Transcript
Okay, good morning. בוקר טוב Boker tov. Welcome back to פרשה Parsha Perspectives for today. As always we thank our generous sponsors, Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנש leilui nishmas Dovid ben Menachem Manish. This morning's שיעור shiur is also sponsored by Judith Rosen, Judy Rosen in memory of Rabbi Marvin Rosen, אלימלך ברוך בן בן ציון Elimelech Baruch ben Bentzion, whom I remember very well. His נשמה neshama should have an עליה aliyah. Also dedicated by Carol Lorman to Rabbi Goldberg for his enthusiasm, wit, genuine love for השם Hashem, good looks, charm. No, I'm kidding. She didn't say that, that's just I assume it was meant as well, so I put that in. Thank you so much, that's very generous and kind. And by Karen Strulowitz in memory of Ira Lulinski, whose יארצייט yahrzeit was the 14th of שבט Shevat. Thank you so much to all of our generous sponsors. Of course our learning is always for חיה אסתר תהילה בת אריאלה צפורה Chaya Esther Tehila bas Ariella Tzipora, that השם Hashem should show her love and kindness and her parents tremendous strength.פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro, page 394. We are now transitioning from the Jewish people as a slave nation, Jewish people who are subjugated, oppressed, and persecuted in the hands of others, פרעה Paro and the מצרים Mitzrim, and now they are beginning to forge their own destiny. They have now been taken out. בשלח פרעה Be'shalach Paro, פרעה Paro sent them, השם Hashem took them, but now they're out, they're out of מצרים Mitzrayim, they're starting to take מצרים Mitzrayim out of them. And that is a big part of the rest of ספר שמות Sefer Shemos. They are geographically out of מצרים Mitzrayim, but how does השם Hashem take מצרים Mitzrayim out of them? An assimilated people, a cultured people, a people whose values are still influenced by their Egyptian hosts whom they had spent centuries with, and it can mold and shape them in so many ways. How do they get away? So we begin פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro. וישמע יתרו כהן מדין חתן משה את כל אשר עשה אלקים למשה Vayishma Yisro kohen Midyan chosen Moshe es kol asher asa Elokim l'Moshe. This is a פרשה parsha named for a non-Jew. But he's not an ordinary non-Jew, יתרו Yisro was an exceptional individual. Someone who had studied comparative religion, who had experimented with every form of relationship or connection to God, a God, and he came to the correct conclusion. He was the first what we call Jew by choice. He made the choice. He wasn't born into it, he wasn't forced into it. He was made the choice to join it. And in that way, he becomes the eyes and ears of the Jewish people. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu begs him to stay later in the Torah. Don't go. Don't go. You represent such a refreshing perspective. You chose this. You weren't obligated, you weren't forced, you weren't coerced, you weren't born into it. You chose it. And we need to keep you around, we need to have you around. יתרו Yisro excels at this character trait that is the very opening word of our פרשה parsha. We're not going to delve into it today. We have discussed it at length in the past and you can find it online. But his main character trait, what is it that predisposes him to ultimately land and be in that place of wanting to join the Jewish people? וישמע יתרו Vayishma Yisro. יתרו Yisro excels at something which is an increasingly lost art in our time, and that is, he's an exceptional listener. He's an active listener, not a passive listener. He knows how to listen, he knows how to hear. And because he listens and he hears, he hears things beneath the surface. He doesn't just read the same headlines as everyone else, but he understands the depth of what's going on. And it moves him. It moves him quite literally. It moves him to move to join the Jewish people. That's the opening Rashi. מה שמועה שמע ובא Ma shmuah shama u'va. Because the פסוק pasuk itself tells us what יתרו Yisro heard, את כל אשר עשה אלקים למשה ולישראל עמו es kol asher asa Elokim l'Moshe ul'Yisrael amo, all that God had done for Moshe and the Jewish people. כי הוציא ה' את ישראל ממצרים ki hotzi Hashem es Yisrael mi'Mitzrayim, that God took the Jewish people out of Egypt. So what do you mean מה שמועה שמע ובא ma shmuah shama u'va? What's Rashi's question, what did he hear that made him come? The text itself gives us the answer. Why would Rashi leave it as an open question? The commentators point out, Rashi was not bothered by מה שמועה שמע Ma shmuah shama, what did he hear? Everyone heard. Everywhere in the world they heard. It was the headline, it was the front page, it was the cover story. It was the banner, it was everything. Everyone heard. What was the difference between יתרו Yisro and everyone else? Everyone else sipped their coffee, ate their cereal and turned the page of the newspaper. מה שמועה שמע ma shmuah shama, but יתרו Yisro heard ובא u'va. And he got up and he said, wow, there is something extraordinary happening. There's something special happening. And there's a big debate, what did he hear? Was it the splitting of the sea, was it the giving of the Torah, was it the war with עמלק Amalek? What did he hear? But he heard something that made him say, there's something unusual going on, I need to join this people, I need a closer look, I need to see what's really happening. There's something bigger than me and us and here and now, and I want to be part of it. I want to understand it, I want to experience it, I want a front row seat to it, and he gets up and he goes, מה שמועה שמע ובא ma shmuah shama u'va. One of the big lessons of פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro is not to be a spectator in life. Not to watch and understand and inculcate superficially, but to plumb the depths, to analyze and evaluate, to seek to really listen, to understand and to be moved to change, to grow, to transform as a result. Not to be static or stagnant, and not to read the newspaper or the news as an outsider. Massive earthquakes in Turkey, more than 5,000 people killed, horrific tragedy. What does that mean? What is its message? What are we meant to do? How are we meant to react? When something significant happens, it should, it should shake us. And that's why יתרו Yisro maybe appears before מתן תורה Matan Torah, even if chronologically he only arrived after, because one of the 48 ways the Torah is acquired is שמיעת האוזן shmias ha'ozen, the capacity to listen. If you only listen superficially, if you come to the פרשה שיעור parsha shiur, and you're planning your phone in the meantime, you tune out in the meantime, you take a nap in the middle of it in the meantime, then you're going to come out and the messages, they're not mine, but the messages of our sacred Torah and our great teachings, they're not going to move you or shake you. They're not going to improve you or repair you. They're not going to redeem you. But if like יתרו Yisro, we excel and we grow in שמיעת האוזן shmias ha'ozen, that's one of the 48 ways Torah is acquired, to be a good listener. You have to listen. Listen to the messages, listen to the people speaking, listen to the way the world and nature is speaking. השם Hashem through all of that is speaking to us literally. And that's what we're not speaking about of פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro at the very beginning. So where are we starting? פרק י\"ח, פסוק ז' Perek Yud Ches, pasuk zayin. So יתרו Yisro is moved, he comes, he arrives with צפורה Tzipora and their two sons, גרשם Gershom and אליעזר Eliezer. Only now are we given their names. ויבא יתרו חתן משה ובניו ואשתו אל משה אל המדבר אשר הוא חנה שם הר האלקים Vayavo Yisro chosen Moshe u'vanav v'ishto el Moshe el ha'midbar asher hu chone sham har ha'Elokim. ויאמר אל משה, אני חתנך יתרו בא אליך Vayomer el Moshe, ani chosenecha Yisro ba eilecha. He says tell Moshe, I, יתרו Yisro, your father-in-law, am coming, prepare. ואשתך ושני בניה עמה v'ishtecha u'shnei vaneha imah, and your wife and my two and your two sons, they're with me. ויצא משה לקראת חתנו וישתחו וישק לו וישאלו איש לרעהו לשלום, ויבאו האהלה Vayetze Moshe likras chosno vayishtachu vayishak lo vayishalu ish l're'eihu l'shalom, vayavo'u ha'ohela. Moshe goes out to greet his father-in-law. He bows down, he kisses him, they exchange greetings. ויבאו האהלה Vayavo'u ha'ohela, and they come to the tent. ויספר משה לחתנו Vayisaper Moshe l'chosno. And now Moshe begins to tell him, you're not going to believe what's been since I last saw you, you won't believe what's been happening. I have to fill you in. אוצר פלוס לתורה Otzar Plus L'Torah. Let's start off right away with an אוצר פלוס לתורה Otzar Plus L'Torah. The מדרש שמות רבה Midrash Shemos Rabbah: שלא רק משה יצא לקראת חתנו, אלא אף אהרן, נדב ואביהוא, ושבעים זקני ישראל יצאו לקבל פניו Shelo rak Moshe yatza likras chosno, ela af Aharon, Nadav v'Avihu, v'shivim ziknei Yisrael yatzu l'kabel panav. Wow, what an entourage. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu doesn't go to greet him all alone. Moshe doesn't say to the חברה chevra, I'll be back in a minute, I got to go pick up my שווער shver from the airport. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu takes an enormous entourage. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu brings a huge group with him to be able to go and to greet his father-in-law. אהרן, נדב, אביהוא Aharon, Nadav, Avihu, the 70 elders. ויש אומרים שאף הארון יצא עמהם V'yesh omrim she'af ha'aron yatza imahem. Some say the ארון aron itself went with them. The Midrash says, יש אומרים אף הארון לקח, נאמר: כבוד חכמים ינחלו Yesh omrim af ha'aron lakach, ne'emar: kevod chachamim yinchalu. A פסוק pasuk in משלי Mishlei. So the Midrash says not only did all of these people, not only was it a major greeting, להבדיל l'havdil, the diplomatic mission lands, there's the red carpet, there are the trumpets, and there are the corresponding diplomats on the other side, all the layers of the administration. They say okay, you landed, we'll meet at the palace, we'll meet at the White House, we'll meet at the residence, we'll meet, what's the whole pomp and circumstance of the greeting, of the meeting? What's that really all about? Because that shows honor, there's an honor guard, it's honor, it's dignity. So Moshe goes out, doesn't go out alone, he brings a big group with him, maybe even the ארון Aron, maybe even the ארון aron. What do you mean the ארון aron? What ארון aron? When did he come, before or after? The ארון aron, maybe יש אומרים yesh omrim. The ספר אוצר יד חיים sefer Otzar Yad Chaim. So אוצר פלוס לתורה Otzar Plus L'Torah. The example I never heard of it, a ספר sefer called אוצר יד חיים Otzar Yad Chaim, written by יששכר דב Yissachar Dov, אב בית דין av beis din somewhere. And he says, מותר להוציא ספר תורה לקבל פני כומר גוי Muttar l'hotzi sefer Torah l'kabel pnei komer goy. Are you allowed to remove the Torah in order to greet a non-Jewish priest? אוצר פלוס לתורה Otzar Plus L'Torah. חסידישע יידן Chasidishe yidden in Boro Park. This is not Efraim Goldberg, nobody has to call all the controversy back. This is not me. This is אוצר פלוס לתורה Otzar Plus L'Torah who says, what do you see from here? At the time that יתרו Yisro arrived, he wasn't a גר צדק ger tzedek. When יתרו Yisro first came, he wasn't a righteous convert. When יתרו Yisro first came, his beard and פאות pe'os hadn't grown in yet. He wasn't wearing a יאמעקע yamaka yet. When יתרו Yisro first arrived, he is a כהן kohen of מדין Midyan who had experimented with every religion in the world. And yet such dignity, such honor is bestowed upon him, maybe even the ארון aron going out. And what do you see from here says the אוצר יד חיים Otzar Yad Chaim? You see מותר להוציא ספר תורה לקבל פני כומר גוי Muttar l'hotzi sefer Torah l'kabel pnei komer goy, שהיש דעות הסוברות שיתרו התגייר רק לאחר מכן she'ha'yesh de'os ha'sovreh she'Yisro hisgayer rak l'achar mi'kein. אם כן כשהוציאו הארון לקראתו, עדיין גוי וכומר im kein k'she'hotzi'u ha'aron likras, adayin goy v'komer. Not only was he non-Jewish, at the time he was a priest and they brought the, you could bring the Torah out of the ארון aron in order to go greet, in order to make a parade, in order to welcome. From ספר החינוך Sefer HaChinuch, חינוך Chinuch we've all heard of, ספר החינוך Sefer HaChinuch, שראוי להוציא ספר תורה לקבל פני מלכי אומות העולם she'ro'ui l'hotzi sefer Torah l'kabel pnei malchei umos ha'olam. The president's visiting. If a non-Jewish great world dignitary or leader is visiting, you could take the Torah out of the ארון aron in order to be able to emphasize how significant, how important, how big a moment it is. חינוך Chinuch writes. In פתחי תשובה Pischei Teshuvah in שולחן ערוך יורה דעה Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah, רס\"ו-רפ\"ב Reish Samech Vav Reish Peh Beis. So פתחי תשובה Pischei Teshuvah in שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch itself, beginning of רפ\"ב Reish Peh Beis, quotes this להלכה l'halacha, you could take the Torah out of the ארון aron in order to welcome a non-Jewish leader, non-Jewish dignitary, even a priest. A שול shul could host a priest and bring the Torah out to show honor if they're coming to advance and support the Jewish interest. Enough said. I don't need to go any further there.פרק י\"ח, פסוק י' Perek Yud Ches pasuk yud. Those who know, know. Those who don't know, God bless you, you're lucky. ויאמר יתרו Vayomer Yisro. פרק Perek, פסוק pasuk י' yud, פסוק pasuk 10. ויאמר יתרו, ברוך ה' אשר הציל אתכם מיד מצרים ומיד פרעה אשר הציל את העם מתחת יד מצרים Vayomer Yisro, Baruch Hashem asher hitzil eschem mi'yad Mitzrayim u'mi'yad Paro asher hitzil es ha'am mitachas yad Mitzrayim. Comes along יתרו Yisro and he says, wow, ברוך ה' Baruch Hashem. יתרו Yisro doesn't just join the people, the Jewish people, he joins a girl's seminary in the Jewish people. ברוך ה' Baruch Hashem, ירצה ה' Yirtze Hashem, חסדי ה' Chasdei Hashem. All of a sudden יתרו Yisro is talking like a Jew. A minute ago he was the non-Jewish priest who we were taking the Torah out for him, and now he's offering a huge ברוך ה' Baruch Hashem. What do you see from this ברוך ה' Baruch Hashem? The גמרא סנהדרין צ\"ד Gemara Sanhedrin Tzadi Daled. גנאי הוא למשה ולשישים רבוא שלא אמרו ברוך ה' עד שבא יתרו ואמר ברוך ה' Gnai hu l'Moshe v'l'shishim ribo she'lo amru Baruch Hashem ad she'ba Yisro v'amar Baruch Hashem. Wow, what a disgrace for the Jewish people that all 600,000, which really translated to two to three million people, משה Moshe and אהרן Aharon, the שבעים זקנים shivim zekeinim, nobody had said ברוך ה' Baruch Hashem until יתרו Yisro, this non-Jew arrives, shows up on the scene, finds out what happened, hears the stories of the miracles and says, wow, ברוך ה' Baruch Hashem.But מפרשים mefarshim ask, what do you mean nobody, not משה Moshe, not אהרן Aharon, not the שבעים זקנים shivim zekeinim? What do you mean no one of the two to three million people said ברוך ה' Baruch Hashem? What did we just read last week? What did we just sing in last week's פרשה parsha? We sang the שירה shira. אז ישיר משה Az Yashir Moshe. מרים Miriam and the women, they danced, they played their instruments. The men, they sang the אז ישיר Az Yashir. What do you mean no one said ברוך ה' Baruch Hashem until יתרו Yisro came? Didn't they all say the שירה shira? Didn't they all say the שירה shira? So my good friend Rabbi Mirzoff shared with me an incredible תפארת שלמה Tiferes Shlomo. Incredible תפארת שלמה Tiferes Shlomo of שלמה מרדומסק Shlomo Radomsk. He says the following. This is an amazing idea. It was worth coming just for this idea. It's worth knowing Mirzoff just for this idea. המתפלל בעבור חבירו, והשמח בטובת חבירו, חשוב בשמים פי כמה מהמתפלל בעבור עצמו והמודה על טובת עצמו Hamispallel b'avur chaveiro, v'hasame'ach b'tovas chaveiro, chashuv b'shamayim pi kama me'hamispallel b'avur atzmo v'hamodeh al tovas atzmo. You know what יתרו Yisro introduced that nobody had done until then? It's true the Jewish people sang שירה shira. It's true there were those who came before יתרו Yisro who said, ברוך ה' Baruch Hashem, thank you השם Hashem. But until now everyone said thank you השם Hashem, you know why they said thank you השם Hashem? You know what moved them and motivated to say thank you השם Hashem? You know for whom they were saying thank you השם Hashem? For themselves. I made a miracle. I worked out. I got good news. The results came in and everything is benign, everything's good, everyone's healthy. Thank you השם Hashem. Everyone sang it, thank you השם Hashem for me. My child, my grandchild, thank you my פרנסה parnasa, my health, my fertility, my שידוך shidduch, my family שמחה simcha. Who was the first who said, thank you השם Hashem for what you did for him? יתרו Yisro was the first who showed up, says I I was watching from home. I don't know if he watched Fox News or CNN or MSNBC. I don't know, I'm not going to say. I don't know which one he watched. But he said I saw the news. Says everyone else, that's nice for them. Good for the Jews. They got away again. Good for the Jews, it worked out again for them. יתרו Yisro doesn't say that. He says, ברוך ה' Baruch Hashem, you did something amazing for someone else. ברוך ה' Baruch Hashem. The צדיקים Tzaddikim, righteous people, the relationship with השם Hashem, both when they beg and they plead and they דאווען daven and when they say thank you, does not come from a place of for me. It comes from, השם Hashem you're amazing. And when I see you being amazing, whether it's for me or whether it's for someone else, I say thank you השם Hashem, no matter what. יתרו Yisro was the first to introduce that.וזהו בחינת הארבע שבין ישראל שכל ישראל ערבים זה בזה V'zehu bchinas ha'areivus she'bein Yisrael she'kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh. כמו הארבע שמחיה את עצמו לשלם תחת חבירו k'mo ha'areiv she'mechayev es atzmo l'shalem tachas chaveiro. The Jewish people we know ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר Vayichan sham Yisrael neged hahar, this is the פרשה parsha of אחדות achdus. We're going to see it in a few ways today. One of which is the most famous, it's in the logo of the great Boca Raton Synagogue. ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר Vayichan sham Yisrael neged hahar, כאיש אחד בלב אחד k'ish echad b'lev echad. It describes the Jewish people in the singular. They encamped, ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר Vayichan sham Yisrael neged hahar. They, but not they in the plural, they in the singular, encamped opposite the mountain, because we were like one people with one heart. Eight מנינים minyanim on a שבת Shabbos morning. This נוסח nusach, that נוסח nusach, the other thing, this יאמעקע yamaka, that hair covering, no hair covering, driving here, פרום frum from birth, all different types of Jews, but כאיש אחד בלב אחד k'ish echad b'lev echad. Maybe you see differences, we only see similarities. We're part of one big happy family. Maybe brothers or sisters emerge to be different, different lives, different lifestyles, different השקפות hashkafas, but all we see is that we're brothers and sisters. All we see is that we're united as one family, all we have is our אחדות achdus. So that was a prerequisite to קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah. Before השם Hashem could give the Torah, he had to see us be one, live as one, feel as one. We had to be one, we had to function as one. That's why what's the ברכת התורה birchas haTorah? What's the order of the ברכת התורה birchas haTorah? אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים Asher bachar banu mikol ha'amim, ונתן לנו את תורתו v'nasan lanu es Toraso. First be a people. אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים Asher bachar banu mikol ha'amim, be a people, be a family, love one another, and then I'll give you the Torah. But I'm not going to give you the Torah for you to weaponize it. I'm not going to give you the Torah for you to divide with it. I'm not going to give you the Torah to feel judgmental, superior, holier than thou, critical. That's not why I'm giving you the Torah. Be united, be one, function as a family, a functional family. Love one another, and I'm going to give you the Torah to further unite and to enrich and to elevate. ערבות Areivus. What's an ערב areiv? An ערב areiv is a guarantor. And what is a guarantor? You go to the bank and you want to take out a loan but you have terrible credit. So you come to me and you say, will you sign as a guarantor on the loan? I say, sure. What am I signing when I'm a guarantor on the loan? If you default, if you don't pay, who do they come to? They come to me. Hopefully you pay and it doesn't affect me an iota. But if you don't, I've got your back. If you don't, it will cost me and I'm willing to put my neck on the line. I'm willing to put skin in the game. I'm willing to have your back. ועיקר התפילה נשמע למעלה יותר, הוא כשהמתפלל בעד חבירו V'ikar ha'tefillah nishma l'maalah yoser, hu k'she'hamispallel b'ad chaveiro. When I daven for myself, it's obvious I'm davening, why? It's my need. I go to the doctor, I go to the lawyer, I go to the financial advisor, and I go to Hashem because it's my need. I have to take the steps, I have to take the initiative, I have to do the things that I need because it's my need. But when I go to Hashem, it is for you. I'm going as a guarantor. Hashem, make them healthy, don't make them healthy. I like having them around, I prefer having them around, but it doesn't impact my longevity. But I'm going because I care about them, I'm their guarantor, I have their back. I'm protesting, I'm objecting, I'm begging, I'm asking, I'm thanking because I care, I have their back. זה השמיעני את קולך כי קולך ערב, כשאתי מתפלל בבחינת ערב בעד אחרים zeh hashmi'ini es koleich ki koleich areiv, k'she'atah mispallel b'bchinas areiv b'ad acheirim. The פסוק pasuk in שיר השירים Shir HaShirim in the second פרק perek says, השמיעני את קולך כי קולך ערב Hashmi'ini es koleich, ki koleich areiv. Here my voice, here your voice because your voice is ערב areiv. What does the word ערב areiv mean in that context? So Shlomo Hamelech saying, השמיעני את קולך כי קולך ערב Hashmi'ini es koleich, ki koleich areiv. ערב Areiv means sweet. It means sweet. Jewish people are guarantors one for the other, and when we guarantee one another, we sweeten each other's lives. Jews are meant to make each other's lives sweeter. All too often we make each other's lives more bitter. Bitter resentment, bitter complaints, bitter envy, bitter jealousy, bitter judgment. But we're not supposed to bitter one another's lives. We are here to sweeten one another's lives. How can I make your life sweeter? How can I make your experience sweeter? How can I relieve your suffering and replace it with sweetness? Sweetness, כי קולך ערב ki koleich areiv. כי קולך ערב koleich areiv also means, when does Hashem listen to us, to our תפילות tefillos? Not when the תפילה tefillah is for ourselves and about ourselves. When does he listen to us? כי קולך ערב ki koleich areiv. When we're using our voice as a guarantee for the other. So Hashem, I'd like to talk to you, not about me, not about my children, I want to talk to you about my neighbor, I want to talk to you about my friend, I want to talk to you about someone in my community I'm not even so close with, but we're all rallying around. כי קולך ערב ki koleich areiv. When we use our קולך koleich, when we use our voice to be an ערב areiv, to be a guarantor, that's when Hashem will listen. And that's what יתרו Yisro introduced to the world. זה מה שנכתב בתורה לשבח את יתרו zeh ma she'nechtav b'Torah l'shabeach es Yisro. שנאמר, ברוך ה' אשר הציל אתכם מיד מצרים she'ne'emar, Baruch Hashem asher hitzil eschem mi'yad Mitzrayim. Moshe tells Yisro the whole story. You won't believe it. It's incredible what happened. And then we got stuck and we thought it was all over and all of a sudden the sea opened up. You won't believe it. And what does Yisro say? It's nice for you. Those things never happen to me. It wasn't Jewish, so he didn't say that. He said, that's amazing. That's amazing. ברוך ה' אשר הציל אתכם Baruch Hashem asher hitzil eschem. Wow. It's incredible. ברוך ה' Baruch Hashem, he saved you from the Egyptians. So I'm so happy for you. Hashem, thank you so much for saving these people that I'm not yet part of. But thank you so much. So that's incredible. That's what he introduced. אשר שש ושמח בטובת בני ישראל, ונתן שבח והודאה עליהם, אף על פי שלא היה מזרע ישראל Asha sas v'samach b'tovas Bnei Yisrael, v'nasan shevach v'hoda'ah aleihem, af al pi shelo haya mi'zera Yisrael. He wasn't a Jew, he wasn't born a Jew, he wasn't yet a Jew, nevertheless, שמח בטובתם ובישועתם samach b'tovasom u'v'yeshuosom. זה אמת ומידה טובה באדם שראוי להלל בתורה הקדושה Zeh emes umido tov b'adam she'ro'eh l'hallel b'Torah hakdosha, מה שאין כן בהלל בהדיא שאמרו ישראל לה' בגאולתם, זו הגאולה של עצמם ma she'ein kein b'hallel b'hadai sh'amru Yisrael l'Hashem b'geulasam, zu ha'geulah shel atzmam. אז ישיר Az Yashir was, thank you for what you did for me. יתרו's ברוך ה' אשר הציל אתכם Yisro's Baruch Hashem asher hitzil eschem was, thank you for what you did for another. And he was the first to do that. That's what he introduced to the world. And that, that's more precious to Hashem. That's more beloved to Hashem. That Hashem listens to, and that Hashem cares about many multifold. Now the בית ישראל Beis Yisrael, the גערער רבי Gerer Rebbe added to this. And the גערער רבי Gerer Rebbe said, it's more than that. יתרו Yisro was one of the advisors of פרעה Paro. We know the Midrash tells us that פרעה Paro had three advisors: יתרו, איוב, בלעם Yisro, Iyov, Bilam. So יתרו Yisro was one of פרעה's Paro's advisors. והיה לו לשמוח על הצלת עצמו, שלא נאבד עמהם v'haya lo lismoach al hatzalas atzmo, shelo ne'evad imahem. It's not just that יתרו Yisro showed the capacity to be happy for someone else, to worry about someone else. It's that יתרו Yisro did that when he could have been happy for himself. He could have and should have had the same demise as פרעה Paro. He was a member of פרעה's Paro's cabinet. If פרעה Paro and his cabinet all went down, he should have gone down with them. And he should have been thankful for, ברוך ה' Baruch Hashem, you saved my life. But he didn't. Nevertheless, אף על פי כן, הודה על הצלת ישראל af al pi chein, hoda al hatzalas Yisrael. ברוך ה' אשר הציל אתכם Baruch Hashem asher hitzil eschem. ויחד יתרו על כל הטובה אשר עשה ה' לישראל Vayichad Yisro al kol ha'tova asher asa Hashem l'Yisrael. שמח בטובת ישראל יותר מאשר בטובת עצמו, וזהו חידוש ששבחהו התורה הקדושה בכך samach b'tovas Yisrael yoser mi'asher b'tovas atzmo, v'zeh hu chiddush she'shibachto haTorah hakdosha b'kach. He could have and should have been happy for himself. To be happy for someone else when it had nothing to do with you is amazing. To be happy for someone else when you could have and should have been happy even for yourself, wow, that's remarkable. That's extraordinary. This is a מידה mida that we learned from יתרו Yisro. It is something outstanding.פרק י\"ח, פסוק י\"ב Perek Yud Ches, pasuk yud beis. ויקח יתרו חתן משה עלה וזבחים לאלקים, ויבא אהרן וכל זקני ישראל לאכל לחם עם חתן משה לפני האלקים Vayikach Yisro chosen Moshe olah u'zvachim l'Elokim, vayavo Aharon v'chol ziknei Yisrael le'echol lechem im chosen Moshe lifnei ha'Elokim. We spoke about this last year or two years ago. יתרו Yisro comes and what does he do now? He's ready to be a Jew, because how does he celebrate all these miracles? With lunch. With dinner. It's time for a meal. It's time for a סעודה s'udah. So יתרו Yisro, Moshe's father-in-law, so interesting how the פרשה parsha keeps identifying him that way, as if I could forget. How short is our memory from the opening פסוק pasuk that we can't remember that יתרו Yisro is Moshe's father-in-law? He has to keep the Torah has to keep identifying him that way. So יתרו Yisro, Moshe's father-in-law, חתן משה chosan Moshe, in case you forgot, brings עלה וזבחים olah u'zvachim to God. Aharon and זקני ישראל ziknei Yisrael come to break bread with חתן משה chosan Moshe לפני האלקים lifnei ha'Elokim. Last year or two years ago we spoke about this more at length. Why? What is the role of the גשמיות gashmius, of the food, what's it doing over here, why now? But the רמב\"ן Ramban says something amazing. אוצר פלוס לתורה Otzar Plus L'Torah quotes the רמב\"ן Ramban. You know what this סעודה s'udah, what this meal was? This was the ברית מילה bris milah meal. bagels, cream cheese and lox. It was a proper ברית bris, it was פליישיגס fleishigs. I don't know if they splurged on the עמלקי Amalekai, but it was the ברית bris meal of