Transcript
Okay, welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. Thank you so much for your flexibility on our summer schedule. I'm sorry. Trying to keep everyone on their toes, no two weeks are the same. I'm so honored that there are people here and who've come to learn together, prepare the parsha and find perspectives for today. So thank you, thank you for your flexibility. Parsha series is generously sponsored by Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father David Grossman. Our learning should be לעילוי נשמת le'ilui nishmas דוד בן מנחם David ben Menachem. And of course, our learning continues to be in honor of our precious and holy soldiers, in the merit of the return of our hostages, in gratitude to Hashem for our victory over Iran, and the heartfelt תפילה tefillah for a victory over all of our enemies. We are in פרשת חקת Parshas Chukas, page 838 in the Artscroll Stone Chumash. וידבר ה' אל משה ואל אהרן לאמר Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe v'el Aharon leimor, Hashem speaks to Moshe and Aharon and he tells them, זאת חקת התורה zos chukas haTorah אשר צוה ה' לאמר דבר אל בני ישראל ויקחו אליך פרה אדומה תמימה asher tziva Hashem leimor daber el bnei Yisrael v'yikchu eilecha parah adumah temima, אשר אין בה מום asher ein bah mum אשר לא עלה עליה עול asher lo alah aleha ol. This is the חק chok, זאת חוקת zos chukas התורה haTorah. This is the chok of the whole Torah, as God commanded when he spoke and he said, take a pure, unblemished red heifer that has not had a yoke upon it, that hasn't worked. It's unusual. They are even פרה אדומות parah adumos today, believe it or not. People trying to grow them and identify them and have them ready to go when please God, we will need them. But our parsha begins with this very enigmatic, very mysterious law. A law that in fact, that's couched as being a חק chok. A חק chok is the Torah's use, the Torah's word, for a מצוה mitzvah that doesn't have a reason. We have מצוות mitzvos that we comprehend, מצוות mitzvos that are rational, מצוות mitzvos that we understand. And then there are מצוות mitzvos that defy comprehension. They make no sense. They make no sense.So that's why, and we've said this in the past, this is introduced as זאת חוקת zos chukas התורה haTorah, even though it's only one מצוה mitzvah out of 613, it's called the חק chok of the whole Torah. Why? Because the attitude that we have and that we bring to this one מצוה mitzvah reflects our attitude that we bring to the totality of Torah. And I always understand, I always see this and try to explain it in the context of all the relationships that we have in life. If in a relationship, we're only willing to obey, we're only willing to be obedient, we're only willing to comply with something when it makes sense to us, are we really in a relationship with the other or are we only in a relationship with ourselves? If I only do things when they make sense, so I'm really serving myself, I'm not serving you. But when I'm willing to surrender, I'm willing to submit, I'm willing to compromise, I'm willing to sacrifice, I'm willing to do something even when it makes no sense, like having milchigs for dinner. So that's a relationship.I know it's not the morning, you're a little more tired. It's okay, you're allowed to laugh. So that's a relationship. So this is not only a חק chok, this particular law, but the attitude of this חק chok reflects on the whole relationship, the totality of Torah. So it's called זאת zos חוקת chukas התורה haTorah. And Rashi a little bit later says, let the mother come and clean up for the calf. Who's the calf that soiled, the calf that made a mess? And who's the mother, the פרה אדומה parah adumah that's now coming to clean it up? The calf of course is the חטא chet ha- עגל egel, the sin of the golden calf, when the Jewish people panicked. Moshe didn't seem to be returning on schedule. And what we were going to do, we were missing that medium, that tangible connection, that physical contact for Hashem. So the people panicked. And therefore they built their own, which of course, we're not allowed to do. The חטא העגל chet ha'egel, the חטא העגל chet ha'egel. The עגל egel is the calf. Let the פרה אדומה parah adumah, the mother of the calf, come and clean. How does the פרה אדומה parah adumah clean up for the calf? So the understanding, simple way of understanding is, what was the mistake? What was the shortcoming? Where was the failure of the חטא העגל chet ha'egel? This need to understand everything. What do you mean Moshe is not back? But I've got a plan. I've got spreadsheets, I've got a grid, I've got a schedule, I've got a calendar, I've got it all worked out. This is the way I wanted it to go. This is how I predict, this is how I anticipate. I want to be in control. I want to understand, I want to comprehend. That was our mistake. So when Moshe didn't return, we said, okay, we're still in control. Now we'll build a calf. Hashem comes and says, you need to clean up for that mistake. And how do you clean up for it? By surrendering your will, surrendering your comprehension, submitting and surrendering your control. And how do we surrender and submit control? When we're willing to comply and be obedient, when we're willing to do even that which we don't and can't understand. A חק chok, a חק chok is mysterious. Now, in what way is a פרה אדומה parah adumah a חק chok? Because here, the parsha, the Torah goes on to tell us, it's a paradoxical law. What happens? Somebody who's impure, someone who's had contact with a corpse, with death, and therefore has contracted spiritual impurity, needs to be purified. How are they purified? The ashes of a perfectly red heifer, mixed with other ingredients, sprinkled on such a person on day three and day seven of their rehabilitation, their purification, that's how they become pure. Here's the paradox. The one who is impure becomes pure. And the one who was pure who sprinkled it becomes impure. That's illogical. That makes absolutely no sense. If this sprinkling is enough to purify the impure, why should it make the pure impure? It makes no sense. And none other than the great שלמה המלך Shlomo HaMelech, the wisest, the smartest of all men. שלמה המלך Shlomo HaMelech said אמרתי אחכמה והיא רחוקה ממני amarti echkama v'hi rechoka mimeni. He said, I'll be wise, I'll be smart, I'll understand it, והיא רחוקה ממני v'hi rechoka mimeni, it was beyond my comprehension. I give up. I don't understand it. And it's we're willing to observe and to keep and to comply and to be obedient and to practice what we don't understand, that is a testament to the relationship. I don't need to understand. In a marriage, in a friendship, in a business partnership, in a relationship with Hashem, when we're only willing to do what makes sense to us, we're serving ourselves, we're not serving the other. But when someone says, could you do it my way? I know you don't understand. I know it doesn't make sense. I know it's not the way you want, but would you do it for me? And we say, absolutely. I don't understand it, it makes no sense, it offends my sensibilities. But you know what, it matters to you and it makes sense to you, that's good enough for me, I'm all in. And that's זאת חוקת zos chukas התורה haTorah.Rav Weinfeld, whose new sefer is coming out this week, timely and timeless, or timeless and timely. I helped Rabbi Bogopulsky come up with the title, but I don't remember what we came up with. Timely and timeless or timeless and timely. Either way, it's both timeless and timely. His beautiful insights and perspectives, been sharing for several years, the great הרב חצקל וויינפעלד Rav Chatzkel Weinfeld. So he says the parsha begins with a פרה אדומה parah adumah, זאת חוקת התורה zos chukas haTorah. And Rashi says, לפי שהשטן ואומות העולם מונין את ישראל לומר מה המצווה הזאת ומה טעם יש בה, לפיכך כתב בה חוקה, גזירה היא מלפני ואין לך רשות להרהר אחריה lefichach haSatan v'umos ha'olam monin es Yisrael lomar ma hamitzvah hazos u'ma ta'am yeish bah, lefichach kasav bah chukah, gzeirah hi milfanai, v'ein lecha reshus le'harher achareha. Although the way the אפר efer of the פרה אדומה parah adumah functions as a חק chok, what we do with that ash, the mixture, the concoction, the