Transcript
Okay, good morning everyone. I want to thank our sponsor, not only for this morning, but very, very generously, my dear friends Becky and Avi Katz have sponsored this entire year's Parsha series in memory of David Grossman, Becky's father, דוד בן מנחם מנש Dovid ben Menachem Monish, whose נשמה neshama should have an עליה aliyah. Very deeply grateful to them for their generous sponsorship. There's still an opportunity to sponsor each particular class underneath the series, but deeply grateful to them for their sponsorship of the whole series. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu should shower them with ברכה bracha, נחת nachas from their family, and only שמחות simchas. This week we have the privilege of beginning the fifth and final book of the Torah and to study together not only פרשת דברים Parshas Devarim, but the launch, the beginning of ספר דברים Sefer Devarim. So a very interesting thought, a cute thought, by the מהר\"ל Maharal's brother. The מהר\"ל Maharal had a brother, רב חיים Rav Chaim, who said if you look at the succession, if you look at the order of the names of the פרשיות parshiyos in ספר דברים Sefer Devarim, that in itself is incredible מוסר mussar, is a lesson, a formula, a strategy for life. You know, ספר דברים Sefer Devarim, we'll speak about more deeply in a moment, is categorically different than the first four books of the Torah. It's unique. It's different in many ways. But ספר דברים Sefer Devarim is a powerful, powerful מוסר ספר mussar sefer. It's an amazing, it's the original מוסר ספר mussar sefer. We have wonderful מוסר ספרים mussar sforim in our time. Soon we'll transition from the period of darkness of grieving and mourning to, אלול Elul is rapidly coming upon us. And there's all kinds of מוסר ספרים mussar sforim people have a tradition to learn, שערי תשובה Shaarei Teshuva, רבנו יונה Rabbeinu Yonah, מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim of the הרמח\"ל the Ramchal. But we neglect the greatest מוסר ספר mussar sefer, one of the חמשה חומשי תורה Chamisha Chumshei Torah, which is ספר דברים Sefer Devarim. Moshe's monologue, Moshe's soliloquy, it is directed to each and every one of us in each and every generation. רב אשר וייס Rav Asher Weiss quotes from the חוזה מלובלין Chozeh m'Lublin, points out the opening פסוק pasuk, אלה הדברים אשר דבר משה אל כל ישראל Eileh hadevarim asher diber Moshe el kol Yisrael. These are the words that Moshe spoke. It should have just said אל בני ישראל el Bnei Yisrael. Not אל כל ישראל el kol Yisrael. We'll see the כלי יקר Kli Yakar asks, we have no record, no evidence that Moshe gathered everyone. Okay, let's go right to the כלי יקר Kli Yakar for a moment. The כלי יקר Kli Yakar says, לא מצינו בכל המקרא שמשה ידבר אל כל ישראל כאחד Lo matzinu b'chol hamikra she'Moshe yedaber el kol Yisrael k'echad. Nowhere does the the Torah testify or affirm that in fact, Moshe addressed the totality of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael. והאם אפשר שידבר עם ששים ריבוא איש בפעם אחד V'ha'im efshar she'yedaber im shishim ribo ish b'paam echad? Is it even possible physically? With Hashem's help the סיום הש\"ס Siyum HaShas is coming up in January. You can't fit in, what's it called? I was corrected, it's not Giant Stadium anymore. A Jet fan corrected me. What's it called now? MetLife. How many does it fit? 50,000? 90,000. Good, 90,000. Could you imagine the sound systems that are necessary, what has to be coordinated for everyone to be able to hear what's said? That's 90,000. Talking about two to three million people, 600,000 men over a certain age. Asks the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, did Moshe really speak these things to everyone? It's physically impossible. It's impossible. ולא מצינו לשון זה בכל המקרא כי אם כאן V'lo matzinu lashon zeh b'chol hamikra ki im kan. And we don't find it in the whole Torah except for here, that Moshe speaks, דבר משה אל כל ישראל diber Moshe el kol Yisrael. Here and in פרשת הקהל parshas Hakhel. חז\"ל Chazal say, so on and so forth. And the כלי יקר Kli Yakar goes into his answer. But the חוזה מלובלין Chozeh m'Lublin said, do you know what the Torah's talking about? Moshe didn't address everyone. They were not gathered collectively as one, true would be physically impossible. So what is the Torah talking about? Said the חוזה Chozeh, the Torah is saying Moshe is addressing not only those who stood before him physically, he's talking to each and every one of us. אל כל ישראל El kol Yisrael. ספר דברים Sefer Devarim is addressing us in every generation, in every place across the globe. ספר דברים Sefer Devarim, the words of Moshe, the מוסר mussar of Moshe is directed and is instructive, is informative, is inspiring to each and every one of us. אלה הדברים אשר דבר משה אל כל ישראל Eileh hadevarim asher diber Moshe el kol Yisrael, we are included in the recipients, we're the beneficiaries, we are the audience to whom Moshe addresses. So said the Maharal's brother, רב חיים Rav Chaim. Said the Maharal's brother. Maybe the Maharal was רב חיים Rav Chaim's brother. I don't want to get, you know, between them. But said רב חיים Rav Chaim of Prague, if you look at the order of the names of this entire sefer, there's a message, namely, אלה הדברים Eileh hadevarim, everybody has to put these ideas, these thoughts in our heart. ואתחנן Va'eschanan, and we have to listen carefully. עקב Eikev, why? ראה Re'eh, שופטים Shoftim, because when we see that there's a בית דין beis din, there are שופטים shoftim, there are judges in the heavens above and down here on the earth below, then כי תצא Ki seitzei, when we leave this world and כי תבוא u'chi savo, we come to the world of truth, ניצבים Nitzavim will be standing, and וילך Vayeilech, we'll be able to go to our true place, to a ליכטיגע גן עדן lichtige Gan Eden, האזינו Ha'azinu, if we listen carefully, זאת הברכה Zos habracha, that is the ברכה bracha. So he said if you just look at the order of the names of the parshiyos themselves, that's a formula for how to live a mindful and a meaningful life, a life of אלה הדברים Eileh hadevarim, to pay attention to what really matters, to have our priorities aligned and calibrated properly, ואתחנן Va'eschanan to put it in our heart, עקב Eikev, why? Because ראה Re'eh will see שופטים shoftim that we can't just do what we want, where we want, there are consequences to our choices and to our actions. There are שופטים shoftim. And כי תצא Ki seitzei, and when we get out of this world and כי תבוא u'chi savo into the עולם האמת olam ha'emes, the world of truth, ניצבים Nitzavim will be standing before God, and וילך Vayeilech, in order to go where we want, האזינו Ha'azinu, we have to be listening carefully in this world, and if we do, it's a formula for a result of the זאת הברכה Zos habracha. Cute, no? Very cute. Okay, good way to start ספר דברים Sefer Devarim, very cute. Okay, Rashi says here, אלה הדברים אשר דבר משה אל כל ישראל Eileh hadevarim asher diber Moshe el kol Yisrael, we're on page 938 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. So Rashi says, Moshe's soliloquy, Moshe's monologue, he begins with some feedback. He begins with some constructive criticism. But, but he doesn't just offer them direct, he doesn't beat them over the head, you're wrong, you're עז פנים az panim, you're nothing, you're rejects, you don't listen, you complain, you're miserable, you have no future, you... He doesn't knock them over the head. Rashi tells us the strategy. לפי שאין דברי תוכחות, ומנה כאן כל המקומות שהכעיסו לפני המקום בהם Lefichach she'ein divrei tochachos, u'mana kan kol hamekomos she'hich'isu lifnei haMakom bahem. It's not just a trip down memory lane. It's not just nostalgia that Moshe says, let's watch the slideshow of our vacation of our 40-year trip through the desert. Why is he showing and mentioning all the different places they traveled together? Because each of these places, there was an incident with elicited the ire or the anger of Hashem. The people disappointed him. לפיכך סתם את הדברים והזכירם ברמז מפני כבודן של ישראל Lefichach satam es hadevarim v'hizkiram b'remez mipnei k'vodan shel Yisrael. He doesn't say it explicitly. He just says, you remember what happened at the gas station on the road trip? Remember? Nods his head, winks his eyes, lifts his eyebrows. He doesn't say, you remember you complained, you're nothing, you're no good, you always fall back to that, you have no... He just says, you're going into ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. You're about to build a homeland, you're going to be a microcosm for the world, a model for them to emulate. A world defined by תורת ישראל, ארץ ישראל, עם ישראל Toras Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael, Am Yisrael. You need to know the mistakes of the past in order to be inspired not to repeat them in the future. But instead of saying, as Moshe says, this is my final goodbye, my last speech, instead of giving his last speech and saying, let me list all of your deficiencies, he makes allusions, he makes references in order to protect and preserve their dignity and also we learn from here in order for them to be much more likely to listen. People don't listen to being beat over the head. They listen if it's subtle, if it's nuanced, if it's measured, if it's appropriate, and if it's