Transcript
Okay, thank you for bearing with us, your patience. I don't know what's going on with the internet and hopefully we'll stay connected and if not, we'll record it and and post it online. The Parsha shiur is generously sponsored by Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of David Grossman, לעלוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מענדל le'ilui nishmas Dovid ben Menachem Mendel. This morning shiur is sponsored anonymously, לעלוי נשמת אסתר מלכה בת צבי le'ilui nishmas Esther Malka bas Tzvi, dedicated in commemoration of the 30th yahrzeit of Kalman Rav, קלמן בן מאיר הכהן Kalman ben Meir HaKohen, by his daughter and son-in-law Lewis and Rabbi Richard Bieler. Thank you to the Bielers. Thank you to all who sponsored this morning. Also, this morning shiur is dedicated in loving memory of אסתר טילה בת רב גבריאל פנחס Esther Tila bas Rav Gavriel Pinchas, of course, Esti Moskowitz, עליה השלום aleha hashalom, whose family remains very much on our minds and our hearts as they're in the midst of sitting shiva for the tragic loss of their daughter. We read פרשת משפטים parshas Mishpatim, page 416 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם ve'eileh hamishpatim asher tasim lifneihem. פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim begins, these are the laws that Moshe placed before the Jewish people. Spoken about this many times in the past, the ו vav, ואלה ve'eileh, is it working? Still not working. The ו vav, ואלה ve'eileh, is continuing, just like the original were given at הר סיני Har Sinai, so to all the laws, all the details in פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim were given at הר סיני Har Sinai as well. Rashi says, אשר תשים לפניהם asher tasim lifneihem. The laws of our פרשה parsha, the laws of the תורה Torah are described, אשר תשים לפניהם asher tasim lifneihem, that are placed before you. Rashi says, כשולחן ערוך מוכן לאכול לפני האדם keshulchan aruch muchan le'echol lifnei ha'adam. Like a set table that's placed before a person ready to eat. And that's the origin of when Rav Yosef Karo named his wonderful set of ספרים sefarim, when he named his famous books, the code of Jewish law, שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch, it was based on this Rashi. These are the משפטים mishpatim, these are the laws that are placed before the Jewish people, מוכן לאכול לפני האדם muchan le'echol lifnei ha'adam. What really nourishes us, what really gives us life is not the food that we eat, is not the physical or material things around us. What gives us eternal life, of course, is learning Torah, living Torah, is keeping הלכה halacha.The חיד״א Chida in his ספר שם הגדולים Sefer Shem HaGedolim, אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plos HaTorah points out that the חיד״א Chida, the great רב חיים יוסף דוד אזולאי Rav Chaim Yosef David Azulai, in his ספר שם הגדולים Sefer Shem HaGedolim, he writes דבר נפלא davar nifla. מדוע זכה הבית יוסף לחבר חיבורו השולחן ערוך שהוא מורה הדרך לכל בית ישראל בכל קצבי תבל Madua zacha haBeis Yosef lechaber chiburo haShulchan Aruch shehu moreh haderech lechol beis Yisrael bechol kitzvei tevel? Why did רב יוסף קארו Rav Yosef Karo, רב יוסף קארו Rav Yosef Karo, we've studied him in the people of the book, you could find it online, his life, his legacy, his influence, why did he merit what became the authoritative work of Jewish law, the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch? זה לשונו zeh leshono, this is what the חיד״א Chida writes, quote: ובדע, שקיבלתי מאדם גדול בחכמה וביראה, שקיבל מרב גדול, שישראל לפי הדור היו צריכים לספר זה, שיקבץ כל הדינים, ויגלה שהשם חפץ לעסוק כשמעתתא אליבא דהלכתא U'vda, shekibalti me'adam gadol bechochma u'veyirah, shekibel me'rav gadol, she'Yisrael lefi hador hayu tzrichim lesefer zeh, sheyekabetz kol hadinim, viyegaleh sheHashem chafetz la'asok k'shma'at'ta aliba dehilchasa. Jewish people specifically at that time and in this place needed a code of Jewish law. Now is not the time to go all the way back, I think we've done it before, but from the גמרא Gemara, which is תלמוד בבלי Talmud Bavli, it's מבולבל mevulbal, it's all mixed up. It's all disorganized terribly, and that's by design. Because really our תורה Torah is supposed to be a תורה שבעל פה Torah Shebaal Peh, really it's supposed to be orally transmitted one to the other. רבינא, רב אשי Ravina, Rav Ashi, following the model of רבי יהודה הנשיא Rebbe Yehuda HaNasi, showed tremendous courage in writing down something that was supposed to remain oral. Why'd they do it? Because it was getting distorted, it was being forgotten. However, by doing so, they violated the manner in which it was meant to be transmitted, specifically interpersonally. A person was not to have a Rebbe. People had to gather to study as a community. It was meant to be able to foster and to cultivate and to support a notion of a community of learners and its transmission. So how do you preserve the notion of community and transmission and a Rebbe, all while writing it down and recording it? Says Rav Hutner, that's why it's the תלמוד בבלי Talmud Bavli. It's all מבולבל mevulbal, it's all mixed up. You can't make heads or tails. You can't find anything in it. It's not organized like an encyclopedia. It is intentionally and by design disorganized, so you still need a Rebbe. You still need to be in a שיעור shiur. You still need to be able to come together for its transmission one to the other.The back of the גמרא Gemara, the רא״ש Rosh, רבינו אשר Rabbeinu Asher, was the first to write a commentary exclusively following הלכה halacha. But he wrote it based on the organization of the ש״ס Shas, of the גמרא Gemara. You still don't know where to look. If you're curious, what does the רא״ש Rosh say about הלכות נדה hilchos nidda? Do you know to look in מסכת שבועות maseches Shevuos? That's the majority of the רא״ש Rosh's comment, because in מסכת שבועות maseches Shevuos, which is about vows and oaths, there's a passing section about the laws of family purity, נדה nidda, and that's where the רא״ש Rosh elaborates on the laws of נדה nidda, but you wouldn't know it because it remains terribly disorganized. So the רא״ש Rosh had a son, רב יעקב בן אשר Rav Yaakov ben Asher, who comprised the טור Tur. He said, let me organize it not according to the סדרם sidram, according to the מסכתות masechtos of ש״ס Shas, let me organize it thematically as an encyclopedia. And he created four columns. The four columns of the ארבעה טורים Arba'ah Turim are אורח חיים Orach Chayim, חושן משפט Choshen Mishpat, יורה דעה Yoreh De'ah, and אבן העזר Even Ha'ezer, as they're four columns, four categories of Jewish law. He created columns. And then the בית יוסף Beis Yosef, רב יוסף קארו Rav Yosef Karo says, your columns, they support my house. He wrote a commentary on the טור Tur called the בית יוסף Beis Yosef in the 16th century, called the בית יוסף Beis Yosef. Then רב יואל סירקיס Rav Yoel Sirkis came along, a later contemporary, and he said, your commentary is pretty good, but mine is better. So what did he name his commentary? The בית חדש Bayis Chadash. There's a new house in town. It's a whole rabbinic טרעטש trech talking going on over here. So there's the בית יוסף Beis Yosef, and then the ב״ח Bach names his the בית חדש Bayis Chadash. Then רב יוסף קארו Rav Yosef Karo says, you know, רב יוסף קארו Rav Yosef Karo said, where did the טור Tur come to these conclusions? He went through the גמרא Gemaras, he organized it all into four columns, four categories of Jewish law. How did he arrive at these conclusions? So let me give you the background. The whole commentary of the בית יוסף Beis Yosef is the background, tracing from the גמרא Gemara all the way through. The בית יוסף Beis Yosef found that people were not learning his ספר sefer as frequently as he wanted. So he summarized his בית יוסף Beis Yosef into a work that we learn more often, it's called the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch. Says my בית יוסף Beis Yosef, my house of Yosef being held up by the four columns, the ארבעה טורים Arba'ah Turim of רב יעקב בן אשר Rav Yaakov ben Asher, the son of the רא״ש Rosh, who wrote a commentary on הלכה halacha, it's being neglected. So let me summarize it into the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch. And when he writes the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch, what does he write? His wish is that people will learn it how often? כשחיבר הבית יוסף את השולחן ערוך, חילקו לשלושים חלקים, he broke it into 30 parts, באופן שיוכל כל אחד ואחד לחזור על כל השולחן ערוך במשך כל שלושים יום be'ofen sheyuchal kol echad ve'echad lachzor al kol haShulchan Aruch bemeshech kol shloshim yom. Jews would complete and review the entire שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch every 30 days. Every 30 days. And if you look in שולחן ערוך חושן משפט Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat, סוף סימן מ״ג sof siman mem gimmel, you'll see it says there, עד כאן יום כ״א ad kan yom kaf aleph. Why does it say until here, day 21? No one understood that. That has nothing to do with the actual commentary that he's writing. So why was it inserted in there, until here, day 21? So the סמ״ע Sma writes there, עד כאן יום כ״א, פשוטו דאין זה עניין המשל כשלפני זה, אלא המחבר חילק כל ד׳ טורים בשולחן ערוך לשלושים חלקים, בכוונתו היתה שיעמוד ויחזור כל חלק אחד בכל יום, באופן שבכל יום יגמור ויחזור ויהיה בקיא בכל ד׳ טורים כמו שכתב בהקדמת השולחן ערוך וזהו שכתב כאן עד כאן יום כ״א. Ad kan yom kaf aleph, pshuto d'ein zeh inyan hamashal keshelifnei zeh, ela hamechaber chilak kol daled turim baShulchan Aruch le'shloshim chalakim, bechavanato hayta sheya'amod veyachzor kol chelek echad bechol yom, be'ofen shebechol yom yigmor veyachzor veyiheyeh baki bechol daled turim kmo shekatav behakdamas haShulchan Aruch v'zehu shekatav kan ad kan yom kaf aleph. So the סמ״ע Sma says, you know why it says until here day 21? Because every Jew should be reviewing the entire שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch every 30 days. Wow. Mind-blowing, mind-boggling. So