Transcript
Okay, good morning, בוקר טוב Boker Tov to all. We are back. It's wonderful to be together to learn פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas, so many lessons and perspectives for today. Happy July 4th. מזל טוב Mazal Tov on our independence. I want to thank our generous sponsors for the series for the year, Becky and Avi Katz and family, in memory of David Grossman. Our learning this morning should be לעילוי נשמת l'ilui nishmas דוד בן מנחם מנש David ben Menachem Manash. Also, this morning's שיעור shiur is dedicated לעילוי נשמת l'ilui nishmas my great, great, great grandmother אסתר מלכה בת רב שלמה Esther Malka bas Rav Shlomo, whose 99th יארצייט yahrzeit is today. Her נשמה neshama, I didn't meet her, my great, great, great grandmother. But her נשמה neshama should have an עלייה aliyah as well. פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas is found on the ArtScroll Stone חומש Chumash on page 876. וידבר השם אל משה לאמר Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן השיב את חמתי מעל בני ישראל Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon Hakohen heishiv es chamasi me'al Bnei Yisrael, בקנאו את קנאתי בתוכם b'kano es kinasi b'socham, ולא כליתי את בני ישראל בקנאתי v'lo chilisi es Bnei Yisrael b'kinasi. Our פרשה parsha picks up not where last week's left off. Our פרשה parsha picks up to a certain degree in the middle of where last week was. This is an unusual break in פרשיות parshios that there's not a natural transition between the stories, but the end of last week's פרשה parsha was the middle of a story. And the story picks up at the beginning of this week's. בלעם Bilam's plot, בלעם Bilam's plot last week failed. בלק Balak had recruited בלעם Bilam to curse the Jewish people. Every time he opened his mouth, a blessing came out instead of a curse. And so they pivot to another strategy. It's an age old proven strategy to defeat not only the Jewish people, but any susceptible nation, which is defined as any that has men, which is to send promiscuous, licentious, provocative women to entice them, to lose their moral compass and moral code, and to give in. And the Jewish men are no different and they do. And in fact, we have a horrific desecration of God's name, a horrific חילול השם chillul Hashem taking place in a very public manner, until פנחס Pinchas rises. פנחס Pinchas with his קנאות kana'us, with his zealotry, פנחס Pinchas responds and reacts while everyone else is passively as a spectator standing still. פנחס Pinchas responds and reacts. We've spoken many times on this פרשה parsha, the story of Kitty Genovese. If you've ever had to call 911, 911 was invented after the story of Kitty Genovese. It's unclear exactly the details of the story that have changed over time, but a woman who was brutally beaten and ultimately murdered while countless people looked out their window, but each deferred and thought someone else would make a phone call, would take charge, would do something. And the result of that mentality of being a spectator cost her her life. And here everyone is watching, everyone's looking, no one's doing anything until פנחס Pinchas. פנחס Pinchas rises. The end of last week's פרשה parsha. וירא פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן ויקם מתוך העדה ויקח רמח בידו Vayar Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon Hakohen vayakam mitoch ha'eidah v'yikach romach b'yado. He grabs a spear and he takes action. ויבא אחר איש ישראל אל הקבה Vayavo achar ish Yisrael el hakubah, and he pierces the two right in the place of their union, in the place of their inappropriateness. He drives the spear through both of them. A שיש קבב shish kebab of sorts. And, and takes a stand in defense and in the name of השם Hashem. ותעצר המגפה מעל בני ישראל v'te'atzar hamageifah me'al Bnei Yisrael. And through that, he stops this horrific plague. ויהיו המתים במגפה ארבעה ועשרים אלף Vayihyu hameisim b'mageifah arba'ah v'esrim elef. And those who died in the plague were 24,000. That was last week's פרשה parsha. Now this week's פרשה parsha, השם Hashem responds, השם Hashem reacts. First, he gives פנחס Pinchas his lineage again in case you forgot from just a few פסוקים psukim ago, פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon Hakohen. And now he awards them. הנני נתן לו את בריתי שלום Hineni nosein lo es brisi shalom. It's time to give him the covenant of peace. It's time to give him his ברכה bracha. And the ברכה bracha is he and those who descend from him, his progeny, will all be כהנים kohanim, which is a funny ברכה bracha to give somebody whose father or grandfather is a כהן kohen. He was not a כהן kohen. The כהונה kehunah was bestowed upon Aaron, but not those who were alive contemporaneously. It only continued naturally and genetically afterwards, and that's why פנחס Pinchas needed to earn it and have it on its own. But the question is, why does השם's Hashem's pronouncements of פנחס's Pinchas's reward begin a new פרשה parsha, פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas? Why do we separate? Why do we divide the story at the end of last week's פרשה parsha? We separate out the storyline of the very act of zealotry, the act of zealousness, the act of standing up for השם Hashem, and then we have a break before we get to השם's Hashem's response, his reaction, his reward. Why do we have this break? So the טאלנא רבי Tolna Rebbe has a מאמר ma'amar. The טאלנא רבי Tolna Rebbe delivered on פרשת בלק Parshas Balak in 2016. And the current טאלנא רבי Tolna Rebbe quotes his father-in-law, רב יעקב יצחק ווייסבלום Rav Yaakov Yitzchak Weissblum, זכר צדיק וקדוש לברכה zecher tzaddik v'kadosh l'vracha of חיפה Haifa, who had a close relationship of רב ברוך Rav Baruch of ויז'ניץ Vizhnitz, זכותו יגן עלינו zechuso yagein aleinu. And he quoted that once the קנאים kana'im of ירושלים Yerushalayim, there are some extreme קנאים zealots who act with zealousness, were staging very extreme protests, and not in a way that the גדולים gedolim of the time approved. Normally they don't approve. Often the acts of the קנאים kana'im are in fact against the גדולים gedolim, so much for דעת תורה daas Torah. So רב ברוך Rav Baruch mentioned to the טאלנא רבי's Tolna Rebbe's father-in-law this question. Why does פרשת בלק Parshas Balak end with the story and yet we defer, we have a break, a significant break. It's only the next פרשה parsha that we get השם's Hashem's response, השם's Hashem's reaction, השם's Hashem's reward. רב ברוך Rav Baruch explained that after פנחס Pinchas committed his act of zealotry, and killed one of the leaders of the tribes, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu waited an entire week to determine whether this zealotry was done sincerely and purely לשם שמים l'shem shamayim or was it tainted, was it contaminated, was there some other motive involved? It's a cute ווארט vort, because השם Hashem didn't wait a week, just because we read the פרשה parsha a week later doesn't mean in the תורה Torah there was a week between the act and his response. But the ווארט vort is a message that's powerful nonetheless, which is we read פרשת בלק Parshas Balak last week, we'll wait a whole week to read פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas to communicate that sometimes it takes a week to reflect, to look more carefully, to look more closely, to evaluate. Was this done לשם שמים l'shem shamayim? Was this done with pure intent, or was it somehow contaminated with other forces and other influences? Only after a week of inspection did השם Hashem grant פנחס Pinchas his reward. The lesson is sometimes an act of קנאות kana'us can have personal interest and a person has to check themselves very, very carefully. And that's why we see a סתירה stirah, there's a contradiction. פנחס Pinchas is rewarded for his zealousness. אליהו Eliyahu, who we're told is the reincarnation of פנחס Pinchas, is in fact criticized for his zealousness. When are you rewarded and when are you criticized? When is it noble, and when is it something ignoble? So it depends what is mixed in. Is it pure? Is it לשם שמים l'shem shamayim or is it contaminated with any other influence, with any other any other concept? And that's the difference between a genuine קנאי zealot and those whose intentions are not purely לשם שמים l'shem shamayim can be found in the reward. The טאלנא רבי שליט\"א Tolna Rebbe shlita adds, you can see it in the reward. Why? הקדוש ברוך הוא Kadosh Baruch Hu informed משה Moshe he was granting פנחס Pinchas בריתי שלום brisi shalom. He gave him the covenant of peace. In reward for pure קנאות kana'us is the blessing of שלום peace, which is a funny and peculiar reward. The man took a spear and drove it through two people and he was given the Nobel Peace Prize. And for the קנאים kana'im of our generation who present themselves as pure and sacred, but in truth are driven by passion, sometimes for wreaking havoc and creating a corrupt and chaotic atmosphere, or by a desire for honor, the worst punishment they could receive is בריתי שלום brisi shalom. If you thrive off chaos, you know, you want a פרשה parsha perspective for today, I was once