Transcript
Good morning, Boker Tov, welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. This is one of those weeks we have a double Parsha, double whammy, Acharei Mot and Kedoshim. A daunting, daunting task because both parshas, each Parsha, Acharei Mot and Kedoshim, we could spend an entire day, entire week, an entire month on to try to cover and offer insights on both in one class is daunting indeed, but we'll do our best. I want to thank as always our generous series sponsors, the Sosobik and Abikatz and family in memory of Becky's father, David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מוניש. Our learning should be in his memory. And also, the other series sponsor, the Deichman family, in memory of their daughter and sister, Daniella Rachel bat Shalom Ezra, passed away tragically in childbirth, a very, very special woman of tremendous emuna who loved to learn with us online and certainly our series is now dedicated in her memory as well, הנשמה שתהא לו עליה. Today's shiur is sponsored anonymously in the merit of אבנר בן אברהם הכהן, שינדל בת דוד משולם, דוד משולם בן ניסן משולם, רפאל חיים בן דוד, אשרא ברכה בת חיה, Yosef HaLevi. Anonymously in honor of Lloyd Hoffman's birthday. Happy birthday! And by Colin Stein and his children in memory of his beloved wife, Faiga bas Moshe, whom we miss, her neshama sheteheiye lo aliyah, we miss her in our community. Anonymously for the refuah shlema of יצחק מנחם בן קרן ויוסף, who should have a full, complete and speedy refuah shlema. I also want to dedicate our learning, today is Yom HaZikaron and there are so many who gave their lives. We don't have to offer, we don't have to wish that their neshama has an aliyah because it can't go any higher because those who died al kiddush Hashem, those who gave their lives fighting for and defending the Jewish people and the Jewish homeland, their soul sits right next to the Kisei HaKavod, next to the divine throne. And so while their neshama can't and doesn't need to go any higher, certainly we dedicate our learning in their memory with endless and boundless gratitude for their sacrifice and with their families very much in our hearts and on our minds today, Yom HaZikaron. The parshiyot we're reading are called Acharei Mot-Kedoshim, after the death, Kedoshim, and those more than 25,000 who over the course of Israel's modern history gave their lives fighting and defending, too many over the last three years in the war that is not yet over. I reached out today, we've hosted so many in our shul, in our community and on our podcast, conversation with parents, wives, family members of those who lost loved ones, our learning is dedicated to them and we join Klal Yisrael, we join Klal Yisrael around the world in today feeling and thinking about their loss, their memory and their family sending a lot of love, strength and comfort. Page 636 in the Artscroll Stone Chumash, וידבר ה' אל משה אחרי מות שני בני אהרן בקרבתם לפני ה' וימתו. Hashem speaks to Moshe after the death of the two sons of Aharon, b'korvatam lifnei Hashem, when they brought a sacrifice to God that was not sanctioned, thank you, vayyamutu, and they paid the great price, there was a death penalty. ויאמר ה' אל משה, God speaks to Moshe, דבר אל אהרן אחיך, speak to your brother Aharon. I believe in last year's Parsha class we dealt with why is Aharon identified as Moshe's brother? As if Moshe has to turn to God and say, \"Wait one second, which Aharon? Speak to Aharon? There are so many Aharons in my class, which Aharon?\" Oh, Aharon achicha, oh my brother, oh my brother Aharon. Why does Hashem have to identify him as Aharon achicha? We dealt with that last year. ואל יבא בכל עת אל הקדש מבית לפרכת אל פני הכפרת אשר על הארן ולא ימות כי בענן אראה על הכפרת. Moshe is instructing his brother Aharon, you cannot enter, don't just walk in whenever you want, אל יבא בכל עת. Don't ever get too casual, don't ever get too comfortable. Familiarity breeds contempt. And therefore if we want sanctity and holiness, we've discussed this too in the past, so hard, I have my favorite Divrei Torah on every Parsha and to have the discipline not to review it because we want to get to new things. I'm not asking you to have sympathy for me, it's not a tough life, I'm just saying this is what I go through. In any case, אל יבא בכל עת, whether it's in marriage, relationships, sanctity of the shul, the Beit HaMikdash, you exit in a different way than you came in. Don't ever become too familiar, don't ever get too casual. We have to keep the spontaneity and the holiness and the sanctity and the love and the connection alive and that was true, that's embodied here in this warning, אל יבא בכל עת. You cannot come in whenever you, whenever you want. Again, we've dealt with this much more in the past. בזאת יבא אהרן אל הקדש. So don't come in on a whim, don't come in on a whim, don't come in casually or comfortably, don't come in whenever you want. How should you come in? How do you enter the holy? Bezot. Only with a sense of zot. What is zot? Bezot yavo Aharon, with this. What's this? Bezot is ambiguous. What's zot? Mysterious. בפר בן בקר לחטאת ואיל לעלה. And then we elaborate a little bit, a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for an elevation offering. He puts on his sacred linen and the Parsha... goes on. I want to start with a few insights of the Menachem Tzion. I told you last week, a new edition of the Menachem Tzion, רב מנחם ציון זקס, a Rav in Chicago, the son-in-law of רב צבי פסח פרנק, the great-grandfather of Rabbi Sacks from Passaic, the land of his family. A new edition of the Menachem Tzion came out with bonus extra amazing divrei Torah. I'm a big fan and I love to quote the Menachem Tzion. ואל יבוא בכל עת אל הקודש. איתא בירושלמי ברכות, תלמוד ירושלמי מסכת ברכות says on the Pasuk, עת לעשות לה' הפרו תורתך. There's a pasuk at the very begin at פרק קוף יוד טס of Tehillim, chapter 119, the one that goes according to the alphabet. On the ayin, es, עת לעשות לה' הפרו תורתך. And the Yerushalmi Brachos elaborates on this pasuk and says, ha-oseh Toraso itim הרי זה מפר ברית. Pasuk says, עת לעשות לה'. Now the simple taitsh, the simple translation of the words are, עת לעשות לה', in a time that one has to do for God, heiferu Torascha, you're even allowed to, so to say, with Hashem's permission, violate or sacrifice or compromise Torah because it's for Hashem. Indeed, this pasuk was invoked when Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, when Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the great leader of the Jewish people, took the incredible courageous, but also controversial decision to write down the oral Torah, to write down the Torah she-be'al peh, he invoked this pasuk, עת לעשות לה' הפרו תורתך. Torah was lost if he didn't codify it, if he didn't write it down, if he didn't capture it for posterity, it was in danger of being lost. Therefore because it was an es, it was a time la-asos la-Hashem, he had to do something drastic for God, he was entitled, he had license, heiferu Torascha. That's the simple understanding of the pasuk. However, the Yerushalmi Brachos at the end of the ninth perek writes, ha-oseh Toraso itim. What does the word itim mean? The times. If you turn the Torah into the times, the times, הרי זה מפר ברית, you're violating the covenant with God because עת לעשות לה' הפרו תורתך. העושה תורתו עתים היינו התורה החדשה שממציא מדעתו ובודה מלבו עתים לפי רוח הזמן והעת כי העת נשתנית ועמה צריכה התורה להשתנות הרי זה מפר ברית. The way רב מנחם ציון זקס understands it is, if you try to distort Torah to make it conform with the times that you're living. So you open the newspaper and it says you're supposed to believe this, and you're supposed to now use this new definition of that, and you're supposed to now see this policy as this. You say, okay, I guess we're going to have to adjust Torah. I guess Torah's just going to have to conform. I guess we'll officiate at this, and we'll attend that, and we'll compromise on this, and we'll allow that new rule here. If a person brings that attitude, they're meifer ha-bris, they are compromising and corrupting the very covenant with the Almighty. סופו שיפר את ברית התורה כולה ומתחיל בשינויים ותיקונים קלים לפי רוח העת. If you think you're going