Transcript
Okay, good morning, בוקר טוב Boker Tov. Thank you as always to our generous sponsors of this year's פרשה Parsha class, Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father David Grossman. The learning should be לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מניש l'iluy nishmas David ben Menachem Manish.This morning we have the privilege of studying פרשת לך לך Parshas Lech Lecha together. And preparing this פרשה parsha is difficult, choosing what to speak about because there are so many stories. אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu is introduced on the scene. We see a radical change from פרשיות parshios that describe the failure of humanity, the disappointment, not meeting expectations, underachieving, in which השם Hashem has to revisit and do a hard reset on his world. To the story of לך לך Lech Lecha. Finally, somebody who meets השם's Hashem's expectations, and through him, השם Hashem chooses to inspire the world. אברהם Avram is not the chosen, and we are not the chosen people, but אברהם Avram chose God, and we are the choosing people. We descend from אברהם Avram, and we make the choice to be involved in a relationship with him. We've shared several times before but very quickly, just to give that overview, the סלונים רב Slanimer Rebbe, the נתיבות שלום Nesivos Shalom, explains, the משנה Mishna says in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos, three things remove a person from the world: קנאה, תאוה, וכבוד kinah, taavah, v'kavod. That, jealousy, lust, and honor, remove a person from the world. Again, we've discussed it in the past, many interpretations what it means to be removed from the world, but simply understood, it means that we fail to meet the purpose of why we're here. We violate the very reason that God created the world if we're living self-centered lives consumed by our own pursuit of honor, and pursuit of satisfying our lust and desires, and filled with jealousy and envy. How did our rabbis know that those three things remove a person from the world, fail to fulfill the purpose of why we're here, forfeit our happiness and our joy? How did the rabbis know? They opened the חומש Chumash. And they looked at the stories. קין והבל Kayin v'Hevel, story of jealousy, ends in murder, removed from this world. קנאה ותאוה kinah v'taavah, pursuit of lust is the story of the דור המבול Dor Hamabul, the generation of the flood. God presses a hard reset on the world, removes them from the world. And honor, נעשה לנו שם naaseh lanu shem, the דור הפלגה Dor Haflagah, the generation who built the tower, we'll make for ourselves a name, honor. We'll have the most followers, we'll have the most social media presence and platform, we'll have the most friends, we'll have the most and they are removed from the world. השם Hashem scatters them, their world implodes. So our rabbis just opened the חומש Chumash and they see the first three stories of creation are the pursuit of honor, lust, and jealousy, and those three people, those three generations were removed from the world. That's not why we're here, it's not what life is all about.And then the rabbis say, instead there are three things the world is supported by. You want a world which has an equilibrium and a balance, you want a healthy world, a healthy, what it means the world, does it means our world, our inner world, who we are, our sense of self-worth, our happiness. The מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim, הרמח\"ל Ramchal, begins his monumental work of character growth by saying, מה חובתו של אדם בעולמו mah chovaso shel adam b'olamo. What is a person's duty and obligation in עולמו olamo? Translate the word, in his or her world. It doesn't say בעולם ba'olam, in the world. There isn't one generic world that we all live in, but בעולמו b'olamo, we each are a world unto ourselves. We have different backgrounds, different talents, different skills, different liabilities, different challenges, and we have a different purpose in why we're here. We each live in our own world. We come from our own place and our own thinking. We have to respect and make room for everyone's worlds and for all those worlds to live in the same universe, but realize that we are separate worlds. And that's our mission is to identify why am I here? What is my duty בעולמו b'olamo, in my world? That's why the משנה Mishna in סנהדרין Sanhedrin says, if you save one life, it's