Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב Boker tov. It is great to be together again to study the פרשה parsha, פרשה Parsha perspectives for today. And this week we have the privilege of learning together פרשת כי תבוא Parshas Ki Savo. I want to thank our generous sponsors for the year, my dear friends Becky and Avi Katz and family in loving memory of Becky's father David Grossman. Our learning should be לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנדל le'ilui nishmas Dovid ben Menachem Mendel. Thank you for your generosity. A reminder, the series is sponsored, but you can still sponsor individual classes. Please be in touch with our shul office. Before we begin our learning today, I want to um, I want to ask a request. I'm curious if anybody takes notes on our פרשה Parsha class or אמונה שיעור Emunah shiur or any of the other שיעורים shiurim. If you do, I would be grateful to be able to have a copy of those notes. I'm looking to be able to record in writing some of the things that we share and if anyone is doing it already, it would be an enormous help to me. REG@brsonline.org. If you could email me at REG@brsonline.org, I would be deeply appreciative to you. Okay, let's get started.Our parsha begins on page 1,068 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash, פרשת כי תבוא Parshas Ki Savo. And the פרשה parsha has an enormous amount. It begins with ביכורים Bikurim, makes its way all the way through the תוכחה tochacha. Obviously, we're limited in our time, so we'll see how far we get and how much we're able to learn together on this on this fine morning. והיה כי תבוא אל הארץ אשר השם אלוקיך נותן לך נחלה וירשתה וישבת בה V'haya ki savo el ha'aretz asher Hashem Elokecha nosein lecha nachala virishta v'yashavta bah. Torah begins by telling us what will happen when you enter the land. Remember, Moshe is still delivering his monologue, his soliloquy. Moshe is charging the Jewish people. They are on the precipice of entering the land. After 40 years, this incredible people of 40 years of Moshe's extraordinary patience leading them, and now they're about to fulfill their dream. They're about to realize the purpose of their mission, and Moshe is giving them an instruction. He says, כי תבוא Ki Savo, when you enter that land and you inherit and you acquire and you take up residence. ולקחת מראשית כל פרי האדמה אשר תביא מארצך אשר השם אלוקיך נותן לך ושמת בטנא V'lakachta me'reishis kol pri ha'adama asher tavi me'artzecha asher Hashem Elokecha nosein lach v'samta bateneh. You're going to take ראשית כל פרי האדמה reishis kol pri ha'adama, the first of your fruit. ביכורים Bikurim, the מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים Bikurim is characterized as ראשית reishis, as the first. The Jewish people are ראשית reishis, our first Torah is ראשית reishis. ביכורים Bikurim is given a great position of prominence, of significance among all of the מצוות mitzvos. It is a very, very special מצוה mitzvah that the farmer takes the very first fruit and brings it to ירושלים Yerushalayim, and brings it to the כהן kohen. There's a parade, pomp and circumstance to celebrate this first little fig, the first little date, the first little fruit, a little nothing, and yet there's enormous pomp and circumstance, an enormous party. We've discussed this previously because of what it represents, the beginning, the first, not knowing what else is coming and yet a willingness to acknowledge and to give and to gift it to השם Hashem. Again, the Torah is ambiguous. Bring it at המקום hamakom, to a place אשר יבחר השם אלוקיך לשכן שמו שם asher yivchar Hashem Elokecha l'shakein shmo sham. The Torah doesn't give us the GPS coordinates. It doesn't tell us exactly where that is. People are supposed to find it on their own. We discussed this several weeks ago where הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, תדרשו ובאת שמה Tidreshu u'vasa shama. You have to be a דורש doreish. You have to spiritually be a seeker and a searcher. You have to look. ובאת אל הכהן u'vasa el ha'kohen, you take this first fruit to the כהן kohen and the כהן kohen does a ceremony with this first fruit and so on and so forth. The מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים Bikurim. We begin with an insight from from Rav Yisrael Meir Druck, the wonderful איש תמיד Ish Tomid. We've been going through this beautiful, beautiful ספר sefer. And he says the following. ולקחת מראשית כל פרי האדמה v'lakachta me'reishis kol pri ha'adama, you take from your first fruit, you bring it to ירושלים Yerushalayim. רש\"י Rashi says, מראשית me'reishis, from your first, ולא כל ראשית v'lo kol reishis, but not all of your first. שאין כל הפירות חייבים בביכורים she'ein kol hapeiros chayavim b'Bikurim. It's not all first fruit that are obligated in ביכורים Bikurim, אלא ella שבעת המינים בלבד shivas haminim bilvad. It's only the seven species of ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael that the farmer has to monitor carefully. The farmer has to tie a ribbon or mark off the first of those seven species, and that is what's brought to the כהן kohen in the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash. נאמר כאן ארץ ונאמר להלן ארץ חיטה ושעורה Ne'emar kan eretz, v'ne'emar lehalan eretz chita u'se'ora. מה להלן משבעת המינים שנשתבחה בהם ארץ ישראל, אף כאן שבח ארץ ישראל שהן שבעת המינים Ma lehalan mi'shivas haminim shenishtabcha bahem Eretz Yisrael, af kan shevach Eretz Yisrael shehein shivas haminim. So רש\"י Rashi deduces from the use of the word ארץ eretz, the parallel, that it's only the seven species of ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael that are obligated in ביכורים Bikurim. When you grow fruit in חוץ לארץ chutz la'aretz, it's not obligated in ביכורים Bikurim. Even in Israel, it's not all fruit. It is specifically the seven fruit of the land, the שבעת המינים shivas haminim. בשם האריז\"ל מובא שמצות ביכורים בא לתקן את חטא המרגלים B'shem ha'Arizal muva she'mitzvas Bikurim ba l'sakein es cheit ha'meraglim. Why is ביכורים Bikurim so significant? It's called ראשית reishis, it's equated with the Jewish people and with Torah. So we'll see several reasons, one of which is gratitude. ביכורים Bikurim is an expression, an exercise in saying thank you, so fundamental to who we are, so defining to how we live. But the האריז\"ל Arizal says that the מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים Bikurim is a תיקון tikun. It comes to repair. It comes to fix the חטא המרגלים cheit ha'meraglim, the episode of the מרגלים meraglim. כנגד מה שביזו את ארץ ישראל והוציאו דיבה שרה Keneged ma she'bizu es Eretz Yisrael v'hotziu diba sarah. Where did the מרגלים meraglim go wrong? The מרגלים meraglim went wrong that they slandered the land of Israel. They said there are giants and we can't inherit it and it's not a blessed land and we can't go. The מרגלים meraglim had a negative report. They had, didn't have faith in השם Hashem. They were meant to go and they were meant to investigate the land and they were meant to come back and of course to identify what they'd need to do, but with a sense of confidence. Instead, they came back and they incited fear within the people, panic. They cried the entire night. We can't go. We can't go up. It'll never work out. We'll never have a easy transition. We can't make עליה aliya. And they incited this fear, this panic, which became instituted within our calendar each and every year, תשעה באב Tisha B'Av, the 9th of Av, the חטא המרגלים cheit ha'meraglim. They came back with a negative report. They slandered the land. So says the האריז\"ל Arizal, the מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים Bikurim is the antidote. The מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים Bikurim is the correction. והתיקון הוא להקריב לפני השם שבעת המינים, פירות שנשתבחה בהם ארץ ישראל v'ha'tikun hu l'hakir lifnei Hashem shivas haminim, peiros shenishtabcha bahem Eretz Yisrael. So specifically ביכורים Bikurim to take that first fruit, the very fruit that the מרגלים meraglim came back with this enormous, gigantic, or what my children would say, ginormous fruit. And they said, you see the size of this fruit? There are giants who live there. We can never succeed. We can never conquer. It'll never work out. The fruit was the symbol of the insurrection. The fruit was the symbol of their doubt and uncertainty. The fruit was the symbol of their lack of faith. So says the האריז\"ל Arizal, the great kabbalist, Rav Shlomo Luria, says the האריז\"ל Arizal, therefore the fruit is also the symbol of our restored faith, of our renewed countenance and calm, that in fact השם Hashem is gifting us the land. So the מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים Bikurim is not random, it's not just any fruit. The מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים Bikurim is specifically the fruit of the land of Israel.Rav Menachem Zemba, the Gaon Rav Menachem Zemba who lived in the last century, דקדק בגמרא ומשנה בביכורים Dikdek b'Gemara v'Mishna b'Bikurim. In the משנה ביכורים פרק ג' משנה א' Mishna Bikurim perek gimmel mishna alef, Rav Menachem Zemba was מדקדק medakdek this האריז\"ל Arizal's insight. The mishna there says, כיצד מפרישין ביכורים Keitzad mafrishin Bikurim? How do you separate ביכורים Bikurim? יורד אדם בתוך שדהו ורואה תאנה שביכרה, אשכול שביכר, רימון שביכר Yored adam b'soch sadehu v'ro'eh te'eina she'bikra, eshkol she'biker, rimon she'biker. A person goes into their field and they notice a fig that's ripened, a grapes that have ripened, a pomegranate that's ripened. קושר בגמי ואומר הרי אלו ביכורים Kosher b'gemi v'omer harei eilu bikurim. So the farmer has to tie it. You tie a little ribbon around that little first fruit. You see it's begun to bud and you declare, oh, these are ביכורים Bikurim, these are ביכורים Bikurim. About three weeks ago, we came back from the