Transcript
Okay, good morning and בוקר טוב Boker Tov and welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. We have the privilege of reading and learning פרשת יתרו Parashat Yitro together. Every פרשה Parsha is the most important פרשה Parsha of the Torah. Whatever פרשה Parsha we're reading that week is the most important פרשה Parsha in the Torah. But arguably many people think this is. פרשת יתרו Parashat Yitro of course contains the עשרת הדיברות Aseret HaDibrot, the Decalogue. We stood at the base of that mountain united and as one and received that Torah, the most seminal moment of all human history and it's in this פרשה Parsha. And so whatever week something is in the פרשה Parsha is the week that we live it, that we experience it. And so that seminal event of of קבלת התורה Kabbalat HaTorah is happening for each and every one of us in our lives. It's a big פרשה Parsha, page 394 in the ArtScroll Stone חומש Chumash. But first we express our gratitude. Parsha Perspectives series is generally sponsored by Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of David Grossman, our learning should be לעילוי נשמת le’iluy nishmat Becky's father, דוד בן מנחם מנש David ben Menachem Manish. The שיעור shiur is also series co-sponsored by what happened to our co-sponsor from בני עלי Bnei Eli? Our series is also sponsored today by Harry Goldman commemorating the יארצייט Yahrzeit of her husband, Hilton Goldman, הלל בן גרשון Hillel ben Gershon. By Judith Rosen in memory of her husband, אלימלך ברוך בן בן-ציון Elimelech Baruch ben Ben-Zion. By Neil and Brandy Pamper לזכר נשמת l’zecher nishmat בריינדל בת שמחה Breindel bat Simcha, the birth of their first grandchild 19 years ago and Neil's survival of a heart attack 18 years ago, all on the 19th of שבט Shevat, which we're grateful for. Anonymously, in honor of the first יארצייט Yahrzeit of עליזה בת עזרא Aliza bat Ezra, Aliza Cohen, may her נשמה neshama have an עליה aliyah. 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If you're here in person, buy the raffle tickets, give the two tickets to your grandchildren, your children, fly in your best friend, fly in others. They'll be grateful to come, given the weather elsewhere, no matter how cold it is here, it's still warmer than it is elsewhere. פרשת יתרו Parashat Yitro page 394: וישמע יתרו כהן מדין חותן משה את כל אשר עשה אלקים למשה ולישראל עמו כי הוציא ה׳ את ישראל ממצרים Vayishma Yitro Kohen Midyan choten Moshe et kol asher asa Elokim le-Moshe u-le-Yisrael amo ki hotzi Hashem et Yisrael mi-Mitzrayim. Yitro, the priest of Midyan, the father-in-law of Moshe heard all that God had done for Moshe and the Jewish people, that He took us out of Egypt, that He took us out of Egypt. וישמע יתרו Vayishma Yitro, Yitro heard. רש״י Rashi says: מה שמועה שמע ובא Ma shemuah shama u-va. רש״י Rashi is paraphrasing from the גמרא Gemara in זבחים Zevachim. מה שמועה שמע ובא Ma shemuah shama u-va? What did he hear that made him get up, stop what he was doing, and come? Many people hear world events. They hear appeals for help and they just turn the page. They just let it go in one ear and out the others. And some, מה שמועה שמע ובא ma shemuah shama u-va, they hear something and they show up, and they care, and they give, and they do, and they come, and they participate. So what made Yitro... מה שמועה שמע ma shemuah shama? רש״י Rashi quotes the גמרא Gemara in זבחים Zevachim. Either קריעת ים סוף Kriat Yam Suf, מלחמת עמלק Milchemet Amalek. The גמרא Gemara there really has a third opinion, which is: maybe it was ים סוף Yam Suf, maybe it was עמלק Amalek, or maybe it was מתן תורה Matan Torah. Maybe he heard about קבלת התורה Kabbalat HaTorah, which of course begs the question: Why then is it out of order? Because in our פרשה Parsha, Yitro arrives not after the Torah is given, Yitro arrives before. And if historically, chronologically Yitro really came after, whenever the Torah publishes, whenever the Torah organizes not chronologically but thematically, you have to ask yourself why. And that is a question we've asked ourselves and we've spoken about in the past. The אש תמיד Eish Tamid, Rabbi Yisroel Meir Druck, addresses this question. דברי רש״י מקורם דברי הגמרא Divrei Rashi mekoram divrei ha-Gemara. He quotes it from the גמרא Gemara in זבחים Zevachim and he quotes the entire גמרא Gemara. והדברים צריכים ביאור Ve-ha-devarim tzerichim be’ur. And the truth is this requires investigation. מה קושיא מה שמועה שמע ובא Ma kushya ma shemuah shama u-va? Why does the גמרא Gemara, why does רש״י Rashi paraphrase...? As we asked ourselves and we've spoken about in the past, the אשי תמיד Ishei Tomid, רב ישראל מאיר דרוק Rav Yisroel Meir Druck, addresses this question. דברי רש\"י Divrei Rashi, מקור דברי הגמרא mikor divrei haGemara, quotes from the גמרא Gemara in זבחים Zevachim and he quotes the entire גמרא Gemara. והדברים צריכים ביאור Veha'devarim tzerichim biur, and the truth is this requires investigation. מה קשיא מה שמועה שמע ובא Mah kashi, mah shmuah shama u'va? Why does the גמרא Gemara, why does רש\"י Rashi paraphrase, \"What did יתרו Yitro hear that made him come?\" Why is that a peculiar question? Because just keep reading the פסוק Pasuk. וישמע יתרו Vayishma Yitro, יתרו Yitro heard. What did he hear? He heard כל אשר עשה אלקים למשה ולישראל עמו kol asher asah Elokim l'Moshe u'l'Yisrael amo. He heard everything that God did for משה Moshe and the Jewish people. כי הוציא השם את ישראל ממצרים ki hotzi Hashem et Yisrael mi'Mitzrayim, that he took us out of Egypt. So you're so curious, you're so inquisitive, \"Oh, I wonder what is it?\" He came but I wonder what drove him. What do you mean what drove him? Just keep reading. It's in the פסוק Pasuk itself. What was the גמרא Gemara asking? What was the גמרא Gemara asking? כיון שמפורש בקרא מה המקום לשאול מה שמועה שמע ובא Keivan shemefurash bakra mah hamakom lishol mah shmuah shama u'va? וביותר תמוה U'v'yoter tamu'ah, and even more so, says רב דרוק Rav Druck, קריעת ים סוף ומלחמת עמלק סותרת את הנאמר בקרא Krias Yam Suf u'milchemet Amalek soteret et hane'emar bakra. The two options that רש\"י Rashi brings of what יתרו Yitro heard that made him come are in exact contradiction or inconsistent with what the פסוק Pasuk itself gives as the reason. פסוק Pasuk itself gives it the reason. Why did he come? כי הוציא השם את ישראל ממצרים ki hotzi Hashem et Yisrael mi'Mitzrayim, he took us out of Egypt. But those aren't the two reasons רש\"י Rashi suggests. The two reasons רש\"י Rashi suggests are either splitting of the sea or war with עמלק Amalek. So why not just stick with the פשט pshat? Why do you have to get all creative? Why do you have to guess? Why not just stick with the פסוק Pasuk? The פסוק Pasuk tells us explicitly, why do we have to guess? עוד צריך תלמוד Od tzarich talmud, and if it's not enough רב דרוק Rav Druck throws in a third question. מה היה כל כך מיוחד דוקא בקריעת ים סוף ומלחמת עמלק Mah hayah kol kach meyuchad davka b'Krias Yam Suf u'milchemet Amalek? What is so special about those two things that those would be the catalyst, they would precipitate יתרו Yitro getting up, buying a ticket, packing his bags, taking a leave of absence from where he is and going to join the Jewish people, maybe even to the point of converting? והלא היו עשר מכות Vahalo hayu eser makos, there were the ten plagues, there were the other miracles that God did, there's a big menu to choose from of which miracles might have motivated יתרו Yitro. Why, if we're not going to stick with what it says in the פסוק Pasuk, if we're going to come up with our own, why come up specifically with those two? And why not stick with what's in the פסוק Pasuk or come up with one of the other great miracles that God did? And lastly, number four, all for the price of one. הערה נוספת שיש לעמוד עליה מה לשון מלחמת עמלק היה צריך להדגיש את הניצחון שניצחו בני ישראל את עמלק He'arah nosefet sheyesh la'amod aleiha, mah lashon milchemet Amalek? Hayah tzarich l'hadgish et hanitzachon shenitzchu Bnei Yisrael et Amalek. Why are we mentioning at all the war with עמלק Amalek? Here's what's peculiar about יתרו Yitro being impressed with the Jewish people in the war with עמלק Amalek. Who won the war with עמלק Amalek? I refer you back to the end of last week's פרשה Parsha. We didn't win that war. We weren't triumphant and victorious. At best, the war was a draw. We walked away, we survived, but so did they. They didn't disarm, they didn't disband, there was no council that took over עמלק Amalek. עמלק Amalek remained intact, in force, continued to haunt us and continued to haunt us עד היום הזה ad hayom hazeh. We didn't defeat and we didn't destroy and we didn't eliminate עמלק Amalek. So what's so impressive? What inspired יתרו Yitro to come because he heard about the miracle of the war with עמלק Amalek? So רב דרוק Rav Druck says הנראה לומר בזה שבאמת אין הכוונה לשאול מה שמועה שמע hanireh lomar bezeh shebe'emet ein hakavana lishol mah shmuah shama. The real question wasn't what did יתרו Yitro hear? Because that the פסוק Pasuk tells us. What did יתרו Yitro hear? He heard that God took us out of Egypt. That's not the question. The whole question is three letters long. The whole question is the last word. מה שמועה שמע ובא Mah shmuah shama u'va? What did he hear that made him come? You see, the world is watching the news. And the world reads some expose about Israel and the Mossad and what they accomplished and achieved with the beeper operation, what they accomplished and achieved with this operation, how they were able to take out a pinpointed strike, they knew our enemy was sleeping in his bed in this apartment at this time and a missile went right through a hole in that wall to that bed and they say, \"Huh, that's amazing. That's fantastic. I wonder how they did that? What happened in the game last night? What happened in the market yesterday? What's the weather going to be, when is it going to finally warm up?