Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב boker tov, it should be a good morning. We should hear בשורות טובות besoros tovos, and אם ירצה השם im yirtzeh Hashem it should be a day that we hear good news for כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael in Israel and around the world. I want to thank our generous parsha series sponsors, Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father David Grossman. Our learning should continue to be לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מענדל le'iluy nishmas David ben Menachem Mendel. This morning's שיעור shiur is also sponsored by Dr. Golda Zadaski in honor of ר' יהודה לייב Reb Yehuda Leib and Doris Kurtzer, her dear uncle and aunt, amazing, wonderful people. They should have געזונט gezunt, they should be well, and have tremendous נחת nachas from their families. Immediately following the שיעור shiur as always, everyone's invited to remain, we'll complete all of ספר תהילים Sefer Tehillim in the merit of our precious soldiers, the hostages should be brought home, and we should win this war decisively. We should have peace in Israel and around the world. אלה המשפטים Eileh hamishpatim.Thank you for bearing with us, we took a two-week break, we were in Israel, but it's great to be back. And remember, anytime we take a break, there are old שיעורים shiurim you could listen to online, and there are incredible other מגידי שיעור maggidei shiur you should listen to, amazing people that you can learn from. Page 416 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash, ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם Ve'eileh hamishpatim asher tasim lifneihem. We're coming off the high of last week. What was the high of last week? פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro, קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah. We're climbing down, if not literally, figuratively from the mountain. We hit that high, revelation, the most seminal moment in all of history. Hashem spoke directly to us, He revealed Himself in an unprecedented and unparalleled fashion. It was an incredible high. And now where do we go next? We're coming off of that נעילה ne'ilah, we're coming off of that פארברענגען fabrengen, that טיש tish, that קומזיץ kumzits, we're coming off of that incredible moment of השגחה hashgacha. We're coming off of that amazing spiritual high. We're coming back from our year in Israel. And what's next? Civil law, tort law, criminal law, laws of slaves, laws of this. ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם Ve'eileh hamishpatim asher tasim lifneihem. כי תקנה עבד עברי שש שנים יעבוד Ki sikneh eved ivri shesh shanim yaavod. If you buy a Jewish slave, six years he works for you and so on and so forth. Says רש\"י Rashi: כל מקום שנאמר אלה, פוסל את הראשונים Kol makom she'ne'emar eileh, posel et harishonim. Whenever you see the word אלה eileh, these, it is coming to negate or to contradict what came earlier. ואלה Ve'eileh, but we have a ו' vav on the word אלה eileh, the ו' vav, מוסיף על הראשונים mosif al harishonim, it's a ו' החיבור vav hachibur, it's connecting, it is adding on to what came before. מה הראשונים מסיני, אף אלו מסיני Mah harishonim miSinai, af eilu miSinai. Just as the earlier ones came from Sinai, meaning, last week's פרשה יתרו parsha Yisro, which contained within it what? The עשרת הדברות Aseres Hadibros, the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue. אף אלו מסיני Af eilu miSinai. I just wanted to flex to use the word Decalogue to look smart. But it's עשרת הדברות Aseres Hadibros. I can't fool you anyway, you know by now. So, עשרת הדברות Aseres Hadibros, just like the עשרת הדברות Aseres Hadibros were divinely communicated, come directly from Hashem, אף אלו מסיני af eilu miSinai. All these laws too. When your ox gores another ox, when your car bumps into someone else's car, when someone owes you money, when someone asks for a loan, when someone's indigent and poor and needs and needs a handout. It's all from Sinai. Don't think that the עשרת הדברות Aseres Hadibros are distinguished and different, that was a חבורה chabura Friday morning at our ערב שבת כולל Erev Shabbos Kollel. Are the עשרת הדברות Aseres Hadibros, are the Ten Commandments different than the other 603? Or are they the same? In fact, we used to incorporate it into our דאווענען davening. The גמרא בברכות Gemara in Brachos tells us that not only did we say שמע Shema every day, among the sections we read from that come from the Torah, we would read the שמע Shema every day, and we'd also read the עשרת הדברות Aseres Hadibros. We would read the Ten Commandments. However, it was nullified מפני תרעומת המינים mipnei tarumos hamminim. The גמרא Gemara says, רש\"י Rashi explains, people concluded, I guess I just have to keep the big ten. I just have to not, have to believe in God, not worship idols, don't steal, don't murder, and I'm good to go. שעטנז Shatnez? קול אישה Kol isha? I don't know, what are people's hangups? Second day of יום טוב Yom Tov? Whatever the, what are the big hangups that people have? So that I don't have to, קטניות Kitnios? That I don't have to keep. That I don't have to keep. So, מה ראשונים מסיני, אף אלו מסיני Mah rishonim miSinai, af eilu miSinai. קטניות Kitnios is not מסיני miSinai, it's דרבנן deRabbanan. Second day of יום טוב Yom Tov is דרבנן deRabbanan. Save the email, I know, I got it. But my point is that what appeared in יתרו Yisro is from Sinai, הר סיני Har Sinai, and what continues today. ולמה נסמכה פרשת דינים לפרשת מזבח Ve'lomah nismecha parshas dinim le'parshas mizbeach? So why? How is this a way to come off that high? יתרו Yisro, revelation, inspiration. We're on a high, and then we get into the minutia and the details, and all of a sudden we become law students, going through the law books. Why לומר לך שתשים סנהדרין אצל המזבח והמקדש Lomar lecha she'tasim Sanhedrin eitzel hamizbeach ve'hamikdash. Where did the סנהדרין Sanhedrin sit? The high court, supreme court of the Jewish people. Where did they sit? They sat in the לשכת הגזית lishkas hagazis. They sat in the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash itself. So we had separate branches, so to say, but they overlapped, and why? Why did the סנהדרין Sanhedrin sit in the holiest place, the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash? Because from a Jewish perspective, law is not secular. It's not mundane. Law and justice and the pursuit of justice and the protection of justice are religious experiences. דיינים Dayanim have to sit בעטיפת הראש be'atifas harosh. A dayan has to wear a hat, wear an עטיפה atifa, wear a טלית tallis over their head. Why do we wear something on our head? To signify the seriousness, to feel the weight of Hashem's presence. סוד ה' ליראיו Sod Hashem lirei'av. Hashem actually sits with the דיינים dayanim and helps them adjudicate and come to the conclusion of law. For us, justice and the adjudication of justice and the development of legislation of justice, it's all a religious experience. So the סנהדרין Sanhedrin didn't sit somewhere in Yerushalayim, elsewhere. They sat in the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, the לשכת הגזית lishkas hagazis. סנהדרין Sanhedrin was אצל המזבח eitzel hamizbeach, אצל המקדש eitzel hamikdash, because it's all a religious experience. We're learning this now in Siddur Snippets, I love when it overlaps. We're up to the eleventh ברכה bracha, השיבה שופטינו כבראשונה Hashiva shofteinu ke'varishona. We're longing for the return and the restoration of justice. Every day when we daven, we say Hashem, evidence of the גלות galus we're living in, the exile we're suffering from, is how unjust this world is. The Hague, the international courts, the double standard against Israel, the targeting of the Jew, the injustice in the world against the Jew, is itself an expression and manifestation of this harsh and dark גלות galus. So we've begun in the Amidah with תקע בשופר גדול Tka b'shofar gadol, the tenth ברכה bracha, קיבוץ גלויות kibbutz galuyos, gather us together. And what happens after we're together? What do we long for? Return justice. Bring back our שופטים shoftim, our יועצים yo'atzim. Bring back some sense of righteousness, of right and wrong, of good and evil. A sense of justice, a sense of a sense of truth. Bring it back. Let people not be afraid, let people not have to wordsmith or be politically correct. Let them not just, what was it, the Emmys, the Oscars, what was the award the other night? The Grammys. I'm not trying to sound religious, I really don't know. The Grammys. It's not enough to say music. Some people singing music were killed. Call them, say their name, we're Jews, they were Israelis, they were victims, they were targeted. Could you imagine, I don't want to, I know it's the parsha class, I just have to get this off my chest. Could you imagine you would describe 9/11 as a financial club, there were a group of people who love finance, when a plane hit them and killed them. And finance money should bring something that brings us together, let us study and open markets and experience finance because, nebach, there are victims who died who love and were working with money. And you wouldn't say Americans were targeted on 9/11? I'm grateful that the Grammys mentioned the Nova festival. But before we have such a low opinion of ourselves and demand so little of ourselves, say Jews, say Israelis, say who was the perpetrator and who was the victim. Fight for righteousness and justice. Stand up to evil. אלה, ואלה המשפטים Eila, ve'eila hamishpatim that also comes from