Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב Boker tov. Welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. We have the privilege this week of reading and learning פרשת ראה Parshas Re'eh together. ראה Re'eh is found in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash, page 998. I want to thank our generous sponsors. First of all, Becky and Avi Katz who generously sponsored the פרשה שיעור Parsha shiur for the year in memory of Becky's father, David Grossman, דוד מנחם מנש Dovid Menachem Manish. נשמה שלה תהיה עליה nishmaso she't'hay aliyah. Thank you so much to our dear friends the Katzes. Also this morning's שיעור shiur is sponsored by Sharon and David Carpella in memory of her beloved father Herman Rakoff, חיים שמואל בן משולם פייביש Chaim Shmuel ben Meshulam Faivish on his יארצייט yahrzeit. נשמה שלו תהיה עליה nishmaso she't'hay aliyah. Thank you so much to the Carpells. If you'd like to sponsor a future פרשה שיעור Parsha shiur or any of our שיעורים shiurim, we've made it easier than ever. Go to brsonline.org/sponsor. brsonline.org/sponsor, and in the one spot you can choose the date, write the language, make the payment, easier than ever.פרשת ראה Parshas Re'eh, משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu is continuing his monologue, his soliloquy, his charge and mission to the Jewish people. He will not be joining them, but they will be entering the land of Israel. and he wants to make sure that they've learned the lessons of the desert. They've learned the lessons of all that they've been through. He wants to make sure that they're going to go into Israel, the very best versions of themselves or at least the very best versions possible. So he begins, ראה אנכי נותן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה Re'eh anochi nosein lifneichem hayom bracha u'klalah. See, behold, today I've placed before you a blessing and a curse. את הברכה, מה היא הברכה, אשר תשמעון אל מצות השם אלוקיכם Es ha'bracha, what is the bracha, asher tishme'un el mitzvos Hashem Elokeichem. You will lead a blessed life. You will lead a beautiful life, a good life. If what? את הברכה Es ha'bracha, if you, if you listen to the מצוות mitzvos of השם Hashem. והקללה Ve'haklalah and the curse is, אם לא תשמעון אל מצות השם אלוקיכם im lo sishme'un el mitzvos Hashem Elokeichem. If you don't listen to the מצוות mitzvos of השם Hashem, וסרתם מן הדרך ve'sartem min ha'derech, if you stray, if you abandon the path, if you are distracted, if you give into temptation, אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם asher anochi metzaveh eschem, ללכת אחרי אלהים אחרים אשר לא ידעתם laleches acharei Elohim acheirim asher lo yeda'tem, you're going to pursue and you're going to follow celebrities, athletes, influencers, the mighty dollar, money, politics, politicians, natural order, the natural world, you're going to subscribe to other sources of power, of influence in this world. You will abandon God and think it's, that's a life of קללה klalah. That's a life of chasing your tail, it's a life of disappointment, it's a life of emptiness. It is a great and grave mistake.So what does this mean, ראה אנכי נותן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה Re'eh anochi nosein lifneichem hayom bracha u'klalah? משה Moshe says, behold, I've placed before you today, blessing and curse. What does that mean? Did he literally put them before them, ברכה וקללה bracha u'klalah? What does it mean he's put? So we've analyzed this, you could listen to past פרשה שיעורים Parsha shiurim and you will see that we've spoken about this and we've spoken about it often. But I want to share some new insights and new perspectives on the question of what it means. So we begin the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe. I mentioned last week I think, a new wonderful ספר sefer that came out, אמת ואמונה Emes Ve'emunah, a beautiful collection of the teachings of the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe. רבי מנחם מענדל Reb Menachem Mendel of קאצק Kotsk. ראה אנכי נותן לפניכם Re'eh anochi nosein lifneichem, he writes, כשהיה יושב הרבי הקדוש רבי יעקב אריה מרדזימין בשבת קודש פרשת ראה בשולחנו של רבינו keshe'haya yosheiv ha'rebbe ha'kadosh Reb Yaakov Aryeh me'Radzymin be'Shabbos kodesh Parshas Re'eh be'shulchano shel Rabbeinu. When this great צדיק tzaddik once sat at the table of the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe, שאל את רבינו הדקדוק sha'al es Rabbeinu ha'diktuk. He wondered out loud to the great קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe, what's going on in this opening פסוק pasuk? It seems incongruous, the grammar shifts, the grammar is off. מה שפתח הכתוב ראה בלשון יחיד Ma she'pasach ha'kasuv Re'eh be'lashon yachid. It begins in the singular, see, ראה Re'eh, in the singular, addressing the individual. והמשך בלשון רבים Ve'hemshech be'lashon rabbim. And then it continues in the plural, לפניכם lifneichem, in the plural. So why the shift? ראה Re'eh in the singular, look, see, the blessing and curse I've placed before you in the plural, לפניכם lifneichem. והשיב לו רבינו Ve'heishiv lo Rabbeinu, and answered the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe. על פי מה שכתוב בזוהר הקדוש Al pi ma she'kasuv be'Zohar ha'kadosh, וישמע יתרו שכולם שמעו אבל הוא שמע ובא לידי מעשה Vayishma Yisro she'kulam shamu aval hu shama u'ba lidei ma'aseh. The זוהר Zohar has an observation when it comes to יתרו Yisro. יתרו Yisro the great convert, there's a debate if he converted, but יתרו Yisro the great father-in-law of משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu who comes and he joins the journey of the Jewish people. And there too וישמע יתרו vayishma Yisro. Says the זוהר Zohar, יתרו Yisro did not hear something that was not broadcast to everyone. יתרו Yisro watched the same newscast, he read the same headlines, he got the same email notification and alert. He saw the same events as the rest of the world. The difference is he heard, he listened in a penetrating way. He listened not only superficially, he listened not only audibly, he listened with his heart, he listened with his soul. That's why רש\"י Rashi in the beginning of פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro, מה שמועה שמע ובא Ma shmua shama u'ba? What did יתרו Yisro hear that made him stop, get up, and go? So the same broadcast went out to the entire world, universally all of humanity heard the same news about what God had done in Egypt and the miracles that he had performed. יתרו Yisro however integrated them, he heard them in an altogether different way. כמו כן בעניין הראיה נכללו כולם ביחד Kemo chein be'inyan ha're'iyah nechlalu kulam be'yachad. כי נותן להם את הכל בשווה Ki nosein lahem es ha'kol be'shaveh. Says the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe, the same is true here. God presents us the blueprint for creation. God gives all of us equally the instruction manual for life, לפניכם lifneichem. We all have access to the Torah, and we all have access to הלכה halacha, and we all have access to Jewish thought and Jewish inspiration. אבל בעניין הראיה וההרגש אינם נופלים כולם תחת סוג אחד Aval be'inyan ha're'iyah ve'ha'hergeish einam noflim kulam tachas sug echad. But the way that we absorb, the way that we integrate, the way we receive and the way we react is different for every one of us. כי כל אדם רואה רק באמצעותו שהשתדלותו ותבונתו Ki kol adam roeh rak be'emtza'uso she'hishtadluso u'tvunaso. Because a person only sees the world through the filter of our own personality. We see and we absorb and we analyze the world through the filter of our own personality, our own personal history, our own narrative. ולכל איש ישראל המילה ראה יש לה מובן לפי מדרגתו U'lechol ish Yisrael ha'milah Re'eh yeish la muvan l'fi madregaso. So said the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe, that's why the shift in the grammar. We begin ראה Re'eh in the singular, לפניכם lifneichem in the plural. לפניכם Lifneichem, what's presented in front of everyone is presented equally. The Torah was given to us as a blueprint, as a manual, the Torah was given to us as a GPS, a navigation device to make our way through this world. But how we use the Torah to interpret the world, how we interact and engage the world, every one of us is different, every one of us is distinct, every one of us is unique and therefore ראה Re'eh in the singular. It was given מן השמים כולם בשווה min ha'shamayim kulam be'shaveh. וכל אחד ואחד נוטל ממנו לפי מה שהוא מעושר אחר נסו Ve'chol echad ve'echad noteil mimenu l'fi ma she'hu me'ushar acher neso. We take out, we extract, we experience from Torah what we put in. So we all have the same Torah, but does that Torah enrich? Does it elevate? Does it inspire? Or is the Torah a burden? Is the Torah a list, a series of checkmarks that we place? It's up to us. That's why there's a shift, says the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe. לפניכם Lifneichem, all of us have access to the same Torah. But the ראה Re'eh, what we see, how we see it, how we receive it, every one of us is different. That's number one.Number two says the קאצקער Kotsker, עוד פירוש od peirush. שידיעה שנותן לפני רבים יכול גם היחיד לראות she'yedei'a she'nosein lifnei rabbim yachol gam ha'yachid liros. כמו שכתוב בסוכה אני יושבת kemo she'kasuv be'sukkah ani