delivered, most of all, if it's delivered with love. Says Rashi, אל כל ישראל el kol Yisrael, אילו הוכיח מקצתן, היו אלו שבשוק אומרים, כן, אתם שומעים בן עמרם, ולא השבתם אותו דבר כך וכך? אילו היינו שם, היינו משיבין אותו. לכך כינסם כולם ואמר להם, הרי כולכם כאן, כל מי שיש לו תשובה ישיב Ilu hochiach miktzasan, hayu eilu shebashuk omrim, kein, atem shom'im ben Amram, v'lo heshavtem oso davar kach v'kach? Ilu hayinu sham, hayinu meshivin oso. L'chach kinsam kulam v'amar lahem, harei kulchem kan, kol mi sheyesh lo teshuva yashiv. Why does Moshe address everyone? Leave out the Kli Yakar's question that physically everyone can't be there and the Chozeh's answer that it's addressed to all of us. But Rashi says, why is he addressing everyone? Only here and... and the... close to we see it. Why here? Says Rashi, because some big knacker, some hotshot's going to say, you let Moshe give you mussar like that? Didn't you point out that he's not perfect? Didn't you answer that it wasn't our fault? Why didn't you stand up and... If I were there, I would have told the rat, if I were there... Moshe says, you know what, let everyone be there. And anyone who has an answer, you have something to say, speak up. Speak now or forever hold your peace. I saw in a beautiful ספר sefer on חינוך chinuch called חינוך מלכותי Chinuch Malchusi, the following question. On the one hand, אלה הדברים Eileh hadevarim, these are the תוכחות tochachos, delivered preserving the dignity of the Jewish people, listing all the places they went, and alluding to the rebelliousness that took place there. The גמרא בשבת דף קי\"ט עמוד ב Gemara in Shabbos daf kuf yud tes amud beis tells us about תוכחה tochecha, לא נחרבה ירושלים אלא בשביל שלא הוכיחו זה את זה Lo nechreva Yerushalayim ela bishvil shelo hochichu zeh es zeh. Why was ירושלים Yerushalayim destroyed? Why was ירושלים Yerushalayim devastated, desecrated? Because, שלא הוכיחו shelo hochichu. Because people were doing wrong things. They were making mistakes. And you know what? Everyone looked the other way. There was a society of live and let live. It was a society of do what you want, whatever makes you happy. Does it sound familiar? As long as you don't harm another, whatever makes you happy, even if morally and ethically it's harming the fabric of society and the world, whatever makes you happy. לא הוכיחו זה את זה Lo hochichu zeh es zeh. Mind your business, do what you want, nobody criticizes anyone else. And because of that, Jerusalem was destroyed. Because when nobody's giving feedback, no boundaries are set, no expectations are demanded, then people do what they want and you become have a morally corrupt society. And the consequence is ירושלים Yerushalayim, the capital of spirituality. ירושלים Yerushalayim, the place that houses the שכינה Shechina, the Divine Presence, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu can't dwell there. So לא נחרבה ירושלים lo nechreva Yerushalayim is destroyed. Why? שלא הוכיחו זה את זה Shelo hochichu zeh es zeh. Because everyone looked the other way and it was a culture, a society that was built on live and let live. However, the גמרא ביומא דף ט Gemara in Yoma daf tes tells us, why was the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash destroyed? מפני מה נחרב בית המקדש Mipnei ma necharav Beis HaMikdash? The גמרא ביומא Gemara in Yoma says, שנאת חינם sinas chinam. Because of baseless hatred. Hatred. It's not a coincidence that we are in the nine days, two mass shootings, hatred. The word that is, I didn't look at it, I'm sure the most word that's appearing in the news and elected officials more than any is hate. Hate speech, hate crime, hate people, hate, hate, hate, hate groups, hate. And that's exactly the nine days. What led to חורבן churban is hate. Hate, hate, hate. Too bad that the response to all this hate is more hate. The response to rhetoric is more rhetoric and negativity is more negativity. Nobody is saying the response to hate is love. Loving so much that you confront the hate, but confronting the hate with love. So the גמרא ביומא Gemara in Yoma says, why was the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash destroyed? What led to the destruction of ירושלים Yerushalayim? Not תוכחה tochecha or the absence of תוכחה tochecha, but rather שנאת חינם sinas chinam. And the sefer asks, isn't it a, isn't it a contradiction? If you have שנאת חינם sinas chinam is when you say, you correct people, you're wrong, you criticize, you condemn. So which is it? Was the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash destroyed because we didn't give feedback to one another, or was the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash destroyed because we hated one another? We were so quick to give feedback to one another. Which is it? Aren't the two גמרות Gemaras that are giving the reason for the destruction, aren't they a contradiction? So he answers, which I'm sure you're all thinking yourselves too, that the truth is they're not a contradiction whatsoever, they're actually a complement. You see, if you don't give feedback, if you don't manage expectations, if you don't demand greatness, that is an act of שנאת חינם sinas chinam. This is so critical to modern-day parenting, which is what the sefer really is addressing, the חינוך chinuch in a home. But the parents who say, do what you want, there's no boundaries, there's no rules, there's no restrictions, there's no consequences, there's no accountability, think that they're showering love upon their children. But that's actually שנאת חינם sinas chinam. And the חינם chinam, it's for חינם chinam. You're not doing it on purpose. It's not a hate because you really hate the person. You're trying to love them, but it's a love which is expressing itself as hate. To have no expectations, no demands, and to not teach consequences, and to not create a system of feedback and the responsibility is in essence, actually not love, but hate. That real אהבה ahava means that you're willing to give feedback. We've studied together several times in פרשת ויחי Parshas Vayechi, when יעקב Yaakov brings his children around his deathbed and he gives them ברכה bracha. And what's the ברכה bracha? You were impetuous and you need to work on that. You're quick to anger, you got to work on that. You needed to have better leadership skills, you got to work on that. And I say, such a ברכה bracha I don't need. What kind of ברכה bracha is that? That's a ברכה bracha? A ברכה bracha is פרנסה, גזונט, נחת parnassah, gezunt, nachas from the children. But the ברכה bracha is, here's what's wrong with you that you need to work on. And the meforshim all explain, yes. You know, a קללה klalah is when you sweep under the carpet somebody's deficiencies and faults and challenges. That's a קללה klalah. The ברכה bracha is you love them so much, you're willing to help them work on it. Now, how you deliver it, that's פרשת דברים Parshas Devarim. משה רבנו Moshe Rabbeinu loves them so much that he doesn't clobber them over the head with it, he delivers it with love. The messaging is critically important, but too many people avoid the message altogether and they think I'm a loving parent because I let my kid do anything they want. And I never hold them accountable, and when they run into trouble, I bail them out, I helicopter in, and I rescue them. That's not love. That's hate. Love is a willingness, a willingness to get involved, a willingness to give feedback, that is the true love. שני דברים אלו קשורים זה בזה Shnei devarim eilu keshurim zeh b'zeh, he writes. נאמר בבראשית רבה שהתוכחה מביאה לידי אהבה, וכל אהבה שאין עמה תוכחה, אינה אהבה, ובשעה שאנשים מוכיחים זה את זה, זו ראיה לכך שיש אהבה, כאשר אין אדם מוכיח את חבירו, זה סימן לשנאת חינם. ולכן זו הסיבה שנחרב בית המקדש Nemar b'Bereishis Rabbah shehatochecha mivia lidei ahava, v'chol ahava she'ein ima tochecha, eina ahava. U'b'sha'ah she'anashim mochichim zeh es zeh, zo ra'aya l'chach she'yesh ahava. Ka'asher ein adam mochiach es chaveiro, zeh siman l'sinas chinam. V'lachen zu hasiba she'necharav Beis HaMikdash. He says if two people are giving feedback, honest, genuine feedback, constructive, positively delivered feedback, they love one another. And if two people are just letting the other ruin their lives, they in fact don't love them, they hate them. The קאצקער רבי Kotzker Rebbe says, I love this ווארט vort. The month we find ourselves in is called the month of אב Av. מנחם אב Menachem Av. The Kotzker says, מנחם Menachem, where's the נחמה nechama in אב Av? When in the nine days, we're counting down to תשעה באב Tisha B'Av, destruction, devastation, genocide, loss, tragedy, exile that we still continue to suffer from, where's the נחמה nechama that we call the whole month מנחם אב Menachem Av? Says the קאצקער Kotzker, you know, if you walk by and you see an adult who's reprimanding a child, what do you know about that adult? It's their mother or father. It's their grandmother or grandfather. Because a stranger doesn't care enough to reprimand the child. Only a parent cares enough to reprimand the child. So as much as we suffer and struggle in this month of אב Av, as much as we don't welcome and we don't want what it represents or to have to fast for it. But the fact that הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu cared enough to intervene, to intercede, to hold us accountable, to teach us a lesson, that reflects not that he hates us, it reflects that he loves us. How many of us have parents have taken something from a child or grounded a child, and the child, depending on their age, starts screaming, \"You hate me. I hate you.