to make minor adjustments, if you think you're going to try to make Torah conform to the times, סופו שיפר את ברית התורה כולה. In the end, you won't even have a recognizable religion. In the end, it won't even represent Judaism. ומתחיל בשינויים ותיקונים קלים לפי רוח העת ומסיים בהפרת התורה כולה. על זה נאמר עת לעשות לה' כאשר האדם חושב שעשייה לה' תלויה ברוח העת הרי זה הפרו תורתך. It's a different taitsh, it's a different way of understanding it. עת לעשות לה'. If you're going to do for God based on the times, literally and figuratively, you're going to open the Times, you're going to open the paper, and you're going to see what you're supposed to believe, what's popular, what's in, what's current, and you're going to adjust or distort or pervert or make Torah conform to the times, you'll end up heiferu Torascha, you will distort, compromise, corrupt Torah. התורה המצויה עתה בידינו ניתנה למשה רבנו. The Torah was given to us is immutable. It's non-negotiable. Certainly, we innovate even within Torah. We have a Shabbos elevator and we have a pruzbul and we have all kinds of innovations, but they're operating within a system. We're operating within Torah. But you can't change Torah. We don't change axioms and basic definitions, we don't change halachah, chalilah ve-chas. Lo tehei muchlefes. And that's why the Torah that's in our hands was given to Moshe Rabbeinu, לא תהא מוחלפת ולא תהא תורה אחרת, one of the 13 principles of our faith is it is immutable. It is non-negotiable. It cannot be changed or compromised. It doesn't conform to the times in which we live. So the Kohen Gadol כשנכנס לקודש הקודשים, so when the Kohen Gadol entered the Kodesh HaKodashim, the Holy of Holies, when all of the Jewish people were watching him and he was going in in order to atone for the people, מצווה בצו מיוחד אל יבוא בכל עת. Listen to this new interpretation, I love the Menachem Tzion. Says the Menachem Tzion, לא יבוא בכל עת. The simple understanding was, don't be casual, don't be comfortable, don't Don't just walk in whenever you want. Don't open a door without knocking. Don't come in without being invited in. Don't be too comfortable. That was the simple understanding. But the Menachem Zion says, you know what it means? לא יבוא בכל עת. When you come into shul, don't bring the Times with you. Because the inside of shul could care less what it says in the Times. The inside of shul is not concerned with its definitions and its policies, with its approaches and its perspectives, with its ideology and its philosophy. In here, we open the Aron and we open a Torah and we see what the Torah tells us. The Torah projects on us, we don't chalila project onto the Torah. The Torah dictates and determines what we believe and what we practice, our lives and our lifestyles, and not the opposite. So when Aaron would enter, when the Kohen Gadol would enter the Kodesh Hakodashim, ואל יבוא בכל עת. Don't come in with the Times. Who cares what it says in the blogs and the Times? Who cares what's popular to believe? לא יהא להכניס רוח של עת אל הקודש. Don't bring the mentality and the attitude of the eis. Oh come on, get with the times! Get with the times! You're so archaic, you're so old-fashioned. What are you doing? Come on, get with the times! Your times? You can take your times. We don't bring it into shul. לא יבוא בכל עת. There is no subscription. We cancel the subscription at shul to the -- and we never had it -- but to the Times. לא יבוא בכל עת. We don't bring it in el hakodesh. El hakodesh. We don't bring it in here. It's a whole new teitsch, a whole new way of understanding. A whole new way of understanding. He goes on, that's not all, but I want to see further insights that he has. You see this also, he doesn't bring this, but I'll tell you another vort. It's more than a vort. The Gemara in Shabbos says that after a hundred and twenty when we come upstairs we're asked a series of questions. And one of the questions the heavenly tribunal asks us is: Kavata itim laTorah? Which again, we simply understand to mean: did you set aside time? Tuesday mornings, 9:30 AM. Did you set aside time to learn? Wednesday mornings, 8:05 Tanya, 9:00 Living with Emuna. Sunday mornings, Semichas Chaver. Friday, turn Friday into Erev Shabbos. Friday morning, turn Erev Shabbos -- did you set aside times for learning? See what I did there? A little shameless plug. Did you set aside times for learning? Did you set-- kavata, were you koveia, did you establish itim, times to learn? Not just learn haphazard, not learn when it was convenient, not learn when you felt like it, but set consistent times to learn. However, you could read it, you could understand it a little bit differently. What really we will be asked after a hundred and twenty when we come upstairs is: Kavata itim laTorah, or kavata Torah le'itim? Did you establish the times based on Torah, or did you establish the Torah based on the times? Again that word: לא יבוא בכל עת, itim, itim, Kavata itim laTorah. Did you look at the times and say: I have to interpret and understand the world based on Torah. Who is Iran? What do they represent? What is good versus evil? What is Amalek? What does Hakadosh Baruch Hu want? What is Ribono Shel Olam? What is hashgacha? What are miracles in our time? I'm looking at the world. I'm looking at how it's defining gender, identity, orientation, relationship, institutions. I'm looking at business practices. I'm looking at every aspect of life. Kavata itim laTorah. Did you look at the times and understand them, interpret them, experience them, process them through Torah, or G-d forbid kavata Torah le'itim? Did you try to make the Torah conform to the times? It's challenging. There's a lot of pressure on us. When one lives in a society, in a world which you become like Avraham Avinu, the Ivri, mei'eiver, we're on the other side and we're standing nearly alone. And we're desperately holding on to some of our beliefs because we know they're true. We know they're true. So that same word itim: Kavata itim laTorah. לא יבוא בכל עת. Don't come in with all your itim. Don't bring in the times. Here we're living lemala min ha'itim. In shul, in Yiddishkeit, when a person's living Torah, we're transcending the times. Our truths are not dictated or determined by what's popular, by what the polls say. Just look at the phenomena we're living through. We're watching so many of the problems that we have are because of groypers and grifters. Ask your grandchildren what that is. Groypers and grifters are media personalities who don't have principled opinions and take stands. They look at what will be the most popular, what will attract the biggest audience, what will bring in the most money, and then they ride that wave. And that's why they flip-flop, that's why they change, that's why you can make videos that show what they said yesterday versus today, today versus tomorrow, because they're just going with the wind. Whatever will bring them the most followers, the greatest influence, and the most money. That's not us and our people. We have principles and we have truths and we stand by them and they don't change. לא יבוא בכל עת. When a person enters kodesh, you don't bring a mentality and attitude of bechol eis. What do you bring? בזאת יבוא אהרן אל הקודש. What's bezous? That word zos we said is ambiguous, know what's zos. Next piece in the Menachem Tzion. המילה זאת מייצגת מושג פלאי וסודי שבכל התורה עקרונותיה היסודיים כרוכים וכלולים בה. That word zos is fundamental, foundational, that the whole Torah and all its principles stands on it, is intertwined with it. Just think about how many psukim we see that word zos that you think is so ambiguous and mysterious, what does it mean? And yet, it appears in so many places. לעתיד לבוא הקדוש ברוך הוא יפנה לאומות העולם שמבקשים מאיתו שכר. In the future, God will turn to the nations of the world who will request from him reward and he'll ask them, a pasuk in ישעיה פרק מג, מי בהם יגיד זאת. Chazal say אין זאת אלא תורה. You know what zos refers to? A life of Torah, Torah philosophy, Torah ideology, Torah behavior. How do you know that? Because what do we say when we lift the Torah every day with Hagbah, Monday, Thursday, and Shabbos? וזאת התורה אשר שם משה לפני בני ישראל. V'zos