Transcript
Okay, good morning everyone. I want to thank our series sponsor for the year, Becky and Avi Katz and family who sponsored this year's פרשה Parsha שיעור shiur in memory of David Grossman, דוד בן מנחם מנש David ben Menachem Manish. His נשמה neshamah should have an עליה aliyah. This morning's שיעור shiur in particular, פרשת כי תצא Parshas Ki Seitzei, is also generously sponsored by Alan Shenker in honor of his mother Ruth Shenker from St. Louis, who passed away. She was 100 years old. Her נשמה neshamah should have an עליה aliyah. פרשת כי תצא Parshas Ki Seitzei is chalk full of מצוות mitzvot, an amazing, amazing פרשה parsha and we could spend an entire hour on any one given פסוק pasuk, on any one given מצוה mitzvah in the פרשה parsha. Unfortunately, we don't have that luxury. So we'll see how far as we get, but it's an amazing מצוה mitzvah. Moshe is continuing his charge to the Jewish people when they enter the living land of Israel to set up a a country steeped in Torah values, a model for the rest of the world to learn from. So included in that is כי תצא למלחמה על אויביך ki seitzei la'milchama al oivecha. Unfortunately, the world and life is filled with wars. There are battles that have to be fought. We go out to defend our land and our people, sometimes defensive battles, sometimes even offensive battles. And here of course, all the מפרשים meforshim talk about, we won't elaborate on this morning, but the idea that this battle כי תצא למלחמה ki seitzei la'milchama is not only describing the national collective battle, but it's describing the individual personal battle. Each of us face battles every single day, our alter ego, our voice of self-sabotage, we fight temptation, distraction, anxiousness, worry, doubt. There are battles, there are wars that we fight on a regular basis, and the same prescription for how to fight collectively is true and can be applied to how to fight as individuals and to defeat our alter ego, to defeat the voice of resistance, to defeat the יצר הרע yetzer hara as well. That's our topic for שבת שובה Shabbos Shuvah this year. Are you impressed I already know my topic for שבת שובה Shabbos Shuvah? The topic is the יצר הרע yetzer hara. How do we define it and how do we overcome it? The notion of resistance, the יצר הרע yetzer hara ultimately is the resistance that's holding us back. And here the Torah דיברה תורה כנגד יצר הרע dibra Torah keneged yetzer hara, the Torah talks about, it opens here פרשת כי תצא Parshas Ki Seitzei with the story of the יפת תואר Yefas Toar, that a person is at war, who's battling, encounters a beautiful woman, and can't hold themself back. The Torah says exactly what they should do, why they should do. Is the Torah part of Utopian literature? Or is the Torah a practical guide for a reality, a reality of fallible people living with temptation and with struggle. The Torah then goes on כי תהיין לאיש שתי נשים האחת אהובה והאחת שנואה ki sihyena le'ish shtei nashim, ha'achas ahuvah ve'ha'achas senuah. A man has two wives. God bless him. And has children, who is the בכור bechor. And then we move into the בן סורר ומורה Ben Sorer U'Moreh. כי יהיה לאיש בן סורר ומורה Ki yihyeh le'ish ben sorer u'moreh, a הלכה halacha that never happened, לא היה ולא נברא lo haya v'lo nivra. It has never occurred. And yet, why do we study it? לדרוש ולקבל שכר lidrosh u'lekabel schar. If we study it, we get a reward. And the מפרשים meforshim point out, what's the reward we get for studying is we are spending time understanding parenting, children, what makes them tick, our responsibility as parents, where children go wrong and how we keep them on the straight and narrow. There's a lot to say. We've studied this in the past, what we can learn from בן סורר ומורה Ben Sorer U'Moreh about parents speaking with one voice, with two voices, who are parents who are practicing what they preach. Where does a rebellious child come from? Again, we've spoken about this in the past. We continue כי יהיה באיש חטא משפט מות והומת ותלית אותו על עץ ki yihyeh be'ish cheit mishpat maves v'humas v'salisa oso al eitz. We have the story, the prohibition of נבלת המת nivlas hameis. You're not allowed to push off or delay in burying a person. לא תלין נבלתו על העץ lo salin nivlaso al ha'eitz, בל תלין bal talin is to delay a burial. We prefer, we preferably bury a person as soon as possible, the same day they expire, the same day they leave this world. Of course, that's not always feasible. Sometimes we're waiting for family to come in, sometimes there are arrangements that need to be made, sometimes there is a hurricane threatening you. We don't always have the ability to do things on our timetable, and the calculation הלכתית halachically is whatever will give the greatest כבוד המת kavod hameis. But there is a biblical prohibition of לא תלין lo salin. You're not allowed to delay. קבור תקברנו ביום ההוא Kavor tikberenu ba'yom hahu. The greatest honor is to try to bury that day. ולא תטמא את אדמתך v'lo setameh es admascha, and so on. The next section, לא תראה את שור אחיך או את שיו נדחים והתעלמת מהם Lo sireh es shor achicha o es seyo nidachim v'his'alamta mehem. השב תשיבם לאחיך Hashev tashivaim le'achicha. We're on page 1048, פרק כ\"ב פסוק א Perek Chaf Beis, Pasuk Aleph. I'm speaking quickly, I apologize, I want to get so much in. פרשת כי תצא Parshas Ki Seitzei, as I mentioned, it's chalk full of these מצוות mitzvot that are teaching us interpersonally how to live in this world in a very real way, in a way that resonates deeply for us. פרשת כי תצא Parshas Ki Seitzei is challenging us not just how to avoid being bad people, but what does it mean to be a good person? I've shared this idea many, many times that in America, what we describe as a good person is not actually a good person. Who's a good American? Someone who doesn't steal on their taxes, doesn't cheat, doesn't lie, doesn't rape, doesn't pillage, doesn't harass. But that's not actually someone who's good. All that is is someone who's not bad. Our expectation is so low. The bar is so low. To be a good American, a good American citizen, don't, don't, don't, don't, and don't. That's not good, that's just not bad. To be a good Jew, the Torah challenges us to be a good person. Our definition of a good person is more than just that you avoid bad or evil, but that we are actually molded and shaped into becoming good people. And here's a good and this פרשת כי תצא Parshas Ki Seitzei is filled with examples of it. The sensitivity, the thoughtfulness, the consciousness, the mindfulness, the care, the concern, the empathy we have to have with others. לא תראה שור אחיך או שיו נדחים Lo sireh shor achicha o seyo nidachim. You're not allowed to see your brother's sheep or goat who are wandering lost, והתעלמת מהם v'his'alamta mehem. What are you going to close your eyes? השב תשיבם לאחיך Hashev tashivaim le'achicha. In other words, you see someone has a lost object. American law doesn't require you, British law doesn't require you, European law, there's no law that requires you when you see someone's lost object to return it, but Torah law does require you. והתעלמת מהם V'his'alamta mehem, you're going to close your eyes? That's not a luxury that we afford ourselves. We're not entitled to do that. We have a הלכתית halachic responsibility and a הלכתית halachic obligation to uh, to return a lost object, because we have to be good and kind and moral and ethical, and being good is not just about not being bad. Being good is actually about being good. It's another level, it's a different standard. We're trying to achieve a different, a different way of being, a different way of being. So השב תשיבם לאחיך Hashev tashivaim le'achicha, you have to be able to give it back to your, to your brother. That's the responsibility.The um, there's an amazing של\"ה הקדוש Shlah Hakadosh. The של\"ה הקדוש Shlah Hakadosh, the author of the שני לוחות הברית Shnei Luchos HaBris, Rabbi Yeshayah Horowitz, in his של\"ה הקדוש Shlah Hakadosh, in his שני לוחות הברית Shnei Luchos HaBris, he says the following: אם באבידת ממון הזהירה תורה שלא להתעלם מהם, אלא על כל אחד ואחד מוטל החובה להשיבם לבעליהם, על אחת כמה וכמה באבידת הנפש כן Im b'aveidas mamon hizhira Torah shelo lehisalem mehem, ela al kol echad v'echad mutal ha'chova le'hashivam l'ba'aleihem, al achas kama v'kama b'aveidas ha'nefesh kein. If a person loses a material possession, an object, and we're not allowed to cover our eyes, we can't pretend we didn't see it. We have to go out of our way to try to identify the owner and to return it to them. If that's true for a physical material possession, all the more so is