incredible, incredible commentary of the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch is a summary of הלכה halacha, and it indeed becomes the code of Jewish law. And the רב יוסף קארו Rav Yosef Karo gave us a great gift called the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch. He gave us a set table. So you don't know about a law of מוּקצֶה muktzeh, or a ברכה bracha on a banana, or what your לולב ואתרוג lulav v'esrog should look like when you choose it, or whether your סוכה sukkah qualifies as being כשר kosher, or how to give a גט get, or more importantly how to get married, how to do קידושין kiddushin, you don't know. The שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch says, here, I set the table for you. It's all here. The רמ״א Rama lives a little later than the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch, lives in Krakow. He says רב יוסף קארו Rav Yosef Karo did a good job. He did a pretty good job in צפת Tzfat, in the north of Israel. You can visit his shul, his grave today. He did a pretty good job. The problem is, it represents a ספרדי Sefardi custom. Here in Krakow, Poland, the רמ״א Rama says, רב משה איסרליש Rav Moshe Isserles, we do things a little bit differently. So רב יוסף קארו Rav Yosef Karo set the table. What did the רמ״א Rama put on top of it? A מפה mappah, a tablecloth. The commentary of the רמ״א Rama is called the מפה Mappah. It's the tablecloth on רב יוסף קארו Rav Yosef Karo's set table, which is in the house of the בית יוסף Beis Yosef, not as new as the house of the בית חדש Bayis Chadash, that is on the columns of the טור Tur of רב יעקב בן אשר Rav Yaakov ben Asher. In all their names of their works, there's a little, a little a little טרעטש trech going on back and forth over here, but קנאת סופרים תרבה חכמה kinas sofrim tarbeh chochmah, all to promote a sense of scholarship and Torah. Why am I sharing all of this here? Because it's the opening רש״י Rashi. The opening רש״י Rashi, ואלה המשפטים eileh hamishpatim. This is the opening רש״י Rashi, the law, the תורה Torah, and תורה Torah living, תורה Torah law is given as a set table. כשולחן ערוך מוכן לאכול לפני האדם keshulchan aruch muchan le'echol lifnei ha'adam. Like a set table. So going back to the חיד״א Chida, הקדוש ברוך הוא פסק Hakadosh Baruch Hu pasak. God Almighty determined the Jewish people needed a set table, a set encyclopedia, organized. ובאותו הדור נמצאו שלושה רבנים ראויים לזה U'v'oso hador nimtza'u shlosha rabbanim re'uyim l'zeh. The חיד״א Chida had a tradition that in that generation, the קבליסטים kabbalists in the north of צפת Tzfat, there were three rabbis qualified to have authored what would become the authoritative work of Jewish law. They are רב יוסף טיטצק Rav Yosef Titshik. Who is he? רב יוסף בן רב שלמה טיטצק Rav Yosef ben Rav Shlomo Titchik, one of the חכמי סרד chachmei Sarad. He lived in Portugal, then Italy, in Salonica. He wrote several ספרים sefarim, לחם סתרים Lechem Starim, פרת יוסף Poras Yosef. He was one. The second is the בית יוסף Beis Yosef. The third is the מהרי בן לב Mahari ben Lev. מהרי בן לב Mahari ben Lev is רב יוסף בן רב דוד אבן לב Rav Yosef ben Rav Dovid Even Lev. He was born in Turkey, and then he moved to Salonica, all ספרדים Sefardim. And והסכימו מן השמיים ותינתן הדעת דמרא דארעא קדישא בית יוסף מבני V'hiskimu min hashamayim v'tinaten hada'as d'mara d'ara kadisha Beis Yosef mibnei. So the בית יוסף Beis Yosef, רב יוסף קארו Rav Yosef Karo, was the one who was determined. Why? What was special about him? Was he the smartest? Most mystical? Greatest קבליסט kabbalist? Greatest character? Most tall, what was so special about him? Longest שמונה עשרה Shemoneh Esrei? שָׁקַל shuckled the most? What was so special? מפני ענוותנותו היתרה Mipnei anvasnuso hayesera. He was the most humble. He was the most humble. Because he was the most humble, that's why he became the conduit. He was the one responsible for organizing and transmitting, כנראה מספריו הקדושים k'nir'eh mi'sfarav hakdoshim, as you see from his ספרים sefarim, that is the tradition of the חיד״א Chida why רב יוסף קארו Rav Yosef Karo merited. And in fact, that is a tradition that we have about all of Torah. The משנה Mishna says in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos, we just read last week and again this week in פרשת משפטים parshas Mishpatim is a sort of second version, a new version, updated version of קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah. The משנה Mishna in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos says, משה קיבל תורה מסיני Moshe kibel Torah miSinai. What should it say? משה קיבל תורה בסיני Moshe kibel Torah beSinai. Should say Moshe received the Torah where? Geographically, what were the coordinates? What did you put in Waze when Jewish people were looking for where to show up for the receiving of the Torah? בסיני beSinai, it put הר סיני Har Sinai. So why does it say מסיני miSinai and not בסיני beSinai? What do we know about הר סיני Har Sinai? It was the lowest of all the mountains. It wasn't special, didn't have magnificent flora and fauna, it didn't have magnificent landscape. It was humble and modest and simple. And that's why Hashem chose it. The commentaries on פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos say, משה קיבל תורה Moshe kibel Torah, not בסיני beSinai. Where he got it, it's not important. How do we know it's unimportant? We don't even know where it is. We don't gather, we don't go there. There's no פסח Pesach program there, there's no סוכות Sukkos program there. There's no summer program there, there's no summer camp there. Now someone's gonna try to find it, they just realized. I want a commission if you figure this out. But הר סיני Har Sinai doesn't play that role. Nobody's going to הר סיני Har Sinai. משה קיבל תורה Moshe kibel Torah, not בסיני beSinai. משה קיבל תורה מסיני Moshe kibel Torah miSinai. He received the Torah. What Torah did he receive? He received the Torah of how to receive the Torah. And what's the Torah of how to receive the Torah? You have to be a vessel, a humble, modest, simple vessel. Because a prerequisite to receiving the Torah is not superimposing or projecting onto the Torah your thoughts, your honor, your glory, your view of the world. It's to become a blank slate. It's to be willing to receive the Torah, have the Torah engraved on our hearts, not to engrave our Torah, not to engrave our predisposed notions onto the Torah itself. The נגיד יוסף, רב יוסף סולובייצ'יק Rav Yosef Soloveitchik says the following: אלו הם הפרטי דינים שנשתנו לישראל אחר עשרת הדברות Eilu hem ha'pratei dinim shenishtanu l'Yisrael achar aseres hadibros, but הדברים תמוהים hadvarim tmuhim. So these are the first laws given after הר סיני Har Sinai. Most seminal event in all of human history, the giving of the Torah at הר סיני Har Sinai. Jewish people were high. Picture your greatest נעילה ne'ilah with your greatest קומזיץ kumzits, with your greatest שמחה simcha, with your greatest שיעור shiur you ever heard, with the greatest מוסר שמועס mussar shmuess you ever heard, combine it all one and it's nothing compared to הר סיני Har Sinai. Revelation? Hashem spoke to us directly. Revelation? People were on a high. It was incredible. And what are the very first laws God gives afterwards? While I have your attention, I'd like to give you my Torah. While you're on this incredible spiritual high, while you're singing and dancing and you feel connected to each other and to me, I want to give you the first set of laws. And what are they? הדברים תמוהים Hadvarim tmuhim, what says רב יוסף סולובייצ'יק Rav Yosef Soloveitchik? בני ישראל הרך עדיין לא נשתחררו משיעבוד מצרים Bnei Yisrael harach adayin lo nishtachreru mishi'abud Mitzrayim. They're a nation that are still feeling the impact of 210 years of slavery. We are 75 years after the Holocaust, and at the end of the תקופה tkufah of the merit of having Holocaust survivors, we still feel its impact. Still feel it. Second generation, third generation, it's still leaving its impact, its impression on the even the neurobiology of those who descend from those who survived or were impacted on our behavior, on our conduct. There were, Rabbi Yehuda who used to live here has a daughter who studied, who studied actually chemistry and studied the brains of second generation to see how was, how it was impacted growing up in the home of those who survived the worst atrocity in all of human history. So this slave nation, just because Hashem took them out, ten plagues, splitting of the sea, stood at הר סיני Har Sinai, they weren't done. They're still recovering, they're still coming out. They were taken out of Egypt, Egypt is still being taken out of them. ולכאורה פשוט שבעודם רושמי עבדות ופרך חרות בזכרונם, ועוד יסורי השיעבוד בפצע ותרי\"ג גופם V'lichora pashut shebe'odam roshmei avdus u'ferech charus be'zichronam, v'od yisurei hashi'abud be'fetza u'taryag gufam. They're still bruised and battered. They still have scabs and wounds. They're still limping and suffering. לא יוכלו מתוכם להסכיר לעבדים שלהם, ולמרבה הפלא דווקא בדיני עבד מתחילה Lo yuchlu mitocham lehaskir la'avadim shelahem, u'lemarbeh hapele davka bedinei eved matchila. So what's the first law Hashem gives after הר סיני Har Sinai? How does פרשת משפטים parshas Mishpatim begin? כי תקנה עבד עברי ki sikneh eved ivri. When you go buy a slave, six years they work for you, the seventh year they go free. If they say I want to stay, you pierce their ear on the door. We all know the laws, עבד עברי eved ivri, עבד כנעני eved kna'ani, the different laws that govern slavery, servitude. One does רב יוסף סולובייצ'יק Rav Yosef Soloveitchik, really? You just come off this high, this incredible ne'ilah kumzits, this amazing fabrengen, this oneg, singing and spiritually connected and his this and that, and the first laws you give are the laws of slavery to a slave nation still bruised and battered, physically, emotionally, psychologically? אכן מה עמקו דברי תורה Achen mah amku divrei Torah, says רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik, how deep, how profound. Hashem's understanding