way it works, is a חק chok. It beyond comprehension, we nevertheless could and should ask why it takes a חק chok to remove טומאת מת tumas meis. In other words, if God wants to introduce a law that's incomprehensible, why does he choose to do it specifically in the area of removing the impurity that's contracted from contact with death. Why specifically is it surrounded by death? And says Rav Weinfeld, an explanation could be as follows. In general, why is a מת מטמא meis metamei? Why does a corpse, why does death create טומאה tumah? Why does death create impurity? What is negative about the מת meis? It could be that when a person is exposed to death, it brings down his spirit. It brings him to a point of despair and יאוש yei'ush. In other words, when we confront our mortality, we see that life is short and life is finite and how little control we have, it could lead to tremendous sense of despair. What's the point? Why bother? Why am I trying? Why am I giving up such pleasures in the pursuit of virtue? We're all going to die, we're all future worm food, we're all going to put up, push up daisies, whatever expression you don't want to be thinking about, but will be true about every one of us. So that could lead to יאוש yei'ush, hopelessness and despair. What's the point? Why bother? You go to a funeral, you have contact with death, you hear of somebody, you're saying goodbye to someone you love, it could lead to יאוש yei'ush, what's the point? When standing face to face with the unknown, a person feels out of control, and it could be debilitating and it could be paralyzing. The encounter takes life out of his own life. Says Rav Weinfeld, the exposure to the finite nature of human existence brings a person down, and that's why our spirit is defiled. מת Meis, contact with a corpse creates טומאה tumah because it brings יאוש yei'ush. Hopelessness and despair, a person dies even while they're alive. So when a person confronts mortality, it says, what's the point and why bother? And they therefore give up. That giving up, that despair brings death even within life, and that's טומאה tumah. That's טומאה tumah, that's spiritual defilement. Therefore, we take the חק chok of פרה אדומה parah adumah to remove טומאת מת tumas meis, which is the idea that we shouldn't passively take it in, we should actively engage the unknown and make it part of our spiritual experience. We take the unknown and the uncertainty and the mystery, and we ritualize it with the פרה אדומה parah adumah, which is beyond human understanding. We don't allow the mystery and the unknown to paralyze us. The unknown is transformed into a mystery which enhances our עבודת השם avodas Hashem. So it's specifically a חק chok. It's a law which is a חק chok which defies comprehension, which we use in order to reverse the impurity of death, because lest we become hopeless and have despair through mortality, instead we say, life is short, we lean in, and we embrace the mystery and the unknown, and we surrender, and we recognize that with the acceptance that there's a God is the submission, the acceptance, the concession that I can't understand everything. You know, we live in a generation that wants to have it both ways. On the one hand, there's a God, there's a Hashem. We say נשמת nishmas, the miracles of the defeat of Iran. There's a God, there's a creator, there's a source of all existence. There's a Hashem. On the one hand, we want to express our faith. But on the other, we say, but I'm entitled to understand. I want to know why do bad things happen to good people, why do good things happen to bad people? How does the world work? Teach me the mysteries. God, show me your face. To which Hashem answers, part of the belief of God is the concession and the recognition that if you believe in God, you can't and won't understand everything. We can't have it both ways. We want to put it into AI. Why did this bad thing happen to a good people? Hey, Siri, why does the world work this way? Hey, Grok, hey, AI, tell me everything. Because AI, which people are concerned is going to become a religion and an alternative to God, people think they could ask it anything, and that's only increasing and promoting and expanding our sense of entitlement to understand everything. But religion ultimately is about surrender. Religion ultimately is about submission. Religion ultimately is the acceptance that there are things I can't and won't understand. And that's what it means to believe in God. So זאת חוקת התורה zos chukas haTorah, the parsha begins by telling us, if you are a student of Torah, if you're a person who lives a life of Torah, Torah חיים chaim, and your life is guided and your life is regulated and your life is inspired by Torah, then you must embrace the זאת חוקת התורה zos chukas haTorah. To be to live a life in which we surrender, submit, Hashem, I concede. I'll study, I'll try to understand, I'll ask questions, I'll learn, I'll explore. I have a curiosity, an insatiable appetite. But in the end of the day, when I've exhausted all the options, I recognize, I surrender to you. And that is the mystery. So our mortality could lead to hopelessness or despair, or our mortality could make us surrender and lean in further to that relationship with God to embrace the mystery that is inherent in life. To be alive is to not understand everything that is happening in our lives. פרק יט פסוק יד Perek yud tes, pasuk yud daled. Turn to the page. I really want to focus on the second half of the parsha, which we didn't get to last year. But first, a few more things. So the Torah is telling us exactly how this works, the פרה אדומה parah adumah, this red heifer that has no מום mum, it has no blemish, that ash is mixed with these other ingredients. It's sprinkled on the one who's impure. And says the Torah פרק יט פסוק יד perek yud tes, pasuk yud daled, 19:14. זאת התורה Zos haTorah אדם כי ימות באוהל adam ki yamus b'ohel. כל הבא אל האוהל וכל אשר באוהל יטמא שבעת ימים Kol haba el ha'ohel v'chol asher ba'ohel yitma shivas yamim. This is the teaching regarding a person who dies in a tent. Now, we're not talking about literally in a tent. We're talking about in a structure, in a building, underneath a covering. Anything that enters a tent and anything that is in the tent shall be contaminated for seven days. We know that one draws contamination from a corpse, not only through contact, not only through carrying the corpse, but even by being under the same roof, even by being under the same building or covering. That's called טומאת אוהל tumas ohel, being in the same building, which transmits טומאה tumah, spiritual contamination from the corpse of a Jew, not the corpse of a non-Jew. And that's relevant today. We spoke earlier, פרשת אמור Parshas Emor, how כהנים kohanim who are not allowed contact with טומאה tumah, may not be able to go into a hospital. Of course, it's to save their own life, they can for their own treatment, but to visit, to be a chaplain, they shouldn't. Because if there's a morgue underneath that roof in that building, the כהן kohen is exposed. That's why here, my office is a separate technical building. If you look between where we're sitting and my office, you'll see the sky. It's a separate building, so that the ארון aron, the caskets that sit in there, and a כהן kohen could attend a funeral even in here. They're not considered to be under the same roof, because זאת התורה אדם כי ימות באוהל zos haTorah adam ki yamus b'ohel, if you're under the same roof, כל הבא אל האוהל kol haba el ha'ohel, whoever comes into that building structure is under that same edifice will contract the טומאה tumah, which excludes a כהן kohen, maybe a woman carrying a כהן kohen. Women are not included in that prohibition, but a pregnant woman who is carrying a little boy כהן kohen, even a male כהן kohen fetus is prohibited from contracting that טומאה tumah, would not be allowed to as well. So Rashi, the Gemara Brachos rather tells us, אמר ריש לקיש amar Reish Lakish מניין שאין דברי תורה מתקיימין אלא במי שממית עצמו עליה minayin she'ein divrei Torah miskaymin ela b'mi she'meimis atzmo aleha? שנאמר זאת התורה אדם כי ימות באוהל She'ne'emar zos haTorah adam ki yamus b'ohel. Our Rabbis, the Gemara in