who? Whose ברית bris? יתרו Yisro. The רמב\"ן Ramban writes ויקח יתרו חתן משה עלה וזבחים לאלקים, היה זה אחר שאמר עמהם ימים רבים... ונתגייר במילה וטבילה... והרצאת דמים כמשפט Vayikach Yisro chosen Moshe olah u'zvachim l'Elokim, haya zeh achar she'amar imahem yamim rabim... v'nisgayer b'milah u'tvilah... v'hartzaas damim k'mishpat. This was not immediate, this was after he was with them first for several days, and he converted through ברית מילה bris milah and going in the mikvah and bringing these קרבנות korbanos, עלה וזבחים olah u'zvachim. ויבא אהרן וכל זקני ישראל לאכל לחם... עמו ביום חתונתו... כי חתן דמים הוא Vayavo Aharon v'chol ziknei Yisrael le'echol lechem... imo b'yom chasunaso... ki chasan damim hu. He was the חתן דמים chosan damim. He was the חתן chosan of blood, which is not under the חופה chuppah, it's years earlier, at the ברית מילה bris milah, and this was his ברית bris meal.The חתם סופר Chasam Sofer is bothered by it in his דרושים באגדות Drushim B'Agados. He says the ט\"ז Taz tells us, why do we make a שלום זכר shalom zachar on Friday night? The רמ\"א Rema quotes the מנהג minhag in יורה דעה Yoreh Deah, a sign רס\"ה Reish Samech Hei. And the ט\"ז Taz gives the reason. What's the reason for a שלום זכר shalom zachar? Excuse to go out, drink, eat, chickpeas, ארבעס arbis. What do we have שלום זכר shalom zachar on Friday night? משל למלך שגזר ואמר כל אכסנאין Mashal l'melech she'gazar v'amar kol achsanayin... אין ז' ימים בלא שבת ואין מילה בלא שבת ein zayin yamim b'lo Shabbos v'ein milah b'lo Shabbos. This baby, before he can enter the ברית bris of אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu, before this little baby enters the covenant of the Jewish people, they have to first experience a שבת Shabbos. So we go on that Friday night to have an עונג שבת oneg Shabbos. Let's go enjoy and celebrate and mark this שבת Shabbos that the baby is experiencing. Many many reasons are given. This is the ט\"ז's Taz's reason. אם כן, צריך בירור, איך מל יתרו את עצמו, לא עדיין לא שמר את השבת im kein, sa'ach birur, eich mal Yisro es atzmo, la'adayin lo shamar es ha'Shabbos? The חתם סופר Chasam Sofer is bothered on the רמב\"ן Ramban, how could this meal be the meal of the ברית bris of יתרו Yisro? יתרו Yisro just arrived a couple days earlier. You can't make a ברית bris without a שלום זכר shalom zachar. Where was the שלום זכר shalom zachar? Where was the שלום זכר shalom zachar? Do you have to make a שלום זכר shalom zachar for a convert before you schedule their conversion? The Friday night before the scheduled conversion of the of the of the convert, do you make a שלום זכר shalom zachar for him? It's a funny question of the חתם סופר Chasam Sofer. There's a big discussion we won't get into now, but maybe the fact that השם Hashem, the השראת השכינה hashraas hashechina, he had a קבלת פני חכמים kabalas pnei chachamim is like קבלת פני השכינה kabalas pnei hashechina, so that took the place of שבת Shabbos and it took the place of what it's supposed to represent. An interesting exchange that takes place over here.But there is a a custom some have, מנהג נפלא אצל בני עדות תוניס ועשזיר Minhag nifla eitzel bnei eidus Tunis v'Ashazir, the Jews of Tunis and Ashazir, שעורכים סעודה ביום חמישי בפרשת יתרו, ונקראת הסעודה סעודת יתרו she'orchim s'udah b'yom chamishi b'parshas Yisro, v'nikras ha's'udah S'udas Yisro. I didn't get an email or a WhatsApp about this yet, like פרשת המן Parshas Ha'man last week on Tuesday, I got 400. But apparently there is a custom, the Jews of Tunisia, to make a meal of יתרו Yisro on the Thursday of פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro. Good news, there's still time, today is only Tuesday. There's a מנהג minhag on Thursday, this Thursday, have a nice lunch and it's the סעודת יתרו S'udas Yisro. What's the reason? Where does it originate from, this מנהג minhag of the Jews of Tunisia? סעודת יתרו S'udas Yisro on the Thursday of פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro. So he brings three reasons. Number one, this is in תשובות וישב יוסף Teshuvos Vayashev Yosef who quotes all these customs. זכר לסעודה שעשה יתרו Zecher l's'udah she'asa Yisro, ויקח יתרו חתן משה עלה וזבחים Vayikach Yisro chosen Moshe olah u'zvachim. So this is the פרשה parsha of יתרו Yisro, to commemorate this meal that he had, we make a meal. Number two, this פרשה parsha has the story of הר סיני Har Sinai and the עשרת הדברות aseres ha'dibros were given. ולכן, לזכר שמחת התורה שקבלנו בהר סיני, עושים סעודה זו, ונקראת סעודת יתרו, על שם סעודה של פרשת יתרו v'lachein, l'zecher simchas haTorah she'kibbalnu b'Har Sinai, osim s'udah zu, v'nikras S'udas Yisro, al shem s'udah shel parshas Yisro. We don't want to wait till שבועות Shevuos. This is the פרשה parsha of קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah. We don't want to wait till שבועות Shevuos to celebrate that we receive the Torah and עשרת הדברות aseres ha'dibros, so we make a סעודת יתרו S'udas Yisro to celebrate פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro. And number three, היתה מגפה נוראה בארץ תוניס, ורבים חללים הפילה Ha'sa magefa nora'ah b'eretz Tunis, v'rabim chalalim hipila. There was a terrible epidemic, a pandemic in Tunisia, and many died. ובא אליהו הנביא זכור לטוב... וציווה לאשה אחת לשחוט יונה, ונעצרה המגפה V'ba Eliyahu Hanavi zachur l'tov... v'tziva l'ishah achas lishchot yona, v'ne'etzra ha'magefa. And the pandemic stopped. I wish we had learned this during Corona. והיה זה בפרשת יתרו, ולזכר הנס עושים שמחה ביום טוב ועורכים סעודה גדולה V'haya zeh b'parshas Yisro, ul'zecher ha'nes osim simcha b'yom tov v'orchim s'udah gedolah. We should collectively be making a סעודת הודאה s'udas hoda'ah. I think even the administration declared the end of Corona now. It should be a סעודת הודאה s'udas hoda'ah. So the Jews of Tunisia had suffered a plague, an epidemic, a pandemic, they marked a סעודה s'udah was on פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro, so on the Thursday, they had a סעודת יתרו S'udas Yisro. But anyway, there is that custom, interesting custom among the Jews of יתרו Yisro.So יתרו Yisro comes and until now, amazing things to say about יתרו Yisro. But now he acts like a father-in-law. And how does he act like a father-in-law? I say this recognizing mine is in the room. How does he act like a father-in-law? I'm on the father-in-law team now, so I'm allowed to, I'm allowed to talk like this. ויאמר חתן משה אליו, לא טוב הדבר אשר אתה עושה Vayomer chosen Moshe elav, lo tov ha'davar asher ata oseh. How does יתרו Yisro now begin to act like a father-in-law? Two words, unsolicited advice. Not my father-in-law, he's the best. I solicit his advice all the time. He's a fantastic advisor. But יתרו Yisro offers unsolicited advice. Until now, this is also how it goes, right? It's a nice meal, took you out for dinner, everyone's enjoying, and all of a sudden the father-in-law has to start to talk about, what are the plans, what's your future, I'm concerned with the kids, what are you doing with this, your choice about that. And the kids are like, can we bench? Can we get out of here? Thanks, no thanks for the meal. Who needed the meal? So Moshe is sitting down, breaking bread with his father-in-law, this fleishigs, they're eating meat, עלה וזבחים olah u'zvachim, it's a fleishigs, a proper fleishig dinner they went out for, and all of a sudden יתרו Yisro is offering this unsolicited advice. Now here's where Moshe acts out of character where he says, can I please have another? Moshe says, that's fantastic, keep talking. Give me more advice. So what's יתרו's Yisro's advice? לא טוב הדבר אשר אתה עושה Lo tov ha'davar asher ata oseh. It says, no good what you're doing. This can't work. This is unsustainable. This is not doable. This is not doable. I recently heard Jordan Peterson talk about ספר שמות Sefer Shemos. I don't know if you're a fan, not a fan, but he had some brilliant insight into the book of Exodus. And he talked about it how the escape from tyranny and the transition not to create another tyrannical infrastructure of government now as a freed people, and that's what יתרו's Yisro's concern was, that you're going to place one tyrant with another, if anyone defers and submits to you and you're the bottom line that everything comes to, you need to democratize, you need to create hierarchy, you need to empower the people, and the only way to escape tyranny is by empowering the people. Fascinating, fascinating perspective. You can find it and listen to it on your own. But יתרו Yisro says it's unsustainable. You can't do it. You can't be with everyone and solve everyone's problems. One person can't handle it all. It's unsustainable. So you need to diversify, you need to spread out, you need to empower, you need to deputize, you need to appoint other judges and only the most difficult will come to you. הרב שטרנבך Rav Sternbach in his טעם ודעת Taam V'daas has a fantastic insight here. הרב שטרנבך Rav Sternbach in his טעם ודעת Taam V'daas says the following. He says, הנה זהו Hinei zehu. ככל דבריו של יתרו. Now's when Yisro begins to speak. Now's when we begin to listen. ובחילס הסדרא U'b'tchilas hasedra, the beginning of the parsha, Rashi... Now, go back to the beginning of the parsha. This is the first words Yisro says. What are his first words? Three opening words are: לא טוב הדבר Lo tov hadavar. This is no good. This is no good. Those are Yisro's three opening words. When Yisro first speaks, that's how we're introduced to him. First three words he says are: לא טוב הדבר Lo tov hadavar. This is no good. Go back to the beginning of the