Transcript
Good morning, boker tov, welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. We have the privilege of learning Parshas Mishpatim together, page 416 in the ArtScroll Stone Chumash. As always, we begin with our attitude of gratitude. It always begins by thanking the generous sponsors who make the shiur possible. Thank you to our series sponsors, Becky and Avi Katz and family, in loving memory of David Grossman, Becky's father, לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנש. This morning's shiur sponsored by Jessica Mirsky in memory of her brother, Eric Levinson, אליעזר זאב בן משה ישעיה, on his tenth yahrtzeit. And by teenage listeners, Hadassah and Steven Teicher, לעילוי נשמת אברהם נתן בן סנדר חיים הכהן, whose yahrtzeit is today. And thanking BRS for enhancing the Shabbos table with inspiring divrei Torah. Also sponsored today anonymously in the merit of אבנר בן אברהם הכהן, Sheindel bas Dovid, Meshullam ben Dovid, Dovid Meshullam, Nissim ben Shimon, רפאל חיים בן דוד, and אשר ברוך בן בת יוסף הלוי. May the nishamas have an aliyah. Thank you to all of our generous sponsors. Speaking of sponsorship, that's right, we're still in the middle of our BRS annual global campaign. We're asking, we're looking, we need your help. We need your help. As of this moment, live at 9:31 AM on Tuesday morning, we are at 55% of our goal, and we need to get to 100% of our goal. Like all goals, the goal is to get to 100% of the goal. You have on your seats BRS Global. If you're a BRS member, not talking to you, you're doing your part. If you've already given, not talking to you, you're doing your part. If you're here and you haven't given, then what else and where else in your life do you take without giving back? So please, participate, contribute, be counted among those who are partnering, show appreciation for whatever value we add to your life. 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And we have a live question and answer conversation about davening and about t'filah, 8:30 tonight on Zoom. Please join us, we'd love to have you. Before we dive into Parshas Mishpatim, this Shabbos is not only a parsha we're going to read, but this Shabbos as well is Parshas Shekalim. Parshas Shekalim, we are already beginning the special readings that we do before Purim, after Purim, leading up to Pesach. This is a time of the year that we have additional and special readings that we do, including the reading of Shekalim. So just an idea on Shekalim before we dive into the parsha, and this idea comes from my dear friend, Rabbi Moshe Shocket, the head of school of Hadar High School for Girls, right here on our campus. Has come out with his second sefer, this one called Moadim with Meaning. Moadim with Meaning, inspiring messages for the Yomim Tovim, by Mosaica Press, by Mosaica Press. It's wonderful, he's wonderful, I highly recommend it, and I'll just share a quick thought from it on Parshas Shekalim. He notes here the Gemara quotes Reish Lakish stating the reason Hashem commanded Bnei Yisrael to contribute half-shekel, Parshas Shekalim, of course, we'll read it soon, Ki Sisa, but we advance it to this Shabbos. Parshas Shekalim, because this was when they would make the announcement for machatzis hashekel, the obligation of every Jew to donate a half-shekel. The way we did a census, the way we were counted was not automated, it wasn't online, it wasn't electronic, and it wasn't a census person walking around knocking on the door taking your information. Every Jew, almost every Jew, depending on certain demographics, contributed a half-shekel, and that contribution, through that contribution, they were counted. So the Gemara quotes Reish Lakish stating the reason Hashem commanded Bnei Yisrael to contribute a half-shekel, it's because He wanted to preemptively provide a merit for the Jewish people to protect them from Haman's efforts. Haman bribed Achashverosh with 10,000 shekels to allow him to annihilate K'lal Yisrael. The purpose of the mitzvah of machatzis hashekel was to negate any potential effectiveness of this 10,000 shekel bribe. It's Gemara Megilla daf yud gimmel. We give the half-shekel, that offsets, that nullifies Haman's bribe of Achashverosh, 10,000 shekel to allow him to annihilate K'lal Yisrael. Too cheap, way too low a price to have to pay to kill the whole Jewish... if you want to kill the whole Jewish people, should have to cost a lot of money, a lot of money, not 10,000 shekel. In any case, Rabbi Shocket writes, Rav Yeruchem Olshin wonders what's the connection between machatzis hashekel... 10,000 shekel other than the similarity of currency? Is there a deeper meaning behind the statement of Resh Lakish? Rav Yerucham Olshin explains based on the Alshech in the name of Rav Shlomo Alkabetz that the mitzvah of Machatzit Hashekel is meant to teach us the importance of unity. The Torah instructs each person to give only half a shekel in order to highlight that each Jew is considered a half and is only made complete when he joins together in harmony with his fellow Jew. All Jews are connected, but we can only be made whole when we are united when we are unified. In other words, it would have been much more efficient if everybody gave a whole shekel then no one would have to do any math. But by everybody giving a half shekel as a census, someone's got to do, you may not consider it major math, but someone would have to do some math. It would be much more efficient for everyone to donate a whole shekel. So why the half shekel? So the Alshech explains from Shlomo Alkabetz because the half shekel would indicate that when I want to be counted I have to recognize I am not a whole on my own. I'm only a half. I'm incomplete. I'm only a whole when I combine when I connect when I collaborate with others. The idea of Achdus, a Yid a Jew can't go run and live on a deserted island by themselves. The Rambam writes, HaPoresh that a person who separates himself from the tzibbur אין לו חלק לעולם הבא. So you'll say I could sit on an island by myself and I say the Jewish people they're impossible they're incorrigible there's such anti-Semitism they're bringing it chas v'shalom someone should say this but one might say much of it they bring upon themselves I want nothing to do with them. I'm going to separate, I'm going to go live by myself. I'm going to keep all taryag mitzvos, I'll strictly observe all 613. I will be vigilant about observing Shabbos, I will keep completely kosher, glatt kosher, the highest level of kosher. I won't speak lashon hara because I'll be living all by myself on a deserted island. I will keep all the laws and all the rules, I just want nothing to do with the Jewish people. I'm going to do it on my own. Such a person might keep everything to a T, might be vigilant and virtuous and keep everything perfectly and they have no portion in the world to come writes the Rambam. Because to be a Yid to be a Jew is to see ourselves among the people, connected and united. We just read it last week, ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר, we were כאיש אחד בלב אחד. Back to Rabbi Shach. Clal Yisrael's unity was the antidote to Haman's attempt to wipe us out. When Haman explained to Achashverosh his rationale for getting rid of us he said הן עם מפוזר ומפורד בין העמים, we're scattered and spread throughout the Persian Empire. He claimed we deserved to be destroyed because we were not unified. The Manos Halevi explains that is why Esther instructed Mordechai לך כנוס כל היהודים, go and gather all the Jews. Esther wanted to ensure the Jewish people would not be divided, instead we would be united. This is also why the mitzvah of mishloach manos was instituted. You know, before Pesach and before Chanukah and before Sukkos and before Rosh Hashanah there's no mitzvah to deliver a basket of goodies to your neighbor or friend. It's specifically a mitzvah associated with Purim. Why? Says the Manos Halevi because Haman wanted to leverage and exploit that we were divided, that we were fighting. He wanted to exploit the machlokas among us. The answer and the antidote is unity. Go bring mishloach manos, go befriend, go reach out, go connect to negate Haman's claim about our divisiveness. Based on this, Rav Olshin explains Resh Lakish's assertion