yosheves. Furthermore, that which you presented to the masses, even the individual is able to perceive, even the individual is able to see through the connection with somebody greater. So sometimes we can't perceive on our own, but when there's a ציבור tzibbur, when there's a כלל klal, when there's a group, when there's a community, it enables us. So ראה Re'eh the singular is able to see why? Because it's placed לפניכם lifneichem. Me on my own, limited vision. I may not have good vision, proper vision. But when I combine, when I collaborate, when I'm complemented by the ציבור tzibbur, now I can see much further. Now I can see much deeper. Now I can see much better. That's why ראה Re'eh, how I as the individual see is based on לפניכם lifneichem, based on what is placed לפניכם lifneichem. All of that is the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe. קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe פשט pshat number one and קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe פשט pshat number two.What about רב אשר וייס Rav Asher Weiss? רב אשר וייס Rav Asher Weiss has another. מורנו ורבנו רב אשר וייס שליט\"א Moreinu ve'Rabbeinu Rav Asher Weiss shlita, in the מנחת אשר Minchas Asher, has another interpretation why the shift. We go from the singular ראה Re'eh to the plural לפניכם lifneichem. What does it meant to teach us? So רב אשר Rav Asher quotes a גמרא Gemara in קידושין Kiddushin. The גמרא Gemara in קידושין Kiddushin on דף מ' עמוד ב' daf mem amud beis says the following. לעולם יראה אדם עצמו כאילו חציו חייב וחציו זכאי Le'olam yir'eh adam atzmo ke'ilu chetzyo chayav v'chetzyo zakai. A person should always live life and live in this world as if we ourselves are half worthy and half unworthy. Half we deserve and half we're undeserving. And on the scale, the scale is exactly equal. The scale is exactly in balance, the scale is exactly even. עשה מצוה אחת Asah mitzvah achas. What happens if we do one mitzvah? הכריע את עצמו לכף זכות hichria es atzmo le'kaf zechus. We tilt the scale in our own favor. עבר עבירה אחת Avar aveira achas. If we make one more mistake, one more miscalculation, one more misstep, אוי לו שהכריע את עצמו לכף חובה oy lo she'hichria es atzmo le'kaf chovah. Then the scale is tipped in the other direction. Our whole fate, our whole fortune is determined by that one other mistake we made that compounded our other mistakes and tilted the scale against our favor. שנאמר וחוטא אחד יאבד טובה הרבה She'ne'emar v'choteh echad y'abed tovah harbeh. רב אלעזר בן שמעון אומר Rav Elazar ben Shimon omer, why? לפי שהעולם נידון אחר רובו והיחיד נידון אחר רובו L'fi she'ha'olam nidon achar rubo v'ha'yachid nidon achar rubo. עשה מצוה אחת אשריו שהכריע את עצמו ואת כל העולם לכף זכות asah mitzvah achas ashrei'av she'hichria es atzmo v'es kol ha'olam le'kaf zechus. עבר עבירה אחת avar aveira achas, אוי לו שהכריע את עצמו ואת כל העולם לכף חובה oy lo she'hichria es atzmo v'es kol ha'olam le'kaf chovah. רבי אלעזר Rav Elazar, the son of רבי שמעון Rav Shimon has a different understanding. He says the whole world is judged. The fate and future of the whole world is determined by the majority of the citizens of the inhabitants of the world. And the individual is judged by the majority of our deeds. So if we do one more מצוה mitzvah we tilt the scale not only in our favor, but it tilts the scale for the entire world. Because if the world is in balance, all of people, we should see ourselves as the one that, yeah, maybe I don't feel like getting up off the couch. Maybe I don't want to wake it up earlier and make it to מנין minyan. Maybe I don't want to דאווען daven with כוונה kavanah. Maybe I don't want to answer in the WhatsApp group the request for חסד chesed, to drive someone to their doctor's appointment, or make a meal for someone who needs it. Maybe I don't feel like it, and I'm entitled not to. But I should think about it that my next act, if I take advantage of the invitation and opportunity to do that מצוה mitzvah, to do that חסד chesed, it will not only tilt the scale from me, it could tilt the scale for the entire world. And the opposite is also true. I'm about to look at that image on the internet, about to watch the thing I shouldn't watch, I'm about to share the לשון הרע lashon hara I shouldn't share. I'm about to be hypercritical of someone. Not only will it negatively impact the scale against my favor, but it will negatively impact the entire world as well.So therefore, Hashem rewards on a scale far greater than that which He punishes. The reward for bringing merit to the community, says Rav Asher, is greater than the punishment for bringing guilt. We find an example of the אור החיים Ohr HaChaim on this פסוקים pesukim. צריך לדעת מהי ההטבה tzarich lada'as mahu ha'hatavah. הזמין לידם hizmin l'yadam, עשו מצוה להניקה להרבות שכרם asu mitzvah l'heinika le'harbos secharam. ואומר ויטב v'yomer vayitev. ומהי הטובה u'mah ha'tovah? What reward did Hashem give the midwives in return for saving the Jewish people? Going back to the beginning of שמות Shemos, we go back to יוכבד ומרים Yocheved and Miriam. He granted them an opportunity to perform a mitzvah with infinite reward. As the nation multiplied, they became great, the reward of the midwives increased. They were credited for the birth of all future generations. They had a residual income. They just saved the babies they delivered, but all the progeny and offspring of the babies they saved and delivered were also part of their merit. They tell us that a wise person is someone who can see, רואה את הנולד ro'eh es ha'nolad. We see the outcome of what we do. Not just the immediate and present outcome, but the longer term impact and outcome. So we have to consider every action to determine how it's going to influence the entire community. And says the מנחת אשר Minchas Asher, רב אשר Rav Asher, that's what it means. ראה Re'eh, you the individual, feel like staying in bed, you feel like omitting the ברכה bracha, you feel like letting someone else do the חסד chesed, you feel like holding back and being stingy with the צדקה tzedakah, you feel like not being scrupulous or careful with the כשרות kashrus. Let someone else. Realize that this choice, this moment of truth, this what seems like an easier and negligible or a big and inconsequential act, not only will determine and influence you, your fortune, tilt your scale, it can impact the entire humanity, the entire universe. So ראה Re'eh, you the individual, לפניכם lifneichem, know that the outcome and impact of what you do is going to affect not just you, is going to affect much more broadly and be mindful, be conscientious, be thoughtful, be motivated by the idea that it's not just, because you'll say, I can live with the punishment. I'll live with the scale being tilted against me. But is it fair to do that to humanity? I think there's a lot of relevance to this opening פסוק pasuk, ראה לפניכם Re'eh lifneichem, because we're seeing the spike in South Florida in particular, we are struggling with an enormous spike, mostly among unvaccinated. We're making health choices, but the health choices we make don't only impact us. Choosing to be vaccinated, unvaccinated, the impact of a medical system overwhelmed by unvaccinated who are predominantly the ones who are the ones who the medical system, the hospital, ICU's need. ראה Re'eh, we the individual, we don't live in isolation. We don't live alone. Our choices, not elaborating, people are right to make their own choices, but as we're making our choices, they're not only medical choices, they're moral choices. They're moral choices because they're ראה Re'eh, they're for us the individual, but לפניכם lifneichem, the consequence of the individual choice we make will have an impact not only for us, but for the entire ציבור tzibbur.So we saw the קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe two interpretations, we saw רב אשר וייס Rav Asher Weiss's interpretation, and now we see from רב דרוק Rav Druck, איש תם Eish Tamed. He says the following, בפרשה זו ישנם כמה קושיות be'Parsha zu yeishnam kama kushyos. On these opening few פסוקים pesukim we have several questions. האור החיים הקדוש הקשה ha'Ohr HaChaim ha'kadosh hiksha, מדוע נאמר כאן ראה לשון ראיה madua ne'emar kan Re'eh lashon re'iyah? רבי חיים בן עטר Rav Chaim Ben Attar, the אור החיים הקדוש Ohr HaChaim ha'kadosh asks, we're trying to invoke the senses, not senses, like taking a census, the senses of the Jewish people. So Moshe says, ראה Re'eh, look! חברה Chevra, look! Look, I'm putting before you a ברכה bracha and a קללה klalah. Is that the sense that you would invoke? If you're trying to inspire, trying to motivate, you're trying to give feedback, would you say, ראה Re'eh, look, or might you say, listen. Listen, חברה chevra, listen. You know, orators will use the word listen in a דרשה drasha, in a speech, in a sermon. If they want to get your attention back if they've lost it, or even if you're paying attention, they want to heighten that attention, they'll say, listen carefully. I want to quote an amazing אור החיים Ohr HaChaim, listen carefully what the אור החיים Ohr HaChaim says. They don't say look carefully what the אור החיים Ohr HaChaim says, they say listen carefully. רב פסח קראה Rav Pesach Krohn, always. Listen to an amazing interpretation of the ספורנו Sforno. Listen, they don't say look. So why here does Moshe Rabbeinu say, ראה Re'eh, look, I've put before you ברכה bracha and קללה klalah? He should say listen. שהשומע מדבר אליהם She'shomei'a medaber aleihem. The audience, the assembled are hearing what's being presented to them, they're not seeing. So why do we say ראה Re'eh, look? We should say more accurately, listen.