Transcript
Good morning everyone. I want to thank our sponsors for our פרשה *Parsha* class this morning. Co-sponsored by Perry and Erica Geller in memory of his father, משה אליעזר בן רב דוד *Moshe Eliezer ben Rav David*, and Harriet Schneier in memory of her husband, חיים בן אבא *Chaim ben Abba*. נשמות *Neshamot* should have an עליה *aliyah*. אמן *Amen*. A reminder, our shul, Boca Raton Synagogue dinner is coming up on Sunday, March 11th. Among our honorees are Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who's retiring from Congress. She's one of the most staunch advocates for the US-Israel relationship. It's been an absolute hero for Israel in Congress. It's an opportunity for everyone to say thank you. Thank you to her. It's an opportunity for you to say thank you to us, if you've enjoyed Boca Raton Synagogue, the פרשה *Parsha* class on Tuesday mornings, particularly if you're not a member but you benefit from the programs that BRS provides, please consider taking out an ad in our journal and participating and supporting our efforts. We greatly appreciate it. I want to remind you, I know that people are starting to head back north for the, I'm not really sure why, actually. I think it's still cold and snowy, and I don't think in the best weather why you'd want to be up there when you can be sitting down here with the palm trees and the quality of life that we have. But for whatever bizarre reason, some of you are heading back. So I remind you, you can continue to listen to our פרשה *Parsha* class online. We post it on YU Torah each and every week, and soon, please God, on the new website that we'll be putting out shortly. I want to try to incorporate some ideas about פורים *Purim*. I don't know if you got the memo, but פורים *Purim* is tomorrow night. So some thoughts about פורים *Purim* and also obviously our פרשה *Parsha*, פרשת כי תשא *Parshas Ki Sisa*. We're on page 484 in the ArtScroll Stone חומש *Chumash*. Last announcement is a reminder, tonight is the finale of The Moments That Matter, 20th century moments that mattered program. I'll be teaching at 7:30 p.m. on the history of יום השואה *Yom HaShoah*. Just like when we covered the Soviet Jewry movement, you might think, what was the controversy? What's the debate? Isn't it obvious? But יום השואה *Yom HaShoah*, while maybe a staple in communities around the world today, was not at all obvious when it was introduced, and remains not obvious in many communities today. We'll talk about it at 7:30, the history of it and why that is. Page 484 in the ArtScroll Stone חומש *Chumash*. Our פרשה *Parsha* begins with the מצוה *mitzvah* of מחצית השקל *machatzis hashekel*. כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל לפקודיהם ונתנו איש כופר נפשו להשם בפקוד אותם ולא יהיה בהם נגף בפקוד אותם *Ki sisa es rosh Bnei Yisrael lifkudeihem, v'nasnu ish kofer nafsho la'Hashem bifkod osam, v'lo yiheye bahem negef bifkod osam*. Hashem tells Moshe to take a census of the people. And what is the means, the mechanism through which the census is taken, is through the donation of a half shekel. We've covered this countless times. Why a half shekel? A census would be much more efficient if everyone donated a full shekel, you just count how many שקלים *shkalim* you have, and you'd know how many people you have. Why is everyone giving a half shekel? Why are you giving a half shekel? And the answer is to realize that none of us are complete, none of us are whole or full on our own. We complement one another. It takes two, it takes Jewish people in combination with a sense of unity in order to be whole. We're not whole on our own. ונתנו *V'nasnu* is a palindrome. It's the same spelled forward and backwards, which is a reminder that one gives, they receive as much as they, as much as they gave. Hashem gave Moshe, Hashem showed Moshe when Moshe didn't understand, he showed him a מטבע של אש *matbe'a shel eish*, a coin which was on fire, the image of a coin on fire. What is the significance of the image of a coin on fire? We're going to come back to this. But there's a peculiar language. When telling us of the מצוה *mitzvah* of giving a half shekel, the פסוק *pasuk* describes that we give it why? פסוק ט\"ז *Pasuk tet vav*, verse 15. העשיר לא ירבה *He'ashir lo yarbeh*, the wealthy person shouldn't increase, it's not an opportunity to promote your name by giving a larger donation. והדל לא ימעיט *V'hadal lo yamit*, and the indigent person cannot give less, ממחצית השקל *mimachatzis hashekel*. That's how much you give. Why? לתת את תרומת השם *lases es trumas Hashem*, the reason you're giving is to give a portion to Hashem. And what's the goal? What are you trying to accomplish? ל... לכפר על נפשותיכם *le... l'chaper al nafshoseichem*. To atone for your souls. Can pay your way? How does it atone for your soul? You made a mistake, you did something wrong, you give צדקה *tzedakah* and you can pay it off? Pay your way out? חלילה ולהבדיל *Chalila u'lehavdil*, it's not like other religions. You make a terrible mistake, you violate an indiscretion, you go sit in a booth and you confess what you did, and you say, say two of these and three of those and you're good to go. That's not how change happens. Remorse, transformation, personal responsibility, genuine תשובה *teshuva* process, you can't pay your way out. Come before the judge and you pay your way out? This is in fact a very compelling question, particularly in the ימים נוראים *Yamim Noraim* period, when we say that תשובה ותפילה וצדקה מעבירין את רוע הגזירה *teshuva u'tefillah u'tzedakah ma'avirin es roa ha'gzeira*. We've talked about this. תשובה *Teshuva* I understand why it's מעביר רוע הגזירה *ma'avir roa ha'gzeira*. How do I avoid the intensity of the גזירה *gzeira* God has for me? תשובה *Teshuva*. Well God, you decided that that conclusion was right for the old me, but תשובה *teshuva*, I'm about תשובה *teshuva*, I'm a new me. I've reinvented myself. I'm reborn, I'm renewed, and therefore I'm deserving of a new judgment. תשובה *Teshuva* I understand. תפילה *Tefillah*, להתפלל *l'hispalel*, תפילה *tefillah* is reflexive, התפעל *hispael*. So I'm a new me. Through the exercise of תפילה *tefillah*, through a sense of dependence, through a sense of humility, I'm a new me. So תשובה תפילה *teshuva, tefillah*, I understand why they are tools to be מעביר את רוע הגזירה *ma'avir es roa ha'gzeira*. But צדקה *tzedakah*? You come before the judge and you pay your way out? The judge calls you in, you're accused of a crime. I understand you say, Judge, I'm about תשובה *teshuva*. I'm, I have remorse. I've reinvented myself. Judge, please take pity on me, I'm a new person. תפילה *Tefillah*, Judge, I plead with you, I beg you, I beseech you, my destiny is in your hands. But judge, how big should I write the check? How many zeros will it take? Why should that work? How is that ethical? How is that moral? How is that just? So here the Torah's using the language, what's the goal of מחצית השקל *machatzis hashekel*? לכפר על נפשותיכם *l'chaper al nafshoseichem*. To atone. Where is the atonement? So in the רבינו סלובייצ'יק *Rabeinu Soloveitchik* חומש *Chumash*, the Rav writes: Sin, although we hate that word sin, so we'll call it חטא *cheit*, is a result of selfishness, when temptation overrules sacred principles. Why do we make mistakes? Because our urge, our temptation, overrules and overrides our sacred principles. We know in theory, we know in principle, that's the virtuous behavior. But the יצר הרע *yetzer hara* right now got us to look at that, say that, eat that, think that, go there. One abandons tradition because of the pleasure one expects to derive from the performance of the forbidden deed. צדקה *Tzedakah*, in contrast, demonstrates sympathy, compassion, and sharing with others. For this reason, forgiveness for sin can only be attained through צדקה *tzedakah*. צדקה *Tzedakah* also acts as ransom because כופר *kofer* is ransom. In order to redeem himself, the sinner must pay a ransom. Torah therefore describes the half-shekel offering as a redemption payment for the soul. So the Rav describes, you know why צדקה *tzedakah* works? Because when you make a mistake, it's an act of selfishness. You put your desire, your urge, your appetite, your temptation, your want, your need, you put it above, you put it before the principles you claim to want to live by. You put it before the social contract you have with others. You put it before your responsibility to serve the ריבונו של עולם *Ribono shel Olam* in his vision for this world. At its core, חטא *cheit* is the result of indulgence, self-indulgence. So what is the ransom? What's the כופר *kofer*? What is the atonement? What is the opposite of selfishness? Selflessness. And what is selflessness? Taking your hard-earned money and giving it to צדקה *tzedakah*. We talked about last week, the week before, the רמב\"ם *Rambam*, מורה נבוכים *Moreh Nevuchim*, why is it called צדקה *tzedakah*, should be called חסד *chesed*? Where's the צדק *tzedek*? I take something of mine and I give it to you. But leaving that aside, the bottom line is I take money, and rather than use it to advance my interest, to buy myself something, I share it with you so you have. So that's selflessness. How do I overcome selfishness? With acts of selflessness. And that's why it's כופר נפשו *kofer nafsho*. How does one achieve atonement for the mistakes they've made? The mistake stems from selfishness, the answer is selflessness. So צדקה *tzedakah* is not about trying to bribe the judge. צדקה *Tzedakah* is also proving I'm transformed. Just like תשובה *teshuva* is, I'm a new person, give me a new judgment. Just like תפילה *tefillah* is an exercise in humility and dependence. I'm new, I'm worthy of a new judgment. So too צדקה *tzedakah* is ריבונו של עולם *Ribono shel Olam*, your material, physical world, the gifts, the blessings that I have of money, I've used it previously to serve myself. I want to prove to you I'm new, I'm different, and how can I prove it? Instead of being selfish, by being selfless, by taking it and using it with others. And that's how צדקה *tzedakah* serves לכפר על נפשותיכם *l'chaper al nafshoseichem*.