\" They just keep turning the pages. Everybody else heard and followed the news and you know what they did? You know how it impacted them? You know what they changed about their life? גורנישט gornisht, nada, nothing. יתרו Yitro is the exception and that is characterized by that one word. Not מה שמועה mah shmuah, what did he hear? In fact we sang in אז ישיר Az Yashir that the whole world ירגזון yirgazun, they all heard and they all trembled. The whole world heard, it was the headline, it was the front page. And that's not hard to imagine that little tiny country smaller than the state of New Jersey in the Middle East called Israel dominates the news every single day. There's a war of Russia and Ukraine, you hear about it a little bit, sometimes it's tucked a few pages in. Israel, ceasefire that seems to be holding and it's still dominating the news. The Jews always dominate the news. מה שמועה mah shmuah, you'll hear everything you want to know and don't want to know, true and false, the Jews will always dominate the news, not by choice. If we could exit out, we easily and happily would. But we dominate the news. The question wasn't מה שמועה mah shmuah, what did he hear? That the פסוק Pasuk says. Says Rav Druck the question was ובא uba, what made him come? איזו שמועה שמע ששמועה זו השפיעה עליו ביותר Eizeh shmuah shama she-shmuah zo hispiah alav biyoter? What impact did it have that he closed the newspaper, that he turned off the internet, that he shut off the news, packed his bag, bought a ticket and said I've got to check this out for myself. וביותר בראש הגמרא מאריכה לספר כאשר נתנה תורה לישראל קול הולך מסוף העולם ועד סופו כל מלכי עובדי כוכבים אחזתם רעדה בהיכלם u-biyoter be-rosh ha-gemara maaricha lesaper ka-asher nitnah torah le-yisrael kol holech misof ha-olam ve-ad sofo kol malchei ovdei kochavim achazatam ra-adah beheichalam. The whole world, the whole world, idolaters, believers, they all shook, they all trembled by the truth of God and by this unprecedented and unparalleled revelation of Sinai. They all heard it but nobody moved, nobody came, nobody listened. יתרו Yitro's impressive to us, and יתרו Yitro is worthy of a פרשה parsha being named for him because יתרו Yitro teaches us the מידה middah, the quality, the capacity of וישמע vayishma, of listening. Not just listening audibly, not just listening where you heard, listening where you're transformed. How many of us hear a דרשה drasha, a שמוז shmuz, we go to a שיעור shiur? How many of us read a book or listen to a podcast? How many of us follow news or a friend tells us an extraordinary story? We find it fascinating, maybe so much so that we remember it or we repeat it, but does it change us, does it transform us? Do we radically do something different in our life? Not just מה שמועה שמע mah shmuah shama, but יתרו Yitro like the rest of the world heard, but ובא uba, what made him come? Now it's קריאת ים סוף Kriat Yam Suf ומלחמת עמלק u-milchemet Amalek. קריאת ים סוף Kriat Yam Suf, אז נבהלו אלופי אדום כלם נמוגו az nivhalu alufei edom kulam namogu—everybody heard but יתרו Yitro was ובא uba. And what was it about עמלק Amalek? So Rav Druck gives his answer, I'll tell you mine. I'll tell you mine. מלחמת עמלק Milchemet Amalek, it doesn't say נצחון עמלק nitzachon Amalek. עיקר הסיבה שמחמתה בא היא לא נס הנצחון היו הרבה ניסים עצם זה שראה עמלק שהם אלופי אדום שנפל באזניו המוסר שהיה בקריאת ים סוף ובכל זאת בא להילחם הבין שהוא מוכרח לעשות שינוי מיד Ikar ha-sibah she-machmatah ba hi lo nes ha-nitzachon hayu harbeh nissim etzem zeh she-ra-ah Amalek she-hem alufei Edom she-nafal be-oznav ha-musar she-hayah bi-Kriat Yam Suf u-be-chol zot ba le-hilachem hevin she-hu muchrach la-asot shinui mi-yad. He said עמלק Amalek was not changed by the news. Did עמלק Amalek hear about the miracles of Egypt? Certainly. The whole world did. עמלק Amalek, their intelligence division branch, עמלק Amalek certainly heard about the ten plagues. And did it make them rethink attacking the Jewish people? Absolutely not. עמלק Amalek were unmoved, unchanged. They didn't pivot. They remained on course to be our enemy. And יתרו Yitro said that's bizarre. These miracles, this divine providence and protection, there's something special about this people. And here you have עמלק Amalek and it's not the נצחון עמלק nitzachon Amalek, that didn't move him, there was no victory, it was a draw at best. So what moved him? Why did he come? Because he had to check out who are these people? Who is this עמלק Amalek that would attack a people even after God intervened in nature to perform countless miracles on their behalf? But I suggest a different answer, and my answer I think is relevant for our time too. After the שיעור shiur this morning, I have what is increasingly filling up my schedule, so much so, too much so, but how can you say no? And that is we have a בית דין Beit Din for גירות geirus, we have a rabbinical court for conversion. And you'd think that after October 7th, and you would think maybe after October 7th there was elicited a sympathy of the world against the Jew, but after October 8th or 9th when instead of sympathy, didn't last long, antisemitism is on the rise, antisemitism is spreading and is everywhere, antisemitism is a real danger and a threat. So if you have the luxury of not wearing the tag or label Jew, wouldn't you think that you wouldn't want it? And now in my lifetime more than ever, people are lining up and saying I want to join this people. I want to convert. Let me in, let me in. Sincere, genuine, incredible, extraordinary people who are ready to radically change and transform their lives and they want to convert. And we have a בית דין Beit Din, our regular meetings and our sponsoring rabbis and our conversions, ברוך השם baruch Hashem it's among the greatest זכות zechus to be involved with. And you look and you ask and you wonder, one of the questions we ask when a candidate is in the מקוה mikvah: Do you believe in God and the world to come and reward and punishment and תחיית המתים techiyat ha-meisim and the whole list of questions we ask? Do you accept עול מצוות ol mitzvos, observe what you know, what you don't yet know, what's easy, what's hard, דאורייתא דרבנן de-oraisa de-rabanan? All the questions that we ask. We say are you aware of, are you familiar with the concept called antisemitism? Do you know that from this moment going forward, you are a full-fledged Jew, and as far as antisemites are concerned, you have a target on your back? Do you still want to dunk? It's not too late to walk out. And 100% rate, they say I'm all in, I'm all in. What motivated יתרו Yitro to go? I think, and what's motivating so many of these converts? They say the world is obsessed with this Jewish people. Why is the world obsessed with this people? And the most heinous, evil, wicked people on earth are the most obsessed with this people, somehow threatened. and by this people and desperately focused on eliminating this people, I gotta check out this people. When the most evil wicked people on earth are singly focused on one people, there's something special about that people. That's our people. When Israel fights a war not on seven fronts but on eight when you include online, when seven separate peoples and then the whole online world are all targeting the Jewish people, there's something special about the Jewish people. So maybe יתרו Yitro wasn't moved by a victory over עמלק Amalek because there was none; at best we had a draw. What motivated יתרו Yitro? Why עמלק Amalek, this most evil people on earth, why are they so threatened and bothered? Why are they so obsessed? Why do they have such a different double standard when it comes to the Jew? I've got to check out this people called the Jew. It was true then with יתרו Yitro and it's true now with our גרי צדק Gerei Tzedek, our righteous converts, so many whom we're privileged to know in our time. I want to share three interpretations of the אח פרי תבואה Ach Pri Tevuah. We've been learning this season of פרשה Parsha perspectives the הייליגע ליסקער רב Heilige Lisker Rav צבי הירש Tzvi Hirsch, the רבי Rebbe of רב שיעלה Reb Shayele, the אח פרי תבואה Ach Pri Tevuah. וישמע יתרו כהן מדין Vayishma Yitro Kohen Midyan and he says the following: התורה רמזה לנו דיכול האדם להפוך את עצמו מהפך להפך HaTorah ramzah lanu deyachol ha'adam lehafoch et atzmo mehepech lehepech. The last couple of פרשיות Parshiyot, we were very focused on God hardening Pharaoh's heart, God suspending his free will, what it looks like when you have no autonomy and when you have no choice. And now, says the אח פרי תבואה Ach Pri Tevuah, the ליסקער רב Lisker Rav, now we are pivoting from a storyline of a person who had no free will to an extraordinary example of what can happen, what possibilities are opened when we express our free will. יתרו Yitro went מהפך להפך mehepech lehepech. יתרו Yitro radically changed his life from one extreme to the other. דמתחילה היה כהן מדין ואחר כך נעשה חותן משה D'matchilah hayah kohen Midyan v'achar kach na'aseh choten Moshe. He went from being the priest, the high priest of idolatry, the leader of an idolatrous religion. He was this mega-pastor of the world's greatest mega-church who had the largest mega-megaphone and he just preached and he went from that to becoming the father-in-law of משה Moshe. וגם כהוציא השם את ישראל ממצרים היינו שיכול כל אחד לעשות מה שליבו חפץ דבחירה היא חפשית לכן בא גם הוא למדבר ללמוד תורה Vegam k'hotzi Hashem et Yisrael miMitzrayim haino sheyachol kol echad la'asot mah shelibo chafetz debechirah hi chofshit lachen ba gam hu lamidbar lilmod Torah. That יתרו Yitro gave all that up, walked