כיוצא בזה פרשת נצבים K'yotzei be'zeh Parshas Nitzavim. We also find in a few weeks time, ראה נתתי לפניך היום את החיים ואת הטוב ואת המוות ואת הרע Re'eh nasati l'fanecha hayom es ha'chaim ve'es ha'tov v'es ha'maves v'es ha'ra. Moshe will continue his speech, his charge, and he will say again, ראה Re'eh, look, I've placed before you life and good or death and evil. כן שם יש להקשות Kein sham yeish le'hakshos. כן זה Kein zeh. And the אור החיים Ohr HaChaim's question equally applies there. Moshe is speaking. He is presenting. So why does he say look? He should say listen. Similarly, we found in שמות Shemos. ראו כי השם נתן לכם את השבת על כן הוא נותן לכם ביום השישי לחם יומים Re'u ki Hashem nasan lachem es ha'Shabbos al kein hu nosein lachem ba'yom ha'shishi lechem yomayim. With the מן man, Friday the double portion. Look, God gave you Shabbos. Can you see Shabbos? Can you see Shabbos? If you listen to turn Friday into ערב שבת erev Shabbos, and you get the turn Friday into ערב שבת erev Shabbos WhatsApp group, then you can see Shabbos coming. But do we see Shabbos? Shabbos is a metaphysical, spiritual thing. רק שומעים מה שמדברים אליהם Rak shom'im mei she'medabrim aleihem. There too they were hearing what Moshe was saying about Shabbos and about the מן man. Why do we invoke the verb to see rather than to listen? עוד צורך ביאור Ode tzorech biur. Moreover, why do we mention twice the word אנכי anochi? ראה אנכי נותן לפניכם היום Re'eh anochi nosein lifneichem hayom. See I, אנכי anochi, I am placing before you today ברכה וקללה bracha u'klalah. אשר אנכי מצווה אתכם היום Asher anochi metzaveh eschem hayom, that I command you today. Did we forget who's talking to us? אנכי Anochi, משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu is the humblest of all men. Why does he have to keep saying I, I, I, I? See what I placed before you, that I commanded you. כמו כן יש להסתכל על המילה היום K'mo chein yeish le'histakel al ha'milah hayom. Why does the word היום hayom appear? גם כן בפסוק הראשון והשני Gam kein b'pasuk rishon v'sheini. The beginning of our פרשה parsha we have ראה אנכי נותן לפניכם היום Re'eh anochi nosein lifneichem hayom. That you listen to אשר אני מצווה אתכם היום asher anochi metzaveh eschem hayom. See what I placed before you today, the מצוה mitzvah and the opposite before you today. We know it's today. Also why is ראה Re'eh לשון יחיד lashon yachid and then לפניכם לשון רבים lifneichem lashon rabbim. So Rav Druck asks this series of questions. Number one, why ראה Re'eh, why listen instead of hear? Not only in our place, but נצבים Nitzavim and שמות Shemos. In three places, three times, Moshe says ראה Re'eh, look, when he should have said listen. Question number two is why is אנכי anochi twice? We know you're the one speaking. Question number three is why היום hayom? We know it's today. Question number four, why do we shift from the singular to the plural? These are Rav Druck's four questions, איש תם Eish Tamed page רכ\"ד reish kaf daled if you are following at home.And Rav Druck says the following. He says we can answer with an insight of the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim. The בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim, the ראש Rosh had a son, רבי יעקב Reb Yaakov, commentary on the Torah, the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim. And he says the following. ראה אנכי Re'eh anochi. אנכי Anochi. You hear the word אנכי anochi. What should the word אנכי anochi, let's play word association. You hear the word אנכי anochi, what do you think of immediately? אנכי Anochi. What you should think of immediately, the word אנכי anochi, says the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim is, עשרת הדברות שפתח באנכי Aseres HaDibros she'pasach be'anochi. ולתקיימסון כי כל המצוות כלולות בהם U'lekaymomson ki kol ha'mitzvos kelulos ba'hem. The עשרת הדברות Aseres HaDibros, the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments contain within them, they are super categories of all 613 mitzvos. You can subsume and categorize, you can catalog all תרי\"ג Taryag, all 613 under these overarching ten. And all ten can fit into the first one and all the first one can fit into the word אנכי Anochi. Whenever we see, whenever we hear the word אנכי Anochi, the association should be with the Ten Commandments, עשרת הדברות Aseres HaDibros. So ביאור הדברים biur ha'dvarim, says Rav Druck, במעמד קבלת התורה בהר סיני b'ma'amad kabalas ha'Torah b'Har Sinai, אנכי anochi should remind us of הר סיני Har Sinai. And what was the sense that was engaged, that was heightened at הר סיני Har Sinai? Even though there was a sound and light show, there were thunder, there was unbelievable was going on. Nevertheless, the pasuk describes in שמות פרק כ Shemos perek kaf, וכל העם רואים את הקולות ואת הלפידים v'chol ha'am ro'im es ha'kolos v'es ha'lapidim. We heard the sounds. We've discussed in the past on that פרשה Parsha, פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro or משפטים Mishpatim, what does it mean they saw the sounds? You hear sounds, you don't see sounds. So Rashi there brings the מכילתא Mechilta, היו רואין את הנשמע hayu ro'in es ha'nishma. They saw that which is ordinarily heard. קולות בעולם kolos ba'olam, רק נשמעין rak nishmain. The way the world is programmed, is designed is that sound waves go into our ear and we hear sound, we don't see it. We see images, we hear sounds. Here it was mixed up, which there is a, there is a, people sometimes suffer where their senses get mixed up, but is that what happened collectively, all of the Jewish people? So the answer is עשרת הדברות ישראל לא רק שמעו Aseres HaDibros Yisrael lo rak shamu, they didn't just hear the Ten Commandments when they were given and delivered, ראו ra'u. ראיה חושית בעיניהם Re'iyah chushis be'eineihem. They saw. They saw. It came alive. ראו ממש בחוש הראיה את אנכי השם אלוקיך Ra'u mamash b'chush ha're'iyah es anochi Hashem Elokecha. ונתחדרה אמונה והשגחה תוך תוכם ממש u'nechchadra emunah ve'hashgacha toch tochem mamash. What it means is that הר סיני Har Sinai, the image, the sounds, what was being described was so vivid, was so dynamic, was so powerful that they saw it in their mind's eye. It wasn't just that Shabbos was being given and described, Shabbos was being described so clearly and so powerfully, they pictured, they envisioned, they saw Shabbos. And that's true for all the עשרת הדברות Aseres HaDibros. That's why we tell somebody, do you see what I'm saying? When I tell you something, I don't say, do you hear what I'm saying? Do you see what I'm saying? See what I'm saying? See means, do you see, do you fully embrace, do you fully accept? Are you fully connected with what I'm telling you? Are you only hearing the words or can you picture it? Are you attached to it? Do you envision it? It says in פרשת ואתחנן Parshas Va'eschanan, אתה הראית לדעת כי השם הוא האלקים אין עוד מלבדו Ata har'eisa lada'as ki Hashem hu ha'Elokim ein od milvado. You have been shown to know. You can see and have knowledge that there is God no one like him. And Rashi there writes, כשנתן הקדוש ברוך הוא התורה, פתח להם שבעה רקיעים, וכשם שקרע העליונים כך קרע התחתונים K'she'nasan ha'Kadosh Baruch Hu ha'Torah, pasach lahem shivah reki'im, u'ke'shem she'kara ha'elyonim kach kara ha'tachtonim. When God gave the Torah, he opened up the seven heavens. וראו שהוא יחידי, לכך נאמר אתה הראית לדעת V'ra'u she'hu yechidi, l'chach ne'emar ata har'eisa lada'as. שוב מפורש שראו את האמונה בעיניהם Shuv meforash she'ra'u es ha'emunah be'eineihem. אתה הראית לדעת Ata har'eisa lada'as, you were shown to know. The knowledge comes from seeing, seeing. They didn't just hear the Torah being given, they saw God, they experienced in a way that we could say, you saw. אין דומה שמיעה לראיה Ein doma shmiyah li're'iyah. You cannot compare the sense of hearing with the sense of seeing. Sense of seeing is the most genuine, the most authentic, the most convincing, the most persuasive. That's why we tell someone, do you see what I'm saying? So therefore with this insight of the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim that the word אנכי Anochi should immediately for us be an association, it should invoke the עשרת הדברות Aseres HaDibros. אנכי Anochi means we didn't just hear words, those words were so descriptive, those words were so palpable that we saw what was being described. That's what Moshe is saying, says Rav Druck. ראה אנכי נותן לפניכם היום Re'eh anochi nosein lifneichem hayom. אנכי Anochi twice because עשרת הדברות Aseres HaDibros. ראה Re'eh because I want you not just ברכה וקללה bracha u'klalah to hear words. This isn't just intellectually. This isn't a יום עיון yom iyun. We're not having a study session, a conference, a convention on what does it mean a life of observance, is it a blessing, is it a curse. It needs to be an emotional connection. It needs to be a connection of all the senses. ראה אנכי, יש כאן ציווי נצחי להסתכל תמיד Re'eh anochi, yeish kan