that the mitzvah of Machatzit Hashekel protected us from Haman's 10,000 shekel bribe. Haman claimed Bnei Yisrael were scattered. Hashem commanded us give Machatzit Hashekel ensure we would remember our dependence on each other. We're only a half and we're only made whole when we connect with another. In merit of this unity we would be saved from Haman's evil decree. Rav Yerucham Olshin is teaching us a powerful and crucial lesson concludes Rabbi Shach. The secret to both our survival and salvation is not predicated on how physically strong we are or powerful our army is alone. There's only one thing we need to do to ensure Hashem will protect us, we make sure that there's peace and harmony among Clal Yisrael. If we value our differences and appreciate our unique qualities there's no reason to be concerned. Hashem wants to see His children get along and when we do we have nothing to fear. Let us make sure we accentuate what unites us and ignore what divides us. With this approach Hashem will continue to ensure our eternal existence and bring the ultimate yeshua. Moadei with meaning, Rabbi Moshe Shach. Get your copy online or find him after shiur in this very building. V'Eileh HaMishpatim page 416. ואלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם. And these are the ordinances that you shall place before them. Rashi famously says why does our parsha why does the pasuk begin with the letter vav, V'Eileh. Every year I tell you I don't remember much from school, sorry, I don't remember much from school but I do remember you're not supposed to begin a sentence with the word and. That much I got. V'Eileh. So how could the Torah begin a sentence V'Eileh, V'Eileh, and. You're not supposed to begin a sentence with the word and. So Rashi tells us why, because כל מקום שנאמר אלה פסל את הראשונים. Whenever you begin with Eileh these it means these and not those what came before. ואלה מוסיף על הראשונים. When you use the letter vav when you begin with the word and you're not negating what came before you are building upon it, you are continuing. ve'eileh, not eileh, not these as opposed to and not those, but and these, in addition to those. מה הראשונים מסיני אף אלה מסיני. And the message is that just like we stood at Har Sinai and we had this incredibly spiritual experience, so too these detailed laws, these minutia, these this parsha mishpatim is replete with detailed laws and you might say, you know, that's not so inspiring, that's not so exciting, the laws of eved ivri and the laws of loans and civil law and criminal law and all these detailed laws, that's not so exciting, I liked Har Sinai. I like we had someone with a guitar, we had a kumzits, and we had a fabrengen and we had a tish, and it was a spiritual high and it was amazing. It's true, but that's only one part of the Sinai experience. The other part of the Sinai experience is what happens when we come down from the mountain, literally and figuratively. What happens when you go into everyday mundane life and God commands and expects of us, be honest in business, and don't gossip, and be careful what you eat, be careful what comes in your mouth and what comes out of your mouth, and be generous with the resources that you've been blessed to have. All these laws which often are inconvenient and uncomfortable, and they're not nearly as exciting as the fabrengen, the tish, as the guitar, as the spiritual high, as the geshmak to be a yid, ve'eileh that vav is reminding us that they're just as important, that they're just as important. That insight I share every year because that is this very stark transition that we go through from Yitro. All of Bereishis and all of Shmos sort of the fun and games ends now to a certain degree, where we transition from this narrative, this storybook, the birth of a family and the birth of a people into a law book. And law books are less, much less exciting to read, sorry lawyers, but law books are much less exciting to read than storybooks, than narrative, than lessons, than morals, than ethics, and yet they're as important, in some ways more important, they are the proof, they are the demonstration about what we believe and what we accept. So ve'eileh mishpatim, these are the laws. And we begin with what the laws are. Rashi further tells us, asher tasim lifneihem, that you will place before them. And Rashi says: כשולחן הערוך ומוכן לאכול לפני אדם. Moshe, take these laws and they're complicated, but I want you to set the table for the Jewish people. It's an expression in our own vernacular, it's an idiom that we use, set the table for someone, a set table. A set table doesn't just mean we're ready to eat, a set table means it's organized, it's communicated in a compelling way, it's accessible, it's a set table, it's all here for you. Hashem tells Moshe: deliver and communicate, transmit these lessons and this lifestyle to the Jewish people like a set table, make it easy, it's all set, all the cutlery, everything they're gonna need, it's all there. And that's why when Rav Yosef Karo authors his compendium on Jewish law that is authoritative until this very day, he calls it Shulchan Aruch. It comes from this Rashi, it's the Shulchan Aruch. Of course, he was creating a set table within the four columns, the Arba Turim. The four columns had the commentaries of the Beis Yosef and the Bayis Chadash, the house of Yosef and the new house. We've discussed all of this in the past, including the rabbinic trashtalking along the way in the titles that are chosen for their works and commentaries. But we have the four columns that hold up the house, the Beis Yosef. Rav Yosef Karo says: my house, the house of Yosef. Rav Yoel Sirkis names his commentary the Bach, the Bayis Chadash, there's a new house in town. And then Rav Yosef Karo ups him again and says: I'm gonna set the table inside your house, here is the Shulchan Aruch, the set table. And then the Rema, Rav Moshe Isserles, a later contemporary of Rav Yosef Karo, says: maybe that's the custom where you live, maybe that's the custom where you live, in the Sefardic countries, but in Krakow, here in Poland, here in Eastern Europe, we have a tablecloth on your table. So Rema writes his Mappa, he sets a tablecloth on top of the Shulchan Aruch's table. And then we have the Shach, the Taz and so on and so forth. So says the Machzeh Avraham, which is written by the Ishel Avraham: כאן צריך לזרז ביותר שיהיה ברור לפניהם. Why is it so important that specifically these laws have to be like a set table? We don't find Hashem telling Moshe when it comes to laws of Shabbos, laws of Kashrus, laws of Yom Kippur, and the laws of davening, we don't find there that Hashem says: make sure it's a set table, make sure it's clearly communicated, make sure it's easily accessible. Why is it specifically here, these laws? What is it about these laws? So he writes: דבשלמא בשאר מצוות התורה אפשר ליעץ לנטות למידת חסידות שהמחמיר תבוא עליו ברכה. Because in other areas of Jewish law, if you want to choose, you can be strict. If you're not sure what the law is, choose to be strict, you could be stringent, you could be machmir. You could be machmir, it's your choice. So you'll choose not to eat it, you'll choose not to do it, you'll choose not to say it. You could be strict. But over here מה שאין כן בדיני ממונות חומרא לזה וקולא לזה. Here in financial disputes, being strict with one is lenient with the other. It's a stringency that has an impact on others. You're not entitled to just be strict. You need to know the law. You need to know the letter of the law. You need to be true to the law. לא דין דין אמת לאמיתו as Chazal call it. You need to be truthful and you need to judge accurately and precisely because if you're imprecise, it's not only a chumra, a stringency that impacts you, but a stringency for one will be considered a leniency for the other. And therefore you need to be especially or exceedingly careful with it. Careful with it. It's a beautiful new sefer. It's a very holy Jew, Rav Mordechai Ginsburg. He's a ram in the Yeshiva Chachmas HaTorah of Satmar in Williamsburg and he's a very good friend of Rabbi Moskowitz. We just observed Rabbi Moskowitz's daughter Estie's third yahrzeit, aleha hashalom. And when Rabbi Moskowitz spent a year in St. Jude hospital, this Rabbi