of the human psyche. כמה הם מותאמים לטיבו האמיתי של האדם, כבר קבעו יודעי בינה, שבן שחונך באכזריות על ידי אביו, רבה הסכויים שהוא עצמו יתאכזר לבנו Kamah hem mut'amim letivo ha'amiti shel ha'adam, kvar kav'u yodei vinah, sheben shechunach b'achzariyus al yedei aviv, rabbah hasikuyim shehu atzmo yit'achzer l'vno. You know why these are the first laws? Ask anyone who works in the field of abuse and trauma, and you will find how many people who are abusers were themselves the victims of abuse. How many people who pay forward abuse and harshness and all kinds of traumatic behaviors, themselves were victims, but they don't know, that's all they know. Of course not intentionally, of course not with malice, of course not trying to cause the next person the pain they themselves endured, but somehow in the human psyche, what we experience, what we are victims of, often we then become the perpetrator. ואף שההיגיון מחייב היפוכה, שמי שחש על בשרו אבנים הקשות של האכזריות, הרי יתלמד מכאבו ולא יביאנו על בנו ועל בתו V'af shehahigayon mechayev hipuchah, shemi shechash al besaro avanim hakashos shel ha'achzariyus, harei yitlamed mi'ke'evo v'lo yevi'enu al bno v'al bito. Even though one would think it should be the opposite, if you suffered, if you were a victim of something, you'd be incredibly sensitive, extraordinarily vigilant and careful not to pay it forward. You'd think that's the way it would go. אבל המציאות מראה, שכיון שרגיל הוא לאכזריות, לא למד ולא רגיל לשנות ממנו Aval hametzius mar'ah, shekeivan sheragil hu la'achzariyus, lo lamad v'lo ragil leshanos mimenu. If we were raised in cruelty and harshness, if we were raised with abuse, it's very hard to climb out from underneath that shadow, that cloud, to know another type of behavior, to not be caught in what becomes a vicious cycle. וכן מצינו בתולדות עולם, שלוכדי חופש משתמרים בארצות שמשלו עליהם. עבד כי ימלוך וכיון שתפסו את השלטון, יתאכזרו ונתנסים לא פחות מקודמיהם. התורה במבט חד נקב והבינה שדווקא כאיש ובני ישראל עדיין רגילים ליחסם אכזריים בין אדם לנושאו, גדולה הסכנה שהם גם יתאכזרו לעבדיהם V'chen matzinu be'toldos olam, shelochdei chofesh mishtamrim ba'aratzos shemashlu aleihem. Eved ki yimloch v'keivan shetafsu es hashilton, yit'achzeru v'nitnasim lo pachot mikodmeihem. HaTorah be'mabat chad nokev v'hevinah she'davka ka'ish u'vnei Yisrael adayin regilim l'yachasam achzariyim bein adam le'noseihu, gedolah hasakanah shehem gam yit'achzeru l'avdeihem. Says the נגיד יוסף Nagid Yosef, why is this the very first law? It seems anticlimactic and appropriate, we'd never guess it, we would never have chosen it. First law because the first thing Hashem says is break the cycle. Don't pay it forward. You don't like the way that you were parented, you don't like the way you were treated, you don't like who your teacher behaved, you don't like who your boss was, don't pay it forward, break the cycle. The first law, כי תקנה עבד עברי ki sikneh eved ivri. Let me tell you, there's one comfortable pillow, your עבד eved gets it, not you. That's a הלכה halacha of an עבד עברי eved ivri. There's one bed, you're sleeping on the couch. Your עבד eved gets it, not you. Because this is not a chance for you to pay it forward, this is an invitation to break the cycle. Someone recently was sharing, showing off to me, when they were a kid, they grew up with absolutely nothing, and they made it, and they broke through. And they were a kid, they worked for a certain business, and they weren't treated so wonderfully. And when they finally broke through, they bought the business, and now they're the boss of the same people that were their boss, and they're letting them have it. I wasn't impressed. If the punchline was, I bought the business, now I'm their boss, and I'm showing them how a boss should behave. I'm showing them, modeling for them what it should be like. I would have said, unbelievable. Come sit next to me during the parsha shiur. Unbelievable. It's the human psyche, I'm not even blaming this person. It's the human psyche so much so, says the נגיד יוסף Nagid Yosef, that's why the parsha begins, the law of עבד עברי eved ivri, don't pay it forward. Don't pay it forward. Don't behave that way again. פרק כ״א, פסוק י״ט Perek kaf aleph, pasuk yud tes. Why the ear? We've studied this in the past. I'll just leave you with some questions, so you listen to the past. Or you come up on your own. But when do you pierce the ear? If the slave says I want to say. Why do you pierce the ear? חזקוני Chizkuni has an amazing comment. This we never studied before. אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plos HaTorah says, you know why you pierce the ear? Where do you pierce the ear? On the doorpost. And you pierce all the way through the ear, it leaves a mark on the doorpost. You know some people on their doorpost they have the different heights of their kids, at different ages, different stages, right? You see how tall they are, when, you compare. So the חזקוני Chizkuni says, if a slave ran away, you took him back, how did anyone know it was your slave? You take them up against the doorpost and you'd see how tall they are and does it match up the hole in their ear with where the indent in your doorpost was. That's why you pierce the ear against the doorpost. The חזקוני Chizkuni says it was purely functional, pragmatic. It was a way of tracking. They didn't have Apple tracking devices then. How did you know it was your slave when you got him back? Put him up against the doorpost to check if it matched up. אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plos HaTorah digs up stuff nobody ever saw, heard, knew. Unbelievable. The classic reason given by חז״ל Chazal, the same ear that heard at הר סיני Har Sinai, don't steal, he stole. Because the עבד עברי eved ivri is the person who stole and doesn't have the funds to compensate and make the victim whole, so he goes to work for him. So the same ear that heard don't steal and stole, now has the ear pierced. Same ear that heard, עבדי הם ולא עבדים לעבדים avadai hem v'lo avadim la'avadim. We're slaves only to Hashem, not slaves to other slaves of Hashem. Now gets the ear pierced. So famously, famously the question is asked, so when should the ear get pierced? Right away. What are you waiting for the sixth year? What are you waiting for, why do you wait 'til the slave says I want to stay? That's not when he stole. That's not when he neglected what he heard at הר סיני Har Sinai. So why don't we pierce the ear right away, so that he walks around during that term of slavery, how long he has to work in order to earn to pay back, why don't we do it right away? So we've discussed that in the past, I'll let you look it up and figure it out.פרק כ״א, פסוק י״ט Perek kaf aleph, pasuk yud tes. Then we move on to a litany of laws, civil law, tort law, interpersonal laws, damages, loans. פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim seems like a random collection, compilation of laws, there's nothing random about it. You have to work on, we're not going to now, what are the themes and what is the order and what is the sequence and what is the messaging that comes out. But here the Torah tells us, וכי יריבון אנשים vechi yerivun anashim, tension, conflict, fights between people, unfortunately is nothing new. וכי יריבון אנשים והכה איש את רעהו באבן או באגרוף Vechi yerivun anashim v'hikah ish es re'eihu b'even o v'egrof. A person strikes another with a stone or a fist, ולא ימות v'lo yamut, he doesn't die, ונפל למשכב v'nafal l'mishkav, he's injured. I have to tell you, you know, we're living, it's mind-boggling. I just heard רב אשר וייס Rav Asher Weiss just said yesterday. He said it's hard to believe that right now, the most unsafe place for a Jew in the world is ירושלים עיר הקודש Yerushalayim ir hakodesh. How could it be? This wave of terror. This wave of terror. נבך nebach, a six-year-old, an eight-year-old boy, father still desperately needs our תפילות tefillos, fighting for his life. Yesterday a soldier, every day you turn on the news in Israel, how could it be? ירושלים Yerushalayim? How could it be? And there are so many questions, but one question I have, and maybe we're not entitled to ask from this side of the ocean, we all should be, not if, but when we will be there. But we're watching this wave of terror, people killing Jews, and we're watching Jews, metaphorically and please God, never literally, killing Jews in Israel. The fights over the judicial reform and other things. That's not to say these aren't important conversations, important matters, important debates. There, here, every Jewish community people are arguing, shouldn't there be a little bit of a wake-up call? Davka, while we're being targeted, Davka while there are funerals, Davka while there's a wave of terror? Like, historically, while they've tried to kill us, we don't kill each other. When they're not killing us, we go back to killing each other. But it's an all-new low to be killing each other while they're killing us. It's a wake-up. Something's got to change. Something's got to be different. Something's got to be different. It's a wake-up. A wake-up. וכי יריבון אנשים Vechi yerivun anashim. This is not talking about non-Jews, Jews. Jews are fighting. Jews break into fisticuffs, they break into violence. חס ושלום chas v'shalom, חלילה chalila. If I see one more headline about this, in Israel, the challenges around these reforms, what they could lead to. Again, they're very provocative headlines, hopefully not true. God forbid to civil war, to violence, reminiscent of the Rabin era, what it could be. We have to wake up. Something's got to change. Something's got to be different. We're not talking about others, it begins with ourselves. Who we are, how we behave, how we conduct ourselves, how we talk to one another, how we treat one another, how we resolve and communicate when we disagree and when we differ, חלילה chalila, can never lead to וכי יריבון אנשים vechi yerivun anashim. Can never ever ever descend to a point וכי יריבון אנשים vechi yerivun anashim. Something's got