Transcript
Good morning and בוקר טוב boker tov and welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. Back to one פרשה parsha at a time. So this week we're only reading פרשת אמור Parshas Emor. Our series is generously sponsored by Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of David Gross, David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנוש l'ilui nishmas David ben Menachem Manush. We remain very grateful to the Katz family. This morning's שיעור shiur is also sponsored by Pam and Prospera Bitbol in commemoration of the יארצייט yahrtzeit of her father, Lester Greenberg, אליעזר בן מאיר Eliezer ben Meir. Thank you so much to Pam and Prosper for all they do. And by Marilyn and Jeremy Strauss in memory of Michael Strauss. His fifth יארצייט yahrtzeit was this past Sunday. Thank you to the Strausses for all their support and friendship. And by Etzion and Marlene Genaur, welcome back to Boka. לעילוי נשמת רבקה בת רב אברהם הכהן L'ilui nishmas Rivka bas Rav Avraham HaKohein. Thank you for your generosity and your sponsorship as well. The learning should be לעילוי נשמת l'ilui nishmas all of these wonderful people. We're reading פרשת אמור Parshas Emor, page 672 in the ArtScroll Stone חומש Chumash. A reminder, if you want to stay up to date on our פרשה parsha שיעור shiur schedule, additional bonus material, the write up of Parsha Perspectives, all you have to do is join our WhatsApp group at rabbiefremgoldberg.org/whatsapp. Join all the שיעור shiur WhatsApp groups and get bonus material and up to date schedule. ויאמר ה' אל משה אמר אל הכהנים בני אהרן ואמרת אלהם לנפש לא יטמא בעמיו Vayomer Hashem el Moshe emor el haKohanim bnei Aharon v'amarta aleihem l'nefesh lo yitama b'amav. Our parsha begins famously with the instruction. Hashem says to Moshe, tell the כהנים Kohanim, tell the sons of אהרן Aharon, that each of them have to be careful, they have to be vigilant, not to contaminate themselves to a corpse, to a dead body. לא יטמא בעמיו Lo yitama b'amav, they cannot become contaminated. They cannot compromise their purity and their status. כי אם לשארו הקרב אליו Ki im lish'eiro ha'karov eilav, with the exception of their immediate relatives, לאמו ולאביו ולבנו ולבתו ולאחיו l'imo u'l'aviv v'livno u'l'vito u'l'achiv, the seven immediate relatives, that the כהן kohen not only have license, not only are they allowed to, but they must. Rav Soloveitchik has a discussion, is it הותרה או דחויה hutra or d'chuya? The fact that כהנים kohanim generally are enjoined, they are prohibited from becoming contaminated through contact or exposure to a corpse. And yet, when it comes to the seven immediate relatives, a mother, a father, a spouse, brother, sister, or child, they can or they should. You might have thought they can, but here the Torah says, not only they can, Rav Soloveitchik's understanding is not only they can, but they absolutely should, they should. Why is this instruction? חז\"ל Chazal famously tells us, Rashi quotes, אמור ואמרת emor v'amarta, להזהיר הגדולים על הקטנים l'hazhir ha'gedolim al ha'ketanim. אמור Emor, to the כהנים kohanim, aו ואמרת 'amarta, teach the כהנים kohanim, and they should transmit, they should in turn teach it to those beneath them. Who are those beneath them? Not beneath them in some judgmental way, beneath them in age and life experience, to their children. אמור Emor, you teach the כהנים kohanim, ואמרת v'amarta, and the כהנים kohanim will then transmit it to their children. We've spoken much about this in the past, you could find it in previous פרשה שיעורים parsha shiurim. So beautiful אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, the ויז'ניצר Vizhnitzer. להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים L'hazhir gedolim al ha'ketanim. להזהיר L'hazhir is from the לשון lashon to brighten, to enlighten, to illuminate, to lead by example, to teach the children who are younger. But I want to share with you today three interpretations of the Holy נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech. My dear friend Rabbi Aaron Murzoff sent me earlier this morning the נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech. אמור ואמרת Emor v'amarta, Rashi, להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים l'hazhir gedolim al ha'ketanim יש לומר yeish lomar, כוונת רשי kavanos Rashi, להזהיר גדולים l'hazhir gedolim, היינו צדיקים גדולים על הקטנים hainu tzaddikim gedolim al ha'ketanim. It means in every generation at all time, we have גדולם gedolim, we have wonderful, righteous, incredible examples whom we look up to, whom we learn from. And they are להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים l'hazhir gedolim al ha'ketanim. They enlighten, they illuminate, they inspire, they motivate, they create a precedent for all of us. על הקטנים Al ha'ketanim, רוצה לומר rotzeh lomar, על עבירות קטנות שאדם דש בעקביו al aveiros ketanos she'adam dosh b'akeivav. It means also, להזהיר גדולים l'hazhir gedolim, that a person in our great moments, our גדלות gadlus, should overwhelm, should supersede, should inspire us over our קטנות kattanus, our our worst moments, the mistakes that we made, the things that we dismiss or minimize or think are unimportant. But להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים l'hazhir gedolim al ha'ketanim means how do we find inspiration? By looking up to those that we admire. One of the greatest ways to inspire ourselves is to read biographies. Reading biographies is incredibly inspiring, more so than self help. Tal Ben-Shahar teaches the most popular class at Harvard on happiness, spoke here at our shul years ago, and he said if you want to improve and grow and be inspired, don't read self help genre, of which he is a part. He said read biographies. Biographies of people who achieved greatness, who broke through, who overcame obstacles and overcame failures and learned to fail forward. The biographies, להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים l'hazhir gedolim al ha'ketanim, ברוך השם baruch Hashem, we're able to read, we have a great genre of literature of גדולם gedolim, of great men and women who have overcome their challenges. And להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים l'hazhir gedolim al ha'ketanim, that's how we can find inspiration ourselves. Number one, number two. או יאמר אמור ואמרת O yomar emor v'amarta, דהכלל, דרך הצדיק כשרוצה להוכיח אדם אחר da'klal, derech ha'tzaddik k'she'rotzeh l'hochiach adam acher, אז צריך להיות סמיר זה לכלל בני אדם az tzarich l'hiyos samir zeh l'chlal bnei adam. ובמילא יוכל לדבר לאיש הזה U'mimela yuchal l'daber l'ish ha'zeh, וזה בהוראת הפסוק v'zeh b'horass ha'pasuk, אמור emor, שיאמיר על הכלל she'yamir al ha'klal, ואמרת אליהם v'amarta aleihem. What is the best way to communicate, to get a message across, to inspire someone else, is not to give a specific or personal rebuke. We don't take well to that. We're a generation that don't handle criticism well. When someone rebukes us directly in a focused way, personally, we get defensive, we get insecure, we arch our back, we reject their message. So אמור ואמרת emor v'amarta. Instead, אמור emor, direct your message to the כלל klal, to a group, and ואמרת v'amarta, it'll come through to the person. Don't direct it specifically as a focused rebuke, but give it as a more broad and general directive, feedback. And then the person hopefully will hear it that really it's a message that is pertinent, it's a message that's related to them. But you take the edge off, you don't make it personal. You take away what seems to be the attack or the biting criticism if אמור emor, you give a general thing. So one child that's doing something wrong at the dinner table, remind everyone it's really important in our family and what we value and how we all need to behave and what matters. And the child who needs to hear that message will hear that message more than if you give them harsh rebuke directly and in a focused way on them. So says the נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech, of Lizensk, it is a strategy for rebuke. אמור Emor, give it more broadly, ואמרת v'amarta, and the message will get across. And then lastly, בענין אחר b'inyan acher, נראה לפרש דברי רש\"י nir'eh l'faresh divrei Rashi, a third possible understanding of this beautiful Rashi, להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים l'hazhir gedolim al ha'ketanim. This is a beautiful, beautiful insight of the Holy נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech. להיות כל אדם בשעה שעוסק בתורה ובתפילה ובעיזה דבר שבקדושה L'hiyos kol adam b'shaah she'oseik b'Torah u'b'tefillah u'b'eizeh davar she'b'kedusha, אז הוא בגדלות המוחין az hu b'gadlus ha'mochin. We have a notion, we have an idea of מוחין דגדלות mochin d'gadlus and מוחין דקטנות mochin d'katnus. Now I am grossly inadequate to explain this fully, but I'll tell you in my limited capacity how I understand it. מוחין דגדלות Mochin d'gadlus means sometimes we have a sophisticated approach. Sometimes we have an expansive perspective. Sometimes we're at our best. We're thinking big and clearly and our נשמה neshama is on fire and we're feeling close to Hashem. Sometimes we're at our best. מוחין דגדלות Mochin d'gadlus, we're on fire, the greatness. And sometimes there's a מוחין דקטנות mochin d'katnus. Sometimes we're small and we're minimized and we are unsophisticated and we are immature and we're feeling distant and far. There's a מוחין דקטנות mochin d'katnus. We've spoken about this in the אמונה emuna שיעור shiur, different periods, different days, different hours in a day, one can be רצוא ושוב ratzo v'shov, you're close to Hashem, you feel far from Hashem. פנים ואחור Panim v'achor, you see Hashem's face, you see his back. You're on fire and you're ice cold. We go through these fluctuations, the rollercoaster of life. We discussed at length in the אמונה emuna שיעור shiur for several weeks and months, why that is, why that's part of the בריאה bria, why that's part of the way that we're created. Says the נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech, להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים l'hazhir gedolim al ha'ketanim. Sometimes when we're in a place of מוחין דגדלות mochin d'gadlus, we're on fire. We heard a great שמועס shmuz, a great שיעור shiur, we had a great דאווענען davening, we had a great יום טוב yom tov, we had a great שבת Shabbos. We're in a great place. We feel close to Hashem. We have a clarity, everything is illuminated. We're on fire. It's a מוחין דגדלות mochin d'gadlus. We have a mature, sophisticated approach. להזהיר L'hazhir, bottle that, capture that. Allow that to shine on the moments of מוחין דקטנות mochin d'katnus. Essentially, what defines us? Which is our core identity? Who are we in the end? What do we remember and what do we hold on to? Our best moments or our worst moments? Our highs or our lows? Our breakthrough or our feeling stifled or stuck? Which one really defines us? So להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים l'hazhir gedolim al ha'ketanim, אמור ואמרת emor v'amarta, let the moments of מוחין דגדלות mochin d'gadlus, let them reflect and let them shine and let them lift the moments of the מוחין דקטנות mochin d'katnus. להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים L'hazhir gedolim al ha'ketanim, our moments of greatness should outweigh and supersede, should uplift and elevate the moments of smallness. We all have them both. We all fluctuate, we all ride this rollercoaster. That's natural and that's normal. The question is which do we perseverate over? Which do we focus on? Which informs and inspires and defines us? Which is our identity? And here that's what Rashi is telling us. אמור ואמרת Emor v'amarta, להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים l'hazhir gedolim al ha'ketanim, let the מוחין דגדלות mochin d'gadlus shine on and lift the מוחין דקטנות mochin d'katnus. Take those moments and bottle them and be inspired by them and capture them and use them to their fullest. A beautiful נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech. The חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim has a magnificent comment. What is this פסק pasuk telling us? How careful we need to be? לנפש לא יטמא בעמיו L'nefesh lo yitama b'amav, be careful. לנפש לא יטמא בעמיו L'nefesh lo yitama b'amav. The כהן kohein cannot become contaminated to anyone else. Rashi says, בעוד המת בתוך עמיו b'od ha'meis b'soch amav. As long as the deceased, the corpse, remains part of the people. שאפילו כהן גדול ונזיר ועושה פסחו הולך לשחוט על קרבנו על She'afilu kohen gadol v'nazir v'oseh pischo holeich lishchot al korbano al, lovely to me though. You can be the כהן גדול kohen gadol. You could be a נזיר nazir. You could be a person who's pledged to live a righteous life of purity. And yet, and yet, if there's a corpse, if there's a body that nobody else is caring for, it needs to be buried, a מת מצוה meis mitzvah, even if you're on your way to offer your קרבן פסח korban pesach, and you'll become invalid. It will delegitimize your ability to bring the קרבן פסח korban pesach, still, out of the dignity for that body, out of preserving the dignity and the love and the respect and the sensitivity and the kindness and the support for that body, the כהן גדול kohen gadol or נזיר nazir needs to stop in order to take care of them. רב אליהו לפיאן Reb Eliyahu Lopian quoted in the name of the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim, it's in לב אליהו Lev Eliyahu, in the name of the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim. אם כל כך נזהרה התורה בכבודו של מת המוטל בזיון Im kol kach nizhara ha'Torah b'chvodo shel meis hamutal b'bizayon, שחייבין כולם להיטמא לו, לטפל בקבורתו shechayavin kulam l'hitamei lo, l'tapel b'kvuraso. If the Torah is so careful, if the Torah is so cautious, if the Torah is willing to be so foregoing to preserve the dignity and to prevent the embarrassment of the shame to a corpse, to a lifeless body, הרי שהוא בחיי חיותו heiyosho b'chayim chiyuso, שהוא נושא נשמה קדושה shehu noseh neshama kedosha, since that corpse once held a holy נשמה neshama, since the corpse once carried a צלם אלוקים tzelem Elokim, the Torah says, you have to be vigilant and scrupulous and careful to preserve the dignity, ונתקיימו על ידו כמה מצוות v'niskaimu al yado kama mitzvos. So, אם כן מן ההכרח להסך בנשמה זו עצמה בעודה שוכנת בגופו של אותו אדם עצמו im kein min ha'hechrech l'asok b'neshama zu atzmah b'odah shochenes b'gufo shel oso adam atzmo. If this is how careful the Torah is when it's a mere corpse because it once held a נשמה neshama, how much more so we should be careful to protect and preserve the dignity and the love and the support and the sensitivity when the person's alive. You know, sometimes you see this הלכה halacha, the כהן גדול kohen gadol, the נזיר nazir, even if they're on the way to the קרבן פסח korban pesach, they set that aside in order to take care of this מת מצוה meis mitzvah. But it's a מת meis in the end of the day. Why? Because the מת מצוה meis mitzvah once housed a נשמה neshama. But what about the person who has the נשמה neshama? Should you cut them off on the road on your run on your on your way to bringing the קרבן פסח korban pesach? Should you cut them off? Should you lash out with your road rage at the person who cut you off? What happened to the way we treat another while we're alive? Here the Torah is cautioning us how to treat the corpse once the נשמה neshama has been extracted, once we're gone, because we have to be so careful. We have to be so... What about when people are alive? We spoke last week. Don't embarrass the חלה challah. What about embarrassing the people who made the חלה challah, who bought the חלה challah, who cut the חלה challah, who serve the חלה challah? So careful, we cover the חלה challah every week before Kiddush. Don't embarrass the חלה challah. רב ישראל סלנטר Reb Yisrael Salanter said, don't embarrass the people, forget the חלה challah. So many people embarrass the people in the defense of the חלה challah. Priorities are backwards, are upside down. So if we're so careful about a corpse, be even more careful about the people while the נשמה neshama is still inside them. The wonderful אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaos HaTorah has, oh, I could say for ויקרא Vayikra. אמור Emor is like half of ויקרא Vayikra. There's an unbelievable amount. Not easy to go through and filter out what's what we should share. But I want to share רב חיים ברלין Reb Chaim Berlin in his תשובות נשמת חיים Teshuvos Nishmas Chaim. The נצי\"ב Natziv had sons. He had רב חיים ברלין Reb Chaim Berlin who became רב חיים בר-אילן Reb Chaim Bar Ilan, I'm sorry, רב חיים ברלין Reb Chaim Berlin who became רב חיים ברלין Reb Chaim Berlin, the yeshiva, the namesake of the yeshiva, and רב מאיר ברלין Reb Meir Berlin, רב מאיר בר-אילן Reb Meir Bar Ilan, the namesake of בר-אילן Bar Ilan University in Israel. So his son רב חיים ברלין Reb Chaim Berlin, the namesake of חפץ חיים ברלין Chaim Berlin Yeshiva in Brooklyn, in תשובות נשמת חיים Teshuvos Nishmas Chaim, he brings something very sharp from the אדר\"ת Aderes. Who was the אדר\"ת Aderes? The אדר\"ת Aderes was the father-in-law of הרב קוק Rav Kook. And he said the following. The גמרא ברכות Gemara Brachos says that רבי אבהו Rebbi Avahu sat ידכם עם רב זירא Yedachem im Reb Zeira. ולא קיבל רב אבהו את רב זירא בברכת המזון V'lo kibel Reb Avahu es Reb Zeira b'birchos hamazon, אף שרב זירא כהן היה af she'Reb Zeira kohen haya. He says that even though רב זירא Reb Zeira was a כהן kohen, רב זירא Reb Zeira didn't get the mitzvah of leading the benching. Instead, it went to, instead it went to רבי אבהו Rebbi Avahu. Why? So the אדר\"ת Aderes says, you know why? Because the גמרא מגילה Gemara Megillah tells us the time that רבה ורב זירא Rabbah v'Reb Zeira had the פורים סעודה Purim seudah together, and they drank too much. קם רבה ושחטיה לרב זירא Kam Rabbah v'shachteih l'Reb Zeira. Rabbah got up and he killed Reb Zeira, and then he davened for him and he brought him back to life. So the question is when he came back to life, did he have the status of a כהן kohein? And the, רב חיים ברלין Reb Chaim Berlin in his תשוה\"ס teshuvos, quotes the אדר\"ת Aderes with this question. If a כהן kohein dies, if a כהן kohein stop breathing, a כהן's kohein's heart stopped, someone called Hatzalah, and they brought the defibrillator, they did CPR, they brought him back to life. He now has a תחיית המתים techiyas ha'meisim, he comes back to life. He was pronounced dead and he came back to life. Is he still a כהן kohein? He's born again, born anew. Is he still a כהן kohein? Or once you're resurrected, once you're born again, do you lose the כהן kohein status? And that's what's the ראיה rayah? The אדר\"ת Aderes brought a ראיה rayah that the reason רב זירא Reb Zeira wasn't honored with leading the benching as a כהן kohein, because he wasn't a כהן kohein, because when he had his פורים סעודה Purim seudah with רב זירא Reb Zeira, with with רבה Rabbah, רבה Rabbah killed him, then davened for him, he came back to life. When he came back to life, he wasn't a כהן kohein. That's why he didn't get, that's why he didn't get the כיבוד kibud of leading the benching. So רב חיים ברלין Reb Chaim Berlin says, no. נראה מדברי האדר\"ת שהיה שכיב על ראש העגלה ומצא בזה בימי הפורים Nir'eh mi'divrei ha'Aderes she'hayah shchiv al rosh ha'agalah u'matzah b'zeh b'yemei ha'Purim, וביקש להביא לזה גיחוך ושמחת פורים u'vikeish l'havi l'zeh gichuch v'simchas Purim, בדברי חידוד הרחוקים מן האמת b'divrei chidud ha'rachokim min ha'emes. It was a joke. This was a פורים תורה Purim Torah. It was a פורים שטיק Purim shtick to be able to have this למדנות lomedus, because the truth is, it's not true. מניין לתחיית המתים מן התורה Minayin l'techiyas ha'meisim min ha'Torah? Because the גמרא Gemara wonders in סנהדרין Sanhedrin, where do we know תחיית המתים techiyas ha'meisim from the Torah? ונתתם ממנו תרומת ה' לאהרן הכהן U'nesatem mimenu trumas Hashem l'Aharon ha'kohen, וכי אהרן לעולם קיים? V'chi Aharon l'olam