Brachos daf samech gimmel amud alef learns from here, this language, זאת התורה zos haTorah, this is the law, if a person expires, passes away underneath a covering, anyone in that covering contracts the טומאה tumah. But from the formulation, אדם כי ימות באוהל adam ki yamus b'ohel, if a person passes away in an אוהל ohel, זאת התורה zos haTorah, and this is the Torah. So Reish Lakish teaches from here, you see that in order for Torah to be alive, in order for Torah to be fulfilled, in order for Torah to have continuity, it needs to be במי שממית עצמו עליה b'mi she'meimis atzmo aleha. You have to kill yourself over it. Kill yourself over it. You know, it's not as easy as AI. And you can't just download to a thumb drive all the information. If you really want to become an expert in anything, you have to work hard. You have to kill yourself. That's the language that we use even in the vernacular. A diligent student, a disciplined student will describe themselves as killing themselves. Oh, it's finals. Oh, I'm trying to master this מסכתא masechta. Oh, I'm trying to graduate. I'm trying to get a good score. A person has to kill themselves. So a person who wants דברי תורה divrei Torah to מתקיימין miskayim, for Torah to be fulfilled, it's not casual. You can't sit back on the recliner, can't be half asleep, can't be listening with one ear. A person has to be engaged, engrossed. A person has to sweat, tears, work. And all of that is derived, is learned from this verse. זאת התורה Zos haTorah, אדם כי ימות באוהל adam ki yamus b'ohel. This is the Torah if a person's willing to kill himself in the אוהל ohel. Says הרב שלמה בערנבוים זכרונו לברכה Rav Shlomo Berenbaum zichrono livracha יש לומר מה הקשר בין פרה אדומה לעמל התורה yesh lomar mah ha'kesher bein parah adumah la'amal haTorah. What is the connection between the obscure, mysterious, incomprehensible law of the red heifer and this teaching that a person who wants to really accept and receive Torah has to kill themselves over it? חז\"ל דורשין שאין דברי תורה מתקיימין אלא במי שממית עצמו עליה, דוקא כאן בפרשת פרה אדומה Chazal darshinin she'ein divrei Torah miskaymin ela b'mi she'meimis atzmo aleha davka kan b'parshas parah adumah. Why specifically here? ויש לומר V'yesh lomar says הרב שלמה בערנבוים Rav Shlomo Berenbaum, דשאר חכמות אפשר לאדם ללומדם בזמן קצוב אף בלי עמל, ולדעת אותם על בורים de'she'ar chachmos efshar l'adam lilomdam b'zman katzuv af b'li ameilus, v'ladaas osam al buryam. Other disciplines you can memorize. You can learn it quickly. You have mnemonics and tricks and shortcuts, and there are ways that you can cram and crash the learning, and you can get it. וכן מי שלומד פעם אחת יכול לזכור לזמן מרובה אפילו בלי חזרה V'chein mi she'lomed paam achas yachol lizkor l'zman merubeh afilu b'li chazarah. In other disciplines, you could learn once and hold on to. You can grasp, you can keep. מה שאין כן בלמוד התורה, הדרך היחידי לקנות חק בתורה הוא רק על ידי עמל Ma she'ein kein b'limud haTorah, ha'derech ha'yechidi liknos chok baTorah hu rak al yedei ameilus. The only way to acquire Torah, the only way to make it not something on loan to you but part of your permanent collection is to kill yourself over it, is to work hard, is to toil, is to shvitz. Which is what the Gemara says in Megillah, יגעת ומצאת תאמין, לא יגעת ומצאת אל תאמין yagati u'matzasi ta'amin, lo yagati u'matzasi al ta'amin. Only believe a person who says, I worked hard. וכן כדי לזכור את התורה צריך אדם לחזור עליה תמיד V'chein kedei lizkor es haTorah tzarich adam lachzor aleha tamid. And you have to review. חזרה חזרה Chazarah, chazarah, נוך מאל חזרה noch mol chazarah, review and review and again, review. ואם לאו יכול לשכוח את הכל לגמרי בזמן קצר V'im lav yachol lishkoach es hakol l'gamrei b'zman katzar. And if you don't review, do you know how quickly it fades? You remember what we said in last week's parsha shiur? Those who learned the daf this morning, do you remember what daf it is, let alone what's in it? Without review, how quickly it dissipates and disappears. It takes effort and review and toil and more review and discipline and a schedule of review. וכן אמרו חז\"ל בשם בן סירא, כל הלומד תורה ואינו חוזר עליה, דומה לאדם שזורע ואינו קוצר V'chein amru Chazal b'shem Ben Sira, kol halomed Torah v'eino chozer aleha, domeh l'adam she'zoreia v'eino kotzer. If you learn and don't review, it's like you plant and you never harvest. ואפילו מי שיש לו זיכרון חזק, אם אינו חוזר תמיד על תלמודו, הוא עלול לשכוח לימודו Afilu mi she'yesh lo zikaron chazak, im eino chozer tamid al talmudo, hu alul lishkoach limudo. If you don't review, you will forget. That's not a question. It's not an if, it's a when. ולהבדיל, לא שאר חכמות U'lehavdil, lo she'ar chachmos. And that's unusual. That's something only true about Torah. And that's why says הרב שלמה בערנבוים Rav Shlomo Berenbaum. ולפיכך אצל פרשת פרה אדומה שהיא חק דורשים שאין עמל התורה U'lefichach etzel parshas parah adumah she'hi chok darshinin she'ein amal haTorah. It's specifically here where we have a law that's mysterious, it's incomprehensible, it doesn't make sense that we're learning this principle that if you want to have Torah, if you want it to be permanent, you got to kill yourself. Because that in itself is a חק chok. Why does that make sense? Why are you able to download other information? You can retain other disciplines without killing yourself. But Torah was designed in such a way that the only way to have a mastery over it is to review and review and work hard and toil and be engaged and be engrossed and be involved. Why is that? All of that is a חק chok, which is why specifically it was taught here. It's כנגד השכל keneged haseichel. It doesn't make sense. If I'm able to gain mastery over other disciplines without work, why does Torah demand work? That doesn't make sense. Exactly. And that's why that principle is rule is learned specifically here from a place that is a from a place that is a חק chok. ואף על פי שהוא חק V'af al pi she'hu chok יש לי תן הסבר על הדבר yesh li tein hesber al hadavar. עצם עמל התורה הוא דבר משמעי רוממות אדם Etzem amal haTorah hu davar meshamei romemus adam. Why does Torah demand effort? Because when it comes to other disciplines, the only thing that matters is the outcome. If you're a student of math and you're learning mathematical formulas and you're preparing to try to kill it on the ACT or the SAT or the math AP, and you can't get the formula, you can't figure it out. No matter how many tutors, no matter how many practice tests, no matter how much you tried, no matter how you much you watched, what's it called, Khan Academy, no matter what you did, whatever shortcuts you took, no matter how much you reviewed, in the end of the day, when you're handed the test, the answer you got is wrong, then it means all that time was wasted. All that matters is your final score. All that matters is, did you have an answer to the, could you solve the equation? When it comes to Torah, it's not about the outcome at all. When it comes to Torah, it's all about the effort. It's about the effort. You went to the shiur, you tried to understand it, you prepared in advance, you reviewed a little afterwards, and you know what? You still don't fully chap it. A difficult Gemara, a hard Tosfos, a complicated halacha, ribbis, and you have to grade the ribbis. And you still don't understand it. You worked hard and you still don't understand it. You say it was all a waste? Why did I bother going to the daf yomi? 2,711 pages and I don't remember anything. The answer is it's the effort. It's the toil. It's the work that you put in. And that's why we say at a siyum, אני עמלים והם עמלים anu ameilim v'hem ameilim. אני עמלים ומקבלים שכר והם עמלים ואינם מקבלים שכר Anu ameilim u'mekablim schar, v'hem ameilim v'einam mekablim schar. That's what the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim explains. What does it mean? We say it every siyum. We toil, they toil. We toil and we're rewarded. They toil and they're not rewarded. What are you talking about? There are people who toil and they reap tremendous reward. So what does it mean that we toil, we're rewarded, they toil, they don't? Said the Chofetz Chaim means exactly this. If you toil, you shvitz, you break your