פרשה *Parsha* then goes on and tells us another one of the כלים *keilim* in the משכן *Mishkan*, which should beg the question that we asked at the end of last week's פרשה *Parsha*. Where do כלים *keilim* belong? Where would you have expected to find it? In פרשת... תרומה *Parshas... Trumah*. At the end of last week we talked about the מזבח הקטורת *Mizbeach Haketores*, the altar for incense. And we asked, what was it doing at the end of תצוה *Tetzaveh*? Really it should have been in תרומה *Trumah*. Could ask the exact same thing here. Why is the כיור *kiyor* here? We're not going to answer that because we're not going to get into it. But it's a good question, worthy of being asked. The כיור *kiyor* of course was the basin through which the כהנים *kohanim* would wash their hands, their feet, would prepare for the עבודה *avodah*. When we wash our hands, which we talked about last week, אין קדש אלא במקום סעודה *ein kedesh ela b'makom seudah*, we are elevating our experience of eating to be a form of עבודה *avodah*. It's not that I'm religious and I do ritual when I'm in the שול *shul*, but when I sit down to eat, I fress and I don't care. When I sit down to eat, I'm like the כהן *kohen*. I wash my hands, I am preparing myself as well. Where did the כיור *kiyor* come from? What was at the base of the basin? The כהנים *kohanim* would look, what it was on the bottom, what was it made from? From the mirrors that the women had beautified themselves with. Put all for another time.Then we go on to the anointing oil. וידבר השם אל משה... קח לך בשמים ראש *Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe... Kach lecha besamim rosh*. Take for yourself the choicest spices. And what is the best spice? קח לך בשמים ראש *Kach lecha besamim rosh*. What is the finest spice? The first one that's mentioned is מר דרור *mar deror*. In the middle of page 486. חמש מאות וקנמן בשם מחציתו חמישים ומאתים וקנה בושם חמישים ומאתים וקידה *Chamesh mei'os, v'kinman besem machatziso chamishim u'masayim, u'kneih vosem chamishim u'masayim, v'kida*. Make the שמן המשחה *shemen hamishcha*, the anointing oil that was used in order to inaugurate the vessels, was used in order to appoint the כהנים *kohanim*, it's used in order to anoint kings. What is it made from? The first spice it's used from is the מר דרור *mar deror*. The גמרא *Gemara* in חולין *Chulin* when it says, המן מן התורה מנין *Haman min haTorah minayin*? How do you know, where do you see an allusion to Haman in the Torah? Haman of course came much later, after the Torah. Where do you see an allusion to Haman in the Torah? המן העץ הדעת *Hamin ha'eitz hada'as*. When Hashem challenges Adam, did you eat from the tree I told you not to? What's the connection? Is it just a play on words, Haman and הֲמִן *hamin*? Rav Shechter always explained that the connection is Adam and Chava are placed in גן עדן *Gan Eden* and they're told, enjoy the garden. You could have anything you want. It's all yours, enjoy it. There's just one thing you can't have. But they weren't able to contain themselves. And we call it the forbidden fruit. That which we can't have is what we want the most. They wanted the forbidden fruit, and that clouded their judgment and that led to sabotaging their own destiny and success. Haman too had everything. Haman had everyone bowing down. What got under Haman's skin? There was one thing he couldn't have. There was one lousy Jew who wouldn't bow down. One Jew wouldn't bow down. And Haman sabotaged his own success because had Haman been satisfied with the whole rest of the 127 מדינות *medinos* bowing down to him and only the one lousy Jew not bowing down, he would have remained the prime minister. He would have remained in the position he was at, and who knows, he could have continued in that position in glory. He brought about his own downfall. Why? Because like Adam, Haman, הֲמִן *hamin*, he couldn't resist the forbidden fruit, the one thing that he couldn't have, it clouded his judgment because of how badly he wanted it. The גמרא *Gemara* then says, אסתר מן התורה *Esther min haTorah*. How do we know about Esther? הסתר אסתיר פני *Haster astir panai*, because Hashem's face is hidden. Esther is about hiddenness. Hashem is hidden in the מגילה *Megillah*, מגילת אסתר *Megillas Esther*, מגלה את הנסתר *megaleh es hanistar*. When we read the מגילה *Megillah*, we're trying to reveal Hashem's hand. We're trying to see Hashem's hand within the story. What about Mordechai? מרדכי מן התורה מנין *Mordechai min haTorah minayin*? And the גמרא *Gemara* there in חולין *Chulin* quotes this פסוק *pasuk*. מרדכי *Mordechai*, מר דכי *Mar Dechaya*, is מר דרור *mar deror*. It's the Aramaic for מר דרור *mar deror*, מר דכי *Mor Dechai*. Which is this first of the finest spices. What's the connection? Fine spice and Mordechai? What's the connection? We talked about it a little bit last week when we talked about the קטורת *ketores*, the incense, that God breathed life into us through our nostrils. God is described as getting angry when he flares his nostrils. God is described as being patient when he expands his nostrils, ארך אפים *erech apayim*, which is in this week's פרשה *Parsha*, י\"ג מדות *yud gimmel midos*. And the קטורת *ketores* is what turns מידת הדין *midas hadin* to מידת הרחמים *midas harachamim*, and Mordechai is that catalyst. Mordechai is who invokes the מידת הרחמים *midas harachamim* because Mordechai, like a great human being, affirms that God breathed צלם אלוקים *tzelem Elokim* into his nostrils. Just like מר דרור *mar deror* in our פרשה *Parsha* is the finest of all the spices, Mordechai is the finest of all the Jews of his generation.So here I'll deviate for a little tangent to tell you something incredible about פורים *Purim*. Because we talk about Mordechai as מר דרור *mar deror*. He's the finest of his generation. Mordechai is the choicest. And we think of Mordechai, if not one of the heroes of the story of פורים *Purim*, but we consider Mordechai to be the hero. He choreographs, he orchestrates the whole salvation. He orchestrates the whole story. He guides Esther, people to fast and to דאווענען *daven*. He emerges as a leader not only of the Jewish people but of the Persian government. He's רצוי לרוב אחיו *ratzuy l'rov echav*, which I always take great comfort as a rabbi in, that even Mordechai saved the entire community, saved the entire people from extermination, from annihilation, and רוב אחיו *rov echav*. He got most of the vote. When it came time for his vote, he got the majority. What Jew in שושן *Shushan* didn't vote for Mordechai? Who could have possibly voted against Mordechai? Even Mordechai was רצוי לרוב אחיו *ratzuy l'rov echav*. Moshe Rabbeinu takes the Jews out of Egypt, ten מכות *makkos*, splits the sea, brings them the Torah, takes them through the desert. And what happens? We'll get to פרשת פקודי *Parshas Pekudei* in a few weeks. Why is Moshe taking an accounting? Why does he have to provide an audit of the משכן *Mishkan* appeal? Because people were suspicious of him. They accused him of siphoning off money. He was also accused of sleeping with their wives. The great Moshe Rabbeinu. So if that was Moshe and this is Mordechai, it's רצוי לרוב אחיו *ratzuy l'rov echav*, makes you feel better that you don't have 100% love of the people. So anyway, Mordechai is if not one of the heroes, but we think of Mordechai as the hero of the story. But the truth is if you take a moment to think about it, is Mordechai really מר דרור *mar deror*? Is Mordechai really the choicest, the finest? Is he really the hero? Maybe he's a villain. Maybe he's the perpetrator in the story. He in fact is the catalyst for what initiated the decree to exterminate the Jews of שושן *Shushan* and well beyond. Why, what do I mean? Would it have been so terrible for Mordechai to bow down just one time? Just bow down one time, just once. Not only does he refuse to bow down to Haman, but he antagonizes Haman. What do I mean? Mordechai, you don't want to bow down? Avoid Haman. Just avoid him and avoid the circumstance of being asked to bow down. But what does Mordechai do? He camps out on Haman's route to the palace, so Haman will דוקא *dafka* walk by him and he will דוקא *dafka* be defiant and not bow down. And and it works. He antagonizes Haman and Haman is so bothered that he goes to Achashveirosh and says, I have a favor, I want to destroy this entire people because of Mordechai. So is Mordechai the hero? Is he the מר דרור *mar deror*? Or is he the villain? Just bow down one lousy time. And even after Haman announces his decree to destroy the Jewish people, Mordechai continues to snub him. And when Achashveirosh remembers what Mordechai had done to save his life, and he sends Haman to reward him by parading him publicly, Mordechai could have declined the honor, preserved Haman's dignity, tried not to alienate and antagonize him anymore. But what does he do? He gleefully accepts. And he's paraded on the horse and wearing the clothing of the king and he allows Haman to have to be the one who declares ככה... *kacha...