summer and one of my daughters, my daughter Esti and I planted a garden in our backyard. Very excited. We're growing peppers and cherry tomatoes and jalapenos and basil and a delicious garden. So just yesterday, she came home from school, she examined the garden, she got so excited, she sent, texted me a picture that the cherry tomatoes, there's a tiny little beginning of maybe a flowering of episode, a tiny tomato on top. Abba, it's coming. Look, it's here. So, cherry tomatoes are not from the שבעת המינים shivas haminim, and we are in חוץ לארץ chutz la'aretz, and there's no מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים Bikurim on our little garden, please God. But this is the excitement of the farmer. You see that first fruit, you see that first fig, and instead of saying, it's for me. We've already planned our party, Esti and I, that we're going to make some delicious salad out of our vegetables when they grow, we're going to bring it to our שבת Shabbos table. What a party we're going to have. What a שמחה simcha it's going to be. So this first farmer, the farmer who's tying off that first fruit, instead of making a שמחה simcha and a party for himself and his family in his own home, takes that first fruit and gives it and dedicates it to השם Hashem. And the משנה Mishna here in ביכורים Bikurim describes that process. He goes down, he sees, examines all the vegetables, the fruit. Says, oh, look, it's sprouted. Ties a little ribbon around the first one, so know. וכבר נשקע בזה מדורה, ויביאו משנה כדוגמא דוקא הפירות הללו מתוך שבעת המינים Ukvar nisgareshu b'zeh ma'dura v'yavi'u mishna k'dugma davka ha'peiros halalu mi'toch shivas haminim. Why did the משנה Mishna give these examples? If the הלכה halacha of ביכורים Bikurim applies to the seven species of Israel, so why not quote any of the seven species of Israel? Why does the משנה Mishna in ביכורים Bikurim פרק א משנה ג perek alef mishna gimmel, why does it specifically give the examples of the תאנה, אשכול, רימון te'eina, eshkol, rimon, three of the fruit of the seven? What happened to the other four? Why specifically give the examples of these three? Listen to the insight of Rav Menachem Zemba. ומבואר כי בא המשנה לרמז בזה מה שאמר האריז\"ל, שמצות ביכורים בא לתקן את חטא המרגלים u'mavo'ar ki ba ha'mishna l'remez b'zeh ma she'amar ha'Arizal she'mitzvas Bikurim ba l'sakein es cheit ha'meraglim. כשם שמצאנו בחטא המרגלים שהביאו מפירות ארץ ישראל אשכול ענבים, תאנה, ורימון Keshem she'matzinu b'cheit ha'meraglim she'heiviu mi'peiros Eretz Yisrael, eshkol anavim, te'eina, v'rimon. As the פסוק pasuk says in במדבר Bamidbar, ויבואו עד נחל אשכול ויכרתו משם זמורה ואשכול ענבים אחד... ומן הרימונים ומן התאנים Vayavou ad Nachal Eshkol vayichretu misham zmora v'eshkol anavim echad... u'min ha'rimonim u'min ha'te'einim. לכך הביאה המשנה במצות ביכורים דוקא דוגמאות הללו L'kach hevi'a ha'mishna b'mitzvas Bikurim davka dugma'os halalu, אשכול ענבים, תאנה ורימון eshkol anavim, te'eina v'rimon. Says Rav Menachem Zemba, it's not a coincidence that when the משנה Mishna has to give a דוגמה dugma, an example of how you perform the מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים Bikurim, it doesn't choose from the other four of the seven species. It specifically chooses these three. And why specifically these three? Because go back to the story of the spies, and you will see that when the מרגלים meraglim come back and report that there are ginormous fruit, and we'll never succeed in conquering the land, which three fruit do they point to? Which three fruit do they sample and bring back? Which three fruit do they hold up as the example of the inability to conquer the land? Specifically the same three fruit that the משנה Mishna quotes, namely, figs, grapes, and pomegranates. Why? says Rav Menachem Zemba? Because of the insight of the האריז\"ל Arizal. Because ביכורים Bikurim is a תיקון tikun. ביכורים Bikurim is the repair, the correction for the mistake of the חטא המרגלים cheit ha'meraglim. The חטא המרגלים cheit ha'meraglim was a lack of faith in the land, was כפוי טוב kafui tov, was a failure to appreciate the gifts of השם Hashem, a failure to have confidence that השם Hashem will bring us. And the fruit was the symbol of that failure. Then the fruit becomes the symbol of our success, appreciation, and gratitude, and faith. And therefore, it's the same שבעת המינים shivas haminim, and not only the same שבעת המינים shivas haminim, but when the משנה Mishna has to bring an example, it brings an example of the three that were used specifically in the context of of ביכורים Bikurim. What a great, great insight.Continuing the parsha. So, let's go with this story. We're going to spend a lot of time at the beginning of the parsha today. So, the farmer brings this first fruit. We studied ביכורים Bikurim in the past. We're not reviewing the parts that we've talked about in previous פרשה שיעורים Parsha Shiurim. As tempting as they are, because they're great insights and דברי תורה divrei Torah, I refer you to listen to them. Again, if I had notes that someone typed, I would say, I'll email you the notes of last year's פרשה שיעור Parsha shiur, and we would all do better. So, anyway, ובאת אל הכהן u'vasa el ha'kohen, you bring it to the כהן kohen. ובאת אל הכהן U'vasa el and there's a declaration. The כהן kohen takes the טנא tene, the כהן kohen takes the basket, והנחתו hinichto, he puts it in front of the מזבח mizbeach, וענית ואמרת v'anisa v'amarta, and now there is a recitation. I'm on פרק כ\"ו perek chaf vov, chapter 26, פסוק ה' pasuk hei. Page 1068 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. וענית ואמרת V'anisa v'amarta, you the farmer will answer and declare, רש\"י Rashi says, בקול רם b'kol ram. It's got to be out loud. You got to do it with excitement, enthusiasm, passion. And what's this declaration? Where is it? לפני השם אלוקיך lifnei Hashem Elokecha, you declare before השם Hashem. ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi. All of a sudden this farmer who has a little fig, a little pomegranate, a little cluster of grapes, a גארנישט gurnisht. The farmer is not coming with a 18-wheeler tractor trailer truck to deliver to השם Hashem. The farmer's coming with ממש mamish a little גארנישט gurnisht fig, a fig, that's it. And yet, he makes this whole declaration. Here I am in front of the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, here I am לפני השם lifnei Hashem, and I have a whole declaration to make. ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi. I want to tell you all about my history. I want to tell you about my history. Here it is, the history of the world according to the farmer. ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi. An Aramean tried to destroy my father. וירד מצרימה ויגר שם במתי מעט ויהי שם לגוי גדול עצום ורב Vayered Mitzraima vayagar sham bimsei me'at vayehi sham l'goy gadol atzum varav, I went down to Egypt. And while we were in Egypt, population explosion. Boy did we multiply. וירעו אותנו המצרים ויענונו ויתנו עלינו עבודה קשה Vayare'u osanu haMitzrim vay'anunu vayitnu aleinu avoda kasha. When the Egyptians, they mistreated us, they oppressed us, they persecuted us, they afflicted us. ויתנו עלינו עבודה קשה Vayitnu aleinu avoda kasha, and they put great work, great labor. ונצעק אל השם אלקי אבותינו וישמע השם את קולנו וירא את ענינו ואת עמלנו ואת לחצנו Vanitz'ak el Hashem Elokei avoseinu vayishma Hashem es koleinu vayar es onyeinu v'es amaleinu v'es lachatzeinu. We called out, we cried out to השם Hashem, he heard our cry. ויוציאנו השם ממצרים ביד חזקה ובזרוע נטויה ובמורא גדול ובאותות ובמופתים Vayotzi'einu Hashem mi'Mitzrayim b'yad chazaka u'vizro'a netuya u'v'mora gadol u'v'osos u'v'mofsim. He took us out, there was a sound and light show, the likes of which you've never seen before. Ten plagues, it was outrageous. ויביאנו אל המקום הזה Vayvi'einu el hamakom hazeh, and he took us to this place, ויתן לנו את הארץ הזאת vayiten lanu es ha'aretz hazos, he gave us this land, ארץ זבת חלב ודבש eretz zavas chalav u'dvash, a land flowing with milk and honey. ועתה V'ata, and now, and now, is the punchline. It's like you say to somebody, tell me about yourself. Tell you about myself? Well, my great, great, great, great grandparents migrated to Russia in 1703 and then my parents and then this and then we came here and then we survived and then we came and then I went. Just give me the punch line. I'm just curious, like, where you went to college, who's your rebbe, what yeshiva did you go to? So the farmer brings a little fig, and instead of just saying, שכוח shkoach השם Hashem, thanks for the first fig, first one's yours, I'm going to go back to my farm and enjoy the rest of them. שכוח shkoach, thank you very much, made my way here. שכוח shkoach, thank you. וייטער vaiter, back to my farm. No, he reviews the totality of Jewish history. First, there was an Aramean tried to destroy my father and we were in Egypt and we suffered 210 years, but then Hashem took us out. It was a sound and light show, it was incredible. And then we wandered the desert, and then we came to this land and then we inherited it and I planted my farm. Just get to the punchline. You planted your farm, you got the fig, here you are. Skip to this part. הנה הבאתי את ראשית פרי האדמה אשר נתתה לי השם Hinei heveisi es reishis pri ha'adama asher nasata li Hashem. I'm here with the first of my fruit that God has granted me. והנחתו לפני השם אלוקיך והשתחווית v'hinachto lifnei Hashem Elokecha v'hishtachavisa, and I am bowing down to you. ושמחת בכל הטוב V'samachta b'chol hatov, and I'm so excited, I'm so happy with all the good. Why is the farmer starting from the history of the world? Six days of creation, and the seventh day Hashem rested, and Adam met Chava. What's the whole history in the world? Why is he going back all the way to the very beginning? Moreover, my