Sinai. That also comes from Sinai. So let's jump in. The first דבר תורה dvar Torah, להבות אש Lahavos Eish, רב ישראל מאיר דרוק Rav Yisrael Meir Druk, he was here last night. He spoke here at the שול shul. We'll send out the the video of his beautiful, beautiful insights. So in his new ספר להבות אש sefer Lahavos Eish, he says the following. הדינים Hadinim, I told him, I said almost every day I quote the Rav. So keep publishing ספרים sfarim so I can keep having things to say. He's written 55 ספרים sfarim. He's on his way. הדינים הראשונים שהתורה פותחת בהם Hadinim harishonim she'haTorah posachas bahem, after מתן תורה Matan Torah, the first laws that we encounter after the spiritual high of Har Sinai, הם דיני חושן משפט hem dinei choshen mishpat, in our parsha of ואלה משפטים Ve'eila mishpatim. These are the interpersonal laws of of justice. Criminal, tort, civil law. שזה מוכרח להיות הדבר הראשון שצריך ללמד את כלל ישראל She'zeh muchrach l'hiyos hadavar harishon she'tzarich l'lamed es Klal Yisrael. This is the first thing we teach, teach? You're coming back from the incredible Shabbaton, you're coming off the amazing the ne'ilah, you're coming off of the incredible farbrengen. And you say now sit down, I want to go through some laws. If in the parking lot your car hits another car, here's what you owe. That's what you're teaching? Teach me about davening, Yom Kippur, Shabbos, talk to me about my נשמה neshama. Talk to me about being an עבד השם eved Hashem, אמונה emunah, בטחון bitachon. Give me the mitzvos of דביקות dveikus. Why are we starting out with חושן משפט Choshen Mishpat? The reason is, says Rav Druk, מה טעם נקרא חושן דוקא מצוות אלו mah ta'am nikra choshen davka mitzvos eileh, that should be taught between בין אדם למקום bein adam l'makom, בין אדם לחברו bein adam l'chaveiro, we had so many, 613, to choose from, and this is where we begin? This is where we pick it up after Har Sinai? שעיקרם בא בשביל כלל וסדר של חברה מסוכנת She'eikarom ba bishvil klal v'seder shel chevra mesukenes. The answer is we're trying to build a society. And how do you build a just and proper society? By having rules and order and law. גם אצל אומות העולם שלא קיבלו תורה Gam eitzel umos haolam shelo kiblu Torah. Now the truth is you don't have to be Jewish and you don't have to have the תורה קדושה Torah Kedoshah. You don't have to have access to our תורת חיים Toras Chayim to know that you need laws. All civilized societies and countries have laws. Have laws. So what makes us special? כי השכל מחייבם ki hassechel mechayevam. So one would have, could have erroneously concluded, you know, don't steal, pay back somebody, lend money, take care of a poor person, secular, atheists, agnostics could come up with these rules. So maybe they're not from Sinai? דוקא את דיני המשפטים Dafka es dinei hamishpatim. And therefore specifically when we came back from Har Sinai, these are the first laws we're taught, to know that even though they're what we call מצוות שכליות mitzvos sichliyos, even though they are rational laws, one could have arrived at them on their own, that's not why we keep them. We keep them because they're דבר השם dvar Hashem. Hashem who created the world gave us the blueprint for creation, He gave us the instruction manual for life. And He said, here's what ownership is. Here's how money works. Here's how a society should run and should function. כי כך גזרה חכמתו יתברך ולא משום שזה מתאים עם השכל שלנו Ki kach gazra chachmaso yisbarach velo mishum shezeh matim im hasechel shelanu. Even though it makes sense, even though we like it, even though it protects a civil society, that's not why we keep it. Someone wakes you up in the middle of the night and says, why don't you steal? Why don't you rob other people? The answer is not, well society would fall apart, if I would rob, people would steal from me, there'd be no ownership, we couldn't function. The answer is because Hashem said not to. Because Hashem taught about ownership and property and rights, and he said not to. He said a moral good person doesn't. It's because of Hashem. And that's why ואלה המשפטים ve'eila hamishpatim, שהם דיני הממון והמשפטים השכליים she'hem dinei hamamon ve'hamishpatim hasichliyim, ללמדנו שאין אנו מקיימים אותם רק משום שאנו מבינים l'lamdeinu she'ein anu mekaymim osam rak mishum she'anu mevinim them. We don't do it because we understand it. Because what happens? If we begin to observe the things that we understand, that we appreciate, that make sense, and we do it because they make sense, what will happen? You'll say, but but shatnez doesn't make much sense. That doesn't do it for me. Wool and linen and getting my things tested and checked, that's not logical, that doesn't make sense. I'm gonna skip that one. I'll keep the society one, I'll keep the rational ones. So therefore a person needs to go and that's what we daven every day in Tehillim. We say every morning, מגיד דבריו ליעקב, חוקיו ומשפטיו לישראל Magid devarav l'Yaakov, chukav u'mishpatav l'Yisrael. לא עשה כן לכל גוי ומשפטים בל ידעום Lo asa chein l'chol goy u'mishpatim bal yeda'um. אין להם מושג בכלל תורה שלנו Ein lahem musag bechlal Torah shelanu, כי אנחנו מקיימים גם משפטים כמו חוקים ki anachnu mekaymim gam mishpatim kmo chukim. We keep mishpatim, it might as well be a chok. It happens to make sense, nice, enjoy, that's not why we keep it. We keep it as if it were a chok, because that's what the Amiras Torahs, we turn to the רחמסטריווקא Rachmastrivka. He says the following. He quotes the דגל מחנה אפרים Degel Machaneh Ephraim, the grandson of the הייליגע בעל שם heilige Baal Shem. ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם Ve'eila hamishpatim asher tasim lifneihem. The זהר Zohar says something interesting. Says the זהר Zohar, אילן אילין סדורין לגלגולא Ilan ilin sedurin le'gilgula. What does that mean? This has something to do with a גלגול gilgul. What's גלגול gilgul? Reincarnation. Do we believe in reincarnation? It's a big מחלוקת הראשונים machlokes harishonim. It goes back, Sadya Gaon, all the all the גדולי הראשונים gedolei harishonim, the great medieval commentators line up and debate, they don't necessarily fall out where you would anticipate they would, but there's a fascinating debate, do we believe in reincarnation or do we have one shot? We come one time. Are we reincarnated, our soul comes back over and over again till we figure it out, till we get it right, till we repair what we need to in order to be able to return to Hashem and attach ourselves back to Him, or do you get one shot? And the consequence, the result of how we used our one chance here leaves us for eternity with whatever choices that we made. It's a big מחלוקת machlokes. It's a complicated topic, complicated topic. Because if you do believe in reincarnation, and you could be reincarnated as another gender, another person, another object, another animal, in תחיית המתים techias hameisim, in the resurrection, who are you coming back as? Who are you married to? Who are you related with? There's a lot of questions that come out of it. However, there's a big stream that say there's such a thing as reincarnation. And in fact, we have a tradition, the זהר Zohar and others that talk about great figures and personalities in the Torah who were reincarnations of the soul of earlier people. משה Moshe was נח Noach. We have all kinds of reincarnations. פנחס Pinchas, we have all kinds of reincarnations. So the זהר Zohar here comments about reincarnation and you wonder, what are, we're in a court here. What are we, we're in court, there's judges, there's a dispute, it's a financial issue. What are we talking about reincarnation? And listen to what the רחמסטריווקא Rachmastrivka says. Whenever you have a דין תורה din Torah, whenever you have a conflict or dispute, each party, of course, thinks that they are correct. If they thought that they were wrong, then they wouldn't be in a דין תורה din Torah. They would just award the other person what they want, what they're asking for. Each party, of course, thinks they're right. So what happens when the beis din disagrees with you? You know you were right. I've been involved in several דיני תורה dinei Torah. The litigants rarely walk out and say, I thought I was right, but you know what? Now that you've ruled against me, I realize I was wrong. That rarely happens. Usually they want to back out, which is why they need to sign a שטר בירורים shtar beirurim, a binding arbitration before they began, so they can't back out, because they're so confident they're right, and they're confident the dayanim will see them as right. That if they see them as wrong, or even a פשרה pshara, even if there's a compromise, even if they have to compromise whatsoever, often people are very upset, it doesn't make sense. So says the רחמסטריווקא Rachmastrivka, that's what the זהר Zohar was getting at. אילן אילין סדורין לגלגולא Ilan ilin sedurin le'gilgula. A person's attitude should be that you know what? Maybe my understanding, my interpretation, my experience, I'm right. Maybe beis din ruled against me anyway, you know why? Because in a previous גלגול gilgul, I was obligated in this money. So now when they ruled against me, even though I know I'm right, I'm not gonna fight it. I won't be bitter about it. I won't not follow it. Because it must be that in a previous גלגול gilgul, I really was obligated in this money. It's a fascinating insight. You didn't anticipate, you didn't see that coming on אלה משפטים Eileh Mishpatim. Because I think that the message is powerful, not just when things don't go our way to start calculating maybe in a