haTorah. אין זאת אלא תורה. Whenever you see the word zos being used, it is an allusion, a reference to, v'zos means Torah. In Tehillim, we just sang it on Pesach and then Rosh Chodesh, מאת השם הייתה זאת היא נפלאת בעינינו. From Hashem came zos. It's wondrous in our eyes. Pasuk in Yirmiya, מי האיש החכם ויבן את זאת ואשר דיבר פי השם אליו ויגידה. Nevertheless, in Tehillim we say איש בער לא ידע וכסיל לא יבין את זאת. Yeshaya, אשרי אנוש יעשה זאת ובן אדם יחזיק בה. Hashem turns to Klal Yisrael, Malachi, ובחנוני נא בזאת אמר השם צבאות. Zos. Dovid HaMelech says אם תקום עלי מלחמה בזאת אני בוטח. You could have a lot of fun. The Midrash says Bameh chatam Yaakov? What did Yaakov end with? Zos. וזאת אשר דיבר להם אביהם. Moshe gave Klal Yisrael a bracha, where did he start? וזאת הברכה אשר בירך משה איש האלקים את בני ישראל. We don't have enough time left in this shiur or the day to find all the psukim, references and allusions to that word zos. The fool, וכסיל לא יבין את זאת. מאת השם הייתה זאת. With the zos, v'zos haTorah, and בזאת יבוא אהרן אל הקודש. So what is this zos? המושג זאת זכה לתפוס מקום נכבד שכל התורה כולה ועקרונותיה היסודיים מכוונים בה. U'vediborim b'rurim. Zos, Re'eh vekadesh. Zos. We have to have clarity, we have to have conviction, we have to have courage. Zos. We have to be able to point and know this. I'm not confused, I'm not somebody who can change based on who I'm talking to. We don't take a poll and our opinion is based on what's popular. We can point with our finger and say zos, zos. And that's what the fool doesn't understand. Be principled, be consistent. Turn to Torah because it's Hashem's infinite word, his blueprint for creation. That's the bezos, that's the bezos. הכהן הגדול האיש הקדוש ביותר בעם כאשר היה נכנס לקודש הקודשים המקום הקדוש ביותר בעולם ביום הכיפורים היום הקדוש ביותר מכל ימות השנה. The Kohen Gadol, the holiest person, went to the holiest place on the holiest day of the year in order to atone for his people בעדו ובעד כל העם. לא מצא דבר הולם וראוי להביא איתו לבוא אל הקודש. What did he bring with him? Zos. Conviction, courage, a clarity of Torah. בזאת יבוא אהרן אל הקודש. Come in knowing who you are, come in knowing who you come from, come in knowing what you stand for, come in knowing your mission, come in knowing the truth that you represent unequivocally, unconditionally, unwaveringly, know who you are and what you're about. בזאת יבוא. So don't come in לא יבוא בכל עת with the ittim. Don't bring the ittim in here. Instead, now you understand ittim and zos are two sides of the same coin. Don't bring the times, what's current, what's popular. What should you bring? Zos. Clarity, courage, conviction, the truth of Torah. That's who we are, that is how we enter Perek Yud Gimmel, Perek Yud Ches rather, we are skipping right along because I want to get to Parshas Kedoshim. Last year in the double Parsha we mostly covered Acharei Mos, so I made a commitment to myself that this year we would cover mostly Kedoshim. So what's the rest of Acharei Mos? We get into Yom Kippur, the whole process of Yom Kippur. The two goats, one is pushed off a cliff, one is offered to Hashem. The lottery, fate versus the recognition of our place and Hashem's role. Azazel, who is Uza and Ael. This voice in our own head. Oh, so much to talk about over here. The ketores, who we allow in, the confession the Kohen Gadol has to do for himself, for his family, and for the people in that order because you can't atone for the people before you first take care of yourself. After the avodah of Yom Kippur, we get into the prohibition against eating blood, our obligation to cover the blood, we've covered this. In previous parsha classes, and then we get into the laws of forbidden relationships, Perek Yud Ches. It's familiar to us. When do we read this? Yom Kippur Mincha. וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמר. Page 648 in the Artscroll Stone Chumash. וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמר דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם, speak to the Jewish people and tell them ani Hashem elokeichem, I am the Lord your God. That is a very popular refrain in these two parshiyos. Ani Hashem appears six times in parshas acharei mos and how many times does it appear in kedoshim? I don't remember, maybe eighteen times, many many many times. Many many many times. That's not coincidental. Maybe we'll get into that. Speak to the Jewish people and tell them I'm the Lord your God. And therefore, כמעשה ארץ מצרים אשר ישבתם בה לא תעשו, don't perform the practice of the land of Egypt in which you dwelt. וכמעשה ארץ כנען אשר אני מביא אתכם שמה לא תעשו ובחוקותיהם לא תלכו. Don't walk like an Egyptian, the place that you lived, where I took you out of, nor, nor adopt the practice of Canaan, the place I'm taking you to. Differentiate yourself. Have the courage to be different, have the courage to stand out, live the blueprint, the prescription I'm giving you, says Hashem. Bezohs yavo aharon. Know who you are, where you come from, how you're meant to live. Live Torah. Don't be kemaaseh eretz mitzrayim and don't be kemaaseh kenaan. Says the Menachem Tzion, our last one of the day. אין הכוונה למעשים מגונים ואסורים שהרי על זה יש אזהרות מיוחדות. What is the Torah telling us? When God says don't be like the Egyptians, what does he mean by that? If it means don't worship idols, so you don't have to tell me don't be like an Egyptian. The Torah already tells us an explicit prohibition don't worship idols. So when the Torah's telling us don't be like an Egyptian, if don't be like an Egyptian means don't do the prohibited behaviors of the Egyptians, you don't need to tell me don't be like an Egyptian, the Torah explicitly tells me the prohibited behaviors of the Egyptians. So what was this azhara meyuchada? What was this specific, specific prohibition? אלא כוונת הפסוק לומר, says the Menachem Tzion, כמעשה ארץ מצרים אשר ישבתם בה לא תעשו. מעשה זה שישבתם בה ישיבת קבע וכמעשה ארץ כנען אשר אני מביא אתכם אינכם הולכים אליה באוות נפשכם אלא אני מביא אתכם בעל כרחכם. You need to know that your address, you got your mail for a little while in Egypt. But don't ever, ever dwell there. Don't ever assimilate and integrate. Don't ever think you're permanently part of that world and that life. That is not who you are, that is not where you live, that is not what you are about. You are just passing through. You are just there temporarily. That is not your home. Yes, you're a citizen, you're a resident, but you're also a stranger. And that's ever since Avraham Avinu. Rav Soloveitchik's insight: גר ותושב אנכי עמכם. I'm a resident and a stranger at the same time. We are part proud Americans, patriotic, we're citizens, we contribute to and benefit from society, but make no mistake, and they are making us remember now, that at the same time, that culture and those attitudes, they're not ours, they're foreign to us. We're not permanently fixed here. We are in galus. תחת לחץ ההשגחה לא תעשו אני מזהיר אתכם לא לעשות שוב מעשים כאלה עליכם להתייחס אל כל הגלות כדירת עראי. We have to know we're temporarily here. We're on a business trip. When you go on a business trip, you find a nice place to stay, eat in nice restaurants, you don't have to suffer while you're there, but you also realize all along that you're there, you're not home. So we're on a business trip and there's nothing wrong with staying in a nice place and eating nice meals. There's nothing wrong with setting ourselves up to enjoy while we're here on a mission. But we should never get confused to think that this is home. That hotel or Airbnb is not home. No matter how nice one you reserved. No matter how nice a one you're staying in. It's not home. And this isn't home. Kemaaseh, says the Menachem Tzion, אל ארץ ישראל כדירת קבע יחידה. That we need to know that this is not, this is not home. And that's the prohibition. That's what Moshe Rabbeinu is warning us. Kemaaseh eretz mitzrayim doesn't mean any of their particular behaviors, that we already know, that we already have in the specific prohibitions, explicit prohibitions for those behaviors. So what was the Torah telling us? כמעשה ארץ מצרים אשר ישבתם. Don't be yoshev. Don't integrate. Don't settle. Don't see yourself as a citizen. Know you're on a business trip. Know