Transcript
Good morning, Boker Tov. Welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today, special Shabbos HaGadol, Erev Pesach, Parshas Tzav edition. As always we thank our very generous series sponsors, Becky and Avi Katz and family, in memory of David Grossman, לעלוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מניש, with tremendous gratitude to Becky and Avi. Today's shiur is also sponsored anonymously, in the merit of אבנר בן אברהם הכהן, Sheindel bas Dov, Meshulam ben Dov, דוב משולם בן ניסן בן שמעון, רפואה חיים בן דוד, אשראף רוחא בת יוסף אוליביה, may the neshamas have an aliyah, and by Carol Walden in memory of מרים בת אליהו הלוי וגיטל. Thank you so much for your generosity. Page 568 in the Artscroll Stone Chumash, this week we have the privilege of learning and of reading Parshas Tzav, on what will be Shabbos HaGadol, the Shabbos preceding Pesach, a Shabbos of courage and conviction, a Shabbos that Klal Yisrael demonstrated they were ready to set themselves free, not as passive spectators to their own destiny, but as partners with the Ribbono Shel Olam, taking their destiny into their own into their own hands. And there's a lot of connection to Parshas Tzav, maybe we'll get to some of which we want to reminder next week there is no Parsha shiur because next Shabbos there is no Parsha. It will be Pesach and the week after that is also Chol HaMoed, so what we will resume following Pesach when we will come back to reading the regular order of the parshas. וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר, Hashem spoke to Moshe: צו את אהרן ואת בניו לאמר זאת תורת העלה היא העלה על מוקדה על המזבח כל הלילה עד הבקר ואש המזבח תוקד בו. Our parsha, Parshas Tzav, we're continuing with the korbanos that we began last week, and we take a little break from the korbanos going through the specific list of sacrifices to deviate to a different service, a different avodah in the Mikdash in the Mishkan, and that was the service of the Trumas HaDeshen. The Trumas HaDeshen was, put loosely or paraphrase, the taking out of the garbage. As the korban that sat on the altar all night burned and turned into a pile of ash, that ash had to be removed. The garbage had to be taken out to make room, to make space for the new day's sacrifice. And here the Torah tells us, צו את אהרן ואת בניו לאמר. Teach, this is the Torah of the Olah. We've spoken in the past, Rashi Tzav is lashon zeiruz, miyad ul'doros. Alacrity, zeal, energy, enthusiasm. Why was that necessary here more than elsewhere? Because this was chisron kis. The kohanim didn't get access, they didn't get a piece of this korban. They weren't invited to this barbeque. The Korban Olah was entirely consumed on the fire, and therefore they might be less likely to perform it with alacrity. So the Torah has to go out of its way, Moshe Rabbeinu had to tell them, Tzav, with a language of zeal and enthusiasm, a language of alacrity. So the, first of all that's Tzav. Second of all the Torah tells us, ואש המזבח תוקד בו, the fire of the mizbeiach was burning. ולבש הכהן מדו בד ומכנסי בד ילבש על בשרו. The kohein puts on his fitted linen garment and he puts on the linen pants on its flesh and he separates the ash. Samu eitzel hamizbeiach, he takes out the garbage, the ash, and he puts it first next to the mizbeiach. ופשט את בגדיו ולבש בגדים אחרים, and then he removes his garments and he puts on other clothing. והוציא את הדשן אל מחוץ למחנה אל מקום טהור, and he takes out the garbage, the ash, to the outside of the camp to a pure place. והאש על המזבח תוקד בו לא תכבה, and this fire has to burn on the altar, it can and never should go out. So let's take a look at Lav Ha-eish, the great Rabbi Yisroel Meir Druck. And he tells us, he tells us the following: המשנה ביומא מספרת כיצד נעשית תרומת הדשן ומי היה הכהן שזכה בעבודה נשגבה זו. The Mishnayos in Yoma tell us exactly how this service was done. Which kohein was eligible? Who was chosen? What did he wear? How did he take out the ash, the garbage? What happened? And the Mishnah tells us: בראשונה כל מי שרוצה לתרום המזבח תורם. At first it was whoever wanted. בזמן שהם מרובים רצין ועולין בכבש. At first it was whatever kohein wanted, but when there were too many, when there were too many who were eager to do it, then they drew a lottery, whoever would run up the ramp. כל הקודם את חבירו בארבע אמות זכה. Before the lottery, בזמן שהם מרובים רצין ועולין, they would run up the ramp to have the privilege, the right to be able to remove the ash. כל הקודם את חבירו בארבע אמות זכה. And whoever got there first by four amoh won. ואם היו שניהם שוים הממונה אומר להם הצביעו. And if they were equal, then the one who was in charge would say, put out your finger. ומה הן מוציאין אחת או שתים. They'd put out one finger or two fingers. ואין מוציאין אגודל במקדש, you can't put out your thumb, only your other fingers. מעשה שהיו שניהם שוים ורצין עולין בכבש, once there were two equal, they were running up the ramp, ודחף אחד מהם את חבירו. And one kohen pushed the other. In their zeal, in their enthusiasm to be the one who had the privilege of removing the deshen, one pushed the other. V'naphal v'nishbar raglo. And when the Beis Din saw that these kohanim in their alacrity and in their enthusiasm and their zeal were so aggressive that in fact one could push the other, התקינו שלא יהו תורמים את המזבח אלא בפיס. That's when they instituted the lottery, a lottery to determine who would be the one. בתחילה כל כהן שרוצה לתרום את הדשן היה תורם. Says Rav Druk, so originally at first, whoever wanted to was the one who was able to, but they got into a problem, bizman shehayu merubim, but when there were so many who wanted, they instituted running up the ramp, and when that itself proved to be dangerous, then they instituted not running and racing up the ramp, but they proved they instituted the goral, doing the lottery. ברם פעם אחת אירע שני כהנים רצו, but first what taught them was that there was this the Gemara tells the story even further, and it's even harder to read. תנו רבנן מעשה בשני כהנים שהיו שניהם שוין ורצין ועולין בכבש קדם אחד מהן לתוך ארבע אמות של חבירו נטל סכין ותקע לו בלבו. The Gemara tells us an even more heinous and even more gruesome and even more literally unbelievable story. The two kohanim in their zeal and enthusiasm were running up the ramp and one who really wanted it more than the other took out a knife and stabbed the other kohen and in fact carved out his heart. That's how badly he wanted the right, the privilege. And your reaction is exactly... you hear that echo? I'm going to try to go without the mic. So I'll speak loudly and if you can't hear, move up to the front, but the echo is driving me crazy. So your reaction is exactly the reaction that Rav Druk has. רישא עלינו להבין מדוע בתחילה חז\"ל תיקנו שמי שמגיע קודם המזבח זוכה לתרומת הדשן מדוע חז\"ל היו צריכים לחכות עד שתקרה סכנה? Aren't our rabbis prescient? Aren't our rabbis brilliant? Don't they have insight? Chacham adif minavi. So didn't they know that this system was going to lead to a casualty? Shouldn't they have anticipated when you create an environment of competitiveness, when you allow people to compete, to run, to race, it could lead to such aggressiveness? Why didn't they to begin with institute a lottery? Why didn't they start that way? ורק בזמן ששני כהנים שוין היו סוברין יש לתמוה מדוע מראש לא עשו פייס? עוד צריך להבין לכאורה