as if you saved what? The whole world, because each person is their own little world. So if we're alive, if our life, if our world is filled with the pursuit of jealousy, lust, and honor, then we have forfeited our world. Our world is dysfunctional, our world is unhealthy, our world is compromised. We are not fulfilling the reason that God put us in our world, in this world. But our world, instead, is based on three support pillars that hold it up. Then we have a healthy, balanced, functional world. Then we can have interpersonal relationships with others, we can have a relationship with השם Hashem, we can find our own self-worth, and we can achieve why we're here. And what are those three things? תורה, עבודה, וגמילות חסדים Torah, avodah, u'gemilus chasadim. Learning and living תורה Torah. עבודה Avodah means the service of השם Hashem, whether through קרבנות korbanos in the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, whether through our own דאווענען davening, or just being of service to השם Hashem, and גמילות חסדים gemilus chasadim, acts of kind deeds. How did חז\"ל Chazal, how did our rabbis know that? Says the סלונים רב Slanimer Rebbe, it's simple. They just kept reading. They kept reading the חומש Chumash and they came across אברהם, יצחק ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov, who are the models of תורה, עבודה וגמילות חסדים Torah, avodah, u'gemilus chasadim. And השם Hashem says, you got it. The first three generations, they didn't get it. So they're out. You get it. Through you, I will be a model for the world. People don't understand or appreciate this, but the מדרש Midrash says that originally God intended on giving the תורה Torah to the whole world. We were going to be one unified world religion, all having access equally to the sacred תורה הקדושה Torah Hakdosha. But when man failed to live up to those expectations, God said, I'm not giving you my precious תורה Torah. You're not invested, you don't understand what this world is all about. You're so self-centered and narcissistic, I can't give you my תורה Torah. You don't get it. And then he meets אברהם Avram. And we meet אברהם Avram. At 75 years old in the beginning of our פרשה parsha. Which is in itself a fascinating discussion, not for now, where was he and where are the stories of those first 75 years? Why do we need the מדרש Midrash to fill us in? Why do we only, are we only introduced to him at that, I was going to say advanced age, but at that young age. Why are we only introduced to him at that very young age? Not for now. But what we know about אברהם Avram is that at three years old, he went outside and he said, something's off here. And this doesn't make sense. And he led a life where he was searching and pursuing and looking for השם Hashem, and he found him. And in that way, for us, he is a model of what our lives are meant, of what our lives are meant to be.And so השם Hashem says, you know, you get it. It's like the teacher in front of the class who everyone's misbehaving, no one's trying hard. The teacher is so frustrating. And then there's that one kid who sits right in front of the teacher and soaks it all up and behaves so well and writes it so copiously and is so well-behaved. And the teacher says, you know, you're the honor society. Now, can anyone join the honor society? Absolutely. But what do you have to do? You have to earn it. You have to work hard and you have to meet the expectations. Anyone can have access, but the honor society, while it's a privilege, it's also a responsibility. The Jewish people are the honor society of the world, and anyone can join. The rest of the world, you've got seven rules, and they're fairly easy. If you violate them, you got real problems. And we have 613, which translate into hundreds or thousands of rules, biblical and rabbinic. And anyone can join the honor society. Anyone can convert. We have a system called conversion. But I can't be in the honor society just because I want to marry someone else in the honor society, or because I think I'll get rich by being in the honor society, or because I think I'll have fame by being in the honor society. I have to make the grades and I have to have the behavior. The same is true with our honor society, the microcosm we are to the world. Anyone can join, you can convert, you could become what's called a Jew by choice, but you have to keep up the grades and you have to