\" You say, \"Okay, I don't need you to love me, I have to be your parent, and I'm doing this not because I hate you, I'm doing this because I love you.\" My children know that since they're young, when they tell me, \"But all my friends are doing X, Y, or Z,\" I always say, \"Your friends' parents don't love them nearly as much as I love you.\" I'm not going to tell you what did they say then or what do they say now or what will they say when they're parents. But it's my line. I've been saying it since they're little. Everyone else has a phone, everyone else can go out, everyone else can attend the thing, everyone else can wear this. I say, \"Yeah, their parents don't love you as much as I love, don't love their children as much as I love you.\" Which is exactly the ווארט vort. This חורבן churban, when we don't give feedback to one another, hold don't hold each other accountable, לא נחרבה ירושלים אלא בשביל שלא הוכיחו lo nechreva Yerushalayim ela bishvil shelo hochichu. This חורבן churban. And that's שנאה sinah. Real אהבה ahava is the willingness to give תוכחה tochecha, to give feedback and to raise people up. I'll tell you one more cute ווארט vort with this, then we'll move on. לכתך אחרי במדבר בארץ לא זרועה Lechtech acharai bamidbar b'eretz lo zruah. The הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu waxes nostalgic and he says, \"You know, you כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, you were amazing. You followed me into the desert. It was a desert, it was a desolate land, it wasn't planted, it wasn't fertile, and yet you followed me there.\" First of all, the Ribbono Shel Olam is fantastic because he has a selective memory, because if you just read פרשת במדבר Sefer Bamidbar, one thing you know is that we didn't lovingly follow him and all was hunky-dory and bliss. We were miserable and incorrigible and rebellious, and yet he employs intentionally selective memory, which is why we invoke this פסוק pasuk on ימים נוראים Yamim Noraim to remind us, we too should have a selective memory. A little amnesia goes a long way to have better relationships with other people. But I saw a gevaldige ווארט vort. I don't remember who said it, a חסידישע ווארט chasidishe vort, who says לכתך אחרי במדבר Lechtech acharai bamidbar. You know what the Ribbono Shel Olam says? You know why you're amazing? Because you followed me ב-ארץ לא זרועה b'eretz lo zruah. A land that was זרועה zruah with לא lo. A land who was planted with low, with the answer no. You see, too many people would only come if the answer to everything was yes. It's not an ארץ כן זרועה eretz kein zruah, it's an it's an ארץ לא זרועה eretz lo zruah. It's a land which is planted with the answers לא lo. We followed הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu into the Midbar. He gave us a Torah, and the Torah is filled with a lot of no's. There's a lot of yeses, in fact there's no more no's than yeses. We'll talk about that another time. More לא תעשה'ס lo sa'asehs than עשה'ס asehs. We have a lot of yeses, but we have a lot of no's. Can't go here, don't look at that, don't taste that, don't listen to that, don't eat that. There's a lot of no's. And many people, not N O S E, N O. There's a lot of people who would not embrace a lifestyle that was filled with restrictions and boundaries and rules. They want a lifestyle that's only filled with opportunity and... But we הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, \"You know, לכתך אחרי במדבר lechtech acharai bamidbar, you followed me into a desert. It was not כן זרועה kein zruah, it was לא זרועה lo zruah. It was filled with לא lo.\" That's love. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu loved us, we love him back. אלה הדברים Eileh hadevarim. Okay, the rest of the Kli Yakar is great. Yeah, you can read the rest of the Kli Yakar on your own. It's an important Kli Yakar of how he, of how he gets to it. Okay. Let's keep going. אלה הדברים אשר דבר משה Eileh hadevarim asher diber Moshe. Let's see if we get past the first pasuk today. So, ספר דברים Sefer Devarim, as I mentioned, is categorically different than the first four books, not just in style, but in origination, or to a degree, authorship. That's not כפירה kefira, hear me out. רב שלמה'ק Rav Soloveitchik and Rav Hirsch point out that ספר שמות Sefer Shemos, ויקרא Vayikra and במדבר Bamidbar all begin with the conjunctive letter ו vav, suggesting that each of the first four books are connected to one another. But in contrast, ספר דברים Sefer Devarim does not begin with a ו vav. Furthermore, in שמות Shemos through במדבר Bamidbar, Moshe is referred to in third person. But in דברים Devarim, Moshe almost speaks, almost always speaks in first person. So in the first four books, or at least once Moshe enters the scene, שמות Shemos, ויקרא Vayikra and במדבר Bamidbar, Moshe is communicating third person, delivering the message from Hashem. Here in ספר דברים Sefer Devarim, Moshe is the narrator. It's Moshe's voice, Moshe's speaking. It is the most part repetition of the מצוות mitzvos that were enumerated earlier, very few new מצוות mitzvos. The גמרא במגילה דף ל\"א עמוד ב Gemara in Megillah daf lamed aleph amud beis refers to ספר דברים Sefer Devarim as משנה תורה Mishneh Torah. משנה תורה Mishneh Torah. Now משנה mishnah, why is it the משנה תורה Mishneh Torah? So the simple understanding is, משנה mishnah means the repetition of, the repetition of the Torah. The תרי\"ג מצוות taryag mitzvos, most of them that have already been communicated earlier, Moshe now repeats them, Moshe now reviews them. But רב שלמה'ק Rav Soloveitchik suggests something different. He said the word משנה mishnah is derived from the word שינון shinun, to study, to train one's mind. Where do we see that in the Torah? In the שמע Shema? ושננתם לבניך V'shinantam l'vanecha. The root of the word ושננתם v'shinantam is to learn, to train one's mind, to teach one's child. ספר דברים Sefer Devarim was originally given as משנה mishnah, it was תורה שבעל פה Torah she'b'al peh. Only later, on the last day of Moshe's life, do we read that Moshe finished writing these words in a scroll in פרק ל\"א perek lamed aleph, the last perek here of ספר דברים Sefer Devarim. דברים Devarim, which to that point had the status of תורה שבעל פה Torah she'b'al peh, only then became part of תורה שבכתב Torah she'b'k'sav. And the phrase משנה תורה Mishneh Torah therefore means the משנה mishnah, which is also Torah. The משנה mishnah, the תורה שבעל פה Torah she'b'al peh, which became part of the תורה שבכתב Torah she'b'k'sav. So this is Moshe, first-person narrator, not third-person communicating from Hashem. It's Moshe's monologue, it's his soliloquy, it's his speech. It originally was, it's the original תורה שבעל פה Torah she'b'al peh that Moshe gave the people. Only at the end when הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, \"Record it and include it and publish it,\" did the משנה mishnah become Torah. And that's why it's called משנה תורה Mishneh Torah. And he says to the Rav, ספר דברים Sefer Devarim has double sanctity. It's both תורה שבכתב Torah she'b'k'sav and תורה שבעל פה Torah she'b'al peh. The first four books, Hashem addresses the community. ספר דברים Sefer Devarim, it's Moshe addressing. First four books, Moshe is the medium. Moshe serves in the role of a prophet, repeating verbatim what Hashem told him. But דברים Devarim, Moshe is not a prophet, but a teacher. משה רבנו Moshe Rabbeinu, gets the status of משה Moshe, not just משה הנביא Moshe ha'navi, but משה רבנו Moshe Rabbeinu. And that's the next פסוק pasuk. הואיל משה באר את התורה הזאת Ho'il Moshe be'er es haTorah hazos. באר את התורה Be'er es haTorah, an explanation of the Torah, Moshe is beginning to play the role of a רבי rebbe. So we're transitioning from a תורה שבכתב Torah she'b'k'sav, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the authority from above, being communicated through a system. This is the beginning of מסורה mesorah. משה רבנו Moshe Rabbeinu is the father of the מסורה mesorah. He becomes רבנו Rabbeinu. He's not just the נביא navi who is echoing the words of God, he is רבנו Rabbeinu himself. He is transmitting the מסורה mesorah, משנה תורה Mishneh Torah. So the first four books are Torah, they're תורה שבכתב Torah she'b'k'sav, and the fifth book is a combination. It's משנה תורה Mishneh Torah. It is משנה mishnah, it's תורה שבעל פה Torah she'b'al peh, but it's also Torah, it's also תורה שבכתב Torah she'b'k'sav. And it's because of that that you have a practical consequence. There's a הלכה halachic implication. The גמרא בברכות דף כ\"א Gemara in Brachos daf kaf aleph says, even those who hold that you can't learn סמוכים smuchim in the Torah, just because you have two concepts juxtaposed one next to the other. When you have two ideas that appear next to the other, juxtaposition, they're juxtaposed. So it's a מחלוקת machlokes. Do we learn, we learn from everything, vowels and crowns and formulations and grammar, we extrapolate and derive הלכות halachos from everything. So what about juxtaposition? Do we