to change. We got to wake up. We got to wake up. It's a message, so many messages. We don't need the messages. It's wake up, so we don't need these messages. ולא ימות v'lo yamut, he doesn't die, ונפל למשכב והתהלך בחוץ על משענתו וניקה המכה v'nafal l'mishkav v'hithalech bachutz al mishanto v'nikah hamakeh. The person gets up and goes outside his own power, וניקה המכה v'nikah hamakeh, רק שבתו יתן rak shivto yiten, ורפוא ירפא v'rapo yerape. Lost time you have to pay him for lost time, lost wages, and you have to compensate, provide for healing. You have to compensate for lost wages and for healing. And here we have the Torah's source for Jews becoming doctors. This is the Torah's source for the Jewish focus on medicine. It's not a coincidence. Why do Jews become doctors? Why do we care about science? Based on this פסוק pasuk, the גמרא Gemara in בבא קמא Bava Kamma says, דבי רבי ישמעאל אומרים ורפוא ירפא מכאן שניתן רשות לרופא לרפאות d'bei Rabbi Yishmael omrim v'rapo yerape, mikan shenitan reshus l'rofe lerapos. This is the license, not the medical license, the Torah license for a doctor to practice. Now רש״י Rashi, תוספות Tosfos, the רמב״ם Rambam, the רמב״ן Ramban, why does a doctor need a Torah license? Do I need a Torah license to breathe? Do I need a Torah license to be a lawyer? Do you need a Torah license to be an accountant, a Torah license to be a business person? Torah license to be a chef or any other profession? Why do you need Torah permission and Torah license in order to practice medicine? So רש״י Rashi says, there in the גמרא בבא קמא פ״ה Gemara Bava Kamma peh hei, לא אמרינן רחמנא מחץ והוא מאסה lo amrinan Rachmana machatz v'hu ma'aseh. Because you might say, doctor, how dare you? It's the רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam's will this person be sick. We don't understand it, we can't make sense of it, but this is what's meant to be. How dare you try to override? How dare you interfere? How dare you heal and resolve what Hashem has determined is right for that person? Now, that sounds absurd, but to a degree, it makes a lot of sense. If you're a person that lives with אמונה emunah and בטחון bitachon. If we're a person who people who regularly say, כל מאן דעביד רחמנא לטב עביד kol man d'avid Rachmana l'tav avid, that everything Hashem does is for our best, then why interfere with what Hashem has determined to be the best? So Hashem says, I want you to interfere. I want you to make things better. I want you to take initiative. I want you to do everything you can do. תוספות Tosfos gives a different answer. Will I fall in the hands of the heaven, who heals and who decrees the king, as is written. Same as Rashi, but the רמב״ן Ramban gives a different. The טור Tur quotes the רמב״ן Ramban, who says, you know, sometimes in order to heal, what do you have to do? You have to do surgery. A surgeon takes a knife, cuts a person open. Let's say the incision was a millimeter bigger than it needed to be. They caused pain that was unnecessary, a longer healing time. There are unintended, sometimes, there are things that go wrong in medicine. Not intentionally. That's not the law, that what the lawyers say, but not intentionally. So you could be נמצה הורג נפשות בשוגג nimtza horeg nefashos b'shogeg. So maybe you'll say, why take the risk? Let someone else take that risk. I don't want to do it. How could I do that? What if God forbid, the person suffers because of me? So the רמב״ן Ramban says, take the risk. Hashem absolves you. Not negligence, negligence is on you. But if you do your best, then Hashem says the rest is on me. Based on the רמב״ם Rambam, there's another explanation. And that is אסור לאדם לחבול בין בעצמו בין בחברו assur l'adam lachbol bein b'atzmo bein b'chavero. You're not allowed to do חבלה chabala. You can't hurt or injure a party, you can't cause a black and blue mark or cause someone to bleed. It's a prohibition of חבלה chabala. We once gave a whole shiur because the Rambam doesn't talk only about חובל באחר chovel be'acher, not only are you not allowed to punch someone else, again our פרשה parsha, but חובל בעצמו chovel b'atzmo. You're not allowed to injure yourself. You can't cause bleeding unnecessarily, bruising unnecessarily. Where, it's not our body. We're stewards over these bodies, they're not ours. We're just watching over them. They're not ours. They're on loan to us, they will be returned, and we're simply in charge while we have them. And because they're not ours, we're not allowed to be חובל בעצמו chovel b'atzmo. So cosmetic surgery, אסור assur or מותר muttar? I understand, I'm asking in Boca Raton, Florida. It's cosmetic surgery. You know, in Boca Raton, Florida, they say natural childbirth in Boca is to give birth without any makeup on. It's natural childbirth in Boca Raton. So is cosmetic surgery allowed? We gave a whole shiur on that, it's a big discussion. It depends if it's pure vanity or is it psychologically, a person feels they need to. Rav Moshe has a תשובה chuva. A young woman who felt she was struggling in shidduchim, she had a facial feature she wanted to repair and improve, that's חבלה בעצמו chabala b'atzmo. We gave a second shiur, a different shiur another time, can Jews become boxers? You're allowed to punch out the other person, or are you allowed to allow them to punch you? Can a Jew become a boxer? There's a long history of Jews in boxing. Jews in boxing, there is a long, even somewhat illustrious history of Jews and and of boxing. All based on this Rambam. So maybe the doctor says, חבלה chabala is אסור assur. I can't treat patients, someone else should do it, I can't be חובל chovel. Comes along the Torah and says, ורפוא ירפא. מכאן שניתן רשות לרופא לרפאות v'rapo yerape, mikan shenitan reshus l'rofe lerapos. Hashem says, here's the knife. Hashem says, scrub in. Hashem says, take the risk, take the initiative, interfere with me. Now go and practice, go and practice medicine. Another hesitation someone has, I don't want to be מחלל שבת mechalel Shabbos. I don't want to, there are those, not many, who successfully become became doctors by having שומר שבת shomer Shabbos residency and שומר שבת shomer Shabbos practice. There are those who are able to be doctors and שבת Shabbos never comes into play, never comes into play. But many most can't. So maybe someone will say, I'm not going to be a doctor, let others become. ורפוא ירפא verapo yerapei. Hashem says, don't worry about my שבת Shabbos. Worry about my שבת Shabbos, and there are laws you have to learn to navigate, but don't hesitate or be reluctant, don't not save lives because you're worried about your שבת Shabbos and my שבת Shabbos. מכאן שניתן רשות לרופא לרפות. Mikan shenitan reshus l'rofei l'rapos, the goes and, go and be, go and be a doctor. But here in the יצר פלוס התורה Yotzer Plus HaTorah, he says, we have evidence, how far does it go back that Jews specialize in medicine, become doctors? ורפוא ירפא verapo yerapei.משנה Mishna, מסכת שקלים Maseches Shkalim. אלו הן הממונים שהיו בבית המקדש היה בן אחיה על חולי מעיים Eilu hen hamemunim shehayu b'veisa Mikdash haya Ben Achiah al cholei me'ayim. The Mishnah which is describing the practices in the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, this week is פרשת שקלים Parshas Shkalim, of collecting the שקל shekel and what it was designated for, and what it underwrote, sponsored or paid for. So פרק ה' משנה א' Perek Hei Mishna Aleph says one of the designated people in charge of the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash was בן אחיה Ben Achiah who was in charge of, it says evidence that Jews were in medicine and evidence that Jews have irritable bowel, because what was his job? What did he specialize in? Not skincare, not the heart, חולי מעיים cholei me'ayim. The first gastroenterologist, בן אחיה Ben Achiah. ירושלמי Yerushalmi says כהנים היו הולכים יחיפים על הרצפה של בית המקדש Kohanim hayu holchim yechayfim al haritzpa shel Beis Hamikdash. Kohanim were not allowed to wear shoes in the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash. Holy places like משה Moshe at the סנה sneh and one who goes on הר הבית Har Habayis is not allowed to wear shoes. What was the floor of the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash made out of? Stone. The winter in ירושלים Yerushalayim, stone floor gets very cold. היו אוכלים הרבה בשר של קרבנות שלמים ושל חטאות Hayu ochlim harbeh basar shel korbonos shlamim v'shel chatos. What did the כהנים Kohanim eat? What was their diet made up of a lot of? Meat. ושותים רק מים v'shosim rak mayim. They weren't allowed to drink wine in the עזרה azarah. They ate a lot of meat. Surprised they didn't all have gout. כי דכתיב יין ושכר אל תשת אתה ובניך ki d'chsiv yayin v'shechar al tesht atah u'vanecha. They couldn't have wine, so they ate a lot of meat, red meat, water, barefoot. כל אלו הדברים היו מקלקלים ומחלישים כל הכח העיכול של הכהנים Kol eilu hadvarim hayu mekalkelim umachlishim kol hakoach ha'ikul shel hakohanim. And apparently, eating a lot of meat and washing it down with water, while being barefoot on a cold stone, apparently is bad for digestion. והיו מהם שהיו מעיים משלשלים ומהם שהיו נעצרים V'hayu mehem shehayu me'ayim meshalshelim u'mehem shehayu ne'etzarim. Some suffered from constipation, others from diarrhea. This is not why you came to the פרשה שיעור parsha shiur today. But it is a typical Jewish gathering and conversation. But בן אחיה *Ben Achiah* בקי ברפואה *baki b'refuah*. And בן אחיה *Ben Achiah* was a GI, he was a gastrointestinologist, thank you. וידע איזה יין יחזיק מעיו של הכהן המשלשל *v'yode'a eizeh yayin yachzik me'av shel hakohen hamshalshail*. When they got out of the בית המקדש *Beis Hamikdash* and they ate all that meat and drank all that wine and walked around barefoot and they were suffering, he treated them. משנה בשקלים *mishna b'Shkalim*, Jews and medicine. שמואל *Shmuel* מסכת בבא מציעא דף ק\"ז עמוד א' *Maseches Bava Metzia daf kuf zayin amud aleph*. שמואל העיד על עצמו שיודע רפואה לכל חולי שבעולם חוץ משלושה חולאים *Shmuel he'id al atzmo sheyodea refuah l'chol choli