meeting with a high-level person on the issue of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I hate that word because it sounds like it's two-sided. The Israelis are not engaged in a conflict, only in self-defense. They always say, גולדה מאיר Golda Meir said if if if the Arabs would put down their guns, we'd have peace. If the Israelis or the Jews would put down their guns, we wouldn't have any more Israel. So there's no conflict as if it's two-sided. But I was speaking to a high-level person who said that the truth is that the industry of think tank people and politicians are not really invested in a solution that's permanent because they'd be out of a job. The whole industry revolves around it and livelihoods are based on the continuation of the conflict. So if you're a קנאי kanai, if you're a קנאי zealot, you thrive and you in fact profit off of chaos. The system rewards poor behavior. So you see that הקדוש ברוך הוא Kadosh Baruch Hu who gave פנחס Pinchas, what was the reward for his act? בריתי שלום Brisi shalom. If פנחס Pinchas in fact were driven by honor, if פנחס Pinchas would thrive off of chaos, off of zealousness, he wouldn't have been grateful for the reward of honor. That would have been the end of his career. That would have put him out of a job. שלום Shalom, peace, harmony, tranquility? That's not me. I guess now I'm a nobody. But the fact that פנחס Pinchas was so grateful and so excited with the בריתי שלום brisi shalom is itself the evidence that פנחס Pinchas was driven לשם שמים l'shem shamayim, that he did it in fact for the right things. Congressman Richie Torres, who is a staunch advocate, stands up for Israel, spoke in our shul and was hosted for a fundraiser in our community last year or a couple of years ago. I was talking to him and he pointed out, this is an enormous challenge with politics today. People are rewarded for bad behavior, and they're punished for good behavior. The more outrageous things you say, the more divisive things you say, the more confrontational and provocative things you say, the more followers you get in social media and the more money you raise. And the more you say, let's cross the aisle, let's work together, let's partner, let's find common ground, let's speak respectfully, nobody cares to follow you and nobody wants to give you a penny. So it's a challenge when you live in a world that rewards the wrong behavior and punishes the right behavior. So the fact that פנחס Pinchas embraced his reward of בריתי שלום brisi shalom is evidence that he was in it for the right reasons, because he wasn't interested in profiting from chaos and zealousness. He was interested in peace and in harmony. And you see a very powerful lesson, a very powerful lesson. Someone shared with me right before שיעור shiur the headline of the Sun Sentinel, that we should all if you subscribe, you should cancel. Major front page, huge headline, Israelis go into camp and kill eight. That's like America goes into Afghanistan and murders after 9/11. Israel went in in order to take out terrorists who are planning horrific attacks against innocent men, women, and children. It's backwards and upside down. חז\"ל Chazal, our rabbis told us that if you're kind to the cruel, you will be cruel to the kind. If you're kind to the cruel, you'll be cruel to the kind. And sometimes the act of פנחס Pinchas, a proactive act of zealotry in order to eliminate threats, you're rewarded the Nobel Peace Prize because peace sometimes is only achieved through a display of strength, not a display of weakness. That's, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, what Israel understands, that peace is achieved not by laying down your weapons and emboldening the enemy. Sometimes peace is only achieved through a show and a sign of strength. And that's in fact what we should be proud and what we should דאווען daven for the continued safety and security of our heroic חיילים soldiers who are putting their lives at risk and going in, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem have been מצליח matzliach, have been successful, and should only continue. And that is part of the lesson of פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas. Of פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas is the act of פנחס Pinchas. אליהו Eliyahu later is criticized. Not every act of zealotry and zealousness is rewarded when it's laced with personal interest and personal honor, then it's incredibly dangerous. If it's לשם שמים l'shem shamayim and it gets the stamp of approval of השם Hashem, then the קנאי zealot himself is grateful to be retired, is grateful to have the ברית שלום Bris Shalom, to be able to be out of a job, to be out of business. The נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech, the הייליגע heilige נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech of ליז'נסק Lizhensk asks a great question. תורה Torah says, פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן השיב את חמתי Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon Hakohen, heishiv es chamasi. Once again, we're given his lineage. פנחס Pinchas is the son of Elazar, the son of Aaron Hakohen. And he's the one who through his act, got השם Hashem to quiet and withdraw his anger from the Jewish people. How? בקנאו את קנאתי בתוכם B'kano es kinasi b'socham. He zealously avenged my vengeance among them. יש להבין Yesh lahavin, מה הענין ma ha'inyan... So רש\"י Rashi tells us, why are we given פנחס's Pinchas's lineage yet again? Because his contemporaries, his peers were mocking him. They were sarcastically ridiculing him. מבזים אותו Mevazemo so, how? הראיתם בן פוטי זה Hareisan ben Puti zeh? You see this person? His father was an idolater. His father is somebody who fattened the idols. Look at this person. So לפיכך בא הכתוב l'fi'chach ba ha'kasuv, so therefore the תורה Torah comes and יחסו אחר אהרן yachso achar Aharon. Says, yeah, yeah, on one side, it's true he descends from idolaters, but do you know who his זיידע zeideh is on the other side? Do you know where he comes from? His זיידע zeideh is אהרן הכהן Aharon Hakohen. So the נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech asks, so I don't understand. The cynics and the scoffers, the haters, you think they didn't know that his other זיידע zeideh was אהרן הכהן Aharon Hakohen? They knew that while they were still pointing to the זיידע zeideh who was an idolater. It didn't stop them. So when they're reminded that he also descends from Aaron Hakohen, now they're going to stop? Oh, oh, we didn't know. Oh, you're right. We shouldn't say a not nice thing about פנחס Pinchas. Of course, they knew it already. They weren't told anything new. ועוד קשה V'od kashah, הלא גם השבטים ידעו דבר זה שמצד אחד יוחס לאהרן הכהן lo gam hashvatim yodu davar zeh she'mitzadd echad yuchas l'Aharon Hakohen, ובכל זאת דברו כן. אם כן מה יועיל מה שכתוב שיחסו אחר אהרן v'chol zeh dibru kein. Im kein, ma yo'il mah she'kasuv she'yachso achar Aharon? How did it help? What was the point of highlighting and focusing that פנחס Pinchas descends, that in fact, he is the grandchild, the אייניקל ainekel of אהרן Aaron. Says the נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech, ישנם כאן בני אדם דודאי... איש שמתדמה להם איזה ענין חדש Yeshnim k'an b'nei adam d'vadai... eish she'misdameh lahem eizeh inyan chadash, אינם יודעים להחליט איך צריכים לעשות בדבר זה einam yodim l'hachlit ech tzrichim la'asos b'davar zeh. Sometimes we go through life and we come to a crossroads and we have a decision we have to make, and we're not sure exactly what the right thing is to do. הם מסופקים אם לעשות הפעולה או שמא לא יעשה דבר heim m'stupakim im la'asos ha'pe'ulah o shema lo ya'aseh davar. Do this or don't do this. We have a dilemma that doesn't appear in the four חלקים chalakim of שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch. It's what we call a fifth חלק cheilek. We're not sure. It doesn't explicitly appear what the right thing is to do. The Torah can't delineate every single circumstance that could arise in life. We have the overarching, עשית הישר והטוב Asisa hayashar v'hatov, do what's right and good in the eyes of Hashem. Sometimes you don't know, what am I meant to do in this moment? What does Hashem want me to do? What will give נחת רוח nachas ruach to the בורא Borei? כי לא ידעו ולא יבינו מה הוא דרך הישר בזה ki lo yodu v'lo yavinu mah hu derech hayashar b'zeh. היצר הרע מסמא את עיניהם שלא יראו אמת Hayeitzer hara m'sameh es eineihem shelo yiru emes. And we're sometimes tempted, and sometimes our judgment is clouded, and it's distorted, and it's trying to lead us to the wrong conclusion. על כן אינם יודעים להחליט בעצמם אם זה מצווה או עבירה al kein einam yodim l'hachlit b'atzmam im zeh mitzvah o einah aveirah. So we don't have the clarity, we don't have the confidence, we don't have the objectivity to know, is this the right thing or the wrong thing. בא איש צדיק וניגש לעשות הפעולה ההוא Ba'ish tzaddik v'nigash la'asos ha'pe'ulah ha'hu, וכל העם רואים איך שהוא עושה אותו באהבה ויראה גדולה v'chol ha'am ro'im ech she'hu oseh oso b'ahavah v'yirah gedolah. But when