extrapolate and derive הלכות halachos just from the way they appear next to each other? So it's a מחלוקת machlokes. But even according to those who believe you cannot derive law from juxtaposition in the first four books of the Torah, they agree, says the גמרא בברכות Gemara in Brachos, that in ספר דברים Sefer Devarim, everybody learns סמוכים smuchim. Everybody learns from juxtaposition. Why? Because Moshe alone juxtaposed specific פסוקים pesukim as תורה שבעל פה Torah she'b'al peh. So the first four books, you can't use that tool, but in the fifth book you can because it has this quality of תורה שבעל פה Torah she'b'al peh. That is an important, important distinction, הלכה למעשה halacha l'maaseh. Okay. Parsha continues. The parsha continues. So we list all these places. אלה הדברים אשר דבר משה אל כל ישראל Eileh hadevarim asher diber Moshe el kol Yisrael, like the חוזה מלובלין Chozeh m'Lublin said, that the מוסר mussar of דברים Devarim is for all of us. בעבר הירדן, במדבר, בערבה, מול סוף, בין פארן, ובין תפל, ולבן, וחצרות, ודי זהב B'ever haYarden, bamidbar, ba'arava, mol Suf, bein Paran, u'vein Tofel, v'Lavan, v'Chatzeiros, v'Di Zahav. ודי זהב V'Di Zahav, there's an amazing מדרש midrash. The מדרש midrash tells us, the גמרא בברכות Gemara in Brachos quotes, what is implied by the words די זהב di zahav? די זהב Di Zahav. Is that a place? All these others are places. What is די זהב di zahav? So the מדרש midrash says, רבי ינאי Rabbi Yannai in his בית מדרשו beis medrasho they learn, Moshe said to הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the silver and the gold, the זהב zahav that you gave כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael in abundance, remember we left wealthy. We borrowed from the Egyptians, which really was our way of being compensated, reparations for 210 years of slavery, and we left wealthy. We had all this gold, זהב zahav. So משה רבנו Moshe Rabbeinu says to הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, \"You know about that זהב zahav that you gave כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael? די Dai. It's enough. Stop. They have enough.\" Because that's what caused them to commit the sin of the עגל הזהב Egel HaZahav. Money is a wonderful blessing. It's an incredible gift. You could do great things with it. But it's also a challenge and can be a curse. Materialism, wealth, money, it skews priorities, it invites fighting and conflict, it compromises a person's integrity. So Moshe says, די dai. The money is enough because look what's happening. The money's not empowering, the money's corrupting, the money's complicating, and look at the עגל הזהב Egel HaZahav that happened as a result. So the Gemara there says ודי זהב v'di zahav, this is an allusion to the עגל egel, the חטא העגל chet ha'egel, and that episode. זהב Zahav, די dai. די זהב Di zahav, it was enough. You had enough when it came to the, when it came to the wealth. Why would הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu give them that wealth if it could cause such problems? Why would he do so? Because the Gemara goes on. The Gemara says, this is a משל mashal. It's compared to a man who had a son and he bathed him and anointed him and fed him and gave him to drink and he gave him a pouch of money on his neck and he sat him down at the entrance of a brothel. Says the Gemara, how could that father expect that that child's not going to sin? That's the Gemara. You position your child, you make him beautiful, handsome, you make him smell good, you give him a stack of cash and you put him at the house, at the entrance of a place of ill repute, and then what do you expect he's going to do? Have a חברותא chavrusa? Go somewhere else? זאָג תהילים Zog Tehillim? What do you think he's going to do? So Moshe says to the Ribbono Shel Olam, \"You gave them all this wealth, what did you think was going to happen? What did you think was going to happen?\" What's הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu's answer? So why did he, why did we have the wealth? That's how the Gemara says, with that משל mashal. ודי זהב V'di zahav, that's why Moshe says, \"It's enough. Cut it off.\" So what would be Hashem's answer? Think about it, let me know what you suggest. So, ויתר. אחד עשר יום מחרב דרך הר שעיר עד קדש ברנע. ויהי בארבעים שנה בעשתי עשר חדש באחד לחדש דבר משה אל בני ישראל ככל אשר צוה ה' אתו עליהם Achad asar yom meiChorev derech Har Seir ad Kadesh Barnea. Vayehi b'arbaim shana b'ashtei asar chodesh b'echad lachodesh diber Moshe el Bnei Yisrael k'chol asher tziva Hashem oso aleihem. He told them everything. אחרי הכותו את סיחון מלך האמורי אשר יושב בחשבון, ואת עוג מלך הבשן אשר יושב בעשתרות באדרעי Acharei hakoso es Sichon melech ha'Emori asher yosheiv b'Cheshbon, v'es Og melech haBashan asher yosheiv b'Ashtaros b'Edrei. You now have a track record, you now have a precedent, you now have a pattern of triumph and success. You don't have to fear. You've been able to defeat עוג מלך הבשן Og melech haBashan and סיחון מלך האמורי Sichon melech ha'Emori. בעבר הירדן בארץ מואב הואיל משה באר את התורה הזאת לאמר B'ever haYarden b'eretz Moav ho'il Moshe be'er es haTorah hazos leimor. Moshe communicated, he transmitted the Torah. What exactly is the Torah? What did he give? Rashi says, he taught the Torah in 70 languages, which is peculiar, because he's with a people, most of whom were born in the desert. The majority of those who left Egypt have died by now. How many languages do you think they spoke? Why did he have to say it in 70 languages to a people who all spoke the same one language? Unless again we apply the חוזה מלובלין Chozeh m'Lublin's beautiful insight, that Torah speaks to us in any language, in any place, in any culture, in any society, at any time. That the Torah is timeless, timeless. This is so core and central to what we believe, and so sadly lost on so many others who think the Torah is archaic and arcane, outdated, it's not current or contemporary. The Torah is timeless. Rav Hirsch says, the ארון Aron, the Torah tells us that the staves, the poles that carried the ארון Aron, while the poles were removed from other vessels, in the ארון Aron they always remained in. Why were they always in? Many different p'shatim, but Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch says, you know why? To tell us that the Torah, it's ready to travel. It comes with us wherever we may be. In exile, in the diaspora, anywhere in the world, the Torah is not fixed in one spot, in one location. Torah is not only in the בית המדרש beis medrash, it's also in the home. Not only in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, it's also in חוץ לארץ Chutz La'aretz. It's not only in, the Torah informs and inspires us. It's timeless, everywhere we go, at all times. באר משה תורה הזאת Bayer Moshe haTorah hazos. 70 languages. There's no limits. You can't say, look, the Torah spoke to you where you lived. But I'm a millennial. I'm a generation XYZ. I am a, I live here, you live there. It doesn't matter what language you speak, you can speak in Torah. That's כל ישראל Kol Yisrael. That's exactly it. So it speaks to כל ישראל Kol Yisrael, to כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, wherever we go. We're going to talk about on תשעה באב Tisha B'Av, אם ירצה השם im yirtzeh Hashem, we'll be eating in ירושלים Yerushalayim on תשעה באב Tisha B'Av, be celebrating the rebuilding of the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash. But if not, we'll talk about, we'll talk about how תורה Torah, how do we persevere through, through travails? How do we endure through an exile? What gives us the courage and the strength? What gives us the vocabulary and the language to remain as one? It's Torah. It's talking in Torah and talking in learning. It's having 70 languages. No one has an excuse for why Torah can't talk to them. It's an amazing time that we're living in. I don't want to digress too much, but it's an amazing time that we're living in. No one has an excuse. In our own lifetimes, when we were younger, you had an excuse. Everything's in Hebrew. I can't understand the Hebrew so well, I can't study it. I speak Spanish or Portuguese or French or German or Russian. I don't have access to Torah, because everything's either in Hebrew or only in English. And we're living at a time there's more than 70 languages. All the excuses have fallen away. Anyone has access to Torah. Any language, anywhere, thanks to the internet, and any time. 3:00 a.m., you wake up to do a feeding, you put on a shiur. You listen to a citizen snippet, guaranteed to put you back to sleep. There's no excuse. There's 70 languages of Torah anytime, anywhere. There's a מחלוקת machlokes among the מפרשים meforshim. Is it the, is it the עשרת הדברות aseres hadibros? Did Moshe repeat the Ten Commandments? Is it the totality of Torah he repeated in 70 languages? But to me, again, it's the symbolism of this, of this idea. Good. ווייטער Vayiter. Let's skip. He tells them you're going to inherit the land, you're going to come into the land. Ooh, and when you come into the land, bottom of page 940. ואמר אליכם בעת ההיא לאמר לא אוכל לבדי שאת אתכם V'omar aleichem ba'eis ha'hi leimor lo uchal levadi se'es eschem. I said to you at that time, I cannot carry you alone. I can't carry you alone. Not, not because you just finished