you're there temporarily. Know that it's not permanent and you're not there forever. Know that that is not home. Sorry, one more on this parsha before we turn over. Turn the page. ושמרתם את חוקותי ואת משפטי אשר יעשה אותם האדם וחי בהם אני ה׳. Observe my decrees and my laws which a person shall carry on and by which you shall live. I am Hashem. Vechai bahem. Vechai bahem. That may be familiar to you that expression. Vechai bahem. What is vechai? V'chai bahem mean, v'chai bahem means live with them, live through them. And in fact, this is a halachic mandate. The Gemara Chazal understood וחי בהם ולא שימות בהם. If observing a Torah mitzvah, if observing a halacha will cost you your life, v'chai bahem. Hashem wants us to live, and therefore, if there's a conflict between observing a halacha or preserving your life, what do you do? Pikuach nefesh doche Shabbas, doche Torah except for the gimmel chamuros. We have three exceptions, the three cardinal sins: gilluy arayot, shefichat damim, v'avodah zarah. Murder, idolatry, and illicit behavior relations. Those three, if they would cost you your life, you give up your life rather than violate. But other than those three, the other 610, you give up your life rather than violate? Why? Chazal understood that from v'chai bahem. וחי בהם ולא שימות בהם. The whole purpose of Torah is to give our lives meaning and purpose. If observing Torah would cost your life, then that defeats the very purpose of Torah. And therefore, which one supersedes the other? Preserving your life supersedes observing that mitzvah. In the Sefer Harei Kedem, Rav Shurkin quotes his rebbi, Rav Soloveitchik, the Rav, who saw this interpretation of וחי בהם ולא שימות בהם as a core principle of the Torah. Nireh lomar bezeh, HaRambam heivi es ha-halacha פקוח נפש דוחה כל התורה כולה. Where does the Rambam bring this law? That pikuach nefesh, saving and preserving your life, supersedes all of the Torah, except for the gimmel chamuros. Where does the Rambam bring this? The Briskers, those who study Rambam, understand not only can you learn from the actual text of the Rambam, but the Rambam organized as an encyclopedia, he organized halacha. And where the Rambam chose to put certain laws itself tells you how he understood them. Aside from the text, the words themselves, but in his organization of the law, he was also offering commentary. So where'd the Rambam put the halacha פקוח נפש דוחה כל התורה כולה? He put it in the fifth perek of Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah. Therefore, נראה מזה דדינא דוחי בהם ולא שימות בהם הוא מיסודי התורה. That the halacha v'chai bahem, the halacha of preserving your life superseding Torah, is a halacha in Yesodei HaTorah. This is a core principle of Torah. And the Rambam says, this is the lashon of the Rambam there: שאין משפטי התורה נקמה בעולם אלא רחמים וחסד ושלום בעולם ומי שחולק על זה הוא חולק על יסודי התורה ולהכי הרי הוא בכלל המינים. Let's say someone says, you know what, I'm so holy, I'm so sacred, I'm such a tzaddik. It's true that you're allowed to eat the non-kosher in order to save your life. Somebody, G-d forbid, says to you, eat this non-kosher, I'm gonna kill you. It was hard to imagine that scenario until the last few years where hostages were held and who knows what they could be told or threatened with. But a person, an enemy of Israel takes a Jew and says, eat this non-kosher or I'll kill you. What's the halacha? Eat the non-kosher. Let's say someone says, I'm not gonna eat non-kosher, I'm a tzaddik, I strive for greatness, I'm not eating the non-kosher, I'm not eating the non-kosher. So you might think that person is exceptionally righteous. According to Harei Kedem, according to Rav Soloveitchik, based on this Rambam, such a person is a kofer. Such a person is a heretic. They're bichlal haminim. Because וחי בהם ולא שימות בהם is mi-yesodei Torah. It is a core principle and value of Torah. You're not entitled to give up your life. For the big three, you have to give up your life. But other than the big three, you're not entitled to give up your life. And if you think that you're going to be more religious than G-d and give up your life for Him, you're not doing it for Him. That's not our religion, that's a form of heresy. That's a form of heresy and that is a terrible, terrible mistake. It's a good opportunity for me to offer an apology, a public apology. Many years ago, several years ago, I said in an interview, in a conversation, that I challenged that the Klausenberger Rebbe, zechuso yagen aleinu, that the Klausenberger Rebbe went through the war and never ate non-kosher. Never actually ate non-kosher. And I said, you speak to survivors, they said that was impossible. And I spoke to somebody who knew someone who went through the war with the Klausenberger also said that was impossible and I challenged it. And since then the author of the biography of the Klausenberger Rebbe was in touch with me and shared with me where the Klausenberger Rebbe himself in his sefarim alludes to and thanks Hashem for the miracle that he was never in a position that he ever had to violate kashrus. He would have if he had to to save his life. As we're learning, it's a principle of Torah and it's heresy not to. But the Klausenberger Rebbe testified about himself, so who am I of course to challenge that? So I offer this public apology to the Rebbe. publicly for even suggesting that that's not the case. But the Rebbe himself would have if he had to. He thanks Hashem that he was able to go through the war in such a circumstance that he didn't need to. Without, of course, impugning or challenging those who did. They did the right thing. Anyone who went through the war and had to eat non-kosher to save their life, it's not that they made a concession they should feel bad for or need forgiveness for. It's yesodei haTorah. The Rambam puts it פיקוח נפש דוחה כל התורה in yesodei haTorah. And had they not done that, they'd be be'chlal haminim. Had they not done that, they'd be included among the heretics. And so you see this very important understanding in the Harerei Kedem how he understood it based on where the Rambam codifies it. Rav Wolbe also in עלי שור חלק ב, Rav Wolbe the great mashgiach also addresses v'chai bahem. Gemara Makkos daf yud tells us if a person accidentally murders, they flee, they run, where? To an ir miklat. They run to an ir miklat. Why? Because the family members of the victim are entitled to pursue, and therefore to save himself, he goes to the ir miklat. And there the Torah says about the individual, he can run to one of the cities, he flees to an ir miklat, and what does he do there? V'chai. He runs to an ir miklat v'chai and he can live there, he can live there. And the Gemara Makkos daf yud interprets that a talmud, someone's learning in yeshiva, a young man in kollel, chas v'shalom has an incident where he killed by accident, he has to run to an ir miklat, do you know who goes with him? His rebbi. His rebbi? Rav Asher Arieli is giving the biggest shiur in the world in the Mir. Chalilah, a talmud? Sorry, stop shiur, you're going to move into the ir miklat. The rebbi goes with him. The rebbi interrupts the Rosh Yeshiva, he's running the yeshiva, he's giving the shiur, biggest shiur in the world and he stops to run to an ir miklat? Why? So the Gemara understood v'chai, because when this individual runs to the ir miklat, we have to provide him everything he needs to live. What does he need to live? Wi-Fi? Internet connection? That's not what Chazal say. What he needs to live is his rebbi. He needs Torah in order to live. That's v'chai. The Rambam codifies this hilchos rotzeach in the seventh perek. And the Rambam there writes that when a talmud is exiled, we send the rebbi, because the Torah says v'chai. And for those who seek wisdom, without Torah it's as if they're dead. If you don't have access and you're not learning Torah, then you can't achieve and fulfill v'chai. You see the very definition of v'chai is what's v'chai? A life of Torah. You're only really alive if your life is informed and inspired and guided by Torah, by Torah. It's possible for a person to know an enormous amount of Torah, writes the mashgiach Rav Wolbe. It's possible to know an enormous amount