true for a lost person. When a person is lost. I don't mean you're in Disney or Epcot and there's a lost child. There's also a מצוה mitzvah to try to help them find their parent, but I mean or what the של\"ה הקדוש Shlah Hakadosh means is when there's a person who with their נשמה neshamah is lost. They're a lost soul. They're wandering, נדחים nidachim, they're wandering through life and they're a lost soul. They've lost an anchor of what's important, of what matters, of what's a priority. They've lost a direction of how to achieve goals and how to aspire and how to be their best self. They've lost the sense of יידישקייט Yiddishkeit. They're off the דרך derech or they were never introduced to the דרך derech to begin with. If the Torah tells us you're not allowed to see a lost object and neglect it, pretend you don't see it, then you're not allowed to see a lost soul and neglect it, him or her, and pretend you don't see that. We emphasize all the time we live in a county that's so densely and richly populated with Jews. South Palm Beach County, Boca Raton, Delray, has more Jews in Boca Raton than many countries in the world, Australia, South Africa, many countries in the world there are Jews. It's 130,000 Jews in our. You go to this, just the other day. Where was I? I'm just the other day. Oh. Where was I yesterday? I don't remember where I was yesterday. I belong here. Yeah, exactly. I feel right in. So I don't remember where I was yesterday. I'm trying to remember where I was yesterday. A random woman came over to me and she said, it's so nice to see a יארמלקע yarmulke here. I've been living here 40 years and that Jews could be comfortable here wearing יארמלקעס yarmulkes. What a nice sight. She's clearly not observant herself and she appreciates seeing a יארמלקע yarmulke. And then she said, you speak Yiddish? זיין מיר געזונט Zein mir gezunt, and walked away. Good. That's what we call in the outreach world, we call that bageling. At some point it'll strike me where that encounter happened. I don't even remember. But in the outreach world, we call that bageling. People are constantly reaching out and they're saying, invite me for a שבת Shabbos. Invite me for ימים נוראים yomim noraim to Rabbi Brody's outreach program. Invite me, expose me, teach me, bring me in. And והתעלמת מהם v'his'alamta mehem, are we going to close our eyes? Somebody makes that gesture. when they're in the line behind you at Costco and they're reaching for their enormous stock of toilet paper and they say, אוי וויי oy vey. That's the way of saying to you, אוי וויי oy vey, loosely translates to, invite me for a שבת Shabbos meal. Notice that I'm, notice that I'm here. Notice that I'm here and invite me. So the של\"ה הקדוש Shlah Hakadosh says we see that from this פסוק pasuk. כי תראה Ki sireh, if you see נדחים nidachim, they're wandering, והתעלמת מהם v'his'alamta mehem, you're going to close your eyes? You're going to pretend they didn't just bagel you, they didn't just say אוי וויי oy vey, they didn't just introduce themselves, begging for your Jewish attention. Rather, השם תשיבם לאחיך Hashem tashivaim le'achicha. You have to return them. To whom do we return them? To our brother, in this case, to הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We bring our Jewish brothers and sisters back, we bring them home. That is how the של\"ה הקדוש Shlah Hakadosh understands. But again, you see in this פסוק pasuk that the standard in Judaism is not just how to avoid being bad, but this פרשה parsha and this פסוק pasuk in particular, this מצוה mitzvah is teaching us how to be good. Return objects to the rightful owner and return people, return people to a way of life, return people to the יידישקייט Yiddishkeit which each of them is entitled to. ולא קרב אחיך אליך V'lo karav achicha eilecha. ולא ידעתו ואספתו לתוך ביתך והיה עמך עד דרוש אחיך אותו והשבתו לו V'lo yedato va'safto toch beisecha v'haya imcha ad drosh achicha oso va'sheivosa lo. The פסוק pasuk goes on to say that if you don't know to whom to to return it, you don't know the rightful owner, then you take it home and you guard it until you can find that rightful owner. And here the מפרשים meforshim continue to expand. I think the אור החיים Ohr HaChaim takes it the same way. He says, oh, you don't know when the end of days and you don't know how to return that person home, so you bring them in and you you safeguard them along the same lines of applying this פסוק pasuk to the world of, to the world of outreach. Okay.Continuing, the Torah then tells us next, לא תראה את חמור אחיך או שורו נופלים בדרך והתעלמת מהם, הקם תקים עמו Lo sireh es chmar achicha o shoro noflim baderech v'his'alamta mehem, hakeim takem imo. פסוק ד Pasuk Daled, on the bottom of page 1048 onto page 1050. The next פסוק pasuk, if you see your neighbor and you see their donkey is collapsing under its load, so again, you can't turn away, you can't close your eyes, you can't pretend you didn't see it. American law, you could pretend all day long. American law, you could drive by somebody on the side of the road who's trying to change the tire and you could pretend you didn't see them. But in Torah law, you have a הלכתית halachic mandate, a הלכתית halachic responsibility. If you see somebody who's animal is collapsing under its load, והתעלמת מהם v'his'alamta mehem, you're gonna pretend you didn't see it? הקם תקים עמו Hakeim takem imo, you have to help them. You have to be able to help them. There's another story I once read about about the non-Jew up in the Catskills, keeps a יארמלקע yarmulke in his glove compartment. And when his friend found it in the glove compartment and said, what are you doing with that? Why is that in your glove compartment? He said, oh, I keep it there in case I ever get a flat tire. So, what do you mean? He said, if I get a flat tire, I know that if I put that on my head while I'm on the side of the road, I know somebody's going to stop and help me. So that's why he keeps a יארמלקע yarmulke in his glove compartment. So, הקם תקים עמו hakeim takem imo. You see somebody's animal collapsing and you're not going to? We have an obligation. Now it's interesting, here the Torah formulates this מצוה mitzvah, לא תראה את חמור lo sireh es chmar, it identifies you can't see the donkey of your, of אחיך achicha, of your brother. What's interesting is that we have this מצוה mitzvah earlier in the Torah. And when the מצוה mitzvah was mentioned earlier in the Torah, it doesn't say אחיך achicha. It doesn't say your brother. Who does it say there? לא תראה את חמור Lo sireh es chmar, earlier in the Torah? It says לא תראה את חמור שונאך lo sireh es chmar sonacha, of your enemy. When you see the donkey of your enemy collapsing. How did the enemy go to becoming your friend? When the Torah is repeating the מצוה mitzvah, and here in the משנה תורה Mishneh Torah in ספר דברים Sefer Devarim, we have a repetition of many of the מצוות mitzvot. When the Torah is recounting and recalling the מצוה mitzvah, how did your enemy become your friend? How did that happen? So the רמב\"ן Ramban there earlier in the Torah explains exactly how it happened. You know what happened? By the way, not only did your enemy become your friend, but the גמרא Gemara derives in בבא מציעא Bava Metzia that when you drive on the highway and there's two people with flat tires, and one of them is your best friend, and the other is your arch nemesis. The other is your enemy. The other is your number one competitor, the other one is the person who hurt you. So, and you're stopping to help one. Which do you help first? So I would have thought you help your friend first. But the הלכה halacha because it first, the פסוק pasuk is first formulated as שונאך sonacha as your enemy, the גמרא Gemara records that the הלכה halacha is first to help your enemy. הלכתית Halachically, first you have to help your enemy before your friend. So the רמב\"ן Ramban wonders, what happened? When the מצוה mitzvah was first given, it's you can't see the animal or the flat tire of your enemy. And now in ספר דברים Sefer Devarim when it's repeated in כי תצא Ki Seitzei, it's the it's the animal or the car of your friend. What happened? The רמב\"ן Ramban says it's very simple. You know what happened? You helped them. And when you help somebody, they go from being your enemy to your friend. And they go from your enemy to your friend not because they now are indebted to you, not because they now are appreciative to you, but the fact that you've invested in them, they now are an extension of you. You've put yourself out. You've helped someone. You ever hear of killing