the פסח Pesach program, you're so heavy I can't carry you. Spiritually, emotionally, you just complain, you're negative, nothing's good enough. You're cynical, you're critical. I can't do it. השם אלקיכם ירב אתכם ככוכבי השמים לרוב Hashem Elokeichem yarev eschem kechovchei hashamayim larov. In numbers, you're great. השם אלקי אבותיכם יוסף עליכם ככם אלף פעמים Hashem Elokei avoseichem yosef aleichem kahem elef pe'amim. This is, he's talking now about, about a system of justice. Hashem has made you grow multifold and he's blessed you. איכה אשא לבדי טרחכם ומשאכם וריבכם Eicha esa levadi tarchachem umasachem v'rivchem? How can I alone carry your contentiousness, your burdens, your quarrels? How could I alone carry them? And this is all introduction to say, he doesn't credit explicitly יתרו Yisro, but we set up a system of justice. We set up courts, lower courts and higher courts and a whole leadership structure, a chain of command, an organizational chart, because I needed help in order to be able to raise you. But he introduces it by saying not just it's a problem of numbers, of volume, it's also a problem of volume, that you scream and you yell and you complain, I can't, איכה eicha. We read this in the tune of איכה Eicha. We read this to the tune of איכה Eicha because it's such a reflection of how difficult a people the Jewish people are. And Rabbi Soloveitchik said about this איכה eicha, famously, that we have three איכה'ס eichas in the Torah. We have three times the word איכה eicha appears. The word איכה eicha is a synopsis, a main motif, the quintessence of the main question of תשעה באב Tisha B'Av and the קינות kinos. That's what we ask. So many קינות kinos begin with the word איכה eicha. איכה אשא אפך Eicha asah afcha, איכה Eicha is of course itself what we're reading, the book of איכה Eicha, and the same word. חז\"ל Chazal attribute a special significance to the word. The word is used in three well-known places in תנ\"ך Tanach. Once here by Moshe, איכה אשא לבדי eicha esa levadi, and we use the איכה eicha tune. Once by ירמיהו Yirmiyahu, in the, in the book of Lamentations, how the city is sat alone איכה eicha, the ישבה בדד yashva badad. And once by the נביא ישעיהו navi Yeshayahu about איכה eichah, became a זונה zona. So, איכה eicha, how is it possible? How is it possible? I'm already confirming by implication that in fact it's impossible. איכה Eicha represents so much despair, such a complete lack of understanding. I don't even begin to know how it can be possible. Rabbi Soloveitchik said there's a fourth איכה eicha. There's the three איכה'ס eichas of Moshe, Yirmiyahu and Yeshayahu. איכה Eicha, how did this happen? How did this result? How is it possible? How are we here? It's beyond comprehension, it makes no sense, I can't accept it. But there's a fourth איכה eicha. Anyone know where it appears? We don't pronounce it the same way, but it's the letters אלף יוד כף הה alef yud chaf hei. איכה Ayeka. It's the איכה eicha in בראשית Breishis of איכה Ayeka, where are you? When God calls out איכה Ayeka, where are you? And he said, if we don't answer the call of איכה Ayeka, then we say איכה eicha. If we don't answer the call of איכה Ayeka, where are you? Have you shown up? Do you take responsibility? Are you living the life I expect of you? Are you a model for the world? Are you repairing the world? Are you molding and shaping the world and correcting the world? If we don't answer the call of איכה Ayeka, then we're destined to chant and to ask, איכה eicha. So here he says איכה eicha, איכה אשא לבדי eicha esa levadi, how can I possibly? רש\"י Rashi here quotes, look at Rashi, says Rashi איכה אשא לבדי eicha esa levadi. Oh, פסוק י\"ב pasuk yud beis, אם אומר לקבל שכר על אוכל im omar lekabel schar al ucha. זוהי שאמרתי לכם לא מעט מן היום אומר לכם מפי הקדוש ברוך הוא Zohi she'amarti lachem lo me'at min hayom omer lachem mipi haKadosh Baruch Hu. And what can I not, I can't do anymore is טרחכם tarchachem. שישראל טרחנים הם She'Yisrael tarchanim hem. היה אחד מהם רואה שבעל דינו נוצח בדינו, אומר יש לי דינים להביא, יש לי ראיות להביא, ומוסיף אני עליכם דיינים haya echad mehem ro'eh sheba'al dino notzei'ach b'dino, omer yesh li dinim lehavi, yesh li ra'ayos lehavi, umosi vani aleichem dayanim. So what is this notion of טרחכם tarchachem? The first thing that Moshe Rabbenu can't stand is that they're contentious, they're difficult. Even in a legal proceeding, they just try to drag it on. I'll bring more witnesses, I'll bring more evidence, or try to bring more proof, more and more and more. What's משאכם masachem? שהיו אפיקורסים She'hayu apikorsim. הקדים משה לצאת, אומרים מה ראה בן עמרם לצאת, שמא אינו שופט בתוך ביתו. איחר לצאת, אומרים מה ראה בן עמרם שלא לצאת? מה אתם סבורים, יושב ויועץ עליכם עצות רעות וחושב עליכם מחשבות Hikdim Moshe latzeis, omerim ma ra'ah ben Amram latzeis, shema eino shofet b'soch beiso. Eicher latzeis, omerim ma ra'ah ben Amram she'lo latzeis? Ma atem svurim, yosheiv v'yo'eitz aleichem eitzos ra'os v'chosheiv aleichem machshavos. So, משאכם masachem, you're a burden. Moshe says, or Rashi tells us they were אפיקורסים apikorsim. What made them אפיקורסים apikorsim? Here's what would happen. It's tough being a Jewish leader. All leadership's tough, Jewish leadership is particularly tough. Why? If Moshe left early in the morning, came back late at night, so his neighbors would watch and they'd say, kind of a husband is he? Kind of father is he? He's never home. Leaves early, comes back late, he's never home. Must have שלום בית shalom bayis problems. There must be problems in his house. If Moshe Rabbenu stayed home, went to the office a little late, they'd say, lazy good for nothing, we pay his salary, he doesn't even show up. What kind of rabbi is he? He's probably at home talking לשון הרע loshon hora about us, scheming about us, learning to try to take a little off the top of the discretionary fund on us. אפיקורסים היו Apikorsim hayu. משאכם Masachem, I can't bear this burden that instead of being appreciative, and instead of constructive feedback and criticism is always welcome, but cynicism and negativity, משאכם masachem, it's a burden to which Rashi calls that אפיקורסות apikorsus. וריבכם V'rivchem, מלמד שהיו רגנים melamed she'hayu raganim. They were just an impossible, impossible people. So what is this word אפיקורסים apikorsim? What does it mean that they were אפיקורסים apikorsim? So רבי נחמן מברסלב Rebbe Nachman m'Breslov says something so interesting, so beautiful. Says רב נחמן Reb Nachman, what does it mean אפיקורסים apikorsim? So משא, טרחכם tarchachem was, they were contentious, they would fight. They preferred to fight. You know, there's some people, they get a thrill, they get some endorphin release from the fight. They love the action. Some good לשון הרע loshon hora, a good fight. What draws people to watch a video or to stand there and observe people fighting? We have a whole sport, billions of dollars around this. People love fighting. They get some endorphin release. So people like to witness or watch a fight, they like to be in a fight, they like to fight, they prolong a fight, and Moshe can't stand that. משאכם Masachem is cynicism and your challenging. So asks רב נחמן מברסלב Reb Nachman m'Breslov, I understand טרחכם tarchachem is טרחנים tarchanim, in other words you're a טרחה tircha on me. You love to fight, I'm constantly mediating fights, you're constantly prolonging fights, it's a טרחה tircha. טרחכם Tarchachem. What does משאכם masachem mean that they were אפיקורסים apikorsim? How does burden, what is אפיקורסות apikorsus? Who's an אפיקורס apikorus? Not, don't raise your hand. I mean what is an אפיקורס apikorus? In that what is an אפיקורס apikorus? The Epicurean. Does אפיקורס apikorus come from the word Epicurean, the Greek? An אפיקורס apikorus is a heretic. It's a denier. It's a person who says there is no God. So what does אפיקורסות apikorsus have to do with accusing Moshe of staying home, leaving early, שלום בית shalom bayis problems, skimming off the top. What does that have to do with אפיקורסות apikorsus? Says רב נחמן Reb Nachman, אפיקורסות היא אכן משא כבד על שכמו של האדם ha'apikorsus hi achein massa kaved al shichmo shel ha'adam. שכיון שאינו מאמין בהשם, נעשה לו כבד להתמודד בכל מצב ולא נוחה לו she'keivan she'eino ma'amin b'Hashem, na'aseh lo kaved l'hismoded b'chol matzav, v'lo nucha lo. תמיד יודע שהוא שהכל מאת השם ובוודאי הכל לטובה tammid yode'a shehu, shehakol me'eis Hashem u'bevadai hakol l'tovah. לא כן האפיקורס Lo kein ha'apikorus. משא חיים כבד עליו ביותר masah chayim kaved alav b'yoser. You know, the אפיקורס apikorus, everything is heavy and weighty. It weighs him or her down, it drags them down, it holds them back. You see, if you have אמונה בטחון emuna, bitachon, sorry, Wednesday morning, shiur living with אמונה emuna. If you have אמונה בטחון emuna, bitachon, then you're light and you're free, and you fly, and you coast through life. Does that mean you have no illness or infertility or financial problems or, no, of course you have those challenges. But no matter what you confront in life, if you believe that there is a creator and the omnipotent one has providence of our lives, he's involved, he cares, everything is by design, nothing is random or chance, then whatever happens, happens. Whatever's meant to be happens. I'm never envious, I'm never jealous