Transcript
Good morning everyone, בוקר טוב boker tov and thank you for joining us for our weekly study of the פרשה parsha, פרשה parsha perspectives for today. This week we have the privilege of learning פרשת שלח parshas shlach together. פרשה שלח Parsha shlach, like every פרשה parsha I find myself introducing with these words is action-packed. We have of course the most famous story of the מרגלים meraglim, an episode that has left an indelible consequence until today. The Jewish people continue to suffer as a result of that of that terrible, terrible miscalculation and mistake. We have the story of what followed and the משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu needing to earn forgiveness on behalf of the people. We have the story of the מקושש עצים mekoshish eitzim, the מצווה mitzvah of חלה challah, the story of the מצווה mitzvah of ציצית tzitzis. There's so much in here and we'll see as far as we can get together. פרשה Parsha series is sponsored this year by dear friends Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנש leilui nishmas David ben Menachem Manish. We're so grateful to the Katzes for this and so much more. And we hope our learning will be in memory of a very special man. Our פרשה parsha begins in the ArtScroll חומש Chumash page 798. וידבר השם אל משה לאמר Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe leimor. God spoke to Moshe saying, שלח לך אנשים ויסורו את ארץ כנען אשר אני נותן לבני ישראל איש אחד איש אחד למטה אבותיו תשלחו כל נשיא בהם Shlach lecha anashim veyasuru es eretz Canaan asher ani nosein livnei Yisrael ish echad ish echad lemateh avosav tishlachu kol nasi vahem. Hashem said send forth men. שלח לך אנשים Shlach lecha anashim. Note it doesn't say שלח אנשים shlach anashim. The word לך lecha is entirely extraneous. The word לך lecha is extra. פסוק Pasuk could have easily just said שלח אנשים shlach anashim, send men. Why does it say לך lecha, for you? So רש״י Rashi quickly jumps in and says לך לדעתך lecha ledaatcha. אני איני מצוה לך Ani eini metzaveh lecha. אם תרצה, שלח Im tirtzeh, shlach. God says it's not for me. I know the land, and I know I can follow through and make good on my promise. I know you'll conquer it. Don't do it for me, לך lecha. It's for you. If somehow going there, investigating the land, understanding and scouting it out will give you a greater sense of confidence when you ascend to conquer, then בי געזונט be gezunt. But know it's not for me, it's for you. וישובו ישראל ויאמרו נשלחה אנשים לפנינו Uvishuvu Yisrael ve'omru nishlecha anashim lefanenu. The people had said we want to send. We want to send. ומשה נמלך בשכינה Vemoshe nimlach b'shchina. So Moshe consulted with Hashem. אמר, אני אמרתי להם שהיא טובה, שנאמר ארץ זבת חלב ודבש היא Omar, ani omarti lahem shehi tovah, shene'emar eretz zavas chalav u'devash hi. חייכם שאני נותן להם מקום לטעות בדבר מרגלים Chayeichem she'ani nosein lahem makom litoys bedvar meraglim and so on. So the extra word לך lecha teaches it's for you. Hashem says I don't need it, not for me. And this begins the saga. Identifying the 12 leaders, the 12 נשיאים nesiim. We've spoken previously, we're not going to review this here. What is perhaps the most compelling question that jumps off the page of the חומש chumash every year that we interact פרשת שלח parshas shlach, which is, how could it be? אנשים חשובים Anashim chashuvim, such great men who are identified as righteous at least at the beginning. How could it be that these great men... Imagine you send them a מועצת גדולי התורה moetzes gedolei haTorah. You send the 12 biggest גדולים gedolim, let's say the 20th century. The רב Rav, the לובאַוויטשער רבי Lubavitcher Rebbe, רב הוטנר Rav Hutner, you send רב רודרמן Rav Ruderman, you send רב משה פיינשטיין Rav Moshe Feinstein, רב יעקב קמנצקי Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky. You round it out, the greatest גדולים gedolim, these 12 men they go on a mission and they fail so miserably. And the failure is such a failure of a seeming heresy. It's a failure of distrust in Hashem. How could they come back and give this negative report? What exactly went wrong on their mission? We've discussed several times previously, and it's not our subject for today. But I want to call your attention to the opening רש״י Rashi. The opening רש״י Rashi wonders, as he often does, what is the juxtaposition? What is the meaning of the placement of this פרשה parsha right next to, right adjacent to the previous one? שלח לך אנשים Shlach lecha anashim says רש״י Rashi, למה נסמכה פרשת מרגלים לפרשת מרים lama nismicha parshas meraglim leparshas Miriam? Why does the story of the מרגלים meraglim appear right next to as a continuation to the story of the episode of Miriam? Miriam gossiped about her brother. She was quarantined, a word we previously only ever used on פרשת בהעלותך parshas Behaaloscha to describe Miriam's status. Never did we know or our children were familiar with that word until now, until recently. So Miriam was quarantined as a result of gossiping about her brother. The people waited patiently for her return and then they resumed their journey together. Says רש״י Rashi, what is the connection between the end of last week's פרשה parsha, the episode, the story of Miriam which we are commanded and charged to remember, one of the six remembrances every single day, and the story of our פרשה parsha of the מרגלים meraglim? Says רש״י Rashi, לפי שלקתה על עסקי דיבה שדיברה באחיה, ורשעים הללו ראו ולא לקחו מוסר lefi she'laksah al iskei dibah she'dibrah be'acheha, u'reshaim halalu rau velo lakchu musar. Because these מרגלים meraglim should have watched, they should have seen closely and carefully. They should have extracted the lesson that there was to learn. What happened? Miriam gossiped, she spoke negatively about her brother, and as a result, suffered a consequence. They should have understood there's no room for gossip and slander, there's no room for negative speech and communication. They didn't learn. רשעים הללו Reshaim halalu, these wicked people instead did what? They went and gossiped about our greatest and holiest land, and as a result, the whole episode of the story ensues. לא לקחו מוסר Lo lakchu musar. They didn't take the מוסר musar from what they had seen and what they had experienced. You see the word מוסר musar and you know I'm going to quote רב וואלבע Rav Wolbe. רב וואלבע Rav Wolbe in his שיעורי חומש Shiurei Chumash has a fantastic and such an important insight. So much so it's amazing. These men are called אנשים חשובים anashim chashuvim. These were the נשיאים nesiim, these were the גדולים gedolim of their time, and yet רש״י Rashi has no hesitation here to call them רשעים הללו Reshaim halalu. These wicked evil people, these רשעים הללו reshaim halalu. What turns an אנשים חשובים anashim chashuvim? What turns a person of stature and esteem, a person of greatness into these wicked low-life people? What made them a רשע rasha? So רש״י Rashi himself gives the answer. What made them רשעים הללו reshaim halalu? Because ראו ולא לקחו מוסר rau velo lakchu musar. They saw something. They were exposed to something. They learned about something. They had access, they read about something, ולא לקחו מוסר velo lakchu musar. You know what it means to be a רשע rasha? You know what is the path that leads one to become a רשע rasha? When there was a lesson to have learned but you rejected it. When there was something to glean, something to enrich, something to inspire, but your cynicism, your sarcasm or your silence, your indifference, your apathy, your complacency caused you not to see it, not to learn it, not to extract it. You see, you could look at current events at what's happening around us in two different ways. You could think it's so terrible to see the pain, the suffering, it's so terrible to learn about what's going on in the world, the natural disaster, or a war, or a pandemic, or even a positive thing and simply to feel a sense of sympathy, or you can look at these events on a more personal basis and you can say what am I meant to learn? Why do I know about this? And how is it meant to impact me? How is it meant to affect me? What am I meant to extract from it? What am I meant to learn from it? He says רש״י Rashi, you know what makes רשעים הללו reshaim halalu? Because ראו rau, they read the headlines, and they got the update, and they saw the news, ולא לקחו מוסר velo lakchu musar. In every news story, in every headline, in every blog post, in everything we see, we learn, we're exposed to, there's something to learn. ולא לקחו מוסר Velo lakchu musar. I've told you before, undoubtedly, I'll tell you again, the beautiful insight of the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov. בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov says from the משנה mishna in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos. It says דע מה למעלה ממך da ma l'maala mimcha. A person has to always know what is above him or her. עין רואה ואוזן שומעת וכל מעשיך בספר נכתבים Ayin ro'ah ve'ozen shoma'as vechol ma'asecha basefer nichtavim. And everything that we do, everywhere we react is recorded in a ספר sefer. The simple understanding of the משנה mishna is we're living in a time, we can identify with this more than ever, where there's a satellite, it's watching every movement, every action, it's recording every GPS, it's following everything that we look at on the web. עין רואה אוזן שומעת Ayin ro'ah ozen shoma'as. We have literally eyes in the sky that are watching and recording everything we're doing. There are listening devices. You have a conversation with someone, the next thing you know, you turn on your web browser and it's advertising the very thing that you were talking about. There's an eye watching, there's an ear listening, Big Brother, it's all around us. So the simple understanding of the משנה mishna is even before technology was doing that, the ריבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam, the