of Torah, but fail to v'chai, you're not living Torah. How can you get to the level of Torah as part of your life? So Rav Wolbe compares it to a life. Can you be alive if you forget to breathe? Breathing has to be uninterrupted. If a person struggles to breathe, they gasp for air, it's an emergency, it's we call a code, it's a problem. If a person's heart, can the heart be like I've been doing this for a lot of years, I've been doing this now for a lot of years, give me a day off. You can't give me a day off? The heart says give me one hour. Let me rest for one hour. If you think about it, it's extraordinary. From when we're born to we leave this world, the heart doesn't get a break. Not for a day, not for an hour, not for a minute. And if the heart were to stop, if the heart were to be interrupted, if the heart were to stutter, we'd call Hatzalah, you'd be in trouble. How is it that we live physically? Only when we live uninterrupted. And said Rav Wolbe the same is true spiritually, v'chai. How do you live? Only when your spiritual life is uninterrupted. If you say when I'm on vacation and I leave the Torah and the halacha behind. There are people they go on vacation they dress differently, they eat differently, their priorities are different when they go on vacation. There are people all of a sudden they're on a beach and the wardrobe, the rules, things change. V'chai means consistent, constant, uninterrupted, just like your lungs and your heart, you're only alive when they're operating uninterrupted, spiritually you're only alive when your values and your lifestyle is uninterrupted. And our whole day is guided by Torah. Aye, but you're going to the parsha shiur this morning and maybe only then you come back to the Beis Medrash tonight, but you didn't learn in between, is that called uninterrupted? Yeah, if everything we did in between we did guided by Torah, that's called uninterrupted. Our Torah heart is beating, our Torah lungs are breathing, uninterrupted, uninterrupted. That Rav Chaim has a shtikel based on a Tosafos, that's how Birkas haTorah work. Birkas haTorah is a bracha we say before the mitzvah of learning Torah. So you said a Birkas haTorah this morning, I hope you did, before you came to shiur in davening, when you woke up, you said a Birkas haTorah, la'asok b'divrei. La'asok B'divrei Torah, Asher Bachar Banu, V'ha'arev Na. There are three parts of that bracha. They correspond with the three types of bracha: Birchas Shevach, Birchas Hanehen, Birchas Hamitzvah. Not for now. But you made a bracha before we learned, the Birkas HaTorah. But now you're going to go to the gym, you're going to go to the supermarket, you're going to go to the doctor. Unlike you, some of us have to work, you're going to go to work. And then tonight you're going to come back and you're going to learn more Torah. How come you don't have to make a new Birkas HaTorah? If you make a bracha, you sit in the sukkah. And then you go on a tiyul for the day, Lion Country Safari. When you come back for dinner and you sit in the sukkah, do you have to make a new bracha? Avada, of course you have to make a new bracha. So how come tonight when you're going to learn again after you interrupted during the day you don't have to make a new bracha? Ever think about that? Ever bother you? There's a Tosfos in Berachos and Reb Chaim understood. You know why? The bracha you made was not lilmud Torah, it was la'asok, to be occupied by Torah. If Torah governs the way you do business, if Torah governs the way that you check out at Publix, please and thank you and use the name of the cashier, the way you park the car between the lines, not on the line. If Torah guides the way you operate, the way you behave and who you are, then you never took a break, you never interrupted. You don't have to make a new bracha. You didn't leave the sukkah of Torah, so to say. That's the v'chai. That's how Rav Wolbe understood v'chai. Rav Wolbe understood v'chai as v'chai means just like our breathing and just like our heartbeat is uninterrupted, so too v'chai, our spiritual heartbeat, the Torah, our life. We're never on vacation, we're never on a break. Our relationship with Torah and Hashem is like marriage. I don't have to finish this metaphor, but when a person goes on a business trip, they're still married. That's part of their core identity, that's who they are. It's part of their consciousness in who they talk to and how they talk and what circumstances they put themselves in. They're not on a break. And that's v'chai. That's v'chai. That was the pledge and promise under that chuppah is like the air I breathe, v'chai. My marriage, our relationship, it's part of my core consciousness, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the rest of my life. And v'chai, that's my relationship with Hashem and that's my attitude towards Torah, v'chai. So the individual who runs to the Ir Miklat, the Rebbe goes with him, v'chai, because without Torah you're not alive. And how do you then define v'chai? Consistent and constant, just like our heart, just like our lungs, that has to be our lifestyle of Torah. I was going to share with you lastly a piece by the Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva רב שאול אלטר שליטא in understanding v'chai bahem. But I want to get to the rest of this parsha, so I told you enough on v'chai bahem, bli neder we'll come back to it in the future. Let's go to Parshas Kedoshim. Page 656, Perek Yud Tes, Pasuk Yud Ches. Let's go. Kedoshim tiyu, what is Kedoshim tiyu? Be holy. We're learning now Kedusha, snippet snippets. Kadosh kadosh kadosh, holy, holy, holy. We use that word holy, holy's not a Jewish word. Holy comes from other religions. To define the word kadosh as holy, what is holy? Did it help to say holy? We don't know what kadosh is so we say holy. Good, now what's holy? So previously we went to Rashi, the Ramban, separate, apart, different. What is holy? How do you define it? We talked about that in the past. And Parshas Kedoshim is shocked full of a plethora of mitzvos. And the challenge of learning Parshas Kedoshim is to weave through the common themes and denominators and what's happening, why they're brought in this order, and what's the relationship between them. And so the Torah tells us all of these incredible laws between us and Hashem, between us and others, and between us and ourselves. Korbanos, gifts to the poor, honesty in business, don't steal, pay people on time, don't curse, don't put a stumbling block. All these halachos. Don't gossip. Lo tisna, don't hate your brother. Rebuke, when it's appropriate, how, who, when, where. Which brings us to Perek Yud Tes, Pasuk Yud Ches, Chapter 19, Verse 18. Bottom of page 660. לא תקם ולא תטר, don't take revenge and don't bear a grudge, es bnei amecha, to the people of your nation. V'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha, instead, love your neighbor as yourself. Ani Hashem. Love your neighbor as yourself. I have to tell you, the Kapishnitzer Rebbe, zatzal, Kapishnitzer Rebbe had a beautiful explanation of v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha, love your neighbor as yourself. Listen to this quote. If you love a fellow Jew because he's learned, that's an act of love of Torah scholars. If you love him because he supports Torah, you fulfill the requirement of the love of Torah. If you love him from admiration of his or his - his or her tzedakah, that's a case of loving tzedakah. But if you love a Jew who's neither a talmid chacham, nor a ba'al tzedakah, nor a supporter of Torah, that's Ahavas Yisrael. That's Ahavas Yisrael. If you love a fellow Jew because there's something about them you love, then you love that thing, you don't love them. But if you love a fellow Jew even when there's nothing to. love about them. But you choose to love them anyway, that's ahavas Yisroel. What an insight! When you love someone because you say, oh, that's a baal tzedakah, that's a baal chesed, that's a talmid chochom, they're artistic, they daven beautifully, they're whatever, you love that thing about them, then you don't love them, you love the thing about them. But when you love the person when there's nothing you could find about them to like, that's