sheba'olam chutz m'shlosha cholayim*. שמואל *Shmuel* says I know how to heal every illness in the world with the exception of three. שמואל *Shmuel* says, like רבינו הקדוש *Rabbeinu Hakadosh* in גמרא בבא מציעא פ\"ה *Gemara Bava Metzia pey hei*, that רבינו הקדוש *Rabbeinu Hakadosh* also knew medicine. רבי חנינא *Rebbi Chanina* was a רופא *rofei*. גמרא יומא *Gemara Yoma*. אבא אומנא מסכת תענית שבכל תלמוד בבלי *Abba Umna Maseches Taanis sheb'chol Talmud Bavli*, we have countless תנאים ואמוראים *Tannaim v'Amoraim* who were doctors who understood science and medicine. We also find it among the רשונים *Rishonim*. I don't want to take all of our time now. הרמב\"ם *HaRambam*. We know הרמב\"ם *HaRambam* was a genius, was great. הרמב\"ם *HaRambam* in one of his letters even outlines his schedule, his daily schedule. He was a doctor of the Sultan, which is maybe the reason he didn't leave Egypt. We talked about last week or two weeks ago the prohibition to live in Egypt. Maybe his dispensation was, he was the doctor of the Sultan. He wasn't exactly allowed to leave. But הרמב\"ם *HaRambam*, it makes it all the more mind-boggling. The הרמב\"ם *HaRambam* didn't have a keyboard, an internet connection, and a word processor. He didn't have אוצר החכמה *Otzar Hachochma*. The הרמב\"ם *HaRambam* produced his משנה תורה *Mishneh Torah*, מורה נבוכים *Moreh Nevuchim*, פירוש המשניות *Perush Hamishnayos*, and 17 books on חכמת הרפואה *chachmas harefuah*, 17 medical textbooks. All while serving all day for the Sultan, and then ultimately having to flee for his life and being on the run. Because of that, we only have one of his medical textbooks, it's called פרקי משה *Pirkei Moshe*, the chapters, the books of משה *Moshe*. We have a medical textbook of the הרמב\"ם *Rambam*, 16 were lost. ברוך השם *Baruch Hashem* we have his מורה נבוכים *Moreh Nevuchim*, פירוש המשניות *Perush Hamishnayos*, and his משנה תורה *Mishneh Torah*. הרמב\"ם *HaRambam* was unbelievable. Torah and מדע *madda*, medicine, science, that combination for the הרמב\"ם *Rambam* didn't hold him back, and הרמב\"ם's *HaRambam's* משנה תורה *Mishneh Torah* is learned every ישיבה *Yeshiva* on the planet. The הרמב\"ן *HaRamban*, הרמב\"ן *Ramban* was a great mystic, but he also was a physician, was a doctor. He was a philosopher. The תשובות הרשב\"א *Teshuvos HaRashba*. הרמב\"ן *HaRamban*, he writes that הרמב\"ן *HaRamban* was a doctor. הספורנו *HaSforno*, אביר הרופאים *Abir Harofim*. הספורנו *HaSforno* was a great, a great doctor. השלטי גיבורים *HaShiltei Gibborim*, רבינו אפרים *Rabbeinu Ephraim* was a physician, a doctor. The list goes on and on of the incredible, illustrious, prominent history of Jews going all the way back to תנאים ואמוראים *Tannaim v'Amoraim*, ראשונים ואחרונים *Rishonim v'Acharonim*, who it was not a contradiction to be both a scholar of Torah and a doctor. Now the גמרא *Gemara* does make a comment, the גמרא בקידושין *Gemara b'Kiddushin* about doctors, now that we talked about how wonderful, how amazing, how great, and how prominent they are. And he says, the גמרא בקידושין דף פ\"ב *Gemara b'Kiddushin daf pey beis* says, טוב שברופאים לגיהנום *Tov shebarofim l'gehinom*. Best of doctors go to, as my kids would say, H-E-double hockey sticks. גיהנום *Gehinom*. דבר פלא ורחוק על הדעת *davar peleh v'rachok al hadaas*. חכמי ישראל הנ\"ל האמוראים הגאונים שפיהם אנו חיים *chachmei Yisrael hanal ha'amoraim hageonim she'pihem anu chayim*. הרמב\"ם, הרמב\"ן, הספורנו, רבינו הקדוש, רבי יהודה הנשיא, שמואל *HaRambam, haRamban, haSforno, Rabbeinu Hakadosh, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, Shmuel*, the, the doctor, the first GI, they're all going to גיהנום *Gehinom*? What does that mean? And doesn't the parsha, our parsha say ורפוא ירפא *verapo yerapei*? We were given license to heal, we're supposed to go heal. ניתן רשות לרופא לרפא *nitan reshus l'rofei l'rafo*. How can you say טוב שברופאים לגיהנום *tov shebarofim l'gehinom*? So here he quotes the יצר פלוס התורה *Yotzer Plus HaTorah*, he quotes from his father, מרגלא בפומיה דאבי מורי *margala b'fumei d'avi mori*. He quotes from his father, a great teaching of רבי מאיר פרימשלן *Rebbi Meir Premishlan*, a great Rebbe, שהרופא צריך לידע שהרפואה היא רק ביד הקדוש ברוך הוא *sheharofei tzarich leida sheharefuah hi rak b'yad Hakadosh Baruch Hu*. Why is the Gemara making this comment? Because a doctor needs to know who's the real healer? Who is the real healer? ריבונו של עולם *Ribono Shel Olam*, השם *Hashem*. The doctor is just a messenger. The doctor is just a שליח *shliach*. The doctor is just the agent. The doctor's not actually doing the healing. But too many doctors, surgeons in particular, this is not me, the surgeons I know and learn with are humble and modest and wonderful, but it's notorious in the industry that doctors are arrogant. And surgeons are the most arrogant because when you save lives, the person was about to die, and you gave them life. What could inflate an ego more than the whole family, everybody's so, you're amazing, you saved a life, what can we do, we can ever repay you, we love you. With your hands, with your mind, you saved a life. Saved a life. רופא שחושב שבחכמתו ודעתו נותן ישועה ומזור לחולים *Rofei shechoshev sheb'chochmaso u'v'daato notein yeshua u'mazor l'cholim*, נמצא שאינו מכוון כראוי בברכת רפאנו *nimtza she'eino mechaven karaui b'birchas Refaeinu*. So a doctor who thinks it goes to their head, they think they're the one who's healing. Their brilliance, their knowledge, their practice, their acumen, their skill, they're the ones who are diagnosing and treating and they're doing surgery, so they don't concentrate on the ברכה *bracha* of רפאנו *Refaeinu*. Why? Because who needs God? They're the doctor. הוא מחסר ברכה אחת משמונה עשרה ברכות *Hu mechaser bracha achas m'Shmoneh Esrei brachos*. אין בידו אלא כמיניין טוב ברכות *Ein b'yado ela k'minyan tov brachos*. They only have how many ברכות *brachos*? What's the gematria of טוב *tov*? 9, 6 and 2, 17. So, they don't have שמונה עשרה ברכות *Shmoneh Esrei brachos*. They're missing a ברכה *bracha*. So because they don't concentrate רפאנו *Refaeinu* because they think they're in charge, so טוב שברופאים *tov shebarofim*. If a רופא *rofei* thinks טוב *tov*, טוב שברופאים לגיהנום *tov shebarofim l'gehinom*. אותו רופא שיש לו רק טוב ברכות הוא יורש גיהנום *oto rofei sheyesh lo rak tov brachos hu yoreish gehinom*. The one who doesn't need, you know, unimpressed by this גמטריא *gematria*, this insight of רבי מאיר פרימשלן *Rebbi Meir Premishlan*. Rabbi Mirzoff is snuck in the back row, he likes it. It's got a gematria, it's got a רבי מאיר פרימשלן *Rebbi Meir Premishlan*. טוב שברופאים לגיהנום *Tov shebarofim l'gehinom*. Many other interpretations of what it means טוב שברופאים לגיהנום *tov shebarofim l'gehinom*, not for now. All of them revolve around that notion that a doctor needs to never get confused who's the real healer. He's just a messenger, just an agent. He's not really at all, he's not really the one who is in charge. Okay, moving right along. Oh. Oh. Moving from טוב שברופאים *tov shebarofim* and רפואה *refuah* as healing in the history of doctors. So רב אברהם שור שליט\"א *Rav Avraham Schorr shlit\"a*, he quotes a different tradition. רק שבתו יתן ורפוא ירפא *Rak shivto yitein v'rapo yerapei*. You know all a Jew needs to be healed? שבת *Shabbos*. רק שבתו יתן *Rak shivto yitein*. Give a Jew a שבת *Shabbos*, ורפוא ירפא *v'rapo yerapei*. The תפארת שלמה מרדומסק *Tiferes Shlomo m'Radomsk*. הנראה לרמז גדול מעלת יום השבת קודש שהוא צינור כל השפעות וטובות הגוף והנפש *Hanireh l'remez gadol maalas yom haShabbos kodesh shehu tzinor kol hashpaos v'tovos haguf v'hanefesh*. שבת *Shabbos* is the great healer. שבת *Shabbos* is the ultimate pharmacy. שבת *Shabbos* is the greatest therapy. שבת *Shabbos* is the צינור *tzinor*, it's the pipeline through which every treatment flows. ומרפא לחוליי עמו כמו שכתוב בגמרא שבת ששומר שבת כהלכתו אפילו עובד עבודה זרה מוחלין לו *u'merapei l'cholayei amo kmo shekasuv b'Gemara Shabbos, she'shomer Shabbos k'hilchaso afilu oved avodah zarah mochlin lo*. מוחלין לו *mochlin lo*. So ובשביעית יצא לחפשי חנם *U'vashvi'is yeitzei lachofshi chinam*. In the seventh you go free, going back to the beginning of the parsha. מידו ובשביעית או בשבת יצא חנם *meido u'vashvi'is o b'Shabbos yeitzei chinam*. Come שבת *Shabbos*, a Jew tastes עולם הבא *olam haba*, a Jew finds what they need. And that's רק שבתו יתן *rak shivto yitein*. כאשר יתפלל עליו ביום השבת אז ורפוא ירפא *kaasher yispallel alav b'yom haShabbos, az v'rapo yerapei*. All a Jew needs is the holy שבת *Shabbos*. All a Jew needs is שבת *Shabbos*. And Rav Schorr writes, ויש להוסיף לשון רק *v'yesh l'hosif lashon rak*. אפילו אם רק שבתו יתן *afilu im rak shivto yitein*. אפילו אם כל השבוע אין לו זמן ללמוד תורה כראוי ולעשות המוטל עליו בשאר ענייני עבודת השם כראוי *afilu im kol hashavua ein lo zman lilmod Torah k'raui v'laasos hamutal alav b'shaar inyanei avodas Hashem k'raui*. אבל אם רק שבתו יתן *aval im rak shivto yitein*, על כל פנים יתן את השבת *al kol panim yitein es haShabbos*. שבת לבד להביא רפואה לאדם לנשמתו כראוי *Shabbos l'vad l'havi refuah l'adam l'nishmaso k'raui*. Even רק שבתו יתן *rak shivto yitein*. All week long you didn't daven the way you could have davened, you didn't learn the way you could have learned, you didn't spend enough time with the family the way you should have spent time with the family. רק שבתו יתן רק שבת יתן *rak shivto yitein rak Shabbos yitein*. If all we have is שבת *Shabbos*, at least שבת *Shabbos* double down. שבת *Shabbos* focus concentrate. שבת *Shabbos* disconnect from the to-do and the tasks and everything around us and be connected to what needs to happen then, then ורפוא ירפא *v'rapo yerapei*. It is incredible healing power powers on a Jew. And that's what we say in כל המקדש *Kol Hamekadesh*. איש על מחנהו ואיש על דגלו *ish al machanehu v'ish al diglo*. כל אחד צריך לשמור שבת כפי דרגתו *kol echad tzarich lishmor Shabbos k'fi dargaso*. That's how רב שור *Rav Schorr* sees רק שבתו יתן ורפוא ירפא *rak shivto yitein v'rapo yerapei*. פרק כ\"ב פסוק כ' *Perek Kaf