תחרות זו נראית אינה הוגנת מדוע יזכה קל הרגליים? Moreover, where is the justice? How is it fair? Whichever kohen runs faster has the right, the privilege? Since when in the kehunah is there a merit or an advantage to running faster? Whoever had stronger legs, whoever weighed less, whoever trained harder, that's the one who got to do this service, the avodah? Since when do we have such a thing? Can you imagine in shul the gabbai gets up and he says whoever runs to the bimah fastest gets shlishi? First of all, you don't have to be a chacham or navi to know that that's not going to end well. It's not going to end well. The stampede, the race, the run, not going to end well. First of all, it's a bad idea, don't institute it to begin with, but moreover than that, the people who deserve that shlishi, that shishi aliyah the most are people who probably have to walk the slowest, maybe with some assistance, maybe with a walker or a cane. They're the ones who deserve it more than the young legs who could race and get there first and push everyone out of the way. So it's very hard to understand the opening of our parsha that came with this practice that our rabbis not only supervised or tolerated but instituted and endorsed. What were they thinking? Why not go right to a lottery to begin with, number one? Number two, where was the fairness of letting whoever could run faster? And number three, how could kohanim be so cutthroat, literally, in the in the race to the right to serve Hashem? You deny Hashem by injuring his children, by being aggressive, by pushing someone off the ramp and out of the way? What's going on? כדי ליישב זאת דקדק מדברי המשנה באבות. Says Rav Druk, in order to understand and explain this, let's look at the mishna in Pirkei Avot. יהודה בן תימא אומר הוי עז כנמר וקל כנשר ורץ כצבי וגבור כארי לעשות רצון אביך שבשמים. Yehuda ben Teima listed a series... Rav Yehuda ben Teima listed a series of animals and said we can learn, we can derive and deduce from them different character traits, different actions, different behavior that we should emulate, that we should imitate. Az k'namer. kal kenesher and so on. And this mishna also needs explanation. ודאי אי אפשר להיות עז ממש כנמר. You can't be as quick, as bold, as brazen as a namer. You're not going to be as strong as a lion, you're not going to run like a deer, you're not going to be as light like an eagle. הרי דברים לא ייתכנו מבחינת המציאות. What was the instruction? What's the encouragement? As if we can? We're supposed to eat cholent and potato kugel and then be as fast and as strong and as swift and as... it's never happening. Have you seen the way people move the morning after the seder? Ain't nobody moving like a... like a lion, flying like an eagle, running like a leopard. Nobody's. Not after kezaysim of matzah, four cups of wine. And on an ordinary day too, it's not happening. הרי דברים לא ייתכנו מבחינת... it's not... it's not empirically possible. אם כן עלינו להבין מה בא רבי יהודה בן תימא לומר. What was רבי יהודה בן תימא trying to encourage us? What was the purpose of goal of giving us these examples if it's impossible to actually experience in a practical way? And if it was just להמחיש לנו מה היא גבורה, מה היא עזות. כל ילד קטן יודע מהם כוחות תכונות אלו. Why give the animal the metaphor? Just say be az, kal, ratz, לעשות רצון אביך שבשמים, gibor. These are the character traits, these are the middos, these are the behaviors. If we can't actually live up to the example, none of us will, or measure in that way, then why just not tell us the behavior? Why tell us the metaphor? Nir'eh leva'er. So says Rav Druck with a maiseh of Rav Zalmele miVolozhin, the brother of Chaim Volozhiner, שהיה מטבעו אדם חלש מאוד. ופעם אחת בתוך כדי לימודו נצרך לעיין באיזה ספר. דאקא שהספר היה מונח מאחורי ארון גדול וכבד שכדי להזיז ממקומו הזדקק למספר אנשים. לא היה זו מלאכה לאיש אחד אפילו גיבור. אך לא איש כרבי זלמל'ה יאמר נואש, לא עכשיו כשהוא עוסק ברשפי אש התורה וזקוק עכשיו לספר הזה. והנה שונה רבי זלמל'ה עצמו כמה פעמים המאמר, לא בשמים היא. שאם בשמים היא אתה צריך לעלות אחריה ללמדה. וכך מרוב אהבת וחשקת התורה הנה וידו בתנופה אחת הזיז את הארון לבדו. So because he was so committed, devoted, enthusiastic, passionate, had such zeal to look up in that sefer, he found a superhuman strength to be able to move that bookcase, to move that furniture, to access that book that he so badly wanted to look up. כיוצא בזה מספרת הגמרא גם כן על ריש לקיש. שבעודו ליסטים ראה את רבי יוחנן מעבר הנהר וחשבו לאישה נתן קפיצה אחת עבר את הנהר. The Gemara tells us a story. Reish Lakish, what at the time was a leader of a band of bandits, he was a thief, he was a gangster, mob, he was an original gangster Reish Lakish. And he saw Rabbi Yochanan. Rabbi Yochanan looked so attractive and he thought it was a woman. And he jumped across the river to investigate. Of course he found it wasn't and Rabbi Yochanan was mekarev him. Said, \"If you become religious, I have a sister twice as pretty as I am handsome and she's all yours.\" And Reish Lakish became a baal teshuva, religious. And the two learned bechavrusa. So one day they had an argument. They were learning about weapons and what's mekabel tumah. Rabbi Yochanan would say, \"Well you would know, you were the original gangster.\" And he reminded him of his past and it didn't go well. או חברותא או מיתותא, we know the story. But there too you see this superhuman superpower to jump across the river. Why? Because when you want something, there are stories I've told the story of a woman who lifted a car in order to release her grandson who was pinned underneath it. And she discovered this superhuman strength she had in her all along that hadn't been accessed, hadn't been realized, but was inside, it was just waiting in potential latent until the moment. ובאמת נראה שמונח בזה עומק נוסף שגם התחבלו בכוח הטבע לקפוץ הנהר. אלא שהתשוקה הגדולה שנכנסה בו נזכה בו כוחות גדולים יותר מטבעו. Sometimes we can achieve, we can reach, we can do things that are beyond our grasp. We can even overcome our nature. We can go beyond what we're capable of because we have that drive. כל אדם ישנו תכונות שכל בעלי החיים האלו עליו להוציא. We all have this inside us and the issue is to realize it, to bring it out. Vekeitzad be'emet nuchal... le-yasem et kochotav? How? al yedei ratzon. Ratzon. Will. Ratzon. Drive. Will. Ratzon. We've shared many times the root of the word ratzon, ratz, is to run. Running and will are the same thing because what we run to reveals what we want. And what we want we're willing to run to. And just like when we run, we get from point A to point B faster, when we have will and drive, we achieve what we want that much faster. גם כל אדם אם ירצה יוכל להגשים את כוחותיו הנשגבים שטמונים בתוכו. We can access those incredible talents and skills, those powers that are potential inside us. רק עליו להשתוקק ולרצות. We just have to want it. You have to want it. How many great coaches have given that pep talk in the locker room that you have to want it more? It's not about which team has more skill. It's not about which team is better. It's not about which team is more athletic. It's all about who wants it more. Who wants it? u-vechach yegaleh kochotav. And that's how we reveal. So based on this, Rav Druck explains, על פי זה נוכל לבאר, why לעשות תחרות כדי לבחור את הכהן? Why would you create this circumstance, this race in order to reveal which Kohen is deserving of the merit, the privilege of this avodah? And then we asked, since when is running considered to be a value, a virtue, that we would reward the Kohen who could run faster with this privilege? But now we understand שכאשר חז\"ל רצו לקבוע מי יזכה לתרומת הדשן, when they wanted to establish who would have the privilege, the right, the merit to remove the deshen, רצו לבחור את הכהן שיש לו את הרצון הכי חזק. They said, \"Who wants it more? Who wants it most?