Transcript
Good morning, Boker Tov, welcome to Parsha Perspectives for today. We are back on the Parsha. I hope everyone had a beautiful Yom Tov, a beautiful Shavuos, and we're still holding on. If you look behind me, the beautiful flowers. We're still holding on to Shavuos. Our Parsha series is generally sponsored by our dear friends Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father, l'ilui nishmas David David Grossman דוד בן מנחם מניש, and our series is also generously sponsored by the Dikman family in memory of their daughter and sister דניאלה רוחה בת שלום עזרא נשמתה שתהיה לעליה in the zechus of all of our Torah learning. This morning's shiur sponsored anonymously in the merit of אבנר בן אברהם הכהן, Sheina bas Moshe, שלמה דוד בן שלמה, Nissan ben Shimon, רפאל חיים בן דוד, אשר בן רחל בת יוסף הלוי, by Judy and Joel Pomerantz to commemorate the sixth yahrtzeit of her dad מנחם מנדל בן זלמן נשמתה שתהיה לעליה. Easy aliya this summer. Mazel Tov by Yechezkel and Yitzchak Feldman לעילוי נשמת חזקיהו שרגא בן נחמן חיים נשמתה שתהיה לעליה. Thank you. And by Chana Ringo לעילוי נשמת חיה בת יהושע ישראל יוסף בן דוד ישראל יוסף דוד בן הרב מרדכי and יעקב זאב בן הרב. Thank you to Chana Ringo. And lastly, it's my mother's birthday this week. So I'm gonna say we're gonna learn also in honor of my mother's birthday. She's not here so I could say that and not embarrass her. She should have many more years in good health, happiness, and should get a lot of nachas from her children and grandchildren. Parshas Naso, page 748 in the Artscroll Stone Chumash, the second Parsha of Sefer Bamidbar. We pick up where last week's Parsha, two weeks ago we read it, but the last Parsha we read left off and namely that is the census, the count of the Jewish people. וידבר השם אל משה לאמר, God speaks to Moshe. Rabbi Sacks brings down in the Chumash, I won't read it to you inside, but I saw it and it was powerful. In antiquity, in the old world, census, censai, is that a word? Censuses, censai, censuses. People did a census in order to demonstrate power. We see this right now, armies flex their muscle, what kind of military might, how many ships can they send to the region, how many soldiers on those ships, how many armaments, how many weapons, how they flex their muscle. Well, in those days, the way that you flexed your muscle was when you talked about your population, the census. This is as many we have and therefore you can extrapolate how big our army is. And that was the goal, that was the purpose of a census. The Jewish census is very different. It's about a name not a number. It's about people, not just positions, not just soldiers, it's not just to flex might or power. Our real might and power comes not in our numbers, but of course in our relationship with Hashem. And here we continue the census with the Levi'im in particular. נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם לבית אבותם למשפחתם. Take a census of the sons of Gershon according to their fathers' household, according to their families. And from what age? מבן שלשים שנה ומעלה, from 30 till 50, tifkod osam, כל הבא לצבא צבא לעבד עבדה באהל מועד, whoever from 30 to 50, count them, everyone who comes to join the legions to perform work in the tent of meeting. So we're going to start, we've been learning the Sefer Menachem Tzion of Menachem Ben-Tzion Sacks, the new edition recently put out by the family. נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם. Opening of our parsha. Take a census, but the word that's used for census, Naso, doesn't really mean count. What does it mean? It means to raise up, it means to lift. As we shared Parshas Bamidbar, because when you make someone count, you lift their spirits. When you make someone feel seen and acknowledged and validated, when you count someone, when you make them feel that they count, that they matter, that they're consequential, that they're not invisible, that's how you lift them. And that was the process. Each of these individuals passed in front of Moshe and Aaron and they felt counted and consequently they felt lifted. Here we're counting bnei Gershon separately. Says the Menachem Tzion, לפני כן צוה השם לעשות את ראש בני קהת ויש מקום לחשוש שדוקא בני קהת שהיו נשאי הכלים הכי קדושים. Now, we last left off, we were counting the family of Kehas. What tribe are they from? Levi. They're the Levi'im. They're the designated religious leaders, personalities. And what was their designated role? bnei Kehas, they carried the Aron, the Shulchan, the Menorah, the Mizbayach. They carried the most sacred vessels of the Mishkan of the Tabernacle. And so says Rav Menachem Ben-Tzion Sacks, you might have thought, הם היו כדאיים לנשיאת הרוממות ראש. They are worth counting. Such distinguished roles, such prominent place. They're worth counting. They deserve for their head to be lifted. אבל בני גרשון שנשאו את יריעות המשכן ואת קלעי החצר, but the family of Gershon, they didn't carry the inner vessels. They didn't carry... the holy sacred vessels, the shulchan, the mizbeach, the menorah, the aron, they carried the poles, the beams, the curtains, they carried the structure, אשר מדרגת קדושתם חוצה מן הכלים שנושאים בני קהת, their role, what they carried, what they lifted, what they transported was less, אינם ראויים כדי להנשאות את הראש, so maybe their role is less visible, their role is less prominent, their role is less significant, maybe they don't deserve to be counted, maybe their head doesn't deserve to be lifted, לפיכך אמר הכתוב נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם, therefore the pasuk specifically communicates they are counted gam heim, they're counted equally, they're counted with the same significance, they matter, they mean something, they have a mission, they have a role, מפני שהם הכינו את המשכן לבני קהת טרם בואם, because if they didn't carry the structure, the components of the structure of the mishkan, if there was no mishkan to construct and assemble, there was no place to put the keilim, so lovely that Kehas, they had the spotlight, Kehas had the fanfare, Kehas had the prominent position, Kehas got to carry the aron, shulchan, menorah, mizbeach hazahav, wow, they got to carry the big stuff, and the Bnei Gershon, they only got to carry the components of the mishkan, but if you didn't build a mishkan, there was no place to put those components, והשוה הכתוב נושאי המקדש והקימו את המשכן עד בואם, כמו שהשוה הכתוב זבולון ויששכר, just like the Torah equates Zevulun and Yissachar, the one who supports learning with the one who learns, שכל תורתו של יששכר על ידי זבולון היא באה, similarly here, the whole merit of Kehas to carry these vessels is only if there's a place to put them, is only if there's a place to carry out the avodah, and says Rav Menachem Tzion Zachs, the Menachas Tzion, it's a very important and powerful lesson that we learn from here, בעבודת ציבור שאינה יכולה להיעשות על ידי איש יחיד יש צורך לחלק את העבודה לרבים מן הציבור, look around Jewish communal life, there are many things that have to get done, some prominent, the ones that happen on the bimah, the Baal Ne'ilah, the Baal Kol Nidrei, the Baal Musaf, the Baal Shachris, the Baal Korei, the Rabbi gives the drasha, some are very public, some are on the bimah, some happen very in a way that everyone sees, and others? They're the voluntary roles behind the