Ginsburg was there with his daughter Hindi, aleha hashalom, who also tragically passed away. He recently made a wedding, Rabbi Moskowitz attended and they gave out this little sefer and he brought me back one. Rabbi Ginsburg was kind enough to send me one. He's a very special and holy Jew. And anytime I get a sefer, I like to quote something from it because a person went to the trouble of publishing it, I'd love to share with it. And it's beautiful divrei Torah. I'm not doing him any favor, he did us a favor. His sefer's called Tzitzim U'Prachim. Tzitzim U'Prachim, Rav Mordechai Ginsburg, mazal tov on the simcha and thank you for sharing the sefer. יש להעיר למה המצווה הראשונה מכל המצוות הוא דין עבד עברי. He asks a different question and actually as I was being marbetz seder this week, it's a question that bothered me. I wonder if it ever bothered you. This stark contrast that we just came out of Parshat Yitro, the high of Har Sinai, the great everyone was healed, we had this incredible unity and achdus, we all were unbelievably inspired. And then we dive in Ve'eileh Hamishpatim and then Moshe says good, fun and games are over, we had the chumash party and we sang and we performed and you had your solos and we had the of course food following the chumash party. Time to open the chumash, let's go. Let's start learning. And Moshe tells them let's start learning. And what's the let's start learning with what law? Pasuk beis: כי תקנה עבד עברי שש שנים יעבד ובשביעת יצא לחפשי חנם. When you buy a Jewish slave, six years they work and the seventh year they go free. אם בגפו יבא אם בגפו יבא בגפו יצא אם בעל אשה. Then the Torah goes on, if he should arrive by himself, he leaves by himself. If he's a husband, the husband of a wife, his wife shall leave with him. We have the detailed laws of the eved ivri. And wonders Rav Ginsburg, why is it the first law? I would think in today's day and age there's a word we would use for this. You know what that word is? Triggering. You're talking to a people who five minutes ago got out of slavery. You've taken them out. You've liberated them. You have obliterated the oppressor. You've given them true freedom. Where finally they feel they're free. You've taken them out of Egypt and you're working to take Egypt out of them. They've marched to Har Sinai. They stood at this moment of great revelation. They've been charged to be a ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש. You told them don't worry about where you were, don't worry about the life that you led, know that now and forever you have a mission and you have a purpose, you are a ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש. I can't help myself so just ten seconds. There's a lot of discussion around the commercial during the Super Bowl about antisemitism. I didn't see, I didn't watch, I didn't care. All I care about is the Patriots' loss, baruch Hashem. But I heard afterwards I didn't watch and I didn't care, but clearly Hashem brought the proper outcome. Anyway, this commercial, now Robert Kraft deserves a lot of credit. He's an enormous supporter of Jewish causes and the fact that he's tackling antisemitism, I don't have a critical word to say about him. All I'll ask you is this: instead of talking negatively about him and his commercial, I'll ask you this. If you were going to spend eight, nine million dollars on 30 seconds that millions around the world would watch, what would you have it say? How would you combat antisemitism? My answer? It wouldn't be about bullying or about anybody else standing up for the Jewish people or that we're a minority or about antisemitism being about a form of hate. I wouldn't be talking to non-Jews at all. I'd be talking to Jews around the world and telling them you're a ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש. For 3500 years we have a legacy, we have a mission, we have a purpose. We're here for a reason. Look at what we've contributed to the world and the world is waiting for you to continue to contribute. So don't cower and don't be afraid. Stand tall with Jewish pride and Jewish practice. And I would have put in that commercial, anyone who wants a pair of tefillin, we'll send you one. Anyone who'll put a mezuzah on the door, we'll send you one. Anyone who'll wear a Magen David around your neck, we'll send you one. Don't hide, don't hide your Jewish symbols. Wear them, wear them proudly and wear them with great Jewish practice because you're a ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש. That's our mission, that's our purpose, that's what we're here for. That's what I would have put in the commercial but nobody asked me. So anyway here is a people Hashem just gave them this charge to be a ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש. Okay you got the Torah? We had the big Chumash party, literally the big Torah party coming off of Har Sinai. Moshe says, \"Open up your Chumash. We're ready to go.\" You know what the first law is? If you're a Jewish slave, six years you work in the... whoa. Today you would say, \"Moshe, you just triggered me. I'm not over my slavery. I still suffer the PTSD. There's still deep, deep trauma inside me. 210 years generational slavery and now the first law you're going to teach is about slaves? You've just triggered me. The trauma you just created in me. How could you? How dare you?\" Today we have those words. So I would have chosen one of many, many, many, many other laws to be the first to teach this people coming off the mountain. And yet the first we teach this people coming off the mountain is dafka a law of slavery. Triggering a nation that moments ago were a group of slaves. Why? למה דווקא מצוה זו שאינה נוהגת אלא בארץ ישראל. This mitzvah only applies in Israel. וגם נוהגת רק בזמן שהסנהדרין. And the law of eved Ivri of a Jewish slave only applied when we had a Rabbinical court. ובכלל דין זה אינו נוהג כסדרו בכל יום ויום. And it doesn't apply, it's not a daily law. Teach the laws of brachos, teach the laws of davening, teach the laws... מה הקדים הכתוב דווקא דין זה של עבד עברי יותר משאר דינים. Says Rav Ginzberg the following: נראה לומר כי ידוע מה שאמרו חז״ל אסור לדון בערכאות של עכו״ם בשום אופן. We know that there's a halacha. Unfortunately too many are not aware but Chazal teach us, the Shulchan Aruch paskens, Choshen Mishpat siman chaf vav at length, that two Jews are forbidden from adjudicating a dispute in a non-Jewish court. Two Jews are forbidden. When one Jew is suing another Jew, when one Jew has to resolve a financial dispute with another Jew, the halacha is you have to go to a Jewish court. Ve-Eileh ha-mishpatim, these are our laws. We're not supposed to be ruled by their laws, we have our own sets of laws. אחד החילוקים הגדולים שיש בין דיני תורה לבין ערכאות של עכו״ם להבדיל. And if a person wants to go to a secular court, they have to get a heter arka'os. You have to go to a rav and you have to get a heter. Let's say you're taking a Jew who's not observant and they don't want to go to a din Torah, they refuse, and the only way to actually get justice is you have no choice but to go to the civil system. So then a rav will give a heter. If you're suing someone, but you're not really suing them, they have insurance, and if you win it's the insurance that's going to pay not them, then you're allowed to go to arka'os because the insurance is not Jewish. You're allowed to go to a secular court. But if a Jew is suing a Jew directly, you have to go to a Jewish court. One of the differences, כיצד דיני עכו״ם אדם שגנב או הרג נותנים אותו בבית הסוהר ודומה לו מעשה אינן מסייעים לו כלום. In a non-Jewish court, if you're found guilty of a crime that you have to go to jail, you go to prison and you're not helped, you're not supported. We need a separate institution, the Aleph Institute of the great Rabbi Lipsker zecher tzadik livracha to be able to get you tefillin and get you sefarim and get you kosher food. But in America, if a person did the crime, they've got to do the time, and they do the time without any compassion. אדרבה ברוב כשיצא אחרי כן מבית האסורים נעשה מורגל להיות יותר רע ממה שהיה קודם לכן. Some are reformed in prison, but many come out worse. Many met gangs, many because all they could do was sit and stew in their mistakes. They learned while