kayam? אלא עתיד להחיות ela asid l'achyos, וישראל נותנים לו תרומה v'Yisrael nosnim lo trumah. So you see that even though Aharon doesn't live forever, when there will be תחיית המתים techiyas ha'meisim, we will once again give תרומה trumah to Aharon. So even though he's gone and he comes back to life, he will revert to the status of a כהן kohein. So you see it's not true. However, the beautiful אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaos haTorah quotes from another ספר sefer, the כרם יעקב Kerem Yaakov. Anyone ever hear of the כרם יעקב Kerem Yaakov? רב יעקב חיים סופר Rav Yaakov Chaim Sofer who lives today in ירושלים Yerushalayim. So the כרם יעקב Kerem Yaakov brings a ראיה rayah to the אדר\"ת Aderes, because the רמב\"ן Ramban in his השגות hasagos on ספר המצוות Sefer HaMitzvos references the גמרא יומא Gemara Yoma, כיצד הלבישן, מדים המילואים keitzad albeshan... ha'miluim. כיצד הלבישן, מה דהוה הוה Keitzad albeshan mai de'havah havah. Why do we care how they were dressed in the מילואים miluim? What they wore is what they wore. What difference will it make? The question was, כיצד מלבישן לעתיד לבא keitzad malbishan la'asid lavo? לעולם הבא L'olam ha'ba, כן, שיבוא אהרן ובניו ומשה רבינו עמהם, נשאל לו namah k'she'yavo Aharon v'banav v'Moshe Rabbeinu imam, nish'al lo. So you see with תחיית המתים techiyas ha'meisim, יחזור אהרן ובניו עצמם למילואים yechazor Aharon u'banav atzmam l'miluim, שכבר בטלה משחתו משעת המיסה she'kvar batla mishchaso mi'masas ha'meisah. They'll need to be re-anointed. Why will Aharon and the sons need to be reestablished, re-anointed, re-set as כהנים kohanim? Because maybe you lose the status of a כהן kohein once you leave this world. Interesting question, interesting question. He goes further and he has another חקירה chakira. He has another חקירה chakira, which is, do you have to treat and honor a כהן kohein, we'll see from the פסק pasuk of וקדשתו v'kidashto, we'll get to, the פסק pasuk of וקדשתו v'kidashto that you have to honor the כהן kohein. A כהן kohein gets the first עליה aliyah, the כהן kohein is offered to lead the benching. One should ask a כהן kohein to not ask the כהן kohein to get you a drink or bring you a paper. The כהן kohein has a special status. We honor the כהן kohein because of their position. Does that continue posthumously? Does that include to the כהן kohein who's no longer alive? Now, you can't give the first עליה aliyah to the כהן kohein who's no longer alive. You can't offer leading benching to the כהן kohein who's no longer alive. How would you do that? How would you do that? So he quotes an interesting question. He says רב יוסף חיים זוננפלד Reb Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld in his תשובות teshuvos, wondered, שאלה נשלח שאלה נפלאה she'elah nishlach she'elah niflaah. כהן שיש מצוה להקדים משום וקידשתו Kohein she'yesh mitzvah l'hakdim mishum v'kidashto, כשלומדים ש\"ך וט\"ז keshe'lomdim Shach v'Taz, האם צריך להקדים לימוד הש\"ך שהיה כהן hayim tzarich l'hakdim limud ha'Shach she'haya kohein? You're learning the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch and the sides of the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch, you have the ש\"ך Shach and the ט\"ז Taz. The ש\"ך Shach is an acronym for רב שבתי כהן רפפורט Rav Shabtai Kohein Rappaport. The ש\"ך Shach is רב שבתי כהן Rav Shabtai Kohein. The ש\"ך Shach is the שפתי כהן Sifsei Kohein, authored by רב שבתי כהן רפפורט Rav Shabtai Kohein Rappaport. The ט\"ז Taz, the טורי זהב Turei Zahav. So the ש\"ך Shach was a כהן kohein. In fact, that name רפפורט Rappaport, are כהנים מיוחסים kohanim meyuchasim. Some who do פדיון הבן pidyon haben look specifically for a כהן kohein named רפפורט Rappaport, because the רפפורט Rappaports can trace their lineage all the way back and they are arguably the most secure and confident that they are indeed legitimate כהנים kohanim. People by the name of רפפורט Rappaport. We have in our community people named Cohen who are not כהנים kohanim. So just because your last name is Cohen does not mean you're a כהן kohein. But רפפורט Rappaport, there's a good chance that you are a כהן kohein. רב שבתי כהן רפפורט Rav Shabtai Kohein Rappaport. So the ש\"ך Shach was a כהן kohein. The ט\"ז Taz was not a כהן kohein. So when you're learning the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch, should you first read the ש\"ך Shach before you read the ט\"ז Taz? Maybe that is a fulfillment of וקדשתו v'kidashto. Maybe you're honoring the כהן kohein by first learning the ש\"ך Shach. That's what he was asked. And he answered, רב יוסף חיים זוננפלד Reb Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld, the רב ירושלים Rav Yerushalayim, דאפשר דוקא בחייו שייך דין קדימה ולא אחר כך d'efshar davka b'chayav shayach din kedima, v'lo acharei kach. ויש להביא ראיה V'yesh l'havi rayah... The Lord's gave din קדימה kedima, the coin, but also by mennan. ויש באב מצינו U'v'av matzinu, דמחויב לכבדו בחייו ובמותו d'mechuyav l'chabdo b'chayav u'v'moso. When it comes to a parent, we see there is an obligation to honor the parent in their lifetime and after their lifetime. When it comes to a כהן kohein, we have no reference, no source that you have to honor the כהן kohein even after their life. Therefore, נראה פשוטה דאין בזה קפידא nir'eh pshuta d'ein b'zeh kpeida. You do not need to honor the כהן kohein because of their status of being a כהן kohein after they're gone. You're visiting the cemetery, should you visit the כהן kohein before the ישראל Yisrael in the cemetery? No, after they're gone, there is no source that you have to honor them even after they're gone. Very, very interesting. Lastly on this opening פסק pasuk, two insights of רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik. אמור ואמרת Emor v'amarta, teach the כהנים kohanim their special sacred status. And רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik writes the following. While קדושים Kedoshim concludes with prohibited sexual relations, פרשת אמור Parshas Emor begins with a discussion of the laws of the כהנים kohanim, whom a כהן kohein is permitted to marry, the blemishes that disqualify a כהן kohein for serving in the temple, and the laws of impurity which pertain specifically to the כהן kohein. What is the transition from קדושים Kedoshim to פרשת אמור Parshas Emor? What is the juxtaposition? What does the end of last week's פרשה parsha, the laws of illicit relations, the laws of sexual morality, what does that have to do with the beginning of this week's פרשה parsha, the law of the special sacred status of the כהן kohein? That is רב סולובייצ'יק's Rav Soloveitchik's question. Many of the prohibitions of forbidden relationships, עריות arayos, were not imposed exclusively on the Jewish people. Even non-Jews in many of these same areas by the Noachide laws are prohibited. At the time of the flood, the earth rebelled against all of mankind as a result of the abrogation of these laws. Immorality has a metaphysical consequence that other sins lack. The acts themselves defile the land. So when we lose, when we lose, I'm sharing this insight particularly because we're getting close to the generation of the flood in losing our boundaries, in losing our definitions, in losing our expectations, in losing our our sense of shame, our capacity to blush, our pursuit of holiness, our preservation of that which is sacred. It feels like we're creeping close to the days of the flood. That's not a good thing. Sexual morality has a metaphysical consequence other sins lack. The act themselves defile the land. If acts of impurity are committed, the land is polluted, there's only one remedy, to purify and purge the land. That's why the Torah says, we'll get to it, that the land spits out the people who live with their immorality. The Torah begins in בראשית Bereshis with the consequence of violating the universal principles of sexual morality. Hashem explained to the Jewish people that their predecessors were ejected from the land of transgressing for transgressing these laws. However, Jewish people were given many more restrictions in this domain. The additional prohibitions imposed on כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael were instituted to reflect the unique sanctity that they possessed. His nation must maintain a higher standard than required of mankind as a whole. The details of this heightened standard are enumerated in אחרי מות Acharei Mos and the punishment are listed in קדושים Kedoshim. Now in אמור Emor, Hashem imparted another message, that even within כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael there is a group whose restrictions in this regard are more stringent. There are prohibitions that apply to all Jews and those affect only one sector of the Jewish community. A divorcée, a חללה chalalah, or a זונה zona, are allowed to marry a ישראל Yisrael, but they're prohibited to a כהן kohein. The reason the כהנים kohanim experienced only restrictions in this area is because they have a unique responsibility. They offer up the fire offerings to Hashem, the food offerings. They have an added dimension of קדושה kedusha that results from the performance of sacrificial service. Why does this added dimension express itself specifically through more עריות arayos restrictions? Why was the כהן kohein not given added responsibilities in other areas? In other words, wonders the Rav, what's the connection between the end of פרשת קדושים Parshas Kedoshim and the beginning of פרשת אמור Parshas Emor? The end of קדושים Kedoshim is the consequence for עריות arayos. What happens when you lose those boundaries? What happens when you violate those space? What happens when you no longer know and can't preserve what is holiness? What are holy relationships? And what are unholy? What are legitimate? What are illegitimate? What are appropriate? What are inappropriate? What are moral? And what are yes, immoral relationships? When you lose those boundaries, we lose ourselves, we lower ourselves. So the beginning of פרשת אמור Parshas Emor is that the כהנים kohanim