teeth over that math equation and you can't solve it, you wasted your time. But if you're working hard on that Gemara and you don't fully understand it, every second was worthwhile. Every second was valuable. All that toil, that effort, that is exactly the purpose. It's not the outcome, it's the effort that matters. And that's what's unusual, unique, and distinct about Torah. Torah requires עמל amal, it requires work and discipline. And why is it designed in that way? That's a חק chok, just like פרה אדומה parah adumah. Ultimately, that is, ultimately that is a חק chok. The מגיד יוסף Magid Yosef, Rav Yosef Sratzkin also has a comment here. The Gemara says in Brachos we saw מניין שאין דברי תורה מתקיימין אלא במי שממית עצמו עליה minayin she'ein divrei Torah miskaymin ela b'mi she'meimis atzmo aleha. זאת התורה אדם כי ימות באוהל Zos haTorah adam ki yamus b'ohel. תמוה Tamua. הרי כבר נאמר בתורה וחיי בהם Harei kvar ne'emar baTorah vachai bahem. Here we're saying that if you want Torah to be permanent, if you want to acquire Torah, you need to kill yourself over it. Ah, but I thought we saw וחי בהם vachai bahem. The whole purpose and goal of Torah is to give you life. So which is it? Does learning Torah give you life or you're supposed to kill yourself over it? Which one? Which one? דנראה D'nireh, דאין דברי תורה מתקיימין אלא במי שממית ה'אני' עליה de'ein divrei Torah miskaymin ela b'mi she'meimis ha'ani aleha. דבשביל התורה הוא מוכן להמית את כל ה'אני' שלו de'bishvil haTorah hu muchan lehamis es kol ha'ani shelo. אדם כי ימות באוהל Adam ki yamus b'ohel. זאת התורה Zos haTorah, אדם כי ימות באוהל adam ki yamus b'ohel. אין דברי תורה מתקיימים אלא במי שממית עצמו עליה Ein divrei Torah miskaymim ela b'mi she'meimis atzmo aleha. The language is, Torah is only acquired by a person who is willing to kill, עצמו atzmo means himself. Says Rav Yosef Sratzkin and many others, you know what it means? If you want to learn Torah, you have to negate your sense of self. If you're going to open Torah and say, I have all the answers, I know everything, I'm super smart, I have the correct perspective, I have the life wisdom and life experience. Okay, now let's see what the Torah has to say. And I'm now going to make Torah conform to my opinions, to my, to my preconditions, to what I'm walking in with, then I'll never acquire Torah. To acquire Torah, you have to get rid of your ego. You have to get rid of your ego. If you come to Torah with a sense of ego and arrogance, if you come to Torah with an attitude I have all the answers, you'll never acquire, you'll never learn Torah. A person has to come and approach Torah like a blank slate. Torah, teach me, inscribe yourself on me. Torah, what do you have to say to illuminate and open my eyes to what I should think and feel, how to behave, what to do? Torah, I come to you like a blank slate. So אין דברי תורה מתקיימים אלא במי שממית ein divrei Torah miskaymim ela b'mi she'meimis, what you need to kill is not yourself. וחי בהם Vachai bahem, Torah gives life. God forbid we're killing ourselves over acquiring Torah. We don't kill ourselves over acquiring Torah. What are we killing? The ego. Because ego is the enemy. Reading a book called Ego Is the Enemy. Ego is edging God out. Ego undermines all relationship. Ego is the kryptonite that makes us self-destruct, self-sabotage. Ego gets in the way of living our best lives and our best selves. When we have an ego, we've edged God out. That ego gets in the way. So the very first step, אין דברי תורה מתקיימים אלא ein divrei Torah miskayimim ela, in order to acquire Torah, what's the first thing you have to do? ממית meimis עצמו atzmo עליה aleha. The very first thing we have to do is overcome the ego. Overcome the ego. Doesn't mean you can't have pride in your hard work and accomplishments, that's not ego. Doesn't mean you can't have confidence in what you're doing and working on, that's not ego. Ego is when you think you're in charge, you're in control, you don't need God, and you don't see that the blessings that you have come from God. Ego is when you think it's all about you, you're the source of it all, and that it's with you forever as long as you want it. That's ego. And when a person has an ego, they've edged God out. Ego is the enemy. Ego undermines all relationships. So the first step in acquiring Torah, אין דברי תורה מתקיימים אלא במי שממית עצמו ein divrei Torah miskayimim ela b'mi she'meimis atzmo. ה'אני' יושב בו Ha'ani yoshev bo, ולבטל את כל החומר המגושם וכל תאוותיו ורצונותיו ul'vatel es kol ha'chomer ha'megusham v'chol ta'avosav v'retzonosav. If I want to acquire Torah, I've got to get rid of all that I bring in, my whole attitude, I've got to get rid of all of my, my, my addictions, all of my, my predilections, all of all of this. לא יאמר אדם אני אעשה כבעלי עולם הזה ובד בבד אלמד תורה Lo yomar adam ani e'esek b'havlei olam hazeh u'vad b'vad elmad Torah. You can't be in the pursuit of all the pleasures of this world and in parallel learn Torah. כי התורה יכולה להתקיים רק אצל איש שממית את החומר שבו Ki haTorah yechola le'hiskayem rak etzel ish she'meimis es hachomer shebo. In order to download Torah, you need enough memory, enough gig. You know, if you want to download, my kids who take a billion pictures a minute, then each come to me and say, I'm out of memory on my phone. They haven't invented phones with enough memory for what they want to be able to have. For their music and their pictures and their videos and everything else. So if you want to acquire, what do you know you need to have? You need to have the memory. You need to have a כלי קיבול klei kibbul, you need to have a vessel, an instrument, a technology, something that can hold what you want to download. So if we want to download Torah, if we want to be, for Torah to be מתקיים miskayem, then what do we need to know that we have? Enough capacity, enough memory. ולפי זה מובן למה דורש הפסוק אדם U'lefizot muvan lama doresh ha'pasuk adam. כי ימות באוהל. דידוע שבכל מקום שכתוב אדם כוונתו לאיש מורה על הכח הרוחני שבו ואדם מורה על החומר Ki yamus b'ohel. D'yadua she'bchol makom she'kasuv adam kavanaso l'ish, moreh al ha'koach ha'ruchni shebo v'adam moreh al hachomer. So אדם כי ימות באוהל adam ki yamus b'ohel, we have to kill the sense of אדם, אדמה adam, adama. We have to kill the physical, the material to be aligned spiritual. When it's a person who sees themselves as a soul that has a body, not a body that has a soul, it's the person who's connected spiritually, whose antenna is extended to the source of all, אדם כי ימות adam ki yamus. When we kill, when we're able to negate and overcome that ego and that materialism and that that sense of identity, then we're able to download Torah from there. Now we'll go. Okay. פרק כ פסוק א Perek kaf pasuk alef. Keep turning the page. Page 842. ויבאו בני ישראל כל העדה מדבר צין בחדש הראשון, וישב העם בקדש, ותמת שם מרים, ותקבר שם Vayavo'u vnei Yisrael kol ha'eidah Midbar Tzin bachodesh harishon, vayeshev ha'am b'Kadesh, vatamas sham Miriam, vatikaveir sham. The Jewish people come to the wilderness of צין Tzin in the first month, and they settle in קדש Kadesh, the name of a place, and what happens there? ותמת שם מרים vatamas sham Miriam, the great prophetess, Moshe's sister Miriam passes away, ותקבר שם vatikaveir sham. Every year פרשת חקת Parshas Chukas, even though I know it's about to happen, it smacks me in the face. I'm not going to tell you how old I am, but I'm not a young man anymore. And nevertheless, I'm still surprised every year חקת Chukas. Because here we are going nicely along, and it feels like we just were taken out of Egypt. We just had Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, Sarivka, Rachel, and Leah. We just went down to Mitzraim, we just had the ten plagues and the splitting of the sea, we just started at Har Sinai, we just made it through Sefer Vayikra. Okay, a little complaining in Sefer Bamidbar. All of a sudden, we're at the end of the 40 years. Do you know that from the last pasuk that we read until here, do you know how much time passed in the desert? 