*. And this is the hero of פורים *Purim*? If you think about it, Mordechai, it seems like his ego, his stubbornness, puts the Jewish people at risk. What is the source of Mordechai's intransigence? Why is Mordechai so, so stubborn that instead of the hero, he's really the villain? So what will you answer me if you're learning the דף יומי *Daf Yomi*? What will you answer me? That's right. What kind of question is this? Of course Mordechai couldn't bow down. It's עבודה זרה *avodah zarah*. Can't bow down to somebody who's positioning himself as if they're the source of worship. Mordechai didn't make the choice. It wasn't his ego. He wasn't a villain on purpose. So, true, עבודה זרה *avodah zarah* is one of the ייהרג ואל יעבור *yehareig v'al ya'avor*. עבודה זרה *Avodah zarah* is one of the three cardinal sins. And in fact, the אבן עזרא *Ibn Ezra* suggests that Haman wore an idolatrous symbol around his neck when people would bow down to him, he wanted them to really be bowing down to his idol. Rashi says Haman declared himself to be a deity, that Haman saw himself as a god. This is a phenomenon we saw with Pharaoh, of Haman, we see it with some of our worst enemies. Their ego, which makes sense. I mean, the only way that they could not see God is because they think they are the god. To think you're a god doesn't mean even idolatry, it means you think you're the arbiter of your own destiny. You don't concede and recognize that there's a greater, higher being who controls the world. One sees themselves as a deity when they neglect God or reject God and see themselves as the sole influence in their own life. But either way, it would seem maybe Mordechai was right not to bow down. It's עבודה זרה *avodah zarah*, whether it was an idol around Haman's neck or Haman himself saw himself as a deity. But that's not the whole story. The גמרא *Gemara* in סנהדרין דף ס\"א *Sanhedrin Daf Samech Aleph* tells us that the law of ייהרג ואל יעבור *yehareig v'al ya'avor* of having to give up your life rather than engage in idolatry only applies if in fact one is buying into the divine nature of the idol. The הלכה *halacha* that's ייהרג ואל יעבור *yehareig v'al ya'avor* is only if you would be in fact investing in the divinity of the idol. But if you're bowing down only out of fear, then one is not liable. And in fact the רמב\"ם *Rambam* in עבודת כוכבים פרק ג' הלכה ה' *Avodas Kochavim Perek Gimmel Halacha Hey* quotes this הלכה *halacha* that if you're only bowing down out of fear and not with any sincerity at all, it's not ייהרג ואל יעבור *yehareig v'al ya'avor*. You do not have to give your life. The כסף משנה *Kessef Mishneh* comments, and what's an example of a circumstance where one would have only been bowing down out of fear, not because they really mean it? What's the example, says the כסף משנה *Kessef Mishneh*, רבי יוסף קארו *Rav Yosef Karo*? The example is bowing to Haman. Because no one with the Jews were bowing to Haman because they're worshipping Haman, they were bowing to Haman out of fear for their lives. So the כסף משנה's *Kessef Mishneh's* comment on the רמב\"ם *Rambam* only compounds the question and makes it more compelling. Mordechai didn't have to bow. Mordechai was not, I'm sorry, Mordechai did not have to, did not have to refrain from bowing. He could have bowed down. And he should have bowed down. It would have saved the Jewish people. It wasn't הלכה *halacha* that prevented him from bowing down. It wasn't ייהרג ואל יעבור *yehareig v'al ya'avor* that prevented him from bowing down. So what was it? Ego, jealousy, competitiveness? What was the reason he didn't bow down? This is not my question. Many asked this question. Rav Dessler asked this question. This is a sophisticated question, right? We all learn the story of פורים *Purim* and we learn Mordechai is the hero because he didn't bow down. Everyone else caved, everyone else worshipped, everyone else did the wrong thing. Oh, Mordechai is the hero. But this flips the whole story on its head. Mordechai is not the hero, he's the villain. הלכתית *Halachically* you're entitled to bow down. What right did Mordechai have to risk the well-being, the safety and security of the whole Jewish people by so stubbornly refusing to bow down? הלכה *Halacha* didn't mandate it, so what did? What right in the world did he have? I want you to hold on to that question. We're going to come back to it. If we don't, remind me to. So we have the allusion to Mordechai in the פרשה *Parsha*. Mordechai is מר דרור *mar deror*, the choicest, the finest. Right now at this pause within our question, Mordechai doesn't seem to be the finest and the choicest. Mordechai seems to be the opposite. He seems to be the villain. Okay. In any case, that's the שמן המשחה *shemen hamishcha*. Then we have the קטורת *ketores*. Here are all the ingredients. Page 488. קח לך סמים נטף ושחלת וחלבנה סמים *Kach lecha samim, nataf u'shcheiles v'chelbona samim*. חלבנה *Chelbona*, it's putrid. And yet it too was one of the ingredients which teaches us that the entirety of the Jewish people, valuing diversity and celebrating unity. You don't know our tagline, our slogan?Bottom of page 488, the פרשה *Parsha* continues with Hashem reminding us whom he recruited to be the engineer, the architect of the משכן *Mishkan*. ראה קראתי בשם בצלאל בן אורי בן חור למטה יהודה *Re'eh karasi v'shem Betzalel ben Uri ven Chur l'mateh Yehuda*. בצלאל *Betzalel* son of אורי *Uri* son of חור *Chur* of יהודה *Yehuda*. Here the כלי יקר *Kli Yakar*, the אור החיים *Ohr HaChaim* go through exactly his qualifications, why he's chosen. The Torah tells us, testifies, ואמלא אותו רוח אלוקים *va'amalei oso ruach Elokim*, I filled him with the spirit of God. What are the criteria, what qualities do בצלאל *Betzalel* does בצלאל *Betzalel* have that make him positioned best to be the architect of the משכן *Mishkan*? בחכמה בתבונה ובדעת *b'chochmah, b'tvunah u'v'daas*. What's that an acronym for? חכמה בינה ודעת *chochma, bina v'daas*? חב\"ד *Chabad*. I was gonna say Satmar. No, חב\"ד *Chabad*. חכמה בינה ודעת *Chochma, bina v'daas*. ובכל מלאכה *U'v'chol melacha*. And with every craft. חב\"ד *Chabad*, the בעל התניא *Baal HaTanya*, the אלתר רבי *Alter Rebbe*, when he talked about חכמה בינה ודעת *chochma, bina v'daas*, if you've studied תניא *Tanya*, you know that even though of course Lubavitch is a sect of חסידות *Chassidus*, that חסידות *Chassidus* concentrates on the heart, on the emotion, on the עבודה *avodah*. Right? The the the difference between מתנגדים *Misnagdim* and the חסידים *Chassidim*, we gave a whole talk on this in great rivalries. Of course all the different diverse segments of the Jewish people believe in all of these things. The question is where is the emphasis. For the נפש החיים *Nefesh HaChaim*, for רב חיים מוולוז'ין *Rav Chaim Volozhiner*, for וולוז'ין *Volozhin* and Brisk and the chain that has come since then of מתנגדים *Misnagdim*, of ליטוויש *Litvish*, it's learning Torah, תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם *Talmud Torah k'neged kulam*. It's the intellect, it's Torah, Torah, Torah, Torah learning, Torah learning, Torah learning. And חסידות *Chassidus* said, of course we believe in Torah learning, but it's עבודה *avodah*. It's Torah service, it's worship, it's the Torah, it's the experience of עבודה *avodah*. So people mistakenly think that תניא *Tanya* is going to be all about, you know, only all about how to דאווען *daven* with כוונה *kavanah*, how to make a לחיים *l'chaim* with כוונה *kavanah*, how to enjoy עבודה *avodah*. תניא *Tanya* is all about learning. It's all about endorsing the intellect. The whole system of the בעל התניא *Baal HaTanya* is not based on דאווענען *davening* נסח ארי *nusach Ari*, although that's, you know, something