previous גלגול gilgul I was obligated, that's why this happened, that's why it worked out this way. But it means to say that in every conflict and every dispute, however things turn out, I put my faith and my emunah in Hashem. I fight for my rights. I represent myself, I advocate, I fight for my rights. But when all is said and done, whatever, whether it went my way or against me, I surrender, and I say, Hashem, you're in charge, you're in control. However it turned out is the way you meant it to be. And even if I think I'm injured, I'm harmed, I've been wronged, I don't owe that money, but for whatever reason you've determined, maybe I owe it for some other reason, maybe it's a כפרה kapparah, maybe it's a תיקון tikkun, maybe it's a גלגול gilgul. What the זהר Zohar, according to the רחמסטריווקא Rachmastrivka, what the זהר Zohar is telling us is a a method to how to maintain our tranquility and our serenity and our happiness. How many people walk around miserable and forbitzen and bitter, the world has mistreated them, and it's unjust, and it's ruled against them, and they don't, they're not understood, they're misunderstood. Instead of realizing, Hashem is righteous, all that He does is righteous. And even when something went wrong, I can fight, I can advocate, I can advance my interests. But when it's over, it's up to Hashem, it's the way he decides it. More of a Shemesh, the רחמסטריווקא Rachmastrivka quotes another interpretation on this opening pasuk. ואלה המשפטים Ve'eila hamishpatim, this vav. Why do we have this vav here? We said Rashi quotes, the vav is connecting it to last week's parsha. Just as last week's parsha we were on a spiritual high, this is how we connected to Hashem, you should know that when you learn choshen mishpat, that's also tapping into the dvar Hashem. That's Hashem's will in this world. Kabbalas HaTorah last week's parsha was a sound and light show, thunder and lightning was unreal, was unbelievable. I hope you all had that experience last Shabbos. That that's our tradition, that the krias me'orer es hazman. Whatever we're reading in the parsha, we're not reading about something thousands of years ago. Whatever we're reading is what's happening that week. So last week was Kabbalas HaTorah, we were back at the mountain. Last week was Kabbalas HaTorah. We were back seeing the sounds, we were back with the lightning, we were back, it was unbelievable. It was, I saw you all there, it was unbelievable. It was unbelievable. Kolos uvrakim. And that led, when you experience revelation, when you see the guiding hand of Hashem, you can't be in denial. You feel a sense of confidence, you feel a sense of of of happiness. And that led when you experience revelation, when you see the guiding hand of Hashem, you can't be in denial. You feel a sense of confidence, you feel a sense of of of happiness. ביראה וברטט ובזעה Be'yirah u'vereses u'vezeah. The Torah was given with a sense of awe, the awesomeness. We learn from there that every time we sit down and every time we learn Torah, we have to bring the same attitude. You know, you don't learn, I have a tradition from my Rebbeim, you don't sit in a recliner while you learn Torah. You don't lean back. I have Rebbeim who were makpid they wouldn't cross their legs while they're, you don't, you don't cross your legs. Crossing your legs is what you do when you're relaxing, when you're schmoozing, when you're letting go. You you don't sit, you you dress a certain way. You dress a certain way. I think Rav Chaim would make sure he's wearing his jacket for שנים מקרא ואחד תרגום shnayim mikra v'echad targum. You dress a certain way, ביראה וברטט ובזעה be'yirah u'vereses u'vezeah. There's an attitude, a seriousness that we bring to the learning of Torah, because every time we learn Torah, you know where we're transporting ourselves? We're back at Har Sinai. Hashem is still talking to us. קול גדול ולא יסף Kol gadol velo yasaf. He is proclaiming His great voice, ולא יסף velo yasaf, the Targum says לא פסק lo pasak, it never ended. We continue to pick up the signal of Hashem speaking to us, as has been said by many. When we daven, we're talking to Hashem. And when we learn Torah, we're listening to Hashem talk to us. Anyone who thinks we're not in a conversation with Hashem, there is a daily conversation. While we daven, we're telling Him what we think, what we have to say. And when we learn his Torah, we're listening to what He has to say. He's speaking to us. So if you have an audience with Hashem, if He's speaking to you, what are you gonna sit in a t-shirt and shorts? You gonna cross your legs? You're gonna be doing 17 other things at the same time? ביראה וברטט Be'yirah u'vereses. So when do we feel ביראה וברטט ובזעה be'yirah u'vereses u'vezeah? You open a מסילת ישרים Mesillas Yesharim, you open a שערי תשובה Shaarei Teshuvah, you open a ספר מוסר mussar sefer. Ooh, I'm back at Har Sinai, revelation. You open חובות הלבבות Chovos Halevavos, I'm learning about emunah and bitachon and dveikus. I'm getting close to Hashem, I feel I'm in his presence. I have to dress, look, speak, I have to have a certain posture. I'm with Hashem. But what happens? You open the Gemara, and the Gemara says שור שנגח את הפרה shor she'nagach es hapara. The Gemara says שנים אוחזין בטלית shnayim ochazin b'tallis. Where's Hashem's name even? It's not even mentioned on the page. Two people come in, they're both holding on to the garment, and each one says it belongs to me. They're both fighting over those Lulu Lemon pants. They're $400, so they're fighting over the Lulu Lemon pants. Fighting over the Lulu Lemon bag, it's $40. And each one says it's my, these are my pants. This is my bag, this is my sweater. This is my sweater. Each one says כולה שלי kula sheli, it all belongs to me. And that's you open the Gemara and you start learning that. So who does it belong to, who has the right, who has to bring the evidence, who has to bring the proof. Someone lent money, borrowed money, the car hit another car, the shor, the ox hit another shor. So does Hashem's name even appear? There's no Hashem on the page. So says the רחמסטריווקא Rachmastrivka Rebbe, he's quoting from the Rebbe of Lublin. A person has to before they sit and learn, ואלה המשפטים Ve'eila hamishpatim. I'm about to learn tort, criminal, civil law. I'm about to learn dry, boring minutia, detail. I'm about to learn topics that feel entirely removed from spirituality, from Hashem, it's my job to connect them. I have to bring Hashem onto every page of Gemara. So you should read שנים אוחזין בטלית shnayim ochazin b'tallis. Two people are holding on to the Lulu Lemon pants. זה אומר כולה שלי וזה אומר כולה שלי Ze omer kula sheli, v'ze omer kula sheli. This one says it all belongs to me, this one says it all belongs to me. We should read into the Mishna, והקדוש ברוך הוא אומר יחלוקו V'hakadosh baruch hu omer yachloku. Doesn't say Hashem's name, but we have to read it in. What does Hashem say? What's Hashem's vision? How does Hashem define ownership? How does Hashem define evidence and proof? We have to add Hashem to the page, add Hashem to the conversation. And that's what it means, ואלה ve'eila, ו' vav מוסיף על עניין הראשון mosif al inyan rishon. מה ראשונים מסיני אף אלו מסיני Mah rishonim miSinai, af eilu miSinai. It's an article in a journal of Jewish education, I think that's where it originally is, that tells a story that how could it be that kids sit in the classroom, in the שיעור shiur with the רבי rebbe, and they're learning Gemara, and they're learning shnayim ochazin b'tallis, or they're learning all about the laws, and then they go play on the playground, someone steals the ball from the other kid, someone's dishonest about the where they're out of bounds, did they foul, did they travel, what's happening? How could there be this disconnect? How could it be a disconnect between what we're learning? It can't remain academic. It can't just be scholarship. It can't just be interesting and remain in the classroom. What the ו' vav מוסיף על הראשונים vav mosif al rishonim means, according to the רחמסטריווקא Rachmastrivka, according to the Moreh V'Shemesh, and the Rebbe of Lublin, what the ו' vav מוסיף vav mosif means, the experience of Har Sinai has to be brought down into the אלה מציאות Eila M'tzius. Has to be brought down to someone lost an object, when do you announce it, when do you not announce it? Is it a סימן siman? Is it theirs? Do you have to return it? Can you keep it? Is finders keepers, losers weepers? What do we believe? What does Hashem say? What does Hashem want you to do? What does Hashem want you to do? You have to walk out of every experience, every חברותא chavrusa, and tragically, sadly, I would suggest, that this is missing in too many of our educational experiences, where we have conversations of רוחניות ruchnius, spirituality, אמונה emunah, בטחון bitachon, השם Hashem, סידור siddur. And then there's the learning, גמרא Gemara, הלכה halacha, which is dry and and distanced and removed from Hashem. We have to bring Hashem into our conversation. Every שיעור shiur every רבי rebbe gives, every חברותא chavrusa that everyone has should end and say, how does Hashem want me to see this thing differently? What does Hashem want me to do? הרב קוק Rav Kook had a tradition, I learned from רב משה וויינברגר Rav Moshe Weinberger, and he does, he has notebooks filled, that every time you learn, you turn what you learn into a תפילה tefillah. Hashem, the shor she'nagach es hapara, sometimes I'm an ox, I bump into people, I run over people, I damage them, let