Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב boker tov. I want to thank our sponsors for our parsha class this morning, Dr. Zelana and Juliana Rosenblatt for a רפואה שלמה refuah shleimah for ישראל מאיר בן דפנה ברוניה Yisrael Meir ben Dafne Bruya. Should have a speedy and complete recovery. Also, next week Rabbi Moskowitz and I will both be at a rabbinic conference, so there will be no parsha class next week. You could go online, rabbiefraimgoldberg.org and listen to previous classes on פרשת אמור parshas Emor.We are, we have the privilege this morning of studying פרשת קדושים parshas Kedoshim together. It's page 656 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. And I want to try to do an overview of the parsha and come back to the very beginning this morning, spend some time analyzing and studying the opening word קדושים Kedoshim. What does קדושים Kedoshim mean, what is the mission, what is this charge, what is this mandate really all about? But let's get through some of the rest of the parsha first, really an incredible parsha replete with מצוות mitzvos, most of whom focus on the relationships בין אדם לחברו bein adam l'chaveiro, between man and our fellow man, the relationships that govern how to have an ethical and a just and a kind society.So the parsha begins קדושים Kedoshim, we'll come back to it, and immediately it jumps, איש אמו ואביו תיראו ואת שבתותי תשמרו אני ה' אלקיכם ish imo v'aviv tirau v'es shabsosai tishmoru Ani Hashem Elokeichem. A person has to honor their father and their mother. And in the very same breath, in the same פסוק pasuk, we're told not only to honor a mother and father, sorry, not honor. This פסוק pasuk is not כבוד kavod, but תיראו tirau is to have יראה yirah is often translated as fear. But do any of us as parents really want our children to fear us? Maybe when they're young. Maybe when they're young. We want them to be obedient, we want them to be disciplined, and so we want them to have a healthy dose of fear. But a mature relationship with children is not founded on fear. What's it founded on? What's a better translation of יראה yirah? Awe. We want children to have an awe and a reverence of us and our lifestyle and our values and our ideals and a desire to emulate, to be similar to them. And so it's a much more accurate translation, not fear, but rather a sense of awe.What's interesting is that the פסוק pasuk lumps together, juxtaposes in some ways איש אמו ואביו תיראו ish imo v'aviv tirau, a mother and father have awe of, and keep Shabbos. What does one thing have to do with the other? Sometimes we see Shabbos juxtaposed with the מקדש Miktash, the משכן Mishkan. Now we see Shabbos juxtaposed with honoring or having awe, the relationship with parents. What's the connection, what's the connection between the two? So first of all, it's interesting, the גמרא Gemara already points out that we have mother before father when it comes to awe, and כבד את אביך ואת אמך kaveid es avicha v'es imecha, father before mother when it comes to respect. And the גמרא Gemara says why? Because, and there are exceptions to every rule including this one, but on the whole, a child feels the nurturing, the love, the affection of a mother and therefore responds with greater respect, reciprocates that love. So the Torah has to say, don't forget to also love your father. Don't forget to be affectionate towards your father. And a child more naturally is inclined to have awe of a father. The father often is a greater disciplinarian, the father is the law and order parent. The father, as the mother will remind the father, it's because the father has the luxury of not interacting as often, as much, so can swoop in with greater rules and discipline and consequences and accountability. So the child is more predisposed and inclined to feel a sense of awe. So the Torah has to put the mother here. In other words, the Torah responds to the predispositions of the human psyche to whom we would more likely be inclined to have awe and tells us to put the other first and whom we would be more inclined to have respect.But why the juxtaposition, why the connection between the two? איש אמו ואביו תיראו ואת שבתותי תשמרו Ish imo v'aviv tirau v'es shabsosai tishmoru. So רש\"י Rashi tells us, את שבתותי תשמרו סמך שמירת שבת למורא אב ואם לומר אף על פי שהזהרתיך על מורא אב ואם אם יאמר לך חלל את השבת אל תשמע לו וכן בשאר כל המצוות es shabsosai tishmoru samach shmiras Shabbos l'mora av v'eim lomar af al pi she'hizharticha al mora av v'eim im yomar lecha chalel es ha'Shabbos al tishma lo v'chein b'shaar kol hamitzvos. Why is the juxtaposition provided? Because even though we have a mandate to honor and to have awe of parents, and we have to jump. Parents say jump, we say how high. To jump, to be responsive to parents, but if a parent says eat non-kosher, violate the Shabbos, then putting our honor of Hashem supersedes the honor of a parent, and that's the reason it's juxtaposed. We're not going to go into it now, though this would be the week to talk about it, given that tonight, tomorrow, יום הזיכרון Yom Hazikaron, followed by יום העצמאות Yom Ha'atzmaut. But how far do we take that Torah telling us don't listen to a parent if it comes in the face of a mitzvah? What about certain sort of subjective mitzvos? You are attracted to that person, you want to take them as a spouse, and your parent says, \"I object.\" I object to the שידוך shidduch. I object to the spouse. Is a parent entitled to object to a שידוך shidduch? Which comes first, listening to your parent or listening to your own נשמה neshama? Can a parent dictate where a child should live? Can a parent interfere with the שלום בית shalom bayis of a child? If the parent tries to interfere with their children, grandchildren? What about if a child wants to make עלייה aliyah and a parent objects? I once heard a recently heard a speaker, my niece's new father-in-law in Israel was giving a שיעור sheer. Rabbi Alex Israel and he mentioned someone he knew whose child made עלייה aliyah was very sad and the child said, \"You know, you sent me to בני עקיבא Bnei Akiva every Shabbos afternoon.\" And the parent said, \"I didn't believe in that. I just wanted to have a nap every Shabbos afternoon.\" I wanted a nap and you made עלייה aliyah. So, what happens the parent comes along and says, \"Yeah, we went to the Israel Day Parade and we went to the annual יום העצמאות Yom Ha'atzmaut celebration, and we wore the כובע טמבל kova tembel and כחול ולבן kahol v'lavan and ate blue and white cookies, but you can't take my grandchildren to Israel. You have to stay right here in Teaneck or the Five Towns or Boca. It's a mitzvah, you have to stay here, you can't go to Israel.\" That's not the mitzvah. So what happens in a conflict between honoring your parents and making עלייה aliyah? We've given a whole שיעור sheer about this in the past, I'm sure you could find it somewhere on my website because while it seems black and white and cut and dry from our פסוק pasuk, Torah says that you have to have awe of your parents, but את שבתותי תשמרו es shabsosai tishmoru. If they're asking me to do something in conflict with a mitzvah, then you don't listen to them. So in that שיעור sheer, first we established is there a mitzvah to move to Israel? If it is a mitzvah, it should be obvious that therefore, you don't listen to your parents. However, there is a Midrash which says when Avram, לך לך מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך lech lecha me'artzecha u'mimo'ladetecha u'mibeis avicha, when Avram was instructed to leave his parents' home in order to journey to Israel, why did he have to be given a command? If not for the fact that the default is, otherwise you wouldn't be allowed to leave your parents to make a עלייה aliyah. The fact that Avram needed the instruction made it the exception, but the rule is you can't leave your parents to make עלייה aliyah. So what is the nature, we went through some תשובות teshuvos, it's a good