Beis pasuk kaf*. Skip a lot. By the arm death by an animal, ד' נזיקין *daled nezikin*. פרק כ\"ב *perek kaf beis*. Self-defense, payment for theft, the laws of the ד' שומרים *daled shomrim*. Page 430. זובח לאלהים יחרם בלתי לה' לבדו *Zove'ach l'elohim yochoram bilti laShem l'vado*. זובח לאלהים *zove'ach l'elohim*. A person who brings offerings to other gods. וגר לא תונה ולא תלחצנו כי גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים *v'ger lo soneh v'lo silchatzenu ki geirim hayisem b'eretz Mitzrayim*. Don't taunt or oppress a stranger, a convert, because we were strangers in the land of, of Egypt. We were strangers in the land of Egypt. That's a plus, I tell her again. רבינו בחיי *Rabbeinu Bachya* quotes רבינו בחיי *Rabbeinu Bachya* here on this פסוק *pasuk*. Quote, כמה מקומות בתורה הזהיר הקדוש ברוך הוא על הגר *kamah mekomos baTorah hizhir Hakadosh Baruch Hu al hager*. In fact, the most often repeated מצוה *mitzva* in the whole Torah is how we treat the convert, the stranger. To be sensitive and mindful and careful, to not remind them where they came from in their beginnings. שהגר הוא מוצא את עצמו יחידי בארץ נכריה *shehager hu motzei es atzmo yechidi b'eretz nochriya*. לכן נקרא גר מלשון גרגר ונתון יחידי בראש ענף אילן *lachen nikra ger milashon gargir v'natun yechidi b'rosh anaf ilan*. מבזים אותו ומענים אותו *mevazim oso u'me'anim oso*. He feels like an outsider, he feels alone and singled out, he feels like he doesn't belong, and therefore we have to be careful. Because we knew what that was like. We've lived that way throughout our history. We understand what it means to be immigrants and refugees, what it means to be outsiders and strangers. It's not a political comment, it's a Jewish comment. All of us should know what that means. How that impacts policy is a different question. But our humanity, it should impact. The love and sensitivity we show, says the רבינו בחיי *Rabbeinu Bachya*. The אבן עזרא *Ibn Ezra*, כי גר יהיה זרך טעם גר כמו גרגר שנכנס מן הסעיף *ki ger yiheyeh zaracha, taam ger k'mo gargir shenichnas min hasa'if*. ויש חש על הלב שזה טעם רחוק בעיניהם ואין להם יודעים טעם כל עץ וצורתו אז יכירו האמת *v'yesh chash al halev shezeh taam rachok b'eineihem v'ein lahem yodim taam kol eitz v'tzuraso az yakiru ha'emes*. We have to be careful, we have to be strict, we have to understand. פרק כ\"ב פסוק כ\"א *perek kaf beis pasuk kaf aleph*. This is one of the scariest פסוקים *psukim* in the entire Torah. Next pasuk. כל אלמנה ויתום לא תענון *Kol almanah v'yasom lo sa'anun*. A widow and an orphan do not abuse. Do not aggravate. Do not aggrieve. Incredibly sensitive, caring, loving, supportive of a widow and of an orphan. Why? Because כי אם ענה תענה אותו כי אם צעוק יצעק אלי שמוע אשמע צעקתו *ki im aneh sa'aneh oso, ki im tza'ok yitzak eilai, shamoa eshma tza'akaso*. Hashem says if they call out to me, they cry out to me, you caused them pain and they turned to me, שמוע אשמע צעקתו *shamoa eshma tza'akaso*. I want you to know, I'm going to hear. You know what's going to happen when I hear? When I turn an ear and I listen to them? וחרה אפי והרגתי אתכם בחרב והיו נשיכם אלמנות ובניכם יתומים *v'charah api v'haragti eschem b'cherev, v'hayu nesheichem almonos u'vneichem yesomim*. I'm going to kill you and your wife will know what it's like to be a widow. And your children will be orphans. It's the scariest pasuk I think more than the תוכחה *tochacha* in the whole Torah. Hashem says, He doesn't hold back at all. This is like the most gentle, sweet parent, but if someone messes with their child, you'll see that parent become an entirely different person. Hashem is kind and loving and compassionate, but He says you mess with my widow, my my orphans, I'm coming after you and your spouse and children will know what it's like to be a widow and orphan. Unbelievably powerful. The imagery is horrific. כל אלמנה *Kol almanah*. אלמנה *almanah* means widow. כתב והקבלה *Ksav V'hakabalah* רבי יעקב צבי מקלנבורג *Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg* says אלמנה *almanah* doesn't just mean widow, it means על מנה *al manah*. What's a מנה *manah*? You go to, you go to a pizza store in Israel, you want to order a piece of pizza, what do you ask for? A מנה מנה *manah manah*. מנה *manah* means a portion, a piece. It means a portion. אלמנה *Almanah* is אל מנה *al manah* missing a portion. It's missing a portion. So it doesn't just mean the widow. It means a family who's missing a portion. We know now in our own community, horrifilly, what that means. When shiva is over, you can't forget. In Israel, how many families have sat shiva over these last weeks and months, terror events and other tragedies? You know, it's tragic and articles and moaning and crying and the turnout and the support, but they are forever אלמנה *almanah*. They are forever missing a portion. And we, the Torah is telling us, have to be exceedingly careful and sensitive and smart what we talk about and how we talk and how we behave and what we complain about and cry about as we go forward when we think about the people around us who are אלמנה *almanah*. Love davka a widow, but אלמנה *almanah* means missing a portion. What do we complain about if we're married and there's someone single who desperately wants to be married? What do we complain about children if there's someone there who's desperate to have children? What do we complain if someone's lost a child and so on and so forth. But why the double language? ענה תענה *aneh sa'aneh*, צעוק יצעק *tza'ok yitzak*, שמוע אשמע *shamoa eshma*. Why the double language? Why the double language? So again, we turned to Rav Schorr. This is from two years ago, תשפ\"א *Taf Shin Pey Aleph*. And here Rav Schorr from two years ago says why the double language. Just have to find where he says it. Oh. Says of sure, of sure the following. The רמב\"ן *Ramban* from כפל הלשון *k'efel halashon*. הרמב\"ן *Ramban* himself was bothered by this question. ענה תענה *aneh sa'aneh*, צעוק יצעק *tza'ok yitzak*, שמוע אשמע *shamoa eshma*. Why the double language? So the שר שלום מבעלז *Sar Shalom m'Belz*, great Belzer Rebbe. הרב הקדוש שר שלום מבעלז פירש על פי מה שאמרו חז\"ל *Harav hakadosh Sar Shalom m'Belz peirush al pi mah she'amru Chazal*. כל אדם שיש לו שר ומלאך מלמעלה מה שמצער לאדם גם אותו מלאך יש לו צער מזה *Kol adam sheyesh lo sar u'malach milmala, mah shemetzaer l'adam gam oso hamalach yesh lo tzaar mizeh*. Each human being has their corresponding angel above. There's who we are down here below and correspondingly there is someone up above. And when a person hurts or pains or injures or harms someone down below, you've also injured or harmed the corresponding angel up above. And that says the שר שלום מבעלז *Sar Shalom m'Belz* is why the double language in the pasuk. שלכן יש להיזהר מאוד שלא לגרום חס ושלום צער לאלמנה ויתום שדמעתה למציאות תמד וצריך להיזהר מזה מאוד *shelachen yesh l'hizaher me'od shelo ligrom chas v'shalom tzaar l'almana v'yasom she'dimah l'metzius tamid v'tzarich l'hizaher mizeh me'od*. חז\"ל *Chazal* tell us, even when the gates are closed, the gates of prayer, of cries, of this widow and orphan, they get through those gates and God hears them. Be very, very careful, very, very careful. But then he offers another explanation. And he says the following. He says, why specifically the widow and orphan does Hashem have their back and will he meet out punishment and revenge? And he says the following. Says, you know, if someone is married, if they're insulted or hurt or injured, they had a bad day at work, you know what they do? They go home and they tell their spouse. They lie in bed, pillow talk, they tell their spouse. They sit over dinner on the couch, a glass of wine and they confide and they're consoled and they get strength by telling their spouse. An orphan, a child, rather, who has living healthy parents, had a rough day at school, they were bullied, they didn't do well on the test, they didn't get into the school, yeshiva, the seminary they applied to, the shidduchim are not going the way they want. Who do they talk to? Parents, they confide, and they're consoled, and they draw strength. But this אלמנה *almanah* and this יתום *yasom*, nebach this widow, nebach these orphans, they're missing a portion, they're missing a person, they're missing a subject, they're missing someone they can talk to, confide in, draw strength from. So therefore, you're, you're injuring, you're hurting them doubly. Not only did you hurt them by what you said or did, but you also hurt them that they have no one to unburden or to share that pain with. So they absorb a double blow of the injury. And that's why Hashem will double the revenge he takes against you. Unbelievable פסוק *pasuk*. Unbelievable פסוק *pasuk*. The double portion, the double injury, the double pain. The בעל הטורים the צדיק רבי שלמה *Tzaddik Rebbi Shlomo* gives the same וורט *vort*. רב אברהם שור *Rav Avraham Schorr* gives the same וורט *vort*. Why the double language? Because they're missing that person, so therefore you've doubly hurt them because they can't share the burden of their pain. Since you doubly hurt them, Hashem will doubly hurt such a person and their children and spouses will know what that's like, חלילה וחס *chalila v'chas*. פרק כ\"ג פסוק ז' *Perek Kaf Gimmel pasuk zayin*. Next perek. Page 434. לא תטה משפט אביונך בריבו *lo sateh mishpat evyoncha b'rivo*. Don't pervert judgment. מדבר שקר תרחק *Midvar sheker tirchak*. ונקי וצדיק אל תהרוג כי לא אצדיק רשע *v'naki v'tzadik al ta'harog ki lo atzdik rasha*. מדבר שקר תרחק *midvar sheker tirchak*. It's a very funny formulation. מדבר שקר תרחק *midvar sheker tirchak*. Torah obligation, responsibility, Torah's focus on honesty, on honesty. But it's not formulated the way other. לא תגנוב *lo signov*, לא תרצח *lo sirtzach*. What should it say? לא תשקר *lo seshaker*. It should say לא תשקר *lo seshaker*. Don't lie. Just like it says don't murder, don't steal, don't lie. Doesn't say from murder, stay far away. From, from uh, from murder stay far away, from stealing stay far away. That's more Yeshivish way