tzivui nitzchi le'histakeil tamid. This is a perpetual, everlasting obligation to always look, to see the עשרת הדברות Aseres HaDibros, not just to hear the words of Torah, but the words of Torah to penetrate into us so deep that it in fact causes us to see, to cause us to see with the sense of sight. And now we understand ראה בלשון יחיד Re'eh be'lashon yachid. כי מאחר והם רואים בראיה זו את אותו ראיה שראו בני ישראל במעמד הר סיני אנכי השם אלוקיך Ki mei'achar ve'hem ro'im bi're'iyah zu es oso re'iyah she'ra'u bnei Yisrael be'ma'amad Har Sinai, Anochi Hashem Elokecha. So just like עשרת הדברות Aseres HaDibros was לשון יחיד lashon yachid, just like the Ten Commandments was written in the singular, so to ראה Re'eh, you in the singular, see. See the way you saw at הר סיני Har Sinai. Let's go back to הר סיני Har Sinai for a moment. And the same way at הר סיני Har Sinai was so dynamic, so descriptive, you saw the sounds, I want you to see the sounds I'm telling you, says משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu, now as well. And therefore we understand אשר אנכי מצווה אתכם היום asher anochi metzaveh eschem hayom. כי רוצה התורה להשגיח שגם היום ניתן להגיע לדרגה והשגה זו Ki rotza ha'Torah le'hashgiach she'gam hayom nittan le'hagia le'darga ve'hasaga zu. Why is the word היום hayom repeated twice? Because what Moshe is impressing upon them was, עשרת הדברות Aseres HaDibros was not a one-time event. It was not an isolated experience in history. There wasn't only one time when God gave Torah that you can see the sounds. Every time you open Torah, every time we learn Torah, every time we commit to Torah, היום hayom, today, as if we received the Torah anew. The Torah is not an ancient, outdated, antiquated document. The Torah is a vibrant, living Torah. And today, היום hayom, ראה Re'eh, if we like at הר סיני Har Sinai, אנכי anochi, the אנכי anochi of עשרת הדברות Aseres HaDibros, if we see the sounds, we'll see the ברכה bracha and the קללה klalah. And I think that's in fact what happens. Look around at this world. Read Torah, learn Torah, be excited by Torah. Study the פרשה Parsha, study מחשבה machshava, study גמרא Gemara, study הלכה halacha, study נ\"ך Nach, but study in a way that you're not memorizing facts, places, people, dates, laws. We're not memorizing. It doesn't just enter us intellectually, it enters us emotionally. We're able to see a view, an image of what my Shabbos table could look like. I could see what a life of אמונה emunah could look like. I see what it means to transmit Torah, please God, we should all be blessed to our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and beyond, to not just hear sounds but to see that image and to pass it and to pay it and to pay it forward.There's another interpretation, so we saw what does it mean, why the shift singular to plural, we saw two interpretations of the קאצקער Kotsker, one of רב אשר וייס Rav Asher Weiss, and the beautiful insight of רב דרוק Rav Druck. We've shared in the past, one of my favorites is, the ראה אנכי נותן לפניכם היום Re'eh anochi nosein lifneichem hayom. What God put in front of them, what Moshe put in front of them, see, behold, you know what I put in front of you? היום Hayom. The concept of היום hayom. The right here and now. ברכה וקללה Bracha u'klalah. The notion of היום hayom can be a blessing or a curse. The notion of our mortality, the notion of our vulnerability and fragility. It can be a blessing or it can be a curse. Have we not all just lived that for the last year and a half? Are we not confronting for some segments of the community mortality yet again? When we think about היום hayom, how transient life is, and how mortal we are, that can be a ברכה bracha or a קללה klalah. On the one hand, it's a קללה klalah. If you say to me, let's party because I don't know how long I'm going to live, then it's a קללה klalah, it's a curse. But if you say, if you say, I have to take advantage of every moment, I have to live every day to its fullest because I don't know how many days I have left, then the concept, then confronting our mortality becomes a ברכה bracha. So says משה Moshe, ראה Re'eh, notice, I've put before you the concept of היום hayom, today. Life is short. We are mere mortals. None of us know our future. That can be a ברכה bracha or a קללה klalah. Some say, well, then I might as well smoke, drink and party because אכול ושתו כי מחר נמות achol v'shaso ki machar namus. Live life and party because I could die tomorrow. Others say, no, think about יום המיתה yom ha'misa and that will inspire תשובה teshuva. If I don't know how many days I have left, I have to live today to its fullest. That's another interpretation.Torah then goes on and פרק י\"ב פסוק ד Perek Yud Beis pasuk daled, moving along, next פרק perek, sanctity of the land. אלה החוקים והמשפטים אשר תשמרון לעשות בארץ Eileh ha'chukim u'mishpatim asher tishmerun la'asos ba'aretz. Our parsha talks a lot about the conquest of the land, the sanctity of the land. We're going to get to שמיטה Shmitta, how we engage and treat the land, the land that God has given us. אבד תאבדון את כל המקומות אשר עבדו שם הגוים abed te'abdun es kol ha'mekomos asher avdu sham ha'goyim. When we enter the land, we have to be sure to destroy all the places that the idolaters worshipped their idols, their gods. We're on page 1,000 now. אשר אתם יורשים אותם את אלהיהם Asher atem yorshim osam es eloheihem that we are are inheriting, על ההרים הרמים ועל הגבעות ותחת כל עץ רענן al he'harim ha'ramim v'al ha'gva'os v'sachas kol eitz ra'anan. Search the width and breadth of the land, seek out and find their idols, eliminate them, purge them. Because if we allow them to remain, they will reproduce, they will metastasize, they will contaminate. Ultimately, they will bring us down. ונתצתם את מזבחותם V'nitatztam es mizbechosam. So therefore, break apart their altars. שיברתם את מצבותם shibartem es matzeivosem, smash their pillars. ואשריהם תשרפון באש v'asheireihem tisrefun ba'eish, their trees that they worship, burn with fire. ופסילי אלהיהם תגדעון u'psilei eloheihem tegade'un, and their carved images you have to cut down. ואיבדתם את שמם מן המקום ההוא v'ibadtem es shmam min ha'makom ha'hu, obliterate their names from that place. Haven't we seen this? Haven't we seen this? Haven't we seen the pernicious impact, the evil, wicked impact, how it spreads, how it contaminates when there are ideas and values foreign to our own, how even the observant community become, become assimilated in some ways? We have to not show mercy. Now, to be clear, the Torah doesn't say to harm those who are different than us. The Torah says, anyone's welcome to remain and live in Israel. They simply have to abandon their idolatry and embrace the Torah's prescription for Jews and non-Jews alike. They don't have to become Jewish. Non-Jews can remain in Israel. תושבים Toshavim, they can live in Israel. They have to keep the seven נחייד Noachide laws and they have to abandon any form of idolatry. So when we entered that land, our land, promised to us by the creator of the universe, who the very first Rashi tells us that all the book of בראשית Bereishis is telling us and reminding us that not only should Ben & Jerry's be served in Israel proper, Ben & Jerry's should be served the width and breadth of Israel because they have to learn, those two Jews, the opening Rashi, they have to remember that the whole land was given to us. It is ours, it is ours, bequeathed from the one who created, who owns that land from its inception. Anyone, we're happy to host. We're very hospitable. You want to remain, Jew or non-Jew? Non-Jew, you just have to abandon idolatry and obey the seven נחייד Noachide laws and live with us in peace and we're happy to host you. But idolatry, we have to purge, we have to remove, we have to confront, we have to get rid of because it remains, it's not pluralism. If idolatry is in the land of Israel, it's not pluralism, it will negatively impact, it will bring us down, it will corrupt, it will compromise who we are. And says the Torah, concluding this paragraph, לא תעשון כן להשם אלוקיכם Lo sa'asun kein la'Hashem Elokeichem. This litany, this list of things that you have to do to the idols, burn the tree and dismantle the altar and knock down the pillar, all those things, לא תעשון lo sa'asun, don't do that to God. Don't do that to God. This is the Torah prohibition of what we call שמות sheimos. You're not allowed to erase God's name. We erase the names of the idolaters, we do not erase God's name. לא תעשון כן להשם אלוקיכם Lo sa'asun kein la'Hashem Elokeichem, the laws of שמות sheimos. What does that mean? Today we have mass produced publications, reproductions of publications, and therefore we have שמות sheimos questions galore. What goes in שמות sheimos, what doesn't go in שמות sheimos? The weekly bulletin, the דברי תורה divrei Torah you printed out, homework, the test that you took, the ספר sefer that's worn out, the סידור siddur, what has to go in שמות sheimos and what doesn't? It comes from לא תעשון כן lo sa'asun kein. We erase the idolaters, we don't erase God's name. But we turn here. back to the Kotsker Rebbe. אמת ואמונה Emes V'emunah. לֹא-תַעֲשׂוּן כֵּן לַיהוָה, אֱלֹהֵיכֶם Lo sa'asun kein laHashem Elokeichem, פֶּרֶק י\"ב, פָּסוּק ד' Perek Yud Beis, Pasuk Dalet. אמר בזה