Almighty was doing that. So therefore כל מעשיך בספר נכתבים kol ma'asecha basefer nichtavim, be careful and be mindful and know that everything you do, someone is watching. But the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov understood it differently. דע מה למעלה ממך Da ma l'maala mimcha, know that there's a Hashem, know that there's one above. And because there's a Hashem above, עין רואה ayin ro'ah, whatever you see, you were meant to see. And אוזן שומעת ozen shoma'as, whatever you hear, you were meant to hear. And how you react to what you saw and what you heard, how that inspires or impacts or transforms you, whether you absorb it, learn from it, and become different from it, or you simply reject it, it bounces off of you and you remain unchanged and the same, נכתבים בספר nichtavim basefer, that will be recorded for posterity. That will reflect on you always. So he doesn't quote this רב וואלבע Rav Wolbe, but it's a beautiful בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov and רב וואלבע Rav Wolbe is saying the same thing here. רשעים הללו Reshaim halalu, you know what made these מרגלים meraglim רשעים reshaim? They went from אנשים חשובים anashim chashuvim, they went from the מועצת גדולי התורה moetzes gedolei haTorah into wicked men, רשעים הללו reshaim halalu. Why? ראו Rau, they read the headline, עין רואה, אוזן שומעת ayin ro'ah, ozen shoma'as, they saw what was going on. They were supposed to think, they were supposed to reflect, they were supposed to introspect, they were supposed to ask themselves, how am I meant to learn, how am I meant to change? ולא לקחו מוסר Velo lakchu musar. But they didn't approach with a מוסר musar attitude. They didn't ask those questions. They didn't investigate in that way. And because of that, when there's a person who's exposed to what's going on around them in the world, but they don't pause to say, how does this impact me? How am I meant to grow? That's not the conversation. The conversation at the שבת Shabbos table should not be the politics or the controversy or the divisiveness. It should be, wow, what do you think we're meant to learn? What is the lesson for us? Why do we know about this? That should be the conversation, one that is transformational, one that is inspiring, one that ראו rau, we see, and we learn, and ולקחו מוסר velakchu musar, and we take the lesson that's meant to be extracted from it.רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik also notes and comments on this opening רש״י Rashi. We're going to try to get past the opening פסוק pasuk today. That is our goal. I'll state our goal from the beginning. And רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik says on this opening פסוק pasuk as well, what does it mean the opening רש״י Rashi? What were they supposed to have learned? What were they supposed to have learned? Says רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik, Miriam had overlooked the סגולה segula element in Moshe, and they overlooked the סגולה segula element in the land. Miriam ignored the chosenness of her brother, his numinous character and charisma. The spies likewise could not grasp the secret of a סגולה segula land and its unique metaphysical relationship to the people. There was a common denominator in the two episodes, in her protest against Moshe and in their report submitted to Moshe. The element of סגולה segula was absent from both. Here רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik employs the term סגולה segula and he doesn't mean like a red בענדל bendel or going to the כותל kotel 40 days in a row or some סגולה segula of if you say this hibby-jibby or you give this donation to the right person, it's going to be a סגולה segula and everything's going to be okay. רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik, I can assure you, I never met him in person, but did not subscribe to the mystical and the, what's the word I'm looking for, notion of of סגולות segulas that we have. What does רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik mean that what's common between these two episodes is the lack of סגולה segula? The Torah itself uses the term סגולה segula, and when it does, it's not talking about superstition, that was the word. The Torah is not talking about סגולה segula in the form of superstition. When the Torah itself uses the word סגולה segula, it uses it in the context of being an עם סגולה am segula. What does it mean to be an עם סגולה am segula? Says רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik, translating that word סגולה segula, סגולה segula means singular, distinct, unique, exclusive, special, elevated. That's what סגולה segula means. We are meant to be an עם סגולה am segula. We should differentiate ourselves, we should elevate ourselves. Not in a superior way to others, I'm going to give a שיעור shiur over the next couple of weeks on the question, a very timely question. Do the Jewish people see ourselves as superior over others? עם הנבחר Am hanivchar, are we the chosen people or the choosing people? Are we inherently and intrinsically better, superior, somehow more endowed with greater, greater knowledge, greater brain power, greater spirituality, or are we the choosing people? Are we challenged to be better, not that we are better, but we need to behave better and be better? It's a fascinating topic, we'll discuss it. So סגולה segula means you have a unique exclusive mission in this world. It's distinct, it's special. That's why we're here. So the term סגולה segula we see applied to כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, we see it applied to ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. We see it in several contexts. And here רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik says the lesson the מרגלים meraglim didn't learn is why did where did Miriam go wrong? Why was she quarantined and punished? Why did they have to wait for her to rejoin? Because she challenged Moshe's uniqueness. He's the אב הנביאים av ha'nevi'im. One of the axioms of our faith, one of the רמב״ם's Rambam's 13 principles of faith is to know that Moshe is categorically different than all the other prophets. And Miriam, not that she underestimated or undervalued her own brother, but she challenged that component of him, that he was categorically different. She didn't see the סגולה segula, the uniqueness, the exclusivity, the singularity of Moshe. And that's the same mistake the מרגלים meraglim made. They looked at the land and they said, eh, the desert, Uganda, Boca, Teaneck, the five towns, Detroit, Chicago, LA, South Africa, South America, Australia, eh, we can live anywhere. What's the difference? As long as we have Torah, as long as we have מצוות mitzvos, as long as we have Hashem, it's just earth, it's soil, it's dirt. What's the difference? That's where they went wrong. Israel is unique, the land of Israel is unique. The land of Israel is distinct, it's singular. And there's countless, we once gave a שיעור shiur about this, why the Uganda plan, why that proposal should have never even gotten off the ground, because there is no, the notion of the Jewish people in Israel is not because that's where we're safest or we can protect our own, it's because there's something special, there's a סגולה segula to the soil. It's the only land that you have מצוות התלויות בארץ mitzvos hateluyos ba'aretz. There are מצוות mitzvos that depend on the land itself. It is unique, it is distinct, it is singular. Just as Miriam failed to see the uniqueness in Moshe, the מרגלים meraglim failed to acknowledge and affirm the singularity of the land of Israel. That's where they equally went wrong and that's what רש״י Rashi is telling us, that ראו rau they saw that mistake of failure to acknowledge סגולה segula, but and they לא לקחו מוסר lo lakchu musar. They didn't recognize in the land of Israel. If you skip to רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik, you ready? Told you we'll get past the first פסוק pasuk. Let's go all the way to the end of the פרשה parsha when we're given the מצווה mitzvah of חלה challah. After the episode of the spies and after we're given a law about how we expand קרבנות korbanos with flower offerings, then we have the מצווה mitzvah of חלה challah. פרק ט״ו Perek Tet Zayin פסוק י״ז pasuk yud zayin. וידבר השם אל משה לאמר Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe leimor. דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם בבואכם אל הארץ אשר אני מביא אתכם שמה Daber el bnei Yisrael ve'amarta aleihem be'voachem el ha'aretz asher ani meivi eschem shamah. When I take you into the land, והיה באכלכם מלחם הארץ vehaya be'acholchem milechem ha'aretz when you'll eat from the bread of the land, תרימו תרומה להשם tarimu terumah l'Hashem. There is a gift, there is a tithe that you give from the bread. ראשית עריסותיכם חלה תרימו תרומה Reishis arisoseichem challah tarimu terumah. The first portion of your dough, you have to separate as a loaf, as a gift. גורן כן תרימו אותה, כתרומת גורן כן תרימו אותה Goren kein tarimu osah, ketrumas goren kein tarimu osah. As the case in the gift of the threshing floor, just like you separate from the produce from the harvest, so do you separate from the חלה challah. Today we don't give it to the כהן kohein. In biblical times it was given to the כהן kohein, it was considered among the tithes. Today we separate חלה challah even in חוץ לארץ chutz la'aretz, though it has a different דין din, a different status than the חלה challah that's separated in the land of Israel with practical consequences not for now. Rather than give to the כהן kohein, the כהן kohein today is טמא tamei, the כהן kohein today, no offense to the כהנים kohanim are not מיוחסים meyuchasim. We can't trace their lineage, we're not as confident or sure that in fact they're כהנים kohanim, even though we still give them the first עלייה aliyah and we let them דוכנען