me take responsibility and ownership for how I damage, Hashem, let me see myself. אלה מציאות Eila m'tzius, what are the things that I found, what have I held on to and what did I let go? To turn every learning experience into a תפילה tefillah. And that's how you can connect the ו' vav מוסיף על הראשונים mosif al rishonim, ואלה המשפטים ve'eila hamishpatim, connect Yisro and Mishpatim by a ו' vav, by bringing Hashem into the conversation, into the conversation. If we want to ensure that our children don't graduate 12 years of Jewish education and not know if there's a Hashem, what He wants from them, is he in a relationship with them, is he coming with them wherever they're going next in their journey of life, then he's got to be in the curriculum. He has to be in the conversation, he has to be jumping off the page, he has to be on the playground, and he has to be when there's something missing from the locker, and he has to be when someone finds a lost object. That it's part of the ו' vav מוסיף על הראשונים vav mosif al rishonim, ואלה המשפטים ve'eila hamishpatim, that is all connecting back to Har Sinai, it's all part of that religious experience. Perek Chaf Aleph, Pasuk Gimmel. So we begin with the עבד עברי Eved Ivri. The עבד עברי Eved Ivri is the Jewish slave, who works, Jewish slave who stole, damaged, can't pay back, sells himself into slavery in order to earn the money to be able to pay back. However many years to earn the money he needs in order to compensate, is how long he has to work. And what happens, Torah tells us, if he works for six years, in the seventh year he goes free. בגפו יבוא בגפו יצא, אם בעל אשה הוא ויצאה אשתו עמו Be'ga'po yavo be'ga'po yetzei, im baal isha hu ve'yatz'a ishto imo. If he arrives by himself, he leaves by himself. If he's married, he comes in as a unit, ויצאה אשתו עמו ve'yatz'a ishto imo, his wife goes out with him. Says the Tiferes Shmuel, which is not yet out but, Baruch Hashem, they've started sending out the newsletter, I guess before it's being printed. So I'm able to share, Rebbe Shmuel Berenbaum, beautiful, says the Tiferes Shmuel, ויצאה אשתו עמו ve'yatz'a ishto imo, צריך עיון tzarich iyun, מה שייך לשון של יציאה ma shayeich leshon shel yetzia? What do you mean his wife goes out with him? Did she ever come in? She was never sold into slavery, she was never hired, she never was subjugated, she never had to work. It's another example by the way, we've read the parsha a million times, we read the word ויצאה ve'yatz'a, she goes out. Did it ever stop to ask, well when did she come in that she has to go out? What's going on? You know what the answer is? While her husband is in that rehab working for that master, how is she eating? Who's paying her rent? Where's her health insurance coming from? That same master. As an extension of him, and he's being provided for by that master, it means she too is being supported by the same employer. Even if she's not obligated, and even if she's not working, even if she wasn't sold into that slavery. And therefore, when that support stops, she too feels a sense of leaving, of exiting. Because until now she felt indebted to that master. So she too is going out from something. And what is she going out from? Feeling indebted to that master. Because for that period of life where her husband was in this rehab, she was provided for and therefore indebted to this master. And when a person can leave that sense of being indebted, ויצאה ve'yatz'a, they're going out from something. They're going out from something. למשל L'mashal, says the Tiferes Shmuel, Rebbe Shmuel Berenbaum, for example, באשמורת הבוקר ba shmuras haboker, what would happen? What happens? The master wakes her up at 3:00 AM and says to his slave's wife, I need you to drive me to the airport. My flight got cancelled, I got to make this flight, be here in 10 minutes, I need you to drive me to the airport. Does she have an ability to say, hang up the phone? No. She's indebted. He's taking care of the family while her husband's in rehab. She's not technically obligated, she's not enslaved, but she would have to go. Whereas a regular person would get that call, if they're a בעלת חסד baalas chesed maybe they do it, but they feel no debt, no obligation. But a person who is reliant on another is indebted to them. And you see from here, says Rebbe Shmuel Berenbaum, that's why righteous Roshei Yeshiva, ...were always very careful from whom they took a contribution. Because when someone is providing, supporting, contributing, taking care, you are by definition and automatically indebted. And you need a יציאה yetz'ia. If you want to not be indebted, you need the Torah to get you out of there. נזהרו מאוד שלא לקחת תמיכה מאנשים שאין רוח חכמים נוחה מהנו Nizharu me'od shelo lakachat t'micha me'anashim she'ein ruach chachamim nocha heimeinu. And they were therefore careful not to take a contribution, a gift. דרך העולם שמישהו אסור רוצה לתמוך בישיבה שלמד שם בצעירותו Derech ha'olam she'mishhu asur rotzeh litmoch b'yeshiva shelamad sham b'tza'iruto, people generally want to give the yeshiva they went to. But a person has to be careful to whom we are indebted because that debt will remain even if we aren't technically obligated, and that's what you learn from this word, ויצאה אשתו עמו Veyatza ishto imo, the wife goes out from that sense of feeling indebted.Turn the page. 4:18, פסוק ו' Pasuk vav. What happens? If אם יאמר העבד אהבתי את אדוני את אשתי ואת בני לא אצא חפשי im yomar ha'eved ahavti et adoni et ishti v'et banai lo eitzei chofshi. You know what? I like this rehab. I like this environment. I like this setting. ברוך אתה אדוני אלהינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam shehakol nihiyah bidvaro.So as you know, I like this master. I'm learning a lot. I'm being taught a lot. I'm growing a lot. I got the pillow. I got the good pillow. I got the mattress cover. It's unbelievable. I'm not going anywhere. So what happens? והגישו אדוניו אל האלהים והגישו אל הדלת או אל המזוזה ורצע אדוניו את אזנו במרצע ועבדו לעולם Vehigisho adonav el ha'elohim v'higisho el hadelet o el hamezuzah v'ratza adonav et ozno b'martzea va'avado l'olam. His master brings him to the court and brings him to the door or the doorpost and puts a hole in his ear, and he shall serve him forever, serves him forever. Says, מה ראה אוזן להירצע מכל שאר איברים שבגוף Mah ra'ah ozen l'heiratza mikol she'ar eivarim shebaguf? Rashi quotes חז''ל Chazal, why the ear? Pierce his nose, pierce his eyebrow, pierce his lip, pierce his belly button. Human beings have found countless places to get piercings. Why the ear? Why the ear? אמר רבי יוחנן בן זכאי, אוזן ששמעה על הר סיני לא תגנוב Amar Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, ozen shesham'a al Har Sinai lo tignov, because that ear that stood at הר סיני Har Sinai and heard, don't rob, don't steal, and stole. So now gets pierced. אם מכר את עצמו im mocher et atzmo, אוזן ששמעה על הר סיני כי לי בני ישראל עבדים Ozen shesham'a al Har Sinai ki li Bnei Yisrael avadim. And how would it how does he have the money to compensate? He sells himself into slavery. You sell yourself into slavery? Weren't you listening at הר סיני Har Sinai? עבדי הם ולא עבדים לעבדים Avadai hem v'lo avadim la'avadim. Hashem said you're only my slaves. Don't sell yourself to anyone else. צריך היאור, למה דוקא עבד עברי שכבר שמע וגם היה עובד אצל רבו שש שנים עדיין מוכה ברציעה Tzarich biur, lama davka eved Ivri shekvar shama v'gam hayah oved etzel rabo shesh shanim adayin muchah b'retziah? Because he was a... and what he heard, he was supposed to go free and he chose to stay. Why only here? This several questions everybody asks on this Rashi, on this חז''ל Chazal. You've heard it before, we've discussed it before. We'll come at it from a different angle. First of all, why now? When did the person steal and sell themself into slavery? At the very beginning. So why at the end of six years when he says I want to stay, why now do you pierce his ear? Should have pierced his ear when he first stole and had to sell himself into slavery for both reasons. He didn't listen and he stole and he sold himself into slavery instead of being exclusively a slave to Hashem. So why do you wait six years? Why is it only when he wants to stay? That's one famous question. The other famous question is, and why not when you speak לשון הרע lashon hara, let's go pierce your tongue? Let's go pierce your ear? If you're מחלל שבת mechalel Shabbos, let's pierce your ear. If you lend with ריבית ribis, let's pierce your ear. We're picking on שעטנז shaatnez today. If you wear wool and linen, let's pierce your ear. Why is it only this עבירה aveira you were supposed to go free, you chose to stay, you stole when you shouldn't have stole, so we pierce your ear? There are many עבירות aveiros in the Torah. So why don't we say every עבירה aveira you're over, every mistake you make, every sin you do, you should get pierced. ויותר צריך ביאור מה שכתב רש''י, אוזן זו ששמעה, לא תגנוב והלך וגנב V'yoter tzarich biur mah shekasav Rashi, ozen zo shesham'a, lo tignov v'halach v'ganav. אם כן למה לא נרצע מיד Im kein lama lo nirtza miyad? So why not immediately our two questions? Says, יש לומר, דביאור בדברי רבי יוחנן בן זכאי הוא, דמצד מה שגנב בלבד אינו נרצע Yesh lomar, d'biur b'divrei Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai hu, d'mitzads mah sheganav bilvad eino nirtza. Fact that he stole is not grounds, not reason to pierce the ear. דידך נמי שהוא שמע בהר סיני לא תגנוב, אבל נכשל בעבירה כי יצרו גבר עליו d'idach nami she'hu shama b'Har Sinai lo tignov, aval nichshal b'aveira