parsha. Rashi tells us that Yisro had many names. Rashi tells us that Yisro had many names. יתרו שבע שמות נקרא לו Yisro, shiva shemos nikra lo. He had seven names. ראול יסר יתרו חובב חר קיני פוטיאל Reuel, Yeser, Yisro, Chovev, Cher, Keini, Putiel. יתר Yeser, his name was יתרו Yisro, comes from יתר yeser. Why was his name יתרו Yisro from יתר yeser? על שם שיתר פרשה אחת בתורה Al shem she'yeser parsha achas baTorah. He merited a parsha being added to the Torah. There's a parsha that has his name. And what's the parsha that he added? ואתה תחזה V'ata techezeh. So Rashi quotes him and says, what did Yisro merit that a parsha is named for him? Because he spoke and he said: ואתה תחזה V'ata techezeh. Go back to where we were. When did he say ואתה תחזה v'ata techezeh? פסוק כ\"א Pasuk kaf alef. לא טוב הדבר Lo tov hadavar. First he says this is no good. נבול תבול גם אתה גם העם הזה אשר עמך Navol tibol gam ata gam ha'am hazeh asher imach. It's bad for you, it's bad for the people. כי כבד ממך הדבר Ki kaved mimcha hadavar, this is too heavy for you. לא תוכל עשהו לבדך lo tuchal asoho l'vadecha, you can't do it. אתה שמע בקולי Ata shma b'koli, listen to what I have to say. He goes on and on and on. פסוק כ\"א Pasuk kaf alef, finally says ואתה תחזה מכל העם אנשי חיל v'ata techezeh mikol ha'am anshei chayil. Until now he's been identifying the problem, and then he pivots, and Yisro says, it's too much and you can't handle it, and you're going to crumble, you're going to fall apart, you look terrible. It's like all the people who see my wife in the shul or the supermarket, they mean well. They're like, your husband looks horrible. He's not taking care of himself. You need to take care of him. He looks absolutely terrible. Anyway, appreciate the love. Thank you. So, Yisro tells Moshe, you can't sustain this, it's terrible, you're going to fall apart, you're gonna crumble, you can't do it all on your own. And then finally he gets to the solution. The פסוק כ\"א pasuk kaf alef. ואתה תחזה מכל העם v'ata techezeh mikol ha'am, give a kick, look. Go look among the people and find אנשי חיל, יראי אלוקים, אנשי אמת, שונאי בצע anshei chayil, yirei Elokim, anshei emes, sonei vatza. You need to bring in more help. You gotta find people. You got to be able to make it better. When Rashi at the beginning of the parsha says one of the names, seven names, is Yisro, why? For יתר yeser. And why יתר yeser? Because there's an extra parsha. And why is there an extra parsha? Because Yisro said something. And what did Yisro say? What would you have expected Rashi to tell us? The first three words that Yisro said, which were: לא טוב הדבר Lo tov hadavar. But that's not what Rashi quotes. Rashi doesn't quote the first three words that Yisro says, לא טוב הדבר lo tov hadavar. What does Rashi quote? You know why Yisro merited his own parsha? Because he said two words: ואתה תחזה V'ata techezeh. Why? ומבואר שאין שבחו של אדם בחכמתו לשלול הקיים U'mevuar she'ein shvacho shel adam b'chochmaso lishlol hakayam. כי אם בזאת יתהלל המתהלל בעצתו לתקן הדבר Ki im b'zos yishalal hamislalel b'atzaso l'sakein hadavar. Says Rav Shteinbach, I love this. Says Rav Shteinbach. You don't praise or admire someone because they could point out a problem. That's easy to do. Anyone can see the problems. You know what you praise and admire a person for? When they offer a solution. לתקן הדבר L'sakein hadavar. You don't praise someone, you don't admire someone, you don't name a parsha after someone because they identified a problem. Problems, we can all identify. Talk about it at our Shabbos tables, we talk about it to our friends, we talk about it during davening, we complain about it, we write anonymous emails about it. Problems, that's easy. Everyone, cowards, everyone can identify the problem. But to come forward and say, I'm concerned with the kiddush, the shaloshudis, we're not doing enough for the youth, the empty nester, I'm, there's something that needs work in the school, the teacher, the stem, the Gemara, the Rebbe. Problems everybody could see. But when you come and you say לא טוב הדבר lo tov hadavar. There's something no good going on. And I have a solution. And I want to be part of the solution. And I'd like to volunteer to chair the committee to be the solution, then we name a parsha after you. Then we name a parsha. Pointing out a problem? Eh, we don't name nothing after you. But you come up with a solution, ואתה תחזה v'ata techezeh, then we name a parsha after you. And then he quotes, he says I heard Admor mi'Gur. He says I heard, Chidushei HaRim. באסיפת רבנים שהיתה בורשה B'asifas rabbonim shehaysa b'Varsha. והיו שם שדברין דיברו נגד האגודה v'hayu sham she'dibru neged ha'Agudah. At the uh, at this convention in Warsaw, they were speaking critically of the Agudah. שאינם עושים מאומה עבור ארץ ישראל she'einam osim me'uma avur Eretz Yisrael, they're not doing enough for the Jews of Israel. והשיב האדמו\"ר V'heishiv ha'Admor, so the Ger Rebbe said, שלא שיבחו חז\"ל את יתרו אלא על עצתו ואתה תחזה shelo shibchu Chazal es Yisro ela al atzaso v'ata techezeh. ולא על תוכחתו v'lo al tochachaso. וכן איננו רוצים לשמוע דברי ביקורת רק אם יש עצה לתקן הדבר V'chein einenu rotzim lishmoa divrei bikores rak im yesh eitza l'sakein hadavar. Don't sit here pointing fingers, don't sit here critical, don't sit here complaining unless you got a solution. Don't point fingers and blame, don't be critical unless you're offering a solution, unless you're offering to be part of the solution. Yisro gets a parsha named after him, why? Because of ואתה תחזה v'ata techezeh, not because of לא טוב הדבר lo tov hadavar, that's easy. פרק יט פסוק ד Perek yud tes pasuk daled. Turn the page. פרק יט Perek yud tes. List of requirements for leadership. Moshe accepted Yisro's advice and followed through on it, and now we get to Har Sinai. The Jews arrive at Har Sinai, and Hashem makes a proposal to them. פסוק ד Pasuk daled. אתם ראיתם אשר עשיתי למצרים Atem re'isem asher asisi l'Mitzrayim. Hey little Jews, my precious children, טייערע קינדער tayere kinder. You saw what happened in Egypt. ואשא אתכם על כנפי נשרים ואביא אתכם אלי Va'esa eschem al kanfei nesharim va'avi eschem eilai. I've born you on the wings of eagles and I brought you to me. ועתה V'ata, now, אם שמוע תשמעו בקולי im shamoa tishme'u b'koli, if you listen to my voice, ושמרתם את בריתי u'shmartem es brisi, and you keep my covenant, והייתם לי סגולה vihyisem li segulah. And you tie a red band around your wrist. No. That's not what it means והייתם לי סגולה vihyisem li segulah. That's not what it means. והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים Vihyisem li segulah mikol ha'amim, it means you keep Torah and Mitzvos. What makes you a treasured people among all the nations is that you don't believe in silly narrishkeit, superstition, ridiculousness. כי לי כל הארץ Ki li kol ha'aretz, you believe in me. Keep Torah and Mitzvos, daven to me. Don't believe in ridiculous, silly horoscopes. So these beautiful psukim, these two beautiful psukim. ואשא אתכם על כנפי נשרים V'esa eschem al kanfei nesharim. I carry you on the wings of eagles and I bring you close to me. Listen to my voice, keep my covenant, and you'll be a nation of סגולה segulah. כי לי כל הארץ Ki li kol ha'aretz, the whole land, the whole earth is mine. Beautiful song by Simcha Leiner, my buddy Simcha Leiner. If you don't know his על כנפי נשרים al kanfei nesharim, I will save you from singing it right now. So Rashi explains, what's going on with this metaphor? Hashem says I'm going to carry you on the wings of eagles. Beautiful, great metaphor, very poetic. What does it mean? Why did Hashem invoke Dafka this metaphor? What is he getting at? What does it mean? So Rashi famously says, Rashi famously says, על כנפי נשרים al kanfei nesharim כנשר הנושא את גוזליו על כנפיו k'nesher ha'nosei es gozalav al knafav. Like an eagle, where does an eagle carry the fledglings? Where does the eagle carry its young? On top of its wing. שכל שאר עופות נותנים את בניהם בין רגליהם shekol shaar ofos nosnim es bneihem bein ragleihem. All the other birds carry the young underneath. They grasp in their claws, they carry them underneath. שמזירא מעוף אחר שפורח על גביהן she'meyareh mei'of acher she'poreach al gabeihen. All other birds, they fly low, the other birds fly above them. If they were to put their children on their wing, the birds above them could attack and they'd be vulnerable. אבל הנשר Aval hanesher, אינו מירא אלא מן האדם שמא יזרוק בו חץ eino meyareh ela min ha'adam, shema yizrok bo chetz. But the eagle flies, soars the highest, has no fear other than the human being could shoot an arrow. לפי שאין עוף פורח על גביו lefishe'ein of poreach al gavav. לכך נותנו על כנפיו L'chach nosno al knafav. So therefore its children are not vulnerable above, there's no one above it. The children are only vulnerable below, so the eagle carries its youth above the wing. אומר מוטב יכנס החץ בי ולא בבני omer mutav yikanes ha'chetz bi v'lo b'bni. Let me take the arrow, I'll absorb the blow, let me protect the child, the children who are riding on my wings. אף אני עשיתי כן Af ani asisi kein. says Hashem, I did the same thing. Protecting you. The image of on the wings of eagle is Hashem says I'm protecting you. The Targum Yonasan says this is not a physical event. Targum Yonasan in our parsha says this is a metaphysical one. If you look at the Targum Yonasan, וטענית יתכון על ענני כקלי גדפי נשרין מן פלוסין U'ta'anis yaskon al ananin k'kali gadfei nishrin min pilusin. ובילת יתכון לאתר בית מקדשא U'veilis yaskon l'asar beis mikdasha. למעבד תמן פסחא l'me'evad taman