sitting there in prison the ways of other prisoners and criminals. מה שאין כן אצל דיני ישראל מי שגנב מכניסים אותו בבית יהודי ובזה רואים איך יהודי צריך להתנהג. This law of eved Ivri, it's an absolute inaccurate translation to call it a Jewish slave. It's not a Jewish slave, it's a Jewish rehab. Somebody who stole and doesn't have the money to pay has to work off what they stole. And how do they work it off? They move into a Jewish home and in that Jewish home they're learning what it means to be honest and truthful and have integrity. They're learning what it means to take responsibility. They're learning what it means to daven, to make brachos. They're learning what it means to be loving. In fact, we learn the Gemara Kiddushin, עד כדי כך שאם יש רק כר אחד בבית הוא קודם לאדם. Let's say the master of the house to whom this Jew is living doing their in-house rehab and let's say they only have one pillow in the home. Who gets the pillow? The master or the so-called slave? The halacha is the slave. כמו שאמרו בגמרא הקונה עבד לעצמו קונה אדון לעצמו. So much so that if you in fact purchase a Jewish slave you've really purchased a master, because you have to feed them, give them a roof over their head, you have to mentor them, and if you only have one pillow, they get it, not you. If there's only enough hot water for one hot shower, they get it, not you. על ידי זה נמצא כשהעבד יוצא לחירות הרי הוא נעשה יותר טוב ממה שהיה קודם. And the idea of Jewish time, you did a crime and you do Jewish time. Jewish time is Jewish rehab. Learn, emulate, imitate and follow the rules. role model that you were living with and come out a better person. ולכן אפשר לומר שהקדים דווקא מצוה זו כדי לידע שמתחילת כל הדינים של חושן משפט אמר לו לאדם דחוץ ממה שעשה לילך לערכאות ככתב התורה שהוא אסור גם ידע יבין החילוק בין דיני ישראל לערכאות של גויים. Not only do we begin with this law because it's important and we need to know that we can't go to their system, but we also need to know that our system has a heart, it has a soul, it's trying to improve and repair and mold people, not punitive for punitive sake, and it's not simply trying to incentivize others not to do the crime. We're trying to take that person and rehabilitate them. We're trying to make them better, we're trying to help them improve. There is a goal. וזה ילמד על הכלל כולו שלא לילך כלל לערכאות של עכו\"ם בשום פנים ואופן and therefore it's being emphasized in this way. Someone asked me a question recently and I'm just going to tease you right now, so I apologize in advance, but I'm probably give shiur on this later our Erev Shabbos Kollel on Friday. And they asked me the following. Someone in our shul got called to jury duty and fulfilling their civic duty, they appeared, and they were chosen. And they were chosen in a significant criminal case that is a capital case. Somebody's accused of murder. And Florida is a death penalty state. And if this jury finds this accused guilty, he could be put to death. And she asked me, \"Is it permissible for to serve on this jury? Is a Jew allowed to serve jury duty?\" Now it may feel obvious to all of us, dina demalchusa dina, the laws of the land are our laws, and we have a civic duty, גר ותושב אנכי עמכם, Avraham Avinu taught us, we're a stranger and a citizen, we have a responsibility as good citizens, we have a civic duty and responsibility to serve when we're called. So on the one hand, it should seem obvious that you should. On the other, what if you're part of a system that puts someone to death but the halacha would say they're not deserving of death? You're now participating in killing someone, in murdering someone, what the Torah might call murder, even if America entitles you to vote in favor of their getting the death penalty, that doesn't mean that the halacha would endorse that. And can a Jew put someone to death, give a death penalty, or is that maybe tantamount to murder? And this, when it was asked to me, is a fascinating question. I started to research it. There's a big, there are several teshuvos. We're going to go through it im yirtzeh Hashem on Friday at the Erev Shabbos Kollel. The Mishna Halachos, Rav Menashe Klein was asked this: אם מותר להיות jury בלעז אחד מהשופטים במשפטי עכו\"ם אם יש חילוק בין דיני ממונות לדיני נפשות. Is it permissible to serve jury duty, and is there a difference between it being a monetary case or a capital case? And he, I'll give you a little preview, he holds it's assur, he holds it's forbidden. And he says eleh hamishpatim that the non-Jewish courts are for non-Jews. Not only is that the place where we should sue, that's not only the place to adjudicate as Jews, it's also only the place to serve or respond as Jews. And therefore a Jew is forbidden. He says: לעניות דעתי אסור לישראל להשתתף במשפטים כאלו ולהיות דיין בזה, דכך כתיב בתורתנו תורת משה אמת שנתן לנו הקדוש ברוך הוא בהר סיני, פרשת משפטים, ואלו המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם. ותניא בגמרא גיטין, רבי טרפון אומר כל מקום שאתה מוצא אגוריאות של עובדי כוכבים אף על פי שדיניהם כדיני ישראל אי אתה רשאי להזקק להם, אלה המשפטים אשר תשים לפניהם, ולא לפני עובדי כוכבים. So he says, based on the opening pasuk of our parsha, you're not allowed to participate. True, one of the seven Noahide laws is for them to set up a system of justice, that's for them, not for us. And it's not even for us to participate in as a juror or as a judge. Can a Jew be a judge? Interesting questions, no? Tune in later, we're not going to get to it, but I thought I'd raise it because it is a fascinating, fascinating question. Okay, Perek Chof-Aleph, Pasuk Yud-Tes. Skipping to page 420. And here we have a litany of different laws here in Parshas Mishpatim from a range of all over Torah, a litany of laws. So the Torah tells us in Perek Chof-Aleph, Chapter 21, Verse 18: וכי יריבון אנשים והכה איש את רעהו באבן או באגרף ולא ימות ונפל למשכב. Two men are fighting and one punches the other with a stone or with his fist. He doesn't die, but he falls into bed. אם יקום והתהלך בחוץ על משענתו ונקה המכה רק שבתו יתן ורפא ירפא. If he gets up and he goes outside of his own power, the one who struck him is absolved, only for his lost time he should pay and he provides for his healing. For his lost time and for his healing. So here we derive all the laws that apply. If one person injures another, they have to compensate him for lost wages, pay the medical bills, embarrassment, and so on and so forth. רק שבתו יתן ורפא ירפא. I might have thought a doctor's forbidden to practice and here the Torah tells me verapo yerapeh since this injured party is allowed to go get medical treatment that's evidence this is the evidence that doctors are allowed to practice. Now why would I have thought that a doctor's not allowed to practice? Why would I have thought that that should be forbidden? So Rashi writes nitno reshus in Gemara Bava Kamma daf peh hey שאילמלא הפסוק היה מקום לאסור מלעסוק רפואה מסברא רחמנא מחי ואיהו מסי because Hakadosh Baruch Hu chose for this person to be ill or injured and you're going to go against what God wants? God determined that this person should be ill or injured and you're going to go against God? You're competing with God? You're reversing God's will by treating and healing the person after Hashem determined that this is what should happen to them? How can you go against it? The Ramban Tosafos we've discussed this previously in the Parsha Shiur they have different answers. Some answer because in order to heal what do you need to do? Chavala. My dear friend and chevrusa is a surgeon. Every day he puts people on an operating table he takes a knife and he cuts them open. Now if he weren't doing it to heal you would put such a person in prison. The man is a violent criminal. He walks around with a knife and he stabs people and he cuts them open and rearranges their organs. It's a fine line between a violent criminal and a doctor and a surgeon. What's the difference between them? One is doing it to harm and one is doing it to heal. But who says to heal you're allowed to harm another? There's an issur of chavala. It's a biblical prohibition of chavala. So who says you're allowed to be chovel b'chaveiro you're allowed to injure another in order to heal? Who says? What about injure yourself? Are you allowed to injure yourself? I