dear friends, I'll ask you another question. You all perked up when we started reading the section ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi. And why did you perk up? Because it's familiar to you. And why is it familiar to you? Because you're such experts in פרשת כי תבוא Parshas Ki Savo? Of course you are. But in addition, you're familiar with this passage because you don't only hear it once a year on פרשת כי תבוא Parshas Ki Savo. When else do you hear about the story of ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi? When else do you hear the story about the Aramean who wanted to kill my father? I'm gonna, no one break out in hives. We are six months away from the next פסח Pesach. But פסח Pesach, we sit at the סדר Seder and we declare, צא ולמד מה ביקש לבן הארמי לעשות ליעקב אבינו Tzei u'lmad, ma bikesh Lavan ha'Arami la'asos l'Yaakov avinu, go and learn what did Lavan want to do to my father Yaakov. פרעה לא גזר אלא על הזכרים Paro lo gozar ella al ha'zcharim. Paro only wanted to kill the males. ולבן ביקש לעקור את הכל v'Lavan bikesh la'akor es hakol. But Lavan, Lavan was so nefarious, so evil, so wicked. Lavan had a plan, not only to eliminate the male firstborn, Lavan wanted to take us all out. Lavan tried to destroy the totality of the Jewish people. So there are so many questions. And this is normally on the Haggadah. Again, you could take out your pen and paper, or if someone shares the notes with all of us, you'll have a d'var Torah for the seder next year, which please God, you'll be back to being with your entire family, and a lot of d'var Torah to make up for. So, listen carefully. Asks everyone at the seder, what? Lavan was worse than Paro? Paro was a genocidal dictator maniac. Paro performed a genocide. He killed a million Jews in Egypt. It's outrageous. Next to the Holocaust, the Egyptian genocide ranks among one of the top Jewish tragedies of all time. And yet, we're saying that Lavan wanted to do even worse. What exactly did Lavan want to do? Okay, Lavan worked Yaakov pretty hard, Lavan tricked him and fooled him, Lavan chased him and wanted to get him back. When do we ever find that Lavan wanted to kill Yaakov, let alone לעקור את הכל la'akor es hakol, let alone, when do we ever find that Lavan wanted to destroy all of the Jewish people? When did it happen? Where is it in our חומש Chumash? Where is it in our תורה Torah? Where is it in our Jewish history? It's absent. What is the בעל הגדה Ba'al Haggadah talking about? Next, how do we know, שנאמר she'ne'emar, the הגדה Haggadah continues, ארמי אובד אבי וירד מצרימה Arami oved avi vayered Mitzraima, we now quote our פסוקים psukim from כי תבוא Ki Savo. How do you know that ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi is talking about Lavan? How do you know it's talking about Lavan? An Aramean wanted to destroy my father. Maybe it's not talking about Lavan at all. Moreover, a third question, if the הגדה Haggadah has to quote any section, if the הגדה Haggadah is going to darshen up any פסוקים psukim, okay, it's time for the exegesis part of the הגדה Haggadah. This is not the fun part, there's no food, there's no props. This is the biblical exegesis part. It's the part that the family goes through quickly. Someone says, come on, read this part quickly so we can get to the fun stuff. So what is the biblical exegesis? What is the part that we're going to focus on, we're going to unravel, we're going to examine and analyze? If you would have asked me what פרשה parsha should we study together סדר Seder night? What is the most essential פרשה parsha סדר Seder night? I would have said go back to ספר שמות Sefer Shmos. Go back to בא, בשלח Bo, Beshalach. Go back to the story of leaving Egypt. Why are we studying from פרשת כי תבוא Parshas Ki Savo? We all of a sudden have this declaration, this formula, that the farmer who takes the first fruit to the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash and comes to the kohen, and the farmer has this entire formula, this entire recitation, oh, that's what we'll study סדר Seder night. So three questions. Three questions. What did Lavan want to do worse than Paro? Who says this Aramean is even Lavan to begin with? And why in the world are we reading from פרשת כי תבוא Parshas Ki Savo, excuse me, from our פרשה parsha on סדר Seder night rather than reading the essential story or source of leaving, of leaving Mitzrayim? So it's a beautiful הגדה Haggadah from Rav Rimon, Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon, the rav of Alon Shvut and the ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva of Machon Lev, a great תלמיד חכם talmid chacham and a great מחבר ספרים mechaber sefarim, and he has a beautiful, beautiful הגדה Haggadah that appears both in Hebrew, שירת מרים Shiras Miriam, and that's been translated into English by מוסד הרב קוק Mosad HaRav Kook. It's a really beautiful הגדה Haggadah. And in here he addresses all these questions which normally we'd be studying on ערב פסח Erev Pesach, but of course this all relates to our פרשה parsha as as well. Relates to our parsha. Why do we take it from from here? So first of all, he says the editor of the הגדה Haggadah chose these four פסוקים psukim from כי תבוא Ki Savo, which tells the story of the Exodus in a much shorter form. Had he wanted to use the פסוקים psukim of שמות Shmos, it would have made the הגדה Haggadah much longer, and we might have been obliged to skip certain פסוקים psukim. So therefore, these four, they're succinct, they capture the whole story, and that's why they're chosen. It's a very practical or pragmatic reason number one he offers. Number two, another reason for choosing these פסוקים psukim is they're part of the commandment of bringing first fruit. Every person is required to bring first fruit and tell the story of יציאת מצרים Yetzias Mitzrayim. It's a description of the past and a demonstration of how to properly tell over יציאת מצרים Yetzias Mitzrayim. In other words, the farmer, we'll talk about in a moment why, but part of the exercise of offering the first fruit is reviewing everything that happened until that point, is going through the story of Jewish history. So in that context of reviewing the story of Jewish history, we have a model, we have an example of how to properly capture and articulate יציאת מצרים Yetzias Mitzrayim. So ספר שמות Sefer Shmos is the unfolding of the story in real time. That's not the text we used. What's the text that we use? Not the unfolding of the story in real time. The text we use is later when we have an example, when we have a precedent of somebody who's telling the story. After all, what is סדר Seder night if not the obligation to tell the story? So we now use and draw from a precedent of someone telling the story, namely the farmer. One can add another reason, says Rav Rimon. The מצוה mitzvah of bringing the first fruit expresses the attribute of gratitude. ביכורים Bikurim, the essence, the core of the מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים Bikurim is הודאה hoda'ah, it's gratitude. This farmer is so grateful. It's not פשוט pasht. You go to Home Depot and you buy the little seed, and Hashem helps water the garden every afternoon in Florida conveniently in August in the beginning of September. He is a partner in that garden and he waters it even when you or your daughter neglect it. Yet, it's not a given that anything is going to grow. It's a miracle that something grows. So when the farmer sees evidence of the first growth, the farmer, even before they know how much more will grow, the farmer goes to say thank you. The farmer goes to say thank you. Because thank you for us is a core, essential value in our mind, body, soul challenge of the Boca Raton Synagogue. If you go to brsonline.org/אלול Elul, you can still sign up. We're only a third of the way through the 30-day challenge, mind, body, soul. Nine different challenges, beginner, intermediate, advanced for the mind, body, soul. So one of my three groups, I have a mind, a body, and a soul WhatsApp groups, we're doing a challenge. Again, we're only a third through, it's not too late to join. One of them is keeping a gratitude journal. For 30 straight days, writing down three things you're grateful for each day. Because that's the essence of what it means to be a Jew. We're called יהודים Yehudim from הודאה hoda'ah, because we are a nation and a people who express gratitude. We're express, Rav Hutner's famous ווארט vort, מודה לי ומודה על Modeh li v'modeh al. Implicit in every expression of gratitude is the admission, I needed you. I grew from you. I gained from you. I wouldn't be the same without you. Arrogant people who are unable and unwilling to admit they needed another, struggle to say thank you. And humble people who have no problem saying you enriched me, have no problem being able to say thank you. Thank you is not for the recipient of the thank you. Thank you is for the one who offers it. It's for the one who offers it. We spoke last week, I think it was in the פרשה שיעור parsha shiur I quoted my great uncle, Rabbi Shraga Nemen, right? I think it was last week's parsha shiur who had the Yiddish expression and talked about why is it called הכרת הטוב hakaras hatov? Not תשלום טוב tashlum tov, you're not paying off the good. You're recognizing the good because gratitude is not a debt that you ever fully pay. It is an acknowledgement that you carry. And that's what the farmer is doing, reinforcing this expression of gratitude. Person goes down to the field and looks at the crop and knows that everything's from השם Hashem. So you know what's included in real gratitude? This is Rav Rimon's insight and I want to share it with you. Such an important, important insight. When the farmer goes down to the field and sees that first pomegranate, that first