ki yitzro gavar alav. He heard. And you know what happened when he heard God said don't steal? You know what he said to himself? Of course not. I would never steal. I would never steal. I'm a moral, honest person. It's not. I would never ever steal. But what happened? נכשל בעבירה כי יצרו גבר עליו מחמת חמדת הממון שלו nichshal b'aveira ki yitzro gavar alav machmas chemdas hamamon shelo. But what happened? What happened? Someone left their Lululemon pants. I'm picking on Lululemon today also. Someone left over a pencil, you needed a pencil and you didn't really have permission but you used the pencil. People bend the truth all the time and steal in ways, right? The lawyer rounded up the hour, billing their client, not entirely accurate. Had lunch with a friend, they said how's business? He said good. It became a business expense. That's also stealing. That's also stealing. The flower person, the person who did the flowers at the wedding said, don't forget to bring cash. You said why? Said because it'll be less a price because I don't have to pay tax. And you said perfect, a briefcase of brown paper bag of cash. That's also stealing, that's also לא תגנוב lo tignov. But the person who indulges that impulse, who gives in in that moment, why they give in? Because they were overwhelmed by that momentary lapse of judgment and sanity and honesty and integrity and truth and they indulge that urge for that moment because they could save consider that lunch a business expense. They saved whatever they saved. וכן בכל עבירה, יתכן ששמע איסור בהר סיני v'chein b'chol aveira, yitachen sheshama isur b'Har Sinai. And the same is true with every עבירה aveira. It's true we were at הר סיני Har Sinai and we heard it loud and clear and when we heard it we were committed fully to observe it. But then what happens? But it looks really good, it tastes really good, but the juicy לשון הרע lashon hara is such an incredible social commodity, I want to share it. We're overcome and overwhelmed by that impulse, by that instinct, by that יצר הרע yetzer hara that we have in that moment. אבל עכשיו שנמכר לעבדות בשביל גניבה זו aval achshav shenimkar l'avdus bishvil g'neiva zo, but now this slave at six years later, ורוצה להישאר ve'rotzeh l'hisha'er, and now he says to him, remember you heard at הר סיני Har Sinai don't steal and you promised yourself you would never steal. You're not one of those people that can never happen. And then it happened, you filled out the taxes, you weren't completely honest. And you know what? We understood because you're human. Hashem created you, created all of us with an animal impulse, an animal instinct, created all of us with this battle, this tension of the יצר הרע yetzer hara. It was okay. And you've been in this rehab. And now you've learned and now you remember, and now you've grown how you can regulate yourself, control yourself, be more disciplined and sovereign over you. We're going to have a good dinner tonight. Be sovereign over yourself. You've learned. You've learned. So tell me, you want to go? Nah, I want to stay. You want to stay? אהבתי את אדוני, הרי זה מוכיח שבכלל אין לו הבנה בחובתו להיות עבד השם למשמעתו Ahavti et adoni, harei zeh mochiach shebichlal ein lo havana b'chovato l'hiyos eved Hashem l'mishma'ato. When you say, no, I love this master better than the other master, who's the other master? Hashem. אהבתי את אדוני Ahavti et adoni, you only have one master. How can you say you love this master? You love money, you love power, you love fame, you love friends, you love influence. When there's only one master and that's Hashem. And it's okay to have momentary lapses of judgment with that. But when we institutionalize it, when we can leave and we choose to stay, when we adopt that master, that, that's, that's not forgivable. That's when you get the ear pierced. שבכלל אין לו הבנה shebichlal ein lo havana. ומגלה שמה שהלך וגנב, לא היה מחמת תאוות ממון בלבד U'megaleh she'mah she'halach v'ganav, lo hayah machmas ta'avas mamon bilvad. When you did that, it wasn't a momentary lapse of judgment. You didn't indulge an impulse. אלא אז נולד לו שם, הוא נישט דעהערט Ela az navlo sham, hu nisht ge'hert. You didn't have a, you didn't hear. It didn't penetrate. You didn't really believe. It didn't transform. It's not part of your core identity of what you believe. איסור לא תגנוב. ולפיכך ירצע Isur lo tignov. U'lefichach yiratze. וכן המוכר את עצמו לעבדות, יתכן שמוכר את עצמו רק מחמת חמדת ממון, כשהוא רוצה להישאר, גם הוכחה שלא שמע אזנו כי לי בני ישראל עבדים V'chein ha'mocher et atzmo l'avdus, yitachen she'mocher et atzmo rak machmas chemdas mamon, k'shehu rotzeh l'hisha'er, gam hochacha shelo sham'a ozno ki li Bnei Yisrael avadim. Why do we wait the six years? Because to err is human. Everybody's gonna make mistakes. It's built into the system. Hashem created us. He gets it, he understands it. And he created systems. תשובה Teshuvah, among the things that were created בין השמשות bein hashmashos, twilight before the creation of the world, the גמרא חז''ל Gemara, Chazal tell us, listed is תשובה teshuvah. Hashem says, I got you, you're going to make mistakes. Here's the way out. No problem. It's okay. created a whole system of forgiveness. But when you don't take advantage of the system to forgive, to repair, to improve, and you institutionalize the mistake, when you make the mistake part of your identity, that's now unforgivable. Now, you've transformed your identity. You're not an עבד eved to me, you're an עבד eved you love your אדון adon. You love this environment. You don't really believe לא תגנוב lo tignov. You've really, you've really stayed with it. You've really stayed with it. And that's the problem. כדי שיהיה לאדם כח לעמוד נגד יצרו הרע, צריך רוח של עוז וגבורה K'dei she'yihiyeh l'adam koach la'amod neged yitzro hara, tzarich ruach shel oz u'gvurah. In order to be able to fight the יצר הרע yetzer hara, we have to know שבחר בנו מכל העמים ונתן לנו את תורתו shebachar banu mikol ha'amim v'nasan lanu et Torato. We have to know we're בני מלכים bnei melachim, we're princes and we're princesses, we're royalty, we're the children of Hashem and we have the resilience and the resolve and the tenacity and the self-control. We have the ability to be our best selves. We have that ability, we have to believe it. And the moment we stop believing it, you know, there's a difference between the person who says, I don't believe in לשון הרע lashon hara, לשון הרע lashon hara is wrong, I'm against לשון הרע lashon hara, I'm learning about לשון הרע lashon hara, I'm working on לשון הרע lashon hara. I but you spoke לשון הרע lashon hara? Yeah, I'm human. I'm working on it. I made a mistake, I'm trying to improve. versus the person who wholesale rejects לשון הרע lashon hara. There's no such thing as לשון הרע lashon hara. When I was a kid, there was a person in שול shul who said to me, said Ephraim, I don't repeat לשון הרע lashon hara, so listen carefully the first time. If you just, if you just believe it, for me, לשון הרע lashon hara doesn't apply. I just reject לשון הרע lashon hara. I just reject צניעות tznius or קול אישה kol isha or מלאכות של שבת melachos shel Shabbos or or honesty in business or whatever area, I just reject the entire entity. Not I believe in it, not I'm working on it, not I'm trying to grow in it, but I'm human, but I reject it. That's the mistake of the עבד עברי eved ivri. So the עבד עברי eved ivri doesn't need the ear pierced, doesn't need that mark, that symbol, doesn't need to experience that piercing when they first make the mistake, because we all make mistakes. It's when the mistake becomes our lifestyle, when the mistake becomes our identity, when the mistake becomes institutionalized into who we are, that's when it becomes, that's when it becomes a problem.פרק כ''א פסוק י''ט. כ''א י''ט Perek kaf-alef, pasuk yud-tes. Kaf-alef, yud-tes. Turn the page again. We are flying. Page 420. We have murder and manslaughter, and now פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim, incredible list of laws. Murder, manslaughter, fight that that comes up between people. וכי יריבון אנשים... אם יקום והתהלך בחוץ על משענתו וניקה המכה רק שבתו יתן ורפא ירפא V'chi yerivun anashim... im yakum v'hithalech bachutz al mishanto v'nikah hamakeh rak shivto yiten v'rapo yerapei. What happens is a fight between two people, somebody's חובל chovel, somebody strikes another person and you have to pay the five דפים dafim we recently learned. You have to pay the five things. What are the five things? נזק, צער, ריפוי, שבת ובושת Nezek, tza'ar, ripui, sheves, v'boshes. You have to pay five things that you are the person that you damaged. So you punch somebody, you hit somebody, whether it was on purpose or by accident, אדם מועד לעולם adam mu'ad l'olam, then you owe them five things. And one of the five things you owe is ורפא ירפא v'rapo yerapei. What is ורפא ירפא v'rapo yerapei? To heal. You have to pay their medical bills. You have to pay they were off work. You have to pay their worker's comp, you have to pay their medical bills, you have to pay for the shame and embarrassment they experienced, you have to pay for the pain that they endured. You have to pay for the damage in their value and worth. You have to pay for five things. ורפא ירפא v'rapo yerapei חז''ל Chazal learned from here, מכאן שניתן רשות לרופא לרפא mikan shenitan reshus l'rofei l'rapo. From here we learned that a doctor is entitled to heal. Why would I have thought a doctor can't heal? Why would I thought a doctor can't heal? We're not going to get into this at length. We've discussed it