once gave a shiur about boxing. In the 20th century it was very popular Jews immigrants to America were among the most successful boxers were big in the boxing industry. Since then we've learned and we've just become the boxing promoters. We've learned you can make the money without actually having to get hit in the head. So we became the promoters. But before Jews could be the promoters when we actually had to step in the ring and get hit in the head believe it or not there were tshuvos written. There's halachic responsa about can a Jew be a boxer. What's the problem with being a boxer? There's two problems. Punching the other that's a problem chovel b'chaveiro. If you're a bad boxer it might be okay but if you're a good boxer and you're going to land any of those punches and you're going to draw blood or draw a bruise that's chovel b'chaveiro. That's a significant prohibition. There's another problem chovel b'atzmo. By being in the ring and putting yourself in a position to get punched yourself in the face that's also a biblical prohibition chovel b'atzmo. So I might have thought chavala the issur of harming is true even in the context of healing therefore the Torah says verapo yerapeh מכאן שניתנה רשות לרופא לרפאות a doctor is allowed to heal a doctor has license to heal even though objectively if you were to freeze the frame you'd see the surgeon with a knife cutting open the person. If you didn't know it was a sterile environment if you didn't know they were undergoing a surgery if you didn't know it was to heal them you'd say arrest that man arrest that woman! But since it's to heal it's perfectly permissible. Rashi gave a different reason and Rashi's reason was maybe Hashem wants the person to be sick. What are you doing going against Hashem? So רב ישראל מאיר הכהן of Radin Chofetz Chaim says how could you say that in this context? This is the Chofetz Chaim's kasha. This is brought down in the sefer on the Meshech Chochma שללה של רבינו מאיר שמחה a beautiful sefer I told you someone got me the teachings and Torah of Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk the Meshech Chochma. So here it quotes the great Chofetz Chaim the Chofetz Chaim says why would I have thought that I can't heal somebody and that if I heal them I'm going against God's will such that I need license special permission? What's the context here? How did this person get injured? It wasn't Hashem. It was ki yerivun anoshim. There's a boxing match going on over here. Two people are fighting they break into fisticuffs must have been a hockey game and one injures the other. הפסוק שלפנינו אין עוסק כלל בחולי הבא משמים אלא באדם המכה את חברו עד שנפל למשכב מה שייך לומר באופן זה רחמנא מחי. What room is there here to say God chose for him to be sick and you're going to heal? God didn't choose the person he's fighting and punched him in the face chose. Says the Chofetz Chaim an incredible yesod. Says the Chofetz Chaim you might think that when someone else punches you in the face they're the one who punched you. But if Hashem didn't want you punched you wouldn't be punched in the face. The person would have collapsed of a heart attack. The person would have been paralyzed and couldn't raise their arm. The person would have decided to punch someone else. The person would have gotten stuck in traffic and couldn't make the boxing match and punch you. Certainly they're accountable if they punch you. That's not to say that they're not accountable, but the way we experience what happens to us is not only that the other party did it and you could take that party to Beis Din, not to secular court, but to Beis Din if they punch you in the face. But as you take the person to Beis Din and hold them accountable for punching you in the face, the way you process it in your own religious experience is to say this couldn't have happened if it wasn't God's will. There must be a reason this was meant to happen to me and for me. We have to recognize that everything that happens couldn't and wouldn't happen if it weren't Hashem's will. So even when it seems it's the bechira, even when it seems it happened because it was the free will of another, their free will also is an expression and extension of Hashem and it couldn't and wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Hashem. פרק כא פסוק כד. We're still dealing with these laws. Let's go back to Chaf Beis. וכי ינצו אנשים ונגפו אשה הרה ויצאו ילדיה ולא יהיה אסון ענוש יענש כאשר ישית עליו בעל האשה ונתן בפלילים. If man is fighting and they collide with a pregnant woman, she miscarries, but there will be no fatality, you're punished as the husband of the woman shall cause to be assessed against him, pay according to the order of the judges. ואם אסון יהיה ונתת נפש תחת נפש. If there's a fatality, then you will award a life for a life. עין תחת עין שן תחת שן יד תחת יד רגל תחת רגל כויה תחת כויה פצע תחת פצע חבורה תחת חבורה. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise, we get it. Why did the Torah have to go on and give so many examples? We get it. You get what happens to you, what you sought to do to the other. We get it. Why does the Torah have to go on? That I leave to Chazal. That the Rabbis explain. But an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand and so on. Of course, we know that our oral Torah comes along and says, not literally. If somebody cut off your hand, you don't take out a hatchet and cut off theirs. We identify what was the value, what was your value before you lost your hand, what's your value without your hand, and that's the fine that they have to pay. That's what it means, a hand for a hand. That is the idea, that is the deeper meaning of a hand for a hand. This is one of the key places where the Torah, the oral Torah is critical. Not the literal translation or meaning, but the oral Torah kicks in. Rav Soloveitchik, the Gerer Rosh Yeshiva, we love to quote. He says the following. He says that we're living in times that people love to look for segulas. People are loving to look for shortcuts. Wear this, say that, say this from a klaf, do this, segula. They're looking for the shortcut to protect themselves and their families. He quotes the Heilige Tiferes Shlomo. Tiferes Shlomo says the following. A new insight within our parsha. The Torah says ayin tachat ayin. We know what happens on this world affects the upper worlds. What a person does down here is mirrored in how he's treated on high. And the Tiferes Shlomo, Rav Shlomo Radomsk, tells us, read this passuk ayin tachat ayin, an eye for an eye, not in the context of a fight, of a conflict between two people and the ruling of the Beis Din, but read an eye for an eye as for us, that what we do with our eye down here, ayin tachat ayin, is what will draw the eye up above. The Baal Shem Tov famously taught. Passuk says Hashem tzilcha, we say in Tehillim. Hashem tzilcha. Hashem is your tzel. What's a tzel? A shadow. What does it mean Hashem is our shadow? Hashem shadows us, what does that mean? So Baal Shem Tov said, what does your shadow do? Your shadow imitates you. Your shadow follows you exactly. When you move a foot, your shadow moves a foot, when you lift your hand, your shadow lifts a hand. Hashem deals with us exactly the way that we deal with others. He's our shadow means He deals with us as a reflection of the way we deal and the way we treat others. And that's what it means דע מה למעלה ממך. The mishna in Pirkei Avos says, know what is above you. The Berditchever taught, דע מה למעלה ממך. Know what is done from heaven, mimcha, it's from you. דע מה למעלה ממך. What happens from heaven, it's you. Hashem deals with us mida keneged mida. The way that we treat others is how He treats us. The way we behave is how He behaves towards us. If we're forgiving, we're magnanimous, we're generous, we're foregoing, then Hashem is that way with us. And if we're strict, and we're vigilant, and we demand justice, then that's the way Hashem is with us. Who we are and how we behave towards others is how He behaves towards us. Hashem tzilcha, He's our shadow, and da mah lema'la, know what happens from above, mimcha, not mimach, mimcha, it comes from you. The passuk says in Tehillim, עין ה' אל יראיו. Hashem's eye, Hashem's special hashgacha or attention... is afforded those who