question, but not for now. But it all comes from this פסוק pasuk. So the first answer, why the juxtaposition between honor, awe of a parent with observing Shabbos, רש\"י Rashi says we learn from here when there's a conflict between honoring our parents in the fulfillment and the observance of a mitzvah, of course, our collective father supersedes our biological mother and father. That's רש\"י Rashi.The אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, the vision of the Slanimer Rebbe has a homiletical interpretation. על פי דרוש Al pi drush he says very interestingly the following. יש לדרוש Yesh lidrosh, he even, everything he says is a drush, but this even says יש לדרוש yesh lidrosh. You can darshen, סמוכין בשתי מצוות אלו כי מצוות כיבוד אב ואם היא מצוה שכלית ההורים מגדלם ומכלכלם את הבנים והשכל מחייב לכבדם s'muchin be'shtei mitzvos eilu ki mitzvas kibbud av v'eim hi mitzvah sichlis ha'horim megadlam u'mechalkelam es habanim v'haseichel mechayev l'chabdam. Why do you have to honor your mother and father? Why do you have to have a awe of your mother and father? We are all blessed with the greatest mothers and fathers, but there are people whose mothers and fathers were not the model citizens, were not necessarily people who should be held on a pedestal or turned to with honor and awe. So why do we universally, why do we, everyone has a mitzvah to honor and have awe of parents? We don't evaluate. Well, let's see, your mother on a scale of one to ten, your father on a scale of one to ten, we'll figure out whether they deserve honor. We say כבד את אביך ואת אמך kaveid es avicha v'es imecha and איש אמו ואביו תיראו ish imo v'aviv tirau. So why do we have to honor them? The ספר החינוך Sefer HaChinuch writes, quoted in the גמרא Gemara in קידושין Kiddushin, because when we honor our parents, we're honoring the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam. Hashem says, if you honor your mother and father, כאילו ke'ilu I will consider it as if you honored me. And if you dishonor your mother and father, I will consider it as if you've dishonored or in short, for the young people, as if you've dissed me. As if you've dishonored as if you've dissed me. Why is הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu intertwined with them? Can't we separate it out? My relationship with my parents has nothing to do with my relationship with God. My relationship with God has nothing to do with my relationship with my parents. Why does Hashem, why does the גמרא Gemara, why do חז\"ל Chazal intertwine the two? So the ספר החינוך Sefer HaChinuch explains very simply, because how are they connected? Both represent where you came from and both represent the הכרת הטוב hakaras hatov, the gratitude that you should have towards them. We would not be here literally without our mother and father. We wouldn't be here without the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam. What they both have in common, what earns them the honor and the awe is not necessarily, not in Hashem's case, but our parents, is not necessarily their character, their behavior. What earns them the honor and awe is that we would not be here without them. We are utterly dependent on them. And it's an expression of gratitude to treat them therefore. And we've given this example before. If a person passed out and had a massive heart attack and someone revived them, would you say, \"I was going to buy you a gift, but you know on a scale of one to ten, you speak a lot of לשון הרע loshon hora, you come late to מנין minyan, you talk during davenning, you don't give צדקה tzedakah, I don't have to get you anything.\" You'd say, \"You saved my life.\" I'm not really evaluating right now your character, who you are, whether you should be honored at the shul dinner. That's for the board to decide. I'm only here to say thank you because you saved my life. I wouldn't be here without you. So when we look at our lives, our parents did more than save our life, they gave us life. And they had a third partner. Their third partner, the senior partner, is the Almighty, is the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam. So Hashem says if you can pause to express some gratitude, to realize that you didn't come to being ex nihilo, you didn't come to be something from nothing, you were created, you had a creator, you had a partnership, a three-way partnership, a mother, a father, and Hashem who brought you into being, stop, pause, and say thank you. And when you say thank you to them, Hashem says, I consider it as if you said thank you to me. And if you can't say thank you, you have too much hubris and ego and arrogance and attitude, and you need to feel independent that you can't even stop and say thank you to them, then you're certainly not going to ever be able to say thank you to me. So the relationships are intertwined, and it all stems from a sense of gratitude. So it says the vision of the Slanimer Rebbe, the אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, that the whole nature of the mitzvah of כיבוד אב ואם kibbud av v'eim is a mitzvah שכלית sichlis. You don't have to be a religious personality, you don't have to live a faith-based life in order to realize that you should have gratitude to your parents. It's a rational mitzvah. Why? They were good to you, they brought you life, they saved your life, be good to them. כמו כן kemo chein, so now you understand, says the אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, the end of the פסוק pasuk. כמו כן שבת קודש מכלכלת כל ימות החול ששת ימים ממנה מתברכים וגם כאן מחייב השכל לשמור השבת Kemo chein Shabbos kodesh mechalkeles kol yemos hachol. Sheishes yamim minam misbarachim v'gam kan mechayev haseichel lishmor ha'Shabbos. The same way parents nurture and nourish and sustain and give us life, Shabbos nourishes, nurtures, and sustains the days of the week. So therefore, recognize what your parents do for you and recognize what Shabbos does for the week. It's a געשמאק geshmak, no? על פי דרוש Al pi drush. Homiletical. איש אמו ואביו תיראו Ish imo v'aviv tirau, stop and realize what your parents do for you, ואת שבתותי תשמרו v'es shabsosai tishmoru, and in your week, stop and realize what Shabbos does for the week, that we draw our nourishment, our sustenance, our serenity, our well-being, all is drawn from, is drawn from Shabbos. So we saw רש\"י Rashi, we saw the אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim. Reb Soloveitchik has a third interpretation, why the juxtaposition or why the connection. And not only that, it's really between the three. It's parents, it's Hashem, and then we also have the מורא מקדש mora Mikdash, the responsibility of the attitude we bring towards the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, which the גמרא Gemara says applies to a מקדש מעט Mikdash Me'at, not just to the central מקדש Mikdash, the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, should be rebuilt speedily in our day, but the מקדשי מעט Mikdashei Me'at, our shuls, which are temples in miniature. We also have an obligation, the attitude and the mentality, and how we conduct ourselves while we're there. So what is the connection between the three? Says Rabbi Soloveitchik, he says, \"Mora is a characteristic that applies solely to God. Giving reverence to a mortal being borders on the blasphemous. If so, why did the Torah command us to revere our parents? Moreover, the Torah commands us to display reverence towards an object, as is the case with the Mikdash.\" So reverence should exclusively be the domain of Hashem. And here he's sharing it. Here we are charged with having reverence towards human beings and towards a physical object, a building, the מקדש Mikdash. How is it possible? Says the Rav, the גמרא Gemara in יבמות דף ו' Yevamos daf vav states, one is not to revere the Mikdash, but him who commanded us regarding the sanctuary. Likewise, expressing yirah for a parent is tantamount to showing yirah to Hashem. The גמרא Gemara in קידושין Kiddushin says Rav Yosef would stand when he heard his mother's footsteps, saying that he was standing for the divine presence he heard approaching. Rav Yosef wrote out of awe and reverence, which he was obligated to show Hashem. I walked into my house the other day, a bunch of my kids were lying on the couch, each of them lost in their technology. I said, \"Hello.