that comes out. The whole system, the whole תניא *Tanya* say for תניא *Tanya* is about חכמה בינה ודעת *chochma, bina v'daas*. The acronym for the whole movement, חב\"ד *Chabad*. חב\"ד *Chabad* is not, doesn't loosely translate to candlesticks, mezuzahs, and putting on tefillin. חב\"ד *Chabad* is חכמה בינה ודעת *chochma, bina v'daas*, it's sitting and learning. What's the difference between חכמה, בינה, ודעת *chochma, bina v'daas*? Are they simply synonyms? Are they redundant? What is the difference? בצלאל *Betzalel* is chosen why? Because he has חב\"ד *Chabad*. בצלאל *Betzalel* belongs to חב\"ד *Chabad*. He's got a special pension in his hat, he wears a gartel. What does that mean? So רבי סולובייצ'יק *Rabi Soloveitchik* in his חומש *Chumash* describes the difference. He says חכמה *chochma* refers to specialized knowledge which is acquired by extensive and detailed study. תבונה *Tvunah* or בינה *bina* is the capacity to analyze, to make distinctions, to draw inferences, and to apply them to various situations. Right, the גמרא *Gemara* says, why do we make הבדלה *havdalah* in the ברכה *bracha* of דעת *da'as*? You ever think about that on מוצאי שבת *Motzei Shabbos*? We say אתה חוננתנו *atah chonantanu* within the ברכה *bracha* of דעת *da'as*. The second ברכה *bracha*, אתה חונן *atah chonein*, not the second ברכה *bracha*, the first of the בקשות *bakashos*. Why in that ברכה *bracha*? Why not in another ברכה *bracha*? And the גמרא *Gemara* in מגילה *Megillah* says why? Because בינה *bina* is the capacity to be מבדיל *mavdil* between this and between that. What is בינה *bina*? בינה *Bina*, so חכמה *chochma* is knowledge. If you take a, you know physics and chemistry and biology, you know רמב\"ם *Rambam*, you know שולחן ערוך *Shulchan Aruch*, you know תניא *Tanya*, you've mastered that חכמה *chochma*. It's a body of knowledge. חכמה *Chochma* is knowledge, specialized knowledge. בינה *Bina* is the capacity to analyze, draw distinctions, and apply them in different situations. בינה *Bina* is analysis. When תבונה *tvunah* is combined with חכמה *chochma*, we have the especially gifted and creative thinker. דעת *Da'as*, what's דעת *da'as*? Common sense. Basic intelligence, sound practical judgment. חכמה בינה ודעת *Chochma, bina v'daas*. חכמה *Chochma* is specialized knowledge, בינה *bina* is the capacity to analyze, it's the capacity to draw distinctions, and דעת *da'as* is common sense. I shared with you before that Rav Aron Lichtenstein זצ\"ל *zatzal* has a great article on דעת תורה *da'as Torah*. The question of דעת תורה *da'as Torah*. Do we believe in דעת תורה *da'as Torah*? What's דעת תורה *da'as Torah*? It's the doctrine that the more Torah you have, the greater your authority to not only פסקן *pasken* on the chicken, is it kosher or not, but to decide about, should we rally for Soviet Jewry? And should we have a יום השואה *Yom HaShoah*? And דעת תורה *da'as Torah*, should I buy this house, should I take this job? Do we subscribe to the doctrine of דעת תורה *da'as Torah*? A very, very big discussion. When was דעת תורה *da'as Torah* even introduced as a doctrine? What does it even mean? In Rav Aron Lichtenstein's article, I think the title of it is, \"Can you have דעת תורה *da'as Torah* without דעת *da'as*?\" And he tells the story in there of a שבעה *shiva* call he paid to Rav Hutner, his rebbe. Rav Hutner was sitting שבעה *shiva*, he was very, very, um, obviously he was very bereaved. And when Rav Aron walked in to pay a שבעה *shiva* call to his rebbe, Rav Hutner had just before been visited by a great ראש ישיבה *Rosh Yeshiva*, an outstanding גדול בישראל *gadol b'Yisrael*. And Rav Hutner was irate. And he said to his תלמיד *talmid*, Rav Aron Lichtenstein, you know what the חז\"ל *Chazal* say, the גמרא *Gemara* says, כל תלמיד חכם שאין בו דעת נבילה טובה הימנו *Kol talmid chacham she'ein bo da'as, nevela tova heimenu*. A תלמיד חכם *talmid chacham* who lacks דעת *da'as*, a carcass, a putrid rotting carcass is better than that תלמיד חכם *talmid chacham*. So this תלמיד חכם *talmid chacham* who had just paid the שבעה *shiva* call to Rav Hutner said some nonsense about, at least you had her this many years, or at least you, whatever. You know, the stupid things people say on שבעה *shiva* calls. And tried to pass it off as if it was דעת תורה *da'as Torah*. To which Rav Hutner turned to Rav Lichtenstein and said, of course in the article he doesn't tell us who that was. But of course Rav Hutner turned to Rav Lichtenstein and says, חז\"ל *Chazal* say, כל תלמיד חכם שאין בו דעת *kol talmid chacham she'ein bo da'as*. So he said to Rav Lichtenstein, he said, do you hear what חז\"ל *Chazal* were saying? It doesn't say, כל עם הארץ שאין בו דעת *kol am ha'aretz she'ein bo da'as*. Every ignoramus who lacks common sense. It says, כל תלמיד חכם שאין בו דעת *kol talmid chacham she'ein bo da'as*. You could be a תלמיד חכם *talmid chacham*. You could be an enormous תלמיד חכם *talmid chacham* and have no דעת *da'as*. Lack common sense, lack common sense, lack common judgment. And if you're so if you're an ignoramus and you lack common judgment, nobody expects anything from you and nobody's going to follow you. But if you're a תלמיד חכם שאין בו דעת *talmid chacham she'ein bo da'as*, you're an enormous תלמיד חכם *talmid chacham*, you know ש\"ס בעל פה *Shas ba'al peh*, what they call book smarts but you lack street smarts, you have no common sense, you have no common courtesy, you have no basic judgment, sound judgment, נבילה טובה הימנו *nevela tova heimenu*. So that's Rav Lichtenstein's thesis is if we are going to subscribe to the doctrine of דעת תורה *da'as Torah*, דעת תורה *da'as Torah* begins with having דעת *da'as*. דעת תורה *Da'as Torah* is... not those who have the greatest חכמה chachma, דעת daas, Torah has to be built on the foundation of דעת daas. Why do I share that with you here? Because חכמה בינה ודעת chachma, bina, u'daas, בחכמה ובתבונה ובדעת b'chachma u'tvuna u'v'daas. You could have חכמה chachma and no דעת daas. There are people with a whole lot of דעת daas, they have a lot of street smarts, but they have no חכמה chachma, they have no knowledge, they have no book knowledge. בצלאל Betzalel combines the three. חכמה Chachma is the birth of information, intellectual perception, says the rov. The תרגום ירושלמי Targum Yerushalmi in keeping with the קבלה Kabbalah translates בראשית ברא אלקים Bereishis bara Elokim as with wisdom, God created the heavens and the earth. The תרגום ירושלמי Targum Yerushalmi's translation of בראשית ברא אלקים Bereishis bara Elokim is with חכמה chachma. Why? Wisdom is the beginning of everything, the spring from which all flows, the primal point, the beginning of the created world, which is regulated with mathematical exactitude. Wisdom is represented by the letter יוד yud in the ineffable name, the source of intelligence and creativity. Understanding on the other hand, signifies a more advanced stage, when the crystal clear waters that bubble forth from the string of wisdom become a wide meandering river, when the point begins to move and forms a line that turns about and delineates two-dimensional space, when the יוד yud becomes a broad הא hei. In modern categories of thought, wisdom is intuitive thought, the light of the sensitive intelligence, the initial flash of basic perceptions of principles or axioms, while understanding relates to developed analytical intelligence that deduces one thing from another in order to fully analyze and clarify the basic conception born from wisdom. The first was born in the mysterious infinite wisdom world of wisdom, the second in the ordinary finite world of understanding, or to put it more simply, wisdom you can achieve through memorization. But בינה bina is how to think. Wisdom is knowledge. Knowledge you can get from memorizing. Soon, we'll be able to plug a USB drive into our ear and just download the information and memorize. This is a very important insight for our educational, our חינוך chinuch models. Are we teaching our children just to memorize? Are we teaching them how to think? Are we teaching them just חכמה chachma? Or are we also teaching them בינה bina? And by the way, do we even think about how to teach them דעת daas?Above all is the importance of the sense of the beginning, of axiomatic truth in all spheres, scientific, philosophical, Torah, or erudition. The meaning of wisdom, the primal point, the beginning, is also important for practical thinking and for deeds. When one wants to do something to achieve certain ends, when he wants to realize a great understanding, he must be guided by wisdom, by the sense of the beginning. He must first feel it's impossible to accomplish the project, that his vision is not an illusion. The inspiration, the germ of the idea, the grasping of the essential results from wisdom, the primal point, understanding, choosing the means, the detailed knowledge come only later. Where does the rov also bring this up? Not in our parsha, he brings this up in פרשת קרח