scenes, someone needs to collect the tzedakah boxes, someone needs to count the money and put it in the little rolls and bring it to the bank, somebody needs to collect the siddurim and put them back on the bookcase, somebody's running the Nishei or the sisterhood or the men's club, somebody's doing the work behind the scenes, ובכל חלוקת עבודה יש מי שבחלקו עלתה עבודה יותר חשובה ממי שהוא אחר שבחלקו נפלה עבודה פחותה, and seemingly it looks like on the outside some work is more distinguished, more prominent, more important, more consequential, and others? Eh, וכיון שהעבודה בכלל זקוקה להשתתפות רבים אין לזה שמזלו שהיה לו להשיג עליה שמה להשתאות על זה שמזלו היה לו לפחיתות כי הרי מבלעדי העבודה של זה האחרון לא יהיה כל ערך לעבודה של הראשון, it all intertwines, it's all integrated, it all works together, and if the people who quietly and modestly and humbly and behind the scenes didn't do their work, then the people who are on stage, the people who are in front of the camera and the spotlight, couldn't do their work, הכולם יהיו שווים בכבוד ובנשיאת ראש, everyone matters, everyone counts, everyone contributes, everyone has a mission, everyone has a purpose, and everyone needs to be involved, לולא ידעו זאת אנשים ההולכים חלק בעבודת ציבור הם היו מונעים הרבה מרירות ופירוד לבבות בישראל, sometimes there's competition, why are you the chairman? Why are you the president? Why are you leading the committee? Why are you making the decisions? Why were you asked to daven for the amud? Why are you the one who's giving the divrei filling in for the dvar Torah? Why are you? And I just roll the coins, and I just put away the siddurim, and I just give out the aliyos, and I just... there's no just, it is a spiritual ecosystem with everyone's involvement, and therefore everyone's counted equally, and that's why נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם, the gam heim is equating them with Bnei Kehas, aye, Bnei Kehas looked more important, more significant, more consequential, gam heim, the work of Bnei Gershon is also important, so therefore the parshah starts with the words naso es rosh, לגבי המתאוננים כתיב שש מאות אלף רגלי העם, when it comes later in Bamidbar, we're going to see shortly the mis'onanim, who are the mis'onanim? Next week's parshah, the complainers, the miserable, farbissener, negative, hypercritical, the people who see everything wrong, who have to always comment and criticize and condemn and knock down and everything wrong, how does the The Torah communicates gabei hamis'onenim. It says shesh me'os elef. When it tells us their census, their count, it tells us six hundred thousand raglei ha'am. They were the feet of the nation. Here, lift the head. There, the complainers, they're the smelly feet. ההבדל הוא כי איש אשר ראשו מוליך את רגליו והוא שוקל את כל צעדיו בפלס מוחו בגשת המנין מונים את ראשו כי בתר רישא גופא אזיל. Says the Gemara in Eruvin that our body is supposed to follow our head. Our head, thoughtfulness, intelligence, strategy, mindfulness, our brain, our head, which is where our tzelem elokim. The Baal HaTanya, we're learning Tanya. The Tanya, the Alter Rebbe, it's called חב\"ד חכמה בינה ודעת. The whole system of Chabad Chassidus begins not in the heart, begins in the brain. It's all about engaging the intellect. It's all about learning Hashem's Torah, seeing the blueprint of creation, learning and reading His diary, a description of Elokus. בתר רישא גופא אזיל, it all follows the head. That's why the Lubavitcher Rebbe says it's called Rosh Hashana, because everything follows the beginning of the year. And what dictates, what sends out the command? The command center of the human is the brain. Rosh, בתר רישא גופא אזיל. So, מה שאין כן איש אשר רגליו מוליכות את ראשו והוא צועד את שדה חיים בלי מחשבה מוקדמת מתאוננים רבו אצל השם אצלו רישא בתר גופא אזיל monim es haraglayim. So do we count people by their head or by their feet? Well, it depends what kind of people they are. The kind of people who their head dictates their body, we count them by their head because that's who they are. But the kind of people whose feet dictates their head, we count them by their feet. So the complainer, the negative, the farbissener, the miserable, the hypercritical, such a person, their feet lead them, their body leads them, their animal instinct leads them. Yaakov says to Lavan, ויברך השם אותך לרגלי כלומר בכל מה שנוגע להרמת ראשך לא תרמתי כל תרומה שהיא כי כה נשתרשת כבר בחטא מאין יכולת להכתיר כל הטוב אשר בראשך הזנוני ולפי כל מה שנוגע לרגל ממון שמעמיד אדם על רגליו ברכת השם חלה לרגלי באמצעות היקום והרגל שלי. Yaakov distinguishes between a head and a feet. Lavan is a feet person. Yaakov is a head person. And that's here what the Torah is telling us. Naso es rosh. We count someone by their head. A person who has the presence, the focus, the mindfulness to remember what matters. To be a role player, to be willing to be a role player in Hashem's army, in every community. It needs role players. One is not higher than the other. Naso es rosh. d'amar Ateres Rosh, the Gerer Rebbe also comments here. Naso es rosh. The Midrash tells us בני קהת נושאי הארון. When it came to Bnei Kehas, those who carried the aron, we have a tradition, the Midrash teaches ארון נושא את נושאיו. Who carries whom? Which carries what? On the outside, it looks like the individuals are carrying these heavy vessels. But these vessels weigh so much it's almost humanly impossible to transport and carry. So the truth is, while it looks like we're carrying the vessel, the vessel is carrying the people. על כן היו בני קהת בהכנעה ובשפלות תמיד. So when you realize that it's carrying you, you're not carrying it, it humbles you. It centers you. היודעים שהם עצמם אינם פועלים כלום במשאם ארון נושא את נושאיו רק הוטל עלינו לקיים דבר השם לשאתם. Bnei Gershon, הלא יכולים לחשוב שהם בכוחם עושים עבודה המוטלת עליהם. Bnei Gershon, however, didn't have that phenomenon. That Midrash is teaching specifically when it came to what? The aron. ארון נושא את נושאיו. It carries those who carry it. The Bnei Gershon who are carrying the other components of the Mishkan didn't have that. והאמת היא שהכל מן השמים ואדם בעצמו אינו יכול לעשות שום דבר לזה אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם שגם הם יהיו בהכנעה ובשפלות רוח כבני קהת. They too need to be modest and humble. They too need to accept their role with humility. ובזה יהיה להם נשיאות ראש כשיבואו למעלה זו להיות בהכנעה. Interesting. When is your head higher? When you're arrogant or when you're humble? Or when you're humble? It's when you're humble that your head is higher. It's when you're arrogant that you're actually brought low. And that's what the Torah is saying, gam hem. So the Menachem Tzion focused on the gam hem. Just like Bnei Kehas had a prominent role, so too Bnei Gershon, just because what they carried wasn't technically as important doesn't mean their role is any less. We all have roles and we all have to and we all. We all have roles and we all have to and we all have to fulfill them. The Rachmastrivker takes another perspective. The gam heim is not talking about the significance of the role, the gam heim is talking about the attitude that we have to bring, which is humility, to be humble, to accept this is the position Hashem has put me in, this is my mission, this is my mandate, this is my task, this is my why, and I