maintain the behavior. You can't just do it for some other gratification. It has to be sincere and it has to be lived. So that's the background of ספר בראשית Sefer Bereishis. And the background to the history of the world, summarized succinctly, is that the world failed השם Hashem, so השם Hashem said, I'm not sharing my תורה Torah with you. And the one who distinguished himself as not failing the world, how was אברהם Avram different? It was a self-centered, egotistical world, only pursuing their own pleasure. And אברהם Avram is exactly the opposite. He didn't live in a gated community, no offense. His tent was open on all four sides. And he said, anyone who needs, come. I'm here to be of service. The third day after his ברית bris, the most painful day, he still can't imagine not hosting guests, not being hospitable. The legacy he leaves us is being of service to others, which is in our פרשה parsha, והיה ברכה v'heyei bracha. Be that blessing. Let people see you as a blessing in their lives. There are people in our lives who are a curse in our lives. They drain our energy, they make us miserable, they make us not feel good about ourselves, they bring out the worst in ourselves, they create dysfunction, tension, conflict. There are people who are a curse in our lives, and there are people who we say, what a ברכה bracha you are in my life. What a ברכה bracha. In fact, I try to use that expression. When I'm grateful to someone, someone's been extraordinary, I just recently wrote someone a thank you note, and I said that. I said, you have been since I met you such a source of blessing in my life. There are people who bring out the best in us, who raise us up, who are so kind and generous, who are of service to us, who are so positive and upbeat. והיה ברכה V'heyei bracha. אברהם's Avraham's mission and the legacy we inherit from him is to be the second, to be a blessing in other people's lives. That's אברהם Avram. Everyone else is a curse, stealing, robbing, pursuing lust, violating moral and ethical boundaries. And אברהם Avram is the exact opposite. He's not selfish, he's selfless. He's not what are my rights and entitlements, he's what are my duties and obligations. And השם Hashem says, ha, you know, you got it. So through you and your children, you'll be a microcosm and a model for the world to emulate and follow. We live up to that often, and if you look at the world around us which has been so heavily influenced by Jewish, they call it Judeo-Christian values, but that's not fair to Judeo because where did Christian values come from? They're Jewish values. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of this country, so much of the world's attitude to charity and justice come from אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu, monotheism, as opposed to a paganism. It comes from אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu. We're enormously successful in influencing the world. And every time one of us appears in the headline of a newspaper, we set that mission back way back. And if we're rude and discourteous and judgmental, and if we create a חילול השם chillul Hashem, we set that whole mission back.So that is a little, we haven't started yet, this doesn't come off my time. That's just a background to פרשת לך לך Parshas Lech Lecha and to our story. I want to start, usually we give an overview, then we go through parts. If I give that overview, I'll never get back to what I want to talk about. So we're going to start with what I want to talk about, which is the עמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, you all know by now that I love the ויז'ניצר רב Vizhnitzer Rebbe, the עמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, enjoy very much. And I'm very grateful to the person who's a blessing in my life who gave me this ספר sefer, and every time he comes down to visit, brings me another. He's a blessing to me and to you by that sharing of that תורה Torah. So he brought me that עמרי חיים Imrei Chaim. I love this ויז'ניצר רב Vizhnitzer Rebbe. So the ויז'ניצר רב Vizhnitzer Rebbe, the עמרי חיים Imrei Chaim usually has very disparate interpretations throughout the פרשה parsha. Cute little וורט-לך vort-lech and דברי תורה divrei Torah and גימטריאות gematrias and acronyms, always everything coming back to שבת Shabbos. I've told you before, שבת Shabbos is the centerpiece of the week and the centerpiece of a Jew's life and