a צדיק tzaddik comes, when someone trustworthy comes, when someone righteous and virtuous comes, and they do that act, and now we all can see the way they did it with sincerity and authenticity, אז באים כולם להכרה ברורה שזה הוא המצווה az ba'im kulam l'akara brurah she'zeh hu ha'mitzvah. So now we know how to resolve the dilemma. If they did it, that's the right conclusion. That's their posture, that's the perspective, that's the attitude, then that's the correct response. וכל העם יודעים שכל מה שעשו היא מצווה v'chol ha'am yodim she'kol mah she'asu hu mitzvah. וכן הוא ענין כאן. השבטים לא ידעו בעצמם מה לעשות V'chein hu inyan k'an. Hashvatim lo yodu b'atzmam ma la'asos. So they're all watching. כזבי Kozbi and זמרי Zimri are engaged in this incredibly licentious act in public. By the way, for many years of my life, we read Parshas Pinchas and we couldn't imagine, who could be so bold? Who could be so brazen? Who could be so immodest to engage in such an activity in a public way? Sadly and tragically, we don't have to imagine. We're living in a time where it's not hard to picture people boldly and brazenly trying to prove that there's nothing to be ashamed of because we're living in the age of shamelessness. So people can engage and act in any way, in any public sense. So the people sitting and watching didn't know what do we do? Do we turn away and walk away, cover our kids' eyes? Do we take a spear and drive it through them? How do we end this act, this def-, this total חילול השם chillul Hashem? What do we do? They didn't know what to do. שזמרי היה נשיא שבט מישראל she'Zimri hayah nasi shevet me'Yisrael. זמרי Zimri after all, is not some יורם Irv from the street. זמרי Zimri is a נשיא nasi, a prince of the Jewish people. You're talking about one of the leaders, one of the role models, one of the board members who's now acting in this way. ונעלם מהם ההלכה שהבועל ארמית קנאים פוגעין בו v'ne'elam meihem ha'halacha she'haboel Aramis kana'im pogin bo. And they all forgot the law that when a person is acting as a בועל ארמית boel Aramis, קנאים פוגעין בו kana'im pogin bo. Then it demands a strong, a strong response. So they didn't know how to act. עד שבא פנחס ad she'ba Pinchas. פנחס Pinchas came וגילה ההלכה v'gilah ha'halacha, and he revealed what is the proper הלכה halacha. הוא וזה נס בעל בישראל זה היה מצווה hu v'zeh nes Baal b'Yisrael zeh hayah mitzvah. Now they knew this was the right thing to do. מתחילה לא ידעו Mitchilah lo yad'u, but at first they didn't know. So where did this קנאות kana'us come from? Why did Pinchas react this way? Was this a noble and righteous? We just talked about the two types of קנאות kana'us. You can be a קנאי zealot with pure intent for the right reason, or you can be a קנאי zealot because you thrive on chaos. You're an extremist who loves extreme behavior. So they were watching and didn't know what was driving פנחס's Pinchas's act. And at first they said, you know, פנחס Pinchas descends from an idolater. I bet his behavior is in fact informed by these foreign values and influences. They didn't know. And that's what the Torah comes to tell us, no. It's not אבי אמו avi imo who פתם עגלים לעבודה זרה piteim agalim l'avodah zarah. It's not that this attribute or this act was the result of the influence of his maternal grandfather who did expose him to values that are not our own, but rather יחסו אחר אהרן yachso achar Aharon. שלא יהיה תמוה עוד בעיני ישראל she'lo yehei tamuah od b'einei Yisrael, איך זכה להגיע לזה ech zachah l'hagia l'zeh, כי זכותו של אהרן עמדה לו ki zechuso shel Aharon amdah lo להכיר רצון השם יתברך l'hakir ratzon Hashem Yisbarach. How did פנחס Pinchas know this was the right thing to do? Where did פנחס Pinchas get the courage, the conviction, the tenacity to rise and do something no one else did? Not because of his maternal זיידע zeideh, his paternal זיידע zeideh. Because of אהרן הכהן Aharon Hakohen. Because he descends from אהרן הכהן Aharon Hakohen, and that's what gave him, that's what gave him this, this, that's what gave him this strength. So you see that קנאות kana'us, zealousness, zealotry is a double-edged sword, pun intended, I guess. Zealotry is complicated, and a person has to be confident it's לשם שמים l'shem shamayim for the right reasons, and don't try it at home, and don't try to be פנחס Pinchas, because it most often fails. But the Torah in fact is testifying that פנחס Pinchas did it for the right reasons. And how does the Torah give that testimony? How does the Torah affirm that פנחס Pinchas did it for the right reasons? By connecting him to his זיידע zeideh אהרן Aharon. That's number one. Number two, listen to this beautiful insight. The הייליגע heilige נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech of ליז'נסק Lizhensk. הנה באיש שאדם עובד את השם יתברך מדעת עצמו Hinei b'eish she'adam oved es Hashem Yisbarach mi'daas atzmo, אינו יכול להתעלות רק עד מקום ששכלו מגיע eino yachol l'his'alos rak ad makom she'sichlo magi'as. When a person is trying to be an עבד השם eved Hashem, when you're trying to how far can I push myself? How can my דאווענען davening, how high can my דאווענען davening be? How much learning can I do? How willing am I to push myself out of my comfort zone and do חסד chesed? So when we're operating only within our own boundaries, expectations, imagination, then we'll only push ourselves as far as our imagination goes. However, אבל כאשר יראה את חבירו איזה דבר טוב aval ka'asher yireh es chaveiro eizeh davar tov, but when you see among somebody else, you say, wow, you learn what? How much? You remember it how well? Wow, your דאווענען davening is so sincere, so pure, so connected. Wow, you do so much חסד chesed, you're giving so much צדקה tzedakah. Now you see somebody else who raises the bar even higher. והוא מקנא בו על אותו דבר v'hu m'kaneh bo al oso davar. And now you have a proper kind of קנאה envy and jealousy, not because you don't want them to do it, but you want to do it just like they do. רוצה לעשות כמותו Rotzeh la'asos k'moso. על ידי זה יכול להתעלות למעלה למעלה הרבה יותר מפי שמושג בשכל עצמו Al yedei zeh yuchal l'his'alos l'ma'alah l'ma'alah harbeh yoser m'fi she'musag b'sechel atzmo. וזהו דרך טוב v'zehu derech tov. And that's what it means. פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן השיב את חמתי Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon Hakohen heishiv es chamasi, בקנאו את קנאתי בתוכם b'kano es kinasi b'socham. פנחס Pinchas implanted קנאה kinah בתוכם b'socham among the Jewish people. Are you listening to this ווארט vort? It's a געוואלדיגע gevaldige ווארט vort. פנחס Pinchas because, you know, they say, I'm not a runner. So I'm not going to remember the details. You'll forgive me. But they couldn't break the barrier of a certain minute mile for many years for history, the four-minute mile. They couldn't break the four-minute mile forever. Nobody could run a mile in under four minutes, nobody. Not professionals, not amateurs, not Olympians. Nobody could break the four-minute mile. They thought it was impossible. It couldn't be done until, who did it? Roger Bannister. Roger Bannister. The confidence. Until Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile. And what do they say? It was like a couple of months before everybody was breaking the four-minute mile. So how does that work? Nobody could do it, everyone tried, everyone failed. And as soon as one person did it, now it was no longer impossible. It was no longer a barrier. Now, everybody could do it until the line moved. I don't know what they lowest minute mile is now. So that's what the נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech is saying. The נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech is saying, everyone sat around and they said, we don't know what to do in this circumstance. None of us have the courage, none of us have the conviction, none of us know what to do. פנחס Pinchas rose and he did the right thing. And by doing that, what did he do? בקנאו את קנאתי בתוכם B'kano es kinasi b'socham. He created, he broke the four-minute mile, the four-minute spiritual mile. And now the rest of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, בקנאו את קנאתי b'kano es kinasi, he implanted jealousy and envy and competitiveness בתוכם b'socham. And now they said, you know, if he could do it, we could do it. If he could fight for השם Hashem, we could fight for השם Hashem. If he could be so aspirational in his relationship as an עבד השם eved Hashem, we too can be. So בקנאו את קנאתי b'kano es kinasi, not from the לשון lashon קנאה kinah of zealousness, from the לשון lashon of קנאה kinah of jealousy and envy. He implanted a healthy and a positive competitiveness and envy in us בתוכם b'socham. ולא כליתי את בני ישראל בקנאתי v'lo chilisi es Bnei Yisrael b'kinasi. And therefore כליתי מלשון סוף וכיליון chilisi milashon sof v'chilyon. רוצה לומר, על ידי שראו כן בפנחס Rotzeh lomar, al yedei she'ra'u kein b'Pinchas, יועף בני ישראל יוכלו להתעלות למעלה למעלה עד בלי סוף ותכלה you'af bnei Yisrael yuchlu l'his'alos l'ma'alah l'ma'alah ad bli sof v'tichlah. So now there's no כיליון kilyon, now there's no