love. That's love. The way I see it, the way I always understood and try to work on this posuk, it's easy to love the people you like, but the mitzvah of ahavas Yisroel to love a fellow Jew is to even love the people you don't like. Like is an adjective. I like you, I like spending time with you, I like a lot of things about you, I like you. Love is not an adjective. Love is a verb. Love is a verb. Love is loyalty. Love is support. Love is unity. Love is care, love is concern, love is showing up, love is defending. Love is not an adjective, it's a verb. Like, like is an adjective. And you can choose who you like. And if you don't like someone, you don't have to be friends with them, you don't have to be around them. But you have to love even the people you don't like. Not in my family, boruch Hashem, but there are people who have individuals in their family that they don't like very much. But it's too bad, they still have to love them. You still have to love that member of the family that you really don't like. You have to love them. What does that mean? You have to be there, you have to defend them, you have to be loyal to them, you have to show up at their simcha, you have to show up in good times and in bad times, you have to not stab them in the back, you have to be loyal, that's love. You have to love even the people you don't like. And we are all one big family. And we have to love even the people that we don't like. Even the people that we don't see in them something that we love. One of my favorite stories is Reb Aryeh Levin, the great tzadik of Yerushalayim. Reb Aryeh Levin, the great tzadik of Yerushalayim. So there was a boy who grew up in Nachlaot, Reb Aryeh Levin's neighborhood. And he was no longer as intensely religious as his childhood, as his education. He cut off his payos and he took off his yarmulke and he changed his dress and his garb. And when he did, he did anything in his power to avoid Reb Aryeh Levin. It was awkward, it'd be uncomfortable, he'd be embarrassed and ashamed, he didn't want to make the tzadik uncomfortable. So he'd walk the alleys of Nachlaot trying to avoid the tzadik, Reb Aryeh Levin. And one day he turned a corner and bumped! There was Reb Aryeh Levin, there was the tzadik. Oy, he was embarrassed, he was ashamed, he didn't know what to do. But Reb Aryeh Levin, the great tzadik, just said to him, I haven't seen you in so long, how are you, what are you up to, what's doing? And the boy said, I have to admit, I've been trying to avoid you. I'm not religious anymore, I don't wear a yarmulke anymore, I cut off my payos, I don't dress necessarily like an observant Jew. I was embarrassed, I didn't want to see you. So Reb Aryeh Levin, the great tzadik, looked at him and he said, you know, I'm a very short man. Reb Aryeh Levin was very short, four foot something, very short man. He said, I'm a very short man. I can only see what's in your heart, I can't see what's on your head. Isn't that beautiful? I'm a very short man. I only see what's in your heart, I can't see what's on your head. We all have to be a little bit shorter. We're so focused on looking at what's on someone's head. Are they wearing a yarmulke, is it the same type of yarmulke I'm wearing? Is she covering her hair, is she covering it the way I do? We're all busy looking at what's on someone's head, we should get a little bit shorter, stoop down a little bit, and instead look in their heart. If the last three years haven't taught us anything, the war with Iran that on the one hand, God forbid, it shouldn't start up again, on the other we want to finish them off, it didn't matter, millions of our brothers and sisters were running to bomb shelters. And at the entranceway and doorway of that bomb shelter, nobody said, let me check your yarmulke before you could come in. Let's see, let me see how you cover your hair before you could come in. Nobody said, do you go to the army, you don't go to the army, you go to the cheder, you go to this school, how do you observe Yom HaAtzmaut? Do you make a bracha, no bracha, Hallel? Did you eat a blue and white cookie, did you wave a flag, did you do daglanut? Did you stand still for the siren? On the way into the bomb shelter, running from the missiles, people loved each other and they let in even the people they can't like. Even the people they're struggling like anything to like, but they open the door because they love them. That's what it means ahavas Yisroel. That's what it means ahavas Yisroel. To find that way to love even the people we don't like. To talk to them, and to find something redeemable in them, and to feel a shared history and a common destiny. And even while there are very, very, very significant and important differences and debates that are happening in our people all over the world and particularly in our beloved homeland, today Yom HaZikaron, tonight tomorrow Yom HaAtzmaut, these are times if we want Hashem to not regret the miracles He did for us, we have to demonstrate for Him our ability to get along, to love even the people that we struggle to like. That's v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha. Okay, that was my little editorial comment on the side. Back to parsha, back to parsha class. V'ahavta L'reiacha Kamocha. That's kamocha. Love your neighbor kamocha as yourself means see the piece of you in them. What do you have in common? What's redeemable? What can you find in them? Look in their heart, not only on top of their head. V'ahavta L'reiacha Kamocha. We've quoted the Sfas Emes before. V'ahavta L'reiacha Kamocha presumes if love your neighbor as you love yourself, presumes what? That you love yourself. Sfas Emes says you see from here there's a mitzvah to love yourself. Now some people are a little zealous in fulfilling that mitzvah, they could love themselves a little less. But sadly and tragically we're living in a time of such mental health challenges that come because people who love themselves too little. And we have to remind them to love themselves, forgive themselves, give themselves the benefit of the doubt, believe in themselves. V'ahavta L'reiacha Kamocha. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. The premise, the presumption is don't forget to love yourself. There's a mitzvah to love yourself. Why should I love myself? So narcissistic, so egotistical, I should love myself? No, we love ourselves because it's a piece of Hashem, Ani Hashem. חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש, it's a piece of Hashem in us. Rav Tzaddok HaKohen famously writes, kesheim kach just like there's a mitzvah to believe emuna in Hashem, there's a mitzvah to have emuna in ourselves. Ai, how should I have faith in myself? Myself, who am I to have faith in me? The answer is Ani Hashem. There's a piece of God in me, there's therefore that which to have faith in, in myself, in myself. Now this pasuk combines a few mitzvos. לא תקם ולא תטר. By the way, first I'll tell you, in the Yahel Yisrael, anyone know who wrote the Yahel Yisrael? Former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rav Yisrael Meir Lau, זאל זיין געזונט און שטארק. Rav Lau in his Yahel Yisrael writes the following: ואהבת לרעך כמוך אם כמוך הכוונה כמוך ממש או לא. You could ask, love your neighbor as yourself, does it mean literally yourself, like yourself? Kamocha, like yourself or kamocha literally yourself. Ve'nesayeim, he says, let me finish ברעיון נפלא הנאמר בשם הבעל שם טוב. The answer, an insight of the Heilige Baal Shem. ומדויק בלשון מצוה זו לפי הכלל במידה שאדם מודד כך מודדין לו. האם אדם מקבל את כולם בסבר פנים יפות? אינו מצער חברו ככאב כאבו, שמח בשמחתו? Do we greet others with a positive countenance, disposition, do we smile? Are we warm and welcoming? Do we feel the pain, sympathy and empathy? Are we happy, can we fargin others? Uma'al hakol, and on top of everything else, עומד לימינו בכל מצב. Do we show up? Do we stand by the side of people in every situation? זוכה אותו אדם וכך הקדוש ברוך הוא מתנהג עמו. We want Hashem... Hashem is a reflection of us, Hashem is our mirror. How we interact, how we behave, what part of ourselves we give to others is how Hashem interacts with us. And says Rav Lau in the name of the Baal Shem, that's what it means, V'ahavta L'reiacha Kamocha. If you love your friend kamocha, that's what Hashem is going to do to you. The way we interact with others is how Hashem will interact with us. The mitzvah is V'ahavta L'reiacha. Kamocha is totza'ah mi'kiyum hamitzvah. You hear the Baal Shem? V'ahavta L'reiacha, love your neighbor, love your fellow Jew, love even the ones you don't like. Love! And when you do, kamocha, that's how Hashem will treat you. It's a whole new way of understanding that pasuk. Nice, no? Beautiful. ואהבת לרעך כמוך כי הקשר שלך עם הקדוש ברוך הוא זהו כמוך כדרגת קרבתו של אדם לזולתו כך קרבת הקדוש ברוך הוא אליו. Our closeness to Hashem will determine and dictate Hashem's closeness to us. Now this pasuk is complicated. לא תקם ולא תטר. Don't take revenge, don't take revenge. At the core, there's a beautiful Sefer HaChinuch. Sefer HaChinuch says משורשי המצוה שידע אדם ויתן אל לבו כי כל אשר יקרהו מטוב ועד רע הוא סיבה שתבוא לו מאת השם ברוך הוא. It's an amazing Sefer HaChinuch on this pasuk. לא תקם ולא תטר. Never, ever, ever take revenge. What's the difference between the two, lo sikom, lo sitor? You came to your neighbor and you said, \"Can I borrow your food processor?