previously in the past. The ראשונים Rishonim disagree. Some say Rashi, the רמב''ן Ramban. One opinion is maybe you think the doctor can't heal, why? What does the doctor do need to do in order to be able to heal? I have a daughter graduated nursing school, I have another daughter who is in high school who wants to be a surgeon. and I have a friend in the community who's a surgeon. This past Sunday, she's in a high school program, she was able to scrub in and observe the surgery. I don't know how many people want to be able to do that. I don't know how many teenagers would be so excited to text their parents, I touched a gallbladder. Mazel tov, shkoyach. Not inside the person, she wasn't allowed to. Once it was removed, wherever it was, שכוייח shkoyach, she can check that off her bucket list. Not on my bucket list. Not on my bucket list. So she stood in and observed the surgery. And what did she watch? What's the first thing the surgeon does once the person hopefully is asleep? Take a knife, and you cut them open. Are you entitled to cut somebody open? Can you walk up to someone at the פרשה שיעור parsha shiur? שלום עליכם Shalom aleichem, how are you? That's called stabbing. That's called חבלה chavalah. So the doctor is violating חבלה chavalah. The doctor is stabbing the patient in order to heal them. Who says you're allowed to stab someone in order to heal them? Who says you could crack and break open their ribs in order to be able to access their heart to do the surgery? Who says? Who says? מכאן שניתן רשות לרופא לרפא mikan shenitan reshus l'rofei l'rapos. That's why the Torah had to give a license to a doctor to violate חבלה chavalah. It's not חבלה chavalah if it's לרפא l'rapo, if it's the purpose of healing. The רמב''ן Ramban and others say no, you know what the problem is? I might have thought, you know what else the doctor's violating, not just a physical prohibition of חבלה chavalah, you can't injure or harm somebody else. We'll give a whole שיעור shiur about boxing. There's a very illustrious history of Jews and boxing. Prominent Jewish, Jewish boxers. Is that מותר mutar? Are Jews allowed to box? So if you're a good boxer, it's a problem because you're חובל באחרים chovel b'acheirim. If you're a bad boxer, it's also a problem because the רמב''ם Rambam holds, חובל בעצמו חייב chovel b'atzmo chayav, that if you allow someone to punch you in the face, it's also a problem. So we gave a whole שיעור shiur on boxing. Happened to be Pop Shugerman was here that שבת Shabbos, he gave the rebuttal. And in real time. But it's a fascinating topic. They're, believe it or not, there are תשובות teshuvos back in the early 20th century when Jews were boxers. There were הלכתית halachic responsa written about חבלה chavalah and boxing. Another area comes up is cosmetic surgery. Who says you're allowed to go under the knife because you don't like your nose, your cheekbones, your jaw line? You don't like your, I don't even know what else people have done. If I do, I'm not gonna say it now here. Who says you're allowed to go under the knife? חובל בעצמו Chovel b'atzmo. First of all, you're putting yourself in a risky, dangerous situation going under anesthesia. Every procedure, including elective, can go wrong. But it's also חובל chovel. You're going to make yourself bleed. You're going to give the doctor the right. Who says you're allowed? We've given a שיעור shiur on that too. It's a big question. And it is allowed, based on a תוספות Tosfos, that mental health has the הלכה halacha, mental pain, the pain of mental anguish is as real as physical pain. And if a person, Rabbi Moshe has a תשובה teshuvah to a young lady who felt that she was not successful in שידוכים shidduchim because of a certain part of her appearance that she wanted to improve. And Rabbi Moshe פסק'ענען paskens that it's not חובל בעצמו chovel b'atzmo if the mental anguish, which is as legitimate as physical pain, just like to relieve physical pain, you could be חובל בעצמו chovel b'atzmo, so too to relieve mental pain. How you define what's mental pain, somebody else in your family's mental pain, so you're going to go under the knife? How do you define pain? When is חבלה chavalah permissible? When is it not? All beyond the scope of our פרשה שיעור parsha shiur. However, ורפא ירפא v'rapo yerapei, the doctor's given license. The רמב''ן Ramban has another reason. You know why? Maybe the doctor will say, maybe the super from people in the community will attack the doctor in שול shul and say, how dare you heal that person? Why? What did they do wrong? Normally we elevate, we honor the doctor. We admire them for healing. What does a doctor do wrong when they heal? Hashem decided the person should be sick. Who are you to go against what Hashem wants? If Hashem decided the best thing for that person is to experience that illness, who are you to combat and compete with Hashem and reverse what Hashem decided? So the Torah has to say מכאן שניתן רשות לרופא לרפא mikan shenitan reshus l'rofei l'rapos. No, Hashem wants the doctor to heal. Why does Hashem make him sick if he wants to heal? For another time. But Hashem wants the doctor to heal. So the doctor is not a violation of חבלה chavalah if in the context of healing, the doctor is stabbing, that's not called stabbing. That's called surgery. That's called healing. It's called healing. And it's not against Hashem. מכאן שניתן רשות לרופא לרפא Mikan shenitan reshus l'rofei l'rapos. It's complicated. חז''ל Chazal tell us, טוב שברופאים לגיהנום Tov sheb'rofi'im l'gehinom. The best of doctors are going to Gehenom. We also shared a שיעור shiur on that. You can find all this online. Six or seven interpretations. Why is the best doctor going to Gehenom? Why? It's also for another time. But I want to share with you, the רב Rebbe of Lublin, a lot of doctors here. The רב Rebbe of Lublin, listen to this פשט pshat. I never saw this before, never heard this before. This is beautiful. מכאן שניתן רשות לרופא לרפא Mikan shenitan reshus l'rofei l'rapos. שבא ללמדנו, דרק על דבר זה לחוד ניתן רשות לרופא, שיוכל לרפא את החולה, אבל לבוא ליאש את החולה ולומר לו שאין תרופה למחלתו Sheba l'lamdeinu, d'rak al davar zeh l'chud nitan reshus l'rofei, she'yuchal l'rapos es ha'choleh. Aval lavo l'ya'esh es ha'choleh v'lomar lo she'ein t'rufah l'machalaso. A doctor with no bedside manner, a doctor who says, you have no hope, you're unlikely to recover, nothing anyone could do for you, your chances are slim. הנה על זה לא ניתן לו רשות Hinei al zeh lo nitan lo reshus. That he was not given permission. That he doesn't have license for. ואין לרופא סמכות לומר דברים כאלו, אלא רק לרפא V'ein l'rofei samchus lomar dvarim ke'eilu, ela rak l'rapo. Now, to be clear, the doctor should not mislead. We're not suggesting that the Torah says doctors have to lie, mislead, and hold out hope when there is little. A doctor could be honest, על פי דרך הטבע al pi derech hateva, according to the natural way of things, we've exhausted all of the therapies. A doctor can be honest and transparent and should be, ethically, morally, according to the Torah as well. But whether the doctor's positive or negative, the doctor has to bring hope and אמונה emunah and בטחון bitachon into what they do. So מכאן שניתן רשות לרופא mikan shenitan reshus l'rofei, a doctor is given a license, but on the doctor's license, he's even only given license לרפא l'rapos, to interact with the patient in a way that will bring healing, not bring sadness, not bring sadness. We, there's a great doctor, scholar, was a משפחה mishpacha of my שווער shver, Dr. Jerome Groopman. He's written many New York Times best-selling books. He's a Harvard professor, used to be illustrious to say that, now I realize I can't say that in front of the ארון קודש aron kodesh. He's a professor somewhere where no one should ever send their children or send any money. He's a professor, he's a doctor in their hospital, and he's written many New York Times best-selling books about how doctors think. And he's a wonderful gem of a person as well. And he tells a story in one of his books about one of his patients who he went and he describes how he was honest to her, how they'd exhausted all the therapies, they've tried everything, and there was nothing more to try. And he said, I have no more medicine that I can give. And she corrected him and she said, you have one more medicine you're giving it to me now, which is your love and your support and your companionship, which is the type of doctor he is. And, and she described that that too is medicine. That that too is healing. And that's exactly this רחמנא שפירא Rachmastrivka, this רבי מלובלין Rebbe m'Lublin. מכאן שניתן רשות לרופא, רק לרפא Mikan shenitan reshus l'rofei, rak l'rapos. The bedside manner has to be such that even if you've run out of therapies and medicine, but your presence, your love, your support, your honesty, your encouragement, your companionship is לרפא l'rapos. You're only trying to heal because we know the opposite's true. The research shows that when the person becomes hopeless, when the patient becomes hopeless and helpless, they begin to spiral downward faster. That the attitude and mentality of the patient, the bedside manner, the environment of the doctor, of the hospital, of the system, the advocacy of having somebody there with you, it all has an impact. It's beautiful. I never saw this before. So מכאן שניתן רשות לרופא mikan shenitan reshus l'rofei, but only לרפא l'rapos. You're going to be some miserable doctor, you're going to have no bedside manner, you're not going to give the patient the time