haganav v'nikrav ba'al habayis el ha'elohim, you don't find the thief, so the owner who asked you to guard the property comes to the judge and makes you swear that you didn't, in fact, use it. You weren't negligent about it. So the Rav says, in the analogy, that's what happens when we come on Yom Kippur. We say, Hashem, I know you gave me me to safeguard my body and my soul. I in fact was not negligent. And that's what we say in the conclusion of a נליעה Neilah, למען נחדל מעושק ידינו lema'an nechdal mei'oshek yadeinu. Yom Kippur was bestowed upon us so we cease from misappropriating our very selves. Any חטא cheit committed by a person constitutes larceny, theft from God. We are the שומר shomer, we have been given ourselves to watch. We've been given everything we have to watch. If we misuse our home, our car, our resources, our talents, our skills, our qualities, our opportunities, if we misuse them or squander them, we are like the שומר shomer who has been negligent and lost the item that they were entrusted to steward, to safeguard, to be in charge of, it's a form of stealing from Hashem. But here's what I wanted to share with you, and you bear with me a couple more minutes today. The Rav goes on and he quotes the story of Rabbi Meir and his wife Bruriah, who were parents of two twin boys who died of an extended illness over one Shabbos. Through the Shabbos, Bruriah did not tell her husband Rabbi Meir of the tragedy. She didn't want to compromise his Shabbos. But when the day ended, Bruriah had to convey the terrible news to her husband. So after Havdalah, she told the following parable to Rabbi Meir. This is all in the Midrash in Mishlei, it's in the Gemara too. And she did it in the form of a halachic question. She said to her husband, the great Tanna Rabbi Meir, some time ago, a certain man came and left two diamonds in my trust, a פקדון pikadon. I was the שומר shomer, I was in charge of them. And now he's called for them. Should I give them back or not? So Rabbi Meir looked at his wife, Bruriah, who was more brilliant in some ways than he. Gemara tells us, we did a whole class in, in the People of the Book on Bruriah. And he looked at, of course, somebody gave you something to watch, it really belongs to them, and the term of your watching it has concluded, of course you have to give it back. So that's when Bruriah said, הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us our two sons to watch, and our term of being a שומר shomer over them, our term of being their steward has concluded. And as painful as it is, and as badly as we don't want to, we have no choice, but it's time to give them back. And as moving as the story is, the halachic question posed by Bruriah seems trivial. Was there any doubt that the owner of the diamonds had the right to be taken to take them back? The answer is so obvious that her question seems superfluous. Why would Bruriah ask her husband for a ruling in such a simple case of Jewish law? So Rav Soloveitchik says the following, perhaps you have to interpret the parable by interpolating additional details into the analogy. A mysterious stranger, his face hidden behind the dark cloak, knocks at Bruriah's door. She opens the door, the stranger silently thrusts a small box into her hands and vanishes into the night. The puzzle Bruriah opens the box and is startled to find two beautiful diamonds. She wonders, did the stranger intend to place the diamonds in trust for safekeeping? Perhaps they were an outright gift. Bruriah resolves to wait a few weeks to see if the stranger returns. She meticulously takes care of the diamonds in accordance with all the applicable laws of פקדון pikadon as she awaits for the stranger to return. Weeks, months, years pass and the stranger has not reappeared. Bruriah thinks to herself that maybe the stranger is no longer alive. Perhaps he indeed meant to give her the diamonds as an outright gift. But one fateful Shabbos years later, Bruriah is startled again hearing a knock on the door. Hurriedly donning her robe, Bruriah answers the door. The mysterious stranger with the hidden face is back. He grabs the diamonds from her hands, and once again he quickly and silently disappears. This is the