away from that notoriety, that fame, that fortune. יתרו Yitro walked away from that prominence and dominance to start from the bottom, to go into חדר Cheder and learn the אלף בית Aleph Beis, to join the Jewish people in the desert and start from the beginning of their story. And why, why is the introduction to קבלת התורה Kabbalat HaTorah? He doesn't spell this out, but I'll expand. So if indeed יתרו Yitro chronologically comes after הר סיני Har Sinai, why would the תורה Torah put it out of place? Why would the תורה Torah place יתרו Yitro as the preface, as the introduction to קבלת התורה Kabbalat HaTorah? And maybe it's for each and every one of us to know that it is never too late. If we employ and engage our בחירה Bechirah, if we express our autonomy, our בחירה חפשית Bechirah Chofshit, our free will, it's never too late to become who we're meant to be. It's never too late to start. רבי עקיבא Rabbi Akiva started at 40. At 40 years old, he was a shepherd, an ignorant shepherd at 39, and at 40 he saw the water drip on the rock and he realized something could penetrate even his thick skull. חס ושלום Chas v'shalom, מחילה Mechila, it's what רבי עקיבא Rabbi Akiva said about himself. And he started to learn אלף בית Aleph Beis from the beginning. אונקלוס הגר Onkelos HaGer, שניים מקרא ואחד תרגום Shnayim mikra v'echad targum, we've been promoting and learning that project. Who's the תרגום Targum? It's תרגום אונקלוס Targum Onkelos. אונקלוס Onkelos was advanced. How did אונקלוס Onkelos start? He was sent to go convert and he walked out and he kissed the מזוזה Mezuzah. What's that? He told him what it is. I want to learn. I want to learn. אונקלוס Onkelos started where? חדר Cheder, kindergarten, Pre-K, whatever you call it. You picture this grown-up sitting at one of those little mini-desks, sitting in one of those little mini-chairs. When do I get to be the שבת אבא Shabbos Abba? Now he probably didn't do that, but you can picture אונקלוס Onkelos with a little שבת אבא Shabbos Abba hat when it's his week, because the teacher couldn't leave him out because everybody has to get a chance, even though אונקלוס Onkelos is an advanced age and he's sitting with all the little kids in the little chair. And אונקלוס Onkelos has a little ציצית Tzitzis party and אונקלוס Onkelos has the חומש Chumash party and אונקלוס Onkelos has the סידור Siddur party and אונקלוס Onkelos starts from the very beginning. And so does יתרו Yitro. יתרו כהן מדין Yitro Kohen Midyan, יתרו Yitro is the mega-pastor of a mega-church. Every word, everywhere, his is a household name and now he finds himself in the little חדר Cheder with the little קינדערלעך Kinderlach, with the little children, getting a little פעקל peckel of candy. And יתרו Yitro, he has a little cubby that he puts his little backpack and he opens up his little lunch and he starts from the start, starts again from the beginning. And that image is so holy and so beautiful and it's so inspiring and so motivating and so empowering. חברה Chevre, it's not too late. Start. רמב\"ם Rambam, the cycle of רמב\"ם Rambam just made a סיום Siyum. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, we were זוכה Zocheh, ישיבת Yeshivat of Florida, we just had a beautiful event for the סיום הרמב\"ם Siyum HaRambam. Just started again. Take up, you could start again. Doesn't matter what age, what stage, where you are in life. יתרו Yisro says the אך פרי תבואה Ach Pritvuah, יתרו Yisro becomes the incredible inspiration, start again. נו Nu, what are you starting? ט\"ו בשבט Tu B'Shevat, we're ready to blossom and bloom, we're ready to grow and burst forth, we're ready to wake up like those- it was a little warm today. Could be the iguanas are going to wake up. Not the one in our parking lot, unfortunately ברוך דיין האמת Baruch Dayan Haemes, he's never waking up. But the others, these iguanas could wake up. It's not too late to wake up, התחדשות Hitschadshus, התחדשות Hitschadshus. So we go from פרעה Paro whose heart is hardened, פרעה Paro whose heart is stone, פרעה Paro who is fixed, he's finished, he's done to יתרו Yisro, who is the greatest example of someone who so radically changes his life. Why says the אך פרי תבואה Ach Pritvuah, the message to us is listen to the messages, be inspired by them, and make a change from them. What are you going to change? What are you going to do differently? Then he continues the next piece. לכאורה בלתי מובן דלא הוא כתוב מפורש בקרא Haloichora bilti muvant delo hu kasuv meforush bikra. The same question everybody asks, why are you asking מה שמועה שמע Mah shemuah shama, the פסוק Posuk itself says it. It says what משה Moshe told יתרו Yisro. What יתרו Yisro heard rather. So why do you have to ask what did he hear? ויש לומר דהנה ידוע דאין מקבלים גרים לימות המשיח Ve'yesh lomar dinei ad dei mekabelim gerim liyemos hamashiach. Now as much as I said that we have a line out the door today to join the Jewish people, the גמרא Gemara in יבמות Yevamos דף כ\"ד Daf Chaf Daled tells us that ימות המשיח Yemos HaMashiach, when משיח Mashiach will come and there'll be this great revelation and there'll be the resurrection and God's presence and influence will be undeniable, we're done. Sorry, בית דין Beis Din is closed, we're no longer accepting interviews, candidates, we're no longer accepting converts. אין מקבלים גרים לימות המשיח Ein mekabelim gerim liyemos hamashiach. Why? שאז יהיו ישראל במעלה עליונה ולא יהיה שום חידוש בדבר אם ירצה אחד לדבוק עמהם She'az yihyu Yisroel bema'alah elyonah velo yihyeh shum chidush bedavar im yirtzeh echad ledaveik imahem. Because there's nothing special or impressive about at that point everybody wants to join the Jewish people. It's what we call in the world of sports, a fair-weather fan. When you all of a sudden become a fan of that team because they're in the Super Bowl or they just won it, when you become a fan of that dynasty, it's not impressive. It's when you stick with them through their losing seasons. That's when you're a real fan. When you stick with the Jewish people when everybody wants to kill us and destroy us and eliminate us and lie about us and you want to join us, come, let's find out more about you. We welcome you, we'd love to have you. But when משיח Mashiach will come and everyone will want to join, sorry, we're closed. לכאורה איך קיבלו אז גם כן את יתרו Loichora heich kiblu az gam kein es Yisro? So that's what the פסוק Posuk is coming to ask us, that's what the תורה Torah is telling us. What בחינה Bechina, in what time period was יתרו Yisro joining the Jewish people? Like ימות המשיח Yemos HaMashiach time or like an antisemitism on the rise time? So you might say, well, the Jewish people were at a high: ten plagues, splitting of the sea, giving the תורה Torah at סיני Sinai, we're clearly God's people. ומה שמועה שמע וקריאת ים סוף ומלחמת עמלק דהיינו שגם עם זאת שמע שתכף רדפו מצרים אחריהם וגם נזערו מלחמת עמלק וגם מה שיהיה כן לימות המשיח שלא יהיה שום פוצה פה ומצפצף נגד ישראל וכיוצא בזה ראיתי בספר אחד ליחד יתרו שנעשה בשרו חדודים חדודים ומצר על איבוד מצרים כיון שבאמת היה גר צדק למה רע לו לפי הנ\"ל ניחא דבשרו נעשה חדודים על כל טובה שעשה השם לישראל ויכול להיות שעל ידי זה לא יקבלו אותו כמו לעתיד U'mah shemuah shama u'krias yamsuf umilchemes amalek deinu shegam im zos shama sheteikef rodvu mitzrayim achareihem vegam niz'oru milchemes amalek vegam mah sheyihyeh kein liyemos hamashiach shelo yihyeh shum potzeh peh metzaptzeif neged Yisroel kayotzei bazeh re'isi besefer echad leyechad Yisro shena'asah besaro chadudin chadudin umetzar al ibbud mitzrayim keivan shebe'emes haya ger tzedek lama ra lo lifi hanal nichad devesaro na'asah chadudin al kol tovah she'asah hashem leYisroel veyachol liyihyos she'al yedei zeh lo yekablu oso kmo le'asid. So the חידוש Chidush is why did we accept him if he came because he was so impressed by miracles, there is no חידוש Chidush. So what was it that drove him that made him come is not what's in the פסוק Posuk, but what is suggested separately, says the second interpretation אך פרי תבואה Ach Pritvuah, that's what it comes to. And lastly, הנה רבים סוברים שעיקר הוא הידיעה Hinei rabbim sovirim she'ikar hu hayedi'ah. There's a big debate, what's more important, to have the right beliefs or even if your beliefs are not exactly on track, on target, to live the right actions? What's more important? ידיעה Yedi'ah or מעשה Ma'aseh? So some people mistakenly believe, and he references here in the name of the ספר עיקרים Sefer Ikkarim, הידיעה hayedi'ah. ובזה קונה אדם לעצמו שלימות Uvizeh koneh adam le'atzmo shleimus. How do you become complete and whole? What matters is ידיעה Yedi'ah, what matters is what you know and what you feel. What you do, that's a separate story. ובפרט חכמי אומות העולם הם בודאי אומרים כן Uvifrat chachmei umos ha'olam heim bevadi omrim kein, the other philosophers they're so focused on philosophy and the truth academically, conceptually, philosophically, theologically, that's what matters. שזה הוא השארת הנפש במה שמשיג דברים המושכלים Shezeh hu hash'aras hanefesh bimah shemasig devarim hamuskalom. As long as you can contemplate and philosophize and think and arrive at and conclude, that's what matters. אבל דעת חכמי האמת אינו כן Aval das chachmei ha'emes eino kein. But that's not the Jewish approach. רק העיקר היא המעשה Rak ha'ikar hi hama'aseh. What matters most is the world of action. ולא המדרש הוא העיקר אלא המעשה Veloh hamidrash hu ha'ikar elah hama'aseh, it's a מפורש mefoerush משנה mishna in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos, פרק א' משנה י\"ז Perek Alef Mishna Yud Zayin. הנה כבר אמרתי על הפסוק מה תצעק אלי Hinei kvar amarti al hapasuk Mah tiz'ak elai. Last week's פרשה Parsha when we're stuck between the sea and the Egyptians and God says what are you doing? Close the סידור Siddur, close the