fear Him. How do you get ayin, how do you get this special ayin? How are we worthy of Hashem paying closer attention to us, protecting us, carefully watching over us? How do we merit that divine protection, that divine providence, ayin tachat ayin says the holy Gerer Rosh Yeshiva. It depends on how you use your own eye. As much as one is careful, one is to guard his own eye and make sure not to look where we shouldn't, then Hashem's special eye will guard us. If we guard our eye, Hashem guards us with His eye. If we look at people critically, He looks at us critically. If we look at others favorably, He looks at us favorably. Ayin tachat ayin, the great Gerer Rosh Yeshiva is suggesting homiletically, ayin tachat ayin is not only a law in interpersonal relationships, it's a law in our relationship with Hashem. Hashem tzilcha. The Gemara reads the pasuk in Yeshaya ועצם עיניו מראות ברע, shuts his eyes to evil, referring to one who keeps the kedusha of his eyes intact. And Chazal say, learning from this pasuk, that one who closes his eyes to unbecoming sights will be zocheh to greet the Shechina, to greet the Shechina. So when a person guards their eye, ayin tachat ayin. When we're tempted to watch, to look at that which we shouldn't, when we're tempted to look with a critical eye, when we're tempted to look unfavorably, we're tempted to look with envy or jealousy, we're tempted to use our eyes inappropriately, incorrectly, in a way that sabotages ourselves, one of the ways to inspire ourselves is to remember this insight of the Gerer Rosh Yeshiva, that ayin tachat ayin, what we do with our eye will elicit from Hashem how He looks at us kivyachol, and that should motivate us and inspire us tremendously. פרק כב פסוק כ. Moving right along. chaf bet, again, many, many, many more laws here. pasuk chaf. Torah tells us at the top of page 430: זובח לאלוהים יחרם בלתי לה' לבדו. Anyone who brings offerings to gods shall be destroyed, only to Hashem alone. וגר לא תונה ולא תלחצנו כי גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים. Don't taunt or oppress the stranger, the immigrant, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt. We were outsiders. ger, don't oppress the immigrant, the stranger, the outsider. I would describe, I would translate the word ger as outsider. Writes Rabbi Soloveitchik in his Chumash: in general, the Torah ethic is derived from experience. We have mercy on all uprooted and defenseless human beings in exile. We're burdened with an ethical norm to help because we remember how we felt when we were in distress. Says Rabbi Soloveitchik, the Torah is going out of its way here to tell us to pay special, careful attention, to care deeply and protect the outsider. The outsider, the immigrant, this ger, can be a person who moved, who doesn't know the language, a person who doesn't, it could be the new kid who moves to our class, who came from another community and doesn't know how to fit in. It could be the person who moved to our neighborhood, the adult who moved to our block who doesn't yet know anyone. It could be the new person at work who needs someone to show them the ropes. This ger, this outsider, is somebody who comes from the outside, and we can either treat them, make them feel different, or we can make them feel they belong. And why should we? כי גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים because we know this experience. We know what comes, the oppression, the feeling of persecution. Writes Rabbi Soloveitchik, this casts light upon our mysterious historical destiny. Our nation was born in the crucible of exile, bondage, and suffering. What emerged as a people from the sand dunes of the Sinai desert where we wandered for 40 years. Why could we not rise as a people in our own land and prosperity and abundance? The answer is simple. If our morality had to be one of kindness and chesed, it could not have been formulated for people who knew not what suffering is. Only people in exile could understand and appreciate a morality of kindness. Therefore, galus was an essential experience in the life of our patriarchs, and it is still a major experience in our lives. Writes Rabbi Soloveitchik, the Torah is telling us לא תונה וגר לא תונה ולא תלחצנו. Why, why couldn't we be born in prosperity? Why can't the Jewish people be born in comfort? Why were we born in the desert, born in the suffering of Egypt, and then 40 years wandering in a desert before we could ever reach our promised land? The answer was it was an incubator, it was a laboratory. It got us ready to be sensitive, to take our own experience and to pay it forward to help others, to care, to care. And I think maybe a parsha perspective for our time, something that strikes me, as antisemitism has been on the rise and understandably we are so sensitive to this horrific, horrific trend that's taking place, one of the things that we should be doing in reacting to it is ask ourselves, are there others in our midst and around us that we're mistreating? Now that we're being singled out, and treated in this way, and we know what it feels like again, ke-ilu again we are גרים היינו בארץ מצרים. We're being made to feel by too many in this country as gerim again. Who do we make feel as outsiders? Not only do we have to combat and fight antisemitism, not only in my opinion is the number one way by Jewish practice and Jewish pride, but also one of the ways that we should improve ourselves, because mida k'neged mida, whatever is happening to us is also a lesson for us. And maybe one of the lessons for us is to be more sensitive to ask ourselves how are we treating the so-called outsiders within our own people and from without our people as well. פרק כג פסוק ד. Page 432. כי תפגע שור אויבך או חמורו תועה השב תשיבנו לו. Here the Torah tells us, you encounter an ox of your enemy or his donkey, an ox of your enemy or his donkey wandering, surely return it to him. Why did it have to tell me \"of my enemy\"? Why does the Torah have to go out of its way to tell me an ox or a donkey of my enemy? Not of my friend? Only of my enemy? Because I might have been tempted to think: my enemy, good for him. Stay lost. Good riddance. Let my enemy suffer from a lost donkey or ox. Even of your enemy you have to return it, and that's in fact how you turn your enemy into your friend by caring about him. The Amoros Tehoros quotes here the Heilige Baal Shem. Baal Shem said the following: כי כאשר אדם רואה באיש אחד שעושה דבר לא טוב חס ושלום. If you see in someone else doing something no good, chas v'shalom, סימן הוא שגם אצלו ישנו אבק עבירה זו. We know כל הפוסל במומו פוסל. What we can't stand in someone else is probably the thing that we hate within ourselves. That which we have no tolerance for in others is revealing of the thing within ourselves that needs work. לכן מראים לו זאת מן השמים כדי שיזדהה לו שגם הוא עשה מעין זה ויתעורר לשוב בתשובה. So when we see someone who has something in them that we can't stand, that we have no tolerance for, that we're really repulsed by, then we should recognize that that thing is probably in us and the reason Hashem exposed us to that person who has that trait or attribute that we can't stand is to recognize and identify and improve that thing within us. ובתשובתו יכול לפעול שגם החוטא ההוא ישוב בתשובה על חטאו. And when we are willing to acknowledge and improve, repair that within ourselves, then not only will we improve, but then we can also get the other to improve it in them. על כן יראה זה הרואה לשוב תכף בתשובה. וזהו, and that's maybe how the Heilige Rachmistrivka wants to teitch this pasuk. כי תפגע שור אויבך או חמורו בעת שאתה רואה החמור חברך תועה בדרך. You see their chamor. Chamor donkey, the Maharal always tells us, chamor donkey comes from the word chomer. Chomer means material, physical. You see your enemy giving in to materialism. You see your enemy tempted by physical desire, temptation. The answer is hashev. You should do teshuva and then tashivenu lo, then he too will return in teshuva. When you see כי תפגע שור אויבך או חמורו, when you run into, when you encounter your enemy's donkey, what it means is when you encounter your enemy's donkey means you're encountering your enemy living like a donkey, then recognize there's a donkey in you, recognize the animal impulse