Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב Boker Tov, welcome back to פרשה Parsha Perspectives for today. Today is a very special edition of our פרשה Parsha perspectives because this week we are once again launching our global campaign. If you want to fast forward this part, first of all, if you're live you don't have that option, so too bad. But the global campaign are for those who are not BRS members. We are so grateful and so overjoyed to be able to share our תורה Torah, our values, our vision anywhere and everywhere people want to read, listen, or watch. We simply ask for your help, for your support, to enable us to continue to do so and to spread the message. So, take out your phones right now if you're not a BRS member. You're enjoying the air conditioning, the lights, the teacher. Take out your phone, go to brsonline.org/global and contribute whatever you can, any amount. We appreciate it. But you certainly want to make yourself counted. If you come and you consume the תורה Torah, if you're enjoying, you're benefiting, you have to contribute. You have to be counted. That's what we learned after פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim. השם Hashem says, נעשה ונשמע Naaseh v'nishma, really? You enjoy, you benefit? All the emails, all the follow-up, Rabbi, that was great, I enjoyed, it's wonderful, I learn, I love it. That's very nice. Could you make a contribution? Could you help us continue to spread it? brsonline.org/global, brsonline.org/global. If you're here in person, conveniently you've got a QR code. I'm not going to try to explain to you what that is, because I want to get to the פרשה Parsha at some point today. But if you're watching online, if you're here live, if you're watching or listening later, if you enjoy, if you benefit, your conscience should not allow you to keep listening right now without stopping and going on brsonline.org/global, brsonline.org/global and making your difference, your contribution.פרשה Parsha series is generously sponsored by Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father, David Grossman, לעלוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מניש l'iluy nishmas David ben Menachem Manish. Our learning should be לעלוי נשמתו l'iluy nishmaso. And this morning שיעור shiur in particular is sponsored by Bruce Pool and family, a רפואה שלמה refuah shleima of חנוך בנימין בן שרה Chanoch Binyamin ben Sarah, and לעלוי נשמת רחל לאה בת דוד l'iluy nishmas Rochel Leah bas David, שהנשמה תהיה לה עליה shehaneshama tihyeh lah aliyah as well. If you don't know how to go on brsonline.org/global, immediately following the שיעור shiur, there'll be people here to help you in the back be able to go online and make a contribution. Again, we thank you for your help. We are on page 530 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. And we are in the middle of a פרק perek, we are in the middle of two פרשיות parshios generally read together. This year we have the privilege of reading them separately, which enables us to study them and analyze them and look at them a little bit more carefully and closely than we ordinarily do. אלה פקודי המשכן משכן העדת אשר פקד על פי משה עבודת הלוים ביד איתמר בן אהרן הכהן Eleh pekudei haMishkan Mishkan haEidus asher pukad al pi Moshe, avodas haLeviim b'yad Isamar ben Aharon haKohein. This is the accounting. These are the reckonings of משה Moshe, of the Tabernacle, of the משכן Mishkan, the משכן העדות Mishkan HaEidus. Obviously, it should jump out at you right away. We've discussed this many times before, and certainly you've heard countless דברי תורה Divrei Torah. What do you mean, אלה פקודי המשכן משכן העדת Eleh pekudei haMishkan Mishkan haEidus? Did we forget what it was in the millisecond before we just said משכן Mishkan, משכן העדות Mishkan HaEidus? Why the redundancy? Why the double language? אלה פקודי המשכן משכן העדת Eleh pekudei haMishkan Mishkan haEidus. אשר פקד על פי משה Asher pukad al pi Moshe. And משה Moshe did the accounting. משה Moshe was both the rabbi of the שול shul and he was the chair of the finance committee, he was the controller, he was the bookkeeper, he was everything. משה Moshe, the campaign is complete, the project has been built, the משכן Mishkan has been built, it's going to be functional, and משה Moshe does and offers an audit. He does and he takes an accounting. What's going on over here? There is much to say. אלה פקודי Eleh pekudei, אשר צוה asher tziva, let's keep reading. ובצלאל בן אורי בן חור למטה יהודה עשה את כל אשר צוה ה' את משה U'Vetzalel ben Uri ven Chur l'mateh Yehuda asah es kol asher tziva Hashem es Moshe. And בצלאל בן אורי בן חור Betzalel ben Uri ven Chur did everything that he was commanded by משה Moshe. In his דרש משה drash Moshe, רב משה Rav Moshe Feinstein points out the following. אלה פקודי Eleh pekudei, he says, עיקר החשבון של אדם למצוא את תפקידו בעולמו Ikar hacheshbon shel adam limtzo es tafkido b'olamo. אלה פקודי Eleh pekudei, this is the reckoning, this is the counting, this is the appointment, this is the mission. עיקר החשבון של אדם למצוא את תפקידו בעולמו, האם הוא עושה אשר ציוה אותו השם יתברך Ikar hacheshbon shel adam limtzo es tafkido b'olamo, ha'im hu oseh asher tzivah oso Hashem Yisborach. אלה פקודי אשר צוה השם Eleh pekudei asher tziva Hashem. You know what the biggest accounting we have to take, the biggest audit we take of our lives, is not only our finances. Of course that's important, והייתם נקיים מהשם ומישראל V'hiyisem neki'im meiHashem u'meiYisrael. We'll talk about more in a moment. We have to be beyond reproach. We have to act with honesty. Of course, in our communal affairs and our personal affairs. But על פי דרוש al pi drush, רב משה Rav Moshe says, אלה פקודי Eleh pekudei. You know what the number one accounting you have to take is? אשר צוה השם Asher tziva Hashem. Am I following what השם Hashem wants from me? Am I living life for me? Am I living life for him? Do I think he works for me? Or do I realize I work for him? אשר צוה השם Asher tziva Hashem, there is a prescription for how to live in this world. They're called the תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag Mitzvos. There are 613 מצוות mitzvos and those are the expectations. That is what השם Hashem is waiting and assumes from us and for us. But in addition to the universal מצוות mitzvos that we're all bound by, we spoke about a couple of weeks ago that the תורה Torah testifies about בצלאל Betzalel that השם Hashem had given him the skills, these talents. Whatever we're born with, they're on loan from השם Hashem. And השם Hashem granted us that for our mission, our purpose. Every one of us is here for a unique and a distinct reason. So אלה פקודי Eleh pekudei, the biggest audit of our lives, the biggest accounting we should take of our lives is אשר צוה השם Asher tziva Hashem. אשר צוה השם Asher tziva Hashem. You know, naturally, we have to do our taxes once a year, we're getting to that season. So the government, its rules and regulations, demand that we do an audit of the finances of our life. But how often do we do the audit of the spiritual accounting of our lives? How frequently? Is it annually? Only in אלול Elul before ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah and יום כיפור Yom Kippur? Do we do it quarterly? Do we do it semi-annually? Do we do it monthly? Do we do a weekly review? How often אלה פקודי אשר צוה השם Eleh pekudei asher tziva Hashem? האם הוא עושה אשר ציוה אותו השם יתברך? שהקדוש ברוך הוא נותן לכל אדם את הזמן הקצוב לו Ha'im hu oseh asher tziva oso Hashem Yisborach? She'HaKadosh Baruch Hu nosein l'chol adam es hazman hakatzuv lo. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu grants us whatever amount of time in this world. הכשרונות Ha'kishronos, and he gives us skills and talents, he gives us strengths. האפשריות, והאדם יתבע אם נצל את הזמן היקר שנקצב לו Ha'efsharuyos, v'ha'adam yitava im nitzel es hazman hayakar sheniktzav lo. And הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu will demand of us, we will have to submit an accounting. He will say I gave you 60, 70, 80, 90, please God, 120 years on that earth. What do you have to show for it? What did you do with it? What contribution did you make in it? How did you improve or repair? How did you advance my interests in this world? What did you do with the talents I gave you? How much did you binge watch on Netflix? How much did you obsess over the news cycle as important as we're seeing is? How much did you sit and you gossip? How much did you pursue accumulating and amassing things and how much did you change the world? In whatever way you're meant to do and for some that means you got out of bed this morning. האם הוא מקדיש זמנו לתורה ומצוות לפי כחותיו, ומה הוא עושה בכשרונותיו ובממונו? Ha'im hu makdish zmano l'Torah u'mitzvos l'fi kochosav, u'mah hu oseh b'kishronosav u'v'mamono? What do we do with our money? What do we do with our energy? What do we do with our resources? What do we do with our talents? So a beautiful דרוש drush of רב משה Rav Moshe. אלה פקודי אשר צוה השם Eleh pekudei asher tziva Hashem. That the biggest accounting we give is אשר צוה השם asher tziva Hashem, is about our relationship with all that השם Hashem commands of us.רב שכטר Rav Schechter, there's a brand new volume. I just picked it up at the YU ספרים Seforim sale. רב שכטר Rav Schechter on the פרשה Parsha, volume two. Very indebted to Dr. Alan Weisman who took and collected the תורות Torahs of רב שכטר Rav Schechter. He printed volume one on the פרשה Parsha, he has on יום טוב Yuntif, he has a הגדה Hagaddah, and now he just came out with a volume two. רב שכטר Rav Schechter on the פרשה Parsha, volume two, highly recommend. And he says the following. אלה פקודי המשכן משכן העדת Eleh pekudei haMishkan Mishkan haEidus. רש\"י Rashi quoting the תנחומא Tanchuma notes the repetition of the word משכן Mishkan, understanding משכן Mishkan as being related to the word משכון mashkon, a security, a security loan. A security loan. The תנאים Tannaim comment that the implication of the פסוק pasuk is that השם Hashem took the two בתי מקדש Batei Mikdash as collateral for the עבירות aveiros of בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael. In other words, read it אלה פקודי המשכן Eleh pekudei haMishkan, משכון העדות Mishkon haEidus. This is the accounting of the משכן Mishkan which is a משכון mashkon. A משכון mashkon means collateral. What is collateral? Collateral is security of a loan. You want me to lend you money? Let me hold your watch. You want me to lend you money? Let me hold the valuable piece of property. I'll return it to you when you pay the loan. But you want to secure the loan. How do I know if you default on the loan that I won't be out? So you secure the loan with a משכון mashkon, with a, with a deposit, with a משכון mashkon. So what's the implication? הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu took the