fig, that first grape, the farmer doesn't see only what's in front of them in that moment. The farmer doesn't just see the grape, the fig, or the pomegranate. What does the farmer see? Everything that led until that moment. The farmer says, you know, wow, my parents are survivors. My grandparents are survivors. It's not פשוט pasht, it's not a given that I'm even here today. Who says I should even be alive? My grandparents were survivors. It's a miracle they're here. And you know, they struggled, and it's a miracle I have this house, and it's a miracle I got that job, and it's a miracle this woman agreed to marry me, and it's a miracle I have these children, and it's a miracle I afforded this farm, and it's a miracle that I planted things and they're growing, it's a miracle that there's no pestilence that wiped it out, and it's a miracle that the sun is shined and the air is here and the water is, it's a miracle. So the farmer doesn't just see what's in front of them, the farmer sees the totality of everything that led up to it. And that's why this farmer, who should just be saying שכוח shkoach for the fig, doesn't just say succinctly, שכוח shkoach for the fig. The farmer says, you know what this fig represents? Do you know everything that led up to this fig? It goes back to Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower. It goes back to how I got here. It goes back to the other side being survivors or escaping after Kristallnacht. Do you know what goes into this fig? There's nothing פשוט pasht about this fig. So I'm saying thank you not for the fig, I'm saying thank you, my parents and my grandparents and my great-grandparents, for my spouse, my children, and my grandchildren. I'm saying thank you for my health and well-being. I'm saying thank you for my shelter. I'm saying thank you for so much more. This is the meaning of the ברכה bracha we say, שהכל Shehakol. You drink a cup of coffee, a glass of water, you make a ברכה bracha, שהכל נהיה בדברו shehakol nihiyeh bidvaro. Everything else is specific. You say פרי האדמה, פרי העץ pri ha'adama, pri ha'eitz, לחם מן הארץ lechem min ha'aretz. Every other bracha is specific. This ברכה bracha שהכל shehakol is generic. What's the ברכה bracha of שהכל shehakol? You should say a bracha. Coffee is like medicine we take every morning. You know, when you realize that on the fast day, when you can't have that coffee and you break out into withdrawal, you have to spend two weeks before weaning yourself off of that, of that addiction, that substance called coffee. Coffee is the greatest gift. There should be a specific ברכה bracha we should say on coffee. Like a הגומל ha'gomel. You know, it saves our life each and every day. And yet it's a שהכל shehakol. Why are you saying a שהכל shehakol? Because when you say שהכל shehakol on the cup of coffee, what you're saying is, השם Hashem, I'm not just grateful for this cup of caffeine. What I'm saying is שהכל נהיה בדברו shehakol nihiyeh bidvaro. There's something called the coffee bean. There's a farmer who bothered to grow it. There's the person who broke their back harvesting it. And there's the person who packaged it, and the person who grounded it into little coffee. And the person who invented my Keurig machine, שהכל shehakol, everything, the whole environment, the whole atmosphere, the whole ambience, all the people, all the everything that went into it. So when this farmer is saying thank you, it's a model for all of us and how you say thank you. When you say thank you, you don't just say thank you for the moment, for the specific thing, you're saying a thank you for everything that went into this, everything in this background. Right so of רימון Rimon in the section, there's one major operative verb, it's repeated time and again, נ-ת-נ nun-taf-nun, נתן nasan, gives you. השם Hashem gives you, השם Hashem gave you, השם Hashem gives you, השם Hashem gives you. It's over and over and over again. How many times? He elaborates here. It is no less than 10 times in this פרק perek, דברים כ\"ו Dvarim chaf vov, in פרשת כי תבוא Parshas Ki Savo, in our פרשה parsha, no less than 10 times do we have this verb נ-ת-נ nun-taf-nun, נתן nasan, God gives. We have, when you come into the land כי תבוא אל הארץ אשר השם אלוקיך נותן לך Ki savo el ha'aretz asher Hashem Elokecha nosein lecha. You take the first of the fruit which השם Hashem נותן nosein, he gives. And you come to the kohen and you declare that השם Hashem gave this to our forefathers, לשכן לנו l'sakein lanu, to give us. And the Egyptians treated us cruelly, and ויתנו vayitnu, they gave us hard labor. And he brought us to the place and ויתנו vayitnu, he gave us this land flowing with ארץ זבת חלב ודבש eretz zavas chalav u'dvash. And now, behold, I've brought you the first fruit of this land which I brought you, נתתה לי nasata li, that he gave me. I'm sorry, 11 times. And the 11th time, and then rejoice with all the good that your God has נתן nasan given you and your household, and the Levi and the stranger among you. No less than 11 times in this short passage, the beginning of this perek, within 12 psukim, 11 times we have this verb, נתן nasan, because to remind us that השם Hashem gives and gives and gives. And the gratitude we should have, it's not a gift and a giving that happened way back when and once, it is a gift that keeps on giving. That he gives us over and over. So יציאת מצרים Yetzias Mitzrayim is only an example of how השם Hashem helped us historically throughout the generation, and we thank Him on סדר Seder night for all that help. So it says Rav Rimon, why are we invoking this passage instead of the other? He offers three reasons. Number one, it's succinct, and the beginning of the story is too much long, it would take forever. If you think the seder is long enough, you'd never get to the afikomen by chatzos. Number two reason he says is, because we're not repeating the story the way it happened in real time. We're repeating the story the way that we were taught how to tell the story. When do we have an example of somebody telling the story? ביכורים Bikurim. That's why that's the section that we invoke. And number three, because what's the seder if not an exercise in gratitude? Seder night is all about thank you, השם Hashem. Thank you, השם Hashem. We're thanking השם Hashem, that's Seder night. So therefore we use the section which is all about gratitude, the model of gratitude, the lesson plan of gratitude, which is called the מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים Bikurim. Rav Rimon points out there's an anomaly. 11 times it says ויתנו vayitnu in order to reinforce and remind us that השם Hashem gives. He gives and he gives and he gives, and we take and we take and we take, and therefore we must thank and we must thank and we must thank. There is one very peculiar he gives here. And what is the peculiar he gives? It says the Egyptians treated us cruelly, they afflicted us, וירעו אותנו המצרים ויענונו ויתנו עלינו עבודה קשה Vayare'u osanu haMitzrim vay'anunu vayitnu aleinu avoda kasha. I'm on page 1068 פרק כ\"ו, פסוק ו' perek chaf vov, pasuk vov. וירעו אותנו המצרים ויענונו Vayare'u osanu haMitzrim v'yanunu, they persecuted, they oppressed us, they caused us to suffer. ויתנו vayitnu, and they gave us עבודה קשה avoda kasha. What do you mean they gave us? It's not a peculiar verb? They gave us backbreaking labor. ויתנו Vayitnu aleinu. I'm on page 1068, פרק כ\"ו, פסוק ו' perek chaf vov, pasuk vov. וירעו אותנו המצרים ויענונו Vayare'u osanu haMitzrim v'yanunu, they persecuted, they oppressed us, they caused us to suffer. ויתנו vayitnu, and they gave us עבודה קשה avoda kasha. What do you mean they gave us? They should have said they imposed upon us, they broke us, they tortured us. What do you mean ויתנו vayitnu, they gave us? So Rav Rimon offers a very interesting suggestion. He says, maybe השם Hashem is giving us his continual divine providence over the nation of Israel both in good times and in times of distress and sorrow. Even in the servitude of מצרים Mitzrayim, it was part of the divine plan, was part of השם Hashem's promise to אברהם Avraham when he told us in the ברית בין הבתרים Bris bein habesarim that he would enslave them for 400 years. Of course, the nation of Israel would like to be redeemed in a happy and easy way, but we know that השם Hashem loves his nation and their troubles and distress are part of his greater plan. These are also stages in Israel's redemptive process. The Egyptians thought that they were beating the children of Israel. However, it was really all part of the divine plan. The giving of hard labor to כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael was part of השם Hashem's giving in the overall screen. In the end, everything stems from the good giving of השם Hashem to the nation of Israel, both the good things that we receive easily and the difficult things we do not understand. So Rav Rimon suggests that this anomaly in the 11 times the verb נתן nasan is used, that the Egyptians gave us hard labor, is that that gift was also from השם Hashem. Even though the Egyptians thought that they were giving us something which would break us, which would compromise us, which would corrupt us, that giving was also part of השם Hashem's master plan. That also was for a reason. That also benefited us. We see and we thank השם Hashem not only in the good times and not only when it all works out and not only when we can understand, but even when it feels we're being broken and beaten down, even when it feels we're being persecuted and oppressed. That too is given. In fact, is a gift from Hashem. Even if we don't understand it when it happens, even if we may never understand it, but we see it in the context of all coming from Hashem. But let's get back to this section itself. ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi, an Aramean was my father, to which the בעל הגדה Baal Haggadah concludes that's לבן Lavan, and what he wanted to do was even worse, even worse than פרעה Paro. Where in the world does that come from? Who is this Aramean? So let's take a look. זאגט רש\"י Zogt Rashi. רש\"י Rashi says who is the ארמי Arami?רש\"י Rashi says. ארמי אובד אבי, מזכיר חסדי המקום Arami oved avi, mazkir chasdei haMakom, we're mentioning the goodness, the kindness of Hashem. ארמי אובד אבי, לבן ביקש לעקור את הכל, כשרודף אחרי יעקב. Arami oved avi, Lavan bikesh la'akor es hakol, kesherodef acharei Yaakov. לבן Lavan pursued יעקב Yaakov, ובשביל שחשב לעשות, חשב לו המקום כאילו עשה. u'bishvil shechishav la'asos, chashav lo haMakom ke'ilu asah. I don't understand that. We asked, what did Lavan actually do in the end? How could רש\"י Rashi say that it was לבן Lavan? לבן Lavan wanted to destroy יעקב Yaakov. So the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra jumps on רש\"י Rashi, רב אברהם אבן עזרא Rav Avraham Ibn Ezra, and the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra disagrees for two reasons. First he says the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, should we look at it inside? Let's look at it inside, פרק כ\"ו Perek Kaf Vav. פסוק Pasuk, ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi. ה' Hey. פסוק ה' Pasuk Hey. כ\"ו ה' Kaf Vav Hey. Says the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra רש\"י Rashi is wrong for two reasons. ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi, רש\"י Rashi is wrong for two reasons. There it is. מילת אובד אין מהפעילם שאינם יוצאים. ואילו היה ארמי על לבן, היה הכתוב אומר מאביד או מאבד. Milas oved ein me'ha'peilim she'einam yotzim. Ve'ilu haya Arami al Lavan, haya hakasuv omer ma'avid o me'abed. First, grammatically he disagrees with רש\"י Rashi. First the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra says it should have said ארמי מאביד אבי Arami ma'avid avi, implying the Aramean wanted to destroy my father. Instead it says ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi. Second, says the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, ועוד, מה טעם לומר לבן ביקש להאביד אבי. וירד מצרימה, אבל לבן לא סיבב לרדת למצרים. Ve'od, ma ta'am lomar Lavan bikesh le'ha'avid avi. Vayered Mitzraima, aval Lavan lo sivev laredet leMitzrayim. It says he chased my father יעקב Yaakov down to מצרים Mitzrayim and wanted to destroy him. Do we have any evidence? Is there in the story in the narrative anywhere that לבן Lavan chased יעקב Yaakov down to מצרים Mitzrayim? So therefore the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra concludes that ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi is not talking about לבן Lavan. Who is the Aramean in ארמי Arami? Says the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, הקרוב שהארמי הוא יעקב, כאילו אמר הכתוב כאשר היה אבי בארם היה אובד. Hakrov sheha'Arami hu Yaakov, ke'ilu amar hakasuv ka'asher haya avi be'Aram haya oved. He says the פסוק pasuk is talking about יעקב Yaakov. You hear that? The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra says ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi, the ארמי Arami, the Aramean is not לבן Lavan. The ארמי Arami is יעקב Yaakov. My father יעקב Yaakov was אובד oved, was in distress when when he was in ארם Aram. He was poor, he was helpless, he was in distress when he was in ארם Aram. That's how the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra understands. A third interpretation, the רשב\"ם, שמואל בן מאיר, רש\"י'ס Rashbam, Shmuel ben Meir, Rashi's grandson, says the רשב\"ם Rashbam, ארמי אובד אבי אברהם ארמי היה אובד וגולה מארץ ארם. Arami oved avi Avraham Arami haya, oved v'goleh me'Eretz Aram. Who is the ארמי Arami, who is the Aramean? Says the רשב\"ם Rashbam, it's referring to אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu, who was in who was lost in an exile. He was an ארמי Aramian. The ספורנו Sforno also weighs in, the ספורנו Sforno says it was it was יעקב Yaakov. So all the מפרשים mefarshim here on the פרשה parsha weigh in. ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi, an Aramean ארמי, אובד, אבי Arami, oved, avi. How do you understand that? רש\"י Rashi says the ארמי Arami is לבן Lavan who tried to destroy יעקב Yaakov. The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra doesn't like it, he concludes the ארמי Arami is יעקב Yaakov. What does it mean אובד oved? He was the victim, the target of destruction. The רשב\"ם Rashbam says no, go back even further in Jewish history, it's not talking about יעקב Yaakov, it's not talking about לבן Lavan, it's talking about none other than אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu. A three-way מחלוקת machlokes. The editor of the הגדה Haggadah explains the פסוק pasuk the way רש\"י Rashi understood, that we're talking about לבן Lavan and that what לבן Lavan wanted to do was worse. The מהר\"ל Maharal, the מהר\"ל Maharal in two places, the מהר\"ל Maharal both in his גבורות ה' Gevuros Hashem פרק נ\"ד Perek Nun Daled and גור אריה Gur Aryeh, the super commentary on רש\"י Rashi on the תורה Torah, the מהר\"ל Maharal defends רש\"י Rashi against the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra. You remember the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra asked two questions on רש\"י Rashi. The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra said number one, if the ארמי Arami was לבן Lavan, it should have said מאביד ma'avid, not אובד oved. And number two, we never see לבן Lavan trying to go down to Egypt. Says the מהר\"ל Maharal, why does the פסוק pasuk refer to לבן Lavan? Why does it say אובד oved rather than מאביד ma'avid? The מהר\"ל Maharal explains לבן Lavan always wanted to destroy יעקב Yaakov. And that's why it says אובד oved in the present tense. It wasn't a one moment, it wasn't one time. He always wanted to. The verb אובד oved indicates an ongoing practice instead of a one-time fleeting desire. In every generation, there's a לבן Lavan who wants to destroy us. And this is why in the הגדה Haggadah this leads to והיא שעמדה לאבותינו vehi she'amda la'avoseinu. In every generation, there's a לבן Lavan. We're not talking about לבן Lavan because he deserves to be remembered. We're talking about לבן Lavan because he is the arch, he's the archetype. He is the model of a paradigm of an enemy who is אובד oved in the present tense. It's not anti-semitism existed once back in history. It's ongoing, it's continuous and contiguous, and that's why we say it in the present tense of אובד oved. Lastly, and then we'll move on. We asked, was לבן Lavan really worse than than פרעה Paro? The בעל הגדה Baal Haggadah learns up our פרשה כי תבוא parsha Ki Savo, ביכורים bikkurim, that the ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi, who's this ארמי Arami, is לבן Lavan, and that לבן Lavan's worse than פרעה Paro. How is לבן Lavan worse than פרעה Paro? The שיבולי הלקט Shibolei HaLeket on הגדה Haggadah answers as follows. You know why לבן Lavan's worse? Because פרעה Paro was a physical enemy. פרעה Paro was physically threatened by the presence of the Jewish people. פרעה Paro did a demographic study, פרעה Paro did a census, and he said this Jewish people, if they rebel and revolt, they could take over this country, and therefore I need to eliminate them. It was a physical, political conflict. But לבן Lavan, לבן Lavan wasn't physical. לבן Lavan didn't just try to destroy the males, the power base. לבן Lavan, this was a spiritual battle. לבן Lavan tried to assimilate the Jewish people. He wanted to destroy everything, the very existence, the very identity of the nation of the Jewish people. He wanted to eliminate the children of אברהם יצחק Avraham Yitzchak and of his son-in-law יעקב Yaakov, and that is the greatest danger. A greater danger than even our physical annihilation, although that obviously is a grave danger, but even a greater danger is the power of assimilation. לבן Lavan wanted, he wanted Leah and Rachel, and he wanted יעקב Yaakov, and he wanted their whole family to assimilate into his view, into his ideology, into his way of being. So says Rav Rimon, on סדר Seder night, the night of freedom, we proclaim, Jews, watch out. Watch out. Don't only watch out for the anti-semites who tried to destroy you with anger. Watch out for the anti-semites who try to destroy you with love, who welcome you, who try to swallow you up, who try to integrate you and assimilate you and welcome you. לבן ביקש לעקור את הכל. Lavan bikesh la'akor es hakol. What an important message for סדר Seder night, what an important message for this farmer, what an important message for us, that not only do we have to worry about, and we do in our day and our time, rise up and confront anti-semites, but we also have to worry about the danger and the threat which in fact statistically is much greater than than anti-semitism, which is the danger of intermarriage and assimilation, the danger of those who are giving up our very identity, and that's the message of that is the message of סדר Seder night. You see this as well in the words ויריעו אותנו המצרים vayareiu osanu haMitzrim. These words ויריעו אותנו המצרים vayareiu osanu haMitzrim, the great צדיק tzaddik, ר' יעקב יצחק Rav Yaakov Yitzchak of קאזשניץ Kozhnitz. The קאזשניץ רבי Kozhnitzer Rebbe says the following. What does it mean ויריעו אותנו המצרים vayareiu osanu haMitzrim? פרק כ\"ו פסוק ו' Perek Kaf Vav Pasuk Vav. And then we'll get on with the פרשה parsha, I promise we'll do a little bit more. ויריעו אותנו המצרים Vayareiu osanu haMitzrim, what does that mean? He says the word ויריעו vayareiu has two meanings. ויריעו Vayareiu can come from the word רעע reya. רעע Reya means a friend, a חבר chaver. רעע Reya is friendship. And it could also mean from the word רוע roa, like רע