\" Who has that desire, the ishtokekus, the longing, the yearning for this mitzvah? לכן קבעו מי שיגיע ראשון למזבח יתרום את הדשן. Whoever got here first. Who was the first to the Beis Medrash? Who is the first to run to shul? Who is the first to run up the ramp? Who is the one who wants it more, who wants it most? לכן לנו נראה כי האדם הרץ ביותר ברגליו הוא יגיע ראשון למזבח, אך לא כך הם פני הדברים כפי שהסבירו לנו חז\"ל. הכהן שהגיע ראשון למזבח הוא הכהן שיש לו את הרצון החזק, כי על ידי הרצון החזק מתגלים באדם כוחות עצומים. Because we'll find within ourselves that power, if we really want it badly enough, we'll find that ability. זו הסיבה שחז\"ל רצו. That's why they didn't want to start with a lottery, because a lottery takes no skill. A lottery doesn't reveal your will. A lottery has nothing to do with how badly you want it. A lottery is entirely from Hashem. זוהי המטרה בתרומת המזבח. So that's why they started first with and then they didn't realize what it could lead to, so they had to pivot and change. But that is how they got started, says Rav Druck. So again, the opening of our parsha we have this mitzvah of the Terumat HaDeshen, the removal of the ash. We've spoken a lot in the past, we won't repeat it, but the holy service of taking out the garbage and it's a holy service. When your spouse asks you, when you have responsibility to keep your home clean, it's a holy service. So much so you dress the part and you bring that attitude and you recognize that that too is part of what we're doing, part of what we're doing, the removal of the ash, the simple ritual and it was done only by the Kohen who would ascend and take out a little bit of the ash from the pile and put it next to the mizbeach in a designated spot and only afterwards take it out, take it out entirely. Sefer HaChinuch says the reason was to keep the mizbeach tidy, to keep it clean, because we are our surrounding. You know, if you see somebody's desk and it's cluttered and it's a mess, so too likely are their mind and their heart and their life. And cleanliness is next to godliness. Did I make that up? No, that's a comment, right? That's a statement. Something like that. I don't know if I got cleanliness... cleanliness is next to godliness. Order. The more that we have order, we're about to undertake this. Maybe we'll get into it a little bit this Shabbos, Shabbos HaGadol. How do we celebrate our freedom? The first thing we do is sing קדש ורחץ כרפס יחץ. When kids get off from school, when you're done with finals, when you finish, you graduate, you make a party to celebrate your freedom. Our party starts, you sit down and there's a whole agenda. \"Okay, people, we're going to get through these 15 things: קדש ורחץ כרפס יחץ. We've got an agenda for the night. We're going to go through it. There's a lot of details. Pay careful attention. We've got to get it all done.\" And that's how we're going to mark and celebrate freedom. That sounds like the opposite of freedom. Freedom is no rules. Freedom is spring break. Freedom is no order. And yet we celebrate freedom through order. What do we call the night? The night of our freedom, Leil HaSeder. Seder means order. It's a night of an agenda. an itinerary. It's a night of order. It's the opposite of freedom. It's the opposite of freedom. Says the Sefer Ha-Chinuch, cleanliness, order are next to godliness. If we're not organized, you can't have freedom. The more organized you are with your money, the more financial freedom. The more organized you are with your time, the more freedom you have in your schedule. The more organized we are in our life and our physical, material possessions, the better, the longer they'll serve us. Order is freedom. Says the Sefer Ha-Chinuch, that's the Trumas HaDeshen, the mizbeiach, it's a model for us. Our shulchan is domeh le'mizbeiach. Our table should be organized. Order, cleanliness, cleanliness is next to godliness and that's why there was an avodah, straighten up. An avodah, keep it clean. An avodah, take out the garbage, it's a very holy activity. Rabbeinu Bachya in his Chovos HaLevavos has another approach. And he writes in Shaar HaKniah, he writes that as the pasuk says of Aharon, in spite of the dignity of the office, you're talking about the Kohen Gadol, the prominence, the distinction, the dignity, that's nice. Take out the garbage. Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes and says take it out. Why? In order to promote and cultivate, in order to condition a sense of humility. Aharon, you're the Kohen Gadol. The power in your hand, the people rely and depend on you. You uniquely have access to garments, to places during a time unlike anyone else. Lest any of that go to your head, don't forget take out the garbage. Take out the garbage. That menial chore, that mundane activity, that take out the garbage will keep him humble. And humility is a prerequisite, humility is a key criteria to being a genuine, sincere oved Hashem. Person has to stay and remain, person has to be humble. I told you the story before, many years ago, several administrations ago, the first time I was invited to the White House, series of meetings, not because of me, but we live before Florida was, when it was back when it was a swing state. So you remember the hanging chads? That entire election was determined by the voting precinct across the street. This used to be a place your vote matters and because of that I was invited to a series of meetings and it was my first time there, in the West Wing, in the Roosevelt Room, and the portrait and the people and the Cabinet and the Chief of Staff and the President, it was amazing. And I was excited and it's all story in its own right. But when I walked out of the White House and I was super excited and I called my wife and I told her what it was like and to be in that room and that place of power and to be in that place, how many get to be there and what the conversation was like and how I spoke up and how I confronted power on behalf of our people and she listened and she was proud and she gave me encouragement and then she said, listen, but don't forget tomorrow's Thursday, it's garbage day, so I don't care what time you land, don't forget when you get home to take the garbage to the curb. Don't forget the Trumas HaDeshen. Don't forget, hotshot. Don't forget, tough guy. Don't forget, big man. Don't forget when you get home, take out the garbage. Says Rabbeinu Bachya in his Chovos HaLevavos, the Kohen Gadol, Aharon HaKohen, was told, lovely, nice, beautiful what you're doing, incredible, proud, purpose, don't forget take out the garbage. רב שמחה בונים מפשיסחא similarly taught that by beginning the day by lifting the ashes to put his heart in the right place. This is all about my friend Rav Aaron Goldscheider, Aaron Goldscheider in Sefer Torah United brings this down beautifully. רב שמחה בונים