two בתי מקדש Batei Mikdash as collateral for our עבירות aveiros. He destroyed the two בתי מקדש Batei Mikdash that he came to dwell in as collateral for our עבירות aveiros. It follows that once בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael do תשובה teshuva, and השם Hashem accepts that תשובה teshuva and he forgives us, then he'll be obligated to give back the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash. If I lend you money and I take your watch as collateral and you pay the loan, what do I have to do? I can't say, well, I've gotten used to the watch, I like it, I get a lot of compliments for it. I can't take the repayment and keep the watch. The הלכה halacha, the moral and ethical thing to do is, once you repay the loan, I give you back the collateral. So once we do תשובה teshuva, we repay השם Hashem so to say, the debt of the mistakes we've made, then he has to give us back that collateral, namely the בתי מקדש Batei Mikdash. Why is this interesting? It means the relationship with the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash from השם Hashem is not out of kindness or compassion from him, but rather it's due, there's a sense of justice. It's rightfully ours, we earned it. That's the relationship we have. And this form, says רב שכטר Rav Schechter, the basis of the וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon's practice regarding the third ברכה bracha of בענטשן bentching. What in the world does beginning of פרשת פקודי Parshas Pekudei have to do with the third ברכה bracha of בענטשן bentching? So there is a מחלוקת machlokes between the מחבר Mechaber and the רמ\"א Rama in אורח חיים סימן קפח סעיף ד Orach Chaim Siman Kuf Pey Ches, Sif Daled. The מחבר Mechaber writes we conclude the third ברכה bracha of בענטשן bentching, ברוך אתה השם בונה ירושלים Baruch Ata Hashem, Boneh Yerushalayim. אמן Amen. Whereas the רמ\"א Rama adds the word בונה ברחמיו ירושלים Boneh b'rachamav Yerushalayim. Do we long for, do we ask, do we bless השם Hashem to build ירושלים Yerushalayim? Or to build ירושלים Yerushalayim ברחמיו b'rachamav, with his compassion. The וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon, נוסח אשכנז nusach Ashkenaz, and generally פוסקים pasken like the רמ\"א Rama. So you'd expect the גאון Gaon to say בונה ברחמיו ירושלים Boneh b'rachamav Yerushalayim. But the גאון Gaon, the ספר מעשה רב Sefer Maaseh Rav, a collection of the practices of the וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon, quotes that the וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon בענטשן benched, he would say בונה ירושלים אמן Boneh Yerushalayim, Amen. He would omit the word ברחמיו b'rachamav, following the opinion of the מחבר Mechaber, unlike what he normally did. בית יוסף Beis Yosef quotes the ראשונים Rishonim who explain the נוסח nusach of בונה ירושלים Boneh Yerushalayim based on the פסוק pasuk, ציון במשפט תפדה ושביה בצדקה Tzion b'mishpat tipadeh v'shaveha b'tzdaka. ציון Tzion, that that Zion, במשפט b'mishpat, with righteousness it will be redeemed and its captives with צדקה tzdaka. It'll be redeemed through justice. So, given the comment on the מדרש Midrash, חז\"ל Chazal understand the פסוק pasuk as follows: ושביה בצדקה V'shaveha b'tzdaka means השם Hashem will accept שביה shaveha, means תשובה teshuva, those who return. Those who do תשובה teshuva will be an act of kindness on his part. But once השם Hashem forgives the עבירות aveiros, now he has to return the משכון mashkon. So ציון במשפט תפדה Tzion b'mishpat tipadeh. שביה בצדקה Shaveha b'tzdaka is צדקה tzdaka that he'll accept our תשובה teshuva. But once he accepts our תשובה teshuva and we pay the debt of the mistakes we made, now במשפט b'mishpat, now it's a sense of justice that he has to give us back what's rightfully ours. And therefore, it's not ברחמיו b'rachamav. And that's why, and that's why the וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon omitted the word ברחמיו b'rachamav. Even though he generally פוסק paskened like the רמ\"א Rama, based on the beginning of our פרשה Parsha. אלה פקודי המשכן Eleh pekudei haMishkan, משכון mashkon, משכון mashkon, collateral, we're due the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash once we do תשובה teshuva, we deserve to have it returned. And because we deserve to have it returned, he would omit the word ברחמיו b'rachamav.The חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim writes in his introduction to the משנה ברורה Mishnah Berurah, that when there's a מחלוקת אחרונים machlokes Acharonim, he'll quote the גר\"א Gra in particular in order to arrive at the פסק הלכה psak halacha. חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim considered himself a תלמיד talmid of the בית מדרש beis medrash of the וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon by virtue of the fact that his רבי rebbe was a תלמיד talmid of רב חיים מוולוז'ין Rav Chaim Volozhner. He therefore followed the מנהגים minhagim of the גר\"א Gra, albeit privately. A close תלמיד talmid writes that when the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim led ברכת המזון Birchas Hamazon, he would say בענטשן bentching out loud, but he didn't want to disclose that he was following the גר\"א Gra against the רמ\"א Rama. So, he had another person, usually his son-in-law, recite the conclusion of the third ברכה bracha out loud. So the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim even when he led בענטשן bentching, would say every word out loud, but to not contradict the רמ\"א Rama, though he פוסק paskened like the גר\"א Gra, when he got to that third ברכה bracha, בונה ירושלים Boneh Yerushalayim, he would omit the word ברחמיו b'rachamav, he would have someone else conclude the בענטשן bentching, his son-in-law or someone near him who knew his customs, so as not to contradict the רמ\"א Rama. So that's the typical פרשה Parsha insight of רב שכטר Rav Schechter. My רבי Rebbe רב שכטר Rav Schechter, you're not going to find חסידות chasidus and דרוש drush and מוסר mussar. He'll find the הלכה halachic connection based on the פסוק pasuk, but it's fascinating. You'd say, what is the third ברכה bracha of בענטשן bentching have anything to do with the first פסוק pasuk of פרשת פקודי Parshas Pekudei? And if you're רב שכטר Rav Schechter, then you know, only everything. From אלה פקודי המשכן משכן העדת Eleh pekudei haMishkan Mishkan haEidus, משכון mashkon, and he finds that connection, he finds that beautiful connection.One more interesting insight on this notion of אלה פקודי Eleh pekudei. The beautiful רב משה Rav Moshe, אלה פקודי אשר צוה השם Eleh pekudei asher tziva Hashem. The biggest accounting and audit we do is are we fulfilling our mission in life? Financial audits are easy. They're easy if you're honest, but they should be easy anyway. But a spiritual audit, to spiritually audit our lives, it's a lot harder. That is a lot harder. That's why I'll just share because we mentioned it again in our פרשה Parsha, the כיור kiyor was located near the מזבח Mizbeach. And I'm not going to review the whole back and forth and debate between משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu and השם Hashem about the כיור kiyor was made from the mirrors the women used to beautify themselves. משה Moshe rejected them, vanity, אח ach. And השם Hashem said vanity is the most precious to me. And רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik's insight that on the way to the מזבח Mizbeach, you got to look in the mirror. You can't walk up to the מזבח Mizbeach and offer a קרבן korban. You can't claim to want to come close to God. What is a קרבן korban? The root of the word קרבן korban is קרוב karov, to draw close to השם Hashem. The קרבן korban was not some archaic, barbaric, violent, graphic way of, you know, offer the animal, sprinkle the blood, say two of these and three of those and you're good to go. There was a deep meaning and a deep purpose and a deep symbolism. The person, as we've spoken about, would slaughter the animal inside themselves. We live in this battle, this tension. Am I the animal instinct, the animal impulse, am I the godly soul, the godly spirit? We walk up to the מזבח Mizbeach, השם Hashem, I'm offering this קרבן korban because I want to draw קרוב karov, I want to be close to you. And what's the best way to be close to you? What is the greatest form of flattery? Imitation. השם Hashem, I want to be more godly and less animal-like. So I'm taking this animal impulse, this animal instinct, which causes me to act like an animal and eat like an animal and talk like an animal and indulge my animal impulse. I'm slaughtering this animal on this altar so that I can come close to you by being more godly and less animal. That's the whole meaning, we'll talk more about it soon in ספר ויקרא Sefer Vayikra. So the רב Rav said you want to get close to God, you want to walk up to the מזבח Mizbeach and offer a קרבן korban, you got to stop and pause at the כיור kiyor. You know why? Because when you washed in the כיור kiyor, you know what you were looking at? Yourself. You have to be willing to look in the mirror. You can't walk up and offer the קרבן korban if you can't look in the mirror. Self-awareness. Something uniquely human is self-awareness. Animals have no self-awareness. Animals have no self-awareness. The animal doesn't say how do I look in this outfit? The animal doesn't say, do you think I've gained weight? Is my hair going gray or white? The animal has no self-awareness. The animal has just an animal impulse. That's why it's called an animal. But the human being is supposed to live with a self-awareness. And that's this רב משה Rav Moshe, אלה פקודי אשר צוה השם Eleh pekudei asher tziva Hashem. Stop at the כיור kiyor and take a spiritual audit before you walk up to the מזבח Mizbeach and claim you're a holy roller. Before you walk up to that מזבח Mizbeach and say, I'm offering the קרבן korban, I want to be קרוב karov, I want to be close to you. השם Hashem says, do me a favor, back up and look in the כיור kiyor for a second. Take a look in the mirror. Be honest with yourself and have some self-awareness.One more insight on this comes from the מדרש Midrash. The ילקוט שמעוני Yalkut Shimoni at the beginning of פקודי Pekudei says, למה עשה עמהם חשבון? והרי הקדוש ברוך הוא מאמינו, שנאמר לא כן עבדי משה בכל ביתי נאמן הוא Lama asah imahem cheshbon? V'harei HaKadosh Baruch Hu ma'amino, shene'emar lo kein avdi Moshe b'chol beisi ne'eman hu. What in the world is going on over here? I find this to be one of the most disturbing and yet one of the most comforting passages in the whole תורה Torah. We speak about it every year. Because this is the great משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu who was the savior who takes the Jewish people out of Egypt. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu who, מקוצר רוח ומעבודה קשה m'kotzer ruach u'mei'avodah kasha, when all is helpless and hopeless, when they have given up, when they believe this is simply their destiny and their fortune, they fatalistically think that they will be in slavery forever, all of a sudden comes on the scene משה Moshe and he liberates, he emancipates, he gives them a new lease on life. And you know what they do? They say, hey משה Moshe, you know, it was like a few שקל shekel missing from this accounting. I know it's a multi-million dollar budget, but we've called a special board meeting because we're concerned about the discretionary fund and where some of the money went. It's not all adding up, we can't figure it all out. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu doesn't look at them and say, you know what? I'm out of here. Find another savior. I'm done with you incorrigible, impossible people. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu doesn't say, are you kidding me? You know what card משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu could wave, says the ילקוט שמעוני Yalkut Shimoni? He could wave the בכל ביתי נאמן הוא b'chol beisi ne'eman hu card. You know what card that is? You know who endorsed משה Moshe and said he is beyond reproach? He is trustworthy, reliable, credible, no audit necessary. You know who testified and said that? Not the head of the IRS. The ריבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam. הקדוש ברוך הוא בכבודו ובעצמו HaKadosh Baruch Hu b'chvodo u'v'atzmo. השם Hashem himself testifies about משה Moshe. There's no one like משה Moshe. בכל ביתי נאמן B'chol beisi ne'eman. He's the most credible, reliable, trustworthy. The Jewish people say, yeah, that's nice God, משה Moshe, if you don't mind, hand over the books. Yeah, that's nice השם Hashem. But משה Moshe, if you don't mind, we'd like to see the books. We need the password to the, what's that system called? You see who doesn't do the books here? ShulCloud. No, what's the other one? QuickBooks. QuickBooks. Thank you. You see, I am reliable. I don't go near the QuickBooks. I don't even know the name of the program. I couldn't even open it up if I wanted to. So משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu, nice השם Hashem says בכל ביתי נאמן b'chol beisi ne'eman, we'd like the password to the QuickBooks and the ShulCloud. We want it all. So why? אלא שמע משה ישראל מדברים אחריו שנאמר ויהי כבא משה האהלה ידברו אחריו משה Ela shama Moshe Yisrael medabrim acharav shene'emar vayehi k'vo Moshe ha'ohela yidabru acharav Moshe. So the מדרש Midrash tells us that משה Moshe comes back and he hears murmurings. He's over, he's listening into the קידוש kiddush. And what are they schmoozing about at the קידוש kiddush? The פיפטע לחם fifteh lechem and the פיפטע חיים fifteh chaim. They say, משה Moshe, not bad. He's a good guy. Gave us freedom. Earned us the מן mon. Not bad. But I heard he's cooking the books. I heard he's bending the rules. So what does משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu do? He does this accounting, and we've spoken in the past, we're not going to belabor now. What did he find was missing? We mentioned last night at Seder Snippets. I love it when Seder Snippets and the Parsha come together. We began last night in Seder Snippets אמת ויציב ונכון וקים וישר emes v'yatziv v'nachon v'kayam v'yashar. There are 15 words in a row that begin with the letter ו vav. And they correspond with the 15 וים vavim that משה Moshe forgot to include in the accounting in our פרשה Parsha. There were hooks that held the משכן Mishkan together. They were so insignificant, inconsequential, inexpensive, that משה Moshe forgot to include them. He just simply dismissed them because they seemed so unimportant. When you have a pile of papers that's your magnum opus, you don't think about the paper clip that's holding them together. So משה Moshe forgot about the וים vavim. And corresponding with those 15 וים vavim, says the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim in our פרשה Parsha, we have ויציב ונכון וקים וישר v'yatziv v'nachon v'kayam v'yashar. The וים vavs of each of these paragraphs, straight and honest and reliable, it's all these וים vavs of משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu. פקודי Pekudei. Listen to Seder Snippets for it to all come together. We forget. Sometimes we forget how important the ו vav is. The ו החיבור vav hachibur. In Hebrew grammar, the ו vav is the ו החיבור vav hachibur, it links and it keeps things together. So משה Moshe hears these accusations, these suspicions, and what does he do? He sits and he does a whole accounting, he now makes it all work out, he remembers these וים vavim, and that's how our פרשה Parsha begins. That's the whole backdrop of the פרשה Parsha. When משה Moshe has the balanced budget, when משה Moshe is able to pass the audit, that's when he comes on the stage and he says, אלה פקודי המשכן Eleh pekudei haMishkan. חבר'ה Chevra, membership meeting, here are the books. Balanced. Here they are, transparent. אלה פקודי המשכן משכן העדת Eleh pekudei haMishkan Mishkan haEidus, it all works out. It all works out. So you see משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu removed from himself any sense of חשד chashad. Why? Why was he listening to the ליצנים leitzanim? The scoffers and the cynics, those who were suspicious? Why did he have to give them the time of day? Why didn't he simply say, do you know who I am? Do you know I'm beyond reproach? And if you want to be suspicious about me, I have 15 other nations waiting to hire me to be their מנהיג manhig. Do you know how many opportunities I have? I can make a lot more money, a lot less effort, live a lot happier life. I have 15 other מנהיג manhig positions I could be taking. You're going to question me? I'm out of here like Vladimir. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu doesn't say that. You know what he does? He sits, he stays up all night, and he does the accounting. Says רב משה שוואב Rav Moshe Schwab, the משגיח mashgiach of Gateshead, he says, you see, you see that the importance of being נקי naki, the importance of being clean and pure, beyond reproach, that answer even the ליצנים leitzanim. The ליצני הדור leitzanei hador are so dangerous, the cynics and the scoffers and those who are suspicious, can sow a sentiment of poison that can contaminate and germinate and metastasize and spread and it can corrupt an entire nation. And משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu recognizes that. He doesn't do the accounting because he's doubtful about himself and his own integrity. He does it because he understands the danger of the cynics and the scoffers. Where do you see this? You see this earlier in the תורה Torah. He doesn't bring this, but I'm adding this. You see it earlier in the תורה Torah. יצחק אבינו Yitzchak Avinu is born looking exactly like אברהם Avraham. Why does he look exactly like אברהם Avraham? He's the twin of אברהם Avraham, the spitting twin of אברהם Avraham. Why? Because the ליצני הדור leitzanei hador used to say, אברהם Avraham's not the father of יצחק Yitzchak. When Sarah was pregnant, they'd say אברהם Avraham's not the father. You know who the father is? אבימלך Avimelech. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu made a miracle, יצחק Yitzchak would look exactly like אברהם Avraham. So the question is, why? That's worth a miracle? Because of the, the people, the, the JFKs? You know what JFK is? A new term. Anyone know what JFK stands for? Not John F. Kennedy. Not an airport, not a president. JFK is just for kiddush. It's a whole term now. That's the, that's the תקופה tkufah we're living in. JFKs are the people who come to שול shul JFK, just for kiddush. They don't make it in for דאווענען davening, they don't come inside at all. They come to שול shul, we're laughing, we should be crying. The JFKs. Or we should be laughing. Now's not the time, but ברוך השם baruch Hashem, maybe they at least come to שול shul. The JFKs could meet somewhere else. JFKs could stay home under the covers. At least they come to שול shul. רב לוי יצחק מברדיצ'ב Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev would say, אח ach, look at these holy Jews. They don't connect to דאווענען davening. They could have קידוש kiddush anywhere, but still they come to שול shul to have it. Isn't it amazing? So we should have a little bit more of ר' לוי יצחק Reb Levi Yitzchak in our lives. But anyway, the JFKs, so הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, what does he have to answer the ליצני הדור leitzanei hador? What does he have to answer and make a miracle, יצחק Yitzchak has to look exactly like אברהם Avraham to answer the ליצני הדור leitzanei hador? ליצני הדור Leitzanei hador deserve a miracle? Yeah. That's how pernicious they can become. That's how dangerous that sentiment can be. And that's why משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu responds here too. And that is a model for us, beyond reproach. The honesty, the integrity with which you have to carry ourselves. If anyone were to stop us and challenge us, rather than act defensive or resentful or angry, no problem. Here are my receipts, here are my books, here's full transparency. I have nothing to hide. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu is our רבינו Rabbeinu, he is our mentor and teacher even in this area. We, I, have nothing to hide. Whatever you want to see. The global campaign, we will provide full books, brsonline.org/global. If you're enjoying so far this רב משה Rav Moshe, if you enjoyed this רב משה שוואב Rav Moshe Schwab, if you enjoyed this beautiful insight of רב שכטר Rav Schechter, you gotta contribute to the global campaign. And we'll give you a full accounting afterwards. Full transparency. In fact, if you go on the website, you see everybody who contributed to it, and the nice little message they write. So even if you're just voyeuristic and you want to just see who's giving, who's listening, who's actually cares about Goldberg, so go on there and you'll see and hopefully you'll be moved enough to press donate to be counted yourself. And we'll give you a full פקודי pekudei the global campaign afterwards, afterwards. Okay. פרק ל\"ח פסוק כב Perek Lamed Ches Pasuk Kaf Beis. Moving right along.We just said ובצלאל בן אורי בן חור למטה יהודה u'Vetzalel ben Uri ven Chur l'mateh Yehuda. We know the architect of the משכן Mishkan was בצלאל Betzalel, a very young man at the time. למטה יהודה עשה את כל אשר ציוה השם את משה L'mateh Yehuda asah es kol asher tziva Hashem es Moshe. He did everything that השם Hashem had commanded through משה Moshe. Everything that השם Hashem had commanded through משה Moshe. רב וולבה Rav Volbe has a fantastic insight on עלי שור חלק ב Alei Shur Chelek Beis. רב משה Rav Moshe has the following insight. רש\"י Rashi at the beginning of our פרשה Parsha quotes an interesting גמרא Gemara in ברכות Brachos on דף נה daf nun-hey. Says