ra, evil, wickedness, bad. ויריעו אותנו המצרים Vayareiu osanu haMitzrim means the מצרים Mitzrim, the Egyptians, they confronted us, they challenged us in both ways. ויריעו Vayareiu, they challenged us by welcoming us in, by giving us safe harbor, by letting us integrate and assimilate, by enabling and entitling us to intermarry. ויריעו Vayareiu, they said, be my רעע reya, feel free to be our friend, have an equal part of our world and our culture, and that too is a great, great danger. ויריעו Vayareiu, their double dangers Jews face, and we have to have our eyes open to be alert, to see the danger and threat of both. ויריעו Vayareiu, the ויריעו vayareiu of רע ra, of when they come to kill, but the ויריעו vayareiu of רעע reya, the ויריעו vayareiu also of the danger of the friendship, the danger of being too welcoming and too inviting, and where that can lead to, where that could lead to as well. Okay, now the farmer in the declaration says, or the end of the declaration I should say, פסוק י\"א Pasuk Yud Aleph, פרק כ\"ו פסוק י\"א Perek Kaf Vav Pasuk Yud Aleph, page 1068. After the declaration, the תורה Torah says, ושמחת בכל הטוב אשר נתן לך ה' אלקיך ולביתך אתה והלוי והגר אשר בקרבך Vesamachta bechol hatov asher nasan lecha Hashem Elokecha u'leveisecha, atah vehaLevi veha'ger asher be'kirbecha. Be happy, and be grateful. As we said, that is the essence of ביכורים bikkurim and it's why we invoke it at סדר Seder night, and it's what כי תבוא Ki Savo was meant to remind us and inspire us, that we have to be happy and we have to be grateful. Listen to the אמרות חיים Imrei Chaim. Listen to the great ויז'ניץ רבי Vizhnitzer Rebbe. ושמחת בכל הטוב Vesamachta bechol hatov, be happy with all the good, writes the ויז'ניץ רבי Vizhnitzer Rebbe, אם יודעים שהכל טוב אז אפשר להיות בשמחה. כמעשה הידוע עם הרבי ר' זושא. Im yodim she'hakol tov, az efshar lihiyos be'simcha. K'maaseh hayadua im haRebbe Reb Zusha. So the the ויז'ניץ רבי Vizhnitzer Rebbe, the אמרות חיים Imrei Chaim says, ושמחת Vesamachta, how can you find happiness? Who doesn't want happiness? We're all in as the American declaration entitles us or allows us, we're all pursuing happiness. Who doesn't want to be happy? Who doesn't want to be happy? Don't worry, be happy, as the great poet said. Who doesn't want to be happy? Everybody just wants to be happy. How can you be happy? ושמחת Vesamachta, how can you be happy? בכל הטוב bechol hatov. When you realize that everything that happens in life, everything is from Hashem, everything is for the good, everything is for a reason, everything is by design. The answer, the formula of of שמחה simcha is ושמחת Vesamachta, you know how you find happiness? בכל הטוב bechol hatov. And then cryptically he alludes to a story כמעשה הרבי ר' זושא, זכותו יגן עלינו. k'maaseh haRebbe Reb Zusha, zechuso yagen aleinu. It's like the story of the הרבי ר' זושא Rebbe Reb Zusha. Now the אמרות חיים Imrei Chaim doesn't tell you what story, but I'm going to tell you the story. The story of the הרבי ר' זושא Rebbe Reb Zusha that the אמרות חיים Imrei Chaim is cryptically alluding to is the following. A man once a man once came to רב דוב בער Rav Dov Ber, the famous מגיד Maggid of מעזריטש Mezritch with a question. He says, you know the משנה Mishna says in ברכות Brachos that a person is supposed to bless Hashem for the bad, כשם שמברך על הטוב, כך מברך על הרע. Keshem shemevarech al hatov, kach mevarech al hara. You have to be willing to give a ברכה bracha to Hashem for the bad as much as for the good. How is it possible? He asked the מגיד Maggid of מעזריטש Mezritch. How is it possible? How could you accept even the bitter, the painful, the difficult? How can you accept it the same way as you accept the joy, the happiness, the good news? How can a human being react to what you experience in the bed in exactly the same way כשם, כשם keshem, keshem. You have to bless Hashem and see it coming from Hashem and acknowledge it from Hashem the same way that you experience the good. How is it even possible? So רב דוב בער Rav Dov Ber, the מגיד Maggid said, to find an answer you got to go see my great חסיד chasid, my תלמיד talmid, you have to go see the הרבי ר' זושא Rebbe Reb Zusha. The הרבי ר' זושא Rebbe Reb Zusha of אנאפולי Annapoli. Only he can help you. So ר' זושא Reb Zusha received the guest warmly, he made his way to the הרבי ר' זושא Rebbe Reb Zusha, and the visitor decided that before challenging the הרבי ר' זושא Rebbe Reb Zusha with his question, he would observe ר' זושא'ס Reb Zusha's conduct. So before long, he concluded that his host really exemplified exactly this גמרא Gemara, the כשם keshem. Because he saw that no matter what happened in the הרבי ר' זושא'ס Rebbe Reb Zusha's life, no matter the challenges he endured, no matter the suffering he overcame, nevertheless he was always so happy. And in fact, he couldn't think of anyone who suffered more hardship than ר' זושא Reb Zusha. The הרבי ר' זושא Rebbe Reb Zusha was a poor man and he never had enough to eat. And his family had all kinds of illnesses and suffering and loss, and yet the הרבי ר' זושא Rebbe Reb Zusha always had a smile on his face and a positive disposition and a good and a kind word, and joy and gratitude to Hashem. But what was the secret? So this חסיד chasid, the visitor who was sent there by רב דוב בער Rav Dov Ber, by the מגיד Maggid of מעזריטש Mezritch, finally one day turned to the הרבי ר' זושא Rebbe Reb Zusha and decided the moment, the time was right. He would challenge ר' זושא Reb Zusha. And so he said, I'm here, I went to the מגיד Maggid, your רב rebbe, and he had this I had this question. How is it possible, כשם keshem, to the same degree, to the same extent, to thank Hashem for the bad as much as for the good? How is it possible? He repeated the question. The הרבי ר' זושא Rebbe Reb Zusha looked at him and said, you raise a good question. It's טאקע takeh a good point. It's a good question. But why did why did the רב rebbe, why did the מגיד Maggid of מעזריטש Mezritch send you to me? How would I know? I've never had a day of suffering in my life. I've never had רע ra in a moment in my life. How would I know the answer to the question? It's a מורא'דיג moiradig, it's a פלא'דיג peledig story of the הרבי ר' זושא Rebbe Reb Zusha. The answer was, בכל הטוב bechol hatov, if you view everything happening in your life is good, ושמחת vesamachta, you're not trying to figure out or reconcile how you could be happy with the bad, there is no bad. בכל הטוב bechol hatov. If we change our mentality, if we filter everything through the prism that everything is good, it's all טוב tov, then ושמחת vesamachta, the result is feeling a sense of שמחה simcha. So the הרבי ר' זושא Rebbe Reb Zusha said, that's a great question, but I don't know why he sent you to me. I've never suffered, so how would I know the answer? Never suffered? He lived his life thinking and feeling he never suffered. And because he had that attitude he never suffered, therefore, therefore he was בשמחה b'simcha all the time. The אמרות חיים Imrei Chaim, the ויז'ניץ רבי Vizhnitzer Rebbe offers another explanation. ושמחת בכל הטוב, בכל Vesamachta bechol hatov, bechol is in gematria בן ben. אין טוב אלא תורה Ein tov ela Torah, שתשמח בבנים בני תורה שזהו כל הטוב. she'tismach be'banim bnei Torah she'zehu kol hatov. בכל Bachol is בן ben, it means continuity, children, offspring. ושמחת Vesamachta, you know where the שמחה simcha comes from? טוב Tov. אין טוב אלא תורה Ein tov ela Torah. ושמחת בכל הטוב Vesamachta bachol hatov. When you see the next generation living תורה Torah, when you successfully transmit and inspire תורה Torah to the next generation, then ושמחת vesamachta. That's the biggest שמחה simcha there is. It's not the bigger house or the bigger car or the bigger retirement fund. The ושמחת vesamachta, the biggest שמחה simcha is בכל bachol, having a בן ben, טוב tov, to whom you've transmitted and successfully given Torah. וגם נתתיו ללוי ולגר Vegam nesasiv la'Levi la'ger. And the פסוק pasuk says, לא עברתי ממצוותיך lo avarti mi'mitzvoisecha. And I didn't violate your מצוות mitzvos. תורה Torah goes on that the farmer declares וידוי מעשר vidui maaser, I didn't violate anything. So says the ויז'ניץ רבי Vizhnitzer Rebbe, גם בנתינת צדקה אל יעבור על המצוות, שלא יחשוב צדקה סגי. gam be'nesinas tzedakah al ya'avor al hamitzvos, shelo yachshov tzedakah sagi. You might say the farmer, look, I gave out the תרומות ומעשרות trumos u'maasros, I distributed it properly. I gave to the לוי Levi, I gave to the גר ger, I gave it all out to where it went where it was supposed to go. So I give a lot of צדקה tzedakah and I buy my way out of עבירות aveiros. I could do what I want, look at what I want, say what I want, cut corners in business, why? Because I give a lot of צדקה tzedakah. That's what the תורה Torah is saying. נתתי ללוי ולגר, ולא עברתי ממצוותיך. Nasati la'Levi la'ger, velo avarti mi'mitzvoisecha. Giving צדקה tzedakah is not an excuse. Giving צדקה tzedakah is not a cop out. Giving צדקה tzedakah doesn't cover you for the עבירות aveiros that you do. Giving צדקה tzedakah is supposed to complement the aspiration for the מצוות mitzvos that we for the מצוות mitzvos that we do. Okay, that is the אמרות חיים Imrei Chaim. The רב נחמן Rav Nachman also has an insight. רב נחמן Rav Nachman of ברסלב Breslov, רב נחמן Rav Nachman of ברסלב Breslov says here, ושמחת בכל הטוב Vesamachta bechol hatov. He says, he says that a person needs to be grateful, כשם שמברך על הטוב, כך מברך על הרע. Keshem shemevarech al hatov, kach mevarech al hara. He says that the בכיה bechiya, בכיה bechiya, the word for crying is an acronym. בשמך יגילון כל היום Be'shimcha yegilun kol hayom. It means to sing out to Hashem even with tears. Even when you're moved to tears by something sad, to channel that and use that to uplift you in a connection and a love of of of Hashem. Next, the farmer