הלשון Omar b'zeh halashon, the Kotsker Rebbe said in this language, for השם יתברך Hashem Yisbarach. I'm not going to read it in, I'll try in Yiddish. פֿאַר השם יתברך Far Hashem Yisbarach, וואָגן דאָס טוט מען נישט אַזוי vogn dos tut men nisht azoy. בשביל השם יתברך Bishvil Hashem Yisbarach, לא עושים ככה lo osim kacha. ככה Kacha. פירוש Peirush, לא תעשו המצוות כן lo sa'asu hamitzvos kein, בדרך ארעי b'derech arai, כמצוות אנשים מלומדה k'mitzvas anashim melumada. רק שיהא חכמה קודם עשיה Rak she'yeheh chachmah kodem asiyah. Kotsker has a beautiful, sharp, as he always does, insight. לֹא-תַעֲשׂוּן כֵּן לַיהוָה, אֱלֹהֵיכֶם Lo sa'asun kein laHashem Elokeichem, the simple understanding is, what we just were told to do to the idols, don't do that to God. Says the Kotsker, read it a little bit differently. What is it you shouldn't do to God? לא תעשון Lo sa'asun, what should you not do? כן Kein. Don't do כן kein להשם אלוקיכם laHashem Elokeichem. What is כן kein? כן Kein is אזוי azoy. אזוי Azoy. ככה Kacha. Good enough. דרך ארעי Derech arai. מצוות אנשים מלומדה Mitzvas anashim melumada. Don't stumble into the מצוה mitzvah you're doing, don't do the מצוה mitzvah out of habit, don't do the מצוה mitzvah out of rote, do the מצוה mitzvah with mindfulness, do the מצוה mitzvah with intention, do the מצוה mitzvah with presence of mind. Do the מצוה mitzvah in a way that transforms you, do the מצוה mitzvah in a way that brings you closer to השם Hashem. Don't give God a כן kein. כן Kein means, check. כן Kein means, good enough. כן Kein means, done. אזוי Azoy. אזוי Azoy. Good enough. Don't do good enough. Good is the obstacle to great. לא תעשון כן Lo sa'asun kein להשם אלוקיכם laHashem Elokeichem. Don't give God a yes. Don't give God a good enough. Don't give God a I mailed it in, I got it done, that's all I'm doing. לא תעשון כן להשם אלוקיכם Lo sa'asun kein laHashem Elokeichem, second Kotsker of the day. פרק י\"ב פסוק י\"ז Perek Yud Beis Pasuk Yud Zayin. Moving right along to the next page, the prohibition of private altars. Why aren't we allowed to have private altars in our backyard? When do we have to cancel our public private altars and instead all revolve around the public altar? That is on page 1000, page 1002. פרק י\"ב, פסוק י\"ז Perek Yud Beis, Pasuk Yud Zayin. פרק י\"ב, פסוק י\"ז Perek Yud Beis, Pasuk Yud Zayin. Permission to eat the redeemed offering. רק בכל אות נפשך תזבח ואכלת בשר כברכת ה' אלקיך אשר נתן לך בכל שעריך Rak b'chol avas nafshecha tizbach v'achalta basar k'virchas Hashem Elokecha asher nasan l'cha b'chol she'arecha. In all of our soul's desires, you can eat and slaughter meat according to the blessing of השם Hashem. Not all of Jewish history were we allowed to eat פלייש fleish. נֶבֶך Nebach. לא עלינו Lo aleinu. For parts of Jewish history, we were not allowed to be פליישיגס fleishigs. פליישיגס Fleishigs was associated really with the קרבנות korbanos. It was a היתר heter to eat the sacrifice. And then it was allowed everywhere through the מצוה mitzvah of שחיטה shechita. רק את הדם לא תאכלו Rak es hadam lo socheilu, you're not allowed to eat the blood. על הארץ תשפכנו כמים Al ha'aretz tishpechenu kamayim. We have to pour it out, we have to get rid of the blood. Why? Because the blood is the life source. We don't eat the blood. לא תוכל לאכול בשעריך Lo suchal le'echol bish'arecha, you're not allowed to eat in your cities, מעשר דגנך ותירשך ויצהרך ובכרת בקרך וצאנך וכל נדריך אשר תדור ונדבתיך ותרומת ידך ma'asar d'gancha v'siroshcha v'yitzharecha u'vchoros b'karcha v'tzon'echa v'chol n'darecha asher tidor v'nidvosecha u'srumas yadecha. I'm on chapter 12, verse 17, page 1002 in the ArtScroll Stone חומש Chumash. In your cities you cannot eat tithes of your grain, your wine, your oil, firstborn of your cattle, your flock, all the vow offerings that you vow, the freewill offerings, and what you raise up with your hand. לא תוכל Lo suchal. Now לא תוכל lo suchal literally means, the translation of the words לא תוכל lo suchal is, you're not allowed. Let's look at רש\"י Rashi. Says רש\"י Rashi, לא תוכל lo suchal. בא הכתוב ליתן לא תעשה על הדבר Ba hakasuv lisein lo sa'aseh al hadavar. The pasuk here is giving us a negative commandment, a לא תעשה lo sa'aseh. רבי יהושע בן קרחה אומר יכול אתה אבל אינך רשאי Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha omer yachol ata, aval eincha rashai. יכול Yachol. It's a very strange formulation. תורה Torah had said לא תוכל lo suchal, you're not allowed. לא תוכל Lo suchal. But לא תוכל lo suchal doesn't mean not allowed. What does לא תוכל lo suchal mean? You can't. You're not capable. You're not competent. So רש\"י Rashi reinterprets, לא תוכל lo suchal means אתה יכול אבל אינך רשאי ata yachol, aval eincha rashai. You are, you're capable, you can, you're just not allowed. It's like when you're corrected when you were a kid, when you said, \"Can I have a jawbreaker?\" \"Can you or may you?\" Right? So here too. Can, can you? You can eat the מעשר ma'aser and so on, but you're not allowed, you may not. כיוצא בו אתה אומר, ואת היבוסי יושב ירושלים לא יוכלו בני יהודה להורישם K'yotzei bo ata omer, v'es hay'vusi yoshev Yerushalayim lo yuchlu bnei Yehuda l'horisham. יכולים היו אלא שאינם רשאים לפי שכרת להם אברהם ברית כשלקח מהם מערת המכפלה Yecholim hayu, ela she'einam resha'im, l'fi shekaras lahem Avraham bris k'shelakach mehem Mearas HaMachpela. So רבי יהושע בן קרחה Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha is coming to teach us how we should connect to תורה Torah. How do we connect to the תורה's Torah's laws? How do we connect to the תורה's Torah's prohibition? דבר שאסרה התורה הוא דבר שאי אפשר לעשותו Davar she'asra haTorah hu davar she'i efshar la'asoso. What we need to think, the way we need to think is that that which the תורה Torah forbids is something we're not capable of. It's not just that we're not allowed, we're not capable. We should become so attuned, so connected to the idea that לא תוכל lo suchal. We should habituate ourselves. We should train ourselves. We should, we should condition ourselves that not only אינך רשאי eincha rashai, not only that we're not allowed, לא תוכל lo suchal, we're not capable of. We see this also at the end of פרשת פקודי Parshas Pekudei. After we built the משכן Mishkan, it says ולא יכול משה לבוא אל אוהל מועד כי שכן עליו הענן v'lo yachol Moshe lavo el ohel moed ki shachan alav he'anan. משה Moshe was not allowed to enter the אוהל מועד ohel moed because the cloud was on top of it. And the cloud reflected, represented that he wasn't allowed to, that he wasn't allowed to enter. ומדרש הגדול מובא אמר רבי חמא בר חנינא וכי תעלה על דעתך שהיה משה מתירא מן הענן U'Midrash HaGadol muva, omar Rabbi Chama bar Chanina, v'chi ta'aleh al da'atcha shehaya Moshe misyarei min he'anan, והלא כבר נאמר ויבוא v'halo k'var ne'emar vayavo. Was משה Moshe afraid of the cloud? Is that what we think? That משה Moshe lived in fear of the cloud? Why didn't he go in? אלא מלמד שהיה הענן נפקע לו Ela melamed shehaya he'anan nifka lo. What it's teaching us is that the cloud was נפקע לו nifka lo. והיה מהלך בתוכה כהדם ההולך בשביל V'haya mehalech b'socha k'hadam haholech bishvil. אלא מאי ולא יכול Ela mai v'lo yachol? So then why does it say ולא יכול v'lo yachol that משה Moshe couldn't enter it? מלמד שחלק כבוד לשכינה ולא נכנס עד שקרא לו הקדוש ברוך הוא Melamed shechalak kavod laShchina v'lo nichnas ad shekara lo haKadosh Baruch Hu. When it says ולא יכול משה v'lo yachol Moshe couldn't enter until God invited him, till the cloud lifted, it didn't mean his feet didn't work. It didn't mean that he couldn't get through the area. What it meant was משה Moshe couldn't bring himself to do something that wasn't allowed. משה Moshe, his body didn't respond to something that was forbidden. We need to train ourselves that the תורה's Torah's rules don't become optional. תורה's Torah's rules are not things that we even consider. If the תורה Torah says no, then my body is incapable of doing it. If my תורה Torah says yes, then my body is trained and conditioned to do it. That's what ולא יכול v'lo yachol means. That's what it means there, that's what it means here. We see this also, I think it's in פרשת חוקת Parshas Chukas. It says כי עז גבול בני עמון ki az gvul bnei Amon. תורה Torah tells the Jewish people when we're traveling through the desert into Israel, we're not allowed to cross certain boundaries, including עמון Amon. כי עז גבול בני עמון Ki az gvul bnei Amon, because the boundary of עמון Amon was strong. כי עז Ki az, it's fortified, it's strong. רש\"י Rashi there says, what makes it fortified, what makes it strong? Why is it כי עז גבול בני עמון ki az gvul bnei Amon? So רש\"י Rashi says, because God said, \"Don't go there.\" Because God said, \"Don't go there,\" that was a powerful and strong boundary. So what do you see from there? My brother, Rabbi Dr. Judah Goldberg, pointed it out to me years ago from that רש\"י Rashi. כי עז גבול בני עמון Ki az gvul bnei Amon. For the Jewish people, we were given that message not in a way that we have to struggle or consider or decide. If the תורה Torah says no, then our body is simply incapable. If the תורה Torah says yes, then my body is incapable of not doing it. And that's the meaning here. לא תוכל לאכול בשעריך Lo suchal le'echol bish'arecha. Not only לא רשאי lo rashai, not only are you not allowed to eat in your gates, לא תוכל lo suchal. Because you're not allowed, you're also not capable. I've shared before, but you picture the משל mashal. You ever had a supermarket at the cash register, the checkout, strategically they have a wall of candy, a wall of chocolate. And while your kid at the end of the day who's overtired in the, in the carriage, your child starts to cry, \"I want a candy bar, I want a treat, I want chocolate, I want chips.