רש\"י Rashi, need my glasses for this. Says רש\"י Rashi about בצלאל Betzalel. בצלאל Betzalel was called why? Because of his wisdom. Because he had this wisdom, that's why בצלאל Betzalel got his name because we know that there was a discussion between him and משה Moshe. אשר צוה אותו רש\"י פרק פסוק כב Asher tziva oso Rashi perek pasuk kaf-beis. אשר צוה אותו משה אין כתיב כאן אלא כל אשר צוה ה' את משה Asher tziva oso Moshe ein ksiv kan ela kol asher tziva Hashem es Moshe. אפילו דברים שלא אמר לו רבו, הסכים דעתו מה שנאמר למשה מסיני Afilu devarim shelo amar lo rabo, hiskim da'ato mah shene'emar l'Moshe m'Sinai. כי משה צוה לבצלאל לעשות תחילה כלים ואחר כך משכן Ki Moshe tziva l'Vetzalel la'asos tchila kelim v'achar kach Mishkan. We're going to get to this in a moment but there's a fundamental debate between משה Moshe and בצלאל Betzalel. בצלאל Betzalel had some courage to disagree with משה Moshe. משה Moshe is the גדול gadol of every דור dor. To have some courage to disagree with משה Moshe. So משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu tells him first make the כלים keilim and then the משכן Mishkan. Build the utensils, order the furniture, and then we'll build the house. אמר לו בצלאל, מנהגו של עולם לעשות תחילה בית ואחר כך מעמיד כלים בתוכו Amar lo Betzalel, minhago shel olam la'asos tchila bayis v'achar kach ma'amid kelim b'socho. First you build the house, then you order the furniture. What if the furniture arrives before the house is done? You have nowhere to put it, you'll be in trouble. אמר לו, כך שמעתי מפי הקדוש ברוך הוא Amar lo, kach shama'ti m'pi HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And בצלאל Betzalel plays the trump card here and he says that's what I heard from God. First you build the house, then you get the כלים keilim. So what does משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu respond? Again, does משה Moshe double down? Does he dig in his heels? משה Moshe is רבינו Rabbeinu because everything he does we can learn from. What does he do? He says, you are right, I am wrong. I concede. I concede. And he says, בצל קל היית b'tzel Kel hayisa. You were in the shade or the shadow of God. כי בוודאי כך ציווני הקדוש ברוך הוא Ki b'vadai kach tzivani HaKadosh Baruch Hu. You're right. You're right. I was wrong. I was wrong. So you see quoting the גמרא Gemara in ברכות Brachos here, the גמרא Gemara in ברכות נה ע\"א Brachos nun-hey amud alef, that בצלאל Betzalel was called because of the wisdom. When השם Hashem said go tell בצלאל Betzalel to make for me a משכן Mishkan, משה Moshe reversed the order and told him first the ארון aron and the utensils, then the משכן Mishkan. בצלאל Betzalel said that's not the normal way to do it. And משה Moshe said, בצל קל b'tzel Kel. You are in the shadow of השם Hashem. You gave you that wisdom and that's how you knew. That's how you knew. You intuited, you knew because you're in the shadow of השם Hashem. You're right. You are right, I was wrong. It's beautiful. You ever see that anymore? Two people are arguing. Person says, A says A. And then B says, with due respect, but I think it's B. And A says, you know, you're right. I was wrong, you're right. It's so refreshing. It's sad that it's so refreshing, but it's so unusual today.בצלאל Betzalel taught us a very timely lesson, that the purpose of the משכן Mishkan was to house the ארון aron and the לוחות luchos that it contained. The שכינה Shechina would rest on the ארון aron and משה Moshe would receive the נבואה nevuah, the נבואה nevuah, the prophecy, the word of השם Hashem came from between the כרובים kruvim. We spoke about the כרובים kruvim in פרשת תרומה Parshas Terumah. The כרובים kruvim, these angelic, childlike figurines on top of the ארון aron, and the voice of השם Hashem emanated, it came from there, from their purity, from their innocence, from their appetite and their inquisitiveness and their curiosity. So with this in mind, how could you not start the building of the משכן Mishkan with the ארון aron? How could you choose to begin with the walls and the curtains? The answer to this question was בצלאל Betzalel's message for all generations. In other words, משה Moshe seems to be right. Even though בצלאל Betzalel is correct that ordinarily first you build the home before you order the furniture. What happens if you get the furniture delivery before the home is built? You have nowhere to put it, you'll be in trouble. So you're right. בצלאל Betzalel is right when it comes to an ordinary human being and an ordinary home. But this is no ordinary home. It's the house for השם Hashem. So shouldn't you need to build the כלים keilim which will bring the countenance? Shouldn't you first need to build the utensils which will bring השם Hashem's presence? And then from there, the משכן Mishkan? So what was בצלאל Betzalel's answer? And what message is that for all of us?So רב וולבה Rav Volbe writes in עלי שור Alei Shur, he says, you know, we say in דאווענען davening, search for השם Hashem and look for his presence always. A person who wants to fulfill this might feel compelled to search for השם Hashem by trying to seek his presence. Whether through דאווענען davening or מצוות mitzvos or lofty thoughts, we'll say, you know what? If I do it well, I'll feel I'm in the presence of the שכינה Shechina. The root of the word שכינה Shechina is שכן shachen. What's a שכן shachen? A neighbor. The idea of giving השם Hashem a presence means that השם Hashem is not lofty and distant and abstract, he's not conceptual. I don't study about him. I don't, Rav Weinberg would say, I don't go to a יומי עיון Yomei Iyun or a ירחי כלה Yarchei Kallah. I don't go to some seminar to to analyze the evidence of God's existence. שכינה Shechina means he's my שכן shachen, he's my neighbor. He's my neighbor. Hey, neighbor. Neighbor, can I confide in you? Can I borrow a cup of sugar? a cup of sugar from you? I'm so grateful you're my neighbor. Was that Mr. Rogers? I'm so grateful to be your neighbor. Won't you be my neighbor? So we turn to הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the השכינה HaShechinah and you say, won't you be my neighbor? Won't you be my שכן shachen? Won't you feel close to me and intimate with me and enable me to confide in you? I want to feel close, I want to feel connected.So how do we do that? How do we bring the שכינה Shechinah down? How do we feel his presence? How do we lean on him and rely on him, feel the support of him? How do we cry on his shoulder and how do we hold his hand and sing and dance and celebrate and tell him about our triumph and our victory? How do we protest and object and push back? How do we feel he's right there by our side?So, to his great chagrin, a person who thinks, you know, if I daven and do מצוות mitzvos, then I'll be in Hashem's presence. The harder we push to attain the goal, the harder we'll fall. So what's the mistake? So Rav Wolbe writes, one who wishes to seek Hashem's presence has to build his own משכן Mishkan. Just as there's a specific order in the construction of the משכן Mishkan, a person must follow the blueprint in the construction of his own משכן Mishkan. He must begin building from the part of the משכן Mishkan that's furthest from the ארון aron, Hashem's presence, the outer walls, and only then the ultimate goal. The outer walls represent the דרך ארץ derech eretz that precedes the Torah. If we too would like to build our personal משכן Mishkan, we have to make sure the construction takes place in the proper order. We have to first work on correcting and perfecting our character and our מדות midos, and only then building an ארון aron. In other words, what's Rav Wolbe saying? You want to skip a step. So you say, you know what? I want to feel in the presence of the divine. I want to feel so uplifted and enriched and transformed and connected. So you know, it doesn't matter that my מדות midos are terrible. It doesn't matter that I'm obnoxious, that I'm mean, I'm dishonest, I'm impatient, I'm stingy, but I'm going to שקל shuckle hard when I daven. And I'm going to be really holy. I'm going to be a holy roller in shul. I'm going to have the longest שמונה עשרה Shemoneh Esrei in the entire community. I, when I leave the exit of the שול shul, I'm going to be the most ruthless in business. I'm not going to hold the door for anyone on the way out of שול shul. I'm going to be unkind, obnoxious. I'm not going to give to the global campaign because I don't value what I receive. I don't care. Getting the theme? Because I'm stingy and I don't appreciate and I don't say thank you for the learning I get.So, no, that's the wrong order. You can't build the ארון aron before you build the משכן Mishkan. The משכן Mishkan is the דרך ארץ derech eretz. You have to have a house, you have to have walls, you have to have a structure, you have to have a foundation, and then on top of that foundation, now you can have an ארון aron. Now you can have שכינה Shechinah. There are people who try to skip steps. They try to be holy rollers and they present themselves as spiritually advanced and sophisticated and the very foundation is so weak. There is no foundation. The foundation of spirituality is דרך ארץ derech eretz. דרך ארץ is קדמה לתורה derech eretz is kadma laTorah. Is דרך ארץ derech eretz, מדות טובות midos tovos, to emulate Hashem, to imitate Hashem. רב חיים ויטאל Rav Chaim Vital writes, why don't we find מדות midos in the Torah? Why don't we find the מדות midos in the Torah? Study all of Torah, you'll find תרי״ג מצוות taryag mitzvos, 613 מצוות mitzvos, laws of כשרות kashrus and laws of טומאה וטהרה tumah v'taharah, if you're learning דף יומי Daf Yomi, you're going through that right now. You have laws of שבת Shabbos, and laws of יום טוב Yom Tov, and laws of שעטנז shaatnez, and laws of, there's a million laws, 613 מצוות mitzvos in the Torah. Where is the מצוה mitzvah to be patient? Where is the מצוה mitzvah to be kind? Where is the מצוה mitzvah? You don't find it. רב חיים ויטאל Rav Chaim Vital wonders, where are the מדות midos in the Torah? You know what he says? You know what else doesn't say in the Torah? There's a מצוה mitzvah to breathe. There's a מצוה mitzvah for your heart to beat. You know why it doesn't say that in the Torah either? Because it's a given. If you're not breathing, there's no Torah. He says מדות midos are like the air you breathe. They are the prerequisite. They're the prelude to Torah. Before you get to תרי״ג מצוות taryag mitzvos, you got to have מדות midos. You have to have a foundation. You have to be strong. And that's exactly what's going on says Rav Wolbe in this conversation. That's what's going on in this conversation is that משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu says, you know, the כלים keilim and then the and then the משכן Mishkan, then the בית bayis. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu says first the utensils, the holiness of Hashem, the word of Hashem, the שכינה Shechinah, because that's who משה Moshe is, and that's where משה Moshe lives. And בצלאל Betzalel says not so fast, רבי Rebbe. First we have to have a foundation. Slowly, לאט לאט l'at l'at. You have to go very, very slowly. You have to go very slowly. We went on a flying last week to New York. We took a couple dozen guys. We were on all around the New York area. We met with גדולי ישראל gedolei Yisrael, ראשי ישיבה roshei yeshiva, רבנים rabbeim, רב׳ס rebbes, it was an incredible, incredible trip who we met with. And I just put online today a little recap video with some of the highlights of things that they said. We met with רב אברהם שור Rav Avraham Schorr, the son of רב גדליהו שור Rav Gedalia Schorr, the אור גדליהו Ohr Gedalyahu, the נאות גדליהו Neos Gedalyahu, that רב אברהם שור Rav Avraham Schorr, he spoke all about this. Slow, incremental steps, the ramp. You know, a ramp, if you're not walking slowly, if you try to run too fast, you're going to fall and you know what happens? You slide right down. A step, you can remain complacent, you could take a step and stop, you could catch your breath, you could rest, you could stay there. But a ramp, the מזבח mizbeach was a ramp. And if you try to run up the ramp, you're going to slip, you're going to fall, you're going to slide right down. You have to go slowly. You have to go incrementally. That's the way that we progress, that's the way that we grow. First you build the home, and then you have the ארון aron. Then you have the ארון aron. Someone asked him about how you grow and he said it's like building a wall. Ask any bricklayer, they'll tell you if you try to pile bricks on before the first row has dried, the whole wall will collapse. Not only do you have to lay the first row of the bricks, you have to wait for it to dry before you add the next row because if it's still wet, the whole thing will topple over. So we have to go slowly, and it begins with דרך ארץ derech eretz, it begins with מדות midos. First you build the house and then the ארון aron. Now you got to get to the ארון aron. You can't have the inverse problem which we hear all the time and experience too, which is, I have a good heart, I'm kind, so I don't come to shul and I don't keep the מצוות mitzvos, I'm not fully observant, but I'm a good person. And isn't that what matters? Isn't that what Hashem cares about? Isn't that how you imitate him? It's the first step, but you got to get to the second step. You can't have a wall that only has one row. That's not a wall. So if you want to build the wall, it's got to have a strong foundation, a strong first layer, but you got to build up, you got to add on to it, you have to increase it as well. Says רב וואלבע Rav Wolbe, that's the conversation that was going on. Now we can understand from משה's Moshe's perspective, משה Moshe, who's משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu, so he says an ארון aron, שכינה Shechinah, that comes first. Then you'll get to the house. בצלאל Betzalel says, רבי Rebbe, that works for you, the level you're on. For the rest of us, slowly, slowly, a house, דרך ארץ derech eretz, incremental, we have to grow slowly. פרק ל״ח פסוק כ״ז Perek Lamed-Ches Pasuk Chof-Zayin. We're going to turn the page, I promise you. ויהי מאת ככר הכסף לצקת את אדני הקדש ואת אדני הפרכת Vayehi me'as kikar hakesef latzekes es adnei hakodesh v'es adnei haparoches. The 100 silver pieces were to cast the sockets, the אדנים adanim of the sockets, and the sockets of the פרכת paroches, מאת אדנים למאת הככר, ככר לאדן me'as adanim l'me'as hakikar, kikar la'oden. 100 sockets for 100 talents, 100 pieces of silver, a piece of silver per socket. Piece of silver per socket. רב רבי רב אשר וייס Rav Rebbe Rav Asher Weiss says, I saw him in New York last week. In his מנחת אשר Minchas Asher, he says the following. He quotes this פסוק pasuk, and then he quotes in שיר השירים Shir HaShirim, it says, מאת אדנים כנגד מיוסדים על אדני פז me'as adanim k'neged me'yusadim al adnei paz. וכנגדם תקנו מאה ברכות בכל יום u'k'negdam tiknu me'ah brachos b'chol yom. So we have in גמרא מנחות Gemara Menachos, that learns from here, we have several sources for the origin of the rabbinic obligation to say 100 ברכות brachos every day. In his essay in מנחת אשר Minchas Asher he has a discussion. Is it דאורייתא d'oraysa, is it דרבנן d'rabbanan? How do you fulfill it, שבת Shabbos and יום טוב Yom Tov? But we say 100 ברכות brachos a day. 100 ברכות brachos. On a weekday, we're well on our way. 19 times 3. When you say the Amidah, you're well on your way. If you're Ashkenazi, you throw in a lot more אשר יצר's Asher Yatzars, you're well on your way. If you like to eat, you're Jewish, you make a lot of ברכות הנהנין birchos hanehenin, you're well on your way, you bench, you got a few extra ברכות brachos in there. We click off, we're able to get to our 100 ברכות brachos. There's actually an app on your phone that you can use to count your 100 ברכות brachos a day. Why do we say 100 ברכות brachos a day? Why? That's a lot of ברכות brachos. Is Hashem such an egomaniac? חס ושלום chas v'shalom. Is Hashem so narcissistic, that he needs you to 100 times a day say, you're the greatest, you're the greatest. You're the greatest. I once did the funeral for a very prominent celebrity's mother. And I spent the day with him preparing the funeral, the day afterwards, and we ended up having hours of discussion about Judaism. I'm not going to drop his name now because then my children will accuse me of flexing. Even though I just did his mother's funeral, there's no flex. The flex would be if I, he agreed to continue learning with me afterwards. He told me to lose my number, so there's nothing to flex. But anyway, in the discussion, this was shocking to me. He's the creator and producer of maybe the most popular television show in history. Gazillionaire, brilliant. And you know what his big hangup with Judaism was? Why is God such an ego egomaniac that he needs me to praise him all day? What's with prayer? What's with blessings? It should be if I'm moved, if I'm motivated. Can you imagine you're married to someone and they're so needy they say, I need you 100 times a day to text me that you love me. 100 times a day tell me how pretty I am. 100 times a day tell me how much you love me, appreciate me, how grateful you are for me. 100 times a day tell me how great I am and what you love about me. That'd be a there are people. That'd be a tough marriage. There's nothing wrong with needing that a few times a day. We all have different love languages and for some the love languages is to know, to feel loved, to feel validated. There's nothing wrong with that at all. But a hundred times a day might get a little much. It'd be hard to get anything else done. And here the רבונו של עולם Ribbono shel Olam says, 100 times a day, be in touch. 100 times a day, be in touch. And say, ברוך אתה השם אלוקינו מלך העולם Baruch ata Hashem Elokeinu melech ha'olam. 100 times a day we've got to say, God, you're the king of the whole universe. You're the king of the universe. Okay, we got it. You're the king of the universe. We're a little nothing. 100 times a day. That was his hangup. That was his hangup. His barrier to Judaism, whether legitimate or artificial, his excuse from Judaism was, is God such an egomaniac, so narcissistic? He needs our praise or blessing all days. And what's the answer, of course? Is it for God? No, it's for us. It's for us. Do you really think, I told him this. I said, do you really think that God considers your prayers a praise to him? Look at you and the life that you lead. Look at me and the life that I lead. Look how fallible and frail we are. Look at the mistakes. Look how inconsistent we are. Look who we are, how lowly we are. We are worm food. We will once, we will eventually... I lost my connection. We lost the global. What's Hashem's message? Stop talking about the global. Are they still there? You guys still there? Somebody comment on YouTube if you're still there. Somebody comment if you're still there. So, I said it's for Hashem? Of course not. It's for us. It's for us to ground ourselves and center ourselves. And that's what Rav Asher Weiss writes. That's what he writes is the meaning here. Why are we learning? Is it just a cute play on words? ויהי מאת אדנים Vayehi me'as adanim, 100 אדנים למאת הככר adanim l'me'as hakikar. ככר לאדן kikar la'oden. מאת me'as, what is the word מאת me'as? מאה me'ah, 100. לאדנים l'adanim, what's an אדן oden? אדנים is אדון Adanim is adon. 100 times a day recognize אדנות adnus. 100 times a day recognize Hashem is the master, Hashem is the creator, Hashem is in charge. See, we're in a world that is so confusing and it's so easy to lose our compass and it's so easy to lose who we are and where we are, that we need 100 times a day to remember what matters and what's important and who's in charge. 100 times a day an exercise in humility. This is what Rav Asher writes, and he says, נראה לי תן טעם וטעם ברמז זה של רבנו הטור Nireh li tein taam v'taam b'remez zeh shel Rabbeinu haTur. The טור Tur, the בעל הטורים Baal haTurim is the one who quotes מאת אדנים me'as adanim is based on אדני פז adnei paz, שיר השירים Shir HaShirim, תקנו מאה ברכות בכל יום tiknu me'ah brachos b'chol yom. Is it a cute, it's just a cute טור Tur? It's just a cute בעל הטורים Baal haTurim? מאת 100 אדנים me'as me'ah adanim. No, there's something deep. יש קשר פנימי מהותי בין מאת אדני המשכן למאה ברכות שאדם חייב לברך בכל יום yesh kesher p'nimi mahuti bein me'as adnei haMishkan l'me'ah brachos she'adam chayav l'varech b'chol yom. And what is it? ונראה v'nireh, says Rav Asher שליט״א shlita, דכשם שהאדנים הם יסוד כל המשכן כולו d'k'shem she'ha'adanim hem yesod kol haMishkan kulo, just like the sockets, they hold together the entire Mishkan. So you know, you have a lot of fancier things in the Mishkan. You have curtains and drapes and you have um, walls and you have coverings and you have utensils and gold and shiny. There's a lot more beautiful things, flashy things in the Mishkan. But you know what holds it all together? These little sockets. And if the little sockets are not in place and they're not secure, you know what happens to the Mishkan? It collapses. It implodes, it falls down. It falls down. כך מאה ברכות הם יסוד משכן השם שבלב האדם kach me'ah brachos hem yesod Mishkan Hashem sheb'lev ha'adam. בלבבי משכן אבנה ושכנתי בתוכם B'levavi Mishkan evneh v'shachanti b'socham. Do you know what holds you together? You're so flashy and fancy and you shine like gold, there's so many beautiful things about you, but you know what's really holding you together in your relationships and your personal life and your professional life? You know what are the אדנים adanim, what are the sockets that are holding us together? המאה ברכות והודאות שאדם מברך בכל יום ha'meah brachos v'hoda'os she'adam mevarech b'chol yom. The 100 ברכות brachos we say a day, the 100 times a day we say, Hashem, I just killed the deal. Hashem, I just sold a piece of real estate and made a killing. I just made a killing in the stock market. I just made a killer case before the judge as a lawyer. I just killed it in the operating room. That's a poor choice of words. I just, I just brought someone back to life in the operating room. I just gave an amazing drasha. I brought them back to life after I put them to sleep in the שול shul. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, so you know what keeps us level-headed? You know what holds us together? You know what makes our relationship function and work? The 100 ברכות brachos we say a day are the 100 אדנים adanim or the 100 sockets. And he says, מקובלני מהחזון איש mekubalani me'haChazon Ish. Rav Asher Weiss says he has a קבלה kabbalah from the חזון איש Chazon Ish, שיסוד ועיקר בעבודת השם she'yesod v'ikar b'avodas Hashem, what should be the emphasis and what is the core of our serving Hashem today? What is the measure of whether you're in a good place in your serving Hashem today? You know what it is? Whether you gave to the global campaign. Okay, no, not whether you gave to the global campaign. That's also true, but the חזון איש Chazon Ish was before the global campaign, otherwise he would have said that. The עיקר ikar is לברך ברכת הנהנין בכוונה l'varech birchos hanehenin b'kavanah. Imagine the great חזון איש Chazon Ish. He didn't say sit and שטייג shteig 12 hours a day and observe and adopt the latest חומרה chumra of the week. And, you know what the חזון איש Chazon Ish said? חזון איש Chazon Ish said, have כוונה for ברכת הנהנין kavanah for birchos hanehenin. When you make a שהכל shehakol, have כוונה kavanah. When you make a המוציא hamotzi, you have כוונה kavanah. When there's thunder or lightning, you acknowledge it's from God, have כוונה kavanah. When you come out of the bathroom, come out of the bathroom, רופא כל בשר ומפליא לעשות rofeh chol basar u'mafli la'asos. רופא כל בשר ומפליא לעשות rofeh chol basar u'mafli la'asos. There are people who are desperate for a רפואה שלמה refuah shleimah. People we know, young people, young people. רופא כל בשר ומפליא rofeh chol basar u'mafli, what does an אשר יצר Asher Yatzar take? How much time does it take? Nothing. My buddy Yossi Hecht who visited us in a wheelchair, he joined us part of the flying, we sang and we danced together, he and his wheelchair. We spun around and around. He started a program, אשר to the יצר Asher to the Yatzar. Some man who had a tumor on his spine and he's confined to a wheelchair, and all he wanted from Hashem was not to need to be catheterized for his lifetime. He davened and davened and davened and davened and he started a campaign to get everyone to have כוונה kavanah for the ברכה of אשר יצר bracha of Asher Yatzar in his זכות zechus. And ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, Hashem has listened so far. He should have a רפואה שלמה refuah shleimah and get out of that wheelchair and sing and dance at his wedding. But many other young, these are young people, young people. The שיר shiur this morning is also for a רפואה שלמה refuah shleimah, אסתר טילה בת אריאל Esther Tila bas Ariel, צפורה קרמי שיינה בת רייזא Tziporah Karmi Shayna bas Raizel. רופא כל בשר ומפליא לעשות rofeh chol basar u'mafli la'asos. Four words, even if you don't pay attention to the rest of אשר יצר Asher Yatzar. רופא כל בשר rofeh chol basar, Hashem, you heal all flesh. ומפליא לעשות u'mafli la'asos, and you could make miracles. You could make miracles. רופא כל בשר ומפליא לעשות rofeh chol basar u'mafli la'asos, just that כוונה אשר יצר kavanah Asher Yatzar. So the חזון איש Chazon Ish says, כוונה kavanah on these ברכות brachos, that is our עבודה avodah of today. Our mission, our mandate, our עבודה avodah today, of course it's learning, דאווענען davenen, צדקה tzedakah, and all the other things. But that's our job, that's our mission, that's our mandate. כי בכל מאה ברכות שאדם מברך בכל יום לא יפעל שחיים מאה ברכות כנגד מאה אדנים שכל המשכן והשם עומד עליהם ki b'chol me'ah brachos she'adam mevarech b'chol yom lo yipal sh'chaim me'ah brachos k'neged me'ah adanim shekol haMishkan v'Hashem omed aleihem. So the whole משכן Mishkan, the whole עבודה avodah in the משכן Mishkan, the קרבנות korbanos, and the לחם הפנים lechem hapanim, and the קטורת ketores, all the עבודה avodah of the משכן Mishkan, the עבודה of יום כיפור avodah of Yom Kippur, it all relied on these little sockets. And without the sockets the whole thing collapsed. And all of our עבודה avodah, it relies on our 100 ברכות brachos a day. Who we are and how we see ourselves and what is our mission, and what are the relationships in our lives. It's not just a cute play on words says Rav Asher, but there's a much deeper deeper connection of the אדנים adanim, just like the אדנים adanim are the core that are holding the משכן Mishkan together, so to these 100 ברכות brachos are the core that are holding our lives, that are holding our lives together. And that's what the חידושי הרי״ם Chidushei HaRim says, it's not a coincidence. It's not a coincidence that the word אדנים adanim, the אדנים adanim are the foundation of the משכן Mishkan, ברכות brachos, אדנים adanim come from the word אדון adon. אדון Adon is a master. The ברכות brachos that we testify Hashem is the master over everything. So just when I think I'm in charge, I'm in control, just when I start to blame myself and feel guilty and ashamed and stressed of what I need to get done, I make a ברכה bracha. And with each ברכה bracha I say, I once again submit and surrender to Hashem. I once again testify that he is in charge, that he is in control. So a lot more to say, we have a lot of different פסוקים psukim we learn this from also. ועתה מה השם אלקיך שואל מעמך v'atah mah Hashem Elokecha sho'el me'imach. Don't read מה mah, אלא מאה ela me'ah. What does Hashem want from us? 100 ברכות brachos a day. When דוד המלך David HaMelech experienced a pandemic in his time. דוד המלך David HaMelech experienced a pandemic in his time, that's when he introduced, instituted everybody say 100 ברכות brachos a day בכוונה b'kavanah. And Hashem removed the pandemic. If we want to finally come out of this pandemic permanently, 100 ברכות brachos a day, to have a little כוונה kavanah, it takes milliseconds, it's no time at all. Do you know how good your marriage would look if 100 times a day you said I love you, for no reason and out of nowhere? How lucky I am to be married to you, how beautiful you look, how amazing you are, thank you for everything you do. It's annoying to think the other person needs it or wants it or demands it. But you know how amazing your marriage would be if you'd volunteer it? Hashem says, volunteer 100 ברכות brachos a day to me. Not because I need it. Do you know how your life will change if you do this exercise in humility? פרק למד פסוק למד גימל Perek Mem Pasuk Mem Gimmel. Page 534. ויביאו את המשכן אל משה את האהל ואת כל כליו קרסיו קרשיו בריחו ועמדיו ואדניו Vayaviu es haMishkan el Moshe, es ha'ohel v'es kol keilav, krasav, krashav, bricho, v'amudav, v'adanav. They brought the Mishkan to Moshe, the tent, all the utensils, the hooks, the planks, the bars, the pillars, the sockets. They shlepped and they brought it all to, they brought it all to Moshe. Why'd they bring it all to Moshe? So the Midrash Tanchuma here tells the following. בחד קרא כתיב, ויקם משה את המשכן B'chad kra ksiv, vayakem Moshe es haMishkan. One pasuk says that Moshe erected the Mishkan. ובחד קרא כתיב, ויהי בחודש הראשון הוקם המשכן U'v'chad kra ksiv, vayehi bachodesh harishon hukam haMishkan. And in another pasuk it says it was the first of the month that the Mishkan stood up. So which is it? Did Moshe stand up the Mishkan, or did the Mishkan stand up on its own? So, הוקם המשכן hukam haMishkan, הוקם מאין זה, ויקם משה hukam me'ayin zeh, vayakem Moshe. The ויקם משה vayakem Moshe אין זה הוקם ein zeh hukam. Did Moshe actively do it? Or did it rise on its own? How did it happen? Says the Midrash, אלא בצלאל ואהליאב לא יכלו להעמיד המשכן ובאו אצל משה ela Betzalel v'Oholiav lo yachlu l'haamid haMishkan u'va'u etzel Moshe. So they said, everybody ready on the count of three? Let's lift it and put it together. It's like a prefab house. You ever get stuck on a highway between behind one of those prefab houses in the back of a truck? They pull up, and everybody on three, lift the walls, screw it together, you're good to go. So everybody on three, lift up the Mishkan. We have the architecture, the design, the engineering, the materials, it's built, it's designed, ready to go. Everybody on three. They couldn't get it done. They couldn't lift it up. So they bring it to Moshe. אמר משה, רבונו של עולם, מה אני יודע להעמידו? Amar Moshe, Ribbono shel Olam, mah ani yodea l'haamido? Moshe says, what do you want from me? I don't know how to lift it. I'm one-man show. אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא, עסוק בידך ואתה מראה להעמיד והוא עומד מאליו ואני כותב עליך שאתה הקמותו Amar lo HaKadosh Baruch Hu, asok b'yadecha, v'atah mareh l'haamid, v'hu omed me'eilav, v'ani kosev alecha she'atah hekimoso. Stand up and do it, and it'll stand up on its own, and I'll write that you're the one who did it. So really, it stood up on its own, but Moshe was the one who went through the motion as if he lifted, erected, as if he completed the Mishkan. So Hashem fulfilled his promise, he recorded it that Moshe completed the Mishkan, even though the Mishkan was completed on its own because Hashem orchestrated that Moshe would be there. So the Medrash says, הוקם המשכן hukam haMishkan שבאמת המשכן הוקם מאליו shebe'emes haMishkan hukam me'eilav. It stood on its own. But Moshe was זוכה zocheh that it's written as if he did it. So you have to ask yourself, why wasn't Moshe given the strength to do it? He's the manager of the whole project. Moshe Rabbeinu has the strength to take the Jewish people out of Egypt. Moshe Rabbeinu is the catalyst of ten miracles and of a splitting of the sea, of countless plagues. So why didn't Hashem just give Moshe the strength to lift it? What's with the charade? What are we going through these motions? Moshe, stand there, it'll look like you did it, but it did it on its own and I'll write that you did it. Just give him the strength to do it. ואני כותב עליך שאתה הקמותו V'ani kosev alecha she'atah hekimoso. Says the Medrash Tanchuma, I'll record it, I'll write it as if you did it. Moshe is an איש אמת ish emes. What would you expect Moshe to say? Thanks but no thanks. If I didn't do it, don't write that I did it. This won't be the first time Moshe said מחני נא מספרך m'cheini na misifrecha. Erase me from the book, don't write that. Thanks Hashem but no thanks. You know, someone offers you, Rabbi, I'm going to write down. No, no, Moshe is the איש אמת ish emes. He's the