\" Nothing. I said, \"Hi.\" Nothing. I said, \"I'm dying. I need help.\" Nobody looked up. Finally I screamed, I said, \"You know, the הלכה halacha is you have to stand when I walk in a room. I'm מוחל moichel the standing, but I'm not מוחל moichel that you can't look at me and say hello back.\" I have amazing children, so that's not a true story of course, but it's a very true story. I'm under-exaggerating the story. So, so מורא mora commands the attitude that we bring towards parents. Rav Yosef when he heard his mother's footsteps would jump, put down his technology and jump. He rose out of awe and reverence. The same awe and reverence he would practice towards Hashem, he showed towards his parents. The Divine Presence is also contracted into the Mikdash, visits us on the great and holy day of Shabbos and is embodied in each father and mother. When a child shows reverence for his parents, he's expressing reverence for Hashem. Shabbos, reverence for parents, and reverence for the Mikdash are thus connected. All have in the common theme, fulfilling of the mitzvah results in an expression of yirah for the שכינה Shechina. In other words, through Shabbos, through the Mikdash, and through our parents, we find Hashem. We're searching, we're yearning, we're looking. You can't see or feel Hashem, it's hard to develop that relationship. So where do we find him? We find him in the sanctity of Shabbos. We find him in the sanctity of the Mikdash. Famously, the Mikdash is a sanctuary in space, Shabbos is a sanctuary in time, and the embodiment of our parents, the notion, there are people who are greater who came before and on whom we rely and are dependent. And through each of those three relationships, we find Hashem. But Rabbi Soloveitchik continues, this is the point I want to draw your attention to. He says, fear and love are mutually contradictory, but awe and love do not negate each other. On the contrary, they're entwined with each other. A great personality can bring about feelings of love and awe at the same time. When the storm of loving overpowers the lover and draws him to love, it also reveals the awe, which is a love as fierce as death. This sometimes takes the form of silent suffering. I love the other and yearn for him because of his greatness and majesty, but his valuation also leads to the retreat of the lesser one in the face of the greater one. Coming closer leads to an axiological diminishing of one's self-image. Love contains equality of value, but also the negation of value. So he says that's why these are juxtaposed. The son does not fear his kind father or his gentle mother, and the Torah has never commanded us to fear our parents. The emphasis is on the reverence interwoven with enlightened, appropriate love. So fear and love are a contradiction, but awe and love are complementary. So don't mistranslate. There's no mitzvah to fear parents. There's a mitzvah to have awe of parents because the mitzvah is to find emotions that are complementary, love and awe, just like with Hashem, the higher level is not fear. How do you fear Hashem and love him at the same time? The higher level is love and awe, the two which are intertwined together. Okay, so three interpretations of why the juxtaposition. Why does the Torah say שבתותי תשמרו Shabsosai tishmoru? Why the plural? Should be in the singular. שבתותי Shabsosai means the two Shabboses. So, the Slanimer Rebbe says it stands for שמור וזכור shamor v'zachor. There are two aspects, there are two components to Shabbos. There is the positive, what I do, קידוש והבדלה kiddush v'havdalah, and there's the שמור shamor, the 39 categories of creative labor. Some excel at one without the other. Some are not so careful with the לא תעשה'ס lo sa'asehs, with the 39 categories of creative labor, but they tap into the spirituality and the beauty and the זכור zachor of Shabbos. Others, they're hung up on the minutia and the details of the 39 acts of creative labor, but Shabbos is bereft of spirituality, of connecting to Hashem, of living in a higher level. Our responsibility is שבתותי Shabsosai. We are charged with observing both components of Shabbos simultaneously. שמור וזכור Shamor v'zachor, זכור ושמור zachor v'shamor. They were בדיבור אחד b'dibur echad, they were said at once, because both are critical to creating the result of really experiencing the most authentic Shabbos. The minutia, the details, the laws matter, they are the way we achieve the higher goal, but the higher goal is not to be lost in the laws and minutia as an ends to themselves, but they create a climate and an environment which enables a sense of זכור zachor, disconnect in order to connect, to rest, to retreat, to be present, to be mindful, to be with the people in our lives that matter, to reflect on that which matters and to be able to reenergize and rejuvenate for the week ahead. So we have to find that balance of שמור וזכור shamor v'zachor. The Slanimer Rebbe says שבתותי shabsosai, the plural refers to something else. We have two themes to Shabbos. What are they? זכר למעשה בראשית וזכר ליציאת מצרים Zecher l'ma'aseh bereishis v'zecher l'yetzias Mitzrayim. On the one hand Shabbos, we celebrate creation, creativity, innovation, and we celebrate creation and creativity by refraining, abstaining from creative labor. Hashem, you created and then you stopped for the seventh day. We too work. There's a mandate and a mission we discussed this earlier this year, to work. Work is not a concession from a Torah perspective, work is a calling. We have a value to work. So we work like Hashem six days and then rest, and so the resting is from not labor. מלאכה Melacha is, Rabbi Grunfeld says, the definition of מלאכה melacha is creative labor. So we mark creation and creativity by resting and refraining from creative labor. That's זכר למעשה בראשית zecher l'ma'aseh bereishis. What about זכר ליציאת מצרים zecher l'yetzias Mitzrayim? We achieve liberty and freedom. We emancipate ourselves. All week long, my kids can't even notice I came in the room. If I dropped in the side of the room, I'd be on my own. Shabbos, we are free. We're liberated from technology and from work and from to-do lists. Shabbos we have מעין עולם הבא me'ein olam haba, a 24-hour period, we put it all up on a shelf, it'll be waiting for us right after Havdalah, but for 25 hours, a taste of עולם הבא olam haba, where we're disconnected from the burden, the routine, the relentless responsibility, the technology, and we're able to be freed. These two themes are in combination what Shabbos is about. So says the Slanimer Rebbe, that's why שבתותי תשמרו Shabsosai tishmoru, we have to mark and celebrate both aspects, both themes in order to experience the most authentic Shabbos. Reb Soloveitchik has a third interpretation we won't get into where he quotes the זוהר Zohar. Not so characteristic of Reb Soloveitchik, but the זוהר Zohar, the two Shabboses are the שבת דלעילא Shabbos d'l'eilah and the שבת דלתתא Shabbos d'latata, the supernal Shabbos and the earthly Shabbos, the heavenly Shabbos and the Shabbos down here on earth. But I want to move on, so you can investigate that yourself. Okay, so we start out with relationship with parents and Shabbos. We then turn to do not worship idols. אלהי מסכה לא תעשו לכם Elohei masecha lo sa'asu lachem. Don't make images. אני ה' אלקיכם Ani Hashem Elokeichem. One of the themes that comes up in our parsha over and over and over again is a mitzvah and then the why? Because I'm God. Now the because I'm God, how do we interpret that? Is that the old, because I'm your father and I said so? Don't do this, do