have a greater responsibility in this area as a reflection of their greatest, of their greater responsibility and role in offering sacrifices and so on. But wonders the Rav, why not give them greater mitzvos in another area? For example, why not require the כהנים kohanim to daven five times a day? ישראלים Yisraelim will daven three times a day, כהנים kohanim five times a day. ישראלים Yisraelim have these laws of Kashrus and כהנים kohanim have even more restrictive laws of Kashrus. Why not give them more restrictions in another area? Why specifically in this area of עריות arayos, of morality? And listen to what the Rav says. Sexual morality is not based solely on the sanctity of Israel, but on human dignity. Human existence depends upon these prohibitions. And this is what he writes. This is what he writes. Homosexuality, adultery, violations of other עריות arayos, eradicate the barrier that sets man apart from animal, and the very fiber of human existence becomes destroyed. Non-Jews are thus responsible to keep the basic laws of עריות arayos, as well as other restricted restrictions in the שבע מצוות בני נח sheva mitzvos bnei Noach. In the generation of the flood, the violators desecrated their divine image. Loss of human dignity is tantamount to self-destruction. If certain prohibitions are essential for all humanity, many more are needed to maintain the קדושה kedusha of בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael. And yet more are necessary to maintain the singular קדושה kedusha of the כהנים kohanim. The transition from קדושים Kedoshim to אמור Emor tracks the increased restrictions associated with increased קדושה kedusha. Essentially, when we lose our moral compass in this area of illicit relations and gender relations, when we and sexual morality, when we lose our compass, we forfeit our very humanity, our very dignity, our very sacred status. And so those who have a greater responsibility to preserve and protect their higher sanctity, so non-Jews, Jews, כהנים kohanim, greatest among us, have more restrictions, greater awareness, and greater obligations in these areas. But that language, the violators desecrate their divine image. Loss of human dignity is self-destruction. The אורך לנר Orch L'Ner writes this too. We know, we speak, there are three areas of relationships that we have in life. בין אדם למקום, בין אדם לחברו, בין אדם לעצמו Bein adam l'makom, bein adam l'chaveiro, bein adam l'atzmo, the relationship between us and God, between us and fellow man, and between us and ourselves. And he writes that the three most severe prohibitions that it's better to give your life than violate them, which are, don't murder, don't worship an idol, and illicit relations. These correspond with the three relationships that we have. How? Don't murder is בין אדם לחברו bein adam l'chaveiro, between man and man. Don't worship an idol is בין אדם למקום bein adam l'makom, between us and God. What does that leave last? עריות Arayos, יהרג ואל יעבור yareg v'al ya'avor, don't violate the moral boundaries, is בין אדם לעצמו bein adam l'atzmo. That is between us and ourselves. Because the moment, the moment we become undignified, the moment we lose our divine image, the moment we give in, we forfeit our humanity. What makes us different than an animal? That's what the Rav is writing. Animals indulge their impulse, their instinct, their appetite, and they don't preserve some moral clarity and self-awareness and sovereignty over themselves. And I'm not sitting in judgment. We're all human and we struggle. We struggle to look at things we shouldn't look at, to think about things we shouldn't think, and there are people who struggle not to cross boundaries they shouldn't cross. And there are people who go through difficulties and have certain experiences in their life that make it even more complicated this test they undergo. And we're not sitting here in judgment of others who may not have passed that test. That's not why we're raising this, and I want to be clear. We're not sitting here in judgment of those who didn't pass that test. We're sitting here in awareness for ourselves of how careful we have to be and the boundaries that we have to preserve for ourselves and for the people that we love. And what we need to be unashamed and not defensive to teach and to model and to expect from those around us and the generations to come. Because an animal indulges their appetite. And what makes us a צלם אלוקים tzelem Elokim, what makes us a חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש cheilek eloka mi'maal mamash, what makes us a godly soul, is the ability to rise above that appetite, to not indulge that impulse and that instinct, to maintain and preserve those boundaries of who we are and how we live, and what we look at and what we think, and how we behave, and if we act out. We have that ability. We should see and know that within ourselves. Sometimes it's only the מוחין דגדלות mochin d'gadlus know that we have it. In the מוחין דקטנות mochin d'katnus say, what's the difference? And you're going to just fall back anyway, and you're going to start looking at those things anyway, and you're going to start acting out anyway. So you know, you are just that lowly animal anyway. That's the מוחין דקטנות mochin d'katnus speaking. But להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים l'hazhir gedolim al ha'ketanim is that we have to listen to the מוחין דגדלות mochin d'gadlus, the moments that we did preserve, the moments that we do show sovereignty, the moments that we do have self-control. Those are the מוחין דגדלות mochin d'gadlus and they have to be מזהיר על הקטנים mazhir al ha'ketanim, the מוחין דקטנות mochin d'katnus to know that we can. Don't forfeit or desecrate your divine image. Don't give up your human dignity. Don't self-destruct. Have we not seen that? The people who make poor choices in this area and violate those boundaries, self-destruct. Their worlds implode, their relationships disintegrate, their life, their reputation, their family, all because they indulge this appetite that is animal, not human. So Hashem says, the more you climb on the ladder of sanctity, the more careful and the more restricted you need to be in this area, and that's why פרשת אמור Parshas Emor is after פרשת קדושים Parshas Kedoshim. קדושים Kedoshim ends with the consequence of losing moral boundaries, sexual moral boundaries, and פרשת אמור Parshas Emor begins with the כהנים kohanim who have even higher and greater restrictions in this, in this area, in this area. Then the Rav has a beautiful comment, לנפש לא יטמא בעמיו l'nefesh lo yitama b'amav. Why is it that corpses convey טומאה tuma? Why is it? Are they dirty? Are they disgusting? This was a human being. A moment ago before the נשמה neshama was extracted from this body, this human being we loved, we held the hand, we caressed, we hugged, we kissed, we cared for, and now that the soul has been extracted from the body and what lies before us is a corpse, all of a sudden it's a source of defilement. It's a source of contamination. It's a source of טומאה tuma. Why? What? How? What is that all about? And here, Rav Soloveitchik has the following comment. He says the distinct status which the Torah has granted impurity associated with טומאת מת tumas meis is due to the unique experience which man lives through whenever he's confronted with death. Other objects which contaminate a person are experienced as either aesthetically ugly or physically abominable. Any dead organism is a source of filth, squalor. The organism is in a process of decomposition, a scene arousing unpleasant emotions. Disease can also be subsumed under the category. or the repulsive. צרעת Tzaraas, leprosy is an excellent example of the ugliness of disease. טומאה Tuma and זוהמא zoama, impurity and filth are synonymous terms. So a שרץ sheretz, a bug, a disintegrating animal corpse, these things can contaminate טומאה tuma because they're repulsive. They're unpleasant, they're filth. Filth and impurity are synonymous. But טומאת מת tumas meis constitutes a unique category. Of course a dead person is ipso facto a dead organism, and whatever is said of the animal cadaver can also be said of the lifeless human body, which is also exposed to the ugliness of the ugly process of decomposition. But there's something more horrible to be experienced when one is in contact with human death. As far as the zoological kingdom is concerned, death is not a monstrosity. It simply destroys the functionality of the organism. Human death, however, terminates a personality, an ontological dimension, a spiritual individuality who was self-aware and self-conscious, a personality which was driven by vision and hope, which despaired, rejoiced, and grieved, which lived not only in the present moment, but both in retrospection and anticipation. In a word, death destroys a world. It is the tragic experience of the human being who is endowed with time awareness and knows that his existence is a mockery. Death contradicts the God-man relationship. How can one imagine love of God in שאול Sheol, said דוד המלך David HaMelech, a פסוק pasuk in תהלים Tehillim, פרק ל' Perek Lamed. In the animal world, the death of the individual is not tragic, because the existence of the genus is not threatened by the death of an individual. There's no individualistic existence among animals. Now, save your emails, dog lovers, cat lovers, animal lovers. I know your dog is special and your cat is unlike any other. But the Torah view and perspective is, nothing wrong with loving your dog, and I know while your children and your spouse ignore you, the death, the dog runs up and hugs you and loves you and snuggles with you. I got it, save the email. But the bottom line is, the רמב\"ם Rambam writes explicitly, when it comes to animals, we have what's called השגחה כללית hashgacha klalis. We see animals as a whole, as a unit, whereas humans, each one is their own world. So the death of a particular animal, we're