Parshas Korach, when the rov coined the phrase the common sense rebellion, that קרח Korach rebels. What's קרח's Korach's argument? Why should Moshe be in charge? And he asks Moshe, if a room is filled with ספרי תורה sifrei Torah, does it need a מזוזה mezuzah? One little parchment with one פרשה parsha exempts the room, certainly if it's filled with Totorahs it should be exempt. If you have a בגד שכולו תכלת beged shekulo techeiles, if you have a garment that's entirely made of תכלת techeiles, does it need ציצית tzitzis on the corners? If one string of תכלת techeiles exempts the beggar from each corner, certainly if the whole garment is. And the rov says this is the common sense rebellion. It means that קרח's Korach's attitude to Torah was that Torah was דעת daas. He didn't realize that it's a חכמה chachma. קרח Korach thought you can apply common sense to Torah. I don't have to be versed in it, I don't have to be literate, I don't have to be knowledgeable, I don't have to be a scholar. I could just use my common sense. Doesn't make sense to me. This מלאכה melacha doesn't make sense to me. And I think that second day of yontif shouldn't apply anymore and kitniyos I should be able to eat and I haven't really learned up the סוגיה sugya. I haven't gone through the issue of organ donation with the גמרא Gemara and the ראשונים Rishonim and the פוסקים Poskim. It's my common sense. My common sense tells me that's the הלכה halacha. That's walking in the footsteps of קרח Korach. That's thinking that Torah is only דעת daas. What קרח Korach failed to see, said the rov, is that Torah is חכמה chachma. Just like you would never posit, I don't think there's such a thing as gravity. Why should something fall if I let go of it midair, it should stay where it was. So the physicist looks at you and says you're a moron. You don't know the ABCs of physics, you haven't studied anything. What are you positing an opinion about physics? You know גורנישט gurnisht about physics. Torah is a חכמה chachma, Torah is not just a דעת daas. But there's an aspect of Torah which is all three. חכמה, בינה ודעת chachma, bina, and daas. See טניה Tanya for more. And that's what בצלאל Betzalel, here the Torah is testifying, that's what השם אמלא אותו רוח אלקים Hashem imaleh oso ruach Elokim, השם Hashem filled בצלאל Betzalel to be the architect of the place that would house השם Hashem, the משכן Mishkan, the holy משכן Mishkan, one had to be filled with all three, with חכמה, בינה ודעת chachma, bina, and daas. Next we have a reminder of שבת Shabbos. And of course here we have את שבתותי תשמורו es Shabsosai tishmoru. What do you mean שבתותי Shabsosai? It should be one, the singular, שבת Shabbos, observe שבת Shabbos. Why does it say שבתות Shabbos in the plural?So the כתב וקבלה Ksav v'Kabbalah, רב יעקב צבי מקלנבורג Rav Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg says, בא לשון יחד ורבים ba lashon yachad v'rabim. כי טעם שבתותי בעבור כי שבתות השנה הם רבים ki taam Shabsosai b'avur ki Shabsos ha'shana hem rabim. First he quotes the רמב\"ן Ramban who says, you know why it's in the plural? Because there are multiple שבתות Shabbosos in a year. There's one פסח Pesach, there's one סוכות Sukkos, there's one שבועות Shavuos, שבת Shabbos, שבת Shabbos is 52. Comes every week. I quoted before, Rabbi Friedman should have a full and complete and speedy רפואה שלמה refuah shleima, הרב שמחה חיים בן איטא Harav Simcha Chaim ben Ita, he loves to say, he asks people, what's the next Jewish holiday? Doesn't work this week actually. But it works normally on a Tuesday. What's the next Jewish holiday? Oh, פסח Pesach. שבת Shabbos. שבת Shabbos is also. So שבתותי Shabsosai in the plural because it comes. But the the כתב וקבלה Ksav V'Kabbalah, רב יעקב צבי מקלנבורג Rav Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg gives a different פשט pshat. He says שבת Shabbos has a duality. שבת Shabbos is what we refrain from, what we abstain from. And that's the מלאכה melacha. So don't do the 39 acts of creative labor and you're a and you're and you're observing שבת Shabbos in the sense that you haven't violated מלאכה melacha. But that's only half the story of שבת Shabbos. What's the other part of שבת Shabbos? What do we say here?ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת V'shamru Bnei Yisrael es haShabbos, top of page 492. You may be familiar with this passage. ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת V'shamru Bnei Yisrael es haShabbos. לעשות את השבת La'asos es haShabbos. What do you mean לעשות la'asos? What do you mean to make שבת Shabbos? Which is it? ושמרו v'shamru, am I keeping שבת Shabbos? Or לעשות la'asos, am I making שבת Shabbos? The answer is both. I observe שבת Shabbos by not violating the ל\"ט מלאכות lamed tes melachos, but you know what? I could sit on the couch reading comic books drinking beer all day not violating מלאכה melacha, not exactly the vision that השם Hashem had for what שבת Shabbos is supposed to be. So on the one hand, you have to refrain and abstain from the prohibited labor. That's ושמרו v'shamru. But you also have to לעשות la'asos. You have to create a שבת Shabbos atmosphere. You have to create a sense of שבת Shabbos. A joy, a happiness, זמירות zmiros, דברי תורה divrei Torah, שבת Shabbos clothing, שבת Shabbos tablecloth. There's לעשות את השבת la'asos es haShabbos. And that's what the כתב וקבלה Ksav V'Kabbalah says, that's why it's שבתותי Shabsosai. אך את שבתותי תשמרו Ach es Shabsosai tishmoru. Dual, two שבתות Shabbosos. It's not many שבתות Shabbosos during the year, but every שבת Shabbos is made up of two שבתות Shabbosos. There's what I'm abstaining from, the מלאכה melacha, זכור ושמור zachor v'shamor. There's the שמור shamor and there's the זכור zachor. Which one guarantees that your children are going to be excited about שבת Shabbos? The ושמרו v'shamru? When does it say that you're going to have continuity? ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת v'shamru Bnei Yisrael es haShabbos. Only לעשות את השבת la'asos es haShabbos, then לדורתם ברית עולם l'dorosam bris olam. If לעשות את השבת la'asos es haShabbos, if you prepare for שבת Shabbos, you have a good story for the שבת Shabbos table, you have good prizes for the פרשה parsha questions at the שבת Shabbos table, you made good food for the שבת Shabbos table, you're going to sing good זמירות zmiros at the שבת Shabbos table, you get dressed for שבת Shabbos at the שבת Shabbos table, only then am I get myself in trouble now, but I hate the Shabbos robes. The Shabbos robe. It's made its way to Boca. Not in shul, people don't come to shul yet in the Shabbos robe in Boca. But to me, it's you're wearing your pajamas at the Shabbos table. You know, you got your fine China. Last week we talked about, not only the plate and the bowl and that you got the the charger. You got 17 layers of fine China and 17 pieces of silver and crystal and the wine glass and you killed yourself to make an elaborate meal and you're sitting there in your pajamas. It's comfortable. I don't want to change. It's Friday night. I just want to be comfortable. That's not לעשות את השבת la'asos es haShabbos. לעשות את השבת La'asos es haShabbos is, I put on my פני שבת נקבלה Pnei Shabbos nekabla, I put on my שבת פנים Shabbos panim. I've come to the, I've come to the Shabbos table. So when is it לדורתם ברית עולם l'dorosam bris olam? I can tell you when it's not. You know when children and grandchildren have no use and no interest in שבת Shabbos? When you give a קרעכץ krechts and an אוי ואבוי oy vey and you're miserable and it's שבת Shabbos, I got to cook for, I can't believe I got to cook for שבת Shabbos. Purim's on a Thursday, I got to cook for Purim and then I got to cook for שבת Shabbos. I נבך nebach. I got to cook and I got the meal and I got this. Rabbi Paysach Krohn tells the great story. You know the story? He tells the great story of the גננת ganenet in Israel who's making a Shabbos party for the little kids in the, in the גן gan, in the חדר cheider. And that that week it's the boy's turn to be the שבת אבא Shabbos Abba. The little girl is the שבת אמא Shabbos Ima. So they each come in their Shabbos clothing and the girl gets to light the candles and she you know, covers her eyes and does the whole routine. Now she says to the boy, okay, hold the קידוש kiddush cup, you're going to make קידוש kiddush for the whole class. He says, now? She says, yeah, now. So he says, Oh, am I tired. Let's eat quickly and just get through this meal. She says, what are you doing? He said, that's how my father makes קידוש kiddush every week. So, it's not לדורתם ברית עולם l'dorosam bris olam when we're not לעשות את השבת la'asos es haShabbos. Is that father who makes קידוש kiddush that way every Friday night, is he a שומר שבת shomer Shabbos? ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת V'shamru Bnei Yisrael es haShabbos, is he a שומר שבת shomer Shabbos? Absolutely he's a שומר שבת shomer Shabbos. He's not doing מלאכה melacha, he's not checking his phone at the table. But is he fulfilling לעשות את השבת la'asos es haShabbos? Then it's not going to be לדורתם ברית עולם l'dorosam bris olam. שבת Shabbos has to be the thing that we look forward to all the time. I've shared with you also before that the אויב ישראל Ohev Yisrael, the אפטר רב Apter Rav learns from the posuk when it says ואביו שמר את הדבר v'aviv shamar es hadavar that יעקב Yaakov waited for יוסף Yosef. שמר Shamar means to safeguard, it means to wait longingly, to anticipate. So that's the case, ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת v'shamru Bnei Yisrael es haShabbos, when does that happen? Not on Friday night in שבת Shabbos. It happens during the week. For the אפטר רב Apter Rav, when are you a שומר שבת shomer Shabbos? When all week long you look forward to. Are you בית הלל, בית שמאי Beis Hillel, Beis Shammai, do you buy the meat now? יום יום yom yom or do you buy the best meat and leave it for שבת Shabbos? The חזקוני Chizkuni in our פרשה parsha also talks about being a שומר שבת shomer Shabbos means that you're thinking about שבת Shabbos during the week. The רמב\"ן Ramban says how do you fulfill that? What did you say this morning at the end of davening? The שיר של יום Shir Shel Yom began, היום יום שלישי בשבת Hayom yom shlishi b'Shabbos. You say it's not Tuesday, it's שלישי בשבת shlishi b'Shabbos. My whole life is a countdown to שבת Shabbos. My whole life is how many days it's been since שבת Shabbos. My whole life revolves around שבת Shabbos. I gave a שבת שובה דרשה Shabbos Shuva drasha about Shabbos a bunch of years ago and I tried to launch a campaign which has since died in my own home and in the whole community. But the campaign was to set the table for Shabbos on Thursday night to wake up Friday to an ערב שבת Erev Shabbos. That when you're getting ready Friday morning, you're having your coffee, getting the kids to school, if the Shabbos table's set up by the time you woke up, Friday's not Friday, Friday's ערב שבת Erev Shabbos. I forgot about it, but this past Thursday night I had to go to someone's house to record a video for a dinner coming up. And I got there at 10:00 at night and the dining room table was set as like שבת Shabbos. I was like, ah, it's not Thursday night, it's ערב שבת Erev Shabbos. That's what it means to be a שומר שבת shomer Shabbos. ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת V'shamru Bnei Yisrael es haShabbos and only then is it לדורתם, ביני ובין בני ישראל beini u'vein Bnei Yisrael, אות os and so on. Okay, great. That's all the fun part of the parsha. And then that brings us up to the חטא העגל chet ha'egel. We're not going to spend time, you can listen to previous years. Did they really worship עבודה זרה avodah zarah? It's almost impossible to believe the Jewish people who had experienced the greatest revelation in history could abandon the רבש\"ע Ribono Shel Olam in the greatest act of infidelity, worship a calf? Impossible. And if you're finding it impossible to believe, then you don't have to believe it. That's the good news. You don't have to believe it not because they didn't do it, you don't have to believe it because according to the כוזרי Kuzari, they were worshiping השם Hashem. They just thought they could put him in a box. They needed something tangible through which to connect with him, a medium through which to feel his presence. And Moshe was gone, so they were trying to do it now. How? Through the medium of an עגל eigel. Of course, God gets furious, his anger flares. That's the section we're supposed to study today. Hopefully we'll come back to and look at at least quickly. Moshe davens on their behalf. Moshe comes down from the mountain. He smashes the לוחות luchos. What's going on with Moshe smashing the לוחות luchos? There's a מחלוקת תנאים machlokes Tanaim. Did Moshe smash the לוחות luchos? Did Moshe drop the לוחות luchos? Did he intentionally break them? That's supported by the idea that השם Hashem said ישר כחך ששיברת yashar kochacha sheshibarta. אשר שיברת Asher shibarta at the end of a חומש Chumash, ישר כחך ששיברת yashar kochacha sheshibarta. Or no, were they so heavy that he couldn't continue to hold them. The rov has a beautiful explanation here too, where he describes man can exist in one of two states, as an object or a subject. This is classic Brisker, as a חפצא cheftza or a גברא gavra. One who acts or one who's acted upon. If for example a person climbs a mountain concentrating on the difficult task at hand, straining to maintain his footing as he reaches higher and higher, he acts as a גברא gavra, as a subject. But if suddenly by loosening a rock upon which he's bounced, he loses his footing and falls into the abyss, the גברא gavra is transformed into a חפצא cheftza. I'll put it differently. If you walk up Masada, you're a גברא gavra. If you take the the cable car, you're a חפצא cheftza. A person acts as a גברא gavra as long as he opposes external forces. The mountain climber opposes the force of gravity. The גברא gavra mobilizes his energy and free will against such forces. The חפצא cheftza does not act against forces but is subservient to them. The metaphor of descent is that it applies to the חפצא cheftza is similarly applied when בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael sin. Right, because what does it say here? Over and over. Moshe is told to go down. השם Hashem comes down. ויפן וירד משה מן ההר Vayifen vayered Moshe min hahar. We have the imagery of going down over and over again here in this section. And Moshe dropped וישלך מידם את הלוחות vayashlech miyadam es haluchos. The לוחות luchos drop, they go down. So the rov explains the metaphor of descent applies to a חפצא cheftza. Moshe was an ascender, when as a גברא gavra, filled with love for the creator, he pined for confirmation of God's forgiveness towards his people. In this role, Moshe could overcome all psychological and physical obstacles. And in the cold wind of morning, he climbed the mountain to meet the master of the universe. Moshe in this guise was capable of carrying not only two tablets, but the entire world on his shoulders. But after Moshe had climbed the mountain the first time, at what should have been this moment of triumph, the sinning nation defeated him. God's voice thundered. Moshe's defeat came at the hands of the iniquitous nation under his charge. An unbearable force was unleashed on Moshe, propelling him downward until he could no longer hold the tablets aloft. In one instant, the greatest of all men turned into an object, a descender. The tablets became too heavy for Moshe to bear, and he shattered them at the foot of the mountain. So the notion of a גברא gavra versus a חפצא cheftza and the לוחות luchos which were what propelled him to be the גברא gavra, when man falls, one turns himself into a חפצא cheftza. A חפצא cheftza, an object, is subject to gravity, or an object is vulnerable to gravity, and that's what's going on over here. So Moshe either destroys the לוחות luchos, which is a tremendous, if you assume he did it intentionally, boy is that a bold move. השם Hashem gives him these miraculous לוחות luchos. These were not ordinary. They had miracles. The סמך the מם סופית samech, the mem sofis, were suspended in air, was engraved all the way through, yet all תורה שבכתב ותורה שבעל פה Torah shebichsav, Torah shebaal peh, all engraved on these tablets. Unbelievably miraculous tablets from השם Hashem. Could you imagine חלילה chalila taking a sefer Torah and throwing it to the ground? That's what Moshe Rabbeinu did. And השם Hashem says to him, ישר כחך yashar koach. And what happened to those broken pieces? לוחות ושברי לוחות מונחים בארון Luchos v'shivrei luchos munachim b'aron. The גמרא בבא בתרא Gemara Bava Basra and elsewhere say they both end up in the in the ארון aron, which is also significant that we hold on to the broken moments and the broken pieces too. Moshe davens, there's an aftermath of the golden of the חטא העגל chet ha'eigel. He pleads for השם Hashem to come near. Moshe has a vision, he הראני נא את כבודך hareini na es kevodecha. He wants to understand השם's Hashem's ways, but השם Hashem doesn't allow him to see his ways. Moshe is given the second set of tablets. השם Hashem reveals the י\"ג מדות yud gimmel middos through which we can achieve. This is also a great misnomer, I think we talked about this last year. People misquote the גמרא Gemara in ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah that all you have to do is say the י\"ג מדות yud gimmel middos, ה' ה' קל רחום וחנון Hashem Hashem Kel rachum v'chanun, and that's why סליחות slichos we just repeat them over and over. השם Hashem can't help but forgive us. But that's not accurate. It doesn't say all you have to do is אמרו לפני imru l'fanai. It says, imitate me, behave like me, perform before me these 13 things and I can't help but forgive you. So the י\"ג מדות yud gimmel middos are not just some heebie-jeebie formula that we get to recite and השם Hashem forgives us, they are a prescription, a formula