story Bruriah told Rabbi Meir. Unlike a normal פקדון pikadon where an item is held in safekeeping for a specific period of time as prescribed by the owner, the period of safekeeping for God's פקדון pikadon is open-ended. He is the hidden stranger who thrusts upon man all sorts of items of value: money, honor, health, wisdom, children. His face is obscured and he says nothing. And we often make Bruriah's mistake. We begin to think of God's פקדון pikadon as a gift, only later and often under tragic circumstances are we forced to confront the fact that Hashem does not give us these items outright. They are only entrusted to us for safekeeping. If we guard them properly, Hashem may allow us to keep them longer. If on the other hand we do not acknowledge Hashem is the owner of the פקדון pikadon, he may come and claim them even sooner. It's an entirely different way to view, I don't want to apply it to children, so painful, I won't even go there, but property. We have items and things that we've lost, and we wonder how could it be that we lost what was ours, but that was our mistake was to begin with, talking about property, I would not do this, though the Rav does, in family, it's all on loan. It's never part of our permanent collection. We're lucky and should be grateful for whatever time that we have with those things. Again, I'm talking about things, and it's a different mentality. Not that I'm the בעל ba'al, not that I'm the בעלים ba'alim, the owner of what I have, I am the שומר shomer. I'm simply the watchperson, the steward who's watching over and protecting what I have. Okay, Parshas Mishpatim is replete, but I want to finish with one more thing, which is really the major thing that I wanted to share with you. פרק כ\"ב, פסוק כ\"ד Perek kaf-beis, pasuk kaf-daled. And here I want to contrast two different laws. I have five more minutes. And here I want to contrast two different laws. I have as long as I want, but you all only tolerate like five more minutes. פרק כ\"ב, פסוק כ' Perek kaf-beis, pasuk kaf. Page 430 in the Artscroll Stone Chumash. The Torah tells us the following: וגר לא תונה ולא תלחצנו כי גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים V'ger lo soneh v'lo silchatzenu ki geirim hayisem b'eretz Mitzrayim. A very, very important law about how we treat strangers, people who come from the outside, who immigrate, our our, I'm not making a political statement, but we as Jewish people, the the מצוה mitzvah in the Torah repeated more than any other is our responsibility because of our own personal experience, knowing where we came from, that should guide and inform how we responsibly approach these things going forward. כל אלמנה ויתום לא תענון Kol almanah v'yasom lo se'anun. You're not allowed to cause pain, you can't aggravate or aggrieve a widow or an orphan. And the Torah goes in an unusual departure. And here the Torah tells us, אם ענה תענה אתו im aneh sa'aneh oso. You know what's going to happen if you do? Don't you dare cause pain to a widow or an orphan. Don't you dare aggravate them. Why? If you do, כי אם צעק יצעק אלי שמע אשמע צעקתו kem tza'ok yitz'ak elai shamoa eshma tza'akaso. If they call out and cry to me, I will surely hear their cries. And you know what's going to happen? וחרה אפי והרגתי אתכם בחרב V'charah api v'haragti eschem bacharev. God says, I have no tolerance. I have a zero tolerance policy for people who mistreat the vulnerable. I have a zero tolerance policy for somebody who aggrieves, who aggravates, who mistreats the widow or orphan. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to pay you back. והיו נשיכם אלמנות ובניכם יתומים V'hayu n'sheichem almanos u'vneichem yesomim. Your wives will be widows and your children will be orphans, because if you can't feel sympathy and empathy and support for someone who's gone through that, and that's the way you treat them, your spouse and your children will know exactly what it feels. Now, it's fascinating. First, again, it's amazing the Torah here goes out of its way to tell us how Hashem is going to feel about your behavior, and what Hashem is going to do as a result of your behavior, and the punishment that will come as a consequence. All of these are really