sad, that lizard, that iguana, that frog, that ant, even that dog or that cat, it's sad. It's sad, that was an individual iguana. But we view the iguanas as a whole, the species as a whole. Right? So that iguana was not a world. The species of iguanas continue, continue. Whereas a human being is unique. A human being is a world unto themselves. The individual existence as the representative of the class. The death of the individual does not count with an animal. But among people, the situation is completely different. The individual does not lead a representative, but an individualistic existence. Every human being is not a representative of humanity, every human being is a world. Every human being is a unique manifestation and expression of God in this world, and when a human being dies, each human has an individuality, a personality, a microcosm. Existential legitimacy is to be found in the individual person himself. Death denies the very worth of human existence. טומאת מת Tumas meis is due not to organic but to spiritual destruction. It is the expression of human anxiety and terror, human helplessness in the face of a mocking שטן Satan. טומאת מת Tumas meis is the result of the traumatic experience that dislocates man's self, the eye awareness and existential security. Death lurks in the shadows. Death defeats everyone, great or small, clever or simple. טומאת מת Tumas meis represents not just an experience of ugliness, but the human situation, the tragic and absurd human destiny. So רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik writes that that's why corpse, טומאת מת tumas meis, is the אבי אבות הטומאה avi avos hatuma. טומאת מת Tumas meis is the archetype, it is the highest level. It is the top category of טומאה tuma because it is the highest טומאה tuma. It is the negative energy in the world of the loss of a world, of a unique צלם אלקים tzelem Elokim, a unique expression of God here in this world. Okay, פסוק ב' pasuk beis. Got to get to at least פסוק ב' pasuk beis. כי אם לשארו הקרב אליו לאמו ולאביו ולבנו ולבתו ולאחיו ki im l'she'eira ha'karov eilav l'imo u'l'aviv u'l'vno u'l'vito u'l'achiv. We mentioned the כהן kohein, even though the כהן kohein because of their higher higher sanctity and status, has greater obligation to preserve moral boundaries, but the כהן kohein too becomes contaminated. The כהן kohein too can have contact with a corpse or with טומאה tuma when it's a mother, father, brother, sister, spouse or a child. Not only can they, but they should. And here the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plios haTorah, we go back to the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plios haTorah. What about for a in-law? The ירושלמי Yerushalmi in מסכת ברכות Maseches Brachos, רב ינאי Rav Yanai, זעירא כהן... נפטר חמיו, שגם רבו z'eira kohein... niftar chamiv... she'gam rabo. רב ינאי Rav Yanai, who was a כהן kohein, his שווער shver, his father-in-law, who was also his teacher, was נפטר niftar, he died. ובא רב ינאי ושאל לרבי יוסי, אם מותר להיטמא לחמיו משום כבודו u'ba Rav Yanai v'shaal l'Rebbi Yossi, im mutar l'hitamei l'chamiv mishum k'vodo. Can he honor his father-in-law by going to the funeral? Could he go to the cemetery? Could he, does a father-in-law have the status of a father that a כהן kohein could be מטמא m'tamei himself? Is it one of the exceptions? שחייב אדם בכבוד חמיו she'chayav adam b'chvod chamiv. Because the טור שולחן ערוך... חושן משפט סימן ר\"מ Tur Shulchan Aruch... Choshen Mishpat siman Reish Mem, we once gave a whole שיעור shiur about this, the relationship with in-laws. Sometimes complicated, not necessarily so. I now play both roles. I'm a child-in-law and a parent-in-law. Your whole life changes. When you go from being a child to also being a parent, now you see your parents differently. When you go from a son-in-law to a father-in-law, your whole life changes. When you become a זיידע Zeide, your whole life changes. How you see all these things, everything changes. So the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch says that there's an obligation to honor your in-laws. There's an obligation. And there's a big discussion. Is that a way of showing love to your spouse? Is it direct or indirect, through your spouse you have an obligation? Direct or indirect? There's a big discussion in הלכה Halacha. שחמיו גם הוא רבו, וחייב להיטמא בכבוד רבו she'chamav gam hu rabo, v'chayav l'hitamei b'chvod rabo. And here the ירושלמי Yerushalmi in ברכות Brachos, in this situation, רב ינאי Rav Yanai was also the student of his father-in-law, of his father-in-law. So he wanted to know, both as a son-in-law, as the איידעם eidem, and also as the תלמיד talmid, do I have to honor him? השיב לו רבי יוסי Heishiv lo Rebbi Yossi answers, שוודאי אסור לו להיטמא משום כבוד חמיו she'vadai asur lo l'hitamei mishum k'vod chamiv, being a student, being sorry, a son-in-law does not, does not justify becoming contaminated. ומשום כבוד רבו, אסור להיטמא משום ספק u'mishum k'vod rabo, asur l'hitamei mishum safeik. And because you're a תלמיד talmid also is not allowed. We don't let כהנים kohanim go to their רבי Rebbe's funeral. So the answer was no, but there's an interesting discussion in this ירושלמי Yerushalmi, maybe a father-in-law should be like a father. Maybe the שווער און שוויגער shver and shvigger should be like parents regarding the כהן kohein being allowed to be מטמא m'tamei themselves, to be מטמא m'tamei themselves. Interestingly, interestingly, in this פסוק pasuk, what's the order? Who can the כהן kohein be מטמא m'tamei himself to? His mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his siblings. Why that order? לאמו ולאביו l'imo u'l'aviv. You might have thought what would come first? The father. Sometimes the Torah gives us a father first, sometimes the Torah gives us a mother first. When it comes to כבוד kovod it tells us, honor your mother. Honor your, sorry, your father. Why does it say father first? Because you're more inclined to honor your mother, because she takes care of you when you're sick, she packs your lunch for school, she's the one who nurses you back to health, she's the one who tucks you into bed, she's the one who loves you unconditionally. Your father also loves you unconditionally, but he's the one who sometimes has to give you consequences and accountability, he's the one who has to sometimes punish. People naturally have more יראה yirah for a father. So the Torah has to say, don't forget to have awe and fear of your mother. People naturally have more love and affection for their mother. The Torah has to say, don't be, don't forget to be loving and affectionate to your father. But why here in this פסוק pasuk, is the mother first? אמו Imo, why not אביו aviv first? Interesting question, right? So the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra says something נפלא nifla. He gives a reason. You know why לאמו l'imo first? טעם להזכיר אמו קודם האב, כי הזכר חי יותר מן הנקבה ברוב ta'am l'hazkir imo kodem ha'av, ki ha'zachar chai yoser min ha'nekeiva b'rov. Because men outlive women mostly. That's what the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra. רב אברהם אבן עזרא Rav Avraham Ibn Ezra lived in the Middle Ages and רב אברהם אבן עזרא Rav Avraham Ibn Ezra says in his time in the Middle Ages, who had a longer lifespan, men or women? Men live longer. So who are you burying first? Your mother, not your father. And that's why the פסוק pasuk says, לאמו l'imo before לאביו l'aviv, excuse me, because women die earlier than men. Which goes against the Jewish joke about marriage. Why men die first. But we'll leave that joke aside because one of my wife insists it's not funny. Anyway, so this is the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra. Interesting אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra why אמו imo is first. This יסוד yesod, the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plios haTorah dug up, that women die sooner, also is in a תוספות Tosfos in כתובות Kesubos. תוספות Tosfos in כתובות Kesubos quotes it from the ירושלמי Yerushalmi. The רמב\"ם Rambam also in his commentary in משנה Mishnah נדה Niddah writes, עושה מנין שנים של הנקבות להונות נדרים פחות ממנין שנים של הזכרים oseh minyan shanim shel ha'nekeivos l'honos n'darim pachos mi'minyan shanim shel ha'zcharim. When it comes to the age for נדרים n'darim, a הלכה halacha from נדרים n'darim, women is younger than men, why? שימי חייהן פחות מימי חיי הגברים על הרוב she'mei chayeihen pachos mi'mei chayei ha'gvarim al ha'rov. The רמב\"ם Rambam also writes this, why does a girl turn בת מצוה Bas Mitzvah at 12 and a boy בר מצוה Bar Mitzvah at 13? Because she's got less to live. She's going to die earlier, so she matures faster, and therefore she's בת מצוה Bas Mitzvah at 12, he's בר מצוה Bar Mitzvah at 13. So the רמב\"ם Rambam writes this לגבי l'gabe two הלכות halachos, בת מצוה Bas Mitzvah and נדרים Nedarim. תוספות Tosfos quotes the ירושלמי Yerushalmi this way and the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra points this out here on this פסוק pasuk. The question is why? I'll tell you why that's particularly perplexing, because it's not true today. I looked it up this morning. I googled it. Who lives longer, men or women? So I looked it up today. So life expectancy, women's life expectancy in the US in 2021 was 79 years old. Men, 73. According to CDC data in 2021. This life expectancy gap has serious implications for society, especially when it comes to federal spending, a whole article, a big discussion about this gap. Not only is there a gap, it's a pretty large gap. Women life expectancy is all the way to 79 and men is to 73. Some of you just gasped. Sorry about that. Jerusalem Post also had an article, in Israel, it's different. Interestingly, the same year, 2021, the average life expectancy for women in Israel is 84.6 years old, and for men is 80.5. So first of all, if you needed to know the reason to make עלייה Aliyah, apparently, apparently, you didn't need any new reasons, but apparently you're going to live longer. Apparently you'll live longer if you make עלייה Aliyah. 