מפשיסחא says that the Kohen Gadol beginning the day reminds him of the simple, this-worldly needs of the people he represents in such a holy place. That in Hashem's house he was to lift up, to elevate the common man. Sometimes the Kohen Gadol is so focused on the kavana, the mindfulness, the pnimiyus, the korban, don't forget the lowly garbage. And that doesn't mean anybody, chalila, chalila, nobody is garbage, but it means even what looks like the lowly, even that looks like it's dismissed, even that which looks like it's going to be discarded, don't forget to lift it and to raise it up too. So the very first activity, the very first service of the day of the Kohen was to lift, Trumas HaDeshen, lift even what looks like it's discarded. There are people around us who seem they're on the margins of society. They look like they're discarded. They feel, chalila they are, but they can feel like they're discarded. So the first activity, the first message, the first mission of the Kohen was Trumas HaDeshen, lift it up and that's your mission, to make lofty even those who feel like the little people on the margins who feel like they're being discarded. Samson Raphael Hirsch has a third approach to the Trumas HaDeshen and what it's really all about. So beautiful. And I shared it in the past with Yizkor, in a Yizkor drasha. Says Rav Hirsch, you don't take the garbage all the way out. Imagine if my wife said don't forget to take out the garbage, first you take it out of the house, you place it by the front door, have a little kavana and then you take it to the curb. Why put it down outside the front door? Why put it down next to the mizbeiach? If this is simply an activity that was necessary, order, organization, cleanliness is next to godliness, just take it right out. Throw it in the dumpster, put it on the curb, get rid of it. Why do you first put it down and then remove it? Listen to what Rav Hirsch writes. He says, you know today a new Kohen is going to bring a new korban. It's a new day, new sacrifices, and this Kohen is going to feel like my korban, my sacrifice, my effort? I'm the first Kohen who ever brought a korban. This is the first korban that was ever offered. My sacrifice is greater than any sacrifice that ever came before? No. The very first thing you do is you put down the ash, the sacrifice of yesterday next to the mizbeiach, and you remember whatever you're going to do today is built on the sacrifice of yesterday. Whatever comes today is only because of the sacrifice of yesterday. We need to know. It's because of our parents and our grandparents and our great-grandparents and the people who came before us. We're not the first. Frankly, our generation's sacrifices pale in comparison in most cases. So lest we think that we have it the hardest, or our sacrifices are the greatest, or we deserve the most sympathy, we need to know, put down the ash of yesterday's sacrifice next to the mizbeiach because know the next to our mizbeiach and what we'll bring today sits only built on the sacrifice of yesterday. The fourth, last, the Heilege Izhbitzer, the second Izhbitzer Rebbe, Rav Yaakov Leiner, explains very beautifully as follows in his Beis Yaakov on our parsha. He says, why doesn't this section of the trumas hadeshen appear in Parshas Vayikra? In last week's parsha we listed the korbanos, the sacrifices, the olah, the chatas and the mincha v’chulu. So this trumas hadeshen if it's an avoda in the Mikdash, why wasn't it listed last week with all of the sacrifices in Parshas Vayikra? So he says the following. Some things can be readily understood and other things need time. We have to process, we have to absorb. He says the following. A new idea forces us to rewire our neural networks. An obscure one takes time to wrap our head around it. At times, says Rabbi Goldshader translating, at times we do not fully comprehend something until we sleep on it, as the human mind needs a period of relative inactivity to accomplish the processing for us and make it part of ourselves. The sacrificial rite introduced in Parshas Vayikra was difficult for the Jewish people to wrap their heads around and this remains true for us today. However, with time, a devoted heart, and an openness to absorb these truths, one can surely assimilate them into one's very being. This is represented by the trumas hadeshen. When the sacrifices of the previous day have finished burning, their process is complete, and one removes their ashes, an act that can be performed at night. Why at night? Because it represents the time when the mystifying is, on some deep level, demystified and absorbed. Posuk says, טעמו וראו כי טוב ה, taste and you'll see that Hashem is good. Sometimes this proves challenging, as various Torah laws and practices defy our rational faculties or moral sensibilities. The sacrificial rite with its myriad details is a good example. Nevertheless, the Rebbe taught that when we allow them to find a place within us, they subconsciously become as beloved as any of Hashem's more consciously assimilated teachings. This is all in Beis Yaakov Parshas Tzav, all in our parsha. So that's why it's in the next parsha. כי פרשת ויקרא מורה על התשוקה וזו הפרשה מורה על קביעות בלב כל התשוקה שהאדם משתוקק ומקבל טובה נקבע בו כי בזמן בית המקדש היה המזבח מכפר על האדם עכשיו שולחנו של אדם מכפר שולחן הוא אדם מקבל טובה עליו שיהיה נקבע בצורת אדם. So we need the time to process and only then can we understand the power of that, of that sacrifice. Okay. פרק ו' פסוק ד' moving along. ופשט את בגדיו ולבש בגדים אחרים. He has to change his clothing. Seems innocuous enough, right? Torah here is telling us, u’pashat, the service is entirely different. This is changing his clothing. Why is he changing his clothing? u’pashat, he undresses, v’lavash bgadim acherim, and he puts on other clothing, and only then does he take the ash out. Why? Rashi tells us, ein zo chova. This is not part of the avoda. At times on Yom Kippur the Kohen Gadol is constantly changing his clothing. Here the change of clothing is not the avoda. Zogt de Rashi, it's not the avoda, אין זו חובה אלא. Derech eretz. שלא ילכלך בהוצאת הדשן בגדים שמשמש בהם תמיד. His uniform, his Bigdei Kehuna, he shouldn't get dirty. The garbage could spill, the garbage could soil. So lest the garbage compromise Bigdei Kehuna, it's not derech eretz. When you take out the garbage, when you're working outside, you change your clothing. It's not derech eretz to soil or to stain, to get dirty, your clothing that's meant for a higher purpose. בגדים שבישל בהם קדירה לרבו אל ימזוג בהם כוס לרבו. The Midrash describes like the garment that a person cooked in is not what they serve in. You serve the king, first you change out, you take off the apron, you take off what you used in order to cook for him. Beautiful. It's a pasuk. It's describing the Trumas Hadeshen. Can you learn anything from it? So in my cousin's sefer, Adirei Hatorah, I told you my second cousin, Rabbi Aryeh Ganz, he writes the following: הנה פסק בשולחן ערוך. שולחן ערוך אורח חיים הלכות ציצית. Are you allowed to go into the bathroom while wearing tzitzis? Are men obligated to get undressed and take off your tallis katan, take off your tzitzis before you go into the restroom? You're allowed to wear your tzitzis. Yet, when a man is wearing a tallis at shul, does he wear his tallis into the beis