strict, strong, startling departures from the normal way. But there's something else that's unusual, and that is the double language. אם ענה תענה אתו Im aneh sa'aneh oso, if you aggravate, צעק יצעק tza'ok yitz'ak and they cry out, שמע אשמע shamoa eshma. It's like Hashem all of a sudden gets a stutter. Everything is double words. ענה תענה Aneh sa'aneh, צעק יצעק tza'ok yitz'ak, שמע אשמע shamoa eshma. Just, just cut out three words there. Simplify the pasuk, consolidate the pasuk. What's going on? So the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe says something unbelievable. Kotsker Rebbe says, you know why the double language? Because every time you aggravate the widow or the orphan, you're not only mistreating them in the way that you mistreat them, but they are reminded that they are a widow or an orphan. They're going through that experience of when they became the widow or the orphan all over again. You took advantage of them, you were cruel to them, you were harsh, you were callous, you wronged them. Not only did you wrong them in the specific thing that you wronged them with, but when they are wronged, they can't help but relive and revisit their experience of what put them in that circumstance to begin with. And therefore everything is a double language. ענה תענה Aneh sa'aneh, you're not just wronging them with the one way, ענה aneh, ענה aneh, say ענה aneh. You're also reviving the whole pain and the loss of being the יתום ואלמנה yasom v'almanah. צעק יצעק Tza'ok yitz'ak, and when they cry out to me, says God, they're not just going to cry out in response to the particular way that you've heard them, they're going to cry out also about the bigger, broader picture of what they're going through. And שמע אשמע shamoa eshma, not only will I listen to and respond to how they were wronged in the particular way, but I'll also, says God, respond to and listen to how they were wronged in the bigger, broader fashion as well. That's why the double language. But now fast forward for a minute, and look at the next law. Very interesting. אם כסף תלוה את עמי את העני עמך לא תהיה לו כנשה לא תשימון עליו נשך Im kesef talveh es ami es he'ani imach lo siyeh lo k'nosheh lo sesimun alav neshech. When you lend money, you cannot charge interest. from an interest and you cannot distress them for the money. אם חבול תחבול שלמת רעך עד בוא השמש תשיבנו לו Im chabol tachbol salmat re'echa ad bo hashemesh teshiveno lo. If you take a garment as security, you take collateral from the person, then only until sunset, you have to give it back. כי כסותה לבדה היא שמלתו לעורו במה ישכב והיה כי יצעק אלי ושמעתי כי חנון אני Ki ksuta l'vadah hi simlato l'oro bameh yishkav v'haya ki yitz'ak eilay v'shamati ki chanun ani. So what's going to happen? Some person is going to borrow money from you. And when they borrow money from you, you're going to hold collateral. What are you going to take as collateral? You're going to take their pajamas. So they go home to sleep that night, what are they going to sleep in? You have their pajamas, you gave it up for collateral. So when they ask for it, says Hashem, you better give it. You know why? Because if you don't give it, and they cry out to me that they had nothing to sleep in, because you held on to that collateral and you didn't give it back, ושמעתי v'shamati, I'm going to listen to them.And here he doesn't say I'm going to listen to them and I'm going to make your family poor and I'm going to make you rely on a loan and I'm going to make you would know what it's like to not have pajamas at night. He says, why am I going to listen? כי חנון אני Ki chanun ani, because I am חנון chanun. It's incongruous. If these laws, there should be a parallel in the law. If Hashem pays you back מידה כנגד מידה midah k'neged midah, so he should pay you back. That's A. But B, there's something very unjust about this law. I, let's say, have the money. And you come and you need to borrow money. And I say to you, look, I want to lend you money, but I also have to be responsible to my family. How do I know I'm ever going to get that money back? The only way I can lend you money is if you give me what? Collateral. When do you get collateral back? When you pay the loan. And yet the