because you have what you need and I have by definition what I have and what I deserve. I don't fight with you because that, that assumes I'm in control, when הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the one who's in control. See, if you're a denier, if you're a heretic, if you're an אפיקורס apikorus, everything, טרחכם tarchachem, it's a משאכם masachem, it's a weighty burden. It's heavy to go through life. But if you understand that there's only one, הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the one and only, and he designs everything and is involved and orchestrates and curates every aspect of our lives, then it's, it's liberating. We take away that burden. We take away that burden. This word משאכם masachem. They tell a story of a person's driving by in a wagon and there's someone who, who wants a ride. And he takes him in the wagon. The wagon driver turns around and he sees that the guy is holding on to his suitcase. In those days, they would have called it a ווליס valise. He's holding on to his bag, really heavy bag that he's carrying, and he's sitting in the wagon, he's having his bag. So the nice wagon driver who gave him the ride said, put down your bag. So the guy says, listen, it's nice enough to me that you gave me a ride. I feel bad putting down the bag, it's nice enough you gave me a ride, you don't have to give my bag a ride, too. So the wagon driver says, look, either way, you and the baggage are in the wagon, you might as well put it down and enjoy the ride. And the same is true in our lives. There's certain baggage that we have to carry through our lives, challenges and problems that we have. There's baggage that we're given. We can hold on to it and it becomes heavier and heavier, משאכם masachem, טרחכם tarchachem, it's a טרחה tircha, or you could trust the wagon driver, put it down and enjoy the ride. That choice is up to us. So says רב נחמן Reb Nachman, what's the פשט pshat אפיקורסים apikorsim? What does that have to do with what they were doing? If you believe in the רבונו של עולם Ribbono Shel Olam, you're not going to be cynical about your neighbor. You're not going to be envious, you're not going to be quick to anger, you're not going to be, you're not going to be, you're not going to be riddled with anxiety, not the clinical kind, I mean just the Jewish kind. If you believe in הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, then it gives us the tools to be able to courageously live our lives and know that everything is from השם Hashem. אפיקורסים Apikursus, the אפיקורס apikursus says רב נחמן Reb Nachman is, because they denied השם Hashem, now משאכם masachem, all of life becomes a burden. But I want to share with you a different פשט pshat. It's my own, but based on something I heard from Dr. Lamm, I shared it at a שבעה shiva house last night, that perhaps the אפיקורסות apikorsus is the following. Perhaps the אפיקורסות apikorsus is the following. They're looking at Moshe, and they were cynical about him. They were suspicious of him. They were spreading gossip about him. They were looking for the worst in him. They were negative about him. When a person does that towards another, they're not just denying the humanity in the other, what else are they denying? The godliness in the other person. See, every one of us is a צלם אלקים tzellem Elokim. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't just create us. הקדוש ברוך הוא Kadosh Baruch Hu finds expression in this world through us. The insight I heard from Dr. Lamm, זאלן געזונט און שטארק zolen gezunt un shtark, you should be well, is that קדיש Kaddish is the תפילה tfilah of mourning. And yet if you look at the words of קדיש Kaddish, there's no reference to death, there's no reference to mourning. So why is קדיש Kaddish associated with mourning? And he suggested, every one of us is a unique, singular expression of השם Hashem in this world. Our personality, our traits, our skills, our talents, who we are is a way that השם Hashem expresses himself in this world. When we relate to others, if we are living our best selves, they're not only relating to us, but through us, they are experiencing Godliness. We are His angels, we are His messengers, we are His representatives in this world. And when a human being dies, when a person leaves this world, then there's a vacuum which has been created, a piece of הקדוש ברוך הוא Kadosh Baruch Hu, a unique expression of the Almighty, no longer exists. And so what do we hope for? What do we דאווענען daven, what do we ask? יתגדל ויתקדש שמה רבא Yisgadal v'yiskadash shmei rabbah, that השם'ס Hashem's great name, יתגדל yisgadal, should be made great once again. הקדוש ברוך הוא Kadosh Baruch Hu himself כביכול k'veyachol becomes diminished in how we perceive him when someone leaves this world. And so we דאווענען daven that השם Hashem shouldn't be diminished, it should grow great once again. So I want to suggest based on that insight, you know what the אפיקורסות apikorsus is that Rashi is referencing? טרחכם Tarchachem, when they accused Moshe, when you falsely accused, when you were suspicious, when you're negative, when you negate, when you judge, when you criticize, when you marginalize, when you neglect, when we mistreat other people, we're not just denying their humanity, but we're denying and mistreating their godliness. And that's אפיקורסות apikorsus. To deny that every person is worthy of the benefit of the doubt, to deny that every person has a goodness, an innate goodness, to deny that somewhere, for some on the surface and others buried deep below, but for everyone, somewhere inside them is godliness, to deny the godliness in another is itself an expression and an act of אפיקורסות apikorsus. And maybe that's what, maybe that's what the Torah means. Okay. Let's go a little bit ווייטער vighter. A little bit ווייטער vighter. The פרשה parsha continues. Oh, so with this introduction is this. הבו לכם אנשים חכמים נבונים וידועים לשבטיכם ואשימם בראשיכם Havu lachem anashim chachamim nevonim v'yedu'im l'shivteichem v'asimem b'rosheichem, page 942. Moshe says I have to identify wise, smart people who will serve as your heads. ותענו אותי V'ta'anu osi, and you answered me. ותאמרו טוב הדבר אשר דברת לעשות V'tomru tov hadavar asher dibarta la'asos. Good, we're in. Sounds like a plan, org chart. We're in. ואקח את ראשי שבטיכם אנשים חכמים וידועים ואתן אותם ראשים עליכם, שרי אלפים ושרי מאות ושרי חמישים ושרי עשרות ושוטרים לשבטיכם V'ekach es rashei shivteichem anashim chachamim v'yedu'im v'eten osam rashim aleichem, sarei alafim v'sarei me'os v'sarei chamishim v'sarei asaros v'shotrim l'shivteichem. So we put it into place. We appointed all these, all of these people, and we put this structure. And then I directed them, שמוע בין אחיכם shamo'a bein acheichem, listen. ושפטתם צדק בין איש ובין אחיו ובין גרו u'shfatetem tzedek bein ish u'vein achiv u'vein geiro. And you should, you should adjudicate to a righteous conclusion. לא תכירו פנים במשפט Lo sakiru panim bamishpat, don't accept bravery. We gave a whole, two or three part series on פרוטקציה protektzia on שבועות Shavuos about פרוטקציה protektzia and bribery. The scandals that we had with the colleges, the news cycle is so fast, you don't even know what I'm talking about. But you remember earlier this year, the big scandal, that college university officials were accepting bribes to let people in. So we analyzed that from a הלכה'דיק halachic standpoint because the exact same thing happens in the Jewish community. If you make the right donation to the ישיבה yeshiva, then your kid gets in. If you don't, then they're on a waiting list. If you make the right donation, you know the right people, the right פרוטקציה protektzia, your great-grandmother can make it into the assisted living facility. If you don't, you're number 4,022 on the list. So פרוטקציה protektzia in השקפה hashkafa and הלכה halacha, we went through a lot of תשובות tchuvos. And this issue of bribery, לא תכירו פנים במשפט lo sakiru panim bamishpat, כקטן כגדול תשמעון לא תגורו מפני איש כי המשפט לאלקים הוא והדבר אשר יקשה מכם תקרבון אלי ושמעתיו k'katon k'gadol tishm'un, lo saguru mipnei ish, ki hamishpat l'Elokim hu, v'hadavar asher yiksheh mikem takrivun elai u'shmativ. Moshe Rabbenu says you can't show favor. Imagine a בית דין beis din is sitting and in their lobby, you have two billionaires who are in the middle of a fight over $100 million battle. And then you have two other people who are fighting over the dollar that got stuck in the candy machine. So you're tempted to say, who do we want to hear first? The people in the custom-made suits who came, flew in on their private jet for us to hear their case about the $100 million. But you can't. כקטן כגדול K'katon k'gadol. You have to listen to every case in the order that it comes. You can't hear one litigant without the other. You're not allowed to. The head of a בית דין beis din receives a phone call, has to say I can't listen until the other litigant is present. And how far do you have to go with this? says the פסוק pasuk, לא תגורו מפני איש lo sagurum מפני ish, don't be afraid of anyone. הגמרא Gemara has a whole discussion in מסכת סנהדרין Maseches Sanhedrin. Do you have to risk your life? Let's say somebody says, are you allowed to avoid being on a בית דין beis din because you're afraid that if you