in a חסידישע Chasidisha thought, said, שבת Shabbos is everything. We just were leading up to שבת Shabbos, and we're still coming back down from שבת Shabbos until we can go back up to שבת Shabbos, and everything in between is just a buffer, but we really live and we're really alive when it comes to שבת Shabbos. So this week, a little bit different, he doesn't, it's not his style to write an essay where he shows many things come together. But as I was looking through the עמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, I saw that six or seven of his דברי תורה divrei Torah all really represent the same theme. And I want to, through the עמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, go through our פרשה parsha and see one theme that emerges from our פרשה parsha from this ויז'ניצר רב Vizhnitzer Rebbe. And then some other ideas that I want to share and hopefully we will, we'll get to it. Okay. So, לך לך Lech Lecha. אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu is told at the beginning of the פרשה parsha that it's time to go. It's time to go. Where should he go? Was he given the address? Was he given the coordinates? Absolutely not. And why not? Okay, I'm going to go on my tangent that I just promised I wouldn't go already. Why wasn't he given those, those coordinates? Why wasn't he told where to go? Was that part of the test? If he could Google it and he'd know where it is and he sees, it's three stars, it's four stars, it's not five stars, but I can live, I can survive. Okay, you can know, you look, you're fine, I can live with that. Was that part of the test is that he couldn't see how many stars, couldn't see what kind of Yelp rating the place had. He had to just trust. Was that part of the test? According to many, yes, part of the test was pack up and go, and I'm not telling you where yet. It's the land I will show you. And you need to take that leap of faith that I will show you a land that not only will you be happy, but as רש\"י Rashi says, it'll be a blessing for you. It's for your good. It's for your benefit. It's for your success. That's part of it. But רבי סלובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik has a different interpretation which I love. And he says the following, אל הארץ אשר אראך el ha'aretz asher areka. We're going to come back to the ויז'ניצר רב Vizhnitzer Rebbe, I promise. אל הארץ אשר אראך El ha'aretz asher areka. רש\"י Rashi notes that השם Hashem didn't show the land to אברהם Avram immediately, nor did he give him the coordinates. According to the רמב\"ן Ramban, אברהם Avram actually went from nation to nation, he wandered the world until he came to the land of כנען Kna'an, and that's when השם Hashem said to him, oh, you did it, you got it, you made it here, this is the land. So so much so that אברהם Avram did not have the coordinates or the destination and he couldn't plug it in, that he had to actually feel it out and he had to wander says the רמב\"ן Ramban, close, like I don't know if he played with השם Hashem like hotter or colder. I don't know exactly how they did it. Not sure exactly how they did it, but hot, hot, hot, this is the land I'm going to give you. You got it. You're there. But says the רמב\"ן Ramban, he had to actually so much so feel it out. And the רב Rav writes, the covenantal community should be equipped with a sixth sense enabling it to spontaneously be attracted to the holy. אברהם Avram was tested to determine whether or not he possessed this capability. השם Hashem had implanted in the Jew a sensitivity to the קדושה kedusha. We're supposed to react to קדושה kedusha the way the eye reacts quickly and sharply to a beam of light. So, so beautiful. Says the רב Rav, not part of the test. It's not that השם Hashem tested him, would you have the faith, would you take the leap, even though I'm not telling you where we're going. But השם Hashem was tested something else about אברהם Avram. And we are tested every day about ourselves, which is, do we have a sixth sense? Do we have an instinct and an intuition towards קדושה kedusha, towards holiness? אברהם Avram, here's a map. Let's see, where do you go? Do you know where to go? Are you drawn towards קדושה kedusha? Do you understand what's good for you, what nourishes and nurtures your soul? Are you attracted to that which is holy? The רב Rav says the way the eye reacts quickly and sharply to a beam of light, light is in the physical, but