destruction, there's no boundaries, there's no barriers. הנני נתן לו את בריתי שלום Hineni nosein lo es brisi shalom. Because פנחס Pinchas instilled a healthy competitiveness, השם Hashem says I'm giving him the reward of שלום Shalom. And that's what the גמרא Gemara in בבא בתרא Bava Basra tells us, חז\"ל Chazal, דף מ\"א daf mem aleph. קנאת סופרים תרבה חכמה Kinas sofrim tarbeh chachmah. I thought קנאה kinah is אסור assur. I thought you're not supposed to be jealous and envious. All the מוסר ספרים Mussar sfarim tell us you have to break that sense of jealousy and envy in you. And the answer is you do. But you have to define what's jealousy and what's envy. If you're jealous and envious of something someone else has because you think you deserve it instead of them, I should have that car, I should have that spouse, I should have that job, I should have that position of honor, not them, that's an unhealthy self-destructive jealousy. But if you see someone else and it motivates you and it inspires you and it drives you, קנאת סופרים תרבה חכמה kinas sofrim tarbeh chachmah. Competition among scholars creates wisdom, creates wisdom. So healthy competition is good, which is why a couple of weeks ago, פרשת בהעלותך Parshas Ba'aloscha, when Aaron Hakohen after the פרשת נשיאים Parshas Nesi'im at the end of נשא Naso, he says, it's not fair to me. How come they all get to bring קרבנות karbanos and I don't? It's not fair to me. And השם Hashem doesn't give him a stick of פאטש patch and say, you get what you get and you don't get upset. What does השם Hashem do? He says, not fair to you? You also want a piece? No problem, Aaron. You get to light the מנורה menorah. Why does he reward him for that jealousy? What seems like, כביכול k'viyachol, childish jealousy. He rewards him. The answer is, השם Hashem loves healthy competitiveness. I love that השם Hashem loves healthy competitiveness. השם Hashem loves healthy. Unhealthy competitiveness, where you have no self-esteem, self-confidence, self-worth unless you can compete, where you're jealous and envy and define your identity and your happiness based on others, all that's unhealthy. But a healthy competitiveness that drives you, that creates ambition for growth, it's beautiful. And that's why השם Hashem rewards it in Aaron, and it's why השם Hashem rewards it here now in פנחס Pinchas. בקנאו את קנאתי בתוכם B'kano es kinasi b'socham. פנחס Pinchas, you introduced to כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, you broke the four-minute mile. And now you set a new bar, and they're all competing with you. הנני נתן לו את בריתי שלום Hineni nosein lo es brisi shalom. Here is the Nobel Peace Prize. Wow, what a beautiful, what a געוואלדיגע gevaldige thing that you've done, what an incredible thing. So פנחס Pinchas is rewarded and we have a new attitude towards Midyan. צרור את המדינים והכיתם אותם Tzoror es ha'Midyanim v'hikisem osam. You have to strike the Midyanim, and harass them and smite them because they conspired against us in the matter of פעור Pe'or and they took us down. Then we have a new census. I'm sorry. First, perek yud-gimmel, pasuk gimmel. כי צוררים הם לכם Ki tzorrim heim lachem. Why do we have to strike the Midyanim? כי צוררים הם לכם בנכליהם אשר נכלו לכם על דבר פעור Ki tzorrim heim lachem b'nichleihem asher nichlu lachem al devar Pe'or, ועל דבר כזבי בת נשיא מדין אחותם v'al devar Kozbi bas nesi Midyan achosam, המכה ביום המגפה על דבר פעור hamukah b'yom hamageifah al devar Pe'or. We have to go confront them. And we have to go have a conflict with them. Why? Because they harassed us, they conspired against us in the matter of פעור Pe'or, the matter of כזבי Kozbi, the daughter of the leader of מדין Midyan, which just tells you also, by the way, how corrupt a nation when the leader sends his daughter to act promiscuously and provocatively. He uses his daughter and treats her like I won't even say, in order to defeat an enemy. What kind of a nation? What kind of a leader does that to his own child? Does that to his own daughter? who was slain on the day of the plague in the matter, in the matter of Pe'or. כי צוררים הם Ki tzorrim heim. So again, the נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech, the third נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech of the day, the הייליגע heilige נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech. We were on our Poland trip, we had a טיש tish, we פארברענגט fahrbrenged at the outside the קבר kever of the נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech in ליז'נסק Lizhensk together. I'll never forget. The פסוק posuk says, צוררים הם לכם tzorrim heim lachem. Translate the word צוררים tzorrim. Go confront them, go take them down. Why? כי צוררים הם Ki tzorrim heim. What does the word צוררים tzorrim mean? They are harassing. צוררים Tzorrim, let me put it differently. What tense? What tense is צוררים tzorrim? Past, present, or future? Present. One does the נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech... יש להבין yesh lahavin, מה שאמר צוררים בלשון הווה ma she'amar tzorrim b'lashon hoveh, לכאורה היה לו לומר צררו הם לכם בלשון עבר l'chora hayah lomar tzaruru heim lachem b'lashon avar. What what Midyan did to you is over. It's in the past. Pinchas ended it. The plague ended. So why is השם Hashem say you need to go confront Midyan because of what they're doing to you in the present tense? It's what they did to you. צררו Tzaruru, not צוררים tzorrim. שהרי לעת עתה בשעה שדיבר הדבר ואינם צוררים עוד על ישראל sh're'leis atah b'sha'as she'diber davar v'einan tzorrim od al Yisrael. ועוד יש להבין מה שאמר בנכליהם V'od yesh lahavin ma she'amar b'nichleihem. פירושו מחשבה Peirusho machshavah. And what are they doing now? The pasuk says, they harassed you how? בנכליהם B'nichleihem. What is the word בנכליהם b'nichleihem? They harassed you how? בנכליהם B'nichleihem means by conspiring, through their strategy, through their plans, through their מחשבה machshavah. רק במחשבה Rak b'machshavah... גם במעשה בפועל החטיאו אותו על דבר פעור gam b'maaseh ba'po'el hichti'u oso al devar Pe'or, ועל דבר כזבי ומעשה זמרי v'al devar Kozbi v'maaseh Zimri. What do you mean? Go stop them for what they're doing right now still in the present tense. And why do you need to stop them? Because they conspired. Because they conspired? You know, the reason to avenge the Nazis is not because they had a final solution, but is because what they carried out of the final solution. Here Midyan caused a plague through sending Kozbi and got us to worship בעל פעור Baal Pe'or in an incredibly undignified way. And that's why we have to stop them. Why בנכליהם b'nichleihem? What they did that was so egregious is that they had a strategy? Is because they conspired? That's what they did that was so bad that we have to avenge, that we have to take them on. So says the נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech, באמת החטיאו מדין את ישראל במחשבה, דיבור ומעשה b'emes hichti'u Midyan es Yisrael b'machshavah, dibur u'maaseh. The truth is, Midyan tried to come at us in three different ways. Midyan came at us במחשבה b'machshavah, in thought, בדיבור b'dibur, in speech, and ובמעשה u'v'maaseh, in action. חלק המעשה מבואר בכתוב להגיד כל המעשה שנעשה על ידם Cheilek ha'maaseh mevo'ar b'kasuv l'haged kol ha'maaseh she'na'asah al yadam. The action, we know. That's what the Torah testifies. That's what the narrative tells us. They came at us with the story of כזבי Kozbi. they came at us with the story of בעל פעור Baal Peor. וכל החטא הדיבור הוא באותם אנשים שלא נמנו על מעשה פעור, אך דיברו ממנו. והדיבורים הללו הביאו עוד אף פגם באנשים כאילו שלא דיברו מזה כלל. שהידי ששמעו הדיבורים של אחרים נגרם להם לחשוב מזה במחשבה. But people also who didn't worship Peor, but they spoke about it. They spoke in a way that's not proper. They spoke on topics that are improper. They spoke with profanity that's improper. And even those who didn't engage in the speech, heard those talking about it, and it caused them to think about it. וכתוב שהכלל בזה הוא שבכל עבירה נברא קליפה קשה שנשאר ממנו רושם. And the וורט vort says the נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech here is that every time that we do or we see an עבירה aveira, it creates within us a residual effect, a residual impact. We have the image of the עבירה aveira seared into our mind. We now know that that עבירה aveira is a real possibility. We now know that it's a real possibility and it's seared into our mind. שנשאר ממנו רושם Shenishar mimenu roshem. וכל זמן שהקליפה בעולם, נופל במחשבות אדם מחשבות רעות מהעבירה זו. So even if we, certainly if we engaged in a behavior, the nostalgia, the good feeling, the pleasure, even if we have regret and remorse, but we're still holding on to a little bit of the גישמאק geshmak that we got from the עבירה aveira. And if we didn't do the עבירה aveira, but we watched, we witnessed, we observed someone else. So now that image is seared into our mind. We remember, we review, maybe we're tempted, maybe we're driven because we want it. וגם כאן, כל זמן שמדין קיימים בעולם, נפלו בליבם מחשבות רעות והרהורי עבירות דפעור. As long as Midyan continued to