have to do it with humility. To recognize and if you extrapolate from this to the lesson of leadership, it means that more than you're carrying a community, a community's carrying you. More than you're bearing the weight of responsibility, the responsibility is bearing you, is carrying you. And I can tell you that I feel that, I'm privileged to feel that, because I feel bad for you, I have the greatest job on the planet. I wake up every day, literally every day, grateful to Hashem, I love what I do. It's not to say that there aren't hard moments, but I love and find deep meaning and fulfillment and passion and I'm so grateful, I love what I do. And I genuinely feel that the more achrayus you take, the more Hashem lifts you and gives you the capacity and the strength and the insight, hopefully, and the skills for what you need. And lest you ever think, lest you ever think, lest anyone ever let it go to their head, from the gabbai to the president to a chairperson to a committee head to any role or responsibility, a parent in a home, lest anyone ever think, I carry this family, I keep people use that language, I carry the whole family, they lean on me, I carry the whole family. Anyone who takes achrayus, Hashem rewards that person with the capacity and the strength in the merit of the people they're serving. Lest you think you're carrying them, they're carrying you. If you have the strength and the wherewithal, if you have the capacity and the resources, if you have the ability to lead your family, that committee, your community, your classroom, whatever you're leading, you're not carrying it or them, they are carrying you. And keep that perspective. Always, always understand that viewpoint to recognize המשא נושא את נושאיו and that's true for every gam heim, just like Bnei Kehas, so too Bnei Gershon, gam heim, that's true for us as well. Perek Daled, pasuk Chaf-Gimmel, the next pasuk. No, no questions afterwards. מבן שלושים שנה ומעלה ועד בן חמשים שנה תפקד אותם, from 30 to 50 years old you count them, כל הבא לצבוא צבא לעבד עבדה באהל מועד, everyone who joins the legion that tzava to perform work in the tent of meeting. Now this insight might be a little controversial, I don't mean it to be, but I think it's important nonetheless. It shouldn't be. הכתוב נקט כאן מונחים של צבא ופיקוד לגבי אלו העובדים עבודת הקודש. It's very interesting. Can't debate this. The Levi'im serve where? In the Beis Hamikdash, the Mishkan. They're counted separately because they have that different role. The others are counted because they're going to be conscripted into the army. So how many do we have? The census was done, Rabbi Sacks' insight aside, because we were calculating our army. The Levi'im are counted not because of their role in the army, where are they counted, what's their role? In the Mishkan, in the Beis Hamikdash, points out the Menachem Zion, and nevertheless what word does the Torah use for them? Litzvo latzava. ללמדנו כי הם מייצגים את צבא ההגנה לישראל המגן על קיום ישראל וקנייניו. I'm not talking, I'm not weighing in, I'm not getting involved, the draft, learning, who, what, where. Certainly anyone not learning should be serving, arguably those learning should be just like Hesder. I'm not getting involved. Now, not because I'm a coward, but because I don't want to create a distraction from the parsha class. But the point that he's making and I think the point that many who serve also understand, especially the Hesder, especially those who are learning even while they're in the army, who've learned in places like Gaza and Lebanon and who've learned even in airplanes flying over Iran, is to understand, this is Menachem Zion Sachs, the son-in-law of the former Chief Rabbi of Yerushalayim, he was the son-in-law of רב צבי פסח פרנק, and he says the reason the Torah calls the la'avod avoda is litzvo latzava is because don't dismiss the significance in protecting our people, the value of Torah learning, the value of Torah learning, it alone, we need bederech hateva, of course in the natural world, the natural order, of course we also need an army and fighters and a military, of course we need that too. We shudder to think what would happen if we didn't have a fierce fighting standing army, of course we need it too. It's a mistake to think you don't need the army. army and everything is in the merit of Torah learning, and it's a mistake to think that everything is the army and Torah learning does nothing. The Jewish viewpoint of course was always the combination of the two. But Rav Menachem Tzion Sachs is making this point in passing. It's a short couple sentences just on these words, he can't help but note that even the Levi'im whose job is לעבוד עבודה באהל מועד are called letzva tzava. They're part of the tzava. They're part of the Tzava Hagana LeYisrael he writes, המגין על קיום ישראל וקנייניו. Those who learn, the value of Torah learning. The value of Torah learning across the spectrum of Batei Midrash. The value of Torah learning including those who are doing it while in uniform. My dear friend Rav David Gottlieb with his incredible organization provide pocket sefarim for soldiers of Minchas Asher of Asher Weiss's sefarim, pocket versions of sefarim for soldiers who on the battlefield and who at night on shemira and who in all kinds of conditions. That's perhaps the holiest and the highest learning when they're exhausted and tired and hungry and haven't showered and they find and dig into their pocket for a pocket-sized sefer in that moment and with that exhaustion and in that place. Wow, the highest and the holiest learning. So I'm not weighing in which Beis Midrash, where, who, what, when, but we need to know that the value of Torah learning including ours here. We're not contributing missiles and Iron Dome and we're not contributing weapons, but we're contributing among the fiercest and most potent weapons which is the weapon of Torah learning. לצבא צבא לעבוד עבודה באהל מועד. Pasuk says שיר השירים אני חומה. The Gimara Pesachim darshins: אני חומה זו תורה. ושדי כמגדלות אלו תלמידי חכמים. לומדי תורה הם החיילים הבצורים בתוך החומה ורבותיהם שדיים מניקים תורה הם המפקדה המרכזית בתוך המגדלות. Those who learn Torah are the chayalim are also contributing to the safety and protection of the Jewish people and those who teach Torah are nourishing and nurturing that protection. And it's critically important for us to have a nuanced, balanced perspective that includes all the truths: the truths of the heroism of those on the front lines because על פי דרך הטבע we could not survive without them, and the truth of the contribution of Torah learning without which also we would be vulnerable and in big trouble. Perek Daled pasuk chaf zayin: על פי אהרן ובניו תהיה כל עבודת בני הגרשני לכל משאם ולכל עבודתם ופקדתם עליהם במשמרת את כל משאם. According to the word of Aharon and sons all the work of the Gershon, all their burden and all their work; appoint their entire burden as their charge. ופקודתם עליהם במשמרת את כל משאם. Again we're heavy in the beginning of the shiur on Menachem Tzion's. על הלווים לדעת שאינם רק נושאי משא הרשומים בעול טלטולי המקדש. These Levi'im might think what's our job? We're shleppers. We're shleppers, we shlep from point A to point B, we shlep the components of the Mishkan, the beams, the curtains, the keilim. אלא שהם מצווים כמו