that they deserve. You're going to bring your negativity to their bedside. You're not entitled, you don't have license for that. Your license doesn't allow you to do that. Your attitude, your energy of a doctor, the energy of the doctor has to be only לרפא l'rapos, only to heal and nothing else else, nothing short of that. פרק כ''ב פסוק כ''א Perek kaf-beis, pasuk kaf-alef. We are up against the clock. כל אלמנה ויתום לא תענון Kol almanah v'yasom lo s'anun. Every widow and orphan, you should not aggrieve. And Rashi tells us who are דין לכל אדם din l'chol adam, that's true for everybody. You're not, we're not entitled to be mean and callous, unkind to everyone except the widow and orphan, they're the exception. They have to be nice to them. Everybody else you could be mean and a jerk to. אלא שדיבר הכתוב בהווה ela she'diber hakasuv b'hoveh, but the Torah is telling us in the present tense, לפי שהם תשושי כח, דעתו של אדם מצויה לענותם l'fi she'hem t'shushei koach, da'ato shel adam metzuya l'anosam. You know why? You have to be nice to everybody, but you have to be particularly nice to those who are vulnerable and those who are fragile. Rashi uses the language, תשושי כח t'shushei koach. Those who are running on fumes. Those who have so little energy. Those who are so emotionally, spiritually, mentally, physically exhausted. And says the תפארת שמואל Tiferes Shmuel from here, מכאן חומר איסור להונות את האדם הנמצא במצב קשה mikan chomer isur l'honos es ha'adam ha'nimtza b'matzav kasheh. You see here how kind and sensitive you have to be supportive of those who are תשושי כח t'shushei koach, שצערם מרובה משל שאר אדם she'tza'aram merubeh mishel she'ar adam. There's the normal everyday things of life. I have this ache, I have this pain, just growing older. I have this frustration, I have this disappointment. Those are the ordinary, regular parts of life. But then you have the people who are the כל אלמנה ויתום kol almanah v'yasom. What's an אלמנה almanah? The חזקוני Chizkuni writes, אלמנה almanah is על מנה al manah, missing a portion. אלמנה Almanah is על מנה al manah, missing a portion. So it doesn't just mean the widow who's missing. Everyone else comes to a שבת Shabbos meal with their spouse. Everyone up shows up at the שול shul program, the שול shul dinner with a spouse. Everybody else has knows who they're going to sit with, what their vacation's going to be, who they're going to go home and speak the לשון הרע lashon hara that they're not supposed to share with about everything that happened that night. The אלמנה almanah is על מנה al manah. They're missing something. They're missing something. Which רב rebbe was it? An incredible רב rebbe who went to his חסיד's chasid's חתונה chasunah and went to the wedding. And three in the morning says to the גבאי gabbai, we have to go to his house. גבאי Gabbai thinks what in the world, why? Takes him to his house, the רב rebbe goes in for a few minutes, comes out, brings him home. The גבאי gabbai can't help it. Which רב rebbe was it? ויז'ניץ רב Vizhnitzer Rebbe? Couldn't help it. He says רב Rebbe, it's three in the morning. We had to go to his, you went to the, you went to the wedding already. You have to go to his house now? And the רב Rebbe said to him, listen to this lesson. The רב Rebbe said to him, he said this חסיד chasid lost his wife. He said, do you know everyone goes home when they make a שמחה simcha and they go talk to their spouse? What'd you think of the band? What'd you think of the caterer? Who'd you see? Did you see who showed up? Can you believe you saw the place cards of who said they're coming and they never showed up? Wasn't the dancing amazing? The photographer? How did I look in the gown? How did this work out? How did this look out? He came home from this wedding and he has no one to talk to. He has no one to share this with. So I went in order to have that conversation, what'd you think, what'd you see? Wasn't this amazing? When they sang that song, the place lit up, it was on fire. You see the sensitivity for an אלמנה almanah, the על מנה al manah, someone who's missing a portion, who's missing a portion, that connection. ולזה הזהירה התורה במיוחד על אלמנה ויתום V'l'zeh hizhira haTorah b'miyuchad al almanah v'yasom. And that's what the Torah is cautioning us and telling us that a person has to bring that attitude, that sensitivity. ויש להוסיף, דכיוון שמידת טובה מרובה, מי שמחזק את אומללים ומרומם אותם, שכרו בוודאי כפל כפליים V'yesh l'hosif, d'keivan she'midas tovah merubah, mi she'mechazek es ha'umlalim u'meromem osam, scharo b'vadai kefel kiflayim. So when you're kind and nice to somebody who generally is well and is just going through their everyday life, that's nice. But when you find the vulnerable, the fragile, the people who are תשושי כח t'shushei koach, they're running on fumes. They're barely holding on. Single moms, single dads, divorced, widows, widowers, orphans, people struggling to put food on their table. Or how about this? Every single person in Israel right now, who doesn't have the serenity, the peace of mind, who don't have their family intact and at home, maybe someone's off fighting on the front line, a spouse, a child, a sibling, who just work is different, life is different, school is different, safety and security are different. There's nobody who's not touched. And I think part of our responsibility of diaspora jury is to treat our brothers and sisters in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael not with pity and sympathy, with honor and affection, but as the אלמנה almanah, they're missing something. And again, not necessarily the place of time, but I'll tell you, the people I saw post online, their ישיבה yeshiva week, their vacations, where they went, how amazing it was, just with callousness to who's watching and who sees and what they're going through. We just have to do everything we do, everything we do, לא תענון lo s'anun, to be callous and unkind and cruel, to be, to be tone deaf to, to how we appear, what we say, what we complain about, how we're speaking when we check in, do we love? It's a word of caution to all of us right now and how we're seeing that entire country of our brothers and sisters over there and what they're going through. We should be very careful, careful with. Okay, one, time for one more. Let's go to the end of the פרשה parsha. We're skipping נעשה ונשמע Na'aseh v'nishmah. How could a Jew skip נעשה ונשמע Na'aseh v'nishmah? Oh, I had a מגיד יוסף Maggid Yosef, I had a רב קוק Rav Kook, I had a רב חרל''פ Rav Charlap, I had such good stuff. But you'll have to come back next year, פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim. we'll be in ירושלים Yerushalayim, learning it together. פרק כ''ד פסוק י''א Perek kaf-daled, pasuk yud-alef. Chapter 24, פסוק י''א Pasuk yud-alef. Here, the Torah's telling us the story of הר סיני Har Sinai. Right, יסרא Yisro was הר סיני Har Sinai, משפטים Mishpatim, ואלה v'eileh, we went through all these detailed, miniscule laws. And now the פרשה parsha ends with again, the story of, and is it chronological, is it in order, out of order? All a big complicated discussion. But here we have Moshe going up on the mountain, the people saying נעשה ונשמע Na'aseh v'nishmah, putting נעשה na'aseh before נשמע nishmah, the prophecy at the mountain. And then we have the Torah telling us, ויראו את אלהי ישראל Vayiru es Elohei Yisrael, that what happens, משה, אהרן, נדב ואביהוא Moshe, Aharon, Nadav v'Avihu, the 70 elders of the Jewish people ascended. They saw Hashem, under his feet was the likeness of a sapphire brickwork and it was like the essence of the heaven and purity. And ואל אצילי בני ישראל V'el atzilei Bnei Yisrael, the great men of the children of Israel, לא שלח ידו lo shalach yado, Hashem did not stretch out his hand. ויחזו את האלהים Vayichezu es ha'Elohim. These great men, who are these great men? משה, אהרן, נדב ואביהוא, זקני ישראל Moshe, Aharon, Nadav v'Avihu, ziknei Yisrael, these great men, ויחזו vayichezu, they took in, they perceived, they saw, they experienced אלהים Elohim, God, and what did they do? Let's eat. ויאכלו וישתו Vayochlu vayishtu. They ate and they drank. Let's פרעס fress. Let's ask. Let's eat. Let's eat. Our פרשה parsha concludes with this wondrous event involving Hashem entering into this covenant. And following this ברית bris, this ceremony, Moshe's command to take אהרן, נדב ואביהוא Aharon, Nadav v'Avihu and the זקני ישראל ziknei Yisrael and they have an amazing vision, ויחזו vayichezu. Wow. Felt the presence of the divine, tapped into their צלם אלהים tzelem Elokim, their חלק אלוה ממעל ממש chelek Eloka mima'al mamash. And what did they do? They ate and they drank. That's how you feel? should be the opposite. One of my daughters knows I love to tell this story. When she was in high school, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, she was and is and will always be amazing. But you know when your kids in high school, there's not צער גידול בנים tzaar gidul banim. You're unsure. But one year after an עילא ne'ilah, we have an עילא ne'ilah here. If you've never experienced our עילא ne'ilah, our עילא ne'ilah. We were walking home from שול shul after עילא ne'ilah and she said to me, she said, אבא Abba, that עילא ne'ilah was so unbelievable. I feel like I don't even need to eat. I could fast another day. I just wanted it to keep going. I wanted to keep singing. I keep wanting to go. It was unbelievable. That's the moment she said, she knows I say, I knew everything was going to be just fine. It always was and it always is and it always will be. But the so so the