someone with kindness? You win someone over, because instead of trying to escalate a fight, instead of trying to get even, when you're kind to the person, when you're overly kind to the person, then you've transformed them from being שונאך sonacha, your enemy, to אחיך achicha, to your brother, and to becoming your friend. Now the פסוק pasuk points out הקם תקים hakeim takem, what's the word? הקם תקים עמו Hakeim takem imo. That word עמו imo is very, very significant here. And the מפרשים meforshim here and earlier in the Torah when the מצוה mitzvah is given, emphasize that word עמו imo. What are they emphasizing about the word עמו imo? You are not obligated to change the flat tire on the side of the road if the person is on a lounge chair sipping a piña colada watching you break your back. הקם תקים עמו Hakeim takem imo. You see the animal collapsing. Surely you must help your friend. But the emphasis is on help your friend. The כלי יקר Kli Yakar there, earlier in the Torah, and here the קוצקר רבי Kotsker Rebbe has an insight which will share with you in a moment along the same lines, but it emphasizes that word עמו imo. When there are people around us who are faltering, who are falling, who are struggling, we only have to help people who are helping themselves. If somebody's not making the effort to help themselves, we're not obligated to be their parachute, we're not obligated to rescue them. עמו Imo, a person has to take the initiative, they have to do their part. We don't sweep in and save them while they are reclining comfortably and watching. The הלכה halacha is עמו imo, with them, with them. On this uh, on this insight of עמו imo, in general, the כלי יקר Kli Yakar derives from here, the כלי יקר Kli Yakar goes on a whole, not on our פרשה parsha, earlier, the כלי יקר Kli Yakar goes on, on essentially a tirade, and he says in the world of צדקה tzedakah, we have this all the time. People who aren't working, they're not doing their effort, they're not doing everything they can, but they want to be supported by others, a sense of entitlement. The community should support. I knock on doors and everyone should write that check and I don't have to work and I don't have to make an effort and I don't have to push myself, but the כלי יקר Kli Yakar says עמו imo. When is someone entitled to צדקה tzedakah dollars? Only עמו imo, when the צדקה tzedakah is complementing the effort they're making. But if the צדקה tzedakah is in lieu of an effort, if a person just feels entitled altogether, there's no מצוה mitzvah of צדקה tzedakah, says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar from this פסוק pasuk. הקם תקים עמו Hakeim takem imo, we help the person who is helping themselves. On this, the קוצקר רבי Kotsker Rebbe applies it again to the spiritual world based on the גמרא Gemara in שבת Shabbos. The גמרא Gemara שבת דף קד Shabbos daf kuf daled says הבא לטהר מסייעין אותו מן השמים ha'ba l'taher mesayin oso min ha'shamayim, that a person who wants to transform themselves for the good, Hashem helps you. And a person who is headed towards bad, then בדרך שאדם הולך מוליכין אותו b'derech she'adam holeich molichin oso. You'll find the opportunity to do bad. And says the קוצקר רבי Kotsker Rebbe from here, that what do you see? Hashem wants to help us. If you're floundering, if you're faltering, if you're falling, Hashem is going to catch us, he's going to lift us up. But הקם תקים עמו hakeim takem imo. He needs to see us making our effort. עמו Imo, it's with us that הבא לטהר מסייעין אותו מן השמים ha'ba l'taher mesayin oso min ha'shamayim. It's the month of Elul, we're doing תשובה teshuvah. We can't just say Hashem, transform me. Hashem, make me a better person. Hashem, make me healthier. It's עמו imo, we have to do our part, we take our effort and our initiative, and then עמו imo, Hashem does his part, meets us halfway and helps us as well. Okay, the Torah continues now with more מצוות mitzvot. The next מצוה mitzvah, לא יהיה כלי גבר על אשה ולא ילבש גבר שמלת אשה lo yihyeh kli gever al ishah, v'lo yilbash gever simlas ishah. כי תועבת ה' אלקיך כל עושה אלה Ki so'avas Hashem Elokecha kol oseh eileh. This is not politically correct today. These פסוקים pesukim are dangerous to teach publicly. What once were taken very for granted, not only in a religious Torah community, but in the world at large, and of course I say we we have to study them with sensitivity and with love, with no judgment of others, with warmth, with acceptance, but at the same time we don't have to be apologetic whatsoever about our timeless, sacred Torah values that we believe the creator of the universe who designed the universe has given to us. So here the Torah says לא יהיה כלי גבר על אשה, ולא ילבש גבר שמלת lo yihyeh kli gever al ishah, v'lo yilbash gever simlas, we have a prohibition to mix species. The next several פסוקים pesukim um or the next section includes several פסוקים pesukim that tell us that we have distinct species and we have a Torah obligation to preserve the distinction of those species. God created two genders. He created a world where there's masculinity and femininity. There are men and there are women. Anatomically that's a truth. It's undeniably a truth anatomically. There are, לא עלינו lo aleinu, um babies who are born who do not have a gender specific, where it's unclear, what the משנה Mishnah and the תלמוד Talmud call אנדרוגינוס androgynus and טומטום tumtum and medically is a condition. That once upon a time was a tragic condition where parents had to assign a gender to that child. It was once considered a tragedy. Now people electively are choosing their own pronoun and their own status and their own and their own orientation and so on and so forth. And again, I say this with sensitivity. Long before it was in vogue and popular, we gave a שיעור shiur about transgender. Most popular שיעור shiur I ever gave on on YU Torah, thousands and thousands of listens before it was popular, and I emphasized over and over in there about the importance of dealing with these issues with sensitivity. We can't be callous, we can't be cold, no matter while we are unapologetically preserving our position on these things, we have to do it with a sense of of sensitivity. But the Torah, Hashem created a world where there are genders. By the way, not just in the human species, there are different genders in the animal kingdom, male and female, and there's genders in the plant kingdom. Among the vegetative world, the plants, there are male and female masculine and feminine qualities because in order for there to be an equilibrium and balance in this world, each brings their energy, each brings their quality, and only in combination do we have a continuity to this planet and to this universe. Within the design of the world itself, we see the natural expectation of how continuity occurs and by extension, what the moral position is. So here the Torah tells us this in several different fashions. It tells us to us in the world of dress, cross-dressing is a biblical prohibition because it is blurring the boundary of those separate energies that of masculinity and femininity and the world needs both. Women shouldn't pretend to take on masculine qualities and men shouldn't pretend, the world needs both. Each is contributing and it's the it's the complementing and the balance, the equilibrium which is struck, which is responsible for the continuity of the world. And then we have another example of it, לא תחרוש בשור ובחמור יחדיו lo sachrosh b'shor u'vachamor yachdav, you're not allowed to plow with two animals together. לא תלבש שעטנז צמר ופשתים יחדיו lo silbash shaatnez tzemer u'pishtim yachdav. You're not allowed to wear שעטנז shaatnez. It's true that you can't mix fibers, wool and linen together. גדילים תעשה לך gedilim ta'aseh lach, we have an exception of of uh, גדילים תעשה לך gedilim ta'aseh lach, the four corners of our garments, צצית tzitzis, an exception, עשה דוחה לא תעשה aseh docheh lo sa'aseh, the positive supersedes a negative, that we have a commandment of צצית tzitzis even though it includes, even though it includes שעטנז shaatnez. So here the Torah has several מצוות mitzvot in succession that all deal with this question of preserving separate species. Why does God care about that? Why does it matter? Why do we have to have masculinity and femininity and wool and linen and animals that don't belong together shouldn't be plowing together? You're not allowed to make a hybrid in the animal kingdom. You're not allowed to make a hybrid in the vegetable, in the vegetative world either. You can't take two species and create a hybrid among them. That's a prohibition of כלאים kilayim. We have כלאי הכרם kilayim hakerem, כלאים kilayim on the vine, and we have כלאי השדה kilayim hasadeh, and we have כלאים kilayim of שעטנז shaatnez in our clothing, and we have כלאים kilayim among people. Why is it? So Rabbi Soloveitchik, again, this was not politically correct. I mean at the time it wasn't not politically correct, but it has become less so. And I don't want to spend too much time or create too much of a distraction by sharing this piece. I want to get to an insight of the Lubavitcher Rebbe as that's on this. But Rabbi Soloveitchik writes, \"The plant is described by the Torah as having three unique qualities: growth, תדשא tadshe, reproduction, עשב מזריע זרע eisev mazria zera, and a group identity that's carried through the mechanism of hereditary, עושה פרי למינו oseh p'ri l'mino.