pischa. Wow. Targum Yonasan says that long before the invention of the plane and long before Richard Branson and Elon Musk and everyone else were taking their space shuttles into space, the wings of eagles was a metaphor for expeditious travel, the ability to go somewhere really quickly. Like the old Concorde. Someone told me now that there's an airline coming out with a plane that will take you to Israel from here in three and a half hours. I don't know, it goes 12,000 miles an hour. I don't know what the speed is. So Hashem was telling them, even when you were yet in Egypt, even while you were in Egypt, I wanted you while you were yet in Egypt, before you were yet free, I wanted you to be in Yerushalayim for one night. How do I get you there for one night? על כנפי נשרים Al kanfei nesharim. Concorde. This new plane, whatever it's going to be called. The shuttle. Spaceship. Hashem על כנפי נשרים al kanfei nesharim says the Targum Yonasan is a metaphor, I got you to Yerushalayim on a spaceship. I took you to the בית מקדש Beis Hamikdash, you offered the korban Pesach, then I brought you back, you were back in Mitzrayim, then we finished the story and I set you free. And we are meant to invoke this beautiful metaphor each Seder night, that no matter what exile we are in, we are transported the night of the Seder to Yerushalayim, we're in the Beis Hamikdash, we're bringing the korban Pesach. And when the Seder ends, and we finish חד גדיא chad gadya, whoever is left standing, we're back in galus. But for the Seder night, we're rich, and we're free, and we're dignified, and we are royalty. For the Seder night, he again expeditiously transports us to Yerushalayim, we're bringing the korban Pesach, we're back in the Beis Hamikdash. No matter the challenging environment, no matter our circumstances, Hashem lifts us for a night, and he carries us to a place of redemption, the place that he connects with us. Write that down for your Seder because it's a magnificent way to open the Seder. Whatever is going on in our family's life, whatever is going on in the world around us, whatever is the harshness and darkness of exile, family, חברה chevra, for the next few hours, for the Seder night, we are transported to another place. We are in Yerushalayim, we are in the world to come, we are in the most, the time of Moshiach, we are in a place of redemption. And then if we need to, we'll come back, but we're being transported on the wings of eagles for the next few hours to celebrate the Seder night. It's magnificent. You're all too panicked over the fact that I said Pesach to even hear what a beautiful image that is and write it down. You don't want to write it down because then you'd be admitting that it's almost Pesach. But there's a third interpretation. We saw Rashi, and that's the Targum Yonasan. But I want to tell you a third interpretation which is amazing, will blow you away. From Rav Shaul Alter, the Gerer Rosh Yeshiva. It's an amazing interpretation. That's what I want to share with you. The Yerushalmi, the Gemara in the Yerushalmi, Avodah Zarah, Perek Gimel. The Yerushalmi relates an astounding episode. Alexander of Macedonia, Alexander the Great, after he succeeded in conquering the world, he, not unlike the billionaires of today... Remember a couple years ago, Richard Branson, Elon Musk, who's the guy who started Amazon? Bezos. They were all competing to build their own spaceships and go to space as private, right? The billionaires of today. Why? It's so interesting how the more things change, the more they stay the same. Alexander the Great and Elon Musk, they conquered the whole world. They have more money than... they have 200 billion dollars. We don't begin to understand what that means. So once you conquer the whole world, what's left? All that's left is to conquer space. It's not a new phenomenon. It's not a new phenomenon that the billionaires of today have this itch, this urge. Alexander the Great had it thousands of years ago too. He rode the back of a great eagle and he held a pole in his hand with half an ox's carcass dangling from above the eyes of the eagle, and the bird, he kept lifting this pole with the carcass, the eyes of the eagle, the eagle kept therefore soaring higher and higher and higher until this enormous bird, this is the Gemara Yerushalmi, Avodah Zarah, Perek Gimel, tells us that this eagle, huge eagle lifted, lifted Alexander the Great into the heavens. Now when Richard Branson looked down at earth, he said quote, 'How you feel when you look down on earth is impossible to put into words. It's indescribable beauty.' Jeff Bezos reacting to his space journey said quote, 'When you get up above it, it's this tiny little fragile thing. And we move about the planet, we're damaging it.' What did Alexander the Great say when he got up there? What did he say? The Yerushalmi tells us he looked down on earth and he was utterly unimpressed. He saw it as this tiny, small orb. This little orb he had fully conquered. Right? From down here, it all looks so big and it looks endless. But from up there, it's like a little marble. It's a gornisht, it's a nothing. And in fact, that's why, says the Yerushalmi, statues of Alexander often depict him with a ball in his hand, it's a symbol that he once held the whole world in his hand. He had conquered the whole world, and statues of Alexander the Great, the, the globe in his hand are not because he had conquered the world, but because it appeared to him only as that size when he did space travel, when he took the eagle all the way up to space. Now Alexander's reaction is exactly the opposite of how we're meant to feel, of what we're most supposed to react. When we see how small earth is in the scheme of the universe and the cosmos, we shouldn't say, 'Wow, it's nothing and we're great, we're everything.' But rather we should feel smaller, in less control, and less in charge. When we see how small everything is, we should recognize that life on little earth, while it feels like it's everything, is just a tiny part of the greater universe. What feels so consequential, what feels so important, what feels we have such control of, is small and fleeting. What is grand and lasts like the heavens and the world to come are what matters most. The things we perceive as significant and great down here, the tall skyscrapers and buildings, and the magnificent feats and discovery and breakthrough of science and engineering and technology and human skill, they're only impressive from the perspective and on the scale of our small, mortal, human, finite, frail brain. But in the larger scheme of things, in comparison with the glory of heaven, of Shamayim, everything is insignificant as the dust of the earth. You have this, says Rav Shaul Alter, the Gerer Rebbe, the Gerer Rosh Yeshiva, excuse me, you have this when you look down from an airplane. You know, kids are innocent and sweet, they still say this. We've been, become calloused and hardened and it doesn't impress us anymore. We're just annoyed because they ran out of the blue chips. We're just annoyed because the Wi-Fi isn't working. So we fail to look out the window and say, wow. I'm flying through the sky right now at incredible speeds. It's incre-, it's insane. But if you fly in a plane and you look out the window, the minuscule buildings and structures look like children's playthings. People think the smallness is an illusion. 'Oh, look from up here, it looks so small.' So which is the real size of the building and which is the illusion? So we tend to think that the skyscraper is really huge, that's accurate, and when it looks tiny and like a toy from up there, that's just an illusion. But the opposite's true. On this world, things seem so big and so important and so grand, and it's an illusion. The real scale of it is from the perspective from up there. It's small and insignificant and inconsequential, and Hashem is really, is really in charge. Says Rav Shaul Alter, says the Gerer Rosh Yeshiva, shlita, that's Hashem's message. That's Hashem's message. ואשא אתכם על כנפי נשרים, ואביא אתכם אלי V'esa eschem al kanfei nesharim, v'avi eschem eilai. I'm about to give you the Torah, and before I do, I want to lift you on the wings of an eagle, and I want to bring you close to me. I want you to see from the perspective that Alexander the Great saw, but he got it wrong. He came to the wrong conclusion, I want you to get to the right conclusion. I'm bringing you on the wings of eagles, I want to bring you up to me. I'm giving you the tools to see the world with perspective. Hashem showed us the reality. He gave us scope. Unlike modern-day billionaires and Alexander the Great, he's showing us that with Torah, with Torah, Torah is the instrument to measure and to realize that what feels so big from down here is really very small. And really what's small is very big. And it's only from up there, from that perspective, that we can have scale and scope. So easy to get caught up in whatever we're doing and going through and to magnify its significance and its meaning. But from כנפי נשרים kanfei nesharim, from up high, in the eagle's perspective, we can look down. Torah gives us a 30,000-foot view. Too often we get caught in the weeds. You need something to lift you and look down from 30,000 feet. Let's put this in perspective. Let's give this some scope. Let's give this some scale. And you get anxious when you feel self-pity or you're tempted to complain, on a scale of 1 to 10, does this really matter? Or put differently, apply the 