hakisei, into the bathroom? No. Take your tallis off. In other denominations, sometimes we attend events there, they have a little note outside the bathroom, \"please remove your prayer shawl before entering\". So why tzitzis you wear and your tallis gadol you take off? So the Shulchan Aruch writes, אורח חיים הלכות ציצית סימן כ\"א סעיף ג: מותר ליכנס בציצית לבית הכיסא. You're allowed to wear your tzitzis into the bathroom. Zogt der Taz: נראה היינו דוקא בגד שעשוי למלבוש ובו ד' כנפות נתחייב בציצית because the tallis katan is a garment that we're wearing. On a frigid Florida day like today, it's keeping us warm. So nice out. Hold on to it while it's not last and a lot longer. So grab onto it. A little chilly, a little chill in the air. So that tallis katan is a garment, it's keeping us warm, it has a purpose. Ah, once it has four corners, you're obligated to put tzitzis on it. Once it has four corners, you have to put tzitzis. But it's also a garment that we enjoy, says the Taz. אבל בטליתו של מצוה שאינו אלא להתפלל אין נכון שיכנס לבית הכיסא. So the tzitzis that you wear under your shirt is also functioning as a garment. Since it functions as a garment, you're allowed to wear it into the bathroom. But a tallis gadol, the big tallis that we wear davka only for davening, it's not a garment, it's not a cape, it's not dress up, it's not a scarf, it is to elevate our davening. It is reserved and designated specifically for davening. Therefore, don't wear it in the bathroom. Where'd the Taz get this from? How'd the Taz know this? Dugma ladavar. ופשט את בגדיו ולבש בגדים אחרים. דרשינן בגדים שבישל בהם קדירה לרבו אל ימזוג בהם את הכוס וקל וחומר להאי מילתא שמיוחד לדבר קדושה דוקא. The garment that is designated for holy activity, you don't wear it to take out the garbage. And if that's the case that the Bigdei Kehuna designated for holy activity you don't wear to take out the ash, then the tallis gadol that you wear for davening, you don't wear into a bathroom. Same is true with the kittel. Many wear a kittel Yom Kippur. Men who are wearing a kittel Seder night. It's a long night. Kol Nidrei night's a long night, after you just stuffed your face and drank seven thousand Stanleys of water in order to make it through Yom Kippur. So there's a good chance you're going to have to take off that kittel at some point in shul. So can you wear the kittel in the bathroom? What's a kittel after all? It's a lab coat. No. Because the kittel is designated for davening, it's a holy garment, similar to this Taz about the tallis gadol, one should not wear the kittel into the bathroom. Take off the tallis, take off the kittel. Where did the Taz get this halacha? That your tallis katan you're allowed to wear into the bathroom, but a tallis gadol you take off? Got it from our pasuk. Taz derived it from our pasuk about that you don't wear your holy garment for a holy activity into an unholy place or unholy activity. Moving right along, Perek Zayin. We have the Korban Mincha, Zos toras hamincha. We have Zos toras hachattas, Zos toras ha'asham, the laws of the guilt offering. We are reviewing all the different details of all the sacrifices and korbanos. Again, you might say to yourself: archaic, arcane, outdated. Why are we reading, why are we... learn and what does this have to do with us? How are we meant to connect to this? It deeply is connected to us because the symbolism and the deeper meaning in all these sacrifices, the idea that each of us have an animal inside us, the animal impulse, the animal drive, the animal desire. We'll talk about this on Shabbos. This Shabbos, in case you didn't know, is Shabbos Hagadol. We give a big Drasha in the afternoon. And our topic is freeing ourselves from the addiction of our lives, whether it's consumerism, technology, alcohol, gambling, working, people who are obsessed, addicted to all kinds of activities. There's an impulse, there's a compulsive behavior, there's the animal inside us. And the sacrifice was the statement to Hashem: I take the animal and I offer it to you. The blood, sprinkling of the blood represents our passion, our passion. The fats, burning of the fats represents our indulgences, our, our going above, going over, the fats, the extra. Each of the parts of a Korban, they're all by design. They're not random, they're not outdated, they're not archaic, and they're going to return, so get ready. Please G-d Moshiach will come today and we'll go back to offering these sacrifices. And all these details and parts are not part of a past, they're part of our future, and they're not something which we should see as barbaric. They're beautiful symbolism that is supposed to inspire and elevate all those who were involved in offering those sacrifices to connect to the, to what it means and to the details of what we're offering. So we get to Perek Zayin, Pasuk Yud Beis. Zos Toras Ha'asham. And then we get to זאת תורת זבח השלמים, the laws of the peace offering, the Shlamim Asher yakriv laHashem. אם על תודה יקריבנו והקריב על זבח התודה חלות מצות בלולות בשמן ורקיקי מצות משוחים בשמן וסולת מורבכת חלות בלולות בשמן. Today's Daf, if you learn Daf Yomi, you're learning Menachos. Today's Daf already has about the different loaves, Chometz, Matzah, how many and so on. So that's the Pasuk here. If you offer a Korban Toda, the Korban Toda was the thanksgiving offering. The Gra says the whole Pesach Seder is commemorative of one big Korban Toda. Because who was obligated in the Korban Toda? If you were listening to Siddur snippets not long ago, the end of the Amida, וכל החיים יודוך סלה. Yoducha means to acknowledge, to thank. Who has to thank? Who's obligated Vechol hachayim yoducha, who's obligated in the Yoducha? Chayim. Chayim, those four letters is an acronym for the four people who are obligated in the Korban Toda. Who are those four people? Chavash, Chayim, Yordei Hayam, the ח י י מ stand for the four people are: the person who crossed the river, a sea, a body of water, person who's released from prison, person who healed from an illness, and what did I leave out? Said got out of jail, crossed the sea, healed from illness and crossed the desert. Those four people are obligated in a Korban. Klall Yisrael and we, we qualify for all four. And therefore everything about the Seder is parallel to a Korban Toda because the night is really a night of gratitude. It's a night of gratitude. That's what we're singing when we say Dayeinu. What are we singing Dayeinu? It's enough, any of these things really would have been enough? None of these things are enough. It's a joke. If we would have gotten here but that didn't, ah, enough Dayeinu. No. What comes after Dayeinu? לפיכך אנחנו חייבים להודות. What comes after Dayeinu is Hallel, is gratitude. Each of these would have been enough to obligate us to say thank you. They wouldn't have been enough in their own right, but each is enough to obligate us to say thank you. Seder night is an exercise in gratitude, to recognizing the blessings, the freedoms, the gifts of our life, and it's gathering as a family, friends to say thank you. All modeled after the Toda, אם על תודה יקריבנו. And here is how it is, here is how it is offered. So I mentioned four people who bring the Toda, but again in Adirei Torah, my cousin's Sefer, he brings down a Chiddush Nifla from Rabbeinu Bechaye. Rabbeinu Bechaye says there's a fifth. קרבן