קדושה kedusha is in the metaphysical. אברהם Avram, you know how to operate and maneuver and calibrate in the physical world, but can you operate and can you calibrate in the metaphysical world? Are you drawn to, are you attracted to קדושה kedusha? Do you intuit holiness? Do you intuit קדושה kedusha? דוד המלך David Hamelech writes, as the deer longs for the brooks of water, צמאה לך נפשי tzama l'cha nafshi, my soul longs for you השם Hashem. And he says, like the deer longs for the brooks of water, my soul longs for you. צמאה לך נפשי tzama l'cha nafshi. צמאה לך נפשי tzama l'cha nafshi. Everyone know the רבי's rebbe's tune for צמאה לך נפשי tzama l'cha nafshi? צמאה לך נפשי tzama l'cha nafshi, my soul longs for you. What does it mean my soul longs for you? So he writes, like the migratory patterns of birds and fish, the deer is driven by an inexplicable instinct towards the brook. Such was the drive of אברהם Avram as he succeeded in finding השם Hashem in the קדושה kedusha that was כנען Kna'an. אברהם Avram found השם Hashem first of all in the world. Everyone else found Saks Fifth Avenue. Everyone else found Fortnite. Everyone else found all you can eat sushi buffet. Everyone else found the baseball game or the stock market. Everyone else found the celebrity or the athlete. Everyone else found the politics and the power. And what did אברהם Avram find? What was he drawn to? To השם Hashem. צמאה לך tzama l'cha. What am I thirsty for? Where is my insatiable appetite directed? It's not that I need more money, more power, more fame, more friends, but the insatiable appetite of אברהם Avram, צמאה לך tzama l'cha was what? נפשי nafshi, my soul longs for you, for you.So השם Hashem wanted to test that. And that's one of אברהם's Avram's tests. לך לך Lech lecha, go, and I'm not telling you where. Not because נה נה נה קיש קיש na na na kish kish, I'm not telling you where. Not because I'm torturing you, not because I'm testing you, will you go, but I want to see whether you have that innate, innate quality, that capability. Are you drawn to קדושה kedusha? And I want your children and offering and progeny to know that that is their, that is their hallmark. The distinguishing mark of a Jew is being drawn to קדושה kedusha, to holiness. As David Brooks once wrote that we live for holiness, not happiness. The rest of the world lives for happiness and they measure life by the happiness index. And we live not for happiness, we live for holiness. And we measure the quality of our lives and the success of our families not by its happiness, but by our holiness. And how does השם Hashem know whether אברהם Avram has that? He says, I'm telling you to go, let's see where you go. What do you choose? What are you drawn to? You know, it reminds me and we just experienced this on יום טוב'ים Yom Tovim, in קדושה Kedusha of דאווענען davening, at least in the ArtScroll סידור siddur, I don't know what the מקור mekor, what the source of this is. In the middle, there's a little asterisk next to איה מקום ayei mekom. And when the חזן's chazzan's repeating it, there's three choices on the bottom of what you could say. Anyone know what I'm talking about? The ArtScroll מחזור machzor? There's three columns. What are the three columns of what you could דאווען daven for? פרנסה parnassah, health, children. And I always feel every דאווענען davening of every יום טוב Yom Tov, every קדושה Kedusha, when it's time to look down and which column you're going to choose, it feels like it's a test. It's a test. Which is most important? How do you define and measure your life, your success? Holiness or happiness? Now I don't want to minimize, somebody who doesn't know where they're going to put food in the table table, you can't דאווען daven for your children if you won't have bread to put in their mouths. So maybe פרנסה parnassah comes first, and I'm not judging. But I'm just saying when you look at those sort of three options, and we look at the menu of life and what are we drawn to, in the menu of life, that was the test of אברהם Avram. And the רב Rav makes the comment again later. The פסוק pasuk says in פרק י\"ב פסוק ז perek yud-beis pasuk zayin, וירא השם אל אברם ויאמר לזרעך אתן את הארץ הזאת ויבן שם מזבח להשם הנראה אליו Vayera Hashem el Avram vayomer l'zaracha eten es ha'aretz hazos vayiven sham mizbeach laHashem hanireh eilav. השם Hashem appears to אברהם Avram and he says I'm going to give your offspring this