feeling that you should have ויחזו את האלהים vayichezu es ha'Elokim, you make contact with the divine, you should say, food, who needs food? I never need to eat again. I have spiritual Ozempic. I never need to eat again. What do I need it for? Instead, what do they do? ויחזו את האלהים vayichezu es ha'Elokim. They see Hashem. Ooh, I'm hungry. All of a sudden, I got an appetite. It's the opposite of the way it should be. Says the מדרש אמר רבי תנחומא, מלמד שפירשו ראשיהם וגיסו ליבם וזנו עיניהם מן השכינה Medrash, amar Rabbi Tanchuma, melamed she'pirsu rosheihem v'gisu libam v'zanu eineihem min haShechinah. The text teaches they uncovered their heads. They began became presumptuous and they fed their eyes on the שכינה Shechinah. אונקלוס Onkelos disagrees. He touches the פסוק pasuk that it's only metaphorical. Look at אונקלוס Onkelos, he says כאילו אכלן ושתו k'ilu achlun v'shasun. They envisioned Hashem and they ate and drank means just like food nourishes the body, they drank in the image of Hashem. אכלו וישתו achlu v'yishtu doesn't mean they ate and drank, it means drink it in. Take in that עילא ne'ilah. Eat up that עילא ne'ilah. Eat up this moment. We even use that in the vernacular. Eat up this moment. Drink in this image. Not that they ate and they drank literally, says אונקלוס Onkelos, it's a metaphor. It means it allegorically. Unlike the מדרש Midrash, which is critical, that אכלו וישתו achlu v'yishtu was a mistake. They should have held onto that spiritual eye, don't go פרעס fress. And unlike אונקלוס Onkelos, the רמב''ן Ramban understands the פסוק pasuk at face value, and he sees a religious value to what happened here. וטעם וישתו, שעשו שמחה ויום טוב, כי כן חובה לשמוח בקבלת התורה V'taam v'yishtu, she'asu simcha v'yom tov, ki kein chova lismo'ach b'kabbalas haTorah. They ate and drank, says the רמב''ן Ramban, because they experienced קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah. And when you experience קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah, you have to capture it. You have to manifest it. You have to express it. You have to experience it by rejoicing. The תולדות יעקב יוסף Toldos Yaakov Yosef, a student of the בעל שם Baal Shem says, and this is the חסידישע chasidisha approach, you'll understand, that sometimes a person has to bribe the body so it won't disturb the spirit. Sometimes you have to bribe and distract the גוף guf so that the נשמה neshama can fly. For the נשמה neshama to thrive. So they ate and drank to satisfy and satiate the body so that they wouldn't get, you know what we call it today? They wouldn't get hangry. You know what hangry is? You know those people, maybe you're one of those people? You ever somebody's really agitated and they're on edge and they're difficult and you realize, are you are you hungry? Do you need to eat something? Hangry. So says the the בעל שם Baal Shem, in that moment they wanted to hold on to that spiritual high, so they bribed the body. Eat something, drink something, don't get hangry, because we want to stay where we are.But there's one more insight I'll end with, I'll share with you today. And it comes both from Rav Soloveitchik, זצ''ל zatzal, in his חומש Chumash, and יבדל לחיים טובים וארוכים yibadel l'chaim tovim v'aruchim from the Gerer ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva from ר' שאול אלתר R' Shaul Alter. They both say the same idea. Moshe, Aaron, the elders had a moment of tremendous revelation and they ate and drank. Not metaphorically, allegorically, not in error, and not as a concession to an appetite or to avoid getting hangry. You know why they ate and drank in that moment? For a very deep reason, a very profound reason, a very lofty reason, a very high reason. The בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim notices that the word ויחזו vayachezu, they saw or gazed at Hashem, appears elsewhere. In איכה Eicha, ירמיהו הנביא Yirmiyahu Hanavi warns, נביאיך חזו לך שוא ותפל ולא גלו על עונך להשיב שבותך ויחזו לך משאות שוא ומדוחים Neviayich chazu lach shav v'safel v'lo gilu al avonech l'hashiv shvusech vayachazu lach mas'os shav u'maduchim. Your prophets envisioned for you vanity and foolishness. They envisioned for you oracles of vanity and deception. The same word ויחזו vayachezu is used, they envisioned. Why that same word? Here ויחזו vayachezu, and there they envisioned a very different vision.Sometimes a person feels inspired and spiritually awakened and aroused and uplifted, something significant has happened. And how can you tell if it's a moment of ויחזו את האלקים vayachezu es ha'Elokim? It's real, it's authentic, it's genuine. How can you tell if what experienced was really הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu? This was a really holy, high moment, or maybe it was short-lived, maybe it was fleeting. Maybe it was a feel-good moment but it wasn't going to last. Maybe it was ויחזו לך משאות שוא ומדוחים vayachazu lach mas'os shav u'maduchim. The answer is, you know how you know? Was it genuine and authentic, or was it counterfeit and fleeting? You know how you know? When it's over, are you changed? Are you different? Do you go back to being the person that you were? They experienced the presence of Hashem and ate and drank to see if the eating and drinking would be different. Would it be a different eating and drinking? Would they feel Hashem in the ברכה bracha, in the food, in the experience? It's easy to be on a high after a נעילה neilah, after a טיש tish, after a התוועדות farbrengen, after הר סיני Har Sinai. But does it carry over into the מידות middos, into the כוונה kavanah in דאווענען davening, into learning, into being a better person? If it doesn't come with a change, then it wasn't real, and it wasn't lasting, and it wasn't something which is true.And I close with this because I think this is also something that should be on our minds right now. We're still in a תקופה tekufah, this עת צרה ליעקב eis tzarah l'Yaakov. There's something big, there's something real that's happening in the world. And many of us, you see it in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, this spiritual awakening, this spiritual arousal. I posted a video when I was in Israel last week. I was in a mall and there was a worker at a restaurant, and he was covered in tattoos and piercings, like an עבד עברי eved ivri many times over. No יארמלקע yarmulke, and ציצית tzitzis out, flowing. My wife's the first one who noticed. I had a little חוצפה chutzpah, I went over. Basically, אחי, מה פשט? Achi, ma pshat? I love your ציצית tzitzis. I don't care that you're not wearing a יארמלקע yarmulke, I love that you're wearing ציצית tzitzis. What's the story? Then I put it on video. I said this is so great. I have to tell the world. He said he's always wanted to wear ציצית tzitzis. ציצית Tzitzis is a מצוה mitzvah that speaks to him. But he felt ridiculous. He doesn't wear a כיפה kippah. So what is it? A guy who doesn't wear a כיפה kippah is going to wear ציצית tzitzis? He said כיפה kippah is a מנהג minhag. ציצית Tzitzis is a מצוה mitzvah. כיפה Kippah didn't speak to him, he didn't feel he wanted to, wasn't on the level to, so he didn't wear the ציצית tzitzis because he didn't wear a כיפה kippah. October 7th, he lost several friends in the Nova festival. And he decided to himself, I no longer care what other people think. I want to do the מצוה mitzvah, I want to connect to Hashem, I want to wear these strings, this reminder. I'm putting on ציצית tzitzis. And he hasn't missed a day since October 7th. So he's wearing the ציצית tzitzis because he doesn't care. And then he turns to the camera and he says, don't care what other people think. Also when it comes to מצוות mitzvos. Don't worry how you look, what they'll think, but you do this, but you don't do that. You have a מצוה mitzvah, you're inspired to do it, jump on it and do it. Something transformed you, impacted you, a tragedy you went through, a loss you experienced, jump on it and do it. The biggest thing is he gave me a hug and the people we were with, and he said that he got funny looks from people. The manager of his restaurant told him tuck in your ציצית tzitzis, you look ridiculous. And he was so appreciative that a fellow Jew with a יארמלקע yarmulke and ציצית tzitzis came over and just said, I love you. You're a brother, I love that you're wearing ציצית tzitzis. And he said that's what we need more of, the אהבת ישראל ahavas yisrael without judgment. See what people are wearing, don't see what's missing. See what they have. Don't see what you don't have in common, see what you have in common. That's how we're going to get to גאולה geulah.But he is not the exception. There's a spiritual awakening happening all over Israel. There's no secular Israeli right now. And for us too, there should be an awakening, a spiritual arousal, should be a transformation, a change. And the question of whether this period of time that hopefully ends today, משיח Moshiach should come, should end today with a sweeping victory, everyone should be home. Hopefully it ends today. We will look, we'll look back at it to know whether this was real and genuine and authentic or counterfeit and fleeting, will it leave a permanent change? Will we change? Will we sit to eat and drink in a different way than we did before? Or are we the same us? Our eating and our drinking, our ברכות brachos and our בענטשן bentching, our מידות middos and our אהבת ישראל ahavas yisrael, are we the same? בעזרת השם B'ezras Hashem we should be changed, and we should be able to experience the גאולה שלימה geulah shleimah.