תודה בעל הנס. Rabbeinu Bechaye on our Pasuk, Vehu lashon hoda'ah, אם היה חולה ונתרפא, maybe Korban Toda, if you were sick and you healed. We again, the Jewish people in the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim, leaving Egypt, we qualify for all four. We were sick and we healed, we were in prison, we were in slavery and we were free, we crossed the desert and we crossed the sea. Says Rabbeinu Bechaye, there's a fourth. Who's the fourth? A fifth. Who's the fifth? Ushekesav. ויזבחו זבחי תודה ויספרו מעשיו ברנה o sh'ar simchos k'gon simchas chosson v'kallah שנאמר כוס ששון וכוס שמחה מביאים תודה בית ה'. The fifth category of people who bring a korban toda are a chosson and kallah. A chosson and kallah bring a korban toda. You ever hear that before? Rabbeinu Bachaye says the fifth. The chosson and kallah after their wedding should sit down and recite Nishmas, word for word, line for line, letter by letter, say Ribono Shel Olam thank you. Thank you for rescuing us from living a life where I was only a half, I've been desperate to feel I'm a whole. Thank you for rescuing me from shidduchim and resumes and references. Thank you for rescuing me for crossing that desert and crossing that sea and releasing me from that place that too many put me in captivity. Thank you. What a Rabbeinu Bachaye. Wow. Thank you. שמחה שאר שמחות כגון שמחת חתן וכלה מחייב says Rabbeinu Bachaye, a korban toda. Ad k'dei kach should be the feeling of the chosson and kallah, the gratitude in their hearts, what they're screaming from the rooftops, the thanks that they tell anyone who will listen. A fifth category of who's obligated in the korban toda, says Rabbeinu Bachaye, are the chosson and kallah. The Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Shaul Alter, says the following on this pasuk. Rashi tells us, pasuk says הקריב על זבח התודה חלות מצות בלולות בשמן ורקיקי מצות משוחים בשמן וסולת מרבכת. I stopped translating. So let's go back to the translation. He brings a korban toda, he brings with his thanksgiving offering unleavened loaves mixed with oil. Unleavened loaves are known as matzah, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of scalded fine flour mixed with oil. That's the recipe, that's the korban toda. Rashi explains here that ten loaves each of four kinds of bread are brought with the korban toda. Ten loaves each of four kinds of bread. How many in total? Forty. They are these three unleavened varieties plus the chametz in the following pasuk. So you have three types of matzah with one type of chametz. Ten of each times four is forty. So the meforshim explain: why forty loaves of bread are brought with the korban toda? Why forty loaves are brought with the toda? The Abarbanel says this and the others. So the Netziv elaborates - we've quoted this Netziv very often - to ensure you're allowed loaf forty loaves is a lot of bread. Nu, it's a lot of carbs, it's a lot of bread. You weren't allowed to leave any over. Leaving any over would constitute a prohibition called nosar. You weren't allowed to leave any over. So what would happen? How could one consume so much in a relatively short amount of time? The Netziv observes an anomaly. Normally a korban shelamim you have a longer time to eat it, two nights and two days. The korban toda you have a night and a day. Why? Why that shorter amount of time? Said the Netziv: because in order to finish a lot of food in a short time, what do you have to do? You have to invite others to share it with you. You can't leave any over. So in order to get it all done, what do you have to do? Invite others to share it with you. Abarbanel references it, the Netziv says it explicitly. In other words, what do you learn from here about gratitude? If you're really grateful, it's not something you keep to yourself. You invite others to share it with them. When you're really grateful, this is the source of a seudas hoda'ah. The idea that if a person survived a life-threatening circumstance, the person is grateful. Maybe now we understand sheva brachos based on the Rabbeinu Bachaye. If a chosson and kallah, if the bride and groom should bring a korban toda, they qualify as all four, and they're grateful to Hashem, they do it how? Publicly. So for seven days they invite others to have a seudas hoda'ah with them, to say thank you, thank you for making me whole, thank you for releasing me from those other conditions, thank you in a public way. So when you're grateful you don't keep it to yourself. When you're grateful you scream it from the rooftops. When you're grateful you invite other people and you want them to know how grateful you are. So that explains why there needs to be a large amount of bread. But why is it divided, wonders the Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva, why is it divided in forty smaller loaves? Why not bake one large loaf? You've been to a wedding? You see the chosson's challah? You ever see that challah the size of this whole table? You watch the chassan struggle with cutting that challah? So why not be more efficient here? Someone has to bring a korban todah, 40 loaves, a lot of loaves, just bake it into one big loaf. Says Rav Sholto you can explain this demonstrates the proper way to give gratitude. It's not enough to explain gratitude in one big loaf, in one swell, one big declaration, but just like 40 separate little loaves, when a person is grateful, they're grateful for every little part, every detail, every paying attention to all the small things, and gratitude for every one of them. For every one of them. If you lump all your gratitude into one sweeping statement, you're not really grateful. You're not really grateful. You know I've learned, I try to practice, I'm not always great at it. When you're hosted by someone for a meal, don't just say \"Thank you, it was delicious, rabosai nevarech.\" Thank you, everything was delicious, particularly the pineapple kugel. Particularly that cholent. That challah was incredibly delicious. That was You smile you put on the host hostess's face when you actually don't just give a generic thank you, but when you give a thank you for something specific, it is so much more meaningful. It matters so much more. The people realize it that you mean it. It wasn't just a big thank you, everything was delicious, rabosai nevarech. But thank you, the challah was perfect, its texture, it was hard on the outside, soft and delicious on the inside. The meat was cooked perfectly, the way it was meant to be cooked, no need for any ketchup or any condiments. We went to the shvigger for lunch on Shabbos. I got to the table and at my seat, she put a bottle of ketchup. She listened to the drasha on Shabbos. Boruch Hashem. But her food is so delicious and my palate has matured, I no longer dip in ketchup. I didn't even need the ketchup. Everything was delicious, Bubby, particularly the meat was out of this world, it was fantastic. The more detail you give the thank you, the more you demonstrate that you mean it. Says Rav Sholto, therefore, says the Gerer Rosh Yeshiva, that's why. You don't just bake one big loaf. You don't just have one big chassan challah. The chassan and kallah sit down kavyachol and they're ke-ilu there's 40 loaves. Thank you Mom, thank you Dad, thank you Bubby, thank you Zeidy, thank you my first grade teacher, thank you who taught me the aleph beis, thank the housekeeper who cleaned my room, thank you to my dentist who straightened my teeth, thank you to the shadchan, thank you to the references, thank you to the There's 40 loaves. You don't just sit down \"Thank you, we're married, weiter, let's count the checks.