in you, recognize the animal instinct in you. Whatever you can't stand in the other, כל הפוסל במומו פוסל. The thing that people criticize and call a name and marginalize and dismiss someone else for is the thing they need to work on within themselves, within themselves. So if it's bothering you that you see some... ki tifga, when you encounter your enemy acting like a chamor, hashev, you improve, fix yourself because it's a problem in you and tashivenu lo, then he or she will improve as well, will improve as well. Trying to decide which pasuk to do next. I want to get to the end of the parsha, the parts that we haven't gotten all these years. Okay, let's go to פרק כד פסוק ג. All the way to Perek Chaf-Dalet. We're making our way across the whole action-packed Parshas Mishpatim. Perek Chaf-Dalet. Now we get back to a little bit of narrative. We get back to a little bit of narrative. ואל משה אמר עלה אל ה' אתה ואהרן נדב ואביהוא ושבעים מזקני ישראל. To Moshe He said, go up to Hashem you, Aharon, Nadav and Avihu and the seventy elders and bow down from a distance. ונגש משה לבדו אל ה' והם לא יגשו והעם לא יעלו עמו. Moshe alone approached and the nation could not ascend with him. Vayavo Moshe. So I want to tell you an amazing Keddushas Levi, an amazing Keddushas Levi. You know, I'm going to read it to you in the Keddushas Levi, I'm not going to read it to you from the Imros Tehoros. I'm going to read it to you directly from the Levi Yitzchak of Berdychev, the Keddushas Levi. Vayavo Moshe Vayisaper. Moshe came vayisaper la'am and he told the people. What would I have thought the word should be? Vayitzav, he commanded. He's coming back with all the Torah and all its laws. Moshe should arrive and command, Moshe should arrive and teach. Why is it vayisaper? Vayisaper is from sippur, it's a story. What story is he telling? It's laws he's telling. And what are these laws? Kol hamishpatim. So דעת רש\"י שהיה קודם מתן תורה שבע מצות שנצטוו בני נח ופרה אדומה ושבת. So the Keddushas Levi, Levi Yitzchak says the opinion of Rashi is what did Moshe teach? When did this happen? This last perek of our parsha, this last section. We know the Torah may not be written chronologically. So Rashi's of the opinion that in fact this last section happened before the Torah was given. Because last week is when we read about kabbalas hatorah Har Sinai. And this week is when we have the iconic words na'aseh v'nishma. We will do and we will listen. Well, when did they say we will do and we will listen? Before or after the Torah was given? The whole kuntss, the whole incredible thing about they said we will do and we will listen is that they said it when? Before the Torah was given. So why is it here at the end of Mishpatim not earlier in Yisro? So Rashi says ein hachi nami. Cut and paste. Take this section out. If you're going to put it chronologically, this belongs last week's parsha before kabbalas hatorah. Azoy zogt Rashi, that's Rashi's opinion. So if that's the case, if this is coming before kabbalas hatorah, then what does Rashi, how would Rashi explain, what does Moshe mean when he says obey kol hamishpatim? Which laws? Which laws? If it's coming before the Torah is given, then which laws is Moshe telling them to observe? So Rashi says which laws? There were laws that were given before Har Sinai. How many? Seven Noachide laws, שבע מצות בני נח, and a few more were given at Marah, para aduma, shabbas, a couple more were given at Marah. הקשה הרמב\"ן אינו נכון שנצטוו בני נח שנאמר להם במרה שכבר שמעו ולא יאמר ויספר אלא בחדשים אשר יגיד. Says the Ramban, I don't buy it, Rashi. Moshe, these laws, those laws were already taught. The שבע מצות בני נח were already taught. And the law para aduma and shabbas was already taught. And the word vayisaper to tell over, to tell a story, to tell laws implies new laws, not previously taught laws. So if this is teaching new laws, it can't be referring to those which were already taught. ולנראה דברי רש\"י כהוגן. So Keddushas Levi, Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev comes along to defend Rashi. Why would you teach previous laws with the word vayisaper as if they were new? שכפי משמעות הש\"ס היה קודם מתן תורה כמבואר באור החיים. He says it seems from Shas that this, this whole section is before kabbalas hatorah. דלכאורה יש להבין לשון ויבא משה ויספר לעם דכפי דעת רש\"י שאמר להם ז' מצות של בני נח ופרה ודיני שבת אינו שייך לשון ויספר כי אם ויצו. ולשון ויספר אינו מובן. לכן נראה דבאמת אלו נצטוו במרה וכן ז' מצות כבר רק שמשה רבינו עליו השלום היה מספר לעם גודל הפעולה שפעלו ישראל בקיום ז' מצות ומצות שנצטוו במרה. Listen to this incredible insight the great Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev. The holy Berdichever says it's true, these laws were all previously taught. They've been observing the seven Noachide laws. And at Marah they were already given some of the earlier laws and they've been keeping them. Moshe is not teaching them anew, he's coming to teach them something else that's new. And what's the new thing that he's coming to teach them? That you have no idea what your mitzvah observance means to Hashem. You have no idea how meaningful and significant it is to Hashem. שהקדוש ברוך הוא משתעשע בקיום המצות שכל העולמות והנשמות תלוים בהם. You don't understand what happens in the heavens. You don't understand how God is so moved, how God so appreciates. You don't understand the impact of the mitzvos that you do. They're about to stand at Har Sinai and get six hundred and thirty... thirteen new and they might say what's the point this is overwhelming why the details and minutiae we can't do it Moshe gives them a pep talk before it happens Vayisaper lahem Moshe Moshe says here's the pep talk you need to know the cosmic implications of everything you do when you're tempted to ignore that mitzvah when you're tempted to say or eat or do the wrong thing when you're tempted to sit this one out and not do what's right you need to know the impact on the world סיפר משה גודל מעלות המצוות שיקיימו ישראל כיוון ששמעו ישראל גודל השעשועים שמשתעשע הקדוש ברוך הוא when they heard השפע והששון והשמחה שמשפיעים ישראל בכך לעולמות ולקיום המצוות לבורא ברוך הוא אז ענו ואמרו כל אשר דיבר השם נעשה שאנחנו רוצים עוד במצוות only when they understood when they understood the divine joy the nachas ruach they're giving the Eibershter the Ribono Shel Olam when they understood the meaning the difference it makes the impact it has they said give us more Na'aseh we're in whatever you tell us to do we're in the cosmic implications the joy and the nachas it gives you Hashem we want more give us more that's why it's Vayisaper that's how the Kedushas Levi defends Rashi against the Ramban something new something more was being said was being said over here we're running out of time okay one more i think we have time for one more i wanted to get into Na'aseh V'nishmah i wanted to get into Vayochlu Vayishtu that we were supposed to get into last year and two years ago too פרק כד פסוק יא because what happens very top of 442 אל אצילי בני ישראל לא שלח ידו ויחזו את האלוקים ויאכלו וישתו they gazed at Hashem and they said kiddush Har Sinai Na'aseh V'nishma we accept the whole Torah incredible high let's eat kiddush smorg let's go what's this Vayochlu Vayishtu eating and drinking is that a concession to our frail human mortality is there something holy and high about eating and drinking why is it whenever we have a spiritual high it's followed by eating and drinking Shavuos the story of Kabalas HaTorah even though some debate how we should designate and divide our days our holy days everybody agrees that when it comes to Shavuos everybody agrees chatzi lachem you need at least half the day to eat and drink Shavuos i would think would be a day that we don't eat and drink at all just be in shul davening and learning every time we make a siyum on learning siyum has to be in the context of food everybody wash then we're going to make the siyum tonight we're going to make a siyum on Siddur snippets i'm not mailing everybody in their home something to eat and drink that part's up to you but come on zoom come on zoom with a little something to eat and drink in front of you because we're going to make a siyum on the Amidah of Siddur snippets so why Vayochlu Vayishtu we'll have to come back to that