here, oh, one more. ושמחת בכל הטוב. Vesamachta bechol hatov. My dear friend Rav Aaron Merzoff shared with me a beautiful insight from the Rebbe of קודנוב Kudnov, who says the following. He says, ושמחת בכל הטוב, אף באישה תשמח בכל הטוב אשר נתן לך ה', שתאסוף את הפירות לתוך ביתך ותשמח בהם. עם כל זאת, עיקר השמחה תהיה אצלך אשר נתן לך ה' אלקיך. Vesamachta bechol hatov, af be'isha tismach bechol hatov asher nasan lecha Hashem, she'ta'asof es ha'peiros le'soch beisecha ve'tismach bahem. Im kol zos, ikkar hasimcha tihiyeh etzlecha asher nasan lecha Hashem Elokecha. What's the whole פסוק pasuk? ושמחת בכל הטוב אשר נתן לך ה' אלקיך. Vesamachta bechol hatov asher nasan lecha Hashem Elokecha. Be grateful with all the good that Hashem has given you. He says, how do you read this? Not be grateful for all the good Hashem gave you all the good. Hashem gave me figs and pomegranates and Hashem gave me grapes and Hashem gave me. No, it's not that I'm grateful for all the fruit that Hashem gave me. What am I grateful for? I'm grateful אשר נתן לך asher nasan lecha that I've been given ה' אלקיך Hashem Elokecha. I'm grateful that I have a relationship with my father. I'm grateful that I have a relationship with my creator. I'm grateful that I have a relationship with the מלך מלכי המלכים Melech Malchei HaMelachim with the רבונו של עולם Ribbono Shel Olam. I have access and I have an audience with the king of kings. I am grateful. ושמחת בכל הטוב Vesamachta bechol hatov, be grateful for the good. And what's that טוב tov? מה שה' הוא אלקיך Ma she'Hashem hu Elokecha. Wow, that's not just there's a ה' Hashem, but he is my God. עיקר השמחה שזכינו לכנוס תחת כנפי השכינה. Ikkar hasimcha she'zachinu le'ikanes tachas kanfei haShechina. When you want to feel grateful, when you want to feel gratitude, say you know what? I'm not wandering this world. I'm not searching for happiness. I'm not looking for meaning. I have the תורה Torah. I have the code. I've got the secret manual and I have a relationship with the almighty. Who's not proud when they have a relationship with someone in a powerful position? People love to name drop or post pictures on social media of themselves with famous people. So you know who I know, do you know who I'm connected to? Do you know who I have on my rolodex? Do you even know what a rolodex is if you're over under a certain age? Do you know who I'm connected with? People love to name drop. Well, every one of us can name drop. You know who I have access to? You know who's on my speed dial? You know who's on my favorites? The רבונו של עולם Ribbono Shel Olam. Whenever I want, I can talk to him. He's there for me. He answers me. ושמחת Vesamachta, you know what should bring you a sense of שמחה simcha? That you know who's on your favorites, who's on your speed dial? אשר נתן לך, ה' הוא אלקיך. Asher nasan lecha, Hashem hu Elokecha. That he gave us that ה' Hashem is אלקיך Elokecha, that he is our God. And that should be a source of tremendous joy, tremendous happiness, and tremendous tremendous success in our life. Okay. Ah, what should we do next? So much more to talk about. Let's move on from the וידוי מעשר vidui maaser. Let's go וייטר veiter. השקיפה Hashkifa. השקיפה ממעון קדשך וברך את עמך את ישראל. Hashkifa mime'on kodshecha u'varech es amcha es Yisrael. The תורה Torah goes on. השקיפה Hashkifa. We're turning the page. Page 1070 in the Artscroll Stone Chumash, we're on פרק כ\"ו Perek Kaf Vav, chapter 28, פסוק pasuk ט\"ו Tes Vav, פסוק pasuk 15. השקיפה ממעון קדשך, קדשך, מן השמים. Hashkifa mime'on kodshecha, kodshecha, min hashamayim. Gaze down from your holy abode, we tell Hashem. וברך את עמך את ישראל ואת האדמה אשר נתת לנו כאשר נשבעת לאבותינו ארץ זבת חלב ודבש. U'varech es amcha es Yisrael v'es ha'adamah asher nasata lanu ka'asher nishbata la'avoseinu eretz zavas chalav u'devash. So at the end of the farmer fulfilling the מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים bikkurim, at the end of the farmer bringing the first fruit and fulfilling the מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים bikkurim, now the farmer says, turns to Hashem and says, השקיפה ממעון קדשך Hashkifa mime'on kodshecha, please look down. השקיפה Hashkifa, like the word השקפה hashkafa. What's your השקפה hashkafa? What's your outlook on life? You Hashem, השקיפה hashkifa, gaze down, look down ממעון קדשך mime'on kodshecha from your holy abode. וברך את עמך U'varech es amcha. And at the end of the מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים bikkurim is a plea. Please bless your nation. Please bless this land. This land that's ארץ זבת חלב ודבש eretz zavas chalav u'devash. The שערי בתפילה Shaarei BeTefillah, ר' פנקס Rav Pinchas זצ\"ל zatzal, some of you studied שערים Shaarim with me, בתפילה be'tefillah with me. We did it on Wednesday mornings for several years. All the recordings can be found on rav Efraim Goldberg.org and YUTorah.org. If you want to learn through that safe for 10 minutes at a time with me, it's one of my favorite ספארים sefarim in the world. I first learned about it from my רב rebbe, ר' דוד מילר Rav Dovid Miller in כרם ביבנה Griz Kolo and I had the זכות zechus of learning it with him. And it's a magnificent sefer. The ילקוט שמעוני Yalkut Shimoni says that there are 13 synonyms for the word תפילה tefillah. תפילה, רינה, ביטוי, זעקה, צעקה Tefillah, rina, bitui, ze'akah, tza'akah, so on and so forth. We have 13 synonyms for the word to pray. That's because not all prayer is the same. Prayer at the death bed is different than prayer at the labor bed, the birthing bed. Prayer at a moment of great news is different than prayer at a moment of tragedy. Not all prayer is the same. And so he goes through a chapter for each of the synonyms, each of the names and words of prayer and teaches us all about prayer. So in שערי בתפילה Shaarei BeTefillah on the פרק perek of חילוי chilui, the type of תפילה tefillah that's called חילוי chilui, ר' פנקס Rav Pinchas says the following. Listen carefully. כתיב ואני תפילתי לך ה' עת רצון Ksiv va'ani tefilasi lecha Hashem eis ratzon, שלא כל העיתים שוות לתפילה shelo kol ha'itim shavos le'tefillah. ואני תפילתי Va'ani tefilasi, we say this at שבת מנחה Shabbos Mincha. דוד המלך David HaMelech says, ואני תפילתי לך ה' עת רצון Va'ani tefilasi lecha Hashem eis ratzon. I turned to you in davening when it is an עת רצון eis ratzon. ברוך אתה ה' אלקינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו. Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam shehakol nihiyeh bidvaro. Hashem, everything, everything is from you. The cup, the drink, it's all from you. וייאמר דרשו ה' בהמצאו, קראוהו בהיותו קרוב. Vayomer, dirshu Hashem be'himatzo, kra'uhu bi'heyoso karov. Now, not all times are created equal for davening. Not all times are created equal for davening. There are what we call, and I'm accused of this being one of my favorite words, there are auspicious times for davening. There are times that are more auspicious. If someone could give me a better word than auspicious, I'm happy to ditch auspicious and use it, but it's such a good word. There are auspicious times for davening. Not all times for davening are created equal. We know that. For example, we are in one of those auspicious periods now. The pasuk says דרשו ה' בהמצאו dirshu Hashem be'himatzo. Search out Hashem בהמצאו be'himatzo when he can be found. קראוהו בהיותו קרוב Kra'uhu bi'heyoso karov, call out to him when he is close. So one understanding of this pasuk is these are עשרת ימי תשובה Aseres Yemei Teshuva between ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah and יום כיפור Yom Kippur. But we have another tradition that these are the days of אלול Elul. All month of אלול Elul are תפילה tefillah, you know normally we're on dial up, now we're on super speed. Normally you're on 3G, now we're on 4G or 5G. Whatever the metaphor is, our תפילה tefillah, we can always daven and talk to him, but sometimes we are on a higher speed than others. דרשו ה' בהמצאו Dirshu Hashem be'himatzo, call out to Hashem when he's close. So ר' פנקס Rav Pinchas is pointing out, ואני תפילתי לך ה' עת רצון Va'ani tefilasi lecha Hashem eis ratzon. There are times that are called עת רצון eis ratzon. There are times that are more auspicious, propitious to be able to reach out to Hashem. דרשו ה' בהמצאו Dirshu Hashem be'himatzo. There are times that he's found more readily. מזמני הרצון הוא בסיום השלמת מצווה. Mizmanei ha'ratzon hu be'siyum hashlamas mitzvah. So says ר' פנקס Rav Pinchas, one of the times where it's most or more appropriate to turn and daven to Hashem is right after you do a מצוה mitzvah. שאז שערי שמים פתוחים בזכות המצוה She'az sha'arei shamayim pesuchim bi'zchus ha'mitzvah. In the merit of having done the מצוה mitzvah, the gates of heaven are wide open. When you do a מצוה mitzvah, you fulfill the will of Hashem, the gates of heaven are wide open. And when they're wide open, quickly get your תפילה tefillah straight through. וקרוב הקב\"ה אז לקבל תפילת המתפלל ברגע נפלא זה. Ve'karov HaKadosh Baruch Hu az lekabel tfilas hamispallel be'rega nifla zeh. And הקב\"ה HaKadosh Baruch Hu is more readily willing, able, eager to receive and accept our תפילה tefillah just after a מצוה mitzvah that we've done. כמבואר בתוספתא מצוות וידוי מעשר K'mevoar baTosefta mitzvos vidui maaser. And where does he get this from ר' פנקס Rav Pinchas? He gets it from our פרשה parsha. וידוי מעשר Vidui maaser, שכאשר מסיים ממצוות תרומות ומעשרות she'ka'asher mesayem mi'mitzvos trumos u'maasros, when the farmer finishes the מצוה mitzvah of ביכורים bikkurim, when the farmer concludes distributing his תרומות ומעשרות trumos u'maasros, what does he do? He's מבקשים mevakshim, וברך את עמך את ישראל ואת האדמה אשר נתת לנו. u'varech es amcha es Yisrael v'es ha'adamah asher nasata lanu. The farmer finishes this מצוה mitzvah by turning to Hashem and saying, השקיפה ממעון קדשך Hashkifa