for how to behave, and that is when he forgives us. So I want to go back and take a quick look at that section and with it answer our question about מרדכי Mordechai. By now you've already forgot that question. Still remember it? Is Mordechai the hero? Is Mordechai the villain? הלכתית Halachically he was entitled to bow down, why didn't he bow down? So how are we going to answer that? So I want to answer it with the following. Where are we over here? פרק ל\"ב פסוק ז' Perek lamed beis pasuk zayin. פרק ל\"ב פסוק ז' Perek lamed beis pasuk zayin. This is what we're going to read tomorrow on the fast day. וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר Vaydaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, פרק ל\"ב פסוק ז' perek lamed beis pasuk zayin. I'm sorry, פסוק ז' pasuk zayin. At the bottom of page 494. וידבר ה' אל משה לך רד כי שחת עמך אשר העלית מארץ מצרים Vaydaber Hashem el Moshe lech red ki shicheis amcha asher he'elisa me'eretz Mitzrayim. Quickly, get off the mountain. I've got an update for you. It's not fake news, that the Jewish people have become corrupt. I took them out of Egypt and they're corrupt. סרו מהר מן הדרך אשר ציויתם עשו להם עגל מסכה Saru maher min haderech asher tzivisim asu lahem eigel masecha. וישתחוו לו ויזבחו לו ויאמרו אלה אלהיך ישראל אשר העלוך מארץ מצרים Vayishtachavu lo vayizbechu lo vayomru eileh elohecha Yisrael asher he'elucha me'eretz Mitzrayim. Quick, go down because they strayed from the way I've commanded, they made themselves a golden calf, they're bowing down to it, calling it their God. ויאמר ה' אל משה Vayomer Hashem el Moshe, השם Hashem says, ראיתי את העם הזה raisi es ha'am hazeh, I've seen this nation, והנה עם קשה ערף הוא v'hinei am kshei oref hu. They are a stiff-necked people. What does it mean they're a stiff neck? What is the imagery of being stiff-necked? There's an imagery of stubbornness. Why do we give a symbol of being stiff-necked? What does that have to do with stubbornness is your neck? What does that have to do with your neck? So look at the, look at the Sforno. יד ברזל ערפם ולא יפנו לשמוע דברי שום מורה צדק Yad barzel orpam v'lo yifnu lishmoa divrei shum moreh tzedek. It's as if their neck is made out of rigid iron, they can't turn in any direction to hear what anyone else has to say. They're wearing blinders and they are simply pursuing what they want and their neck has no flexibility to it. They can't look to see or hear. באופן שני תקווה שישובו בתשובה B'ofen she'ein tikvah sheyashuvu b'tshuva says the, says השם Hashem to Moshe, they're עם קשה ערף am kshei oref so much so, there's no hope. You can only, when you're going down the wrong path, what's your only hope? That you'll turn your head to see that there's another path. But if your neck is so stiff that you can't turn your head to see there's another path, there's no hope. You're hopeless. There's no way you're going to do teshuva. The Ibn Ezra also here talks about it. קשה ערף שלא ישמעו מה שציווה Kshei oref shelo yishme'u ma she'tziva. משל לאדם הולך דרכו במרוצתו Mashal l'adam holech darko b'merutzaso, someone's running on their path, ולא יטה ערפו לקרוא אליו v'lo yiteh orpo likro eilav, and they can't turn their neck to hear someone who's calling after them. וזה המשל בעבור שהיו ישראל בארץ מצרים עובדי עבודה זרה V'zeh hamashal b'avur shehayu Yisrael b'eretz Mitzrayim ovdei avodah zarah, השם שלח להם נביאים לאמר איש שקוצי עיניו ישליכו Hashem shalach lahem neviim leimor ish shikutzav enav yashlichu. משה סיפר זה המעשה לבניו לפני מותו והוא שאמר ולא שמעתם Moshe siper zeh hama'aseh l'vanav lifnei moso v'hu she'amar v'lo shamatem. In other words, they were idolaters, they were being called after, but they can't turn their head to hear the person calling after them. So what does השם Hashem say? What's their greatest liability? They're stubborn. They're hopeless. They're incorrigible. And therefore, I can't forgive them. So Moshe, get down from the mountain, you need to know what's going on. ועתה הניחה לי ויחר אפי בהם ואכלם V'ata hanicha li v'yichar api bahem va'achaleim. השם Hashem says, listen, הניחה לי hanicha li, leave me alone. Don't try to daven to me. Rashi here comments, the other מפרשים meforshim too, why is השם Hashem saying don't daven to me? Has Moshe tried to daven? He hasn't tried anything yet. He's just finding out about it. So why is השם Hashem saying הניחה לי hanicha li, leave me alone, I'm angry, I want to destroy them? So Rashi tells us, it's so beautiful the imagery. What was השם Hashem really telling Moshe? Hurry up and daven. Don't, I don't want to hear you davening. Don't daven, because I'm don't, you're not going to change my mind. Moshe says, I wasn't davening. I said, stop davening. Says Rashi, השם Hashem was really telling him, I can change my mind if you daven. So what does Moshe do? ויחל משה את פני ה' אלהיו ויאמר Vayechal Moshe es pnei Hashem Elokav vayomer, למה ה' יחרה אפך בעמך אשר הוצאת מארץ מצרים בכח גדול וביד חזקה lama Hashem yehereh apcha b'amcha asher hotzeisa me'eretz Mitzrayim b'koach gadol u'v'yad chazaka. So Moshe pleads before השם Hashem and he says, why should your anger, you took them out of Egypt with such a strong hand. למה יאמרו מצרים לאמר ברעה הוציאם להרוג אותם בהרים Lama yomru Mitzrayim leimor b'ra'ah hotziam laharog osam b'harim? Why you're going to let Egypt, you just decimated Egypt, you just showed your dominion over the world, and now you're going to let Egyptians get the last laugh? They're going to say that God took the Jews out to annihilate them from the face of the earth? שוב מחרון אפך והנחם על הרעה לעמך Shuv mecharon apecha v'hinachem al hara'ah l'amecha. Please, השם Hashem, relent. Please. זכור לאברהם ליצחק ולישראל עבדיך Zchor l'Avraham l'Yitzchak u'l'Yisrael avadecha. Remember Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. אשר נשבעת להם בך Asher nishbata lahem bach. These were you swore to whom you swore that you said to them, ארבה את זרעכם ככוכבי השמים arbeh es zarachem k'kochvei hashamayim, you gave them a promise. God, if you go back on your promise, the מפרשים meforshim explain, Moshe's strategy here is, השם Hashem, if you go back on your promise, it'll be the biggest חילול השם chillul Hashem. השם Hashem, don't make a חילול השם chillul Hashem. In other words, you created the world to fill with your glory, with your name. If you do this, it will diminish your name. Our entire mission, the whole purpose of life is to expand your name, to promote your name, and if you do this, it's going to set back the whole mission. וכל הארץ הזאת אשר אמרתי אתן לזרעכם ונחלו לעולם, וינחם ה' על הרעה אשר דבר לעשות לעמו V'chol ha'aretz hazos asher amarti eten l'zarachem v'nachalu l'olam, vayinachem Hashem al hara'ah asher diber la'asos l'amo. And that strategy works. The old, השם Hashem, if you destroy us, it's only, you're going to hurt us, but you're going to even hurt yourself. השם Hashem says, okay, fair enough. Now, when does this section appear? Is a big מחלוקת machlokes. The רמב\"ן Ramban says, it appeared right now. It appeared right now. Moshe's still on the mountain. He hasn't gone down yet. He's still going to go down, see the עגל eigel, smash the tablets, have to daven again, השם's Hashem's going to forgive. This was just like a, like a ceasefire. השם Hashem just, hold off right now. Give me a chance. Let me go check out what's going on. Let me bring them back. Let me deal with this. Other מפרשים meforshim say, no, this whole section appears afterwards. אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה Ein mukdam u'meuchar baTorah. Only, it shows now, it appears here, but it's really referring to, it's really referring to later. What exactly is the strategy? There's a long Kli Yakar here. What was Moshe invoking with Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov? What are the references? What is he invoking? How does he get השם Hashem to change his mind? Though the Ibn Ezra is very careful to say, חלילה להינחם השם chalila l'hinachem Hashem. כדבר תורה כלשון בני אדם K'dvar Torah k'lashon bnei adam. Don't think השם Hashem changed his mind. השם's Hashem's mind doesn't change. We're using anthropomorphism, we're describing based on human beings. השם Hashem knew all along what was going to happen, what did happen, what he wanted to happen, from our perspective, he's changing his mind. What did he change his mind? וינחם ה' על הרעה Vayinachem Hashem al hara'ah. What was the רעה ra'ah? He changed his mind from doing the רעה ra'ah. What was the רעה ra'ah? The Ohr Hachaim says two possibilities. Either הרעה לעמו hara'ah l'amo, that he was going to destroy his people, or להכלותם l'chalosam. What exactly is the רעה ra'ah? We're out of time, I wanted to go into each of these things, but I want to tell you my how we're going to answer that question with one more question. So here, השם Hashem tells Moshe, they're hopeless, they're incorrigible, they're stiff-necked. I give up on them. Later, Moshe is going to come back to השם Hashem in our פרשה parsha and Moshe is going to advocate. And