84.6 years, the gap is smaller between the women and men in Israel, smaller, both live longer and the gap is smaller in in Israel, which is very interesting. So why? So this article, Jerusalem Post, gives a number of reasons. There are physiological differences, heart disease, which is the number one killer in the world today, attacks men more than women. Women take care of their health better than men. Not only do women care about their health, they care about their social relationships. Men isolate more and loneliness can lead to death. Women are less reckless than men. So, I guess on as drivers, stay quiet Ephraim, stay quiet. Stay quiet. And finally some biology, females live longer. Anyway, whether it's in America or in Israel, women live longer than men. So why did the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, תוספות Tosefos, the ירושלמי Yerushalmi, the רמב\"ם Rambam, why did they have this tradition? Why in the middle ages were men living longer than women? So much so that the kohein was told, you can defy yourself your mother before your father because she'll likely die first. Why? Why? So, תוספות Tosefos gives the reason. The אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plios haTorah quotes it. מה דאית בגמרא שם שמיתה שכיחה בנשים, משום דרוב פעמים מסתכנת בלידה ma d'is b'gemara shem she'misa sh'chicha b'nashim, mishum d'rov pa'amim mistakenes b'leida. In antiquity, women died at childbirth. Men don't give birth. Let me repeat that. You never think you needed to repeat that. You never thought you'd live in a time that you needed to repeat that, but men do not give birth. Men are not pregnant, they're not, they don't give birth. Told you one of my daughters who's expecting the OBGYN's office called her said you didn't fill out on the form what what's your gender. She said I'm I'm pregnant. I'm seeing the doctor because I'm pregnant. To which they said, right, but what gender? Said I'm pregnant. That's the gender. Anyway, דרוב פעמים מסתכנת בלידה d'rov pa'amim mistakenes b'leida. So men don't give birth, women do. And until fairly recent times, there was an enormous risk. You know how many women died, what percentage of women died in childbirth? What percentage of babies? How many women, how many mothers and fathers buried what percentage of their children? How many didn't make it to adolescence? We live in miraculous times. Absolutely miraculous times. We are from the perspective of antiquity spoiled. If you have all your children and you predecease your own children, you're spoiled from the perspective of antiquity. If you didn't die in childbirth, you won the lottery from the perspective of antiquity. Every time a woman went into labor, it was a life-threatening situation. And would she survive? Today, thank God, so much less so. So based on that is why women were expected to live less on average, why men lived longer, and why the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, תוספות Tosefos, the ירושלמי Yerushalmi, the רמב\"ם Rambam, אמו imo before אביו aviv because they are going to live less time. Interesting. The מקור חיים Mekor Chaim on the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra has a different reason, any doctors here can tell us, שהחום הטבעי הוא יותר בזכר מהנקבה she'ha'chom ha'tiv'i hu yoser ba'zachar mei'ha'nekeiva. Men are naturally warmer than women. Certainly the feedback we get on the AC setting at שול shul would reflect that. So since men have a higher body temperature than women, I guess they are positioned to better face the elements and they live longer. I don't know. That was true one time. I don't know if it's true anymore today. Anyway, this is an אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plios haTorah classic he dug up, dug up this אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, do men live longer or or not? The מגד יוסף Meged Yosef of רב יוסף סרוטקין Rav Yosef Sarotkin, we're going to get past these first two. We may even skip right to the end of the פרשה parsha. I promise. But כי אם לשארו ki im l'she'eira, to your relatives הקרוב אליו ha'karov eilav your most immediate relatives, seven immediate relatives. רש\"י Rashi brings אין שארו ein she'eira, כלא שארו kim l'she'eira. Who is שארו she'eira? רש\"י Rashi says אין שארו ein she'eira. When it talks about your closest family, your closest family are your seven relatives. But among the seven relatives, who's your closest? Your mother, your father, your spouse, your siblings, or your children, who's the closest? Says רש\"י Rashi, אין שארו אלא אשתו ein she'eira ela ishto, your spouse. So he says, my זיידע zeide, רב יוסף סרוטקין Rav Yosef Sarotkin, שליט\"א shlita is quoting his זיידע zeide, the אזנים לתורה Ozayim LaTorah, רב זלמן סרוטקין Rav Zalman Sarotkin, מאי הקדים אשתו לאביו ואמו mai hikdim ishto l'aviv v'imo? Why in the פסוק pasuk, הקרוב אליו, אמו, אביו, בנו, בתו, אחיו ha'karov eilav, imo, aviv, bno, vito, achiv. Notice it didn't say אשתו ishto. That's why you needed רש\"י Rashi. כי אם לשארו, הוא שארו, אשתו ki im l'she'eira, hu she'eira, ishto because אשתו ishto was omitted from the rest of the פסוק pasuk. Can a כהן kohein go to his wife's funeral? Can a כהן kohein go to the cemetery for his wife's burial? Of course. I, where does it say in the פסוק pasuk? It does. שארו She'eira, שארו זה אשתו she'eira is ishto. So who's the first one mentioned in the פסוק pasuk? Before אמו imo, before your mother, is your wife. Why is the wife listed first? Why is the wife listed first? Particularly רב זלמן סרוטקין Rav Zalman Sarotkin was bothered, it's normal for a person, על פי דרך הטבע al pi derech ha'teva, the הסדר של עולם ha'seider shel olam is that a person loses their parents before their wife. Ordinarily, a person's spouse is around their same age, which means that their parents and in-laws are both significantly older, so one naturally, in the normal order of things, loses their parents before their spouse. So why doesn't the pasuk say, אמו, אביו, אשתו, לבנו, לבתו, לאחיו imo, aviv, ishto, l'vno, l'vito, l'achiv? You can have to say the same thing also אחיו l'achiv. אחיו Achiv should go before לבנו לבתו l'vno l'vito. But here the Torah is communicating whom the כהן kohein can become contaminated to. One would think it would list it in the order that they'll likely expire. So why is the wife first? wondered רב זלמן סרוטקין Rav Zalman Sarotkin. And he answered, שאם כל הקרובים יש לאדם שייכות מן העבר, היינו שבאו ממקור אחד. אבל הקורבה עם אשתו מקורה בעתיד, בבנים משותפים. ועתיד לעולם יקר לנו מהעבר, כמה שעבר, אין. ואי אפשר להטיבו. מה שאין כן העתיד, אפשר עוד לשפר. she'im kol ha'krovim yesh l'adam shayachus min ha'avar, haynu she'ba'u m'makom echad, aval ha'kurva im ishto m'korah b'asid, b'vonim m'shutafim. V'asid l'olam yakar lanu mei'ha'avar, k'mah she'avar ein, v'i efshar l'hativo. Ma she'ein kein ha'asid efshar od l'shaper. He says what you have in common with everyone else is your past. Your parents, your siblings, it's your upbringing, it's your childhood, it's your past. What you have in common with your spouse is your future, is your children, the נחת nachas, your grandchildren, growing old together is your future. A person cherishes their future even more than their past. You live for your future more than for your past. So which is more heart-wrenching, which is the greater loss, which is more devastating, which leaves the greater loneliness, which is more shattering of dreams? A person's spouse than a person's, than a person's parents. As devastating as it is. So even though the loss of parents comes first, דווקא dafka because it's natural, it's less devastating, so לשארו l'she'eira, the wife comes first. חז\"ל Chazal say this, אין אשה מתה אלא לבעלה ein isha meisa ela l'ba'alah. It's felt the most, my heart goes out, no matter at what age, that loneliness that can result and with that people are able to find זיווג שני zivug sheini to not have to live with loneliness. ונראה בזה דלגבי כל הקרובים, יש למנוח קרובים שיכול לעסוק בעניני המת. רק באשתו, אין עוד מלבדו. על הבעל לעסוק בקבורת אשתו. v'neira b'zeh d'l'gabe kol ha'krovim yesh l'marom krovim she'yachol l'asok b'inyanei ha'meis, rak b'ishto ein od milvado, al ha'baal l'asok b'kvuras ishto. So his grandson רב יוסף סרוטקין Rav Yosef Sarotkin in his מגד יוסף Meged Yosef adds another reason. Maybe the wife comes first, you know why? Because when it comes to parents, your siblings can join you in arranging their burial. They'll also call the חברה קדישא chevra kadisha. They'll also deliver הספדים hespedim. They'll also fly to ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. But באשתו אין עוד מלבדו b'ishto ein od milvado. על הבעל לעסוק בקבורת אשתו al ha'baal l'asok b'kvuras ishto. But when it comes to a spouse, that's on the husband. And so much so, אין חיוב מיוחד לקבורת אב ואם, אלא הוא עניין כללי של כיבוד אב ואם. ein chiyuv meyuchad l'kvoras av v'eim, ela hu inyan klali shel kibud av v'eim. Is there a specific independent obligation to bury your parents? No. It's a fulfillment of כיבוד אב ואם kibud av v'eim to take care of their burial. But when it comes to a spouse, that's one of the obligations of a husband on a wife. The גמרא כתובות מ\"ו Gemara Kesubos Mem Vov, הבעל חייב בקבורתה ha'baal chayav b'kvurasa. אפילו עני שבישראל יפחות משני חלילין ומקוננת afilu ani sheb'Yisrael yifchos mishnei chalilin u'mekonenos. Even a poor person has to knock on the door and raise funds to ensure a proper burial for their spouse. That's not a fulfillment of honoring a spouse. There's a separate independent מצוה mitzvah, a הלכה halacha to bury a spouse. So that's why אשתו שארו ishto she'eira comes first. Where do we see this all from? concludes רב יוסף סרוטקין Rav Yosef Sarotkin, the מקור makor of this is אברהם Avraham. אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu was מתעסק בקבורת שרה m'asok b'kvuras Sarah, אף שהיה לו בן גדול af she'haya lo ben gadol. How old was יצחק Yitzchak at the time? They