this. Why? אני ה' Ani Hashem, because I'm God and I said so. Or is there something deeper? Is there something more meaningful? Why אני ה' Ani Hashem? Hold that, we're going to come back to it when we come back to the beginning of the parsha in the קדושים תהיו Kedoshim tihiyu. פגול Piggul, a law within rejected offerings, you can't have a wrong thought. I, why should my thought matter? As long as I do the right act, why should the thought matter? Because thoughts matter. Because your presence, your כוונה kavanah, your intent, intention matters. We have a responsibility to give gifts to the poor. The Torah here includes that, the obligation. Honest dealings with others. Don't steal, don't lie, don't swear falsely. You have to be deal honestly with others. Pay workers on time, don't curse. לפני עור לא תתן מכשול Lifnei iver lo sitein michshol. Don't put a stumbling block in front of the blind. What does this mean? Don't put a stumbling block in front of the blind. So, what does it mean? חז\"ל Chazal interpret it to mean not just literally, there's a blind person with their walking stick, don't put your foot out and trip them. But חז\"ל Chazal of course learn from here, don't give bad advice, and don't lure someone into doing something, uh, that's not right, that's not good, that's not ethical, it's not correct, it's not halachic. No careless word or act that could endanger the material or the moral welfare of someone else. לפני עור לא תתן מכשול Lifnei iver lo sitein michshol. The עור iver, the blind person, doesn't have to be physically blind. They could be blind in their judgment, or blind in their knowledge, or blind in their conduct, and don't mislead them, don't, don't hurt them. Now, would you violate לפני עור לא תתן מכשול lifnei iver lo sitein michshol if you actually literally did put your foot out when a blind person was walking down the street? This is a very unusual pasuk for the following reason. The Sefer HaChinuch writes in מצוה רל\"ב Mitzvah reish lamed beis that you would not violate the pasuk if you literally trip the blind person, which is very strange, because the pasuk says don't trip a blind person. So if you do what the pasuk says, you'd not be in violation of the particular lav, it's not included in this, in this lav. And the question is why? What happened to אין מקרא יוצא מידי פשוטו ein mikra yotzei midei pshuto? What happened to the notion that we never take away the literal or simple meaning of a pasuk? If the pasuk says don't trip a blind person, and yet you can infer from the ספר החינוך Sefer HaChinuch that if you literally trip a blind person, it's not included in this. So how did the ספר החינוך Sefer HaChinuch ignore the literal meaning of the pasuk? What do you think? Any ideas? Any suggestions? No, everyone's still recovering from Pesach. It's like two weeks later over here. Two or three weeks later. Okay. So Rabbi Soloveitchik has I think a most magnificent interpretation. I love his answer. Says the Rav, placing a stone in front of a blind person is such a cruel, grotesque act, the Torah didn't even think it's worthy of mention. It's so obvious that you shouldn't do it. It's so beyond our comprehension or our thought or our fantasy or our desire, the Torah doesn't have to say don't do something so grotesque, so barbaric, so immoral, so cruel. It didn't even have to mention it. For a Jew to act with such evil intent would cause us to question his very Jewishness. The Torah is addressed to the Jewish people exclusively and mentioning such a prohibition explicitly is unnecessary, is unnecessary. Very interesting, very interesting. So the reason that the Torah that's not included is it shouldn't even be within reason, it shouldn't be within your thought process that one would do that, so therefore it has to reinterpret it to be discussing something something different. Okay, let's keep going. All right, something else to say on לפני עור lifnei iver, but I don't remember what it is. So we keep going. The Torah then tells us, לא תשנא את אחיך בלבבך lo sisna es achicha bilvavecha. You're not allowed to hate your brother. How do you control your emotions? It's one of the questions on this parsha in particular, but the Torah in general. Torah mandates and legislates and regulates our conduct, our behavior. So tell me, light candles, blow a shofar, shake a lulav, don't do creative labor. My actions I understand you can tell me to regulate. But to tell me how to feel? Awe, love, fear, hate. Here you have it in succession. לא תשנא Lo sisna, don't hate your brother in your heart, and ואהבת לרעך כמוך v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha, love your brother. And on both we ask, how can you command me how to feel? How do you command how to feel? Many, many, many answers are given. לא תשנא את אחיך Lo sisna es achicha, notice it's not say do not hate your brother. If your brother, your sister, do something harmful and hurtful to you, it's hard not to feel hatred towards them. So what's the Torah's specific command? Doesn't say don't hate them. What does it say? Don't hate them, בלבבך bilvavecha. Don't hate them in your heart. Means don't be duplicitous. Don't hate them in your heart and then be nice to them with your words. If you have a problem with someone, confront them, resolve it, bring it out to the open, and be able to clear the air. The prohibition specifically is בלבבך bilvavecha. It's אחיך achicha. Why should you do that? Why can't you just go hating him? I'll hate him in my heart, I'll hate her in my heart, I'll withdraw, I'll sever the relationship and I'll go on the rest of my life hating them. Why? The answer is אחיך achicha. לא תשנא את אחיך Lo sisna es achicha. If a person has two children who are fighting or one hurt the other, you say you need to make up. You gotta bury this, you gotta figure this out and move on. Say why? We just won't talk. The answer is אחיך achicha, because you're brothers, you're a brother and sister. There's a family rule, that's just not acceptable, that's just not tolerable. So we are to view the total Jewish people, our brothers and sisters, as brothers and sisters. So even though you write the stranger, the friend, the acquaintance, the coworker, I don't get along with, they've hurt me, I can just withdraw from the relationship. Why do I have to restore? Why do I have to resolve? But with a family member, you don't have that luxury. With a family member, you don't have to like them, but you have to love them. Like is an adjective. Love is a verb. We like the people, it's a feeling that we have towards people. Love is not a feeling. Love is a verb. Love is a series of actions. Love is loyalty, love is how you show up, love is being devoted, love is how you treat, love is showing favor, love is giving the benefit of the doubt. Liking is an emotion, love is a series of actions. The Torah doesn't say that you have to like your neighbor, the Torah says you have to love your neighbor. Why do I have to love my neighbor? I neither like him nor love him. Why do I have to love him if I don't like him? The answer is because he's your brother. In the family we love one another. We don't have to like one another, but we have to love one another. We have to love one another. So if we view all Jewish people, אחיך achicha, they're my brother, they're my family, I can't hate, I can't maintain hatred in my heart, I have to resolve it, and I have to be able to love them. לא תקום ולא תטור Lo sikom v'lo sitor, don't take revenge, a מצוה mitzvah never to take revenge. Why can't I take revenge? Someone deserves revenge, why can't I take revenge? Why can't I take revenge? So ספר החינוך Sefer HaChinuch writes, you know why you can't take revenge? Because if you take revenge, it's an act of heresy. Heresy? What does God have to do with anything? Someone hurt me and I want to hurt them back. What does that have to do with God? Says the ספר החינוך Sefer HaChinuch, if you were hurt by someone, you couldn't