\" And they said, \"No.\" When your neighbor comes to you and says, \"Can I borrow your blender?\" Lo sikom means don't take revenge by saying no, you can't borrow it. Lo sitor means don't take revenge by letting them borrow it but saying, \"I'm not like you. You didn't let me borrow the food processor, but I'm more than happy for you to borrow the blender.\" Two separate prohibitions. One is don't take revenge by not letting them... The other is even if you do let them, don't remind them or highlight that you're different than them. לא תקם ולא תטר. But the general rule is don't take revenge. Wonders the sefer hachinuch why not? Revenge is sweet. Revenge is sweet. Somebody harmed you, somebody hurt you, somebody injured you, somebody insulted you, somebody degraded you, somebody made fun of you, somebody defamed you and you got the chance to get them back. You got a chance to take revenge. Sweet. So why does the Torah say you're not allowed to? I would have thought what's the reason for this mitzvah? Don't be a menuval, who are you? You know, be a mensch, be bigger than that, be better than that, treat him kindly, be above that. That's not what the Torah says. Says the sefer hachinuch mishorshei hamitzvah, you know why? Because if something happened to you, maybe that person was the shliach, the conduit through which it happened, but it was only the will of Hashem. You weren't meant to have that food processor. Somebody dinged your car. Don't take revenge against them because your car was meant to get dinged. Now the sefer hachinuch is clear that you're allowed to, of course, be made whole, you can seek compensation. If somebody's harmed you or injured you, you're allowed to take them to a din torah, you're allowed to get payment for whatever they did. But that's there's a big difference between being made whole, defending yourself and taking revenge. The moment a person seeks or takes revenge, they're knocking God out of the equation. They're saying what happened to them wasn't from God. I have to tell you baruch hashem hasn't happened often, but as a public person, as a community leader, you get people who can post things nasty about you online. Many years ago, once upon a time, people put things in most of the mailboxes on Montrose Circle. There are things that can hurt, you feel them in your kishkas. I learned the sefer hachinuch when I was going through one of them and it entirely changed my attitude, my approach. It helped me heal and let it go. Because instead of focusing on who did that and what can I do to get even with them, you start saying why was I meant to experience this? And what am I meant to learn from it? But don't get me wrong, we'll find out who that person is. But to take revenge is to focus on the person and to attribute all that happened to them as if God had nothing to do with it. But we as people of faith are meant to interpret and understand everything we go through, everything that happens in life. I can't believe that person sideswiped my car. I can't believe that person this happened, that happened, the other happened. Okay, collect their insurance information, if necessary take to a din torah. We have to do what we have to do in life, but never with an attitude of revenge. Why? Because whatever we went through is what was meant to happen. And all of a sudden now we can process it and experience it entirely differently. The thing that happened was for our own good. We're meant to learn and grow from it. It was by design, it wasn't random coincidence or chance, and we don't blame it on some other person. It's an incredibly important sefer hachinuch, I wish there was time to read you the entire thing inside. We need to feel it, ירגיש ויתן אל לבו, feel it and place it in our heart to know that it's all coming from Hashem. That's why says the mashgiach, Rav Don Segal, that's why it's also on the heels of the last pasuk. לא תשנא את אחיך בלבבך, don't hate another person in your heart. lo tikom, don't take revenge. Meaning, if you come to hate the person in your heart and you want revenge, it's because you think it was all them, God wasn't part of it. But the moment you realize God meant this day for you to go through that experience, something nasty was posted online, someone embarrassed you in public. Who do we learn this from? dovid hamelech. dovid hamelech was insulted horribly and his advisor said let's kill him, shimei ben gera. And dovid hamelech said no, I was meant to be embarrassed, I was meant to be insulted publicly. It wasn't him. Hashem chose him to be that messenger through whom it happened, but the message is for me to get and not and not and not to blame that individual. It's a very powerful example dovid hamelech set for us and that's what we're meant to follow. לא תקם ולא תטר. But there's one last question on לא תקם ולא תטר. On the one hand the pasuk says you're not allowed to get revenge, and on the other hand whom do we describe as somebody who's almost consumed with the pursuit of revenge? None other than God Almighty. kel nekamot hashem, veyinkom le'eineinu nikmat. All of av harachamim, which we say even during Sefira when we bench Rosh Chodesh, even if there's a simcha. Why? Because it was written for the crusades, the martyrs of the crusades. And it applies in our time too. That's why mori vrabi Rav Schachter paskened throughout the three years of the war av harachamim was said and we followed that in our shul, even during times where ordinarily you'd omit av harachamim we said it as our people were martyred. As we lost holy soldiers, kedoshim, we continued Av Harachamim, and what do we say in this tfila of martyrdom of Av Harachamim? Yizkoreim elokeinu letova. God remember them for tzadikei olam וינקום לעינינו נקמת דם עבדיך השפוך and God remember them and take revenge, avenge their blood, כי דם עבדיו יקום ונקם ישיב לצריו וניקיתי דמם לא ניקיתי נקמת דם עבדיך השפוך over and over again. Two nights in a row here in the galus, we open the door and what do we call appeal to God to do? shfoch chamasecha el God pour out your wrath, take sweet revenge. What do we say in Hallelu-ka? שירו להשם שיר חדש we call God רוממות קל בגרונם וחרב פיפיות בידם לעשות נקמה בגויים לעשות בהם משפט כתוב. God is the God of revenge. So which is it? Is there a prohibition of lo sikom or is God a God of revenge? Which one is it? Which one is it? I think this is important to learn and remember today, Yom Hazikaron. Which is it? So Rav Hirsch writes Viyinkom yizkoreim listen to Rav Hirsch. The one factor which more than anything else has protected us from the base impulse of vengefulness is constituted by the recital of these portions in our prayer book which teach us that we must leave all vengeance and retribution for that which others may do to us to none other than Hashem. Throughout its long existence, the people of Israel, sorely tried like no other nation in history, has borne again and again the most outrageous atrocities, maltreatment, cruelty without ever raising an avenging hand against its foes and oppressors and without ever attempting to work