38 years. We just lived 38 years in three seconds. We just flew through time. So much so that we're at the end of this journey, Miriam dies, spoiler alert, Aharon dies. Moshe, we hold on to until the end of Chumash. But Miriam and Aharon, what do you mean? It's in their merit, these righteous people. They've accompanied us. They've taken us out. They've been with us on this journey. It smacks you. It smacks you in the face. ותמת שם מרים Vatamas sham Miriam, that Miriam passes away here, ותקבר שם v'tikaveir sham, she's buried there. And what happens immediately afterwards? What's the next pasuk? ולא היה מים לעדה V'lo hayah mayim la'eidah. The people say, one second, we're out of water. We're so thirsty. ויקהלו על משה ועל אהרן Vayikahalu al Moshe v'al Aharon, and they, they now gather against Moshe and Aharon, which is their favorite pastime, the great hobby in the Midbar. וירב העם עם משה ויאמרו לאמור ולו גוענו בגוע אחינו לפני ה' Vayarav ha'am im Moshe vayomru leimor v'lu gavanu bigva acheinu lifnei Hashem. They fight with Moshe. If only we had perished as our brothers perished before us. Whoever's left at this point were, we're talking about the end of the 40 years. We just fast forward 38 years. This is the original double speed. Between the last section and this section is the original, you know, going double speed. We just flew through 38 years. And now, the whole generation who were alive for חטא המרגלים chet ha'meraglim, the sin of the... of the spies whom God punished and promised they'd die in the מדבר midbar, in the desert, they died. All that's left are the generation that are ultimately going in. And what happens? Miriam dies, they bury her and all of a sudden they realize, I'm parched. So thirsty. There's nothing to drink. We need something to drink. Moshe, what's the matter with you? There's no Diet Peach Snapple, there's nothing to drink. There's nothing here. There's no water. We're dying of thirst. What was the point? Maybe we should have died with everyone who died before us? ולמה העליתנו ממצרים להביא אותנו אל המקום הזה V'lama he'elisonu mi'Mitzrayim l'havi osanu el ha'makom hazeh. Why'd you bring us into a desert to die? אנחנו ובהירנו Anachnu u've'ireinu, you brought us here to die, us and our animals. ולמה העליתנו ממצרים להביא אותנו אל המקום הרע V'lama he'elisonu mi'Mitzrayim l'havi osanu el ha'makom ha'ra. You took us out of Egypt to bring us to this terrible place, a desolate desert. לא מקום זרע ותאנה וגפן ורימון ומים אין לשתות Lo m'kom zera u't'eina v'gefen v'rimon u'mayim ayin lishtos. You brought us to this place, there's no seed, there's no fig, there's no grape, there's no pomegranate, and there's no water to drink. Which by the way is a question. Maybe we'll get to, maybe not, but it started with Miriam dies and they say, I'm so thirsty, there's nothing to drink. And all of a sudden, before they return to the complaint about there's nothing to drink, and there's no pomegranate, and there's no grapes, and there's no figs, and there's no seed. Now they want a whole שמורג shmorg. What happened? A moment ago all they had was a little thirst, there's nothing to drink. And now they forgot thirst. Thirst becomes the last thing on the list. וּמַיִם אַיִן לִשְׁתּוֹת U'mayim ayin lishtos, that there's nothing to drink. Pomegranate, that's what you need in the desert? Pomegranate? Pomegranate? You know, I've taken my kids on a hike. We drive our kids a long distance in the back of the car, I'm so thirsty, there's nothing to drink. My kids in all their years have never said, and there's no pomegranates, and there's no figs, and there's no grapes. I'm so thirsty, I hear. There's no pomegranates, there's no grapes. And what do you mean, why'd you take us out of Egypt? Why'd you take us out of, out of Egypt? What's going on here? Says Rabbi Sacks, Lord Sacks, in the Sachs חומש Chumash.Immediately after the account of Miriam's death, we read, there was no water for the community. Together they confronted Moshe and Aaron. A famous Talmudic passage, the גמרא תענית דף ט Gemara Taanis daf tes, explains that it was in Miriam's merit that the Jewish people had a well of water that miraculously accompanied them through the desert journeys. Why? Is it a coincidence Miriam dies there's no water? There was no one to pay the water bill? No one realized she was the one taking care of it all along? Now she dies and there's no water? Sort of. It's not that she was the one paying the water bill, but she was the one paying the water bill. She paid the water bill through her merit, through her worthiness. She paid the water bill, her existence is what made the people worthy of that water. And now that she's gone, now that she's no longer here, the water stops. The spigot is shut off. When Miriam died, the water ceased. This interpretation reads the sequence of events supernaturally. Miriam died, then there was no water. From this we can infer that until then there was water because Miriam was alive. It was a miracle in her merit. However, there's another way of reading the passage. The connection between Miriam's death and the events that follow it may have less to do with a miraculous well and more to do with Moshe's response to the complaints of the Jewish people.Let us recall who Miriam was for Moshe. She was his elder sister who watched over his fate as he floated down the Nile in a pitched basket. She had the presence of mind, the audacity to speak to Pharaoh's daughter and arranged the child to be nursed by a Jewish woman, Moshe's own mother, יוכבד Yocheved. Without Miriam, Moshe would have grown up not knowing who he was. Miriam is a background presence throughout much of the narrative. We see her leading the women in song at ים סוף Yam Suf, so it was clear that she like Aaron has a leadership role. We gain a sense of how much she means to Moshe when she's punished after she and Aaron spoke against Moshe. Aaron turns helplessly to Moshe and asks him to intervene on her behalf, which he does. Moshe still cares deeply for her. Leaders need confidants. The Rambam in his commentary in the Mishna in Avos counts this as one of the four kinds of friendship. He calls it a friendship of trust, a חבר הביטחון chaver ha'bitachon, and describes it as having someone in whom you have absolute trust, with whom you are completely open and unguarded, knowing that the other person will neither take advantage of the confidence shared nor shares them with others. A careful reading of this episode within the broader context of Moshe's early life suggests that Miriam was Moshe's trusted friend, the source of his emotional stability. Yet only in this week's פרשה parsha do we begin to get a full sense of her influence. And this only by implication. For the first time, when the people complain of thirst, Moshe faces a challenge without Miriam. And for the first time he loses emotional control in the presence of the people. This is one of the effects of bereavement. Bereaved, you lose control of your emotions. You find yourself angry when the situation calls for calm. You hit when you should speak and speak when you should be silent. The Rambam in another context mentions the שכינה Shechinah does not rest upon us when we're in a state of grief. The loss of a sibling can be less expected and more profoundly disorienting than even the loss of a parent. And Miriam was no ordinary sibling. Moshe owes her his life and his identity. Without Miriam, Moshe could never have become the human face to God, the human face of God to the Jewish people, lawgiver, liberator, prophet. Losing her, he not only lost his sister, he lost the human foundation of his life. This is why despite facing the rock and thirst twice before, Moshe for the first time loses emotional control.Rabbi Sacks is explaining so brilliantly because what happens? Miriam dies, she's buried. People complain, so thirsty, there's nothing to drink, we want pomegranates and figs and grapes. Why'd you take us out of Egypt? We should have killed us with the rest of the people. And Moshe can't take it. God says, speak to the rock and water will come out and what does he do? He hits the rock. שמעו נא המורים Shimu na ha'morim, listen now you rebellious ones, and he smacks the rock. And there are countless suggestions offered for what he did wrong, but the Rambam says he indulged anger. He got frustrated and angry at this incorrigible people, and he