have been hurt unless השם Hashem was okay with you're being hurt. For whatever reason God determined that you needed to be hurt. So true, that other individual didn't have to be the agent or the instrument of your hurt. And if you need to hold them accountable, you should hold them accountable. So someone stole money and you want to retrieve the money. Someone hit your car and you want to hold them accountable to compensate you to fix your car. Somebody did a damage to you, you're entitled to hold them accountable for the damage. But if you now escalate beyond the accountability to revenge, you are in denial that God had a role in whatever just happened. Don't be in denial. I was just dealing with that with somebody who felt in a business transaction someone gave the word on a certain sale, they backed off on their word and how wrong it is. And at the end of our long conversation, I said, you're right. I based on what you've told me, I think the person acted in poor faith, I think what they did is wrong, it's disappointing, it's disturbing, it's hurtful to you and it's bothersome. But you know what else? Clearly השם Hashem didn't want this to go through. Because if he did, even that person with their poor intent couldn't have stopped it. So you need to, we need to פלגינן דיבורא palginan dibura, we have to divide and look at things that happen to us in our life in two parallel tracks. On the one hand, if someone wronged us, we hold them accountable. On the other hand, we recognize we couldn't have been wronged if it weren't the divine will. And therefore what's the message for us or that I shouldn't seek revenge. So ספר החינוך Sefer HaChinuch says at the root of the prohibition of לא תקום ולא תטור lo sikom v'lo sitor, not to take revenge, is to recognize that whatever happens in our lives is from השם Hashem. I, that low life didn't have to be the mechanism through which השם Hashem did it, I can hold the low life accountable. But while I hold the low life accountable, at the very same time, simultaneously, I realize that whatever's happening to me is from השם Hashem.ואהבת לרעך כמוך V'ahavta l'reacha kamocha and again we find those magic words, love your neighbor as yourself. Why? אני השם Ani Hashem. So I want to offer you a couple of suggestions what that word כמוך kamocha. I think last year we spoke about ואהבת לרעך כמוך v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. I told you my favorite שפת אמת Sfas Emes. I won't repeat it, you can listen again to last year's, but I want to share some new interpretations. What does it mean? Tell me to love my neighbor, I got it. Love my neighbor. Why do I have to love my neighbor? Because my neighbor is my brother, my neighbor is my sister. When I love my neighbor, I am loving a family member and love, remember, it doesn't say like. It says love. I don't have to have feelings towards my neighbor, but I have to have actions of love, a verb towards my neighbor. What does the word כמוך kamocha add? Just tell me ואהבת לרעך v'ahavta l'reacha, love your neighbor. Of course, רבי עקיבא Rabbi Akiva said the כלל גדול בתורה klal gadol baTorah, this is it. This is everything. When did רבי עקיבא Rabbi Akiva say that? When he came back from 24,000 funerals and giving 24,000 הספדים hespedim and paying 24,000 שבעה shiva calls, he concluded, you know, with all the other תורה Torah I taught, ואהבת לרעך כמוך v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, the capacity to have respect and to dialogue and to disagree agreeably and to make room for others and to love others, זה כלל גדול בתורה zeh klal gadol baTorah. That was his conclusion. We are in ספירה Sefira, we're not listening to music and we have scruff on our face and we're in this period of mourning for those students who didn't get that message. רבי עקיבא Rabbi Akiva concluded that's the central message. זה כלל גדול בתורה Zeh klal gadol baTorah. What does the word כמוך kamocha add? Just say ואהבת לרעך v'ahavta l'reacha. Love your neighbor, love your brother, love your sister. What does the word כמוך kamocha really add? The רמב\"ן Ramban is bothered. Can you really love a neighbor as much as yourself? No one loves anyone as much as we love ourselves. And loving ourselves is healthy, loving ourselves is good. Loving our health, loving ourselves enables us to preserve our lives. It's actually a מצוה mitzvah. חייך קודמין Chayecha kodmin. If there's a conflict between you and someone else, we just spoke about this on שבת Shabbos. I think it was שבת Shabbos, in the שיעור shiur on פרוטקציה protektzia. If I have the one jug of water and I'm with someone else and if we split it, we both die, should I split it or should I drink it? רבי עקיבא Rabbi Akiva came along and said, you drink it. I, that's not ואהבת לרעך כמוך v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. How are you loving your friend if you won't share it with him? Because, said רבי עקיבא Rabbi Akiva, חייך קודמין chayecha kodmin, your life comes first. So on the one hand, my life comes first. So the same רבי עקיבא Rabbi Akiva who says חייך קודמין chayecha kodmin, what happened to ואהבת לרעך כמוך v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha? It'll be such a beautiful display of love and devotion and loyalty that you'll both die together having split the one jug of water because there wasn't enough to save you both. Says רבי עקיבא Rabbi Akiva, no, no, no, that's not, no. It's your, it's your jug of water, חייך קודמין chayecha kodmin. What happened to ואהבת לרעך כמוך v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha? Or says the רמב\"ן Ramban, how can you say כמוך kamocha? חייך קודמין Chayecha kodmin, you're never going to love someone as much as you love yourself. We always love ourselves the most. So what does it mean? So the רמב\"ן Ramban says, ואהבת לרעך כמוך v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. You can't truly love others as you love yourself, but you can want others to have כמוך kamocha as much as you have. Be happy for other people as happy as you are for yourself. The כמוך kamocha doesn't mean love them as much as you love yourself, what it means is want for them as much as you want for yourself. Be happy for them as much as you're happy for yourself. Feel the pain for them as much as you feel the pain for yourself. The כמוך kamocha doesn't really mean the love, the כמוך kamocha means like you feel when you get something good, you're happy, be happy for your friend. Like you're sad when something negative happens to you, be sad for your friend. That's the כמוך kamocha.נחמה ליבוביץ זכרונה לברכה Nechama Leibowitz zichrona livracha quotes a different interpretation. כמוך Kamocha has to be translated properly, she says. כמוך Kamocha doesn't mean love someone as much as you love yourself. Not only is that standard not possible, we can't fully control or regulate our emotions to love someone to that level. So what does כמוך kamocha mean and how do you fulfill the מצוה mitzvah? To understand כמוך kamocha, she says you have to look back to when it was used earlier in the תורה Torah. Anyone know when that word כמוך kamocha was used in ספר בראשית Sefer Bereishis? Any בעל קורא baal koreh here? When יוסף Yosef is hidden his identity from his brothers, and he's holding בנימין Binyamin hostage, יהודה Yehuda steps up and approaches his brother, and what does he say? ויגש אליו יהודה Vayigash elav Yehuda, the very beginning of פרשת ויגש Parshas Vayigash, בי אדני דבר נא עבדך דבר באזני אדני ואל יחר אפך בעבדך bi adoni daber na avdecha davar b'oznei adoni v'al yichar apcha b'avdecha. Can I speak to you and don't be angry? כי Ki, and why do I want to speak to you? כי כמוך כפרעה ki chamocha k'Pharaoh. What does the word there mean? כי כמוך כפרעה Ki chamocha k'Pharaoh. Because you are like פרעה Pharaoh. Your authority, your greatness, your position of power. Please let me speak to you, כי כמוך כפרעה ki chamocha k'Pharaoh, because you are like פרעה Pharaoh. Says נחמה ליבוביץ Nechama