retribution upon the peoples and rulers who had unleashed upon Israel their excesses of fanatical inhumanity. The reference here to the statements throughout our sacred literature with regards the promises and reassurance that Hashem will bear and reserves for himself the exacting of retribution for every ill that we have suffered at the hands of our foes is only due to our trust in the validity of these promises that we found the strength to submit to murder without ever becoming murderers ourselves. We are able to defend ourselves and fight for ourselves, but never lower ourselves to their level of looking for revenge. How and why? says Rav Hirsch. Because we have faith that Hashem is the one who will take care of all of our business. Hashem will get it all done. Hashem knows how to avenge. Hashem yikom damam. It was only through these tfilos that in the midst of a populace that derided, hated, and mistreated us, we could maintain loyalty to the rulers of the land to which we have been dispersed, to keep alive within our hearts sentiments of human sympathy for their peoples. Our appeal to Hashem have helped us remain human and kind. Our commitment to lo sikom, where do we find the courage to have the commitment to lo sikom is because we have faith that kel nekamoth Hashem, that Hashem is the one who's going to get it done. Hashem is the one who gets it done. I wanted to get to a lot more in kedoshim, let's try to hit on one or two last ones. פרק יט פסוק לג, let's go to a Tiferes Shmuel. וכי יגור אתך גר בארצכם לא תונו אותו. פרק יט פסוק לג, nineteen thirty-three. When there's a stranger who lives with you, lo sounu oso, don't taunt him, don't aggravate him, don't aggrieve him. Don't aggrieve him. Why? Because the pasuk goes on, כאזרח מכם יהיה לכם הגר הגר אתכם, make him a citizen, welcome him. ואהבת לו כמוך כי גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים. Be loving, be welcoming. Why? Because you were strangers in Mitzrayim in Egypt, you know what it was like to be a foreigner, to be an outsider. The Tiferes Shmuel, Shmuel Berenbaum writes here, עניין גר אינו דווקא גר ממש. When we talk about a ger, we're not talking about a convert, גוי שנתגייר אלא כל איש שבא ממקום רחוק. Here the Torah is telling us anyone who comes from the outside, who feels like a stranger, גם כן נקרא גר. Ger is the opposite of toshav, a toshav means a resident, comfortable, fits in, belongs. Ger is the outsider, the immigrant, the person feels like a stranger. ויש בכלל ציווי זה לקרבו שיהא כמו שהוא אחד מכם. What this means is, make him or her like one of you. לא כמו איש זר. Don't let them feel like an outsider, a stranger. כאזרח מכם יהיה הגר הגר. And k'mayhein, Shmuel Berenbaum learns from here, בחור חדש שמגיע לישיבה. A new kid comes to the class, a new bochur comes to the yeshiva, a new person tries to join the shul, a new person moves into your neighborhood. צריכים לקרבו ביותר בכל מיני אופנים כדי שירגיש נוח בישיבה החדשה כמו שאר התלמידים כאזרח מכם. How do you make the person feel I'm a longtime member of BRS, I've been going to the school forever, I've been working here forever, I've been in this yeshiva forever? Make sure they have a seat at the table. Make sure they have a seat at the lunch table. Make sure they have a seat in the shul. Make sure they get invited for the Shabbos meal שלא ירגיש כמו שהוא גר because we knew what that was like. We understand what this is like. Yosef Hatzaddik in Parshas Vayigash את העם העביר אותו לערים מקצה גבול מצרים ועד קצהו. Rashi writes להודיע שבחו של יוסף שנתכוון להסיר חרפה מעל אחיו שלא יקראו אותם גולים. One of the things that Yosef tried to do when his brothers came to Mitzrayim was to integrate them. He had a tremendous welcome committee and buddy system. He made them feel not like strangers and outsiders, like they didn't belong, awkward. He made them feel like they were there. That's this mitzvah. That's the Torah telling us ki gerim. We have modern-day application, it doesn't just mean the convert who this certainly applies to, who's trying to navigate very often awkward complicated situations. That convert, I would say, an extension of that is the Baal Teshuva. We have in this room, we have in our community, we have among the Jewish people, you know, we have sitting here, you can't pick it up on the camera, we have a page turner. And we list, we have the incredible Weiss family and others who keep people on the page. And sometimes from people from other neighborhoods, I won't mention which general area geographically, will at best ask about it, often be cynical about it. Eh, what kind of shul? Page turner? What are you doing? What are you announcing? What's going on there? And I explain to them if there's one person in the room who doesn't know what page we're on, and you know, we don't know that experience. You want to know that experience? If you're Ashkenazi, one time go daven with the Sephardim. You want to know that experience? If you're in Rome, don't go to the Chabad, go to the Rome shul that is still and you don't know what page, where they're up to, what's happening here, what's going on. You'll know what it's like to be an outsider. You'll know what it's like to say, 'Can someone show me what page?' But I'm embarrassed to ask. 'Do we stand? Do we sit? Does everybody stand? Am I supposed to be? What's happening right now?' You know how horrible a feeling that is for someone? I don't know what page we're on. I don't know what they're saying. I don't know if we're supposed to stand or sit. I don't know what's happening right now. I'm just imitating others. No idea what that's like. No idea what that's like. We have a page turner. If one person doesn't have to be embarrassed, is able to see it and know what page they're on, therefore can daven and feel like they belong, what a mitzvah that is! At what expense? At what cost? Just for putting up a page turner? We're getting the renderings of our new shul this morning. We're still finishing. It's going up. It's building. Imirtze Hashem, we're going to be in in November. Part of the conversation, where are we going to put the page turner? How could you have a shul that people can be in and don't know what page you're on? You can't have such a shul. I don't care how frum you think you are, how far you think you've come, what you're trying to prove to whoever you're trying to prove it to. Isn't it more important that every Jew, isn't that a fulfillment of this pasuk, כי יגור אתך גר? Somebody has the courage to come to a shul who hasn't been there before, who didn't grow up that way, who doesn't have the education. Do we begin to understand the courage it takes to come across that door? We don't begin to understand the courage it just takes to come on that campus. We shouldn't make it as easy as possible for them? Do everything that we can for them? Page turner, the least of it, the least of it. Be welcoming, have a seat, hand a Siddur, offer to show the page if they look like they're uncomfortable or don't know what. Tell them what you've done. כי יגור אתך גר, if somebody lives here, that's what you got to do. That's what you got to do. I don't want to embarrass people in this room. There's somebody who started out later in life coming and somebody else said, 'I see you use little...' they recorded for them the davening, 'Here's what we say, here's how it goes, listen when you want, I just did it for you, you don't have to, you have it if it'll help you in your davening.' That's a fulfillment of this mitzvah, that's unbelievable. Because we know what it was like and we were there, and that's what the Torah's telling us. And it's not just talking to the kid in Yeshiva, that our Shulchan Aruch is directing it to. It's talking to every one of us. Adults can be bullies. Adults can be unwelcoming. Adults can fall into cliques. Adults can be callous. Adults can be sarcastic about page turners, much worse than children. Sometimes they get it much faster than we do. What a mitzvah! What a beautiful thing! Even though there was so much more, we will leave it there. And imirtze Hashem, pick up next week. Please stay for Tehillim. We're still davening. So much to daven for. We'll finish all Sefer Tehillim. Everyone takes a booklet, it'll take just a few minutes.