duchen. But when it comes to eating חלה challah, we're even stricter. So what do we do? We destroy the חלה challah. You burn it in the oven, other ways of destroying the חלה challah. Why is the מצווה mitzvah of חלה challah given here? I once gave a whole שיעור shiur on חלה challah, I don't know if we've recorded it and if it's up online, but why is חלה challah a woman's מצווה mitzvah and what's inherent? The סגולה segula, ראשית עריסותיכם reishis arisoseichem. There are several things that are called ראשית reishis. בשביל ראשית Bishvil reishis, the Jewish people are the ראשית reishis, we are the first. And the Torah is the ראשית reishis, and חלה challah is ראשית reishis. חלה Challah is considered a very holy, a very significant, a very beautiful מצווה mitzvah. It's not a סגולה segula, but it's a מצווה mitzvah. And every מצווה mitzvah we do is a סגולה segula. We don't need to invent new ones. So רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik writes here, why is this מצווה mitzvah given here of all places? We had the tithes, why don't we give the מצווה mitzvah of חלה challah with תרומות trumos and מעשרות maasros? We should give the מצווה mitzvah of חלה challah with the other מצוות התלויות בארץ mitzvos hateluyos ba'aretz, with the other מצוות mitzvos that are instructed to the farmer in an agrarian society. Why is it given here? Listen to what רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik writes. He says although the biblical obligation of separating חלה challah applies only in the land of Israel, there's a fundamental difference between this מצווה mitzvah and others which are dependent on the land. The obligation to offer תרומה truma and מעשר maaser is a direct result of קדושת הארץ kedushas ha'aretz, the sanctity of the land, and is effective on fruits that are still connected to the tree and hence to the land. The obligation of חלה challah on the other hand takes effect well after the harvesting of the wheat. It takes place only once the dough is being prepared which requires the intervention of man. Thus the מצווה mitzvah reflects God's blessing not only on the land itself, but on man's effort in the land of Israel as well. חלה Challah is different than the other תרומות trumos and מעשרות maasros. תרומות Trumos and מעשרות maasros draw their sanctity from being connected, attached to the land, from the holiness of the earth, of the soil, of the land. חלה Challah is once we manipulate the ingredients of the land. What is חלה challah? It's not what we harvest when we pluck. חלה Challah is when we thresh the wheat and we have to winnow the wheat and we have to knead it into dough and we have to allow it to rise and we have to bake it. And when it's חלה challah, even before it's baked, when it's kneaded, when it's חלה challah, that's when we separate it. It is the marriage, it is the synergy, the hybrid of the holiness of the land and the holiness of those who manipulated it. It's not a coincidence says the רב Rav, that this מצווה mitzvah appears after the incident of the spies. When they gave their report, the spies emphasized their own feelings of weakness and inadequacy in the face of obstacles that allegedly stood in their way in any effort to conquer the land. They argued that the fruit of the land was indeed wonderful but it would be impossible to enjoy those fruits because of the overwhelming strength of the inhabitants and its impenetrable fortifications. The spies' sin was not their report on the land per se, but their perceived inability to partake of its fruits. As a counterpoint to the spies' argument, Hashem gave us the מצווה mitzvah of חלה challah, which contains within it the power of the land to bestow blessing from above on its inhabitants. Man's efforts will not be for naught. The land as well as the efforts of the people will equally be blessed. So the רב Rav writes and here we've kind of bookended the פרשה parsha, the beginning of the פרשה parsha, what happened, where did the מרגלים meraglim go wrong? לא לקחו מוסר Lo lakchu musar from the story of Miriam. Just like Miriam failed to see the singularity, the uniqueness, the exclusivity of Moshe, the סגולה segula in Moshe, so too the מרגלים meraglim failed to see the singularity, the exclusiveness, the uniqueness of that land. This is a special land. And what is special about this land? Not only its inherent holiness, but its capacity to empower those who inhabit it. And is that not true about the the modern return to our land of Israel, the miracles that emanate from it every single day, breakthrough in technology and in medicine. Talking about a group of people, survivors in 1948, weak and debilitated who had nothing left who found the courage and who found the capacity to be able to settle their land and defend it countless times since. The land empowers those who inhabit it. That's the nature of the מצווה mitzvah of חלה challah. For חלה challah is not just you harvest the fruit as is, it is the combination, the hybrid of what grows from the land and the people who manipulated it because the land itself empowers. That's what the מרגלים meraglim failed to see. The מרגלים meraglim had a insecure... The מרגלים meraglim suffered from insecurity. They didn't have self-confidence. How do we know that? Because the פסוק pasuk says that we saw ourselves in their eyes, what does the פסוק pasuk? ונהי בעינינו כחגבים וכן היינו בעיניהם Vanihi be'eineinu ke'chagavim, ve'chein hayinu be'eineihem. In our eyes, they in their eyes we were like grasshoppers, and so too in our eyes. And the קוצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe, we've quoted this many times, the קוצקער Kotsker says, I know how I can see myself. How can I tell you how they saw me? The spies return and they say, eh, we were just lowly grasshoppers in their eyes. You were lowly grasshoppers in their eyes? Would you read their blog? You heard their WhatsApp message to their friends? How do you know how you appeared in their eyes? You didn't have a listening device in those days, how do you know? Says the קוצקער Kotsker, because when you see yourself as small, you project that onto others and you assume they see you that way too. When you're insecure, you're projecting onto others and you're assuming how they see you. וכן היינו בעיניהם Ve'chein hayinu be'eineihem. We were ונהי בעינינו כחגבים vanihi be'eineinu ke'chagavim. In our eyes we were like grasshoppers, and so too in their eyes. The קוצקער Kotsker says because we were projecting. We're supposed to do exactly the opposite. Exactly the opposite. שלמה קרליבך Shlomo Carlebach says, you know when you wake up every morning, the first דין din, the first הלכה halacha in שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch says, התגבר כארי לעמוד בבוקר hisgaber ka'ari, la'amod ba'boker. Wake up like a lion, roar like a lion. A Jew's supposed to get out of bed and greet the day like a lion. You're not a grasshopper, you're not insignificant and negligible and nothing. Don't greet the day like a lowly grasshopper that you're ready to be stepped on. התגבר כארי Hisgaber ka'ari. Greet the day, jump out of bed like a lion. Don't see yourself as a lowly cockroach, see yourself as the kingdom, as the king of the kingdom, the head of the kingdom. See yourself as a lion. התגבר כארי לעמוד לבוקר Hisgaber ka'ari la'amod laboker, it's the way we wake up in the morning. So their failure, the whole failure of the מרגלים meraglim was not a failure of faith in Hashem, it was a failure and a breakdown of faith in whom? In themselves. We saw ourselves as grasshoppers and therefore we assumed others saw us that way. If we see ourselves as a lion and we project that we're a lion, others will see us as a lion as well. So the מצווה mitzvah of חלה challah says the רב Rav is placed right here, why? Because the breakdown, their failure was to not see the סגולה segula component of the land of ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, to not realize that when you're in the land and you can manipulate its product, you can get the מצווה mitzvah of חלה challah. It can empower and it can enrich and it can inspire and it can charge. It's so absolutely, it's so absolutely incredible. So we started with רש״י Rashi, למה נסמכה lama nismicha, why is our episode of the מרגלים meraglim adjacent to the story of Miriam? We saw one opinion of רב וואלבע Rav Wolbe to learn from here that the headlines, what we see and what we hear around the world is meant to touch us, to inspire us, and that we will be judged and evaluated based on how impacted we are and how much we change by what we see all around us. Number one. We then saw רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik, what was the connection? Because they Miriam failed to see the singularity of Moshe, they failed to see the singularity of the land. I want to give you a third פשט pshat. The third פשט pshat comes from רב דרוק Rav Druck, רב ישראל מאיר דרוק Rav Yisrael Meir Druck, big ראש ישיבה rosh yeshiva in ירושלים Yerushalayim, whose father was a great דרשן darshan, the דרש מרדכי Drash Mordechai. And he has a beautiful ספר sefer called, the ספר sefer call אש תמיד Eish Tamid. And here he says the following. יש להקשות Yesh le'hakshos, one can't help but but wonder, כיצד הצריכו המרגלים ללמוד מוסר מלשון הרע שדיברה מרים על משה ולקתה בצרעת keitzad hitzrichu ha'meraglim lilmod musar milashon hara she'dibrah Miriam al Moshe velaksah b'tzaraas. הלא הפרש גדול יש Halo hefresh gadol yeish. Let's defend the מרגלים meraglim for a moment. Here רש״י Rashi is quoting the מדרש medrash who say they're indicting the מרגלים meraglim. How? The מרגלים meraglim saw Moshe speak לשון הרע lashon hara and they should have learned don't speak לשון הרע lashon hara. So I don't understand, says רב דרוק Rav Druck. הלא הפרש גדול Halo hefresh gadol, there's a huge distinction. היא דיברה בבשר ודם Hi dibrah be'basar vedam. הם רצו מוציאים דיבה על הארץ שהיא עצים ואבנים Heim