\" The Ramban connects the relationship with the prohibition of כלאים kilayim to the quality of group belonging with which God endowed plants and animals at the birth of organic life. We find כלאים kilayim applicable to plant and animal alike. Unnatural mating for the purpose of developing an organic hybrid culture was prohibited. Why? So here the Rav answers, offers his insight. The Torah looks askance at artificial changing of the group traits. The Torah sees in such an act an attempt on one's, on man's part to interfere with the structural and functional patterns that are inherent in organic systems and to bring about unnecessary mutations of forms. The Torah calls such acts השחתה hashchasa, corruption, deterioration, destruction. For all the flesh had corrupted its way on Earth. That's פרשת נח Parshas Noach, when Hashem decides to press a hard reset and start the world from scratch, it's because there was a violation of the natural order and the way that he wanted to. We find a similar injunction in regard to man. I'm not going to read this. It's so politically incorrect. I don't want to upset anybody and upset anyone about the Rav. But the Rav gets into what today has become normative and mainstream. And I share it this morning with you, again, not to upset anyone. We have to relate to it with sensitivity, we have to invite all to find their place within our community with no judgment, and certainly God forbid with no bullying or no harassment. Everyone is welcome and deserves to be treated for their צלם אלוקים tzelm Elokim and the respect that they are. But we, we have a responsibility to Hashem. We have a responsibility to God, who we also have to be sensitive to. It's not only people that we have to be sensitive to. The רבונו של עולם Ribbono Shel Olam wants us to be sensitive to him by preserving his vision for this world. And his vision for this world is, is pretty straightforward and pretty clear about uh, about the expectations of interpersonal relationships and interpersonal and personal identity and these פסוקים pesukim are an expression of that. If you want to understand what I'm trying to dance around and not say explicitly, then buy your own copy of the Rav's חומש Chumash and it's on page 175. You could read it in the Rav's, in the Rav's own words. The Lubavitcher Rebbe also expands on this theme in פרשת קדושים Parshas Kedoshim. I don't remember if we shared this then. If we did, it's good חזרה chazara and if we didn't, then it's good to learn for the first time. But he, he brings our attention to the משנה Mishnah. The משנה Mishnah lists, באחד באדר משמיעין על השקלים be'echad b'Adar mashmi'in al ha'shekalim. On the first day of the month of the month of אדר Adar, they would announce regarding the שקלים shekalim. They would announce that everybody has to come and give their מחצית השקל machtzis hashekel and that fund, that horn, literally the קרן keren that collected the מחצית השקל machtzis hashekel was what funded the uh, collective קרבנות korbanos, the communal sacrifices were from the שקל shekel donations that were given from Nissan to Nissan, but they first began to announce it in אדר Adar. Why? Why couldn't you just use last year's donations to pay for this year? Why do I have to have a כל נדרי Kol Nidrei appeal every year and a shul membership every year? And every year there's new צדקה tzedakah opportunities and every year or every month, every week, every day, there's new appeals that are being done. תומכי שבת Tomchei Shabbos needs your help. Linda's sitting here. תומכי שבת Tomchei Shabbos desperately needs everybody's help for supporting more than 30 families, putting food on their table every single week. It desperately needs your help. So why do you have to uh, replenish the coffers? Why do we have to take from the new fund? Why can't you use from the old fund? That's a הלכה halacha that you're not allowed to use from the, from the old fund. And here the Lubavitcher Rebbe had a very, very amazing insight, a really incredible insight, that you're not allowed to mix the שקל shekel of the old year with the שקלים shekalim of the new year. Just as the laws of כלאים kilayim teach us not to mix the order of creation when it comes to creatures themselves, so too does שקל shekel teach us the same lesson when it comes to time, to our potential, to our goals. Each and every year has its own energy and unique potential for holiness. This is the inner connection between שקל shekel and כלאים kilayim. And why that משנה Mishnah list, I forgot, I'm sorry. The משנה Mishnah list, they would announce two things on ראש חודש אדר Rosh Chodesh Adar. They would announce about the new שקל shekel and they would announce to check your field and make sure that you have no problem of כלאים kilayim. And that's what the Rebbe was asking, what in the world is the connection between the two? Don't forget to make your donation, don't forget to renew your membership, from which we can pay for the communal service. Oh, and don't forget to check your field for כלאים kilayim. And the brilliant insight of the Rebbe was that the common denominator is that we can't create a hybrid. We don't overlap, we don't blur boundaries, we don't mix things that need to remain separate. And just as we don't create a hybrid among species to create something new, so too we don't create a hybrid in time. Everything, לכל זמן ועת lechol zman v'eis, everything has its own time. Each year has its own time, each year has its own energy, and we don't overlap those, we don't overlap those energies, but they're meant to be kept separate and they're meant to be kept distinct. In the שיחה sicha, the Rebbe elaborates on this most longer, but I'll just tell you his conclusion. I'll tell you his conclusion. There are several lessons to be learned from כלאים kilayim that we apply to our general עבודת הקודש avodas hakodesh, our service of Hashem in general. The first is that we don't mix times that we're given unique energies and blessings to use every year. And these blessings constitute a certain responsibility. It's common nowadays that we talk about conservation of resources. And כלאים kilayim teaches us to conserve the unique energies of the year, but not to overlap them or save them. The Lubavitcher Rebbe was very against endowments. He didn't believe in endowments. What's an endowment? You try to collect large donations from which you never touch the principle and you benefit from the interest or the return, and that way you grow an endowment which continues to, the principle continues to produce for you, so that you can grow it. The Lubavitcher Rebbe did not believe in endowments because of this ווארט vort, because of this insight. He believes each energy. each year has its own energy. And if you have that money, change the world with it now. Don't bank it. Don't store it. We have an endowment at BRS. Maybe the שטיבל מנין shtibl minyan doesn't, the rest of the שול shul does. We have an endowment, but he was against it for this reason, because there's a כלאים kilayim in time. The notion of using the power given to us at a time in our life to improve the world in that moment. And don't save it for the next year. Don't mix the energy of different years in our lives. You know, that that there's a כלאים kilayim in time, and that we should have a self-awareness and self-reflection, what am I meant to do in this time and this year? לכל זמן ועת L'chol zman v'eis, everything has its own time. And that's why they had to do a renewed solicitation. It was a renewed collection because there was the מחצית השקל machatzis hashekel for this year, as distinct from the מחצית השקל machatzis hashekel of last year or of next year. Number two, not to mix people. Each and every