\" Today, no, 40 separate loaves says Rav Sholto. We have to be grateful in detail for all the small things. We say in Nishmas Al Kein איברים שפילגת בנו ורוח ונשמה שנפחת באפינו ולשון אשר שמת בפינו הן הם יודו ויברכו. We list out the organs that you distinguished within us, the spirit and the soul that you blew into our nostrils, the tongue you put in our mouths, they will all thank and bless you. Obviously, our spirit and soul should praise Hashem. Our gratitude must be primarily inside our ruach and neshamah, but what else? Our tongue. Our tongue must praise Hashem. We have to thank Hashem out loud. We have to articulate and we have to enumerate and we have to go into detail. But what manner of thanks do we express? The organs that you distinguish within us. Does this refer to shockeling while saying Nishmas? Okay, sure. But even more, one who looks closely will notice that even people who experience life-saving miracles, writes Rav Sholto, often do not perceive that every one of their senses and body parts is a gift from Hashem. Somebody almost died of a heart attack, somebody who had a stroke, רחמנא ליצלן לא עלינו, somebody who survived a horrific car accident. They don't realize. They just say, \"Thank you, I survived.\" Do they say, \"But my knees, my hips, my feet, my tongue, my ears, my \" everything works. We declare every morning Modeh ani lifanecha. But do we pay attention to the details, to the details? So that, says Rav Sholto, that's why it's not one big loaf. The korban todah, davka, is designed to have many details, to remind us that gratitude is articulating and enumerating in detail what we're grateful for. The Gemara Bava Kamma 92 says what is the source of saying \"Wine belongs to its owner yet thanks go to the server\"? Hashem instructed Moshe to lean his hands on Yehoshua so Bnei Yisrael would obey him. ויהושע בן נון מלא רוח חכמה כי סמך משה את ידיו עליו וישמעו אליו בני ישראל. Although Yehoshua's wisdom and authority originated from Hashem, they were credited to Moshe. There's a message. In actuality, Hashem is both the owner and the server. He alone serves each person his bottle of wine, his life, and he's constantly refilling the bottle. He's giving us vitality and He's giving us life and He's giving us purpose and He's giving our limbs and our faculties their working and as much as we may express appreciation we'll never approach the smallest minima of true thanks that we owe to Hashem. The Gemara says that normally when it comes to Kodshim, הלילה הולך אחר היום. When it comes to every other area of Halacha, היום הולך אחר הלילה. Ordinarily the day follows the night, here the night follows the day. Rashi explains the pasuk says about the Korban Toda, ביום קרבנו יאכל לא יניח ממנו עד בקר. The Korban Toda has to be eaten on the day of its offering, you cannot leave it over until the morning. So you have that day and that night. That day and that night. Clearly the day of its offering extends through the night until the following morning. Says the Gereshashiva. The Gemara Psachim says this world is compared to night. You may wonder about this. Don't we live in this advanced world? Technology, medicine, we control, we manipulate this world. What do you mean this world represents like night, darkness? Chazal said it's a long dark tunnel. As Reb Boruch of Mezhbizh said, this world is radiant to the one who is uplifted above it, but dark and gloomy to the one who's entrenched in it. We're entrenched in this world. We occupy ourselves with matters of physicality. But we have some light of ruchniyus which brightens our way. But the world is still a place of night. But when you bring a Korban Toda and you have a hisorerus of gratitude, when a Jew pays attention or articulates every detail what I'm thankful for, then we're lifted above the darkness of nature where everything seems to run in a predictable manner. Even as life moves on, when we pay attention, I can breathe, I hear the birds chirping, I feel the warmth of the sun on my neck, it's still a beautiful day and it's not yet incredibly hot and humid. Each of these details, we don't just notice them, but we articulate them, then we rise above the darkness of our nature of this world and we get a glimpse of a little bit of light, a little bit of daytime. The hoda illuminates the nighttime that will follow it. Okay, Rav Druck also has on this Korban Toda. But it's a long piece, so we're going to skip ahead. Yeah, we'll save it for another time. Okay, moving right ahead. Torah tells us פרק ז פסוק כו. Perek Zayin Chof-Vav top of page 578. וכל דם לא תאכלו בכל מושבתיכם. You're not allowed to eat blood. La'of v'labehema in any of your dwelling places whether they come from fowl, a bird, or a behema. כל נפש אשר תאכל כל דם ונכרתה הנפש ההיא מעמיה. And if you eat blood, then you get a very severe punishment, namely the punishment of kares. One who consumes blood gets the punishment of kares. Here what we are reintroduced to something we already saw in last week's parsha, which is the Torah's prohibition, very severe prohibition that we're not allowed to consume blood. So what do we do with the blood instead? We cover it. The halacha is kissuy hadam. We cover the blood. Why is there so much focus on something that we naturally are repulsed by? We don't find among the non-kosher consumer world, I've yet to see in the aisles of Publix blood for sale. The meat section, the butcher, they don't sell blood. There's no market. There's a market for all kinds of drinks and beverages, there's a Bloody Mary, but there's no blood. So we're repulsed by it. We recoil from it naturally. Why does the Torah have to repeat and emphasize over and over again, no blood, blood is off limits, so much so even cover the blood once you shecht the animal. So the Rambam in Moreh Nevukhim says you know what the reason is? There's nothing natural about it, not eating it or not eating it, but in pagan society among idolaters in antiquity, they would commune with spirits and learn the future from blood. They had a tremendous focus on blood. So the Rambam emphasizes over and over so many of our laws come from distancing and distinguishing ourselves from idolaters. So therefore in order to combat idolaters' practice that was so prevalent in that time, the Torah goes out of its way and says no blood. Stay away, even if you're naturally repulsed, but still don't employ it because we stay away from avodah zarah, from paganism. אזוי זאגט דער רמבם. That's the Rambam's approach. The Ramban takes a different approach. And the Ramban says the following. He says it can come from the pasuk itself. The The posuk says in Devarim, rak chazak, be strong not to eat the blood, levilti achol hadam, כי הדם הוא הנפש. The blood is the soul. And then Hashem says, I'll turn my countenance to the person who eats the blood, because hadam hu hanefesh, flesh is in the blood. If you're learning Tanya with us on Wednesday mornings, we saw this. Hadam hu hanefesh, the nefesh bahami is in the left side of the heart, whereas the tzelem elokim, we saw that, we'll continue