Torah is saying, even though the poor person has not paid the loan, but they need their pajamas. They need the collateral. And God says, and if you don't give them the collateral, you're the wrong. What do you mean I'm the wrong? I should have never lent them to begin with. Then I wouldn't be in this position that I'm being criticized and judged that I was unwilling to give them back the collateral. The whole reason to have collateral is to secure the loan. So why is the other person entitled to get their collateral back and I'm judged and criticized when I don't give it back? And Hashem says I'm going to hear their cries and כי חנון אני ki chanun ani? What's going on over here?So, open your מקראות גדולות Mikraot Gedolot if you have one. Very quickly. And the Rashbam is clearly bothered by this. And the Rashbam writes, אף על פי שמן הדין יש לו למשכון ואינו חייב להחזירו אלא לפנים משורת הדין Af al pi shemin hadin yesh lo l'mashkon v'eino chayav l'hachziro ela lifnim mishurat hadin. Really the lender is entitled to hold the collateral. That's the whole reason for collateral. And giving it back is only לפנים משורת הדין lifnim mishurat hadin. It's going the extra mile. ולא הוא לשמוע צעקתו v'lo hu lishmoa tza'akaso. And Hashem says I never really should have heard the cry of the naked borrower, the cold borrower, who wants his pajamas back. I should have said tough noogies, you gave the collateral, the lender is entitled to keep it. But אם לא מפני שרחום וחנון אני im lo mipnei she'rachum v'chanun ani. Says Hashem, when I hear the cry, when I hear the genuine and authentic plea of someone who needs something, even when it's illogical, I can't help but respond. And Rashbam himself is answering. So why earlier when it came to aggravating the orphan and the widow, does Hashem not say I'm going to pay you back because I heard their cry? He says I'm going to pay you back because, why didn't he say it earlier? Because over there, you were wrong. Over here, you're right, you're entitled to hold the collateral. So why is Hashem nevertheless hearing their cries? Because חנון אני chanun ani. He's compassionate, and he's kind, and he's sympathetic, and he can't help when he hears a genuine and an authentic cry, he cannot help but answer. The say, that's why we have in in Tehillim. We have Tehillim that begin תפילה לעני tefillah l'ani, תפילה לעני כי יעטוף tefillah l'ani ki ya'atof, beautiful Mordechai Ben David song, תפילה לעני tefillah l'ani, and we have תפילה למשה tefillah l'Moshe. Because the עני ani, the person who's lacking, who needs, the person whose תפילה tefillah is so genuine and so real and so authentic, it rises to the level of תפילה למשה tefillah l'Moshe. A תפילה לעני tefillah l'ani is at the level of a תפילה למשה tefillah l'Moshe. This is the most authentic. This is the most authentic. The Ramban writes the same thing. חונן ומקבל תחינת כל אדם אף על פי שאינה הגונה Chonen u'mekabel tchinat kol adam af al pi she'einah hagunah. Hashem hears our cries and our pleas even when they're not correct or just. The Ramban says that word חנון chanun, it's one of the י\"ג מדות yud gimmel middot of Hashem. The word חנון chanun comes from the word חנם chinam. It's free. It's unearned. It's not deserving. It's חנון chanun, it's חנם chinam. שלא תחשוב לאחבול שלמת צדיק Shelo tachshov l'achbol salmat tzaddik, says the Ramban, the pasuk is telling us is don't think, you know what? The collateral of the צדיק tzaddik I'm going to give it back to him because God's going to listen to the cries of the צדיק tzaddik. אבל שלמת אדם שאיננו צדיק אקח ולא אשיבנו Aval salmat adam she'einenu tzaddik ekach v'lo ashivenu. But the collateral of the less than righteous, I don't have to give back, let them cry all night to God, God's not going to answer them. כי חנון אני ki chanun ani. Hashem says I am a חנון chanun and it's a מתנת חנם matnat chinam, as a free gift, anyone who's authentic and real.So, ladies and gentlemen, it was worth staying two minutes later because I am telling you right now, I'm not telling you, I'm sharing with you right now, what our rabbis tell us, which is, if you want to access Hashem's graciousness and goodness, His kindness, of course we strive to be righteous, to be צדיקים