כן גם להיות שומרים. They're counted not only because they're supposed to carry but also their role, their designation be'mishmeres. The root of the word mishmeres is what? Shomrim. They protect, they secure, they guard. עליהם לצרף משמרת למשא. And that's the midrash on the pasuk: איש איש על עבודתו ועל משאו ופקדיו אשר צוה ה' את משה. משה מצטוה על שתי המשפחות הללו בני גרשון ובני מררי שהוא יצוום היאך ישאו היאך ישמרו מה שתחת ידיהם. Hashem commanded Moshe to command these two families carry and guard. וזו היא מצווה לדורות. Says Rav Menachem Tzion Sachs, this is a mitzvah in perpetuity שכל אלה הנושאים את משא הציבור הרב ברבנותו הגבאי בגבאותו הפקיד בפקידותו עליהם לא רק לשאת באמונת משא אלא מחוייבים גם לשמור את המשא שלא יתקלקל ולא יתחלל. We don't just carry the burden, we don't just carry responsibility, we guard, we protect. It's who we are, it's what we're about, it's our responsibility. It's holy, holy work. It's not a job, it's a calling. It's not a paycheck, it is a divine mission. And it's not something that we just carry as a burden but it's a shemira, it's mishmeres, it is a protection of our people. Perek Hei pasuk vav. We go through Merari's responsibility, the totals, which brings us to Perek Hei. Perek Hei begins צו את בני ישראל וישלחו מן המחנה כל צרוע וכל זב וכל טמא לנפש. To purify the camp. Our camp has to be holy, holy and pure. Command the children of Israel, expel from the camp everyone with tzara'as, everyone who's had an emission that creates tuma, impurity, וכל טמא לנפש מזכר עד נקבה תשלחו אל מחוץ למחנה תשלחום. Men or women. man or woman, out. ולא יטמאו את מחניהם, do not contaminate the camp, אשר אני שוכן בתוכם. I can't dwell with them. There needs to be a purification, they need to become eligible for reentry. A camp has to be pure. There's a certain level of vigilance, certain level of protection, certain level of responsibility we have to ensure the camp remains pure. Then perek continuing פרק ה פסוק פסוק ו. וידבר השם אל משה לאמר דבר אל בני ישראל איש או אשה כי יעשו מכל חטאת האדם למעול מעל בהשם ואשמה הנפש ההיא. This next section is talking about what happens if you steal. What happens if you steal specifically from Torah tells us, what is the halacha, what is the deal if you steal from a proselyte? You steal from somebody who has joined the Jewish people. To whom do you return? A loan, a theft, overdue wages. And then you swear falsely about them and you've stolen. What do you have to do? והתוודו את חטאתם אשר עשו והשיב את אשמו בראשו וחמישיתו יוסף עליו. You have to confess, admit what you did and you have to make the other person whole, to pay back not only the principal, you have to add 20 percent, a fifth. ואם אין לאיש גואל להשיב האשם אליו האשם המושב להשם לכהן. What happens to a convert? There is no inheritor, there's no family member to return what you stole. So to whom do you return it? To the kohen in his place. And here we have the section, the laws that teach us what to do, what to happen. So wonders our last Menachem Tzion for the day. No, second to last of the day. Here you have the introduction to the laws of viduy, confession. You make a mistake, you have an indiscretion, you do something wrong, you have to admit it. You have to admit it. I did something wrong. I admit, I made a mistake. I have remorse, I have regret. I messed up. Viduy, he writes, hu ikkar hateshuva. We know that viduy is the core and the center of teshuva, confession. If you don't confess, if you don't admit what you did wrong, how do you have a hope of repairing it? How can you be trusted that you won't repeat it? You have to confess. Many husbands have been in trouble when they sensed that something was wrong but they don't know exactly what and they've been trained well, so they do the right thing and they say to their wife: Look, I'm so sorry. I really want things to be right. And she says: What are you sorry about? And he says: You know, that thing, the thing you're upset about, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. She says: Well what, what specifically? That I did that. I shouldn't have done that and I'm so sorry. If he can't name what he did wrong, she rightfully says we can't put it to bed. A child, a spouse, a friend, how could you recover or repair a relationship if you don't admit what you did wrong? So viduy is ikkar teshuva. We get into this all later Sefer Devarim which not coincidentally coincides with the month of Elul and the preparation for Yamim Noraim. Next, כי המצווה הזאת לא נפלאת היא ממך. Where is it? B'ficha u'v'levavcha la'asoto. So the Ramban says: What's the mitzvah in our mouth? The mitzvah of teshuva. Where is teshuva in the lips? Viduy, confession, admission is the core of teshuva. The Rambam in Hilchos Teshuva writes: First perek, כל מצוות שבתורה בין עשה בין לא תעשה עבר אדם על אחת מהן בין בזדון בין בשגגה כשיעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו חייב להתוודות לפני האל ברוך הוא שנאמר איש או אישה והתוודו את חטאתם. When the Rambam in Hilchos Teshuva quotes this law that repairing a relationship begins with admission, what pasuk does he reference? Our pasuk, our parsha. The person who stole has to admit he stole and make the other party whole. And what if it's a convert, who do they give it back to? He references our parsha. ויש להבין פרעגט דער מנחם ציון א קשיא, everybody asks the same question. מדוע סמכה התורה מצוות וידוי עיקר התשובה דווקא לעבירה של גזל. You could have taught the institution, the concept of confession, admission, connected to any aveira. If you violate Shabbos, admit it. If you spoke lashon hara, confess it. If you ate non-kosher, come clean. You could have connected it to any mitzvah. And yet the Torah specifically connects it to which prohibition? Gezel. If a person was a thief, if a person stole, they have to step up, admit it, confess it. Why specifically this aveira as opposed to any other? He quotes the Sfas Emes, Gerer Rebbe. The heilige Sfas Emes says: Hear what he says. כל עבירה אדם עובר עליה היא גזל. At the root and at the core, at the source of every aveira we do is the idea that we've stolen. What have we stolen? גוזל הוא את חייו את כוחותיו כישרונותיו. When a person uses their time poorly, wastes it, squanders it, kills it, spends it on something they shouldn't have been doing, they've stolen time. If a person spends money on something they shouldn't have spent it on, they've stolen why God gave them that money. If a person uses their skills, their talents, person is persuasive, popular, social, and they use that to lead people astray to gossip, to slander, then they've stolen the talents that God's given them. ההכנה שניתנה לו על מנת לשמור תורתו ולהשתמש בהם למרוד בו ובמצוותיו. The reason we were granted and given all that, we were given our limbs, the function of our bodies, our joints, we have our health, our wellness, all to serve Hashem, and instead we abuse and misuse it for something else, we've stolen. Says the great Sfas Emes, I heard it in the name of his Zeide the Chidushei Harim, that the reason the first introduction of the obligation of confession admission is connected to gezel stealing, is because at the core and the center of everything that we do wrong is that we've stolen that gift, that opportunity, that skill, that time, that resource. וכך נכתבה מצות וידוי היסוד של תשובה דוקא אצל חטא של גזל. That's specifically