תהילים Tehillim, start walking. כתוב בספר נחל קדומים Kasuv basefer Nachal Kedumim. תרי ראשי תיבות הם אותיות אמת tarei rashei teivos heim osiyos emes. מה תצעק אלי Ma titzak elay, why are you crying out to Me, is an acronym for the word אמת emes, truth, אמת emes. דאמרתי לפרש D’amarti l’fareish, says the אהבת שלום Ahavas Shalom, let me explain, דשר של מצרים טען de’sar shel Mitzrayim ta’an מה נשתנה אלו מאלו ma nishtana elu me’elu והנה הקדוש ברוך הוא אמת חותמו vehinei Hakadosh Baruch Hu emes chosmo לכן אמר מה תצעק אלי lachen amar ma titzak elay דבר אל בני ישראל ויסעו daber el Bnei Yisrael v’yisa’u ועל ידי שיבטחו בשמו יתברך v’al yedei she’yivtechu b’shemo Yisbarach וימסרו נפשם על ידי זה ינצלו v’yimsru nafsham al yedei zeh yinatzlu. Because מה תצעק אלי Ma titzak elay is אמת emes. When we live with the world of action and מסירות נפש mesirus nefesh and we just walk even though we don't know what's going to happen, and we put one foot in front of the other, because השם Hashem is the אמת emes, He is the truth and we're living in His world of truth and He interacts with us in truth, and we demonstrate that faith, it's not through moving our lips, it's not only through the תפילה tefillah of the סידור Siddur and the תהלים Tehillim, but it's in the world of action, it's that מסירות נפש mesirus nefesh that is the אמת emes. And that's what יתרו Yisro does too. וזה שאמר מה ששמע ובא v’zeh she’amar mah sheshama u’va, הלא די לו במה שהשיג השם יתברך halo dai lo b’mah shehisig Hashem Yisbarach? The other philosophers would say, יתרו Yisro doesn't have to buy a ticket, pack his bags and come. What does he have to do? Just to lean back in his armchair, smoke a pipe, philosophize and say, \"Ooh, I just heard, oh he split the sea. Ooh, war with עמלק Amalek. Ooh, he gave a תורה Torah. Oh, based on my philosophical calculations, based on my evaluating the evidence, I philosophize that there is a God of this world. Shine.\" That would be enough. But not for us. We evaluate not only based on philosophy conceptually, academically; for us, what matters is the world of מעשה ma'aseh. That's why ודא ובא u’da u’va, he got up and he came. He demonstrated a world of action. Now he qualifies to be our people. למה בא רק ששמע קריאת ים סוף ומלחמת עמלק? Lama ba rak sheshama Krias Yam Suf u’milchemes Amalek? וזהו היבין שהמעשה הוא העיקר v’zehu hayavin shehama’aseh hu ha’ikar. What did he hear? What happened in קריאת ים סוף Krias Yam Suf and מלחמת עמלק milchemes Amalek? Only those two. Not הוצאת מצרים hotza’as Mitzrayim, not מתן תורה Matan Torah. What happened in קריאת ים סוף Krias Yam Suf? What caused the sea to split? Because we heard the מה תצעק אלי Ma titzak elay. נחשון בן עמינדב Nachshon ben Aminadav, we closed the סידור Siddur, we closed the תהלים Tehillim and we started walking. יתרו Yisro said, \"Ooh, that's interesting. It's not just about philosophy, it's about action.\" What happened in מלחמת עמלק milchemes Amalek? We didn't lie down passive victims. We fought back. We picked up arms. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu's arms were lifted. אהרן Aharon and חור Chur lifted his arms. We looked up to heaven. We combined our תפילה tefillah with finding valiant fighters. A world of action. What caused יתרו מה ששמע ובא Yisro mah sheshama u’va? What made him come? Meaning, what made him not only come to philosophical conclusions but also act? What made him act? He saw what we did, both in the case of קריאת ים סוף Krias Yam Suf and מלחמת עמלק milchemes Amalek. He saw the מה תצעק אלי Ma titzak elay that we lived, a מסירות נפש mesirus nefesh, that we didn't just wait and rely passively on השם Hashem, but השתדלות hishtadlus. We made an effort. Action. מעשה ma'aseh. And from that he understood that we have to act. It requires a world of מעשה ma'aseh. This isn't hard to see or understand. It's the truth in all of our relationships. Could you imagine a spouse? \"Would you mind taking out the garbage?\" \"Ooh, let me philosophize about how much I love you. I love you in ways you can't understand. You don't even understand what love is. We're two halves of a whole and that love, it's so great, it's beyond words. It hurts.\" Yeah, could you take the garbage out? Love me less and take the garbage out. רבונו של עולם Ribbono shel Olam says, love Me less and תרי\"ג מצות Taryag Mitzvos. Don't wait to feel it. Don't wait to philosophize about it. Do it. Action. A world of action. יתרו Yisro saw and understood that and that's why he came. And lastly, and then we'll start the parsha class, יתרו Yisro, the Rabbi Sacks. In the great Rabbi Sacks חומש Chumash, the new חומש Chumash, פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro is divided into two episodes, writes Rabbi Sacks. In the first, Jewish people receive its first system of governance, delegated leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens at the advice of יתרו Yisro, Moshe's father-in-law, whose name the פרשה parsha bears. In the second, he receives its eternal constitution by way of a covenant with God, making the entire nation a kingdom of priests. A brief summation of its key elements is given by the voice of השם Hashem Himself in the form of the Ten Commandments. The twin tablets with their Ten Commandments are the enduring symbol of eternal law under the sovereignty of השם Hashem. Both episodes, יתרו Yisro and the revelation, have one theme in common: delegation, distribution, and democratization of human leadership. Only God can rule alone. That's פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro. That's יתרו Yisro's message to a son-in-law, and that's the theme of פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro. Only the רבונו של עולם Ribbono shel Olam can rule alone. For the rest of us, delegation, distribution, democratization. Shul leadership, school leadership, governance of a country, of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael. Delegation, distribution, democratization. There's an incredible platform for business called EOS, Entrepreneurial Operating System. Our שול shul is adopting it. Six months. Yesterday we had another one of our quarterly meetings. Eight hours straight. Was incredible. Our implementer, the great צבי שורץ Tzvi Schwartz, to whom we're incredibly grateful, a talented expert EOS implementer. And much of EOS, I told him, is פרשת יתרו Parshat Yitro. It has themes called delegate and elevate. The idea of an organization having core values and here, when יתרו Yitro succeeds in convincing משה Moshe you have to delegate and elevate, he gives him a description of how do you choose people. You need to choose, you need to choose what qualifies to be people: אנשי חיל יראי אלקים אנשי אמת שונאי בצע anshei chayil yirei Elokim anshei emet sonei batza. Those are the core values of the Jewish people. People who live the core values, exemplify not aspirationally, but already, those are the core values. All the EOS, everything about the platform, that's כל ישראל Klal Yisrael's going to run and operate. It's enough of Jewish organizations acting היימיש heimish. Our mission is too great, our responsibility too profound, the difference we have to make so awesome that we can't be היימיש heimish. It's inexcusable, it should be intolerable. We have to be professional, we have to be excellent, we have to be organized, we have to use the tools at our disposal. EOS or others, I highly recommend it. And that's what יתרו Yitro comes, and sometimes it takes the outsider to see. יתרו Yitro comes from the outside and he says, you're already so היימיש heimish. You're barely born a people, you just got out of מצרים Mitzrayim. Yesterday you were a slave and already you're operating so היימיש heimish. So last minute, notes on the back of a napkin, no meetings, no notes, no vision, no values, no goal, no vision, no traction, no nothing. יתרו Yitro comes and he says here's, יתרו Yitro's the first implementer. יתרו Yitro comes in as the EOS implementer and he teaches scorecard, delegate and elevate, L10 meetings, teaches core values, teaches all of these things and we the Jewish people since then are different thanks to his input and impact. פרק יח פסוק ח Perek Yud-Chet Passuk Chet. ויספר משה לחותנו את כל אשר עשה ה' לפרעה ולמצרים Vayisaper Moshe lechotno et kol asher asa Hashem leParoh uleMitzrayim. Now משה Moshe greets him, he goes out to greet him, he shows great honor to his father-in-law. Beautiful relationship and a beautiful example. There are a lot of הלכות halachot, not only of כיבוד אב ואם kibbud av va-em but how that relates to in-laws. And משה Moshe is one of the examples. We have several other in the תורה Torah. They're not all great. דוד המלך David Hamelech's father-in-law didn't exactly have a great relationship with him, tried to kill him. So but משה Moshe and יתרו Yitro have a good one. ויספר משה Vayisaper Moshe, משה Moshe tells his שווער shver, כל אשר עשה ה' לפרעה kol asher asa Hashem leParoh, everything ה' Hashem did to פרעה Paroh, מצרים Mitzrayim, על אודות ישראל al odot Yisrael, all the story of the Jewish people, את כל התלאה אשר מצאתם בדרך ויצילם ה' et kol hatela'ah asher metza'atam baderech vayatzilem Hashem. And all the תלאה tela'ah. What's the word תלאה tela'ah? Open book test, what's the word תלאה tela'ah? You can look inside. Travail. Travail's another word for all the misery and challenges and all the problems and all the hardship and everything that they went through. So what's that all about? משה Moshe's already קוועטשינג kvetching? Yeah, how was the flight? אוי oy, who I was sitting next to, the seat I got, what time we took off, how cold it was, the turbulence it was, they stopped giving individual bottles of water, if you ask for water now they pour it in a cup but the cup on your tray's going to spill. It