he's going to tell them, השם Hashem, you got to forgive them. And why do you have to forgive them, השם Hashem? Because, why do you have to forgive them? Page 502. I'm sorry. That's not the place. Where's the place? Right, so השם Hashem tells Moshe עם קשה ערף הוא am kshei oref hu, they're stiff-necked. And a moment later he says, ויאמר משה אם נא מצאתי חן בעיניך אדני ילך נא אדני בקרבנו כי עם קשה ערף הוא וסלחת לעווננו ולחטאתנו ונחלתנו v'yomer Moshe im na matzasi chein b'einecha Adonai, yelech na Adonai b'kirbeinu ki am kshei oref hu v'salachta l'avoneinu ul'chataseinu un'chaltanu. Moshe says, and why do you have to forgive them? Because? עם קשה ערף Am kshei oref. I don't understand. השם Hashem just said this is their greatest liability. The reason they're hopeless and incorrigible is they're so stubborn. Moshe says you have to forgive them. Why should you forgive them? Because they're so stubborn. Is it an asset or a deficiency? Is it admirable or is it deplorable? What's going on over here? So I think the answer can be found, I'm going to tie together everything now. We talked about the מחצית השקל machtzis hashekel was a coin that השם Hashem showed him on fire. Why did השם Hashem show Moshe the image of a coin on fire? So I want to suggest that השם Hashem was telling Moshe, money is like fire. Is fire good or bad? Yes. Both. When fire provides energy, it provides warmth, it provides light, fire's good. When fire consumes and fire destroys, fire is bad. Fire is not inherently good or bad, it's all what we do with it. Money is a powerful force in the universe like fire. When it's channeled for good, צדקה tzedaka, it's selfless. If it's channeled for ego, it's selfish. Money is like fire, הראני מטבע של אש hareini matbe'a shel eish. Maybe the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam, I want to suggest was showing Moshe a coin on fire to suggest money like fire is not inherently good or bad, it's all what you do with it, how you channel it. The same is true of מדות middos. The פיאצ'סנה רבי Piaseczna Rebbe has, of קלונימוס קלמן שפירא Kalonymus Kalman Shapira in his הקדמה hakdama to חובת התלמידים Chovas HaTalmidim, he has a magnificent essay written to parents and educators, magnificent. And he talks about exactly this. He says human qualities are not inherently good or bad, they're all how they're channeled, they're all what you do with it. And he gives this example of stubbornness. He said, what does the typical parent do? The young child is stubborn, insists on buckling the car seat himself or herself. But you're late to carpool, it's setting back your whole day. So what do we do? We try to break the stubbornness within the child. Says the פיאצ'סנה רבי Piaseczna Rebbe, what a mistake. Stubbornness is not bad. Stubbornness is wonderful. How is stubbornness wonderful? Because when that child becomes a teenager and all his friends or her friends blow with the wind and give give in to whatever the latest influences, that stubborn child is going to remain steadfastly true to whatever you taught him or her. So stubbornness is not bad, stop trying to break it. Embrace the stubbornness, set them on the right path, and that stubbornness is going to be fantastic. And the פיאצ'סנה רבי Piaseczna Rebbe there gives a number of examples of מדות middos. He says anger, rage, good or bad? Well, obviously anger and rage are bad, but rage is the result of a fire in one's belly. So what do most parents do when the child has a fire in their belly? We medicate them. We take them to a therapist. We try to douse the fire, we try to put it out. Says the פיאצ'סנה רבי Piaseczna Rebbe, what a mistake. That child has passion and a fire in their belly. So you're right, it's unhealthy when it comes out as anger and rage. Redirect it. Take the passion and the fire in the belly and use it for good. And he gives this example with all the מדות middos. So that's also true. That's what's going on. עם קשה ערף Am kshei oref. רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam says they're a stubborn people, as long as they're on the wrong path and they're unwilling to turn their neck, they're incorrigible, they're hopeless. Moshe Rabbeinu says exactly, but let me get them on the right path. And when I do and they're stubbornly on that path, that's their greatest asset. That's their greatest virtue. That's their greatest merit. So is עם קשה ערף am kshei oref, is being stiff-necked, is it an asset or a liability? Is it good or is it bad? Is money good or is it bad? Is fire good or is it bad? One of the messages of our פרשה parsha is that none of these things are inherently good or bad. We come back to Mordechai. Is Mordechai a מרד גרור marid gerur? Why did Mordechai not bow down? Halachically he was entitled to. Rav Dessler and others I want to suggest to you based on everything we're saying, the following. Judaism in Shushan and all of Persia at the time of the story of Purim was disintegrating very rapidly. Mordechai watched as his co-religionists lost their Torah. values, their distinct identities. They were assimilating, they were blending into Persian society. חז\"ל Chazal tell us they drank from the כלים keilim of the משכן Mishkan of the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash. They ate forbidden foods, they dressed promiscuously, and so on. And our rabbis attribute the threat of annihilation not to Mordechai's actions, but to the Jewish community wanting so badly to fit in. אחשורוש Achashverosh invites them to his party. And what was his party marking? What was it celebrating? Their demise. The בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash is not going to be rebuilt. Now we can finally make use of these כלים keilim, they're not holy and sacred to the Jewish people. They're mine, they're royal. He invites the Jews to a party celebrating their own demise, and they so badly want to fit in, they actually attend. There was a spirit of assimilation, of apathy, of indifference, of openness, of flexibility. And Mordechai sees in that context, in that environment, that culture, that the Jewish people are losing their Jewishness.So what does Mordechai do? In a culture where Jews are losing their Jewishness, he decides he's going to be Mr. Super Jew. A proud and tenacious Jew. And how do I know that? Because how does the מגילה Megillah describe him? איש יהודי היה בשושן הבירה Ish Yehudi haya b'Shushan ha'bira. There was one Jew, unwavering, unambiguous in what he believed. He's known in the מגילה Megillah as איש יהודי היה בשושן הבירה Ish Yehudi haya b'Shushan ha'bira. What do you mean there was only one Jew? Shushan had a big Jewish community. What do you mean? איש יהודי Ish Yehudi, there was only one Jew. And the answer is, the other Jews were not acting like Jews. They were assimilating, they were integrating, they were forgetting their core, who they were. And so yes, technically, halachically, he could have bowed down. And most did. But Mordechai never would. Not the איש יהודי Ish Yehudi who longed to restore Jewish pride to his community.His doggedness precipitated Haman's ire and elicited the decree. But look what happened. Look what happened. Because Haman had this antisemitism, Mordechai couldn't get them to stop eating non-kosher. He couldn't get them to stop going to the country club. He couldn't get them to stop going to the party. He couldn't get them to stop assimilating. What got them to stop doing it? What reminded them that they were Jews? What reminded them? Haman and his decree. And what does Esther succeed in doing? לך כנוס את כל היהודים Lech knos et kol ha'Yehudim. Go gather all those Jews. Go remind them that they're Jews, the Jewishness within them.And the end of the story, the Jews are the envy of Shushan. כי נפל פחד מרדכי עליהם Ki nafal pachad Mordechai aleihem. כי מרדכי היהודי משנה למלך אחשורוש Ki Mordechai ha'Yehudi mishneh l'melech Achashverosh. You can be a משנה למלך אחשורוש mishneh l'melech Achashverosh without forfeiting your being a יהודי Yehudi. The beginning and the end of the מגילה Megillah, he remained מרדכי היהודי Mordechai ha'Yehudi. And one of the major messages of the story of פורים Purim is Jewish pride. Is to remember who we are. And that not to bow down to the culture, and not to bow down to the pressures, and not to bow down to the influences that are around us, but to remain the עם קשה עורף am kshei oref, that stiff-necked people. Mordechai was a stubborn איש יהודי Ish Yehudi. So it began with איש יהודי היה בשושן הבירה Ish Yehudi haya b'Shushan ha'bira, and it ends with כנוס כל היהודים knos kol ha'Yehudim. Mordechai is the hero for displaying the עקשנות דקדושה akshanus d'kedusha. He had a holy, holy stubbornness. When we embrace stubbornness and use it in a holy way, then it's a vehicle for great things. And that's why Mordechai is the hero. Please remain for Rabbi Moskowitz's שיעור shiur. Tonight, the finale, moments that mattered. Wishing everyone a פרייליכן פורים freilichen Purim if you're leaving.