with it tomorrow morning in fact. So the Torah locates the animal's soul as where? In the blood. In the blood. This soul explains why the animal has the sense to flee from danger, follow pleasure, all souls ultimately belong to Hashem, and therefore we can't consume it, and at most it can be put to human use by sprinkling the blood on the mizbeach. The blood is the method through which we achieve the kapara, but other than that, we don't consume it, we don't elevate it, we don't admire it, not only for the reason of the Rambam, that that was a minhag avoda zara, custom of idolaters, but also because for us hadam hu hanefesh, hadam hu hanefesh. And this explains, says Ramban, why do we have a practice of kisuy hadam? We cover the blood of undomesticated animals and birds. If you're ever present for a shechita, after you shecht the blood drips out, and there's a bracha and a mitzvah of covering the blood. So Chachamim say that after Kayin murdered Hevel, how many other people were in the world at the time? None. It was an unpopulated world. It was the birds and the wild animals that covered the dead body with earth, preserving dignity with burial, and in that merit they were rewarded that when they're shechted, when they're slaughtered, their blood is covered. What's the connection? What's the comparison? What's the meaning of the Midrash? Based on the Ramban, you can understand that animals who demonstrated the dignity of a human being by burying, the covering of blood is equated with the respect for life and the sanctity of all living beings. If life is found in the blood, in the debate, how do you define death? Is it brain death, cardiovascular death? כי הדם הוא הנפש, one of the sources that's brought as part of the evidence is hadam hu hanefesh. So if the soul is in the blood, then just like the body is treated with dignity with burial, so too the blood itself should be buried, and that's why we have a mitzvah of kisuy hadam. The Abarbanel, the Abarbanel says similar to the Ramban, that even when Noach and his sons were permitted to eat animals, they were not allowed to eat ever min hachai. We know one of the שבע מצוות בני נח, they can't rip the live limb off an animal and eat it. Why not? This is an obligation not only on Jews, it's one of the sheva mitzvos, universal, bnei Noach, all. Why? Because its consumption is heartlessness. Respect to animals. There has to be dignity. Just like eating blood is a show of contempt for animal life, for life, so too ever min hachai. Rav Kook, Rav Kook has, will offer as our fourth and final interpretation here, Rav Kook brings a fourth explanation. And he says the following. He has an essay having to do with a vision of vegetarianism and peace. And he says the following. He says in the ideal world, the way it was once upon a time before we were given license and permission to eat meat, so in the ideal, humanity would be vegetarian. We'd be in complete harmony with animals. Which means to say every time a vegetarian comes at me, I point out the leather shoes they're wearing, or the leather belt holding up their pants, or the leather couch that we're having the conversation on, or the leather seats in their car that they drove to my office to attack me. So Rav Kook is not only talking about the respect for animals of being vegetarian, not eating, but also all the other benefits that we have and derivatives that we take. In the ideal world, humans and animals would be in complete harmony, so much so that we would not eat them. But reality is imperfect. Hakadosh Baruch Hu saw the temptation, the drive, desire, and therefore he gave us permission, he gave us license for a barbecue, for a barbecue. But even so, we have to remember the way it was and the way it's ideal. So Rav Kook thought that kisuy hadam, the mitzvah to cover the blood is to symbolically hide our shame that we don't live up to the ideal and we enjoy a good steak. That our unhealthy desire for meat is a weakness within us. It's a primal desire that we have, and sort of in that shame we cover. And deep down we hope one day we'll have greater sensitivity and be able to live... And maybe some of you listening or watching don't write me the email that says we don't have to wait for that day, that day could be now, we should all be vegetarians. There's a halacha and people misquote that Rav Kook was a vegetarian; he absolutely was not. He did limit his consumption of meat, but he fulfilled the mitzvah אין שמחה אלא בבשר ויין. Come Pesach, Yom Tov, there's a mitzvah. He fulfilled it in a minimum, and if the korbanos were brought back, there's a recognition that kohanim are going to eat the korbanos once again. But the mitzvah of kisuy hadam brings a consciousness that in our fallen state we still derive benefit, that's the way Hashem made the world now. We don't have to apologize or feel shame or guilty for it, but we recognize that if we were living a higher level, just like originally we lived in Gan Eden, we didn't work. But a person shouldn't feel ashamed that we work today, that's a new reality Hashem created, a new reality that we enjoy meat, but it's a reminder, the kisuy hadam is the reminder that wasn't the way it was, and may not be thus in our ideal, even if it is the way it is right now. That's how he saw the mitzvah of kisuy hadam. Out of time. I thought this week is the first week, it's Parshas Tzav, Korbanos, Shabbos HaGadol, so much to do, not a lot to say. We'll probably stop after half an hour, but you'll understand it's a busy time. And yet here we are, we still didn't get to so many of the things we wanted to share. But nevertheless, please stay and remain so we can say all of Sefer Tehillim. Acheinu beis Yisrael still running in and out of shelters. Every alert that we get that says that millions are running to their shelter, an alert ballistic missiles have been launched from Iran, these are words we can never should never ever get used to. These are not normal alerts. Those are not normal words to have to own a shelter in one's home, to have had to run to a shelter even once, to be running in and out, to be planning or trying to get ready for a Pesach, sleepless nights and no school, inability to do business, how can we go on life as normal? How? Every time that alert comes on and we have a responsibility to get that alert, we have to stop and pause and daven with gratitude and appreciation for our brothers and sisters, millions, millions. You know the front line in the war with Iran is not in Iran, it's in Israel, and it doesn't only apply to those who were conscripted to the army or those who sit and learn in yeshiva, that disagreement is irrelevant. Every neighborhood they're running to bomb shelters, every neighborhood. Iran has united us in this way, all are on the front line in that sense of the fight. So please stay to say Tehillim, it's the least we can do to daven for our brothers and sisters, to remain maladjusted to that reality of these alerts, and b'ezras Hashem should stop, not with our defeat, with our triumph over our enemy. Please stay and complete all of Sefer Tehillim. No shiur next week, Pesach, Erev Pesach, and then Chol HaMoed, so we resume after Pesach wishing everyone a chag kosher v'sameach, should be a Yom Tov of geulah, a Yom Tov of redemption and victory over all of our enemies. Baruch Hashem.