exist, as long as Midyan continued their practices, we continued to remember our encounter, our connection, our engagement with them. ועל זה היה עיקר הנקמה במדין, רק מחמת המחשבות הרעות שנפלו בבני ישראל. So, the fact that they attacked us, the fact that they seduced us, the fact that they enticed us towards idolatry, Hashem took care of that. We could move on. Why did we need to continue to engage them? Why did we need to avenge them? Because of the מחשבה machshava. Because until we purge them from our mind, we needed to, we needed to still engage them. כי מעשה של מדין הוא באמת כבר נגמר. וכשמסר עצמו אדם לעשות תשובה, צריך לבער הקליפה מן העולם. So we see from here that when a person begins to do תשובה teshuvah, if you want to return, repair, recover from something wrong that you did, the first thing you need to do is purge this residual impact, image in your mind. וציווה השם יתברך כאן לבני ישראל איך יעשו התיקון לכל זה. And הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu is telling us what's the method, how do you do it? צרור את המדינים, כי צוררים הם לכם בהווה. You need to, you need to do something against Midyan, because they're still in your head. They're still in your thoughts. They're not part of the past. It's not צררו tzararu, it's צוררים tzor'rim. So you need to do something to purge them and get them out of your head. ובמה הם צוררים? And in what way are they still in your head? How are they still conspiring? בנכליהם, because they're still במחשבה be'machshava, they're still in your head. And as long as they're in your head, they've got you. So it's true, you no longer engaged in actions with them. They're no longer seducing you physically to do the wrong thing. But כל זמן kol zman that you're connected with them, you're thinking of them, you're imagining them, you're fantasizing about them, as long as they're taking up real estate in your head, צררו, צוררים tzor'rim in the present tense, they are continuing to get you. How? בנכליהם במחשבה, because they own you, because they're in your mind. You need to תבערו את המדינים מן הארץ. You need to do something to push them away. So the מעשה ma'aseh is over. And the דיבור dibur, you're not speaking about them. But the מחשבה machshava, get them out of your head, you need to now get them out of your head. You have to find a way to put them down. You have to find a way to purge them from your mind. You have to find a way to stop perseverating over them. You have to find a way to stop thinking about them. Because as long as you're thinking about them and they own you, you continue to be corrupted and compromised by them. And now you can understand, says the נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech, that's why it's צוררים tzor'rim not צררו tzararu, because they continue to be working in your head. And that's why it's בנכליהם. The most egregious thing that they did in the end of the day is not just the action and the דיבור dibur, but the מחשבה machshava. It's the fact that they're still in your mind. This also answers back in פרשת נשא Parshas Naso. You get a bonus, not just this פרשה Parsha perspective for today, but we keep going backwards too. פרשת נשא Parshas Naso. Everybody knows why do we have, why do we have פרשת סוטה Parshas Sotah? למה נסמכה פרשת סוטה לפרשת נזיר Lamah nismicha Parshas Sotah le'Parshas Nazir? Why do we have the story of the נזיר Nazir, the law of the נזיר Nazir coming right after the story of the סוטה Sotah, the wayward woman who was disloyal to her husband? To teach us that a person who is רואה סוטה בקלקולה, יזיר עצמו מן היין. If you see a סוטה Sotah and you see what happened to a סוטה Sotah, יזיר עצמו מן היין. Then you say, whoa, somebody who was intoxicated, somebody who drank too much, ended up crossing a line and a boundary, secluded with a man, practiced infidelity, and look what happened to her. I'm staying away from wine, I'm becoming a נזיר Nazir. And the commentaries ask. Wait one second. Why do you have to go so far to become a נזיר Nazir? If you saw a סוטה בקלקולה Sotah b'kilkulah, what does that mean? It means you saw the whole thing. What happened? The husband warned her, don't seclude yourself. Two witnesses testify, she secluded herself. We don't know what happened in that room, where she says nothing happened. They were just playing Mahjong. But we're suspicious because she was already warned and she defied the warning and secluded herself nonetheless. So how are we going to establish the truth? She's brought to the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash, where her hair is uncovered, she is disheveled, she's embarrassed. We're doing everything we can to get her to admit. Why do we want her to admit? We want her to avoid drinking the water. We don't want her to die, and we don't want to erase God's name in vain. But why does Hashem allow his name to be erased in the story of the סוטה Sotah? Because the only way, this is a beautiful insight, the whole story of the מי סוטה mei Sotah is not to find her guilty. The whole story of the מי סוטה mei Sotah is to be able to prove her innocence to the point that her husband will ever trust her again. Because if she says nothing happened, and he wants to believe her, he can't help but always be suspicious the rest of his life. But because Hashem is willing to let his name get erased in one of the ingredients of the סוטה Sotah, and when she drinks it, if she's innocent, he'll know about her innocence, he can with a full heart move on. So it's not a way of indicting, it's a way of exonerating. And that's why Hashem goes that far. But if indeed she's guilty, what happens? She dies. How does she die? A peaceful death in her sleep? No. Her belly fills with air until ultimately she explodes. That's what we're told. We take her outside, move away from her. We don't want her to contaminate, be מטמא metamei anything when the body parts go flying. It's pretty gruesome, it's pretty graphic, it's pretty horrific. It's pretty terrible. It's my son's favorite part so far of משניות סוטה Mishnayos Sotah that we're learning together. Now before you react, all the women get all upset. So she dies this horrible death. What about the man that she cheated with? You should know he dies too. Wherever he is, when she drinks, he dies too. He violated אשת איש eshes ish. He crossed a boundary by sleeping with a married woman. He dies the same horrific death wherever he is. That's what's what's interesting is, it's wherever he is. He's on the couch watching football with his friends and all of a sudden, because she was busy in the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash dealing with the accusation. The שר שלום מבעלז Sar Shalom miBelz, the Belzer Rebbe says, you know what you see from here? You see that someone can drink something over here and it impacts someone over there. And that's why when we make a לחיים l'chaim, we drink a לחיים l'chaim, we say a לחיים l'chaim, the person should have a רפואה שלמה refuah shleimah, לחיים l'chaim, the נשמה neshamah should have an עליה aliyah, לחיים l'chaim for the שמחה simcha that's being celebrated all the way over there. My לחיים l'chaim over here could have an impact over there? He says look at the משנה mishna in סוטה Sotah. If she can drink and he dies all the way over there, if that's true for, if it's true for death, then it's true לחיים l'chaim. You could drink a לחיים l'chaim over here and then somebody will have the benefit over there. A beautiful thought, a beautiful כוונה kavanah, next time if you enjoy a nice לחיים l'chaim. The bottom line is she dies a horrible death. So כל הרואה סוטה בקלקולה kol ha'ro'eh Sotah b'kilkulah, who needs like reality TV? If you're following the סוטה Sotah and you come to the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash and there's a whole audience waiting, what's gonna be? They don't break to commercial, they don't say tune in next week. Right then, she's going to drink the מי סוטה mei Sotah and you're going to find out what's going to be. And what happens? She explodes, she dies. So what's everyone watching, witnessing going to say to themselves? Whoa. I am never doing that. I don't ever want to be in this position. I'm not even talking to the opposite gender. I'm not getting secluded with the opposite gender. I'm done. Why do they have to go to such an extreme to be יזיר עצמו מן היין yazir atzmo min hayayin? Simply seeing what happens to her should be much more than enough to get you to not want to come close. Why do you have to go to this extreme? Come back to the נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech and our פרשה parsha that we just learned. Because how did Midyan work? By getting into our head. It's not just about the act. It's about the image that is engraved in our mind that continues to haunt us and tempt us and seduce us. So if you see a סוטה Sotah, you know what you saw? Until now you said, I can't imagine anybody would actually have an affair. I can't imagine anyone could cross that line. This is not breaking the four-minute barrier for the good. This is breaking a different boundary for the