of saying it, but it doesn't say that. לא תגנוב *lo signov*. Someone was trying to tell me, I was talking to someone recently about the difference between like real Yeshivish and sort of Yeshivish and not Yeshivish. So he told me he was in Yeshiva and in in Lakewood and they were serving grilled cheese sandwiches and a guy on line in front of him who grew up in America said, the cheese with the bread, you have more of? So he said that's Yeshivish. That's Yeshivish. The cheese with the bread, you have more? That's, that's Yeshivish. So it doesn't say murder, stay away from. לא תגנוב *lo signov*, לא תרצח *lo sirtzach*. It should say לא תשקר *lo seshaker*. Why מדבר שקר תרחק *midvar sheker tirchak*? So this is what רבי יוסי סורוצקין *Rebbi Yosef Sorotzkin* his מג\"ד יוסף *Megged Yosef* says, כשהיה עם אמו עליה השלום שכבה על ארס דוי, ולכן עשו לו שולחן שבת מסביב למיטתה *k'shehaya im imo aleha hashalom, shachva al eres dvai, v'lachen asu lo shulchan Shabbos misaviv l'mitasah*. So this question, this is what they were talking about at the meal they made for around her bed at the end of her life. Why does it say מדבר שקר תרחק *midvar sheker tirchak* not לא תשקר *lo seshaker*? So he said, מי שאינו משקר עדיין לא אמר את האמת דוקא על ידי הרחקה מן השקר יגיע לאמת *mi she'eino meshaker adayin lo amar es ha'emes, davka al yedei harchaka min hasheker yagia la'emes*. You haven't lied, you haven't told the truth. But by staying far away from שקר *sheker* you come to the truth. You haven't lied, you haven't told the truth. But by staying far away from שקר *sheker* you come to the truth. נספך בי אמי שיש לומר בזה יסוד תקיף *Nispach b'imi sheyesh lomar b'zeh yesod tokeif*. And then his mother, it was her bed they were surrounding, she said, יש צריך להתרחק מן השקר כדי להכיר בו הקורבה והנגיעות מטשטשים את המציאות עד שהשקר נראה כאמת והאמת נראה כשקר *yesh tzarich l'hisrachek min hasheker kedei l'hakir bo, hakiruv v'hanegios metashesim es hametzius ad shehasheker nireh k'emes v'haemes nireh k'sheker*. It's a beautiful insight of his mother, the end of her life, with the Shabbos meal being arranged around her bed, she gave this פשט *pshat* when the question was raised, quotes his mother, that she said, you don't know what's truth or lie if you're too close to it. מדבר שקר תרחק *midvar sheker tirchak*. You have to step back. You have to step away. You have to have a third party. You have to seek advice from others. You have to have some distance. Sometimes there's a big decision to make and you don't know what's right. You don't know what's moral, you don't know what's ethical, you don't know what's correct, you don't know what you're supposed to do. And sometimes you're way too close to the situation. You're too zoomed in. You're too all-consumed and you have נגיעות *negios*. You have biases that you don't even know you have. So מדבר שקר תרחק *midvar sheker tirchak*. If you want to avoid שקר *sheker*, תרחק *tirchak*, step away, step back, look from a distance, seek advice, ask a third party. מדבר שקר *midvar sheker*, if you want to avoid שקר *sheker*, then תרחק *tirchak*, you've got to be willing to, you've got to be willing to step away. Okay. Let me give another pshat but let's keep going. A couple more. פרק כ\"ד פסוק ג' *Perek Kaf Daled pasuk gimmel*. Now we get to the הר סיני *Har Sinai* again. Second half of פרשת משפטים *Parshas Mishpatim* is where we're back at הר סיני *Har Sinai* again. In fact, משפטים *Mishpatim* used to be divided into two פרשיות *parshios*. The אוצר פלוס התורה *Otzar Plus HaTorah* quotes this. It was read on two separate Shabboses. It wasn't all one פרשה *parsha*. And you can see that when you read it. It's really two separate פרשיות *parshios* that are combined into one. ויאמר משה עלה אל השם אתה ואהרן נדב ואביהוא ושבעים מזקני ישראל והשתחוויתם מרחוק *Vayomer el Moshe aleh el Hashem atah v'Aharon Nadav v'Avihu v'shiv'im miziknei Yisrael v'hishtachavisem meirachok*. וניגש משה לבדו אל השם והם לא יגשו והעם לא יעלו עמו *v'nigash Moshe l'vado el Hashem v'hem lo yigashu v'haam lo ya'alu imo*. ויבוא משה ויספר לעם את כל דברי השם ואת כל המשפטים *Vayavo Moshe vayisaper la'am es kol divrei Hashem v'es kol hamishpatim*. Moshe came and he told them all the laws. ויען כל העם קול אחד ויאמרו כל הדברים אשר דבר השם נעשה *vayaan kol ha'am kol echad vayomru kol hadvarim asher diber Hashem naaseh*. And the people responded, all the things that you said that Hashem said, נעשה *naaseh*, we will, we will do. Stay with me, this is worth ending with. We will do. All the things that you said, we will, we will do. So ספר חסידים *Sefer Chassidim* סימן ר\"נ ג' *siman reish nun gimmel* wrote a דבר נפלא *davar nifla*. Says quote, כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה *Kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh*. We know that all the Jewish people, we are guarantors one for the other. ערב *areiv* means a guarantor and ערב *areiv* also means, כי קולך ערב *ki kolech areiv*. ערב *areiv* means sweet. We're supposed to sweeten one another. Go back to what I said before. That's what Rabbi Levi Yitzchak and other great צדיקים *tzaddikim*, they tied, they explained that פסוק שיר השירים *pasuk Shir Hashirim*. כי קולך ערב ומראך נאוה *ki kolech areiv u'mareich naveh*. כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה *Kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh* doesn't just mean we're guarantors. I sign on your loan, I have your back. You know, I could sign on your loan and never met you. I could sign on your loan and I don't even know you. We have someone in common who asked me for a favor, sign on the loan. I signed as a guarantor, we have nothing to do with each other. But that's not what ערב *areiv* means. That's not what כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה *Kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh* means. צדיקים *Tzaddikim* say כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה *Kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh* means כי קולך ערב *ki kolech areiv*. ערב *areiv* means sweet. כל ישראל *Kol Yisrael* areivim zeh lazeh. Jews are meant to sweeten one another's life. Let me carry that for you. Let me bear your burden. Let me visit you. Let me make sure you don't feel lonely. Let me disagree with you, but do it agreeably and give you a hug at the end. כל ישראל *Kol Yisrael* areivim. This is, this is the Torah was given, this is the prerequisite to receiving Torah. We know from last week's parsha, ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר *vayichan sham Yisrael neged hahar*. The pasuk says כאיש אחד בלב אחד *k'ish echad b'lev echad*. The motto of the בוקה רטון סינגוג *Boca Raton Synagogue*. Eight מניינים *minyanim* can honor all of our differences, but we have to be together. We have to be united. And as I said, historically, when enemies attacked us, that's what united us. We needed that to unite us. Now it seems it's not working. That's why we're in grave danger. Something's got to change in our learning Torah, our living Torah, our practicing Torah, but our practicing what is the prerequisite to Torah, which is אחדות *achdus*, which is unity. And that's this pasuk says the ספר חסידים *Sefer Chassidim*. ויען כל העם קול אחד ויאמרו כל הדברים אשר דבר השם נעשה *Vayaan kol ha'am kol echad vayomru kol hadvarim asher diber Hashem naaseh*. אילו היה אחד מוחה לא ניתנה תורה *ilu haya echad mocheh lo nitnah Torah*. 600,000 men over the age of 20, two to three million people stood at the base of that mountain. And for the first time in the history of any Jewish vote, they said, all in favor? And everyone's hand said I. You all know the stupid joke about the shul president who goes to visit the rabbi in the hospital? Board voted by eight to seven to issue a רפואה שלמה *refuah shleimah*. You don't know that? It's a dumb Jewish joke. It's on the list of, they give it to you in סמיכה *smicha*, the list of bad, dumb Jewish jokes. It's towards the top. But why is it a Jewish joke? Because there is no unanimous Jewish vote. There's never a vote that's unanimous. מרדכי *Mordechai*, it's almost פורים *Purim*. He was רצוי לרוב אחיו *ratzui l'rov echav*. He only saved all the Jews of שושן *Shushan*. He only saved them from a holocaust in שושן *Shushan*. And right after they took a vote to renew his contract and there were a bunch of people that sat in the back of shul and left for the kiddush and they, and they, no, I vote him down. No. He was only רצוי לרוב אחיו *ratzui l'rov echav*. So ספר חסידים *Sefer Chassidim* says, two to three million people stood at the base of that mountain. Hashem says, I have a Torah. I'm not imposing it on you. Do you want it? All in favor. And every one of them said I. Every one of them said, I want it, I'm in. אילו היה אחד מוחה *Ilu haya echad mocheh*, have one said, nah, not interested, too much, too hard. לא ניתנה תורה *lo nitnah Torah*, Hashem wouldn't have given it. לכן אומרים *lachen omrim*, and that's why we say in our עמידה *Amidah*, ברכנו אבינו כולנו כאחד *Barcheinu Avinu kulanu k'echad*. Hashem give us the bracha, כולנו כאחד *kulanu k'echad*. באור פניך *b'or panecha*. כי באור פניך נתת לנו השם אלוקינו תורת חיים *ki v'or panecha nasata lanu Hashem Elokeinu Toras chaim*. Just like when you gave us your תורת חיים *Toras chaim*, we all voted unanimously. Let us return to that. Give us a taste of that. Let us go back to that. כולנו כאחד באור פניך *kulanu k'echad b'or panecha*. Can't we go back to that? Can't we just get along? That doesn't mean that we're uniform. Unity is not uniformity. That doesn't mean we all agree on judicial reform, what time Minyan should start, or what kind of, exile to serve a child. We don't have to agree. But כולנו כאחד באור פניך *kulanu k'echad b'or panecha*. There were 12 שבטים *shvatim* at הר סיני *Har Sinai*. They stood separately under their logo, their emblem, their flag. They davened their own נוסח *nusach*. They had טשאלנט *cholent* and חמין *chamin* and all different versions of קידוש *kiddush*. There were differences, but they were כולנו כאחד באור פניך *kulanu k'echad b'or