why it appears here. He elaborates on this. We see with the generation of Noah. When did God give up on them? What was the issue? אמר רבי יוחנן בוא וראה כמה גדול כח של חמס דור המבול עברו על הכל ולא נחתם גזר דינם עד שפשטו ידיהם בגזל. Because even though chamas, anarchy, chaos, there were no boundaries, there's no borders, no law, no order, that's all how the Torah understands the word chamas. Chaos, anarchy, no law, no order, no boundaries, no borders, no respect. But what was the maka b'patish? What put them over the top? What made God do a hard reboot and hard reset of the world? It was specifically which aveira? Gezel. Because they stole. Stealing, when a person doesn't have integrity. The integrity to realize I've been gifted this. I'm the guardian of it, I'm the steward of it. It's mine to watch, to protect, to take care of, and instead they misuse it, abuse it, compromise it, corrupt it. That Hashem has no patience. That's why Ne'ilah on Yom Kippur, what do we say Ne'ilah on Yom Kippur at the very end? ותיתן לנו ה' אלוהינו להתוודות לפניך על כל עוונותינו למען נחדל מעושק ידינו. What's oshek yadeinu? Stealing. Because we've stolen. We've stolen with our hands. And that's what we come and confess. And that's why the whole institution of confession is connected and introduced with gezel stealing, because at the core, at the root, we have to realize, we have to realize, if you're lazy, if you squander time, you could have been volunteering, you could have checked on people, you could have been doing mitzvahs, you could have been learning Torah, you could have been doing something so much more valuable, and it's wasted and squandered, you've stolen time from Hashem. You've stolen the good time that you've been given. If you have resources and you waste them, you squander them, you allocate them on things that aren't worthwhile, certainly things that can harm you or harm the world, you've squandered, you've stolen. We have talents and we have skills, we have abilities, and we're meant to use them. We have a mission, we have a purpose, there's a reason we're here. Nishmasi, we have to know our soul and our mission and our purpose. And if we don't use it, we've stolen. We've stolen those gifts and those talents from Hashem. And that's why they are connected. Okay, Perek Hey, Pasuk Yud. Moving on to the next section. Now we get a little bit salacious. Now we get a little bit interesting. Adultery. Adultery, a little wake up in the middle of the parsha. וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם איש איש כי תשטה אשתו ומעלה בו מעל. Any man whose wife will go astray and commit treachery against him. Why do we formulate that the woman is having an affair? Why don't we have a case where we have suspicion about the man? Not because the Torah is a biased religion. Technically, in biblical times men could have more than one wife. Polygamy was practiced until the Middle Ages. Rabbeinu Gershom was the one who outlawed it. Only Ashkenazim rather accepted it, Sephardim didn't until recently, maybe for some not even until now, but polygamy was permissible. Why is that? On very technical grounds. One man could have many wives and they'll still know who the parents of those children are. But if a woman had several husbands, we would lose all ability to track genealogy. We couldn't know people's origin, you wouldn't necessarily be able to know. Today we have genetic testing and blood tests, but we didn't for most of history. And so the Torah says technically polygamy is permissible, other reasons too. Of course today it's not. And however, only for a man, not for a woman. So the suspicion here is if a woman had an affair. That doesn't mean it's any more moral for a man to have an affair. It's equally immoral, a breach of trust, a lack of integrity, damaging a relationship. Confession, repair, remorse, regret, teshuva all need to be done. To be clear, the Torah is not suggesting that men have free reign and women are the ones who have to be watched closely. Chas v'shalom. It's on technical grounds. But here the Torah introduces that a man is suspicious of his wife: ושכב איש אתה שכבת זרע ונעלם מעיני אישה ונסתרה והיא נטמאה ועד אין בה והיא לא נתפשה. A man could have slept with her carnally, it was hidden from the eyes of her husband, she became secluded, could have been defiled, there was no witness, she had not been forced. Spirit of jealousy passes over him: עבר עליו רוח קנאה וקנא את אשתו והיא נטמאה או עבר עליו רוח קנאה וקנא את אשתו והיא לא נטמאה. Mishnayot describe what's going on over here. A man who grows suspicious of his wife, so he says to her, \"Do not seclude yourself with that guy.\" And she goes ahead and secludes herself, she has yichud. Nobody knows what happened behind closed doors, but she was alone. We have a Torah prohibition of yichud. You're not allowed, a man and a woman who are unrelated are forbidden from being secluded together. For a long time, people made fun. What a religion that's so, what's the word I'm looking for? Antiquated, archaic, they're so with a P, what's the word? Primitive? Prude. Thank you. What a prude people, what a prude religion. Then Mike Pence came along, if you remember, on the campaign and he talked about, he has a practice of never secluding himself. And then of course he was attacked, women are put at a deficit, they can't work for you the same way because you won't be alone with them. And just look around the world what a good practice that is. How many great people have fallen? How many scandals? Because this practice, these boundaries were not observed. We have a prohibition of yichud. So this man suspects his wife, he warns her, she violates the warning, secludes herself with a man nonetheless. He therefore says, \"Okay, you're going to have to drink this concoction.\" Come clean, admit, or drink the concoction, this test which will determine what really happened behind those closed doors. If she agrees, she drinks the concoction, we do everything to try to get her to confess to avoid this heinous ends, and she drinks this concoction, which includes God's name written in such a way that it gets erased in the mixture. She drinks the concoction. If she was guilty, she dies a horrific death. A graphic violent death. She explodes everywhere. A horrific death. By the way, so does the man with whom she had the affair. She dies in the Beit Hamikdash, the kohen who gives her the drink. But at the same time, so does the man with whom she had the affair, lest you think he too violated eishet ish. He slept with a married woman and nothing happens to him? No, he too dies. The Sar Shalom of Belz says that's the source. Listen to this. That's the source that we have, some have, when you make when you have a drink you say L'chaim. What do you mean L'chaim? I'm over here in Boca making a L'chaim to somebody who's in the hospital in New Jersey. I'm making a L'chaim to the safety of the soldiers in Israel. I'm making a L'chaim. How does that work that I make a L'chaim here and it impacts somebody over there? So Sar Shalom of Belz says if she can drink and he dies wherever he is, then you can drink and give life to someone wherever they are. If she can drink and bring death to the man with whom she had the affair wherever he is, then we can drink and bring life, make a L'chaim, machen