one of us has a unique mission. To try to do what someone else is doing or destined to do, we will meet with failure. That's not our mission. That's an עבודה זרה avodah zarah, an עבודה avodah, a service which is זרה zarah, which should be foreign to us. But כלאים kilayim in people means we should understand who we are and how we're made up and what our potential and what we're meant to contribute to this world. And not to have כלאים kilayim in our belongings. Not to have כלאים kilayim among what we have. That we understand each of these things has a unique place in this world and that's why השם Hashem created it. Okay, interspersed right in here is the מצוה mitzvah of מעקה ma'akeh. The obligation and responsibility to have a fence around our property. Torah says, כי תבנה בית חדש ועשית מעקה לגגך ki sivneh bayis chadash v'asisah ma'akeh l'gagecha, if you build a new home and you must make a fence around your roof, ולא תשים דמים בביתך v'lo sasim damim b'veisecha, page 1050 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. Make a fence on your roof so that there's no blood on your hands. כי יפל הנפל ממנו Ki yipol hanofel mimenu, lest somebody fall off the roof, and that will be your responsibility. That will be your responsibility. This פסוק pasuk is a Torah obligation. This is one of the תרי\"ג מצוות taryag mitzvos and it is הלכה למעשה halacha l'maaseh. And one of the most dangerous places. This is a הלכתית halachic obligation to have a fence around your pool, on your balcony, on your rooftop, on your staircase. Any place which is potentially dangerous needs to have a fence in order to safeguard, protect, and in order to prevent a disaster. The גמרא בבא בתרא דף נ\"א Gemara in Bava Basra daf nun aleph says the הלכה halacha requires the rail to be a minimum of ten טפחים tfachim, about three and a third feet high, and it has to be designed to withstand the weight of an average person leaning on it. If it's a flimsy fence, you've not fulfilled the הלכה halacha. You're in violation of a Torah prohibition. If it's too low, you're not in fulfillment of the הלכה halacha. I remember in one of my, in one of my previous houses, we're living in our third house in Boca. One of the previous houses, one of my רביים rebbeim was over and saw the railing on the second floor and said that's not tall enough. You're not in fulfillment of the מצוה of מעקה mitzvah of ma'akeh, you have a הלכתית halachic obligation responsibility to make the railing higher, to make it higher. The גמרא in בבא קמא Gemara in Bava Kamma and in כתובות Kesubos learn a corollary of the law that not only can you not are we obligated to prevent anything dangerous by having a railing, you're not allowed to have anything dangerous in your house. A rabid or a wild or violent dog, a flimsy ladder that's not locked up on the side of your house. Having anything dangerous in the house is a violation of מעקה ma'akeh. מעקה Ma'akeh is not just a rooftop or a staircase, but it's something which is even beyond. The רמב\"ם Rambam, the חיי אדם Chayei Adam say this מצוה mitzvah like others requires a ברכה bracha. When you put up that מעקה ma'akeh, if you're expanding that, that fence, you say a ברכה bracha, אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו לעשות מעקה asher kidishanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu la'asos ma'akeh. It's a תרי\"ג מצוה taryag mitzvah, it's one of the מצוות mitzvos, it's a הלכה halacha. It's a הלכה halacha. So the פסוק pasuk about מעקה ma'akeh that we just read is meant to be taken literally and it introduces a מצוה mitzvah, but there's also a very very much deeper message, a broader message. The רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya says here on the פסוק pasuk, כי תבנה בית חדש ki sivneh bayis chadash. The הלכה of מעקה halacha of ma'akeh applies even if it's not a new home. If you build a new home, you have to build it to specs that meet מעקה ma'akeh standards. But even if you buy an existing home, even if you've been living in your home forever and your מעקה ma'akeh specs don't meet the requirement, then you still have to. So you build or acquire an old home, you have to meet this הלכה halacha, ועשית מעקה לגגך v'asisah ma'akeh l'gagecha. So why does the פסוק pasuk here, why does the Torah introduce this מצוה mitzvah with, with these words, כי תבנה בית חדש ki sivneh bayis chadash, when you build a new home. So רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya says the following. He says the following. What does it mean כי תבנה בית חדש ki sivneh bayis chadash? You build or acquire a home, you have a place for your material possessions. This is your place that you reside in, that you live in, that you accumulate your things, where you park your car, where you display your silver. כי תבנה בית חדש Ki sivneh bayis chadash, when you're building your home that you will see as defining you, then put a boundary around it. Put up a fence. That's what he says the פסוק pasuk is telling us. הלכתית Halachically it means, put up a fence that nobody falls. Spiritually what it means, place a boundary over your pursuit of having things. There's nothing wrong with having things. Enjoy them, use them. But ועשית מעקה v'asisah ma'akeh, put a fence. Don't confuse your house, your car, your nice watch, your elaborate wine collection with who you are. Have the nice things, enjoy the nice things, enjoy the comforts of life, but don't confuse those things with who you are. ועשית מעקה לגגך Asisa ma'akeh l'gagecha. So why is it introduced with the words כי תבנה בית חדש ki sivneh bayis chadash? Because he says, this is the month of אלול Elul. בית חדש Bayis chadash, you're trying to establish a new attitude, a new perspective, a new lease on life. You're trying to bring a new energy to your life, כי תבנה בית חדש ki sivneh bayis chadash. If you're trying to do תשובה teshuva and you're trying to create renewal, what's the first step? ועשית מעקה לגגך Asisa ma'akeh l'gagecha. Look at the things in your life and ask, are you מסתפק במועט mistapek b'muat? Are you satisfied with less or do you always need more? Because if you're living a life where you always need more, if it's the relentless pursuit of more, then כי יפל הנפל ki yipol hanofel, you will surely fall. That's what the פסוק pasuk says. If you don't have a boundary, if you don't put up a מעקה ma'akeh, if there's no fence around our pursuit of more, then we will surely fall, and we will surely get damaged. And this is our mission, כי תבנה בית חדש ki sivneh bayis chadash. In this month of אלול Elul, if we want to be growing and improving and pursuing personal growth, ועשית מעקה v'asisah ma'akeh, we need to put up a fence. We have to have boundaries. They have to have context. They belong in a, in a very important and distinct perspective. Okay, I want to use the remainder of our time contrasting two more מצוות mitzvos in our פרשה parsha. Two more sides of a coin, two מצוות mitzvos in our פרשה parsha which I think complement each other beautifully and in many ways, very much represent what the, what the פרשה parsha is about. פרק כ\"ג פסוק י' Perek Kaf Gimmel pasuk yud. Skipping ahead. כי תצא מחנה על אויבך ונשמרת מכל דבר רע Ki seitzei machaneh al oyvecha v'nishmarta mikol davar ra. פרק כ\"ג פסוק י' Perek Kaf Gimmel pasuk yud in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash on page 1054. כי תצא מחנה על אויבך Ki seitzei machaneh al oyvecha. When your camp goes out against your enemy, you're in battle, you're in war, and you're going out. Torah says ונשמרת מכל דבר רע v'nishmarta mikol davar ra. You need to be careful and guard yourself against anything evil. כי יהיה בך איש אשר לא יהיה טהור ממקרה לילה, יצא מחוץ למחנה Ki yihyeh v'cha ish asher lo yihyeh tahor mimikreh layla, yeitzei michutz lamachaneh. How do you והיה מחניך קדש v'hayah machanecha kadosh? How do we preserve a holy and a righteous camp? How are our communities holy? How are they righteous? We're not getting into that right now. But והיה מחנך v'hayah machanecha, our encampment, our community. Do we strive for holiness? David Brooks had a column once where he talked about, do you strive for happiness or do you strive for holiness? What's our aim? What's our goal? How do we measure the success of our community? By happiness or by holiness? It's from this פסוק pasuk, והיה מחניך קדש v'hayah machanecha kadosh. That we have to strive for holiness, not just happiness. But this section is introduced with these words, כי תצא מחנה על אויבך ki seitzei machaneh al oyvecha, when your encampment is going out to confront an enemy, ונשמרת מכל דבר רע v'nishmarta mikol davar