lashed out at them. Why was Moshe able to hold it together until now? One does Rabbi Sacks, what was different? Here throughout ספר במדבר Sefer Bamidbar, the people, they're impossible, they're incorrigible, he can't take it. And yet he keeps it together. Only now does he lose his cool and it costs him, costs him everything. He's unable to lead them into the promised land because of it, costs him everything. Why did he lose his cool? Says Rabbi Sacks, you know why? Because he lost his sister. He had lost his confidant. He lost his equilibrium. He lost the person who kept him balanced. He lost the person that he turned to to talk things out, to calm him down, to give him hope, to help him regulate. And without Miriam, he lost his cool in that, in that moment, in that moment. Miriam was the one. Miriam was the one. Unlike the death of Aaron and Moshe, that described the people mourning and grieving, the Torah just reports her passing and seems to move right on. ותמת שם מרים Va'tamas sham Miriam, she dies, ותקבר שם va'tikavar sham, she's buried there, ולא היה מים לעדה v'lo haya mayim la'eidah, and there's no water. They're crying, they're kvetching, they're complaining, they're miserable. Where's the water? And Rashi says, מכאן שכל ארבעים שנה היה להם הבאר בזכות מרים Mikan shekol arba'im shanah haya lahem ha'be'er b'zechus Miriam. From here we see, גמרא תענית דף ט Gemara Taanis daf tes, that for all 40 years, they had water. Why? The באר של מרים be'er shel Miriam. They had a Zephyrhills water cooler that went with them wherever they went. Could you imagine miraculously, you didn't have to pack it? On the flight, on the cruise, in the car, on the hike, on the walk, wherever you go, there's a Zephyrhills, I don't get any royalties from Zephyrhills, you could choose your brand. There's a water cooler that comes with them wherever they go. That was called the באר be'er, the well. And in whose merit did it exist? Miriam. The כלי יקר Kli Yakar, the כלי יקר Kli Yakar here elaborates. The כלי יקר Kli Yakar writes, על צד העונש, חסרה המים, שלא הספידוה כראוי Al tzad ha'onesh, chasra ha'mayim, she'lo hispiduha k'raui. The people failed to mourn and grieve for Miriam adequately, so they were punished through the loss of that water. They failed to mourn and grieve adequately. As you see in the פסוק pasuk, ותמת שם מרים va'tamas sham Miriam, she died, ותקבר שם va'tikavar sham, she's buried. Nobody stopped. Nobody sat שבעה shivah. Nobody mourned or grieved. When it came to Moshe and Aaron, they were inconsolable. And yet with Miriam, they seem to move right on. And so it's מידה כנגד מידה middah k'neged middah, as they came to understand her greatness, and that they only had to access to water in the desert because of her. The כלי יקר Kli Yakar continues by telling us the reason it was called באר מרים Be'er Miriam. כי במקום שמתה שם תקבר על אתר ונשכחה כמת מלב ולא הרגישו בה דבר כלל על כן נחסר להם המים כדי שידעו למפרע שהבאר היה בזכות מרים Ki b'makom she'meisa sham tekavar al atar v'nishkacha k'meis mi'lev v'lo hirgishu bah davar klal. Al kein nechsar lahem hamayim, k'dei she'yeidu l'mafrei'a she'habe'er haya b'zechus Miriam. The reason it was called Be'er Miriam was what came in the זכות zechus, she excelled at גמילות חסדים gemilus chasadim. She's someone who nurtured and nourished, who cared for, who was sensitive and kind, and just like the חסד chesed always flowed from her, the flow of water ended. So while she was alive and the חסד chesed was flowing, emanating from her, so the water, the well flowed. And the moment that she dried up, she died, the well also dried up, there was no water. But perhaps, I humbly submit to you this fine evening, again, thank you for your flexibility. Thank you to Rabbi Brody. I know his קיצור שולחן ערוך Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, it's gonna start before מנחה Mincha in the hall. I appreciate it. Perhaps the absence of water wasn't a punishment for a failure to grieve, maybe it was the fulfillment of it. We asked the question, the Torah only tells us Miriam died and she's buried, but it doesn't mention any crying over her loss. But maybe there is an expression of crying. Maybe they do grieve. Remember, this is an adolescent people. They're still maturing, they're finding their words, they're getting comfortable in their own skin. Maybe it's a greater expression of mourning than realizing just how much the person meant, how radically and utterly different the quality of life is without them. The way they mourned and grieved was by saying, oh my goodness, all the water all these years was only in her merit. And we never realized it, and we never appreciated it, and we never said thank you to her for it. So their complaint was not maybe actually a complaint. It was a sort of immature, unsophisticated way of saying, we miss Miriam. We miss Miriam. Any parent in here knows that if or when a child lashes out, you have to separate out what they're saying and how they're saying it from the fact that they're calling for attention. They need a little love and affection. They're looking for validation. There's a problem they're trying to solve but they can't necessarily put in words. So instead, it's coming out as lashing out. You're packing them to send them to camp. And instead of saying, thank you for taking a mortgage on the house to afford to send me to sleepaway camp, they're all stressed out and nervous and packing, they can only fit into 16 duffles, how can they take all 40 outfits, how will they fit everything? So they're being a little bit harsh with the very people who are killing themselves to send them away. But realize it's stress. It's distress and it's their nervousness and it's their anxiety about going to camp, socially fitting in. Separate it out from what they're saying. Here the people present as if they're complaining to Hashem, so thirsty, there's nothing to drink and there's no pomegranates. But really what they're saying is, we miss Miriam. We just realized that all this time, we were hydrated, we were nurtured and nourished, we were taken care of, it was all her. And now she's gone. And we're so thirsty, and we're so parched, and we're so dehydrated, and we're so lost, and we're so weak, and we're so dizzy. Until now, there was plenty of water. But with Miriam's death, the well literally went dry. The people struggled to quench their thirst and they understood now what they had neglected and taken for granted all 40 years. They understood who she was, the value she added, the difference she made. Maybe their cries and complaints were not the negativity of an adolescent, immature people. Maybe really they were the people's expression of grief and loss and pain. Something more, something extraordinary in this story that could easily be overlooked. And it's the following. Miriam was one person. One woman was responsible for keeping two to three million people alive for 40 years. One person was responsible for their life, for their vitality. Never underestimate, never dismiss the power and difference that one person can make. One person. Miriam kept us alive in the desert, but much more than that, like Rabbi Sacks alluded to, she was responsible for our entire existence even earlier, when her father עמרם Amram withdrew from her mother יוכבד Yocheved, in the heart of the servitude and subjugation, in the middle of that suffering, when they, when, when her father עמרם Amram said, I'm not having more children. In this, in this world, I'm not having more children. How can we bring children into the slavery and subjugation? Who was the one who convinced her father and mother? She went to her mother and said, you have to beautify yourself, you have to seduce my father, your husband, you can't give up on continuity, the future is bright. And she said to her mother, Miriam, you know, you and אבא Abba are worse than פרעה Pharaoh. Pharaoh's only killing and executing the men, but you're, you're putting an end to the boys and girls. You're eliminating everyone. And as a result, her parents reunited, yielding the birth of Moshe, and based on their example, other couples did too. And the very survival and continuity of our people all came about in whose merit? None other