raku motziim dibah al ha'aretz she'hi eitzim va'avanim. She spoke about a person, a צלם אלוקים tzelem Elokim, her flesh and blood, Moshe. She ranked on, she gossiped, she was negative, she was critical about a person, a צלם אלוקים tzelem Elokim. What did they do? The land, the earth, the stone, the sticks, the wood. מנין היו צריכים ללמוד שאיסור חמור ששייך בזה Minayin hayu tzrichim lilmod she'issur hamur she'shochach be'zeh. From where should they have learned, from where should they have extracted, from where should they have compared that if you can't speak negatively about a person, then certainly you shouldn't speak negatively about the land. Let's defend them for a moment. Let's be their defense attorney. There's an excellent defense. Who says you could learn a lesson from not speaking about a person to not speaking about land? Moreover, moreover, you say רמזו remizu. אין המקרים דומים זה לזה כלל וכלל Ein ha'mikrim domim zeh le'zeh klal ve'klal. מרים דיברה משה רבינו שהוא אב הנביאים Miriam dibrah Moshe Rabbeinu she'hu av ha'nevi'im, ויתכן איפוא כי מעשה זה יש בו חומר מיוחדת ve'yitachen eifoh ki ma'aseh zeh yeish bo chamur meyuchades. וכך ענשו כל כך גדול Ve'chach onsho kol kach gadol. Miriam challenged the authority and the uniqueness of the אב הנביאים av ha'nevi'im, of somebody categorically different, the greatest human that ever lived or ever will live. It's understandable therefore that the punishment was great. But how do you know that every other act of gossip? Maybe if I gossip about my low-life neighbor who deserves for me to gossip, maybe the punishment won't be as great? Certainly if I gossip about land, if I gossip about dirt, if I gossip about earth, sticks and stones. So again, where should they have known that lesson? The סמיכות פרשה smichus parsha tells me, we're indicting the מרגלים meraglim. They should have seen the episode of Miriam and known, don't gossip similarly about the land. Really? They should have known that? That's a lesson you could learn one from the other? So listen to what רב דרוק Rav Druck answers. It's a very beautiful answer. He says, at the end of פרשת בהעלותך parshas Behaaloscha, after that episode of the gossip, Hashem himself stands up and gives his endorsement. This is Hashem, I approve this message. I hereby endorse Moshe's candidacy. He says, והאיש משה עניו מאוד מכל האדם אשר על פני האדמה ve'ha'ish Moshe anav me'od mikol ha'adam asher al pnei ha'adamah. Moshe is the humblest, the most humble of all people on the face of the earth. What words are extra in this statement? לכאורה Lachora, מה ההדגשה מכל האדם אשר על פני האדמה maha hadgasha mikol ha'adam asher al pnei ha'adamah? הלא היה מספיק לכתוב והאיש משה עניו מכל אדם Halo yum maspik lachtov ve'ha'ish Moshe anav mikol adam. Isn't it not enough when God testifies that Moshe is the most humble of any human? Isn't that a little extra to say he's the most humble of any human where? On the face of the earth. Are the words on the face of the earth really necessary? Is a קודשא בריך הוא Kodesh Baruch Hu not laying it on a little thick? He's the most humble on the face of the earth. Just say he's the most humble person. And you know what? You're God, you know every person, we'll take your word for it. Why do you have to say, why do you have to say אשר על פני האדמה asher al pnei ha'adamah? So says רב דרוק Rav Druck, נראה בביאור הדבר שהתורה באה לכוון כיצד עשה ענוותנותו של משה רבינו near b'ir hadavar shehaTorah ba'ah le'chaven keitzad aseh anvisuso shel Moshe Rabbeinu. Let's understand Moshe's humility. לא זה בלבד שמחל למרים Lozeh bevach she'machal le'Miriam. It's not just that he forgave his sister. He was forgoing, he was forbearing, he was willing to forgive. How many people hold on to a grudge? How many people never let go? How many people never forgive? To family, to friends or acquaintances? And Moshe said, eh, she's my sister. I love her. I know she loves me. She had a bad moment. She got a bad moment. Such a beautiful, powerful message and precedent. ולא כעס על מה שדיברו עליו Velo kaas al ma she'dibru alav. He wasn't angry even of how they falsely accused him or distorted or misunderstood his own behavior. אלא משה רבינו עניו מכל האדם היה כמו האדמה Ela Moshe Rabbeinu anav mikol ha'adam haya kmo ha'adamah. It was even more than that. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu who was so humble and modest, actually made himself like the dust of the earth. מבחינתו הלשון הרע שדיברו עליו, כמו שדיברו על האדמה Mibechinaso ha'lashon hara she'dibru alav, kemo she'dibru al ha'adamah. He said it's, you know, I'm nothing. I'm absolutely nothing. So the fact that they spoke about me is like speaking about the dust of the earth. He wasn't מקפיד makpid on his כבוד koved. He wasn't מקפיד makpid on his honor at all. He didn't demand respect at all. His humility made him see himself as no greater than the dust of the earth. He said I know that I'm going to return to the earth from which we came, that one day I will be worm food, we all will be. And therefore, who am I to be מקפיד makpid? She made a mistake. What am I going to bear a grudge? Am I going to be angry at her forever? Am I going to refuse to forgive? What will that do for me? Because I know that I'm ultimately going to return to the ground and I see myself as no greater than the ground, that is what creates a sense of modesty and humility, that is what informs my ability to forgive. And וזה שאנו מתפללים בכל יום zeh sha'anu mispallim bechol yom says רב דרוק Rav Druck, is this not what we דאַוונען daven for every single day? At the end of our שמונה עשרה shemoneh esrei we say three times a day, אלוקי Elokai, my God, נצור לשוני מרע nitzor leshoni meira, protect me from gossiping about others. And what do we ask for Hashem? ונפשי כעפר לכל תהיה Ve'nafshi ke'afar la'kol tihiyeh. Make my soul like dust, like ash to all. שלא נרגיש שום כעס ולא נקפיד על בזיון בזיוננו She'lo nargish shum kaas ve'lo nakpid al bizyon bizyonenu. Hashem, let me see myself as the dust of the earth. Let me not be exacting with others. Let me not be arrogant with others. Let me not be unforgiving with others. This is what we דאַוונען daven every day. Let me be a שטיקל shtickle a little bit like משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu. ונפשי כעפר לכל תהיה Ve'nafshi ke'afar la'kol tihiyeh. Let me merit, let me have the fortitude and the strength to be like a nothing, like the dust of the earth and therefore to be flexible and forgiving. וזה לשון הרמב\"ם Ve'zeh lashon ha'Rambam. The רמב״ם Rambam writes in הלכות טומאת צרעת Hilchos Tum'as Tzara'as, הרי הוא אומר התבוננו מה אירע למרים הנביאה שדיברה באחיה שהיה גדול ממנה בשנים ובגדולה ברכה וסכנה עצמה להצילו מן הים Harei hu omer, is boneinu ma yira le'Miriam ha'nevia she'dibrah be'acheha she'haya gadol mimena be'shanim uvigedula be'rekech vesikena atzmah lahatzil min ha'yam. Miriam spoke about her brother and Miriam was older and Miriam was the one who saved him. והיא לא דברה בגנותו אלא טעתה שהשתו לו לשאר הנביאים Ve'hi lo dibrah bignuso ela ta'asah she'hishvasa lo leshaar ha'nevi'im. Her mistake was that she compared him and held him to the standard of all the other prophets. והוא לא הקפיד על כל הדברים האלה Ve'hu lo hikpid al kol ha'dvarim ha'eileh but Moshe, this is the רמב״ם Rambam when the רמב״ם Rambam characterizes this, in his משנה תורה Mishneh Torah, in הלכות טומאת צרעת Hilchos Tum'as Tzara'as. The רמב״ם Rambam doesn't usually usually talks about law there, but the רמב״ם Rambam says when this happened to Moshe, הוא לא הקפיד hu lo hikpid. Moshe wasn't strict, he wasn't exacting. שנאמר והאיש משה עניו מאוד Shene'emar ve'ha'ish Moshe anav me'od. So you see that Moshe was forgiving. And what gave Moshe the capacity to be forgiving? כנפשי כעפר Kenafshi ke'afar, because he saw himself as the dust of the earth. So now we understand, says רב דרוק Rav Druck, the מרגלים meraglim should have learned מוסר musar from the story of Miriam. Why? Because Miriam spoke לשון הרע lashon hara about her brother and Moshe saw that as, you know, it's as if she spoke לשון הרע lashon hara about sticks and stones. This is as if she spoke לשון הרע lashon hara on the dust of the earth, because that's all I am is the dust of the earth. And therefore, and therefore he was forgiving. And so the מרגלים meraglim should have understood that you can't speak, you can't speak לשון הרע lashon hara even אשר על פני האדמה asher al pnei ha'adamah, even about the person who sees himself as פני האדמה pnei ha'adama. עמה ama, you can't speak לשון הרע lashon hara about the אדמה adama itself, about the land, about the land of Israel. בזה ישוב מדוע תורה והאיש משה עניו מאד B'zeh yeshuv madua Torah v'haish Moshe anav me'od, תוך כדי פרשת מרים toch k'dei parshas Miriam. Now we understand the connection. ומה מקום של פסוק זה מדותיו של משה U'mah mekomo shel pasuk zeh midosav shel Moshe? לפי דברי הרמב\"ם L'fi divrei haRambam, where did Moshe draw the strength to be forgiving? Because his humility came from seeing himself as no greater than the earth. And therefore, the מרגלים meraglim should have learned that lesson. You can't speak about a person who sees themself like the earth, and you can't speak about the earth itself either. Okay. The Pasuk describes these מרגלים meraglim, these princes, איש אחד למטה אבתיו ish echad l'mateh avosav. You're supposed to take one from each tribe, כל נשיא בהם kol nasi bahem, each prince. I saw an interesting פשט pshat. It's not a פשט pshat. It's a חסידישע ווארט Chassidishe vort. But the צדיק Tzaddik, רב משה חיים אפרים Rav Moshe Chaim Ephraim of סדילקוב Sudilkov, says the following. The word נשיא nasi, a prince, an aristocrat, a leader, an official, has within it two words. The word נשיא nasi has within it יש yesh and אין ayin. אין Ayin. יש Yesh means something, significance, sophistication. And אין ayin means nothingness. A person can rise to a position of being a נשיא nasi for one of two reasons. They're אין ayin. They're empty, they're pathetic, they are counterfeit, they are an imposter. And all they want is the power, all they want is the esteem, all they want is everyone deferring to them. That's a נשיא nasi who's risen to that out of being an אין ayin. But really a person should become a נשיא nasi, should be a prince of a person, not because of אין ayin because you want the power but you're empty, but because יש yesh. There's significance, and there's there's there's a sophistication, and you're a person of substance. There's substance. You could be a נשיא nasi who's אין ayin, who's absent substance, or you could be a נשיא nasi who's יש yesh, who's filled with substance, and that is our mission. That's the standard we should hold our leaders to, and that's the type of leadership that we ourselves should aspire to, is to be a נשיא nasi who has יש yesh, who has substance.