ra. You have to be careful and you have to avoid any דבר רע davar ra. What does that mean? What is this דבר רע davar ra that we are avoiding? So רש\"י Rashi says, כי תצא ki seitzei, a throwback to when we used to read inside. כי תצא Ki seitzei, שהשטן מקטרג בשעת הסכנה shehasatan mekaterg b'shaas hasakana. Says רש\"י Rashi, you better be more vigilant and more mindful than usual, כי השטן מקטרג בשעת הסכנה ki hasatan mekaterg b'shaas hasakana. When you're at war, when you're in battle, you're in a moment of danger. And when you're in a dangerous, precarious situation, that's when the שטן satan is aroused. You're even more vulnerable. So when you're in a dangerous situation, be even more vigilant and more aware and more aware. The שפתי חכמים Sifsei Chachamim says, דאם לא כן הרי בבית ג\"כ צריך לשמור מכל דבר רע d'im lo kein harei b'vayis gam kein tzarich lishmor mikol davar ra. Why is the פסוק pasuk saying, be careful from any דבר רע davar ra when you're at war? Why not say when you're home, in between wars, in peace time? לכך אמר שבשעת מלחמה צריך שמירה יתירה, שהשטן מקטרג בשעת הסכנה L'chach omar sheb'shaas milchama tzarich shmira yeseira, shehasatan mekaterg b'shaas hasakana. So that's רש\"י's Rashi's interpretation, that is what we are being careful about. The רמב\"ן Ramban quotes it, and the רמב\"ן Ramban says, והידוע במנהגי המחנות היוצאות למלחמה כי יאכלו כל תועבה, יגזלו ויחמסו ולא יתבוששו, ואפילו בניאוף וכל נבלה. היצר בבני האדם בטבעו ילבש אכזריות וחמה כצאת מחנה על אויב V'hayadua b'minhagei hamachanos hayotzos l'milchama ki yochlu kol to'eiva, yigzlu v'yachmasu v'lo yitbosheshu, v'afilu b'niuf v'chol nevela. Hayetzer b'vnei adam b'tiv'o yilbash achzariyos v'cheima k'tzes machaneh al oyev. We know when it comes to other nations, in a moment of war, the soldier who who confronts their mortality also confronts their morality. Because the soldier says, you know, there's a good chance I'm going to die. What's even moral anymore? So in the context of war, it's easy for the soldier to steal and rape and pillage and and and be disloyal. For the soldier to eat and take things that don't belong to them. על כן הזהיר הכתוב ונשמרת מכל דבר רע Al kein hizhir hakasuv v'nishmarta mikol davar ra. על דרך הפשט היא אזהרה מכל הניאוף Al derech hapshat hi azhara mikol haniuf. So the רמב\"ן Ramban says this פסוק pasuk is specifically not talking about when you're comfortable relaxing at home, be careful from any דבר רע davar ra. It's the soldier at war, and we know that. Soldiers who have acted immorally, unethically, because they're confronting their own mortality and they confront their own morality. So the רמב\"ן Ramban says that's why we have this extra special caution to be careful when you're at war. The בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim however has a different take. And the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim is quoting the מדרש ויקרא רבה Midrash Vayikra Rabbah, and I wrote about it last week, and it's what I want to bring to your attention, it's from our פרשה parsha. And it's and it talks to the power of speech, and how we could use speech for the good or for the bad. So the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim says מכל דבר רע, זה ניבול פה mikol davar ra, zeh nivul peh. מכל דבר Mikol davar, the word דבר davar is a play on words here for the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim quoting from the מדרש midrash. The word דבר davar comes from the word דיבור dibur. דבר Davar means a word. דיבור Dibur means speech. So the soldier at war is being cautioned, מכל דיבור רע mikol dibur ra, מכל דבר רע mikol davar ra, מכל דיבור רע mikol dibur ra. When you're a soldier at war, you're going to start cursing and swearing and using profanity and vulgarity because what do you care? You're at war. It's life or death. People are shooting at each other, trying to kill each other. So the Torah says to the soldier, don't compromise your dignity. Don't compromise your morality. Don't compromise your classiness, who you are. Even when you're at war and you're going to be tempted to curse. And that's true not only for the soldier at war, but this temptation exists in the war in life. Some people are at the war in the in the boardroom, in the war raising children, in the war getting through the day. They're at war trying to pump weights in the gym. And when we get our juices flowing and we're battling in the gym, battling in the boardroom, battling at home with our kids, battling in whatever way, battling to defeat an illness, battling to overcome grief or loss, we're tempted מכל דבר רע mikol davar ra. Sometimes we we're tempted to use profanity or vulgarity. And that's what the Torah is cautioning us here. Don't forfeit your humanity. Don't concede what makes you special. Why is cursing bad? Why is cursing so bad? There was a famous routine from a famous comedian many years ago, George Carlin, on this on this very topic. That what makes certain words a curse word? Because certain people allocated or or designated certain words. Words are just words. That was the theme of his routine. Of course I never heard. But the theme of his routine was that words are just words, so some people will designated them. That's what makes them curses? The answer is yes. They're not arbitrary, and they're not random. And once they take on that designation, that is significant. When they're used in that designation. You see, what differentiates us from the animal kingdom is the power of speech. Torah says that הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu breathed life into us. And אונקלוס Onkelos there translates לרוח ממללא l'ruach memalela. What does it mean when it says that God ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים vayipach b'apav nishmas chayim, that God breathed life into us? אונקלוס Onkelos translates it means he gave us the power of speech. Now parenthetically, to whom were we meant to speak? This was before חווה Chava came on the scene. Speaking was no problem once she was introduced. But before she came on the scene, to whom was אדם Adam intended to speak? He was given this gift. Once we're being politically incorrect. He was given this gift of of speech. I live in a girls' dormitory. So I'm allowed to say that. I have six daughters and a wife. So I know a lot about the power of speech. So the before חווה Chava came on the scene, אדם Adam is given this gift of the power of speech. To whom was he meant to speak? The animals? Who was he speaking with? The answer is, what's the original intent, the original purpose of speech? Who could אדם Adam talk to? Who was he invited to talk to? The רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam. Prayer is the original purpose of the power of speech. Oh, once we have it to speak to השם Hashem, we could also use it to speak to one another, and we can use it in other constructive ways, but the original purpose of the power of prayer is to speak to השם Hashem. So what differentiates man from the animal kingdom? Our sophisticated, advanced power of communication. When we use it mindfully, when we use it with class and dignity, then we are promoting our Godliness, our humanity. And when we lower ourselves, when we lower ourselves to use whatever comes to mind and we don't have the discipline or the dignity to monitor our speech, if we use ניבול פה nivul peh, profanity and cursing, then we are, then we are nourishing the animal in us, not the uniquely human. So that's why ניבול פה nivul peh matters. The גמרא in שבת on דף ל\"ג Gemara in Shabbos on daf lamed gimmel speaks very powerfully about the punishment that comes to a generation who engage in ניבול פה nivul peh. And I wrote the article this week because I'm very fearful that's our generation. I told the story recently I was with my kids and somebody made a comment, a stranger made a comment to me and felt the need to use the most vulgar curse that we have. I didn't want to hear it. And my kids asked me, why did he have to curse? And I have no good answer. And the truth is, and I quoted the statistics in this article, it used to be that people in positions of leadership had greater dignity, or we had more expectations of their classiness, and they're they're more careful about their language. And today, there's no place which is immune from profanity and vulgarity. It starts from the top. It's not a comment on the president, you like him, you hate him, Israel, other thing, race. I'm not commenting on it. But it's undeniable the vulgarity and how foul-mouthed he is and what that's done to our culture. And here's the thing, because