\" And you don't want to buy it for them. They haven't eaten dinner yet, it's not healthy for them, they've eaten too much already that day, whatever reason you don't want to buy it. And they throw a tantrum. \"But I want it, and you don't love me,\" and the whole supermarket's watching and the whole line at the cash register is watching, and you don't know what to do because it's humiliating, it's embarrassing. And then, hopefully because it's true, you can't lie, but you tell the child, \"That candy bar, that chocolate bar, it's not כשר kosher.\" The same child who a moment ago was throwing the tantrum, when you say the words, \"It's not כשר kosher,\" they say, \"Oh, okay. I can't have it then. I guess I can't have it.\" How come when the negotiation was over having it, because the cavities in their teeth, or negotiating over the fat in their belly, or negotiating over whether it was bedtime or dinner time, then they thought it's negotiable. If only I hold out long enough, if only I cry, if only I throw a loud enough tantrum, my parent, I can wear them out, they'll give in. But the second you say the words, \"Not כשר kosher,\" לא תוכל לאכול lo suchal le'echol. All of a sudden, the child stops crying because they know it's a non-negotiable. And that's what the תורה Torah here is telling us, as Rav Druck. לא תוכל Lo suchal does not mean אינו רשאי eino rashai. לא תוכל Lo suchal doesn't just mean you're not allowed, it means it's non-negotiable. Are the תורה's Torah's rules and laws for us non-negotiable? Are they non-negotiable? Or are we regularly trying to negotiate them? Are we trying to make them conform to the lifestyle we want to lead, or are we conforming our life to what תורה Torah wants for us? לא תוכל Lo suchal, they're non-negotiable. הלכה Halacha is the way it is and we should condition our body to respond in that way. Moving right along. פרק י\"ג Perek Yud Gimmel. Skipping to page 1006. פרק י\"ג פסוק ה' Perek Yud Gimmel Pasuk Hey. תורה Torah tells us about a false prophet. כי יקום בקרבך נביא או חולם חלום Ki yakum b'kirb'cha navi o cholem chalom. We have false prophets, charismatic individuals, they get up and they preach and they promise. ונתַן אליך אות או מופת v'nasan eilecha os o mofeis, and they show you a sign. ובא האות והמופת אשר דבר אליך לאמר U'va ha'os v'hamofeis asher diber eilecha leimor, and they stand up this dreamer and they produce a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes about. נלכה אחרי אלוהים אחרים אשר לא ידעתם ונעבדם Nelcha acharei elohim acherim asher lo y'datam v'na'avdem. And of which he spoke to you saying, \"Let us follow gods of others that you did not know and we'll worship them.\" So someone says, \"Watch this trick. Watch what I'm going to predict. Watch what I'm going to produce.\" And then they do, and they say, \"You see? Leave Judaism. Forget God. We've got a whole new god, a whole new god, a whole new god called power, money, celebrity, the internet, social media. Watch this trick, watch what I could do, abandon God and worship it.\" לא תשמע אל דברי הנביא ההוא או אל חולם החלום ההוא Lo sishma el divrei hanavi hahu o el cholem hachalom hahu. Don't listen to this, no matter how charismatic, no matter how persuasive, no matter how energized or exciting, don't listen. כי מנסה השם אלוקיכם אתכם לדעת הישכם אוהבים את השם אלוקיכם בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם Ki menaseh Hashem Elokeichem eschem lada'as hayishchem ohavim es Hashem Elokeichem b'chol l'vavchem u'vchol nafshechem. God's testing you. God is sending something enticing. He's dangling a temptation. Don't listen, because through this, God is testing how faithful are you, how much fidelity do you have, how loyal will you be to God or will you abandon and travel. אחרי השם אלוקיכם תלכו ואותו תיראו Acharei Hashem Elokeichem teileichu v'oso sira'u. ואת מצוותיו תשמורו ובקולו תשמעו ואותו תעבודו ובו תדבקון V'es mitzvosav tishmoru u'v'kolo sishma'u v'oso sa'avodu u'vo sidbakun. What a פסוק pasuk! We could unpack and learn that פסוק pasuk for the next 100 years. What a פסוק pasuk! אחרי השם אלוקיכם Acharei Hashem Elokeichem. In contrast to following the charismatic false prophet, false promises, don't get behind somebody who's corrupt. Instead, אחרי השם אלוקיכם תלכו acharei Hashem Elokeichem teileichu. Follow and walk after God. This is, this is Imitatio Dei, Latin, imitate God. We have an obligation, responsibility to imitate God. ואותו תיראו V'oso sira'u, and to live with a sense of awe of God, and to observe his מצוות mitzvos, to listen to his voice, to worship him, serve him, ובו תדבקון u'vo sidbakun, and to cling to him, to connect to him. משך חכמה Meshech Chochmah, דבקות dveikus, דבק devek, glue, stick with God. Stick with God through thick and thin, stick with God in good times and bad times, stick with God through happiness and health, sickness and health, ובו תדבקון u'vo sidbakun, דבק devek, glue, stick with God. אחרי השם אלוקיכם Acharei Hashem Elokeichem. Rav Soloveitchik has a beautiful description in the Rav חומש Chumash. Rav Soloveitchik has a beautiful description of these words, אחרי השם אלוקיכם תלכו acharei Hashem Elokeichem teileichu. פרק י\"ג פסוק ה' Perek Yud Gimmel Pasuk Hey. And writes the Rav the following. Some modern scholars claim that Judaism is not a binding dogma, it's concerned solely with deeds. Some people think, says the Rav, that Judaism, the תורה Torah, doesn't care about what you believe and what you think, all it cares about is what you do. They regard Judaism as a purely rational and this-worldly faith, which is unencumbered by a complex theology as primarily humanistic in its purpose. This understanding is simplistic and erroneous. We do have the principles of Jewish faith, עיקרי היהדות ikarei ha'yahadus, which are implicit in the תורה Torah and have been formulated and codified in the תלמוד Talmud and later scholars. In addition, the deeds prescribed by our faith are both ritualistic and humanistic. The lifestyle of the religious Jew is based on certain underlying theological assumptions about God and his role in history. Clearly the belief that he is the creator and sustainer of the universe, who revealed his law to Jewish people at הר סיני Har Sinai, has profound practical implications for the Jew and humanity, that man is accountable to השם Hashem for his deeds, that he's expected to realize his spiritual purpose in his life, transforms him from a highly developed animal into a transcendental being. Most certainly then Judaism does affirm basic faith principles. We are not content, however, to have faith confessions remain theoretical. Instead, they become moral challenges and exhortations to man. They express themselves through norms of human behavior and are endowed with practical significance, stimulating us either to do or to abstain, to engage or withdraw. A faith conviction may be theologically or philosophically significant, but what is primarily is the moral principle and practice that emerges from it. Beyond the clearly prescribed legal precepts of the תורה Torah, there are vast areas in which one's moral duty is not precisely defined. Here the basic guide of the תורה Torah is to imitate השם Hashem. הידמות לא-ל Hisdamus l'Keil, imitate God. הידמות לא-ל Hisdamus l'Keil. בדומה b'domeh, be similar, imitate. It's the finest form of flattery. Imitatio Dei. The Talmud says, why does it say, the גמרא Gemara asks, why does it say אחרי השם אלוקיכם תלכו acharei Hashem Elokeichem teileichu, walk after השם Hashem? וכי אפשר לילך אחר שכינה V'chi efshar laleches achar Shechina? Can you walk after God? Can you imitate God? I have a brother-in-law, does fantastic imitations. It's hilarious, it's entertaining. There are people who are great at doing imitations. You can imitate another person. They have an accent, they have a mannerism, they have a way of speaking. But how do you imitate the infinite being? How do you imitate the omnipotent? How do you imitate God? Is it really possible to walk after and imitate God? Rather, right, because it says אש אוכלה הוא eish ochlah hu, if you try to come too close to God, you'll be consumed by a fire. You can't come too close, but you're going to try to imitate. So it means, imitate His attributes. Just as הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu is מלביש ערומים malbish arumim, just as he clothes the clothed naked, so should you. Just as he is מבקר חולים mevaker cholim, he visits the sick, so should you. Just as he is מנחם אבלים menachem avelim, he comforts the mourners, so should you. We have to, he's buries the dead, so should we. גמרא סוטה י\"ד Gemara Sotah Yud Dalet. אחרי השם אלוקיכם תלכו Acharei Hashem Elokeichem teileichu, imitate God, just like he does these things, we should. Our conception of God is thus translated, says Rav Soloveitchik, into a code of human behavior. The רמב\"ם Rambam clearly illustrates this