than Miriam. The continuity and survival of the Jewish people was because of Miriam because she cared. She cared as a little girl who told her parents reunite, and she cared in her merit when the חסד chesed was flowing from her, and because of her, the, the water flowed to the people, and when she was gone, it was gone, it was gone. But look at the impact. The lesson maybe of Miriam is the impact that one person could have. One person, one person can have. You stop, if you say hello, if you check in, if you're kind, if you notice somebody who's alone and who feels neglected. One person, the difference that one person can make. In Miriam's merit, two to three million people were kept alive. I wrote an article, I quoted this story, but I'll tell it again here in this context, very quickly. In 1951, a 14-year-old Australian boy named James Harrison had a major surgery to save his life and remove one of his lungs. And he was alive thanks in large part to a vast quantity of transfused blood that he received. He was hospitalized for three months, but when he came out, he was determined to pay it forward, and to do it by donating blood himself. The problem was that you couldn't donate blood till you're 18 years old. As soon as he turned 18, he made good on the promise, and despite his fear of needles, he began to donate blood regularly. At the time, doctors in Australia were struggling to figure out why thousands of births in the country were resulting in miscarriages, stillbirths, brain defects. In 1967, they discovered the babies were suffering from hemolytic disease of the newborn, HDN. The condition arises with a woman with an Rh-negative blood type becomes pregnant with a baby who has an Rh-positive blood type, and the incompatibility causes the mother to reject the fetus's red blood cells, and it creates these miscarriages, stillbirths, and brain defects in the baby. So they discovered, doctors, there's a very rare antibody in blood that could be used to make a lifesaving medication called Anti-D, that when given to the mothers in their pregnancy who were at the risk of developing HDN, it would keep the baby safe. And they scoured blood banks to see whose blood might contain the antibody, and they found this one donor, this James Harrison, who overcame his fear of needles and who paid it forward by donating regularly. And they asked him to participate in this experimental program, and for more than 60 years, listen to this. For more than 60 years, Harrison donated blood every single week. And his plasma was used to make millions of anti-D injections. Every ample of anti-D ever made in Australia has a piece of James Harrison's blood in it. And because of that, 17% of pregnant women in Australia require the injections. The Australian blood service estimates that Harrison has helped save 2.4 million babies in the country. At 81 years old, after donating 1100 times, despite wanting to continue, he was forced to retire from donating blood. He was nicknamed the man with the golden arm, and he passed away last year. But the man with the golden arm, one man who had this very unusual and rare blood type, was able to save 2.4 million babies. One person, one person, because he went to pay it forward, donated blood regularly, saved 2.4 million babies. Miriam, one woman, in whose merit two to three million people survived. And therefore, maybe here these complaints are not actually complaints, with thirsty, with tired, but maybe it's the people's expression of grief and loss. Where's Miriam? We're parched, we're thirsty, we're dehydrated, we're lost, we're dizzy. Where's Miriam? We miss and we need Miriam. Moshe and Aaron are told to speak to the rock, ודברתם אל הסלע v'dibartem el ha'sela, but instead, what do they do? ויקח משה את המטה Va'yikach Moshe es ha'mateh, on the top of page 844. He take the staff. ויקהל משה ואהרן את בני הקהל Va'yakhel Moshe v'Aharon es bnei ha'kahal, and they gather everyone. ויאמר להם שמעו נא המרים המן הסלע הזה נוציא לכם מים Va'yomer lahem shimu na ha'morim, ha'min ha'sela hazeh notzi lachem mayim. Listen, you rebellious ones, from this rock, should we bring out water? The Rambam says he got angry. Others say it was arrogance. He didn't say, should God draw water? What does he say? נוציא Notzi. נוציא Notzi is we. Should we, as if he and Aaron are squeezing water out of this rock. And there are at least a hundred different suggestions offered for what Moshe did wrong. So much so that one of the commentaries writes, Moshe made one mistake, and we ascribe a hundred wrong things to him. He made one mistake, but because there's so many suggestions and opinions of what it might be, it comes out as this horrible villain of all these things maybe where he went wrong. וירם משה את ידו ויך את הסלע במטהו פעמים Va'yarem Moshe es yado va'yach es ha'sela b'mateihu pa'amayim. ויצאו מים רבים ותשת העדה ובעירם Va'yeitz'u mayim rabbim va'teisht ha'eidah u'v'iram. He smacks the rock instead of speaking to it. Water comes out. The people are are fed, are hydrated, as are their animals. But Hashem is not happy. ויאמר ה' אל משה ואל אהרן Va'yomer Hashem el Moshe v'el Aharon. Moshe speaks to, Hashem speaks to Moshe and Aaron, יען לא האמנתם בי להקדישני לעיני בני ישראל ya'an lo he'emantem bi l'hakdisheini l'einei Bnei Yisrael. You didn't believe in me to sanctify me in the eyes of the Jewish people. לכן לא תביאו את הקהל הזה אל הארץ אשר נתתי להם Lachen lo savi'u es ha'kahal hazeh el ha'aretz asher nasati lahem. Like that, it's all gone. Moshe's whole dream, his life work, his whole effort was to lead the people to the promised land. And just like that, it's all over. It's gone. Why? Because he hit the rock instead of speaking to it. Which Hashem says is a failure of, you didn't believe in me. You failed to believe in me. יען לא האמנתם בי Ya'an lo he'emantem bi. The משך חכמה Meshech Chochma, רבי מאיר שמחה מדווינסק Rabbi Meir Simcha mi'Dvinsk writes, היה כאן תביעה כפולה haya kan t'viah kfulah. There's a double, a double argument God has. גם החסרון באמונה Gam ha'chisaron b'emunah, you didn't believe in me. I said you could speak to it. What would have been a bigger miracle if you spoke to the rock? Some commentators say that was the problem. If you hit a rock and water comes out, it's not such a miracle. Why? Maybe behind the rock is a stream, is a, a מעין ma'ayan, a spring. And maybe when you crack the rock, water came out. You know, when you drive through Jerusalem to מודיעין Modi'in on 443, you'll see cars pull over on the side of the highway because there's a rock there that water comes out, and it's the freshest, coldest, purest. People are filling up bottles from that water. Every time I drive on 443 to מודיעין Modi'in, you'll fill up your water bottle Rabbi Brody from that spring, and you see people and every time I think פרשת חקת Parshas Chukas, water coming forth from a rock. So when you hit the rock and water comes out, pretty impressive. Hasn't happened. Actually, it did happen in the construction, but that was called they broke a water main. It had to be repaired. No miracle in that, just the water getting shut off, it was annoying. But if you could hit a rock and water comes out, it's pretty impressive, but you can easily ascribe it to, you cracked the rock and it was a spring. But to speak to the rock would be a greater miracle. זאגט המשך חכמה Zogt der Meshech Chochma, יען לא האמנתם ya'an lo he'emantem, you would have increased their אמונה emunah, they would have become believers. And not only that, להקדישני l'hakdisheini would have made a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem. There's a double complaint Hashem has, a double criticism. Why? כאן גם החסרון באמונה וגם זה שלא שמע וגם מניעת קידוש השם Kan gam ha'chisaron b'emunah v'gam zeh shelo shama v'gam m'nias kiddush Hashem. Number one, there's a חסרון באמונה chisaron b'emunah, a lack of faith, and number two, it would have been a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem. Said הרב חיים פנחס שיינברג זצ\"ל Harav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg zatzal, ראש ישיבת תורה אור Rosh Yeshivas Torah Or, based on this, this is along the lines of the גרא Gra. The Vilna Gaon famously comments, the משנה פרקי אבות