panecha*. Just like נתת לנו השם אלוקינו תורת חיים *nasata lanu Hashem Elokeinu Toras chaim*. That's the way it was when you gave us the Torah. And for us to merit, still having the Torah, living the Torah, we have to go back to that. But I want to end with one last idea. A wonderful קדושת לוי *Kedushas Levi*. Beautiful קדושת לוי *Kedushas Levi*. So let me end with one more קדושת לוי *Kedushas Levi*. Go back to the beginning of this pasuk. ויבוא משה ויספר לעם את כל דברי השם *Vayavo Moshe vayisaper la'am es kol divrei Hashem*. Moshe went and he repeated to the people all the commands of Hashem. It's a very funny language. ויבוא *vayavo*, he came, that part's not funny. ויספר לעם *vayisaper la'am*. ויאמר, וידבר, צו *Vayomer, vayidaber, tzav*. We have all kinds of languages to describe transmitting a command. We don't normally use סיפור *sipur*. ויספר *vayisaper*. Why does it say ויספר *vayisaper*? So when... When was this? We just fly through the parsha, we don't want to stop and ask what should be obvious questions, but we just heard all about ד׳ שומרים daled shomrim, laws of loans, and laws of עבד עברי eved ivri. Now we're back at הר סיני Har Sinai. When was this? So Rashi says it was before the Torah was given and it refers to the שבע מצוות בני נח sheva mitzvos bnei noach and the מצוות mitzvos that were given at מרה Marah. We got a smattering of מצוות mitzvos. We got a little פורשפייס vorschpeis at מרה Marah. שם שם לו חק ומשפט ושם נסהו Sham sam lo chok u'mishpat v'sham nisahu. We got a little few מצוות mitzvos, כיבוד אב ואם kibbud av v'em, פרה אדומה parah adumah, and שבת Shabbos. So Rashi says אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה ein mukdam u'meuchar baTorah. Torah is not chronological order, and what we're communicating now really happened before the Torah was given. The רמב״ן Ramban doesn't like it. The רמב״ן Ramban says ולא יאמר ויספר אלא בחדשות שהגיד v'lo yomar vayisaper ela b'chadashos sheyagid. The word ויספר vayisaper means that Moshe, he didn't go into the file cabinet. Moshe is coming up with new stuff, new material. These are new laws. Torah doesn't use the word ויספר vayisaper to repeat מצוות mitzvos that had already been given. This is new stuff, new material. אור החיים Ohr HaChaim brings evidence from חז״ל Chazal that the פסוק pasuk's talking about after מתן תורה Matan Torah. He doesn't need to explain because the רשב״ם Rashbam, the רמב״ן Ramban, the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, others all agree. So Rashi says this is all before מתן תורה Matan Torah, and the רמב״ן Ramban, the רשב״ם Rashbam, the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, the אור החיים Ohr HaChaim, they all say it was after.How can Rashi say it was before the Torah was given? What laws did Moshe relay? And if in fact it was the few that were given already, why are they being repeated now? And why does it say ויספר vayisaper instead of ויצו v'yetzav?So listen to this הייליגער ברדיטשובער heiliger Barditchiver. Listen to this holy Barditchiver, קדושת לוי Kedushas Levi. לכן נראה כי באמת אלו הצטוו במרה ובכן ז' מצוות שנצטוו כבר רק שמשה רבינו עליו השלום היה מספר להם גודל הפעולה שפעל ישראל בקיום ז' מצוות ובמצוות שנצטוו במרה. Listen, והייחוד שהקדוש ברוך הוא משתעשע בקיום המצוות ושכל העולמות והנשמות תלויים בהם, וסיפר משה גודל מעלות המצוות שקיימו ישראל. Lachein nireh ki be'emes eilu itstavu b'Marah uv'chein zayin mitzvos she'nitztavu kvar rak she'Moshe Rabbeinu alav hashalom haya mesaper lahem godel ha'peulah she'po'el Yisrael b'kiyum zayin mitzvos u'v'mitzvos she'nitztavu b'Marah... v'hayichud she'HaKadosh Baruch Hu mishta'asheia b'kiyum hamitzvos v'shekol ha'olamos v'haneshamos tluyim bahem. v'siper Moshe godel ma'alos ha'mitzvos she'kiy'mu Yisrael. Moshe was not giving the laws, he did it already. So why are you repeating them here? He wasn't getting into the minutia and the details and the debates. You know what Moshe was telling them? ויספר Vayisaper. He says, you know the מצוות mitzvos I already gave you, the ones you're already keeping? I need to tell you something about them. You know what I want to tell you? ויספר Vayisaper. You can't imagine what it's doing for השם Hashem. השם Hashem is looking down and he's seeing you observe and keep his תורה Torah and he's משתעשע mishta'asheia. You don't understand what it's doing for him. The נחת nachas it gives him, the joy, the happiness, the satisfaction that you're giving him. You don't understand the גישמאק geshmak you're giving him. You don't understand. ויספר Vayisaper, says רבי לוי יצחק Reb Levi Yitzchak, Moshe wasn't commanding, he was telling him a story. The story was you're just down here on earth and you're not getting any feedback. You're making a lot of sacrifice. There's a tremendous מסירות נפש mesiras nefesh to keep תורה Torah. You're spending ridiculous money on kosher food and Jewish education. You're giving up שבת Shabbos. You're doing all kinds of other things and you have no idea, does it mean anything? Is it doing anything? Why bother? Says רבי לוי יצחק Reb Levi Yitzchak, ויספר vayisaper. Moshe says, I have something to tell you. What I want to tell you is how much it means to him, how it impacts the cosmos, how it affects the world, how it's changing destiny. When you want to mouth off to your parent but instead show them honor, when you were tempted to check your phone but instead you kept שבת Shabbos, when you were drawn to טומאה tumah but instead remained determined to preserve your purity and to strive for קדושה kedusha, for holiness, you need to know. When you didn't watch that thing on the internet, when you didn't look, when you were honest with your receipts, on your business, on your business reporting, your business expenses and your taxes, when you were vigilant and careful and conscious on שבת Shabbos, you need to know it mattered. ויספר Vayisaper, it makes a difference.We use the term נחת nachas to offer a ברכה bracha at a בר מצוה bar mitzvah or שבע ברכות sheva brachos. We assume that only human beings get נחת nachas. Parents and grandparents should have נחת nachas. But השם Hashem is also capable of getting נחת nachas. He's not beyond it. He's not beyond it. השם Hashem, כביכול k'viyachol, has needs. You know Dr. Wolf, השם Hashem has needs. And one of his needs is to get נחת nachas from us. What parent doesn't? Is there a greatest joy, a greater happiness in the world? If you could win a billion dollars in the in the lottery or get נחת nachas from your child, all the money in the world doesn't add up to a moment of נחת nachas from your child. When you see your child gets it, when you see your child is accomplishing, achieving, when you can exhale because you see whom your child has chosen, and they're on the path and the trajectory of the life that it's going to continue this legacy long after you're gone to grandchildren and great-grandchildren, that נחת nachas, השם Hashem shares with us. The very end of מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim, we'll just close with this. The רמח״ל Ramchal ends his magnum opus, the last words of מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim: הוא יתברך שמו ברחמיו יפקח עינינו בתורתו ויורנו דרכיו ונלך בם ויזכנו לעשות כבוד לשמו, ולעשות נחת רוח לפניו Hu yisbarach shmo b'rachamav yifkach eineinu b'soraso v'yoreinu d'rachav v'nelech bom, v'yizkeinu la'asos kavod lishmo v'la'asos nachas ruach lefanav. The רמח״ל Ramchal ends his מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim by saying, may the blessed is God in his mercy open our eyes on his Torah, teach us his ways, give us, guide us on his paths. May we merit to give honor to his name and may we merit לעשות נחת רוח לפניו la'asos nachas ruach lefanav. May we give השם Hashem נחת nachas. You want to give a ברכה bracha to someone, don't just give a ברכה bracha they get נחת nachas and give נחת nachas to their parents, but to give נחת nachas to השם Hashem. We think השם Hashem cares when we donate a building or finish ש״ס Shas or start a new organization or something else that's monumental. He cares that you made it to the פרשה שיעור parsha shiur. He cares that you made it to the end. Every moment matters. It's hard. Not every פרשה שיעור parsha shiur is convenient or easy. It takes effort, sometimes struggle, but it matters. You made it here. It matters when you דאווענ'ט davened with a little extra כוונה kavanah. It matters when you were mindful when you said that ברכה bracha. It matters that you made that phone call or sent that text message or you made that difference. It matters, ויספר משה vayisaper Moshe. Moshe wanted them to know it matters. It matters. Know the joy that you're giving השם Hashem and use that as energy and drive to do it again and again and again. Was just with the Moskowitzes and so many people have done so many things. One person in particular did something in the last minute that was a game changer. I texted I said, you don't understand, you gave them life. You don't understand what you did for them. And that's what Moshe is telling us. You don't understand what you do for השם Hashem. You think you're so insignificant? You think you're so inconsequential? You think you're so invisible? You think it doesn't matter? Your שבת Shabbos, your ברכה bracha, your דאווענען davening, your כשרות kashrus, your חסד chesed, you're making it to the פרשה שיעור parsha shiur, it matters. It means something. It means something to השם Hashem. It means an enormous amount to השם Hashem. There's a lot more to say about it, but ויספר vayisaper. That's what Moshe wanted to tell. These laws, I gave them to you already, and you're already keeping them. But I want you to know the pleasure and the נחת nachas you're giving השם Hashem and use that to motivate you to do more and more and more. May we all get נחת nachas from our families, and may we all give tremendous נחת nachas to השם Hashem. Tonight at 7:30, there are 1,100 people already registered, but there may still be a few seats left. 7:30, conversation, dialogue around antisemitism. Join us at 7:30. Yair Rosenberg and Ben Shapiro.