point. He writes in הלכות יסודי התורה Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, פרק ז' הלכה א' Perek Zayin Halacha Aleph. It is a fundamental principle of our faith to accept that השם Hashem does speak to man through prophecy. And he immediately converts this article of faith into a moral challenge. It is the ultimate duty of man to make himself worthy of prophecy, for God will not communicate with trees and stones. And the רמב\"ם Rambam writes based on our פסוקים psukim here, the ideal of prophecy is even further developed by describing the qualities which invite השם's Hashem's prophetic communication. The רמב\"ם Rambam sets forth a human ideal and model towards which all should aspire. Thus an article of faith becomes a moral exhortation. We don't only believe in a Judaism of philosophy, it's not just about feeling, it's not just about being a good person, it is about actions, about conduct, about behavior, about מצוות mitzvos. But we also don't believe it's about empty מצוות mitzvos. The reason that we do the מצוות mitzvos, it is the way we imitate and emulate the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam. I've shared before that Rav Asher Weiss, the מנחת אשר Minchas Asher, wonders, why do I have two Gemaras? On the one hand, it says אחרי השם אלוקיכם תלכו acharei Hashem Elokeichem teileichu, walk after God, visit the sick, clothe the naked, comfort the mourner, bury the dead. On the other hand, it says זה א-לי ואנוהו zeh Keili v'anveihu, התנאה לפניו במצוות hisna'eh l'fanav b'mitzvos. זה א-לי ואנוהו Zeh Keili v'anveihu, אני והוא ani v'hu, be like God. So why do I need two times to learn it? So Rav Asher Weiss says so beautifully, אחרי השם אלוקיכם acharei Hashem Elokeichem is imitation. It doesn't say anything about who you are, your character, your heart, you're doing an imitation. If my brother-in-law does a great imitation of someone else, it doesn't make him that someone else, it doesn't even make him necessarily like the other person. All it means is he can mimic, he can imitate the other person. אחרי השם אלוקיכם תלכו Acharei Hashem Elokeichem teileichu, our פסוק pasuk says, imitate God, be like God. זה א-לי ואנוהו Zeh Keili v'anveihu, אני והוא ani v'hu, means not only should you do what God does, but feel what God feels. Transform yourself into a בעל חסד ba'al chesed, into a בעל רחמים ba'al rachamim, into a person of justice. Not only externally, on the outside, do the acts, but internally generate the feeling and the motivation and be like God in that way. Be like God in that way. How much time do we have? How much more do we want to do? We have a little bit more to do. פרק י\"ד פסוק ט' Perek Yud Dalet Pasuk Tet. כשרות Kashrus. We move into the laws of כשרות kashrus. בנים אתם להשם אלוקיכם Banim atem l'Hashem Elokeichem, we are children of God. לא תתגודדו Lo sisgodedu. Because we are children of God, we're not allowed to engrave ourselves in an act of mourning or grieving. We've studied that in the past. I encourage you to listen to past שיעורים shiurim of the פרשה parsha. We've studied that at length and some beautiful insights in what that means that we are השם's Hashem's children. בנים אתם להשם Banim atem l'Hashem. Are we his בכור b'chor? Are we his firstborn or are we his only children? How do we answer that? What's its connection to this laws of mourning? What does one thing have to do with the other? How does לא תתגודדו lo sisgodedu connect to the laws of mourning of not having different practices within one community? We've talked about that. Take a look, check it out. We then move on to לא תאכל כל תועבה lo sochal kol to'eivah, don't eat any abomination. Keeping כשר kosher, non-כשר kosher is an abomination. And here we have the תורה Torah giving us, delivering us the laws of כשרות kashrus. And in the laws of כשרות kashrus, we have פרק י\"ד פסוק ט' Perek Yud Dalet Pasuk Tet. Among the laws of כשרות kashrus are the laws of כשרות kashrus as they relate to, as they relate to fish. את זה תאכלו מכל אשר במים כל אשר לו סנפיר וקשקשת תאכלו Es zeh tochlu mikol asher bamayim, kol asher lo snapir v'kaskeses tochlu. וכל אשר אין לו סנפיר וקשקשת לא תאכלו טמא הוא לכם V'chol asher ein lo snapir v'kaskeses lo socheilu, tamei hu lachem. פרק י\"ד Perek Yud Dalet, Chapter 14, verse 9. The תורה Torah tells us, this you can eat of everything in the water. In other words, animals we know have to chew their cud, have split hooves. And birds come from a tradition, we have to have a מסורה mesora. That's why some, Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, יבדל לחיים טובים וארוכים Yibadel l'chaim tovim v'aruchim, Rav Shachter, others don't eat turkey. Turkey's a New World bird and we don't have a מסורה mesora. Others say it's so similar to other birds, we do have a מסורה mesora, we do eat turkey, we do eat turkey. So what about fish? What about fish? So here the תורה Torah tells us that of the things in the water, anything that has fins and scales you can eat, and anything that doesn't have fins and scales, you cannot eat. It is טמא tamei, it is unclean. That's the הלכה halacha of the, of the fish. The תורה Torah tells us that the Jewish people retain their קדושה kedusha by not eating non-כשר kosher things. The תורה Torah here uses the word קדוש kadosh and טמא tamei, holy and unholy, impure and pure. That we are what we eat. We are big believers, we are what we eat. Not only like we are what we eat because we absorb it on the hips, but we are what we eat means the quality and character of those animals, we absorb their qualities, we absorb their character. So the רמב\"ן Ramban writes, the birds outside of our מסורה mesora are birds of prey. They are birds that are aggressive. We don't want to absorb those character traits. That's what the רמב\"ן Ramban writes here, and he writes it earlier. The אברבנאל Abarbanel explains similarly that non-כשר kosher food puts bad מידות midos in a person. Our whole mission is to repair our מידות midos, to refine ourselves, to live our best selves. So we have to do that not only from a physically healthy perspective by putting the right foods in our body, but spiritually as well. The גמרא Gemara in חולין דף ס\"ו Chullin Daf Samech Vav quotes the משנה Mishnah in the sixth פרק perek of נדה Niddah that teaches that any fish that has scales has fins. Any fish that has scales automatically has fins, but not all fish that have fins have scales. So now that leads to a peculiar question. If that's true, if that's true that every fish that has fins, that has scales, has fins, so wonders the גמרא Gemara, why did the תורה Torah need to tell me that in order to qualify as a כשר kosher fish, it has to have fins and scales? Just tell me scales and I know that every fish with scales has fins. There are almost 2 million species of fish in the sea. And by the way, the תורה Torah promises any fish with fins has with scales has fins, and it's been accurate. How could the תורה Torah know that? 2 million. If the תורה Torah were written by man, how would they make that promise? Wouldn't the entire authenticity of that religious document be undermined, compromised, if in fact the first time you find a fish that has fins and no scales, but we've not found such a fish. All fish that have fins have scales, just like the גמרא Gemara, just like the תורה Torah promises. So the גמרא Gemara wonders, if it's true that every fish with fins has scales, the opposite. Every fish with scales has fins, so why did the תורה Torah just tell me if a fish has scales, it's כשר kosher. That's the גמרא's Gemara's question. And the גמרא Gemara answers, להגדיל תורה ולהדירה l'hagdil Torah u'l'adira. יגדיל תורה ויאדיר Yagdil Torah v'ya'adir. Let תורה Torah be growth. We'll learn תורה Torah. By giving us that extra condition, that extra criteria, somehow we are expanding, we are promoting תורה Torah. What in the world does that mean? So the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt\"l has a beautiful insight. The Lubavitcher Rebbe says, Rabbi Akiva taught that the Jewish people are similar to fish in water, where the Jewish people are the fish and the תורה Torah is the water. Just like a fish can't live outside of water, that was Rabbi Akiva's response, why he was risking his life to teach תורה Torah against the Roman persecution, because just like a fish can't live out of water, a Jew can't live outside of the environment of תורה Torah, which is our water. So based on the Lubavitcher Rebbe saying the Jewish people are like fish, and each one of us have to embrace our fins and our scales. What does that mean, fins and scales? So says the Rebbe, there's an age-old argument, and we see it in יוסף Yosef and his brothers, and we see it throughout תנ\"ך Tanach, and we see it throughout our תורה Torah. Should the Jew retreat and live in isolation? Should the Jew build a wall, a fortress around himself, herself, and shut out the entire world around us? Or should the Jew embrace the world, integrate into the world, contribute to the world, all of course with boundaries and with filters to make sure not to assimilate into the world, but nevertheless to engage the world. Said the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the scales and fins represent the two sides of this argument, the two approaches to life. The scales protect the