was miserable, the wifi didn't work and the everything. Okay, but you got here, you're here, you're safe, you're good. משה Moshe, את כל התלאה et kol hatela'ah, that's what he's focused on? The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra writes, תלאה הטעם צרה שילאה אדם לסבלה או להגידה והטעם שרדיפת מצרים וים וביאת עמלק ורעב וצמא ומכולם הצילם ה' tela'ah hata'am tzara sheyela'eh adam lesavlah o lehagidah vehata'am sheridifat Mitzrayim vayam uviat Amalek vera'av vetzame'u umikulam hitzilam Hashem. The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra says no, משה Moshe wasn't a קוועטשער kvetcher and he wasn't a complainer. משה Moshe wasn't sharing all of it to highlight the negative of the challenges along the way. Why did משה Moshe do it? Because he was setting it up as the miracle of ה' Hashem. Would you believe we were hungry and thirsty? ה' Hashem made a miracle, he brought us water and he gave us מן manna. Would you believe they were chasing us and they wanted to kill us? ה' Hashem made a miracle, he split the sea and we walked right through. Would you believe that even when we were out and we were free and we thought we'd smooth sailing from here, this nation rose against us, עמלק Amalek, they tried to destroy us, and ה' Hashem let us survive, we walked away. משה Moshe, says the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, wasn't את כל התלאה et kol hatela'ah was not here are all the travails because we're קוועטשערס kvetchers and complainers and miserable and פארביסענע farbissene and we suffer from the missing tile syndrome. No, it's the opposite. Let me tell you about all the things that could have gone wrong and did go wrong and yet despite that, look here I am and look how amazing ה' Hashem is. ובמדרש ישי Uvemidrash Yishai, and I'm reading from the מגד יוסף Meged Yosef, יוסף שרצקין Yosef Sorotzkin. תלאה ת ל א ה שנים tela'ah, tav lamed alef heh shanim שנשתעבדו במצרים shenishtabdu beMitzrayim. The word תלאה tela'ah is a reference to the ת ל א ה tav lamed alef heh, the 436 years in Egypt. והנה פירוש רש\"י בתחילת הפסוק ויספר משה לחותנו למשוך את ליבו לקרבו לתורה Vehineh peirush Rashi bitchilat hapassuk vayisaper Moshe lechotno limshoch et libo lekarvo laTorah. Why is משה Moshe telling a story to his שווער shver? ויספר משה Vayisaper Moshe. Says come let's have a לחיים l'chaim, come let's sit and catch up, let me tell you. ויספר Vayisaper means elaborate, I want to tell you a story. Let me tell you the story. Why? So רש\"י Rashi says he was trying to draw him close to תורה Torah. דבר תמוה היאך ימשוך את ליבו ויקרבו לתורה דרך סיפור התלאות והצרות Davar tamuh heich yimshoch et libo veyikarvo laTorah derech sippur hatla'ot vehatzarot. That's going to make him want to join the Jewish people? It was difficult... We didn't have air conditioning. We were hungry. We were tired. We were complaining. We were miserable. We were incorrigible. That's going to make him want to join the Jewish people? That's going to make him want to embrace this thing called תורה Torah? הנה טבע האדם הוא Hine teva ha'adam hu, writes the מגד יוסף Meged Yosef, that a person's nature is להעריך את מה שעלה לו ביוקר ובא מה שבא לו בקושי leha'arich es ma she'ala lo beyoker uva ma sheba lo bekoshi. A person... a person elevates what's precious and comes with difficulty. ונראה ששורש הדבר מוטבע בחכמת הלשון, תיבת יקר מתפרש מחד כביוקר Venire sheshoresh hadavar mutba bechochmas halashon, teivas yakar misparesh mi-chad keveyoker. He elaborates on the language here and he says the following idea: בשביל להעריך את הנצחון על עמלק צריך לדעת לחוש את הפחד שקדם למלחמה Bishvil leha'arich es hanitzachon al Amalek tzarach ladas lachush es hapachad shekodem lamilchama. If you want to understand the miracle of the victory over עמלק Amalek, you need to understand the fear that we faced beforehand. They talk about the Six Day War, that there were graves that were dug all over ישראל Israel. Cemeteries were prepared, חברה קדישא Chevra Kadishas were prepared, freezers were prepared, they thought it would be a slaughter. It only adds to the miracle after when you know the level of fear and fright before. בשביל להעריך את המן Bishvil leha'arich es haman, in order to appreciate the miracle of the מן man falling, צריך להרגיש היטב את הרעב tzarach lehargish heiteiv es hara'av. You have to understand just how hungry they were, how desperate they were, how afraid they were where they were going to find food. למשוך את ליבו של יתרו לקרבו לתורה צריך לומר כמה צרות ורדיפות בני ישראל עברו עד שהם נושעו מהשם Limshoch es libo shel Yisro le-karvo la-Torah tzarach lomar kama tzaros urdifos Bnei Yisrael avru ad shehem noshe'u me-Hashem. When you describe the level of fear, the level of fright, the level of helplessness and hopelessness and yet השם Hashem was there each and every time. He answered the call. They not only came out the other side, they came out stronger and greater. That only adds to יתרו Yisro's love and affection, his connection, his desire to come close. ונכון נראה בזה עפ\"י קביעתא מחז\"ל Venachon nire baze al pi kvi'asa me-Chazal, יתרו Yisro בא כאן להתגייר ba kan lehisgayer. המכילתא The Mechilta, the בעל הטורים Ba'al Haturim quotes המכילתא the Mechilta, that יתרו Yisro came here to convert. It's not so clear. The text never tells us explicitly, did יתרו Yisro convert, not convert? Did he come and stay, did he come and visit and leave? We know that משה Moshe tried to convince him to stay, but it never tells us whether he stayed or not. So but the בעל הטורים Ba'al Haturim quotes המכילתא the Mechilta who says יתרו Yisro converted. And the רמב\"ם Rambam says, כיצד מקבלין גרי צדק? כשיבא להתגייר אומרים לו: מה ראית שבאת להתגייר? אי אתה יודע שישראל בזמן הזה דוויים ודחופים וסחופים ומטורפים ויסורים באים עליהם? Keitzad mekabelim geirei tzedek? Kesheyavo lehisgayer omrim lo: Ma ra'isa shebasa lehisgayer? E-ata yode'a she-Yisrael bazman haze devuyim udechuphim umesuchuphim umeturafim veyissurim ba'im aleihem? Don't you know we're hated, we're despised, we're repulsed, we're stepped on, we're spit on, we're targeted? משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu ביקש למשוך את לב יתרו לקרבו לתורה על מנת לגיירו bikesh limshoch es lev Yisro le-karvo la-Torah almanat le-gayro וכדי לעשות כן נאלץ לספר את כל התלאות u-kdei la'asot kein ne'elatz lesaper es kol hatla'os. מגד יוסף Meged Yosef's last suggestion is: this is a precedent for our practice. That when someone comes to convert, the first thing we try to do is talk them out of it. We say be a Noahide, believe in God and observe the seven Noahide laws, and don't risk your life. Don't wear the label Jew and don't put a target on your back. We try to talk them out of it. And if he wants to join nonetheless, with open arms. And we, with great admiration and awe. But first we say, are you sure? It's very tough. Do you know the cost of tuition? Do you know the cost of kosher food? Do you know the cost of making פסח Pesach? Are you sure? You sure you want this? You know the antisemitism, you're going to go places, you're going to be worried whether you can wear your יארמולקע yarmulke or not. Are you sure? You know what we've been through the last 2,000 years? You know what we've been through the last three years? Are you sure? And when they want in anyway we say we love you, we welcome you, we're in awe of you. And where do we see that from? says the מגד יוסף Meged Yosef, from משה Moshe's treatment of יתרו Yisro. The אדירי התורה Adirei HaTorah, a relatively new ספר sefer by my cousin in Lakewood, רב אריה גאנץ Reb Aryeh Ganz, and he quotes here: ויספר משה vayasaper Moshe. He quotes from the ספר אזניים לתורה sefer Aznayim LaTorah, the זיידע Zeide of the מגד יוסף Meged Yosef. בנוהג שבעולם האדם הצליח ומספר הדברים להבליט את גדולת עצמו Benohag sheba'olam ha'adam hitzliach umesaper hadvarim lehavlit et gedulas atzmo. The normal course of things when someone has great success, they talk about themselves, their success. I saved them, I had this idea, then we got through it, then we put this. ובפרט רגיל אדם להתפאר לפני חמיו u-vefrat ragil adam le-hispa'er lifnei chamiv. And especially before whom do they do that? Their mother-in-law and father-in-law. People tend to show off to the in-laws because they want to prove your daughter made a good choice. I'm not the loser you thought I was. I didn't amount to nothing, I amounted to something, and let me prove it to you. Let me tell you all about it. Let me tell you all about it. אך כשאחרים מספרים ממעיטים את הצלחת אחרים Ach keshe'acherim mesaprim mema'itim et hatzlachat acherim וכשהאדם לא נותן רק מעט u-k-sheha'adam lo nosan rak me'at. But when other people are telling the story, then they... they don't give the credit. We take the credit for ourselves when we're trying to advance ourselves. ומה מוזרה היא הנהגתו של העניו מכל אדם u-ma muzara hi hanhagato shel he-anav mikol adam. And here you have the humblest of all people, משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu, talking to his שווער shver, his father-in-law. התורה היא עדה שיתרו שמע מפי אחרים את כל אשר עשה אלקים למשה ולישראל HaTorah hi ed she-Yisro shama mi-pi acherim et kol asher asa Elokim le-Moshe u-le-Yisrael. And here the תורה Torah has to tell us that when it says יתרו Yisro arrived. משמע שמע ובא וישמע יתרו mashma shama u-ba va-yishma Yisro, he heard everything that God did to who? To משה Moshe and the Jewish people. He didn't hear that from משה Moshe. He didn't hear that from משה Moshe because משה Moshe doesn't show off. What does he hear from משה Moshe? Everything God did to פרעה Paroh and מצרים Mitzrayim. שיקרא הצלחה הייתה בזכות משה ואחר כך ישראל בא משה עצמו וסיפר לפני חותנו הכל אודות ישראל ולא הזכיר עצמו כלל she-ikra hatzlacha hayta bizchus Moshe v-acharkach Yisrael bo Moshe atzmo v-sipeir bifnei chosno hakol ye-odos Yisrael v-lo hizkir atzmo klal. משה Moshe is so humble, so modest, he doesn't talk about himself at all. He doesn't try to prove anything to his in-laws at all. He only talks about the Jewish people and everything that happened was in their merit. And this is another example of the incredible humility of משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu. פרק יח פסוק י Perek Yud Ches Pasuk Yud. ויאמר יתרו Va-yomer Yisro, יתרו Yisro hears it all and he turns to משה Moshe and he says, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem! ברוך השם Baruch Hashem! Like a good convert came out of the מקווה mikvah. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem. אשר הציל אתכם מיד מצרים ומיד פרעה אשר הציל את העם מתחת יד מצרים asher hitzil eschem mi-yad Mitzrayim u-mi-yad Paroh asher hitzil es ha-am mitachas yad Mitzrayim, who saved you from Egypt, saved you from פרעה Paroh, who saved the people from under the hand of Egypt. This expression ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, very interesting, the quintessential Jewish expression when you ask someone how they are, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem. Quintessential Jewish expression of thanks, gratitude, and acknowledgment is ברוך השם Baruch Hashem. Thank you השם Hashem, praise you השם Hashem, praise to be the Lord. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem. So Rabbi Sacks writes in his חומש Chumash, חסידים Chassidim of the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov that he would travel around the little towns and villages of Eastern Europe asking Jews how they were. However poor or troubled they were, invariably they would reply, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem. It was an instinctive expression of faith and every Jew knew it. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem didn't mean I'm healthy, I'm well, I'm prosperous, or I'm rich. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem meant however I am, thank you השם Hashem. They might have lacked the learning of the great Talmudic scholar or the wealth of the successful, but they believed that they had much to thank השם Hashem for and they did so. When asked what he was doing and why, the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov would reply by quoting the פסוק pasuk, \"But you are the holy one enthroned on the Jewish people's praises,\" a פסוק pasuk in תהילים Tehillim. Every time a Jew says ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, he or she is helping to make a throne for the שכינה Shechina. Every time we say ברוך השם Baruch Hashem and we invoke השם Hashem's name in a conversation, we are building the throne for the divine. Now interestingly, three people in the תורה Torah use this expression. All of them, all of them are non-Jews. Three people use the expression ברוך השם Baruch Hashem. Good trivia question if you do פרשה parsha questions at the שבת Shabbos table. Three use the expression ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, all of them are non-Jews, people outside the Abrahamic covenant. The first: נח Noah. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, the God of שם Shem. The second is אברהם Avram's servant אליעזר Eliezer, who אברהם Avram sends to find a wife for יצחק Yitzchak, who blessed השם Hashem, God of אברהם Avraham, who has not withheld His kindness and faithfulness from my master. And the third is יתרו Yisro here. You do not need to be Jewish to have a sense of reverence for the Creator or to recognize as יתרו Yisro did His hand in miraculous events. השם Hashem is universal. Therefore humanity created in His image is universal. This is an essential reminder: the great problems humanity faces are global, while our most effective political agendas are at most national. We need to find a way of combining our universal humanity with our cultural and religious particularity. No one demonstrates this better than יתרו Yisro. His wise advice comes, as it were, from the outside, gives Jewish people its first system of governance. The religion of Israel is not the religion of everyone, but the God of Israel is the God of everyone. You do not have to be Jewish to be good, wise, or beloved of השם Hashem, and you see that from the three people who taught us the quintessential Jewish expression ברוך השם Baruch Hashem come from three non-Jews, the only people in the תורה Torah who use that expression of ברוך השם Baruch Hashem. פרק יח פסוק יז Perek Yud Ches Pasuk Yud Zayin. So יתרו Yisro comes and now he plays the role of a good father-in-law, he offers some unsolicited advice, and he says, and I can make these jokes now because I'm a father-in-law. So ויאמר חותן משה אליו לא טוב הדבר אשר אתה עושה va-yomer chosein Moshe eilav lo tov ha-davar asher atah oseh. This is not good what you're doing. You're exhausted, you're wiping yourself out, you're trying to be a hero and take care of it all of yourself, and you can't possibly, you can't possibly be accessible, available, and take care of everyone. You need to, in the EOS system called delegate and elevate, you're going to have to learn to delegate. How do you know whom you can trust to delegate to? How do you build a team? So you have to have core values. And then the תורה Torah tells us יתרו Yisro tells him these are your core values: אנשי חיל יראי אלוקים אנשי אמת שונאי בצע anshei chayil yirei Elokim anshei emes sonei batza. Those are your core values. Those are the scorecards that determine whether these people will qualify in your core values. You have to know is it right person, right seat. How do you know if it's right person, right seat? Because it's שרי אלפים שרי מאות שרי חמישים שרי עשרות sarei alafim sarei meios sarei chamishim sarei asaros. There are different levels. There's a hierarchy, different roles for people to play in, and you have to determine do you have right person, right seat. It's all EOS, it's right there in the פסוקים psukim. It's right there undeniably in the פסוקים psukim. So the first thing יתרו Yisro says is לא טוב lo tov. What you're doing on your system, you're going to fail. And there are many people who lead institutions, Jewish non-for-profit or for-profit, where they think they're having success, but it's a fraction of the success they could have if they go from figuring it out on their own and being... One of the places, one of the places in the תורה Torah where the expression לא טוב lo tov is used. So again I refer you to Rabbi Sacks. Moshe must learn to delegate and share the burden of leadership. Interestingly the sentence, what you are doing is לא טוב lo tov, is one of only two places in the תורה Torah where not good occurs. The other, לא טוב היות האדם לבדו lo tov heyos ha'adam levado. It is not good for man to be alone. This is the introduction to when השם Hashem is going to extract חוה Chava from אדם Adam, split them in two, and introduce us to the institution of marriage. We cannot live alone and we cannot lead alone. Hear Rabbi Sacks? What the תורה Torah is telling us, these are the only two times in the תורה Torah that the words לא טוב lo tov are used, it’s not good, it’s because the תורה Torah is telling us, God is telling us, you cannot live alone and you cannot lead alone. That is one of the axioms of biblical anthropology. The Hebrew word for life, חיים chayim, is in the plural, as if to signify life is essentially shared. There is no life if it’s not shared. Life has to be with another, in friendship, with a neighbor, with כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, in marriage, in leadership. לא טוב lo tov. You cannot live alone and you cannot lead alone. That’s why the words לא טוב lo tov, לא טוב היות האדם לבדו lo tov heyos ha'adam levado, and לא טוב הדבר אשר אתה עושה lo tov hadavar asher ata oseh, the only two times the words לא טוב lo tov are used to teach us you cannot live alone and you cannot lead alone. And the תורה Torah tells us, השם Hashem gives us a charge. We’re getting ready now, we arrive at הר סיני Har Sinai, we’re in פרק י״ט perek yud tes. In the third month since we left, we arrive in מדבר סיני Midbar Sinai. ויסעו מרפידים ויבאו מדבר סיני ויחנו במדבר ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר Vayisu meiRefidim vayavo'u Midbar Sinai vayachanu bamidbar vayichan sham Yisrael neged haHar. The tagline and the motto of our שול shul, of our community, our BRS community, that we value diversity not divisiveness and we celebrate unity not uniformity. We want unity not uniformity. Many communities want uniformity: one מניין minyan, one נוסח nusach, one mode of dress, one expectation. We don’t want uniformity. We have eight מניינים minyanim שבת Shabbos morning at BRS. And we want unity among the מניינים minyanim. You can't have unity without diversity. If you don’t have diversity, you don’t have unity. What do you have? Uniformity. In order to have unity you have to have diversity. So at הר סיני Har Sinai we had all the diversity in the world. You had אשכנז Ashkenaz and ספרד Sefard and נוסח ספרד Nusach Sefard and עדות המזרח Eidot HaMizrach, Persians and Moroccans and תימנים Temanim. You had it all. You had everybody. The השכמה Hashkamah and the נץ Netz מניין minyan and the teen מניין minyan and the outreach מניין minyan and even the people who fly through the דאווענינג davening מניין minyan, no דרשה d'rasha and get right to the קידוש Kiddush. You had everybody. I don’t know if they had JFKs at הר סיני Har Sinai. Could you come to הר סיני Har Sinai just for the קידוש Kiddush? I don’t know. There’s a phenomenon in our times called JFK. A lot of שולס shuls are suffering from it. JFK are the people who come just for קידוש Kiddush. Not for דאווענינג davening, they show up just for קידוש Kiddush, JFK. Many of my colleagues, rabbis in שולס shuls, suffer. So did הר סיני Har Sinai have like a קידוש Kiddush club? This is taking too long between אנכי Anochi and you know, did they say who wants to step out and have a לחיים l'chayim? Was there a קידוש Kiddush club at הר סיני Har Sinai? I think not. Was there JFK, the people who showed up not for הר סיני Har Sinai קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah, they came in time for the קידוש Kiddush? The קידוש Kiddush that followed? I don’t know. We didn’t have diversity—I mean we had diversity, but we had the ultimate unity, ויחן שם ישראל vayichan sham Yisrael. רש״י Rashi says כאיש אחד בלב אחד ke'ish echad beleiv echad. We started this last week when we talked about how the Egyptians had לב אחד כאיש אחד leiv echad ke'ish echad. And why was it the reverse? When the Egyptians pursued us once again in last week's פרשה parsha, רש״י Rashi said, quoting חז״ל Chazal, לב אחד כאיש אחד leiv echad ke'ish echad. Now here כאיש אחד בלב אחד ke'ish echad beleiv echad. We explained that last week. But it brings us up to פסוק ו׳ pasuk vav, top of page 402. ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש אלה הדברים אשר תדבר אל בני ישראל Ve'atem tihyu li mamleches kohanim vegoi kadosh eileh hadvarim asher tedabeir el bnei Yisrael. You should be a kingdom of כהנים kohanim and a גוי קדוש goi kadosh and a holy, holy nation. What does it mean to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation? What does that mean? This is our mission statement, this is what it’s all about. What are priests? What role do priests play within a people? They're the role models, they’re the examples, they’re the ritual leaders. What priests are to a people, the Jewish people are to the world. We're a ממלכת כהנים mamleches kohanim. What the כהנים kohanim are to כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, they serve in the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash, they do the עבודה avodah, they and לוי Levi are the teachers of תורה Torah, we are the כהנים kohanim of the world. You can’t say I didn’t sign up for that. You can’t say leave me alone, I’m a businessman, I’m a בעל הבית balabus, I’m a בעל בית ba'al bayis, I’m a בעל הבית׳טע balabusta, I do my thing, I’m not in outreach, I’m not in קירוב kiruv, I’m not an ambassador of תורה Torah. What do you—leave me alone. No, you’re part of the ממלכת כהנים mamleches kohanim. That’s the charge even before קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah. and in life you are the ממלכת כהנים Mamleches Kohanim. You are the כהנים Kohanim of the world. It’s part of why they hate us. Part of the source of anti-semitism is we are the conscience of the world. We’re meant to be the role models and examples and the teachers of the world. And that's also חז\"ל Chazal because where does the word שנאה Sinah come from? סיני Sinai. מסיני MiSinai. From סיני Sinai, שנאה Sinah, they hated us since סיני Sinai. Anti-semitism is מסיני MiSinai. They've hated us ever since סיני Sinai, ever since we got this charge to be the ממלכת כהנים Mamleches Kohanim. Often in school, in a class, it's the members of the Honor Society who get bullied and picked on. What’d they do wrong? ‘Cause they get good grades? They deserve to be bullied and picked on? Nobody deserves it, certainly not the best behaved, certainly not those making the greatest grades. Why? Why is it that often, often the bullies are bullying the people who are in the Honor Society or best example or making the greatest grade? ‘Cause they're the consciousness, they're making them feel bad or ashamed or guilt. And that's part—there is no singular explanation, but part of an explanation of the anti-semitism in the world is that's the role that we're playing towards others. And that's what Rabbi Sacks writes here, that we have a mission statement. Most are defined in terms of language, geography, political structure, long association. Jews became a nation by adopting a task, by a covenant with השם Hashem. Absent that it's hard to say what it is to be a Jew. What does it mean to be a ממלכת כהנים Mamleches Kohanim? Priesthood fell to Aaron and his sons. Priesthood is not even not seen by the תורה Torah as a distinctively Jewish phenomenon. יתרו Yisro was the כהן מדין Kohein Midian. אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra and רמב\"ן Ramban interpret the word to mean servants. A priest is a servant of השם Hashem. רס\"ג RaSaG, רש\"י Rashi, the רשב\"ם Rashbam understand it to mean princes. We’re the princes of the people. Says Rabbi Sacks, I want to suggest a different interpretation by looking at the wider context against which the biblical narrative is set. The earliest writing system involved a huge number of hieroglyphic or pictographic symbols. The result was that in each society where there was writing, there was a literate elite, a knowledge class, often involving an administration. Only the few had access to knowledge and so to power. The invention of the alphabet reduced the number of symbols needed to learn to less than 30. We cannot give a precise date for the first alphabet, somewhere between 1800 and 2000 BCE, but unlike the pre-alphabetic scripts, the alphabet seems to have been invented only once. All the hundreds of scripts are direct or indirect descendants of the proto-Semitic writing from סיני Sinai desert. Was it divine providence that led to this invention at exactly the right time and place to be used by the Jewish people for the holiest purposes, namely recording the divine word? Or was it this new development that allowed the Jewish people to develop the consciousness, the high level of abstraction essential to monotheism? Was that made possible by literacy that allowed them to decipher the word of the one and only God? Functionally, a priest in the ancient world was the one who could read and write. A kingdom of priests, therefore, is a nation of universal literacy. Rabbi Sacks suggests that maybe ממלכת כהנים Mamleches Kohanim means in the ancient world it was only the elite who were literate; we, literacy is not a luxury, we are the people of the book. Literacy is not a luxury, we are the people of the book. ממלכת כהנים Mamleches Kohanim is a nation of universal literacy. And he elaborates on this idea very beautifully here. The תפארת שמואל Tiferes Shmuel, שמואל בירנבוים Shmuel Barenbaum, we haven't even got to—I've got a thousand more things to get to but not a thousand more minutes to get to them. He has a different suggestion of what it means of ממלכת כהנים Mamleches Kohanim. רש\"י Rashi quotes שרים Sarim. We were princes, כמא דאת אמר kema d'as amar, ובני דוד כהנים היו u-venei David Kohanim hayu. The children of דוד David were כהנים Kohanim, they were officers, they were parliamentarians, they were שרים Sarim. Ask שמואל בירנבוים Shmuel Barenbaum, כיצד שכל אחד ואחד בכלל ישראל יהיה שר ketzad she-kol echad v'echad b'khlal Yisrael yehei sar. You know they say like Israel is a country with 9 million prime ministers. That's the old joke, Israel's a country with 9 million prime ministers. So we're a people with millions of members of parliament. We're all a שר Sar, everybody's a שר Sar, everybody's a cabinet member. Who, who are we ruling over? עמי יהיה שרים Ami yehei sarim. הרי נוהג בעולם שבצבא Harei noheg b'olam shebetzava, take an army, יהיה שר בצבא yehei sar batzava. You only become, you become a lieutenant—I don't, I'm gonna reveal my ignorance right now, I don't know the hierarchy—but you grow. The higher levels in the army means that you are responsible for more and more soldiers. אחריו יש חיילים שהם נשמעים לפקודתו של שר צבא Echrav yesh chayalim she-heim nishmaim l'pekudato shel sar-tzava. You’re an officer, you’re a lieutenant, you’re a brigadier, you’re a general, whatever all the ranks are. You climb in rank, the more people that you outrank and that you dictate orders to. התיתכן שהחבורה גדולה שכולם הם שרים Hayitachein shehachavura gdola shekulam heim sarim? But if everybody is a general, then there are no generals. So what does it mean that רש\"י Rashi טייטש teitch’s ממלכת כהנים Mamleches Kohanim means a nation of שרים Sarim? Sarim. We're all generals. יש לומר Yesh lomar says the שעורי ברנבוים Sheurei Berenbaum האדם צריך להיות שר ומושל Haadam tzarich lihyot sar umoshel. We are all generals over for for generals. Who are the soldiers? We're all generals over ourselves. שיהא כמו שר צבא שההבדל בינו לחיילים שהשר יש כוח החידוש Sheyehei kemo sar tzava shehahefdel beino lachayalim shehasar yesh koach hachidush. You see, the general is the one who makes and executes the plans. The general is the one who gives orders and holds accountable. שאר החיילים אינם מחדשים כלום Shear hachayalim einam mechadeshim klum. They just listen to the officer's orders. כל אחד מישראל צריך שיהא כמו שרים Kol echad miYisrael tzarich sheyehei kemo sarim. So we all need to see ourselves as a שר sar. We all have responsibility, accountability, we all order ourselves, and we all have to fall in line with ourselves, and each of us is an officer, each of us is a general, not over others. What it means to be part of the ממלכת כהנים Mamlechet Kohanim is to learn to regulate ourselves, to have sovereignty over ourselves, to live with a discipline. So that's yet another. Rabbi Sacks quoted many ראשונים Rishonim, offered his own interpretation, and I'll tell you one more here from the תפארת שמואל Tiferet Shmuel, that what does it mean to be a שר sar? What does it mean to be a member of the ממלכת כהנים Mamlechet Kohanim? שר Sar is sovereign, to rule over ourselves and to be on top of ourselves, and to have חידוש chidush. שמחנו בתורתך Simcheinu beTorasecha. So we're up to Sidur snippets too. So exciting when they come together, but we don't have time for