bad. Nobody I know, nobody in my world, nobody I can imagine, nobody in כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, nobody could ever do that. And now you saw somebody did that. So I guess it is a possibility. I guess it does happen. I guess it's real. I guess it's not only hypothetical. Now you're in trouble. So therefore you have to do something to erase the image, יזיר עצמו מן היין yazir atzmo min hayayin. צרור את המדינים כי צוררים הם, not צררו but צוררים. If they're still in your head, you're in trouble. Do something in order to purge them from your head, from your imagination. Okay, moving right along. The new census, because we love censuses in the Jewish people. פרק כ\"ו Perek Chaf Vav, top of page 878. ויאמר משה ואלעזר בן אהרן הכהן, שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל, lift the heads of the Jewish people, from 20 years old and up and count them. Counting is lifting. When you make someone feel counted, when you lift their spirits, when you lift them, when you make them feel counted, you lift them up, and we go through the whole count. פרק כ\"ו פסוק נ\"ו Perek Chaf Vav Pasuk Nun Vav, all the way to page 884, don't get whiplash. אלה פקודי הלוים למשפחותם לגרשון משפחת הגרשוני, לקהת, and so on. How are they counted? How is the land divided? Sorry, go back to פסוק נ\"ג Pasuk Nun Gimmel. לאלה תחלק הארץ בנחלה במספר שמות. Why was the census taken now? Because they were poised and positioned to go into the land. And how is the land of Israel distributed? How is it divided? What tribe gets which section? על פי גורל Al pi goral. פסוק נ\"ו Pasuk Nun Vav. על פי הגורל תחלק נחלתו בין רב למעט. According to the lot, according to the, according to the, how do you say גורל goral? The lottery, thank you. According to the lottery shall one inheritance be divided between the numerous and the few. So, is a lottery, is relying on a גורל goral a good thing or a bad thing? So here we turn to our first אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pelaos HaTorah of the day. Incredible ספר sefer. Unbelievable ספר sefer. So he deals with the following. מניין שאין שואלים בגורלות Minayin she'ein sho'alin ba'goralos? So we know the גמרא Gemara tells us in שבת דף קנ\"ו Shabbos Daf Kuf Nun Vav, and the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch quotes it להלכה l'halacha, יורה דעה סימן קע\"ט Yoreh Deah Siman Kuf Ayin Tes. How do you know you're not supposed to ask a גורל goral? We don't rely on גורלות goralos. שנאמר תמים תהיה עם השם אלוקיך. Because we have a פסוק pasuk in ספר דברים Sefer Devarim, תמים תהיה עם השם אלוקיך. We walk purely with Hashem. We don't believe in superstition. We don't believe in horoscopes. We don't believe in silly גורלות goralos. We don't believe in it. הגורל והחוזים בכוכבים חדא מילתא היא. זאגט די גמרא Zogt di Gemara, a גורל goral and a חוזה בכוכבים chozeh ba'kochavim, astrology and a גורל goral, a lottery, silliness. You don't flip through the book and the pages and, you know, it will tell me what I meant to do. That's believing in something other than Hashem. It's כישוף kishuf, that's something, it's sorcery, it's a superstition, it's following and believing something other than Hashem. ודבר זה מובא בתוספות, והשולחן ערוך קובע אותו להלכה למעשה. So on the one hand, says the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pelaos HaTorah, we have a דרשה drasha, תמים תהיה עם השם אלוקיך. You have to follow Hashem and don't believe in anything else. I was in Tennessee last week, and lottery winners are not usually from Boca Raton, they're from places like Tennessee, so I thought let me buy a Mega Millions ticket. So I went into the, I'm trying to finish this campus. I thought, I said, Hashem, this is it, we're done. Just make it easy. So I went into the gas station to buy a ticket. I said, do you sell the Mega Millions Powerball tickets here? So the woman behind the cash register just said, no. The owner of the gas station is very religious. I said, so am I. Why don't you sell, why don't you sell lottery tickets? She said, well, he's very religious and lottery is gambling. So they don't sell here. So I went next door and bought a Powerball ticket and just put it this way, our campaign for the campus continues. So, that tells you how successful I was. So, who was right? Maybe the gas station owner is right and I'm wrong. תמים תהיה עם השם אלוקיך Tamim tihyeh im Hashem Elokecha, what are you doing? Maybe we shouldn't gamble, buy lottery tickets. Maybe you don't, you know, flip through the book or spin the thing or determine your destiny because of a lottery, because of a גורל goral. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it right? Is it wrong? Which is it? Because you see, Torah in פרשת אחרי מות Parshas Acharei Mos, כשעיר להשם ושעיר לעזאזל. How did the כהן kohen determine which goat was for God and which one was going to be pushed off a cliff? על פי הגורל Al pi ha'goral. It was done through a lottery. חלוקת ארץ ישראל Chalukas Eretz Yisrael, here our פסוק pasuk, על פי הגורל תחלק נחלתו. The land is divided how? Through a גורל goral. In the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash, how did the כהנים kohanim distribute the jobs each day? Who got to do what? על פי הגורל Al pi ha'goral. They stuck out the finger, they counted, they went around. So is it אסור asur or is it מותר mutar? Which is it? So the שדי חמד Sdei Chemed quotes that that which it says שאין שואלין בגורלות, הכוונה שאין שואלין על דבר שעדיין לא בא, שדווקא הדברים של הבא אין לבטוח בהם. ולפי דבריו, מה שנהגו לעשות גורלות לצורך קיום המצוה, שפיר דמי. We don't engage horoscopes and superstition to try to predict the future. That's when it's אסור asur. That's when it's אסור asur. But in order to decide what to do, then it's allowed. So which goat is for Hashem, which one? To randomly choose, it's all from Hashem, על פי הגורל al pi ha'goral. To distribute the land, על פי הגורל al pi ha'goral. To distribute the job of the כהנים kohanim, על פי הגורל al pi ha'goral. Because that's not trying to predict or anticipate a future, that is in the present. Then, only the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pelaos HaTorah would do, many, many pages, and long essay on examples of when we use a גורל goral. I'll just briefly, cause I still want to get through more, give you some of his examples. The מצוות יבום mitzvas yibum. If a man dies and he has no children, his brothers are obligated to marry the wife, levirate marriage, in order to continue the name. Let's say he has more than one surviving brother, which one does יבום yibum? So the חשק שלמה Cheishek Shlomo says it's on the האח הגדול ach hagadol, the oldest brother. But you have two twins. So the one who died had twin brothers. One is older, but let's say you don't know. The lecha gadol, אם שניהם רוצים ליבם, both of them want to do, who goes first? So, חשק שלמה Cheishek Shlomo says you do a גורל goral. You do a lottery to decide which one. The מגן אברהם Magen Avraham writes, quotes many פוסקים poskim, listen carefully, מגן אברהם סימן קל\"ב Magen Avraham Siman Kuf Lamed Beis. במקום שיש בעל יארצייט ואבלים, you have people in their year of mourning and somebody who has a יארצייט yahrzeit. And who gets קדיש Kaddish, who gets to lead the עמוד amud? Says the מגן אברהם Magen Avraham, eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Stick out your fingers, גורל goral, maybe the גבאים gabbaim in the handbook we need to put some גורל goral. So a גורל goral to determine, says the מגן אברהם Magen Avraham. The מנהג minhag in ורמייזא Vermaiza, when they, when the אתרוגים esrogim and לולבים lulavim arrived for סוכות Sukkot, who gets the best לולב lulav and אתרוג esrog? They did it through a גורל goral. Maftir, the מנחת אלעזר Minchas Elazar, the מונקאטשער Munkatcher. A בר מצוה bar mitzvah and a בעל יארצייט ba'al yahrzeit, who gets the מפטיר maftir? זאגט דער מונקאטשער Zogt der Munkatcher, נסתפקתי למעשה שנשאלתי כשארע בשבת אחד בבית מדרש, יש בעל יארצייט בבא ביום, ובר מצוה שנעשה בר מצוה גם כן ביום. ושניהם רוצים מפטיר. ודן שם באריכות מי קודם. So the מנחת אלעזר Minchas Elazar has a big discussion who goes first. הוריתי שהבעל יארצייט בבא ביום קודם, אך מפני דרכי שלום נעשה גורל. Really, the בעל יארצייט ba'al yahrzeit goes first, but they're gonna pelt him with their אתרוגים esrogim if they take away the בר מצוה bar mitzvah boy's. You know, today a בר מצוה bar mitzvah boy still gets the rest of the פרשה parsha, he leads מוסף Musaf, he has a logo designed and a new יאכנע yamaka he's wearing, he gets a trust fund with his Israel bonds, he has all technology gifts, he could live without the מפטיר maftir. But in those days, the מנחת אלעזר Minchas Elazar, the whole בר מצוה bar mitzvah was מפטיר maftir and a piece of קכל kechel. That was the whole בר מצוה bar mitzvah. So he says, true that the יארצייט yahrzeit comes first, but that's the kid's whole בר מצוה bar mitzvah. You're going to scar him for life. He's going to grow up and write a book. So therefore, what do you do? נעשה גורל Na'aseh goral. You make a גורל goral. You make a גורל goral. וכהנה וכהנה מצינו בדברי הפוסקים ראשונים ואחרונים, and he says we find