a l'chaim for a person in the merit of wherever they are. Good. Says the Tiferes Shmuel. Now Rashi tells us: מה כתוב למעלה מן הענין? What comes just before here the Torah introduces this case of the wayward woman, the woman who's suspected, accused of having an affair? איש את קדשיו לו יהיו אם אתה מעכב מתנות הכהן חייך שתצטרך לבוא אצלו להביא את הסוטה. The section just before this is the obligation to distribute to the priests, the kohanim, the presents, the gifts that they get. The farmer and the one who owns animals has an obligation to give matnot kehuna. The kohanim are the community kollel. They're not lawyers and doctors and businessmen. Where do they earn their living? How do they take care of their family? They're supported by the community. Levi'im get ma'aser and the kohanim get terumah and we have what we call the matnot kehuna, the gifts that are given to the kohen. And that was the... the section immediately before this. Why, says Rashi, because the person who cheats out the kohen, the individual who didn't give the gift, didn't pay their part to the community kollel to take care of the Kohanim, that person will eventually end up in front of the kohen looking for help with his wayward wife. So wonders Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, the great Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir Brooklyn, קשיא טובא מה קשר בין המעכב מתנות כהונה? What connection is there that the guy didn't give the gifts to the kohen and now when he's having sholom bayis problems, he's got to appear before the kohen? Matnos Kehuna and sholom bayis are two altogether separate things. What's the midah k'neged midah? What's the correlation? What's the connection between the two? ועוד צריך למה דווקא בפני שמעכב מליתן המתנות לכהן נענש בעונש הזה כמו שפירש רש\"י מה את מעכב מתנת הכהן למה לא נזכר עונש זה על המעכב שאר מתנות עניים. Why specifically the gift to the kohen? Why not correlate it with the gift to the poor? We know that two of the years of the seven-year maiser cycle, you give matnos, you give matnos aniyim, you give maiser oni, you give a gift to the poor. So why don't we say, if you cheated out the poor with the gift they were supposed to get, then in the end you're going to end up before the kohen, sholom bayis problems, it ain't going to be pretty, it's going to be ugly. Why specifically is it gifts to the kohen? And listen to what he says. שורש הדבר למי שמעכב המתנות מליתן לכהן. Why does a person not give what the kohen deserves? It's a community tax, it's your obligation, it's your responsibility to express gratitude to the kohen, to support the kohen's work in teaching and leading and modeling the community, and you skimp and you don't give? Why not? What's at the core? שסבר דבשביל מה מגיע לו מתנות אלו. You know why? Because the person who doesn't give what they're supposed to is cynical. Kohanim, I don't need their teachers, I don't need that role model, why should we support them? They're leeches on the community. Who are they they think they're better? They think they're such teachers and role models and inspiration? Lo yutzlach Kohanim, they just couldn't make it in business, they couldn't make it. I have to take care of them? They're leeches on the community. I'm not giving. We don't need a community kollel, we don't need teachers and rabbis, we don't need, I'm not giving. What happens in the home of a person whose Shabbos table says such things about the local rabbis, teachers, community kollel? What happens in such a home? It drives away the people in the home. The people in the home too lose a sense of respect and integrity and honesty. The role of the kohen, כי שפתי כהן ישמרו דעת ותורה יבקשו מפיהו כי מלאך ה' צבאות הוא. There's an erosion of values in such a home. There's an erosion of respect in such a home, and that trickles down, it filters down, and ultimately it concludes and leads to a breakdown in sholom bayis altogether. בזכות התורה בא שלום בעולם. It's in the merit of Torah and the merit of respect of Torah that there is sholom in the world, there's peace in the world. We had in Parshas Bechukosai, in the merit of ameilus b'torah, ונתתי שלום בארץ שהשלום שקול כנגד הכל תלמידי חכמים מרבים שלום בעולם. כל התורה ניתנה לעשות שלום בעולם, the Rambam says, דרכיה דרכי נועם וכל נתיבותיה שלום. We always see this correlation between Torah and peace. If you want peace in your home, respect, respect Torah personalities, men and women, teachers, rebbes and moros, rabbis and rebetzins. This is not gender-specific. Respect Torah, the values of Torah, the Torah personalities, the people who represent and who dedicate their lives to teach Torah. And a home, a home in which Torah is elevated and respected is a home in which the members of that home will carry themselves with the values and the principles and the priorities of Torah, the integrity and the honesty of Torah, the loyalty and the fidelity of Torah. Torah will be what informs and inspires their life. But a home, a Shabbos table that constantly hears cynicism and sarcasm and attacks and criticism about the teachers, the rebbes and the moros and the principals and the heads of schools and the rabbis and the rebetzins, the kids, the spouse in such a home, Torah won't play a dominant, prominent role, Torah won't create the priorities because there's such an attitude about Torah. And the direct result will be a lack of sholom. If Torah and respect for Torah, being machshiv Torah is what brings sholom, then the erosion of respect for Torah, the denigration of Torah, the diminution of Torah brings about the exact opposite. opposite. It brings about the lack of Shalom in the home. They correlate says Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, and that's why you didn't give the gift to the Kohen why? Because you're so cynical that leech doesn't deserve it why should I give him what I have and who needs him? He's not my role model or my teacher. He's a hypocrite. He's duplicitous. He doesn't get it right. And that attitude leads to the wayward wife. It leads to an erosion of moral values, a breakdown of moral, of Torah inspiration and of Torah priorities. One of the biggest compliments we can give, we speak a lot of Sheva Brachos and under the chuppas and at aufrufs, and one of the big compliments we can give is, that's a home they're machshiv Torah. That we should yearn, we should aspire that that's how we're described. That's a home that's machshiv Torah. What does that mean? It could take on many forms. A home that's machshiv Torah can mean they donate a lot, they support Torah institutions. It could mean they learn a lot of Torah. They're machshiv Torah. It means in that home they say to the husband get out early in the morning go to the Kollel Boker, go to the Daf Yomi, go back out at night to night Seder. I've got it covered because I'm machshiv Torah. It means that mother wakes up on Sundays to get that boy off to Yeshiva even though it should be everyone's day off and she just wants to sleep in one day. She wakes up because she's machshiv Torah. It means the husband's machshiv Torah for his wife, a wife for a husband at the table, they quote, they respect, they host, they support, they admire, they aspire. A home that's machshiv Torah. What are the posters and the pictures in that home? Athletes? Or Gedolei Yisrael? Men