mime'on kodshecha, look down, and I'm asking you now, I'm offering a תפילה tefillah, I'm asking you to give a ברכה bracha. I'm asking you for a ברכה bracha. When do we ask for a ברכה bracha? When do we offer that תפילה tefillah? Just at the conclusion of a מצוה mitzvah. בתוספתא במעשר שני כל העוסק במצוות פטור מן הסוכה בתפילה וכן במקומות שנאמר תגזור אומר ויקם לך Bi'Tosefta be'maaser sheni, kol ha'osek be'mitzvos patur min hasukkah be'tefillah, u'vechen hamakom shene'emar tigzor omer veyakom lach. So we see that there's an idea of offering a תפילה tefillah just after you've done a מצוה mitzvah. It is a more auspicious time, it's a time that our תפילה tefillah is more readily received and more likely to be answered. Don't waste it. You just did a מצוה mitzvah and in the זכות zechus, in the merit of that מצוה mitzvah, offer a תפילה tefillah, offer a תפילה tefillah. And ר' פנקס Rav Pinchas brings other examples. וכן אמרו בגמרא Vechein amru be'Gemara, the גמרא Gemara in בבא בתרא Bava Basra says, ר' אלעזר Rabbi Elazar would give a פרוטה לעני pruta le'ani, he would give money to a poor person, وهדר מצלי ve'hadar metzali. When would he דאווען daven? After giving צדקה tzedakah. ואמר בצדק אחזה פניך Ve'amar be'tzedek echezeh panecha. כדי לפתוח שערי שמים לתפילתו Kedai lift'oach sha'arei shamayim le'tfilaso. In order to open the gates so that his תפילה tefillah would be accepted, you introduce the תפילה tefillah with a מצוה mitzvah. And many have the custom of giving צדקה tzedakah before דאווענען davening. Giving צדקה tzedakah during דאווענען davening, giving צדקה tzedakah before דאווענען davening. Why? Because the דאווענען davening then comes on the heels of a מצוה mitzvah. Do a מצוה mitzvah, and by doing the מצוה mitzvah you open the gates of heaven, and you follow the gates of heaven being opened with your תפילה tefillah inserting it. וכבר כתבו הקדמונים שאחר עשיית כל מצוה ומצוה היא עת רצון. U'chvar kasvu ha'kadmonim she'achar asiyas kol mitzvah u'mitzvah hi eis ratzon. In other words, when you do a מצוה mitzvah, you create an עת רצון eis ratzon. And then take advantage of that עת רצון eis ratzon by offering a תפילה tefillah. Another example, נהגו הנשים להתפלל על בניהם תלמידי חכמים, הדלקת נרות שבת. Nahagu ha'nashim le'hispallel al bneihem talmidei chachamim, hadlakas neiros Shabbos. Women light the candles Friday night, and what do they do right after the מצוה mitzvah of lighting the candles? They דאווען daven for children, grandchildren, for neighbors, friends, for themselves. You do the מצוה mitzvah, lighting the candles, and follow it with דאווענען davening. So you see this, this notion that you create the עת רצון eis ratzon with the מצוה mitzvah, and you follow it up with a תפילה tefillah, comes from our very, our very פרשה parsha. Okay, we have time for one last insight. פרק כ\"ח Perek Kaf Ches. Let's skip all the way. We have the תוכחה tochacha. The תוכחה tochacha appears in בחוקותי Bechukosai and כי תבוא Ki Savo, once in the singular, once in the plural. It applies to both. The beautiful רמב\"ן Ramban, we don't have time to go through all of this. ברוך אתה בבואך וברוך אתה בצאתך, ארור אתה בבואך, ארור אתה בצאתך. Baruch atah be'voecha u'varuch atah be'tzeitzecha. Arur atah be'voecha, arur atah be'tzeitzecha. Oy, so much to talk about. פרק כ\"ח Perek Kaf Ches, go to the end of the פרשה parsha. ס\"ו Samech Vav, literally the very end of the פרשה parsha. Page 1084, 1084, we're at פרק כ\"ח Perek Kaf Ches, chapter 28, verse ס\"ו Samech Vav. And here the תורה Torah tells us the following at the end of the תוכחה tochacha. והיו חייך תלואים לך מנגד ופחדת לילה ויומם ולא תאמין בחייך. Vehayu chayecha tlu'im lecha mi'neged u'fachadeta laila ve'yomam velo sa'amin be'chayecha. And your life will hang in the balance and you'll be frightened. ופחדת לילה ויומם ולא תאמין בחייך. U'fachadeta laila ve'yomam velo sa'amin be'chayecha. You'll be frightened night and day, and you will not be sure of your livelihood. Part of the תוכחה tochacha, part of what the תורה Torah predicts is that if you misbehave, if you are disobedient, if you don't listen and align your values, your lifestyle with that of what Hashem wants from us, then we will suffer the terrible תוכחה tochacha. And in the תוכחה tochacha it describes to us that your life will hang in the balance, חייך תלואים chayecha tlu'im, ופחדת לילה ויומם u'fachadeta laila ve'yomam, and you will be afraid night and day. Rav Soloveitchik writes about this the following. You'll be afraid night and day. Slaves live in fear. The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra asks why a camp of 600,000 Israelite men at the Red Sea were afraid when they saw they were being pursued by 600,000 chariots? בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael were so desperate they began to complain to משה Moshe, why'd you take us out, bring us back? And the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra wonders, why the despair? The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra answers, the Jews were downtrodden and fearful. A slave is afraid even when his fear is unjustified. Fear is a mental illness. Fear is a plague. Fear is anxiety. And a slave is filled with such fear even when it is unjustified, even when it's unwarranted. Writes the רב Rav, he's afraid not only of those who are stronger than he, or of those who have jurisdiction over him. The slave is afraid of contradicting anyone, of antagonizing even a stranger. The fear might be unjustified, but it's the motivating force in his life. Indeed, many former inmates in extermination and concentration camps in Europe have told me, writes the רב Rav, that they were afraid not only of the commander of the camp but of anyone, even a child. Such neurotic fear, unjustified or nonsensical, is described powerfully here in the תורה Torah. The passage does not describe a disease, but an imagined fear, phobias with no foundation in reality. Any testimony given before a court may involve contradicting and antagonizing somebody. One who's afraid to antagonize or contradict is disqualified from giving testimony. This is why the sages introduced הסיבה heseibah, leaning on one's left side is a symbol of freedom. הסיבה Heseibah symbolizes complete relaxation, manifesting relief from the abatement of tension and anxiety. הסיבה Heseibah symbolizes the throwing off of the mental shackles depriving man of the freedom of movement. הסיבה Heseibah is the reverse of an erect posture which demonstrates obedience and submissiveness. Soldiers standing erect symbolize the readiness to obey. הסיבה Heseibah is indicative of disobedience, of a courageous stand, of refusing to take orders. Fear is good in small doses, writes the רב Rav, in large doses it's harmful, the גמרא Gemara in גיטין דף י\"ד Gittin Daf Yud. A little is good because it manifests the normal vigilance of life. Too much is harmful because it exaggerates or pointless leads to a total insanity. Fear is the ultimate source of all neuroses and psychotic anomalies in man. Not for naught did the תורה Torah make use of the punishment of fear. So fear is a punishment, writes the רב Rav. Fear is a punishment. Fear is not healthy. Fear is unhealthy. I posted this morning in our אמונה emunah WhatsApp group, you can join if you want, for several times a week we try to offer inspiring thoughts. People misquote, you know, the song, כל העולם כולו גשר צר מאוד, והעיקר לא לפחד כלל. Kol ha'olam kulo gesher tzar me'od, veha'ikkar lo le'fached klal. The entire world is a very narrow bridge, and the main thing is don't have any fear, but that's not the truth. You know where that song comes from? The words come from רב נחמן Rav Nachman, ליקוטי מוהר\"ן Likutei Moharan. And there רב נחמן Rav Nachman writes, I think it's תנינא מ\"ח Tinyana Mem Ches maybe, רב נחמן Rav Nachman writes not כל העולם kol ha'olam, not העיקר לא לפחד ha'ikkar lo le'fached. He says the whole world is like a narrow bridge, והעיקר veha'ikkar and the main thing is לא להתפחד lo le'hispached. He doesn't say לא לפחד lo le'fached. He doesn't say don't be afraid. He says לא להתפחד lo le'hispached, don't make yourself afraid. Don't work yourself up in fear. Don't live with anxiety over what you can't control. The real message is not not to be afraid, it's not to make yourself afraid. Don't turn yourself into a sense of fear. Mark Twain once said, I've known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened. People work themselves up into a frenzy over that which they can't control. I've known great many troubles but most never happened. Stay calm, put your trust in Hashem and know everything is for a reason. Don't get worked up and don't get upset. ושמחת בכל הטוב Vesamachta bechol hatov, this is the theme and the essence of the beginning and the end of the פרשה parsha, two bookends. ושמחת בכל הטוב Vesamachta bechol hatov. When you realize בכל הטוב bechol hatov that it's all good, ושמחת vesamachta, then you'll be filled filled with a sense of joy. And if you fear, if you fear that's a punishment, that's the תוכחה tochacha. and fear. לא לפחד Lo lehis'pached, don't work yourself up into a frenzy, don't work yourself up into a ball of fear. Submit to השם Hashem and express your gratitude to him. It's a lot more to talk about but we'll have to end here. Again, if you took any notes, I'd appreciate it if you share them with me. If you're willing to take notes going forward, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know. I'd love to share written up some of these דברי תורה divrei Torah that we're offering once we offer them. I'd love to disseminate them in other ways. r e g @ b r s o n l i n e .org. Please join us tomorrow morning for מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim at 8:15, Living with אמונה Emunah 8:45, and going behind the במה bimah tomorrow night at 9:00. Stay happy.