I equally will rank on both sides. This is a bipartisan condemnation. Is it's not just him. The Democrats in the primary who all say he's unpresidential and want to replace him, are dropping bombs bursting in air and interviews and debates and cursing as if there's somehow communicating more effectively. I'm less impressed, not more. If you're smart, you can find a way to articulate your thoughts in a compelling, persuasive fashion without having to resort to a curse. When you resort to a curse, you're just trying to, to tap into people's emotion. I don't know what you're trying to do, but it's less impressive and it's not more. It's less impressive, not more. It's using the animal part of your brain, not the Godly, human part of the brain. And this is not mine, this comes from research I read, Professor Benjamin Bergen in the book he wrote about what swearing reveals about our language, our brains and ourselves. How some stroke victims can still swear fluently, even if their other language abilities are severely impaired. Advanced language comes from the more sophisticated parts of the brain while swearing taps into a more primal neural hardware in the basal ganglia. Similarly Tourette's syndrome, dysfunction of the basal ganglia can cause an overwhelming urge to swear. The animal part of us wants to curse. It's the human part of us that is able to monitor and regulate and hold it back. So when you curse, you're literally like an animal. And it's when you can regulate your speech not to curse that you're expressing your humanity and your Godliness. The מחזור ויטרי Machzor Vitri, one of the great students of רש\"י Rashi writes that the prohibition of ניבול פה nivul peh is a דאורייתא d'oraisa prohibition. It's from our פסוק ונשמרת מכל דבר רע v'nishmarta mikol davar ra, מכל דיבור רע mikol dibur ra, that be careful what comes out of our mouth, how we use that power of language, that gift of communication. Do we lower ourselves or do we elevate ourselves through our power of speech? It reflects and says so much about us. There's another פסוק pasuk in our פרשה parsha, which also reflects, which also is brought as a source for this very same idea, maybe the biblical source for it. The פסוק pasuk says, ולא יראה בך ערות דבר lo yera'eh b'cha ervas davar. לא יראה בך ערות דבר Lo yera'eh b'cha ervas davar. So the מדרש ויקרא רבה Midrash Vayikra Rabbah says, ערות דיבור ervas dibur, not ערות דבר ervas davar, ערות דיבור ervas dibur. Just like there's ערוה erva, there's promiscuity between people. There's there's immodesty, promiscuity, lewd and lascivious behavior between people. So too there's ערות דיבור ervas dibur in speech, there can be lewdness and profanity in the realm of speech. The של\"ה הקדוש Shelah HaKadosh, we quoted him earlier, the שני לוחות הברית Shnei Luchos HaBris, he writes that cursing is the אבי אבות הטומאה avi avos hatumah, the ultimate source of impurity in our lives is when we can't regulate our own speech and when a person resorts to cursing, it's the אבי אבות הטומאה avi avos hatumah. The מהר\"ל Maharal has an amazing insight. The מהר\"ל Maharal says, you know, cursing is described, the גמרא in שבת Gemara in Shabbos that talks about ניבול פה nivul peh describes it even worse than other forms of impure language, worse than לשון הרע lashon hara, gossip, and worse than swearing falsely and worse than... And the מהר\"ל Maharal says, you know why? Because in each of those cases, when you abuse the power of speech, you're doing it to a recipient. You're speaking to somebody else, and there's some form of a benefit to you in telling that לשון הרע lashon hara, in swearing falsely, there's an agenda, there's a benefit. But when you curse, there's no one around. All you've done is degrade yourself. There's no audience to hear. All you've done is compromise your very self with no benefit. And that's the most degrading and therefore the most severe. He writes this in the נתיב הצניעות פרק ד' Nesiv HaTzniyus perek daled. The מהר\"ל Maharal says. So using or listening to vulgarity is to take this beautiful gift, the power of communication, the power of speech and contaminating it, it's spoiling it, it's destroying it. It's so beneath us and it lowers an entire generation. And the point of my article, which I won't repeat, you could read it. The point of the article was that as focused as some are on climate change and protecting the environment, there's another environment we need to protect. And it becomes compromised and we have to worry about future generations of that environment. And the environment is the power of speech. When you can't watch a debate with your children because you're worried about bombs bursting in air, when you can't watch an interview with the President of the United States or those who aspire for that office from any party because you're worried about what foul mouth will, what vulgarity will come out of their foul mouth, we've got a problem. Our environment is getting compromised not only for our generations, but generations to come, and we need, we need a return. There used to be standards. There used to be standards. I wrote in the article, there was an episode in the 1950s of I Love Lucy that Lucy was supposed to tell her husband that she was pregnant. But the word pregnant was too risque and racy to use on TV. So therefore she had to say that she was expecting a baby. And it was a controversial episode on CBS because the notion that she was pregnant itself was... I'm not suggesting we go back to that. I'm not suggesting that that was a balanced place to be, but think about how far we've come. How far we've come where there are no standards at any hour of the day, on any form of media, there are no standards and it is compromising and contaminating our environment. But I want to end by going in the opposite direction. So how do we use the power of speech? I was going to speak about honesty in business. I had so much to talk about. Oh, the end of the פרשה parsha. The end of the פרשה parsha. Honesty in business. You know what the Torah calls dishonest weights and measures? A תועבה to'eiva, an abomination. Some in the frum community like to use the word תועבה to'eiva. We bandit around the word תועבה to'eiva, abomination, to talk about what we were alluding to earlier in the רב Rav. And the Torah does use the word abomination when it talks about those those issues. But it also used the word abomination to talk about honest weights and measures. People who are dishonest in business, who bend the rules in business, who steal, lie, and cheat in business, who cut corners in business are an abomination, are a תועבה to'eiva. They're an abomination to השם Hashem and to all of us and to our community. Okay, but the other, the other side of the coin that I wanted to share with you is a פסוק pasuk in פרק כ\"ג פסוק כ\"ב Perek Kaf Gimmel pasuk kaf beis. פרק כ\"ג פסוק כ\"ב Perek Kaf Gimmel pasuk kaf beis. The Torah says, if you make a promise to God, so you pledge, you make a vow. לא תאחר לשלמו Lo sa'acher l'shalmo, don't delay in paying it off. כי דרש ידרשנו השם אלקיך מעמך והיה בך חטא Ki darosh yidreshenu Hashem Elokecha mei'imach v'hayah b'cha chet. And here the מפרשים mefarshim, I was going to get into it, we don't have time. רש\"י Rashi says שלש רגלים shalosh regalim. If you vow to make a pledge of a קרבן korban to השם Hashem, you have three רגלים regalim. You have three ימים טובים yomim tovim, one cycle of the holidays to pay it off, don't delay. Make good on it. That's the negative prohibition. Now the Torah tells us on the positive, gives us an עשה aseh, a מצות עשה mitzvas aseh in addition to the לא תעשה lo sa'aseh. What's the מצות עשה mitzvas aseh? The Torah מוצא שפתיך תשמר ועשית motza sefasecha tishmor v'asisa, כאשר נדרת להשם אלקיך נדבה אשר דברת בפיך ka'asher nadarta l'Hashem Elokecha nedava asher dibarta b'ficha. Whatever you observe and carry out what emerges from your lips, just as you vowed a voluntary gift to השם Hashem, whatever you spoke with your mouth, so shall you do. What promise, what vow is the פסוק pasuk referring to? So the גמרא in ראש השנה דף ו' Gemara in Rosh Hashanah daf vav interprets your mouth as someone who makes a vow to צדקה tzedakah and says that it has the status of a נדר neder. So if you say, count me in for the כל נדרי Kol Nidrei appeal. Put me down for a pillar. I want to be a friend of BRS, I take advantage of the פרשה parsha class every week. I use the air conditioning and the lights and the parking lot and the rabbi's time. I want to contribute. Put me down, I'm going to be a friend of BRS. When we make a pledge