another year but i want to end with this פרק כד פסוק יב ויאמר השם אל משה עלה אלי ההרה והיה שם climb the mountain and be there we spoke last year isn't that redundant if you climb the mountain obviously you're there not if you bring your cell phone with you not if you bring your smartphone with you עלה אלי ההרה והיה שם already since Har Sinai Hashem says i don't want to compete for your attention Alei Elai climb to me heyay sham be where you are don't be absent presence don't be somewhere else because you are wherever your mind is you're not wherever your body is so when you're at shul at davening but you're busy scrolling or reading or thinking about something else when you're on a date with your spouse but you're busy scrolling or reading or typing or thinking about something else when you're in the park pushing your child or grandchild grandchild but you're busy reading or scrolling or typing something else then you weren't there you were where you were wherever your mind is so Hashem tells Moshe don't just come on the mountain physically that's Alei Elai HaHar but also v’heyay sham be there ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצווה אשר כתבתי להורותם and i will give you the luchos ha’even i'll give you the tablets the Torah the mitzvah that i wrote to teach them Luchos Ha’even they were inscribed by Hashem but what about the rest of the pasuk that part i get Hashem says climb the mountain i've got a giveaway i've got a gift come on top of the mountain you're going to go home with something what's that Luchos Ha’even the tablets התורה המצווה אשר כתבתי what are the Torah and mitzvah is that what's written on the tablets or is that in addition to the tablets how do you understand this pasuk God says come on the mountain i'm going to send you home with the luchos ha’even and the Torah and the mitzvah that i wrote is that what's all on the tablets what Torah what mitzvah just the ten commandments on the tablets Taryag where were they written Mitzvos where were they given Asher kasavti that i wrote The luchos, what's on the tablets? The Decalogue, the ten commandments. The Decalogue, that's who you, Ben, the ten commandments, Asseres Hadibros. Not all of mitzvos. So what's התורה והמצוה אשר כתבתי? So we're not the first to be bothered by this, Rashi. כל שש מאות ושלש עשרה מצות בכלל עשרת הדברות הן רב סעדיה פירש באזהרותיו לכל דבור ודבור מצות התלויות בו. All 613 are subsumed under the ten commandments. All 613 fit into the ten categories of the ten commandments. That's how Rav Saadia Gaon sees it. So Hashem says in these ten commandments, these are headers, these are chapter titles. And under these ten commandments, you can fit and categorize all 613. So therefore, take home the tablets, sorry, keep dropping this, take home the tablets with the ten and we'll treat that like you have all 613. That's how Rashi understands. The Ramban explains differently. Asher kasavti, that's on the luchos haeven. Lehorosam, to teach you, that's the torah and mitzva, that's b'al peh. The tablets you're taking home only have the ten. That's what I wrote. Torah and mitzva that I'm talking about, that's what Moshe is going to bring down orally, communicate to the people. And the Ramban says, quotes from the Ibn Ezra, שבתורה שתי הדברות הראשונות ששמעו ישראל מפי הגבורה. That when the passuk says torah, that means the opening two of the ten commandments. Mitzva are the other eight of the ten commandments. And then so the Ramban, beautiful Rashi, beautiful Ramban, different ways to understand this passuk. But I want to tell you the Meshech Chochma. Oh wow, what a Meshech Chochma. What a way to end. You ready? Beautiful insight. The Gemara in Eruvin daf kuf tells us, אמר רבי יוחנן אלמלי לא נתנה תורה היינו למדים צניעות מחתול וגזל מנמלה ועריות מיונה דרך ארץ מתרנגול. The Gemara in Eruvin then says, had the torah never been given, we could have looked around at the natural world and derived and extrapolated so many of the laws from there. We would have learned modesty from the cat, and we would have learned honesty from the ant, a hard day's work, and we would have learned not to be promiscuous from the dove, and we would have learned derech eretz from the tarnegol, from the rooster. שכל מצות התורה בהנהגת האדם הראויה הוטמעו והוטבעו על ידי הקדוש ברוך הוא בששת ימי בראשית ותכונותיהם של בעלי החיים אשר ניתן ללמוד לגזור רצון השם באמצעות התבוננות באופן מעשי. Do you know where Hashem wrote all this torah and mitzvos? Listen to what Meshech Chochma says. אשר כתבתי בספר הטבע אשר יצרתי. Look around at nature and the natural world and the natural order. Hashem says I wrote all my values in the world around you. Study the animal kingdom, study the iguanas, who, I was corrected, mammals hibernate, reptiles flash freeze. Mammals hibernate and reptiles flash freeze. Yeshivish people go back to New York, they flash freeze. Or they're mammals, maybe they hibernate, I don't know which one, they flash freeze. So I was wrong. Go study. This is what we did, we studied the iguana. Look how it reacts when it's too cold like Amalek, but it's going to come back to life, there's a pintele iguana inside that's going to come back to life. Hakadosh Boruch Hu says look around my world, study chemistry and biology and physics. Study the ant and study the dove and study the cat and study the rooster, because my values are written all over my world. If you want to understand what matters and what means something, if you want to understand what makes me tick, if you want to understand torah u'mitzvos, the written says the Meshech Chochma, אשר כתבתי בספר הטבע אשר יצרתי. והתורה והמצוה אשר כתבתי. So Hashem says the ten commandments, they're on the luchos. Torah and mitzva I also wrote. And where can you read it? By opening your eyes and living this world. So many of us are walking around, also scrolling and typing and reading, we're missing Hashem's incredible world. Rav Avigdor Miller zatzal was a big believer, listen, listen to the rustling of the leaves and feel the wind and feel the sun on your neck and look at the animal. You don't have to pay the high fee for Butterfly World or Lion Country Safari. Go for a walk, the path from the shore that leads to the lake. When I take my grandchildren for that walk, we have a game, we try to count how many animals we can see and we always get to at least ten. There's butterflies, iguanas, lizards, turtles, fish, birds, ducks, you can, it's unbelievable. Just go for a walk without a device. Heiyei sham. Go for a walk without noise and you can read the ספר הטבע אשר יצרתי. You could read Hashem's incredible magnum opus called the natural world. Study it, see. Many years ago, when Rav Asher Weiss, the Minchas Osher was here, and we had some time, a few minutes on the Sunday before he left, I'm ending with this for real. I said, how would rebbe like to spend time? And he wanted to go to the Everglades to see the alligators. And at the Everglades, there's a little zoo that you could walk through after you go on the boat, see the alligators, and Rav Asher Weiss knew everything about every animal. Oh, this bird, it comes from here, and it multiplies in this way, and this is its... now of course he has a photographic memory, knows everything about kol haTorah kulla, that I knew. But what I didn't know is his love for animals. And he shared that at one point in his childhood, he actually thought he would become a zookeeper. He wanted to become a person who got to spend... he loves Hashem's animals, he loves Hashem's world. He read the encyclopedia from cover to cover and he knows everything in it by heart and he loves the animals. He's a master of the Sefer HaTeva. People who have a real fine-tuned appreciation and sensitivity to Hashem also love Hashem's world, and they see Hashem's fingerprints all over His world. And that's all in this posuk. Luchos HoEven are the Ten Commandments. Torah and mitzvos are Hashem's fingerprints, His authorship all over His natural world that's all around us. Join us tonight, 8:30 for our siyum online on Zoom. Bring your own l'chayim. Until then, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy. Don't forget, global campaign, BRSonline.org/global. On your way out, on your way out, take out your credit card, if you've not done it yet, please.