פרק י\"ג פסוק ט\"ז Perek yud gimmel pasuk tes zayin, let's continue. Torah delineates who these נשיאים nesi'im were. And again, as we said, we've spoken in the past, we're not going to review now, exactly where they went wrong. But Moshe anticipated they were going to go wrong. And this section is filled with lots of questions. Moshe changes הושע's Hoshea's name to יהושע Yehoshua. כלב Kalev stops and דאווענ'ס davens in חברון Chevron, and the question can be asked on all of them. If Moshe knew this was going to go bad, go wrong, why should he not have not changed יהושע's Yehoshua's name? He should have stopped the whole mission. Abort mission. Call it off. Why did they follow through nonetheless, even though he anticipated it was going to go wrong? You could say the same thing about כלב Kalev. כלב Kalev stops, we know they came up from the south. We'll get to that in a moment. And כלב Kalev stops where? In חברון Chevron. He goes to מערת המכפלה Ma'aras Hamachpeilah. He goes to דאווען daven at קברי אבות kivrei avos. He goes to דאווען daven. This is part of the the source that there is meaning in דאווענע'ן davening at the graves of our of our forefathers. He goes to דאווען daven at the of the strength. If כלב Kalev so anticipated things were going to go so wrong that he needed to דאווען daven, then why cooperate? Simply say, I'm not going. Protest. I refuse to participate because I know this is not going to end well. That's a big question, not for now. The question I want to throw at you is, why does Moshe only change יהושע's Yehoshua's name? פסוק ט\"ז Pasuk tes zayin. אלה שמות האנשים אשר שלח משה לתור את הארץ Eileh shmos ha'anashim asher shalach Moshe lasur es ha'aretz. These are the names of the great men that Moshe sent to investigate the land. Norman Mordkovsky עליו השלום alav hashalom, a former member of BRS, every year פרשת שלח parshas Shlach would be upset. He says, Rabbis abuse the English language when we say that the spies went to spy out the land. There is no term in English 'spy out land'. They went to investigate the land. So in his memory, I use that word investigate. They went לתור את הארץ לתור את הארץ latur es ha'aretz, lasur es ha'aretz to investigate the land. By the way, there's got to be a connection we've spoken about this in the past, not for now. They went, the mission is לתור את הארץ lasur es ha'aretz, ל' ת' ר' lamed taf reish. And the end of the פרשה parsha tells us when it comes to ציצית tzitzis, why do we have ציצית tzitzis to remind us? ולא תסורו אחרי לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם V'lo sasuru acharei l'vavchem v'acharei eineichem. The exact same word is used at the beginning of the פרשה parsha, the end of the פרשה parsha. The same word about the spies investigating the land is that we not spy and investigate what our heart desires in the end of the פרשה parsha. There's a very deep connection. ויקרא משה... ויקרא משה להושע בן נון יהושע Vayikra Moshe... Vayikra Moshe l'Hoshea bin Nun Yehoshua. And Moshe changes יהושע's Yehoshua's name from הושע Hoshea to יהושע Yehoshua. Says רש\"י Rashi, יתפלל עליו קה יושיעך מעצת מרגלים Yispallel alav Kah yoshiacha mei'atzas meraglim. Moshe דאווען'ד davened, השם Hashem save you from what are the nefarious plans, the evil schemes of these מרגלים meraglim. Again begging the question if Moshe knew that then, why continue with the mission? Abort mission. Where did the name where the letter י yud come from? Where did he find this י yud? The י yud of course came from the name of שרי Sarai. שרי Sarai was changed to שרה Sarah, and the י yud came from there. So Moshe דאווען'ד davened on behalf of הושע בן נון Hoshea bin Nun and changed him to יהושע Yehoshua, changed him to יהושע Yehoshua. The אור החיים הקדוש Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh here says that the letter י yud, which has the numerical value of the number 10, gave יהושע Yehoshua the ability to overcome the עצת מרגלים atzas meraglim. How did he overcome the the scheme of the other 10? The letter י yud. That gave him the power to be able to to be able to overcome it. ר' שמעון שוואב Rav Shimon Schwab writes that Moshe's concern was about יהושע Yehoshua. Why just יהושע Yehoshua? Why didn't Moshe change כלב's Kalev's name? Why didn't he change the other 11 spies' name? If Moshe, if Moshe felt, if he intuited there was something going to go wrong here, why didn't he intervene and intercede beyond just with יהושע Yehoshua, only changing יהושע's Yehoshua's name? Why didn't he change more than their names as well? Why didn't he change כלב's Kalev's? So רב יעקב קמנצקי Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky has an answer when it comes to כלב Kalev. Says the אמת ליעקב Emes l'Yaakov, who's כלב Kalev married to? Kalev's got a pretty good wife. Kalev married well. Who's כלב Kalev married to? None other than מרים Miriam. מרים הנביאה Miriam ha'neviah. Miriam, Moshe's sister. So Moshe figures, you know, כלב Kalev, my sister's got him covered. My his wife's got him covered. She'll give him a ברכה bracha, she'll change his name, she'll inspire him. She's got כלב Kalev covered. I've got to cover יהושע Yehoshua. That's how the אמת ליעקב Emes l'Yaakov, רב יעקב קמנצקי Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky answers. But רב דרוק Rav Druck has his own answer. Want to share with you רב דרוק Rav Druck and ר' שמעון שוואב's Rav Shimon Schwab's answer. We'll do a few pieces from רב דרוק Rav Druck today because he has really beautiful insights on the פרשה parsha. I really love his ספר sefer. He says, why did Moshe only דאווען daven for יהושע Yehoshua over the other, the other, the other מרגלים meraglim? And moreover, he quotes the רמב\"ן Ramban. The רמב\"ן Ramban here, פרק י\"ג פסוק ד' perek yud gimmel pasuk daled. The רמב\"ן Ramban here in our פרשה parsha writes, נראה שמנה אותם הנה לפי מעלת השלוחים nireh she'manah osam heina l'fi maalas hashlichim. How do we list their order? The רמב\"ן Ramban notes, again, פרק י\"ג פסוק ד' perek yud gimmel pasuk daled. The רמב\"ן Ramban notes, if you look at the order that the spies are recorded in the פסוקים psukim, what order is it following exactly? Is it following the order of the שבטים shvatim, chronologically? What order is it following? So the רמב\"ן Ramban writes, Can't find it. Alright, read it to you. Oh. He says the רמב\"ן Ramban, מנה הכתוב השבטים לא לדגליהם ולא לצבאותם ולא כתולדותם Moneh hakasuv hashvatim lo l'digleihem, v'lo l'tziv'osam, v'lo k'toldosam. First the רמב\"ן Ramban rules out how they're not listed. They're not listed according to their flag, their camping. They're not listed according to צבאותם tziv'osam. They're not listed כתולדותם k'toldosam in chronological order of age. So what order do they appear in? What order do they appear in? Why are the מרגלים meraglim introduced to us in that order? Says the רמב\"ן Ramban, ונראה שמנה אותם הנה לפי מעלת השלוחים v'nireh she'manah osam heina l'fi maalas hashlichim. They are in their order of greatness. היו ראשים ונשיאים בעם כאשר ספר ואין מעלתם שוה אבל יש בהם גדול מחברו בחוכמה במנין ובכבוד Hayu roshim v'nesi'im ba'am ka'asher sipur v'ein ma'alasam shava, aval yesh bahem gadol mei'chavero b'chochma b'minyan u'v'chavod. They are in the order of their brilliance, of their knowledge, of their greatness, of their honor. והקדים הנכבד קודם ומעלה כי מעלת עצמם מנה ולא מעלת השבט V'hikdim hanichbad kodem u'ma'alah ki ma'alas atzmam manah v'lo ma'alas hashevet. They're not in the order of distinction of the tribe, they're not in the order of the camping arrangement, they're not in the order that they were born of age. What order do they appear in, says the רמב\"ן Ramban? They appear in according to the order of their greatness. Good. Now go back and look at that list. Where does יהושע Yehoshua appear? Where does יהושע Yehoshua appear in the list? יהושע Yehoshua is number not one, two, three or four. יהושע Yehoshua is number five. So יהושע Yehoshua is number five, why did Moshe only דאווען daven for number five? Why didn't he דאווען daven for one through four? Or why didn't he דאווען daven through six through twelve who were at greater risk because they were less impressive, less brilliant, less accomplished, less יראת שמים yiras shamayim? If the רמב\"ן Ramban is right that they're listed in the order in the in the order of their greatness, then why skip to person number five, יהושע Yehoshua, and only דאווען daven for him?So רב דרוק Rav Druck suggests several answers. First he says, number one, the גמרא ברכות דף י\"ז Gemara Brachos daf yud zayin tells us לא יאונה לבן או תלמיד שמקדיח תבשילו ברבים lo ye'uneh l'ven o talmid she'makdiach tavshilo ba'rabbim. that a person is very vigilant, careful, is very protective of their children and of their תלמידים talmidim. יהושע Yehoshua is Moshe's loyal משרת meshares, he's Moshe's loyal servant. He's Moshe's loyal servant. He's Moshe's loyal assistant. Assistant professor, assistant rabbi, assistant leader of the Jewish people. And therefore Moshe has a greater affection for יהושע Yehoshua. He's overprotective of יהושע Yehoshua. If