come to the wrong conclusion, that person's going to order a hit? לא תגורו מפני איש Lo saguru mipnei ish. You're not allowed to be afraid. And Moshe says anything too tough, bring to me. ואצוה אתכם בעת ההיא את כל הדברים אשר תעשון V'atzaveh eschem ba'eis hahi es kol hadvarim asher ta'asun. And so I told you all of these things, all of these rules. And Rabbi Soloveitchik points out that the first chapter of the book of דברים Devarim details the march towards conquering the land of ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. And in this פסוק pasuk, all of a sudden in this section, הבו לכם אנשים חכמים נבונים havu lachem anashim chachamim nevonim, this section about justice and jurisprudence and righteousness, the theme abruptly changes to a conversation that took place between Moshe and Bnei Yisrael about judges and an institution of a system of justice. In this פסוק pasuk, Moshe asked the people for recommendations, who would be the most appropriate candidates for judgeship. He later gave the newly appointed judges instructions, right, like we just reviewed, the order that you have to hear and don't be afraid, and how to conduct a trial. And then he goes back to, we're going into Israel. What's going on over here? Why is Moshe interrupting? אלה הדברים Eileh hadvarim, these are the words. He's standing on the mountain and he points, you see there, it's ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, that's where we're going, that's where the destination. It's the end of his life, it's the end of the 40-year journey. We're missing 38 years in the middle. We won't get to it, but Rabbi Soloveitchik addresses it. We have the first two years, and here we are in the last year, and what happened the 38 years in the middle? We mistakenly think that ספר במדבר Sefer Bamidbar or חומש Chumash is equally spread over the 40 years. It's not. It's weighted to the very beginning and to the very end, and we have a mysterious gap of 38 years of what was going on and what was it like and so on. Not for now, another time. But they're standing on the precipice, they're about to go in. Moshe is pointing, he's instructing them, he's inspiring them, he's motivating them. And he's telling them, you, you inherited this land, you're going to go into this land. From here is the whole question of the sources and the מצווה mitzva to live in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. Is ישיבת ארץ yeshivas aretz where's the פסוק pasuk? The רמב\"ן Ramban, the רמב\"ם Rambam, the whole discussion. So it's all about going into Israel. And Moshe interrupts, by the way, we set up a system of justice, we need judges, who do you recommend, this is who we chose. And says Rabbi Soloveitchik, what's it doing here? Why are we interrupting with this? So the Slonimer Rebbe was bothered by the same question. In his נתיבות שלום Nesivos Shalom, the Slonimer Rebbe offers the following very beautiful insight. It's an insight you've heard before, but maybe not applied in this context. We all know this insight in the beginning of פרשת שופטים parshas shoftim. המפרשים עומדים Ham'forshim omdim, says the Slonimer, ענין שבטכילת משנה תורה אמר משה לישראל את ענין מינוי השופטים. מה שייך ענין זה במיחוד לטכילת משנה תורה sheb'tchilas mishneh Torah amar Moshe l'Yisrael es inyan minuy hashoftim, ma shayeich inyan zeh b'michud l'tchilas mishneh Torah? What's this doing here at the beginning of דברים Devarim? Choosing judges, setting up justice and courts? What's it doing here? כן צריך לרמז בראש דבריו שהבו לכם, הזמינו עצמכם לדבר Kein tzarich l'ramaish b'rei'shei hadvarim sh'havu lachem, his minu atzmachem l'davar. Moshe says, הבו לכם havu lachem, prepare for yourselves. Prepare for yourselves? Go into the voting booth and you're voting on the judges? What was Moshe telling them, prepare for yourselves judges? So, why now? What do you mean you should prepare for yourselves? What's going on? So says the Slonimer Rebbe, כל מצוה מסוגלת לענין מיוחד ומצות מינוי השופטים מסוגלת לזה שיהיו דינים ושופטים על עצמו kol mitzva mesugeles l'inyan meyuchad u'mitzvas minuy hashoftim mesugeles l'zeh she'yihyu dayanim v'shoftim al atzmo. This is talking not just about the system of judge of justice within each city and each town, each province, each state. It's not just talking about the hierarchy of a system of justice outside ourselves. Ultimately, it's talking to us, לכל ישראל l'chol Yisrael, about being judges and justices and policemen over ourselves. על דברי ריבות בשעריך Al divrei rivos bish'arecha, on the fights that happen in our gates. Where are our gates? So רבי חיים ויטאל Reb Chaim Vital famously said, and the פסוק pasuk in שופטים וְשׁוֹטְרִים תִּתֶּן לְךָ בְּכָל שְׁעָרֶיךָ shoftim v'shotrim titen l'cha b'chol she'arecha, it's בלשון יחיד b'loshon yachid, it's in the singular, not the plural. Where are the policemen? Where are the guards that we put at all of our gates? Where are the gates? Our ears, our mouth. It's the gates into our soul, the gates into our heart are through our senses, and that we need to place guards and policemen, and we need to have שופטים shoftim, we need to have judges who will help us have good judgment. And that's why it's written בלשון יחיד b'loshon yachid, because we're not just talking about the gates of the city or the judges of the city, we're talking ultimately about our own נשמות neshamos, how to live mindful and meaningful lives, how to be vigilant and responsible and conscientious over our own conduct, our thought, and our speech, and our actions. How to regulate ourselves and how to hold ourselves accountable, and how to have good judgment. And that's why we need to be for ourselves, הבו לכם havu lachem, it's for us, says the Slonimer. And what do we need to be? חכמים נבונים וידועים Chachamim nevonim v'yedu'im. These three qualities, חכמה בינה chachmah binah and דעת daas, חב\"ד Chabad. חכמה בינה ודעת Chachmah binah v'daas, we saw it earlier when Moshe is choosing the judges and it's repeated here. חכמים נבונים וידועים Chachamim nevonim v'yedu'im is חכמה בינה ודעת chachmah binah v'daas. We need all three of these qualities, the difference between the three, we've covered in the past, not for now. And that's where the Slonimer says, that's why this appears here in the beginning of משנה תורה Mishneh Torah. כי היסוד הראשון שיהודי יעשה לכרוב, בו ילך אמונת חכמים ויקנה אמרם לגמרי וזה השער לכל השגת התורה. ודבר זה צריך יהודי בעצמו להתייגע Ki ha'yesod ha'rishon she'Yehudi ya'aseh l'karev, bo yelech emunas chachamim v'yikna imra l'gamrei v'zeh hashaar l'chol hasagas haTorah. U'b'davar zeh tzarich Yehudi b'atzmo l'hisyage'a. לא אוכל לבדי שאת אתכם Lo uchal levadi se'es eschem. ענין אמונת חכמים, זה ענין יכול לעשות לכם, הבו לכם אנשים במקום שאין איש Inyan emunas chachamim, zeh inyan ya'chol l'oseis lachem, havu lachem anashim b'makom she'ein ish, that we have to step up and take care of ourselves, regulate ourselves, have good judgment for ourselves. And that's why it appears here, that's why this interruption. That's his perspective. Rabbi Soloveitchik, coming back, he was the one who asked the original question, Rabbi Soloveitchik has a different response. And this is so important in general, particularly important in the nine days and as we're counting down to תשעה באב Tisha B'Av. Said Rabbi Soloveitchik, Moshe interrupts this narrative with a seemingly tangential point, because the prerequisite to enter the land of Israel is an institution of a perfect system of justice. The sequence provides the blueprint for the coming of משיח Mashiach as well. And the historical precedent is the rationale for the sequence of the ברכות brachos in שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esrei. I'll tell it to you outside. But the Rav says it's a tradition that we have is that if we want redemption, you want to go into ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael is where we're meant to build the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, השראת השכינה hashra'as ha'Shechinah and קרבנות korbanos. But you know what the prerequisite to a religious life is? A just and righteous life, a moral and ethical life. That's not to say as many tragically say, what does it matter if I keep שבת Shabbos or keep כשרות kashrus? I'm a good person. All that matters, I'm honest, and I'm good, and I'm kind. We don't believe that. Of course, of course, all those other things matter and we're responsible for them. But you also have the other extreme. How many people put on רבינו תם Rabbenu Tam תפילין tfillin and שאַקעלען shuckel the hardest, and at business, they're ruthless, they cut corners, they cheat, they steal. It's terrible. It's absolutely terrible. And the prerequisite to גאולה geulah to redemption, the prerequisite to השראת השכינה hashra'as ha'Shechinah, קרבנות korbanos and the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, even before that is righteousness, justice, honesty, and integrity. And says Rabbi Soloveitchik, that's why we're interrupting. Moshe says we're about to go into Israel, but you know what must precede building a בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash? Before we can build a holy structure and engage in holy activity, we have to be holy. And how are we holy? Through holy honesty and integrity and justice. And said the Rav so beautifully, where else