that. Oh man. פרק י\"ט פסוק ט\"ז Perek Yud-Tet Pasuk Tet-Zayin. We're coming to הר סיני Har Sinai, we didn't even get to הר סיני Har Sinai. ויהי ביום השלישי בהיות הבקר ויהי קלות וברקים וענן כבד על ההר וקול שופר חזק מאד ויחרד כל העם אשר במחנה Vayehi bayom hashlishi biheyot haboker vayehi kolot uvrakim veanan kaved al hahar vekol shofar chazak meod vayecherad kol haam asher bamachaneh. On the third day when it was morning, there was thunder and lightning and a heavy cloud on the mountain, the sound of the שופר shofar was powerful, and the entire people that was in the camp shuddered. We have a מנהג minhag that we learn from this פסוק pasuk. Anyone know what מנהג minhag? We emulate something from this פסוק pasuk. Not everybody has the מנהג minhag, not everybody has it. There's a מנהג minhag that comes from this פסוק pasuk. Again, my cousin in his אדירי התורה Adirei HaTorah רב גנץ Rav Ganz quotes it. The תשב\"ץ Tashbetz, who was a student of the מהר\"ם מרוטנבורג Maharam MiRothenburg. The תשב\"ץ Tashbetz writes: הטעם למה שהולכין לחופה בנרות דולקות ולפידים רמז למתן תורה Hatam lamah sheholchin lachupah bineirot dolkot ulapidim remez l'Matan Torah. When parents walk with a candle their son and daughter down the aisle to the חופה chupah, it's because the חופה chupah represents קבלת התורה Kabbalat HaTorah מתן תורה Matan Torah הר סיני Har Sinai, and walking with the candles commemorates the light, the lights, the light show, the קולות וברקים ולפידים kolot uvrakim valapidim that took place at מתן תורה Matan Torah. The מטה משה Mateh Moshe כתב katav, הטעם שכל אחד יש לו נר בידו כי לאשה יש לה רנ\"ב איברים Hatam shekol echad yesh lo ner beyado ki laishah yesh lah Reish-Nun-Beit evarim. A woman has two hundred and fifty-two limbs. ואיש רמ\"ח Uleish Ra-Ma-Ch, and a man has two hundred and forty-eight. Together they are four hundred, they are five hundred. Twice the word נר ner. ולכן נושאים ב' נרות לפניהם לרמוז לזיווג איש ואשה Velachen nosim bais neirot lifneichem lirmoz lezivug ish veishah. And therefore the father and the mother each carry a candle, the two candles together, נר ner times two, is five hundred, which is איש ואשה ish veishah, this union that's about to take place. ועוד פעמיים נר בגימטריא פרו ורבו Veod paamayim ner begematria peru urevu. נר Ner times two also is פרו ורבו peru urevu. The mother and father when they're walking their children down the aisle, all they're thinking about is how long will it take till we have grandchildren. Because that will make this whole cost of the wedding worth it. If these two under the חופה chupah will give us grandchildren. So that's the כוונה kavanah. Each holds a candle, the father and the mother of each the חתן chatan and the כלה kallah, twice נר ner is פרו ורבו peru urevu. תוספות Tosafot in סנהדרין Sanhedrin writes: וביערתי מהם קול ששון וקול שמחה קול חתן וקול כלה קול רחיים ואור נר איכא למימר שגם בראשונה היו עושין סימנים אלו לשים שמחה Vehavarti mehem kol sason vekol simchah kol chatan vekol kallah kol reichem veor ner ika lemeimar shegam berishonah hayu osin simanim eleh lesim simchah. וכן העוד Vechein haod שעל גבי shelegabei ברית מילה berit milah they would light a candle in שול shul for a ברית berit. The ר\"ן Ran also writes in his חידושיו chidushav that they would, he quotes here at the end, that רב עובדיה Rav Ovadia says this is not a ספרדי Sephardi מנהג minhag, and it was never their מנהג minhag, and therefore we don't do that מנהג minhag. But it's very interesting that most of the הלכות halachot of the חופה chupah are derived from where? Our פרשה parashah. קבלת התורה Kabbalat HaTorah. The תשב\"ץ Tashbetz quotes many of these references, that the חופה chupah is over the head just like הר סיני Har Sinai was held overhead כפה עליהם הר כגיגית kaf aleihem har kegigiyah. So many of the laws of the wedding and of the חופה chupah are derived from הר סיני Har Sinai, including this one for those who do have the מנהג minhag, not everybody does, of walking down with with candles. I'll do one more. פרק כ' פסוק ג' Perek Chaf Pasuk Gimmel. We didn't even get to, I told you how this is one of the biggest and best and most important פרשיות parashiyot in the תורה Torah because of עשרת הדברות Aseret HaDibrot and we didn't even get to it. Maybe we should do a second פרשה parashah שיעור shiur during the global campaign, only for those who give to the global campaign. לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני Lo yihyeh lecha elohim acherim al panai. פסוק ג' Pasuk Gimmel. לא תעשה לך פסל וכל תמונה אשר בשמים Lo taaseh lecha fesel vechol temunah asher bashamayim. We have a raffle with tickets that you can buy and enter, I said the two tickets to בוקא Boca שבת Shabbos with us. including a שבת *Shabbos* meal in our home, that's my wife's cooking. But if you give 1,800 or more to the global campaign, you're in a second raffle that I personally will make you dinner. I spoke about last week in my אמונה *Emunah* שיעור *shiur*, my dinner that I make, black and blue steak, unbelievable, fried onions and homemade French fries that are out of this world. I would challenge you they're the greatest French fries on Earth. I personally, with my masculine apron, will make you dinner. Special raffle for those in the 1,800 or more, so join the global campaign. Don't miss out. Last one: לא תעשה לך פסל כל תמונה אשר בשמים ממעל ואשר בארץ מתחת ואשר במים מתחת לארץ *lo taase lecha pesel kol tmuna asher bashamayim mima'al va'asher ba'aretz mitachas va'asher bamayim mitachas la'aretz*. Don't make yourself a carved image. Don't make yourself a פסל *pesel* כל תמונה *kol tmuna*. Don't make yourself. Rabbi Abraham, Rabbi Doctor Abraham J. Twerski asks, זצ\"ל *zatzal*, he asks, one word is extra there. לא תעשה לך פסל כל תמונה אשר בשמים ממעל *lo taase lecha pesel kol tmuna asher bashamayim mima'al*. What word is extra? לך *lecha*. The שוויגער *shvigger*, on the money. פרשה *Parsha* of the שוויגער *shvigger*, of the שווער *shver* and שוויגער *shvigger*. On the money. The word לך *lecha*'s extra. Extra. Why do I have the word לך *lecha*? The פסוק *pasuk* could have simply said לא תעשה פסל *lo taase pesel*. Don't make a graven image, don't make an idol. What's the word לך *lecha*? What's the word לך *lecha*? Moreover, says Rabbi Twerski, בכלל *bichlal*, why does the תורה *Torah* need to prohibit this? Have you seen anyone bow down to an idol recently? Have you seen anyone worshipping stone or the sun or the moon? It's irrational. Why would someone build something with their own hands and then bow to it and think it has power? Totally irrational. Totally doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Says Rabbi Twerski, he says human beings by nature want to be free. We want to have that feeling that we can do whatever we want. Nobody controls us, no one dictates to us, no one holds us accountable. We can do whatever we want. In order to achieve this goal, we create an idol not to worship the idol, but the idol as an extension of us. The idol is our creation. What are we really worshipping? Ourselves. When you create something, we can dictate to it whatever we want. Every form of עבודה זרה *avodah zarah* ultimately and essentially is self-worship. It's not really the worship of the other. By delegating or designating it as an idol, you the designator are really worshipping yourself. And that's why the תורה *Torah* says לא תעשה לך פסל *lo taase lecha pesel*. Don't turn yourself into an idol. Don't worship yourself. Idol worship is gone, but self-worship is alive and well. People are worshipping themselves, their ego, their arrogance. This is a chapter in my book. You can pre-order. It's going to be coming out this fall. It's all about ego versus אלקות *Elokus*. There's only two ways to live life and they make the entire difference in the kind of life that we live. I just saw, it's going to go in the book, a Harvard study: 56% of the people polled were asked, in the 30 days prior to the taking this poll, did they find meaning or purpose in their life? And 56% said no. No meaning or purpose in their life. They were living the same day over and over again, waking up, going to work, getting through the day and going to sleep with no meaning or purpose. And the correlation between the mental health challenges, the increased anxiety with those who had no meaning and purpose in life. It's screaming at us. Screaming at us. Ego or אלקות *Elokus*. Ego, if you're living a life of ego without meaning and purpose and mission for another, it's a life of misery. And when you live a life of אלקות *Elokus*, what's my mission? What's my purpose? Why am I here? What am I meant to do? Who am I meant to be? It's a life of joy and peace and serenity and meaning and purpose and happiness. There you go, a little preview to the book. So says Rabbi Twerski, that's לא תעשה לך פסל *lo taase lecha pesel*. In this question of ego versus אלקות *Elokus*, לא תעשה לך *lo taase lecha*. Don't turn yourself into an idol. Don't worship your happiness, don't worship your perspective and interpretation of the world, don't worship that you have to micromanage others, don't worship that you have to always be right, don't worship that it's all you, your programming, your prompt in the AI. Don't worship yourself. לא תעשה לך פסל *lo taase lecha pesel*. Don't turn yourself into the idol. Thank you so much, really in all seriousness, please help us if we could reach our goal. You could stop hearing about this until then, you're going to continue because we need that help. If you haven't, I don't know how you can't, if you're grateful for these opportunities to learn, please brsonline.org/global. We have our people outside. As simple as a swipe in the credit card, get your tickets into our raffle. Please help make a difference. Stay happy.