land, and אברהם Avram builds a מזבח mizbeach there. To whom does he build the מזבח mizbeach? To להשם laHashem, God. And who was the God? ה' הנראה אליו Ha-nireh eilav. The God who appeared to him. And those words הנראה אליו hanireh eilav seem entirely superfluous. Why does God have to be identified as the God who appeared to him? What other God would אברהם Avram have built that מזבח mizbeach to? Why not just end the פסוק pasuk? ויבן שם מזבח להשם Vayiven sham mizbeach laHashem. אברהם Avram built the מזבח mizbeach to whom? To השם Hashem. Why do you have to say specifically as if there are options, להשם laHashem, which one? הנראה אליו Hanireh eilav. To the one who appeared to him. And here again רבי סלובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik almost repeats verbatim the same comment. He says, the פסוק pasuk, he built there an altar, would have sufficed. He built an altar because after searching assiduously for the promised land, השם Hashem confirmed אברהם's Avram's choice by appearing to him. אברהם's Avram's intuitive choice was correct. And he built an altar to השם Hashem who had appeared to him and sanctioned his choice. The covenantal community is supposed to be equipped with a sixth sense enabling it to be spontaneously attracted by the holy and to discriminate between the holy and the profane. אברהם Avram was tested to determine whether or not he possessed this capability. His whole destiny was dependent upon the outcome of these tests. Until now apparently אברהם Avram never encountered השם Hashem. אברהם Avram felt grateful and indebted to השם Hashem because he had sought him out, contacted him and engaged him in a dialogue. The רמב\"ן Ramban says that the instruction לך לך Lech Lecha was a command. But אברהם Avram at that point did not have the full experience of meeting השם Hashem, of experiencing a rendezvous with him. It's now that God is described as הנראה אליו hanireh eilav, who is now his companion. Finally after living through the experience of loneliness where sometimes it seemed as if God did not answer his prayers, אברהם Avram found השם Hashem, in whose name he had been speaking for such a long time, whose laws he had been teaching, whose morality he had been disseminating. So powerful. Sometimes we're living righteous, religious lives. We're doing everything right. We're observing הלכה halacha, we're דאווענען davening three times a day, we're learning the דף daf, we're giving the צדקה tzedakah, we're volunteering for the חסד chesed, we're keeping כשר kosher, we're doing it all right, and yet it feels like we haven't had that rendezvous with השם Hashem, הנראה אליו hanireh eilav. That genuine, authentic, intimate experience of connecting with השם Hashem in a way where you have no doubt not only that he exists, but that he cares about you, he's involved in your life, he loves you, and he's proud of you, and he has expectations of you. אברהם Avram had spent his career preaching God and he meant it, he believed it, but he hadn't yet fully even experienced it in its full richness. And now that he did, and his intuition and inclination towards קדושה kedusha was validated, that's when he builds that מזבח mizbeach. And for some of us, it's a moment of joy or happiness, it's a great ברכה bracha in your life. It's being present at the birth of a child or a grandchild. For some it's a natural wonder, you're in a national park, you see one of the natural wonders of the world. For someone else, it's a string of coincidences that are too random and clearly they're orchestrated from above, and you're filled with ברכה bracha. For some, it's surviving something which was life-threatening or a danger or a health crisis. And in those moments you feel so connected, so sure, so attached to השם Hashem, he's the השם הנראה אליו Hashem hanireh eilav. It is a validation of that, of that draw, of that draw towards קדושה kedusha. So actually that insight of the רב Rav, so again why did God not give the coordinates? לך לך Lech lecha, just go. One understanding is it was part of the test but the רב Rav says no it's because השם Hashem was trying to cultivate within אברהם Avram the instinct and the intuition towards קדושה kedusha. And that's our mission too towards our children. To be drawn towards קדושה kedusha. And I would say by the way the inverse is also equally important which is to be repelled by profanity. Drawn towards קדושה kedusha and to be repelled