וצדקניות tzaddikim v'tzidkaniyot. But even when we fall short, there's still a way to pierce the curtains of heaven and to appeal to Hashem such that He can't help but hear. How do we earn his מתנת חנם matnat chinam, his gift of חנון אני chanun ani? When we are sincere and real. The reason Hashem hears the cry of the one who needs the back the collateral is, they're cold and they're vulnerable and they're exposed and there's no more real תפילה tefillah than that, and that's what our תפילות tefillot need to be, they need to be real. That's why we say at the end of אשרי Ashrei, קרוב ה' לכל קוראיו לכל אשר יקראוהו באמת karov Hashem l'chol kor'av l'chol asher yikra'uhu v'emet. You know who's close to Hashem? Only those, all those who call out to Hashem how? We call out to Hashem באמת b'emet. We call out to Hashem in truth. What does it mean to call out to Hashem באמת b'emet? What does it mean to call out to him in truth? So the Eitz Yosef says it means not באמת b'emet, you know how hard you shuckle, how loud you scream, it's not the fervor and the intent. What it means is, all prayers have to be genuine to be effective. What it means is באמת b'emet, you have to be an אמת'דיקער emesdiker person. לכל אשר יקראוהו L'chol asher yikra'uhu, to all who call out, and how do they call out? By being an אמת'דיק emesdik person. You have to be genuine and truthful and honest. This too we have in our פרשה parshah. The pasuk says מדבר שקר תרחק midvar sheker tirchak. מדבר שקר תרחק Midvar sheker tirchak. And how are you supposed to understand מדבר שקר midvar sheker? Said Reb Zusha, Anipoli, the the great Rebbe Reb Zusha, you know how you understand מדבר שקר תרחק midvar sheker tirchak? מדבר שקר Midvar sheker, if you're a liar, תרחק tirchak, you can't be close with Hashem. מדבר שקר Midvar sheker, as a result of שקר sheker, if you're not truthful and honest and genuine, תרחק tirchak, you are distanced, you are at a distance from Hashem. So לכל אשר יקראוהו באמת l'chol asher yikra'uhu b'emet, our תפילה tefillah has to be real and raw and genuine and authentic. And when it is, כי חנון אני ki chanun ani, we get a מתנת חנם matnat chinam. Hashem can't help, can't help but respond. This is so true, in fact, that when the Kohen Gadol left the Kodesh HaKodashim on Yom Kippur, we say this tefillah, יהי רצון yehi ratzon, we repeat in our machzor, in Musaf on Yom Kippur, the tefillah the Kohen Gadol would offer. And he would ask for shnas gzeiros tovos, good year, dagan v'tirosh v'yitzhar. And our version doesn't have what the Gemara has. The Gemara in Yoma on daf nun gimmel says, ולא תיכנס לפניך תפילת עוברי דרכים v'lo tikanes l'fanecha tefillat ovrei drachim. Hashem, the Kohen Gadol, in the Kodesh HaKodashim, just walked out, and he'd be healthy and alive and he'd say, God, don't listen to the commuters. Don't listen to the ones commuting, the travelers. Don't listen to the commuters. What does that mean? It means that the people who were leaving didn't want the rain. So when we daven for the rain, they said, don't make it rain, because if it rains, there could be a landslide, it's slippery, it's dangerous, it's hard to travel. And so the Kohen Gadol in order to combat their tefillah has to say to Hashem, no, nevertheless make it rain, we need the rain. So, Rabbi Dovid Shechter wonders, why does the Kohen Gadol have to? Hashem just won't listen to their tefillah. If Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants it to rain, that's what's on the Kohen Gadol's mind? Kodesh HaKodashim, Motzei Yom Kippur, don't listen to their tefillah, make it rain nonetheless. And the answer is yes. Is there a more genuine tefillah than the person who is commuting, who is outside, who is exposed, who is vulnerable, who desperately doesn't want it to rain? Because that's such a heartfelt and authentic tefillah, the only thing that could combat it is the Kohen Gadol Yom Kippur in the Kodesh HaKodashim. The more authentic, the deeper, the more b'emet, the more honest and real our tefillah, the more chanun, the more it earns Hashem's compassion. That's what the Ramban, the Rashbam are explaining. Not just for the tzaddik, even for the one who is less than a tzaddik. As always there's so much more to say.