many more in the פוסקים poskim where when there was a dilemma, what to do, the solution was a גורל goral. Like the פסוק pasuk in our פרשה parsha, על פי גורל al pi goral, על פי הגורל al pi ha'goral. So is the גורל goral telling you what the truth is? Is the גורל goral just telling you what to do? It's like flipping a coin because you don't know what to do, so it's a good solution. What is the role of a גורל goral? What if a גורל goral was done by accident? Is a גורל goral a sign from שמים Shamayim? He has a long, long essay over and over. Can you do a גורל goral on שבת ויום טוב Shabbos v'Yom Tov? Is it מותר mutar to do a גורל goral on שבת ויום טוב Shabbos v'Yom Tov? He goes on and on. Unbelievable. The הגורל הגר\"א HaGoral HaGra, maybe be familiar with the stories of the הגורל הגר\"א HaGoral HaGra. What's the difference between a פור pur and a גורל goral? The story of Purim, אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pelaos HaTorah goes on and on, but we have some more ideas to get to. Oh, yay, yay, געוואלד gevald. Okay, פרק כ\"ז פסוק י\"ב Perek Chaf Zayin Pasuk Yud Beis. Our parsha also contains the succession plan. We have צלפחד Tzlafchad, the story of בנות צלפחד Bnos Tzlafchad, where the daughters of צלפחד Tzlafchad come and say, not fair to us, my father, our father didn't have a son, we don't inherit, how does this work? Another one of the areas of הלכה halacha that Moshe forgot, he had to go back and review and consult with Hashem, and the הלכה halacha was taught. ויאמר משה, כן בנות צלפחד, and so on. פסוק ז Pasuk Zayin. ונתת את נחלת אביהן להן ואל בני ישראל תדבר לאמר, The successor, וידבר משה, ט\"ז, 888. יפקוד השם אלקי הרוחות לכל בשר איש על העדה. May Hashem, God of spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the assembly, אשר יצא לפניהם ואשר יבוא לפניהם ואשר יוציאם ואשר יביאם, ולא תהיה עדת השם כצאן אשר אין להם רועה. Hashem, it's time to appoint my successor. Because if I'm not making it into the land, this people can't, can't go forward without a leader. I think it was in Parsha class a few weeks ago we spoke about level five leadership, Jim Collins, Good to Great. So level five leadership is, it's more about the cause than it is about you. So Moshe Rabbeinu is concerned, a level five leader plans their succession. They plan who's going to take over. So that's what Moshe comes to Hashem and says, there needs to be a worthy successor. And what's the quality he's looking for? אלקי הרוחות. He calls Hashem, Hashem, who is, who knows the spirit of all flesh. Hashem who is אלקי הרוחות. זאגט רש\"י, למה נאמר? אמר לפניו ריבונו של עולם, גלוי וידוע לפניך דעתו של כל אחד ואחד, ואין דעתם דומים זה לזה, מנה עליהם מנהיג שיהא סובל כל אחד ואחד לפי דעתו. Why does he have to introduce his request from Hashem? Hashem, you know everyone. You know them better than anyone knows themselves. You know the inner kishkes of every person. Well, it's time for a successor. What does one thing have to do with the other? It's true Hashem knows everybody and it's true it's time for succession planning. What do the two have to do together? So Rashi says, you know what it has to do with? The successor has to be somebody who is willing to accept and recognize and have the incredible patience to know that everybody's different. Hashem, you created, you fashioned everyone and you know that דעתם של כל אחד ואחד אין דומים זה לזה. You know that everyone has a different personality and attributes and assets and liabilities, and you need a מנהיג, the critical criteria for a worthy leader is, סובל כל אחד ואחד לפי דעתו. The word סובל is the root of the word... What does this mean? סבלנות. סבלנות is patience. The root of the word patience is סובל. סובל is sufferance. A patient person is willing to suffer in order to be patient. When God says, Moshe says, Hashem's gonna take us out מתחת סבלות מצרים. The burden of Egypt, because patience is a burden. Patience is sufferance. You have to be willing to suffer. So why does he introduce אלקי הרוחות? The Rosh Yeshiva of Chevron, Rav Avraham Firshtein writes, מנהיג חייב לשנן לעצמו שהקדוש ברוך הוא אלקי הרוחות. הוא אשר ברא את הרוחות, הוא שם באדם תכונותיהם ואין תפקידו לעצב ולפסל רוחות, אלא להכיר ולדעת טבעו של כל רוח ורוח. It's an amazing insight. You know what makes a good מנהיג manhig? What makes a worthy leader is someone who is not trying to make everyone conform. A worthy leader is not trying to make everyone fit into a box. A worthy leader is not trying to make everyone a carbon copy of themselves. A worthy leader is able to validate and recognize and honor the differences in people. That just like Hashem is אלקי הרוחות, Hashem, you surely know the differences between people, you created them, so we need a leader who will be able to be סובל, who will celebrate and honor and promote and encourage and support the individuality and the uniqueness of each and every person, recognizes אין דומים זה לזה, that people are not entirely similar, everyone is not exactly the same. So what does he say? עלה אל ההר, Hashem is moved by this. פסוק pasuk, he says climb the mountain. I'm sorry, we went out of order a little bit. A few פסוקים pesukim earlier, why did Moshe say I need a successor? Because Hashem said, climb on the mountain. עלה אל הר העברים הזה וראה את הארץ, climb the mountain, look at the land, you're not going in. It's for another time. We've asked the question. Is Hashem cruel? He's torturing Moshe. You're not going in. Nah nah. Climb the mountain, give a kick, give a look. Beautiful? You really want to go? Well, you're not going. Why would Hashem do that? Just torturing Moshe. But Moshe responds, Moshe reacts by saying, it's time for a successor. And here, the Rav Soloveitchik writes the following: immediately after the narrative regarding the daughters of צלפחד Tzlafchad, Hashem commands Moshe, go up to the mountain and look at the land. And what you have seen, you too will be gathered to your people just as your brother Aaron. When Hashem refused Moshe's request that he be allowed to pass over the ירדן Yarden river to Israel, Moshe argued, at the very least, he should be buried there. Since he carried יוסף Yosef's casket in the desert for 40 long years to be buried in Israel, why should Hashem not give him the same privilege? Asks the רב Rav, Moshe schlepped the bones of יוסף Yosef for 40 years. That is the longest act of a pallbearer in history. 40-year pallbearing. 40 years. And all he asked was, fine, I can't go in alive. Can I at least be buried there? And Hashem says no. Why not? Why not? Hashem's answer was יוסף Yosef acknowledged his land and you did not acknowledge the land. See, in captivity, יוסף Yosef's identity was tied to the land of Israel. He says, בראשית פרק מ Bereishis Perek Mem, I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews. But when יתרו Yisro's daughters mistakenly identified משה Moshe as an Egyptian to their father, משה Moshe didn't correct them. He didn't say, no, no, no, no, I'm not an Egyptian, I'm really an Israeli, I'm Jewish, I'm a Hebrew. And as a result of this omission, he didn't merit to get buried in the land. What do you see from here? חברה Chevra, our identity has to be intertwined and connected to the land of Israel. Even if we have a legitimate reason, there are legitimate reasons not to yet make עלייה aliyah, there are no legitimate reasons not to be struggling with עלייה aliyah. עלייה Aliyah is not a question of if, but a question of when. There are legitimate reasons not to be living in Israel, there are no legitimate reasons not to be struggling with when we will live in Israel. And that identity, that connection, that pull to Israel has to be part of our core identity. There's no such thing as a Jew who lives in the diaspora in גלות galus who says, yeah, I'm good. My siblings live there, my family lives there, I'm happy for them there, but I'm happy here and this is where I am and this is where I'll be and I'm good. A Jew has to know I'm here temporarily. And if I have an excuse or a reason, then I have an excuse or a reason. But my core identity is intertwined, is tied to that land, that's part of who I am. This week on מאחורי הבימה Me'achorei HaBimah we have נתן שרנסקי Natan Sharansky, the great Russian refusenik who's a minister, a leader of Israel. And his story, if you don't know it, we'll talk about it tomorrow night. He was secular, he didn't have any, like the other Russians, Soviets, was denied being able to learn about his Jewish identity. But he felt connected. His first connection was after the Six-Day War, was to the Jewish people, was to the land of Israel. And how that led to his exploring his Jewish faith and the courage it took for who he was and who he is and the difference he's making. So ultimately, יתרו Yisro, Moshe rather, didn't correct יתרו Yisro's daughters when they said איש מצרי ish Mitzri. He's an Egyptian. He didn't say, whoa, whoa, whoa, just temporarily. As opposed to יוסף Yosef who all the time he was in Egypt said, but I really come from the land, I really come from there. You see how important it is our connection, particularly as we're going to be starting these three weeks. These three weeks are a time to review and renew our connection to the land. יפקוד השם, יפקוד השם. Okay, עוד וזה, פרק כ\"ז פסוק ט\"ז. So יפקוד השם, השם אלקי הרוחות, go and appoint a successor. Back to where we left off, I'm sorry we went backwards there for a moment. יפקוד השם אלקי הרוחות, go find somebody over them. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach says, לאמיתתם של דברים, הרבה יותר ממה שמשפיע הרב על ידי החכמה והדברים, what is it that Moshe looks for in qualifications? Find a rabbi who knows ש\"ס ופוסקים בעל פה Shas u'Poskim b'al peh? Find a rabbi with the longest, strongest אתרוג esrog? Find the rabbi with the best pedigree, that's יחוס yichus? What does משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu say? The rabbinic search committee, what are they looking for? איש על העדה אשר יצא לפניהם, אשר יבוא לפניהם, אשר יוציאם ואשר יביאם. That's what you're looking for. What are you looking for? אשר יצא לפניהם, אשר יבוא לפניהם. פרק כ\"ז פסוק י\"ז. Who will go out before them and come in before them, who will take them out and bring them in. That's what you're looking for. Says Rav Shlomo Zalman, you need somebody who is going to dedicate themselves, who's going to demonstrate that dedication. Because the השפעה hashpa'ah that this leader is going to give is not with his words, but rather with his actions. He will speak much more with his actions than with his words. הוא משפיע דווקא על ידי שהוא עצמו מקפיד שכל הליכותיו ומעשיו יהיו טובים, משוכללים ומדודים, ודיבורו כלפי אדם בנחת, והביטו על תפילתו, תורתו ודקדוקו במצוות. וזה עצמו חיבבם, והיו עיניהם רואות את מעשיו. So, you don't have to take a test on ש\"ס Shas. It's not a question of your יחוס yichus. It's not how long your אתרוג esrog. It's a person who goes out and comes in. Is there מסירות נפש mesiras nefesh for the people? Do you care about them? Do they love the people? Are they patient with the people? Do they demonstrate real, being a real עבד השם eved Hashem in their own מדות middos, in their own relationship בין אדם לחבירו bein adam l'chaveiro, בין אדם למקום bein adam l'Makom, and בין אדם לעצמו bein adam l'atzmo. Says Rav Shlomo Zalman, you see here the criteria of a leader is do they practice what they preach, because ultimately that leader is going to teach much more with their actions than they are with their words. Listen to this קוצקער Kutzker. The קוצקער Kutzker wants to know, מדוע לא ביקש אז זה ארתא ולא תכף כשנודע לו כי לא יכנוס לארץ ישראל Madua lo bikesh az zeh arta v’lo teikef k’shenoda lo ki lo yachnos l’Eretz Yisrael? Back in Parshas, when he hit the rock, Moshe Rabbeinu was told חוקת Chukas that he wasn't entering the land. So why didn't he immediately say, I'm not going in, I guess it's time for a successor. Why does he wait until now after the episode of בנות צלפחד Bnos Tzlaphchad? Why is it only now? Why is it only now?So the קוצקער Kutzker says, מקודם מעשה זמרי חשב כי בטח פנחס קדוש השם ימלא מקומו. אבל עתה אחרי שראה כי קנאתו לשם השם, אף שהיה הדבר גדול מאוד שלא נראו כיוצא לו קדושתו, השם יתברך אומר הנני נותן לו את בריתי שלום, וגם עצר מגיפה, אף על פי כן אמר משה רבינו, אין קנאי יכול להיות מנהיג ישראל. לזאת ביקש יפקוד השם Mikodem maaseh Zimri chashav ki betach Pinchas kadosh Hashem y'malei mekomo. Aval ata acharei shera'ah ki kinaso l'shem Hashem, af shehaya hadavar gadol meod shelo nir'u k'yotze lo kedushaso, Hashem yisborach omer hineni nosein lo es brisi shalom, v'gam atzar mageifa, af al pi chein omar Moshe Rabbeinu, ein kanai yachol liyos manhig Yisrael. L'zos bikesh yifkod Hashem. Because he didn't ask for a successor, he thought he had his man. Who was his man? No brainer. It was obvious. It was all Pinchas's. Pinchas was going to get the job. But now when he saw Pinchas act like a קנאי kanai, says the קוצקער Kutzker, says the קוצקער Kutzker, he saw Pinchas react as a קנאי kanai. Even though what Pinchas did was correct, and it had the endorsement of השם Hashem and he was rewarded, but still, a leader can't be a קנאי kanai. You need somebody on the side. Every rabbi needs their קנאי kanai in their pocket. But the קנאי kanai can't be the rabbi.So משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu when he realizes when Pinchas acts out of קנאות kanaus, he realizes, I'm glad I have a Pinchas, but he is not the successor. He is not going to be the next leader. It can't be Pinchas. Back to the drawing board. Time for a search committee. Who should it be? And of course they conclude it's none other than Yehoshua. Why they conclude Yehoshua? Bear with me one more moment. And I'll end with a קדושת לוי Kedushas Levi of רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשוב Reb Levi Yitzchak miBerditchev.ביקש מהקדוש ברוך הוא ימנה פרנס על הציבור מנהיג כזה שידע למחול על כבודם של בני ישראל תמיד. אלקי הרוחות לכל בשר איש על העדה Bikesh me'haKadosh Baruch Hu yimaneh parnas al hatzibur manhig kazeh sheyeida limchol al kvodam shel Bnei Yisrael tamid. Elokei haruchos l'chol basar ish al ha'eidah. Go back to that Rashi. Moshe says, השם Hashem you know that everybody's different. We need a leader who will be סובל sovel, who will be who will be, uh, patient and will suffer the difficult people.And the קדושת לוי Kedushas Levi of רבי לוי יצחק Reb Levi Yitzchak says on this, something a commentary, which is really autobiographical of who the ברדיטשובר Berditchever was. אף אם ימצא איש שאינם עובדים את השם יתברך כראוי Af im yimtza ish she'einam ovdim es Hashem yisborach k'raui, this leader is going to find the people behaving in a disappointing way, מכל מקום ילמד עליהם זכות שאינם דומים למלאכי השרת שיכולים לעבוד את השם יתברך תמיד כי הם בשר ודם וטרודים על מחיתם ועל כלכלה mikol makom yelamed aleihem zechus she'einam domim l'malachei hashareis sheyecholim la'avod es Hashem yisborach tamid ki hem basar v'dam v'trudim al michyasam v'al kalkala. This leader has to be able to be patient and understand they're human beings. They have faults, they have failures, they have shortcomings, they have misgivings. He has to love them not nonetheless, but love them for who they are, pimples, warts and all. And the leader has to be effective at being מלמד זכות melamed zechus. The leader has to be able to stand up and say, but look how beautiful, but look how wonderful. The leader has to be the most loyal defender of the people. ומחמת זה שהם עוסקים בתורה תמיד u'machmas zeh shehem oskim b'Torah tamid, he has to say, no, it's because they live in this world and they're tempted and driven by the temptations. ומפרש הדבר הזה למד מאברהם אבינו. על כן עשה אברהם אבינו סעודה למלאכים כשבאו אליו, שהוא איש חסד ומלמד זכות, היה רוצה להראות גדולת המלאכים. אתם אין לכם צריכים לאכול ולשתות ולשון. כאן בארץ יש לנו צורך לאכול ולשתות u'mefaresh hadavar hazeh lomed me'Avraham Avinu. Al kein asah Avraham Avinu seudah l'malachim k'sheba'u eilav, shehu ish chesed u'melamed zechus, hayah rotzeh l'haros gedulas hamalachim. Atem ein lachem tzrichim le'echol v'lishtos v'lishon. Kan ba'aretz yesh lanu tzorech le'echol v'lishtos. Says רבי יצחק Reb Levi Yitzchak, why does he give the angels to eat and drink? He knows they're angels, who don't eat and drink. What he was saying to them is, welcome angels, but let me tell you a little about our world. We have a little something called Cape Cod potato chips. We have a little something called Trader Joe corn chips. We got a little something called Fourth of July barbecues, with the bun, without the bun, whole wheat bun, non-whole wheat bun, what number hot dog. We got a little something called temptation in this world, מלאכים malachim. Welcome to our world and don't judge us from your perch, judge us from down here in our world where it's a battle and it's a struggle. Because the leader has to be able to advance these arguments. אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu did, משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu did, and his successor would need to. And there was nobody maybe more in all of Jewish history than רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשוב Reb Levi Yitzchak miBerditchev, the great defender of the Jewish people. So that's why Moshe says, אלקי הרוחות Elokei haruchos, God, you know their differences, and you know that you gave us a יצר הרע yetzer hara. And you know that you dropped us and deposited us in the world of temptation. You need a leader who's not going to expect and demand perfection from people. You need a leader who's not going to point with criticism. You need a leader who's not going to indict. You need a leader who's not going to knock them down. You need a leader who's going to lift them up, who's going to defend, who's going to fight for, who's going to support, who's going to be מלמד זכות melamed zechus. And in this insight of רבי יצחק Reb Levi Yitzchak was really giving a message about himself. Wish you give him a wonderful day. Tomorrow morning, 10 minutes of מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim, followed by Living with אמונה Emunah tomorrow night behind the בימה bimah with Natan Sharansky. Have a phenomenal day. Stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy.