Leibowitz, you know what the word כמוך kamocha means? You are similar to. ואהבת לרעך כמוך V'ahavta l'reacha kamocha she re-translates brilliantly. Doesn't mean love your neighbor as yourself, but rather it means love your neighbor. Why? כמוך Kamocha, because he or she is similar to you. Because you both possess a spark of life, a godly soul. You both have strength and weaknesses, you both have virtues and faults, you both have things to be proud of and areas to work on, because you have more in common than you know. So ואהבת לרעך v'ahavta l'reacha, love your neighbor. Why? כמוך Kamocha. Because the truth is you're much more similar than you even recognize. If you take time to analyze and investigate, you'll realize you have commonalities, you have similarities. So כמוך kamocha is not coming to tell us the level of the אהבת ahavta, כמוך kamocha is not amplifying ואהבת v'ahavta, how much do you have to love, כמוך kamocha, as much as you love yourself, that's impossible. What is ואהבת v'ahavta coming to tell us? It's the why. Why should you love your neighbor? כמוך Kamocha. Because the truth is you're very similar. The truth is you have similarities between the two of you.It's not a coincidence, the same רבי עקיבא Rabbi Akiva who says ואהבת לרעך כמוך זה כלל גדול בתורה v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha zeh klal gadol baTorah is the same רבי עקיבא Rabbi Akiva in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos who teaches חביב אדם שנברא בצלם chaviv adam shenivra b'tzelem, that precious is every human being because we're created in the image of God. You know what the secret is to loving everyone? You know what the greatest similarity I have to every other human being? Is נברא בצלם nivra b'tzelem. We're all created in God's image. We all have a spark of God in us. Notice by the way, it doesn't say חביב ישראל שנברא בצלם chaviv Yisrael shenivra b'tzelem. The תפארת ישראל Tiferes Yisrael in the משנה Mishna points out, it says חביב אדם chaviv adam. Doesn't say just love Jews. It doesn't say just love. There are segments of the Jewish community who think that the גוים goyim, you can mistreat and you can steal and you can be rude and you can cut corners. Only the Jews are created in God's image. It doesn't say Jews are created in God's image. It says חביב אדם שנברא בצלם chaviv adam shenivra b'tzelem, that all of humanity, all people are created with a divine spark and in the godly image and חביב chaviv, they are beloved to God. And so knowing that there is a spark of God in everyone is the secret to finding the ability to love him. Some it's deep, the spark of God. Others it's at the surface, it's hard. That's our, that's our hard work and that's what we have to, and that's what we have to do.Okay. Okay. The בעל שם טוב Ba'al Shem Tov had another interpretation of כמוך kamocha. בעל שם טוב Ba'al Shem Tov had another interpretation of כמוך kamocha. And the בעל שם טוב Ba'al Shem Tov said the following. It's כמוך kamocha mean literally like you or not literally like you. So he says the following, oh, beautiful interpretation. He says, ואהבת לרעך v'ahavta l'reacha, love your neighbor, and then God will interact with you כמוך kamocha, the way you interacted with your neighbor. ואהבת לרעך V'ahavta l'reacha, you don't like your neighbor? Your neighbor's not perfect? Your neighbor doesn't do everything the way you want? Find the ability to love your neighbor, anyone, says the בעל שם Ba'al Shem, and then כמוך kamocha, השם Hashem will imitate you. The way you behave towards others is how השם Hashem will behave towards you. ואהבת לרעך V'ahavta l'reacha, the attitude that we bring towards others, כמוך kamocha, that's the attitude השם Hashem will bring towards us. And the בעל שם Ba'al Shem says, this is also what it means in the פסוק pasuk, השם צלך על יד ימינך Hashem tzilcha al yad y'minecha, we say in תהילים Tehillim. השם צלך Hashem tzilcha, השם Hashem you are my shadow, על יד ימינך al yad y'minecha. What does it mean השם Hashem is a shadow? Says the בעל שם Ba'al Shem, the same way that the shadow imitates and follows and does exactly what you do, that's what a shadow is. השם צלך על יד ימינך Hashem tzilcha al yad y'minecha. You want to rely on השם Hashem? You want השם Hashem to be by your side? He's your shadow. Are you reliable? Are you dependable? Are you by other people's side? Do you show up? Are you caring? Are you kind? Are you courteous? The attitude השם Hashem brings towards us is is reflective, is a mirror image of the attitude we bring towards others. השם צלך Hashem tzilcha, השם Hashem, you're a shadow. ואהבת לרעך כמוך V'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, he interacts with us כמוך kamocha based on the ואהבת לרעך v'ahavta l'reacha, based on the attitude that we bring towards others. Okay. וייטער Weiter.Almost done with our overview. And then we can go back. Then we have the prohibition of כלאים kilayim, שעטנז shaatnez, forbidden mixtures. We have the שפחה חרופה shifcha charufa. And then we have when we come into the land, the מצוה mitzvah of ערלה orlah, the first three years, the מצוה mitzvah of נטע רבעי neta revai, the fourth year. Then we have כי יגור אתך גר בארצכם לא תונו אותו ki yagur itcha ger b'artzechem lo sonu oso. When a stranger lives among you, don't taunt him, don't aggravate him. The most repeated מצוה mitzvah in the תורה Torah is ואהבתם את הגר v'ahavtem es hager, is to love the stranger, the immigrant. I'm not commenting on immigration and immigration policies. Everybody takes the תורה Torah פסוקים psukim and manipulates them to support whatever their political position is on immigration. But I will say, whatever your conclusion on immigration, it should be informed and inspired by the emphasis the תורה Torah places on loving the stranger and the immigrant. The תורה Torah reminds us that we were strangers and we were immigrants. And so while we have to have laws and rule and order and maybe even quotas or walls or, and that's necessary to have a safe and sovereign nation, but as we develop policies, תורה Torah Jews should their policies should be informed by what is the most often repeated מצוה mitzvah in the whole תורה Torah. We're told to have honest weights and measures. אני השם אלקיכם Ani Hashem Elokeichem. Because I am השם Hashem your God. Again, over and over, I am השם Hashem your God. Punishments, מולך Molech, forbidden relationships, and then the פרשה parsha ends, the land will spit us out. Excuse me. I've developed this cold. The פרשה parsha ends, holiness and כשרות kashrus. And here I want to draw your attention. והבדלתם בין הבהמה הטהרה לטמאה ובין העוף הטמא לטהר ולא תשקצו את נפשתיכם בבהמה ובעוף ובכל אשר תרמוש האדמה אשר הבדלתי לכם לטמא V'hivdaltem bein habehema hat'hora lat'me'a u'vein ha'of hatamei lat'hor v'lo sishaktzu es nafshoseichem babehema uva'of u'v'chol asher tirmos ha'adama asher hivdalti lachem l'tamei. Here the תורה Torah says, I've distinguished between the kosher and the non-kosher animal, the kosher and the non-kosher bird, and so on. How do we achieve קדושה kedusha? Through כשרות kashrus. It's not coincidental that the laws of מאכלות אסורות ma'achalos asuros, where does the רמב\"ם Rambam categorize the laws of forbidden foods? In his יד החזקה Yad HaChazakah, the רמב\"ם Rambam's משנה תורה Mishneh Torah is divided into 14 chapters. He named it the משנה תורה Mishneh Torah, we call it the יד החזקה Yad HaChazakah, יד yad is 14. There are 14 books in the רמב\"ם Rambam's משנה תורה Mishneh Torah. In which book does he place the laws of sexuality, the laws of eating? Where does he put it? In the book called קדושה Kedusha. I would have thought the book of קדושה Kedusha is יום כיפור Yom Kippur, שבת Shabbos. What's in the laws of קדושה Kedusha? Sexuality, כשרות kashrus. Why? That tells us a lot about what קדושה kedusha really is. But I want to draw your attention to a question on this פסוק pasuk, because everybody knows, let's go back to בראשית Bereishis, פרק ז Perek Zayin. When נח Noach has