quintessential man of truth. So why doesn't he protest? Why doesn't he object? Why doesn't he say to Hashem, don't record it as if I did it if I didn't do it. So the Mashgiach Rav Leiv Lopian says, דָּבָר גָּדוֹל לָמַדְנוּ בָּזֶה Davar gadol lamadnu b'zeh. We learned something great from here. הרי על לב האמת אלו דברי התנא Harei al lev ha'emes eilu divrei hatana. The Mishna says in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos, לא עליך המלאכה לגמור lo alecha hamlacha ligmor. The Mishna says in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos, the work is not upon you to complete. We don't have to get everything done. We can't get everything done. We are mere mortals. We are finite human beings. So what's the pshat? The simple understanding of לא עליך המלאכה לגמור lo alecha hamlacha ligmor means, don't feel you have to finish everything yourself. You're not entitled to not start. You have to start, but don't feel obligated to finish. You can't do it all by yourself, don't feel obligated. You're obligated to start, but you can't finish it. But you see something more, says Rav Chatzkel Levenstein. Says the Mashgiach. He says, אין חייב בכלל לגמור ein chayav b'chlal ligmor. כל מה שמותר עליך הוא להשתדל ולעמול אבל אין יכול לגמור בעצמך kol mah shemutal alecha hu l'hishtadel v'la'amol, aval ein yachol ligmor b'atzmecha. אלא שאתה תעשה השתדלותך הקדוש ברוך הוא יגמור ככל שתאמין תחת תזכה ela she'atah ta'aseh hishtadlusecha, HaKadosh Baruch Hu yigmor, k'chol she'ta'amin tachat tizkeh. Says the Mashgiach, you understand? It's a very beautiful message. לא עליך המלאכה לגמור Lo alecha hamlacha ligmor doesn't mean, call it quits after you did a little bit. You could technically finish it, but you don't have to finish it all by yourself. You don't have to deliver or assemble the whole mishloach manos by yourself. Get a committee, do it with other people, get it started. Yeah, you could, but you don't have to. That's how we classically understand the mishna. But according to the Mashgiach what the mishna means is, not that you could but you don't have to, you need to know that you can't. You need to know there's nothing that's in our power to complete. We are mere mortals and we are finite. Hashem, we need His divine assistance. We need His divine approval. We can't finish anything on our own. So what is, what is he waiting for? For us to start. When we start, that's an expression of our emunah. When we start, we say, Hashem, I'm invested, I'm interested, I'm starting. And that's what they say in the name of Rav Yisrael Salanter. He has it here in the Yiddish, but I'm not going to embarrass myself by trying to read it in the Yiddish. I'll read it in the Hebrew. על אדם להשתדל אבל העשיה היא ביד הקדוש ברוך הוא Al adam l'hishtadel, aval ha'asiyah hi b'yad HaKadosh Baruch Hu. We have to try, but the success is in the hands of Hashem. We go through the motions, we do the exercise, but Hashem is the one who makes it happen. אם השם לא יבנה בית, שווא עמלו בוניו בו Im Hashem lo yivneh bayis, shav amlu bonav bo. לאדם מערכי לב ומהשם מענה לשון L'adam ma'archei lev u'meHashem ma'aneh lashon. We have all these מאמרי חז״ל ma'amarei Chazal. אדם יכול להכין את הלב ואת מחשבות, אבל מהשם מענה לשון Adam yachol l'hachin es ha'lev v'es ha'machshavos, aval me'Hashem ma'aneh lashon. Hashem is the one who brings it to reality. So you have to offer a tefillah. You're going into the operating room, you're going into the board room, you're going into whatever room, you're going into the gym, you're going into the shul, we going into whatever room of life, activity of life, Hashem, I'm your שליח shliach, I'm your agent. I'm going to go through the motions. But לא עליך המלאכה לגמור lo alecha hamlacha ligmor, I can't do this on my own. I need your assistance. I need your partnership. I need you by my side. It can't and it won't happen without you. It can't and it won't happen without you. So that's the message that Hashem says to Moshe, I'll write it as if you did it, not because that's not a not true. What's the Mashgiach explaining? When I recorded that you did it, did Moshe do it or not? The answer is he did do it because he tried. When we start, and when we intend, and when we try, even though we can't complete it, it is connected and associated with us because our intention and our motivation and our attitude and our heartfelt sincere approach, it is eternally connected to us. ויקם משה Vayakem Moshe, a couple more quick thoughts. פרק מם פסוק יוד חס Perek Mem Pasuk Yud Ches. We'll give a little bonus partial perspectives for global week. Stay with us a couple more minutes. פרק מם פסוק יוד חס Perek Mem Pasuk Yud Ches. Page 538. ויהי בחודש הראשון בשנה השנית באחד לחודש הוקם המשכן Vayehi bachodesh harishon bashanah hasheinis b'echad lachodesh hukam haMishkan. It was the first of the month, second year, and the Mishkan was lifted. ויקם משה את המשכן ויתן את אדניו וישם את קרשיו ויתן את בריחיו ויקם את עמדיו Vayakem Moshe es haMishkan v'yiten es adanav v'yasem es krashav v'yiten es brichav v'yakem es amudav. Right? We're just reading again what we just said, he brought the Aron. Sorry. Pasuk Yud Ches. Yeah, Moshe stood it up and he brought the sockets and the krashav, the brichav, and the adanav. He brought everything, he brought everything in. I saw on this new sefer of Rav Reuven Feinstein, shlita, he says the following. So the following. Moshe put up the Mishkan, the Adonim, the krashim, he inserted the brichim, he erected the pillars. He spread the covering over the Mishkan, the next pasuk. ויפרוש vayifrosh, ויפרוש את האהל על המשכן vayifrosh es ha'ohel al haMishkan. He put the covering over the Mishkan, וישם את מכסה האהל עליו מלמעלה v'yasem es michseh ha'ohel alav milmala. He put the cover of the ohel on top of it, כאשר ציוה ה׳ את משה ka'asher tziva Hashem es Moshe. The Sforno here comments, if you look at the Sforno inside, the Sforno here comments, says את היריעות שנקראו משכן הוקמו קודם הקמת הקרשים es ha'yerios shenikre'u Mishkan hukmu kodem hakamas hakrashim. He put the covering before the walls. He put the roof, or the roof if you're from the Midwest, before he put the walls. אם בדרך אדם מחזיקין בו או בדרך נס Im b'derech adam machzikin bo o b'derech nes. Says the Sforno, I'm not sure what's going on over here. Maybe there's a miracle that took place. But it was in a most unusual fashion. Nobody builds a house this way. It would never pass inspection or code. From the psukim it sounds like the Mishkan was put up first, and only afterwards the walls were put in place. First put the covering, first put the roof, and then the walls, and then the walls. So what's going on over here? What's going on? So, Rav Reuven Feinstein says, it emerges the first thing Moshe did was to put up the innermost covering of the Mishkan, and then he put up the structure that would hold it up. Until the beams were erected, the cover was held in place by either people, says the Sforno, or by a nes, a miracle. The sequence is now clear, but we have to ask why, why was it done this way? The answer is writes Rav Reuven is, Moshe put up the ceiling first to teach us in order to grow, you need to have a goal in mind. It's not enough to merely begin to build ourselves from the ground and see where we can reach. If one approaches his avodah this way, he'll inevitably fall short of your potential. He will reason he will be trying as hard as he can, and he'll be satisfied with less than his true ability. You have to start off with a specific and careful plan, goal in mind, and that will allow us to maximize our potential. So says Rav Reuven, first the ceiling, then the walls. You know why? You got to mark your calendar with the next siyum haShas and then begin the Daf Yomi. You mark your calendar with the siyum of the Mishnayomi, and now you start the Mishnayomi. You mark your calendar with the date you want to weigh in, being healthy and well and meeting your target goal, and now you can begin your exercise routine. You have to set a goal. You have to have a ceiling, and now you'll build your walls to get to it. But if you just start walls and you say, let's see how high I can go, let's see how far we'll get, you're not going to get so far because you'll feel good about the little built, the little wall you put up, and you'll not get nearly as far as, not far as you could. So first you have to set a goal and then you can begin to pursue it. That is the insight of Rav Reuven based on the, based on the Sforno. Based on the Sforno. But I saw another insight, by Rav Chaim Shaul Kaufman, who was the Rosh Yeshiva of Tiferes Yaakov in Gateshead. He's quoted in the sefer, L'Sadei Eilon. And he says, bear with me a couple more minutes, we're going to finish up. He says the following. נרמז בכך שביציאת מצרים כבר הושראה שכינה על ישראל Nirmas b'chach she'b'yetzias Mitzrayim kvar hushra'ah Shechinah al Yisrael. וזה מרומז באותו סדר של היריעות שהם עיקר המשכן V'zeh merumas b'oso seder shel ha'yerios she'hem ikar haMishkan. וכל העבודה כל הפעולות שלנו לאבר לקבוע את השכינה בינינו ולהעמיד הקרשים והבנין חזק V'chol ha'avodah, kol ha'peulos shelanu l'aver l'kavoa es haShechinah beineinu, u'l'haamid ha'krashim v'habinyan chazak. You know why the ceiling went up before the walls? Because it was a message. The ceiling is always there. Hashem's Shechinah, it's always there. The countenance, the covering, the shade of Hashem, it's always there. We have to put up the walls because we have to put up a place for him to reside. So Hashem is in our life all the time, but now we've got to lead a life and build a home where he will reside. So it was built in this unusual order. sort of out of order in order to communicate the reality, which is that Hashem is always here and now we have to put it over our head, over our head. We'll finish up with one last פסוק pasuk. פרק מ' פסוק ל\"ד Perek Mem, Pasuk Lamed Daled.