5-by-5 rule. You know the 5-by-5 rule is? You ever hear the 5-by-5 rule? It's not my own. The 5-by-5 rule is, you shouldn't spend more than five minutes worrying about something that won't matter in five years. If it won't matter in five years, spend five minutes. It's annoying what happened. Spend five minutes being annoyed by it. But if it won't matter in five years, don't spend more than five minutes. Don't spend more than five minutes. Climb aboard the wings of the airline called Torah. Torah is an airline. Torah is a space shuttle. We don't need Richard Branson and Elon Musk and Bezos. We don't need to build a spaceship to reach the heavens. We have Torah. Torah takes us up there and from there we can look down and it gives us scale and it gives us perspective and it gives us scope and it gives us the ability to see things the way they are, the way they should be, the way we're meant to see them and understand them. Okay. פרק יט פסוק י Perek yud tes pasuk yud. יוד טית יוד Yud tes yud. ויאמר השם אל משה לך אל העם וקדשתם היום ומחר וכבסו שמלותם Vayomer Hashem el Moshe lech el ha'am v'kidashtam hayom u'machar v'chibsu simlosam. So now that Hashem introduces Kabbalas HaTorah with that ride up to the heavens and says this Torah is going to be your instrument, your dashboard to see the world with scale and scope, now he's ready to give us the Torah. So Hashem says, but before I can give you the Torah, וקדשתם היום ומחר v'kidashtam hayom u'machar. What does וקדשתם היום ומחר v'kidashtam hayom u'machar? Sanctify today and tomorrow and wash their clothing and let them be prepared for the third day. We recognize these three days on our calendar. They're known as שלשת ימי הגבלה Shloshes Yemei Hagbalah. These are the three days of preparation. The three days of preparation. שלשת ימי הגבלה Shloshes Yemei Hagbalah before Shavuos, before we re-experience Kabbalas HaTorah. That word וקדשתם v'kidashtam is very significant. Listen to this insight by Rav Soloveitchik. The Rav says, Onkelos translates this word. What does וקדשתם v'kidashtam? Onkelos writes, ויאמר השם למשה אזיל לות עמא ותזמנינון יומא Vayomer Hashem l'Moshe, izel l'vas ama u'sezaminun yoma. יומא דין yoma dein. ותזמנינון u'sezaminun. What does ותזמנינון u'sezaminun mean? Onkelos translates the word ותזמנינון u'sezaminun means prepare. וקדשתם v'kidashtam, sanctify means, according to Onkelos, prepare. Holiness means preparation. Holiness is not a transcendental phenomenon which arrives against man's will. Man does not bear the yoke of holiness if he does not want it. Man must choose it, wait for it, yearn for it. Only then does holiness descend slowly and cleave to us. In the three-day prelude to receiving the Torah, Moshe warns the people, be ready for three days. Similarly, Aaron had to submit to a seven-day preparation period prior to the dedication of the Mishkan. Every Kohen Gadol subsequently went through a similar sequester prior to Yom Kippur. What is the analogy between Aaron's preparation prior to the Mishkan's dedication and Yom Kippur? Both involved an encounter with holiness. Holiness does not arrive suddenly. It comes only by invitation inherent in the act of preparation. What an important message of the Rav. Holiness, holiness, קדושה kedusha doesn't come because you had an edible. קדושה Kedusha, holiness doesn't come because of a l'chaim. Holiness doesn't come because of something you smoked or imbibed. Holiness doesn't come out of nowhere, spontaneously. Holiness comes, אין קדושה בלי הכנה ein kedusha bli hachana, which is not a maimar Chazal, it doesn't appear anywhere Chazal. But אין קדושה בלי הכנה ein kedusha bli hachana. There is no holiness without preparation. Where does that principle come from? Our parsha. וקדשתם V'kidashtam היום ומחר hayom u'machar and then ביום השלישי b'yom hashlishi. וקדשתם V'kidashtam. How do you make holy? says Onkelos, ותזמנינון u'setazminun. You have to prepare, you have to prepare. Holiness takes work, it takes preparation, your mindset, your attitude, your effort, your sacrifice, your mesirus nefesh. It doesn't happen to you passively. I'd have a dollar for everyone who says, 'Rabbi, I come to shul, I want to be inspired, but nothing happens. Your sermon, the chazan, the minyan, the people, I don't get anything out of it.' I say, 'You don't get anything out of it, interesting. What are you putting into it?' If you want to get something out of it, what are you putting into it? Now it could be that you put everything into it and you still get nothing out of it because the rabbi's terrible, the chazan's terrible, the minyan's terrible. It could be. I'm not saying that there aren't things that we have to fix. There are things we have to fix. But before you get to what you need to fix in everyone around you, do we look in the mirror and say, what do I need to fix in me? If I'm not getting anything out of it, what am I putting into it? וקדשתם V'kidashtam. Are we preparing? Are we working? Are we ready? Are we making an effort? וקדשתם V'kidashtam. אין קדושה בלי הכנה Ein kedusha bli hachana. You're not going to be enriched by the holy Shabbos and by Yom Tov and by davening and by all of the 613 invitations for encountering kedusha that we have called Torah. We're not going to be elevated and enriched and transformed by them if we're not first וקדשתם v'kidashtam. אין קדושה בלי הכנה Ein kedusha bli hachana. It's not going to land in your lap passively. It doesn't happen to you. You have to invite קדושה kedusha. You have to be a כלי kli, a vessel to receive and experience קדושה kedusha. If you want to get something out of it, you better put something into it. פרק יט פסוק טז Perek yud tes pasuk tes zayin. Turn the page, 404. ויהי ביום השלישי בהיות הבוקר ויהי קולות וברקים וענן כבד על ההר Vayehi b'yom hashlishi bihyos haboker vayehi kolos u'vrakim v'anan kaved al hahar. There were sounds and there was a thick mountain, there was a thick cloud on the mountain. וקול שופר חזק מאוד v'kol shofar chazak me'od. ויחרד כל העם אשר במחנה vayecherad kol ha'am asher bamachaneh. And all the people trembled and tremendous pomp and circumstance. What a scene. Incredible what's going on. The Oznayim L'Torah tells us the following. קולות וברקים Kolos u'vrakim. What was the sound of the shofar? תקע שופר שמתן תורה T'kia shofar she'Ma'amad Har Sinai, the Turei Zahav quotes his brother Rav Yehuda, that תקעת השופר t'kias hasahofar of Ma'amad Har Sinai was the shofar of the ram of akeydas Yitzchak. Rashi writes similarly. The shofar from the ram of akeydas Yitzchak was the sound of the shofar that blew at Har Sinai. There's some deep meaning in that, which we're not going to go into right now. The Sefer Kesser Shem Tov, the Kesser Shem Tov writes, which is the Torah of the heiliger Baal Shem Tov. The Kesser Shem Tov, the Torah of the heiliger Baal Shem. Quotes from the Baal Shem Tov, שעם זוכין ישראל ומטהרין ומקדשין עצמן בתורתו במצוותיו She'im zochin Yisrael u'm'tahrin u'm'kadshin atzman b'soraso u'mitzvosav, we said אין קדושה בלי הכנה ein kedusha bli hachana. So if the Jewish people follow the formula of Har Sinai, we spend time, and we prepare, and we invest, and we make ourselves into a vessel that could receive kedusha, שומעים תמיד קול השם מדבר כמו במעמד הר סיני shomim tamid kol Hashem medaber k'mo b'ma'amad Har Sinai. We can still hear those sounds reverberating. We can see, we can hear Hashem's sounds all around us, all around us. Rav Kaddish Itzik Isaac from Kamarna in the Sefer Heichal HaBracha, hey lilav, he testified about the Baal Shem Tov. כשהיה לומד תורה עם תלמידיו הקדושים היתה אש מלהטת סביבותיהם ומקובצים מלאכי השרת וישמעו קולות וברקים ואמירת אנוכי השם אלוקיך מפי השם יתברך כידוע ומפורסם She'k'shehaya lomeid Torah im talmidav ha'kedoshim haysa eish melahetes svivoseihem u'm'kubatzim malachei ha'shares v'yishme'u kolos u'vrakim v'amiras Anochi Hashem Elokecha m'pi Hashem yisbarach k'yadua u'mefursam. He testified about the Baal Shem Tov, when he would teach Torah, that in fact the angels came down, the same lightning and thunder, you could hear the sounds of Hashem, and you heard the declaration of Anochi Hashem Elokecha. Those sounds never stopped, they continue to reverberate. When we read this parsha, my dear friends, we are not reading about an event of history. We are experiencing it in an ongoing fashion. Those sounds continue to reverberate in our ears. Ma'amad Har Sinai never ended. It continues. It continues. Hashem is still talking to us. Every time you open a sefer, every time you open a Chumash, every time you attend the parsha shiur, you're standing at Har Sinai. You're hearing Hashem continue to talk to us. That is the secret of our continuity. That is the secret of our existence is that we are not simply commemorating or reading or studying history. This is not memory only. This is ongoing and it's live and it's real. Rav Soloveitchik writes, he remembers when he was in his bed as a child in his crib as a child, he remembers he would overhear his father learning, the great Rav Moshe Soloveitchik, maybe with his grandfather Rav Chaim. And they would, the Raivid would would level an accusation, a question on the Rambam. He would lie in bed and he was on the edge of his bed, he couldn't fall asleep. 