and women of inspiration. Today we have such beautiful role models, both. The aspiration we have is to be described as a home that's machshiv Torah. Shidduchim, I get asked that a lot, reference calls. Are they machshiv Torah? Not every home can you say yes to that. Some machshiv Torah? Ooh, that home they're allergic to rabbis, cynical about rabbis, something happened in their youth that now they take out everything on the way they talk, what they do. Is it machshiv, machshiv Torah? Machshiv Torah could take on many forms, but that, says Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, in the home that you're not machshiv the Kohanim, who are the symbol of Torah, is a home that could lead to this dissolving of that relationship. So what happens? Hashem is willing, Pasuk Kaf Gimmel, we skip to page 756. וכתב את האלות האלה הכהן בספר ומחה אל מי המרים. Hashem's name is written down in this concoction, in this recipe. Hashem's name is written on a klaf, it's immersed in this mixture that has liquid. And what happens when you have ink and liquid? It comes off and it dissolves. And our Rabbis deduce from here, you see, Gadol Hashalom, so great is trying to achieve peace between a husband and wife that God allows His name to be erased. There's a severe Torah prohibition, you can't erase Hashem's name. We have a concept called Shemos, we don't throw God's name in the garbage and we don't erase Hashem's name. It's a severe Torah prohibition. And yet, no matter how severe it is, Hashem allows it when? When it's going to bring Shalom. Gadol Hashalom, great is peace. That's what we all have to do to try to bring peace between a husband and wife, try to bring and maintain harmony between a husband and wife. Why does it have to go so far that Hashem has to allow His name to be erased? Why does it have to go so far? Because until something extreme like that, the man won't believe it. He'll always have the suspicion. He'll never believe that she didn't do anything, they were playing Scrabble and Wordle behind closed doors. Says the Menachem Tzion, חזל אמרו גדול השלום ששם שנכתב בקדושה אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא ימחה על המים ובשביל להטיל שלום בין איש לאשתו. Now that is only true, God's name is erased positively when it brings harmony between husband and wife, when the outcome of the concoction is what? That she was telling the truth, that she didn't do anything wrong or physical. But what happens if the outcome is the other direction? She dies, he dies. So now God erased His name for nothing? I never heard this before, but I want you to listen, listen to this carefully. הרי על ידי השקאת מי המרים יש אפשרות שהיא תפרד ממנו שמע מינה שבאופן זה הפירוד הוא השלום הנרצה. If a marriage is not meant to be and it needs to be dissolved, that too is the cause of Shalom. I want to repeat that because it's really important. There are cases where a couple's not meant to be together. Unlike other religions, we have a Mitzvah called divorce. It's not a positive commandment like wearing Tefillin, it's a circumstantial commandment, meaning in appropriate circumstances one of the six thirteen Mitzvos is Geirushin is a Mitzvah to get divorced. It's not a positive commandment to go out and fulfill, but Lest a person feel shame or lest a person feel guilt or lest a person feel less than no says the Menachem Tzion that when Chazal said Gadol Hashalom that Hashem is willing to allow his name to be erased he doesn't just mean when it all turns out okay. He doesn't only mean when they repair and have harmony and maintain the marriage. He means even a divorce sometimes is the only way towards shalom. Shalom is better served by their not being together than their being together. Now they can co-parent, now they can be friends in divorce, now they can cooperate in the ideal divorces. שמע מינה שבזה האופן הפירוד הוא השלום. Until now I always read this and understood Hashem is willing to let his name get erased in the hope of shalom, in the hope and for the purpose that they'll repair and have harmony. Never really thought about the other direction. What happens when it doesn't work out? That too is shalom. Even when it doesn't work out when they're not meant to be, the greater cause of shalom is served by not being together than it would be to stay together with fighting and with discord and with a lack of harmony. I think a very powerful and important insight. Perek Vav, Pasuk Beis. The Nazir. We have the Nazir after the Sotah. Who's the Nazir? Ish o isha כי יפלי לנדור נדר נזיר להזיר לה'. A man or a woman, ish o isha. Back in my day when someone would apply for the Kollel at Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan at YU, to be in Rav Schechter's Kollel they had to take a farher. Rav Schechter among the most nerve-wracking things possible in life would be to be tested by Rav Schechter. Rav Schechter has a big appropriate hang-up that many Yeshiva bachurim they learn Gemara, they shteig, they don't know basic Torah, Chumash, they don't know basic Tanakh, skipping right to Mishna and Gemara and don't know the basics. So one of the questions he would ask, maybe he still does, one of the questions he would ask is: Can a woman be a nazir? So some of these guys would start klaring: Is it a מצוות עשה שהזמן גרמא, is it time bound, it's a 30 days, stam nezirut, let's see, can a woman? He would say it's a pasuk, ish o isha כי יפלי לנדור נדר נזיר להזיר לה'. You gotta know the pesukim, you gotta know the basics before you skip to the Gemara and the lomdus and the chakiras. You gotta know the pesukim, you gotta know the basics. That's how Rav Schechter would give shiur, the zechus to be in a shiur, every Gemara he'd say let's go back to the pasuk, every din he'd say let's go back to the pasuk. What's the pasuk? What's the machlokes Tannaim, what's the machlokes Amoraim, what's really going on over here? So a man or a woman ki yafli. What's ki yafli? The word yafli comes from the word pele. Pele means a wonder! What a wonder! Where do you see that word? We say it every day depending on your lineage and genetic background, Ashkenazi or Sefardi, you may say it a lot or a little every day. Asher Yatzar u'mafli la'asot. What is u'mafli in Asher Yatzar? Go back to Siddur Snippets, the very beginning, we covered Asher Yatzar in Siddur Snippets. What is u'mafli? What's the wonder? It's a wonder if everything's working. It's a wonder, mafli, it's a wonder if everything's working. You only learn that when it stops. You don't appreciate it when it's working, but when it stops you realize what a wonder it was when it was all working. But the pele, the real pele is, Mishnah Berurah brings this down in Shulchan Aruch, the real pele is that your body is able to house your soul. That this physical can hold the spiritual, that's the pele. Here, ki yafli. It's a pele somebody would be willing to be a nazir. Voluntarily abstain? To voluntarily lead an ascetic life? It's a pele, it's a wonder! Ki yafli, ki yafli לנדור נדר להזיר לה'. A person has the pele to be a nazir. And a nazir's not allowed to drink yayin v'sheichar. The nazir cannot be contaminated to a corpse, nazir cannot cut his hair. We have all these laws of being a nazir. Rashi famously says: למה נסמכה פרשת נזיר לפרשת סוטה? Why? A lot of smichus parshios going on here. Why