ויכס הענן על אהל מועד Vayechas ha'anan al ohel moed, and with this we're finishing not only פרשת פקודי Parshas Pekudei but ספר שמות Sefer Shmos. Don't leave, you want to stay for the חזק chazak. Big, big finish in a moment. ויכס הענן את אהל מועד וכבוד השם מלא את המשכן Vayechas ha'anan es ohel moed u'chvod Hashem malei es haMishkan. The cloud covered the tent and the glory of Hashem filled the tent. משה Moshe couldn't enter. ולא יכל משה לבוא אל אהל מועד כי שכן עליו הענן V'lo yachol Moshe lavo el ohel moed ki shachan alav ha'anan. משה Moshe couldn't enter because the cloud was over it. So a little throwback to our friend רב דרוק Rav Druck, his אש תמיד Eish Tamid. We didn't get this in last year, so we saved it for this year. And he says the following. He quotes the מדרש Medrash. אמר רבי חנינא בר חנינא, וכי על דעתך שהיה משה מזדער מן הענן Amar Rabi Chanina bar Chanina, v'chi al da'atecha she'haya Moshe mizda'er min ha'anan? What's going on over here? Says משה Moshe couldn't go in. Couldn't go in? He dedicated his life for this moment. He ran the capital campaign, 17 and a half million dollars, they built the building. This is the inauguration ceremony. He wants to go in and there's a cloud covering the entrance and משה Moshe hesitates. משה Moshe doesn't go in. Says the מדרש Medrash, you think משה Moshe was afraid to go in? הרי כבר נאמר ויבא משה בתוך הענן Harei k'var ne'emar vayavo Moshe b'soch ha'anan. אלא מלמד שהיה הענן נבקע לו והיה מהלך בתוכה כאדם מהלך בשביל Ela melamed she'haya ha'anan nivka lo v'haya mehalech b'socha k'adam mehalech b'shvil. מה ולא יכל? מלמד שחלק כבוד לשכינה ולא נכנס עד שקרא לו הקדוש ברוך הוא Mah v'lo yachol? Melamed she'chalak kavod la'Shchinah v'lo nichnas ad she'kara lo haKadosh Baruch Hu. He did go in, but it was cloudy, it was foggy. He had to be led and accompanied by השם Hashem. So why does it say he didn't go in? Because he didn't go in until he was granted permission by השם Hashem, until השם Hashem invited him in. So you have to ask, why does the פסוק pasuk say ולא יכל משה לבוא lo yachol Moshe lavo? How do you understand the מדרש Medrash? What is ולא יכל v'lo yachol? We're saying that he could come in and he just waited for השם Hashem. So what do you mean ולא יכל v'lo yachol? What do you mean? So you see, חלק כבוד לשכינה chiluk kavod la'Shchinah. משה Moshe gave honor to השם Hashem. That's called ולא יכל lo yachol. If something will be a source of honor to השם Hashem, to not do it that way for משה Moshe was ולא יכל lo yachol. The other way was not an option, was not an option. You ever, nobody's going to admit it, but I will. You ever in bed and about to fall asleep and you realize you didn't דאווען מעריב daven Maariv? It's miserable. This happens on days that you fly back and your flight was delayed 17 times and you crawl into bed at 3:00 in the morning when you finally made it home and you're a pile of mush and you've got nothing left and you're finally closing your eyes and you're exhausted and you realize, I didn't דאווען מעריב daven Maariv. And now you got to get out of bed. And what will that מעריב Maariv look like? And the first question about what that מעריב Maariv will look like is, you're in your pajamas and let's not now imagine, the imagining could stop right now. What what a person sleeps in, whatever that state is. Is that how you דאווען מעריב daven Maariv? Or do you say I got to get dressed? I'm about to sit and talk to my my creator. No matter what time it is, no matter how exhausted I am, דאווענען מעריב davening Maariv. So for the משה רבינו'ס Moshe Rabbeinus of the world, ולא יכל v'lo yachol. It's not that he had to dig deep and find the energy and strength and get dressed to דאווען daven that מעריב Maariv at 3 a.m. ולא יכל Lo yachol, he he just was incapable of דאווענען מעריב davening Maariv without getting dressed. How could you say שמונה עשרה Shemoneh Esrei, עמידה Amidah without getting dressed? Many of us would make excuses. 3 a.m. What do you want from me השם Hashem? Sure it's like I found some slippers and this won't be my best מעריב Maariv, but it's better than nothing. For a משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu, ולא יכל v'lo yachol. ולא יכל Lo yachol. There was no other option, there was no other choice, there was no other way. There was no other way.They say about רב משה פיינשטיין Rav Moshe Feinstein that someone called him for an important conversation by the telephone, but there was someone in the middle of דאווענען davening in the path that משה Moshe was walking to go, רב משה Rav Moshe was walking to go have that conversation. So רב משה Rav Moshe stood still. So they asked him, מדוע לא עבר? הלא זה ענין דחוף מאוד madua lo avar? Halo zeh inyan dachuf me'od, why didn't you go? So רב משה Rav Moshe said, what do you mean? There's a wall. I can't walk through the wall. For רב משה Rav Moshe, someone standing דאווענען davening was like a wall. You can't walk through a wall. For us these things are negotiable and debatable and we can rationalize and we can excuse. For צדיקים Tzadikim, ולא יכל lo yachol. For משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu, ולא יכל lo yachol. He couldn't walk in without השם Hashem saying come in. He could physically walk in, could physically do it. The fact that השם Hashem didn't let him, ולא יכל lo yachol. He couldn't walk in. Later in ספר דברים Sefer Devarim it says כי עז גבול בני עמון ki az gvul bnei Amon. They couldn't, they couldn't traverse, they couldn't penetrate into the border of עמון Amon. רש\"י Rashi says, what do you mean עז גבול בני עמון az gvul bnei Amon? The border of עמון Amon was strong? So רש\"י Rashi in ספר דברים Sefer Devarim says, no, you know why it's כי עז גבול בני עמון ki az gvul bnei Amon? Because השם Hashem said don't go into עמון Amon. So therefore there was a strong border. There was a wall. If השם Hashem says you can't go, it's not well I'm trying so hard to listen and not go. Our goal is to get to a point of life that ולא יכל v'lo yachol. So that's first number one רב דרוק Rav Druck. Number two. It says ויבא משה בתוך הענן vayavo Moshe b'soch ha'anan. So which is it? ולא יכל lo yachol or ויבא vayavo? מלמד שתפסו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה בבלאביו והביאו Melamed she'tafso haKadosh Baruch Hu l'Moshe b'lavlavav v'hevio. It says that הקדוש ברוך הוא haKadosh Baruch Hu grabbed משה Moshe by the lapel and געשלעפט schlepped and dragged him in. He hesitated. So understand on הר סיני Har Sinai, משה Moshe walked right in. And now the אוהל מועד Ohel Moed, השם Hashem has to drag him in. Why? Which one was holier? I would think that there would be more of a barrier to הר סיני Har Sinai than there would be to the אוהל מועד Ohel Moed. Says רב דרוק Rav Druck, no. Why? הר סיני Har Sinai is all top down, that's all השם Hashem. It's less holy. אוהל מועד Ohel Moed is all the Jewish people donating and dedicating and building and sacrificing and compromising and giving, like to the global campaign, BRSonline.org/global. So therefore that takes more. You invest, you give a piece of yourself, you're giving, you're doing. Therefore it's holier, it's higher. What comes easily to you, what's spoonfed to you, being invited on top of the mountain, you could walk right in. But what you invested, what you earned, what you compromised, what you sacrificed, what's hard, that that already you need to be invited and השם Hashem had to grab him. And lastly, רב נחמן מברסלב Rav Nachman of Breslov. You didn't think you were going home today without a רב נחמן Rav Nachman. The הייליגע ברסלבר heilige Breslover, רב נחמן מברסלב Rav Nachman of Breslov says, ויכס הענן vayechas ha'anan. The אוהל מועד Ohel Moed is the goal, is the pinnacle, is the peak, an audience with השם Hashem, the שכינה Shechinah, his being our שכן shachein is the purpose of it all. So why would there be a cloud? Why would there be a covering? Why would השם Hashem want to make it difficult? Why would he make it difficult? So רב נחמן Rav Nachman says in ליקוטי מוהר\"ן חלק א סימן קט\"ו Likutey Moharan Chelek Aleph, Siman Kuf Tes Vav, he says because the things that we care about, the things that matter most, you have to fight through and walk through that cloud. Sometimes they feel like they're covered, they're inaccessible. Sometimes they're hard to find. Sometimes you think you're walking through a fog in order to get there. Speak to people in dating and the path it took until they knew that was the one. People for fertility who desperately are trying to bring a child into this world and the effort that they have to take. Talk to the בעל תשובה baal teshuva or the person who's struggling spiritually to navigate their way towards a meaningful relationship with השם Hashem. Sometimes it feels like there's a cloud that's covering the destination, the goal. We have to work. We saw a great צדיק Tzadik in one week on our flight and you should watch our summary video if you get a chance. But one of the themes that permeated everyone we met with, לפום צערא אגרא l'fum tzara agra. No pain, no gain. That the effort, the reward is proportional to the effort it takes. Are you willing? You know, if there's no cloud covering it, then it's not a big deal to experience it. But if you got to get through the cloud, ויכס הענן על אהל מועד וכבוד השם מלא את המשכן Vayechas ha'anan al ohel moed u'chvod Hashem malei es ha'Mishkan. So this is what רב נחמן Rav Nachman said. And this we close. השם נגלה במשכן דוקא בתוך ענן של הסתר Hashem niglah ba'Mishkan davka b'soch anan shel hester. ולא יכל משה לבוא אל המועד כי שכן עליו הענן V'lo yachol Moshe lavo el ha'moed ki shachan alav ha'anan. יש עיכובים שאינם מאפשרים להתקרב. אבל באמת, כבוד השם מלא את המשכן Yesh ikuvim she'einam me'afsherim l'hitkarev. Aval b'emet, k'vod Hashem malei es ha'Mishkan. השם הוא זה שנמצא במניעות הללו Hashem hu zeh she'nimtza ba'menios halalu. When it feels like there's a barrier, when it feels like there's a blockage, when it feels like there's something preventing us from breaking it through to that result, to that success, to that triumph that we want, it's השם Hashem in the barrier. השם Hashem is in the blockage. השם Hashem, וכבוד השם מלא את המשכן, ולא יכל משה לבוא אל המועד u'chvod Hashem malei es ha'Mishkan, v'lo yachol Moshe lavo el ha'moed. They're both true simultaneously. השם Hashem is blocking us, but השם Hashem is also inviting us. We have to fight through, we have to overcome, we have to take his hand and be able to get through and navigate through and over and under and around to be able to get to the other side of the success or whatever we're looking for in our life. And with that, חזק חזק ונתחזק chazak chazak v'nischazek, we finish ספר שמות Sefer Shmos. חזק חזק Chazak chazak. We should be strengthened. I'll tell you the closing thought. 20 more seconds. My buddy רב יחיאל ספירו Rav Yechiel Spiro, I sent him the video of our flight and mission and he called me and he said the following ווארט vort. Touched by a story, I was touched by his דבר תורה dvar Torah. רב יחיאל ספירו Rav Yechiel Spiro. חזק חזק ונתחזק Chazak chazak v'nischazek. Says the קדושת ציון Kedushas Tzion, the previous באבובער רבי Bobover Rebbe, the father of the previous באבובער רבי Bobover Rebbe, says the קדושת ציון Kedushas Tzion, you know, most commodities in life, when you give away, you have less. If I give you money, I have less. If I give you time, I have less. He says, but when it comes to תורה Torah, עבודת השם avodas Hashem, חזק חזק chazak chazak, the more חזוק chizuk I give you, ונתחזק v'nischazek. When I give you חזוק chizuk, I don't have less strength. When I give you strength, I have more strength. חזק חזק ונתחזק Chazak chazak v'nischazek. We should all be strengthened. BRSonline.org/global. If you enjoyed it, even if you didn't enjoy the שיעור shiur, you should give because you were here and there was coffee. So please take a moment before you pull out tonight from the parking lot.