do you see this? In the sequence of the ברכות brachos that we recite three times a day in שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esrei, in the עמידה Amidah. After initially speaking about our individual needs, סלח לנו slach lanu, הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, forgive me, רפאנו rfa'einu, give me good health, ברך עלינו bareich aleinu, let the stock market go up and rebound from yesterday. After that, the שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esrei then comes to כלל ישראל'ס Klal Yisrael's communal redemption. And what do we say? Gather us all together, תקע בשופר גדול tika b'shofar gadol. And then, what would I have thought should come next? תקע בשופר גדול לחירותנו Tika b'shofar gadol l'cheiruseinu, gather us together. What should come after gather us together? ולירושלים V'liYerushalayim. What should come next? ולירושלים עירך V'liYerushalayim ircha. Gather us together and bring us to ירושלים Yerushalayim, build the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash. Let's restart קרבנות korbanos, as צמח דוד tzemach David. Let's build the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash. צמח דוד Tzemach David is the redemption, the redemptive of the eschatological era, that דוד המלך David haMelech, that משיח Mashiach come. But what do we do? As soon as we mentioned תקע בשופר גדול tika b'shofar gadol, as soon as we mention our yearning and longing to return to the land to rebuild the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, before we can get the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, what do we have to say first? השיבה שופטינו כבראשונה Hashiva shofteinu k'varishonah. מלך אוהב צדקה ומשפט Melech oheiv tzedakah u'mishpat. הקדוש ברוך הוא Kadosh Baruch Hu, we acknowledge, you love צדקה ומשפט tzedakah u'mishpat. Not just the giving of צדקה tzedakah, the practice of righteousness. You love justice and righteousness, honesty, integrity. So first we say we want to go back, תקע בשופר tika b'shofar. We want ולירושלים v'liYerushalayim and צמח tzemach. How do we get there? Through, through השיבה שופטינו כבראשונה Hashiva shofteinu k'varishona, through מלך אוהב צדקה ומשפט melech oheiv tzedakah u'mishpat. So the interruption of the narrative here is in fact, is in fact a formula and prescription for how we get back, which is what we so desperately want. I'll end by sharing with you, as I've done throughout my life, rip off from my younger brother who's much smarter than myself. He gave the חבורה chaburah here this past Shabbos. He gave a wonderful חבורה chaburah, and these sources come from the חבורה chaburah he gave, borrowed, plagiarized, like so much of my life from my brother. So, from my use, I should say, from my brother. The פסוק pasuk in משלי כ\"א Mishlei chaf aleph says עשה צדקה ומשפט נבחר להשם מזבח asoh tzedakah u'mishpat nivchar l'Hashem mizavach. If you think what I'm saying is like, you know, it could be giving in, in a, this could be a sermon in some other denomination's services, more important than sacrifices is righteousness, we have to, you know, be a light unto the nations, and we have to, it this is what we believe. We also just believe in the second part of where we're going and why we're going there and our obligation to do it. But שלמה המלך Shlomo haMelech, משלי Mishlei, עשה צדקה ומשפט asoh tzedakah u'mishpat. You need to practice righteousness and justice, נבחר nivchar, it is more chosen, it's more beloved to השם Hashem, מזבח mizavach, than קרבנות korbanos. The קרבנות korbanos, the רבינו תם Rabbenu Tam תפילין tfillin, the שאַקעלען shuckeling, the תהלים זאָגן Tehillim zogging, the out-פרומקייט froming the person next to you is all counterfeit. It's inauthentic, it's empty. It means nothing to השם Hashem if it's not predicated on צדקה ומשפט tzedakah u'mishpat. צדקה ומשפט Tzedakah u'mishpat are more נבחר nivchar, מזבח mizavach, are greater than פרומקייט fromkeit. Does that mean I don't have to be from, I just have to be good and honest? No, of course not. חס ושלום chas v'shalom, I want to be very clear, that's why I keep repeating that. גמרא סוכה מ\"ט עמוד א' אמר רבי אליעזר Gemara Sukkah mem tes amud aleph, amar Rabi Eliezer, גדול העושה צדקה יותר מכל הקרבנות gadol ha'oseh tzedakah yoser mikol ha'korbanos. If you give צדקה tzedakah, you do צדקה tzedakah, you stand up for the underprivileged, you defend the vulnerable, you protect righteousness, you conduct yourself with integrity, it's greater than all the קרבנות korbanos. We long for קרבנות korbanos, and in its place right now, we have. have דאווענען davening. And דאווענען davening is critically important. You all know how how much that means to me, how much I speak about it, try to teach about it. But even more important than all that, גדולה צדקה יותר מכל הקרבנות. Gedola tzedakah yoser mikol hakorbanos. I'm just sharing some of his sources, there are many more. דברים רבה, Devarim Rabbah, the מדרש דברים רבה, Midrash Devarim Rabbah, says, עושה צדקה ומשפט נבחר להשם מזבח. Oseh tzedakah u'mishpat nivchar l'Hashem mizevach. כי זבח אין כתיב, אלא מזבח. Ki zevach ein ksiv, ela mizevach. It doesn't say if you do righteousness and justice, if you're honest, it's as if you brought a קרבן korban, it says, it's greater than a קרבן korban. How could that be? The answer is הקרבנות לא היו קרבים, נוהגות אלא בפני הבית. hakorbanos lo hayu kreivim, nohagos ela bifnei ha'bayis. Because קרבנות korbanos could only be brought in the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash. אבל צדקה והדינים נוהגים בפני הבית ושלא בפני הבית. Aval tzedakah v'hadinim nohagim bifnei ha'bayis v'shelo bifnei ha'bayis. קרבנות אין מכפר אלא על שוגג. Korbanos ein mekhaper ela al shogeg. הצדקה והדין מכפרים בין על שוגג בין למזיד. Hatzdakah v'hadin mekhaprim bein al shogeg bein l'meizid. The קרבנות korbanos could only atone for a person who did something by accident. But if you're righteous and you're good, then it can atone even for a person who makes who does something למזיד l'meizid, who does something on purpose.Once, פעם אחת, אבות דרבי נתן. pa'am achas, Avos D'Rabbi Nasan. רבי יוחנן בן זכאי Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai is leaving ירושלים Yerushalayim, רבי יהושע Rabbi Yehoshua's walking after him. He sees the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash, is in flames, is destroyed. אמר רבי יהושע, אוי לנו על זה שהוא חרב, מקום שמכפרים בו עונותיהם של ישראל. Amar Rabbi Yehoshua, oy lanu al zeh shehu charev, makom she'mekhaprim bo avonoseihem shel Yisrael. רבי יהושע Rabbi Yehoshua cries out. He looks and he's broken and he says, this holy בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash, it's destroyed. So אמר לו, amar lo, he said, רבי יוחנן בן זכאי Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai says to him, don't worry, יש לנו כפרה אחרת שהיא כמותה. yesh lanu kapparah acheres shehi kemoso. ואיזו זו? זו גמילות חסדים. V'eizo zu? Zu gemilus chasadim. Don't look, you thought the only way to connect to השם Hashem is through the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash. You're crying because it's destroyed. You know, we have another means, another channel, another way to connect to him. You know what that is? חסד. Chesed. צדקה ומשפט. Tzedakah u'mishpat.Again, there are many more sources. I'll just share one more with you. ירושלים בניין ראשון למה חרבה? Yerushalayim binyan rishon lamma charva? The תוספתא במנחות. Tosefta b'Menachos. Why was ירושלים Yerushalayim destroyed, בניין בית המקדש, binyan Beis HaMikdash, the בית המקדש, Beis HaMikdash? על עבודה זרה, גילוי עריות, שפיכות דמים. Al avodah zarah, gilui arayos, shfichus damim. אבל באחרונה, מעידים אנו בהם שהם עמלים בתורה וזהירים במעשרות, למה גלו? Aval ba'achronah, me'idim anu bahem shehem ameilim baTorah u'zehirim b'maasros, lamah galu? Okay? So it was destroyed. But in the end we see that they were learning Torah. They had more בתי מדרש battei medrash, more כוללים kollelim, more Torah learning. They were careful with מעשר maaser, with everything. So why were they exiled? Listen to the תוספתא. Tosefta. שהיו אוהבים את הממון ושונאין איש את רעהו. Shehayu ohavim es hamamon v'son'in ish es rei'eihu. They loved their money more than they loved other people. And so they cut corners and they took advantage, and they misrepresented, and they distorted things, and they were dishonest, because they loved their money.חבר'ה Chevra, if we want בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash, if we want משיח Moshiach to come, if we want this antisemitism to end, the hate to end, and we long for an era of peace, then the נביא navi tells us how to get there. ישעיהו. Yeshayahu. ציון במשפט תפדה ושביה בצדקה. Tzion b'mishpat tipadeh v'shaveha b'tzedakah. It's במשפט ובצדקה b'mishpat u'v'tzedakah is how we get back. Yes with דאווענען davening with all of our intent, and yes with learning Torah, and yes with being vigilant in הלכות שבת and הלכות כשרות and הלכות ברכות, hilchos Shabbos and hilchos kashrus and hilchos brachos, yes in all of that. But the prerequisite, and that's what the Torah is telling us by interrupting the narrative, the prerequisite to getting there, you can't get to ירושלים ונשמח, Yerushalayim v'nismach, if you're not אוהב צדקה ומשפט oheiv tzedakah u'mishpat like הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu himself. Have a great week.