that גמרא ברכות Gemara Brachos is right, that the natural inclination is a person is overprotective of their own children and their own תלמידים talmidim, their own students, that's why Moshe runs to protect יהושע Yehoshua and to change his name. That's number one. Suggestion number two of רב דרוק Rav Druck is based on the משנה Mishna in אבות Avos. The משנה Mishna says, משה קבל תורה מסיני ומסרה ל... ליהושע Moshe kibel Torah miSinai u'msara l'... l'Yehoshua. Moshe received the Torah from הר סיני Har Sinai, on הר סיני Har Sinai, from הר סיני Har Sinai, and he gave it to יהושע Yehoshua. The רמב\"ם Rambam writes in his הקדמה hakdama, יהושע שהוא תלמידו של משה רבנו מסר תורה שבעל פה וציווה עליה Yehoshua shehu talmido shel Moshe Rabbeinu masar Torah she'ba'al peh v'tzivah aleha. that יהושע Yehoshua, who was Moshe's loyal student, Moshe knew that the links in the chain would pass through יהושע Yehoshua. He knew that יהושע Yehoshua would be his successor. He knew that we would rely on יהושע Yehoshua. How did he know that? Last week's פרשה parsha. אלדד ומידד Eldad u'Meidad prophesied in the camp, משה מת ויהושע מכניס Moshe meis v'Yehoshua machnis. Moshe is going to die and אלדד ומידד Eldad u'Meidad prophesied correctly and accurately that when Moshe dies, who will succeed him? יהושע Yehoshua. So Moshe knew that יהושע Yehoshua was his successor. And as his successor, he could not get mixed up in controversy. He couldn't get mixed up in the episode of the spies. And therefore, suggestion, answer number two, why did Moshe specifically change הושע's Hoshea's name to יהושע Yehoshua? He skipped to spy number five specifically because he wanted to make sure his successor would get it right and not get mixed in in controversy and get it all wrong. Answer number three. Answer number three is based on the תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan. The תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan translates, כדחמא משה ענוותנותיה דיהושע קרא משה להושע בר נון יהושע K'dachama Moshe anvisanusai d'Yehoshua, kara Moshe l'Hoshea bar Nun Yehoshua. The תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan seemingly in his translation of the פסוק pasuk, in fact explains the פסוק pasuk because he adds to the פסוק pasuk. He says, Moshe, out of his humility, called Moshe, out of the humility of יהושע Yehoshua, changed the name from הושע Hoshea to יהושע Yehoshua. First of all, we understand why Moshe loved יהושע Yehoshua. The teacher loves the student who most resembles, who most embraces their ideals, their values. If יהושע Yehoshua was characterized as being humble and modest, he gets that from his great רבי rebbe, from Moshe. Moshe loved and Moshe had this great affection for יהושע Yehoshua. But what does the תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan mean? Because of יהושע's Yehoshua's modesty, because of יהושע's Yehoshua's humility, Moshe intervened and changed his name, added the letter י yud. So says רב דרוק Rav Druck, you know what it means? It means that יהושע Yehoshua would say to himself, you know what? I'm number five on the list. I'm number five on the דעעס dais at the סיום הש\"ס Siyum Hashas. I'm number five in the list on the letterhead of the מועצת גדולי התורה Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. I'm number five in line at the TSA for a trip to investigate the land of Israel. I'm only number five. So when numbers one through four are going to stand up and say, the land, ארץ אוכלת יושביה eretz ocheles yoshveha, there's no way we can conquer it. It's not for us. We can't make it happen. Moshe feared that יהושע Yehoshua, out of his humility, would not stand up and protest. That יהושע Yehoshua, because of his humility and modesty, would go along with the crowd, would bow to the peer pressure. Humility is a wonderful quality, but humility can sometimes be a dangerous quality. Because if a person thinks too little of themselves and lacks the self-confidence and self-esteem to stand up and to fight and to articulate for what they believe in and what's right, to protest what's wrong, then that false understanding of humility or modesty, in fact, can be their demise. So Moshe says, I understand יהושע Yehoshua is going to appear in the manifest as number five. יהושע Yehoshua is going to appear as number five. And therefore, and therefore, I need to give him an extra special ברכה bracha. He gives him the letter י yud, that'll have the courage to be equal and opposite the other 10 spies, to stand up and say what's right, that that humility will not in fact be the very thing that brings him down. That's what ר' שמעון שוואב Rav Shimon Schwab says as well. He was concerned that יהושע Yehoshua had absorbed his own quality of והאיש משה ענו מאד מכל האדם v'haish Moshe anav me'od mikol ha'adam. These scouts were men of great stature. יהושע Yehoshua's being listed fifth, though he was the quintessential תלמיד talmid of Moshe, there were four others who were greater. And יהושע Yehoshua might humbly feel unworthy of disagreeing. Sometimes we are afraid to speak up because we think that we can't measure up. So Moshe was teaching יהושע Yehoshua there's a time for humility and there's a time to be proud, and there's a time to stand up. You got to stand up. התגבר כארי Hisgaber ka'ari. You're not a lowly grasshopper. התגבר כארי Hisgaber ka'ari. Stand up and roar like a lion. Stand up and represent what we believe in and what's right. Okay.Let's keep going. פרק י\"ד פסוק ט' Perek yud daled pasuk tes. פרק י\"ד Perek yud daled. National hysteria, the people come back and they give this negative report and the Jewish people have a meltdown and they cry the whole night and השם Hashem says you cried for nothing. You cried for no reason. Believe me, I'm going to give you a reason to cry as well. I'm going to give you a reason to cry as well. And when is that day? תשעה באב Tisha B'Av, the ninth of Av, and we continue to cry, we continue to suffer until this very day because of that baseless and and false crying. The crying for no reason. That's why we were given a reason, a given a reason to cry. You know, I think that's also a very relevant message in our time. It's a beautiful קאצק'ער Kotsker. I love the קאצק'ער רבי Kotsker Rebbe. Cuts right to the chase. קאצק'ער Kotsker says, you know, the גמרא Gemara tells us that the שערי דמעות לא ננעלו sha'arei d'maos lo nin'alu. The gates of tears were never locked. Even though there are gates to our prayers that are locked, when our when our prayers are accompanied by tears, those gates are never locked. So the קאצק'ער Kotsker's got a געוואלדיגע קשיא gevuldige kashe. Asks the קאצק'ער רבי Kotsker Rebbe, if the gates of tears, of prayers that are with tears are never locked, why do you need gates altogether? What's the point of an unlocked gate? Why do you put up a gate if you're never going to lock it? What's the point of the gate? So the קאצק'ער Kotsker says, he says, the gates of heartfelt, authentic, sincere tears, those are never locked. But the gates of false tears, of fake tears, of counterfeit tears, those tears, those gates are locked. That's why הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu has a gate there. The gates of real tears are never locked. But the gates of fake tears, those do get locked. And there are the prayers, the counterfeit prayers are turned around and are rejected. We cried for no reason. Sometimes there's tears for no reason. We have no context, no appreciation, no gratitude. We cry over petty things, we cry for no reason. Then we're given the tears to cry for a very significant reason. So here the פסוק pasuk tells us, פרק י\"ד perek yud daled, Moshe and Aharon fell on their faces. יהושע בן נון וכלב בן יפונה Yehoshua bin Nun v'Kalev ben Yefuneh, קרעו בגדיהם kar'u vigdeihem, the two tore their clothing. Believe it or not, there's a discussion among the commentators, isn't that בל תשחית bal tashchis? How could they tear their clothing? Why are they tearing their clothing? ויאמרו אל כל עדת בני ישראל לאמר Vayomru el kol adas Bnei Yisrael leimor, and they turned to the Jewish people and they said, הארץ אשר עברנו בה לתור אותה טובה הארץ מאד מאד ha'aretz asher avarnu bah lasur osah tova ha'aretz me'od me'od. Don't listen to these 10 spies. Don't listen to their report. They're wrong. It's inaccurate, it's distorted. Their conclusion is wrong. The land we said we saw is טובה הארץ מאד מאד tova ha'aretz me'od me'od, it's very good. אם חפץ בנו ה' והביא אותנו אל הארץ הזאת ונתנה לנו Im chafetz banu Hashem v'heivi osanu el ha'aretz hazos u'nesanah lanu. If השם Hashem desires us, he'll bring us to the land and give it to us. ארץ אשר היא זבת חלב ודבש Eretz asher hi zavas chalav u'dvash. אך בה' אל תמרדו Ach b'Hashem al timrodu. Don't rebel against God. ואתם אל תיראו את עם הארץ V'atem al tir'u es am ha'aretz. Don't rebel against him and don't fear the people in the land. Why? כי לחמנו הם Ki lachmeinu heim. They're our bread. סר צלם מעליהם וה' אתנו אל תיראום Sar tzilam mei'aleihem v'Hashem itanu al tira'um. Their protection has departed. השם Hashem is with us, you have nothing to fear. So כלב Kalev and יהושע Yehoshua respond to the negative report and respond to the hysterical and panicked reaction of the people and try to reassure them, although it's too late. They say if השם Hashem wants, he's going to bring us into this land and the land is all good. It's going to be amazing, you have nothing to worry about. And why do you have nothing to worry about? So I pull your I draw your attention to words here that I must admit, I must shamefully admit to you I never noticed before. What do these words mean? סר צלם מעליהם Sar tzilam mei'aleihem. סר Sar, abandoned, left. צלם Tzilam. What is צלם tzilam? So the ספורנו Sforno and the ארטסקרול Artscroll translates it as the protection. That's not what the word צל tzel means. What does the word צל tzel mean? Shade or shadow. So what's going on over here? סר