with our lips to give to צדקה tzedakah, we have a הלכתית halachic responsibility. It has the status of a נדר neder. And you can't renege on it. If you fail to fulfill it, you violated a Torah prohibition. That's why the שולחן ערוך in יורה דעה, סימן רנ\"ז Shulchan Aruch in Yoreh Deah, siman reish nun zayin tells us, a person should always say בלי נדר bli neder. When you make a pledge, I'd rather you not say בלי נדר bli neder. But if you want to cover yourself when you make a pledge, you always say בלי נדר bli neder, without making a promise. I'll do my best. I'll try. I'll try to participate. Because if you don't say the words בלי נדר bli neder without a promise, then it has the הלכתית halachic status of a promise, and we hold you accountable, הלכתית halachically. We can in בית דין beis din extract that money from you, because if you made that promise, if you offer, you can't offer lip service and fail to fulfill it. So the commentators encourage us to understand the פסוק pasuk as not just limited to vows, not just limited to צדקה tzedakah. This is a general directive. This is like I said, the other side of the coin, of abusing a power of speech by using ניבול פה nivul peh. But this is a general directive to be extremely careful to fulfill our promises, to keep our word, to be truthful and honest in whatever emerges from our lips. Why does the פסוק pasuk say the word תשמור tishmor? Guard what comes out of your lips. רבנו יונה Rabbeinu Yonah in the fourth פרק perek of משלי Mishlei explains that humans are designed to forget. We may have had the greatest intention to fulfill our promise. When we said it, we meant it. And when we said it, we meant to follow through on it. And you know what happened? Life got in the way. There was a hurricane that was scheduled to destroy you or wipe you out. Something else happened in the world. יום טוב Yom Tov season interrupted. When we said it, we meant it. We had the best intentions. But we were designed to forget. And that's why the Torah specifically enjoins us, תשמור tishmor, make sure that you preserve it. Make a note, write it down, send yourself an email, hold yourself accountable. תשמור Tishmor, be vigilant and careful and scrupulous. The burden is on us to safeguard and follow through on whatever promise that we make. And I would suggest that this is true, the מוצא שפתיך תשמור motza sefasecha tishmor, not to abuse the power of speech means whatever emerges from our lips, we have to fulfill that promise. We have to fulfill that promise in a meaningful way. There's an amazing story about מורי ורבי, my רבי rebbe, Rav Schechter, who today doesn't drink coffee, he only drinks tea. And he gives countless שיעורים shiurim and he often, I've been with him, I've made him tea, he counts on hot tea to soothe his throat, not lose his voice. And he drinks his tea plain with no sugar. So I heard once from his son that a guest at the Schechter home was asking him over and over, why doesn't he use sugar? Wouldn't the tea taste better? Doesn't he want to sweeten it? Why doesn't Rav Schechter put sugar in his tea? A great piece of trivia for you. Why doesn't the great Rav Schechter take his tea with sugar? So finally, Rav Schechter turned to the guest and told him the reason why, only because he was pushed so much. He said many many years ago on a trip to Israel with his רעבעצין rebbetzin when they were first married, many years ago, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. He was at a meeting at a non-observant person's home in קרית ארבע Kiryat Arba. And when the person offered Rav Schechter something to eat or drink, to both not insult the person and be safe, he said, I'll have a tea. Could I have a glass of tea, a cup of tea? So the person offered him sugar, and Rav Schechter realized that sugar wasn't necessarily כשר kosher, leave out the details why. So he said, I don't take sugar in my tea. I don't take sugar in my tea. And he told this guest at his table that 50 years later, he still did not drink sugar in his tea because מוצא שפתיך תשמור motza sefasecha tishmor. מוצא שפתיך תשמור Motza sefasecha tishmor. Because what you say with your lips has to mean something. And if that's what you said, even if you said it so as not to insult them, but once you said it, it's part of reality. You have to mean it. So all too frequently, even with the best intentions, we make each other promises, we say things with our lips. Let's do lunch. I'll meet you there in five minutes. I'm on my way home now. And they seem like inconsequential comments, hardly meaningful promises. But that's what the Torah is telling us, תשמור tishmor. מוצא שפתיך Motza sefasecha, whatever you say, for your word to mean anything, for your word to be your bond, for you to have any integrity, to be able to trust you, when you say something, if you want it to be valued, it has to mean something. It has to mean something. It has to mean something. The משנה בבא מציעא Mishnah in Bava Metzia tells us, אמרו, מי שפרע מאנשי דור המבול ודור הפלגה, הוא עתיד להפרע ממי שאינו עומד בדיבורו Amru, mi shepara mei'anshei dor hamabul v'dor haflaga, hu asid l'hipara mimi she'eino omed b'diburo. We describe he who exacted punishment, payment from the people of the generation of the flood, will exact payment from whoever does not stand by his statement. If you promise falsely, השם Hashem will exact payment from you the same way he did from the generation of the flood. Why? Of all comparisons, why to the דור המבול dor hamabul, דור הפלגה dor haflaga? So ר' אשר וייס Rav Asher Weiss suggests that the generation of the המבול mabul was characterized by חמס chamas, chaos. And when a person makes promises and doesn't follow through, if a person's word is not their bond, if they use their lips freely and it's just lip service, then it results in a world where word means nothing, is a world of chaos. It's a flood of corruption. It can't continue. So השם Hashem says if you make promises and don't fulfill them, if you're not careful what you say, if you don't follow through on your pledges, then I will exact payment from you like I did from the generation of the flood. Why? Because we create this notion of a flood when we and chaos, when we offer false promises and we don't follow through on our words. Words can't be cheap. They have to mean something. They can't be careless or casual. If we make a promise or a pledge, we have to follow through. תשמור Tishmor, the burden is on us. The burden is on us to follow through. When I mentioned this in a דרשה drasha previously, I gave an example. I'll end with this example now. At that time, it was still very timely for me. And it will be again, please God, for all of us. But how many of us get invited to a שמחה simcha? And we look at the calendar, we're not really sure whether we can make it, not make it. So we say, why not? We're coming. When you leave a שמחה simcha, I'm often towards the end of leaving a שמחה simcha. Walk by the place card table and see how many people responded they were coming and never showed. You understand how much money that cost the host? Could you imagine? Would you take that money out of their pocket and throw it in the garbage? They paid for that meal. It cost often an extraordinary amount of money. I'm not talking about extenuating circumstances or an emergency came up, but because we flippantly or casually, ah, it's inconvenient, I don't really feel like going, it's raining outside, it's far away, they'll never notice I'm not there. But to flippantly respond that we're coming, מוצא שפתיך תשמור motza sefasecha tishmor, we have to be vigilant and careful with what comes out of our mouth. If you make a promise and you say you're going to be there, be there, unless it's extenuating circumstances because otherwise you've just thrown away someone else's money. You squandered. In a certain sense, you've stolen because you made a promise that you didn't fulfill and you didn't follow through on. That's why we all have to be much more careful. So these are the two sides of that coin. On the one hand, we see the soldier going out to war has to be careful of ערות דבר ervas davar, ונשמרת מכל דבר רע, מכל דיבור רע v'nishmarta mikol davar ra, mikol dibur ra. We have to be careful with our speech. We shouldn't, we shouldn't lower ourselves to use the animal part of the brain to engage in ניבול פה nivul peh on the one hand. And on the other, we are enjoined, we are challenged, מוצא שפתיך תשמור motza sefasecha tishmor, to elevate ourselves by every word meaning something. something. Our word being our bond and following through on our promises.