is it adjacent? The last thing we learned was about the sotah, now we have the nazir. Why? כל הרואה סוטה בקלקולה יזיר עצמו מן היין. Anyone who sees or learns or hears about or reads about somebody had an affair, somebody infidelity, should immediately take a vow, immediately go an extra mile, immediately take on a kabbalah, immediately become a nazir, she-meivi lidei niuf, because alcohol, how many circumstances of people had poor judgment because they drank a little too much because they got a little too inebriated. And there went their judgment, and without that moral compass and judgment, they cross boundaries and lines that can bring them great regret. So again as per Shmuel Berenbaum, צריך לעיין למה דווקא מי שראה סוטה בקלקולה צריך שיזיר עצמו מן היין. Maybe when you see someone mechalel Shabbos become a nazir? Nope. See someone mechabed Shabbos, you move on with your day. You see someone not make a bracha, you move on with your day. You saw someone speaking lashon hara, you saw somebody not dress properly, move on with your day. And yet here, roeh sota bekilkulah, now you need this grand reaction: יזיר עצמו מן היין, take this vow and become a nazir. What's the connection between the two? Moreover, אפילו מי שמחויב מיתת בית דין יש חיוב ואהבת לרעך כמוך ברור לו מיתה יפה. Even somebody who is given a capital punishment, the death penalty, we do so with love, we do so as gently as we can. We cover the body and there's certain laws. When it comes to the sota, we do not protect her dignity whatsoever, mevazin osa b'farhasya. Where do we know from the Torah that a married woman has to cover her hair? Because one of the laws of the sota is in the Beis Hamikdash, the kohen uncovers her hair. The fact that the Torah assumes that the married woman's hair was covered and says, you uncover her hair, is the source of a married woman covering her hair. Why do we uncover her hair? Her dress, her state of undress, her dignity, she's stripped of her dignity and she dies this horrific graphic death. Why the exception? Other capital crimes and capital punishments, we preserve and maintain dignity and here all bets are off. Why? This is what he says: עבירה שסוטה משונה משאר עבירות. Infidelity, and I'm not saying this with judgment, I'm a rabbi, interact with many people, I love all Jews and I don't judge them, I want everyone to know and feel comfortable coming to me. I'm always here to help without judgment. People are human and they make mistakes. And that's the fine line between, we're human, we make mistakes, we can repair, we can recover, we can come back. But on the other hand, as a community and as a society, we have to know that some things are beyond the pale, we have to have strong boundaries and borders and we've got to be exceedingly careful שבהם אם אדם עובר עליהם היינו שעושה דבר שבן ישראל אסור לעשות הרי זה נענש בבית דין עובר הלכה מהלכות תורה. If you do something wrong in halacha, a uniquely Jewish law, Shabbos, you violate some other Torah principle, so when you get misas beis din, we're gentle, we maintain your dignity, we do it with empathy. מה שאין כן עבירת סוטה פוגעת בעצם האנושיות של האדם. Who are we and what are we if we don't have integrity? Who are we and what are we, what do we have left if we don't have integrity? That speaks to our very humanity, our very identity, it speaks to who we are. And when we forfeit it, when we abandon it, when we give it up, what do we have left? And that's why it's not only a Jewish law, it's not a halacha, it's universal. Bnei Noach, among the seven Noahide laws is the prohibition of eshes ish, is the prohibition of promiscuity, of infidelity. So this woman, her husband warns her, she was human, she started flirting with someone at the gym, at work, an emotional inappropriate relationship and her husband says, I'm not comfortable, let's work on this, I love you, let's repair it, don't seclude yourself. And at that moment, she had a nekudas habechira, she could have gone in either direction and she chooses to seclude herself with this man. In that moment, she forfeited her integrity, her humanity, her very sense of self. לפיכך אין חיוב לשמור על כבודה. If she had no self-respect, we're not obligated to maintain her respect. She had no dignity, we're not obligated to protect her dignity, mida kneged mida. You had no dignity, no self-respect, no sense of identity. Again, I want to be clear, people make mistakes, they're human, there is always a way back, can be repaired, we can grow and we can go forward. Difference between a human error and a pattern of serial error of the person who not only doesn't regret it but habitually does it. There's actually research that shows that a person who can't be trusted in their home also can't be trusted at work or with your money. We had an off the record recently, it was not a popular one, but the recent scandal of the coach of the Patriots because Boston teams are always riddled in scandal. Sorry, I had to do that from how they deflate footballs or record opposing teams' practice or the coach is having an affair with an NFL reporter. So I raised does that compromise his ability to coach or his role with the team. It was not a popular subject. I really just wanted to give a shtuch to Rabbi Moskowitz and the Patriots. But it is a question. Should you invest money with someone you know doesn't have integrity in other areas of their life? Research shows, the data shows, that integrity is something that overlaps areas of our life. And if we lack integrity in one area, then it's unlikely we're going to have integrity in another. Doesn't mean we're not human, we don't slip up, there aren't mistakes, but I mean the person who habitually, the person whose personality, the person who is unembarrassed that they're lacking integrity in one area. לפיכך הרא סוטה בקלות סכנה גדולה. And that's why this is different than other aveiros. If we see it, we're exposed to it, it can be contagious. And we need to do something to react it, to balance it out, to offset it. יותר מאמרה מי שעובר על שאר מצוות התורה. עבירה כזו יכול לאבד את כל האנושיות שלו. Because this runs the risk that we could lose all of our humanity, our sense of self, our dignity, our self-respect. Hanhagah kmo behemah. It is animal indulgence and impulse and instinct. What makes us human, not animal, is that we had that temptation, we had that opportunity, and we said no. Maybe we started to say yes, and then we said no. Maybe God forbid someone said yes one time, but then they knew it was wrong and they made a radical transformation in their life to ensure it would never happen again. But the person who repeats it, who was warned, who doesn't heed the warning and then violates it, that person has forfeited their humanity to have ma'aseh behemah. They've indulged the animal impulse, the animal instinct, the pleasure. And the danger for the one who sees it and observes it is that it could be contagious. And that's why it demands a significant and a harsh reaction. We didn't get to, this parsha is amazing, it also has Birchas Kohanim. And then it also has the twelve incredibly repetitive redundant korbanos that each of the leaders of the tribes offered. And then Zos Chanukas at the end. But I guess we're prepared for Parshas Naso next year, we'll pick up with it from there. Have a wonderful day.