צלם Sar tzilam. כלב Kalev and יהושע Yehoshua given an impassioned and compelling speech. You have nothing to worry about, and the land is beautiful, and if השם Hashem wants us there, he can take us there. And here's why you have nothing to worry about. כי סר צלם Ki sar tzilam. Yes, they're giants, there's a mighty army, there are inhabitants of the land, but you have nothing to worry or fear from them. Why? כי סר צלם Ki sar tzilam. What are those words? Their protection has departed, but where do you see that in these in these words? So the commentators all weigh in. The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, the רמב\"ן Ramban, let's share a few with you. Says the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, כי סר צלם ki sar tzilam, The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra says, כי הגיבור אם אין לו מגן שיגן עליו ויצל לו לבל ירא ki hagibor im ein lo magen she'yagen alav v'yatzel lo l'val yirei. that even a mighty person, if he doesn't have their shield protecting them, then they're fearful. כי סר צלם Ki sar tzilam means their shield is gone. Those who inhabit the land don't have their protection and you have nothing to worry about. You're good to go. Like the רמב\"ן Ramban similarly explains that it means the weapons, their weapons of war. They don't have their weapons, they don't have access to their weapons. You are military superiority and therefore you have nothing to worry about. So the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra sees it in very practical terms, you have a superiority there militarily, you have nothing to worry about, we can conquer it. The רמב\"ן Ramban continues and he has another explanation. יתכן שירמז הפסוק למה שנודע כי בליל הושענא לא יצל לראש האיש אשר ימות בשנה ההיא לכך יאמר כבר סר צלם מעליהם שנגזרה עליהם מיתה. וה' אתנו כי ה' שוכן בקרבנו ועושה לנו נסים ונפלאות לאין חקר. על כן אל תיראום Yitachen she'yirmoz ha'pasuk l'mah she'noda ki b'leil Hoshana lo yatzel l'rosh ha'ish asher yamus bashanah ha'hi l'kach yomar k'var sar tzilam mei'aleihem shenigzerah aleihem misa. V'Hashem itanu ki Hashem shochen b'kirbeinu v'oseh lanu nissim v'niflaos l'ein cheker. Al kein al tira'um. Says the רמב\"ן Ramban, it's a very very cryptic statement. I hope you have your מקראות גדולות Mikraos Gedolos, you're reading the רמב\"ן Ramban with me inside. A very cryptic statement. Here the רמב\"ן Ramban references a ancient practice that you probably don't do, but was practiced for many years, is quoted by many, many of our ראשונים Rishonim and beyond. And the practice was that on הושענא רבה Hoshana Rabbah evening, הושענא רבה Hoshana Rabbah, the last day of חול המועד סוכות Chol Hamoed Sukkos, the night of הושענא רבה Hoshana Rabbah, תיקון ליל הושענא רבה Tikkun Leil Hoshana Rabbah, to go outside on הושענא רבה Hoshana Rabbah and to see whether you can see your own shadow. Whether the moon is producing your shadow. If you see your own shadow, you're going to live that year. And if you don't see your own shadow produced from the moon on תיקון ליל הושענא רבה Tikkun Leil Hoshana Rabbah, it does not bode well for the year ahead. The רמב\"ן Ramban gives us this cryptic custom that seems so foreign to us, seems so superstitious and bizarre. See your own shadow, you'll live, if you don't, you'll die. And the רמב\"ן Ramban says that's what's going on over here. סר צלם Sar tzilam, their shadow was gone and therefore they have no protection and therefore you have nothing to worry about, you're going to conquer. What in the world does it mean? What in the world does this mean? So the רקנטי Recanati, another one of the ראשונים Rishonim explains the רמב\"ן Ramban. טעם הענין וסודו ארמוז לך כי הנה תמצא שאין דבר קטן וגדול למטה שאין לו כח למעלה Taam ha'inyan v'sodo ermoz lecha ki hinei timtza she'ein davar katon v'gadol l'matah she'ein lo koach l'maalah. ובהיות כח עמו מגן עליו יש לו צל. ה' צלך על יד ימינך U'v'hiyos koach imo magen alav yesh lo tzel. Hashem tzilcha al yad yeminecha. What this custom is really all about is when we describe השם's Hashem's divine protection, we describe it as השם צלך על יד ימינך Hashem tzilcha al yad yeminecha. השם Hashem is our צלך tzilcha, he is our shade, he is our shadow. And what it means סר צלך sar tzilcha, what it means that סר צלם sar tzilam, their shadow, their shade is gone, it means the divine protection has pulled back from them. השם Hashem is no longer willing there living in the land, he now wants us to live in the land and therefore we have nothing to be afraid. And similarly, when it comes to הושענא רבה Hoshana Rabbah night, what it means is are we under the divine shade? Are we under the divine protection? Are we under the divine shadow? אין צל לראש אלא שהוא הפקר. הכל תלוי בתשובה ומעשים טובים Ein tzel l'rosh ela she'hu hefker. Hakol talui b'teshuva u'maasim tovim. And that's how the רקנטי Recanati understands it. I offered my own suggestion once, what does it mean on הושענא רבה Hoshana Rabbah you go outside? It means the following. On the ימים נוראים Yamim Noraim, ראש השנה יום כיפור Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, we imagine and dream the best version of ourselves. We make all kinds of promises and pledges about who we're going to be. And then סוכות Sukkos comes along, and all of a sudden we're sitting in the סוכה sukkah and we're out on טיולים tiyulim and we're having a good time, and are we realizing that best version of ourselves? Our ambitions and aspirations for that year coming to fruition or not? What is a shadow? A shadow imitates, a shadow follows exactly who you are. Your shadow, you lift your arm, the shadow goes up, you lower your arm, the shadow goes down. What it means is you go outside and see your shadow means evaluate your סוכות sukkos. Is your shadow, are you following exactly what you promised who you're going to be on those ימים נוראים Yamim Noraim? So that's how the רקנטי Recanati, the רמב\"ן Ramban understand, סר צלם sar tzilam, הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu withdrew, השם צלך Hashem tzilcha, he withdrew his divine protection, and they were not living up to who they could be. When we go in, we are to live up to who we're meant to be, and therefore we will earn the divine, the divine protection. רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya also has a commentary on these words, כי סר צלם ki sar tzilam, but they're difficult words what exactly they mean. The שפת אמת Sfas Emes of the גערער רבי Gerer Rebbe says the following. A person who goes out at night in the dark, and a person is walking outside in the dark at night, you ever worried? Before you could turn your phone into a flashlight, if it's a שבת or יום טוב Shabbos or Yom Tov, you're going for a walk outside and it's pitch black. There's a blackout. Pitch black. What happens? You're going to be worried. You keep thinking you're seeing things. I see something. You keep convincing yourself that you see something. You have all this images and imagination and it creates a panic and anxiety. And you think you hear things. And the closer you get, the realize more you realize you didn't see anything. It wasn't really a image that you saw. All it was, was a shadow of the tree. It was a shadow of the dumpster. It was a shadow of the garbage can. The things that you saw thought were imposing and intimidating and threatening were in fact just shadows of inanimate objects that never ever posed a challenge. Says the שפת אמת Sfas Emes, that's what's going on here. אתם אל תיראו את עם הארץ Atem al tir'u es am ha'aretz. Why? סר צלם מעליהם Sar tzilam mei'aleihem. All of this is only a shadow. Don't think they're intimidating and imposing. צלם Tzilam, all they are is a shadow. וה' אתנו V'Hashem itanu. They are a figment of the imagination. You know what's real? You know what's formidable? You know what is intimidating? The רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam. השם Hashem. סר צלם Sar tzilam, all they are is that image that you think is real, that all along is only a shadow. You have nothing to worry about at all.פרק י\"ד פסוק ל\"ו Perek yud daled pasuk lamed vuv. Skip ahead. Moshe דאווענ'ס davens on behalf of the Jewish people, even though God reacts, of course, harshly. Moshe intervenes, intercedes on their behalf. And what's his prayer? What does he say? He says, והמתה את העם הזה כאיש אחד v'he'emata es ha'am hazeh k'ish echad, השם Hashem, you killed this people like a single man? ואמרו הגוים אשר שמעו את שמעך לאמר V'omru hagoyim asher shom'u es shim'acha leimor. What's going to happen? If you kill, if you wipe out the Jewish people, what will the nations of the world say about you? What will they say about you? מבלתי יכולת ה' להביא את העם הזה אל הארץ אשר נשבע להם וישחטם במדבר Mibilti yecholes Hashem l'havi es ha'am hazeh el ha'aretz asher nishba lahem vayishchatem ba'midbar. Don't do it for the people. Maybe indeed they are unworthy, undeserving. But השם Hashem, if you speak, if you wipe them out, what will people say about you, that you couldn't find a way to bring them into the land, that you couldn't get it done, that you weren't powerful enough? רב וולבה Rav Wolbe says something incredible on this פסוק pasuk too. Says רב וולבה Rav Wolbe, you know what Moshe was telling them? What was Moshe's תפילה tefillah to השם Hashem? Moshe was telling them, teaching them an amazingly important lesson. What was the lesson? If you skip to דברים Devarim in פרק ט' of דברים perek tes of Devarim, פסוק כ\"ה pasuk kaf hei, the רשב\"ם Rashbam has a comment. And the רשב\"ם Rashbam says, before his death, Moshe castigated כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael regarding all they had done wrong in the desert, and the numerous תפילות tefillos he had to offer on their behalf. And then Moshe tells them, when you get into the land, I won't be there, and these prayers won't work. So you kept getting into trouble, and like a helicopter parent, I kept bailing