just got back from the עקידה Akeidah. How old was יצחק Yitzchak at the time? 37 years old. He's 37 years old. And וישב אברהם אל נעריו v'yoshev Avraham el n'arav. The מדרש Midrash wonders ויצחק היכן הוא v'Yitzchak keichan hu, where was he? שלחו אצל שם ללמוד בבית מדרש תורה shalcho eitzel Shem lilmod b'vei midrash Torah. He went back to learn. So according to רב חנינא Rav Chanina, יצחק Yitzchak was in the house. He could have been עוסק בקבורה osek b'kvura. But מכאן שעיקר עיסוק במתים מחיוב איש לאשתו mikan she'ikra isuk b'meisim m'chiyuvei ish l'ishto. You see that more than the children, the spouse has to make arrangements for the funeral. And that's why שארו she'eira comes before אביו ואמו aviv v'imo, as says the מגד יוסף Meged Yosef, and that is the insight of the מגד יוסף Meged Yosef. פרק כ\"ב פסוק ז Perek Chaf Beis Pasuk Zayin. The Torah tells us still with the כהנים kohanim, אשה זונה וחללה לא יקחו ואשה גרושה מאישה לא יקחו כי קדוש הוא לאלהיו isha zona v'chalala lo yikachu, v'isha grusha mei'isha lo yikachu, ki kadosh hu l'Elokav. They can't marry a woman who's a זונה zona, or has been desecrated, or they cannot marry a woman who's been divorced. Each one is holy to God. We know that the כהן kohein has stricter rules of who he can marry. אשה זונה וחללה לא יקחו isha zona v'chalala lo yikachu. That is an acronym. אישה זונה וחללה לא יקחו Isha Zona V'chalala Lo Yikachu. What is the acronym? אזולא\"י Azulai. The חיד\"א, רב חיים יוסף דוד אזולא\"י Chida, Rav Chaim Yosef David Azulai, he has a discussion in here. Some say that anyone who describes that the name אזולא\"י Azulai comes because of this פסוק pasuk, אשה זונה וחללה לא יקחו isha zona v'chalala lo yikachu, is put in חרם cheirem. Because what are you suggesting about the חיד\"א Chida and his family? That there's an issue of being a חלל chalal, someone there is a זונה zona. Not a very nice thing to call the family. So don't say that the name אזולא\"י Azulai comes from this acronym. Someone who says so is put in חרם cheirem. Others say no, there's nothing wrong with saying that. Why are you saying that? Because this was a family of כהנים kohanim who were careful, אשה זונה וחללה לא יקחו isha zona v'chalala lo yikachu to observe this הלכה halacha. Anyway, an interesting discussion. What does the word זונה zona mean? אשה זונה וחללה לא יקחו Isha zona v'chalala lo yikachu. A כהן kohein cannot marry a גרושה grusha, a חלל chalal, a גיורת giyores. A כהן kohein cannot marry. A כהן kohein cannot marry. This comes up. A כהן kohein falls in love. And sometimes it comes up intentionally, comes up sometimes it comes up so to say rebelliously, that a כהן kohein falls in love with a divorcee and doesn't care. Wants to marry her anyway. What does the rabbi do? Can he be מסדר קידושין mesader kiddushin? A כהן kohein falls in love with a גיורת giyores, a convert. What, what can you do? A חלל chalal. So what is a זונה zona in this case? Can a כהן kohein marry a זונה zona? A promiscuous woman, how do you define a זונה zona? And the רמב\"ם Rambam talks about, a כהן kohein cannot marry a woman who's ever been intimate with a non-Jew. By definition, that's a form of being a זונה zona. A woman who's been fully intimate with a non-Jew has the status of a זונה zona, and a כהן kohein cannot marry. Now, that's a, can be a terrible thing, but sometimes the כהן kohein who fell in love with the convert or the divorcee determines that his mother before she married the father had been intimate with a non-Jew, and the father slept with a technical זונה zona would leave him a חלל chalal. He now can marry the convert or the divorcee. So the world we live in in which these boundaries have been more violated maybe than ever is a net negative, but can be a positive for the כהן kohein who's trying to not be held to the כהן kohein status because of who they fell in love with. If you didn't follow that, don't worry about it. But that's one of the complicated ways we deal with this. Now I just share with you, when you were a kid in school, and you learned for example, the beginning of ספר יהושע Sefer Yehoshua, and the story of רחב Rachav, who was just mentioned in today's דף daf. I love when the דף daf and our Torah come together. So רחב Rachav, רחב Rachav who harbored the two spies who came to investigate the land, the good spies, the good story of investigating the land before they came in the beginning of ספר יהושע Sefer Yehoshua, רחב הזונה Rachav ha'zona harbored these spies, רחב Rachav ultimately marries יהושע Yehoshua, and רחב Rachav is described by the נביא Navi as a זונה zona. And when you were in fifth and sixth and seventh grade and you ask your teacher, what's a זונה zona? What do your teachers say? She's an innkeeper. זונה Zona is an innkeeper. Because what does the word זונה zona come from? מזונות Mezonos. She puts out the שטיקל מזונות shtickel mezonos. She put out the רוגעלך rugelach and the באבקע babka. She was the innkeeper who served the מזונות mezonos. She served the מזונות mezonos, the good cake. So, was your teacher right or wrong? רד\"ק Radak. The רד\"ק, רב דוד קמחי Radak, Rav David Kimchi on the פסוק pasuk in יהושע Yehoshua, ויבאו בית אשה זונה ושמה רחב v'yavo'u beis isha zona u'shma Rachav, the רד\"ק Radak writes, יש לפרש תיבת זונה בשני אופנים yesh l'faresh teivas zona b'shnei ofanim. You can understand the word זונה zona in two ways. זונה כמשמעה Zona k'mashma'ah, a promiscuous, illicit woman. או מוכרת מזון O mocheres mazon, a person who serves מזונות mezonos. The רד\"ק Radak brings the תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan, who every time it says זונה zona writes פונדקית pundekis. So a פונדקית pundekis is a hotel and inn. A פונדקית pundekis is the innkeeper. Not like אונקלוס Onkelos translates. אונקלוס Onkelos translates זונה zona as נפקא ברא nafka b'ra, which means a זונה zona. She's a זונה zona. A זונה zona. But the רד\"ק Radak is relying on the תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan, not the תרגום אונקלוס Targum Onkelos, that a פונדקית pundekis, she's an innkeeper. The רד\"ק Radak explains both ways. So he explains, he says here that maybe it's really the same thing. הזונה כפונדקיתא, שמפקירס עצמה לכל ha'zona k'pundekisa, she'mafkeres atzma l'chol. Maybe it's not a contradiction. Maybe פונדקית pundekis doesn't mean innkeeper, פונדקית pundekis comes from הפקר hefker. The innkeeper is, she practices an inappropriate form of hospitality. So she's called an innkeeper. The innkeeper is an extreme form of hospitality. שמאכילה מזון לכל מי שצריך, כן הזונה מפקירס לכל she'ma'achila mazon l'chol mi she'tzarich, kein ha'zona mafkeres l'chol. Just like the innkeeper says, I provide and I'm hospitable to all, the זונה zona is providing and servicing and hospitable to all in a inappropriate way. So that word זונה zona, what does it mean? Don't call anyone it, whatever you do, but does it mean מזונות mezonos? Does it mean זונה כמשמעה zona k'mashma'ah, and so on and so forth. פרק כ\"ד פסוק ט\"ו Perek Chaf Daled Pasuk Tes Vov. Moving along. We're going to skip to the end. I want to tell you the end. I got five minutes. Okay, skip to the end. פרק כ\"ד פסוק ט\"ו Perek Chaf Daled Pasuk Tes Vov. We don't get to this year, we'll never get to it. Every year we never get to it. פרק כ\"ד פסוק ט\"ו Perek Chaf Daled Pasuk Tes Vov. We go through all the מועדים moadim. פרשת אמור Parshas Emor has all these laws of the כהנים kohanim, then we have a litany of other laws, and then we go through all of the Jewish holidays, beautiful. And then the פרשה parsha ends with a very interesting, strange story of the blasphemer. ויצא בן אשה ישראלית והוא בן איש מצרי בתוך בני ישראל v'yetzei ben isha Yisraelis v'hu ben ish Mitzri b'soch Bnei Yisrael. What happens, the story of, we have the מנורה menorah, we have the showbread, and it ends with the story of the son of an Israelite woman who was the son of a who בן איש מצרי ben ish Mitzri. וינצו במחנה בן הישראלית ואיש הישראלי v'yinatzu b'machaneh ben ha'Yisraelis v'ish ha'Yisraeli. ויקב בן האשה הישראלית את השם ויקלל v'yikov ben ha'isha ha'Yisraelis es ha'Shem v'yikalel. The son of the Jewish woman pronounces Hashem's name and blasphemes him. ויביאו אותו אל משה ושם אמו שלמית בת דברי v'yavi'u oso el Moshe, v'sheim imo Shlomis bas Divri. His mother's name is שלמית בת דברי Shlomis bas Divri. He's from the tribe of דן Dan. ויניחהו במשמר v'yanichuhu ba'mishmar. They throw him in prison when they figure out what to do with him. לפרוש להם על פי ה' lifrosh lahem al pi Hashem. And what does Hashem say to do with him? הוצא את המקלל אל מחוץ למחנה hotzei es ha'mekalel el michutz la'machaneh. Take him outside the camp. וסמכו כל השומעים את ידיהם על ראשו v'samchu kol ha'shomim es yedeihem al rosho. Anyone who heard his blasphemy, anyone who heard him say God's explicit name in vain, curse Hashem's name should lean their hands on him. ורגמו אותו כל העדה v'ragmu oso kol ha'eidah. And then they all stone the blasphemer. They stone him. ואל בני ישראל תדבר לאמר v'el Bnei Yisrael t'daber leimor, and then it says איש איש כי יקלל אלהיו ונשא חטאו ish ish ki y'kalel Elokav v'nasa cheto, anyone who curses God will bear sin. ונוקב שם ה' מות יומת v'nokeiv shem Hashem mos yumas. רגום ירגמו בו כל העדה ragom yirg'mu bo kol ha'eidah. The whole assembly will kill, will stone him. כגר כאזרח בנקבו שם יומת ka'ger ka'ezrach b'nokvo shem yumas. Everybody is liable to this. This is the way the פרשה parsha ends essentially with this story. Who is this person? What caused them to curse? What and how did they curse God? Why is this the punishment? What in the world is going on here? There's a lot to share about it. But we start with רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik. We'll start with רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik who says the following. The Torah considered blasphemy to be very severe violation. In other words, רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik is bothered by the following question, maybe you are too. Is God really affected by a lowly mere mortal, a