Mishnah Pirkei Avos says, לפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון lifnei mi atah asid litein din v'cheshbon. That in the future, in the world to come, when we meet our creator, we're going to have to answer for דין וחשבון din v'cheshbon. We're going to pay judgment and חשבון cheshbon. What's חשבון cheshbon? Judgment and we're going to have to give a calculation. What's the difference between judgment and calculation? So the גרא Gra says, דין din is accountable for what we did wrong. חשבון Cheshbon is accountable for what we could have done right in that same time. If we wasted time, if we looked at the wrong thing, if we said the wrong thing, if we spent money on the wrong thing, we're accountable for the mistake, for what we did wrong, but we're also accountable for what we could have done right with that time, with that money, with that effort. And that's what Hashem says here, says the משך חכמה Meshech Chochma, יען לא האמנתם בי Ya'an lo he'emantem bi להקדישני l'hakdisheini. A double criticism. Number one, you didn't have אמונה emunah, and number two, you failed to make a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem. Not only what you did wrong by hitting it instead of speaking to it, but what you could have done right. They'd still be talking about it all these years later, the miracle of speaking to the rock and look what happened, the water came out. They would have been talking about that, would have been talking about that miracle, that miracle. The הרב דרוק Rav Druck has two pieces in למה בספר Lama BaSeder. לכאורה יש להבין בדברי הפסוק יען לא האמנתם בי להקדישני, מהו מה שמייחס הכתוב למשה ואהרן שום חסרון אמונה עד שנחשב הדבר כמו שלא האמינו בו כלל L'chora yeish l'havin b'divrei ha'pasuk ya'an lo he'emantem bi l'hakdisheini, ma'hu ma she'meyacheis ha'kasuv l'Moshe v'Aharon shum chisaron emunah ad she'nechshav ha'davar k'mo shelo he'eminu bo klal? I don't understand. They made a mistake. They hit the rock instead of speaking to it. And because they hit the rock instead of speaking to it, Hashem therefore concludes they didn't believe in him? This is Moshe and Aaron we're talking about. Moshe is the נושא התורה nosei ha'Torah. Moshe is the one who transmitted Torah. And because he made a simple mistake, maybe not so simple, but you take away, you challenge his whole faith? מכאן ועד לומר להם האמנתם, דרך ארוכה Mikan v'ad lomar lahem he'emantem, derech arukah. It's a long distance between saying should have spoken not hit it and you had no faith in God. ואפשר לומר בזה, סברא דרב דרוק, כי כאשר אין אדם מקדש שם שמים, הרי זה משום שאינו מאמין שהדבר יקרה V'efshar lomar b'zeh, svara d'Rav Druck, ki ka'asher ein adam mekadeish Shem Shamayim, harei zeh mishum she'eino ma'amin she'hadavar yikareh. אילו לא היה חסרה האמונה שהדבר השם יתקיים, היה מקדש השם Ilu lo haya chasra ha'emunah she'dvar Hashem yitkayem, haya mekadeish Hashem. If you have an opportunity to sanctify God's name, if you could give him credit, if you could lean on him, if you could pray to him, and you don't, it's because you don't believe in him. If a person really believed in him, they would give him credit, they would turn to him. זהו חסרון באמונה אם אדם אינו ניגש לקדש שמו Zeh'hu chisaron b'emunah im adam eino nigash l'kadeish shmo. If a person fails to take the opportunity and invitation to sanctify God's name, it reveals a little bit of a lack of faith. אמרתי לכם, ראינו במשנה באבות דע מאין באת ולאן אתה הולך ולפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון Amarti lachem, ra'inu b'Mishnah b'Avos, da me'ayin basa v'l'an atah holech v'lifnei mi atah asid litein din v'cheshbon. המפרשים עמדו מדוע תנו דין וחשבון Ha'mefarshim amdu madu'a tanu din v'cheshbon. Here he quotes the גרא Gra and he gives the similar expression. ראשית לא האמנתם בי, חלק הדין, you didn't display faith in me. You should have spoken to the rock instead of hit it, hit it. ולאחר מכן, second of all, להקדישני, you could have made a big קידוש השם kiddush Hashem. So when we make a mistake, when we do something wrong, if you don't hold the door, you don't say please and thank you, your word is not your bond, you're not honest in business, you don't sanctify God's name, first of all, you make it, you leave a negative impression, and you fail to have made a positive impression. There's a double sword. It's not one thing, it's the negative impression and the failure to have used that same interaction to make a positive, a positive impression. And that's what Moshe and Aaron could have done, could have done in that moment, and they failed to do. Okay, one more quick idea. Which one should we do? Uh, let's do פרק כ\"א פסוק א' perek kaf-alef pasuk alef. We have three incidents of going to war, three requests that the Jewish people make in our פרשה parsha to cut through the land of others. וישמע כנעני מלך ערד יושב הנגב כי בא ישראל דרך האתרים וילחם בישראל וישב ממנו שבי Va'yishma K'na'ani melech Arad yosheiv ha'negev ki va Yisrael derech ha'atarim va'yilachem b'Yisrael va'yishb mimenu shevi. The Canaanite king of Arad who dwelt in the south heard that the Jewish people had come by the route of the spies, and he warred against Israel, he fought a war, and he took captive from him. Says Rashi, זהו עמלק Zeh'hu Amalek. Now it says וישמע כנעני Va'yishma K'na'ani, the כנעני K'na'ani heard, but it wasn't really the כנעני K'na'ani, it was really עמלק Amalek who was sitting in the נגב Negev, ושינו את לשונם לדבר בלשון כנען v'shinu es l'shonam l'daber b'lashon K'naan, but they didn't speak Amaleki, they spoke קנעני K'na'ani. Why? So the Jewish people would דאווען daven to Hashem that they would defeat the כנענים K'na'anim. And this was a ruse, it was a trick. Sounds like a Mossad operation. What happened? The עמלק Amalek were in the guise of כנען K'naan, so that the Jewish people would דאווען daven to defeat כנען K'naan, not knowing it was really עמלק Amalek. And therefore, עמלק Amalek would be able to defeat them. Says רב יעקב יצחק רודרמן Rav Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman, the ראש ישיבה דנר ישראל בולטימור זצ\"ל Rosh Yeshiva d'Ner Yisrael Baltimore zatzal, why does God care who you were דאווענען davening to defeat? In the end of the day, the Jewish people were דאווענען davening to win the war, to defeat the enemy. Why does it matter they spelled out the wrong enemy? You got the wrong enemy. You thought you were asking God, help us defeat כנען K'naan, but it turns out it was עמלק Amalek in the guise of כנען K'naan, and therefore עמלק Amalek had the upper hand. It matters, says רב רודרמן Rav Ruderman, you see from here, that when you דאווען daven to Hashem, a person has to be specific. You have to be accurate. You have to be precise with your request, which is why one should always qualify their request. Rav Zev Leff expanded. מה שאנשים שנזקקים לישועה, שידוך, זרע של קיימא, פרנסה, להדגיש בתפילתם שרצונם אמנם מה שמבקשים, אלא בתנאי שזהו רצונך Ma she'anashim she'nizkakim li'yeshuah, shidduch, zera shel kayama, parnasah, l'hadgish b'tfilosam she'retzonam omnam ma she'mevakshim, ela b'tnai she'zehu retzonecha. Ask Hashem, I want to marry this person, I'm trying to get this job, I want to have a baby in this time period, אלא בתנאי שזהו רצונך ela b'tnai she'zehu retzonecha. But Hashem, only on condition that this is good for me. Don't ask for things which may not be in your own interest. You're going to ask specifically for that job, maybe that job is going to be your end. Maybe that job is going to rob you of your serenity. Maybe that job is going to land you in jail. Be careful what you wish for, you may get it. So qualify everything you wish for with God, if it's good for me, if it's right for me. Help this שדך shidduch, help that child, help this פרנסה parnasah, if God, it's good for me, but only if it's good for me. Qualify every תפילה tefillah with if it's good for me. Because that was the mistake. Here they דאווען daven, defeat כנען K'naan, but it wasn't כנען K'naan, it was עמלק Amalek. And you see that a person has to be absolutely precise with our תפילות tefillos. We have to end precisely on time because we're continuing with מנחה Mincha. Again, thank you for your flexibility with the פרשה שיעור parsha shiur. We'll begin מנחה Mincha in a few minutes.