'What's the Rambam going to do? The Raivid's attacking him!' And then he would hear his father and his grandfather coming up with a creative solution to defend the Rambam against the Raivid. These were not figures of history, these were not personalities of the past. He couldn't fall asleep as a child because the Rambam was alive, the Raivid was alive, and they were sparring, and he needed to know how it was going to end, how it was going to turn out, would the Rambam be defended, would he be okay? And then later the Rav, the Rav described that when he was frail and he was old and his health was compromised and he was tired, but he'd walk into shiur and he'd open the sefarim, and it gave him the energy, he'd come alive for those few hours. He didn't give a short shiur, it was many hours. I wish I had the text here, I could read it to you. You have to hear the Rav in his own words describing it. And for the Rav, these people were alive. They were alive. Ravina, Rav Ashi, Reish Lakish, Rav Yochanan, the Rambam, the Raivid, Rav Akiva Eger. They weren't people of the past, they were alive. I was once at a rabbinic retreat and I had the distinct privilege a session where I was interviewing Rav Schechter in conversation with Rav Schechter for the group of Rabbanim. And I asked him, Morai v'Rabotai Rav Schechter, I said, you know, the rabbinate, they say, can be lonely. It's lonely sometimes. Does Rebbe, does the Rosh Yeshiva ever get lonely? Ever get lonely? People don't understand and the pressures and responsibility and the unfair criticism, misunderstanding. Does Rebbe ever get lonely? And he looked at me and if you know Rav Schechter there's not a pretentious bone in his body or an inauthentic, he never would say anything because he thinks that's what's supposed to be said. And he looked at me and he said, like shockingly, totally not understanding what I was talking about. He said, 'Why, why would I ever get lonely? I have the Ritva and the Rashba and Rav Akiva Eger and the Chasam Sofer. Do you know how many friends I have? I have the Rambam and the Raivid. I have, I have Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel. I have so many friends, I can't count them all. Why would I ever be lonely?' He didn't say that because he wanted me to quote it later in the parsha shiur years later or someone would one day put it in a book. He meant it. He sits down with his sefarim, he sits with his bookcase, he opens his Gemara, Rashi and Tosfos, he's among his friends. He's not lonely. They're alive. They're alive. And that was the experience the Baal Shem Tov said, the Kesser Shem Tov, it said, it says the קולות וברקים kolos u'vrakim are בכל דור b'chol dor. They're in each and every generation. They never stop reverberating. They go on and on and on and on and on, they continue to reverberate all around us. ויחרד העם, פרק יט פסוק טז Vayecherad ha'am, perek yud tes pasuk tes zayin. How long was Har Sinai? How long did they stay there? Anyone know how long they stayed there? Rabbeinu Bachya says something shocking. How long Har Sinai lasted? How long did it last? An hour? A day, a week, a month, a year, a decade? Anyone know? Studied the parsha a lot, celebrate Shavuos many times. Anybody know how long Har Sinai was? Rabbeinu Bachya says שנה אחת shana achas. That's what it says אשר חנה שם asher chana sham. שעדיין חונה שם בהר האלוקים she'adayin choneh sham b'har ha'Elokim. A year. They encamped and they were there and they waited and the experience was a year. And Rabbeinu Bachya adds in Parshas Ki Seitzei on the pasuk נקי יהיה לביתו שנה אחת naki yihyeh l'veiso shana achas, the notion of שנה ראשונה shana rishona when a couple get married that they experience. שנה ראשונה shana rishona. nights out or at home that first year. Don't separate and go on business trips that first year. We still continue to treat them as a king and a queen that first year. Where does that come from? It's a pasuk, נקי יהיה לביתו שנה אחת naki yihyeh l'veiso shana achas. פרשת כי תצא Parshas Ki Seitzei, Rabbeinu Bachya says, you know where that comes from? כי מצינו, כן מצינו בהקדוש ברוך הוא שהיה בסיני עם ישראל דוגמת חתן וכלה, שעמדה שכינה בהר סיני שנה אחת Ki matzinu, ken matzinu b'HaKadosh Baruch Hu shehaya b'Sinai im Yisrael dugmas chasan v'kallah, she'amda Shchina b'Har Sinai shana achas. Hashem married us under the mountain that he held over our head like a חופה chuppah. And just like he spent the שנה ראשונה shana rishona with us, we too should spend the שנה ראשונה shana rishona. And in fact, we don't have time now, all the customs that we have surrounding marriage are modeled after קבלת התורה, מתן תורה Kabbalas HaTorah, Matan Torah. The חופה chuppah is like the mountain held over our head. And שנה ראשונה shana rishona is like שנה ראשונה shana rishona. And many, many other of the customs that we have are modeled after this. Moshe came down from the mountain. Did Moshe bench גומל Gomel?The חיד\"א Chida in his ספר sefer מחזיק ברכה Machzik Bracha, this is all on his ספר sefer on קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah, the חיד\"א Chida wonders when Moshe came down. You came back from your cruise on Yeshiva week, you bench גומל Gomel. You came back from the Bahamas on your flight, you bench גומל Gomel. You think Moshe came down from 40 days, 40 nights on a mountain, nothing to eat, nothing to drink, encountered the Almighty. You don't think he benched גומל Gomel? Did he bench גומל Gomel?So the לא בירך ברכת הגומל כשהיה יורד מן ההר, כיוון שאף אם הוא מת, היה זה על פי ציווי השם lo beirech birchas hagomel k'shehaya yored min hahar, keivan she'af im hu meis, haya zeh al pi tzivui Hashem. And he quotes a מחלוקת machlokes and a debate, a conversation, did he bench גומל Gomel or did he not bench גומל Gomel? Did he make a ברכת התורה Birkas HaTorah? He was the first to learn Torah. He received the Torah. You can't learn Torah without making a ברכת התורה Birkas HaTorah. What ברכה bracha did he make though? Because אשר בחר בנו ונתן לנו את תורתו asher bachar banu v'nasan lanu es Toraso, did it happen yet? Did it fully happen yet? Is that the ברכה bracha he made? So he quotes here, the מדרש רבה Midrash Rabbah says, he made a ברכה bracha. אמר רבי אלעזר איזו היא ברכה שבירך משה בתורה תחילה Amar Rabbi Elazar eizo hi bracha shebeirech Moshe baTorah techila, ברוך אתה השם אלוקינו מלך העולם אשר בחר בתורה הזאת וקדשה ורצה בעושיה Baruch ata Hashem Elokeinu Melech ha'olam asher bachar baTorah hazos v'kidsha v'ratza b'oseha. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu chose this Torah, he sanctified it, and he wants those who keep it. And the מחזור ויטרי Machzor Vitry says, all year long we don't make that ברכת התורה Birkas HaTorah. We say אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים asher bachar banu mikol ha'amim and so on and so forth. But בחג השבועות העולה לתורה מברך ברכה כנוסח הנ\"ל שבירך משה רבינו b'Chag HaShavuos ha'oleh laTorah mevarech bracha k'nusach hanal shebeirech Moshe Rabbeinu. We don't do that, that's not our custom. But the מחזור ויטרי Machzor Vitry quotes a custom that when you get an עליה aliyah on שבועות Shavuos, the ברכת התורה Birkas HaTorah on שבועות Shavuos, you revert to the ברכת התורה Birkas HaTorah that Moshe made. He has pages and pages and pages more on that here, and much more that he talks about.I guess I'll end with a couple questions for you to take with you. One. Torah was given בשבעים לשון b'shivim lashon. Why would it be given in שבעים לשון shivim lashon? They all spoke one. By the way, there's a there's one tradition he quotes in his ספר sefer on קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah. What language was הר סיני Har Sinai? God spoke to us directly. Moshe continued and gave us the rest of the דברות Dibros. What language? For sure it was Yiddish. No. Was not Yiddish. What language was it? Some say it was Egyptian. They all spoke Egyptian, they were a slave nation, they just came out of Egypt. Maybe it was לשון הקודש Lashon HaKodesh. What language were the דברות Dibros given in? But the מדרש Midrash tells us it was simultaneous, simultaneously broadcast in 70 languages. Why would you need that? This wasn't the United Nations, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem. This was not an ingathering of people from all over. This was not a conference. They all came from the same place, they all spoke the same language. Why would it need to be given in 70 languages? I'll leave that as a question.One of the דברות Dibros, לא תעשה לך lo sa'aseh lecha. You're not allowed to make a foreign god. It could just say לא תעשה lo sa'aseh, don't make. Why does it say לך lecha, for you? Two questions for you to chew on.Tomorrow morning, 10 minutes of מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim, followed by living with אמונה emunah. Tomorrow night behind the בימה bima with Mort Klein, the president of the ZOA, Zionist Organization of America. Tonight, we have the privilege of hosting רב Rav Meir Soloveitchik. I don't even know if there's room left because I think 700 people have signed up, but there's registration. The great Rabbi Meir Soloveitchik, my good friend, is speaking tonight, partnering with תקווה Tikva. Next week, you don't want to miss it and you need to reserve. Go to brsonline.org/antisemitism. Next week, we're hosting a conversation, a debate between Ben Shapiro and Yair Rosenberg. Ben Shapiro, you know, Yair Rosenberg, a writer for the Atlantic. The ADL named them the two most targeted Jews online for antisemitism. But they come from antisemitism from very different perspectives. I'll be monitoring a conversation, a debate between the two of them about antisemitism. You'll want to be here, it's next week, you have to register. brsonline.org/antisemitism, or you can find it in the weekly or online. Please join us for that event. Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, stay holy.