taken the animals into the תיבה teivah. And everyone knows he takes kosher, non-kosher, and how do we call the non-kosher animals when נח Noach takes them in the תיבה teivah? מכל הבהמה הטהורה תקח לך שבעה שבעה איש ואשתו Mikol habehema hat'hora tikach lecha shiva shiva ish v'ishto, kosher animals seven of each. ומן הבהמה אשר Umin habehema asher, anyone remember? איננה טהורה einena t'hora. שנים איש ואשתו shnayim ish v'ishto, you bring two. When the תורה Torah talks about bringing non-kosher animals into the ark, they call the non-kosher animals אשר איננה טהורה asher einena t'hora. What does it not call them? טמא Tamei. Why not? So everyone knows the גמרא Gemara in פסחים Pesachim. The גמרא Gemara in פסחים Pesachim on דף ג Daf Gimmel says, אמר רבי שמעון בן לוי Amar Rebbe Shimon ben Levi, לעולם אל יוציא אדם דבר מגונה מפיו שהרי עיקם הכתוב שמונה אותיות ולא הוציא דבר מגונה מפיו l'olam al yotzi adam davar meguneh m'piv sheharei ikem ha'kasuv shmoneh osiyos v'lo hotzi davar meguneh m'piv, שנאמר מן הבהמה הטהורה ומן הבהמה אשר איננה טהורה she'ne'emar min habehema hat'hora u'min habehema asher einena t'hora. אשר איננה טהורה Asher einena t'hora is wasting a lot of letters. It's much more efficient to write אשר טמאה asher t'me'a. And yet, the תורה Torah went out of its way to say, not the impure animal, but to say the animal that's not pure. Why? Because the תורה Torah did not want to utter the word impure. Why? Because the תורה Torah's teaching us how careful and vigilant and scrupulous and mindful we need to be with our words. We don't use inappropriate, incorrect words, not only the ones that technically are curses, but even the ones that are close to curses. We are not loose or casual with our language. Language is a gift. It's what differentiates us from animals. It's what reflects our godliness. And so every מוסר שמועס musar shmuess about ניבול פה nivul peh begins with this גמרא Gemara, that the תורה Torah, bless you, didn't say טמא tamei, טמאה t'me'a, it wasted space to say אשר איננה טהורה asher einena t'hora, all to tell us that we don't use inappropriate words. Which begs the question. Which begs the question, over here it says טמא tamei. Words matter. You know who was a big advocate that words mattered? The בבאבער רבי Bobover Rebbe, זצ\"ל zatzal. The בבאבער רבי Bobover Rebbe was very careful about words. It bothered him a lot, that words matter. For example, they asked his support for a hospital, and he said he would give his name and lend his support for the hospital on one condition, that it would not be called a בית חולים beis cholim, it'd be called a בית רפואה beis refuah. Says, you call it a building for sick people, what does it do to the morale of the people in the building? It's not a building for sick people, it's a building for healing. If you name it a building for curing, for healing, I'll support it. But if you call it a building for sick people, I don't want anything to do with it. Or there are countless examples. Telushkin in his biography on the רבי Rebbe, I think has a whole chapter of the examples of where the רבי Rebbe was very careful. Not a בית חולים beis cholim, a בית רפואה beis refuah. Not קירוב kiruv, we call it outreach. The רבי Rebbe was very against outreach. Outreach suggests I've arrived, I'm in the right place, and you're in the wrong place. So I'm going to reach out and drag you from your wrong place to my right place. The רבי Rebbe was very against it. It's not called outreach. Background, I think I mentioned this last week. The רבי Rebbe was against somebody, you'd say about a Jew they don't have a background. You'd say they're not a child of אברהם Avraham, יצחק Yitzchak and יעקב Yaakov? Of course they have a background. So we see every שמועס shmuess about ניבול פה nivul peh, about the power of language. So the question is, what do you mean in פרשת נח Parshas Noach, we say אשר איננה טהורה asher einena t'hora to emphasize that we don't use negative language, that we don't use inappropriate or even borderline inappropriate, we don't even want to use the word טמא tamei. And yet here, פרשת קדושים Parshas Kedoshim now we're using טמא tamei. This question's asked by the ספר טעם ודעת Sefer Ta'am V'Daas. And he says שמעתי מגדל אחד זצ\"ל דבר נאה shamati m'gadol echad zatzal davar na'eh. I heard from a great person who will remain nameless, a very nice idea. Anyone have a suggestion? No. Okay. We'll hear from the גדול אחד gadol echad. He said in פרשת נח Parshas Noach, it wasn't consequential for the תורה Torah to report the nature of the animals that entered the תיבה teivah, because פרשת נח Parshas Noach is a historical record about what happened. So that was the appropriate passage to communicate the message that we have to be careful with our words. But now at the end of פרשת קדושים Parshas Kedoshim, it's not reporting a historical event, it's not a narrative, the תורה Torah is telling us what to do. When it comes to telling us what to do, don't be nuanced with your words. Say it out. Be explicit. Be careful. If you want others to heed what you're saying, don't dance around the words to make some nuanced message, say what needs to be said so that it will be observed. So the טעם ודעת Ta'am V'Daas quotes a גדול אחד gadol echad who answers, true, that message was in פרשת נח Parshas Noach because we had the luxury of נח Noach of being able to communicate that message. But here at the end of קדושים Kedoshim, we don't have that luxury. At the end of קדושים Kedoshim, we need to be told an instruction and when it comes to communicating an instruction, you better do so explicitly.Let's go back to the beginning of the פרשה parsha. קדושים תהיו Kedoshim tihiyu. Be holy. What is holiness? What is קדושים תהיו kedoshim tihiyu? Be holy. What does that mean to be holy? And how can we be told be holy? What if I don't have the potential for holiness? What if it's beyond me, holiness? How can I be holy? How can I be holy? So רב שמואל רוזובסקי Rav Shmuel Rozovsky, the ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva of פוניבז' Ponevezh, זצ\"ל zatzal, explains that there was never a thought, because really this question is compounded, קדושים תהיו Kedoshim tihiyu, כי קדוש אני השם אלקיכם ki kadosh Ani Hashem Elokeichem. Be holy because I am holy. And the מדרש Medrash elaborates. The מדרש Medrash says קדושים תהיו יכול כמוני kedoshim tihiyu yachol k'moni. You might think that your holiness needs to be like mine. תלמוד לומר כי קדוש אני Talmud lomar ki kadosh Ani, for I am holy, קדושתי למעלה מקדושתכם kedushasi l'ma'ala m'kedushas'chem, that my holiness is greater than yours. That's a strange מדרש Medrash. Why would I have thought that my holiness could be like God's? Why does God have to go out of his way to say, you can be holy, but it's not going to be like mine. What is holiness? What's going on in the beginning of our פרשה parsha? So the פוניבז' Ponevezh ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva רב שמואל רוזובסקי Rav Shmuel Rozovsky explains that it means I might have thought that I imitate his model of קדושה kedusha. What is השם Hashem's model of קדושה kedusha? Separation and isolation. He is above. He's disconnected. He's transcendent. He's inaccessible. He's independent from the world. He's independent from society. Yes, we try to give him דירה בתחתונים dira b'tachtonim and we try to draw השם Hashem down and give him residence here down on earth, but הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu is ephemeral, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu is omnipotent, omniscient, infinite, all knowing, all powerful, all great, and all inaccessible to us. So I might have thought, what's holiness? Locking myself in an ivory tower, being independent and apart and isolated from the world and from society and taking a vow of abstinence and a vow of silence and a vow of loneliness, and maybe that's holiness. יכול כמוני Yachol k'moni. You might think you become holy by imitating me. That's תלמוד לומר Talmud lomar, no. We