and repulsed by profanity. Repulsed by profanity. To see images or to hear things or to be exposed to ideas and to create that הבדלה havdalah, to live a life of הבדלה havdalah בין קודש לחול bein kodesh l'chol, to have the capacity to be מבדיל בין קודש לחול בין ישראל לעמים mavdil bein kodesh l'chol bein Yisrael l'amim. Not like the whole world that consumes anything that's put in its path, but to know what should I read and not read, what should I listen to and not listen to. What will bring out my holiness and what even if it brings out my happiness is not really nourishing my holiness. To have that ability to what to be drawn to and what to be repulsed by is the mission of a Jew and that was part of the test of אברהם Avram of לך לך Lech Lecha. Can you figure out on your own where to go? And that really actually works nicely with the ויז'ניצר רב Vizhnitzer Rebbe which I told you I really want to spend our time on. So now we're starting. The clock officially starts now. So the ויז'ניצר Vizhnitzer, the עמרי חיים Imrei Chaim says the following. לך לך מארצך Lech lecha mei'artzecha. רש\"י Rashi says there להנאתך ולטובתך l'hana'ascha ul'tovascha. For your own good, for your own benefit, for your own pleasure. And where is he supposed to go? Note the פסוק pasuk. He leaves מארצך mei'artzecha and he's going where? אל הארץ אשר אראך El ha'aretz asher areka. So there's two uses of the word ארץ eretz, ארץ eretz here. He's leaving מארצך mei'artzecha, that's the port of embarkment. And then he has the port of destination. He's leaving from מארצך mei'artzecha and where is he going to? אל הארץ אשר אראך El ha'aretz asher areka. Says the עמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, לך לך מארצך lech lecha mei'artzecha, תמעיט עצמך מעניינים ארציים tameit atzmecha mei'inyanim artziyim. וזה יהיה להנאתך ולטובתך v'zeh yihiyeh l'hana'ascha ul'tovascha. It's a חסידישע וורט Chasidisha vort. I've given you background to the עמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, maybe he believes it's פשט pshat. Even if it's not פשט pshat, the תורה Torah is the platform to create inspiration. So if that's what the words actually mean or it's one of its many multiple layers of meaning, or if it's no way possible what it means but nevertheless it is for us a conduit to draw out the inspiration. Here's what he says. לך לך Lech lecha, where do you need to transcend? Where are you going from? What are you trying to exit? ארצך artzecha. What is ארץ eretz? There are two parts of our lives, ארץ eretz and שמים shamayim. We, just like the physical universe, we have the land and we have the heavens, we have within us the ארצך artzecha, where we're drawn to the ground, physical pleasure, physical desire, physical satisfaction, physical fulfillment, we can nourish our physical appetites, and then we also have שמים shamayim, we stretch and we yearn towards the heavens. I've also told you before, that's why the animal walks on all four and faces the earth, because the lowly, superficial animal, his whole life is ארץ eretz. It faces earth, and it walks on all four, and that's it. How much pleasure can I get out of the physical universe I'm in? And how does the human being walk? Upright, reaching and extending where? Towards the heavens. We're yearning, we're reaching. That's why the אדם adam is מן האדמה min ha'adamah because fertile soil, we are called אדם adam because we are on a journey always of growth. And the בהמה behemah says the מהר\"ל Maharal, gets its name, the etymology בהמה behemah is בה מה bah mah, what you see is what you get. There is no growth, there's no aspiration, there's no overachieving. בהמה Behemah is בה מה bah mah. It's what you see is what you get. That's it. And we are אדם adam. We are stretching, we are yearning. So השם Hashem turns to אברהם Avram and again, see it now in the context in the framework that we began with. The rest of the world has been a failure. They're supposed to be reaching for the heavens, but they're acting like animals. They're acting like animals. We use that in our vernacular. We describe someone as acting like an animal. They're walking on all fours, if not literally, then figuratively. They're facing the earth, all they care about is happiness, not holiness. You אברהם Avram, you care about holiness, you're my man. I'm gonna tap you and all of your children to be that microcosm, that model for the world. You are my man. And how do I