finite human being cursing him out? Is someone give God an עין הרע ayin hara? Someone who ruined God's reputation? Give God a bad Yelp review online? It's going to hurt Hashem's business? Why does Hashem care? We stone him, capital punishment. We lean our hands on him. Such a warning, such a reaction. The way the רב rav puts it, considering the irreverent remark a grave sin. Do we punish an insect that bites us? Does it arouse our wrath? Do we feel hurt by the barking of a dog? Certainly not. Why then is the omniscient, eternal creator and sustainer of the universe, whose will is the source of all cosmic dynamics, why is God concerned with a nonsensical indignity uttered by a stupid weak, transient being, here today, tomorrow in the grave? If we're not angry at the mosquito, why should God punish the blasphemer with death? It's a good question. So the רב rav writes, Hashem punishes the blasphemer not because of the indignity to Him, but because by making such a statement, man destroys his own צלם אלקים tzelem Elokim. He destroys not only his own צלם אלקים tzelem Elokim, but the צלם אלקים tzelem Elokim reflected in the universe. Nature, the universe is such an amoral being. The רמב\"ם Rambam is מורה נבוכים Moreh Nevuchim refers to the cosmos as a macro-anthropos. One large individuality, a personality. Blasphemy destroys the צלם אלקים tzelem Elokim not only of the individual himself, but of the macro-anthropos. The universe reflects the glory, the image of Hashem. ונשא חטאו v'nasa cheto, the blasphemer is burdened with sin. He has brought about a destructive change in his personality. The moment he makes a sacrilegious statement, he is no longer rooted in the Almighty. The destructive effect is not limited to him. It is destructive for the entire universe. It's a very, very important insight of the רב rav. When we tolerate, when we are exposed to the poison of a person who has the brazenness to curse God, God's not affected. Don't worry about God. You know who is affected? Our environment, our culture, we are affected. When we overhear, when we see, when we are exposed to someone with the boldness, the brazenness, the חצפה chutpah, to lose and forfeit their צלם אלוקים tzelem Elokim by cursing out God. It's one thing to struggle in your belief with God. It's one thing to have uncertainty. It's one thing to navigate your doubt. It's another thing to be angry at God, that we're also okay with. One can be disappointed or angry or object to God. But to curse God? To blaspheme God? To introduce that to the environment? You know, we're such environmentalists. We worry about secondhand smoke. We worry about exposure to whatever levels and how much we're introducing to the to the universe. What about spiritual environment? And what about the spiritual poisons? What about the spiritual contaminants that we're putting into the universe? So the Rav writes, the reason השם Hashem has this high level of accountability and what seems to be an intense reaction is not because he's affected by the curse, but the environment, the toxin, the contaminant that's introduced to the environment when a person spiritually has the brazenness to curse God. That ונשא חטאו v'nasa cheto, you bear not only the burden of the words, these silly words you said, but you bear the burden of what you introduced into the universe, and that's what you're held accountable for, and that's why the universe and the people who heard you on their behalf need to react the way they do. Have to lean their hands, 'cause they heard it being uttered. They need their own, they have to purge themselves, the experience of absorbing the contaminant. Secondhand cursing of God. You could die of secondhand smoke and you could die of secondhand hearing God cursed. So you, this person who was exposed, secondhand smoke, also has to do something. וסמכו ידיהם v'samchu yedeihem, they also have to do a סמיכה smicha, and they also need to have a form of a כפרה kappara.Where'd this person come from? Where'd this person come from? How'd they go out? Where'd they come from? So, ויצא Vayetzei. מהיכן יצא Meheichan yatza? Where'd they come from? רש\"י Rashi jumps on the fact that the פסוק pasuk describes ויצא vayetzei. We're finishing up, don't worry. This person, ויצא vayetzei, they went out. Where'd they come out from? Where'd they go out to? מהיכן יצא Meheichan yatza, רבי לוי אמר מעולמו יצא Rebbi Levi omar mei'olamo yatza. They left their world. What does that mean they left their world? Rav Wolbe writes on עלי שור חלק ב' Alei Shur Chelek Beis, פלא פלאים שאדם יכול לצאת מעולמו להיות לזר לעצמו Peleh pla'os she'adam yachol latzeis mei'olamo l'hiyos l'zar l'atzmo. You know a person can leave their world. Their world is their sanity. Their world is self-preservation. And a person can sabotage their own world. A person can self-destruct. A person can lose their world, their sanity. A person can lose their stability, their balance. And that, says Rav Wolbe, is what חז\"ל Chazal meant in the משנה Mishna in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos. The fourth פרק perek of פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos, the משנה Mishna tells us, הקנאה והתאוה והכבוד מוציאין את האדם מן העולם hakina v'hataavah v'hakavod motzi'in es ha'adam min ha'olam. When a person is filled with envy and jealousy, and your whole life is consumed by seeing what other people have, and you're craving it. When a person is filled with תאוה taavah, with lust and desire and insatiable appetite. When a person is filled with the pursuit of כבוד kavod, you just want to be an influencer, you just want to have the most likes, you just want to be the most famous, it removes a person מן העולם min ha'olam, from the world. What's the world? Rav Wolbe says it means it removes you from your world. You lose your sanity. All you care about is competing with what other people have, envy and jealousy of others, indulging your appetite, your תאוה taavah, honor and influence, you lose your sanity. You lose your world, you lose who you're meant to be. So this person who could curse out God, יצא מעולמו yatza mei'olamo, they left, they walked out, they left their world, they left their sanity.Rav Druck has another interpretation. I told you we're finishing, we are. As long as I keep saying we're finishing, you'll believe me and buy myself a couple more minutes. I don't need a couple more minutes, we're finishing. מהיכן יצא Meheichan yatza? רבי לוי Rebbi Levi says מעולמו יצא mei'olamo yatza, he left his world. רבי ברכיה אמר Rebbi Berechya omar, I'm back in רש\"י Rashi, מפרשה שלמעלה יצא m'parsha she'lemalah yatza. לגלג ואמר ביום השבת יערכוהו דרך המלך לאכול פת חמה בכל יום או שמא פת צוננת אוכל תשעה ימים? ויתמה Ligleg v'amar, b'yom hashabbos ya'archuhu, derech hamelech l'echol pas chama b'chol yom, o shema pas tzonenes ochel tisha yamim? V'yitmah. So what was the פרשה parsha that came right before the case of cursing out God? Was the showbread, the לחם הפנים lechem hapanim. The לחם הפנים lechem hapanim sat in the משכן Mishkan on the שלחן shulchan all week long. It was switched out, and חז\"ל Chazal tell us כסילוקו כך סידורו k'siluko kach siduro, when it was switched out, it was just as fresh as when it was put there to begin with. But he wonders, this individual who curses out God, what led them to curse out God? What bothered them so much? They heard this law. What's the law of the לחם הפנים lechem hapanim? These twelve loaves of bread, each Friday they were baked, on שבת Shabbos the new ones replaced the old ones. So the anonymous man heard this פרשה parsha, he learned this law, he jumped up and he screamed and he objected. He says a king eats fresh hot bread daily, and for the king of kings, we only bake him new bread once a week? We're serving him stale bread all week? We only bake him fresh bread once a week? So he curses out God. Does that make sense to you? He starts out by what? Defending God's honor. And he ends up by violating, by cursing God's honor. So how could that be? How does this righteous, virtuous, pious person who jumps up and says for a regular king you bake daily, and for the king of kings you're baking once a week? And then he ends up, the same person, a moment later, in reaction, in a fit, in his rage, a moment later ends up being the one who's מקלל mekalel, who's מחרף ומגדף mecharef u'megadef, who's cursing out God.So the ילקוט יהודה Yalkut Yehuda suggests, you know what? It's not strange at all. You know why? The מגדף megadef was never really interested in protecting God. You know what he is? He's what the ילקוט יהודה Yalkut Yehuda calls a קיצוני kitzoni personality. What's a קיצוני kitzoni personality? An extremist. The extremist can be extreme this way one moment, and extreme that way the next moment. Because it was never really about what they were defending, it's really all about being an extremist. When someone lives as an extremist, they'll take this position, and in a moment they'll take the contrarian position, because they're never really defending a value, they're never really arguing or caring about a virtue, they're just an extremist by nature. And that's what's going on over here. Is that this individual began by defending God's honor, and they end by violating God's honor as their anger grew because they were קיצוני kitzoni this way, and they end up קיצוני kitzoni that way. You can never indulge anger or rage, because in that fit you'll end up contradicting your own self. It's not about being extremist in our reaction, in our thought, in our behavior. It's about being what the רמב\"ם Rambam calls a שביל הזהב shvil hazahav, being measured, being strategic, being thoughtful, and thinking about what is that value ultimately that we that we care about. Rav Druck also has a beautiful insight, so does Rav Nachman. Maybe we'll start with that next week. Again, join the WhatsApp if you're not yet part of it for the schedule, bonus material, and to get the פרשה parsha write-up. Until next time. Stay happy, stay healthy.