have different means of holiness. The פסוק pasuk's telling us that the מדרש Medrash השם Hashem's sanctity transcends ours. Only השם Hashem achieves קדושה kedusha apart from. Our קדושה kedusha is not by being apart from, but our קדושה kedusha דוקא Dafka is by being part of. And says רב שמואל רוזובסקי Rav Shmuel Rozovsky, how do you know that? Look at the פסוק pasuk. How does it begin? The mandate of קדושים תהיו kedoshim tihiyu was introduced. How is it introduced? דבר אל כל עדת בני ישראל Daber el kol adas Bnei Yisrael. Why does it say speak to the whole congregation? Why does this מצוה mitzvah have to be specifically presented to everybody? And even if it's presented to everybody, why not to בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael? Why עדת ישראל adas Yisrael? עדת בני ישראל Adas Bnei Yisrael. Why the extra word? It's atypical. It's atypical. So the כלי יקר Kli Yakar points out here that the word עדה eidah means a מנין minyan. Whenever we, we learn עדה eidah from העדה הרעה הזאת ha'eidah ha'ra'ah ha'zos. Who was the עדה הרעה eidah ha'ra'ah? The מרגלים meraglim. How do we know a מנין minyan? We learn a מנין minyan from the מרגלים meraglim. How many מרגלים meraglim were there? 12. So why don't we need 12 in order to דאווען daven? Because two of them were good. יהושע Yehoshua and כלב Kalev were good. Subtract יהושע Yehoshua and כלב Kalev, you have 10. 10 are called an עדה הרעה eidah ha'ra'ah. You see an עדה eidah is 10, for a מנין minyan you need 10. I'll present to you a question for פרשת שלח Parshas Shlach. I don't know where you or I will be פרשת שלח Parshas Shlach, and if we'll have a פרשה parsha class. But I'll give you the question. Why in the world would you learn a מנין minyan from מרגלים meraglim? The מרגלים meraglim, the consequence of the מרגלים meraglim was 40 years in the מדבר midbar. These are not exactly our paragons, paradigms. These are not our role models. So when we're trying to learn what is the source that you need a מנין minyan for a דבר שבקדושה davar she'b'kdusha, to דאווען daven, to say קדיש Kaddish, to say קדושה Kedusha, for a wedding, funeral, we learn מנין minyan from the מרגלים meraglim?I'll give you an answer in פרשת שלח Parshas Shlach. So, דבר אל כל עדת בני ישראל daber el kol adas Bnei Yisrael. So קדושים תהיו kedoshim tihiyu. השם Hashem says be holy. And what's holiness, as רב שמואל רוזובסקי Rav Shmuel Rozovsky? השם Hashem's holiness is that he's apart from. Our holiness is rooted in being part of. And that's why the מצוה mitzvah that is specifically be given כל עדת בני ישראל kol adas Bnei Yisrael, a community in a מנין minyan. And now read the rest of the פרשה parsha. כי בראה ki v'ra'ah, פאה pe'ah, לקט leket, גניבה g'neiva, לפני עור lifnei iver, לשון הרע lashon hara, לא תקום lo sikom, לא תטור lo sitor, תוכיח תוכיח hoche'ach tochiach, ואהבת לרעך כמוך v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, היית גר hayit ger, the whole פרשה parsha is how you treat one another. Because you know where קדושה kedusha is found? Not when you hide in a corner of the שול shul and זאג תהילים zug tehillim all day and take a vow of abstinence and a vow of silence and a vow of celibacy and a vow of loneliness and a vow and a vow and a vow. That's not holiness. You know what holiness is? Be a farmer and work the field and leave some for the poor. Have friends and don't speak לשון הרע lashon hara about them. Connect with strangers and don't aggravate them, love them. Run a business and be honest with your weights and measures. Have parents and show them respect and gratitude. עדת בני ישראל Adas Bnei Yisrael. The קדושים תהיו kedoshim tihiyu is fulfilled not by following God's model of holiness by being apart from, but rather by being part of, part of the community, ingrained and intertwined and fully participating with the community, and doing so in a moral and ethical, doing so with תורה Torah values and principles, doing so in a way that expresses our צלם אלוקים tzelem Elokim, our godliness, that's how we achieve קדושה kedusha, says רב שמואל רוזובסקי Rav Shmuel Rozovsky. רב שמעון שקאפ Rav Shimon Shkop, who was a ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva of ישיבה Yeshiva University for about two minutes, but I'd like to quote that as his biography, much more associated as the ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva of גראדנא Grodna, in his introduction to his ספר שערי יושר sefer Sha'arei Yosher, has another פשט pshat. What does it mean יכול כמוני yachol k'moni? I think I'm holy like God. כי קדוש אני קדושתי למעלה מקדושתכם Ki kadosh Ani, kedushasi l'ma'ala m'kedushas'chem. What's going on? What's going on over here? Says רב שמעון שקאפ Rav Shimon Shkop, along the similar lines. He says קדושה kedusha is not how we present ourselves. The core of holiness is how we care and what we do for others. The יכול כמוני yachol k'moni is I might think I have to care about others to the degree that God does. How does God care about others? God is the ultimate of selflessness. He's pure altruism. So I might think that I too need to have such a high level of pure altruism. תלמוד לומר כי קדוש אני Talmud lomar ki kadosh Ani, we are incapable of a pure altruism. We could be kind, we could be benevolent, we can care about others, we cannot care about them to the extent or to the level that השם Hashem. That's קדושתי למעלה מקדושתכם kedushasi l'ma'ala m'kedushaschem. Why? Because we still have חייך קודמין chayecha kodmin. We are programmed to advance our interests and needs. But you know what does the most to advance our interest or need? To care about others. That's what's incredible of קדושה kedusha. קדושים תהיו Kedoshim tihiyu, care about others. As altruistically as God? No, קדושתי למעלה מקדושתכם kedushasi l'ma'ala m'kedushaschem, that's impossible. But still care about others and that's how we live lives of of holiness. The benefits of volunteering have been found to be greater than even taking up exercise. Serving others is a greater health than giving up smoking. A study found that when people were given a sum of money, they gained more well-being and happiness if they spent it on other people or gave it away rather than spending it on themselves. So there's a tinge, a lack of altruism, there's a kickback we get from caring about others and that's okay. Because קדושתי למעלה מקדושתכם kedushasi l'ma'ala m'kedushaschem, God's holiness is at a whole altogether different level. But yet our קדושה kedusha is rooted, our קדושה kedusha is all about caring about the people around us. In our דאווענען davening we say, אלוקי אברהם אלוקי יצחק ואלוקי יעקב Elokei Avraham Elokei Yitzchak v'Elokei Yaakov, but we end the first ברכה bracha of the עמידה Amida with מגן אברהם Magen Avraham. What happened to יצחק ויעקב Yitzchak v'Yaakov? What happened to יצחק ויעקב Yitzchak v'Yaakov? Rabbi Yudin, who just celebrated his 50th year in Fair Lawn, Rabbi Yudin suggests, you know why? Because יצחק ויעקב Yitzchak v'Yaakov, תורה ועבודה Torah v'Avodah, they're important, very important. But the foundation for achieving קדושה kedusha, before you get to תורה ועבודה Torah v'Avodah, is גמילות חסדים gemilus chasadim. So we ask השם Hashem מגן אברם Magen Avram. השם Hashem, preserve the capacity to care about others in me. מגן Magen, preserve in me that capacity, that intuition, that instinct, that לב טוב lev tov, that good heart to care about others. And on a foundation of caring about others, a holiness of caring about others, on that you can build a life of תורה Torah and of עבודה Avodah. So very similar of Shmuel Rozovsky and Rav Shimon Shkop, the new the definition of what קדושה kedusha really is. What קדושה kedusha really is. Winston Churchill said, we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. And a life of קדושה kedusha, a life of holiness, is not achieved by what we get. A life of holiness is by what we give. There's a lot more of Schechter's beautiful essay in his ספר sefer on the פרשה parsha on this as well, but we are out of time.