reinforce that message to you? By telling you what's your mission? לך לך Lech lecha, get out. And what are you trying to get out from and transcend? מארצך mei'artzecha. The ארץ eretz in you. The ארץ eretz in you. רבי משה וינברגר Reb Moshe Weinberger loves to quote, I forget which Rebbe, that's what we read at the very end of the תורה Torah. האזינו השמים ואדברה ותשמע הארץ אמרי פי Ha'azinu hashamayim va'adabeira v'tishma ha'aretz imrei fi. האזינו השמים Ha'azinu hashamayim. If you can get the שמים shamayim in you to listen, האזינו השמים ואדברה Ha'azinu hashamayim va'adabeira, God has so much to say to the spiritual in us, to our soul, to the aspirational. האזינו השמים ואדברה ותשמע הארץ Ha'azinu hashamayim va'adabeira v'tishma ha'aretz. And then if our שמים shamayim is on fire within us, it can harness and transform the ארץ eretz in us. So אברהם Avram is told, says the ויז'ניצר רב Vizhnitzer Rebbe, what is להנאתך ולטובתך l'hana'ascha ul'tovascha? What is for your own good? What is for your own benefit? To לך לך lech lecha, to get out and to transcend from where? מארצך mei'artzecha, from a life that is defined by the pursuit of ארץ eretz, of the physical, physical happiness, physical pleasure. If you think your happiness, if you think your meaning and your purpose is all about how much you can amass and how much you can accumulate and how much you can experience and how much pleasure you can have, then in fact, you've violate, you've failed in why you're here. לך לך Lech lecha, what's the test? Transcend the ארץ eretz. And where are you supposed to go instead? Not to the ארץ eretz that sees the physical as an ends to itself, but where? אל הארץ אשר אראך El ha'aretz asher areka. To a different type of ארץ eretz. To the ארץ eretz I'm going to show you. And here says the ויז'ניצר רב Vizhnitzer Rebbe, לא לפרוש לגמרי מענינים הארציים lo lifrosh l'gamrei mei'inyanim ha'artziyim, רק להתנהג בהם כפי אשר אני מראה לך rak l'hisnaheg bahem k'fi asher ani mareh lecha. So גישמאק geshmak, I love this and I'm going to show you how he says it in five, six, seven places in our פרשה parsha. You ready? So what he's saying is the following, and this is חסידיק Chasidic doctrine. Again, we don't have time right now to compare different מחשבה machshava, different philosophies of Judaism, of how we relate to and identify with the physical versus the spiritual. Some see that the physical actually is our enemy, and our mission is to transcend it and to abstain from it and to rise above it and to have no part of it, to be purely holy. But חסידות Chasidus doesn't see it that way. חסידות Chasidus sees that our mission is actually to take over the physical and to take the physical and make it spiritual, to find the spiritual within the physical, to co-opt it. That's our mission. That's why in חסידיק Chasidic doctrine, the whole idea of the שריים shirayim of the רבי rebbe. This new ספר sefer I got just now in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, which is fantastic. I was just looking for it through it. אוצר פניני החסידות Otzar Pninei HaChasidus according to פרשת השבוע Parshas Hashavua, has an essay many pages long about the doctrine of שריים shirayim. What is the doctrine of שריים shirayim? There's a whole essay in the back here that the רבי rebbe, the רבי rebbe, we go to our table, our שבת Shabbos and יום טוב Yom Tov table, we fress and we enjoy. Maybe we have the מנהג minhag of saying לכבוד שמים l'kavod Shamayim, לכבוד שבת קודש l'kavod Shabbos Kodesh. Really, we mean לכבוד מיין בויך l'kavod mein boich. But the רבי rebbe meanwhile is immersed in holiness until it's time for his טיש tish, and then his חסידים Chasidim all at the end of their meal, לכבוד דער בויך l'kavod der boich, come to his meal where they're going to see a model of somebody who's eating because we have to eat and we love to eat, but he's transforming the act of eating from the mundane and the profane to the holy. And because the רבי rebbe has certain כוונות kavanos and certain intent and engages that food not because the food is an ends but the food is a means. The רבי rebbe is able to endow and imbue within that food a sense of holiness. The food itself carries that transformation that was made by that holy צדיק tzaddik, the righteous individual. And now when you imbibe, everybody who gets a piece of it has has been able to absorb and imbibe from that transformed food. [Error processing chunk 2] possible.