you out. But once you get into the land, says Moshe, know that both in the land as opposed to outside of it, and without me as opposed to with me, these prayers won't work. What was Moshe telling them? Says the רשב\"ם Rashbam, Moshe's תפילות tefillos succeed because בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael had not yet entered the land. They were living among the non-Jews of the world. And therefore, each of those prayers was, השם Hashem, what are others going to think if this is what you do? But once השם Hashem brings them into the promised land and destroys the inhabitants, no longer would anyone be able to claim that השם's Hashem's ability was lacking, and so this prayer itself would be ineffective. So רב וולבה Rav Wolbe learns from here what a powerful lesson. He says every תפילה tefillah, every prayer must somehow be connected to the theme of קידוש השם kiddush Hashem or חילול השם chillul Hashem. So when you're דאווענע'ן davening for a sick person to get better, what you have to be saying is השם Hashem, if this sick person dies, they can no longer, they can no longer repair and improve your world. What a חילול השם chillul Hashem that a virus, a pandemic wiped out and we didn't have the ability, you didn't give us the ability to heal it and to be protected from it. Every תפילה tefillah for פרנסה parnassah, for גזונט gezunt, for נחת nachas, should be couched in the terms in the context of, enable a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem and prevent a חילול השם chillul Hashem. That's how the תפילה tefillah is most effective. The way to get through to השם Hashem, the most compelling תפילה tefillah to השם Hashem is not in the pursuit of our own interest. The most compelling תפילה tefillah to השם Hashem is when it is to advance his interest in the context of a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem or חס ושלום chas v'shalom in a חילול השם chillul Hashem. That's what Moshe is saying over here. Moshe says, ואמרו הגוים אשר שמעו את שמעך v'omru hagoyim asher shom'u es shim'acha. What will the non-Jews say? What a חילול השם chillul Hashem that will be created. You have to forgive, otherwise it will be a חילול השם chillul Hashem. I want to end with one last thought. Then we have a peculiar word. A peculiar word. How did the people react at the end of this whole episode? We didn't even get, we talked about חלה challah, we didn't get to the מקושש mekoshesh and we didn't get to ציצית tzitzis, but there's always next year. But I want to end with one more word. Can't believe the whole hour's up. About the מרגלים meraglim. פסוק... פרק י\"ד פסוק ל\"ט Perek yud daled pasuk lamed tes. י\"ד ל\"ט Yud daled lamed tes. The פסוק pasuk says the following. At the end of this episode, look at this פסוק pasuk. וידבר משה את הדברים האלה אל כל בני ישראל Vayidaber Moshe es had'varim ha'eileh el kol Bnei Yisrael. Moshe told them I got bad news for you. Forty years we're going to be wandering. You thought we had the fast pass. You thought we were about to go to the front of the line and enter the land. I got bad news. You know, what's the worst news you can give a Jew? Back of the line. No fast pass. You can't buy your way to the front of the line, you can't cut the line, you can't upgrade. There's no rewards program, you have no status. It's like the worst words you could ever tell a Jew. You can't go on a wheelchair, there's nothing that's going to get you to the front of the line. Back of the line. This is the worst decree you can give a Jew. Forty years. You thought you're on the cusp, the precipice of entering the land. Forty years. שנה ליום Shanah l'yom. A year for every day. Which of course begs the question, we don't have time for now, we've discussed in the past, their failure was only one day when they came back and gave the negative report. Why are they held accountable for 40 negative days? They only made a mistake for one day, not 40 days. So why did we have to wander for 40 years? We should have wandered for one year. It's a great question. We've quoted from רב אשר וייס Rav Asher Weiss and others, very brilliant answers. Not for now. Moshe gives them the bad news of the decree. Back of the line, 40 years, and even worse news for all of you, none of you are making it in there, you're all going to die in the desert. It's pretty much as bad as it gets. And how do they react? ויתאבלו העם מאד Vayis'ablu ha'am me'od. The people mourned exceedingly. The word ויתאבלו vayis'ablu, they mourned. Why are they mourning? Why are they mourning? Mourning is the loss of of life. They could be sad. I would understand they would be saddened, but why are they mourning? Why are they mourning? And I want to end with this brilliant insight of רב יצחק סלובייצ'יק Rav Yitzchok Soloveitchik who says the following. He says, once the consciousness of the sin reached בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael, it was expressed in the sorrow of mourning. What is the sorrow of mourning? According to הלכה halacha, the laws of mourning apply when a person loses something important and precious. The loss of money and property is not a real loss. A real loss is the loss of a dear and beloved person. Mourning Mourning is a reaction to a loss and expresses itself in the strong sensation of nostalgia, of yearning, of retrospective memories. The power of mourning, its cruelty and its loneliness has its focal point in the memory of the human being. Were man able to forget, to eradicate events from his memory, there would be no need for mourning. The feelings of bereavement are dependent on memory, which is the greatest blessing of man qua man. Memory constitutes the entire awareness of the human. In times of mourning, however, this blessing becomes a curse. Memories float up from the past, and when the past comes to the surface, a man is forced to compare yesterday with today, he is engulfed by a feeling of bereavement and mourning. Over the course of many years, a man becomes accustomed to returning home from his outside affairs. He climbs the few steps before the front door of his house in the same way he has done for years. He rings the bell out of habit and expects to hear his always soft steps from the other side of the door. He waits but the steps never come. He puts his hand in his pocket and pulls out the key and opens the door. It seems to be the same door and the same furniture. Everything is clean and polished. Nevertheless, something has changed. Everything appears to be in exactly the same state and the same place in which it were before. Nothing has been moved. Only no one is there waiting for him. All around there is peace and quiet, which can sometimes be worse than heart-rendering cries. Mourning engulfs his whole being. The sinner also mourns. What does the sinner mourn? He mourns that which he has irretrievably lost. What has he lost? Everything. The sinner has lost his purity, his holiness, his integrity, his spiritual wealth, the joy of life, the spirit of sanctity in man, all that gives meaning to life and content to human existence. The mourner mourns that the soul of the beloved one is lost. The sinner mourns his own soul, which he has lost. Mourning inevitably contains a masochistic element. The mourner tortures and torments himself. He hates himself. In the bereavement of sin, there's also a clear masochistic element. The sinner begins to sense a feeling of contempt and disgust towards himself. He experiences masochistic self-hatred. The sin is seen as an abomination, an object of revulsion, something utterly nauseating. The feeling generated by sin is not a moral sensation. The moral sense in man is not such a powerful force. The feeling of sin which drags a person to repentance is an aesthetic sensation, a negative aesthetic reaction. The natural inclination, the desire of man is for the beautiful, for the aesthetic. Man despises the ugly. Sin contains ugliness, disgust, and abomination which repel man. The suffering of sin lies in the feeling of nausea towards the defiling, disgusting uncleanliness. It is this which draws him away. Thus, when Hashem seeks to draw man to תשובה teshuva, he arouses not only his moral awareness, which is usually not sufficient to strong to awaken him, but more his aesthetic consciousness, a better chance of affecting the repulsion of the despised and loathsome sin. So Rabbi Soloveitchik describes that with this we end, ויתאבלו vayis'ablu. What were they mourning? What were they grieving? You know what they were mourning? They were mourning their poor judgment. They were mourning their mistake. They were mourning the lost opportunity. They were mourning the lost time. They were mourning the lost resources. Every year on תשעה באב Tisha B'av, I describe when we sit on the floor and we and we cry and we mourn. Are we mourning for things 2,000 years old? No. We're mourning, we're reflecting on our past year, and we're mourning the lost opportunities. We're mourning the lost waste of money. We're mourning the squandered time. We're mourning the damaged relationships. We're grieving the parts of our soul that we didn't realize and that we didn't take advantage of. And that's why ויתאבלו vayis'ablu. When all of a sudden they had this moment and they realized we've blown it. And the consequence of their of their actions, ויתאבלו vayis'ablu. They were grieving for all that they had lost in the horrific mistake that they had made, which is a brilliant insight into the whole concept of חטא chet and of תשובה teshuva. Much more to talk about, but wishing everyone a wonderful and a beautiful day. We continue tomorrow morning, 8:15 with מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim in 10 minutes, 8:45 tomorrow morning with Living in אמונה Emunah. Tomorrow night, 9:00, we have an incredible episode of Behind the Bima, very special guest. You'll find out more about. But wishing everyone a happy, healthy