fish from the outside world. The scales are like retreating into a fortress. The scales are like living in isolation. They make sure that nothing penetrates, nothing gets in. The scales represent a protective barrier, an iron barrier. The fins, the fins let us swim. The fins make us mobile. The fins let us explore. The fins let us integrate. So the תורה Torah is telling us that a כשר kosher fish, to be a כשר kosher Jew, you need both aspects in life. A Jew who only embraces his fins, who only tries to integrate but doesn't have scales is not כשר kosher. You cannot try to swim and integrate and explore the world without having healthy boundaries, without being a strong fortress, without having a תורה Torah identity. But similarly, a Jew with scales who only looks inward, who only retreats, who doesn't serve and integrate and explore the world, is also not fully serving השם Hashem. And said the Rebbe, that's what it means יגדיל תורה ויאדיר Yagdil Torah v'ya'adir. If you want to be מגדיל תורה magdil Torah, if you want to grow and enhance and expand תורה Torah, you need both fins and scales. You need the right balance between the two. You need to know when to create the protective barrier, when to swim with the fins and go explore and do the two. When Rav Yisrael Meir Lau heard this idea from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, he added, I heard it from Rav Eliyahu Dad Goldvicht, סמיכת חבר smichas chaver. He added, Rav Lau, that the Lubavitcher Rebbe brought this exact attitude and identity to the mission of the Lubavitchers, to the שלוחים shluchim, to all of us, of on the one hand, having a very strong identity as יראי שמים עובדי השם yirei shamayim, ovdei Hashem, בני תורה, בנות תורה bnei Torah, bnos Torah, but on the other hand, having healthy fins, being able to swim, to go out to explore, וידגו לרוב בקרב הארץ v'yidgu l'rov b'kerev ha'aretz, to spread like the fish all throughout the land. I just want to add a הערה ha'arah on this insight, one more to complement the idea here of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Is the fins also give you the ability to do one other thing. Scales protect, scales allow you to live in retreat, but the fins do something else that you also need, not only to integrate into the world. Sometimes even to retreat, sometimes even to protect our values, you're going to have to do something called, you're going to have to swim upstream. We've shared an insight about the upside down נונין nunin, around ויהי בנסוע הארון vayehi binsoa ha'aron, and the Jewish people being likened to the upside down נון nun, נון nun is the Aramaic for fish, and the idea that the fish sometimes has to swim upstream. Salmon swim upstream. Go on YouTube, you could watch a video of salmon swimming upstream. It's actually pretty remarkable to be able to watch, to be able to see. So perhaps the other significance and the other reason, the other purpose of the fins is the scales can only protect you so far. Sometimes you have to be willing to live in a world and face a culture, you have to be willing to swim upstream. It won't be convenient, and it may not be comfortable, but you have to be willing to swim upstream. Okay, we have time for one more idea. שמיטה Shmita. I want to share so many more. פרק ט\"ו Perek Tet Vav, פסוק ב' Pasuk Beis. פרק ט\"ו Perek Tet Vav is now the world of שמיטה shmita. שמיטת כספים Shmitas ksafim. The world of שמיטת כספים shmitas ksafim. The cancellation of loans. מִקֵּץ שֶׁבַע-שָׁנִים, תַּעֲשֶׂה שְׁמִטָּה Miketz sheva shanim ta'aseh shmita. Seven years, the end of seven years, we make שמיטה shmita. וזה דבר השמיטה שמוט כל בעל משה ידו אשר ישה ברעהו V'zeh devar hashmitah, shamot kol ba'al masheh yado asher yasheh v'rei'eihu. לא יגוש את רעהו ואת אחיו כי קרא שמיטה להשם Lo yigosh es rei'eihu v'es achiv ki kara shmita laHashem. This is the matter of שמיטה shmita. Every creditor has to remit, forgive authority over what he lent, don't press your fellow or brother because we proclaim that we forgive. Some ask, is the loan forgiven even if the, even if the lender didn't proclaim? Maybe from the פסוק pasuk, you have to actually proclaim it out loud. Maybe that's what you have to do. So the שמיטת כספים shmitas ksafim in our פרשה parsha tells us to absolve the debts of anyone who borrowed money during the previous seven years, the lender declares that he's not going to press. Why? Why do we have this מצוה mitzvah? There's a lot more to explore, in the future we'll get into it. We don't have time now. I'll just briefly tell you the Sforno. Sforno says the Jewish people were given שבת Shabbos, that is a day for us to dive into, to explore, to reinforce our spiritual identity and pursuits. שבת Shabbos is the day we retreat from the pursuit of the material and we focus on the experience of the spiritual. To emphasize that מלאכה melacha, the whole reason that we are working, the whole reason that we succeed, the whole reason that we amass and accumulate, is to pursue the רוחניות ruchnius, not the opposite. The מכילתא Mechilta points out that the Jewish people were already keeping שבת Shabbos when they received the תורה Torah. We were given שבת Shabbos at מרה Marah. We were already keeping שבת Shabbos. So therefore we're already prepared to accept the many מצוות mitzvos that demand you to forgo material pursuits for spiritual ones. And those מצוות mitzvos include the laws of business ethics and monetary dealings and how we view our material assets, that which we possess. ספר החינוך Sefer HaChinuch adds that the purpose behind שמיטת כספים shmitas ksafim is to help develop an attitude of generosity, of kindness, to be forgiving and foregoing, to recognize that we can help the people around us, to absolve the loans, we enable and empower the people who needed that loan to be able to have another chance to be able to start again. Now it happens to be in the first century, הלל Hillel instituted the פרוזבול pruzbul, which we're not going to get into right now. פרוז בולי ובוטי Pruz buli u'buti, an advantage to the rich and the poor, because due to the laws of שמיטת כספים shmitas ksafim, people were not lending because they feared they wouldn't be repaid, they weren't going to lend, particularly in years four, five, six, five, six, seven, you're not going to lend if you know you're not going to be paid back. So they instituted, particularly at a time in which שמיטה shmita is only דרבנן d'rabbanan, שמיטת כספים shmitas ksafim, so the פרוזבול pruzbul was a legal loophole to be able to continue to lend. But I want to share with you an amazing insight of Rav Hirsch. Rav Hirsch notes on this פסוק pasuk, פרק ט\"ו פסוק ב' Perek Tet Vav Pasuk Beis, chapter 15, verse 2, לא יגוש את רעהו Lo yigosh es rei'eihu, you're not allowed to press, you can't pressure. If you lent money to somebody, you can't put pressure. And how are we describing? What words are we using to describe the recipient of the loan, the borrower? לא יגוש את רעהו ואת אחיו Lo yigosh es rei'eihu v'es achiv. The reason you can't press them is because you're supposed to see them and feel them, connect to them as your neighbor and your friend. Your רעך rei'a, your friend, and אחיך achicha, your brother. Your friend and your brother. Who presses their friend and their brother? So the simple understanding here is that it is the lender that's being kind to the borrower. But Rav Hirsch has another interpretation, a fascinating interpretation. And Rav Hirsch suggests, you can read it inside, read it on your own some time. At the end of משניות שביעית Mishnayos Shvi'is, the משנה mishna tells us that it is virtuous for the borrower to repay the loan anyway. Even though the lender has to forgo, even though the lender forgives, even though the lender publicly declares or privately declares that they have forgiven the loan, there is a virtue, a nobility, it's a nice thing for the borrower to pay it back anyway. So says Rav Hirsch, you know what's happened here? Now you take the individual who's repaying the loan out of a sense of debt, out of a sense of obligation, out of a sense of no choice, and now they can repay it on their own, they can choose to. Why? Because the person who lent them money is their brother, is their neighbor, is their friend. Rav Hirsch flips it on its head. Not just from an act of kindness from the lender to the borrower, but when the borrower now, every seven years we have the chance to repay loans, not from an economic standpoint, a financial standpoint, an obligatory standpoint, from a voluntary standpoint. And that changes the whole equation, it changes our whole attitude, it changes our whole philosophy of materialism. A lot more to say on it, we'll have to save for next time. Tomorrow morning 8:15, 10 minutes of meaning with שיעורים shiurim. Tomorrow morning 8:45, living with אמונה emunah. Just a reminder, if you want to sponsor, BRSonline.org/sponsor. You could find all of our שיעורים shiurim throughout the week, special שיעורים shiurim on our YouTube channel, youtube.com/rabbiefremgoldberg. You can find it at rabbiefremgoldberg.org and you can find it even on an app which was made to listen to all the שיעורים shiurim in one convenient place. Thank you for learning with me, an honor and a privilege. Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy.
